Custom-mania....

I found this sitting in my inbox this morning. Its a new custom by Slobot, and thought it was well worthy of a blog post! Go check out Mikes site:

http://www.slobots.com

New Formula Werks x MAD...

New T-shirts and Caps designed by mad, are available from Formula Werks. They are called the "Big Money Hustle" Series and there are three matching colour tees for each hat. Every order comes with a free sticker pack, a free button pack and free shipping. Orders ove $100 get a free bonus Tee.. Go get them now!!


www.scumbagnation.com

New KAWS collab

KAWS is at it again, this time collaborating with Chinese artist Yue Min Jun for this new vinyl figure that combines the Accomplice and Companion elements. One slight hitch is that it can only be purchased as part of a set that retails at around $10k. Whole lotta cash but then it is KAWS and it's going to be up being a grail for collectors given its rarity - looks as if there's only 100 sets being produced.

This piece is being shown at Taiwan’s gallery space Museum of Tomorrow (MOT) as part of a new show "Art for the Masses" - which assume given the price tags is either ironic, dumb or being lost in translation.

Oakley Design Brief

This competition was brought to my attention the other day by Clutter K, and rather than keeping it to myself i thought i should really spread the word. Simply put you can win the chance to be the UK addition to the Oakley Illustrator series, putting you up alongside the likes of The London Police and Frank Kozik.

Go here to download the brief. And here here to visit the very cool people running the comp! I'll certainly be putting in an entry, so really i shoulda not said anything and kept this competition to myself. D'oh!

Who ya gonna call?

Finally found some decent pics of the Medicom Toy 2008 Expo and after sifting through a lot of crap and I mean a lot - Futura Lab 'bricks that must have taken 2 seconds to 'design', KISS ripp offs (enough now...if we can't get the Teddy Troops we don't want to know!) and Care Bears (yes mofoing Care Bears!) - there were a couple of things that caught my eye.


First up - Ghostbuster Kubricks! Not sure if this is a one-off set or the start of a series as there's no Janine, Walter Peck, Louis or Gozer. But i'm loving the Peter Venkman and Egon Spengler pieces, quite apart from the superb logo and Mr Stay Puft. Slimer looks a bit weird. The "Why so Serious" Batman TDK 400% Bearbrick has a nice evil look to it altough I bet it comes in a dman two pack cos I only have space for the smaller one!

Ronzo's Disstopia @ StolenSpace

Got my arse down to StolenSpace at the weekend to check out their new show "Disstopia" by London-based artist Ronzo. I'd come across his graffiti a fair few times but was honestly blown away by the effort and imagination put into this show. From canvases and prints, to polystone gargoyles and doodles on paper.


Quite apart from the canvases that were massive, featuring all manner of weird and wonderful characters that inhabit a strange post-apocalyptic London, his 3-d boxed 'canvases' stole the show. As seen in the pics below these weren't small pieces so obviously took a lot of work. They each had comedic elements...the alien in Soho with three breasts a la Total Recall, the cockroaches doing graffiti, the submarine crashed through Centrepoint tower and the Gherkin broken into little pieces. Better still the layering of buildings, planes, trains, shop front and characters gave all 3 pieces a real atmosphere while also retaining an element of fun.

More pics from the show here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoff_w/sets/72157605732027938/

Raiders of the Lost Scar

Pilfered this pic from Toysrevil and thought i should blog it. This has gotta be my least favourite vinyl from Medicom possibly ever. His face is scarily shiny (looks like Kryton - says Maz) and more importantly is missing the scar on his chin! a fatal error if we're asked to believe it looks anything like Harrison Ford - also important cos the scar is explained in the films as River Phoenix tries out the the whip in The Last Crusade.

Dr Romanelli Be@rbrick

Not really a huge Bearbrick fan but occassionally they create something that's very eye catching - generally in 400%. This beauty is by Dr. Romanelli (signature bandaid on the head) was peeped over on the Toybeast site. Like the Andre and Ron English designs this will drop in both the 100% and 400% size. What's so nice about this is the transparent body and the anatomy printing. This is scheduled for release in October and is likely to be a big seller.

Grey BxH King Kun

Holy mother of Jarvis! As if the black Kun wasn't rockin' now there's a Grey version coming riffing off the classic King Ken colour. Hmmm...decisions, decisions....get both or not?!!??

Betso's BetXO

It's about damn time someone gave Betso his own toys - Bill's been killing customs for years now and finally his world is coming to life in this BetXO mini-fig series. These stackable beauties are being made by BIC Plastics and will come as a blind-boxed series.


Coming in at around 2" each these pieces remind me of older Sony Vanimal pieces and harking back to the quality vending machine pieces they did. There are 12 characters in all - 6 on top, 6 down below. But just to make things a lil more interesting each box contains one of the top and one of the bottom animals...making this a bit of a completists nightmare. Still, you can go old school and swapsies them just like Panini football stickers!!

Fred the Carrot

I love carrots. So a plush carrot is always going to be a winner. A plush carrot with a 'tache is even better. El Maz's Fred the One-Eyed Carrot debuted at Gallery 1988 SF group show "Everyone In Together" on Friday night. Frederick J. Carrotson the Fourth - his official name - is an addition of just 3 pieces individually numbered & handmade 13" plushes. Check the Gallery 1988 site for more details of the show and Fred!

RIP George Carlin

Another great comedian dies and yet Jim Davidson still lives....where's the justice huh? I loved Carlin in Kevin Smith's films esp Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back and of course Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. Then there's his brilliant insight on life and language immortalised in his "Seven Words You Can Never Say On TV" routine.

McFly Hyperdunks

Ok not quite the proper McFly nikes from Back to the Future II but they're pretty damn nice. Much nicer than the red and gold affair that look like they've just been jacked from Iron Man.

And way way better than the ones Kobe was wearing when he failed miserably to set the NBA finals alight wearin em (especially when they got tanked by 39pts in the last game against the Celtics! mwahahaha!!)

via Hypebeast

Broken Hearts and Stolen Souls

We had the pleasure of spending time with Brent during NYC Comic Con and he is one of the sweetest and most taletned people you could wish to meet. His current show is ongoing at Myplasticheart but thought it was worth blogging some of the stunning customs he did for it. He's gone well beyond just painting on some of these pieces, instead Brent's created entirely new characters loosely based on existing production pieces such as this Zlik.

"Dark Awakening" which sounds like a spell you'd cast in Final Fantasy is a 10" Teddy Troop showcasing Brent's super tight lines and usual colour palatte of purple, blue and lighter yellow/gold highlights. Yummy.

Then there's "Freeloaders" based on Brandt Peters' Slaphappy but with added extras and "Pooch". Now this one took me a while to look at then it hit me that it's based on Ledebetter's Ringo Bear! You can see more of his creations and buy up remaining pieces on the MPH site: http://www.myplasticheart.com/c/0000BROKENH/Broken+Hearts+and+Stolen+Souls.html

New INSA piece

Actually a few weeks old now but I totally forgot to blog it (again!). The old tube train he did has been painted over for some reason, although the piece that covered it was so poor they've decided to let someone else do it now. So this piece sits on the building nearby - really like the bold colours and how it brightens up the entire space. Shame it's on the side of a 'massage' parlour!

You can view the full size picture here: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3259/2581610620_3f2ec4ae57_b.jpg

Heart & Sole

Not blogged anything in a while so this one's for Maz. Nike have got together with Alkaline Trio to produce these babies!! Not SB's unfortunately but 6.0's none the less, very comfy. Limited numbers available on June 27th and full release on July 11th, just to coincide with that day your queueing up for an iPhone :P

Oh and the box they come in ain't bad either.

Loki V'S FWY

Loki 0 - FWY 1

STRANGEco Goodies....

This week we recieved a parcel of love from STRANGEco. We just love the Wish come true mini series from Friends with you. "Weebles Wobble but they don't fall down". They truely do make you play with them, they are fab desk toys! They rattle, wobble and are bright colours! What more you could ask for from the dreamy duo?

Also in the parcel were the Somewhere plush, designed by Goran Lelas for MoMA. They are really soft and cudlly, but are made out of a strange towling material. I guess thats because they are aimed at kids so meant to be tactile.

Thanks guys!! http://www.strangeco.com/

Mini Thunderdog style...

So i just stole this from over on Thunderdog’s blog , and thought it was pretty sweet. In fact when i get my mini/Porsche I want the Thunderdog treatment on it (hope your listening tris ;)

Anyway the Thunderdog crew customised a Mini Cooper with a reflective vinyl, which means that its literally glows in the dark! How rad is that. The car was pimped for Matt Farah of the New York Motor Club for his on line auto show, GARAGE 419.

Dunny Series 5

Bit of a leak here from an interview with Paul Budnitz on Behance magazine: http://www.behancemag.com/Paul-Budnitz-of-Kidrobot-Concept-becomes-Culture/5719. So here's a look at 4 designs incoming for Series 5 - the far left is obviously Reach (KR's new favourite artist?!?), then what looks like Junko Mizuno, Sneaky Raccoon (vector seen on her Flickr months ago!) and errr....someone else lol!


I'm not a Dunny collector so i'll enjoy wathcing the hype build like crazy and people moaning on various forums about how they've mixed cases up etc etc. That said, I do want the Reach one to go with my Teddy Troop.

EDIT - by Maz
Oh oh oh i wonder who else is in this series?? I wonder.... any ideas?????? hmmmmmm.....

Bootleg Liberty's...

I meant to blog this last week when i received an email from Eric, but i forgot! Bad Maz again!! Anyway it seems that some bootleg Liberty's have been popping up on eBay, and i really don't want anyone to be disappointed if they go for the wrong one. So here is a pic comparison just so you can check before you 'buy it now'.

Keep an eye on Eric Scarecrow's blog http://erickscarecrow.blogspot.com/ for more info.

Stainless steel Be@rbrick

It's the ultimate kitchen accessory for toy/art fans...a 400% stainless steel Bearbrick from Medicom! Weighing in at a hefty 13.5kg this is a real piece of craftsmanship, with the original 400% dimensions having to be changed to take account of the extra material's weight and the joints all re-worked to ensure it held together.

This piece is debuting at the Medicom Toy 2008 Exhibition in Tokyo. Apparently 3 are available to purchase but no cost has been mentioned. Mind you, even if it was vaguely reasonable, the shipping costs will be a killer.

Noferin "Everyone Together" @ Gallery1988

I loves me a bit of Noferin and their latest show starts this weekend at LA's Gallery1988. Titled "Everyone Together" it continues Candy and Nicho's usual style but with a nice evolution of landscapes, characters and colour palette. It's also an opportunity to see the Pecan, Pandacake and Fanelli handmade wooden toys, which are stunning.

Pandacake:

Fanelli:

Download Festival 2008....

On Sunday Kirsty and myself took a trip to Donnington park for the Download Festival, to hang with Coheed and Cambria (Thanks for an awesome time guys, you guys rocked it as usual!!). We had so much fun! We got to catch up with friends and also meet some new, fab people.
Whilst we were there we spotted this life sized coarse toys figure on the Vans stand, drawing in the crowds. He seemed to be holding up well.... Obviously he hadn't spotted this yet....

Jager rocking our world.... as per usual.

And what every good rock festival needs, Stormtroopers and Tuscan raiders. To keep the crowds in line of course!

More photos on flickr