Suckadelic Suckpanel Grande - Bigger IS Better

Super Sucklord has taken his Bootleg, Suckpanel and Mashup series and crammed them all together in one terrible package, the Suckpanel Grande.  Each one of these measures 14" across (heights vary slightly) and are mounted on 1/2" plywood with hanging hardware mounted on the back.  Each will be produced in editions of 10 pieces. They won't be available in the online store but you can contact those jerkbags here for info and pricing.  And as always, you're an asshole if you don't buy one.

Andrew Pawley's Galaxafreak Captain Yeah!

I'll let Andrew tell you about Captain Yeah!

Captain Yeah! is a poly-cosmic inter-dimensional hero of the highest order. Born at the creation of the multiverse he exists in all realities and all time. As a member of the Galaxafreaks he gets up to all sorts of psychedelic weirdness! Who are the Galaxafreaks? Galaxafreaks will eat your brain! Then chew it up and spit it out in a reconstructed mind-freak! Trust me, you'll feel better for it! Basically the Galaxafreaks are a bunch of friends who happen to be the size of whole galaxies. However, the whole story takes place inside the brain of a cosmic universal baby who lives inside a Higgs Boson particle. Obviously!

Couldn't have said it better myself.  Captain Yeah! is a 3 inch tall, hand cast and hand painted resin figure.  Each figure comes with a signed certificate of authenticity and a drawing of the original character.  Captain Yeah! is limited to 20 pieces.

Andrew is currently running a crowdsource funding campaign for Captain Yeah! and it's psychedelic companion comic.  You can find more info about it here.

+The Highest Fever

The Offbits: The Art of Spare Parts

The Offbits are a series of model robots made from everyday hardware, designed to allow for infinite buildability.  Nuts, bolts, screws, springs, magnets combine to create adorable little robots.

Purchasing a starter kit gets you one of four robot models.  From there, the sky's the limit.  Add bits and pieces from your toolbox, discarded devices, appliances from around the house (don't do that), the engine in your dad's truck (not an activity endorsed by Offbits) or anything laying around.  Offbits also offers extension packs.  These allow for more complex character and even vehicles!

These kits are great for kids who love to tinker and build and will no doubt spark their imaginations. The Offbits Kickstarter currently has 13 days remaining.  They've met their goal and are well on the way to hitting stretch goals.  Now is a great time to jump on board and get an Offbit.

+The Highest Fever 

  

Rocketboy Nohwitz Red Tie Tenacious Exclusive 3D Printed Figure Released at 3PM EST today

This awesome 7" Nohwitz figure by Rocketboy was printed by Bold Machines and finished/painted by Rocketboy exclusively for Tenacious Toys! There are only 5 of them in this color scheme, and they will be sold for $45 each today at 3PM EST here on our Rocketboy page. Also available at same time and place will be the DIY (blank) version for $25 (see below). DIYs come packed with randomly selected hands and teeth.

At the same time, over in Chicago, there will be a SWEET custom Nohwitz show opening at Rotofugi:

Rocketboy in collaboration with Bold Machines present:

Nowhitz All
A Group Custom Toy Show
Opening Reception on Friday, May 8, 2015, 7-10pm

It's been awhile since we hosted a custom toy show, but we couldn't possibly pass up the chance to work with Chicago-based customizer Ryan McClure (aka Rocketboy Customs) on the debut of his new 3D-printed (by Bold Machines) figure, Nowhitz.

Ryan has recruited 24 talented toy customizers to give their take on his cubicle creature (the office know-it-all that absolutely knows nothing) and we can't wait to see the results!

Participating artists include 64 Colors, Betso, Davemarkart, DrilOne, Frank Montano, Infinite Rabbits, James Fuller, JC Rivera, Jeremiah Ketner, JFury, kOmega, Malo April, Malo One, Max Bare, Mike Die, Nugglife, One-Eyed Girl, Patrick Wong, Rocketboy, Rsin, Tasha Zimich, TaskOne, Travis Lampe and Veggiesomething.

First availability of exhibit pieces will be at the gallery when we open at 11am on Friday, May 8. Gallery Previews email list members will be able to make purchases via email starting at 2PM that same day.

Exhibit continues through June 7, 2015

Erick Scarecrow's Lady Liberty to be Re-Released on ESCToy.com

Erick has been a little quiet lately. You might not notice these things, but I do. He recently moved his company ESC Toys to Las Vegas and I think that's sort of a big undertaking. Seems he hasn't released a new figure in a while, but he's finally ready to get cranking again! This is the anniversary release of the Lady Liberty figure which was released back in 2007 as a 12". Each 6.5" vinyl/PVC Lady Liberty figure comes packaged in an open box and blister tray. The products conform to ASTM-F963. For ages 15 & UP!

Retail is $25 per piece (is that a fucking typo? nope.) and the 4PACK is $85.

$25 dollars for a 6.5" toy. That's an awesome price. I think Erick moved to Vegas and fried his brain in the desert sun.


Anyway, I'm not sure when these figures will be release, but here's the link to the ESC Toys shop. There's a handy tool at the bottom of the screen on the right that allows you to get emailed when the items go up for sale. Which is fucking brilliant. I have to see if I can do that with my shop.

AVAILABLE NOW: Frank Kozik William, Henry & Reginald - Blue Sunshine Edition by Arts Unknown

The last of Frank Kozik's William, Henry & Reginald - Blue Sunshine Edition sets by Arts Unknown are up for sale on our website here on our Arts Unknown page. When AU closed up shop, we purchased the rest of these figures. The price for this figure is $39.95 each and we have very limited quantities of each color variant! We have 4 color variants of William/Henry/Reginald - Classic (white), Heart of Darkness (black), Bungle in the Jungle (green) and Blue Sunshine (orange). All Arts Unknown figures will begin shipping to customers from our warehouse on Wednesday May 6th.

Playge GASSED S005 FORT BURNOUT - JNGL edition PREORDER

PREORDER the GASSED S005 FORT BURNOUT - JNGL edition by Playge now.

6" vinyl and ABS figure with fabric clothing. Includes: Modular tactical vest with removable pouches. Machete with sheath, sM4 with removable grenade launcher and scope. 2.1 and classic arms, helmet-helmet and removable helmet. Yeah, 2 helmets. $105 and we are only getting a few! Arriving late May-ish.

PRO-TIP:

Order this item and the Terrorboys Ooze No 13 figure together (see pic to the right) and use code CLEAR200 at checkout to get 45% off the Terrorboys figure ($47.25 savings).

Who loves ya?

REVIEW: Plastik Surgery Resin Casting Handbook by Matt Lunartik Jones

I had the distinct pleasure today of reading the 20-page "Level One" Plastik Surgery handbook compiled by Matt "Lunartik" Jones. This fun, illustrated guide to beginning resin casting is available for just £12.00 ($18) on the Lunartik site here.

I'm sure Matt knew that I am a great person to review this book. I have a bit of technical knowledge and I've been selling resin toys for several years now, so I deal with the artists that cast the resin on a near-daily basis.

However, I have never actually cast any resin figures myself so some of the details are fuzzy to me, or were, till today.

Most of the artists I work with have all of this book's knowledge, plus more, in their heads, so the book might not offer many new insights to such veteran toymakers.

However, ALL resin toymakers have interested friends, kids, cousins, neighbors' kids, or colleagues who probably want to know more about what is involved in resin casting. This right here is a perfect introductory guide to the process and well worth the small amount of money. Makes a great gift for a budding artist!

The entire handbook is illustrated in Matt's clear, colorful and fun style, with handwritten text that makes it feel almost like an old-school zine, albeit a slick and well-crafted one.

I'm not going to photograph and post up every page of the entire handbook as that would defeat the purpose of this post.

However, I will go through a few key points that I liked about it:

Plastik Surgery goes through the entire process of resin toymaking from inception to delivery of the pieces to the customer, and even a bit after delivery. It's incredibly thorough for only having 20 pages. Just the right combination of text and images on each page- keeps kids and ADHD adults interested, fully describes and illustrates all the points Matt is trying to make.

Here you see all the different sections in the book:

1. Overview
2. Concept Design
3. Model Making
4. Silicone Tool Making
5. Resin Casting
6. Painting and Signing
7. Packing and Selling
8. Supplies and Notes

All of the concepts are explained carefully, even a little bit about color variants and the psychology of collecting, the importance of presentation, and several other key concepts which were surprisingly high-level, and sort of snuck in there without me noticing that they were fairly expert explanations of abstract concepts in toy making and selling.

I think one of my favorite things about this handbook is how frequently Matt suggests you stop for a nice cuppa tea. He's right- you can't rush this stuff and you might as well slow down and enjoy it.

I highly recommend this book. I learned a bunch, and I am excited that this is the "Level One" handbook because it means Matt is planning on producing a "Level Two" follow-up to cover more advanced concepts in toy production.

If you are an artist and you don't really know how to start creating resin pieces, this is definitely the right book for you. One of the most frequent emails I get goes something like this:

"Hey Benny, I'm an artist just starting out and I have this great idea and I want to turn it into a toy. Can you help me?"

Now I have a link to give to these inquiries! Pick up your own copy of Plastik Surgery here. Really, I can't think of a better vehicle to deliver this knowledge to someone. You can even get Matt to customize it with a doodle for an extra 3 quid.

- Benny Kline

AVAILABLE NOW: Frank Kozik William, Henry & Reginald - Bungle in the Jungle Edition by Arts Unknown

The last of Frank Kozik's William, Henry & Reginald - Bungle in the Jungle Edition sets by Arts Unknown are up for sale on our website here on our Arts Unknown page. When AU closed up shop, we purchased the rest of these figures. The price for this figure is $39.95 each. We have 4 color variants of William/Henry/Reginald - Classic (white), Heart of Darkness (black), Bungle in the Jungle (green) and Blue Sunshine (orange), and we have very limited quantities of each color variant! All Arts Unknown figures will begin shipping to customers from our warehouse on Wednesday May 6th.

Michael Keaton Batman and Bruce Wayne Set by Hot Toys

 I'm not gonna lie to you, I am partial to the Christian Bale Batman movies. I like the stories and the villains and the action... the way Bale speaks as Batman irritates the shit out of me, but I can deal with it because that's not a whole lot of the movies.

But a close second is the 1989 Michael Keaton Batman. Jack Nicholson as Joker might be fucking perfect casting. Anyway, Hot Toys obviously agrees that the Keaton Batman is worth producing, because here we have a 1:6-scale, two figure set of Bruce Wayne in his tux, as well as the Batman. The likeness of the head sculpt is pretty dead-on in my opinion. This set is available for $344.99 here at Sideshow, and they even offer a payment plan.

 

 

AVAILABLE NOW: Frank Kozik William, Henry & Reginald - Heart of Darkness Edition by Arts Unknown

The last of Frank Kozik's William, Henry & Reginald - Heart of Darkness Edition sets by Arts Unknown are up for sale on our website here on our Arts Unknown page. When AU closed up shop, we purchased the rest of these figures. The price for this figure is $49.95 each and we only have 3 of them! We have 4 color variants of William/Henry/Reginald - Classic (white), Heart of Darkness (black), Bungle in the Jungle (green) and Blue Sunshine (orange). All Arts Unknown figures will begin shipping to customers from our warehouse on Wednesday May 6th.

Preorders now available for Playge GASSED S005 FORT BURNOUT - JNGL edition

Click here to preorder GASSED S005 [FORT BURNOUT - JNGL] - arriving in 3 weeks!

KiD iNK iNDUSTRiES' "May the Fourth" Sumo Trooper Micro Run.

Kris Dulfer has released a new wave of his Sumo Trooper resin figures.  Celebrating Star Wars Day, May the Fourth, a rainbow of new colors are available on his site including a blue GID colorway endorsed by Benny Kline himself!  These are single run colors so grab them while you can!  I personally have several of his previously released Sumo Troopers in various colors and I can tell you that these are high quality resin pieces you'll be proud to have in your collection.

+The Highest Fever 

Why I Re-Established Our Relationship with Kidrobot

In June of 2013 I pretty much gave up on Kidrobot, and I wrote a long blog post about why I no longer wished to stock their art toys. I'm not even going to delete that post, I still stand behind everything I griped about there.

In a nutshell, here's what I was bitching about (copied directly from old post):

1. Wholesale accounts could not sell Kidrobot products on eBay.
2. Wholesale accounts could not sell the Kidrobot blind-boxed items as open-box.
3. Online retailers only got access to certain designated items. No 8" Dunnys to online-only retailers.
4. Brick and mortar retailers granted a free "case exclusive" Dunny to give to buyers of Dunny cases as a reward for their purchase. 

Since I wrote that post, a LOT has changed for Kidrobot:

They closed up a bunch of their famous brick & mortar locations (not sure about the other shops, but I know for a fact that the NYC flagship store was unsustainably expensive to rent each month). This, I'm sure, put them in a better position in terms of cash flow.

A natural result of those closings is that they cut down on their staff/employees. Sad, but another money saver.

They did a number of clearance sales, eliminating much of their overstock and dead stock by selling it at super discounts to both customers and retailers.

They slowed down their new releases temporarily (as far as I can tell).

Most importantly, they were acquired by a company called NECA (National Entertainment Collectibles Association). The NECA acquisition allowed Kidrobot to stop struggling so hard to pay bills and instead focus on refreshing and revamping of their product lines. From the investors' standpoint, the previous venture capitalists that were backing Kidrobot were able to cash out and exit.

So, Kidrobot went from a company whose direction was almost certainly dictated by non-art-toy-related people (VCs), to a company whose direction is dictated group of people whose sole focus is the creation of awesome collectibles (NECA). Appointing Frank Kozik as Creative Director ensured that the Kidrobot culture/aesthetic would remain firmly within the bounds of what we all expect from them.

That's a lot of changes.

With all those changes, the Kidrobot "illuminati" were able to re-shape the way the company works with retailers. No more will online retailers be considered second-class partners. I had a lengthy conversation with a long-time Kidrobot employee a few months ago which showed me that they were serious about creating a more positive relationship with online retailers like Tenacious Toys. I was thrilled to have that conversation. I am not a person who burns bridges. I always do my best to maintain positive relationships whenever possible, whether it's in my personal life or in business. That's why I chose my words carefully in that blog post in 2013. I wanted to complain loudly so that they heard me, while still remaining as constructive as possible, and I think it paid off.

My recent conversation with the Kidrobot employee revealed that I am now able to purchase ANY Kidrobot product, without limitations. That means we can now stock the cornerstone 8-inch Kidrobot Dunnys once more! Just for reference, the last one they allowed me to buy was the Kozik Redrum 8-inch Dunny in 2006 (so long ago, I had to consult Trampt to figure out what year that was). I can also now stock their "Premium" items like the Kidrobot Black line of figures and other items previously reserved for brick & mortar locations. I am not entirely sure if this is true for ALL other online-only shops. I haven't really asked around (there aren't that many of us left anymore).

To that end, I have placed my first order with Kidrobot in a long, long time: the upcoming Junko Mizuno Violet Soda Lady 8-inch Dunny. I love Junko and this piece looks phenomenal from the randomly leaked images I've seen. I have unhidden our Kidrobot page and added KR back into our Manufacturers menu in preparation.

There were a couple other issues I dealt with in my 2013 blog post that have since become irrelevant: I am no longer ordering blind box toys and low-ticket items from any manufacturer. I looked long and hard at our numbers and decided that it no longer makes financial sense for Tenacious Toys to sell items priced under $40 or $50.


Because of this shift, I no longer care about selling any blind box toys, or opened-blind-box toys. I am not sure whether KR will continue their old practice of providing "free" case exclusive Dunnys to shops that buy cartons of their 3" Dunny series, but it hardly matters to me since I'm not stocking those items.


Furthermore, I no longer wish to give eBay a percentage out of my sales of art toys, so selling Kidrobot toys on eBay is now a moot point for me. I'm slowly dialing back inventory in our eBay shop and removing toy items from it.


Basically, with all the changes that both Kidrobot and Tenacious Toys have gone through in the last 2 years, all my previous concerns and gripes about buying wholesale from Kidrobot have either been addressed to my satisfaction, or been eliminated.


So, onwards and upwards, happy tra-la-la frolicking, hand-in-hand with Kidrobot! Expect us to stock most, if not all, of the 8-inch Kidrobot Dunny releases in the future, plus anything else priced above $40 retail that I think might sell.


There are a TON of really interesting pieces coming down the pipe from Kidrobot. I hear whispers. Get ready!

- Benny Kline

ThreeA Metal Gear Rex "Half-Size Edition"

Metal Gear Solid Metal Gear Rex Metal Gear Solid Collectible Figure
One of the issues I have with ThreeA is the sheer size of some of the items they offer to me... I run a fairly small operation, so receiving, storing and then shipping giant ThreeA high-end pieces is kinda difficult for us at Tenacious Toys. Not to mention the fact that items prices over $300 tend to scare the art toy crowd away... I guess ThreeA realized that they better offer a smaller/cheaper option of some of those items.

Behold: the Metal Gear Rex "Half-Size Edition." Tons of articulation, just like the big version, but at a height of just 8.35" (20cm). The rail gun is about 11.5" long. Great size for a collector! Click here to check out more pics and read a bit more. Apparently this month (May) they will also be releasing the Metal Gear Ray, which I think I actually like more than the Rex!

AVAILABLE NOW: Frank Kozik William, Henry & Reginald - Classic Edition by Arts Unknown

The last of Frank Kozik's William, Henry & Reginald - Classic Edition sets by Arts Unknown are up for sale on our website here on our Arts Unknown page. When AU closed up shop, we purchased the rest of these figures. The price for this figure is $39.95 each and we have very limited quantities of each color variant! We have 4 color variants of William/Henry/Reginald - Classic (white), Heart of Darkness (black), Bungle in the Jungle (green) and Blue Sunshine (orange). All Arts Unknown figures will begin shipping to customers from our warehouse on Wednesday May 6th.

More Boba from Luke Chueh x Flabslab

Star Wars day' is upon us and to celebrate May 4th, Luke Chueh and Flabslab is going to release another batch of Boba busts. Priced at $300 plus shipping, this latest batch is going to be limited to just 30 pieces. The viewfinder is detachable to make shipping easier and since this piece is coming from Singapore, shipping can take anywhere from 10-20 days, depending on location. For those who are interested, these are going to be going up for sale at 7 am PDT on the Flabslab online store. These should go fast, so good luck and May the Fourth be with you!

- Mark-Anthony

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