Living Dead Dolls

Living Dead Dolls is a line of horror dolls first produced as handmades in 1998 in the United States by Ed Long and Damien Glonek, and commercially manufactured by Mezco Toyz since 2001.

Living Dead Dolls are ten inches tall, made of plastic, with fabric clothing, and come packed in coffin-shaped boxes with death certificates. Each doll has a different cause of death, which is usually described in doggerel verse on the certificate. While the dolls are occasionally inspired by real people such as Lizzie Borden, they are described explicitly as dolls, not representations of actual dead children, and are aimed at an adult audience aged upwards of 15 years.

The first Living Dead Dolls appeared for sale in the USA in 1998. They were originally craft dolls individually customised by either Ed Long or Damien Glonek and described as "handmades." These original handmade dolls were sold exclusively through Glonek's mail order company Unearthly Possessions, as well as at horror conventions along the East Coast. At one of these conventions, Mike "Mez" Markowitz, the founder of Mezco Toyz noticed the dolls, and subsequently contacted Long and Glonek about manufacturing and distributing the dolls commercially.

At the time of their introduction in 1998, the Living Dead Dolls tapped into the business trend for "witty repackaging of Gothic themes for a teen/twenty-something audience" that emerged after the success of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which had premiered the previous year. One commentator noted in 2006 that the Living Dead Dolls were unusual among Gothic themed products in that they fell outside the theme of clothing and music that typically defined merchandise aimed towards this market. In addition, the dolls were distinct in that they were generally not obviously connected to pre-existing popular culture such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings, although were often sold alongside merchandise for these franchises.

The first commercial series of Living Dead Dolls, Series 1, was released early in the United States in 2000, with a production run of 40,000 sets; and a second edition in Japan. Apart from the boy doll, Damien, the dolls were all based on original handmade designs, such as Eggzorcist, a doll wearing a bunny suit that had originally been made for Long's former girlfriend. From 2001, after the dolls went into production, it was possible to request custom handmades directly from the creators. These custom handmades originally cost $666 each, later increased to $800. In 2004, Long & Glonek announced on the Mezco message boards that they would no longer accept commissions or make handmades to order, but would instead occasionally offer handmade dolls on eBay to the highest bidder.

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