InventorSpot

Is there a Doctor Moreau in the house?
Does owning custom stuffed animals with the face of your child or significant other seem somewhat creepy? Well yeah, kind of - but you can have one anyway, courtesy of Sha@lark, the Japanese company who came up with this odd idea.

Baby let me be, your lovin' teddy bear

Put a chain around my neck, and lead me anywhere

Oh let me be... your teddy bear!

So sang Elvis, though it's certain he was crooning metaphorically. Regardless, Sha@lark seems to have taken The King's soulful sentiments at face value by offering Purimen Gurumi - personalized teddy bears with the customer's choice of visage.

According to Lisa Katayama at Tokyomango, Sha@lark also offers these diabolic dolls with rabbit, frog, tiger, lion, or bumblebee bodies. There's even a Mount Fuji version, presumably for those who want a hunka hunka burnin' love. Ouch... and they also come in a range of sizes including a tiny cell phone strap version, so you can give your soul mate their very own mini-me!

I'm sure Sha@lark means well but just like the Rice Bag Babies, an element of weirdness seems to have set in between the idea's conception and the actual product. 

How to traumatize a child in 3 easy steps...
Here's how it works - order online at the Sha@lark website and choose your details, then send them a photo of the victim, er, subject. Wait a short while, and one day your Purimen Gurumi munchkin will arrive.

Take it with you to work, shopping and dining. Talk to it - unlike the uber-creepy doll of George Costanza's mother on Seinfeld, it won't talk back... though a microchip enabled version that speaks sweet nothings in your loved one's pre-recorded voice is only a matter of time. Just like the end of the world. (via Tokyomango and Tokyo Times)