Monkey-faced brown-noser

If ever there was a warning about genetic experimentation then it was Stephen Gallagher’s 1982 debut horror story, Chimera. A prophetic tale of a half-human, half-primate creature developed by scientists for use in slave labour and organ harvesting, the titular creature went crazy-ape bonkers in the Lake District and killed everyone.

Although slightly less violent in intent, the original Monchhichi dolls might as well have been spliced together in that same laboratory. This baby-faced bear/monkey hybrid with an incomprehensibly-spelled name was created by Japanese boffins back in the ‘Seventies apparently to “bring a message to children about the beauty of love”¹. Well, only a mother could love a face like that. Originally marketed in pairs (boy and girl – my God, they might mate!) and sold naked, it was the accompanying Hanna Barbera TV series in 1980 which brought the dolls to international attention.

Alternatively named Futagonomonchhichi, Chic-a-boo or, in France, Kiki, the popularity of Monchhichi helped launch a whole raft of accessories (mainly clothes) and merchandise for girls (mainly stationery). Most notably, the early ‘Eighties saw a huge number of knock-off “gripping monkey/bear” pencil-toppers designed to exploit the hitherto unexplored toy potential of the bulldog clip².

Perhaps in a bid to inspire empathy in pre-schoolers, Monchhichi constantly seeks comfort – witness the perpetually jammed opposable digit in its gob. Clearly, though, the toy’s appeal lay largely in its pleading expression. Taking the Disney style – those reassuringly Aryan juvenile features - and exaggerating it to a natural conclusion, the Monchhichi is a blue-eyed, chubby-cheeked, button-nosed freak; the forerunner of Japanese Anime characters. What little girl could ignore that cutesy, “love me” expression, caught half-way ‘twixt happiness and tears? (What adult fella could ignore the same on imported “naughty schoolgirl shags be-tentacled space monster” Hentai cartoons?) Chic-a-boo was probably the first truly anthropomorphic toy to break through into a young child’s wish list, though it was swiftly superceded by similarly short-lived, dough-faced progeny (Cabbage Patch Kids, Pound Puppies, SnuggleBumms, and many, many more).

Still popular in their native Japan (latest variety, Rasta-man Monchhichi an’ t’ing), the thumb-sucking fun carries on to this day, though you’ll be hard pushed to find a vintage example that hasn’t had its brown nose rubbed clean away “with love”. In the mean time, we wait with bated breath for Stephen Gallagher’s next horror opus, The Tiny Tears Of Blood.