What is a Heritage Buddy?



Now that I have this blog up and running, what shall I start off my blog series with? I’ll start by explaining how the ‘Heritage Buddy’ namesake came about; it was at the height of the toy action figure trend via Chat GPT. I’m not a huge follower of AI generated artwork but I felt curious enough to jump onto the bandwagon. It took a frustrating good few attempts to get right, but what I did get out of those attempts was a very inspiring name. Because my name is HB, I typed into Chat GPT something along the lines of “create a toy figure of a heritage and museum worker called HB”, then despite the results not being what I was expecting, it came up with the following:

Name: HB (Heritage Buddy)

Appearance:

  • HB is a cute, small figure with a friendly face and bright eyes.
  • Dressed in a navy blue outfit reminiscent of a classic museum guide, complete with a white collar and a little badge that reads "Museum Explorer."
  • Accessories include a tiny backpack filled with miniature museum artifacts (like a small dinosaur bone and a tiny painting replica).

Personality:

  • Curious and adventurous, HB loves exploring different cultures and histories.
  • Always eager to learn and share interesting facts about heritage sites and museums.
  • Has a passion for storytelling, often sharing tales about the artifacts in their backpack.

Features:

• Comes with a mini museum playset that includes various exhibits like ancient artefacts, historical costumes, and art pieces.

  • Interactive features like a sound button that plays museum-related facts or fun trivia when pressed.

Target Audience:

• Ideal for children aged 5-10 who are interested in history and culture, encouraging educational play.

Tagline:

"Discover the world with HB, your Heritage Buddy!"


This figure aims to inspire a love for museums and heritage in a fun and engaging way!


This was so adorable but this was more of a statement than an image of a packaged toy. The first attempts gave me a Playmobil-like figure in a 1950's home interior with pottery and paintings. Although I was looking for a vintage pinup-style figure, it was nothing like the other ones across social media. 

Everyone’s figure happened to come in a plastic box but mine happened to be a tin with a watercolour painting of myself as a wartime nurse, but that wasn’t the only thing; I listed a poppy wreath for symbolism of war and peace, a military first aid kit, my cat (who’s tabby and white but in the image he’s all white without his tabby markings) and a journal in the above image. 

I could write a separate post on this, but the inspiration for the figure to be a nurse came from when I was a performing arts and media student when working on my silver level Arts Award group project. The project was a short film production based on the World War 1 poem Dulche de Decorum est by Wilfred Owen where I played a British Red Cross VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) nurse character. This experience was a gorgeous idea for HB the Heritage Buddy to perform some costumed interpretation to help teach about medical care during wartime. 

Some ideas I already have are trips and outings, war memorials, hidden treasures, experiences as a heritage and culture explorer, volunteering stories, guess the object, interpretations, unknown yet intriguing facts and considering a neurodivergence series about life as an AuDHDer and promoting acceptance within the heritage community. 

I am open to ideas from readers; feel free to leave a comment, follow this blog or follow me on Instagram @hbtheheritagebuddy.
More social media pages coming soon so watch this space! 😉

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