All Posts tagged de la soul

New Kidrobot Toys in the Shop Tonight

Here’s a head’s up that a bunch of new Kidrobot toys will go live at 12AM EST/9PM PST tonight in the Neon Monster online shop. I spent an OCD moment counting the amount of Frank Kozik toys available through Kidrobot, and it’s a pretty massive amount. When we were over at Frank’s studio and he said, “My thing is a maximum amount of releases,” he wasn’t kidding. We’ve got Labbit Series 4 at a 10% case discount [Single Labbits here and a colony of 25 Labbits here]. We’re kinda digging Kozik’s Kidmutant, which is Frank’s take on Kidrobot’s mascot in an edition of 1000 pieces. [Kidmutant is $50 here.] The Orange Polka Dot Labbit [get it here] fits in with us Neon Monsters, and we’ll have plenty of these available for Frank to sign at Wondercon (booth 944 & 946).

The non-Kozik releases are Gloomy Bear Threat Edition and the De La Soul 3-pack. You can check out the packaging and read Jeremy’s thoughts on the De La Soul figures here. We’re discounting the De La figures just a bit to allow you to maybe pick up a De La record if that’s your thing. Of course we love seeing you in person, and we’ll have these for our local in-store customers when doors open tomorrow at 11AM.

Thanks to everybody who cracked me up with your thoughts on what I’d do with those Circus Punks. Tune in tomorrow because we’ll be posting some more art toy finds from STRANGEco. Be there!

Up Close With Those De La Soul Toys

It’s been a while since a toy has inspired such a huge outcry from the community as these De La Soul toys by Kidrobot. To the opposition, the toys represent a dumbed-down version of hip hop heroes. To those who embrace them, it’s another abstract designer toy in the style of the Dunnys. For those who follow the scene itself, it seems like a missed opportunity for Kidrobot to celebrate the seminal 3 Feet High and Rising album’s 20th anniversary with a true “urban vinyl” release.

Something I found interesting was that the people who were quickest to call this one a FAIL were some of Kidrobot’s own usual suspects: folks who typically have a Dunny in any given series. These are people who no doubt are familiar with the adage “don’t bite the hand that feeds you,” but just couldn’t keep quiet on what they felt was a phenomenal miscarriage of hip hop legacy slash toy justice. To me, that speaks volumes about what this toy (done differently) would have meant to artists like MAD, Shane Jessup, Sket-One and Tristan Eaton who grew up listening to De La Soul.

In house here at Neon Monster, we’re kind of split on these. Overall, the consensus is we don’t straight up hate them like so many other people seem to, but we do understand the very valid reasons for the negative reaction. I didn’t grow up with hip hop, so let’s talk in the unlikely event Kidrobot ever decides to drop some Tuxedomoon (original lineup) or Joy Division (complete with noose accessory) toys.

The De La Soul figures pictured above came out several years ago, and I now keep hearing people say they are kicking themselves for not picking them up. As for the Kidrobot figures, they arrive in stores on March 18th, and it’s worth noting that the band WAS involved. Kidrobot’s (recently former) creative director, Chad, said, “The toys were designed by De La Soul with their good friend Myong Kurily. They brought us the project as a whole and were involved.” Seeing the figures in the packaging helps a bit. Neon Monster’s got some, and they’ll be up on sale at midnight the day of the release. Fans will decide with their wallets on this one.