Tomenosuke at DesignerCon: Devilman, Kill Kat, Mimi the Cannibal Girl + more

Tomenosuke  [booth 2232] has made the trip from Japan for this year’s DesignerCon.  They’ve brought several exclusives and notable drops.  First up is their exclusive Devilman Flesh edition from Mike Sutfin and Unbox.  The latest version of Sutfin’s gnarly rendition of Go Nagai’s legendary character  is limited to 100 pieces and will be available for $130.

Kill Kat fans will be able to pick up Tomenosuke’s exclusive Sake edition ($50) at the show. An edition of 150 pieces, Sake was previously released at STGCC and online—with 50 pieces held back for DCon.  

Tomenosuke will also release their Mimi the Cannibal Girl Mondo Green edition by Utomaru.  This exclusive edition of the Cannibal Holocaust-inspired figure is limited to 50 pieces, with ten available at DCon for $140 each.

Finally, for Blade Runner collectors, Tomenosuke has their Rick Deckard Gun—a version of which was featured in Blade Runner 2049—in a special green laser sight edition for $900 (1 at the show).

Interview: James Groman Joins DC Artists Alley

[The force of nature that is James Groman is the next featured artist for the DC Artists Alley line.  He’s been given artistic license to re-imagine Batman, Joker, Two-Face and Killer Croc. Vinyl Pulse recently had the pleasure of talking to James about the project and his thoughts on creating these wild new takes on the classic DC characters.]

Q: Hi James. You’ve had an impressive career from your work on Mad Balls to Care Bears and more recently a growing line of Art Toys. Can you give us the 30-second description of what you do?

I’m an “Independent Contractor”, which is a fancy term for freelance artist. I actually wear a number of hats under that title, which can include concept and design of collectable or toy products for major toy companies and smaller boutique businesses. I also create my own IP concepts for entertainment, videogames and other licensed applications.

Oh, and I teach a couple classes in character design at Cleveland Institute of Art.

Q: Congratulations on your four upcoming DC Artists Alley vinyl art Toys! I remember staring at the screen in disbelief for quite a while at the designs, a bit dumbfounded. How did you get involved in the series? Were you able to choose which characters to interpret?

I hope dumbfounded in a good way…

I met Jim Fletcher, Executive Creative Director at DC Collectibles, at last year’s Five Points Festival, fresh off of winning Toy of the Year at the Designer Toy Awards for King Korpse, a large vinyl figure I produced with Hiroto Ohkubo at Instinctoy. Jim loved King Korpse and got a KK T-Shirt. He mentioned that it would be great for me to collaborate on something with the folks at DC Collectibles, and the newly launched DC Artists Alley line made for the perfect chance to do so.

At first, we were talking about Swamp Thing, The Demon, Solomon Grundy, etc. Things that seemed to fall within my proverbial wheelhouse. But I did hear that Jim was thinking that perhaps that was too easy, or too expected. DC soon settled on having me do my versions of Batman, The Joker, Two-Face and Killer Croc. I think I was even more thrilled about this opportunity. I’ve spoken many times about my lack of affection for costumed heroes, but Batman has always been one of my favorite characters.

Ron English Buys Banksy Piece for $730k to Whitewash

Ron English purchased Banksy’s Slave Labour  on Wednesday evening at Julien’s Auctions in Los Angeles with a bid of $600,000—$730,000 with buyer’s premium.  English bought the piece as a protest to the practice of auctioning public art removed from the street—in this case from the wall of a discount store in North London.  He plans to whitewash the piece in protest and also said he would then resell it for one million dollars.

Source: Evening Standard

Huck Gee x BAIT x Robotech– S.Head at DesignerCon

Surprise!  BAIT will be dropping their Huck Gee X Robotech S. Head figure at DesignerCon.  A member of the Dread Squadron, S. Head is clad in black + red with old-school tiger shark teeth markings. Find this bad-to-the-bone edition at the BAIT booth [#419].

Joe Ledbetter x Jurassic Park–Spitter at DesignerCon

And then there were three.  Joe Ledbetter has announced and revealed his officially-licensed Jurassic Park Spitter vinyl figure from 3DRetro.   Sculpted by Dave Bondi, JLed’s take on the Dilophosaurus stands 6” tall, is limited to 250 pieces, and will be available at DesignerCon.   Spitter joins the Nychos Trex and Felipe Rex by Juan Muniz as the trio of Jurassic Park vinyl toys dropping at DCon.

Jermaine Rogers at DCon — Animal Toy Soldier Edition

Not one, but a deadly pair.  Jermaine Rogers has announced that he will be releasing a second Animal edition at DesignerCon.  Done in the classic army man green, the Toy Soldier edition joins the Shadow (black) edition.  The timely new resin incarnations of the Choices rabbit will be available at his booth [#1713].

Tim Biskup’s Toys 2 — Prancakes Exclusive + Vintage Toy Sale (11.15)

Last year’s Tim’s Toys went so well that Tim Biskup is once again selling off large parts of his vast toy collection which is priced to move. We dropped by over the weekend for a quick preview — hit the jump for more amazing photos.  The main event is this Thursday (11.15) at his Face Guts location in Glassel Park (LA)  with a preview from 12-3 PM and then sales from 3-9 PM.  He’ll also reopen the annual toy popup on Sunday (11.18) from 12 to 6 PM.While most are from other artists and brands, he will also have a selection of his own figures including one-off big Pollards and more.  

In addition to scores of sofubi toys (vintage and modern), Tim will be releasing two new figures done with Gravy Toys.  First up is Prancakes which comes with a swanky foam ‘hat’ and will be available in an unpainted pink edition as well as one-off painted pink and a few purple ones.  A little shorter and quite a bit more mysterious is the Face Guts mascot or simply the ‘icon’—a one piece, abstract head/face.

More?  Original artwork, laser-cut plastics and beer on ice. If you’re in town, definitely worth a visit. With many priced under $40 and some as low as $10, you never know what might call out to you.

Tim’s Toys 2
Thursday, November 15th 2018
Preview: 12-3 PM, Sales: 3-9 PM

Face Guts
4136 1/2 Verdugo Rd
Los Angeles CA 90065

DesignerCon Exclusive Cough Syrup Kayzilla by adFunture

adFunture’s Kayzilla is coming to DesignerCon.  The exclusive Cough Syrup—ah the horrible memories—soft vinyl edition (~5”) will be available from the Ko-Re Ko-Re booth [#2330] along with many other hard-to-find toys from Asian artists and brands. Definitely worth a visit.

Thimblestump Hollow 2 Exclusives at DesignerCon

Surprise!  Amanda Louise Spayd and Chris Ryniak are bringing two Canyon colorway exclusives from Thimblestump Hollow 2 to DesignerCon.  Both Fuzzhorn and Woolworth will be available from their booth [#1305] with some reserved for an online drop later this month.  

Whatshisname x Jason Freeny — XXRAY Popek by Mighty Jaxx (11.23)

Mighty Jaxx has dreamt up a special 24-hour only Black Friday (11.23) drop bringing together two of their most popular artists.  The un-named—we’ll go with XXRAY Popek—brings us a dissected-style red Popek, combining the signature styles of each artist.  What’s the dog filled with ?  With the holidays just around the corner, we’re going to go with… chocolate

Itokin Park at DesignerCon — New 2.0 Space Releases

Itokin Park has posted full reveals of his DesignerCon 2018 releases.  As mentioned the other day, he’s created new sculpts (2.0?) of three of his popular space figures—Astronaut, Space Mode Man (above) and Robot Suit.  Each of the new versions features articulated arms where the originals had sculpted-in arms.  Additionally Robot Suit is smaller than the original while the other two are larger than the original versions.  These will be available on Saturday (11.17) at The Sour Lemon [booth #151].  Stay sharp!

Justin Ishmael — Billy Bob Brockali Pre-Sale (11.14)

After an initial proto debut last November and plenty of hard work in between, Justin Ishmael will offer a  pre-sale for the Billy Bob Brockali vinyl toy on Thursday (11.14) at 9 AM PST from his site.  The final production toy looks great and is a dead-ringer for The Rockafire Explosion animatronic band member from Showbiz Pizza Place—later to become Chuck E. Cheese. Sculpted by Kenth Toy Works and painted by Chris Dombos, Billy Bob will be available in standard and deluxe editions.  Pins, stickers, shot glasses and shirts will also be available.  Outstanding work.