Kraken Smiles, the creative space for illustrator and designer Kurt Marquart, has launched a Kickstarter to fund his biggest collection of Squaredy Cats. There will be ten new plush characters in the collection, categorized into three groups: The Horror Pack, The Spoopy Pack, and The Cathulhu Variants.
Known for his endearing versions of scary characters, Marquart designed the new cats to make them a more accessible, soft edged gateway to monsters and horror appreciation. The campaign is designed to create pre-orders for the collection, an otherwise restrictive endeavor. He has handmade samples of a few from the collection; a first step in the manufacturing process. Having already created fifteen characters (including a zombie, vampire, demon, skeleton, and a slasher called Friday among others), he hopes this additional set of ten will set a tone for where Squaredy Cats will go next.
The characters in the Horror Pack are four parodies inspired by popular horror icons:
- Nightmare resembles a certain dreamscape slasher.
- Otherwise is cat inspired by the creepiest clown to ever grace this dimension.
- JigPaw shares a likeness with a particular sadistic ventriloquist puppet.
- Tricky parallels a frightening demonic pumpkin creature in an otherwise innocent looking scarecrow costume.
The Spoopy Pack consists of:
- A black and white bat-cat named Batsy.
- A mind-controlling cat named Mez-Meowmeow.
- Hex, the glow-in-the-dark voodoo cat.
- Jinxy, a happy voodoo cat who also glows.
Hex and Jinxy are larger versions of their already produced mini-plush counterparts, Lil’ Jinxy and Hex Kitten.
The Cathulhu Variants are clever reworks from the most popular Squaredy Cats character, Cathulhu. Inspired by H.P. Lovecraft’s monster, Cthulhu. The original cube-shaped, tentacle-faced plush cat was the anchor to Marquart’s first collection of independently produced plush collectibles in 2017. The variants are smartly mashed-up reworks. Sugar Skull Cathulhu is the first of many planned dia de los Muertos designs. Demento Cathulhu is a dark and disturbing design meant to evoke the friendliest of nightmares.
The Kickstarter campaign runs until January 2, 2022. Check it all out here.
Editor Disclosure: Kurt Marquart is a contributing critic/columnist for HorrorGeekLife.com. The publication, including its editors and other contributors excluding Kurt, will not receive any compensation or merchandise for this article.
