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Court of the Dead

Mar 15, 2012

Licensed Public Zoo apparel by Evy of California

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A buddy of mine who runs Evy of California just showed me their lineup of apparel under the Public Zoo license... if you dig So So Happy, you'll love The Public Zoo. Check em out on Facebook.

Here's their PZ apparel and below is a sweet video from the Public Zoo YouTube channel:


Jacob JAMS Mutation resin figures

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 Jacob JAMS' Mutation X51-Z resin figures are now available in his web store! A whole rainbow of brightly-colored resin colors available... as well as DIY white for you customizers looking for the next big platform to tear up! 3.5 inches long, $15 each. Go check out all the SWEET resin figures by 11-year-old Jacob in his shop here!

Walt Mickey custom by Ian Ziobrowski

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Ian Ziobrowski isn't all nuggs and thugs... here he flexes his considerable painterly skills with the custom Mickey vinyl figure by PlayImaginative. Walt Mickey features a dead-on portrait of Walt Disney on Mickey's face. Damn eerie, and beautiful. I am sure Walt would have loved it. 

Next, Ian will sculpt Walt's disembodied, cryogenically frozen head in a jar.

Follow Ian on Facebook here and check out the rest of the customs in this show here.

Sevren custom Horselington for Pranay

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 Pranay Parikh sent us these images of another Horselington he had commissioned for himself: this one by his buddy David Ten aka Sevren. Awesome, beautiful work. I like the wooden apparatus he built to hang the piece... it lends some fine-art credibility to the custom toy. We're always searching for credibility and mainstream acceptance, aren't we? 

(All you rebellious punks out there know how hard it is to make a living doing your punk rock, "F the establishment!" artwork. Rebelliousness is cool but every once in a while you gotta make sure you make a piece designed to sell. Or else you can't afford to buy paint for the next "F YOU!!" piece you wanna do.)

I bet Matt Anderson digs this Horselington. Matt did a pretty damn fine Horselington custom himself, also for Pranay.

As an aside, lest y'all think I'm advocating on behalf of boring, mainstream art... remember that I'm writing a blog about art toys. And you're reading it. Which means we're both weirdos.





Mar 14, 2012

Dave Webb Joker Mickey custom for PlayImaginative show

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 In an awesome departure from his more common hand-sculpted monsters, Dave Webb (aka DAVEMARKART) applies his considerable skills to the PlayImaginative Mickey platform for their online custom show showcasing the 6" Mickey Mouse vinyl figure

Love the detailed accessories on this custom! Sick work by Dave, as always. 

You can follow Dave on Facebook and buy his custom figures at his shop. I'd love to see more DAVEMARKART pieces based on pop culture characters, I think this one turned out great.

Albert Einstein 8GB USB drive in stock now

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"The Legends of MIMOBOT Series" is a brand-new lineup of MIMOBOT flash drives from Mimoco honoring iconic figures in history. The first USB drive in this series is none other than the most influential physicist of the 20th Century: Albert Einstein! This 8GB capacity thumb drive has a high speed USB 2.0 interface and is compatible with Mac or PC. Also, all Mimobots come preloaded with exclusive themed content. Click here to buy Einstein!

Ian Ziobrowski Rusty the Clown 8in Dunny

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 Ian Ziobrowski shares with us his latest commission piece: an 8" custom Dunny called Rusty the Clown:

This is my new commission "RUSTY The CLOWN". He's a new character for NUGGLIFE. He's an 8 inch custom dunny with a juggling accessory. He juggles beer bottles that he's been drinking all day for some scrap change. Trying to make a living as a professional clown, you might just see him on a local side walk near you....

New character from Ian? Yes please. Every time he rolls out a new one, it's sick. Want more! 
Friend Ian on Facebook here.


Swamp Ghoul Mickey Mouse custom by We Become Monsters

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Friend of Tenacious Toys Christopher Moore (We Become Monsters) was invited to participate in PalyImaginative's Mickey Mouse custom show, using their 6" blank Mickey platform (which sadly, is not licensed for distribution in the U.S.). This is Christopher's Swamp Ghoul Mickey, which was created using acrylic, resin, epoxy, and spices on vinyl. Yes, it is spicy!

You can follow Christopher Moore here:

Luke Chueh bronze Jack sculpture by Fully Visual

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I'm not going to apologize for loving Luke Chueh, nor for posting this $1,200 sculpture here on my blog. (I could never afford this thing, but hey, someone can. Maybe you?)

The new wall-mounted taxidermy style piece should immediately remind collectors of ‘Jacked’, Chueh’s beloved painting of a rogue rabbit who has unceremoniously removed (‘jacked’) an antelope’s antlers in order to transform himself into… nothing other than a Jackalope! A clever take on the original painting, the new sculpture offers an abrupt and perhaps karmic conclusion to the saga. Limited to 10 pieces, the ‘Jack’ wall-mounted bronze (9”x8”x5”) comes with a certificate of authenticity featuring a hand-drawn Jack portrait.

Sale at the Tesselate shop!

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Our associate and UK artist Tesselate has a sale going on in his shop: all Keyeyes and Pressbot figures are just 5 pounds! And I noticed that George and His Amazing Dispensing Machine is just 40 pounds! WOW! Those are some awesome deals for high-quality work. Check out the Tesselate shop here.

George and His Amazing Dispensing Machine
We also have an exclusive series of Tesselate custom Mini Munnys called the Double B Squad, which you can purchase here.
The Double B Squad by Tesselate

JFury Jester custom for So So Happy show

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Justin JFury Phillips shares with us his custom Bunee Qee for the So So Happy Toy2R Qee Show. This one is based on the So So Happy Jester character pictured below:
You can Like JFury's work on Facebook here and make sure to visit his shop here to grab a commission.

Scott Tolleson discusses our Uncle Argh Noir Kickstarter on Toy Break

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Every week, George and Ayleen invite a special guest onto the Toy Break couch to help them out with the show, give their honest opinion on the issues and toys discussed, and generally look pretty. This week, our friend Scott Tolleson played First Mate on the Toy Break couch for episode #207.
Like the conversational ninja he is, Scott managed to sneak in a plug for our Kickstarter project to fund an exclusive colorway of Scott's Uncle Argh Mini Qee. Thanks Scott! 

You can watch the full Toy Break episode here, and you can donate to the Kickstarter here. Shipping is included for all rewards/pledge levels, whether you opt for a sticker pack ($5 pledge) or the full-on Scott Tolleson custom toy package ($500). No additional shipping fees for international backers.

Mar 13, 2012

Askew Rangers Buggz the Toxic Bunny custom by Josh Mayhem

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Introducing Josh Mayhem's newest addition to the Askew Rangers elite -"Buggz The Toxic Bunny". This 15" custom one-off piece is an original design and sculpture / toy mash up displaying Josh's unique style of vibrant colors, crisp lines, and simple paint foundations that serve as complimentary backdrops to an overwhelming display of weaponry and accessories. This one-of-a-kind original piece is now available for purchase on Josh's page at TenaciousToys.com. Here's a pic of the whole series:


There are ten customs in Josh Mayhem's Askew Rangers series, all featuring bright paint and extraordinary attention to detail! With price point varying from $75 to $300, there will definitely be a piece in there for you at the right price. I'm super excited to have these amazing customs up in our shop!

With upcoming shows including Play Imaginative / Disney's Mickey Mouse custom group show in Singapore, the Playsam 500 custom group show at Super 7 in San Francisco, and the Bellicose Bunny
custom group show at Toy Art Gallery in Los Angeles, you're going to be seeing much more from this emerging artist in the near future.

Josh Mayhem is available to take commission work. Feel free to contact him on his Facebook here: http://www.facebook.com/joshmayhem1 or on his website here: http://joshmayhem.com

Mar 9, 2012

New from Fuller: Rebel Western, Mega Munny & So So Happy

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Fuller shares with us 3 of his most recent pieces: above is a Rebel Ink figure which seems to be a favorite with many customizers. Fuller was given this one as a commission and was tasked with giving it an Old West feel. The other criteria was using the colors red, black, gray and white. I wonder if the customer knew how amazingly bad-ass it would turn out?
The sick piece above is actually a Kidrobot Mega Munny, which means it started out 18 inches tall! And with Fuller's sculpting/accessorizing, it's probably more like 20 inches now. That's a BIG friggin custom. It's like the size of my whole apartment. Here's what Fuller said:

I wanted to do add something to my Black Magic series. I don't do very many Mega Munny so I thought I would make him into one. I did a ton of more sculpting on this than I normally would. I have to say it was really fun. This was my original design of Voodoo from series one, but I decided to do a brown version. Thinking I like this one better. He will be for sale. 

(Watch Fuller's shop- this piece either has not yet been put up for sale, or it has, and it sold in the 5 freaking days it took me to get this blog post up!)

OK, so I'm starting to get this whole So So Happy Qee show. So So Happy has a number of characters of their own, which the artists are incorporating into their work. And to be honest, despite looking at different artists' and companies' characters day in and day out, I have to say that I really enjoy the So So Happy characters. You can see them all here. They're cute, and there's a bunch of them. 

Fuller writes: This is my entry for the SO SO Happy Project. I chose the character TRIBE. I wanted to add a few other characters and what better place than his mouth! 

One of the strongest elements of this piece, and many of Fuller's pieces, is his use of bright colors contrasting with black. I dig that about his work.

Here's a little more about the So So Happy Qee show, which I took from the blog on Toy2RUSA's site:

So So Happy x Toy2R Custom Qee Project
Toy2R is thrilled to jump into 2012 with a new DIY project, especially when it’s tied to one of the fastest growing brands – So So Happy. In collaboration, between Toy2R and So So Happy, an incredible roster of artists have been invited to customize 8” Qees inspired by the So So Happy characters and brand. Over 30 artists are taking part in this project and the Qees will be displayed at venues and trade shows across the country for 2012.

Participating artists include: Albert Art, AW177, Sneaky Raccoon, Chauskoskis, Diogo Machado, Frank Mysterio, A Little Stranger, Howie Green, Fuller Designs, JC Rivera, Jon-Paul Kaiser, Julie West, Ardabus Rubber, Kim Mayhew, Leecifer, DGPH, Matt Anderson, MeSmithy, Mikie Graham, Grimsheep, Pocket Wookie, RSIN, Scott Kinnebrew, Scott Tolleson, Shawn Wigs, Steve Lew, Valerie Bermudez and Valerie Gudell.

JC Rivera Tequila custom commission

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I am constantly completely impressed by JC Rivera's consistently excellent customs. I've never seen a poor or even average piece from him. Every single piece is top-notch. 

This is JC's recent commission: a Muttpop Tequila figure. With huge muscles on a fairly large platform, the Tequila figure has always begged to be customized. This character is Albert "El Pheonix" Huertas.  
The undefeated champ fought his last fight at the age of 45 to show the world that he was still the #1 in world. 

Sweet back tat work by JC
Even accessories like El Phoenix's chain and rope belt are intricately detailed.
JC's a guy to watch this year. You can follow him on his website, store, flickr or tumblr.

We also have a section dedicated to JC Rivera. Buy any custom toy from that section of our site and get a free Bokull resin figure with your purchase!

Don P HALO Master Chief and Revenge of the Dead Ninja Dunnys

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 Don P flexes his luscles and shows us that he's no one-trick pony: instead of customizing his usual Kidrobot Mascots, here he shows us his 3" custom Dunnys: A Ninja from Revenge of the Dead (above) and Master Chief from HALO. I like that fact that Patrick has made sweet (and appropriate) accessories for these pieces, and that his work seems to be progressing. He's learning and developing his style as he goes. Always fascinating to watch that happen. Here are his links in case you want to follow along more closely:  Facebook - Blog - Shop

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