All Posts tagged vinyl

Bigshot Toyworks is All Over the Place (in a Good Way)

Jeff Soto and Travis Louie at Hi-Fructose

Bigshot Toyworks was everywhere this year at SDCC (DKE, Hi-Fructose, Mike Mignola’s booth…) and their productions crossed many mediums (vinyl, resin, wood, plush…).  Sharing some similarities with DOUBLE SUPER’s showcase at SDCC, Bigshot showed off several sculptural works–playful in nature if not necessarily in practice. Perhaps, like art itself, the definition of toy is really best left to the beholder?

Whether you want to call it an art toy, a sculpture, a bust or something else entirely, Bigshot is making 3D “objects” from 2D imagery by Jeff Soto, Travis Louie, Brian Taylor, Nathan Jurevicius and Mike Mignola, and as a collector of such objects, I find it exciting. Also exciting: exchanging compliments in person with the man who calls the big shots: Klim Kozinevich. Check out some of the Toyworks I found walking the aisles.

Pimping the Purple Dead Che

Frank Kozik might think purple Telegrinnies “are for girls”, but purple revolutionaries apparently cross gender lines. He just sent over a shot of his purple personal version of the Dead Che Bust. It’s an edition of 50 pieces with 25 reserved for Kozik subscribers and the other 25 available to the general public for $200 plus shipping (& CA tax if applicable).  Email FrankKozik [at] SBCglobal [dot] net if interested.

Ron English’s Telegrinnies Make Me Grin

Speaking entirely personally here, Ron English’s Telegrinnies were the sleeper hit of my Comic-Con 2010 experience. While the majority of my central nervous system despises surprises, a tiny area of my brain delights in a sensory shake-up. I’ve always been on the fence about toys involving broad strokes pop culture appropriation, so I wasn’t expecting to even really like Ron’s Telegrinnies. Instead, it was adoration upon visualization.

The toys are eight inches of shiny, candy-colored vinyl produced by Made by Monsters with perfect paint application. Like the Teletubbies on which they are based, each figure sports a different “antenna insignia”. They all have the matte-skull signature “grin” of Ron’s Grins series, plus a transparent red rib cavity. They are, in a word, wonderful.

Thanks to the power of Twitter, I was able to find someone else similarly smitten with these enough to split the $175 pair. In a perfect world, I’d have the whole smiling set and smile right back at them. Isn’t that what it really comes down to with art toys? This glossy green piece of plastic makes me feel something–and that feeling is happy. Perhaps that’s the intended effect: subverting the typical programmatic reaction to Peanuts characters or Barney the dinosaur (or Teletubbies) by giving them a “scary” skeletal smile, which somehow only actually makes them seem sillier and cuter. Call it the visual version of binaural beats: your brain combines your expectations with the creepy vs. cute waveforms your eyes are absorbing. Um, yeah. Or something.

I know many people were similarly surprised to see me walking the Comic-Con aisles with what a quick glance would appear to be a Teletubby. My pal Frank Kozik expressed it the most eloquently by saying simply that “Teletubbies are for girls”. Maybe they are, and maybe cigarettes are for idiots, but when it comes down to it, those of us who make stuff, make stuff we like, and those of us who buy stuff, buy stuff we like. And in case you didn’t notice over the weekend by being in San Diego or reading the blogs, there’s more than enough STUFF to go around. I like some stuff that smorks, and some stuff that grins.

Ron English was around all weekend signing at several booths. He was even cool enough to re-sign something for me after I smeared it seconds after he was done. Nice guy. I anticipate a Meet Your Maker interview in the future…

Shepard Fairey’s Mr. Spray is in the Shop!

Shepard Fairey’s first original toy in 11 years (blogged here) is now available in our San Francisco store and online. Both colorways are already sold out through STRANGEco, so here’s your final shot at owning a piece of street art history. Mr. Spray is made of rotocast vinyl and stands 11 inches tall. He comes in illustrated card box packaging with an OBEY mini stencil. These are some of the last Mr. Sprays out of an edition of 348 pieces each. Don’t sleep!

ALIMAÑA Toys: Hecho en Mexico!

Something you don’t see every day on the header card of a kaiju toy is the phrase “Hecho en Mexico”. But then again, Mexico City’s ALIMAÑA aren’t your average toy company. Beto Matalí, Bela Álvarez, Emmy Hernández, Victor Hernández and Cieromuco have been making toys as ALIMAÑA for about 3 years, and it’s time you got to know them. As luck would have it, Bela has family in the Bay Area. After their first face-to-face meeting with ALIMAÑA-collaborator Mark Nagata, Mark, Bela, Oscar (a 3D animator currently working in Mexico City) and I chatted over sushi.

JB: How did ALIMAÑA get started?

Bela: In the beginning, it was Beto and I working together on different projects. Then we began working with Emmy and Victor. Beto and I did the toys, and they did the illustrations. With the addition of Carlos, who designed the character for Bacteria, we are now 5 guys working together. Well, 3 guys and 2 girls.

What does ALIMAÑA mean?

Bela: ALIMAÑA means vermin. It’s like a little bug. Beto and I didn’t have jobs, and we thought about doing something to get money. So we said “What can we do? Lets do T-shirts.” That was like 5 years ago. We designed special shirts for a Lord of the Rings convention because we love it. But we needed a name and a brand, so we came up with ALIMAÑA and we designed the logo. That was the beginning. Then we did different things, so when we started with the toys and we needed a brand, we said, we have one.

How did you get set up with production and a factory?

Bela: We started with the idea and the sculpture. We used 3D modeling software and made all the changes and chose the colors and and finally we went into production. The factory is in Mexico City.

Oscar: Mexico still has a lot of manufacturing. Before China came into the scene, Mexico was the place where you did dolls. There were a lot of factories. We had 2-3 very important toy companies, but China came with lower prices, and all the factories in Mexico started to close. The factories still there are small and not for big brands and the mainstream markets. So ALIMAÑA went to those guys to see if they could make these special things.

Why toys? Read the rest of this entry »

Thoughts On Thoughts in Jeremyville

Nobody knew quite what to expect when Kidrobot announced they were making a super mini-series with Jeremyville. And yet, that is exactly what this is. These teeny 3D characters look as though they lept out of one of the Aussie artist’s sketchbooks. They’re cute and they’re colorful, and if you’re a fan of Jeremyville, you won’t be disappointed. There are 20 different figures, and you could probably put them on a psych chair and analyze them (as we did). If you’re looking for capsule toys, these aren’t exactly them. Instead, imagine zipper pulls without hardware. We opened up 5 boxes and got 5 different figures. [Unsubstantiated] rumor is that there’s a full series in every case, but besides the 5 different pulls we got, we can’t confirm that. We can confirm that they’re fun though. You can get them by the case or as individual 1-inch figures. And yes, the chair’s for sale too.

Munny Munth Best Cyclops Winners

Kidrobot announced the winners of Munny Munth today, and check out this category for Best Cyclops! First place award went to Eduardo Capuano of Caracas, Venezuela (above left). Second and third prize winners’ names were not provided, but brother Cyclops in the middle could have doubled up in the Creepiest Design category.

Playge Doctor is in the House!

Is there a doctor in the house? Hell yeah there is. Playge’s awesome Doctor (dark Retailer Version) is now in stock. Limited to 300 pieces worldwide, the 6-inch vinyl toy includes: 2 sets of arms, jeweled ‘hidden’ sword-cane, shotty, doctor cloak with revolve pattern, cloth hood, vinyl hat and a removable helmet. An additional Squadt QPMNT PAC is being sold separately. Both are in the shop now!

Shawnimals Ninjatown in Vinyl in Stock: And That’s No Lie

What an exciting week for Shawn Smith and legions of Shawnimals fans everywhere. Not only did Wee Ninja get prominent placement on an episode of Lie To Me, but the entire gang emerged in 3D vinyl by way of a new mini-series from Kidrobot: “When Ninjatown is invaded by the evil Mr. Demon and his hotheaded minions, it’s up to Wee Ninja and his 3-inch friends to save the day!”

Collect all simple, colorful, fun figures and stage epic desktop battles by the case here and as individual blind-box figures here. And if you’re looking for Shawnimals plush ninjas, we’ve still got some of those right here.

STRANGEco x Shepard Fairey’s Mr. Spray

While Shepard Fairey may be a prolific poster artist, he has made very few toys over the years.  Aside from a smattering of Qees and Dunnys, Fairey’s last original toy was way back in 1999 for Tokion Magazine’s Neo-Graffiti Project. Fairey has been drawing Mr. Spray since 2004 as a “street-art appropriation of an advertising character design of the 1950s.” I’ve seen the character on STRANGEco stickers for years, but it wasn’t until this year that I saw the actual 11-inch 3D figure.

Mr. Spray was made in 4 colorways (black, red, gold and silver). Black and red are being offered as a presale directly from STRANGEco and then through select retailers (Neon Monster included).  Gold is an Obey-only release, and as for silver, it’ll be waiting for you (and me) at SDCC 2010. More details on the retail versions as we get them.