Five Points Fest Booth Visit: Black Drove

    If you wanted something different from your typical cutesy vinyl toy, then Black Drove was the booth for you at Five Points Festival.  Their collective was a mix of different artists and their limited edition nightmare fuel that would keep even the toughest of dudes from sleeping.  And they featured a visit from Mutant Vinyl Hardcore, whose lottery grabbed the attention of nearly everyone in attendance and drew a crowd large enough to shut down the entire aisle.  

   Check out many more pictures from the event at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking and catch the remaining releases (including some that didn't make it in time for the show) at http://blackdrove.bigcartel.com today (May 26th) at 3:33 pm est.  

    

Five Points Fest Booth Visit: The Sucklord

    You can't have a convention in New York without having The Sucklord there.  The man runs the resin syndicate of Chinatown and he was there slingin his insane creations all weekend long.  He had new figures, old figures, and even a bin of discarded bits and pieces that was so popular I barely could take a picture of it.  I give him credit though, because once I elbowed my way through it was kind of fun digging through the archive of miscasts and trying to make your own mash up.

    Check out more of my photos at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking and see what The Sucklord has left over for you to buy at www.suckadelic.com.

   Oh and if you have an hour to kill, like your in the middle of surgery and that crap is just getting boring, check out The Suckhour featuring Frank Kozik.  I watched some of it last night and if you're a creative type who wants to make a living at it the first half hour will smack you across the face with some valuable knowledge and hard truths.

Cop A Squat Toys Five Points Fest Booth Visit

    Cop A Squat Toys was one of those exhibitors at Five Points Festival I was excited to finally meet in person.  It's a strange thing to write about what people make and talk back in forth online without ever having actually spoken face to face.  But the great thing about conventions, besides helping out the economy on a grand scale, is bringing people together.  Check out all the pictures I took at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking and if you see anything you fancy you can snag it when the remaining pieces go online today (May 25th) at noon eastern time at http://www.copasquattoys.com.

Lulubell Toys Five Points Festival Booth Visit

 
    I'm always excited to see Lulubell Toys because not only are they some of the nicest and hardest working folks in the toy world but they also have the most unique items you'll ever find.  Who else has Japanese vinyl that you can wear around your neck like a toy collecting pimp?  Grody Shogun is making waves in the fashion world with his big ballin accessories that will show both your good taste and your elite status.

    Check out more pictures from Five Points Festival at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking and secure any leftover pieces they may have at www.lulubelltoys.com.

My Five Points Festival Review

    Did you make it out to the inaugural Five Points Festival? If you did, then you know it was the convention that the East Coast has been begging for.  If you didn't make it, I'm sure you were glued to your social media checking out all the excitement and planning how to make your way there next year.  It took the best parts of much larger conventions and parred them down so that nearly every booth appealed to my wallet.  Ok, I'm not really into comics, but the designer toys were so plentiful I had more than enough to look at and drool over.

   Usually when I attend a convention I have one or two things I really want on my list, then I inevitably find a few more as a bonus.  Not here though, as everywhere I turned I was literally bombarded with figures I'd never been able to see in person and desperately wanted.  Tons of artists that rarely exhibit in America let alone the east coast had tables full of toys that made me wonder how long I could go without paying my mortgage before it became a problem.  The Sunguts booth alone could have sent me to bankruptcy court.

   There was also a line of food trucks and a beer garden outside.  The beer I passed on but let me tell you about Phil's Steaks, which Sharon and I consumed both days.  Good Lord I would smack your momma to be able to eat from that truck every day, which is strange for me to say because I am so freakishly weird about where I'll eat. I have never once eaten from a food truck because food from a gas station will kill you, so food from a gas guzzling vehicle can't be much different right?  I was so wrong and wonder what else I've been missing out on.  Not that I'm willing to be bold to the level of eating a hot dog from a street cart, but I'm closer than I ever have been to being a culinary adventurer.  My wife is still amazed.

Other highlights from our adventures:

- Meeting tons of artists and collectors that I've known for years online but never met in person until now.  Literally I was standing next to people, heard them mention their names on Instagram, and we started talking as if we'd been life long friends.  That's the beauty of collecting.

- On day two we walked from Battery Park to the venue, which was approximately two miles.  Beneath the Brooklyn Bridge we saw a completely nude man laying face down on a large rock.  Was he sunning those hard to reach areas, was it performance art, or was their an issue involving chemicals?  As weird as it was to see it was weirder how many people passed by him without taking notice, as if it were commonplace.  I never want to be that comfortable, either as the man or the passers by.

- We went to The Statue of Liberty and took a photo holding up one of the exclusive Gary Ham Dunnys from Kidrobot.  A hopeful seagull thought it might be edible and nearly made off with it as my wife's outstretched hand tried to get it into position, which would have been a funny story, but would have also cost me $14.99.

- I actually ate at a food truck and loved it.  Did I mention that yet?

-  I tried to not be a germaphobe for once and didn't ask for hand sanitizer after holding onto the pole in the subway.  A few hours later I used that hand without thinking to remove a hair from my mouth.  Somehow I did not become patent zero for the next great plague.

-Someone dropped a can of chicken noodle soup and a bag of grapes on a different subway trip and a roach the size of a Chihuahua appeared and said "back up hungry eyes" with a perfect New York accent.

 - I never once had to stop in the middle of an aisle because someone was taking pictures of a half dressed woman from a comic book.  Cosplay is cool I suppose, but not when it causes me anxiety because I'm trapped in between sweaty people trying to take pictures of it.

    All in all I had one of the best convention experiences ever and would like to thank everyone at Clutter Magazine and Five Points Festival for letting me be a part of it.  I'm already saving up for next year.  

Check out all of the photos I took over at our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/thetoyviking

Teddy Troops 2.0 from Flying Fortress x Artoyz

    Things aren't always better once they're "improved".  Not everything is gonna be awesome like Robocop, or Windows 95.  Most things that are "improved" go the way of Coke 2 and are terrible.  A personal example for me would be Vitamin Water, whose orange drink I was in love with and consumed at least one a day, every day.  That is until they changed what they were using to sweeten it with which rendered it disgusting.  I was heart broken, disgusted, and very dehydrated.  Every once in a while I'll check the label in hopes that they've come to their senses and sometimes I'll even buy one, but it's never the same.  Let's move on before I get angry again.

  Teddy Troops are back, baby!  They've been resculpted in two different versions; the standard one we all know and love and a new version that has a spray can-like helmet and gas mask feature.  These awesome little dudes from Flying Fortress and Artoyz are up for preorder from now until June 15th with a few different options to fit your needs.  You can get the standard versions, the alternate colorways, or you can get em all and save some cash.  Whichever way you choose, the only place to get them is at www.artoyz.com.

Clutter Magazine Exclusives for Five Points Festival

   Having a severed head laying around the house is just asking for trouble.  Just ask anyone who has and they're sure to tell you the cons outweigh the pros.  Shockingly I have found an exception to that rule courtesy of Luke Chueh and Clutter Magazine.  Exclusive to this weekend's Five Points Festival,  the Black and Bone edition is limited to 50 pieces and comes with a nice pool of blood display stand all for only $100.  It's a bear, it's a skull, it's a crime scene and it speaks to me.  Not literally like voices in my head or anything, I meant aesthetically.  The pills take care of the voices.

   

    I think I found the culprit behind the whole severed head business.  Everything Splurrt makes looks like it has bad intentions and the Masterworks Cadaver Kid is no exception to that rule.  This behemoth is cast in a milk-white vinyl thats filled with purple glitter, limited to only 12 pieces in the entire world, and will sell for $165 each.  These things will go quick so make sure you have fresh laces in your Air Jordans if you want one.  

    Things are starting to get a little cuter as we go down the list.  This is Luna from The Bots and Urban Vinyl Daily and she is limited to just 50 pieces in this pink colorway and can be your forever companion for $60.  

    And don't forget about the amazing Dunnys from Gary Ham and Kidrobot.  The yellow one is only for VIP ticket holders while the other two will be available for everyone for $14.99 each.  

All of this will be at booth #234 for your shopping pleasure.