You might have noticed that there are a lot of action figure/doll-like things around lately. I'm not talking about those Kiss doll or "action figure" things, although those are certainly valued collector's items to some. I'm talking about smoking bunnies (Smorkin' Labbit Pimp Flock), the cute pink teddy bears we've written about before that have blood dripping from their mouths (Gloomy Bear), those animal-like creatures that might be cute depending on who's looking (Uglydoll), and artist Frank Kozik's Mao with the bunny ears (Mao Dunny).

Most of the figures are either cute creatures turned ugly or just weird, or ugly and weird creatures turned cute.........kind of. Think of My Little Pony gone wrong or deadly CareBears.

In honor of the vinyl toy craze, a set including a book, poster, and cards called Vinyl Will Kill! created by Jeremyville has been released and can be purchased for $59 here. You can find vinyl figures and vinyl-related items at stores like KidRobot. My personal favorites are Gloomy Bear (it takes a minute to see that it has claws) and Junko Mizuno-created figures.