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San Diego Comic Con – Surviving Day One.
First I should let you know that I actually don’t care much for humanity. I prefer to be surrounded by legions of plastic and vinyl then people. So I enter the whole Comic Con experience with a mixture of anticipation (for the toys) and dread (for the humans). But as we know, not all homo [...]
Continue reading...A Cali Kid In Japan
18. July 2008
For anyone with even a passing interest in technology, animation, the future, ninjas or toys, the pilgrimage to Tokyo is a destination that should be top on the list. So to distract everyone from all the Comic Con chaos going on, I decided to make the sacrifice, and go through the necessary pain so [...]
Continue reading...The Insider’s Guide to San Diego Comic-Con
16. July 2008
Last year 125,000 people attended San Diego Comic-Con. While some were industry professionals and Comic-Con veterans, others were newbies who were completely overwhelmed by the scene. Maybe I’m just speaking for myself. I made all the rookie mistakes last year: waited until the last minute to get a hotel room, didn’t pack snacks, forgot my [...]
Continue reading...The Opposite of Writer’s Block: Mike Leavitt’s Art Army
14. July 2008
“His own art wasn’t enough anymore. Art itself wasn’t enough anymore. But he knew it was the answer…he needed a little help.” You can hit the jump and watch a stop motion animation primer on The Art Army or you can first read through as I pick Mike Leavitt’s brain. Mike makes art. Interactive art. [...]
Continue reading...San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives Part 5
11. July 2008
Every year, fanboys and fangirls of varying stripes descend on San Diego for Comic-Con. Although the event has extensive programming, there’s one activity that unites the collectors with the cosplayers, the MMP gamers with the manga readers, the superheroes with the steampunks: the pursuit of SDCC’s exclusive toys. ToyCyte will be publishing a weekly bulletin of [...]
Continue reading...Eric Joyner Talks Toys and An Exclusive First Peek
8. July 2008
Normally when someone mentions donuts I think of coffee, policemen, and whatever the opposite of a phallic symbol would be. That is unless you’re talking about artist Eric Joyner, who is most noted for his paintings of donuts doing battle with robots in classic American surroundings. Not your standard pairing, but it’s what [...]
Continue reading...San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives Part 4
4. July 2008
Every year, fanboys and fangirls of varying stripes descend on San Diego for Comic-Con. Although the event has extensive programming, there’s one activity that unites the collectors with the cosplayers, the MMP gamers with the manga readers, the superheroes with the steampunks: the pursuit of SDCC’s exclusive toys. Related posts San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives Part 1 Gama-Go Yeti [...]
Continue reading...Black & White Freedrawings Presents a Global Doodle Collaboration
1. July 2008
The best part of writing about toys isn’t always the toys themselves. Often, the toy is just one platform within a rich mediascape in which designers make their marks. These days, urban and pop artists design skate desks, clothing and housewares. I recently blogged about Infectious car art and Pop Clings wall decals and noticed [...]
Continue reading...San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives Part 3
27. June 2008
Every year, fanboys and fangirls of varying stripes descend on San Diego for Comic-Con. Although the event has extensive programming, there’s one activity that unites the collectors with the cosplayers, the MMP gamers with the manga readers, the superheroes with the steampunks: the pursuit of SDCC’s exclusive toys. ToyCyte will be publishing a weekly bulletin of [...]
Continue reading...Slobots are Robots Too: An Interview With M. Heisler
24. June 2008
A couple months ago, a missive from M. Heisler landed in my inbox. It was a heads up on a “snazzy new slobot sculpture” he’d created for a custom toy show in Florida. The bot turned out to be SlomunnyV3, a creature in search of life’s meaning amidst the backdrop of technological obscolescence. Many Slobots [...]
Continue reading...San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives Part 2
20. June 2008
Every year, fanboys and fangirls of varying stripes descend on San Diego for Comic-Con. Although the event has extensive programming, there’s one activity that unites the collectors with the cosplayers, the MMP gamers with the manga readers, the superheroes with the steampunks: the pursuit of SDCC’s exclusive toys. ToyCyte will be publishing a weekly bulletin of [...]
Continue reading...San Diego Comic-Con Exclusives Part 1
13. June 2008
Every year, fanboys and fangirls of varying stripes descend on San Diego for Comic-Con. Although the event has extensive programming, there’s one activity that unites the collectors with the cosplayers, the MMP gamers with the manga readers, the superheroes with the steampunks: the pursuit of SDCC’s exclusive toys. Designer toys are always among the highlights of [...]
Continue reading...The Art of Kerry Lee
6. June 2008
Artist Kerry Lee is relatively new to the custom toy scene, but she has already developed a signature look. She brings a touch of glamour to her creations with the use of brightly colored sequins. Her sparkling Munnys and Dunnys show a careful attention to detail and an endless supply of patience. With her high [...]
Continue reading...Frank Kozik Interview: Pt. III
3. June 2008
How many releases have you done thru Ultraviolence? Technically. Three so far, six are about to come out (at The San Diego Comic Con) and four more are being made right now. Ultraviolence is probably going to release six products a year. At comic con they’ll be a release of the Ho Chi Mehn [...]
Continue reading...Frank Kozik Interview - Part II
1. June 2008
Kozik: The toy thing is broader. Now I have these higher end fashion lines happening with clothes and shoes, doing furniture designs, I sell an exclusive line of clothing in Barneys, I just got a big contact to design a nightclub in Vegas, I have a TV show contract (details are hush hush right now). [...]
Continue reading...James Jarvis X Bounty Hunter Collab on King-Kun
30. May 2008
A huge two days for James Jarvis and Bounty Hunter fans, all of whom have been speculating about a potential collab for months. Was it going to be JJ X BH or JJ X Kaws? And then there was also that issue of the Michael Lau S.F.J.J. figure. But yesterday, James dropped this message on [...]
Continue reading...Mystery Solved: Wizard Finds Green JLED Smash, Toy2r Clarifies
29. May 2008
Well, it wasn’t really a wizard who solved the mystery. It was Jamie on this site who found it, and Andy on TRE who broadcast it and Wizard who had it up for pre-order. Unfortunately, props for sleuthing aside, Joe Ledbetter’s SMASH SDCC Exclusive GREEN SWAMP YETI 7-Inch is already sold out in Wizard pre-orders. [...]
Continue reading...Frank Kozik Interview - Part I
27. May 2008
We’ve all let Frank Kozik into our homes, our offices and even our bedrooms. Be it his Smorkin’ Labbits, Hate Dunnys, Dr. Bomb or neon pink Ho Chi Mihn busts, his work takes up a good chunk of any self-respecting urban designers’ collection. I’ve personally known Frank for eons, “back in the day” I was [...]
Continue reading...SUPERFAN: Jeff Tucker on Joe Ledbetter collection
20. May 2008
ToyCyte believes that collectors can often be as enigmatic and interesting as the artists with whom they’re obsessed. Have you ever marveled at a high bidder on eBay and thought “Who IS that?” In this series, I’ll be interviewing some of those people. If we pick you and you share your story, ToyCyte will give [...]
Continue reading...ToyCyte News: Forums are open
19. May 2008
Head on over and check out the new ToyCyte forums! We are going to be launching our “SuperFan” contest soon (more info to come tomorrow) and you never know when you just might get a glimpse of something really really fun we’ve been making in the ToyCyte studio. We put up some preliminary topics, but feel [...]
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24. July 2008
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