Tickle Me Elmo With an Inferiority Complex

But since the Needies have yet to go into mass production—Codependent Designs is still looking for a manufacturer—no one's needed to ask these questions yet. Except the designers themselves, who wonder exactly what sort of response a million Needies might provoke. And who have already discovered a therapeutic aspect to the Needies they didn't expect.

"It's so much easier to recognize this sort of codependent behavior in ourselves now that it's been amplified in the Needies," says Schultz.

"And all of three of us," says Perlin, "are currently in incredibly healthy relationships."

CHECK WWW.NEEDIES.COM FOR MORE INFO ON THE NEEDIES.