@WildWon: Fully seconded, I've got a big ugly grease stain on one of the doors in my house. On a matte-textured paint, they'll make an awful mess.

ElGouldo

Does anyone recall those 25¢ sticky, elastic vending machine toys? Sometimes they're molded as hands or lizard tongues or maces, or sometimes they come shaped like balls.

Now, you know those water slipper toys that they sell in water-themed parks, like Sea World? Y'know, a sack of water in a tube-shaped bag.

Yeah, take the former, and fill it with the same fluid as the latter. There ya go - squishy pig thingy. It's really not such a spectacular thing as Gizmodo is making it out to be.

DisposableInterloper

Sweet!

huxle

Haha we have some of these at the office. The first one BURST!

Namssorg

Yea, this is old "tech." I had a pair of these about 15 years ago called "Splat Balls." It was the same material as those stretchy sticky hands. Throw the ball against a wall, it flattens, then pulls itself together.

If its still the same material i have a major warning!

DO NOT THROW AGAINST A PAINTED WALL

I did. Left HORRIBLE grease stains my mom had to paint over. To this day she STILL reminds me of "Those splat ball things you got, that you threw at the wall, which i then had to re-paint because of the giant grease stains they left."

WildWon

I bought one from a cheap roadside stall in thailand a year back....they were selling ones which looked like an eyeball, a tomato,a soccer ball and guess what....a penis!!

pradster

I just ordered 50 to give away as free gifts on ebay sales.

dark_jak

Splat pigs? Yeah, they're all over Seoul, a dollar or less in the subway. They're probably toxic though, as they smell like oil paint. They also burst relatively easy (they're filled with water).

I brought back about 10 of these with me this summer to give to young relatives (ones smart enough not to eat them).

For anyone who doubts the video above:

youtube.com/watch?v=LIE4d_gIfJ8

ElGouldo

@gary_7vn: By now? I'm certain that's where it started.

It's like technological advancement through NASA/DoD developments in the U.S.

First a sexual (or military in the U.S.) use is identified and developed, then mainstream applications occur.

92BuickLeSabre

Bring 'em stateside! I want a dozen right NOW!

zombo

What about the fleshbot potential? Sure the Japanese are on this aspect by now?

gary_7vn

@FreeMan: Awww Data, one problem though, people's bones aren't made of this.

Booty traps.

Booby traps.

That's what I said, booby traps...

The octopus was really scary.

gokor

"Too bad they are probably made of materials that induce hallucinations when licked." Do you have thoughts of licking this thing?

hagrun

So, anyone know of any sites in the US from which we can purchase these? I'd love to pick up a few.

TurboFool

Now, if they could only figure out how to make cars out of this stuff...

FreeMan

I want one. These look like fun.

gokor

@uptonogood: well, what can I say. Then this is definitive PROOF that Korea and Japan are LIGHT years ahead of us, stupid stoopeed westerners.

jesusdiaz

if you're curious why it's a pig as opposed to other critters, it's cos it's the year the pig by the chinese lunar calendar.

uptonogood

they sell these things ALLLLLL over seoul, south korea. i've seen the vendors just sit there and throw these things over and over in the subways.

uptonogood

LOL nice. It's japanese isn't it?
You can tell by the crows... kinda makes me nostalgic.

Now, they only have to make a T1000 version.

Bokusatsu_Tenshi

@sansovino: I don't know, I'm kind of with strider_mt2k, there's something even creepier about the cute little pig.

Especially with that crow cawing in the background of the video.

Something very Dr. Who-esque about the whole thing to me.

92BuickLeSabre

They missed the market, though. That creeply 'can't kill it' thing lends itself to a more frightening image than an uber-cute pig.

Gimme a Freddy Krueger or a cockroach that comes back after squashing.

sansovino

niceee

Arsenal6

correction -Kinton is not very tasty...

poisonfist

@Gann:
That website is hilarious if you can read Japanese.

This is "Kinton" the

-Squashable-pig
-but regain its shape-pig

How to take care of your new pet:

-There is water inside. If it gets punctured, Kinton will no longer play with you.

-Kinton does not very tasty, please do not put it in your mouth.
etc. etc...

poisonfist

isn't it a form of the 'known' toy polymers
check out this great pdf. Does Pink Floyd know about it?

[www.chymist.com]

flyboy

Dealextreme.com sells them. I bought one but it exploded in my wife's face when I threw it to her lol

thanox2

The miracle of polymorphic lead paint at work!

gary_7vn

Freaking awesome! My kid (who has a bit of a destructive streak anyway) would love one of those - even the pig one.

I can see "boss" models being very popular :-)

I always had a desire to releae frustration by hurling ceramic mugs against a cinder block wall... this would be even better (no shrapnel and I only need to buy one or two throwing items).

AWESOME! I NEED (yes, need) one. Now. Or else.

huygir

Cool, I'm heading to Asia soon, I'll look out for them and build my own army of world conquering indestructible pigs.

theimmc

Yes, exactly like Hello Kitty.

strider_mt2k

That is cool, yet disturbing somehow.

That little thing is so cute that it can only be masking a terrible evil.

strider_mt2k

can anyone translate? [lokuloku.com]

Gann

they're also available in mainland china (all over the touristy spots in shanghai and beijing for sure). their asking price is usually around $1 but they're happy to sell them for less than a quarter. the vendors throw them against pieces of smooth plastic that they carry around to demonstrate, but you can use anything relatively flat. they have some sort of liquid (water?) that you can see inside of them.

esadun

@meticans: must be sarcasm...

@papaguru: no. those don't actually look like they flatten...this toy is like throwing pudding at a wall and then it returns back to the shape of the pudding cup it was in...

slingblade

very very cool stuff.

bobide

Hah, all of you were fooled by the trick photography. There's a guy with a heat gun just above the pig melting it. It's just played back in reverse.....

meticans

Isn't this basically the same as those little sticky rubbery men you throw at the window, after which they "climb" down?

Those have been around like forever.

papaguru

woah...that is awesome, I want one- but I want one that has half of it's face blown off and a red eye...just like the terminator.

Seiven

Sorry, my bad. The page wasn't loading properly for me. doh!

yougottabekidding

And we got the proof, in video. What video? Looks like still shots to me. Looks fun for about 5 minutes. I wonder what the effect would look like if this thing were thrown at your buddy's face.

yougottabekidding

Yea. They sell these in Hong Kong in street vendors all over the place. Amazingly cheap.

They have tomato ones and when you throw them at walls, people think they're real ones!

slingblade

"Too bad they are probably made of materials that induce hallucinations when licked."

and the problem is??? i want two!!!

Erzengel

awesome!

EMoShunz

These would be PERFECT for my little sister/brother.

If someone brought these stateside and they were in fact safe, I think the company would have a mini fad on its hands

I82Much

Anyone find a place that sells these yet?

zifnab

$2.50 with free shipping
yellow:
[www.dealextreme.com]
in red:
[www.dealextreme.com]

Skeptical_Geezer

I bought some of these on the street in South Korea for $1 each. Make sure you buy 5 times more than you want, they break easy. They also tend to collect fuzz and hair like a real life Beautiful Katamari.

The Brain

@hagrun: Yes. Actually, I thought about BITING them.

jesusdiaz

It doesn't have 3G, gotta wait for version 2.0

AznSmith

Hmm so this is what Marriage life is.. u trow her away.. she just comes back..
OoooOoh so know i get all those old dirty jokes..

DJJS

lol, will it blend? And if so, will it regenerate?

AznSmith

....omg i'm going to buy me 1000 of those

Solidsky

i got one of these for my cousin when i went on a trip to korea last summer and they were only 3 dollars. When i was walking in the city i saw a extremely dirty one laying on the ground.

doubleodusty

these are nothing new...i had one when i was a kid (88? i'd have been like 5) only it wasn't a cow..it was an eyeball. the cow looks like it's made of the same material...only with ears, legs, and a defined paint job

RedBeard

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

witeowl

It's amazing how well a YouTube video and a post at Gizmodo can sell a product so quickly. We're such suckers!

I just bought 4 myself! PayPal, free shipping... $10.80 -- SCORE BABY!

zombo

now who sells those tiles that they are being thrown on?

skulldriveshaft

@witeowl: Oh you win.
Awesome.
Phil Hartman FTW!

strider_mt2k

Those splat balls... they never gave me problems when I threw them against windows or walls, but one day when I threw it straight up at my ceiling, it just sat there.. and I let it sit there, for a few hours. When my mom saw it and told me to peel it off, it left a huge grease spot that can still be seen through a coat of paint.

bvicarious

@WildWon: @bvicarious: I've played with the Splat Balls before too, and aside from leaving nasty splat residue on whatever surface you've splatted, if you don't splat the balls on a clean surface, they pick up all the crumbs and hair and dust and get really really nasty. Eventually they lose thier stickiness and splatting ability, and become just a plain old crumby hair covered water filled balls.

LastVigilante

In lieu of the holiday season, these splat balls are the best! All I need now is a Rudolf Head splat ball:
[shop2.aol.ca]

After reading this article, and a furious google search, I've ordered the pig, a tomato and 2 eggs! These are the BEST!

GQmacguy

Hey all, I'm a teacher in South Korea, and I've been using these all year in my classes. I'll put pictures up on the board, have the kids throw the pig, and say the word in english (usually in tic-tac-toe format). The goes love the game, and one of my other teachers has been giving the pigs to the best students. They are indeed awesome.

Also, they are a golden pig because in the asian calendar this is the year of the pig, they are already selling black rats because that's the next year.

jdog2050

imagine body armor with those properties...small hard armor scale like plates on top of a material like this to absorb impact

Kamenwati

$2.50?! I got 3 of these in a Beijing market for RMB$10. I think that's about US$0.50. I've still got a couple at home.

Try chucking it at your TV screen. It's hilarious watching it roll down. Or sticking it onto your ceiling and wait for someone to walk under it. :)

lsim001

We have those things here in Brazil since, I don't know... Forever?
They sell it on the street, and in "everything for R$ 1,99" stores. I had a lot of those when I was a kid, 'cause i use to throw them at the walls and ceiling of my place, and they always got dirty (so did the walls) and stop squishing properly.

I haven't seen any pig shaped, though.

Doodoo

I purchased 2 of them from my trip to Korea for $2.

I don't see it coming state side because they smell like pertrolium (?) / Gasoline.

The smell stays on your hands for a couple of days too!!!

chungini

my dad bought a strawberry and egg version of this. the egg even had a jelly-like yolk inside! sooo cool. but picks up dust and ick very fast. tends to smell funny too. on hindsight...keep out of reach of children.

soundengineer

Yea...great...JUST FUCKING GREAT...in order for a rubber or plastic to do this how bloody toxic do you think this is? I give you a hint..VERY! How much pollution was pumped out to make this...Ill give you another fucking hint.. A LOT!!

Daimyo Nintendo