Background

Jon Schiller is a designer who recently released his own line of plush toys called Little 9 and Friends.  Along with the plushies comes the first comic book and plans for a line of vinyl figures.  We got our hands on two of the characters: Little 9 and X81.

Little 9 is an alien from a planet called Alko.  Alko is a boring planet, so he left his home to discover new life and to have fun.  He ran into a planet called Earth and landed near a city called Rapid City.  Little 9 wants to stay on earth to start a new life, make new friends, and take on adventures that come his way.

X81 was created by Little 9 as an invention called Project X.  Little 9 accidentally blew a fuse, smoke appeared everywhere, and X81 appeared from the smoking mist. Thus, X81 was born into this world not knowing where he came from.  The world was a whole new place to X81, so he decided to tag along with them and start a new adventure.

Packaging

No real packaging with these, since they are plush.  They do have a little tag attached to them, but not much information other than the character's name.

The Figures

The Little 9 and X81 plushies are both approximately 8” in height.  (There is also a line of 17” tall plush characters available, however, we’re not reviewing them in this post.)  They are made of soft, polyester material.

Our Opinion

Whenever I see the Little 9 and Friends characters, I just think of Flash Player.  Why?  It just looks like they were created in the program.  The eyes are perfect circles and the mouths are even perfectly oval shaped.  And Jon Schiller’s website does have a flash banner introduction…so maybe I’m on to something.

So what do we think about the plush characters?  I definitely am digging the X81 more than Little 9.  I’d like to see the larger version of Little 9, because the smaller one has spindly arms, legs and tail.   X81 reminds me of a pillow…and who doesn’t love pillows?

The story that Jon has created is interesting and entertaining, and I’m definitely interested in seeing what becomes of the characters and if we see any others join Little 9’s group of friends.

You can pick one up at the following:

Jon Schiller Design: $9.99 ea.

Little 9 Grades:

Quality: 7/10
Stitching: 7/10
Packaging: N/A
Durability: 10/10
Hype: 7/10
Fun Factor: 8/10
Value: 9/10
Overall: 6.8/10

X81 Grades:
Overall: 7.4/10

Have these figures?  What do you rate them?