Dungeons and Dragons has a number of creatures and beasties that are unique to the game. These terrifying creatures are steadily becoming more iconic over the years, becoming the default mascots for franchise with no central characters.
Of course, they are no monsters that can’t be turned into cute and adorable versions of themselves, especially when the geniuses at Kidrobot are involved. We previously saw this producer of cute and silly things turn the god-like beings from Magic The Gathering into cuddly beasties. With D&D’s horrors, it’s safe to say they’ve out done themselves.
They are four pieces in the initial range. They’re all around the 7 inch scale; small enough to fit on a shelve or desktop, but not so small they’ll get easily lost, or so large they’ll just sit in the corner and never get hugged.
The Snowy Owl Bear is the most obvious choice for a plush. This nasty hybrid of both owl and bear is a tricky encounter in D&D, but as both these creatures are quite cute, mixing the two just makes it all the more cuddly. The Snowy Owl Bear is a relatively new monster (it first appeared in IceWind Dale Rime of The Frost Maiden) but the idea of half-polar-bear, half-snowy-owl abomination has certainly caught the imagination of the fans. This little cub is very soft to touch and as a neat touch, has a fluffy tail.
Next up is the Mimic, an odd choice for a plush toy, though it’s certainly iconic in terms of D&D. The idea is that this is a normal treasure chest that suddenly transforms into a huge monster with teeth. This plush is in full-on monster form; it’s many eyes are open, little spikes jut out of It’s head, it’s gnashy teeth are in plain site and it’s enormous tentacle like tongue is hanging out. It’s meant to have slimy maw and in this case the slime is a soft elastic material that let’s you open and close the lid. We invite you to make nom nom noises as you do so. It’s a fun little toy, perhaps the most suitable to desks and workstations in the range. Not exactly cute, but fun.
The Beholder is a flying eyeball with tentacles that also have eyeballs on them. They’re very D&D, so much so that Disney needed a license to feature one in its movie, Onward. The Phunny version is more cute that horrifying. It’s an eyecatching pink, for a start, and it’s smiling. (Though you can see it’s fangs). It looks a little angry, like you’ve stolen it’s favourite candy from from it. The tentacles can be moved around (they have some sort of wire inside them), beaming that you can have all sorts of funny with the way it looks.
Finally, but by no means least, is the displacer beast. At first glance, this looks like a plush black kitten. It’s got a little mouse in it’s adorable mouth. You then realise it’s got two weird tentacles hanging out of it’s back and it has six legs. This is very cleverly done; Displacer Beasts are meant to be dangerous and deceptive, and this kitten looks the part. If you’re running Wild Beyond The Witchlight, this is perfect prop for Star, the juvenile Displacer Beast that features in that game (and on the front cover). It really is very cute, mostly because it’s got huge eyes, is soft but also creepy. Like the beholder, the tentacles can be moved thanks to some sort of wire inside, so you can make it look as scary as you wish.
Overall, these are great stocking fillers for fans of D&D or people who just like silly but slightly spooky stuff. They will be available via Wizkids or your friendly local games shop in time for Christmas.
