Puffer Fish Plushie | Boneka Ikan Buntal

Please scroll down for English.

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Saya selalu suka dengan ikan buntal. Fakta bahwa dia bisa mengembungkan dirinya menjadi bola besar berduri terdengar absurd untuk saya. Membayangkan bahwa yang perlu ia lakukan untuk mengusir musuhnya pergi cuma menggembungkan dirinya lalu melayang-layang di dalam air terdengar seperti kartun dalam komik. Puff! Boing! Boing! Lalu selamatlah dirimu. Saya sebenarnya berharap saya juga bisa menggembungkan diri seringan udara, agar dapat melompat-lompat untuk berpindah dari tempat yang satu ke tempat yang lain dengan mudah. Tetapi, berhubung saya merasa gak punya musuh, kemampuan super itu jadi gak penting lagi.

Saya gak sabar membuat boneka ikan buntal untuk anak-anak saya. Harus jadi boneka ikan buntal paling unyu!  Setelah berhari-hari (..hmm berbulan-bulan sih tepatnya), akhirnya saya mendapat bentuk yang saya inginkan. Ikan buntal yang bulat unyu dengan bibir tebal. Bagian bulatnya lebih mirip dengan ikan landak sih, (dan saya baru tahu ada perbedaan di antara keduanya) tapi gapapa yaa.

Saya harus akui saya gak terlalu suka duri-duri jadi saya ganti duri2 tersebut dengan pola polkadot pada kainnya.

Saya membuat dua boneka. Saya juga sempat menuliskan cerita panjang tentang mereka. Ceritanya tentang ikan buntal yang mendapati kekurangannya ternyata bisa menjadi kelebihannya. Ceritanya masih tertulis dalam bahasa Inggris. Silakan scroll ke bagian akhir halaman ini untuk membacanya.

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I always find myself in love with puffer fish. The idea of being able to inflate the body into big spiny ball seems so absurd for me. Imagining that all it has to do after inflating is just flying floating in the deep to send its predator away is so comical. Puff! Boing-boing! Et voila, you're safe! I wish I can inflate myself and -hop-hop-hop- move from one place to another easily because I will be as light as the air. But, since I dont have any predator, we have to get rid of that wish away. Fufufu

So I could't wait to make pufferfish softies for my kids. It had to be the cutest pufferfish ever! After days and days and days (... eerr replace the days word with months-I'm hard to be pleased, pardon *grin*) I finally came up with the shape I liked. Round shape with full lips. Well, It's more like a porcupine instead of a puffer, (Oh don't you know there are differences between them?) but I like the 'PUFF' part so I'll continue with pufferfish name.

I got to admit that I dont like the spiny part, simply because spines were not cute :D, so I got rid of that away. I replaced the with polkadot pattern fabric.

I made two softies. I even came up to write a long story about them. Together, they made a story about a pufferfish who found out that his weakness could be his strength. Please read below.

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There was a little pufferfish lives in tropical coral with his family. He plays happily with other coral fish all day long. One day when they were swimming between coral, catching each other, the little pufferfish slipped on a hairy anemone. He lost his balance,  and PUFF!!, all of a sudden he turn into big spiny ball. He tried to swim again but all he can do was floating slowly. He looked at his body and he felt so shocked. He's never been like this before.

All his friends swam closer. They surrounded him in amazement and curiosity.
'wow, you're.. inflating '
'My mom once told me that a puffer could actually swallow an octopus'
'Can you do bouncing? How far can you go?'
The little puffer fish who was literally not little anymore felt awkward. All of what his friend said made him mad.
'Leave me alone!' he yelled.
Everybody turned quite in a second. One by one, they swam away and left him alone.
He felt so sad. He spew the water and went home.

"Dad, I was inflating, in front of my friend." Once he's home with his Dad.
"Hohoho, finally you did it for the first time, my son. How does it feel?"
"I hate it. I became big and ugly. I think they're all don't want to make friends with me anymore. Why do a puffer has to become a silly balloon once he swallows water?"
His father smiled. "Sometimes in this life, my dear son, there'll be time in this life when you don't even like yourself. You'll wish God to transform you into others. But once you're able to challenge yourself to see things differently, you'll wish to reborn exactly the same."

The next day, the little pufferfish went swimming around coral reef alone. When he get to the end of red corals, he encountered other coral fishes from a far. All seemed happily chatting and singing. He's about to join them, but something crossed his mind. He thought his friend would think he's weird for what happened yesterday. He didn't want to accidentally inflate again in from of them. He turned his back and sadly swam away.

He was just swimming few meters when he heard mass screaming. Oh, it sounded familiar. Yes, it was his friends screaming loud. The singing and chatting has turned into loud screaming. He decided to the get back to see what happened.

He saw a big sea snake making move toward those little coral fish.
"Heeeellllppp!" yelled the gobies.
The little puffer's trembling. He wanted to help but he's afraid. He never faced a snake before.
He thought what was needed was gaining some time so that his friends could getaway and hide inside the coral reef.
The big sea snake was chasing one of the little anglefish. With his slim long body, soon he'd be able to chase her. When the angle swam to the right, she faced the snake tongue that coming out from his fanged mouth scarily. When she turned and swam back to the left, there's the snake tail ready to wrap her. There's clearly a fear on her face.
Right when the snake was about to grab her, the little pufferfish came and stood bravely in the middle of them. "Run!" He yelled to the angle fish. The sea snake stopped and felt surprise. This gave her some moment for running away.
'Aahh another little fish. Why did you ask her to run? Do you want to replace her and become my meal?' Said the snake in deep and terrifying voice.
The little pufferfish went trembling again. He's too afraid to say a word.
"Well then, if that's what you wish!" said the snake again. The sea snake come closer and ready to open his mouth.
The little puffer closed his eyes in fear. In darkness, he remembered what his father said last night.
With all the power he had, he opened his mouth. He tried to swallow as much water as he could.  What happened the day before was repeated again. Puff!! He turned into a big spiny ball. Bigger ball, and sharper spine!
The sea snake stopped.
"Aarrgh, turn out you're a puffer." He yelled in mad voice. He knew that he can't eat a puffer, not only they will clog and hurt his throat, they're also poisonous.
He's looking around searching for another little fish, but no one around. All fish has been hiding inside the coral reef. He looked angrily toward the puffer that was floating slowly in front of him.
"I'll be back!" The snake went away.
The little puffer felt so much relieve. He has just getaway from a terrifying predator.
All other little fishes that were hiding and watching from inside the coral cave, came out and swam closer.
"You're my hero! Thank you so much!" said the little anglefish.
"I never saw such bravery before." Said a butterfly fish.
"You're cool. I wish I can inflate just like you" said the others.
The little pufferfish was smiling. He finally understood what his father said. He's proud of himself.