Patches is actually supposed to be standing up, but somehow he broke off of his stand while in the box. Given that he’s some sort of freaky Frankenstein teddy bear thing, I like to think that he actually escaped the box and roamed about a bit, but that’s highly unlikely because he is only a gamepiece and not the actual result of an unholy reanimation experiment involving the tissue of dead baby bears and possibly rabbits. The fact that he retains his cuteness despite his deformities does place him firmly in the creepy and freaky category, though, as he retains his weirdness but doesn’t cross the very thin line into terror. He’s even more nonthreatening when he’s lying down, but a dab of superglue and an hour of drying time had him standing upright and good as new.
I really like Sour Milk. A lot of the Creepy Freaks draw upon things that we’ve seen before — even Patches reminds me of something, though I’m not sure what (some background character from The Nightmare Before Christmas, maybe?) — but spooky milk cartons are totally new to me. Again, it’s the quirkiness of this character that makes it work, though it’s also kind of cool because it could potentially inspire all kinds of seasonal arts and crafts activities. It’s been ages since I actually drank out of a milk carton, but kids in school use them every single day — and wouldn’t it be cool for them to be able to make the things into little monsters? I could see that activity eventually vying for the crown currently held by the tissue paper ghosts. Or maybe not, but it’d be a close — and far more interesting — second place winner.
Yep, still talking about Sour Milk! I wouldn’t even have noticed this if I hadn’t tried photographing him at an angle, and the designers could have skipped this part entirely and he’d still be awesome. But no — not content to simply have a spooky milk carton, they went the extra mile and even threw in the missing person deal on the back. Except whereas regular milk cartons just have a photo, Sour Milk has apparently kidnapped some poor green bastard and is making off with him! Not only is Sour Milk himself the cause of the notice on his back, but the kid’s question — “Have you seen me?” — answers itself because THERE HE IS! It’s bloody brill.
I think Patches is awesome, and I’m pretty sure I’ve also seen “FrankenTeddys” before.