Weird 'The Walking Dead' Merchandise

Merchandise deals seem to last forever once something becomes popular. After all, there’s much money to be made among those zealous fans who desperately want to collect any and all specialty items. Some merchandise, however, is straight up weird. In fact, some of these The Walking Dead items are so weird that it's clear the manufacturers are banking on fandom rather than practicality.

This item is not that weird if you’re a Daryl fanatic, but the gaudiness of the lettering “Walking Dead” underneath an infinity love sign is pretty strange in combination. I guess you could argue that the series is all about the contrast between those two things, but that’s a stretch at best. Honestly, based on the price, this seems more like a bad Christmas gift than an actual fan item. In other words, it’s the awkward gift your estranged aunt or uncle buys for you in the family Secret Santa because he noticed you freaking out on Facebook about that infamous Glenn death episode.

It’s style over substance in this The Walking Dead themed item. Rather than the charms going around the circle of the bracelet, they are shaped like a cross with the charms hanging off of the sides. Besides the unique design, the choice in charms appears pretty random: the crossbow makes sense, Rick’s hat and gun make sense, the ax you could argue for, but the binoculars and lantern are things you’d likely have to explain to anyone not following every item used on the show as if they’re the prop supervisor on set.

Admittedly, you should have seen this one coming, since the show and the comic have plenty of knives and guns. What I didn’t see coming is that the seller of these knives has decided that the somewhat ridiculous design of the handle should feature different colors. Moreover, you as the buyer won’t get a choice in which color you want. By the way, the design of the knife is pretty generic—walkers and the words Biohazard. While it isn't exceptionally unique, it is designed after the show, and does make a unique gift idea, if not a unique The Walking Dead design.

This mug continues to follow the trend of generic zombie products tagged with The Walking Dead to capitalize on the new pop culture obsession. This one is worse, however, because it legitimately has nothing to do with The Walking Dead. What makes the mug strange however is the idea that someone wants to watch a zombie slowly appear as they prepare to drink their coffee (or tea or other hot drink). Personally, I’d definitely not be looking for that in the early morning hours. Finally, it appears that based on user reviews, there’s a good chance that the zombie will be hard to make out. If it’s just going to look like a blob, you’re better off paying a few dollars more for an actual Walking Dead mug with a walker you recognize.

Being a part of any fandom requires a degree of weird obsession, but in the case of this lamp, I’d prepare to have your friends make fun of you every time they see it. The lamp in the shape of a crossbow seems somewhat okay on its own, but the lampshade itself involves staring at a grimy looking Norman Reedus. This is fine, of course, if you are indeed of the persuasion to be attracted to him, but otherwise it just makes for an awkward poster every time you sit next to the lamp in question. Finally, unless you’ve got an entire room decked out in The Walking Dead style, the lamp without the cheesy photo shade just makes you seem like a backwoods hunting dude that makes Daryl’s brother Merle seem like a nice person.

Cups are generally a good item to consider for merchandise because, besides putting the label of the show or maybe character photos, it’s pretty hard to mess up. Given the fact that characters on The Walking Dead already look grimy, the image on the tumbler can be hard to identify. Some might say the crossbow straw makes up for that, but if you’re not a fan of the franchise, you run the risk of people having no clue why you’re sipping from a straw with a bow on it.

Phone cases are (like cups) usually a safe bet for franchise merchandise, except that it’s pretty clear this is another person capitalizing off of fans with a not-incredibly-unique design. The phone case in question depicts the angel wings on the back of Daryl’s iconic vest, but not Daryl. As a result, the case just looks like your average stylized drawing of angel wings. You may ask, "Hey what’s wrong with having a stylized angel wings phone case?" Well nothing, unless you wanted a case that was specific to The Walking Dead.

This one works as a gift of irony certainly. For the most part, I’d say buying this for the hardcore Walking Dead fan would make for a great gift. However, when you begin to think about practical use, this night light makes little sense. It’s pretty simple: Night lights are for people who scared of the dark. Putting a zombie, which inherently probably doesn’t float well with someone who is afraid of the dark, on a night light seems idiotic. Overall, The Walking Dead night light works as a collector’s item and nothing else.

Admittedly, this merchandise is kind of funny for the morbid onlooker and gore lover. Unfortunately, the average child seeing their first puppy tear a human in half is probably not going to go over well. There’s a similar plush of the Governor, however it’s slightly funnier for the particular fan who really hates his character and would love the opportunity to see him torn apart daily.

Barring the question of who actually plays Yahtzee anymore, this collector’s item is weird if only because of the absurdity of shaking a zombie head and spilling its brains out to potentially win a game. You have to hand it to the developers—spilling zombie brains in the form of dice is pretty awkwardly funny. From a practical standpoint however, it appears that the zombie head design sometimes prevents dice from properly falling out. As a result, The Walking Dead Yahtzee is pretty funny as a concept, but if there’s someone out there who loves this and has several zombie dolls and posters, there’s a chance they also have a zombie fetish that is reminiscent of Tina from Bob’s Burgers.