Techno Kitten Adventure: the figure!

You might recognize the completely insane Techno Kitten Adventure (an iPhone app that's a $0.99 purchase from the iTunes store, and also available for the XBOX), created by Elite Gudz out on Long Island... but did you know that one of the games creators, Den Ramos, also casted the titular character into a figure in the Elite Gudz toy lab? Check the video. Den's a wizard. Soundtrack makes me want to break out the glowsticks and UFO pants again...

Den Ramos custom "Prepare for Glory" for Cast in Plastic show

"Prepare for Glory" custom for Cast in Plastic show

A beautifully executed custom by local hero Den Ramos (aka Mr. Den), this piece will be shown at Domy Books in Houston, TX on starting on May 14th at 7PM. A show curated by my friend, customer and associate Marie Ung, the Cast In Plastic show will be showcasing a truckload of local and global talent in the designer toy scene. For more pics of this custom, check Mr. Den's Flickr. Also hit up the Cast in Plastic blog and Facebook page. Here's more about the show from Marie herself:

Cast In Plastic: Art from the Designer Toy Revolution will be the very first
Custom Toy Show in Houston, Texas. The show will encompass 30+ different
artists from around the globe. Each artists will display their work on a
variety of vinyl platforms. They have been hand selected because of diverse
concepts, background and skills. The introduction of this scene will allow
viewers of different age, groups and demographics to participate in this
movement; whether it would be from buying, selling, collecting, creating
customs or educating others about it. Houston has a very large art community
and the Custom Toy scene would be a great addition to our diverse culture.
Artist roster:
Abe Lincoln Jr.
Ackzilla
Andrew Shondrick
Anville
Babyvtec
BALD
Brett Osborne
Chauskoskis
Christian Navarrette
Daniel Anguilu
Evoker
Fried Gold Productions
Ian Ziobrowski
Igor Ventura
James Fuller
Jay Bramhall
Jeremiah Ketner
Julie Truong
George Lamontagne
Lara Slater
Luihz Unreal
Malo Customs
Martin Hsu
Matt Anderson
MeSmithy
Mr. Den
Nreazon
Rocketboy
Ryan the Wheelbarrow
Saner
Squink!
Valerie G
VISEone
Zam Art

Video Coverage of the Dem Bonez custom show at Zakka

My friend and brother in toys, OsirisOrion, gives us this sweet video coverage of the "Dem Bonez: The Reconstruction" custom show at Zakka, a Brooklyn toy/music/lifestyle boutique near the waterfront at 155 Plymouth Street. This excellent show was curated by another buddy of mine, Den Ramos, who works for SEEN at his tattoo shop. The platform is a bunch of factory samples that SEEN had stashed away in a closet- a toy that was never put into full production. Den tapped a number of graf artists and people who we normally do not see in our little toy customizing community, so it's definitely a show with a lot of new talent (new to me, anyway).

Props to Den for pulling it off; SEEN, Toshiki and Zakka for allowing it to happen; and all the artists in the show who came thru with amazing custom work. It was nice to see the NYC crew there: Sucklord, Billy Roids, Simeon Lipman, NEMO, Tony Depew, OsirisOrion, Den and Justin Ramos, Rednose, Mr. Munk, Marka, Lou Pimentel, ZAM, Pon, Grim, Stephen Donaldson, Steve Talkowski and his lovely wife, Matt Seigelbaum and his kids- the next generation of toy artists- and J*RYU who is, of course, an honorary New Yorker. Also showing were my customers Fernando and Amanda, to whom I am eternally indebted for their support.

This was a sweet show and I highly recommend stopping in to Zakka to take a look in person.

Dem Bonez Custom Show at Zakka March 25

Dem Bonez, a vinyl platform created by the godfather of graffiti, SEEN. from Tenacious Toys on Vimeo.

A few years ago, SEEN wanted to get these Dem Bonez figures made, but the manufacturer couldn't get the design quite right, so SEEN pulled the plug on the project and put all the sample figures he had into storage.

Den Ramos (tattoo artist, illustrator, painter and sculptor) works for Richie SEEN at his shop and discovered these figures stashed away. Since SEEN is a mentor of sorts for Den, Den really wanted the Dem Bonez figures to see the light of day and convinced SEEN to let him use the figures for a custom show.

Luckily for us, SEEN said "Hey slick, take em' all. Do whatever ya want wit em" and the wheels were set in motion. (Hence the name of the show: "Dem Bonez the Reconstruction") The Dem Bonez show evolved quickly with Den Ramos and Mike Mendez co-curating, pulling together a group of bad-ass artists to work their magic on this worthy platform...
The opening night is March 25th, 6-9pm at Zakka: 155 Plymouth St, Brooklyn, NY.

First Annual 2nd Avenue Trading Card Convention and Swap Meet/brothel

The other night we went down to Toy Tokyo Underground in downtown NYC to the 1st Annual 2nd Ave Trading Card Convention, which was basically a chance for all of us artists, card nerds and toy store owners to get together, party, trade cards, drink beer, draw naughty things in inappropriate places, and generally revel in all that is good and right with the world. It was crazy fun!

Check the video. You'll see Tom of Sidekick Labs (they made the Art Hustle cards), Simeon (the gigantic dude who came up with the Art Hustle concept and brought it to reality), the Sucklord, Phetus and a whole motley crew of NYC crazies, including NEMO, Mr. Den, Rolo, Lowell, Kid Lew, King Abnon and Tony Depew.

Simeon dropped the bomb on us that Tenacious Toys would have a card in Art Hustle Series 3. Made our whole month! I picked up some of the Suckadelic SuckPax Series 2 cards, traded some of our NYCC Travis Louie cards, and met Jared, a super fan (and a customer) who flew in from Texas! A great night. I took a million pictures and I haven't even uploaded them yet because we've been dealing with a tsunami of ThreeA orders this week.

Tenacious Toys Custom Marshall Blind Box Series reveal: Den Ramos

Den Ramos is a pretty quiet guy, usually. 

I've always said that it's those kinds of dudes that you have to watch out for. 

Underneath that subdued exterior is a tattoo-slinging, Corvette-driving badass from Long Island, NY. When Mr. Den is not working at the Elite Gudz design studio, or laying down ink, he's hacking up toys and sculpting on them like a madman. Remember that crazy Rat Fink-style giant Munny at the Kidrobot MunnyWorld group show? The one with the full huge red car that the munny was riding in? That was Den.

I told the artists that sculpting was not necessary on the Marshalls they were doing for us, they could just paint them and send them back. Well, Den didn't listen and he sculpted the crap out of his Marshalls. This was right after the BP oil spill; Den did up 3 Marshalls like this in Tarball Brown and the chaser in BP's lovely Corporate Green. Lookin' slick, Den!