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May 31, 2008
BanaNa ViruS - JungLe ChimEra @ TTF '08
Awhile back we posted about BanaNa ViruS's upcoming GibbEt resin figures which will debut at TTF '08 (7.10 - 7.13) . We were impressed with both the variety and detail he's manged to create completely by his own hand. Turns out he wasn't done with his summer toy releases.
You're looking at his second project JungLe ChimEra, a 12" original sculpt mixing the artists two favorite animals - Apes and Rabbits. The sculpt is well done -- clean lines with personality and nice details (see the cigar). Apparently, he's planning to cast six pieces and make four available for sale at TTF. We're very curious to see the painted versions of both GibBet and this new 12". If you're attending the show be sure to check out the BanaNa ViruS booth (A32). Click through for more pics.
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May 30, 2008
Insider Trading @ Project: Gallery
Project: Gallery presents Insider Trading for one day only - tomorrow, Saturday May 31st, for the Culver City Art Walk. The special exhibition will feature new work from the gallery's represented artists Yoskay Yamamoto, Tessar Lo, Rebecca Urias, Nate Frizzell, Edwin Ushiro (above), Mari Inukai and Scott Belcastro . In addition to the original art, the gallery will release a print of Yoskay's Hope and Despair painting.
Finally, don't miss the 'secret' pop-up show @ 8540 Washington across the street with Project: artists and other young LA artists. Good times + Great Art.
project:
8545 Washington Blvd.
Culver City, CA 90232
310.558.0200
S7 x Munky King - Nanasaru (5.31.08)
Munky King is now a proud member of the Super7's Distribution network, helping to spread Kaiju goodness far and wide. S7 will celebrate, welcome LA's Kaiju fans, and introduce the uninitiated with their one-day Nanasaru pop-up shop event tomorrow - Saturday, May 31st from Noon to 7 PM @ MK Melrose. Expect displays of crazy kaiju collections, hard-to-find kaiju figures, and three exclusive t-shirt designs for pre-order from LA Pride, AntiKillers and MK x Super7 (Toys Reign...). So if you can't get enough Kaiju or are just curious... Nanasaru tomorrow -- be there.
Munky King
7308 Melrose Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
323.938.0091
Steven Daily for "We Don't Sleep Well" (5.30.08)
Steven Daily is one of four artists in Art Whino's We Don't Sleep Well (flier) which opens tonight -- 5.30.08 (right now) in Maryland. He's got several killer pieces in the show -- dark yet beautiful. This got stuck in the cobwebs we call our brains, but... we're big fans of Steven's art and figure you'll still have time to check out the show after the opening. The show also features the work of Graham Franciose, James Walker and Michael Crockett. Ok... now where did I put that sticky...
Art Whino -- National Harbor Location
173 Waterfront Street
National Harbor, MD 20745
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Elements Prologue from Artoyz Originals
French toy boutique Artoyz has just launched their toy production division -- Artoyz Originals. First out of the chute is the Elements Prologue set. Featured in proto form last September on VP, Elements (~ 3") was created by Easy Hey of Delkographik Studio and rendered by Gregos. The Prologue set dropping in June features all four element characters (water, air, earth, and fire) and is the jumping off point for the series which will showcase numerous artists in subsequent releases. Shown above are clear Elements test samples -- no word yet on what the Prologue designs will look like. In case you're wondering these are ABS -- which means clear and more clear... I wonder if we'll see metallic too ?
Artoyz Originals will followup Elements Prologue with two new vinyl figures to be announced at the Bread and Butter tradeshow in Barcelona (July) and released in September. Beyond that, Artoyz Original has more goodness waiting in the wings. Congrats to Artoyz on the start of their toy making adventure.
Bounty Hunter x James Jarvis - King Kun
Whoa... So this is the toy James Jarvis was referring to on the Amos blog... He's collaborated with old-school vinyl and apparel brand Bounty Hunter on King Kun. King Kun (great name btw) appears to be a fusion of Jarvis's King Ken with Bounty Hunter's Skull-Kun. It will be released shortly as part of the 10th Anniversary of Amos Toys. James has been doing some sweet collabs recently. Quite a bounty indeed! No word yet on size, pricing, or edition size but I'm sure we'll here more in the near future. [Source: Highsnobiety].
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miQ willm0tt signing in Portland (5.31.08)
miQ willm0tt, designer par excellence and jack of all trades, will be signing at Shelby's Collectible Toy show in Portland tomorrow - Saturday, May 31st, 2008 (10 -3 PM). While he's done too many projects to count ranging from toys to branding to Nike Shoes, his appearance will be focused on his six years spent as the head design honcho for Mattel's ubiquitous Hot Wheels. As a celebration and a retrospective, miQ has created a limited-edition print (11x 17") which will be given away free at the show featuring a selection of his favorite die-cast designs as well as some new art created just for the occasion. Here's guessing it's the flyer image -- which is pretty sweet. And just in case you haven't been keeping score, miQ will be displaying the varied work he's done over the last few years (he's going to need a trailer to haul it all in!).
Shelby's Collectible Toy Show
Airport Holiday Inn's
Columbia Conference Center
8439 NE Columbia Blvd.
Portland, Oregon
Hiroshi Yoshii - Piyora for TTF '08
Renowned Japanese Illustrator Hiroshi Yoshii creates amazing gleaming 2.5d creatures using Zbrush. He also brings some of these creatures into 3D with his own hand-made resin figures. For TTF '08 , he's creating a 3-color edition of his fish-like figure, Piyora, to be sold through One Up. The picture above is clearly a WIP shot of the figures in the painting stage. To get a better idea of the quality finish and tight paint job to expect, check out the original colorway below.
Todd Schorr's Mystic Serpent - Lulubell Exclusive
Lulubell Toys is now offering their exclusive version of Todd Schorr's Mystic serpent figure. This 4" figure is limited to just 100 pieces and is the last colorway (5 before it?). The Mystic Serpent was a pack-in included with the Bunny Duck Figure from NTF back in the day... The asking price? $20. Go get it.
May 29, 2008
Designer Vinyl in Christie's Pop Culture Auction (6.25.08)
Christie's Pop Culture auction slated for Wednesday, June 25th 2008 @ their Rockefeller Center location features a wide variety of entertainment collectibles. Mixed in with the movie, television and comic collectibles are several designer toy lots . In addition to Amanda Visell's custom 20" Gnome Eating Bat Munny (est. $3000 - $5000) and Sket One's 20" Kong Dunny (est $3000 - $5000), there are several other lots that caught our eye. Sucklord is represented with four lots including a great Gay Empire Attack! display (est. $1500 - $2000) shown above (Image: Christie's ).
Beyond the custom pieces, there are several production figures up for launch -- including a lot of 3 full unopened Dunny sets : Dunny LA, Colette, and Tattoo ($2000 - $3000). There are several other Dunny lots as well -- Gary Baseman, Deph and Huck Gee (HMNI) . Joe Ledbetter collectors will be interested in the Mr. Bunny lot ($1k - $2k) as well as his "The Defender" painting ($3000 - $5000).
With the previous Phillips De Pury & Company Auctions and now this Christie's Auction, designer toys are starting to be appreciated and collected outside of the niche. Good to see. Finally, congrats to Amanda Visell -- Christie's is using an image of her custom Munny in the Pop Culture auction banner displayed on their site.
Tokidoki x Devilrobots - Astrodemonio & Evil King
The first PLUS vinyl figures from Play Imaginative, features a pair of old-school style robots (8") from tokidoki and Devilrobots. tokidoki's Astrodemonio (blue) with Pilot Captain Murder J. and Evil King (red/orange) with pilot Shin K. are almost ready to rumble. The included pilot mini-figs come with key-chain attachments. Unfortunately they don't appear to fit into the 'bots (hey, I can dream... can't I ?). Regardless, these Astrodemonio and Evil King look great from the just released photos of the painted samples. We believe these will retail for $120 per set (bot + pilot) -- though we'll confirm. Click through for more pics.
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Cameron Tiede's GID Melvin for Analog Punch (6.6.08)
Cameron Tiede's Analog Punch show opens on Friday, June 6th, 2008 @ La Luz De Jesus . In addition to a collection of new original paintings, Cameron will offer a special GID version of his brand new Melvin resin figure (just 6 pieces). This GID edition is the first Melvin colorway and is exclusive to the show. Each figure is hand-painted by Cameron -- a great opportunity to own an excellent fine-art multiple. Price is still TBD. This darker Melvin is a trouble maker as seen in the original "When it Snows in Hell" painting (40" x 20"). Click through to see Melvin aglow.
La Luz de Jesus
4633 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90027
Continue reading "Cameron Tiede's GID Melvin for Analog Punch (6.6.08)"
JLed's Swamp Yeti Smash @ TTF '08 + SDCC
After a round of mostly correct information was reported, Toy2R has officially let the Yeti out of the bag. The green Swamp Yeti Smash by Joe Ledbetter is limited to 200 pieces with an estimated retail of about $100 $129. It will debut at Taipei Toy Festival (7.10 - 7.13) in Toy2R's booth (A18 & A19) with 100 pieces being available at the show. TTF gets more important with every passing day ;-) Toy2R is also planning to release the remaining 100 pieces at SDCC.
May 28, 2008
Taipei Toy Festival '08 - Giveaways
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As we get closer to the opening of the Taipei Toy Testival (7.10 - 7.13),show organizer Monster Taipei is starting to release more details about the show. The official poster designed by Winson Ma lists all the exhibitors (pretty much a who's who of asian toy companies and artists) as well as the giveaway toys. The daily giveaway(four in all) will be available to the first 500 people with paid admission. There's a CiBoy from Red Magic, Snify - the canine companion to Smery (stinky tofu) by Devilrobots, a Molly keychain from Kennyswork and a Lau Lau mini. There's also a 3" Homer Simpson Qee available for purchase -- but it looks exactly like the NYCC exclusive offered by Toy Tokyo. One last thought -- Brothersfree is listed as an exhibitor, very interesting.
Tokyoplastic Tees from Terratag
You've watched and rewatched Tokyoplastic's mind-blowing and body-numbing web animations, bought their vinyl toys... so what's next? Why not wear their first-ever tee shirts from Terratag. There are three designs -Bear in Speaker, Belch (operadude), Bear on Chair (Koguma) -- each is available for £18 ($35 -- curse the dollar) directly from terratag (link works in IE, not FF). [Discovery chain: Guillotine -> Ektopia -> Mjar]. Also ikee an eye out for the Koguma toy from mphlabs.
Miao Custom Show @ Subtext (11.14.08)
In addition to the tokidoki editon of Zakkamono's Miao + Mousubi, there's also a DIY edition. The possibilities of the DIY edition will be on full display with the opening of the Miao custom show opening on November 14th, 2008 (6 - 10 PM) @ Subtext in San Diego. The show will feature customs from a group of fifty artists -- talk about a barrel of eye candy. The pair of the larger Miao (7") and the smaller Mousubi (3") should offer some interesting possibilities for artists -- sidekick concepts, yin and yang, etc. Even though it's really Miao's show, we're partial to Mousubi -- it's an Onigiri (rice) triangle turned into a mouse... Rad. Our favorite Onigiri ? Yaki Onigiri -- all the way. Finally, if you'd like to get your hands on a DIY Miao + Mousubi, go shopping at the Zakkamono online store.
Subtext
680 West Beech Street #1
San Diego, CA 92101
JLed -TTF Exclusive Mono Hammerhead
Now we're talking... The TTF '08 announcements are starting to flow.intheyellow is going to drop a TTF Exclusive Mono Hammerhead from Joe Ledbetter. This one looks to be limited to 100 pieces. There's also word of another JLed KFGU TTF exclusive in the works.
MYBU
BuBu (parent of urabbit) just revelead their MYBU Perfect Match Series. The concept behind the series is that of couples and the stories that surround relationships. As such, the 3" mini figure comes in a male and female version. If you're looking for a cute platform with a twist -- here ya go. Not sure I'm really feeling the lovey dovey concept though it'll likely prove popular among the more casual collector. I am curious to see if these are sold in pairs or at least designed in that manner -- opens up some interesting possibilities.
Clutter x adFunture Yoka Contest
Yoka, adFunture's new panda-like platform, made its public debut at NYCC '08. The company has big plans for this figure -- including artist editions in both the full and mini sizes. Now Clutter Magazine has joined with adFunture to give you the chance to be part of the Yoka releases. Simply visit the special Yoka competition mini-site, download the Yoka template, come up with an inspired creation and submit it. All entries will be featured on the competition gallery. The winning entry will be made into a production Yoka. Deadline to enter is September 1st, 2008.
New NVC figure for SDCC '08
Fresh off the successful debut of Ishikawa the Roller at NYCC, Bao and Spive of NVC started thinking about a new figure to release for their first trip to SDCC. As you can see they are already in the molding process... Yes, this is a giant tease ;-) Having learned more about the production process from the Ishikawa project, NVC has designed this new figure to be easier to produce yet still retain the insanity people expect. With any luck, this will drop this July @ SDCC '08. Keep watching for more info.
May 27, 2008
tokidoki plush - Mozarella and SANDy
After their first public appearance at SDCC '06, we haven't seen much of the tokidoki plush figures. Until now... Mozarella (leader of the feared Moofia) and SANDy plush will drop in June from STRANGEco. Each stands 7" tall and has a suggested retail of $19.99. Great move -- Simone Legno's characters are perfect for a plush treatment.
Do Not Eat Andrew Bell
Andrew Bell's new book Do Not Eat features 204 delectable pages filled with all manners of famished and gorging creatures. The volume also comes with 6 pull-out post cards. So be sure to click your way through to Deadzebra.com to get your hands on a copy. Just $18. Click through for more pics.
Rob Schwager's Sinner
Seen here is a resin sample of Rob Schwager's Sinner figure, hand sculpted by George Helmick from Studio G Designs. Standing at 7" tall, Sinner will be limited edition an hand painted by Rob. No word yet as to when and how much, so make sure you stay tuned to VP if you must have it.
Devilrobots -- Play To-Fu Series 1
Summer's almost here and that means toys and more toys. Here's the very first look at production protos of the Devilrobots' Play To-Fu Series 1 mini-figs from Play Imaginative. This 2.5" blind-box series features 14 To-Fu's (6 classic + 6 AlphabeTo-fu) + 2 mystery artist crossover chases. AlphabeTo-Fu ? This concept currently features 6 designs one for each letter A-F (Alien To-Fu through Fake To-Fu). Play To-Fu Series 1 drops first at STCC (6.27 - 6.29) and TTF (7.10 - 7.13). Click through for more shots of the incoming To-Fu.
New Smash from Joe Ledbetter ?
Just as your credit card has started to recover... Toy2R is strongly hinting there will be at least one more colorway of Joe Ledbetter's Smash (not too surprising). Given the teaser -- Sasquatch anyone ?