Wild Republic displays scary rubber ducks at Toy Fair

Wild Republic's Toy Fair display of forthcoming Rubber Ducks

Wild Republic had its rubber ducks lined up in a row this week at Toy Fair, though its new line of rubber ducks offers ducks of a much different color, let alone shape.

The nature-related toys and gifts supplier already has its first 30 or so Wild Republic Rubber Ducks entries in the pipeline, partially transformed into other animals including shark, octopus, lion, cobra and triceratops--and two water-related beings, mermaid and pirate.

Also unlike traditional rubber ducks, these lack holes in the bottom, which kids can intentionally fill with water and squirt out by squeezing. Not intentionally, such play promotes the growth of unseemly black mold, which when forcibly expelled as sludge, understandably promotes maternal freak-out.

But rubber duckies aren’t just for youngsters anymore, noted Wild Republic toy division manager Alex Radojevic.

“We looked at one of the oldest U.S. patents,” said Radojevic, who conceived and researched the new line, of the original. “The new ones have features that make them really collectible for adults.”

Sure enough, the forthcoming additions to Wild Republic’s Rubber Ducks catalog focus on classic monsters, and include Dracula, Frankenstein, Friday the 13th’s Jason, a spider, a bat, a skeleton, and an alien duckling popping out of a traditional rubber duckie’s chest.

“They’re really cool, but we’re an animal company, so the first series was mostly animals,” explained Radojevic, “though for the British Museum we made a mummy, a knight, dragon and Cleopatra.”