This latest release for DKE Toys SDCC 2018 is called No Toys 4 Us by Mr Blank Toys. Mr Blank Toys has a better story of this piece so here is what DKE Toys and Mr Blank Toys has to say about No Toys 4 Us:
No Toys 4 Us by Mr Blank ToysWe’ve all be grieving the loss
of Toys R Us, but no one as much as poor, sad, out of work Geoffrey the
Giraffe. Mr Blank Toys in his SDCC debut brings No Toys 4 Us. Hand cast
and painted 3.75” scale carded figure. Numbered edition of 40 pieces.
$65
When I heard that Toys-R-Us was closing down, the first things I
thought of was: "Oh No, What's going to become of Geoffrey the Giraffe?"
because Big Corporations never think of the little guys, the ones
effected most by their mismanagement. I imagined Geoffrey might not be
able to handle going from being number one in the hearts and minds of
millions of toy loving children young and old... to suddenly losing
everything. Jobless, penniless, and forced to the streets, destined to
become a junkie sleeping in the dumpster behind the liquidated
boarded-up toy store, flying a sign off the freeway exit, hitchhiking to
the next town. Poor Geoffrey! Now I've certainly spent some time down
on my luck and transient as an artist, so I could sympathize with
Geoffrey's plight. I've slept on stranger's couches or lived out of a
nearly broke down school bus touring the southeast USA as a traveling
performance artist. I've had to eat at soup kitchens and do street
busking performance art, gas jugging, and sign-flying for money. I've
hitchhiked to New Orleans and survived off of selling street art and
collecting tips... wanderlust certainly flows in my blood. Sideshow
freaks, street performers, and musicians are my best friends, and I know
some pretty crazy homeless people too! So this figure is dedicated to
all those struggling, chewed up and spit out by the system, listless and
wandering...
At first I wasn't sure how I was going to
make the figure in a way that would fully get my idea across. I pulled
out a shitty giraffe kids-meal toy, trying to figure out how to make it
work, but it didn't. When my eye caught sight of the Star Wars "Watto"
figure (Star Wars Episode I, Hasbro 1998) I instantly knew that was the
direction I had to take. I chopped up some "Count Dooku" legs (The
Clone Wars Collection, Hasbro 2009) and stuck them to the bottom of the
Watto body, then with a bunch of small detailed sculpting, and some arms
from a "Mercenary Cpl. Lyle Wainfleet" figure (James Cameron's Avatar,
Mattel 2009). I ended up with a long-necked grumpy-faced giraffe figure
in denim vest and dirty pants, who looked like he had seen some pretty
rough days! Then with the addition of a simple cardboard sign that reads
"Will Werk 4 Toys" it was a perfectly Hobo looking Geoffrey the Street
Giraffe! Or simply titled: "No Toys 4 Us". Limited edition, carded 4"
resin bootleg art toy figure.
The figure marks the
sad end of an era for kids and toy collectors, yet a hopeful beginning
for me. This is the beginnings of my own toy making endeavors. This will
be the first solid run of figures (40 pcs.) that I've done to date, and
they have already been signed on to be a "2018 San Diego Comic Con
Exclusive" released with DKE Toys (a major distributor who's worked with
the biggest artists and collectors in the bootleg art toy scene, and
has regular booths at the best designer toy conventions in the USA).
-------
BIO
-------(See Bio on my website here: http://mrblankisdead.com/mr-blank-toys)
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