Success!

We had fun exploring the lovely big JoAnn's and then the health store tonight. The shopping trip was mainly to show Mom the lovely new stores, as well as to get some vegenaise at the health store. We've used it as mayonnaise for years. Then I wanted to check K-Mart just in case they had Octavia. They didn't. But they did have small and medium Grumpys and medium Share Bear and Good Luck Bear! (And one other whose identity I suddenly can't recall.) Unfortunately, K-Mart of course was more expensive than Wal-Mart, so I didn't really want to buy anything there, although I considered getting the small Grumpy before deciding to wait and see what Wal-Mart had.

And I'm glad I did. The Wal-Mart we went to no longer had Good Luck Bear, which I was a little sad about, but I was thrilled that they had Grumpy! They didn't have him the last time. Also, I discovered that the big purple bear I originally wanted was Share Bear and not Harmony Bear! I'd forgotten that all the plushies are darker colors than on the show. So I will very likely be getting the big Share plushie at some point (unless I choose the medium size for her, but I did want at least one in the biggest size).

They had what I thought was another small Wish Bear, too, because the feet looked okay. But then there was a dirt or grease mark on her head! Siiiigh. But perhaps it's for the best; I was heavily considering getting both her and Grumpy at once and that likely wouldn't have been the best idea. So I chose Grumpy and am anxious to watch the episode he came with. And wow, was he ever anchored down in that box! It's been years since I've liberated a plushie from a box. I think the last time was when I got my talking Twilight Sparkle three years ago. It felt good and nostalgic to do it again.

On the one hand, I cringe a little at the price of the medium-size plushies. But I assume I'm paying for the DVD as well as the plushie, so with that in mind, it's a lot more fair. And I haven't seen Grumpy in the largest size yet and I definitely wanted to get him in some size. Anyway, the episode he came with is one I've especially wanted to see, where he accidentally causes a storm that makes everyone grumpy and then he has to figure out how to cheer everyone up again. LOL.

Also, I realized I should probably mention about Funshine: even though he does have a hard time sobering up, I think when push comes to shove, he's a lot better at doing so than TMNT Mikey is. Considering that Mikey even cracks jokes while fighting. LOL. I think the only time I ever really saw Mikey get serious was when Donny got sent to that depressing alternate timeline. (And yes, I really liked seeing Mikey having grown up, although at the same time it was heartbreaking thinking of what he had seen and experienced that had caused it.) Although I hope Mikey was also serious during the times when someone was hurt, like the Leo episode from season 1. I don't remember it very well anymore.

Hmm.

So I watched the episode in the morning and enjoyed it for the most part. I could so sympathize with Grumpy getting more and more frustrated as everyone kept coming around and bothering him and not letting him watch the big game in peace. He was trying really hard to be nice and patient, even when they did outrageous things like grab his food right off his tongs when he was just about to bite into it! (Funshine did that. Ugh.) And even when he finally did lose his temper and scream, he immediately was horrified when he inadvertently created a wild storm, and he tried to get everyone to take cover in his van.

It was amusing watching him try to get everyone back to normal when they ended up not just grumpy, but scary raging mad (for most of them) or apathetic (for Funshine). And when his final task was to sing Wonderheart's song to cheer her up again, it was really sweet. They seem to have a really special relationship.

It did bother me that nobody apologized to Grumpy for pestering him. Naturally Grumpy needed to apologize for losing it and accidentally creating the storm, but he immediately knew he'd done wrong. No one else seemed aware that they'd done a thing. Ugh. And grabbing Grumpy's food off the tongs when he was literally about to bite into it was really awful! At least Funshine could have grabbed one off the plate or the grill. Oy vey.

Harmony was pretty rude too, demanding that Grumpy drop everything and build her a stage right then, and then singing really loud when Grumpy was trying to watch the game. (But at least she quieted down when he asked her, so a point for her there.) And then Share was kind of rude to exclaim how Grumpy hadn't arranged everything properly for his "buffet" and promptly took it upon herself to rearrange it (even if her way really was better, heh). I can definitely understand how she could become filled with jealousy in that one episode where her baking prowess was challenged by Grumpy's sloppily made yet delicious cookies. It makes sense with her characterization of thinking she does baking and catering so well.

Cheer was pretty nice; she just came in, gave one cheer, and then immediately quieted down to just watch the television. And of course, Wonderheart was too little to really know better. Tenderheart was not involved, and he also managed to escape the effects of the storm by encasing himself in a bubble. LOL. I wonder how all the other residents managed, since there are quite a few minor/background Bears.

It's kind of sad that some of those characters are minor/background Bears. Some of them were actually among the original ten main characters back in the eighties, such as Bedtime, Wish, and Good Luck. Interesting how things change and get rearranged. Harmony and Share both came in a little later, I think, and who knows what their personalities were like in the earlier incarnations.

Funshine was actually a girl in the earlier incarnations. I'm glad I wasn't pipe-dreaming when I thought I remembered that from the books and other materials back then. I'm not sure why they changed genders with the character. I might like her/him in other incarnations, I don't know. But I definitely don't like him too much in the most recent incarnation. Even less after that episode. However, just on aesthetic principle alone, I'm sentimental about him because he/she was in one of the books I've had since I was a child and hence, is one of the ones I've been most familiar with through the years. I might buy a plush of him thinking about those times and not how thoughtless he can tend to be in the most recent series. I do similar things with TMNT merchandise; I'm willing to buy stuff based in the Nickelodeon verse, because I'm happy to have the opportunity to buy Turtles merchandise, but I don't think of what I buy as having to actually be in that verse, like my plushies. I just think of them more generically.

I was really surprised by the quick turn-around, plushie-wise, in the Wal-Marts. I doubt if that third Wal-Mart would even still have the Bedtime Bear plush. I was torn last night wanting to go see, but not wanting to ask Dad even though it was just the next town over, since it was pretty late and sometimes he hasn't liked driving to that town from the one we were in. And then I was thrilled to have found Grumpy at the Wal-Mart we did go to, as I mentioned. I had previously thought he wouldn't be a purchase choice at all because that Wal-Mart hadn't had him a month ago. I didn't want to let him go when I found him. But Dad has an appointment on Friday in the town with that third Wal-Mart, and I'm wondering if I should ask him if he could check that Wal-Mart for the Bedtime Bear. Occasionally I've asked him to look for particular Pony plushies. If the Wal-Mart possibly would still have Bedtime Bear, I'd hate to pass that up. More beautiful blue! But as I said, unless they restocked with another one, I really doubt they'd still have him a month later.

I'm also thinking about the giant Cheer plush that our Wal-Mart has. It's tempting to get her, because I really am liking her now that I've had a chance to get more familiar with her. (Plus, she's also one of the ones from my childhood book.) But on the other hand, the medium size has the DVD, and since I don't think that series has really been released on DVD otherwise, it's pretty tempting to buy medium releases whenever possible in order to get those DVDs. (Also so the plushies will be in scale with each other.) Still, I would definitely like to have at least one large plush. They're so amazingly big. I really don't think I should get many of that size due to space issues, but maybe one or two wouldn't hurt.

That plushie commercial is so right: "How can you just have one?"