Tony Gil Reveals Diamond Free Runner Mickey with Full Fabrication Video

Our buddy Tony Gil, the man behind our blog's Tenacious Ninja mascot, is at it again, this time with a Mickey version of his classic Free Runner character. Tony pulls back the curtain with this run of customs by recording the entire process from start to finish! Check the "making of" video below:

Watch the video on YouTube here, and while you're at it, follow Tony on YouTube as well.


To pick up one of these super limited Diamond Free Runner Mickey customs, head over to Tony's shop here.

Disney x Play Imaginative Toys Play Foul

Artist and toy designer Sergio Mancini has alleged Play Imaginative are not fulfilling a toy design contract after several years of design, production and excuses. The toy in question, pictured above, is a design contracted from Sergio based on his hand-painted custom for their Play Imaginative Mickey 2012 showcase.

The toy is fully produced through Play Imaginative, and the design is even appropriately credited to Sergio on their website.

Play Imaginative is no stranger to licensing- with an expansive line of active licenses from globally recognized popular culture brands. Meaning there's no excuse to jerk anyone around with fulfilling a contract. Especially when the original artwork was provided to them for their showcase for free, and production design payout consists of only 20 production pieces.

Sergio is no stranger to licensing and production design either, with global clients including Kidrobot, Andrew Bell's Android Mini, Toy2R, Designer Apparel brands and a CV of international exhibitions. Companies would do well to tidy up their business with contracted designers. 

So, why blog it? After a generous amount of time going in circles by email, independent creative professionals usually get to choose between public awareness or letting things go. For small contracts, a legal consult and retainer to even plan taking a negligent party to task would be more costly than the payout due. As a creative community we can hold companies accountable, and inform their patrons and potential designers of potential risks. Disney, and many others, have licensed their character's friendly faces to companies they trust to represent them. And this kind of treatment in representation of anyone's intellectual property deserves a pass.

If you would like to add your support to industry awareness of Play Imaginative's alleged neglect in fulfilling their contractual obligations, feel welcome to reach out through;

Disney's Instagram

Disney's Facebook

Disney's Twitter

e-Mail Disney

Play Imaginative's Facebook

Play Imaginative's Twitter

Play Imaginative's Instagram

eMail Play Imaginative

-Tasha Zimich

What do you think of the Disney Shorts platform toy?

"DISNEY SHORTS is all about those little things that make a huge difference in life. Magic is in the details so be part of these collectibles based on your favorite characters and movies of the wonderful world of Disney!

Extremely rare Disney Vinyl Collectible Limited to 1000 sets. Up until now only available in Mexico. There are now less than 500 sets left that can now be imported into the US as they were recently licensed for US sale. "

Askew Rangers Mickey Malice by Josh Mayhem

 Josh Mayhem presents the newest member of the Askew Rangers: "Mickey Malice", a part of the Play Imaginative / Disney Custom Micky Mouse Group Show in Singapore. Featuring a working spring-loaded rocket launcher with replaceable missiles, and Josh's signature style of simple paint patterns, an abundance of weapons and accessories, this custom evokes the versatility of an action figure and the visual aesthetic of a designer toy.

Also be sure to check out the rest Josh Mayhem's Askew Rangers custom
toy series available to purchase at in our shop here.

Josh is available for commission work and can be contacted here.

Brace Face Mickey by Alison Perez for PlayImaginative

 

Alison Perez (aka Miss Zukie) share with us the sweet and awkward Mickey custom she made for the PlayImaginative Mickey show: Brace Face Mickey! This Mickey "studies hard and never gets the girl. His favorite thing to do is read the dictionary."

The PI Mickeys are 6" tall and this one has dorky glasses.  

Check out more by Alison here on her blog.

OsirisOrion custom Mickey Mouse for PlayImaginative

I can't tell you how much I love OsirisOrion's paint work. It's mind-blowing. This is his custom Mickey Mouse for the PlayImaginative show. Sick, deep metallic color. Heavy clearcoat makes the paint look so deep that you can dive into it like a swimming pool. Everything he paints looks amazing. Check out this album he has on Flickr. It's just amazing. That's all.

M'Ickey custom Mickey Mouse by alarment for PlayImaginative

 Allan Armenta (aka alarment) shares with us an excellent custom Mickey figure, which he did for the Play Imaginative showcase of their Mickeys. Nicely textured sculpting and detailed paint make this one an extremely well-executed custom! Little dude looks like he's at the end of his rope. Just so all of you know, they way this custom looks is how I feel inside 80% of the time.

Check out more alarment work here.

Walt Mickey custom by Ian Ziobrowski

Ian Ziobrowski isn't all nuggs and thugs... here he flexes his considerable painterly skills with the custom Mickey vinyl figure by PlayImaginative. Walt Mickey features a dead-on portrait of Walt Disney on Mickey's face. Damn eerie, and beautiful. I am sure Walt would have loved it. 

Next, Ian will sculpt Walt's disembodied, cryogenically frozen head in a jar.

Follow Ian on Facebook here and check out the rest of the customs in this show here.

Swamp Ghoul Mickey Mouse custom by We Become Monsters

Friend of Tenacious Toys Christopher Moore (We Become Monsters) was invited to participate in PalyImaginative's Mickey Mouse custom show, using their 6" blank Mickey platform (which sadly, is not licensed for distribution in the U.S.). This is Christopher's Swamp Ghoul Mickey, which was created using acrylic, resin, epoxy, and spices on vinyl. Yes, it is spicy!

You can follow Christopher Moore here:

www.webecomemonsters.com (website)
webecomemonsters.storenvy.com (shop)
www.facebook.com/webecomemonsters (WBM Facebook page)
www.facebook.com/chrism8re (Christopher's Facebook page)
@webecomemonster (Twitter)

AW177 custom Mickey Mouse figure for PlayImaginative

Our good friend, local artist AW177, got one of the 6.5" Mickey platforms in the mail from PlayImaginative, and in true AW177 style, he used bold graphics and cultural iconography to create this "Dragon Ninja" custom.

Allen writes:
I have a bit of news - I was asked by Play Imaginative to custom one of their 6.5" Mickey Mouse vinyl art figures.  This piece will be displayed at shows by Disney/Play Imaginative and will be up on their website.

To celebrate the year of the dragon 2012, I made Mickey into a "Dragon Ninja", complete with equipment belt, shurikens, pouches for gear, striking/climbing knives, dragon claws on feet and hands, and nunchucks! You can place the nunchucks into the back for storage.  Dragon symbol on the upper ear, black outlines to give it a more animated/cartoon feel.  This is my real first time sculpting, but I'm happy with the results.

This custom is based on one of the designs I submitted to Play Imaginative/Disney for possible production, so if you like to see it made, please let them know!

Pictures are up on my Flickr.