Aesthetic changes made to the figure temporarily called the “Milkfish Kid” outside of Yonglung community in Tainan’s Beimen District (北門) met with public approval after netizens compared the figure to horror film icon Chucky.
The figure, adjacent to provincial highway 17, had been designed with the intent to draw attention to milkfish production in Beimen District.
While it drew the attention of the public, it certainly did not draw the right kind of the attention.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
While many said that the figure looked like Chucky, the doll that houses the soul of serial killer Charles Lee Ray in the Child’s Play movie series, other netizens said the figure was “scary in a cute way.”
The designer said that the materials used to create the figure — fiber-reinforced plastic — had not done justice to the cuteness of the original design.
Council of Agriculture Soil and Water Conservation Bureau Director Huang Chen chuan (黃振全) and Deputy Director Lin Hung-ming (林宏鳴) decided to focus efforts on correcting the figure on the most criticized aspect — the entirely black eyes.
Photo: Yang Chin-cheng, Taipei Times
“The saying that “the eyes are the windows to the soul” holds true in this instance, as the figure now looks cuter and closer to the original design after we put white in the eyes,” Huang said.
Huang said that the figure was intended to bring a focus to the community’s milkfish industry, adding that the figure was “a beautiful mistake” and that he hoped that the aesthetic changes were satisfactory.
The council had not expected the controversy over the figure, and said it would be taking suggestions for the figure’s official name soon.
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