When I was younger, I collected matchbooks and matchboxes. For a short spell a few years ago, I collected old Polaroid cameras. Now I’ve started buying Homies, based mostly on the fact that I see my coworker’s expansive collection every day, lined up on the partition wall between his cubicle and mine; it’s like semi-subliminal advertising.
If you’re unfamiliar with them, Homies are figurines designed by artist/designer David Gonzales. Each is typically 1-and-3/4-inches tall and represents a Mexican American person. They’re getting to be like baseball cards; the first set of the six original figurines was issued in 2001, after which each set consisted of 24 figurines. They’re up to set 8 this year and they seem to get more fun as time passes. Set 4 introduced two dog figurines and a guy in a wheelchair named Willie G. Set 6 has an ice-cream man. Set 7 even has a grim reaper, La Muerta, that I’d love to get my hands on.
In short, Homies are barrio Smurfs.
For sets 4 though 8, you can buy the full sets of 24 figurines directly from the supplier, athough they cost $24. The true collectors buy the figurines for 50 cents each from vending machines, the kind that typically stock gumballs or superballs. Not only are they 50% cheaper than buying them in a set, the potluck style makes it more fun. If you get a duplicate, for instance, you can haggle a trade with another Homies’ collector from his or her duplicate stock.
The two other people in my office who collect Homies both live in hipster Brooklyn and have no trouble finding vending machines that stock Homies, but I must have searched 101 bodegas near where I live and work to no avail. Vending machines in general just aren’t as popular as they were when I was a kid, when you’d always find them in KMarts and any drug store. I don’t think chains like Walgreens, CVS and Duane Reade even allow vending machines anymore.
But today, I got lunch down in the West Village and for some reason remembered there was what I thought was a Homies vending machine at Jimi’s old Laundromat on W. 4th, so I checked it out, and sure enough, it was there, so I bought my first Homie. Later, back at the office, I got a tip that there was another Homies machine on Eighth Avenue near W. 49th, so of course I checked that one out, too, and ended up buying six more. I’ve got to contain myself lest my Homies collection run as wildly out of control as my CD collection; but maybe if I’m lucky, the Homies will overtake my want for CDs. They’re certainly cheaper.
Finally, I can’t decide if I should be offended by Homies. I mean, it’s not like I’m collecting, say, “mammy” cookie jars, but Homies could be close, right? Gonzales certainly thinks ethnic themes are a fine idea. Last year, he introduced the Palermos, Homies-like figurines that are Italian-American, with names like Teflon Tony and Nicky No Neck.