I love a good animated film.

In fact, I have been a Disney fan since childhood and this only got worse as I grew older and had my own money to spend on bits and pieces I liked.

When the Disney Store opened in our area, well I was in my element. I was a frequent visitor but unlike some, I would purchase items and use them rather than keeping them up in the attic to increase in value.

At one point (and forgive me for how old I am) there were over 70 Disney films on VHS in the house. Not only the big blockbusters, but the very much less well known and a whole range of ‘sing-along-songs’ which included the most famous of songs with snippets of animation and the words scrolling underneath.

Russell, Dug and Me!

It didn’t matter if it was Cinderella or Old Yeller’ there was a copy of each and they were watched frequently, especially when the twins were of a suitable age.

The favourites had to be ‘The Little Mermaid’ ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and anything that involved Winnie The Pooh.

Up Ears

As the girls got older, Blue-Ray was the thing to have and all the money we had spent on VHS was wasted as it was a struggle to even find a VHS player any more!

Of course, over those years, the films evolved and certainly became more technical and the use of computers, green screens and the like meant a revolution in the animated world.

Many of these newer films passed me by, such as Bolt, Meet the Robinsons and Big Hero 6.

Adventure Is Out There!

The girls were not interested and as they weren’t the ‘classics’ I was used to, I didn’t bother either.

And then a film was made by a collaboration between Disney and Pixar and completely won (and broke) my heart.

That animated production was ‘Up’.

Paradise Falls Savings Jar

Now, if you have never had the chance to see ‘Up’, I recommend you get a copy or look on one of the many streaming services and see if you can find it.

The basic storyline features the best of friends, who grow up and fall in love.  And a house with balloons. And a rare bird.

Of course, there is a lot more to that, but I am not going to spoil the storyline for you as it really is both a beautiful, poignant, heartbreaking and celebratory story all in one.

Add in a bit of a villain, some comical characters and you really do have a winner on your hands.

Kevin!

I can honestly say I have probably watched the film around thirty times and cried during every single showing. It doesn’t matter that I know the plot, when certain things will happen and even the dialogue that will be said…

It gets me EVERY time.

Anyway, I have gone off on a little tangent there, but that is the background to my blog and it will explain an awful lot!

There are five ‘main’ characters in the film; Carl and Ellie, the childhood best friends. Russell, a wilderness explorer boy ‘scout’, Dug the Dog and Kevin the rare bird.

Cookie Jar

During the course of the film, these characters teach you a lot of things; compassion, hope, sorrow, right from wrong, caring and friendship.

The main tenet of the film is that ‘Adventure is Out There’ and that you should never give up on your dreams.

I do truly believe that this is one of the reasons why I love this film so much. Over the past eight years I have actively sought adventures, living my best plus size, over 40 life.

This is when the slight obsession has occurred.

Mugs and More

My love for the film has spilled over into the world of collecting.

This started out as just the odd Disney trading pin.

Now, if you are not au fait with these, Disney release hundreds and thousands of new metal ‘pins’ every year. They can be a specific film or character.

They can be a theme that incorporates a character such as a set of cupcakes, that are liveried in the outfits of Mickey, Minnie, Donald and so on.

Many are just made in their thousands and sold at every park, Disney shop and outlet.

My Perfect Pins!

The idea is that you purchase a starter pack when you go to a Park, put them on a Disney lanyard and if you see someone else wearing a lanyard and they have a pin you would like, you ask them to trade.

One of the best ways of getting some rarer or really unusual stamps is by trading with cast members, which are the staff that work at the parks.

They often get staff only releases or pins that are quite special.

Disney also release limited editions and are stamped as such. These ones can become extremely collectable AND valuable.

Up and Away!

Pins that you can buy on release for £10 – £15 can end up being worth hundreds of pounds, as long as accompanied by the card they are sold on and in pristine conditions.

My collection started around 3 years ago, with me wilfing about on eBay and a couple of ‘Up’ pins came up as suggestions of something I might like.

They were a couple of pounds and I put in my bid and won them!

Of course, that was the start of something quite special (and quite costly, both in terms of pennies and desires)

A Growing Collection

Every few weeks I would have a look on eBay and see if there was anything of interest. This was when I started noticing the prices of some of the items on there.

Also, how pretty some of them were and the fact I wanted to buy every single one of them!

It didn’t stop there.

Up Ice-cream at Disneyland Paris

Of course, when you look at the merchandise of something, the site then gives you other suggestions. This led me to seeing a Funko Pop of Carl, the elderly main character.

Now at that point, I didn’t even know what Funko Pops were.

For those of you that don’t either, they are plastic collectible figures designed in almost a caricature style, with bigger heads than bodies.  They can be individual characters or a diorama with a scene from the film or book that it is from.

Russell on the Rear

Funko’s are a cheap way of getting into collecting, as they start at approximately £10 for a standard collectible. However, the sheer amount the company produces means it can to be quite a costly obsession.

You can probably find every kind of Funko you can think of; Star Wars, Disney, Anime, Pokémon, Musicians and Bands, Popular culture, Celebrities, TV characters and lots of Marvel superheroes.

Starting with Up, it wasn’t too long before I spotted Monsters Inc, Prince, Winnie the Pooh and more.

The thing with Funko’s is that after a certain period of time, the characters (which are all numbered) get vaulted which means you can no longer purchase them.

The Full Works!

As with anything, demand outweighs supply and the prices skyrocket.

Sadly I was too late to the Funko game to collect the series of characters from ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ which is my absolutely favourite film.

To give you an idea, an average Frank n Furter Funko which would have been between £10 and £15 on release can now be found online for around £200 MINIMUM

If you have one signed by Tim Curry, you are looking at £800

A Small Part of The Collection

Anyway, I digress.

I started collecting the Up range which included some double scenes and I gleefully displayed these in my office.

The more I looked online for Up merchandise, the more items were shown to me as things I could be interested in. Christmas ornaments, notebooks, blankets and more.

It wasn’t long before I added the ‘Up House’ Pencil pot to the collection, which joined my mugs, ornaments and pins in the office.

Beautiful Artwork from a Beautiful Friend!

Thankfully I don’t share my office with anyone as the pin board on my wall is covered in Disney pins in general and the Up collection numbers around 40 at this point.

Now, the title of this blog talks about a possible obsession developing and this was something that my daughter, Baby Bear accused me of.

For Christmas I was gifted by my other daughter the most amazing ceramic Up House cookie jar. This currently resides on the living room cabinet as I haven’t had chance to take it into the office yet.

Fab Funko’s

I had decided that this was probably the biggest item and I needed to curtail my habits somewhat.

But then I saw it.

A magical, levitating Paradise Falls floating house statue and it had to add it to my collection.

It arrived from Amazon a couple of days later and I absolutely loved it, but it was a lot larger than I anticipated it would be.

Levitating House

Showing my new purchase to Baby Bear, her words were ‘When does liking something, become an obsession?’

Now, I did have to stop and think about that for a few moments.

Yes, I am not too far off from my 50th birthday. I have a exceedingly responsible job, where I supervise 15 people and work long hours. I have a family, bills, responsibilities and people who rely on me.

Yet one of my greatest pleasures is buying merchandise based on an animated film.

Bloody Amazing!

The sheer act of it arriving and me taking it to the office to add to the growing display fills me with utter joy. Every time I glance at my pins, or I see Carl and Ellie in Funko form, it makes me smile from ear to ear.

As far as I can see, as long as I am not getting myself into debt and I am not throwing away hundreds and thousands of pounds on an Up figure, then it might be an obsession, but who is it hurting?

Too Good To Eat!

I don’t drink or smoke anymore, so if my only vice is a multi-coloured bird called Kevin and his pals, then that can’t be a bad thing, can it?

After all, I only have so much space in the office and will have to stop soon…..

Or get a bigger office?!?!

Till next time,

SPSG xxx