123KLAN Le Voleur (The Thief) 24-in Print by 1XRUN for Powwow Hawaii

Le Voleur by 123Klan
18 x 24 Inches 2-Color Screen Print on 130lb Mohawk Archival Paper

"Le voleur, is one of our iconic characters. He exists on a 60" x 36" canvas which is available at Yves Laroche Galerie. At first glance he looks like a common thief, but in reality he is a version of a modern Robin Hood." - 123Klan

This 24-inch-tall print run based on the original painting is only $75 and there's only 30 left at 1XRUN.

Blank: A Vinylmation Love Story Premiering Now at Disney Hollywood Studios

 "In search of his lost soul mate, an unpainted Vinylmation finds himself on a quest that alters the destiny of his entire world. Blank is an epic adventure in miniature scale, a completely original, heartwarming love story filmed entirely in practical stop motion." 

"Blank - A Vinylmation Love Story," a 39-minute, stop-motion short film, will be shown at the Premiere Theatre in Disney's Hollywood Studios February 14-17.

Click here to watch the trailer.

B-KAWS?! What the hell.... not this shit again

When Apologies to Banksy did it, I was all hmmm.... and now we have Neccessaries Toy Foundation producing a KAWS "parody" figure. *le sigh*

Here's the copy, complete with ALL CAPS as it was presented to us:

B-KAWZ
APPROPRIATING THE APPROPRIATOR
(THIS IS A PARODY, IT IS ONLY A PARODY, DO NOT ADJUST YOUR RATIONALE)

B-KAWZ there isn't enough shit at Comicon already
B-KAWZ you are not a very discerning toy collector
B-KAWZ absolutely everyone bastardizes everyone else
B-KAWZ art imitating art is still art, geddit?

Call it what you will, is it a blatant rip-off or a noble tribute?
We at Necessaries Toy Foundation consider it a homage
to two successful and very respected artists.

It is also commentary and parody.

Is it an original idea? We think it is, but only in an esoteric sense.
In fact, it is a very original idea if you are a lateral thinker.

Appropriator? Perpetrator? Instigator?
It is what it is, and I yam what I yam.

B-KAWZ is a metaphor du jour. Merely this and nothing more . . .
 
11 inches tall
gold edition of 250 
$100 each

The Loyal Subjects Transformers Custom Show at Toy Tokyo February 15

TLS is bracing for the year that is Transformers...

What better way to kick Toy Fair off with a Party and Art Show at the legendary Toy Tokyo in NYC.  The Art Show will feature some of today's best Illustrators, Customizers and Artists as they take their hand at Transforming the TLS DIY Optimus Prime. 

Each artist will have an Original Art piece accompany their Prime.  Each piece will be available for purchase from the Gallery.  We also will be featuring some Exclusive Slag T-Shirts, a Soundwave Hoodie, the 2 Pack Cybertron Set and the 3 Pack Rainmaker set as well as the first time debut of the Ultra Magnus figure (pictured below).  Refreshments, Beverages and Snacks will be on hand.  Come enjoy yourself, soak in the talent and let's cheers to 2014 in NYC style!

Kickstarter - Game Frame: The Art of Pixels by Jeremy Williams

Most people of my generation are familiar with 8 and 16 bit gaming consoles. These video game artists didn't have nearly the technology available to artists today. Creating characters with graphite and graph paper, these artists were even limited in which colors he/she could use. This didn't stop these artists from creating iconic characters, which span several generations and genres.

Close up of Pixel Mesh of the Game Frame - By Jeremy Williams

Pixel art is a kind of representation of those old school gaming console technology, when resolution limited an artists ability to create a dynamic image. This art, according to Jeremy Williams, deserves it's own frame. Thus, he created Game Frame and eventually launched a Kickstarter to fund this great project. Having already surpassed his Project goal of $15,000, Game Frame is going to be made and possibly more.

Game Frame on a desk - By Jeremy Williams

I first found out about the Game Frame while watching the 24 hours of Tested podcast (similar to 24 Hour Toybreak, they raise money to help keep the content going). At the time, Jeremy had only made a few of these Game Frames and with all of the positive reactions received, Jeremy decided to launch a Kickstarter to make it available to the masses. With the project ending on March 9th, there is still a lot of time for anyone interested in backing this great project. Check out the video above and head on over the the Kickstarter page. Game Frame combines cool electronics and art.

-Mark-Anthony

Google+

Klang Customs Galore by Darren Clegg

 

Darren Clegg, of Klang Customs, completed a few customs that are currently available on the Collect and Display online store. The first is a custom 3" Dunny titled "What Lies Beneath". This custom features a sculpted island and person, which sits as a hat on top of a Sea monsters head. A great idea that is cleverly sculpted, on such a small 3" Dunny base. Priced at 35 GBP plus shipping, this is a nice custom for our friends across the pond. US collectors should also keep in mind that Collect and Display does ship internationally.

 These next three custom dunnys were artist collaborations.

 First up is the Stupid Zombie. This little guy wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and even as a zombie, things aren't going much better. Instead of chasing the living, trying to feast on some brains, he spends most of his time chewing on his own. Priced at 35 GBP, this Stupid Zombie custom dunny features a lot of sculpting and some okay paint application.

The Demon Banker is the demon which sits on the shoulder of bankers around the world. To avoid competition, this Demon ate the angel which sat on the shoulders of bankers. This custom 3" dunny is also priced at 35 GBP and features some nice sculpting.

The Dunny Eater feasts on dunnys by meandering about, hoping to bump into it's next meal. This 3" custom Dunny has a lot of sculpting detail and utilizes the original dunny's production paint application to pull of the correct feel of it being eaten. Be sure to check out more pictures on the Dunny Eater product page. Just like the others, this dunny is priced at 35 GBP.

From the Game of Thrones, Tyrion Lannister is the 3rd child of Tywin and Joanna. For those who follow Game of Thrones, this custom 4" Munny is heavily sculpted to represent Tyrion. The custom munny comes with a base, a few stones and a Flag with the coat of arms. Priced at 80 GBP, this custom Tyrion munny is great for any Game Of Thrones fan.

All of these customs are available for purchase through Collect and Display but are shipped from the artist Darren Clegg. Check it out and be sure to follow Darren on various social media.

-Mark-Anthony

Google+

Ringu - Custom Deadbeets by Skinner

Artist Skinner has customized two Deadbeets, in a black and white fashion, aptly titled "Ringu". For those who don't know, the American movie "The Ring", is based on a Japanese movie titled "Ringu". Skinner took the colors from the movie and created a nice custom Deadbeet adaptation. Each are bagged and feature a custom header card, of course, created by Skinner. One of these customs was made available, for $160 plus shipping, on the Urban Vinyl Daily online store. While the second custom was made for Mr. Scott Tolleson. Congrats to the lucky collector who was able to snag this custom.

-Mark-Anthony

Google+

3AVOX: MARVEL - THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN

Feb 13th will see the release in 3AVOX's ongoing MARVEL line!

The Stark Industries Prototype Single (3AA Members Only), Stealth  and the Iron Man Boxed Collection 4-Figure Set are exclusive to Bambaland. As a side note, the shipping version of Stealth Iron Man will have red eyes, not blue like the images show!

**Single Figure version of the Stark Industries Prototype is available to 3AA Members only**

Non-3AA Members can only get the Stark Industries Prototype by purchasing the Boxed Collection 4-Figure Set.

WHEN + WHERE

February 13th, 2014 at 9:00am Hong Kong time

Only at Bambaland Store

Event page located here (allows you to sync the sale time to your Google Calendar or iCalendar)

FIGURE DETAILS

Figure stands 13.5 inches (34cm) tall

Fully-poseable with soft PVC material covering both arms & legs

Eyes, chest & both palms light up

6 x AG1 button cell batteries required (batteries are not included)

Estimate shipping date: 3rd quarter 2014

PRICING

THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN - Single Figure

Classic - $220

Silver Centurion Single Figure - $220

Bambaland Exclusive - Stealth - $220

Bambaland Exclusive - Stark Industries Prototype (3AA Members Only) - $220

THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN - Boxed Collection 4-Figure Set

Bambaland Exclusive - Boxed Collection 4-Figure Set - $800

Hit the Jump to see al the versions in various action poses.

~Mr. N. Visible

8-inch custom Henna Qee by VISEone

This gorgeous 8-inch "Henna Qee" by VISEone looks deep enough to dive in! Man, that's some super gloss:

While I'm currently working on several projects I can show you a new Qee I made in cooperation with Carbotaurus. Here I mixed a high glossy brown metallic effect paint with watertransfer technique to apply the pattern.

While the purple Qee (see last newsletter) got sold immediately last month this one here is still available for € 160,- including shipping worldwide. 

To purchase this or any other piece by VISEone, click here to go to his Contact page.

Toygodd's Photographic Coverage of the Dark Invasion show at ToyArtGallery

Yugla the Glorg 6 by Scarecrowoven at TAG

My friend Toygodd hit up TAG the other day for the Dark Invasion show (flyer below) featuring a metric assload of awesome pieces by some of the edgiest artists working in the toy genre today.

Click here to visit Toygodd's column on Aaction Figure Times to view over 100 images from the Dark Invasion show.

RELOADED: Bomba Series 1 by MuerToys up now on Kickstarter

The Bomba figures, created by Matthew Ray, are very cute miniature resin bomb figures measuring 3.75" long. I see them as a natural progression of the cute weapons concepts of Frank Kozik (the Mini Bombs by Toy2R) and Mr. Shane Jessup (the blind-box keychain series by Kidrobot). And, I'm sure not coincidentally, they are shaped very much like a cartoony "Fat Man" bomb, which was the nuclear bomb dropped on Nagasaki.

War sucks, and I love Japan, so I like the idea of shedding a bit of that stigma by flipping the bomb imagery around and repurposing it for something less morally offensive than nuclear war. To that end, the series includes several happy, brightly-colored designs.

At the same time, I feel one of the most effective designs in this series is the one that looks sad- it's called ShellShock, limited to just 100 pieces. This one reminds us of the horrors of war and the psychological battle that must rage inside one's head when carrying out a mission as heavy as the nuclear bombing missions. ShellShock is available at the $53 pledge level- it's handpainted, numbered and signed. 

ShellShock is just one of many designs available. See the rest here. There are lower-cost pledge levels such as a smaller $12 Mini Bomba keychain and a 3.75" DIY white Bomba for $18. All prices include domestic shipping. International backers have to pay a few bucks more.

I must say, examining these figures has gotten me to thinking more about these toys as a political and psychological statement, which gives them value above and beyond the aesthetic. They made me think. And that is something really valuable these days, especially with the big companies mentioned above pumping out vapid, superficial products with no deeper meaning.

These are ART toys, after all. I want to see the art in them. I want to feel something. I want the object to spur discussion. These Bomba figures do just that.

Click here to back Matt's vision and bring the Bomba figures to life!

DrilOne Rusty Gasmask Minions Dropping on Dragatomi

Rust & Gasmask overlord DrilOne leaked a peek over Instagram of these Despicable Me Minion Toys he took his tools to. They're scheduled to go up for sale on Dragatomi's webstore 02/11/14 at 12PM PST.
These little guys, along with Dril's other release(s) for tomorrow, won't be hanging around long. For more upcoming releases, stay tuned to @DrilOne on Instagram, or DrilOne's Facebook.

LEGO Movie Minifigure Exclusives - the Aftermarket Effect

A quick movie and toy tie-in review of what turned out to be an entertaining bit of cinema story animation, the LEGO movie, and it's two variant exclusive minifigures that most people are probably not even aware they can get free.. sort of.

The movie opened this weekend, which unless you live under a bin of Lego bricks, you did not need this blogger to inform you of that fact...

Now there have been exclusives before that had toy tie ins that you could get at theatres, the re-release of Star Wars did it with Jedi Luke, in two inadvertent variants (the brown vest and black vest versions, which I think were more an accident of manufacturing at the time, but I digress...), and LEGO took that same approach in what is panning out to be a more low key sort of action by offering two minifigures through two different movie chains, Regal Cinemas and AMC.

Shown here is the LEGO Movie Minifigure Exclusives for AMC, which as of 4 hours ago I got into my grubby little hands. This variant is one of the Robot DJs that were in the movie, wearing what looks like an homage logo design of the real world Lego Master Builder Academy's logo.

Now if you cannot tell from my ticket purchase above, I saw the AMC 2D version, and there was little to no signage advertising the fact that these figures were available. Even the ticket lady was not sure they had them, but if they did, the ticket taker would know more.

Observational note - [How is there a separate job for this? How do you apply for that ticket tearing job? I'd love to apply for that job with a bucket of paper confetti and pour it out saying "I believe my resume speaks for itself..."]

So as shown above, I did manage to get this fellow and he is a great little robot character, good clean lines on the graphics, great unique hair sculpt, nice extra detail with the wallet chain (that seems to be a little variant as I have seen the chain on both the left and right leg now, but considering the hair sculpt is reversed as well on the packaging, this could just be a bit of photoshop error on some package designer's part).

The advert shown above was misleading in that this exclusive was to be reserved for the 3D showings but this location here in KC had no issues giving out one PER TICKET, as stated, but some locations were doing it wrong and doing it per TRANSACTION.

LEGO Movie Minifigure Exclusive for Regal Crown Cinemas, which I am going to have to resort to either ebay, or my comic convention travels to attain evidently, as there is only one Regal Crown here in KC and I might have missed the boat on this exclusive, we'll see how this pans out for me.

Now the one shown above is of the main character "Emmit in sleepwear" (voiced by Chris Pratt), and out of the two of these, seems to already be making it's mark on the aftermarket pricing I am seeing showing up on ebay. Some listings are already at upwards of $40.

Which brings me to the latter portion of the reason I titled this "LEGO Movie Minifigure Exclusives - the Aftermarket Effect". As a toy collector, I have a love hate relationship with aspects of exclusivity, which in the 80's caused crazy things like Wonder Bread He-Man to become a holy grail for He-Man enthusiasts to this very day, caused the Pixar Cars line to bring parents of all kinds to front line retail store warfare with Hot Wheels collectors, and brings about equal amounts of joy, pride, frustration, and customer satisfaction when it happens like no other aspect of toy collecting.

From a marketing standpoint, like my last review, this makes sense for LEGO to do this, as both of these figures will no doubt be considered part of the Series 10 minifigure releases by simple fact of time of release and scarcity and both are nice niche renditions of characters in this movie.

I feel that a balance needs to be struck when it's in a more mass market sort of aspect like these two minifigures are part of. One that could maybe help prevent the crazy price gouging that the collector community can suffer from, often under self inflated prices. What that answer is, I don't know.

But I'd love to hear how many of you even knew about this promotion, or how you feel about these kinds of local/restricted giveaways. There are from what I've just found out as well tonight, exclusives available also from pre-ordering the Lego Movie video game as well as one that is only available at LegoLand amusement centers.

Show above in the inset, "Western Emmet" only available with the pre-order of the LEGO Movie game tie-in, and "Emmet with Piece de Resistance" that is currently available at your local LegoLand attraction venues.

They certainly differ from the more upscale artist line sort of toys that I believe deserve a more limited run like stuff from Kid Robot and the like, I see a difference in audience and buyers for those.

So if you get the chance, and you have either one of these cinema houses near you, it never hurts to ask, and you might just get some free toys out of it, instead of going the ebay route. The movie was really great, and hit a chord with me on a pretty deep level, especially the end. I won't ruin it for anyone.

Till next time (when I'll dive into my first Sega item review), this is Mario, the Artisan Rogue.

@theartisanrogue