Today I was thinking about how toy soldiers are so big around Christmas time. There seems to be such a connection between the two. So many stories involve toy soldiers coming to life at Christmas to defend all that is good, whether it be from an evil mouse king and his army or a wicked jack-in-the-box.
I’ve recently started to collect toy soldiers from a company called First Legion. These soldiers are quality: metal and hand-painted. I’ve only got two as of yet, but I plan to get more. That’s my new hobby.
In recent years it seems that some stories, (not all, but some,) have turned the toy soldiers into the villains. Think, for example, of Disney’s the Santa Clause 2, in which the evil Santa Clone creates an army of enlarged toy soldiers which the elves have to defeat. Also, you have the clockwork soldiers in the Nutcracker and the Four Realms, (which I haven’t seen yet.) In a way that’s sad, considering what I just said about toy soldiers being the good guys in most of the old stories. Of course, you have the old stories to refer to if you want a good dose of honor from the toy soldiers, such as Hans Christian Andersen’s the Steadfast Tin Soldier and E.T.A. Hoffman’s the Nutcracker.
