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Feb 28, 2007
Toy Tokyo @ NYCC
With a full signing schedule, Toy Tokyo was one of the busiest toy booths at NYCC. While we've previously featured the TT signings by both Erick Scarecrow and Ron English, several other artists signed including Tim Biskup (400% Calli Be@rbrick) and NYC Lase (Motug Destroyer Circus Punk) .
Beyond the toy releases with signings many other toys made their public debut (or close to it) at the booth. So here's a quick run-down on some of the brand-new products and protos at the TT booth.
KAWS was seen on the show floor and his new Cat Banks recently released at Original Fake in Japan were nestled safely on the top shelf.
Super Rad Toys showed off their new Mister Cartoon figure. Having seen it up close I have to say it turned out beautifully -- the flocked wings are really nice and the tattoo printing is impressive. Super Rad also had several of the upcoming Ningyos on display including Plasticgod's which has some impressive printing (concentric circles and such) and is probably our favorite of the series so far.
Big and green was in ;-) The 12" Kow HazMaPo designed by Kow Yokoyama from UNKL was available at the show. Also, a painted prototype of Daniel Johnston's Jeremiah, the Frog of Innocence produced by At Arms made it to the booth on Saturday.
The ComptiBalls designed by Shultzo and produced by Toy Tokyo were among the most intriguing toys at the booth. Designed using a completely digital process, the The TigerBall and FrogiBall are composed of two mirror-images creatures that join together to form a wild ball.
myplasticheart @ NYCC
myplasticheart brought several exclusives to NYCC including their much-sought-after Twilight and Wedding MAD*L's, the 'Winking' TLP Lad Sets, and the bloody edition of Kano's Moneygrip. The booth also featured STRANGEco products including the special Night edition Minitreehouse figures, previews of the new IWG Rocketship and Special Ops Packs and more. Finally, mph also hosted two customizers - Brent Nolasco and Daniel "Wavedog" Fenelon.
Sket One, Jim Koch and Formulawerks @ NYCC
Sket One and Jim Koch shared a booth with clothing brand Formulawerks at NYCC. Both artists had customs available for sale as well as prints and shirts. Formulawerks was showing off their new lineup with designs from Sket, MAD, Brian Morris, and Joey Potts (who was at the booth).
MINDstyle @ NYCC
MINDstyle made it's debut at NYCC '07 with a large lineup described by Michael Polis, Senior Vice President of the Jim Henson Company, as "amazing". The lineup features gifted creators across a wide range of pursuits -- Illustration, Graffiti, Comic Books, and Martial Arts to name just a few. The company's mission to produce the finest art toys available for discriminating collectors met with early success as Lev, the Owner of Toy Tokyo, remarked that MINDstyle toys sold extremely well at the show.
To that end, the brand presented the NYCC Exclusive MINDstyle Hand-Sprayed Horselington created by NYC Graffiti Artist EWOK 5MH, the NYCC Exclusive MINDstyle Da Minci created by Tim Tsui and the NYCC Exclusive Monkey Boy by comic book star Frank Cho. While the aesthetics are wildly divergent, all three figures sold out as a result of each artist's unique vision.
Following on the success of the Monkey Boy figure, MINDstyle showed off a gorgeous painted proto of Frank Cho's Jen seated in a large white chair. In addition, unpainted prototypes of the comic book star's mini trading figures were on display.
The North Hollywood, California company hit close to home with the signing of Los Angeles artists Cameron Tiede and Buff Monster to create art toys for the label. Cameron Tiede brings his unmistakable signature style to MINDstyle with several projects including his 13 Friends project. Production samples of the first four original sculpts in this series were on display at the booth.
Buff Monster's work combines street art with fine art sensibilities. His three series of toys include mini trading figures, the mid-size figures shown at the booth as well as large 10" versions.
MINDstyle provides international appeal with French artist Skwak who recently created Wienerschnitzel television spots. His upcoming MINDstyle Maniac figures presents an impressive vision by translating his frenetic detail-packed art seamlessly into the 3D realm.
MINDstyle sought out singular visionaries as creative cornerstones. Jim Henson's creative genius from the Muppets to other childhood favorites is unquestioned. MINDstyle has licensed several properties from the Jim Henson Company including the previously unreleased Critters property and the cult classic, Dark Crystal. Prototypes of the first series of Critters mini trading figures were on display at the booth as were incredibly detailed prototypes of the Jim Henson Signature Collection "The Dark Crystal" 25th Anniversary Limited Edition Landstrider and uRac - the Scribe figures.
The Shaw Brothers Studios produced many of the classic Kung Fu films in Hong Kong including the classic, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. MINDstyle has licensed the Shaw Brothers Studios properties from Celestial Pictures with a range of planned toys. First up are two 1:6 scale figures of Lo Lieh, Star of the classic Five Fingers of Death, and martial arts icon Gordon Liu who appeared in both Kill Bill films.
The availability of Michael Lau's Seventh Anniversary Crylon set of 7 separate colors (2 figures each) along with MINDstyle's exclusive black edition was one of the highlights of the booth. We will have more on Michael Lau and MINDstyle on Friday.
MINDstyle's singular focus on art toys is a timely reaction to a changing market. Their impressive lineup should prove to be diverse enough to cater to collectors of many different genres and in so doing provide growth. MINDstyle distinguishes itself by providing high-end collectibles for the discriminating collector.
Continue reading "MINDstyle @ NYCC"
Feb 27, 2007
Sam Fout @ NYCC
Sam Fout and Moon Toad Productions showed off their upcoming self-produced Project Neptoon figures -- the two Gorillas and the elegantly cute Lemon Lime. Correcting an oversight in the first Project Neptoon figures, the Gorillas are packing heat as one would expect. At this point, the hope is to have the gun be an accessory rather than part of the overall sculpt.
Sam also showed off brand-new limited edition hoodies and jackets featuring ink with suspended glass that glows under direct light as well a lovely golden print.
Kaching Brands @ NYCC
Kaching Brands and MINDstyle shared a booth flanked on either side by glass display cases filled with upcoming and current figures. For NYCC, Kaching Brands built on its public debut at SDCC '06 by releasing several new figures and exclusives while revealing new figures in their ever-expanding lineup of collectible figures.
Kaching Brands offered the NYCC exclusive FLCL Canti designed by Cameron Tiede (100 pieces). Additionally, Erick Scarecrow's Liberty and two Tristan Eaton FLCL Cantis were released at the show over in Toy Tokyo's booth.
The exclusives while exciting were just a small fraction of the company's many upcoming figures on display at the booth. The pre-summer lineup includes several new Cantis including designs from Brian Morris, Cameron Tiede, Jesse Herandez, and Koa.
Speaking of FLCL, collectors were buzzing about the new licesensed MM#5 figure coming from Kaching Brands. Standing a towering 18" tall, this is one massive figure sure to catch the eye of anime fans and those that can't get enough of 'big' toys.
Two new "trading figure" series were shown at the booth - Sket One's Elementals featuring 8 different sculpts and the dare-to-be different TV Heads featuring Tim Tsui, MAD, Sket One, Toby HK, Mizna Wada, Colorblok, Cameron Tiede, Maxim, Teahair and Skwak. The TV Heads come with an electrical outlet style base which allows the figures to be plugged directly into the base or mounted in a "floating" fashion through an "electric cord" which acts as a support.
Rounding out the previously unshown products, are Tim Tsui's crossover edition of Colorblok's Mono figure and two artist edition Fourcube figures from MAD and Sket One. Since entering the market last year, Kaching Brands has established itself as a major player with a lineup that mixes original artist projects with licensed projects featuring artist crossovers.
Continue reading "Kaching Brands @ NYCC"
Ron English @ NYCC
Ron English, master of billboard popaganda, created roughly 40 hand-customized SupersizeMe figures for a very special release at NYCC across two signings on Friday and Saturday at the Toy Tokyo booth.. As you can imagine, the line to purchase one of these one-of-a-kind pieces formed early on Friday. 20 fortunate collectors came up to the table one by one and were able to select from a small number of displayed customs (3-4 were shown at a time). When #20 stepped up to the table, it was decided that since there were only 2 remaining figures to choose from for Friday's allotment she was given the option of returning on Saturday for a bigger choice. Wisely, she asked to purchase the extremely rare all-white SupersizeMe figure on display. Ron nodded, and now she's the envy of many a collector.
Mori Chack @ NYCC
Mori Chack, the Japanese creator of the ever popular cute yet bloody Gloomy Bear, made the trip to NYCC to sign his artist edition Mimobots @ the Mimoco booth. Mimoco announced Vimobots, vinyl figures based on the Mimobot shape, @ NYCC. Mori gladly customized blank Vimobots for his fans and collectors.
Erick Scarecrow @ NYCC
On the first day of NYCC (Friday, 2.23), Toy Tokyo's booth was clearly the center of the action for art toys. Erick Scarecrow started off the toy releases with a signing for his Liberty figure produced by Kaching Brands. 100 pre-release figures of the standard green colorway (300 total + additional colorways) were released at NYCC and subsequently sold out.
Brent Nolasco's Dirty Pretty Things @ NYCC
Brent Nolasco showed off his considerable artistic chops at NYCC with his mini-show, Dirty Pretty Things @ the myplasticheart booth. The center piece of his offerings were his colorful custom Squbes. He also had a nice aquamarine Bling and an imposing custom mash-up 12" figure. Best known for his colorful and well-rendered customs, his ability to knock out tight sketches quickly with stylistic variations is an indication of his strong talent level.
Striking Gold with Toby HK Trading Figures
Trading figures (packaged in blind boxes) are all about the thrill of the chase. The anticipation as you open a box can be downright addictive. Rebs came to NYCC from Baltimore and struck gold (literally) as she opened an extremely rare ( ~ 1:500) gold Toby HK dog from the Seme + Dum miniseries at the Kaching Brands booth. As an added bonus, HK Artist Toby HK was on-hand at the booth to sign the figure and chat with the lucky collector.
MINDstyle Dual Signing - Frank Cho and EWOK (2.24)
This past Saturday at NYCC, MINDstyle hosted two simultaneous signings -- one for MINDstyle's Monkey Boy figure created by Frank Cho and the other for MINDstyle's NYCC exclusive hand-sprayed and dripped Horselington created by EWOK 5MH . Fans lined up to have these two figures signed -- both of which sold out at the show. While each artist has his own aesthetic, fans of both took advantage of the opportunity to meet the creators and to acquire prized limited-edition collectibles at retail prices.
Feb 26, 2007
Seen: Showroom Showdown (2.26.07)
Artists, collectors, and members of the industry made their way to the Showroom NYC to check out Showroom Showdown this past Saturday. Sponsored by Thunderdog Studios and STRANGEco, the event provided party goers with a glimpse at new releases, live painting sessions and even a bit of relaxation.
The featured product announcement were the Tenacious D figures designed by John K. and produced jointly by Thunderdog Studios and STRANGEco. The painted protos looked great, especially Jack Black -- the facial details are compelling. The figures have an intentionally kitschy appearance from the color choices to the unfinished back-sides. I didn't really measure these, but they are fairly large (10+ or so?).
Thunderdog Studios showed off painted protos of Tristan Eaton's Zulu Queen and a new figure from Murko!. The first public unveiling of Zulu Queen in painted form featured not one but two colorways. The first blue/white echos Tristan's older Zulu Cat Qee while the black/silver colorway features the addition of a sweet mohawk and apparently a different flag design. The Murko! toy builds off brass knuckles to bring a cute yet ravenous (check the teeth!) character to bear.
STRANGEco showcased the upcoming IWG releases (IWG Rocketship and two Special Ops Packs), the upcoming Arkski Minitreehouse Figure from Nathan Jurevicius and the unpainted protos of the Vivisect miniseries.
The live painting was very cool and featured two or three solo pieces plus one larger collab pieces -- check the pics for an eyeful! After people filed out of the Showroom around 11:30 or so, most went over to Lit to continue the party. No pics of that -- don't want any nasty emails -- some of you know exactly what I mean ;-)
Continue reading "Seen: Showroom Showdown (2.26.07)"
Feb 24, 2007
DvA Gallery: Jolly Gleetime (03.03.07)
DvA Gallery will play host to Jolly Gleetime, a show featuring works from Ryan Heshka and Travis Lampe The show will open on Saturday March 3rd from 7-11pm. Make sure you stop on by for a night of free beer and awesome eye candy.
DvA Gallery
2568 N. Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60614
773.871.4DVA
Toy Qube @ NYCC
Owner Keith Poon had a lot going down in the Toy Qube booth. First up, TQ was loaded with protos (many are proof of concept and may or may not be produced). One that definitely will be produced is Keith's sea-life figure follow-up to Kanser -- a very nice shark sculpt currently named "Sharky". The shark will have two sets of removable teeth and different editions will have different removable acessories to place in the mouth.
Toy Qube also had three Nemo prototypes on display including the Haremungous battle-armor clad bunnies we previously featured on Proto Monday. Show in a both pink and white colorway, the early painted protos have a great metallic wear and tear look to the battle armor. Hopefully this can be carried over to the production piece. Nemo has also created a blinged out ?Angel Ape? and a female roller-skating figure.
Toy Qube is readying several new Kanser editions -- two Super Mario Bros. inspired Mushroom figures (shown in early painted proto form) and two MAD Cappas editions shown as illustrations.
Rounding out the protos, Toy Qube showed off two Cheesey Cakes figures created by Kidlew. The two characters: a bowling ball + bag accessory and a bowling pin (with removable / interchangeable "crowns") are based on a story which describes the working relationship between the two friends.
Exclusives? Oh yeah. First up, are the cool GID Capman Kanser figs. Also, the TQ exclusive X-Ray GID Billy Bananas by Tristan Eaton was shown and made available for pre-order. Billy is also available in a limited edition of 30 all-white blanks. Finally, Kano signed the TQ Exclusive black/white Moneygrip on Friday. I'm on fumes here but I have this nagging feeling I'm forgetting a thing or two. If so, I'll update appropriately ;-)
Continue reading "Toy Qube @ NYCC"
Seen: Frank Cho @ NYCC
Comic book fan favorite, Frank Cho, signed his new toy -- the MINDstyle Monkey Boy at their booth (#639) on the first day of NYCC (opened to the public from 4 to 10 PM) on Friday. Both the extremely limited Toy Tokyo black & white edition (50 pcs) and the patriotic NYCC edition (200 pieces) went on sale today (2.23). Frank will be signing on Saturday (2.24) from 5 to 8 PM and Sunday (2.25) from Noon to 1 PM.
