Raar!s from Dynamite Rex

     Ok, normally I would want to go outside, find a sturdy tree, and fall from the top of it at the announcement of a new platform toy.  But this little guy may make me change how I feel about that.  Just look how adorable these are.  Could this be the next Dunny?  It's a cool shape with lots of space for design and interpretation.  These are Raaar!s and they are made by Dynamite Rex.  You can see them in person at Designer Con as they showcase prototypes from their first series of figures that feature the artwork of Scott Tolleson, Gary Ham, Squink!, Jerome Lu, Martin Hsu, etc.  They will have stuff to buy and you can place preorders as well for (I'm guessing) the first series.  Check 'em out at booth #313.  

Kammu: Gun Metal Edition from Nathan Hamill

    Do you still doubt my powers internet world?  I said a month or so ago that Nathan Hamill should make more toys and **POOF** it magically happens.  Does this cement my status as a toy warlock?  A toy wizard?  Whatever you want to call it, be thankful I have not turned to evil yet, cause things could get out of hand real quick.

    This Gun Metal Edition of Nathan Hamill's Kammu is a 3DRetro exclusive and will be available at Designer Con.  Only 30 of them exist in the whole world, which is not a lot.  

Artoyz x Bunka Present Chaos Kong

    That's one bad lookin monkey.  Artoyz and Bunka have created this wicked-sideburned primate known as Chaos Kong and will be having a special release event November 8th.  If you happen to be in or around Paris, they will have tons of artwork on display featuring different interpretations of the Chaos characters.  But the most important thing is this awesome toy that looks ready to rough you up.

Mimobot Halloween Sale

20% off Mimobots!!!!!!!  It ends tomorrow so go and buy them nooooooooooowwww!!!!!!!!  Just click the picture!!!!!!!!

Toy Art Gallery at DesignerCon

  

  Toy Art Gallery will be holding down the fort at DesignerCon this weekend at booth #400 and they're bringing lots of exclusive stuff with them.  We already told you about the Strife and Sire figure from Nathan Hamill yesterday (while we were in the midst of a hurricane mind you.  we're like CNN, reporting live from the heart of the storm.) But they'll also have the metallic Uamous you see above, crazy work from Paul Kaiju, and the uber white edition Deathshead from David Flores.  They'll also have in tow some of their life-size toys that I would smack a baby to own.  I don't even know where I would put a 4 foot tall toy, but I can guarantee you that is a problem I would love to have.

Nathan Hamill's Strife and Sire Dead of Night Edition at DesignerCon

    I got to see the original version of this figure while I was creeping around New York Comic Con and it is pretty cool in person.  Things often look good on the internet, only to disappoint you in real life.  Kinda like Facebook pictures.  Girls you know in real life will add you on Facebook and confuse the hell out of you because they use all these weird angles and soft lighting (and Photoshop) and if you didn't actually know their last names you would have no idea who it was that sent you the friend request in the first place.  I'll never understand how anyone can date people they don't know from the internet, because how do you recognize them when you meet them at Applebee's to share the 2 for $20 deal?  You might be sitting with someone who was lonely and wanted a free meal and was scamming you.  Do you think that's a thing?  People just hanging out in restaurants, waiting for people to look like they're meeting someone they haven't met in real life yet, and then pretending to be that person?  I may never pay for meals again now that I've invented this.

    This is Strife and Sire from Nathan Hamill and this black in red colorway is an exclusive for Toy Art  Gallery in Los Angeles.  It will also be available at DesignerCon if you happen to be lucky enough to be going.  Get it at booth #400 for $50.  Only 100 of these were made.

Dunny Apocalypse Series Releases November 8th

    Not only is November 8th the release date for the new Dunny Apocalypse series, but it's also my wedding anniversary.  How did Kidrobot know?  Looks like I'll have to make a quick pit stop at my local toy store before I take my wife out for dinner.  Do you think she'd mind?  

New Monster Embryos from Taylored Curiosities

    Well, so far Hurricane Sandy has still allowed me to have electricity, so I'm trying to take advantage of it and do some posting.  All morning the news has depressed me with their horrible predictions, so it's nice to focus on something a little more positive and that doesn't involve sea water creeping into my house.

    If you still have power and internet access tonight you should order one of these Monster Embryos from Taylored Curiosities.  This time she cast them in black resin and made their eyes and umbilical cords glow in the dark.  That's kinda creepy.  Only 8 of these little in utero dudes exist and they will be on sale tonight at 9pm GMT time for £12.  Snatch one up by going to http://tayloredcuriosities.bigcartel.com.

Halloween Toys from Peter Kato

    My wife and I work so much that holidays come and go without much notice.  We walked into Target yesterday and the realization that Halloween is next week kinda smacked me in the face.  Maybe I'm just getting older and I'm consumed with other things, but I kinda miss getting into Halloween.  When you think about it, it's the perfect holiday.  You get to dress up like a mental patient and go to all of your neighbors and legally rob them.  No wonder so many people turn to a life of crime, they just want it to be Halloween forever with a payoff bigger than Tootsie Rolls.  

    Peter Kato has gotten himself into the spirit of ye olde pagan holiday and created some toys to celebrate the season.  Check out those Tako-Cubes dressed up as Skeletor.  I have one of his Tako-Cubes that he was gracious enough to give me and these little guys are tiny and awesome.  They only stand 2 and a 1/2 inches tall but once you have one you'll want an army of them.  These are $15 each.

    He's also got these Ninja-Robo Pumpkin Slashers.  The great thing about resin toys is they look edible. The bad thing about resin toys is when you try to eat one and realize they're not orange flavored.  These 3 inch figures are not for snacking and cost $25 each.

    You can also pick up two new versions of his popular Frightbite characters: a Candy Orange and Slimy Green version.  These guys are only $10

These guys are my favorite of the whole group.  They are Tako-Cube Pumpkins!  I'm overcome with the adorableness.  They are $15 each and you can get these and all of the other figures you've seen starting today by going to www.peterkatoshop.com.

Jon-Paul Kaiser x Outsmart Originals Tee Available Now!

    My wife decided that yesterday was a good time to debut her sweet Jon-Paul Kaiser x Outsmart Originals shirt.  Everywhere we went afterwards people kept asking where they could get one.  I'm not even kidding.  We couldn't go anywhere without someone stopping us to comment on her angry panda tee.  The best comment we received though, was when we went to see the classic American novelist Tom Wolfe at the Free Library in Philadelphia last night.  Yeah, in addition to collecting toys we're also uber book nerds too.  In fact, books may be the only thing we have more of.  So she gets up to the table to have one of our books signed and he studies the shirt for a minute before saying "I never thought about pandas having teeth, but of course they do."  This is the man that wrote The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test and Bonfire of the Vanities waxing philosophical about the chompers of an endangered species.

    Now I can't guarantee you'll look as fetching as my wife or that world renowned literary figures will be struck by a grand epiphany, but I can guarantee you only have until October 29th to order one of these before they're retired.  Go right now to http://www.outsmartoriginals.com/ and get one before it's too late.

Jesse Hernandez x Pobber Toys Jaguar Knight First Colorway

    This guy looks siiiiiiick. Jesse Hernandez and Pobber Toys have teamed up to unleash this beast on the world. This is the Jaguar Knight and if you were in some epic battle you would not want to be the side he's pissed at. This guy stands 9 inches tall and will probably scare all of your other toys into leaving town. The aptly titled Shadow edition will be available for $115 November 8th at Noon Pacific time. Only 85 were made and they will be sold exclusively through http://pobber.com/. Oh, and they're offering free world wide shipping. This design may look familiar to you if you own Jesse's first 8 inch Dunny, but this is a far greater realization of that vision. Such a cool piece.

Dunny Apocalypse Series by Kidrobot

    I'm sure anyone who is interested has seen these by now, but who couldn't do with a little redundancy in their lives?   This is the horribly kept secret know as the Apocalypse Dunny Series from Kidrobot.  Every single time there's a new set of these guys the same Spanish website manages to release the mock ups of them before anyone else.  This time the individual artists "jumped the gun" by posting pictures.  I put that in quotation marks because I'm not a big believer in stuff being leaked without a marketing plan behind it to build hype.  Call me cynical, but unless the factories are releasing the info it would be pretty easy to trace the culprit.  

    But who really cares about that crap anyway?  These figures look amazing and I want them all.  This series features designs by familiar names such as Huck Gee, Mishka, Jon-Paul Kaiser, Joe Ledbetter, Kronk, and Jesse Hernandez, while sporting some killer designs from new Dunny artists Chris Ryniak, Hydro74, and Jermaine Rogers (seriously overdue if you ask me).  No official release date, but it's time to start bugging your local shops to make sure you get in on it cause word is they will be very limited.

Halo 4 Pop! Vinyl from Funko

    They are advertising the crap out of the new Halo 4 game.  No matter what show I watch at night there will inevitably be a commercial that makes me want to get it that much more.  You can't even watch Antiques Roadshow without seeing Master Chief slaughter his way through an alien race hell bent on doing the same to him.  Of course there would be other products to coincide with a huge game release and thankfully Funko was able to immortalize the characters in Pop! Vinyl form. 

    The detail on the Spartans looks pretty sick and I'm glad to see they included Cortana in the series.  A few weeks ago when we went to Comic Con I noted how they make tribute art for every other girl in every other video game, comic book, movie, etc. but you never see anything with her in it.  And I've never once seen anyone dress up as her either.  Maybe they're scared of being poisoned by all the blue paint, but come one people, she's the hottest hologram since Princess Leia (that made me sound really dorky).  You can snag these on November 8th.  

Frank Kozik at DesignerCon

    Frank Kozik is gearing up for next week's DesignerCon with a few releases that maybe would surprise a lot of you.  For one, I don't see any snarky rabbits dangling cigarettes from their mouths.  And for two, everything is hand made.  For starters, check out what he did to these Mike Egan Bones figures.  All of them are hand painted and looking like they're ready to jump start the apocalypse.  Or at least scare the crap out of your kids.  

    He's even bought a butt ton of equipment to start making his own resin figures.  Here we have Heathrow the Hedgehog looking as if he were edible.  Seriously, he looks orange flavored.  You may remember Heathrow from his previous incarnations created by Maqet, though it's been awhile since we've seen any of those and I'm sure there's a good story behind it.  A company just doesn't stop making it's best figure from a well known artist.  Makes you wonder.  Anyway, these are better because they were made by the man himself and if you're lucky may contain some of Edward Goralsky's shed fur.

    And if that wasn't enough, he also made this Sucklord figure as part of this whole Suck-Up thingy where different artists put their spin on his work.  Only 50 of these were made and they'll be $100 each.    I don't know the price of the other stuff because it's a secret or he just hasn't decided yet.  Either way, it's a mystery.

And the Winner Is...

     Ok, so last week I wanted you guys to caption this picture and the funniest one was gonna win a set of The Walking Dead Pop! Vinyl figures from Funko.  After careful deliberation, a talk with my lawyers, a session with the spirits on the old Ouija board, and a visit to the chiropractor, the winner of the contest is....











Keep scrolling......

(ham sandwich, yum)

    Batmanda!!!!!!! With her comment "Girls Gone Wild: Zombie Edition".  Not only did this make me laugh, but it also kinda grossed me out because I could actually see that as being a real product people would buy.  Send me your info to thetoyviking@gmail.com and I'll send you your figures.  

Seen at NYCC: Mimobot

    Mimobot always has the best presence at Comic Con.  They bring their mini store with them and staff it with the nicest people who always look like they're having the best time.  Like my buddy Jess here, who is the smiling face of collectible data storage devices.  She can now add that to her business card and/or Facebook profile.  

    It's hard to get pictures of what they have because they have sooooo much cool stuff.  Like their newest Ugly Doll flash drives (one of which I'll be reviewing on here very very soon) and other brands like Adventure Time, GI Joe and Star Wars.  They're the best way to store your favorite things, your important things, and those things you just can't talk about and would hope that someone has the decency to not mention after you're dead.  Like how many Taylor Swift songs you downloaded.  Weirdo.  

    How many times do you think guys tried hitting on her by asking her "so, what's your function?"  Ok, probably none because they just stuttered, grabbed a free sticker, and ran back to the amine section of the con.  

Buddy The Elf Pop! Vinyl from Funko

    I'm not big on holiday decorating because honestly, it's a lot of work with little payoff.  Maybe if I had kids I could get behind it a little more, but I'd rather fill my house with stuff I can put there once and not have to move around because a certain date has passed.  My Christmas tree last year?  Yeah, it saw the beginning of Spring.  I was tempted just to leave it up and let it be a permanent fixture, maybe start a new trend or something.  We could have different ornaments for different times of year, but the tree itself would always be there.  I would still slack off and not change them on time, but it could be a step in the right direction for someone like me, to at least have the biggest part of the ordeal up all the time.  

    Funko is coming to my rescue with this Buddy the Elf Pop! Vinyl figure.  Sure he's a Christmas dude, but you don't have to pack him away in January (or in my case March), you can leave him out all year! This little elf dude will be available November 15th and will be the first of your many permanent holiday decorations.  Help me start the revolution!

Seen at NYCC: Monster Pants Plus Designer Con Exclusive News

    Why did my pictures come out so dark?  Probably because I'm a bad photographer, thanks for rubbing it in.  Now I'm gonna have to double up on my meds just to make it through the day.  

    This is James, the man behind all that is Monster Pants.  Not only do they make cool movies, but they make cool toys too!  His table at New York Comic Con was filled with his Sea-Borg creations and people were really digging them.   

    If you're lucky enough to be attending this year's Designer Con you can say "hi" to James yourself and pick up his exclusive Pinku Sea-Borg figure.  Only 30 of them have been made and they will be $35 each.

Custom Toys of the Week: Lisa Rae Hansen

    I couldn't pick just one of Lisa Rae Hansen's toys for the Custom of the Week feature, so I instead chose to show you two of her most recent.  Being that it's my website and this is a dictatorship, I didn't see anything wrong with that.

    For the first one, she has designed a special PigQee to help raise money for the Mattia Fagoni Association.  Mattia is a 5 year old who is suffering from a degenerative disease called Sandhoff Syndrome and his parents have been very involved in the art world helping to generate funds for research and treatment of this condition.

    The second one utilizes the QiQi figure from Creo Design.  What's cool about both toys is they come with wearable pieces so you'll never have to be too far from your collection.  I know I start to get withdrawal when I leave my toys by themselves for too long.  Makes me nervous.  

Seen at NYCC: Lego

    I love Lego.  I love sitting on the floor and building things out of them for hours and not giving a crap about anything else.  They are the perfect toy and you don't even feel that weird playing with them  when you're a grown man.  Well, sometimes, but not always.  Needless to say, I've never built anything quite like this, but I'd give it a go if someone wanted to buy me a ton of the bricks.  Could you imagine how pissed I would be if built one of these only to find out mid way that I screwed up?  They must have some serious anger management techniques at ye olde Lego factory, cause I would be ready to snap.  

"Hey guys, I finally finished building that giant Gandalf statue." 

"You left out a piece in his chest bro."

-cue the mass murder-

That's a lot of pressure right?  Getting one of these guys done without messing up.  

Oh, and they're doing Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Legos.  There's your bit of news.

Who's that strapping young lad with the man purse standing next to the Incredible Hulk?

Seen at NYCC: Erick Scarecrow

    It must take a small army to move the amount of toys Erick Scarecrow brings with him to Comic Con.  I mean seriously, just look at all the pictures I took.  He must use some sort of wizardry to fit everything into his booth because nobody maximizes square footage like this guy.  He had a bunch of cool exclusive figures for the show and a bunch of familiar characters from his popular lineup.  The one that stood out the most to me though is pictured just below and to the right.  Pretty weird huh?  It's a huge departure from his typical style of bright colors and cartoonish features.  I really like it and in talking with him you could tell how excited he was to try something completely unexpected.  Hopefully we'll get more info about a release date soon.  In the meantime, enjoy the pictures and check out http://www.esctoy.com/ to get your hands on any leftovers from the show.