World Hobby Festival 2006 Gallery from Kaiju Taro

Those crazy guys at Kaiju-Taro returned recently from WHF 2006 which I think stands for World Hobby Festival, but I could be wrong. If so, i'm sure someone will correct me. Looks like some good stuff was at hand. Wish I could have been there to pick up some of the goodies. Pictures courtesy of Kaiju-Taro. Unfortunately, any of the toys that KT did get in sold out very, very quickly. But click on the link, browse around, there is plenty of cool toys to buy. Bookmark the site and go back everyday to see if something new and fresh has arrived!



New RealxHead Bigaros Colorway! I like it!


whoa...talk about slightly controversial! Ultraman on the Cross! Maybe Ultraman is the real Son of God! What would that make Mark Nagata?


More Skull Toys. I want some more colorways of those mini's!!


EXOHEAD's New Figure Due out in 2007. Some kind of Skeleton Lobster guy. I'll probably buy it just cause it's EXOHEAD, but not quite sure what to make of it right now


Re-release of a couple of favorite TTToys Grus in Pink and Blue!! Yay!!!


New Marmit Target Earth figure. I like the clear vinyl!!


New Figures from TTToys. Lil Carrot I think?




Real x Head x Ichibanboshi collaboration. Proto on the left. NFS. Clear black with pleather eye patch available, but pricey on YJA now. Very cool. More colorways!!


More Real x Head. Mimeko Cyclops Cat you see in every Sushi joint. Hybiki Flavored Chaos




And finally, here's how they distributed all 1,000 of those damn Gachamon mini figures that I still don't have in my possession!! Supposedly sold out within a few minutes...

How to Create a Platform Toy

Canadian Artist Ted Stilson has done what many of us only dream of doing: getting his own toy designed and manufactured. What started out as a whim and a few handfuls of Sculpey Bricks has become one of the latest platform toys with a loyal artistic following and an upcoming show planned. "Moody" which is part cow and part demon is the brainchild of Stilson and an inspiration for all of us who want to make toys or at least all of us who want to have 500 toys made and then try to convince a bunch of artists to doodle on them! So far, the reception from a motley group of international artists looks pretty good including our friends Dr. Bao from the legendary Canadian Duo, NVC Crew as well as Japanese Paper Toy Master Shin Tanaka- both of which have graced the pages of toybot studios. I encourage you to check out his site and read the story for yourself as well as check out all the other Moody Customs. An except is below:

Shin Tanaka


This is where the whole thing really got crazy. Yipes! … I was now communicating with a person half way around the world, who was assuring me that they would be able to produce 500 of my toys. This was substantially more toys than I needed for my art toy project, however it was the smallest production run they would do. He also assured me that his company had a great team of technicians that could figure out how best to make sure my toy had professionally constructed articulation points. Brilliant stuff! My extremely patient and supportive wife provided me with a gentle nudge and the rest is, well, not quite, history. Moody was born after 7 months of sweat, tears and much labor. Created in Canada … built in China. Ah, success … one little idea implemented!

An for an extra special treat: how about a movie showing the creation of a Moody!!!



Monkey Goat Moody by Jenn Rourke and Jeff Orriss


Sweet Art Moody by Erin and Kelly Carty


Moo-HaHa Moody by Attila Adorjany


DKR


Chris Ryniak

Dr. Bao and NVC Crew Slay It with Custom Afro Samurai!!!

Dr. Bao and Spive of the now legendary NVC Crew absolutely kill it with this custom Dunny of Afro Samurai which is based on a new anime coming out on Spike TV produced and voiced by Samuel L. Jackson!!! How dope is this anime going to be? Check out this trailer:



Want more? Go to the official Afro Samurai site and check out video of the first fight where we witness the seeds of revenge being planted in young Afro's big head...

Dr. Bao dropped me another kind note detailing the creation of their latest custom. Will someone please get these guys a solo art show? I would like to see all of their work in one place at the same time! Don't you think it's about time? C'mon! Dr. Bao and Spive continue to outshine themselves on each new custom project! Check out the details, check out the environment!! This is probably one of my favorite NVC Crew customs...



The Afro Samurai project started when I was in a library store looking for buying a magazine and I fall on this mag with the Afro Samurai on the cover.....I take a look at it.....and I was like....hey we have absolutely do this project....

It simply have all the elements that we like....First the warrior concept.....It's something that we always like since Spive and myself been into Chinese contempory Wushu and tradional kung0fu before that for now almost 8 years...so it's simply normal for us to like anything related to martial arts and warriors. Next....we're just big fans of Wu Tang Clan......and the guy behind the soundtrack of this animation will be RZA himself.....so it's obvious that it inspires even more!!!! So after bringing Shaolin vs Wu Tang earlier this year......now comes the afro Samurai!!!

Next thing was that hey....it's not any samurai....it's the Afro Samurai!!!!!! I'm just a big fan of funk and you know these back in the days guy with big afro....so I'm like.....ohhhhhhh now we have something to work on!!!



So everything was there to make us very inspired to start this thing.....The only thing was to find the time to do before someone else is doing it......So I was suppose to take a break after the Gwin SAGA project....but the day after we send the Gwin to Octobertoys, we start the Afro Samurai project!!!

This custom wasn't easy since there's some elements that was very hard to realize....first thing was the face of the character...I just want to sculpt it because I think there's some very nice lines in the face of the character thatgives him personnality...So I was like...I have to sculpt this thing and not only painting....Sculpting just give 10000% more depth and is much more fun to look when you look the character in all the angles. Challenge was to make this face on a 2'' Dunny!!!!! Man I was just so desperate.....so no one saw a black an in the face except Spive at the beginning!!!



The afro was hard to make too since the way he is draw by the author...it always looks like if he has wind in his head waving some of his hair.......it's just the same thing for his samurai headband. The other challenge was to find a balance point so he doesn't fall in front since all the weight is in front!!!!

This custom doesn't have lots of details...it's more big details that gives the character it's personnality and that's what we tried to reproduce. We just want to give him a stylish look with lots of attitude!!!

Super 7 x Cronic Dorogami

I'm a big fan of CRONIC so when I saw that Isaac over at Super 7 collaborated on this exclusive clear Orange and Black spray CRONIC Dorogami, I was pretty excited. Man, those S7 guys really like that Orange and Black!! Also good news that Josh from the store is doing the header card!!

SUPER7 x CRONIC
DOROGAMI

On Saturday, December 30th, Super7 will release an exclusive version of DOROGAMI, a original character from Cronic Toys. This pollution beast has 3 diamond eyes, 2 mouths , stands over 3 inches tall and is made in clear orange vinyl with black and silver spray.

DOROGAMI will be released on Saturday at 11:00 am PST when the Super7 store opens. Those in attendance will be the first to buy, after that, the figures will be available for phone and web orders. $40 per figure.

Check out some of the other CRONIC Dorogami colorways!!

Kustom Kaiju from Redhanded, Austin TX

Got a glimpse of these amazing custom kaiju Gomess, Baragon and Goro from Redhanded out of Austin, TX and thought they make some pretty fine eye candy!!! I'm asking him to do a custom Gargamel Fight Figure for me as well. Loving that blue/silver colorway on that Goro. I already have the Gargamel figure picked out!! Yeah, this is gonna be sweet!

I asked Redhanded a bit about his Kaiju customizing:

I have only begun painting toys this last spring, I have largely been doing vinyl and resin garage kits of Japanese monsters over the past 10 years. Started collecting the toys about 6 years ago when I feel for a marmit Baragon after seeing a grainy copy of my favorite childhood film Frankenstein vs Baragon. After that it was a marusan Flying Gamera then I knew I was hooked. As for painting toys, I enjoy doing colorways that have not been done and have a high contrast. I uses various airbrush paints and acryllics for the paint brush work.

wow! Great stuff! I look forward to more custom toys out of the great state of Texas!!

Konami Busou Shinki Action Figure Chicks!!!

I thought I was fairly on top of this Japanese toy shit. I know I had seen these crazy mecha chick action figures called Busou Shinki in a Japanese Hobby magazine somewhere. Not only did they slip past me last September, Konami apparently even has some kind of Online Game where you can personalize your 3D figure and take her to battle online!

From Hobby Link Japan: The result of the perfect collaboration between Konami and action figure designer Asai Maki, "Busou Shinki" is not only an amazingly cool new toy line, but also an online battle game! The action figures in this series feature MMS (Multi Moveable System), a new joint design that allows for a wide range of realistic movements and poses.

Bunny Type Armor Kit:





Devil Type



Angel Type:



Lady Samurai Type:



Lady Knight Type:



Santa Clause Type:



Custom Gundam Type?



Custom Crossbone Type?



Fort Bragg Type Armor Kit:



Hopefully this Mecha Airplane Armor Kit will get developed:



For a ton more pictures of these really cool and admittedly cute Bosou Shinki figures, goto this post on Robot Japan

Happy Holidays!!!!

One of the coolest guys I met at San Diego Comic Con this past July is John Lacko. Not only down to earth, but scary talented if you check out his illustrations. Keep an eye on him cause he's doing big things and before you know it, we will all be buying toys and t-shirts and shit from him! He sent me this Christmas card and since i'm a lazy bastard, i'm gonna share it with you (since the design is so rad) to wish you happy holidays too!

New Black and 80's Fluorescent Kaws Dissected

Check out the latest Kaws Dissected to be released this Saturday, December 23rd. I haven't really been into this toy in the other variants, but this particular colorway is so damn cool, I might have to get it. Expect them to be around $450 or more on Yahoo! Japan Auctions.