Weekend Adventure Isobelle Pascha from Underverse

 

    I like to watch Project Runway because I have an unhealthy obsession with reality competition shows. I also like fashion, which not many people would guess because I only wear twenty year old heavy metal shirts and jeans. I don't necessarily like it for myself, but I like weird avant garde costume-y stuff like Alexander McQueen used to make, which is more along the lines of wearable art. Now back to Project Runway, one of my favorite parts of the show is when the designers explain who they invasion as the wearer of their garments. They often go into these elaborate explanations along the lines of "my girl is on her way to the grocery store to dispute the amount she was charged for a family sized frozen lasagna that was supposed to be on sale but rang up full price and she knows it won't taste the same until this injustice has been rectified". That's a lot of explanation for a pencil skirt, Jean Paul, but go on I guess.

    Isobelle Pascha is going on a weekend adventure and is looking mighty fierce. She's serving up looks in her skinny jeans and t-shirt that could take her from shopping for vintage finds at the flea market to brunch with her beastie. Underverse will be offering this woman on the go for preorder begining Friday, September 16th for $165, which includes world-wide shipping. She'll be available exclusively from https://underverse.com/.

Trash Kitties Series 2 from 100% Soft

  

     It's fitting that my first actual product post from my hiatus be about cats, and even more fitting it be about finding cats hanging around garbage. Sharon and I found our cat Wednesday when we were taking the trash out. Just as we go to toss the bag in out pops this little fluffy kitten from the adjacent storm drain who made a noise like Windows 95 starting up. She was so cute and without even having to discuss it I reached down, scooped her up, and we brought her in. She was all about inside life and has never made any attempt to go back outside; and she also never got any bigger, so we have no idea whether she was an actual kitten or not when we found her. 

     The strange thing too is that she has long hair and somehow managed to come out of a storm drain not covered in ick. She was completely clean, emerging like Gandalf the White from what I would have to imagine is the third filthiest place in our entire town (moving up from fourth after they closed a sketchy gentleman's club called Volcanic Eruptions that was in the same parking lot as Chuck E. Cheeses and featured competing lunch specials). 

Respect the blep 

    There are easier ways to get your own kitties that don't even require the need for an updated tetanus shot. 100% Soft has just released series 2 of thier blind boxed Trash Kitties and these mini figures come with all the cuteness of real kitties without all the responsibility. What's that, you missed out on series 1 and feel unable to move onto series 2 without starting at the begining? No worries, cause those have been restocked too. And there are special metallic chase figures to add some excitement into the mix as if there already wasn't an abundance of excitement to begin with. 

   Get em now at https://100soft.shop/.

I'm Back, Baby, or Something.

     

   A lot has happened since I stopped writing about toys. The economy has collapsed, an entire war broke out, and a trove of classified documents went missing at a golf course. At best my absence can be blamed for maybe two of those, but things have certainly been bleak. 

   In all seriousness, stepping away from writing about toys was exactly what I needed to do at the time. The majority of releases really shifted away from the type of things I was interested in design wise, and I felt like I was on a never ending cycle of helping others while neglecting my own creativity. I was the guy who could boost everyone but himself. What I've found in the months since is that a big part of my creativity, especially when it comes to my writing, needs to be worked out within some type of structure. This blog was like a prompt from a creative writing class or a daily drawing challenge that forces you to think about things you may not normally and thus kicking your muse into high gear when she may rather be taking a nap. That little voice needs constant attention or she will literally snore her way through life, only getting up to use the bathroom or check her email.

     So with that being said, this blog wasn't holding me back from living my own dreams at all, but it was actually getting my brain working in ways that was supporting my other endeavors in ways I didn't see at the time. Wow, this almost sounds like personal growth, or one of those other mentally healthy things people talk about. Yuck. Anyway, I'm back in the game, and ready for your emails about new releases. 

Exclusive Aurora Nordic Lucky Cat for Stranger Factory

     Ya'll still collect toys? I've been a little out of the mix recently working in the digital realm, so I figured it was time to make something again that you can actually hold in your hand or throw at your annoying neighbor when they keep parking in the spot you pay for. Hope that crack in your windshield is worth not having to walk ten extra feet to your house, Carl.

    This is known as the Aurora edition. It is an exclusive to Stranger Factory's group show "Toymakers of Planet Earth" V that opens next Saturday, June 4th, in New Mexico. Now if you don't happen to live in that part of the world fear not, because the remainder of the figures will show up on www.strangerfactory.com  June 6th. They are made with UV reactive resin so they glow like crazy under a black light. These are limited to 20 pieces, come in a hand stamped muslin bag, and have been expertly produced by resin warlock Dubose Art.

A Time for Change

  

The Death of Baldur

.  I announced it on my Facebook page but it's probably good to put here as well. I am no longer writing about designer toy releases. Lots of reasons have led to this decision, but the main reason is I want to focus on different things. I've spent years elevating the ideas and dreams of other people with not enough emphasis on my own work. 

    So with that being said this website will now center around the various projects I have while continuing the tradition in being as ridiculous as possible. I hope you'll stick around and see what's next.... which leads me right into NFTs.

    NFTs are the most polarizing thing in the art world right now. Digital artists love them because it gives us an ability to monetize our work in a way that was previously unavailable, including collecting royalties on resales. Collector's like them because you can own an image without physical space requirements, an expensive bill from a framer, and they don't have to hide their questionable taste when their parents come to visit. Other people hate them be abuse they don't see the point, or have concerns about the environmental impact (while posting videos of themselves lip synching to bad pop music that consume just as a much energy, but whatever) or thinking they're some sort of pyramid scheme. New things are often scary, like that mobile colonoscopy van that just opened up behind the Wal-Mart, but that's no reason to not investigate them thoroughly and see how they fit into your life. The NFTs, not the van, as Creepy Dave is obviously not a doctor. 

   I myself have decided to jump into the world of NFTs with my own collection that I've slowly been releasing on the Tezos blockchain. I didnt want to become involved unless I had something to add to what is already a crowded and confusing space and I feel like I have that.  Utilizing my Nordic Lucky Cat and combining it with computer generated art, I have created a series based on stories from the Poetic Edda. I feed lines or sometimes just names into an artificial intelligence program and it interprets what these mean. Then I use magic, and Procreate, to combine the images and create something new. I've kept everything very affordable to just a couple of bucks per image so that anyone who wants one can easily obtain them.  It's an entirely new way to envision the stories of Norse Mythology and I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do making them.  This is just the beginning and there will be a lot of real world art to come as well.  Here's where you can get the NFTs:

https://objkt.com/profile/thetoyviking/created

“A Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes” from Cat Atomic

    

   We've all been there: whacked out of our gourds on the Devil's lettuce, missing the majority of our clothing, and desperately trying to find the parents of a random stink bug that wandered into our hotel room. Unless you've never been a grown man in his underwear that just wanted to reunite worried insect parents with their son. Cause me neither; not every story is about me, weirdos.  

   Cat Atomic is channeling some Bill Graham Presents vibes with his groovy new resin figure entitled “A Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes”.  Something tells me she's having one of those spiritual awakenings that all the kids are talking about where they take psychedelics in the jungle and then vomit everywhere until God shows up in is like "seriously dude." She seems like she's at least at the good part right now though, where you can hear colors and your brain climbs down from your ear and asks to borrow the car for a quick trip to the store.  

    This resin beauty may be blue but she sure ain't sad and she can trip the light fantastic straight into your collection when she goes on sale this Friday, March 4th at 3pm eastern time.  Limited to 15 pieces, each one will retail for $350 and be available exclusively from http://www.catatomic.bigcartel.com/.  

Death Gnasher from Miscreation Toys

  

   I'm not sure if all couples do this, but I like to play a game with my wife I call "Would You Still Love Me If..." where I come up with the most outlandish things that could happen to me and then ask if she could live with it. It's nothing bad like voting republican, or listening to an entire U2 album, just harmless stuff like if for some crazy reason I woke up and had a golden retriever as an arm. You know, the basic things you worry about. My favorite though is what if I all of a sudden had no lips. Just a big, toothy forever grin that I can't explain. Then I pull my lips back as far as I can and try to get her to kiss me so she can work through any anxiety it may give her, which is usually the point she stops speaking to me. Not really sure why I'm the bad guy, but that's how it goes.

    Miscreation Toys has a brand new figure called Death Gnasher, who just so happens to be faced with the very lack of lips scenario I just described. Admittedly he has a few other issues that may prevent him from a happy marriage, like the exposed organs thing.  This ten inch tall horror show is going to be available begining this Saturday, January 29 at 3pm est and will come in two different versions.  There will be an unpainted flesh colored vinyl (limited to 25 pieces) for $155, and a Miscreated painted version (limited to 15 pieces) for $249.  They can be purchased by visiting https://www.miscreationtoys.net/.