I keep buying these sets thinking I'm going to get at least a 4" figure but end up with another finger nail sized find! Here's the newest acquisition since I didn't have the Toothless. These guys are from a storybook playmat set.
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Now that the holidays are over (and I hope you enjoyed them!), it's time to get back to the dragons! Let's talk about Etsy. Etsy is a unique place filled of OOAK things, and other random items. Etsy is also a dangerous place. So many things I want to buy but have no reason to. By chance, I searched out of boredom, and came across a complete 10 piece set of French Feve Feves Porcelain Mini Figurines. This has to be one of my favorite finds, only because of the interesting history lesson that comes with it... Feves are actually French Feves or King Cake Baby Doll Charms or Prizes. They have dozens of uses; doll house miniatures, fairy gardens, shadow boxes, mosaics, memory jugs, jewelry, cupcake toppers, pinata prizes...you are only limited by your creativity. They are made from porcelain and hand painted. Amazingly strong - designed to be baked into a cake! Feves (French for “bean”) are tiny figurines that are made to be put inside a "King's Cake" for the "Epiphany" Holiday, which is celebrated every year on January 6th, the 12th day of Christmas. Tradition states that this is the day that the three wise men or "Three Kings" came to Bethlehem, to honor the birth of Christ. Traditionally it was a fava bean that was placed inside the cake. Whoever finds the feve in his or her slice of cake, is king for the day. Since it was good luck to get the feve in your cake - these little items were saved and treasured. In 1870s the bean was replaced with small porcelain figurines; good luck charms, religious figures, saints etc, and a collecting craze began! The oldest feves were porcelain. As the years sped by, designs became more elaborate; different glazes were used, they were hand painted or gilded. Following WWI, due to supply shortages, plastic feves were made. Now this tradition of Feve production and collecting has been completely commercialized, and there is a vast assortment of porcelain, plastic and metal figures that are made. A lot of the newest feves are sold in series – more for collecting than for actually placing in cakes. Designs include everything from Harry Potter and Disney to the high fashion shoes and purses. Collecting Feves is very popular in France. The series are generally only produced for a single year. Here is my How to Train Your Dragon set! Look Infinity, Ruffnut AND Tuffnut! Most know me as anti-plush. I can't do plushies. There's just something about them I don't like. Even the customs of Toothless didn't catch my eye. But this little cute guy did! Look at that adorable face! Done by a artist on eBay (who also sent me a very nice note - she is also a fan). I can't wait for him to arrive! Curse the holidays and slow shipping... Lets do a side by side comparison next to a Walmart product... No contest.
Why not? It's a Toothless after all, isn't it? Besides, I'm not the only one apparently. The seller bought the sets JUST for the Stormfly and was selling JUST the Toothless separately. Worked out for me! Plus, you have to admit... it's kind of cute, in a sickening chibi type way. We've seen China bootlegs...now how about some Mexican ones? Picked these up off eBay. Direct from Mexico! I don't know what to say about Hiccup... I just... can't. These are too subtle not to pass up, so I always add them to my collection when I can. This one is supposed to be a bootleg of the Missile Shooting Night Fury currently being produced. Instead of a blue or black fireball, it comes with this... hairball looking black stick and a giant button on his back to push. Here are some photos from the auction. As always, I love the translated commentary. Great mail day. Comes with a great story too. I happened to see an auction on eBay for 1 lying Chupa Toothless. The only reason I knew they existed was because I had seen them on Night Fury's Hoard. Here was my chance to get one of the three I knew existed out there somewhere! Now Infinity, the owner and collector of NFH and I had already e-mailed back and forth a few times, enjoying all that was HTTYD and comparing collections when we put together that I was bidding on HER chupa auction! Not only did she have the one I was bidding on, she included the other 2 for free so I did not have to hunt them down! How awesome is that! A very nice thing to do for a fellow collector! Chupas are from Kinder Eggs, which are edible chocolate eggs that contain small toys inside. They are banned in the united states because of this (maybe they know we are stupid enough to give an egg advertised with a small toy inside to a child anyway and they'll choke...) and are a pain to get a hold of since it has to be done overseas. It looks like they are trying to find a workaround. They are BEYOND cute! So adorable! And so friggin' tiny! I about had a heart attack when I almost dropped a wing on the carpet (assembly required). This guy is barely bigger then a key on my keyboard. Taking pictures of tiny things makes me realize how much dust is really floating around in here. Doh! Here also are the Funko POP! figures that I'm still not quite sold on. After seeing them up close though, they are kinda cute - if not a little...disturbing.
There has been a interesting offering of bootleg HTTYD items on eBay lately. From Mexico and China. Thanks to a fellow collector, I've been 'educated' on how to spot these. I acquired this one today. Looks like they didn't want to bother trying to copy the sheep that would have come with the DreamWorks released version....they went simple and added a yellow ball. Sorry for the eBay seller's copyright spam across the images. Toywiz.com ... bless their hearts ... they have been so nice and when I received the wrong Toothless (they aren't aware of the 'series'), they paid to have it shipped back and promptly used the UPC code to locate and send me the right one. Enter USPS. The tracking says delivered, but no one can find it. Not the carrier, not me, not the office where sometimes packages are left if residents aren't home. Nothing! Was it stolen? Possibly. There are suspiciously more kids running around here as of late. One I caught looking in my window (Good thing I wasn't IN the room - but I gave them a earful about privacy and respect. Dear lord I've become old... ). After some phone calls, the box is finally located in a day or two, mislabeled and tucked away. I can see why they weren't eager to find it. Someone had already opened it and pulled out half the packaging... in the process, they broke the product packaging around a $80 collectible 'toy'. Collectible toy. Sounds strange, right? It's only worth something if its in the original packaging. If it hadn't been, I wouldn't of willing paid the $80 for it. I've regretfully asked Toywiz for a partial refund. I'm so disappointed how frustrating this Toothless is being! Now for my rant - IF ANYONE IS PAYING YOU GOOD MONEY TO DELIVERY SOMETHING. DONT OPEN IT. DONT TOSS IT AROUND LIKE ITS A FOOTBALL. HAVE SOME RESPECT. NO WONDER YOU NEED A BAIL OUT AND ARE LOSING SO MUCH MONEY EVERY YEAR. YOUR SERVICE IS AWFUL! |