Hi everyone,
My name is Alfredo. I am originally from Argentina but have lived in the United States for 30 years (by way of Italy, where I have family). When I was a kid, I used to love the Tintin and Asterix comic books as well as the Japanese animated series HEIDI. Sadly, we did not have the Smurfs books down there until the animated series, which is interesting as we had Tintin and Asterix. However, at age 12 my family relocated to the United States, where I was happily introduced to the Smurfs. A year later we moved to Italy, where the Smurfs were equally popular. I remember walking by a nearby toy store and looking at the 'giant' Smurf Mushroom house and wanting it desperately, but considering a 12 year old boy should be playing soccer and not buying Smurf houses, I kept my mouth shut. Needless to say, I never got it, which is just as well because I would have probably lost it in my many moves.
You could say that now in my 40's, I am compensating for all that stereotypical nonsense and I can buy whatever Smurf I want and do not need to explain it to anyone. But it sure got nicer when I realized other adults were as much into the Smurfs as I! Through the years (and moves) I lost whatever Smurfs I had. I even had a plastic mold I got in Argentina, that you put clay in, close it, open it and you had a Smurf you could paint and customize after it was dry! I wish I still had that.
I mainly collect figurines, as eventually I am planning to make the entire village. These days we have access to amazing stuff like Woodland Scenics, plaster, clay and other great stuff to make a very realistic Smurf village. I am planning to build the houses too. While the plastic ones are really nice, they lack 'soul.' For now, I am collecting the figurines. What is great about being the only one in my circle of friends that is into the Smurfs is that when word got out, a dear friend in Germany decided to send me his childhood Smurfs, which are about 40 of them. Surprisingly, among the collection are some Smurfs I found out to be rather expensive and quite a collector's item. Who knew?!
Anyway, this intro got longer than I planned so I will end here with the basic necessary intro: by trade I am a professional musician (I was honored with a Grammy nomination two years ago) and by hobby, I collect Smurfs.
Wishing Smurfiness to all!
Alfredo
Maureen 
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