A few weeks ago, my partner and I rented a copy of the film The Last Airbender. I was… a bit disappointed. The special effects were good, but the acting wasn’t great, the limited martial arts were filmed badly (for someone who watches a lot of martial arts films, anyway) and the script was frankly terrible. However, undeterred, I decided to watch a few episodes of the original Avatar TV show. Now, this was more like it! Bearing in mind that it is a kids’ show, the scripts were still better – and much funnier – and the fight scenes more interesting. Even better, the character of Appa (and I do consider him a character) had more parts.
Now, Appa in the show is a giant flying bison, ridden by the human characters to travel from place to place. Immediately, I saw what I’d already guessed from the film: Appa is so CUTE! I have a real obsession with cute animals of all shapes and sizes, and I have an equal obsession with cute cuddly toys (when I was little, I never much played with dolls, but I did have half a wardrobe full of stuffed animals – and still do). As I write this, I have a toy leopard and rat on my desk, with two teddies, a reindeer, a penguin and a Moogle on the bookshelf behind me.
So, having seen Appa in the programme, I decided I’d look online for a plushie version of him. This turned out to be harder than I expected. The show hasn’t been on TV for several years and the film didn’t do very well. There were also several versions of the Appa toys, in varying sizes – and wildly varying qualities. Finally though, thanks to an American eBay seller, I found a mint condition, 20″ Appa plushie. I clicked ‘Buy It Now’, I paid, I obsessively checked the tracking information (which only showed the package in the US, so I hadn’t even realised it had left the country) and I waited. And now, finally, the moment I’ve been waiting for: Appa has arrived!
Now for the moment I’m sure you’ve been waiting for (if you’ve read this far): PICTURES!
Here he is, the wonderful Appa. Soft, squishie and just as cute as the original (although he does look a bit gruff in the top photo, but he is a bison so that’s only to be expected). And, as you can see from the second picture, pretty damn huge; he’s sitting on a massive Collins dictionary that I can only just lift with one hand.
The only probably now is where in the house Appa is going to live. I have a lot of cuddly toys and a real lack of shelf space… But such things are always secondary considerations when it comes to cute things. Suffice to say, Appa will find a loving home in my already crowded office, and be one more animal for me to talk to when my plots aren’t working!