Wind-up Grandmother
Posted by matijs 07/12/2005 at 09h44
Uncountably many years ago, there was a toy product called My Little Pony.
I don’t know if it still exists, at least I haven’t seen it in a long time.
These toys were little plastic horsies in bright unnatural colours with
long flowing manes that, significantly, could really be combed. Apparently,
girls like that sort of thing.
At the time, me and my friends, being the sort of people who like that sort
of humour, thought of variations on this product, and came up with what we
then called ‘My Little Bejaarde’. For those readers not fluent in the dutch
language, ‘bejaarde’ means ‘senior citizen.’
We thought of little advertisements, that would mention the accessories
that could be added (like, a wheelchair), and the fact that they had hair
that you could really comb. As a spinoff, a board game was developed (I
have it at home), and then, a computer version of that board game. That
computer game ran on MS-DOS, and crashed (on) Windows. It’s that long ago.
As of this year, thanks to the business genious of Chinese toy makers, this
fantasy is now a reality. My newspaper reports that Chinese wind-up toy
makers mainly work to provide toys to western toy collectors, not children.
In a flash of business insight, they created the wind-up grandmother. She
shuffles about shaking her little had, helped up by that wonderful enabler
of the truly ancient, the rollator.
The toy elderly are finally a reality. But sadly, my chances of becoming
the owner of this marvel are dim: This toy is such a hit, that the shop in
my city that had them is now sold out!