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How Donny Fixes Toys


by pikachu315111

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I'm sure this has happened to everyone. You had a toy you were playing a bit too rough or careless with and it breaks. It's not fun times, and usually you end up having to throw the toy away as there's no way to fix it. It's a sad part of life, but at least on Neopets if your Neopets breaks a toy there's a way to fix it! On the top of Terror Mountain lies the Toy Repair Shop where an elderly and grumpy Bori named Donny can repair almost any toy! Even toys you don't think he'd be able to fix he somehow found a way to repair them as good as new. I decided to ask Donny about his toy repairing skills and how he's able to repair certain types of toys and a few special ones.

"Oh, so you want to know how I repair toys, do you? Well, sit down and listen up, I'm takin' time away from fixin' toys to tell you all this."

Toy Type: Plushies (& Similar)

Examples: Broken Yellow Chia Plushie, Broken Blue Fuzzle, Broken Fuzzie Bear, Ripped Cheery Tomato Plushie, Ripped Jelly Chia Plushie

"Fixin' Plushies is how I got started in this business, repairin' them fer the little tykes on Terror Mountain so they had somethin' warm to cuddle with when they go to sleep. I can practically fix 'em in my sleep I've done so many. With yer basic plushie and the Fuzzie Bear most o' the time they're ripped and lost some o' their stuffin', so I just fill 'em up with stuffin' again and sew them back up. Sometimes they're missin' parts so I need to match the material they're made with and make a new part be it a patch fer a hole or an absent limb. In this case special Plushies are the hardest to repair but I've learned what they're made o' so have ordered enough o' their materials that I can probably make a dozen o' them from scratch. There are two exceptions to this. Fuzzles are pieces o' plastic with "hair" stickin' out o' it so fer them I need to stick the "hair" fibers into the plastic pores, it can be tedious. Finally the Jelly Chia Plushie isn't stuffed with normal stuffin' but a gel; it's by far the messiest to fix."

Toy Type: Wooden Toys

Examples: Broken Archery Set, Broken Lady Blurg Bat Game, Broken Wooden Stilts, Broken Wooden Sword, Smashed Cheery Blossom

"I know what yer thinkin'. "Donny, how is it possible to fix wood"? Very carefully, and a bit o' Earth Faerie magic doesn't hurt either. The most important thing about wood is that if I were to fix it I need ALL the pieces, every chunk and every splinter. Well, maybe not every splinter, but if it's a sizeable piece, bigger than a sewin' needle, I'll need it to fix the wood. If there's a piece missin' and it's small enough I can possible whittle a replacement piece, though. Once I have all the pieces I then glue them back in their proper place. But this isn't no ordinary glue I use, this is glue made with Earth Faerie magic! What is broken wood but thousands o' snapped microscopic fibers? The Earth Faerie glue reconnects those snapped fibers back together, better than any other glue can. Once glued together I just need to provide some pressure fer a few seconds and you should have a whole piece o' wood once more!"

Toy Type: String Toys

Examples: Broken Blue Mynci Puppet, Broken Lady Blurg Bat Game, Broken Pull Along Snowbunny, Broken Shoot Kreludor Game, Broken Yoyo

"A string toy is usually more than just a string, being made o' other materials that could have also broke, but fer now I'll only talk about how I fix the string itself. There are two ways a string can be considered "broke": it either snapped or it got knotted up. Now usually I just replace the string, but when that's not possible fer whatever reason I have some alternate options. Fer the strings that snapped I can tie enough o' the strands together again but it takes some time to make it a strong enough string once more. Fer the strings that are knotted up I have a special pick that can loosen even the tightest o' knots enough so that I can unknot it. Usually I only need to use those alternate options if I'm fixin' a string toy that belongs to a toy collector who wants the toy to remain as "authentic" as possible. Hmph, a toy is a toy if you ask me, it doesn't matter if its parts are the same as the day it was made but rather if you can still play with it like you were able to before."

Toy Type: Plastic Toys

Examples: Broken Blue Whistle, Broken Fake Kass Charm, Broken Fake Uni Hat, Broken Plastic Sword, Broken Toy Seesaw

"I have multiple options to fix a plastic toy. If I'm lucky the plastic toy isn't really broken but a connectin' piece just popped out o' its socket so the fix is as easy as poppin' it back in with a bit o' force, but not too much or else you risk actually breakin' the toy. If the plastic toy is bent out o' shape I can heat it up a bit and bend it back into shape, but not only would you need to let it cool before playin' with it again but if it cools too quickly it may become brittle and more likely to snap. Finally, if the plastic toy has been snapped in two, I can glue it back together with some extra strength glue. And don't worry about any visible seam, I may be old but my hands and vision are study that I can perfectly line up the pieces so they look and feel as smooth as when they were one piece."

Toy Type: Rubber Toys

Examples: Broken Big n Bouncy Toy, Broken Bouncy Zafara Toy, Broken Gulper Float Ring, Burst Basketball, Burst Green Bori Ball

"Rubber is a pretty resilient material, the only time where a rubber toy would need fixin' is if it's an inflatable toy and it had burst. A burst rubber toy needs to have a patch melded seal tight onto it; otherwise it won't be able to hold air. Before I needed to heat up a metal rod and carefully press it onto the patch over the hole; hard enough so that its air tight but soft enough so that the rubber doesn't melt away and the rod goes through the toy. As you can imagine accidents were easy to happen and I have the blister scars to prove it. But nowadays there's a machine which heats the rod fer me; I just need to be there to place the toy, set the patch, and to make sure it presses the right amount. I'm still doin' most o' the work but without the risk o' burnin' myself, one o' my best investments!"

Toy Type: Metal, Spring, & Gear Toys

Examples: Broken Clock, Broken Dancing Jerdana Music Box, Broken Gyroscope Toy, Broken Hissi In A Box, Broken Wind Up Tonu

"These are the toughest o' all the toys to fix. There are just so many little pieces to keep track o', and if there are bent or broken pieces it takes a bit more to fix. First thing first, if the toy is broken because it's missin' a piece I need to go check to see if I have a replacement piece. And mind you it has to be EXACTLY like the lost piece; same size, shape, and model. If there are any broken pieces I have a few options: I can find a replacement piece, if it's bent I can heat it up a bit and hammer it back into shape, or if its broken apart I can heat the pieces up enough that I can meld them back together. If all the pieces are there and fine but it's still broke I need to see if everythin' is where it needs to be. This can be the most difficult part, especially if I don't have the blueprints. Fixin' these kinds o' toys is very complicated, but I can fix them, it just may take me a lot o' time and that's time away from fixin' other toys and makin' NP."

Toy Type: Glass Toys

Examples: Broken Air Faerie Snowglobe, Broken Earth Faerie Snowglobe, Broken Gumball Machine, Broken Light Faerie Snowglobe, Broken Soup Faerie Snowglobe

"Remember kids, broken glass is very sharp and you can easily cut yerself by just touchin' it, so don't ever touch broken glass. Now with that out o' the way, onto how I fix a toy that has glass parts. Most o' these toys have a glass globe, either being a snowglobe or gumball machine. Now if the glass just has little cracks in it I may be able to remove them with a special solvent. If the glass has parts o' it broke off but is mainly all in one or several large pieces, I might be able to use a combination o' degradable glue and the solvent to put the pieces back together. In time the glue breaks down and any seams within the glass vanish makin' it flawless once more. However if the glass is just completely shattered I usually just replace it. If its insisted that the glass stays the same, I do know some glassblowers down in Happy Valley who can recycle the broken glass and remake it into what it was, but it's a bit o' a hassle to not only me but to them and takes a few days to do. Please, just accept the replacement parts, if you really wanted it to be "authentic" you shouldn't have broken it in the first place!"

Toy Type: Wheeled Toys

Examples: Broken Red Ruki Scooter, Broken Red Toy Car, Broken Roller Blades, Broken Super Duper Scooter, Flat Tyred Golden Bike

"The thing about wheeled toys is that not all wheels are the same. They're either made o' a hard rubber or a thick inflatable rubber. What they're made o' usually determines how they break, too. The hard rubber wheels are usually on toy vehicles or rollerblades and tend to fall off. Fixin' them depends in what way they broke which can go from me hammerin' them back onto their axis to gluin' it back on with extra strength glue. As fer the thick inflatable rubber wheels, their problem are they get deflated and even then the scooters and bikes they're attached to are in worse shape. Sometimes they too fall off or get bent but that's an easy fix as well. Hammer it back into shape, patch the wheel, realign it on its spoke, and inflate. The wheels are always my last concern on any toy as they're so easy to fix or replace."

Toy Type: Pencils

Examples: Dull Blue Pencil with Eraser, Snapped Deluxe Set of Colouring Pencils

"Pencils come either chewed away at or snapped into pieces. The ones snapped into pieces can be fixed by gluin' the pieces back together with the Earth Faerie glue used to recombine wood. Fer the pencil that's been chewed on, the bites are only surface deep. I can shave off the outer layer till its smooth again, repaint it the color it was, give it a new eraser, and sharpen it to a fine point. Really it's the best I can do with a pencil, being they were made to be disposable there's no way fer me to restore what's been used up."

Special Toys:

Broken Kaylas Chemistry Set

"Surprisingly it's not broken glass that's the main reason why it's brought to me, but rather its gotten stained from an experiment gone wrong. Cleaning it with a heavy duty bleach, or a color safe detergent if it's the hat, usually does the job; though it unfortunately makes it smell fer hours after the cleaning. Maybe you can make something that'll cover up the smell; speaking o' which I also give them a new supply o' ingredient packets."

Broken Mootix Farm

"Fixing the container is the easy part as its all plastic, the problem is with the dirt and Mootix. The stuff I need to learn to fix some toys, I had to read a whole book about Mootix in order to understand what kind o' dirt they like to make their nests in. Thankfully it's not something rare, but I still need to order dirt o' all things from somewhere else. Also I need to store a whole lot o' Mootix eggs which hasn't been hard these last few years thanks to that Professor Clodbottle; though now that the Habitarium closed I'm going to need to find another supplier. Hmph"

Broken Neo Hits Volume One

"Some glue, a steady hand, and a sharp eye. I also need all pieces as each piece holds a part o' the song. Funny story, those up in the Virtupets Space Station that makes these "CDs" as they call them are quite surprise I'm able to fix it at all without any magic or "advance" technology. Pfft, just goes to show you that experience and skill can do just as much as any spell or hi-tech doohickey."

Broken Sculpty Dough

"Just needs water, it's something even you can do at home. Add a bit o' water, knead it, and repeat until sculptable again. I suppose they bring it to me since I also have color dyes to make sure that the color doesn't wash away, but if you're doing it correctly that shouldn't be an issue."

Bag of Broken Neopoints

"Ah, one o' the items that confuses most o' Neopia I'm able to fix. Most funny thing about this item is that some wonder if it's even right fer me to repair it as I'm technically bringing NP into the economy. O' course that's all nonsense, even though the NP was no longer usable they were still being counted to having existed; they don't remove the amount o' destroyed NP from the economy's balance because at one time they were being used meaning they had value. All I'm doing by repairing the NP is making it usable again, that's all. O' course I can't tell you how I do it, when it was discovered I knew how to I was approached by some economy officials who made me swore to keep it secret. Though what I can tell you is that NP are not just mere coins, they do have some kind o' magic behind them. In fact, even I don't fully understand it myself, I just know how to fix them."

Dirty Stone Fragment

"Oh yeah, I completely forgot about those. They kind o' bring up a sore spot for me. When they talk about those who saved the Lost Desert they mention Tomos, Nabile, and Jazan yet they forget those o' us who did a little part to help. Had I not cleaned those fragments no one would have gotten the weapon to weaken Razul enough so that Jazan could finish him off! Aah, whatever, that's not why you're here. You want to know how I fixed the Dirty Stone Fragments? I used a thin, sharp point pick to loosen the hardened dirt and then a soft bristle brush to sweep the dirt away. Nothing more complicated than that, in fact now thinkin' about it anyone with the tools could have done it so maybe my role wasn't as important as I thought. Well, even if someone else had the tools, it was still me everyone went to so I think it still counts!"

Just as he finished saying that, someone came in holding a Broken Astrolabe, a toy with a lot of gears and springs to keep track of. Donny gave out a heavy sigh and started getting out his tools. No words were needed for me to understand our interview was over so I packed my things and left Donny to his work. Luckily he managed to answer all the questions I wanted him to answer and then some, so now I share with you the secrets of Neopia's most skilled toy repairer!

 
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