peepy is about crime and peanuts, peanuts and crime
March 9, 2024 9:34 AM Subscribe
What the hell is Peepy? "A peepy thrives in the shadows, using its wit to stun enemies. Its ability to steal may surprise you. It loves peanuts and will commit any heinous act to get them." In our sad real world, Peppy is a little plush animal that's vaguely peanut-shaped itself, with a beak and big eyes both round. In the lore, a Peepy has two loves in life: eating peanuts and committing crimes. The adventures of Peepy and "friends" on video are part of an elaborate ad campaign by itemLabel with a jolly but vaguely unsettling vibe. Most of it has strange and infectious music by Japanese musician Emamouse. Here's Peepy's Theme Song; a Nintendo DS-like console explains how to care for Peepy; and then there's the amazingly trippy animation Peepy's Secret (warning: bright lights and flashing).
itemLabel insists repeatedly on their site that their products are not meant at toys but as artwork, and so they shouldn't be given to children under the age of 12 or pets. itemLabel's About page, by the way, states that "item label is a revenge based company. We created item label to show up and embarrass our enemies."
Just a few more selections from the large category of Emamouse Peepy songs:
Peepy's Holiday
PPPP PaPiPuPePo (strangely catchy: パ ピ プ ペ ポ)
Papapapa Papupi
Youfo's Theme
Homies Home
Baby Dingle (starts out whimsical and happy but then gets a little too real)
Here is itemLabel's shop site, which is also their main web site, and to be clear is a storefront, but it's full of descriptions and bios of their various characters. They have a Youtube channel, a TikTok account and an Instagram feed. I hear they're on Twitter too, but I dunno, I lost interest in linking it for some reason.
Note, if you end up tempted to purchase a Peepy or associated merchandise, most are at least $30 for a tiny little thing. Think about cost/benefit ratio. But whatever, you do you.
Among the characters/products:
Peepy: "After committing a dangerous and disrespectful crime, Peepy is out on bail and ready to come to your house."
OuiOui: "a ouioui is a young peepy. It doesn't know anything. one day it might grow up to be a peepy, so try to stay on its good side." "These juvenile Peepys have arrived just on the precipice of self awareness. So far, they know two things - Eating peanuts and sleeping. Aren't they cute? Whatever."
PeeOui: "something happend to this ouioui that prevented it from fully maturing. there's a bunch of different peeouis, so it's hard to generalize" "So this OuiOui is kind of a slacker and hasn't really left the house for a while. They need to get a job and start saving up but they can't find one anywhere. They still throw tantrums all the time, collect trading cards, and play gacha games. I'm sick of this crap."
Dinkle: "After putting aside his chiptune net label, Dinkle is ready to go solo in LA. Featuring none other than his distinctive bell, round body and notable tail - he's sure to be an addition to any household, probably. He really wants everyone to hear his bell. Have you heard his bell?"
Sucklet: "Sucklet exists to eat snacks. It's best to eliminate them on sight. A sucklet infestation can cause thousands of damage to a household."
Youfo: "A supposed extra terrestrial being. Not much is known about it. It's been spotted in Nevada recently." A mysterious dog-like alien own product image on the itemLabel site is blurred due to the supposed difficulties of photographing it.
There was a post on the Peepynominon by Metafilter World Peace back in 2022, which was deleted with a request for a repost with more context. While Peepy and acquaintances are largely unexplainable, I hope this post provides enough information.
itemLabel insists repeatedly on their site that their products are not meant at toys but as artwork, and so they shouldn't be given to children under the age of 12 or pets. itemLabel's About page, by the way, states that "item label is a revenge based company. We created item label to show up and embarrass our enemies."
Just a few more selections from the large category of Emamouse Peepy songs:
Peepy's Holiday
PPPP PaPiPuPePo (strangely catchy: パ ピ プ ペ ポ)
Papapapa Papupi
Youfo's Theme
Homies Home
Baby Dingle (starts out whimsical and happy but then gets a little too real)
Here is itemLabel's shop site, which is also their main web site, and to be clear is a storefront, but it's full of descriptions and bios of their various characters. They have a Youtube channel, a TikTok account and an Instagram feed. I hear they're on Twitter too, but I dunno, I lost interest in linking it for some reason.
Note, if you end up tempted to purchase a Peepy or associated merchandise, most are at least $30 for a tiny little thing. Think about cost/benefit ratio. But whatever, you do you.
Among the characters/products:
Peepy: "After committing a dangerous and disrespectful crime, Peepy is out on bail and ready to come to your house."
OuiOui: "a ouioui is a young peepy. It doesn't know anything. one day it might grow up to be a peepy, so try to stay on its good side." "These juvenile Peepys have arrived just on the precipice of self awareness. So far, they know two things - Eating peanuts and sleeping. Aren't they cute? Whatever."
PeeOui: "something happend to this ouioui that prevented it from fully maturing. there's a bunch of different peeouis, so it's hard to generalize" "So this OuiOui is kind of a slacker and hasn't really left the house for a while. They need to get a job and start saving up but they can't find one anywhere. They still throw tantrums all the time, collect trading cards, and play gacha games. I'm sick of this crap."
Dinkle: "After putting aside his chiptune net label, Dinkle is ready to go solo in LA. Featuring none other than his distinctive bell, round body and notable tail - he's sure to be an addition to any household, probably. He really wants everyone to hear his bell. Have you heard his bell?"
Sucklet: "Sucklet exists to eat snacks. It's best to eliminate them on sight. A sucklet infestation can cause thousands of damage to a household."
Youfo: "A supposed extra terrestrial being. Not much is known about it. It's been spotted in Nevada recently." A mysterious dog-like alien own product image on the itemLabel site is blurred due to the supposed difficulties of photographing it.
There was a post on the Peepynominon by Metafilter World Peace back in 2022, which was deleted with a request for a repost with more context. While Peepy and acquaintances are largely unexplainable, I hope this post provides enough information.
(Which is itself actually interesting! Because how long did that moment last, two years or something??? Sorry, not trying to disparage Fans of Peepy here.)
posted by praemunire at 9:40 AM on March 9 [3 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 9:40 AM on March 9 [3 favorites]
I dunno, I mostly just wanted to link to their videos, and added the extra stuff because I felt I should try to fill in the context. Watch the videos, the music is really fun!
posted by JHarris at 9:42 AM on March 9 [2 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 9:42 AM on March 9 [2 favorites]
ngl i don't really get where they're going with some of this. some of it seems like a critique and/or satire of consumerism culture but other parts of it are just over my head. i kinda like their weird, slightly intentionally-wrongly designed hats. i (think i) understand the things like velcro patches for non-descript brands with illegible embroidery, but i'm missing it on their statement about being a "revenge based company" that sells odd contextless plushies.
posted by glonous keming at 10:25 AM on March 9
posted by glonous keming at 10:25 AM on March 9
I really think they're just a silly web brand that makes fun videos. It's popular in some circles, but attempts to find deeper meaning in Peepy will not succeed.
posted by JHarris at 12:07 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 12:07 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
And I say that not for the lack of looking! I joined the itemLabel Discord and did some asking for more info, and didn't uncover too much. I think they're just quirky and self-knowledgable and winking and a bit dark. I think Metafilter is for fun things we like on the internet, and that's what this is. I miss when there were more posts here that were just about fun things! Emamouse's music alone would make this post worth making, I think.
posted by JHarris at 12:12 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 12:12 PM on March 9 [3 favorites]
I'm sorry, JHarris, I really wasn't trying to imply that this was an unworthy topic of discussion.
posted by praemunire at 3:48 PM on March 9
posted by praemunire at 3:48 PM on March 9
No no, it's fine praemunire! I like silly whimiscal things. I understand not everyone is so into them. For the people who are, there is this post. There's enough sad/upsetting/topical/newsfilter elsewhere on the site.
posted by JHarris at 4:37 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 4:37 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
My kid had us order one of these for a friend’s birthday. I am comfortable having no idea what is going on.
posted by Xalf at 5:23 PM on March 9
posted by Xalf at 5:23 PM on March 9
don't miss the free PDF The Animal Town - Manga by emamouse
posted by glonous keming at 6:40 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
posted by glonous keming at 6:40 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
I guess what struck me about them when I encountered them in the wild was that I wanted to be whimsied by them, but something seemed a little off/contrived. But maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind.
Please do continue to link to lighter-hearted things!
posted by praemunire at 6:59 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
Please do continue to link to lighter-hearted things!
posted by praemunire at 6:59 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]
At the very least, itemLabel makes fun videos and sponsors cool music. I get the sense that the company is largely an excuse to do those things, and the plushies are what make it possible, but for all I know they could be a massive billion-dollar conglomerate with a sideline in whimsical toys artwork.
posted by JHarris at 11:24 AM on March 11
posted by JHarris at 11:24 AM on March 11
i mean i did buy a hat
posted by glonous keming at 8:24 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]
posted by glonous keming at 8:24 PM on March 11 [1 favorite]
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posted by praemunire at 9:39 AM on March 9 [1 favorite]