It is a chilling sight that the Philippines has skipped Halloween due to financial difficulties. Shops have already dressed up their windows with Christmas ornaments over a more ghoulish demeanor. Hence, I have decided to start Halloween early with this column to preserve what is left of this ghastly holiday. Like all goosepimpling stories, a great horror story starts with romance. It is because the greater the glamour of love, the greater will be the fall to tragedy.
In this terrorific tale, two young art students David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim fall in love in New York. Years later in 2001, Sun-Min went go back to Korea. The long-distance lovers wrote “I miss you” letters signed with little orange creature named Wage. Soon enough, Wage was sewn to life by Sun-Min as a plush doll. Wage was eventually born out of maillock as it was sent to David and the first Uglydoll was unwrapped and spawned alive. Today, the couple are married with one normal daughter named Mina and 24 Uglydoll children in Los Angeles. The tragedy is that Uglydoll family continues to grow in different sizes, colors, and mutations.
Let’s Get Ugly
David and Sun-Min manage to raise these Uglydoll kids though in the Uglyverse. As you enter their chaotic world in the books Ugly Guide to the Uglyverse and Ugly Guide to Things That Go and Things That Should Go But Don’t, you discover that each Uglydoll from cookie-eating monster Babo to couch potato Jeero is supremely special and also not for people you might know who are as grotesque or absurd looking. It is because Ugly, according to their parents means unique, one-of-a-kind, and original. This is why they share their little monsters with world. They want to prove that Ugly also means celebrating who you are inside and showing everyone what you’ve got. This message is cleverly written in their books that make you smitten with their humorously cutesy Uglydoll logic and wit. To make it a little easier also, there is a personalized little Uglydoll for everyone to hold their paw and know that it is OK to be a little bit eccentric, freakish and of course ugly. (Check out my Uglydoll Big Toe Side at the sidebar.)
Fortunately, the designer couple was not alone in this new definition of Ugly. Fans declaring themselves ugly, too, came in droves and adopted their own Uglydoll. Some of these foster parents were actually famous and you can see some Uglydolls like Ice-Bat in shows like HBO’s Entourage and films like Disney’s Enchanted, Year of the Dog and Mr.Magorium’s Wonder Emporium. These Ugly kids have even been just good enough for a Parent’s Choice award, Specialty Toy of the Year by Toy Industry Association, and other toy awards. They were so adorably disgusting that they were featured on CNN, Time magazine and the New York Times.
A Lot Of Ugly
With a growing fanbase, the Horvaths have set up Uglycons celebrating their delinquent looking children. The Uglycons have exclusive artwork and rare plush dolls of their characters such as all-black Secret missions versions or with special accessories like a sailor hat or a cape. Last October 10, the third Uglycon was even held in Tokyo to appease the clamor of their oriental fanbase. It had Japanese toy designers putting a spin on the Uglydoll characters and lot of revolting fun.
With so much success from being repugnant, I have learned from these Uglydolls that it isn’t vile to be ugly afterall.
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Uglydolls can be found at http://www.uglydolls.com
Please clamor for comic book stores like Sputnik in Cubao X or Planet X to order Uglydolls for you. The books from Random House are available at major bookstores.
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Tell me I’m ugly at readnow@supreme.ph or http://readnow.tumblr.com.