Make Your Own Monster Brings Your Horrible Drawings to Life
November 20th, 2008
Toy store FAO Schwarz has a special service whose results could either be really cool or really abysmal. Although the store’s name sounds like it should be a division of the German army, the name of their service is straight to the point: Make-My-Own-Monster.
As you might have deduced from the image above, the Make-My-Own-Monster service is so simple it’s magical. Or diabolical. I still can’t decide. Anyway, customers just draw a monster and FAO Schwarz turns it into a stuffed toy. FAO Schwarz will send a kit that contains a set of colored pencils, paper and a “detailed questionnaire”. I imagine the latter will have something like, “Do you certify that your monster is not a crudely disguised depiction of a sexual organ? (Yes/No)”. But seriously, the questionnaire is actually pretty neat; FAO Schwarz says that it’s included so that customers can create a back story for their monsters. The story and other details will then be written on the monster’s tag.
Although Make-My-Own-Monster is certainly impressive because the finished trash product looks really close to the original drawing, it’s disappointing that the store has to send you a kit first. Who doesn’t have pencils and paper? Wouldn’t it be faster if customers could just send or email their drawings? And what if I want to use ketchup and mustard to draw, so that FAO Schwarz will also know how my monster smells like?
Now before you get your kids excited about having a green Pikachu, you have to warn them that they can’t draw any copyrighted entities. Then explain what “copyrighted entities” means. If they refuse to obey you and keep on making Ben10 figures, ditch their copyrighted entities and just send a drawing of your router. Or a dot. Or your face. That’ll teach them.
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Categories: Cool Toys Just Plain Fun Strange + Wonderful
Tags: fao schwarz make your own monster monster stuffed toy toy
as cool as this is.. its not $250 worth of cool.
holy shit, 250 bucks?
instead, find someone on etsy who does stuffed animal comissions!
Exactly! That was the very first thing I thought……just go to etsy.
The parents of these children have too much money and too ltle sense.
I know right? I mean, just add another $10 – $20 and you could get a Wii. But I guess kids don’t really know what $250 should and shouldn’t be. Just don’t let the little ones hear about this.
those are some luck kids…and lambert your a bitch
lucky*
this is a pretty cool idea in theory, but i wouldnt spend that much on one. i could see it going for 60 bucks, though.
The idea is great, but the price is out of this world! I am sorry but I would never pay $200 for a stuffed animal, I careless who designed it! No way, no how!
So this what you buy the kid who has everything just to make them happy for a day!
i dont understand what your saing
WRD Yhu Cant Spell……..
AT $249. I think Moms or Dads could buy a used sewing machine, learn to use it and make the monster themselves.
That is an outrageous price!
yeah, it’s cool… but I think they’re really just spinning off the thread of Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends. and you’re all right… not worth the price when you could just buy a few other stuffed animals, rip off various pieces, sew them back together randomly, and presto! three christmas gifts!
you guys are forgetting the bit about the monsters being based from your (kids’) drawing.
but yeah. still too expensive.
so what’s the maximum price you people would pay for this?
I would just take their drawing and make it myself.
My granddaughter (at age 5) drew a really cool picture of a ‘sassy girl’. I loved it so much I recreated in on a tee shirt for her and added “Art by Liz”. However I never though to offer it to others as a service…
I think that’s a fair price. I mean, seriously. For a one-off manufactured plush stuffed animal, meticulously based-off of a drawing.
That can’t be cheap on the production side.
Understandably, there aren’t a lot of people who can/would spend that kind of money, but I think it’s a fair asking price.
I’d do it if I could.
In response to Lambert who said that everyone is forgetting that the toys are based off kids’ drawings, who says that one couldn’t have their kid draw something, then go through the effort of making the animal themselves, still based off the drawing?
I think I would much rather do that. …Or just go to Build-a-Bear.
Yeah it’s based on your kid’s drawing, but that price is still way too high. I agree with the others who say you could do it yourself for a lot less. And if you can’t I’m sure there are a LOT of people in your area who can do it, and would be happy to do it, for even a quarter of the cost.
Most I’d pay FAO Schwarz would be $75, including shipping. And the only reason I’d go that high is because I know my kid would really get a kick out of it.
Is it required to complain about the price? This is cool for those who can afford it. Maybe those that can could gather drawings from a children’s ward and really brighten the day for some sick kids.
Great idea!!
really good idea!
I agree that the idea is really great. Kids would love it and I love the idea of fostering their imagination instead of letting them buy a generic teddy of the shelf at wal-mart. But I could do these easily with less than forty bucks….hell I could make some with scraps around the house and a few odds and ends for like ten bucks. I’ve always wanted to start doing it though, maybe I should post ads and make kids monster dreams into stuffies for a living!
enjoy the holidays.
You people are nuts. That is HOURS of work. You put time in designing how the damn thing will work so the child isn’t disappointed. Then time shopping for the right fabrics. Then the build itself! Maybe $250 is too much but you are nuts if you think $60 is enough.
I understand that most of that price comes from making ‘a work of art’ because the piece is original. But considering the child came up with the design, it’s not original to the company at all. I think $60 would be enough. I could make those in under an hour (and I’m not master of sewing) and maybe another hour to pick the right fabrics to match the kid’s design. Considering the sizes, you could get a lot of the fabrics from a sale bin at a Fabric Land. So 250$ for two hours’ work and 10$ of fabric, is a little much (especially for a child who will LOVE it for a year, and forget about it for ten)
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But I’ll sound like a broken record here and say I think it’s a cute concept and when I have kids, I’m totally doing it for them (for much less of a cost
You people are morons who probably walk around all day blaming the world cause you fail. – Great product, fantastic idea and a resonable price (think of the work that goes into it you idiots)Well done FAO Schawrz!!!
There are knock-off products out there similar to this one that aren’t as expensive. I agree that parents should be able to mail or email kids drawings versus waiting for a kit, plus get the drawing back with the monster. Seems silly to do it any other way.
I agreed. The ability to email an pre-existing picture would be great so you could suprise your child. I do not think FAO should be able to copy the design for the price though. $250 should include the copyright!
It would automatically include the copyright for the originator of the design, ie: you. The text on FAO Schwartz’s website states that you simply aren’t allowed to send them drawings that are protected under someone else’s copyright. As the blog post said, that simply means you can’t copy something like pikachu, not that you don’t retain the reproduction rights. And for the record, copyrights under most circumstances will cost you a lot more than $250 to purchase from someone. As an illustrator, if you want all reproduction rights to a piece of my work, you’re most likely to be looking at a couple thousand dollars of fees, not a few hundred.
This is a great idea for someone like myself who has kids who have a creative spark in them – my son started playing a computer game where you can create all different kinds of creatures and he now draws many different ones out on paper – I would love to be able to take one of his favorite creature drawings and be able to surprise him with a toy version of it
im sorry but this is cool and iwas gonna do this but then i read Although Make-My-Own-Monster is certainly impressive because the finished trash that just is wrong
I really appreciate you sharing this.