When I was a kid I loved those flocked animal toys. My parents liked them too because they kept me quiet and occupied for hours. Since I am an only child I used to have to play as every character. I didn’t play as one or two characters I played as ten. My mom thought I had some kind of personality disorder. They had all these very intricate storylines.

At the time the two main competitors were Sylvanian Families by Tomy and Maple Town by Tonka in the US.

Both are from Japan with their own anime series.

At the time my parents could not afford either of those brands of figures. At the Pic N Save they sold these large flocked figures called Forest’s Family. (note the knockoff Patty Rabbit and Bobby Bear drawings on the packaging)(picture found on ebay)

I had only seen them come in rabbits and bears. I have that set in the photo. The adolescent rabbits have only articulation in the head. The larger figures have it in the head, legs, and shoulders.

These figures are huge! Look at the scale of the figure compared to a Care Bears poseable figure and a G1 My Little Pony. The scale of the Sylvanian Families is about the same scale as miniatures 1:12. That is why the toys used to be pictured with miniatures that were not included with them.  

Maple Town are the same scale.

Enter Mookey.

I got Mookey at the very exotic location of a vending machine near a Sears Photo studio. It was one of those vending machines that dispensed random items, and not just flocked animals. Back then this was when little plastic flocked animals were glued on everything.

They were on pinbacks and hair ties and other assorted things. I know I have a collection of these that had fallen off of various items.

On the ride home I lost him in the backseat of my parents’ Mustang. I lost a lot of things in the backseat of that Mustang especially coins. A while later I managed to fish him out of the backseat. He was all dirty and dusty. Most of the flocking was rubbed off his body. After I cleaned him up the only part of his body that was left with flocking was a small patch on his back.

I used to pretend he was the rabbit family’s adopted little son. Since he was so little they gave him extra loving care. He could fit in the shoulder joint of the larger rabbit figures to make it look like they were holding him. His full name was Mookious, but his nickname was Mookey.

He was so small he fit into little people and knockoff size toys (also from the Pic N Save).

He fit perfectly in the high chair the hole in the back of the chair perfectly left space for his tail. He could sit or lay in the rocking horse. I used to pretend that was his rocking horse/bed. He fit well in the stroller too, but it looked funny because his rabbit parents were too tall for it. I would usually use some other smaller figures to push him and attach a small drink umbrella for shade. I would also put him in the Sweet Secrets stroller which looked better with his tall rabbit parents.

Mookey “inherited” a lot of baby items from other toy lines like baby My Little Pony bottles and rattles that were grossly out of scale with him.

Accessories for Baby Keypers which were also very out of scale those Keypers accessories dwarfed him.

He inherited the pink McDonald’s pink Miss Piggy car

that had lots of room in it for him and a few friends to ride in. He also got some baby shower cake decorations my mom bought me at a party store.

Mookey had a way of finding himself in things I thought he looked good in around the house like Christmas decorations and kitchen decorations. My mom would find him. I would usually get in trouble for letting him have some new adventures.

A few years later I got some Sylvanian Families and Maple Town figures. They are great and I enjoy them, but they didn’t compare to Mookey. He was their old established friend.

When I was a bit older I used to make comics about him. He used to have a girlfriend name Mookina.

Once in high school I brought him for an art project. The assignment was to draw plastic toys and see how the light shines on them. He was prominently featured in the drawing along with a My Little Pony and a Pikachu keychain.