Entertainment

‘Stranger Things’ Fans Will Love This Adorable New Dart Plush Toy

by Parry Ernsberger
Netflix

Demodogs are many things, but adorable has never been one of them — until now. Thanks to the good folks at Funko, TV fans will be able to bring home their very own Stranger Things 2 plush Dart dolls in the spring of 2018, and bonus: they can happily co-exist with your real-life feline friends.

In the second season of Netflix's hit sci-fi series, Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) forms an unlikely friendship with an Upside Down-dwelling creature that the kids christen a "Demodog." After discovering the Demodog — an adolescent stemming from the same species as the original Demogorgon — rooting around in his trashcan one night, Dustin decides to keep the little beast as a pet. He first feeds it a Three Musketeers candy bar, and thus, D'Artagnan (the main character from Alexandre Dumas' Three Musketeers) or "Dart," for short, is born.

Despite Dustin's best efforts, it's pretty much all downhill from there, as Dart begins to grow at an alarmingly rapid rate and develops a ton of super-scary, razor-sharp teeth. It should go without saying, but at no point did this mysterious "pet" ever sit, stay, or fetch. What it did do, however, was mercilessly devour Dustin's family's actual pet cat, Mews (#JusticeForMews), after outgrowing/destroying the glass turtle tank he'd previously been placed in. So, yeah. Funko's soft and snuggly Dart dolls are a pretty generously cute interpretation of the actual, cat-eating beast.

Netflix

The dolls themselves come in a nesting set of three and are meant to represent several stages of the Demodog's life cycle. "[It] starts as a small 1-inch pollywog, then a 2-inch slug, and finally Dart becomes a 9-inch tall Demodog," according to the description on Funko's website. While the 9-inch doll depicts the stage during which Mews met his untimely end, Funko opted to soften the appearance of the Demodog's super-sharp teeth, essentially turning his mouth up into a delightfully dopey grin. Adorable, non-threatening and safe for all ages!

Funko

So, once you're able to get your hands on the 3-piece plush set, what do you do with all your Demodogs? First and foremost, you'll probably want to recreate some memorable Dart moments, flash your best Gaten Grin, upload those images to social media, and then sit back and watch the "likes" pour in. After you're done basking in your newfound Stranger Things super-fan glory, the options are endless: settle in for a good snuggle session, and then set them up with their own glass turtle tank. If you happen to have a cat scratching around the house, perhaps you could/should check and see how these two interact — but only if you want to risk it. You may not want to chance it and just keep the peace between demodogs and cats at home. Maybe just go back to snuggling with the new toy.

If the adorable plush Dart dolls are just too cute for your liking, though, Funko's got you covered with a slightly-scarier, teeth-baring, "candy-eating" figurine version as well — if you believe the doll will be satisfied with mere candy. Later this month, you can even snag Dustin and Dart together in Funko's popular "Pop!" toy form, effectively rounding out all of your Demodog needs.

The three-piece, deceivingly-smiley Dart dolls certainly aren't the strangest Stranger Things merchandise out there (see: this tiny Eleven terrarium, this Stranger Things cast-as-cats print titled "Mangier Things," this "Texas-Sized" Stranger Things cheerleading bow), but there's no question that they're definitely the most adorable. So, if you find yourself in the market for your very own Demodog next year, keep an eye out for these come spring and make sure to stock up on Three Musketeers.