My daughter Lucia has been obsessed with Cleo & Cuquin since she was two and a half. She is now four. In that time, the show has been on in our house more times than I can count, she has learned every character's name, and she has a very clear and frequently expressed opinion about which of the siblings is her favourite. It is Cuquin. It has always been Cuquin. The one with the mustache pacifier. The cheeky one. Her person.
When her fourth birthday came around, I knew what I wanted to find. Not another piece of generic merchandise with a character's face printed on it. An actual figure — something she could hold, play with, carry around, and add to a collection if the collecting instinct took hold. Something that felt like it had been made for a child who genuinely loved the show, not just licensed to exist.
The Search
Finding official Cleo & Cuquin merchandise in the UK is not as straightforward as I'd hoped. The show has a devoted following but the physical products aren't always easy to track down. I'd been looking for a few weeks without much luck when I found the Cleo & Cuquin Collectible Doll — Cuquin with Mustache Pacifier in the Toys collection.
I stopped scrolling immediately. The mustache pacifier — Cuquin's defining feature, the thing Lucia always points at on screen and laughs about — was right there, faithfully rendered. The multicoloured details looked accurate to the show. It was clearly an authentic character figure rather than a generic approximation.
Why This One
A few things gave me confidence. The figure is described as a collectible doll — which in practice means it's designed to be handled, displayed, and potentially collected alongside other characters from the series. The durable quality claim mattered to me because Lucia is not gentle with things she loves; she carries her favourites everywhere and they need to survive it.
The authentic design was the deciding factor. Lucia knows this character. She would know immediately if something was off — wrong colour, wrong expression, wrong proportions. Children who love a show are exacting critics of its merchandise. This figure looked right in every detail I could assess from the images, and I ordered it.
The Birthday Morning
I wrapped it carefully and put it with her other presents. She opened several things first — books, a craft set, some clothes she was politely enthusiastic about. Then she got to the Cuquin figure.
She went very quiet for a moment, which is not her default mode. She looked at it. She looked at me. She said, in a voice I can only describe as reverent: "It's him. It's actually him." Then she held it up to show her grandmother on a video call and explained, at length, exactly who Cuquin was and why the mustache pacifier was important.
She has not put it down for more than a few hours since. It goes to the table at mealtimes. It has been on two car journeys. It sat on the edge of the bath last Tuesday while she had her hair washed, watching proceedings with what I can only describe as dignified concern.
Two Months On
The durability has held up. Lucia is, as I mentioned, not gentle. The figure has been dropped, carried in a bag, squeezed, and subjected to the kind of enthusiastic play that tests the structural integrity of most toys within a fortnight. It looks exactly as it did when she opened it. The colours haven't faded, the details haven't worn, and nothing has broken off.
The imaginative play it's sparked has been genuinely lovely to watch. Cuquin has been incorporated into elaborate scenarios involving her other toys, has been the subject of several performances put on for us in the sitting room, and has apparently developed a rich inner life that Lucia narrates at considerable length during car journeys. This is exactly what a good character figure should do.
She has also, as I suspected she might, identified which other characters from the series she would like to add to her collection. Cleo is at the top of the list. I have noted this for future reference.
What's Actually Changed
Lucia has a thing that is hers in a way that few of her toys are. She chose Cuquin as her favourite long before she had a figure of him, and having the physical object has deepened that connection in a way I find genuinely touching. She talks to it. She includes it in her games. She introduces it to people who come to the house with the confidence of someone presenting an important member of the household.
For a parent trying to find a gift that would actually matter to a child who already has plenty of things, this was exactly right. It wasn't just a toy. It was the right toy.
If you have a Cleo & Cuquin fan in your life — a child who knows the characters, has a favourite, and would recognise the difference between something authentic and something approximate — the Cleo & Cuquin Collectible Doll — Cuquin with Mustache Pacifier is the gift that will land. Find it in our Toys collection and browse the wider range in Toys & Games. It's also in our Latest Products if you're looking for what's new.
— Valentina Moreno-Castillo, primary school teaching assistant and keeper of a very detailed mental inventory of which Cleo & Cuquin characters still need to be acquired, writing from a sitting room where Cuquin is currently attending a tea party.
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