Blog #18: A very shy guy indeed!

 I'm back to talk about more Super Mario plushies, and today I'll be discussing the second one I got: this very smol and very shy lad :3

I've always been particularly interested in these guys. I remember, as a kid, that my brother really liked them a lot as well. They're kinda quirky in a way, just small lads wearing a cloak and mask to protect their true appearance. I totally respect and admire that dedication to modesty lol. Anytime I play a game where shy guy is available as a playable character (namely Mario Kart 7/8 and Mario Party 9, among others) I always have such a difficult time choosing between playing as him or Waluigi. Basically what I'm getting at is, I really like these guys a lot.

So when I took a trip to the Kalahari Resort in northern Ohio and in the arcade I saw this guy in a claw machine, I knew I had to have him. I must've played that claw machine ten times, and I eventually gave up because claw machines are terribly rigged against the player. Plus I've never been good at them. So I unfortunately had to leave empty handed, though I didn't forget about that plushie.

About a year later I randomly thought about that shy guy plushie again, and I remembered that I could simply buy one online, so I did just that. I finally got one in October of 2019. It's crazy to think that, after I bought the Mario plush in 2013, it took me another six years before I ever got another plushie from that series. I can't remember how much I paid for it, I want to say it was around $14-16, which I think is fair for a licensed plushie (and also the reason why it took me so long to get as many as I have).

I don't have much more to say here, except that I really love this plushie a lot and I'm very happy to have him in my collection! <33

Blog #17: Yahoo! Mr. Mario is here!

 Welcome back to my plushie blog! I'm gonna be starting a mini-series today, talking about all of my Super Mario plushies! 

So I'm a big fan of the Super Mario series (and it's actually one of my special interests)! I have been since around 2010-2011, when I finally got a chance to play Super Mario 64 for the first time since I was a wee tot. I have a ton of merchandise, from plushies, to figurines, to home decor, to blankets, and so much more! Since I'm so fond of plushies (if it isn't obvious by the fact that I have an entire blog dedicated to them lol) I would like to write some entries to talk all about my Super Mario plushies, how/when I got them, and why they're so special to me!

The first one I'll talk about here is a plushie which I have had since early 2013: [in Chris Pratt's voice] it's-a me, a-Mario!

So this started to become one of my special interests when I was about 11-12 years old. Around 2011 my dad got me and my brother an NES, SNES, and N64, which he bought from a co-worker. I remembered playing these consoles when I was a wee lad so I wanted to jump back into it. With that, I became infatuated with Super Mario 64 (which is, to this day, still my favorite game of all time) and the series as a whole. I tend to like things that are cartoon-y and cute (but not overly cute), and these games fit that criteria perfectly! So this is one of those special interests that hasn't faded away to any extent, I loved it dearly back in 2011 and I still love it dearly in 2022.

Around that same time, I had a few friends who liked to do whatever it was that I was doing, and liked whatever I liked. Because of that, they both liked Super Mario stuff as well. At one point, one of my friends had gotten this same plushie and a blanket from Meijer, and when I found out about it I had to get one for myself. So 13 year old me bought this really big Mario plushie for $20 back in 2013. As a kid I didn't have a whole lot of merch, because the only money I had came from my parents and my parents were often broke (plus, even as a kid, I was "ashamed" of my interests because of how I used to hyperfixate on them, so I didn't talk about them to my parents very much), so getting this plush was a huge deal to me back then. To this day I always have him sitting on my bed with a few other plushies (namely Sterling, a Spongebob plush, my thwomp plush, and a blue bunny) and he's very cozy to curl up with in my bed. 💕

Nine years later, I have a ton of Super Mario merchandise, but I'll always remember this plushie as being a representation of my long-time, undying love for the series!