This is the thread that I thought the the "Your Toy Story Toy" thread would be.
Most everyone, like Andy in Toy Story, had a toy that was more than just a fun piece of plastic or stuffed cloth to play with -- it was a childhood friend. To throw it out or give it away would be unspeakable. And in most cases, you really did suspect that it was alive when you weren't looking.
My toy was a stuffed Koala, which I, in the height of my childhood imagination, Christened "Koala."
He was actually a toy given to my little brother when he was born, but he never really took to the toy, and one day I discovered him in our toy box and, needing a toy to compete with my older brother's chosen teddy-bear comrade "Bearbuck," I took him in as my own.
Both Koala and Bearbuck could fly, were super strong, were part of the stuffed toy football league, and talked in a stuffed toy language that sounded a lot like Beaker from the muppets. Our entire toy box eventually became a working society -- or at least working in the minds of young first-and-second graders, who weren't very concerned with matters such as economics, politics, or civil unrest. All a society really needed to work was a king, a police officer, a criminal, a fast food joint, and a sports team.
So what about you all? What toys played a major role in your upbringing?
(Rejected thread title: "Pictures of your Woody")