Jon Burgerman "My American Summer" show at Giant Robot + Kid Lew + custom shoes + ToyToy plushes

I stopped by Giant Robot NY on Saturday evening for the first time to meet Jon Burgerman and check out his show "My American Summer"... it was a lot of fun and I am kicking myself for having been in the designer toy business for 4 years now and never having made the short trip down to GRNY. It's a great location, one block north from the famous St Mark's Place!

Actually the manager of GRNY is named Mark too, and the guy is awesome. He INSISTED upon pouring me a drink, so of course I let him crack open the ginger ale. I'm a badass. Also present was Michael Denicola, who caught me on camera walking in with my Mr. Douchebag t-shirt on... check out his website called InkLungs, he does some great drawings!

Burgerman's show was great- everything hanging in the show was hand-drawn or hand-stiched (there were one-off plushes too, stiched up for Burgerman by the Felt Mistress!)

The orange drawings are apparently snapshot records of Burgerman's trip to the US. Each one is done sort of spur of the moment, wherever he is, and is based upon whatever he sees or hears. Actually really interesting to read the words he's worked in and check out the places he's been! All works by Burgerman are for sale and you can contact GRNY to purchase. Prices range from $99 to $300+ (high end is for the OOAK plushes!).

Burgerman himself was a typical Brit- exceptionally gracious and nice to a fault. I tried to get him to sign my DIY Qee with "Piss off, Benny. -Jon Burgerman" but he declined. Instead he drew one of his little characters on there to accompany drawings by Nolasco, MAD, Sket, Lou Pimentel, Keith Poon... and Kid Lew! I met up with Kid Lew and we actually chatted for the first time for real- we keep showing up at the same events and we finally got a chance to get to know each other. Watch Kid Lew in the near future- he's got plans to turn his characters he's working on into toys/prints/t-shirts etc. We unofficially scheduled him in to sign at our booth during NYCC 2010.

Meanwhile, this guy Arthur Roberts wandered in off the street and showed us his custom-painted Adidas (see below). Art runs an apparel company called Mumz the Werd.

The intricate detail on these shoes warranted pics and a shout-out. I'm not even a sneakerhead and I thought these were dope so there ya go.

Art's wearing one of his Mumzthewerd t-shirts which they are selling.

I dig their logo/character with the tape over his mouth.

After that this guy Daniel from Brazil walked in.. turns out he's on vacation but when he's back in Brazil he makes custom plushes for his company called ToyToy. He hooked me and Mark up with ToyToy stickers so props to him! Definitely check out his characters, they are very cute and colorful in typical Brazilian style!

And finally I gotta give props to my friends at IHeartCoolStuff because they were there at GRNY too, doing an interview with Burgerman! They run a fantastic blog, much more in depth and interesting than the drivel you're reading now, so why don't you pop over there and check it out?

All in all, an excellent trip downtown for me!

Tomorrow I'll post about what I saw Sunday at the NY Gift Fair...

Images of 2009 Kidrobot Dunny series released!

See original huge image of the 2009 Dunny Series checklist here. I am REALLY into some of these designs! Especially the 3/25 Luke Chueh!

AAAARRRGH *head explodes*

I love Luke Chueh.

Day Walker Custom Rollie by NEMO

NYC-based sculptor NEMO has to be one of the most talented artists working in the toy scene these days...

Behold NEMO's Day Walker, the first finished piece he is releasing in advance of our upcoming custom "Rollies" show!

WTF is a Rollie, you might be asking yourself? What is this awesome platform that Nemo has worked his magic on?

Good question:

Yes folks. Yes.

A $0.99 roll-on deodorant bottle. Look closely at the Day Walker's shape.

See, you might wander through your day without truly seeing what's right in front of you. (I sure do, after spending all day in front of the computer, my brain is fried) But NEMO sees everything as potential platforms for his sculptures. He had been mulling over this Rollies idea for a while and mentioned it to me at an event at ToyQube and I told him I'd totally support him in his idea, lending space on Tenacious Toys and our blog, etc to get this idea off the ground!

This will be a custom show using cheapo plastic roll-on deodorant casings as platforms.

Everyone is welcome to participate! If you can't find a Rollie near you, we'll pack one up and mail it to you. The Rollies Show will get it's own space on TenaciousToys.com.

We'll also throw a release party on Halloween weekend in late October at a joint here in Corona called All the Right.

Their website is under construction but it's a graffiti supply store along the 7 line.

Contact Nemo or Benny for more info. Also check out NEMO's new blog!

Ron English Popaganda mini figure series in production

... this set of 10 amazing window-boxed mini figures is in production now and will be shipping possibly next month, according to MINDstyle. They look REALLY cool.

I am diggin these minis, even more than the full-size original figures they are based on. Don't know why... maybe cuz everything looks cute when it has an oversized head...

MUNNY GRUBBERS custom Munny show starts Aug 8th in Phoenix & online

MUNNY GRUBBERS custom Munny show by Just Blazed

Just Blazed is hosting a slew of hot talent at their Munny Grubbers show on August 8th. The Munny has consistently been one of the most popular platform toys year-in and year-out. This show will show exactly why it is such. If you’re in the Phoenix area or you just feel like you want to make a trip into the desert then get it while its hot.

Munny Grubbers is curated by toy guru Nervis Wr3k, so you know it’s gonna be hot.

Also, beginning August 8th, you’ll have the chance to vote on all the pieces in the show in the Delicious Drips Submission Gallery. So if you are not hanging out in the blazin-ass desert right now, you can follow the action and all the customs on the 8th! I just heard from Delicious Drips that there are gonna be some big names contributing to this custom show!

Jay222's 36" Qee Bear Horror Custom video, a must-watch!

Jay222 is a San Fran-based artist that customizes toys with a unique and complex horror theme. The YouTube video of this latest piece must be seen to be believed.

Also check out his blog.

Preorder Horvath toys & other Toy2R toys, Who's da Bomb custom toy show

Preorders now available for the following items:

- Brandt Peters Serv-o-Matics by MINDstyle, coming soon! Only a few left unsold as preorders...

- Star Wars Series 4 Mimobots coming soon. Below are pics of the Darth Maul Mimo.

- Horvath 12" Bossy Bear, certainly the centerpiece of any Horvath vinyl collection

- Horvath 5" Bossy Bear Yellow: Lemony Fresh Yellow & Black color variant

- Horvath 5" Crocadoca Yellow: Lemony Fresh Yellow & Black color variant

- Horvath 3.5" Turtle Yellow: Lemony Fresh Yellow & Black color variant

- David Horvath Yoya Monster: cute little monkey, 5" tall vinyl

- David Horvath 7.5" Crown Turtle slightly delayed, will arrive a month after the other Horvath toys

- Uglydoll Glow in the Dark Ice-Bats arriving September, available as full sealed cases or individual blind boxes

- Horvath Yoya Monster Blue arriving Nov/Dec 2009

- 2.5" Wood Grain Qee blind boxes which have absolutely amazing paint jobs

- 2" Clear Chef Spiderboom, the rarest Spider Baby Boom figure to complete your collection, put into limited production

RESTOCKED:

- OWI Rhino Beetle metal model kit

- OWI Samurai Scorpion metal model kit

Who's da Bomb?! online custom toy show

You might have heard by now that we are curating an online custom toy show. If not, here's the deal: the platform is the Toy2R Mini Bomb figures (originally had paint by Kozik). For more details & the flyers, check out our blog post regarding this endeavor.

August 31st is the submission deadline for images of the customized Bombs.

In the meantime I have already received a few images of finished customs, so I put up a Who's the Bomb section dedicated to them. Look for more customs to start poppin' up in that section on our site as we head towards Aug 31st.

This is our first foray into the custom toy world and I am very excited to see what everyone comes up with! I also must mention that this project would not be possible without the guidance and help of Delicious Drips, and a shipment of Mini Bombs from Toy2RUSA. So thanks to DD and Toy2R for helping me get this whole thing together.

Tenacious Toys

30% off July 28th only with code 30SDCC09

Post-SDCC hangover got you down? No money left for new toys?
Think again!
Use coupon code 30SDCC09 at Tenacious Toys on July 28th and get 30% off any order!
It's our one-day blowout sale designed to get you high on toys again after the big push for SDCC.
Have fun! Coupon code is good from midnight to midnight, east coast time.