A Roundup of Lovecraftian Plush Creations

"The Armchair Critic" blog has posted a nice summary and some photos of the expansive plush industry that has grown up in recent years around H.P. Lovecraft's cosmic horrors. Starting from the original Cthulhu plush doll, the full set of known Lovecraftian "dolls" now includes several varieties of R'lyeh's Dreamer alongside Gugs, Yog-Sothoth, and even a plush Necronomicon (my personal favorite). Most of the Cthulhu creations are sold through this page on Toy Vault.

These dolls are definite further representations of "Cutethulhu" parodies drawn from Lovecraft's work, which I analyzed some time ago here. The cutening of Lovecraft's terrors seems to grow in direct proportion with his popularity--mostly driven by the internet. If Guillermo del Toro's planned production of a movie based on "At the Mountains of Madness" pans out successfully, then this sort of Lovecraftian phenomena can be expected to explode in the next few years. Movies, especially those popularized through viral marketing, tend to take on a life of their own in an internet culture often spurred forward by young meme architects.

In any case, Lovecraftian plushies continue to grow more daring. Only time will tell if any skilled fan of HPL out there will be bold enough to try depicting the madness of Azathoth or Shub-Niggurath and the thousand young in soft cotton.

-Grim Blogger