More Unusual Gift Ideas – Cute and Collectible Edition

Presents for people who are enamored of all things cute and collectible. And some generally amusing stuff to keep it interesting.

Oh hai! If you have been hanging around the internet much, you will have heard of lolcats and have probably visited I can haz cheezburger at least a time or two for your lolcat fix. And if you are even more of a lol head, you probably talk in lolspeak (teh furst language born of teh intertubes.) and know why IS that walrus looking for a blue bucket?” Kthx. And if that is so, you may want to visit the lolmart.  My favorite is the lolrus. He is as cute as a button and if you want to show your love, check out the lolrus tshirt (picture on left).

Or for lolcat with a twist, visit the lolcat bible store with tshirts printed with the lolspeak versions of bible verses like John 3:16 (16 So liek teh Ceiling Kitteh lieks teh ppl lots and he sez ‘Oh hai I givez u me only kitteh and ifs u beleeves him u wont evr diez no moar, kthxbai!’) and Matthew 3:13-15 (13 Den Happy Cat caem from Garary, to has water baf from John14 But John was all “Ur doin it rong, j00 needz to water baf me” 15 And Happy Cat sayed “STFU and gib to me water baf n00b” and John did.) and a cute sticker with ceiling cat (the goodly/godly cat as opposed to basement cat) that says “Mah God, lemme show yu him”. On the back of the tshirts is a link to the lolcat bible translation site which has most of the bible translated into lolspeak.

Or maybe you’d like a little engrish on your gift.  Engrish is what non-english speakers put on their signs, etc. that is supposed to be a translation into english and usually ends up almost indecipherable and pretty funny. The main site, Engrish.com! Be Juicy! is well worth a stop and is almost guaranteed to help you waste an hour or two (or a whole lot more). And while this doesn’t have a store associated with it, if you like engrish, you will also enjoy Hanzi Smatter – dedicated to the misuse of chinese characters in western culture.

And one last stop for the cute-addict is the hello kitty and friends shop at Sanrio. They have it all. If you can’t get your cute fix here, you can’t get it anywhere. And for the Hello Kitty fans who want to branch out, there are many other characters you can collect as well, such as Charmmy Kitty. “Charmmy Kitty is a white persian cat that Papa gave to Hello Kitty as a gift. She is well-mannered, quiet, and listens to whatever Hello Kitty says. She loves objects that are bright and sparkly! Charmmy Kitty wears a lace-lined ribbon on her left ear, and a necklace which holds the key to Hello Kitty’s jewelry box.”

or Badtz-Maru: “As his April 1st birthday would suggest, Badtz-Maru is one mischievous little penguin. He lives with his mother and his pinball playing father in Gorgeoustown. He attends the first grade at Gorgeous Academy. Batz-Maru attracts a lot of attention as he walks his pet alligator, Pochi. Badtz-Maru has dreams of greatness when he grows up but for now he rolls his eyes at his humorous life in Gorgeoustown.”

Sanrio may not have the definitive collection of all these characters, but with a little searching you should have no trouble finding more. And another place to look for Hello Kitty and other Japanese related items (manga and anime characters too, and other things) is J-List, a wonderful toybox of things from Japan. And they have an adults-only section as well, which has some fascinating things to look at. JBox is the All Ages, Family Friendly site. This site goes on and on with everything imaginable.  Almost too much to take in all at once if you don’t have something specific you are looking for.  A search on my very favorite character, Totoro, turned up 4 pages of items.

And not to leave anyone out, if you hate Hello Kitty and have made it this far in this post, here is a site you won’t want to miss. It is Hello Kitty Hell – One Man’s Life With Cute Overload. This man married a Hello Kitty Fanatic and keeps his sanity by posting about it.

And one last stop not to miss is Kid Robot. If you have any idea what the things on this list are, not only will you want to go to Kid Robot, but chances are, you already have.

From their About Us page: “The products sold at Kidrobot are the centerpieces of a global movement that exemplifies the cutting edge of both pop art and mass culture. Many Kidrobot toys, such as Dunny, MUNNY, and Frank Kozik’s Labbits and Mongers, attract huge followings. Artists that work with Kidrobot have gained celebrity status-these include USA artists Frank Kozik, Tim Biskup, Huck Gee, Joe Ledbetter, Tristan Eaton, Paul Budnitz, and Tara McPherson; the German design collective eBoy; Japan’s Devilrobots & Mad Barbarians; French street artists Tilt & Mist; the UK’s TADO and ilovedust; Australia’s Nathan Jurevicius; Argentina’s DOMA; and many, many others.

A blend of sculpture and popular art, many of Kidrobot’s exclusive toys are extremely rare and collectible. Artists often create a series of only a few hundred to a few thousand pieces, so once a toy is sold out, it’s sold out forever. Kidrobot toys retail anywhere from $5 to $25,000, and many appreciate in value over time.”

I first heard of Dunnies while watching HGTV when they went into someone’s very expensive, very artistic house and they had a collection of high-end, gallery quality Dunnies. Since then, I found out about Kid Robot and the other collectible items.  Here are a few of the 3 1/2″ Dunnies for sale on their site for a reasonable $7.95.

And last but not least is Bibo.  Archie McPhee carried the original Bibo (as far as I know) and both my husband and I got the squeeze toy (see left).  And I had a Bibo t-shirt with the story of Bibo on the back.  I think the shirt is probably gone by now and I’ll bet it is a collectible.  It should be. I’m not sure why the one sold on Archie McPhee is blue now, but ours were red like the photo.

Who is Bibo?

“Bibo is a God Monster with intelligence. He has two big eyes, and he knows very well what people want to do. He cannot speak, but only “Bi-Bo.” When there is any danger happened, he will speak. The top of his head will light up and his hip will makes many colorful smoke to help him survive because this smoke is very stinking and it can hinder the sight of his enemies.

We love Bibo very much because he always survive by using some funny ways.”

To get the full Bibo story, and other interesting and humorous thoughts, visit the Archie McPhee Blog.

For other cool ideas for gifts, take a look at my list of posts filed under shopping.

Enjoy!

~Susan Mellott