DesignerCon Exclusive Sofubi Strolls from Spanky Stokes x Toy Art Gallery

   Well look at what we have here!  It's been a long time since we've seen Spanky Stokes Stroll mascot in vinyl form, and it was starting to seem like I had maybe dreamt the previous ones.  You ever have those dreams where you're arguing with someone and then you wake up and are legit pissed at them?  My wife once dreamt that I let a tiger eat her and she didn't speak to me the entire next day.   For one, you don't "let" a tiger do anything.  Have you ever tried reasoning with a house cat?  Now imagine it weighs 400 lbs and could devour you.  And secondly...there's no secondly because seriously you cannot stop a cat from doing what it wants.  So there.

    Toy Art Gallery has prepared not one but two new versions of this figure for release at DesignerCon next week.  There's the tropical fruit juiciness of the glow in the dark Boogie Beach version, or for those of you that don't like flavor on your chicken, a plain glow in the dark edition.

   Either way, you can't go wrong with the world famous mascot of the designer toy blog that inspired countless others.  These will be available at the convention from booth # 543.

Tiger Guts Taylor Resin Figure from Rultron

   I love me some wrasslin, and just thinking about it gets me all hype.  Not hype enough to actually wrestle, because I learned yesterday that I have arthritis in my right knee.  My knee cap is as crooked as our country's administration, and it's been grinding away.  I only went to the orthopedist because it became difficult to walk up the stairs without being mistaken for an extra on the Walking Dead, so a couple of X-rays later I had my diagnosis.  Oh, and I got a cortisone shot, which is its own special brand of interesting.  The doctor first found the space in between bone and tendon, sprayed it with a numbing agent, and STUCK THE ENTIRETY OF A FOUR INCH HYPODERMIC NEEDLE INTO MY KNEE.  I'm talking this sucker was buried to the hilt, which I was not warned about ahead of time, so I'm sure I made one of my famous WTF faces.  Truth be told I didn't feel much of anything, and I guess a heads up about what he was going to do would make most people get up and leave, but it was still a bit of a shock to see the whole thing disappear into my body.  I hope that is the last time I ever have cause to write that sentence.

    I will have to live my Wrestlemania dreams vicariously through Tiger Guts Taylor, a resin figure from artist Rultron.  This dude is 20 cm of suplexing fury that is out there wrestling intergalactic punks in space so that he can earn his passage home, which sounds like a way better plot than the last Star Wars film.  He was produced by Dead Hand Toys and can only be obtained by emailing rultron@gmail.com.

Designer Con Exclusive Resin Shard Dunnys from Scott Tolleson

    These beautiful resin three inch Shard Dunnys from Scott Tolleson are known as the Pain edition because that's what you'll feel deep in your guts if you don't get one.  You'll probably have a few leading up to their release at Designer Con as you fear having to live the rest of your life without one.  That's right, these are candy slick and exclusive to Scott's booth at the upcoming super sized edition of Designer Con in California next month.  As much as I would love to be there I am unable to make it, and seeing these has kind of brought that reality home.  Great, now I'm in a spiral of depression.

    Just kidding, I came to terms with it a while back, but if you're one of those lucky folks that IS going and who I'm still mildly jealous of, then you better high tail it to booth # 2005.  Scott only made 100 of these and at $60 each they won't last long.


    But wait...there's more.

    There's also this insane looking five inch Shard Dunny!!!!   This one is known as the Panic edition, because that's what people will feel as the doors open to the convention and they have to run likes it's a high school gym class to get to them.  I only run if someone is chasing me, and even then they better be armed with a weapon or a warrant, but I would make an exception for one of these.  They are limited to 80 pieces and will cost ya $150.  Make sure you're wearing comfortable shoes and don't mind being seen panting heavily in the company of others.  

Self Conscious: The Confidence Boosting Plush Kickstarter from Taylored Curiosities

    Is there a more unique designer toy creator out there than Taylored Curiosities?  Not only does she release some of the most original plush and resin designs you will see, but she genuinely cares about all of our well being.  That's a big change for me, because most of the people I meet in the course of my work day seem hell bent on cremating any good feelings I have left.  When you work with the public it will erode you worse than a beach during hurricane season. Especially when it involves money, because then people are much quicker to go from zero to crazy. But Taylored Curiosities is here to repair the daily damage that can occur to your emotional barricade through my favorite medium: collectibles.  More people should follow her example and should bring some of that to New Jersey.  Maybe once they decriminalize marijuana use it will calm a lot of these folks right down.

    There is a Kickstarter campaign running right now to help bring this plush to life.  Check it out at this link and through your donation you can be part of the process of spreading something positive in the world.  God knows we can all use it.  

Undead Greasebat Set from Jeff Lamm x Monster Worship

  Are you prepared to not only have an instant Jeff Lamm collection but to have all of your Halloween decorating needs met?  Of course you are, because everyone loves a bundle deal.  Remember when you used to buy CDs or DVDs and they would come with something cool like a figure or a t-shirt but only certain places would have them and you got so excited on release day that you were first in line at the store to make sure you didn't miss out?  Sadly, those days are mostly behind us, but this set from Monster Worship is helping me relive them a bit.

   Each set contains a mini Grease Bat, a micro Grease Bat, and a killer paper jointed decoration of a Grease Bat Skeleton.  They are extremely limited and at only $70 they probably won't last long.  If you just want the decoration there will be a few of those available for only $10 each, which again means they probably won't last long.  Get em all this Friday, October 19th from www.monsterworship.com.

The Nordic Lucky Cat Has Been Unleashed!

    The time has come.  The gates of Asgard have opened and the felines are running amok all through Midgard.  Wrangle one now at thetoyviking.bigcartel.com.  

The Nordic Lucky Cat Debuts Tomorrow!!

  The day is nearly here, as in tomorrow, when the first horde of Nordic Lucky Cats becomes available.  I've wanted for a long time to make this a reality and can barely believe myself that soon you will be able to add these to your collections.  The figure itself was inspired by the two cats from Norse mythology that pulled Freyja's chariot through the nine worlds.  Not much is mentioned about them in the Sagas, so I took it upon myself to expand upon their story.  It's easy to be inspired by cats when you have five of them roaming around your house.

   Each figure stands 4 inches tall, is made of solid resin, and is presented in DIY White, which is perfect for anyone that wishes to paint them (or leave them as is, for they shine as bright as a fresh Norweigian snow fall).  This is an open edition release, meaning that periodically I will make these available for anyone who wants them.  Super limited editions in a host of styles will follow, all produced by resin wizard Renone.

Retailing for $40 plus shipping, they can only be found at thetoyviking.bigcartel.com.