01-22-03 @ 11:20 am EST

I want to introduce you now to those who were among my closest friends growing up. I shared so many adventures with them; I bet if I had written them all down I could fill books. I'm talking about the Animals.

The Animals is what I called my little toy plastic animal figurines. I had all sorts of them--some were realistic, while some were cute and cartoony. My very earliest ones were part of a set and the paint had all flecked off by the time my conscious memory kicks in, so they were all odd pastel colors, but I loved them just as much. How they were named was often influenced by my particular tastes, so yes, some of these are rather weird. Don't worry, just enjoy. I'll try to introduce you to as many as I possibly can. This may need another entry!

Kitten Kitten was one of my earliest Animals, and one of my favorites. For a long time I didn't know if he was a girl or a boy because of the way he talked, but I finally figured it out; before then I just referred to him as "Kitten," no pronouns. He was small and pink with a big smile, his paint having chipped away. He was young, very friendly and cheerful, but once in a while was bullied by unfriendly Animals, who once told him that they would prefer if his brown eyes were black. Turtle was his best friend, but this sometimes led to problems. (Keep reading for their odd history.)

Turtle Turtle was another of my earliest animals, maybe one of my very first, and part of the same set as Kitten. He was a little pink turtle (paint missing) with a curved neck and a friendly smile...actually, he was more likely a tortoise, but I didn't know that back then. In my very earliest stories, Turtle was best friends with Kangaroo, but Kangaroo went away one day and was not seen again for a long time. Turtle became friends with Kitten, but he was known to mysteriously disappear for long periods also. (This was when I lost my Turtle toy; I claimed he went on a voyage somewhere. Miraculously he was found, and he and Kitten were reunited!)

Kangaroo Kangaroo was an early Animal of mine, but a realistic gray kangaroo, not part of the Turtle/Kitten set. He was very worldly and full of wisdom which he would share with his young friend Turtle. Turtle looked up to him so much, but Kangaroo had the habit of simply disappearing for long periods of time, during which Turtle grew to spend more time with Kitten. After a long absence, Kangaroo returned too! And he had lots to tell the two kids. He still traveled, but decided to settle down some and not disappear without telling anyone.

Mrs. Cow Mrs. Cow was the friendly matriarch of the Animal Village and everyone loved her! She lived in a tree! (I had a toy tree; it had a little working elevator in it! The elevator went from the trunk to the top; there was a little lid in the leaves that you could open, or you could pop up the whole treetop to reveal her home! It had about two or three rooms in it and the elevator appeared here. Mrs. Cow had the coolest home.) She was one of the cute set that included Turtle and Kitten, and was yellow in color (paint missing) and wore a bell and had cute horns. Turtle and Kitten and all the other village kids loved to visit her, and she would always cook treats. She was very friendly and talkative, but could be a bit of a gossip.

Ms. Kangaroo Not to be confused with Mrs. Kangaroo, Mrs. Kangaroo was a metallic toy of mine, possibly some prize from a fair. She was very chipped and in poor condition but I didn't care; she had a round, coy face and a bushy tail and long ears; to this day, I can't really be sure that she WAS a kangaroo. (I have to confess that I'm a bit confused as to which was Mrs. and which was Ms., but I'll assume for now that this was Ms. Kangaroo.) She was Mrs. Cow's best friend, and even sounded a lot like her; they could often be found chatting together. She was quite smart, despite her gossipy demeanor.

Mrs. Kangaroo Mrs. Kangaroo (if I got these straight) was a rubber toy of mine, with a little rubber joey in her pouch. Joey had a nick out of him, and I think Mrs. Kangaroo's tail broke at one point. :( She didn't talk, but rather murmured incoherently all the time, but somehow managed to get her point across. She loved to hop around, and Joey, though he couldn't talk either, was a good friend to Turtle and Kitten, despite their difference in age (Joey was much younger). Sometimes, however, the fact that they were made out of a weird-looking rubber bothered me.

Neil Diamond ^_^ Neil Diamond was part of my original Animal set, a pink...um...he was a big cat of some sort, like a mountain lion, or a panther. I will say he was a panther, though he was pink. :) His paint was all gone. He had slanted eyes and a knowing smile, so of course he was very intelligent and knew things that Turtle and Kitten didn't. At some point he too was a very close friend of one of them, perhaps Kitten, though I'm not sure. He sang for the Animals (I listened to Neil Diamond eight-tracks back then) and was well loved, but tended to wander around. I don't believe he was a permanent resident of the Animal Village.

Giraffe Giraffe was a part of the original Animal set, his plastic undercoat being yellow. He was friendly and well liked and always had his head above everything, literally. :) (I'm hoping that Giraffe was a he and not a she; honestly, I can't remember! If he was a she, then his name was Miss Giraffe or Mrs. Giraffe. If he was indeed a he, then his real name may have been Gordon, though I think it was just Giraffe.) Unfortunately, one of the little horns on his head broke. :( It had to be glued back on; I wrapped it in tape and proclaimed that he was wearing a bandage. And so Giraffe proudly walked about displaying his bandaged horn!

Mrs. Zebra A part of the original Animal set, I can't recall if the Zebra was male or female though I seem to think it was the latter. She had big lips. :) Her paint coat went missing and so she was white. I think her ears broke off or some such and so my dad shaved her mane and she became a Platypus!! (At least I think that's the toy that became the Platypus. I do remember that my Platypus was NOT originally a Platypus!) She didn't stay around the Animal Village very often, so I didn't know her as well.

Donkey Donkey was a part of the original set, being blue in color. I found him only later and so did not play with him as much, but he seemed friendly enough.

Benjamin Bird Benjamin Bird, oddly enough, was never one of my little figurines; he existed completely in my head. He was a yellow chickenlike bird modeled after Benjamin Franklin, so he wore little glasses and was always inventing things. Turtle and Kitten loved to visit him to see what new things he had, and he could often send them on adventures. I believe he lived a little bit away from the Village, on his own, and he was rather absentminded...of course!

Workhorse Workhorse was...the workhorse of the Village, of course! He was a draft horse who wore a yoke, and was grayish-white in color with a stiff black mane. He was gruff but friendly and liked by the kids, and very strong. He was also practical and down to earth and could be relied upon in a tough situation.

Horse Horse, I believe (I had lots of horse figurines so I could get confused), was simply a brown cartoony horse who came as part of a farm set. (I had a barn that made noises when I touched different things, and a silo! When I twanged something up in the top of the barn it sounded like a silly little rooster crowing!) I didn't play with him as much, so I don't know as much about him.

Rooster Rooster was a white rooster who came with the farm set. He was always crowing...of course. I believe that he and the other farm-set animals lived away from Animal Village, which was why I didn't know as much about them. He was close friends with Chicken.

Chicken Chicken was Rooster's female companion, a little white cartoony chicken. ^_^ She clucked a lot when she spoke.

Unnamed Horse He had a name--but I can't remember it!! He was modeled after an Indiana Jonesesque character from an old TV movie(?) called The Golden Monkey or some such. Perhaps his name was Jack? He was brown, I think, and just a hollow plastic horse who was always going on manic adventures. Nothing frightened him, but he couldn't sit still for long!

Runny The "Unnamed Horse" had a cowardly companion with the name of "Runny." (He was so named only because he ran a lot, that's all!) He was of the same set as the first horse, but not as action posed ("Unnamed Horse" was in a gallop; Runny was probably in a canter or some such); I imagined him as kind of shlubby and overweight, timid and stammery, but he was always getting dragged along on the other horse's adventures. In addition I believe there was another horse; I do remember I had at least one black one and one white one, but I can't remember their names.

Easter Bunny Easter Bunny was based on a big inflatable pink rabbit I had, and also on the character of "Peter Cottontail" from a Claymation-type animated Easter special (Here Comes Peter Cottontail, I believe). He was, of course, the Easter Bunny, and delivered Easter Eggs.

Mrs. Easter Bunny I call her that only because I can't remember what I DID call her. ^_^ She was the Easter Bunny's wife or girlfriend, and looked much like him, except she wore a ribbon.

Zeus Zeus was a big plastic dragon of mine, originally part of a pair consisting of him and a little action figure guy. They were both clear--Zeus was blue, while the action figure guy was a greenish color, with his arms raised in the air. Zeus originally had plastic removable wings to fly with, but they broke off and were lost along the way. :( He had a long curving tail with a spade on the end, sharp claws on his paws, a spiky neck, and a wide-open mouth and evil-looking face. He had also a little diamond shape on his chest that was his "life gem." I didn't have an exact name for it, but basically, it was the gem in the chest of every dragon, and it helped them live. Despite his fearsome appearance, Zeus, the king of the gods, was a good guy, and very powerful. He looked like an ice dragon. I cannot remember what he and the little action figure guy (who I lost most interest in) were originally supposed to be.

Bad Guy Bad Guy was the ULTIMATE bad guy in the Animal world! He was modeled after Gargamel from The Smurfs, who back then was the most nefarious nasty I knew. I imagined he even looked and sounded similar. Nasty Bad Guy! He lived in a big old stone house in a dark woods and was constantly planning to capture the Animals...who, by the way, were all of miniature size, being Brownies. (I discovered that when I looked up Brownies in a fantasy book once and found that the Animals fit their description most closely, so Brownies they were.) In one of my early stories, Bad Guy set up a toy tea set table (I had a Smurfs tea set; the spoons looked like leaves and I think the table looked like a flower, with a big hollow middle) and trapped some of the Animals inside it! Luckily they were later freed. I never did find out why Bad Guy was so intent on capturing them; surely he didn't mean to turn them into gold??

Merganser Merganser was Bad Guy's right-hand man, a mysterious guy who dressed in a wide-brimmed floppy hat and a cape, and could change into a merganser at will! He and Bad Guy didn't get along very well, unfortunately.

She "She" was so named...because I could never think of a name for her. She showed up only later and was a red-headed female companion to Bad Guy and Merganser. The three of them were often to be found fighting...no wonder they never captured the Animals for long!

Black Rabbit Black Rabbit was a direct ripoff from Peter Cottontail. ^_^ He was based on the character of "Irontail," I think his name was; he was a black, evil duplicate of the Easter Bunny, with a metal tail. He rode around on a giant bat. I knew I had taken this character from the TV show, but I forgot the name of the show and never saw it for years, so never knew that Black Rabbit's real name should have been Irontail. Likewise, I eventually forgot he had a tail made of metal. He despised the Easter Bunny and was always trying to foil his plans by turning all the eggs of the world into a dull black color...but of course he never succeeded. It was only in the past few years that I found a copy of Peter Cottontail on video and remembered who the real inspiration for "Black Rabbit" had been.


And do you know, *aaaak!!* I KNOW there were many, many more characters...but they slip my mind right now! And I have to post this and go do something else...so I will be back to proofread and possibly add more to this later. Hope you enjoyed! Tar!