Uglydoll


Uglydoll is a brand based upon a series of plush toys, created by Sun-Min Kim. Sun-Min created the first Uglydoll and came up with the name “Uglydoll”. The toy line and brand began as an idea from a long-distance letter between the creators David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim. The Uglydoll line was launched in February 2001 and awarded the Specialty Toy of the Year award by the Toy Industry Association in 2006. The popularity of the toys has led to numerous appearances in pop culture. Over the years, many different named characters have been created.

Origin of the brand

Uglydoll started with a letter Horvath wrote to Kim just after she had to move away due to a student visa expiring, long before they were married. That letter had a cartoon of his character "Wage" at the bottom with the words, "Working hard to make our dreams come true so we can be together again soon" next to it. That dream was to tell stories through books and toys.
As a surprise gift, Kim sewed a doll of Wage and sent it to Horvath in the mail. Horvath showed Wage to his pal Eric Nakamura, owner of the Giant Robot magazine and store, who thought Horvath was pitching him a product and immediately ordered a few more for his shop. Horvath wrote to Kim asking her to sew more, while sending emails with stories about Wage, Babo and Ice-Bat's first ever adventure, soon to become Chilly Chilly Ice-Bat.
In the "uglyverse", ugly means unique and special, something to be celebrated. Over the years, numerous collaborative art shows and UglyCon have been held at Giant Robot, Los Angeles.
The Uglydolls were created in December 2001 and included Babo, Cinko, Ice Bat, Jeero, OX, Target, Tray, Wage, Wedgehead and many more.

In other media

Film

In May 2011, it was announced that Illumination Entertainment had acquired the rights to Uglydolls to make an animated feature film. Chris Meledandri was set to produce, with a screenplay from Larry Stuckey. The original creators, David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, were set to executive produce. Four years later, in 2015, Variety magazine reported that an animated film based on Uglydolls would be the first family and animation project produced by STXfilms. The movie released on May 3, 2019.
The film features the voices of Kelly Clarkson as Moxy, Pitbull as Ugly Dog, and Nick Jonas as Lou. They all perform original songs for the film. Wanda Sykes, Gabriel Iglesias, Blake Shelton, Wang Leehom, Janelle Monáe, and Emma Roberts are also in the cast.. Animation is produced by Reel FX Creative Studios.

Television

In May 2018, Hulu signed a deal with STX Entertainment to produce an Uglydolls animated series. Hulu will also gain SVOD rights to the animated film. The animated series will consist of 26 episodes each season.

Appearances in popular culture