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Dec 31, 2008
Ron English -- Grin
We first saw this Ron English figure earlier this month in Miami at the Kaiju Monster Invasion show. At the time we though it was a custom. Turns out, the show served as a preview of sorts -- it’s a new production figure. Grin is set for world-wide release on January 13th 2009 in HK from Garageworks Ind. / Made by Monsters. This is apparently the first of several new figures in an upcoming Popaganda vinyl series from Made by Monsters.
Grin reminds us of the humanoid figure from Ron’s previous Big Yang and the Yang Bangers (still love the name after all this time!) -- ‘cept he even more closely resembles the pop icon he’s based on. The hyper-detailed skeletal mouth is creepy and adds a nice juxtaposition with the surrounding ‘toony design. Finally the shirt pattern is a nice visual throwback to the previous toy. We like, very much.
Brandt Peters – Cackle Factory (2.3.09)
Here’s some sweet art show news to kick off ‘09. Brandt Peters will rock his first LA solo show with the opening of the Cackle Factory @ Gallery 1988 LA on Tuesday, February 3rd (7-10 PM). We’re looking forward to a full dose of Brandt’s retro toon aesthetic.
Gallery 1988
7020 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
323.937.7088
MINDstyle’s Popaganda Mini-Figures by Ron English
Ron English recently posted the above pic to Popaganda.com. We’ve done a little digging and can confirm that this is indeed what it appears to be – a new mini-figure set. To be specific, it’s MINDstyle’s Popaganda Mini-Fig Series created by Ron English. One figure will drop on January 24th, followed by the full series in April ‘09. The series has several beloved Popaganda characters some of which features an almost super-deformed look (big head, huge eyes). Love the gas mask mouse. We’re glad to see Ron get his due with a premium mini-series featuring all different original sculpts – very nice.
Ron English’s POPaganda Asia Tour
To pop off his Asia tour Ron English will start things off in Hong Kong at the MINDstyle LIFEstyle Creative Space in the Delay No Mall. An exclusive Abraham Obama Bust from MINDsttyle will be released as well as some new MINDstyle LIFEstyle Ron English X DNM products. Curious as to find out what those can be. Also of course Ron himself will be there for signings. So if your in the area bring any of your posters, books, prints, toys to get them personalized by the creative genius himself.
Another stop apart of this tour will be at Fresh Manila of Philippines. They happened to score an exclusive green colorway of Ron English’s Abraham Obama Bust which is only limited to 50 pieces and available for pre-order through the store now. That release kicks off on Saturday, January 10.
Heads Up: More Of Bossy Bear’s Friends Are On Their Way!
February will be a very busy month for both David Horvath and Toy2r with both Toy Fair and NYCC in effect. Between that time is when they will first reveal 2 new figures based on characters from the Bossy Bear series. Yoya Mart will play hosts of the revealing of the two new figures and may also release special pre-release versions. Only David Ugly can conjure up a way where no flipper can make a profit off of these bad boys. Info on the special release still yet to be announced.
Dec 30, 2008
Gumliens Kirinosuke Black from One Up
It looks like One Up is about to drop the first all-black edition of Gumliens’s (“Gum Aliens”) new Kirinosuke vinyl figure – tomorrow ?. This swordsmen character was first seen at TTF ‘06 in resin forum. Nice – looking forward to seeing color versions of this one.
Touma’s Blinged Out Pee Gee
For his recent LA exhibition at mixi-bang! in November, Touma showed off several not-for-sale pieces that caught people’s attention. This custom PeeGee covered in Swarovski Crystals drew stares and questions about how it was created. It was done by Ayano from Bling My Thing. She also created Touma’s blinged-out tees that he wears at shows. So if you’ve always wanted to bling out one of your toys – now you know where to get it done.
Bone Marrow Donors Needed to Help Justin
[Update: Swindle Magazine in conjunction with the City of Hope has organized a bone marrow drive for Justin (see below). It’s next Tuesday, January 6th 2009 from 10 am to 2 PM in Atwater. The testing will be done via mouth swab (no blood, no needles) and will be free of charge.
3111 Los Feliz Blvd. Suite 100
Los Angeles, CA 90039]
We’re interrupting our normal toy news to ask for your help in looking out for a friend in dire need. One of Amanda Visell’s friends, Justin, has had a relapse with his leukemia and now urgently needs a bone marrow transplant. Since his family members’ marrow doesn’t match he’s asking people to get tested in the hopes of finding a compatible donor. Testing is quick and painless via mouth swab or a blood test. The $50 processing fee will be waived if you also donate blood at the same time. It’s also possible to get a testing kit mailed to you. If you’re in LA you can go directly to the City of Hope to get tested.
To help Justin out with his life-threatening situation, Amanda is offering to send an original drawing to anyone who gets tested. For more info on how to get tested, please email Justin --- justin[at]thedutchpress[dot]com. Thank you.
Amanda Visell’s Rainbowsaurus Custom
Here’s a look at Amanda Visell’s clever custom Rainbowsaurus. She’s taken Bwana Spoons’s recently dropped resin from Switcheroo and given it a bright almost neon rainbow with storm-like clouds. And since this is Amanda, she’s gone to work with her trusty wood saw and fashioned two slightly different planes to take the place of the standard resin birds. Contact Amanda via email @ amanda[at]amandavisell[dot]com if you’re interested in the custom. More pics after the jump.
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Dec 29, 2008
Incoming: 1st Wave of El Diablo by McBoing Boing
The first wave of El Diablo by Robbie Busch come to you in three different pant variants. Sporting purple, blue, and green pantaloons each figure will come with a certificate of authenticity signed by both Robbie Busch and END, who is the one responsible for sculpting this beauty. These three figures will be released as well as the Black Onyx and SURPISE COLORWAY! Another goody about these figures are the colored packaging covered in original art of McBoing Boing. Awaiting both release dates and pricing which should be announced "”vedy vedy” soon.
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Tokoji Seijin Lucky Bags (01.01.09)
To celebrate the new years Koji will be releasing a special Tokoji Seijin Lucky Bag featuring custom painted Tokoji Seijin figures. No two Tokojis will be alike. Some of the customs will be done on previously unreleased vinyl colors. Available only through his site for $100 not including shipping they will be available January 1st, 12 AM Japan time or December 31st, 7 AM PST.
New Artist Series Cards From Letterpressed for ‘09
Looks like Letterpressed will be releasing two new artist series cards in the early part of ‘09 – one from Argentinean design wizards DGPH (after the jump) and one from the lovely and talented Anna Chambers (above). Cool.
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Ouip Meets Christmas
Korean toy label Delitoys worked with SSE Project to put together a special Ouip Meets Christmas project featuring 20 artists + 4 photographers working with their new light-bulb shaped Ouip platform toy. The photographers apparently produced original shots featuring the custom toys (shown above). Ouip Meets Christmas is open at Gallery Delitoys in Seoul, Korea through January 11th. More pics after the jump.
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Jay Chou Qees from Toy2R
The Monday after Xmas… We thought we’d bring you some international and celeb flair all at once. Jay Chou for the uninitiated is a rather popular Taiwanese singer known as much for his on-stage flair as his music (hence the Nunchucks in the black design above) Toy2R is celebrating Mr. Chou with two different 2.5” Qees – available only in Taiwan which is quickly becoming one of the main Asian markets for designer toys.
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Span of Sunset Holiday Special
For all the Kaiju fans out there Span of Sunset is having a special sale which is ending on the 30th right before the new year. A 20% off sale on all New Kaiju and Rumble monster figures which also includes free domestic shipping to those in the US.
Span Of Sunset
323.512.3807
7527 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90046
Gary Baseman – The Sacrificing of the Cake @ Urbanix (01.08)
Making his way from Los Angeles all the way to Israel, Gary Baseman prepares for an upcoming solo exhibit at toy store and gallery Urbanix. Entitled "The Sacrificing of the Cake” we hope to see the erotic and sexual characters that we have all grown to love by Mr. Baseman. He is also featuring a new dragon character dubbed “Uga” which means cake in Hebrew for this exhibit. [Via Arrested Motion]
The Sacrificing of the Cake, is not about birthdays or cakes. It is about self examination, observation of the past, correction and change. In a picturesque childish language and a sweetish color palette, Baseman displays a series of new works, acrylic paintings along with color pencil drawings on paper pages from an American book for physical education for boys and man from the twenties. He presents in his works the image of the dragon "Uga" (meaning "cake" in Hebrew), slaughtered again and again by feminine nude images, a sort of erotic girls or nymphs, radiating sexuality - an allegory to the artist's struggle against his private demons from the past.
The narrative of Baseman's painting indicates in an almost hidden way, his struggle to release himself from the heritage of his parents, east European Holocaust survivors that raised him according to the
"American Dream".The dragon's slaughtering, symbolically entitles Baseman to release himself from the burden represented by his parent's world perception, allowing him to re-mold his individual path.
Urbanix
72-3-5250601
45 Sheinkin St
Tel-Aviv, Israel
Creamous – The Littles
Creamous, the ‘forgotten love child of Fashion, Art and Design’ (FAD), is readying The Littles a super small-run of hand-made resin figures. The Littles (about 3.5”) are ready to rock with lightning bolts piercing their heads and sweet hand-made PVC leather napsacks. While many of the individual elements are very familiar, there’s something undeniably catchy about the overall design of this toy+fashion remix – perhaps we just love the little packs more than we should ;-) And given the size, the detail is pretty sweet.
They come in three shades – purple, yellow and black and can be yours via pre-order for $79 each (50% up front, 50% prior to shipping). The Littles are limited to 9 pieces – though we’re not sure if that’s per color or total. Creamous is looking at an end of March ‘09 ship date. More pics after the jump.
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Dec 28, 2008
Myplasticheart’s After Christmas Sale
Did Santa bring you a wad of cash? If so or you’re just looking for some ways to extend your vinyl buying dollar, check out myplasticheart’s After Christmas Sale – with 100+ items marked down, some up to 50% off. Don’t dilly dally, sale ends 1.1.09. Deals are good at myplasticheartnyc on the LES as well.
myplasticheartnyc
210 Forsyth St.
New York, New York 10002
646.290.6866
Rotofugi End of Year Sale
Tis the season for sales. Rotofugi is offering a year-end-sale with special discounts on select items through January 1st ‘09. Discounts run as deep as 50% off. See above for just a few of the toys that are included in the sale.
Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery
1953 W. Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
312.491.9501
Play Imaginative Store Now Open In Singapore!
If you so happen to be a in Singapore be sure to check out the Play Imaginative space in the Chai Store of the Liang Court in the Clarke Quay District. Featuring tons of toys and clothing for any toy lover. You can pick up goodies such as Trexis, Giant Skuttles, Touma Figures,and all the different Devil Robots Tofu figures out there.
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Heads Up: Shin Tanaka’s T-Boy
From paper to plastic, Shin Tanaka’s T-Boy has finally made an appearance in some test shots from One-Up. Known for his makeshift paper based designs Shin will be releasing a plastic version of his original paper T-Boy which was first done by Play Imaginative. Hoping to see the release of this figure sometime early this new year we await the the photos of the finished product.
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Dec 26, 2008
Itokin Park - All Glow Himalan
oooh... It looks like One Up is getting ready to thrown down with an All GID Himalan from Itokin Park. You might remember that One Up released the Ghost Himalan earlier which was glow but also had green paint. Can something get cooler via substraction ? Very possibly ;-) '09 is going to be a big year for Kazuhiko Ito better known to toy collectors as Itokin Park.
Hiroshi Fujiwara Vinyl Available Now
adFunture has just dropped the first edition of the Hiroshi Fujiwara vinyl figure. First shown at TTF '07, the figure celebrates one of the most influential tastemakers in the streetwear lifestyle scene known for his many products collaborations for his Fragment Design firm as well as the Honeyee.com web magazine. The figure features Levi's Fenom Gear and Visvim kicks -- both created by Fragment Design. The HF vinyl stands 6" tall, is limited to 250 pieces can be yours for $100 directly from the adFunture webshop. Time to show your knowledge and respect.
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Dec 24, 2008
Disney x Medicom – 400% and 1000% Mickey Be@rbricks
BIG news. Seems that Disney and Medicom love the Mickey Be@rbrick crossover so much (and to be honest so do all the collectors out there) that they are going way beyond the 100% piece featured in Be@rbrick S17. Medicom is slated to release both a 400% Mickey Be@rbrick (6090 yen, ~ $67) and a true monster -- 1000% baby (26040 yen, ~ $288) . These are available for online preorder now (if you're in Japan). Time to save up and hit your Japanese connections. These won't drop for awhile yet -- May/June '09.
Kidrobot x Tim Tsui – Blue GID Da Fighter Lupus.Hope
After a little lull following the debut release of his Da Fighter: Lupus.Hope, Tim Tsui is pouring it on with special releases of his newest figure. Last week saw two flocked versions (yellow and a ‘secret’ black) and now Kidrobot has an exclusive Blue GID edition. Looks pretty sweet -- and we're not sure how long the exposure was on the GID shot but here's hoping it glows brightly. It's $80 -- no mention of an edition size, we'll check on that. More pics after the jump.
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