Do you have any semi-lame toys lying around? Like these guys – the Bubbly Chubbies.
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The only reason I keep them around is because they are recalled Teletubbies knockoffs. Wouldn’t it be great if you could easily transform such cutesy-ass characters into something mildly disturbing?
You know, something like this?
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Well, apparently you, can. All you need are some cheap-ass monster face rings.
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These rings look like something you could find in those cheapy, import toy catalogs… like Oriental Trading Company.
I bought these rings on eBay, and once I’d received them, I realized I can instantly transform my “normal” toys into “weirdo” toys with the most minimal of effort. This transformation took very little time and money… About 5 seconds and 5 bucks. I just grabbed a ring. popped it over a toy’s head and voila! Instant weirdo.
I really love the look of the new and improved Bubbly Chubbies. Now they look more like “Grubbly Chubbies.”
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This Chubby is now a wonky-eyed viking guy with high blood pressure and a pink, marshmallow body.
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And we have a your standard screaming skull Chubby…
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and we top it off with the always classic gore gag… the dangling eyeball Chubby.
After seeing how great these guys turned out, I figured I’d try the remaining rings on some other figures I had lying around.
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This vintage Kermit figure becomes a naked, bug-eyed screamer.
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The blue guy from “Voltron,” King Zarkon, becomes Satan in his formal wear.
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And the green, alien guy from “Battlestar Galactica,” Ovion, becomes some weird raving, alien lunatic.
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With that last one though, I have to admit – Ovion looks cooler and weirder without the ring/mask.
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So, that’s about it. I just thought I’d share what originated as a cheapy, weird ring impulse buy actually ended up making some mildly interesting characters for my toy shelves at work.
You guys have any quick ring-faced figures you wanna share? I’d love to see ’em.
• Buy an Ovion figure on eBay!
• Buy a King Zarkon figure on eBay!
@WeirdoToys bah! Those monster rings are awesome.
@patador I know. It’s the only time I’ve considered wearing decorative jewelry.
I want the viking guy with high blood pressure! Others are fun, but that guy is my fav.
Well, if you’re a nice brother, maybe I’ll make one for you 😉
I love the dangling eyeball chubby, but I personally think that the original chubbys have a real sinister look to them. Oh, now I just wanna snuggle ’em!
Yeah, I agree. They are sinister. You should see the slightly larger ones w/ glowing red eyes. They are the creepiest!
@WeirdoToys these are cool: http://www.kamibashi.com/products/dolls/…
@taylorvdesigns Those ARE cool. thanks for the share.
Great idea! Fun and easy, now i need to find some cool rings!
I’ve actually posted the “cool rings” at the end of the blog entry. There’s an eBay link to someone selling them. Good luck!
I just want a set of Bubbly Chubbies. Any advice where to find those now other than ebay?
Well, they are absurdly rare. I’m not sure where to find any unless you stumble upon them at a yard sale or on eBay or something. Best of luck!
Fooey!
Those are based on these funny rubber finger face puppets… here’s an example, i can’t find the exact ones but they make finger face puppets of all those ring designs except you use your fingers in each part of the face & make vulgar expressions with them.
http://pix.auctiva.com/pix/10/00/06/rubber_finger_puppets.JPG
I’ve never seen a rubber-faced puppet that’s a skull or a guy w/ his eyeball hanging out. Some of those do seem similar though. Great observation. If you like those rubber face puppets, check this out – http://www.weirdotoys.com/2009/10/30/magic-monster-by-heartland/
Its not weird. actually i find them sooooo cute
Hey Justin,
I bumped into your website while searching for “toy monster rings”. The dark green bald headed monster guy with red eyes, buck teeth and a white goatee (the ring on your middle finger) actually has a long history dating back to 1971. The head was originally used on Imperial Toys’ “Spooky Kookys”. They were little rubbler jigglers, and were among my favorite toys.
The head sculpt was recycled at least twice for a ring design. The photo below shows some of the rings I was able to find that uses Spooky Kooky heads. Notice that the blue headed guy on my ring is the same as the dark green headed guy on yours.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17151893@N06/9211459300
So, what do I do with my rings? Well, perhaps overly influenced by the “Game of Thrones” TV show, the rings were mounted on 2 wooden posts, with a few “live prisoners” hoisted on top of the posts as a warning to traitors and potential traitors everywhere.
The backstory is: The rings now represent the heads of decapitated traitors, executed during the reign of King Henry VIII. The heads were preserved in pickling solution for over 400 years (that’s why they turned weird colors) and had recently been purchased from a museum. Action Nabs, the military bear in charge, decided to display the heads on posts as a show of power.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/17151893@N06/9410459557
Everything in the photo makes perfect sense in the context of this world. It is heavily influenced by a childhood filled with GiJoe, comic books, Hogan’s Heroes, MEGO toys and Planet of the Apes.