As much as I love my own children, we all can recognize how challenging parenting can be! One minute you have a cute well-mannered angel and the next minute is a meltdown and the tantrums and blubbering begin! Many a time these meltdown experiences happen and have left me either confused, angry, or embarassed, but I remind myself that everyone goes through this and we pick up and move on- praying that they don’t happen in public!
Some creative person at Abandon Interactive took the concept of good verses bad and adopted it into a new toy called a Freaky Pet! Freaky Pets are adorable and horrifying stuffed animals that turn inside out to show their alter egos to match your child’s mood! They are advertised as a “2 in 1″ stuffed play toy for children aged 3 yrs and up and “cute n’ cuddly one second, flips to cranky the next.”
Freaky Pets are fun because not only are they fun transformable plush characters but they are part of an online interactive virtual world too. With every Freaky Pets purchase you receive a secret code to unlock an online version of the pet.
We received the “Penga” penguin.
And “Bullog” the Bulldog.
Avery claimed the penguin and Grant claimed the bulldog. An adorable flier that came with the animals described the characters and how they would act when they were happy or cranky. The flier also showed other Freaky Pet animals. The kids especially liked the other animals including a “Monket” monkey, a “Gweek” which resembled a gorrilla/yetti, a “Puff Puff” which looked similar to a rabbit, a “Dinork” dinosaur, and the “Orkal” killer whale.
Here is Avery showing a smile with the “cute side” of her Freaky Pet.
And here’s the “Cranky side” of the Freaky pets!
The kids really enjoyed turning the animals inside out to switch the characters. They didn’t seem to struggle but it was challenging enough to occupy them. Here is a video showing Avery and Grant each “flipping” their pets.
The kids started imagining mini skits where one minute they would be playing nicely and the next minute the Freaky Pet would morph into the cranky version and misbehave! Here is what happened to an innocent tea party that went bad when the Freaky Pet alter egos emerged!!!!
This lead into a nice discussion about manners and feelings. I re-iterated that it is OK to get angry and frustrated but it is not OK to do mean things or act inappropriately. I appreciate when toys facilitate discussions like this!
The Freaky Pets were fun! They are well constructed and have a durable strip or Velcro material on their back to secure when in play and open to turn the pet inside out when changing from cute to cranky. The kids thought that the idea that the moods of the animals could match theirs was silly and made for lots of play!
What the kids also enjoyed was that the pets came with a secret code to put into a website that coordinates with the pet and you can have a virtual Freaky Pet lair and town.
You can go to the Freaky Pets website to check this new product out! Freaky Pets are available at participating Hallmark Gold Crown Stores. I think this would be a great birthday or holiday gift for the perfect little angels or devils that you love!
These products were provided for review. No compensation was received. The opinions are mine and that of my family.
I love the picture of the tea party! I wonder if they make “Mommy” versions as well because I sure feel like that some days!
I love the Penguin one! I might just have to invest in one of these for my niece!
Oh my goodness how cute, love the pics. I think these would be really great for those that don’t have the verbal skills yet to express their emotions.
The kids really had a party with them! I love that they give you a secret code to use to go and play on line with it! My neice would love one of these!
My niece and nephew got these Freaky Pets, recently. They’re very cute. There’s video they showed me where the Pets, especially the penguin, dances to its own song. It is really cute.
http://www.youtube.com/user/eljefetico?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/fNaLFLN15Ac
I see that Freaky Pets have their own online world now. It looks like fun.
I could have used this a couple times when I owned businesses to indicate what kind of mood I was in and whether it was safe for the staff to approach me about a raise!
mtdoonmeister at gmail dot com