In the clearance section of a certain store, there were these little blind-packs of things called “Squinkies.” I don’t know what the hell a “Squinkie” is, but my guess is that it’s somewhere along the line of “The Next Big Toy.” I bought a Hello Kitty one because hey, if I don’t like it, that’s just 50 cents wasted.
Apparently, these things are little teeny…figure things that come in a ball that can be opened and the thing played with. I was highly entertained, so I went back and bought the Belle ones I could find because I am a fan of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I told Jamie about it and pointed out that they had a Cinderella one as well as a Snow White one. I told him I wanted to get the Snow White ones to see if I could get the witch or the queen, Jamie said I should get the Cinderella one to see if I got Gus-Gus.
I bought the remaining Squinkie packages that were there. Inluding the Hello Kitty one, I’d spent four dollars and some change.
In their balls, it’s not much. The Disney Princess ones have sparkly balls while the Hello Kitty ones don’t. I don’t know why this is; it could be because princess things make everyone think of pink and glitter.
These things are roughly the size of a bouncy ball from a gumball machine. I’d do a comparison pic of them, but Snooch has discovered the bouncy ball and has knocked it somewhere. I’m sure he’ll find it again when we’re trying to sleep.
Out of their little protective shells, these things are the size of the original Polly Pocket or some of the original Littlest Petshop pets. They are the size of the first digit of my thumb. They also have a bizarre texture to them that’s like that fine line between super slick plastic and dry plastic Fischer Price toys.
I was excited to see what I had gotten. Strangely, I had gotten all the characters I wanted. I got Lumiere, Gus-Gus, the evil queen, and the witch. As a bonus, I got Philippe (the cart-horse). The rose is kind of weird. It’s painted on, but it doesn’t surprise me since I’m sure it’d be very hard to figure out how to do the molding for the rose and the glass dome thingy. The Prince (who was in a Snow White package) looks like one of the little Fischer Price toys for toddlers.
I am highly amused I got three different Belles.
I realized after taking pictures of these little guys out of their little protective shells that it would be best if I left them in there. While we don’t have children, we do have cats and dogs. While I’d love to say that our dogs would never eat one of these things, I don’t want to risk it (and Bug’s decided she’s going to start counter-surfing again). Then, we have Snooch. I have no doubt he’d at least chew on one of these just to see what they taste like. Snooch is not right in the head, but he’s been a great source of entertainment for chasing the bouncy ball around for two days.
I don’t know why these are marketed towards children. Yes, they’re cute and adorable, but these should not be in the hands of anyone under 6 and even at 6 it’s a bit iffy. What if they got dared to eat one or stick it up their noses? I remember childhood and double-dog dares (I also remember when a 6 year old stuck a Lisa Frank large [neon green] bead up her nose when no one was looking because she wanted to see if she could do it. I was a kid too, and found the whole situation hilarious, but even I knew not to do that because I watched that episode of Pete and Pete).
The blind-packs are really cool because you don’t know what you’re going to get, but what if you get something that you hate? I’m not overly thrilled that I got Wedding Cinderella, but I can deal with it. Sure, you can trade them, but who else has these things? Maybe they are popular with elementary school kids, but it’s awkward enough talking to kids about toys they have. (I work retail, it’s part of my job to be nice and if I’m not overly busy to make light conversation with the customer) Now that I have these little guys, I have no idea what I’m going to do with them. Best I can hope for is string them up and hang them near my drafting table.
Based on the Squinkies that weren’t on clearance, a two-pack is $2.49. I don’t know if it’s worth it to pay $2.49 for two tiny little critters in balls. For me, personally, it’s not. Paying 50-cents or $1 is ok, but that’s because I’m not one of the people this is geared towards (I did willingly pay $2.49 for a blind Trash Pack months ago). And, seeing as this is geared towards kids, paying $2.50 is a lot like giving kids quarters at the grocery store so they can try their luck on getting the little toy out of the gumball machine that they really want.
Considering the price of kids toys now, it’s a decent price if it makes the kids happy and they’ll play with it for more than 30 seconds. And hey, I used to collect Trolls* as a kid, so the whole concept doesn’t bother me of these things. I’m just more concerned that someone won’t be paying attention and a kid will either swallow it or get it stuck in their nose. Neither option is good.
*The actual Trolls, not this bizarre Trollz crap they’re selling now. I mean the weird, slightly freaky, will probably animate and kill you in your sleep Trolls that had the small smile of looking like it knows exactly what’s going on and the eyes would follow you wherever in the room you were. Those trolls were awesome.
Stranger.Nightmare 