ToyCyte sale!
We've slashed our prices for a lot of our toys to make room for more customs! Go get some amazing deals today at our store !
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In April of 2008, I’d come to an impasse on my screenplay and was regarding even the words I’d written on my grocery list as being poorly formed. I was still logging keystrokes on the computer daily, but a significant number of them were going to buying toys on eBay. Then fate intervened in the [...]
Continue reading...Monday, June 8, 2009
You know that slice of trivia about how Usher finds it soothing to sort his M&Ms by color before a show? Yeah? Really? You do? Stay with me, I’m going to loop back to that. Toward the beginning of my time at ToyCyte, I was writing about Jon Burgerman A LOT. A toy here, a [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, May 13, 2009
The Felt Mistress has been on my radar since she collaborated with Jon Burgerman on three great plushes for his 2008 Because I Can’t Sit Still show. When I went digging around in her Flickr sets, I discovered that she also, in collaboration with illustrator Jonathan Edwards, sews up a series of plush kaiju. The [...]
Continue reading...Monday, April 27, 2009
Over the last few years, UK artist Cris Rose has been creating and painting vinyl toys. For the past year, we've been chronicling his output. Cris keeps us busy with weekend and surprise toy drops and traveling around to shows to see his customs. 2008 witnessed the rise of Runcible and Rotund, Cris' original resin figures. 2009 promises more. Now if you've been reading ToyCyte or following Cris on twitter, you're no stranger to the fact that Cris' work tends to get snatched up in under 60 seconds. His retro-futuristic style has found fans in all kinds of art and toy collectors; this journalist included. I'm particularly excited to present Cris' first glow-in-the-dark Radioactive Rotund. We've got four of 'em: one to give away on custoMONDAY and three, which will be available tonight at the ToyCyte store. The orange custoMONDAY edition has a unique head content; the other three are green, khaki and grey with the same head contents (but different size heads). Each piece is a one-off with unique damage, rust, moss and GID box. You can read his tweets, browse his Flickr and shop his store for other sweet pieces, but this is the only place to find Radioactive Rotund.
Continue reading...Thursday, April 23, 2009
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One of my personal favorite (and lovably local) adhesive art companies, Infectious, has just come out with new designs by Jon Burgerman and Buff Monster. I’ve already got Jon’s Lunar Park Infectious car art (so look out for a Honda Civic all temporary tatted up), but now we can also ensconce our smaller gadgets with [...]
Continue reading...Monday, April 20, 2009
In 2008, two of my favorite artists released awesome art books. If you don’t have them yet, pick up Alex Pardee’s Awful Homesick and Jon Burgerman’s Pens Are My Friends. 2009 is already looking like a good year for art books with news of Bwana Spoons’ first tome, Welcome to Forest Island. The hard-cover book [...]
Continue reading...Friday, April 17, 2009
It is really rare for a person to get to mix work with pleasure, and I've had the opportunity to do that for the past year. Between April 2008 and April 2009, I saw great art, met cool people, increased my toy collection tenfold and wrote over 1800 posts. I hope you've liked reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Here's a quick rundown of some of my favorite stories and "greatest hits." This little trip down memory lane includes pirates, Huck Gee, Alex Pardee, Obama, feces and farting. Cheers to Year 2!
Continue reading...Friday, April 17, 2009
It’s nice to have talented friends, and it’s even nicer to use artistic output as a medium to raise money for people who need it. Kidrobot’s Toy Baroness, Nichole, tasked 30 friends with transforming Munnys into clothes, books and bikes for the children of Cambodia. No, not literally (although Sket One did turn vinyl into [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, April 16, 2009
It’s another beautiful day in the Bay, but it’s raining at Kidrobot.com. So while I can’t trot down to the KR store on Haight and get one today, I did just order one of Jon Burgerman’s Rainy Day Dunnys online. Yes, I bought a Dunny. Sue me. I’m a serious Burgerfan. My hands are tied. [...]
Continue reading...Friday, April 10, 2009
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Kidrobot is taking a queue from our toy-selling friends overseas with this Rainy Day Dunny. The figure, a new blue version of Jon Burgerman‘s contribution to the Ye Olde English UK Dunny Series, will be available at Kidrobot stores (and online) starting April 16th on rainy days. The face is the same as the earlier [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, March 26, 2009
Admittedly, the title is a little vague. Jon Burgerman is not DJing, nor is he making a new vinyl figure (that I know of). But the Jon Burgerman x Jim Avignon collaborations keep coming. This round, Jon and Jim painted some records for a group show at MondoPop called Vinyl Factory. More info about the [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, March 26, 2009
On Monday, we began a conversation about blind box toys, and we started at the source: the toy companies. Kidrobot and MINDstyle both said that their fans enjoy the blind box experience. On Tuesday, we talked to the fans and reaction was split: with casual fans liking the fun experience and serious collectors experiencing the blind frustration. Wednesday’s topic was toy stores--largely in favor of blind boxes, but also presenting alternatives. That got me wondering: Do toy artists enjoy the blind box experience? Here are Doktor A, Joe Ledbetter, David Horvath, Jon Burgerman, MCA, Huck Gee, Sket One and Buff Monster (who have over 20 blind box series between them) on the topic.
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 25, 2009
All this week, ToyCyte has been having a conversation about blind box toys: Are they a marketing strategy or a fun experience? As designer toys travel from toy company to toy fan, they pass through a middleman: the toy retailer. In this segment of our report, we’ll hear from the proprietors of our favorite toy stores. Toy retailers are an eloquent and gregarious bunch who are also collectors and members of our community. Rotofugi, Ningyoushi, Toy Tokyo, Shoparooni, Red Hot Robot, Lulubell Toy Bodega, Wizard Sleeve Toys and hometown heroes, The Sausalito Ferry Company all gave their two cents (sometimes more) for the story.
Continue reading...Friday, March 6, 2009
Not all blind-box series are created equal, and Artoyz Elements Alpha Series stands out among the pack for its unique platform, roster of talented artists, how each artist has used the platform and the way the company is distributing the series with both collectors and casual fans in mind. You already know that the set of 20 figures includes: SKWAK, Steph Cop, RUN, Pulco Mayo, Koralie, KOA, Grems, Flying Fortress, Jon Burgerman, ARTIZARNAL, Superdeux, NYNO, MIST, iLK, YOKAIKAI, Nathan Jurevicius, GREGOS (in 3D!) and Supakitch. Now, Artoyz has now revealed that the rare figures are...
Continue reading...Wednesday, March 4, 2009
I'm really happy with the way Artoyz decided to distribute this series. They agreed that it's unfair to expect collectors to buy multiple cases of toys to assemble an entire series. So far, from top to bottom, here are the designs by SKWAK, Steph Cop, RUN, Pulco Mayo, Koralie, KOA, Grems, Flying Fortress, Jon Burgerman, ARTIZARNAL, Superdeux, NYNO, MIST, iLK, YOKAIKAI, Nathan Jurevicius, GREGOS (in 3D!) and Supakitch. If you look back through our other posts on the Artoyz Elements Alpha Series, you might get a clue as to who those rare figures could be...
Continue reading...Wednesday, February 25, 2009
OK, so I’ve been a bit harsh on blind box series of late, but here’s one I’d buy blind, deaf and mute. ARTOYZ is starting to drop preview pics of several of the characters comprising their forthcoming Elements Alpha Series on their Flickr set. First up are front/back photos of Elements by MIST, iLK, NYNO [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, February 19, 2009
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My jealousy of New Yorkers just builds and builds right now with newly announced Jon Burgerman events in the Big Apple. Tonight, February 19th, from 6-8PM, Jon will set up a little signing and doodling area at Kidrobot NY on Prince Street. You can get your Tea Bear Dunny or your Ye Olde English Dunny [...]
Continue reading...Friday, February 13, 2009
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START MOBILE has created a FREE mobile art gallery application for the iPhone. The mobile wallpaper gallery features images of the ‘painted rooms’ at the Hotel des Arts in San Francisco, designed by some of the world’s premier emerging and underground artists. “We founded START MOBILE to bring NEW ART to a NEW MEDIUM, and [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Of course it’s my luck that Jon Burgerman would make a rare appearance across the pond, and I’m still stuck across the country. Tomorrow night, February 12th, at Brooklyn, NY’s Factory Fresh, Jon and pop artist Jim Avignon kick off Anxiety Room. The show continues to explore a theme familiar to Burgerman fans (as seen [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, February 5, 2009
A couple months ago, Toy2R asked us to send in a ToyCyte sticker for their Sticker Qee project. I'm stoked to have our blog on the same platform as some of my favorite artists. ToyCyte's sticker gently overlaps Jason Freeny's and is kitty-korner to Jon Burgerman's sticker, which occupies the coccyx. We're also sharing space with Artdenka, Nada*One, Triclops, MAD, Betso, DOINK, Jesse Hernandez, Delicious Drips, MCA, David Horvath, Voltaire, Jaime Hayon, Slobot and many more.
Continue reading...Thursday, January 22, 2009
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Here they are! 17 blind boxed, new Kidrobot Dunnys by UK artists including Clutter, Doktor A, Frames, HiCalorie x Julie West, ilovedust, Jon Burgerman, Keanan Duffty, McFaul, Mimic, Peskimo, Shok 1, Tado, Triclops and UAMOU. The series drops January 22nd for $7.95 each. Thanks to great photos by Future Plastik!
Continue reading...Monday, January 19, 2009
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They are currently selling 10-25 of each card starting with Nathan Jurevicius's (#5) and ending with Abe Lincoln, Jr.’s (#14). In addition to Nate and Abe, up for grabs are also cards by Jon Burgerman, Kathie Olivas, Brandt Peters, Jermaine Rogers, Bwana Spoons, Jeremiah Ketner, Brendan Monroe and Candykiller.
Continue reading...Friday, December 19, 2008
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HypeForType is a brand new digital online type foundry with a difference, soon to be launched in 2009. What’s so different about a type foundry? Well, not only will they track down and feature some of the freshest typefaces from around the globe, they will also be working with a variety of the design industries [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, December 16, 2008
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The all-star lineup includes: the Grass Hut Corp (see image above), Jon Burgerman, TADO, Shawnimals, Dehara, Reach, Abe Lincoln Jr., Peskimo, MCA, Nakanari, Stephan Britt, Nanospore, KOA, Jeremyville, DGPH and many more.
Continue reading...Monday, December 15, 2008
Savvy designers know that the toy collecting scene is not just a simple sausage fest. Here are eleven items that are designed with the ladies in mind. Each piece was created by an artist who also makes toys. In several cases, the accessory includes a limited edition figure. Metal For Monsters – $81. Cool artists [...]
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Monday, June 8, 2009
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