just......little guys

 (inspired by this, which always makes me laugh when I see it)

Anyway, the other day someone posted a small ceramic bison they had made on Twitter, and I reposted it with the comment that I loved it that people make little guys, 

And also, that apparently, people have always made "little guys," as long as there have been people. One of the earliest figures, the Löwenmensch or Lion-Man, dates to about 40,000 years ago. Some people think he may have been a totemic figure; I wonder if he's actually the world's first action figure. (Thunder - thunder - thundercats?)

Anyway. I like Little Guys, and I have a lot of Little Guys. I've liked them since I was a child - my mom talks about how in my early school years, I needed a Pocket Friend - either a very tiny stuffed animal or one of the little plastic ones I had, to carry in my pocket to school. I was VERY careful about them; some years there were teachers who would confiscate toys if they saw them out in class, but honestly, knowing it was there in my pocket was enough to make the day a little better. 

So here are some of my more recent Little Guys, and also some I've had for a while but that are favorites.

This was a recent Etsy purchase. A little (he's smaller than he looks there) but very heavy and chunky figure of Garfield made by Bully in West Germany (so: prior to 1989). I can't tell if he's sad or tired in this pose, but there is an upside down heart on his chest. (I don't know if that signifies something in some cultures - like Germany  - and it maybe means sadness. I don't know, I just like this little guy.

(Update: I saw another version online with the German phrase "Keiner leibt mich" stamped on its stomach - nobody loves me - so I guess I was correct in my assessment)

This is a small stuffed animal, and it's actually an older one (I was a small kid when my mom helped me make it. We made it one summer up visiting my grandma; that was fabric she had on hand. I think it's stuffed with cotton batting; at any rate it feels more like cotton than polyfil. 

I know my mom sewed it on the machine, I remember that - I think one summer she carried a portable machine up with us to do some curtains or something for my grandmother (who was already losing her sight and couldn't do much sewing any more). 

I sewed the eyes on - I picked out the buttons (I see now they are mismatched but I don't care). 

It's supposed to be a seal but I'm not sure what that "fin" on the top is supposed to be, I wonder if I was either thinking of a shark (it was the era of Jaws) or if that was suppose to be its other flipper.

And these, I've had for a while.

Another "little guy" kind of in the same style as the Garfield, the Camel with Wrinkled Knees from the early 80s Raggedy Ann movie:

And a bigger Little Guy, the Paddington figurine from the recent movies. He also has a suitcase and "stuff" (like a marmalade sandwich) that I have in a box rather than out on display:

And a little Kirby from a Doki Doki crate. I like Kirby, he always looks so happy:

And finally, a figure I bought from an online artist (Veronica Guizzardi). It's an Otterypop. In other places online, I use acerbic otter as a handle because that's an anagram of my real name. So some years back when she had some to sell, I bought a pink one with some embedded glitter:

I also drove out to the antique shop in Bokchito this afternoon - half hoping to find another Little Guy for my collection, or maybe some old quilt fabric bits. I didn't find either of those buy did buy a couple vintage books that were discards (but apparently never checked out?) from the Calera high school library - one of Gilbert and Sullivan's works, and one of Shelley's work.