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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jeremy - who has written 1965 posts on ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected.
Jeremy Brautman joined ToyCyte in 2008 and has been writing about toy culture ever since. You can currently find him contributing to a variety of blogs, artkiving doodles at Doodlesplatter.com and cataloging artistic ephemera at ARTkivers.com.
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 [...]
Continue reading...Monday, June 8, 2009
2008 was the year that changed my mind about designer plush. It began with the innocent-enough acquisition of two items: A Curster Yeti by Erin Currie and Frank by Kristin Tercek (aka Cuddly Rigor Mortis). Following that, my mind, and the floodgates, were open to plush. I kept in touch with Kris and watched as new creatures were born into the Cuddly Rigor Mortis stable. You can see how her interests in Japanese culture, animation and horror movies are reflected in the detailed dolls. And detailed they are: each of the sizeable hand-sewn plushes comes with extra touches like embroidery and a birth certificate. If that conjures up an image of an Xavier Robert's signature, hello to everyone else who was born in the late 70s! But with designs based on Universal Monsters and New Jersey lore, these ain't no Cabbage Patch Kids. You can find the CRM crew on Facebook or you can enter here to win a 13 x 15-inch custom Anubis plush in the contest!
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...Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Toy2R delivers on the previous teaser with some new coming attractions: A Qee collection based on the artwork and iconic images of Reservoir Dogs, the debut film by Quentin Tarantino. Toy2R is working directly with Lionsgate on the Reservoir Dogs Qee collection, which will include a limited edition 8-inch Mr. Black Qee Bear and an [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, June 2, 2009
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MINDstyle just released some proto photos of Michael Lau’s upcoming vinyl marionette for their art toy collectible series: The task presented by Paramount Licensing was to create an interpretation that would translate well as vinyl. Michael was given the freedom to create his vision with the approval of the estate for the iconic character. What many [...]
Continue reading...Monday, June 1, 2009
I wonder what North Korea’s Kim Jong Il thinks of his semi-prominent place in American popular culture. For legions of late-night viewers, Kim looks a lot like Mad TV’s Bobby Lee. But to Canadian customizer Okedoki, he looks more like a Kidrobot Munny. Writes the artist: This was a commission for Foosh, for their 10 Year [...]
Continue reading...Friday, May 29, 2009
Just a quick reminder: Alex Pardee will be signing the eagerly-awaited Walrus Rider (beautiful black and green edition) at San Francisco’s Upper Playground tomorrow between 12-2PM. Pre-ordering the figure from UP is recommended. If the $110 vinyl toy is out of your price range, Alex says to come on down anyway and say hi. He’ll [...]
Continue reading...Friday, May 29, 2009
Hooray! He’s back. I’ve missed writing about Jailbreak Toys’ Obama Action Figure so much. Here’s a double-dose of news for the most political man in plastic. 1) Jailbreak is sponsoring an awesome Obama toy photography contest and 2) They are currently producing a Michelle Obama Action Figure! While we wait to see how they model [...]
Continue reading...Friday, May 29, 2009
Lulubell Toy Bodega has dibs on an exclusive that’s sure to tempt cat lovers and metal heads alike: Real Head x FullyVisual Mini Fortune Cats. Dreamed up by Mori, designer and owner of Real Head Japan and hand crafted by Jamie from FullyVisual, these kittens are heavy. I want to insert some bad pun about [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, May 28, 2009
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Pink is easily the frontrunner when it comes to color of choice for kaiju figures. So it kind of makes sense that when pink aficionado Buff Monster released the first edition of his Kaiju For Grown Ups figure last November, he had an even pinker version in the works. The clear magenta Demon Seed is [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, May 28, 2009
Local hero Patrick Ma will be making the midwest feel lucky when he heads to Chicago to debut the newest IWG designer vinyl series, the IWG Sleepy Bears, and 5 new vector illustrations. Three of the illustrations were inspired by iconic characters found in classic 1960’s and 1970’s anti-hero movies. As with all sales under [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, May 28, 2009
We first showed you Camilla D’Errico’s cute-yet-evil Kuro plush proto back in February at Wondercon. Now the 6-inch softie from Camilla’s self-published book, Tanpopo, is hitting stores. “Cute, cuddly, and with a most peculiar feature: a too‐cute‐to‐believe booty that would make even J‐Lo jealous, this little guy has received squeals of delight at recent conventions, [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, May 27, 2009
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Incoming from Attaboy, who is ready to present Gooberry after “four friggin’ years.” Each Gooberry has been freshly picked from a secret Gooberry Patch before ripening just for you! Like a newborn’s skull, their soft skin has yet to be fully formed, so a Gooberry is very impressionable and extra-sensitive to your each and every touch! [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, May 27, 2009
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Our friends, artist Sket-One and fellow blogger John “Spanky” Stokes, have teamed up for an epic raffle contest. I’ll turn it over to John’s enthusiastic words: Awww Yeah!!!! Sket-One and SpankyStokes.com have teamed up to have an exclusive raffle…how exclusive you ask, this is only available here, and what you can win is pretty much an [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Apologies in advance for welcoming you back from your long weekend with another toy you can’t afford, but here goes anyway. KAWS has collaborated with Japanese artist Hajime Sorayama on a 13-inch, 6.6-pound metal sculpture with movable parts. The figure will be released in silver/chrome and black/chrome colorways with coordinated T-shirts also available. This is [...]
Continue reading...Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Depending on how you’re experiencing the current recession, this is either very good news or very bad news: Kidrobot is doing an epic reissue of Huck Gee’s Series 1 Skullhead Dunny, and they’ve upped the ante. Not only will the rare, iconic Dunny be reissued, but it’s been blown up to 20 inches in size, [...]
Continue reading...Monday, May 25, 2009
The name Prozac Rsin, R-sin and Rsin popped up on a ton of shows we covered last year. I checked out his Flickr, and noticed he was crazy-customizing Munnys like they were going out of style. I remember thinking: "his name must be a commentary on toy-making as a remedy for depression." Turns out I had part of it right. I'm in awe of how quickly Rsin can crank out these mini-masterpieces (all the while being a frequent tweeter). Rsin is part of the next generation of toy artists you will be hearing about everywhere, so take note. Interested in getting one of his signature Burning Bear Munnys? You'll have to enter custoMONDAY...
Continue reading...Monday, May 25, 2009
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TV and movie tie-in toys are a hit or miss property, but I think with Michael Lau and MINDstyle pulling the strings, they’re definitely putting a hit out. Enough of my puns on the forthcoming Godfather marionette. Here’s the skinny from MINDstyle: One of the most acclaimed movies of all time leading character is re-defined through [...]
Continue reading...Friday, May 22, 2009
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OsirisOrion sent in some more info on those custom Bop Dragons we told you about. The custom Bop Dragon run will drop on Saturday, May 30th at 8PM EST. The customs will be available at: http://osirisorion.bigcartel.com. There will be 2 colorways: “Deadly Nightshade” and “Radioactive Bare Belly.” They are each limited to 8 pieces and [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, May 21, 2009
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So it turns out there isn’t just one great Joe Ledbetter figure breathing some fire into the jury’s-still-out Dunny Endangered series. There’s actually a second fire (or lava) breather: this CHASE JLED figure. Based on the press releases, this series was supposed to be spoken for in one hot minute, but they’re still available here. [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, May 21, 2009
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There’s always so much going on in this scene, but occasionally it seems like we’re all just barely scratching the surface. Case in point: an email I got from Ryon Xavier Smith, who has been making toys since he was six, but is not exactly a ‘household name.’ Ryon decided to step out of the [...]
Continue reading...Thursday, May 21, 2009
I admit that I wasn’t so enthused about Kidrobot’s latest Dunny Endangered Series, but check out this devilish little Ledbetter. There seems to be nothing endangered about evil, but I’d pick up this guy in an open box for sure. It is my duty to tell you that the series is on sale now at [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, May 20, 2009
It’s a fact that Buff Monster likes metal, so here’s his second collaboration with the metalsmiths at FullyVisual. I think the new line of designer coin banks (begun with Kozik’s Reagan bank) are interesting in a punk irony kind of way. In a time when people have less money than ever, check out some high [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, May 20, 2009
It seems like only yesterday we were posting previews for 64 Colors Marshall Series and Travis Lampe’s Tear Drips. The wait is now over: Tomorrow, May 21st, Rotofugi and Squibbles Ink will release both figures. The drop will be followed with a release party and signing on Saturday, May 30th from 4PM until 6PM. Marshall Series [...]
Continue reading...Wednesday, May 20, 2009
It’s no secret that I’ve been having a love affair with resin and France lately, so it should be fairly CLEAR that I think Tan-Ki’s latest offering absolutely rules. On May 31st at 5PM (French time), he will release a gorgeous selection of KiClear Crystal KiToys. Among them: 10 KiClear Crystal clear 5 KiClear Crystal grey 5 KiClear [...]
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Monday, June 8, 2009
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