Win-Win

A Win-Win situation as Domo gives his back-up umbrella to his best buddy, Babo's Bird.

But where did Babo's Bird get those cool slippers?

Look Out Domo

Look out Domo!  I think Babo's Bird has his eye on your umbrella.  And Uglydolls have a way of getting what they want!

Thanks to my friend Ted for sending the pic.

Ugly Autumn Fun

L to R Wedgehead, Moxy, Wage, Little Trunko, Jeero, Cozymonster,
 Little Toodee, Uppy, and Little Babo's Bird on the leaves. 

When an Uglydoll friend suggested we take photos of Uglydolls in a crowd having fun, I knew it would be an easy task.  Not a days goes by that without Ugly fun and games.  This happy group found the newly fallen leaves to be very interesting.  All I had to do was offer some snacks.  They all looked up and I snapped the pic.

Thanks to bringbackTooDee for inspiring us to watch for the fun!

Arrivals at the Uglydoll Clinic

When we saw this sad group of Ugly refugees, we pooled our cookie money and adopted them.

Old Cinko, Wage and Babo had their mouths ripped off. It was said to be a dog that did it. Ice Bat fought the dog off but was left with a sad frown. Wedgie stood on his head and the dog left him unharmed and went away.

When this mute little group arrived, we'd never treated this type of Ugly injury before. We researched different types of material for mouths and various kinds of glue to attach them. We had the emergency supplies assembled and waiting for them.

We bought several yards of anything we could find that might serve as a mouth. Nothing looked just like the original mouths, but these guys needed something immediately. So we worked with what we could find in our smallish town.

The glue was even trickier than the mouth material. We bought 3 or 4 kinds of fabric glue. After some hugs, our Winged Abima lulled them to sleep with a song and we went to work on the sleeping Uglies. We surface washed the dirt and goo off. Then gently, tenderly attached new mouths.

When the mouths dried, they looked pretty good, but to the touch, they feel stiff.

When the Uglies awoke, they were chattering and singing with joy. Babo used his new mouth to eat an entire package of Mother's Iced Oatmeal cookies with Molasses. I can't even imagine being Babo without a mouth. It makes me cry.

We didn't hear one bit of complaint out of our darling patients about the work we did.

Someday I would like to find better material, and much better glue for our Uglydoll Clinic. These mouths are a bit too thick, and the glue left them much too stiff. We will do new surgery if we ever find the right supplies. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. These will certainly not be the last Uglydolls we rescue from harms way.

And here they are today, safe and loved.

Uglydoll Intrigue: SDCC 2009

I just grabbed this off David Horvath's Uglyblog. His blog entry is an ever so intriguing sneak look at things to come from San Diego Comic Con 2009. Are they plush? Are they vinyl? Are they cookie dough? How about Rubber? Balloons? Are they floating and flying? Big? Small?

Is it a photographers trick? What IS that unusual texture? It doesn't look like traditional Ugly plush.

Our friend Purpgee thinks these may be people inside Ugly costumes. Maybe!

Just when I thought I could relax, David posts more pictures on his blog. There is no rest for the Uglydoll fan! Whoopee. I love it that way.

Uglydolls in the News

Swinging from the backpack of Sasha Obama, Babo's Bird is now Uglydoll Elect. The secret is out of the bag, and Uglydolls are all over the big network news. All across the nation, and world people are awakening to the awesomeness of Uglydolls. Google must be fat with searches on the subject.

I'm not sure how I feel about the great big world focusing in on my tiny corner of bliss. I not only collect all things Ugly, but I covet them, hoard them, adore and protect them. They are sweet. They are vulnerable. And just as I'm sure the Obama's wish to protect their kids from over-exposure, I want to protect the Uglydolls. I want to round them all up in a safe little place and tell the world to go away.

It's not just about the dolls. It's about the lifestyle of collecting, trading, anticapting, and discussing Uglydolls. It's a small community of people who adore the creations of David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, and I want to protect that too.

In reality, I can't protect Uglydoll from over-production, mass distribution, or over-exposure. Only their creators can do that. But I can hope that I don't one day find them hanging from the "impulse buy" end caps at supermarkets. Or see ads associating them with Buddhist Monks high on a secluded hilltop. I don't want to see them in a Happy Meal, on an antenna ball, or discarded in massive heaps in a thrift store.

Why? Because I love them. They are my friends, my Ugly family, and one of the most enjoyable aspects of my life. Because they deserve better. They are endowed with a quality that cannot be expressed on a blog. How do you describe their little softy soul that lives behind their big, expressive gaze? It's a quality that compels us to take them out with us, and photograph them in public places. They attend our parties, watch TV with us, sleep in the bed, travel on our holiday's, steal our cookies, make us laugh, put color into every day. Yes, this is beyond a collection for me, and I am not ashamed one bit to admit it. I'm a grown-up with toys, who plays with them everyday, and loves it.

There is a tendency in this country toward fads and excess. I hope my sweet Uglydoll's hold their own against the uber-commercialism that runs wild in the world today. I hope the Uglyverse is beyond all that. When that world is pressing in on me, I turn to the Uglyverse for renewal and joy. Being with them is like hitting the reset button on my heart.

On the other, less selfish side of things, I'm excited and happy to see the country take notice of the talented and lovely co-creators, David and Sun-Min. I can only imagine how cool it must be to see something you designed and produced get national notoriety. If they love that, I must be glad for them. David Horvath is such a positive thinking person, he might get a giggle out of my concerns. I'm glad the future of Uglydoll's is in his hands, and I hope it stays there.

So world, be kind to these soft, cuddly, sensitive, soulful, funny, trusting characters known as Uglydoll's. They are not just another toy. It's an adoption.

Note: Uglydoll Wage is pictured above.