Me with a borrowed puppet named Sally
Name: Victor F. George
Date Of Birth: October 3, 1968
I was born in Westfield to a family of three other siblings. At four, I had been diagnosed with having a developmental disorder with childhood onset, and most of my early childhood was spent in special schools, trying to learn how to talk. Apparently, I was put into a residential school called Our Lady Of Providence Children's Center in West Springfield, MA. in 1976, where I spent the next five years with students with mental and emotional problems. By 1981, I was transferred to St. Vincent's Home in Fall River, MA., where I continued my education until 1986. From there I briefly went to college, first at Bristol Community in Fall River and then at Holyoke Community in Holyoke. In the meantime, I have been involved with programs such as the Tri-County Youth Group that operated in Northampton and Westfield, and then eventually the Forum House, a vocational rehabilitation program for the mentally ill.
Throughout my life, artwork has been my forte. I basically started off with doing maps and primitive drawings of highway layouts, then I progressed into doing cartoon characters. Though I still do cartoon artwork, I try not to limit myself to doing just that. Over the past 10 years I have contributed my talents to producing the Forum House's monthly newsletter. In 1994 I have graduated from Holyoke Community College with a degree in Liberal Arts & Sciences (my main study was Video Production), and now I am looking for work in the area of video and computers.
My personal ambition was to create a motion picture mixing animation similar to that of Disney's Toy Story with real environments and live actors. Personally, I wanted to do a Smurfs movie that does that kind of stuff. However, with recent changes in my life, such as accepting Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and the increasing instability of my mental illness, I have no idea where my life is going at this point.  Right now, I'm attending New Life Christian Center (formerly known as Westfield Assembly of God), volunteering as a sound booth worker, and still attending the Forum House on a daily basis.  Here's a picture of the latest addition to the George clan, my soon-to-be-one-year-old nephew Damien Spencer George:
Picture of my new nephew, Damien Spencer George 
Why Do I Like Smurfs?
It's strange that back around 1981, I wouldn't have thought myself to be a Smurf lover. I've only started getting into it a bit when I saw my first few episodes of the cartoon show in 1982. One of those episodes was "The Purple Smurfs", which I thought was excellent compared to the dross that followed in later years. (Well, "Hogatha's Heartthrob" is my other favorite because it's basically so campy -- seeing Hogatha the witch saying that line "I have charm, I have beauty, I have a beard..." before she even notices it is hilarious!). It wasn't until I heard about the forthcoming Smurf videogame for the Atari 2600 did I start really getting into those characters -- collecting their comic book stories, including one my sister brought home from her trip to Germany, and even doing my own cartoons. Of course, my interest level dropped around the time when characters like Wild Smurf and Nanny were introduced, not to mention their time-travel adventures (which. with all due respect to their creator Peyo, was definitely the height of stupidity). But like the legendary phoenix, it rose up from the ashes in 1992 when I started getting into doing my belated and unauthorized "contribution" to the legend called Empath.
Why do I like Smurfs so much? Well, to most people they're just cartoon characters. To me, though, they're like virtual life forms living in a ant colony sort of community. They're also not ashamed of their bodies, either -- in fact, they seem so shamelessly (or guiltlessly) exhibitionistic. (Of course, there's a few exceptions to that rule, like Snappy, Slouchy, and Nanny!) They have short blue tails, which probably makes the need for elastic bands in their pants unnecessary since their tails keep their pants from drooping! They like to party all the time, perhaps so much it makes me envious. Of course, what ticks me off is why there's only one male adult Smurf like Papa Smurf who has to be the all-powerful stand-out character, and why there aren't more than a few female Smurfs among them. Personally, Papa Smurf is my favorite among them -- any Smurf that looks good as he does in a beard gets my thumbs-up. But only one Smurfette for the adult Smurfs, Sassette for the Smurflings, and Nanny for Grandpa Smurf? And even worse, Papa Smurf's got this "infatuation" with Smurfette as well? The things that make you go hmmm...!
What's In My Smurf Collection?

Plastic Figurines
Pretty much the staple of any Smurf collector. Most of my collection contains recast versions that were sold in the 1990s and picked up at dollar discount stores and specialty shops. One Smurf I got from my sister for my college graduation in 1994 was a beer-mugger on a stand.
WHAT'S CURRENTLY IN MY COLLECTION:
(This list will get updated as new figurines are added.)
Papa Smurf with lab beakers
Sassette
Nat
Snappy
Slouchy
Puppy
Grandpa Smurf
Nanny Smurf
Bat-winged Smurf
Clown Smurf (two types)
Smurf on telephone
Mail-carrier Smurf
Firefighter Smurf with ruler
Smurfette in hula skirt
Smurfette in car
Smurfette with grooming mirror & stool
"Donald Duck" Smurf (shirt, but no pants!)
"Stevie Wonder" Smurf with keyboard
Smurf with propeller-driven boat
Beer-mugger Smurf on stand
Smurf with flower on stand
Baseball Smurf catcher
Smurf with a pumpkin
King Smurf (earlier version)		 Smurfette with tennis racket
Smurf with tennis racket
Smurfette with teacup & teapot
Smurfette with coffee mug
Inner-tube Smurf
Baby Smurf (normal colors)
King Smurf (1990s version)
Football Smurf
Soccer Smurfette
Baseball Smurf batter
Super Smurf in a Speedo
Grouchy Smurf with umbrella
Gargamel
Azrael
Bathing Smurf with bathtub
Papa Smurf in rocking chair with pipe
Nightie-wearing Smurf with bed
Baby Smurf (pink sleeper & hat) with highchair
Smurf with food serving stand
Wind-up Papa Smurf
Hefty
Demon Smurf
Electric guitar Smurf
Comic Books
This includes the Marvel Comics three-issue pack (which is getting a bit ragged), about five Random House big-page books (The AstroSmurf, Romeo & Smurfette, King Smurf, The Smurfs & The Magic Flute, The Smurfs & The Howlibird), one Carlsen Comics book (German version of Blue Smurfs & Black Smurfs, which is missing its cover), three Bastei Comics full-length books (German versions of Clockwork Smurf/The Smurflings, Soup A La Smurf, The Jewel Smurfer), and four Bastei Comics shorter-length books (German versions of Hogatha's Amulet, House Of A Thousand Mirrors a.k.a. A Maze Of Mirrors, The Great Smurf Festival, and Cut-Up Smurfs). In addition, I have two of the smaller Smurf story books by Random House and a copy of "What Do Smurfs Do All Day" from Dr. Seuss.  Three new additions to the Smurf comics that I have include a Dutch translation of The Wild Smurf and another one called De Smurfendreigning, also in Dutch, plus a hardbound English copy of The Smurfette.

Videogames
Legally, I own a copy of Smurf Rescue In Gargamel's Castle and Smurf Paint & Play Workshop for the ColecoVision, two different label versions of The Smurfs for the Nintendo Gameboy. The Smurfs' Nightmare for the Nintendo Gameboy Color, The Smurfs and Smurf Racer for the Sony Playstation, The Smurfs for the Sega Game Gear, Revenge Of The Smurfs for the Gameboy Advance with the Playstation box and label design variant, and a PAL-compatible SNES English copy of The Smurfs for the Super Nintendo.

Glasses
Hardee's sold these in the early 1980's. I had picked up only two of these at an antique store (with images of Jokey and Greedy), and had bought three more at a local indoor flea market (with images of Papa Smurf, Hefty, and Grouchy).  At present, I only have a new glass that was given to me by my sister Melinda, which is another one with Jokey Smurf on it.

Stuffed Toys
I own a pocket-sized Papa Smurf as well as a bigger-sized version, plus two different-sized regular Smurfs, Sassette, Nat Smurfling, a Smurfette with dungarees, and a Smurf with a green hat. (Of course, I do fantasize about having a giant room-sized Papa Smurf stuffed toy, but you didn't hear that from me now!)

Other Reading Material
Besides the Smurf Collectors Club International quarterly newsletters, I also have their Who's Who book of Smurfs (excellent Peyo-drawn images, though it's in black-and-white and doesn't cover a whole lot) and the Smurfs Cartoon Episode Guide (better descriptions than my version on this site, though it does have some errors). I just picked up a new book called Smurf Collectibles by Schiffer Books, which has great color images of things to look for.

Miscellaneous Items
Two "Honk If You Like Smurfs" bicycle plates (one curved inward, the other straight), a Smurf jigsaw puzzle (image of Smurfs crossing a bridge with another on a raft), a Smurf mushroom watch with a micro-tiny Smurf figure, a 3-disk DVD box set of the first season from Exposure Entertainment, two copies of the 13-disk DVD set from TransformersCDs.com, and three video tapes of Smurf episodes. I used to tape the episodes when they were on Saturday mornings, then I just gave it up and erased those tapes!

Unofficial Stuff
I also have a small collection of Smurf hats! Actually, they're thin-layered winter caps you can find at your local Army & Navy surplus store, but I wear them pretty much like a Smurf hat, with the top part flopping down in any direction, and I also have emblazoned some of them with my special Smurf insignia (like the ones you're seeing in the background on my website).  At present, I only own two black ones and two red ones.
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