My Plush Mascot Collection: Rating and Showing Off

This article will be updated as my collection grows.

So one of my top 10 hobbies of all time is thrifting, and specifically, thrifting for toys. I consider myself a toy collector,
but don't let the name fool you-- I have a very specific set of rules and niches for myself so that I don't end up with too much. And at the
intersection of toy collecting and thrifting lies our niche of interest: promotional plush and plush mascot characters.

My typical thrifting rules apply here as well.

  1. Must be old, only as recent as the early 2010s, but preferably between the 90s and 2000s.
    Rare exceptions are made for newer items if they interest me enough.
  2. Must be related in some way to something I'm already interested in OR
  3. Must be quirky/weird enough to stand out.

Now as for what I consider to be a promotional, or more importantly a mascot for the sake of this list, it started getting a bit tricky.
I wanted the classification to be restrictive enough that things like Mario (mascot of Nintendo) or Pikachu (mascot of Pokemon) wouldn't count. But I
also wanted it to be open ended enough that weird, oddball promo non-characters counted. So, I landed on this set of rules.

  1. The character must've been designed FOR advertising/branding. The character can appear in things like games or cartoons, but cannot debut in them.
  2. The character's brand association must be clear either through printed logos or attached tags.

This also eliminates boring potential entries like any generic made-to-ship teddy bears in t-shirts (as if I'd ever own something so boring anyway).
But mainly, I want to sort of rate these plush. Not in any particular or rigid order, just in general. I'd like to examine:

Let's get this show (and tell) on the road!



1996 Toucan Sam

representing Kelloggs' Froot Loops cereal


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