Trains of Fame: Group Show in Paris, January 2011

I've been getting periodic updates from Vincent, creator of the Trains of Fame miniature subway cars, for quite some time now. I have been meaning to give him a nice post on this blog but with the holidays coming up and my main focus being packing orders, my blogging has been spotty at best.

But Vincent sent me this killer video, and I finally have time to give him the proper page space he deserves, so here's all you need to know about Trains of Fame:

The platform itself is a miniature version (52cm long) of the Parisian subway cars (French people call the subway "le metro"). Vincent and his crew pulled together over 100 European graffiti artists, each bombing, in miniature, a full subway car. This concept is both antithetical to, and a natural progression of, the concept of bombing a real subway car, as it is legal and fun and these guys can readily admit to doing these pieces and showing them off...

The Trains of Fame group show will be held January 7 thru 14 at:

Gallery Oberkampf

103 Rue St Maur

Paris, France

Germany: 1up.
UK : Roid
Belgium : Alora ; Amer ; Ansi ; Bond ; End ; Fars ; Hulk ; Noach ; Quatch ; Rush ; Vie ; Xols ; Xray.
Spain: Ceon ; Guan ; Iesk ; Iser ; Nakor ; Ogro ; Rate ; Rioga ; Sayno ; Zarp.
France: Apel ; Argne, ; Astuce ; Babs ; Bdb ; Bears ; Brize ; Brus ; Bugz ; Cezam ; Cinz ; Colorz ; Creez ; Comer ; Darco ; Decap ; Der ; Devil ; Dezer; Dife ; Disney ; Distur ; Dize ; Erase ; Eol ; Earl
; Don ; Dize ; Dixe ; Erer ; Exper ; Eyone ; Fenx ; Form ; Frez ; Ghetto B ; Goze ; Hank ; Home ;
Horfé ; Ioye ; Jacktwo ; Jade ;  Jen ; Jonks ; Jouer ; Junky ; Kade ; Keag ; Klet ; Kofy ; Mag ; Mier ; Nayor ; Neac ; Noe2 ; Noise ; Nose ; Nusko ; Oby ; Oeno ; Osta ; Osey ; Ozone ; Pner ; Pres ; Psy
; Rel ; Rest ; Rover ; San ; Salam ; Sarze ; Sciv ; See ; Sek ; Semi ; Seno ; Sew ; Sheed16 ; Shuck2
; Stock; Skizo ; Sleez ; Sonor ; Sor ; State; Tomek ; Tore ; Trane ; Wazo ; Woody ; Shone ; Yank ; Zenoy.
Italy: Aber ; Beat ; Brus ; Haker ; Jago ; Poison ; Runa ; Trota.
Switzerland: Smash 137.
USA: Utah

Here are a few pieces from the show- see if you can figure out who did each piece:

Here's the flyer from the show:

To learn more about the Trains of Fame platform toy, to follow the project or to get in touch with Vincent and the rest of his crew, go here. Vas-y!

New website and forum for toy nerds: Show Me Your Vinyl (SMYV)

Well folks, we have another "home away from home" on the net: Show Me Your Vinyl! Looks promising! I suppose this website is being offered as an alternative to Facebook, as well as the other art toy forums which are specifically affiliated with or run by toy manufacturers and artists. 

Can we all get along? Especially when given a fresh slate to start from? 

Will the same negativity that I see on the other forums transfer over to SMYV, or will this fresh start allow us to throw off the shackles of hating and douchebaggery? Only time will tell.

I've joined SMYV and one good feature I noticed right away is that you can "block" another member if they are bothering you. That sorta nips the hatin' right in the bud, I should think.

Other cool stuff SMYV offers:

• a chat feature
• a place to upload albums of images (of your vinyl toys, people!)
• free classified ads
• polls about toys
• a forum (which just launched, by the way)
• groups for people interested in specific types of toys, specific regions, or whatever
• a listing of upcoming and past events
• a place to upload videos

All in all, there's a lot to see and do, so if you're looking to connect to our community of toy nerds, SMYV is definitely a great way to do it.

Kozik Limoges Porcelain Potamus Anarchy Figures by K.Olin

Okay Kozik completists, get out your checkbooks and dust off your credit cards: Frank Kozik has teamed up with K.Olin to release both black and red porcelain versions of his Potamus figures. These 15cm long figures are made of Limoges porcelain in Limoges, France. They're limited to 250 pieces per colorway and they will retail for $213. If anyone's interested, let us know.

K vinyl bust by Kinekt Design

K is a the first vinyl "Kinektible" from Kinekt Design. The 3-inch figure is a bust composed of circular shapes, meant to channel thoughts of gears, diodes and electronics. They're limited to 500 pieces and you can buy one here for $25.

Watch the video below:

75% off all posters at PosterCause till Dec. 31

From now till the end of the day on December 31st, you can get 75% off all posters at Poster Cause. Just use the coupon code Postergeddon2010 at checkout.

What is Poster Cause?

The Poster Cause Project is an online effort to sell and promote artwork by underground artists in a very limited form, all while donating 50% of ALL profits to charities and organizations in need.

Since December 2009, Poster Cause has raised and donated over $15,000 to various charities.

Read more about how this works here.

Argonaut Resins Xmas Tuttz releases + New Years chases

Argonaut Resins has released a colorful wave of their Tuttz resin cats in time for the holidays! There are 15 total figures in this wave, all uniquely painted. Tuttz figures are about 6.5 inches tall and hand cast in resin by Eric Nocella Diaz of Argonaut Resins. Each is $60 and there are just a few left. You can find them for sale here. My favorite is Tuttz #15: the "Xmas Past" chase figure.

Look for more fine resin pieces from Argonaut in 2011, including more collaborations with us!

Doktor A Humphrey Mooncalf figure by Pobber Toys

Apparently the release of the newest Doktor A figure, Humphrey Mooncalf, by newcomer Pobber Toys, has been delayed.

Wait... what?

OK, I LOVE Doktor A, and I must admit I had never heard of this Humphrey Mooncalf figure, or the company that made it, Pobber Toys. Pobber's also on Facebook.

I found this info on the SpankyStokes site [link below]. Thanks Spanky!

There ya go. New Dok A. Yay!

SpankyStokes.com | Vinyl Toys, Art, Culture, & Everything Inbetween: This just in... Humphrey Mooncalf delayed...

NEMO's Super Phat Dunny Kid custom for Almighty Dunny

I think this is an appropriate post-blizzard post: 

My friend Mike "NEMO" Mendez sent over images of the scratchbuilt 5-inch custom he made for The Almighty Dunny Show, curated by Zam and Ian of Genuine Artikle.

Really the only thing he used from the Dunny was the ears! He made a special point of telling us that.

The detail on this piece is incredible- the NYC-style light post next to the figure sports miniature versions of the Tenacious Dog sticker, NEMO's sticker, Genuine Artikle's Kreeper sticker, a Spanky Stokes sticker, a Wizard Sleeve sticker, a Sketchbot sticker, a Cookies N Cream sticker and many more! I don't know how he did it, but this piece is a wonderful homage to the little gang of shops, artists and blogs that we run in.

 This is truly how NYC looks right now, right down to the yellow snow!

You can follow NEMO on his blog or on Facebook, and you can peruse the many NEMO customs we've sold on our website in NEMO's own section here. You can see the rest of the customs from The Almighty Dunny Show on Genuine Artikle's website.

New in stock from ThreeA & Jamungo: Bots and Squadts

ThreeA Badbot

ThreeA Universal Popbot

Jamungo Squadt GASSED S003 & K11 ROVR [OPRSSR] set

Jamungo K11 Gohst & SPOT retailer set

Introducing NUGG LIFE by Ian Ziobrowski

 

Introducing: NUGGLIFE! by Ian Ziobrowski
The way of the hustling American. Where growing, cultivating, packaging and pushin has become a part of our society.
These characters are specially trained in what they do. NUGGS supplies, THUGGZ provides, and CROOK ED the Cop keeps everyone clean. BUT there's always a set of eyes watching these guys. At almost 3 inches tall, they proceed to try and live the American Dream:
"NUGGLIFE".

 Buy Nuggs here.

 Buy Hydrodunny here.

 Buy DEA with K9 here.

 Buy Crook Ed the Cop here.

 

Buy Thuggz here.

Tenacious Toys donated dozens of plushes to Toys for Tots

Metro - Our readers came through for tots

Click the link above to read in our local paper about our donation to Toys for Tots, the holiday toy drive which happens all over the US every December.

The toys are donated to the US Marines, and given to underprivileged children.

Just so happens we had a few dozen Somewhere City plushes left over from NYCC:

Here's the article in the physical paper:

Chauskoskis "Miqee Rat" Skelanimal Qee - Artist Proof 1-50

"Miqee Rat" Skelanimal Qee - Artist Proof 1-50, originally uploaded by Chauskoskis.

"Miqee Rat" Skelanimal Qee - Artist Proof 1-50

Purchase from the Chauskoskis store here.

Chauskoskis is now offering his Skelanimal Qee AP's.
They are just 50 of them.
You may ask for a specific number if you'd like- you can Tweet him @chauskoskis to see what numbers he has left.
Chauskoskis is making 50 paintings in watercolor (each one hand painted and numbered) exclusively for the "Miqee Rat" fans!

In your AP Qee pack you will receive:
• 1 Qee (numbered of /50 and signed)
• 1 Exclusive 7.5" Watercolor painting signed and numbered (not copies)
• 1 Chauskoskis logo sticker
• 1 Miqee Rat Qee sticker

Ship price will be different for every country. Chaus will get you best ship price he can.

Joe Ledbetter Chinese Zodiac mini figures

 

Joe Ledbetter just released images of his upcoming vinyl mini figure series, coming in 2011 from PlayImaginative: the Chinese Zodiac figures! 

12 figures, corresponding with the 12 different animals in the Chinese calendar. I'm assuming that these will be blind-boxed (don't hold me to that) and that they'll be about 3 or 3.5 inches high (don't hold me to that either). Joe says they'll be released 2011, and aside from that we have no other info. But these figures look like an INCREDIBLE follow-up to JLED's fun Finders Keepers series released a while back by Kidrobot. I think we've all been waiting for some more JLED mini figures, haven't we? 

Email us if you're interested in these; please write JLED ZODIAC in the subject line and tell us how many figures you want, or if you want a sealed case. (We might also do open-box sales once we have them in stock)

We sell first to those of you who contact us in advance.

Almighty Dunny Show; custom Dunnys by Zam & Ian

Ian finally reveals all the characters from his Nugglife set, in the form of Dunnys, which I will see in about half an hour! Out the door to the Almighty Dunny show!

Zam kills it, yet again, with the 8-inch Zamuria Dunny custom. Can't wait to see these in person!

Toy2R agnes b. 2010 Holiday Qee Bear Collection

I'm really digging several of these 2.5" Holiday Qees from Toy2R and the agnes b. company: my favorites are the silver one and the clear one in the middle, and that cool dusky tree silhouette qee on the right side in the image above. NICE work!

This year give hope and love from agnes b., as Toy2R collaborates once again with the fashion company to bring six new 2.5" Holiday themed Qees to life. After a successful 2009 series, agnes b. approached Toy2R once again to develop stylish and unique set of Qee collectibles for their overseas Asian markets.

Each 2.5" Qee includes keychain attachment and comes packaged in window boxes. The Qee collection is available exclusively through agnes b. locations in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, China and Macau.

Give the gift of Qee and spread love and hope, courtesy of agnes b. and Toy2R.
Happy Holidays

SNEAK PEEK: Elemental Badgers series by FOOX

Foox is finally revealing the prototype for his upcoming Elemental Badgers series, scheduled to be released in 2011.  This series of 6-inch tall vinyl figures will be limited to 500 pieces in 5 colorways. 

The Elemental Badgers offer the world a view into the nexus between Science, Nature, and Magic. 

Each Elemental Badger will be handpainted, named, and numbered by artist. The Elemental Badgers play upon the 5 elements of Nature (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Soul), the elements of the periodic table (noble gases, flammables, liquids, metals, etc) and the different branches of the military (Air Force, Rangers, Marines, SEALS, etc) - making each individual badger a work of unique meticulously crafted art.

In Japanese mythology, the badger was put in a sack and beaten to bring forth good luck. Each of these elemental totems carries with it a small ruin for exactly that purpose. So rather than beating the poor Elemental Badger for good luck, we transferred the luck to the ruin and on to you!

Details and specs: 6" tall, vinyl, handpainted (each unique) and named, 1 of 5 colorways, 500 toys total
Packaging: TBD
Release Date: TBD (estimated for first quarter 2011)
Retail Price: $250 per fully customized, handpainted badger. $1199 for complete set

For an idea of what a Foox custom looks like, check out this album of images of the Foox-customized Nathan Hamill tyrannoCECILrex, and this image of a Foox-customized Bunnee Qee.