Oh plushy vampire baby toys! Yayyyyy! Your baby’s first stuffed animal could be a baby werewolf/cockroach, also known as the ‘Wereroach” which looks more like a furry alien baby than anything, if you ask me. Or, the more adorable and less disgusting, ‘Zombie Guinea Pig’ which is pink, my favoritest color ever, and black, my second favoritest non-color ever. Apparently, the vampire trend has spun completely out of control, and even little kids are getting in on the action. It comes along with the territory of ‘Dick and Jane and Vampires’, and tween and preteen Twilight dollies, –that actually don’t look anything like their actors (I wonder if Jacob’s hair is detachable?).
The Chicago Sun-Times has the scoop on these fabulous little guys, that were designed specifically for morbid little kids, and deranged teenagers:
“Bitten by the notion to discover what the life of a baby vampire was like, Jaryl LaMort came up with the idea for Vamplet Baby Vampyres, a line of plush vampire dolls.
A quirky idea, but then LaMort was part of the team that launched the hip-hop rapping Spice Mice in 2004.
LaMort and designer G-Ra, who had been working on drawings for a similar product, banded together to create the line. New this year are Vampets, plush furry pets, which will formally launch in New York in February at Toy Fair.
The first releases in the new line are Zombie Guinea Pig and Wereroach, a hairy, burgundy-colored, cyclops, a cross between a werewolf and roach. An additional character, Rabid Rabbit, will launch in late spring.
Vamplets and Vampets are residents of Gloomvania, an online community where owners can interact and even customize tombstones.
The products are targeted at the tween and teen market.
“My 17-year-old daughter thought the idea was ‘brilliant,’” LaMort said. “Vampires and Gothic icons are emerging from an underground culture to entering pop culture in a big way.”
A “cute factor” was important, as well.
“Initial reaction is the characters are weird but cute,” said G-Ra, who in 1995 redesigned Hasbro’s Littlest Pet Shop line.
For G-Ra, plenty of “cute” was essential to keep her designs from being too creepy.
“The characters’ strange quirky look grabs at your heart,” G-Ra said.
If this all sounds too morbid to be cool, it isn’t. According to Parents magazine, vampires are among the top kid trends for 2011.”
Not only are there adorable little baby werewolf cockroaches and zombie guinea pigs, but there’s also the whole line of baby vampires, with names like “Cadaverson Nightshade” and “Count Vlad Von Gloom”. But better than that, they come with their own little accessories, –like the bottle of blood that looks like it’s actually being drained, buttons, t-shirts, and other creepy stuff, plus, there are more weird dolls coming soon!
FYI: Any retailer considering carrying Vamplets.
1. They will try to control where and how you sell their products after you purchase them. We were told they wanted us to remove their products from some of our listings.
2. They use the fact that they list their retail sales from their website on Shopatron as a selling point. They failed to mention to us before we purchased that they fill all the orders themselves. When asked we were told that their retailers could not fill the orders correctly so they do it all themselves. They also add free stuff into their sales so no one would want to buy anywhere else. It leaves little room for retailers to make any sales.