What an interesting and thought-provoking activity! I read this thread last night just before going to bed, and then I lay in bed thinking about it. A toy is something that somebody sees and uses (I don't mean "uses" in a bad way - toys are loved and protected!), so in a way the question could be about how other people see us... which is something I'm not very good at knowing, but I've been told that I obsess way too much about it. If I were to guess, I'd think that I would be some sort of educational toy, the kind that normal kids thought were really boring Definitely not anything shiny, and not a doll - I never liked dolls as a child.

Then this morning something else struck me. I bought Enya's Christmas album in December and listened a lot to it over Christmas, to one of the songs in particular. It's called "One Toy Soldier", and I've been thinking that I mostly just liked the rhythm and the harmonies... but now I've suddenly realised that the text actually really speaks to me, as well. I found it on Youtube and sat listening to it a quarter of an hour ago, and actually started crying (which is OK, because I'm at home and on my own.) The song is about a broken toy soldier who worries because he needs to beat his drum, and he's unable to mend it himself. In the last verse, the drum is fixed and he can beat it with pride. The song is (YouTube link) and the lyrics here.

So, yeah, a broken toy drummer, that's me. Nowhere near the stage where I can beat my drum proudly - not yet.

[edited to add] This may have come out as if I'm waiting for somebody to come along and magically "fix" me without me having to do anything myself. That wasn't what I meant.