Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Elvis Flash Drives from Mimobot





    While visiting my family in Virginia a few years back, my wife and I stopped at a junk store that looked promising.  We looked around the store, finding nothing of real interest, until we made our way to the very back.  And there on the wall was housed the largest collection of velvet Elvis paintings I had ever seen in my life.  It was a fuzzy documentation of his entire career.  I had to have them all, so I literally ran to the clerk with credit card in hand and asked how much they would be.  Then she said something that has haunted my sleep to this day.

"Those aren't for sale."

    But they're in a store, a store where you sell goods to people such as myself so they can decorate their houses in ways that would bring shame to their parents.  No matter what I said she wouldn't budge.  So I burned the store down with her in it.  Just kidding, I was moody for a bit then I forgot about it.  Now the pain has returned.

    You wanna know the next best thing to a velvet Elvis?  An Elvis Mimobot!  The King is ready to remember all your important stuff, like how to make fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches.  Plus you get neat stuff for your computer to fancy it up, so you can finally get rid of that unicorn wallpaper you keep "forgetting" to change.   They're available now!



Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Custom Toy of the Week: Jon-Paul Kaiser


    Jon-Paul Kaiser could have his own weekly column here.  Everything that he makes is amazing and deserves ample recognition, but I would have to quite my job just to keep up with it all.  

    This guy was made using a 3 inch Dunny and a very teeny tiny teddy bear zipper pull.  This was based on the "Lone Wolf and Cub" story of an executioner who was falsely accused of killing the leader of a Japanese clan.  He then finds his own family (all except his newborn son) slaughtered as revenge.  Well, he's not just gonna stand for that, so he has some revenge of his own to bring to fruition.  This is quite the creative interpretation of the tale in 3d form.  



Help Mighty Jaxx Grow




    Anyone that begins a creative endeavor wants nothing more than for it to reach as many people as possible.  Whether you're writing a book or making a toy, you have to find a way to reach whomever your core audience is and then hope that it branches out from there.  Mighty Jaxx have released some pretty ambitious and very creative toys in the small amount of time they have been a company and now they need your help to allow them to get bigger and dominate the world!!!  Or something.

    They've started a Kickstarer-like campaign on their website to help raise money to move to a larger facility.  By backing them in various amounts you get various rewards; from t-shirts and stickers to toys and even a trip to visit them in Asia.  

    Starting at $55 you can get that maniacal Hug the Killer figure you see up there.  I don't feel alice would have sought the help of a caterpillar such as that, but he would look good on your toy shelf.  

    For $200 you could snag yourself one of these glow-in-the-dark Bad Apple figures.  Only 30 of these will ever be made and they're exclusive to this fundraiser.  




    I really like these guys, especially since their toys lean much more towards art than something you would have played with in your sand box as a kid.  This Snow White figure is one of the most amazing things I've seen in quite awhile and I could picture this being part of a museum's collection.  Help these guys out by going to http://mightyjaxx.com/.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Toy Giants Show at Toy Art Gallery




    When I first started collecting designer toys I limited myself to small, inexpensive blind box releases.  As the years have passed my threshold for spending money on figures I've wanted has grown.  First I would buy something for $20, then I felt more comfortable spending $40.  Now just about everything I want comes close to the $100 mark and beyond, which is not something that excites my credit rating.  But the more money you spend the bigger the figures get, which is a huge bonus.  Just when I thought my toys couldn't possibly take up anymore room in the house, Toy Art Gallery went crazy and created these.

    Starting January 12th you can visit them in Los Angeles for their Toy Giants show featuring lifesize figures made out of fiber glass.  These things are huge and I want them all pretty badly.  They'll have work from Paul Kaiju, David Flores, Nathan Hamill, and a bunch of other artists.  These guys will set you back a few grand if you wanted to bring one home, hence the reason I don't have one.  I have not quite hit that comfort level of spending.


Full Reveal of Kronk's Hot Date Pin Up Girl



    Well here it is.  After showing you teaser pictures of this new toy from Kronk you can finally see it in all it's glory.  This demonic pin up girl was made in collaboration with musicians Two Steps From Hell and is limited to 500 pieces.  She stands 8 inches tall and will retail for $69.99 when finally released.  

Friday, January 4, 2013

Domo x DC Comics Figures from Funko



    Can Funko do wrong?  I mean, if they sat down and were like "look, lets release something really crappy, like Sanford and Son toys" could they even suck if they tried?  By the way, if anyone with any authority on making these things is listening, I would buy Sanford and Son action figures.  

    But seriously, they're pairing up one of the world's most recognizable icons in Domo, with some of the world's most well known super heroes from DC Comics, and then turning them into their already ridiculously popular Pop! Vinyl style figures.  It's genius.  Look for these guys this February .










    But did they stop there?  No, the genius kept on coming.  They also are releasing blind boxed mini figures next month too!  These feature a few extra characters and a couple rare ones that will have completists on eBay selling their souls to own.  



D.E.A.T.H. Figure Sets from Edge of Doom


    I think just about everyone in the world is making their own interpretations of the classic M.U.S.C.L.E. men figures.  I went over to my in laws house for Christmas and there, at the kitchen table, were a pile of little plastic dudes getting their heads sawed off and replaced with those of plastic dinosaurs.  Ok, that didn't happen, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did.  

    While there may be a lot of people making these dudes now, these have to be some of my favorites.  Edge of Doom, who I'm sure is really named Steve or something, has made Darth Vader and Stormtrooper wrasslin men and is selling them for cheap.  $10 will get you a 3 pack of Stormtroopers in either white, green, or pink.  $13 will get you a Darth Vader and two Stormtroopers.   It's the best deal of the year thus far.  Order yours at http://edgeofdoom.bigcartel.com/.