Tris' Thoughts

Daily writing prompt

Describe an item you were incredibly attached to as a youth. What became of it?

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LarryBoy. The item was a plastic LarryBoy figure.

It was quite the neat toy. You could put LarryBoy in the cockpit of his car and if you pushed a little button on the side, his plunger wheels would come off and it would transform into a plane.

Child me was quite the fan of LarryBoy and I’ll never forget how awesome it felt to watch LarryBoy and the Fib from Outer Space, with the Larry-Mobile transforming into a plane as the theme song swelled in the background.

Of course, watching it as an adult, I’m able to appreciate the more comedic intentions of the scene, especially the little pea child insisting that the Larry-Mobile’s honking is “All part of the plan”. But even today, there’s quite the cool factor at seeing a super hero vehicle that transforms.

The model for this specific toy was based on the version of the Larry-Mobile from the second LarryBoy adventure, LarryBoy and the Rumor Weed, which itself has another intense transformation scene.

As a side note, the Rumor Weed episode is particularly good, and Alfred is absolutely a psychopath.

As I got older, I realized how silly a super hero cucumber who was a parody of Batman fused with Spider-Man was, but that never dissuaded me from being a fan. And I’ll gladly defend the merits of VeggieTales. Silly or not, it was a well-produced and clever series, and I’d say they managed to pull off the cool factor with LarryBoy while balancing the comedy.

Suffice to say, when I was gifted that plastic LarryBoy and the Larry-Mobile, I was quite ecstatic. And I happily played with that thing for years. Of course, as time went on, I lost more of the wheels but I didn’t mind much since I could still use it as a plane.

It was in my very early adult years that I rediscovered the LarryBoy figure specifically. Out of sentimentality, I decided to carry the paint-worn plastic in my writing pouch. I’d bring him to my college courses and set him on my desk for all to see. I had quite the reputation during college as a clownish student, so the LarryBoy typically endeared me to my professors and classmates more than it made me seem immature.

I considered the risk of losing such a favored childhood toy but it wasn’t actually at college that tragedy would strike. It was my workplace.

I was working at a restaurant with a great deal of personality. Prior and current employees had decided to decorate the top of our coffee machine with varying dolls and action figures. I recall one being of Wonder Woman but I can’t remember the others. I felt like joining in the fun and being a team player. So I sat LarryBoy on the coffee machine. I may have taken a photo of him with his new friends but the phone I used at the time was destroyed beyond repair when I dropped it on a crosswalk.

LarryBoy lasted for around six months, give or take a month. I had received confirmation from my employer that none of the toys were in violation of workplace regulations, nor would they be disposed of. This proved false apparently because one day, I came into work to see them all gone. My employer had decided to throw them away. He decided they annoyed him and that they didn’t belong. No one was warned and while a gracious coworker helped me search the trash, we never found any of the figures.

I still look back fondly at that job overall. If it weren’t for COVID, I would have been employed there much longer. But even today, that bit of disregard and callousness hurts. I was somewhere in my early twenties at the time, having owned LarryBoy for close to two decades. And then he was gone, just like that.

I remember thinking about having his lower torso cut off and hollowing it out so I could turn him into a capped pen or a flash-drive. But silly as it was, it felt cruel.

I considered buying a replacement but never got around to it. But just this last year, I was gifted a special birthday present.

I wouldn’t call myself a collector of figurines or toys but I’ve been gifted a gradual stockpile over the years and many of them populate my work desk. LarryBoy is in good company now: standing proud alongside a paper-figure Grian (Hermitcraft), a red panda plushie, a Tails keychain (Sonic the Hedgehog), a 3D printed Stone Golem (Risk of Rain 2), and more friends.

I’m not much for physical gifts and knickknacks but this is one I’ll cherish for as long as I live, along with those who went to the lengths to replace it for me.