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Aug 31, 2006
Asteria Animal Series
Alice Chan is an internationally acclaimed designer with a wide range of clients including Anna Sui, Colette, Adiddas and more. She's recently focused on designer vinyl, producing both custom and production pieces for Toy2R. Now she's about to release the first original vinyl figures for her very own Asteria Brand.
The Asteria Animal Series features an adorable lion pirate designed in her signature style. The figures stand 6.5" tall and come with knife and diamond accessorires + an island base. Limited to 500 pieces, there are 3 characters -- Creamy (yellow), Mimi (purple) and Cool (mono). Cool is the chase figure (1:8 ratio).
Bwana Spoons' Edward The Gator from Max Toy Company
Here's a very early sneak peek of Bwana Spoons' Edward the Gator vinyl figure coming your way in Fall/Winter '07 from Max Toy Company. Inspired by Bwana's recent paintings, Edward the Gator will stand 9" tall, come with a removable butterfly net and a shoulder bag that opens, and the box will feature his wraparound art. What you're looking at is a clay proto of the figure. Fingers crossed we should have pics of a painted proto soon. Bwana's on a toy roll -- first Steven the Bat was released at SDCC and now Edward the Gator is coming around the corner. Time to save up those quarters!
Koa x Dob Fatcap for KR's Paintball
KOA and Dob have knocked out an ill Super Fatcap for Kidrobot's Paintball Show (09.07.06) for their Level-Art Crew. This two-faced creation features KOA's stylings on the front and Dob running rampant on the back. Props on a tight piece.
Aug 30, 2006
Andrew Bell - "Dunny for Dinner"
Sweet. Here's Andrew Bell's "Dunny for Dinner", a 20 inch Dunny created for Kidrobot's Paintball (09.07.06). Andrew's customs never disappoint -- he always puts his wicked imagination and collection of power tools to good use with incredible results. Beware of the black Dunny predator but be sure to admire those razor-sharp pearly whites (from a safe distance!). Be sure to check out Andrew's project page for additional pics of the finished piece as well as many under-construction shots.
The Paintball - 20" Dunny by Dave Blog + William Dunn
We're starting to see some amazing Super Fatcap Customs created for The Paintball Show organized by Kidrobot. The Fatcaps are cool but so far the 20" Dunnys have been mostly MIA. Until now, this nice 20" Dunny was created by Dave Blog and William Joseph Dunn on behalf of The Daily Show for Kidrobot's Paintball (09.07.06 in NYC). The pared down design with the test pattern inspired design echoes The Daily Show in a subtle manner -- nice job. To top it off, Jon Stewart signed the back of the piece which should increase the amount of money it pulls in for charity. Check out more pics including in-progress shots of the creation of the Dunny in William Joseph Dunn's Flickr Album.
Pics: Feel Good Project -- Colour Me, HK (8.12.06)
The Feel Good Project raises money to combat unecessary blindness by organizing live art events around the globe. The first two sessions were held in HK to benefit the ORBIS charity. As part of the first session (8.12.06), Pictoplasma Germany organized Colour Me, HK! This was the third of the Colour Me events which features live drawing from character writes with the results colored in by the audience. Alex Lau, TobyHK (cubemen), ESP Visuals, Graphic Airlines, HKR, Hobsek, Zono and 4Getboutit donated their talents to create the larger than life interactive coloring book on walls. Thanks to TobyHK (cubemen) for pics of the event.
Fafinettes Set - Jeanette and Claude
Fafi's beatuiful duo of Jeanette and Claude -- the Fafinettes will drop in early October from adFunture Workshop. The Fafinettes will be sold only as a set of the two 8" figures for a total of $100. These are limited to 2000 sets across all colorways. These look really nice and have a very reasonable price tag as well.
Huck Gee - Mama's Boy 8" Qee
Huck Gee's first production Qee, the 8" Mama's Boy, will drop in october/november of '06 from Toy2R. Just a tease for now -- hopefully there'll be pics soon. Based on a custom design, this one will be available in a general colorway (400 pieces) and a Club2r.com exclusive colorway (100 pieces). Each colorway will sell for $80.
Urban Medium's Fatcap @ KR Paintball (09.07.06)
Look at what the email faerie has brought... Urban Medium's incredible Fatcap done for Kidrobot's Paintball show (09.07.06) works on so many levels. While the cage and the trapped spray can clearly steal the show, the black/white designs on the body are equally cool and are signature UM. The Paintball is going to be out of sight ;-)
Emoteeglobes Winner
The Emoteeglobes have a new home. They are all going to Kismi!!! I am sure they will be very happy with their new owner. Thanks to all who entered!! Stay tuned for another exciting contest.
Honey-B Custom Contest
Do you have the itch to show off your design and customizing skills? If so, here's your shot at fame and fortune (well... you'll have to settle for fame!). Vinyl Pulse and Heroine International, the creators of the Honey B figures are proud to bring you an exciting custom contest. There are two rounds to this contest and lots of rules, so read carefully!!! As a quick overview, 10 people will receive DIY figs to customize with their submitted design and the grand prize winner will have his/her piece displayed at the Honey B Show in Hong Kong in January of '07. So, show us what you can do with the adorable and slightly mischeivous Honey B created by GaryThinking. Check out the full details:
Round One
Download the Honey B template in either Adobe Illustrator (v. 10) format or PDF (right-click, and choose "save as") and submit your 2d Honey B designs. GaryThinking of Heroine International and the folks here at VP (Jack and Francine) will pick the 10 best designs, which are entered into round two of the contest.
Round Two
The top 10 finalists will receive a blank Honey B for them to transform their winning 2d design onto. Gary and VP will pick the final top 3 winners.
Prizes:
1st: Winner's customized Honey B will be shown at the Honey B show held at the Hong Kong Toy and Game Fair from January 8th-11th in Hong Kong. Plus a set of the Fantast Honey B and a full set of the first generation Honey B.
2nd: A set of Fantast Honey B and a full set of the first generation Honey B.
3rd: A full set of Fantast Honey B.
Rules
Round 1
1. Deadline to Enter for Template Design: September 30, 2006
2. Send entries to honeyb@vinylpulse.com
3. Entries must have your full name and title of design
4. Multiple entries are welcome but at most only one design per selected artist will be chosen for the second round.
5.Top 10 finalists will be notified by email and must respond within 72 hours.
Round 2
5. Top 10 finalists must submit photographs of their custom piece by November 15, 2006.
6. Top 3 winners will be notified by email and must respond within 72 hours.
7. First place winner must mail custom piece to Hong Kong by December 1, 2006. Winner is responsible for shipping cost.
8. Shipping cost for prizes will be covered to everywhere in the world.
If you have any questions, please email us. Good luck!!!!
8-Style's Bat Monster Waruser
8-Style showed their new figure, Bat Monster Waruser, at this year's Taipei Toy Festival. This retro figure comes in five colorways and is available directly from 8-Style. Datadub recently dropped by the 8-Style store in Japan to check out the figure first-hand. He sent along these pics of the toy and the lovely designer, Ina. Beyond the new figure, 8-Style also has sweet collab shirts done with Shin of Devilrobots.
Blaine Fontana - The Manifest Soup Transcipts of Four Corners (9.1.06)
Blaine Fontana's first East Coast solo show, The Manifest Soup Transcripts of Four Corners, opens at Lineage Gallery In Philadelphia this Friday, September 1st from 7 to 10 PM Eastern. His larget show to date, this one features a special installation, new original paintings, graphite drawings, 2 new lithograph prints and the first 8 (of 30) hand-painted Nestkeeper figures. This show should be great -- Blaine's clearly on the rise and the Nestkeeper's are beautiful and bound to be extremely collectible. So if you're in Philly, check it out. If not, images of all the pieces will be online this Friday at lineagegallery.com.
Aug 29, 2006
ModernPets x Taito Space Invaders Exhibition @ Frames (Japan)
Taito recently teamed up with the popular Japanese design house, ModernPets, for an exhibition of art and Space Invaders products at Idea Frames Omotesando in Japan. Here are pics of the exhibition courtesy of Datadub. The Invader plush figures shown below stand 18" high, are poseable and sell for 10000 yen (~ $100).
Candykiller Printpack from Brian Taylor
Brian Taylor's Candykiller Printpack is loaded with goodies including a brand new 8 x 10" Demons 2-color print from Letterpressed (200 signed and numbered pieces). The Printpack also includes 2 Letterpressed Jackrabbit greeting cards + envelopes (500 numbered pieces) and the Candykiller Funpack which includes 6 buttons and 4 trading cards. All this can be yours for $45 (+ $5 shipping) from Brian's new Candykiller blog loaded with the latest news on upcoming products and events.
Detail of Demons Print
Aug 28, 2006
Rolito @ Fewmany
Fewmany recently hosted French designer Rolito for a solo show featuring new and upcoming additions to his mini-safari line as well as some 2D renditions of his characters. Datadub was there and sent along these pics. The new figs look nice, and the hand-doodled NedZed's definitely caught my eye ;-)
Angels and Gringos - Chapter 5
The Monahan brothers are particularly excited to unveil Sancho's colorways this week. Not wanting anything too bleak they have juxtaposed the vibrant Day of the Dead colors with the skeletal Sancho to give a fresh take on the undead theme. Now that you've seen all three, what's your favorite?
Seen: Exhibit: A @ Alpha Cult (8.26.06)
Alpha Cult celebrated it's one year anniversary with Exhibit: A, a group show featuring original 2D and 3D around the theme of toys, this past Saturday (8.26.06). 2D work on canvas, paper, wood and various found objects made up the majority of the show along with a nice selection of custom toys -- both vinyl and other media including cermaic, wood and found objects. Turn out was really excellent with a large crowd for most of the night. All in all, the vibe was really upbeat and the show offered up a decidedly urban vision from the 25+ participating artists. Keep an eye on alphacult.com -- the show pieces should be available online for purchase shortly.
Just a few quick notes on Alpha Cult. This was our first visit to the store (located in downton Long Beach). Owned by Daniel Farias and Sally Sun, the store has a really nice selection of vinyl from minifigures to larger toys, from just released to some recent classics. Echoing card stores they also have "singles"/open box minifigs in the display case up front. I think this is the first time I've seen a retail store do this. It's great to have an outpost for designer vinyl in Long Beach. So if you're in Long Beach or even the OC and on the hunt for vinyl, check it out.
Daniel and Sally -- Alpha Cult Owners
No-Fi
Tracy Tubera
Brandon Sopinksy
Blinky
Blaine Fontana
Continue reading "Seen: Exhibit: A @ Alpha Cult (8.26.06)"
Aug 27, 2006
Seen: TADO - Cannibal Funfair @ KR LA (8.24.06)
Kidrobot LA played host to TADO - Mike and Katie for their Cannibal Funfair which opened this past Thursday (8.24.06). Based in Sheffield, England TADO's visits to the USA are rare events for American collectors and fans. Chicago got a chance to meet the pair up close and personal at Rotofugi earlier this year, and SoCal was clearly eager for its opportunity. Fittingly, a huge crowd showed up for the show. Quite a few art celebs also showed up to greet TADO including Huck Gee, Nichole - Toy Baroness, Chris Lee, Ben from Nanospores and more.
The Cannibal Funfair was a combination of a release party for TADO's 8" Love Dunny and an art show featuring digital canvas works, associated prints and toy customs. The incredible 2D work was available both as digital canvases limited to one piece each as well as giclee prints of the same designs. On the custom front -- two cute Munnys and a sweet black/white 20" Dunny were available. Finally, the Series 3 Golden Ticket Grand Prize was on display -- a yellow 20" custom complete with hat. Must buy another case ;-)
In addition to being quite talented, Mike and Katie are down-to-earth, humble and quite friendly.The event ran a full extra hour to make sure that each fan got at least one item signed or doodled. By the end of the night, the Love Dunny went poof -- sold out ;-) It was great to finally meet TADO and we're pretty sure that everyone who showed up had a great experience. Props to KR for a special event and a proper sendoff for the Santa Monica store. Were' looking forward to checking out the new location on Melrose when it opens in October.
TADO
Katie
Mike
Ben (Nanospores) and Chris Lee
Baroness
Golden Ticket Dunny
Continue reading "Seen: TADO - Cannibal Funfair @ KR LA (8.24.06)"
Aug 26, 2006
MAD's Expensive Thoughts
Kidrobot's Paintball featuring 20" Dunnys and Super Fatcaps is right around the corner with the opening on September 7th at a still undisclosed NYC location. Here's MAD's "Expensive Thoughts" Super Fatcap piece for the show. This twisted dude has big aspirations. By Any Means Necessary. Expensive Thoughts sports MAD's tight sharpie work on the near day-glo brain pattern and also cuts a nice 3d profile with the jumper cables and the sweet Bling Bubble. We can't wait to see more pieces from what's bound to be one of the premiere shows of the year.
Aug 25, 2006
Super7 x Gargamel Mini Hedoran
Super7 has teamed up with Gargamel to release a new GID minifigure on each Saturday in August. Each figure is limited to just 50 pieces for $35 each. If you purchase all 4 figures you will quality for a free bonus figure. This is the final week and the figure is a GID Mini Hedoran to be released on Saturday, August 26th at 11 AM PST at the Super7 Store in San Francisco. Customers at the store have first priority, then web and phone orders will be accepted. This is the last week --the final figure to complete the whole set and score the free bonus fig. Don't let this one get away!
Super7 Store
1630 Post Street
San Francisco, CA 94115
415.409.4700
Red Demon Revealed Part 7
This week is our 3rd look at the sculpt of Muttpop's Red Demon figure. Last week's post highlighted some revisions including the tailoring of the jacket with much snugger sleeves. That was just one set of revisions in a long process. As many of your comments pointed out last week, there was still more work to be done to ensure that the final figure would be a faithful 3d representation of Bill's creation. With their keen attention to exacting detail, Muttpop had Monster5 perform delicate cosmetic surgery with two key requests:
"Lose the Nose"
The first thing that Muttpop had qualms with was Red Demon's nose. Bill made the stylistic decision that Red Demon would have no visual cues to a nose. As requested, Monster5 flattened the area between Red Demon's eyes and mouth.
"Less Crotch"
Also, Red Demon's crotch region protruded a bit more than the Muttpop crew
felt was necessary. Red Demon needed to be more James Dean and less Michael
Jackson. Monster5 appropriately sanded Mr. Demon's nether regions.
Many of you have been asking about the comics. So, we're stoked to bring you one of Bill's amazing Luchadores5 comic pages in its final penciled and colored form. Bill colored the page himself (something that very few comic artists do).
For more artwork and character designs by Bill and the other marvelous artists from the Muttpop crew, be sure the check out their ever growing Muttpop Blog. Check back next Friday for the latest on the development of Red Demon.
Aug 24, 2006
'Radar' Figures from Delta
Here's a look at the production protos of the 'Radar' figures from graff artist, Delta. Delta's aim is to create toys built around 'turbo' words from the 80's -- the letters form the shape of the figure. Radar is the first in what we can only hope is a long line. These rotocast vinyl figures measure 8.85" tall, are limited to just 200 pieces for each colorway (total of 600) and will come your way from APT Toys.
LIV3R's Summer Munny Gallery
Hey y’all and welcome again to the Munny Gallery. This time it’s he summer edition and for that I selected some very beautifull pieces made this summer. First up one of my favorite customisers at the moment; Doktor A. He had the motor running this summer and produced 3 amazing munny customs!! Especially the Jeckyll/Hyde one, it's awesome! Then there’s Honk who has 2 pieces in and like always they are very well executed! I keep lovin’ that shiny gloss he puts on. Erick Scarecrow supplied me with a really nice and colorfull munny and the 2 small figures look cool as well. Rohby had a superb Macross piece comin’ in. It’s clean and tight. His work always blows me away. Further on there’s a lot of new guys showing off their latest work. I gotta say some pieces are really off the hook!! The BBQ munny by xblManimal needs some attention and when you take a look at the munny made by rc44 you need to hold your jaws from hitting the ground cuz this piece is unbelieveably tightly painted. BTW, most of these customs come from the KidRobot forum. First, because I’m always looking for the latest work and second it’s just easy to search down the Munny forum on KR looking for customs. If people have created customs they think are worthy of the gallery you can email me a picture at: noordkade@zonnet.nl
Doktor A
Rohby
xblManimal
rc44
Honk!
Continue reading "LIV3R's Summer Munny Gallery"
Dragon Eats Knight Art Contest Extended 'til 9.15.06
Good news for those still working on their Dragon Eats Knight Art Contest submissions -- the deadline has been extended two weeks to September 15th. Due to crazy scheduling, the Yira Release Party will be delayed for a few weeks. So we thought it would be cool to give people a little extra time to work on their entries.
