Seen at NYCC: KaijuMonster

   

    One of the things I enjoy most about New York Comic Con is seeing things in person that I normally only see pictures of online.  Certain toys can't be done justice unless your eye balls can gaze upon them in real life, and every year  KaijuMonster melts my retinas with some of the most killer toys from around the world.

    It was great catching up with Guumon, who has made the jump into full-time toy making and is working on tons of stuff that sounded very exciting.  Dude is living his dream and you can't help but be inspired by that.

    The resin work of DT Custom and Flawtoys were some of the best figures I saw all weekend.  Each toy looked like glass rather than any type of plastic, and I am truly a sucker for the double casting technique when it's pulled off so flawlessly.  Really impressive stuff.  If you want to see more pictures from the convention you can check out www.facebook.com/TheToyViking.  

"The 13" Dunny Series from Brandt Peters x Kidrobot Release Party at 3DRetro

    Whatcha doing this Friday?  You don't have to actually tell me, because I can't be held to secrecy if you're up to something weird.  I'll tell all your business.  You're gonna want to cancel any and all plans you may have had and instead go hang out with Brandt Peters and Kathie Olivas as they release  a brand new Dunny series at 3D Retro. This is Kidrobot's first Dunny series in what seems like forever and just may be my favorite one yet.  I saw some of them in person at New York Comic Con this past weekend and they do not disappoint.  If you're lucky enough to attend this event and buy an entire case of toys (because not doing so would be silly) they will be giving out the chase piece as an added bonus (on a limited basis, so get there early).  Imagine not having to sweat as you prepare to open each box, your face turned upwards praying to every god you can remember from your "history of the world's religions" class at the community college.  It could be the most stress-free moment of your blind box opening life.  

      All the info you need to go is in the picture up there and if you're not able to go, cause maybe you are geographically prohibited, fear not because these figures release world wide the same day on www.kidrobot.com and wherever else designer toys are sold.  

Even More Happenings from New York Comic Con

 

    I told you yesterday about how Comic Con has the ability to scramble your brain and make you forget how to handle real life.  Well as the day progressed I started getting my wits about me and was remembering all the stuff that I totally forgot to tell you in my post yesterday.  So in the spirit of full disclosure, here are the highlights of my weekend at New York Comic Con, presented in no particular order.

-  For the second year in a row, former WWE superstars The Honky Tonk Man and Bushwhacker Luke caught the same train I was on to get into New York.  Not only that, but they were in the same car and I totally resisted yelling "hey, it's The Honky Tonk Man" in my best southern drawl.  Instead I whispered it to my wife the entire rest of the day.  We also saw Jerry The King Lawler and Hacksaw Jim Duggan, but they were in their booth's during the show so it wasn't quit as cool.

-  On the way to the convention the first day I found $40 on the sidewalk.  And on both return train trips the conductor never bothered to take our ticket, so we essentially got two free rides and still have tickets for the next time we go to New York.  I will probably be diagnosed with intestinal worms in the near future to balance that good karma out.

-  I saw a panel with Bryan freakin Cranston.  Like, I was within NFL quarterback throwing distance of one of the greatest characters in one of the greatest tv shows of all time.  This may top the time I could almost see Kevin Bacon's face without the aid of the jumbo trons at The Following panel two years ago.  I really gotta get better at being earlier to these things.

-  My wife developed a new technique where she gets in line for the bathroom before she even has to use it so by the time she makes it to the front of the line she is fully ready to utilize the facilities.  She developed this patented method after realizing she only packed one pair of jeans and the embarrassment that could ensue if she were to wait until the last minute to try and get to the restroom.  The moral of the story is that thereis always a line for the women's bathroom at this thing, and like Mt. Everest, most people will die before they ever reach the summit.  The bright side is that their corpses are great landmarks for you to judge your wait time by.

- Funko is a nefarious organization hell bent on controlling the world.  Everywhere you turned there was Funko product.  Every booth sold it, the carpet was made out of it, and I think I ate a Pop Vinyl for lunch.  What if all those toys were really mind control devices that we have willingly brought into our home, then a flip will be switched and The Greak Awakening will begin.  We will all be locked in their factories, making more toys that serve to force us into an endless loop of obedience.  We become our own enslavers in some weird, dystopian world slowly being filled more with cute action figures than real people.

-  DC Comics always has props and costumes from their films on display and it is literally one man's job to make sure the bat suit shows up.  And when he's not putting stuff on display at conventions he's just chilling in a warehouse surrounded by the coolest stuff you'll never get to play with.  I imagine it looks like that scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark where you just see miles and miles of boxes, except here there's a dude wearing Christian Bale's cod piece while pretending he's having the best Christmas morning ever.

    And that my friends, is what Comic Con means to me.  Wait, was that the original point of this?  I don't remember and it's too far to scroll back up.  You can check out all the pictures I took by visiting www.facebook.com/TheToyViking.  

The Aftermath of New York Comic Con

    If you follow me on Twitter you would have seen my comic con observations, in which I sent out my weird thoughts whenever something struck me.  I was doing that because New York Comic Con is such a sensory overload that I have to capture my ideas as I have them or risk losing them forever.  There's so much to see from the people, to the booths, to the toys I always feel like I've been lobotomized the day after.  Even last night when we got home and the cats were shunning us for daring to leave them overnight, Sharon and I just kind of melted into the couch and stared mindlessly at the tv, unable to form complete sentences.  And we were only there for two days.  I couldn't imagine the recovery time we would need if we went all four.  We would probably need to go to rehab and be taught English again.

   And not to mention the physical toll it takes on your body when you're trying to shuffle around amid 100,000 plus people.  My legs feel like they could kick down a healthy tree.  I would have thought these were just signs of me getting older, but as we ate lunch we were seated next to a father and his young son, who was maybe ten or eleven.  This was only about two hours after the doors opened and this kid looked like he was in a coma.  He just stared into the ether, mouth agape as he held his sandwich in his lap.  He could only nod in response to conversation and even his blinks looked as if they took every bit of energy he had left.  It made me feel better about myself, like death wasn't as imminent as if felt at the moment.

    But don't let this make you think we didn't enjoy ourselves, because we really did.  We bought lots of stuff, met a lot of new people, and saw lots of folks we only see once a year.  And we went to our second panel ever and saw Bryan Cranston aka Walter White from Breaking Bad, which was pretty cool.  I'll be doing more focused recaps all week and uploading photos to our Facebook page as soon as I get a chance.

My Top 10 Exclusives for This Year's New York Comic Con

    Let me tell you how prepared I am for New York Comic Con:  I went out today and got a flu shot.  I normally get one every year, and usually well before now, but there was no way I was gonna be pressed up against the sweaty, sniffling, masses without giving my immune system a chance at survival.  Plus, I'm totally out of sick days after The Great Kidney Stone of 2015 and I ain't trying to not get paid, suckas. So the only thing I have left to do is prepare my credit cards to be used and abused and to present to you my top 10 favorite exclusives I've seen for this year's convention.  

    Now this isn't one of those arbitrary lists with random numbers like Buzzfeed puts out there.  I have respect for the sanctity of the top 10 list and damn it without some sort of tradition we're just a bunch of apes rubbing sticks on the rocks to poke each other with.  I will not be poked by an uncouth monkey!  Speaking of ape-like creatures, the top dude you see there is the brand spankin new Wing Kong from Super7.  I love it.  It's a monkey, who looks pissed off, and he's got wings.  That's pretty much the total package.  Available at booth 174.  

    And speaking of horrible illness, check out this infected Dunny from Scott Wilkwoski x Kidrobot.  See, this is the type of thing that I am confident my flu shot will protect me from.  Available in purple or grey and only $60 each, you better be quick to the Clutter Magazine booth # 603 to get one.  

    If I were to ride a horse, which I'm not saying I will, I would hope that it would be a demonic hell pony with a tentacle mouth and bat wings.  Oh, what a coincidence, I happen to have one right here.  Bigshot Toyworks has these Lil Maddie figures at booth #208 just in time to rustle up your demonic cows and send them to the demonic slaughterhouse for processing into demonic burgers.  

    Is it an ice cream cone?  Is it candy corn?  Is it andy corn flavored ice cream?  Is it ice cream cosplaying as candy corn?  I don't know, but now I have a headache thinking about it.  Kozik's Monger Jerome from Rotofugi x Squibbles Ink is looking very Halloween-y in this paint job.  I need one and you do too only at booth # 603.

    Oh let me tell you how I love some marbled vinyl.  It's like the sweet patina of the plastic world.  These Cestodas from Miscreation Toys are the size of a small child without the nagging.  Mishka will have these available at booth # 110.  Bing a back brace to carry this sucker.

   I have yet to even see what the latest Shub Zeroth figure from Meta Crypt looks like, but I am so confident that it couldn't possibly suck that I'm adding it to my list.  Go pay a visit to Brian Ewing at booth # 120 for some killer art and metaphysical plastic.  

   I love snow cones, so now you can add that to the list of facts you know about me.  I hope that a snow cone never turns on me like this crazy dude from Jason Limon x Martian Toys.  Damn, this is a great figure and available at booth # 203.  

   CATS!  It's huge, it's a cat, and I need it.  Komatsu x myplasticheart have a special release of this new Daioh Negora at booth 113 and I'm gonna try and get one cause I'm that kind of pimp.  

    Another Dunny and another item I have to own.  Like, I won't die per se if I don't get one, but I wouldn't stand to close cause I may rage out.  doubleparlour killed this and it's debuting at booth # 603.

    The award for "most adorable freakin thing at comic con" goes to these Sleepytime Sea Bunnies from Peter Kato.  They are limited to 30 pieces and will be available from the Piq Products booth # 614 starting tomorrow.   

Beastie Droids 3 Pack from Dead Greedy

   

    When Licensed To Ill came out I was in third grade and I begged my mom for the tape.  I have no idea where I would have learned about it, maybe MTV played one of the videos or something, but I had to have it.  That was quite a few years ago and it took me a long time before I realized that "Brass Monkey" wasn't a metal simian they were carting around to party with them, or that Brooklyn didn't really have any castles like medieval Europe.  I read somewhere that based on how many copies of this album was sold, that one in every ten Americans has one, which is one of those useless, mind-blowing facts that may get you a win at Trivial Pursuit on game night, but is just gonna take up space in your brain that could be actually used to make money.

    Holy crap did you see the backing card on this thing?  That artwork is brilliant.  My main man pots and pans Dead Greedy said that some killer art work wasn't enough for his fans.  He also took some Star Wars droids, made em into the ills white boys on the planet, and slapped em on the front for your collecting pleasure.  You gotta get your hands on these by checking out this link right here.

myplasticheart Exclusives for NYCC

    New York Comic Con starts tomorrow!!!!!!  I know, I can't even believe it myself.  This is how I used to feel as a kid for Christmas, and Christmas Eve always took FOREVER to get the hell out of the way.  There was nothing you could do to keep yourself occupied and not stare at the clock.  If you're going, you're going to want to check out myplasticheart's booth #113.  Here is a ton of their exclusive items they'll have waiting for you.   Commence drooling.