Sparkman High student creates plush line of dolls
Megan McGraw poses with her unique line of demonic tots plush dolls. McGraw created stories behind the characters and will feature the dolls at a booth at the New York Toy Fair Feb. 14. (Record Photo/Nick Sellers)
By Nick Sellers | Staff Writer
HARVEST – A local 14-year-old has taken her creativity to the next level with a unique line of stuffed dolls. The plush figures don’t fit the typical idea of a doll, however. The name of the line, straight from the creator, Megan McGraw, is “demonic tots.”
“For as long as I can remember, I’ve always had a creative and interesting imagination,” McGraw said. “My mind is always coming up with something new, like the tots. My creativity is a big part of my life. It affects how I do school work, the types of shows and movies I watch, the books I read, and the people I surround myself with.”
According to the plushies’ website, demonictots.com, McGraw wrote the stories around two years ago and eventually came up with the idea of making a concrete product based on the stories with the help of her mom.
“With the tots being turned into plushies it makes the idea harder to lose, and gives physical evidence of it existing,” McGraw said. “The plushies are also able to give a face to peoples’ struggles, whereas a story only lacks that human connection at times.”
There are four characters McGraw conceived: Ophelia, Alexander Grimm, Rose and Lucius, AKA Lucy. All four have a “story” that accompanies the corresponding plush figure, and each story involves common issues teenagers face at school and home. McGraw described herself as an outsider, unable to fit into a label at school.
“This defiance is why people try to bully me. However, once they realize their words arent going to make me change/and or affect me, they stop. This is why the tots’ message of accepting and being yourself is so important, because bullying will never truly end,” McGraw said.
The demonic tots line will have a booth at the New York Toy Fair in New York on Feb. 14 with Shinedown Productions, Inc., the company that made the plush figures. More information, including how to contribute to McGraw’s Kickstarter campaign, can be found at demonictots.com.
