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Court of the Dead

Apr 8, 2014

Tasha Zimich x UVD Interview & Dunny Release

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I want to share a couple new pieces I worked on for Urban Vinyl Daily, "Oops" and "Oww" custom 3" dunny. We published an interview on UVD here where I share some thoughts on my processes and artmaking. Alongside the interview, these 2 dunnys released on their eStore here.

"Oww"'s had a rough day! I'm positive his sister had a hand in it, she's looking either embarassed & apologetic, or cheekily remorseless. "Oww" is currently up for adoption here.




Kevin Derksen for Some Assembly Required Exhibition Hope Gallery

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Holy shooting skulls, Batman! Kevin Derksen's contributions for "Some Assembly Required" custom toy show at Hope Gallery, New Haven CT are out of this world. The piece pictured here, "Death Head Krote" is a 3D printed Skull on the legs of a Maschinen Krieger Krote (1/20 scale).

This show will feature artists from around the country, Grimm VinnScotty Munster, Jesso, ZAM,Jamie HendersonSKET ONE, Monster KolorEmil EdgeOddity TattooKevin DerkenDJ Tambe, Hope Galleries, Eric Merrill, Julio Rodriguez, Tim Harris, Phil Young, Christian Perez, Ralph Giordano, 

Some Assembly Required opens April 12th at 7pm, serving drinks and refreshments, so get in early to see and acquire gorgeous pieces like this Death Head Krote.




Announcing the Tenacious Toys® My Rewards Program

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https://www.tenacioustoys.com/MyRewards.asp

We are very excited to announce the new Tenacious Toys® My Rewards Program! This is a program which AUTOMATICALLY assigns rewards points to you for each purchase you make at Tenacious Toys. Redeem your points for discounts on purchases of ANY item!

Basically this system is set up to give to 10% back on every purchase. Spend $100, get points worth $10. Spend $500, get points worth $50.

Here's how it works:

  1. Once your order has shipped, your My Rewards Points will be redeemable the next day. You will know your order has shipped when you receive an email from us with tracking info. It is the act of us marking your item shipped (by adding the tracking number to your order and marking the order "Complete") that triggers the system to add the points to your account.

  2. To view your My Rewards points, simply click on MyRewards in the My Account section or Rewards in the nav menu.

  3. Enter the total amount (in points) you'd like to redeem (10 My Rewards points = $1). Minimum redemption is 100 points (worth $10).

  4. You're now ready to save on your next purchase. Upon placing your order, your redeemed My Rewards points will automatically be deducted from the total purchase amount. You do not need to redeem all of your points at once, but you do need to redeem a minimum of 100 points (which is a $10 discount off your next order).

The best part is, this program was activated in early 2014. I wanted to test it out and make sure it was working right before I made the announcement. So, if you've completed a purchase in 2014 (and it was an in-stock item that has already shipped to you) go ahead and log into our site to check how many points you have accrued!

How to locate your My Rewards points balance:
Log in to Tenacious Toys. Click on My Account (if you're not already there). At the bottom of the My Account dashboard is the link to the My Rewards Program page.

Plaseebo Dead Ben for Monster Kolor

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"DEAD BEN"
                                                                                                       Copyright Bob Conge 2010

While a gravesite in the burial grounds of Philadelphia's Christ Church is marked "Benjamin Franklin 1790", he does not lie beneath that soil or any other for that matter.

This great American founding father, author, political theorist, statesman, and inventor was a fine scientist as well.
It was Franklin's research of lightning and electrical fluid in combination with his experiments in refrigeration and heat conductivity that led to his quest for immortality.

In 1773, when Franklin's work had moved from printing to science and politics, he corresponded with a French scientist on the subject of preserving the dead for later revival by more advanced scientific methods, writing: "I should prefer to an ordinary death, being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira, until that time, then to be recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country."

He had arranged with the astronomer David Rittenhouse for certain instructions to be carried out in secret upon his death. Ben's body was to be exhumed  from the grave on the very night of his burial and taken to his laboratory where he had prepared months earlier for the event. The gruesome task before his friend would require the skills of an experienced surgeon who he had arranged to meet at midnight. Yellow fingers of candle light moved across the black walls as Ben's head was relieved of the burden of his heavy and lifeless body. The skull was then sealed like a glass jar and filled with alcohol to preserve and float the pinkish grey asset Ben wished to send beyond death into an unknown future. His head was then installed in an mechanical devise Ben had constructed to hide in plain sight, a marvelous clockwork automaton in his own likeness. Ben had built the automaton some five years earlier and it had become a fixture in his home that entertained all visitors with its ability to write "A penny saved is a penny earned" on a sheet of paper and then sign Ben's name to it. The better part of Ben continued to reside unnoticed inside the automaton as it preformed for many years before its gears froze up and refused to write another word.

Some time in the mid nineteenth century a picker purchased the now somewhat tattered automaton along with some old furniture and silverware from the attic of a decedent of Ben.

The whereabouts of the automaton remained unknown for the next one and a half centuries. In 2004 Matt Walker stumbled across the machine in a cold storage sub-basement of an estate sale on the Old Kings Highway in East Sandwich Mass. Matt was intrigued and purchased the dusty old thing.

Back in his studio, looking over the mechanism inside the automaton, Matt realized it would require a specialist to give his find a much needed facelift. The next day he shipped the piece to Plaseebo Custom in Springwater New York for evaluation.

Bob opened the box at Plaseebo with great anticipation, he loves creepy. But what was found inside the automaton was beyond imagination, a hand written letter signed by Benjamin Franklin, explaining the two hundred year old secret. Indeed, beneath the faded clay face lie the skull of Ben with his brain still floating inside. Totally freaked and enthralled Bob flaked off the cracked clay revealing the skull beneath to verify the seemingly impossible story. He immediately set to work on completing Ben's long unfulfilled plan to cheat death.
The rebuilding and reanimation progressed at breakneck speed over the next two months of sleepless nights. Utilizing all the technological advances that were mere figments of creative wishful thinking in Ben's time, enabled the Plaseebo team to not only jump start the brain but connect its processing to an onboard computer with software that enabled Ben's thoughts to be interpolated with a voice program. BEN WAS BACK ! The team added  power and cooling systems, audio and video input capability and built a mobility unit to mount the twenty first century automaton on. Then affectionately named him "Dead Ben”.
                                                                   
When returned to Matt Walker, Dead Ben became the creative driving force that inspired Matt to found his new company in 2007 and even suggested Matt name it "Dead Presidents Designs" in honor of his being the President of Pennsylvania from 1785 thru 1788.

Here is a preview of my custom painted finished figure with a switched color changing LED unit mounted in the tank base that illuminates the red glass eyes.  

 Plaseebo and Dead Presidents Design, aka Monster Kolor, are pleased to announce the debut of the DEAD BEN hand cast resin figure on April 12th at the opening of the MONSTER BRAWL show at the Monster Kolor Gallery in Middleboro Ma. The show will feature custom versions of the Dead Ben figure by Miscreation, Jay222 and Plaseebo.   



INSANE ToyConUK Exclusive Glyos-Compatible Tankopula Keshi Monstrosity!

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Joining the slew of exclusive kaiju, sofubi and keshi that’ll be up for grabs at the Rampage Toys x Disarticulators ToyCon UK booth next Saturday, April 12th, Tru:Tek is proud to reveal the resurrection of one of the craziest ever resin figures in keshi form… the mighty Tanklopula!

The brainchild of Triclops, Jesse Destasio and The Tarantulas, the Rampage-sculpted mini figure features signature elements from all 3 artists, including tentacles, a Nibbler chest piece and Tankhead turret- all coming fitted with fully interchangeable, 100% Glyos compatible joints.

Originally making a very limited appearance back in 2011, the latest (and most likely final) run has been produced in a urethane rubber courtesy of Tru:Tek, with the batch of 15 each coming in a special one-off colorway inspired by a wide variety of 80s, 90s and 00s pop culture.

Touching down exclusively at the Rampage/DA booth (#16) come opening time at 9am, Tanklopula has been priced at £35 a piece. Stay tuned for details of online sales, plus AP releases from both Destasio and Triclops soon!

Probably the craziest keshi-style piece I've ever seen. What a dream team of collaborators! Anyone who picks one up for me at ToyConUK gets free stuff. Will make it worth your while.

Apr 5, 2014

CCAD Art of Illustration Show at Rivet Gallery Opens Today

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Today Rivet Gallery in Columbus, OH is hosting a show featuring the work of students at the Columbus College of Art & Design.

Rivet is proud to be the host of CCAD's 17th Annual Art Of Illustration Show.

Columbus College of Art and Design annually host a school-wide art competition called the Art of Illustration. The AOI competition is held in January and juried thereafter by a panel of professional local illustrators. There is a student committee who organizes and manages this show.

This year's exhibition of 45 chosen works will be on display at Rivet for the month of April with a reception and awards ceremony held on Saturday, April 5 beginning at 7pm. Awards and refreshments have been provided graciously by community businesses.



Stars and Strips and all things Captain America

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The Winter Soldier has just been released with great reviews, some even saying the best Marcel film to date!

There was no way that Hot Toys was not going to releasing the Stealth S.T.R.I.K.E. suit version, fans already was demanding this version long before it was announced, so I think many are happy that demands has been answered!


So Hot Toys is going all out with this Marvel Superhero steam train, some say a little too much, as many lines left unfinished and talked about non Marvel releases has yet to materialise.

Anyway.... what a set this is…. Captain America AND Steve Rogers, the Steve Rogers head sculpt is amazing






The Stealth S.T.R.I.K.E. suit version is available on its own, if your not wanting civilian Steve Rogers!

For full spec check out HotToys official page
For preorder  - SideShowToys OneSixthBruce + from Hong Kong Official Toy Hunters and Hot Toys Secret Base

Thanks for reading
WaiMan
www.onesixthbruce.co.uk

Amendment........
Forgot to add, Falcon on its way too!!! (pics courtesy of William Lau)






DamToys - Gangsters Kingdom - Juárez

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I’ve been a fan of the DamToys Gangster Kingdom line from the very beginning, I first thought it was loosely based on British gangster flick actors, but past few releases steered away from that....

Most recent announcement from DamToys is this GK006 - The Gangsters Kingdom - Diamond 3 Juárez!!! 

Now I think you will know who the character is based on!!





This by far is the meanest looking release of the line, think a lot has to do with the bloody weapons!!

Almost all of the early releases have been sold out, besides the normal auction sites, you will be had pressed to find an early one at your local figure vendor.

With this release, DamToys have made an additioal 100 chase/hidden versions that will be randomly placed in with the regular, so if you strike lucky, below is what you will get - Good Luck.




Even as a stand alone piece this has got to be the one to have, so search out Juárez, before he finds you…….!

If you want to see the full range of the Gangsters Kingdom line, please click here DamToys will shoot you to the official DamToys page.

Now we have seen this announcement, I have noticed in various social media that people want El Mariachi next!!

Anyway we shall see!!

Thanks for reading

WaiMan
www.onesixthbruce.co.uk

Apr 4, 2014

Mundam Wing Redux - Custom 7" Munny by Josh Mayhem

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 This piece was originally “The Mundam Wing” – a 7″ Munny created for the 2013 Art Without Borders show at Art Whino Gallery in Washington D.C. Josh writes:

The piece arrived at the gallery with a few pieces that had fallen off during shipping, which luckily they were able to repair before the show. The piece sold online to a collector and when it arrived after being shipped again it was in pretty bad shape mainly due to the fact that the pieces simply weren’t reinforced correctly. That combined with the fact that there were a few of my own minor imperfections in the paint the piece was then sent back to me to repair, but by the time it arrived, the entire thing needed to be completed disassembled, repainted, and rebuilt in order to fully restore it. 

I really didn’t feel very inspired to recreate the same exact toy again (honestly I don’t know how many of the popular customizers out there do multiple versions of the same toy without going crazy) but luckily the collector was okay with me changing the color scheme and design. After a long while the new and improved version ended up being a lot cooler and more refined then the original. 

This incident forced me to start reinforcing nearly every piece on all of my following toys by drilling a hole in both the piece, and the toy, then placing a small metal bar to connect the two. This is a very time consuming process but it has proven to be absolutely necessary. Also this forced me to step up my packaging process using double boxing and other methods to ensure a safe arrival. It actually turned out to be a great learning experience.

Make sure to check out my recent feature on www.geekexchange.com if you’d like to get an inside look at what inspires me artistically, my design process, and my toy collection:


http://www.geekexchange.com/josh-mayhem-makes-awesome-custom-toys-with-old-gundam-kits-108977.html



Apr 3, 2014

Back the March of Robots Art Book Kickstarter by Dacosta!

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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chocolatesoop/march-of-robots-art-book-project
Dacosta! is an incredibly talented graphic artist with a strong interest in robots as a subject matter. He has really inspired a bunch of our contemporary artists and illustrators to share their robot artwork, sketches and digital pieces online via his "March of Robots" social media campaign. I know my friends Steve Talkowski and Klim Kozinevich have participated by sharing and tagging their own robot pieces. You can look at all the insanely cool artwork contributed to Dacosta's March of Robots campaign here.

Dacosta is now taking his own robot artwork and compiling it into possibly the most exhilarating and colorful art book I've ever seen- all robots, all the time, front front cover to back!

I have backed this project, the artwork is just TOO COOL to pass up. I want to introduce my kids to art and illustration via books like these. And I can say I know the artist who created it- talk about Cool Dad factor.







The book is the main reward on this Kickstarter, of course, and you can preorder your signed copy for just $30. There are tons of other cool robot-related rewards as well.

There's only 11 days to go, so make sure to act quickly to get Dacosta up to his funding goal! So close!



https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chocolatesoop/march-of-robots-art-book-project

Resin Cosmic Jellybots and Jellybot Plush by The Jelly Empire at MoCCA

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Our friend Selina (The Jelly Empire) will be selling these awesome, OOAK resin Cosmic Jellybots at MoCCA Arts Fest in NYC on April 5 & 6, along with a few different Jellybot plushes!



Meet the Jellybots that accidentally swallowed up stars and nebulas on their way to Earth!  Now they are filled with little cosmic power ready to take over! 10 pieces in total.

I will also have more plush for event and it also includes a special edition to go along with some regular ones.  It's all about the moustache. 

Any leftovers will be uploaded into my online shop after this weekend at www.thejellyempire.storenvy.com


MoCCA Arts Fest
128 East 63rd Street, NYC
April 5 & 6
11am - 6pm

Two RESTORE Debris Japan Exclusives at Mintyfresh Booth at ToyConUK

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If you're a fan of the Debris Japan figures by RESTORE, you gotta see this: TWO (2!!!) different exclusive Debris figures at the Mintyfresh booth at ToyConUK. Apparently, if these don't sell out at ToyConUK (yeah right!) you'll be able to take a crack at them via this lottery.

Pricing and info:

Debris Japan SFB Glaciation Edition exclusive by RESTORE for Toycon UK, available at the Mintyfresh Stand, for £90 GBP (incl. TAX) 
Edition size > EXTREMELY SMALL (they don't want me to tell but it's less then 25)

Debris Japan SFB Blue Edition exclusive by RESTORE for Toycon UK, available at the Mintyfresh Stand, for £45 GBP (incl. TAX) 

Edition size > SMALL (Less then 35 Restore might offer this in the near future)

There's also a third exclusive at Mintyfresh:

The INC Dropleaf exclusive by Instinctoy for Toycon UK,
will be available at the Mintyfresh Stand, for £95 GBP (incl. TAX)

Edition size: 50

Flocked version for toycon and 50 GID versions for online sales (flocked and GID are the Nose, Mouth and Claws)

Apr 2, 2014

Coffee and Fried Chicken!

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M and R, stars of the Coffee and Fried Chicken blog

And now for something completely different...

Coffee & Fried Chicken (in addition to being a delicious gastronomic combo) is a new blog from Kun-I Chang and Shihwen Lin.  The New York-based duo's blog features the daily life and interactions of R, a white rabbit who lives on coffee and M, a black monkey who loves fried chicken (that's straight from the description, don't send your letters and postcards my way).  I'll let the creators explain it.

Coffee & Fried Chicken was born on April, 7th, 2012 When M and R exchanged their vows. 

M designed the monkey & rabbit characters as the body doubles for themselves, and together they share their story with friends and families through the two characters. 

Since both M and R are a bit camera shy, they decide to use monkey & rabbit to capture little moments in their lives.

While the concept seems strange, the characters are cute, the photography is beautiful and the stories look fun to follow.


-The Highest Fever
@thehighestfever

LEGO Architecture - Empire State Building: Overlooking the details on a minimalistic model.

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A particular line that had me intrigued when it first came out was the black box clad seemingly upper level collectible model line of LEGO Architecture models. The line pursues an effort to showcase a range of cultural building icons that range in size and price, with from what I can tell a random sort of application to how scale is approached.

The particular model I will be talking about today is the LEGO Architecture - Empire State Building set (21002).

The packaging is totally the opposite of all the rest of the LEGO lines that have come prior, with an emphasis on sort of an Apple inspired "premium" format kind of presentation that is visually striking on store shelves and looks right at home in places like Barnes and Noble and the like.

 I wanted to start out with a smaller model from this line, because I was not sure the minimalist approach to the overall look of the models was something I was too crazy about. As luck would have it, I managed to find the LEGO Architecture - Empire State Building set on sale for $12 (it normally retails for around $20 in most places).

Once you get past the facade of the outside though, you'll find it's pretty much just another sort of normal bit of contents for this model (which of course is always presented very well to aid in assembly in all other kits)

The contents included two poly bags of bricks, a set of instructions that also carried a minimalist aesthetic that mirrored the outer box.

A nice little add in, a small spot light on the artist, and a two page are of facts and history of the real Empire State Building.

I found the rating on this set to be an odd one. It's recommended for anyone 10+ years old, but the overall design and build aspect of this model would be hard pressed to give much of a challenge to your average 6 year old. I wager to think that the reason for the age approximation is because of the over abundance of vastly smaller bricks for the set, many which of course could present choking hazards for younger unsupervised kids.

The major criticism was in the design towards the end: (left) 1. the overall stability of the model and (right top and bottom) 2. what seems to be a rare oversight in quality control with the model design.
Everything about the LEGO Architecture - Empire State Building set really plays it up as a sturdy and fairly faithful minimalist rendition of the real thing. The problem is it has a few hits against it for me.

1. Shown in the above image on the left, is the fact that when handling the model a long stretch of the side of model is actually only attached by stacking a count of over four 2x2 bricks without any sort of "lock in support".

2. Which brings me to the connected issue (pardon the pun) of the other side being more than adequately secure because of the usage in place of a normal 2x2 brick, with a 2x2 brink that has an extension lock lug.

The reason I find this irritating is because on far more insane sort of complex models (like anything out of Ninjago or the new Chima line), every effort to make almost redundant levels of stability shine in many ways so that the playability factor of the toys are in top form, is just par for the course for LEGO.

In my mind, the LEGO Architecture - Empire State Building set (as shown in the two right hand images above) just plain left out a second 2x2 with lock lug. Why do I say that? Because there are two receiving blocks that are part of the top section of the model! The top right image shows that there is one that is just there. No function for it.

I know this seems like I am making a mountain out of a molehill, but considering the low brick count in this model, the high esteem and slick polish to all else about the presentation of the model... and somehow, quality control seems to have just overlooked that aspect of the final build. Kind of disappointing especially for the running retail price of between $20 to $30.

So, in a final word, if you plan on spending a small bit of time on a sort of overpriced smaller model, and you REALLY like the Empire State Building... then go for it. It really does look like the real one, in a very minimalistic style, but doesn't hold up too well for young hands/rougher play very well.

Solution? Order a companion 2x2 brick with locking lug for the set from LEGO, (my plan in the near future) and enjoy it as a desk/mantle set.

Until next time!

BB-8 Star Wars Premium Format(TM) Figure
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