The story of the Ugly Dolls started way back in late 2001 with a letter David Horvath (creator) wrote to Sun-Min Kim (creator) just after she'd had to move away due to a student visa expiring, long before they were married. That letter featured a little cartoon of his character, Wage, at the bottom saying something like-  "Working hard to make our dreams come true so we can be together again soon" . The dream had always been to tell childrens stories through books and toys. As a surprise gift, Sun-Min hand sewed a doll of Wage, and sent it to David by mail.  David was chuffed and showed Wage to his friend Eric Nakamura (owner of the Giant Robot magazine and store), who thought David was pitching him a product and immediately ordered a few more for his shop. David wrote to Sun Min asking her to sew more, while sending emails with stories about Wage, Babo and Ice-Bat's first ever adventure, soon to become Chilly Chilly Ice-Bat. The stuffed animals come in a normal size, a "little ugly", or a keychain.