Nov 5, 2011

Spotlight on: WWRp Heavy Bramble Gravedigger by ThreeA

From the ThreeA Wiki:

World War Robot is a graphic novel illustrated by artist Ashley Wood and written by both Ashley Wood and TP Louise. The picture book combines an unconventional use of pairing painted images and essays to tell small parts of a larger story. The prose include excerpts from various diaries, journals and transcripts based around the humans involved in a fictional war in the 1980-1990s known as the Great War

The Great War takes place between multiple different factions; the most obvious are the Martians, humans who have left Earth and settled on Mars seeking refuge, and the Terrans those who remain on Earth and seek to subdue the Martians to their fanatic religious ideals with violent means. Both sides utilize warbots in their ongoing conflict. Most of these are manufactured by Darwin Rothchild, but there has also been mention of Hobson and Dolch, a competitor of Rothchild (Corporation). Further factions within the war include N.O.M. and M.O.D.. Due to the storytelling format that Ashley Wood and TP Louise have closen, many plot details are left open to the imagination of fans as the story and universe is explored in greater depth with each book release. 

WWR format figures are 1/6th scale toys of the various bots and humans of the WWR Universe, while their smaller WWRp counterparts are half that size at 1/12th scale. 



The above story (text and links) is taken from the ThreeA Wiki, which is a great resource for the newbie that wants to learn more about the universe that Ashley Wood has created. If you'd like a more hand-on introduction, we highly recommend that you pick up a WWRp-sized ThreeA figure like the Heavy Brambles we currently have up for preorder. The WWRp-sized toys are quite affordable, priced between $45 and $65 each. At about 7 inches tall, all of them feature a mind-boggling level of technical detail. There are so many points of articulation that it's nearly impossible to count them all. The weathered paint technology is more detailed than that of almost any other toy manufacturer. 

The figure pictured here is the Gravedigger colorway of the WWRp Heavy Bramble. You can preorder one from us here. All the figures have backstories and interesting things painted on their weapons and bodies... Gravedigger has "text on his right forearm and on his Aunty Jack 4 Way RPD weapon [that] reads: 'Counting bodies like sheep' and [it's] a quote from the song 'Pet' by the American band A Perfect Circle.

We also have several other colorways up for preorder, so go to our ThreeA page to check them all out! There are about 8 "retailer" colorways of the Heavy Bramble available: 5 main colorways available to all retailers, and regional exclusives that are only available to retailers in that region. I believe the 3 regions are USA, Europe and Asia. There is a distinct difference between the normal ThreeA toys offered directly to consumers, and the ones sold to retailers: ThreeA will offer certain colorways or figures to the collectors and others to retailers, which keeps the act of collecting pretty interesting. You can't buy all the ThreeA figures from any one source.

We'll cover the other 5 Heavy Brambles we're getting in subsequent blog posts.


Nov 4, 2011

Hugh Rose custom Bearbrick and Coarse Toys Jaws

Hugh Rose shares with us images of this beautiful custom Bearbrick he executed for the Icons show at The Hang Gang in Leeds, UK. Hugh exhibited alongside JPK, Sourbones, Matt Lunartik JOnes, Mimic, Robotboy, Squink!, Map Map, A Little Stranger, Drilone, and many more. Definitely a killer show. Here's a slideshow from their Flickr:






Hugh's latest custom is this Coarse Toys Jaws figure, which seems to be a favorite platform for world-class toy customizers:
If you want to learn more about Hugh Rose, check the following links:

DKE Toys presents: "Skin Deep" by Scott Wilkowski

Skin Deep

Artist Scott Wilkowski Infects 6 Designer Toys

Saturday, November 5, 2011   10am - 5pm

Designer Con
Pasadena Convention Center, 300 East Green Street  
Pasadena, CA 91101

Scott Wilkowski has been busy putting skulls, skeletons and creepy creatures inside favorite designer toys. For Skin Deep, he infects Buff Monster's "Buff Monster", Luke Chueh's "Possessed", Frank Kozik's "Labbit", October Toys "Gwin", Suckadelic's "Sucklord" and Scott Tolleson's "Otis & Otto".

The show will premiere November 5th at the 2011 Designer Con, an art and design convention that smashes together collectible toys and designer apparel with urban, underground and pop art.  www.designercon.com

Scott Wilkowski, Buff Monster, Luke Chueh, George and Ayleen Gaspar of October Toys, The Sucklord and Scott Tolleson will all be attendance at Designer Con. Frank Kozik TBD. There will be a photo opportunity and signing at 3pm at the DKE Toys booth with all attending artists. *Artists subject to availability.
Each of the six hand-cast resin editions will be limited to 25 pieces of two different colors each (50 total of each style). Due to the labor-intensive process of hand making each piece, only 10 of each colorway will be available for purchase at Designer Con.

Prices are as follows:
$50 - October Toys Gwin
$50 - Scott Tolleson's Otis & Otto
$100 - Suckadelic's Sucklord carded figure
$100 - Buff Monster's Buff Monster 3"
$150 - Frank Kozik's Labbit 5" by Kid Robot
$300 - Luke Chueh's Possessed by Munky King
 
Following the debut, Skin Deep will travel to Lulubell Toy Bodega in Mesa, Arizona  www.lulubelltoys.com (December 9th - December 30th) and then to Screaming Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon  www.screamingskygallery.com (February 23rd - March 25th).

Skin Deep is presented by DKE Toys. Dov and Sarah Jo have produced several art shows together including: The Vader Project, Spoonful of Star Wars, STUFFED: a plush food show and The Custom Yoka Show.

Show info and photos:  www.skindeepartshow.com 
Scott Wilkowski: Scott Wilkowski is a Wisconsin-based artist and sculptor. He perfected the process he used to produce Skin Deep for The Custom Yoka Show, which premiered at Designer Con in 2009. His piece was the first to sell and was so popular it became a special edition with new pieces showing and selling out at each of the seven stops on The Custom Yoka Show US gallery tour. The pieces he created as a collaboration with designer toy creator JAMUNGO for San Diego Comic-Con in 2010 and 2011 were also instant sell-outs. Scott works as a professional sculptor and has done sculpting work for Sideshow Collectibles, McFarlane Toys, Disney and Sanrio.  www.scottwilkowski.com

DKE Toys: Dov Kelemer & Sarah Jo Marks are Curators of Skin Deep and Founders of DKE Toys, one of the largest designer vinyl and art-toy distribution companies in the world, exclusively representing over 250 companies, artists and designers.  www.dketoys.com 

Nov 3, 2011

2011 MF TOYS SHOW: Cash & Carry Opening Party, Brooklyn, Nov 12th

All new hand-made art toys... Just in time for the Holiday Season!!

Every year, MF Gallery selects the best Art Toys for the annual "MF Toys Show". Because of their love of toys, curators Martina and Frank Russo have been putting together this show since 2003- long before Designer Toys were in the mainstream.

The MF Toys Show focuses on toys that are 100% hand made by artists, not painted vinyl or customized toys. These toys are made of materials such as cast resin, clay, fabric, animal bones, paper, wood and more.

Most of the toys are priced between $10 and $100, and are perfectly affordable holiday gifts.... Here's your opportunity to stick it to the big corporations by supporting a local shop and buying cool gifts for your family and friends!

All of the pieces in this show are one-of-a-kind originals, making them very sought after collectibles. Some of the artists are toy makers, others were asked to create a toy especially for this show. Artists include: Drew Maillard, Esther Vershoor, Moses Jaen, Bianca Panzram, Christine Benjamin, Max Reinhart, Jade Perez, Carisa Swenson, John Weisgerber, Sheri Debow, Scott Garrett, Jacqui Gallant, Peggy Wauters, Jaz Harold, Nicole Johnson, Nate Groppe, Junker Jane, Kamila Mlynarcz, Greg Maillard, Sigal Inbar, Heather Gargon, MF Toys and more!

The 2011 MF Toys Show will open on Saturday November 12th. Many of the artists will be attending the opening party from 7 to 10pm. The party will be a "Cash & Carry" event. Buyers will be able to take their toys home with them that very same night!

The toys are also available for viewing and purchasing online here.

The 2011 MF Toys Show will be open by appointment until December 18. Contact Martina or Frank by phone (at: 917-446-8681) or email (at: info@MFgallery.net) to make an appointment to see the show.

MF Gallery is located at 213 Bond Street, between Butler and Baltic Streets in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn, NY. Take the A or G to Hoyt/ Schermerhorn, the F or G to Bergen, or the R to Union.

For more information, to request high resolution images or to set up interviews, please contact Martina Secondo Russo at info@MFgallery.net or (917) 446-8681.

Nov 2, 2011