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.