Plush Week: Blue-ringed Octopus by K&M International
I have always had a fondness for plush versions of animals that are not, by any reasonable definition, cuddly. I remember a particular stuffed toy vulture that I wanted more than anything when I was about 8 or 9, and one of my favorite recent non-cephalopod toys is an awesome plush horseshoe crab. Sharks, bats, armadillos…the less you’d want to snuggle up with the real animal, the more I want to see a plush of it. Cephalopods, of course, also fall into the traditionally non-cuddly category, and what kind of cephalopod could be less hugable than the most venomous octopus in the world, Hapalochlaena, the Blue-ringed Octopus!
This particular Blue-ringed Octopus was purchased at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum gift shop some time in the mid-90s. It was made by K&M International, Inc., a leading purveyor of nature toys, plush and otherwise. These days, most K&M animal toys are sold under the Wild Republic brand, but this guy was made in 1994, which seems to predate the name change. Once again, I’m using a pen for scale (yes, I took all these pictures on the same day), and the exact measurements are 11″ across and 5″ high—at least twice as big as the real thing. The tag text just describes a generic octopus, and I seem to recall that it was available in a few different colors and patterns. Obviously, I had to choose the one that could cause instant death. Fuzzy, adorable, instant death.
Tags: blue ringed octopus, Hapalochlaena, K&M International, plush, Plush Week
