If, like me, you are a parent of young children, you might have found yourself trying to come up with names for them that were as unique as you wanted or expected your children to be. Everyone knows someone who has a child with a name spelled in a different way, such as Madyson instead of Madison. While this is commendable in terms of being distinctive, the unintended consequence is that you have doomed your children to a lifetime of correcting people on how to spell or pronounce their names. Another idea is to find a singular name, or at least one that is less common, one that evades the year’s top 100 most popular children’s names, or even the most popular 1,000.
Such was the case when determining what to name my child, Felix. I needed to find a name that worked in English, Portuguese, and German (long story), and Felix seemed ideal. I also liked the “x” in the name for personal reasons, but again, it was really an attempt to find a perfect and unique name for my perfect and unique child. That’s all fine and well, but as it turns out, having a special name has many drawbacks. For example, if you are visiting Disneyland and want to buy a mug with your child’s name on it, chances are they won’t carry ones with the special names, leading to tears and sadness, and (on the part of the parents) general teeth-gnashing.
So, when my son came back from watching the movie Wreck-It Ralph in a state of inexplicable joy, I knew something must be up. It turns out that the movie features a video game called Fix-It Felix, Jr., that plays a central role in the plot. At last, Felix got his name in lights! He was happily recounting the story and proud to know his name was integral to such a funny movie.
As my readers know, my job is to find remarkable items for sale on eBay, and to expose them to readers by writing about them. You can imagine my surprise when I ran across today’s remarkable item, this Fix it Felix Jr. . . Arcade Video Game . from Disney Movie Wreck it Ralph:
Not knowing much about the movie, other than it had a character called Fix-It Felix Jr., this auction made me wonder what made this item so unique. Some information in the listing posits possible reasons to bid on this no-reserve auction:
“This is a real, fully functioning Fix it Felix arcade game built by Disney Studio to promote the release of Wreck it Ralph. I believe no more then 12 of these games were built but I could be wrong.
Not just a fun game but a beautiful work of art. The way Disney captures the look and feel of a 30 year old arcade game is amazing, the quality is everything you would expect from the masters of make believe.”
It looks pretty cool, and would certainly be a great item to own. In my excitement upon seeing this auction, I called over to my son to take a look at the game. I asked him to tell me about the movie, so I could understand it better (you can find a synopsis here).
I neglected to think about one thing. It is less than three weeks until Christmas. Since my son’s name is Felix, this could just about be the coolest present for him, ever. And he thinks so too! Now he hopes Santa will bring him one. He told me so, while his eyes shone with expectation (he is seven).
Sadly, with the bidding up this high already (over $3,500), this item will not find its way under (next to?) our tree this year. If you, like me, can’t quite afford the price of the arcade game, you can still play it online. Just head over to the Disney game site, and have fun. The game is actually quite addicting, in a retro, Donkey-Kong kind of way.
So now, in the future, when Felix is old enough to read and understand this post and the dilemma his dad faced this Christmas, I hope he will forgive Santa for not bringing him his gift. And I still find him wonderful and unique, like his name.
Next time, I’ll splurge on the custom-name souvenir mug at Disneyland.
” In my excitement upon seeing this auction, I called over to my son to take a look at the game. I asked him to tell me about the movie, so I could understand it better (you can find a synopsis here).
I neglected to think about one thing. It is less than three weeks until Christmas. Since my son’s name is Felix, this could just about be the coolest present for him, ever. And he thinks so too! Now he hopes Santa will bring him one. He told me so, while his eyes shone with expectation (he is seven).”
Oh geez you might have just got it over with and thrown him down a well or something. Maybe he’s the rare 1 in 1000 kids who has the life perspective by age 7 to understand if a family has $3500 or more to burn it’s best going into a college fund rather than a foolish, overpriced toy that will be forgotten and ignored before New Year’s (with lots more playtime going into the box it came in!) but I somehow doubt it.
May he enjoy the lump of coal he finds in his stocking instead!
(me thinks the article was written as a confessional, looking for penance! LOL, loved it anyway. here’s an idea though- pick up one of those ’70′s handheld mattel football games, with the lines of red leds you mash buttons to navigate, they’re cheap- and re-sticker it with appropriate labels-a good printer and some imagination with any art program should do. as the game involves running, how about “Flee, Felix, Flee!” but hope it doesn’t spark the idea of running away from home on Xmas eve)
No…my son is also named Bort. (Actually my 4-month old is an Arlo.) rs
Loved it. Both my son and I are Felix’ as well.