I saw this — and now you have to, too. A company in Japan makes the most realistic wearable cat heads, and while the craftsmanship is truly remarkable, the end result is ... well. Kind of creepy. It's from a company called My Family, and true to its promise, these masks are definitely realistic. They're produced by Special Modeling Studio 91, according to the site — and, more remarkably, the masks can be designed after your actual cat. Whether or not your cat will ever forgive you for stealing their look, though, is another issue entirely.
"Our company is in charge of creation requests from planning your own original mask," the site explains. "The design and creation is done by a special modeling artist." There's no doubt that a lot of talent went into making these a reality, but wow, is there a lot happening. Firstly, they cost 300,000 yen, which is over $2,700 dollars (not including taxes and shipping). Secondly, well... they look like this. And by "this," I mean it's either your dream come true, or quite possibly the theme of every nightmare you'll have for the rest of your adult life. Here's a video showing the process and end result below.
I mean... that happened. It's just too much. Apparently, you can get the masks in a range of different animals but, to be honest, I'm tired just thinking about how disturbing I'd find those. It's all a lot to take in.
We certainly are obsessed with our pets — and a lot of people would argue that the pet-obsession and personalization trends have both peaked and, together, they've created these monstrous masks. People make their pets a part of their weddings, people get personalized pillows of their pet's face. Even Snapchat has a feature for cats, which I find bizarre but also incredibly cute. Given the competition, it's hard to take a stand in a world full of adorable pet accessories. As soon as I saw you could get an Iron Throne for your cat, I was finished.
And yet, somehow, I can manage to hold strong when it comes to these realistic cat masks. The craftsmanship may be commendable, the idea — in theory — might even be cute. But the practice? Well, we've reached the uncanny valley, but for cats. Personalized? Cute. Realistic? Kind of cute? Too personalized and realistic? Weird as hell.
Maybe the cat mask will speak to you, but I'm going to give it a hard pass. I just can't see how anyone would be that dedicated to looking like a cat, especially with Halloween on the horizon, meaning you'll have cheaper, decidedly less haunting options at your disposal soon. But if you really want to live a day in the life of your furry friend — or at the very least, live out a day pretending that you're Judi Dench, living her best life on the set of Cats — you just need nearly $3,000 and a strong stomach to make that dream a reality. Welcome to 2019.
