FEISTY PETS Creator Chats Scares and Laughs with Kids

I sure hope that cartoonist and “Feisty Pets” inventor, Mark Forti, kept his invention notebook. Inspired by cartoon illustrations and how simple changes of the eyebrows can dramatically affect a character’s expression, Forti began development on his 25th invention, a plush line called Feisty Pets.

“It wasn’t a big hit at first,” Forti explains. “At the first round of shows, people were like ‘are you trying to scare kids?’

That definitely was not what he was after. Well, kinda.

“All the kids I had shown loved it!” says Forti. So he reeled it in a little to appease the buyers at various toy shows.
In his next step towards plush world domination, Forti posted the debut of Feisty Pets on YouTube.

HorrorBuzz Meets Feisty Pets Creator Mark Forti

Watch this video on YouTube

The viral sensation that obtained 8 million YouTube views in two weeks, people loved these adorable plush animals that spring to life in a devilishly delightful way. The original characters that Forti introduced only had one growling expression as to appease the masses and to keep the scare tactic to a minimum. After his character’s viral popularity exploded, Forti expanded the cast of Feisty Pets from four to fourteen in two weeks. Now the furry gang is over 50 characters strong and varied in size.

The expressions also grew to six different expressions.

Millions of Feisty Pets have been shipped. But that wasn’t it for the Feisty Pets.

Mark Forti further expanded his idea into an ultimate family project in “Feisty Films.” Introduced online in 2016, these YouTube shorts feature the “Feisty Pets Gang” and their hilarious, edgy, and sometimes naughty (but not too naughty) exploits in the real world.

My two kids loved playing with them but it’s also perfect for a prank gift for adults. Check out Feisty Films on YouTube.
You can find Feisty Pets at your local Walmart in late April and then more retailers to follow!

About the Author

Erin Jefferson-Foley (Mommy Fearest) is terrified of scary movies, gore and zombies. But she loves all things Halloween and Haunt related! Slowly but surely she has been dipping her toes into the realm of horror movies with great results. Pretty soon she will work her way up to watching a scary movie when it is dark outside. Erin has had a love affair with theme park Halloween events for the past 20 years. Her first time at an event was at Knott's Scary Farm in the late 80s when a family friend, a Knott's employee, escorted her into the park to watch Elvira and give her a behind the scenes tour. She was intrigued as she walked through the break room and realized that they were just people in masks and makeup. It seemed like only a short time later, Erin was performing for Halloween Haunt which led to her meeting the love of her life, her husband. Each year she cheers on her husband and his friends as they set up and run a home haunt. You can catch her helping with line control and repeating the same instructions over and over and over to the guests each night. She has been a professional dancer and actress for over 20 years. When she is not in the studio teaching dance or in her office writing, you can catch Mommy Fearest with her husband and two kids at various conventions throughout California. She enjoys Cosplay, Star Wars, Renaissance Faires, Halloween, haunted attractions, paranormal happenings, special effects makeup and horrible reality television shows.