SNEAK PEEK: Tenacious Toys Dog Mascot Resin Figures Coming Soon!

Oh, you didn't think we were going to forget about NEMO's little resin dog he sculpted for Resin Is King Series 3, did you? Brian from Dead Hand Toys cast another batch of them in our official logo blue. More info very soon!

... and as am aside, still continued long-term props to Alex (Playful Gorilla) for the initial logo illustrations that we adopted and ran with. NEMO's sculpt is based on Alex's artwork.  See below:

 

- Benny Kline, Tenacious Toys

tenacious-toys.blogspot.com is now Tenacious.Ninja

OK, Benny, now just what the hell is going on with the Tenacious Blog today? The domain changed? What's this Tenacious Ninja thing?

Glad you asked, thanks for noticing.

Lemme explain:
I've been building and writing this blog for about 5 years on the Blogger platform. It's free, so that's awesome, and there's a built-in communication between Blogger and Google search simply because it's a Google product. I love that.

When you first start a Blogger blog, you get to choose the beginning of the URL for your blog, but it'll always end with .blogspot.com unless you set up a "vanity" address using a domain you've purchased. Making that switch isn't hard, or expensive. SpankyStokes.com and ToysREvil.net are two examples of blogs you probably already read that have set up custom domains for their blogs a long time ago.

I sorta never did this... I'm not sure why. It didn't seem like a priority to me until I realized we have been blogging for 5 years and had over a million pageviews. Only then did it dawn on me that my blog's domain was wack... by that I mean, too long and cumbersome. tenacious-toys.blogspot.com ... man, that's a mouthful and really not a pretty URL to stick on a business card. Also, hard to remember offhand.

Thankfully, we have the Google, so this blog is very easy to find and comes up #1 on Google if you search "tenacious toys blog" so you can understand why I might have placed this whole custom domain concept on the backburner.

This year, however,  I've spent a lot of time setting up new domains, websites and social accounts for other people and companies. I started thinking about domains a bit more clearly this year. I also noticed in GoDaddy that they began to offer new "extensions" which are basically new endings that replace .com or .net or .info or those other more common endings.

Out of curiosity, I logged onto GoDaddy and searched for new, short domains with the word tenacious in them - I wanted to keep my Tenacious branding but establish a short, memorable URL which could be easily communicated. I found .club, .nyc, .today, .buzz, .reviews and all kinds of other ones I could use. But nothing seemed to fit...

... until I found .ninja.

Tenacious. Dot. Ninja.

I was actually laughing out loud at the absurdity of that idea, and bought it right away.

I mean, what the hell, GoDaddy? .ninja is STILL funny to me! Why the hell is there a .ninja?!

So my mind starts racing... maybe this blog could actually have it's OWN mascot! A ninja! And all of a sudden, it hit me: Tony Gil (Gilt Studios). Many of his custom toys are little ninjas! And they're awesome, simple and tight characters with personality, and they are fun. They were perfect:

So I reached out to Tony (who I've worked with in the past) and basically told him the whole story, and he was into the concept - his character as this blog's mascot. And Tony is a very talented sculptor and painter but I had one specific guy in mind to translate Tony's 3D character into a mascot, because he so expertly designed our pitbull logo for the Tenacious Toys store: Alex Rivera (Playful Gorilla).

Alex was all for it, and Tony was all for it, so I set the wheels in motion. What Alex came back with was a brilliant, cartoony reinterpretation of Tony's Handplant Ninja character - the Tenacious Ninja. It's fun, it's blue, it's badass, it's adorable... it's the perfect graffiti-writing, ass-kicking mascot for an art toy blog:

If you're looking for tight, colorful and super-professional mascot or logo development in this style, I highly recommend reaching out to Alex on his FB business page (or friend him on Facebook and message him there). He is available for commissioned work.

Look for much more Tenacious Ninja action on this blog in the future - we will be creating awesome Tenacious Ninja t-shirts, stickers, and using the artwork in promotional materials, and I believe Tony is planning on creating actual custom figures of this exact character. Obviously, we will be posting about all of that as it develops.

Thanks for reading the new Tenacious.Ninja blog! Hopefully now it'll be easy for you to remember our domain name....

Plaseebo Dead Ben for Monster Kolor

"DEAD BEN"
                                                                                                       Copyright Bob Conge 2010

While a gravesite in the burial grounds of Philadelphia's Christ Church is marked "Benjamin Franklin 1790", he does not lie beneath that soil or any other for that matter.

This great American founding father, author, political theorist, statesman, and inventor was a fine scientist as well.
It was Franklin's research of lightning and electrical fluid in combination with his experiments in refrigeration and heat conductivity that led to his quest for immortality.

In 1773, when Franklin's work had moved from printing to science and politics, he corresponded with a French scientist on the subject of preserving the dead for later revival by more advanced scientific methods, writing: "I should prefer to an ordinary death, being immersed with a few friends in a cask of Madeira, until that time, then to be recalled to life by the solar warmth of my dear country."

He had arranged with the astronomer David Rittenhouse for certain instructions to be carried out in secret upon his death. Ben's body was to be exhumed  from the grave on the very night of his burial and taken to his laboratory where he had prepared months earlier for the event. The gruesome task before his friend would require the skills of an experienced surgeon who he had arranged to meet at midnight. Yellow fingers of candle light moved across the black walls as Ben's head was relieved of the burden of his heavy and lifeless body. The skull was then sealed like a glass jar and filled with alcohol to preserve and float the pinkish grey asset Ben wished to send beyond death into an unknown future. His head was then installed in an mechanical devise Ben had constructed to hide in plain sight, a marvelous clockwork automaton in his own likeness. Ben had built the automaton some five years earlier and it had become a fixture in his home that entertained all visitors with its ability to write "A penny saved is a penny earned" on a sheet of paper and then sign Ben's name to it. The better part of Ben continued to reside unnoticed inside the automaton as it preformed for many years before its gears froze up and refused to write another word.

Some time in the mid nineteenth century a picker purchased the now somewhat tattered automaton along with some old furniture and silverware from the attic of a decedent of Ben.

The whereabouts of the automaton remained unknown for the next one and a half centuries. In 2004 Matt Walker stumbled across the machine in a cold storage sub-basement of an estate sale on the Old Kings Highway in East Sandwich Mass. Matt was intrigued and purchased the dusty old thing.

Back in his studio, looking over the mechanism inside the automaton, Matt realized it would require a specialist to give his find a much needed facelift. The next day he shipped the piece to Plaseebo Custom in Springwater New York for evaluation.

Bob opened the box at Plaseebo with great anticipation, he loves creepy. But what was found inside the automaton was beyond imagination, a hand written letter signed by Benjamin Franklin, explaining the two hundred year old secret. Indeed, beneath the faded clay face lie the skull of Ben with his brain still floating inside. Totally freaked and enthralled Bob flaked off the cracked clay revealing the skull beneath to verify the seemingly impossible story. He immediately set to work on completing Ben's long unfulfilled plan to cheat death.
The rebuilding and reanimation progressed at breakneck speed over the next two months of sleepless nights. Utilizing all the technological advances that were mere figments of creative wishful thinking in Ben's time, enabled the Plaseebo team to not only jump start the brain but connect its processing to an onboard computer with software that enabled Ben's thoughts to be interpolated with a voice program. BEN WAS BACK ! The team added  power and cooling systems, audio and video input capability and built a mobility unit to mount the twenty first century automaton on. Then affectionately named him "Dead Ben”.
                                                                   
When returned to Matt Walker, Dead Ben became the creative driving force that inspired Matt to found his new company in 2007 and even suggested Matt name it "Dead Presidents Designs" in honor of his being the President of Pennsylvania from 1785 thru 1788.

Here is a preview of my custom painted finished figure with a switched color changing LED unit mounted in the tank base that illuminates the red glass eyes.  

 Plaseebo and Dead Presidents Design, aka Monster Kolor, are pleased to announce the debut of the DEAD BEN hand cast resin figure on April 12th at the opening of the MONSTER BRAWL show at the Monster Kolor Gallery in Middleboro Ma. The show will feature custom versions of the Dead Ben figure by Miscreation, Jay222 and Plaseebo.   

40% off Kidrobot Major Lazer edition 8-inch vinyl Mascot with code 40pctoff

1984: the Olympic Games are held in LA, President Reagan runs for re-election, the AIDS epidemic runs rampant, and underneath it all, the secret Zombie War rages. One secret soldier is rescued from the fray, his arm gone, but his spirit strong. He is given an experimental lazer prosthetic and hired by the CIA to continue his fight against the forces of evil. He fronts as a dancehall nightclub owner from Trinidad, though in truth, he is a badass Jamaican keeping the world safe from vampires and monsters, while partying hard and tweeting.

Major Lazer Kidrobot is an 8 inch vinyl homage to the renegade soldier turned CIA operative. A collaborative project of the DJ/producers Diplo and Switch, Major Lazer debuted with the album Guns Don't Kill People... Lazers Do in 2009, followed by Lazers Never Die in 2010. Major Lazer Kidrobot has a uniquely sculpted head and lazer arm to properly capture his eighties commando style and signature prosthetic.

This 8" vinyl figure usually sells for $49.95, but for a limited time only you can snatch one up for only $29.97 at the Tenacious Toys online store by using the code 40pctoff. 

~Mr. N. Visible

Kidrobot Major Lazer Edition

 
Guns don’t kill people… lazers do.
1984: the Olympic Games are held in LA, President Reagan runs for re-election, the AIDS epidemic runs rampant, and underneath it all, the secret Zombie War rages. One secret soldier is rescued from the fray, his arm gone, but his spirit strong. He is given an experimental lazer prosthetic and hired by the CIA to continue his fight against the forces of evil. He fronts as a dancehall nightclub owner from Trinidad, though in truth, he is a badass Jamaican keeping the world safe from vampires and monsters, while partying hard and tweeting.
Major Lazer Kidrobot is an 8-inch vinyl homage to the renegade soldier turned CIA operative. A collaborative project of the Grammy nominated producer Diplo and DJ Switch, Major Lazer debuted with the album Guns Don’t Kill People… Lazers Do in 2009, followed by Lazers Never Die in 2010. A new album, titled Free the Universe, featuring Diplo as the solo executive producer, is out February 2013. Major Lazer Kidrobot has a uniquely sculpted head and lazer arm to properly capture his eighties commando style and signature prosthetic. The real Major Lazer is hitting the road 2/28 for a 43 city world  headlining tour beginning in Toronto.
Retailing for $50 US, this ‘bot hits the stage February 19 at Kidrobot stores, kidrobot.com, and select retailers worldwide.

This Mascot is designed by MAD.

Picture from Mintyfresh

Don P x JMAX The Forgotten Army

This is a 3 inch Bot collaboration between Don P and JMAX!. This series is sold out already.

THE FORGOTTEN ARMY
YEAR 2089. Once they were with a group of 678 soldiers, but only 5 survived this madness. Lost in the dessert of Afghanistan...they evaluated in "DIRTY, RUSTED, DAMAGED ARMY BOTS".

Raging Bull custom by Don P

A combination of a Mascot (7 inch) and a Piggy Qee. Made for a show in Italy (Mattia).

Follow Don P here:
Site
Facebook
Store

Kid Hell Pilot custom Mascot by El Hooligan

EL HOOLIGAN did an amazing job on this custom Mascot. Love the details and his expression is really great. Love the psycho look of this guy, the wings are a perfect touch to this piece. Have to say another epic Mascot!

Follow EL HOOLIGAN here:
Site
Facebook

 - Don P

VA Paper Toys Tenacious Toys Street Dog

Our friend Bengi (aka nati513) has modified VA Paper Toys' Street Dog template to create a Tenacious Toys Danger Dog paper toy! He kindly printed out and constructed one of these himself and mailed it to us (pics above).

You can do the same by clicking here. Download the paper toy image / template on that page (it's the huge image that doesn't fit on the page), print it out, and cut and glue it into the shape above!

Once you create your Tenacious Street Dog, take a pic and email it to us! We'll update the page with your images of the constructed Tenacious Street Dog, along with your name, location and a link if you want us to post that. Try to take a picture with a local attraction (like the Eiffel Tower if you're in Paris, or Big Ben if you're in London...).

Big, huge thanks to Bengi and to Willie Beren of VA Paper Toys!!!