I Bought a Whole Box of Linux Mascots

For a long time I’ve wanted something with some personality sitting on my desk. Beyond figures, what I really wanted was something that represents Linux — like that very fat penguin.

I figured this stuff would be easy to find. Surprise: Taobao doesn’t have it.

So I looked further afield, and it turns out it’s hard to find anywhere in the world selling toys of this thing, let alone figures. There was a point where I seriously considered buying a Tencent penguin just to convince myself it was Linux’s Tux. Then I found a toy shop on Amazon US selling Tux plushies. Not big, but small enough to actually sit on a desk — they had a hanging ornament, a desktop decoration, and a keychain, three in total.

Ordered without a second thought. They even shipped direct, and the shop emailed me saying they’d never seen a Chinese address before (all pinyin) and needed me to confirm by email that the address was correct and so on.

After confirming, it showed up in 15 days. Faster than I expected — Google Now had told me I wouldn’t get it until September 22.

The shop was genuinely generous and threw in several extra ones — a whole box of them. The build quality isn’t exactly fine craftsmanship, but you won’t notice unless you look closely. And the thing is soft, so you can squeeze it when you’re bored — like when Linux crashes, maybe squeeze it to relieve stress (lol).

So either way, as a hopeless Linux fanboy, my faith has been topped up.