With this week’s Koguma release, and my subsequent daydreams about how awesome they’d look set up atop a kickass stereo system of some sort, I can’t help but be a little attracted to Tetsuya Watabe’s most recent ROMMY figure, ‘Rommix’. With a new papercraft figure every two weeks based on his Rommy form, each craft can only be downloaded for a period of one month before it floats off into the recycling bin. Best of all, their intelligent construction means that you’ll only have to sacrifice one sheet of paper for each ROMMY.

The Rommix is visually comprised of that most deeply meaningful of all music formats : the mixtape. Forget about the cold, impersonal mix CD - the soft hiss of the mixtape, clicking loudly between each song, is where the real magic happened. I can still remember those delicately crafted mixtapes I made for cute girls in high school, full of Jethro Tull and Oingo Boingo songs that I’m embarrassed now to admit that I found deep meaning in. Since I can’t quell my octopus preoccupation with the now-closed ‘Octopus’ ROMMY, I think I’ll settle for an army of Rommixes and the innocent romance that they personally represent. Print one out to jam with your Koguma.

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I think that it was only a few days ago that I was lamenting the tragic absence of Hellboy’s crazy-ass Samaritan handgun in my life. It’s not that I’m into guns - I’m just into guns that don’t really exist. Well, the papercraft blog over at Way Nifty has answered my prayers with their 14-page labor of love - a stunning simulacrum of Hellboy’s gigantic handgun. It might not replace the Sideshow Toys version with glowy bullets, but it’s still pretty rockin’.

Complete with moving parts and removable bullets, it’s a fairly amazing  technical representation for a paper craft. Can you brandish a realistic paper gun safely without having to shove a ‘gun safety’ orange plug down its muzzle? Maybe not, but those police officers that just swiss-cheesed your corpse in self defense sure will feel silly.

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He’s been classified as #13 in a list of the 100 most horrific movie villains by the American Film Institute, and now you can have one of your own. The HAL 9000 papercraft comes in two varieties from two different creators - you can recreate the original cyclopean robotic entity and affix him on any given wall of your home, or you can cut and paste a more adorable version, with little legs to carry him around.

Shunichi Makino is responsible for the anthropomorphic, less threatening HAL replica (as well as a large number of Star Wars and Star Trek vehicles), while the full-scale ‘interface’ design was created by Tektonten. How long do you think it’ll be before some enterprising young papercutter modifies this design to emit a pulsating battery glow from that all-seeing, voyeur eye? Either way, it belongs proudly affixed to a wall right behind your entertainment center.

My most recent, most favorite papercraft discovery is the blog of Saltnpaper, based out of North Jakarta, and founded on the idea of giving beauty back to a beautiful world. As if that isn’t inspiring enough, the variety of papercrafts devised by Saltnpaper really spans the whole gamut, from adorable to robo-adorable to funky designer.

The robotic Gammon, the pair of deliciously cute Licka and Licko popsicles, the bunny with the pencils violently thrust into its head, the spirit of dreaming - the blog has a good handful of beautiful crafts, and it even feels good to read. While some designs are fairly complex, the blog mostly tries to keep it simple.

In the words of Saltnpaper, “Less paper - less tree chopping - less homeless monkeys - HURAY!”

So, it might not be a purely designer thing, and it might even breach that delicate barrier between ‘art’ and ‘way too nerdy’, but the Kaizo Papercraft blog recently posted one of the more complex papercrafts I’ve seen, based on Final Fantasy’s ‘Lady Luck’.

Standing 30″ tall, and all stuffed into a downloadable 45 MB file, I think that the complexity of this papercraft would test its constructors almost as much as the ingenious machinations of its creator. Even if you’re not a fan of shapely video game ladies come to life in three dimensional paper forms, it’s an inspiring testament to the fact that ANYTHING can be cut and folded together out of simple paper, bare midriff or not.

Kaizo’s whole blog is full of way-too-impressive stuff, so scroll on through.

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One week from today on November 21st, Speakerdog  / Ben The Illustrator  / Ben O’Brien will unleash a ridiculous quantity of new, awesome papercrafts created exclusively by Mexican artists - forty-five in all, which is more than you can shake a stick at, which is in itself a really tenuous piñata pun. Forgive me. The ‘limited edition’ in the series’ description implies a limited download time (not unlike Shin Tanaka’s Spiky Baby series), so get on while the gettin’ is good.

Following the delightful Mexico Series, a Japan Series will soon follow (which is still welcoming artists from Japan), as well as their sixth ‘global’ series, which welcomes all papercraft artists to participate in customizing their unique paperform. Swing on by, drop Ben a line and get yourself included in a gigantic series of great paperthings.

I’ve recently developed a pretty serious fictional-gun fetish - everything from Hellboy’s Samaritan to Buck Rogers’ raygun to Scaramanga’s infamous Golden Gun, so I was psyched to discover that AstroBase GO!, creators of The Venture Bros. and all around neat guys, have a papercraft Raygun for free download-and-construction on their little corner of the web. Let’s not go into the Freudian ramifications of my sudden love of imaginary guns, though.

Venture fans frequented the AstroBase GO! website frequently during the last season of Venture Bros. to discover an awesome designer shirt-of-the-week based upon a theme presented in that week’s episode, but the site has only recently started to offer up CD and other items of delight. KidRobot collectors will also note that Venture villains The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend appeared in KR’s [adult swim] series of mini-figures. Promises of more Venture shirts have been made, but until we see more Venture greatness, go get your raygun on.

Thanksgiving isn’t usually something addressed in figural form, as it’s something of a mundane middle child between Halloween and Christmas, but Macula.tv takes us back to those Elementary School days of construction paper headdresses and being assigned ‘Indian’ names based on randomly chosen animals and adjectives - which is coincidentally how superhero names are also chosen.

Visit Christopher Bonnette’s website for some ridiculously cute Pilgrims, Indians, and a Turkey who doesn’t seem completely aware of his inevitable juicy deliciousness. As with most papercraft, these are free, and are located under the ‘Downloads’ section. He also has a selection of neat monsters,  a big ol’ tiki idol, some blanks paperforms to customize and some very helpful ‘how-to’ demonstrations.

Shin Tanaka’s one of those rare papercrafters who negotiates form, theme and function by bringing an awesome ‘urban’ style into the delicate world of papercrafting. ‘Cause you know that between poppin’ caps and pimpin’ hos, the thugs be sittin’ at their kitchen tables making tiny cuts in sheets of paper. This week, Shin Tanaka adds the Hoophy to his growing list of free, but still limited-edition, designs. Be sure to check back at his website often, as old designs frequently shift into ’sold out’ mode and are made unavailable while new designs come to the forefront. A new Hoophy will be released every month, in magazine format, as well as a blank Hoophy for your customizing needs.

The Hoophy, buried deep within the curves of his hooded sweatshirt, comes just in time for the cold winter months. Download the handy PDF from his site and glue one together - and if you’re really nice, I’ll forward you a sold-out copy of my own Spiky Baby from series 6.

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The mighty Thunderdog Studios has just released not only a “fun art toy project” but one that also promotes voting in the upcoming November 4th election. The civic minded Tristan Eaton, inspired by his work with the Obama’s Vote for Change Campaign, has established the brand spanking new website Thundervote.com. On this voting pomoting site, you can get, for free, get oodles of downloads like posters of Obama, wallpapers and a super sweet blank template for  the cool Ballot Box cut-out toy that Tristan Eaton designed. You can go to Thundervote.com and download the PDF template of the Ballot Box papercraft and you can get all custom voterish on it. As an added incentive, Thunderdog will be giving the ten best designs a signed Barack Obama poster that Tristan designed. You just have to upload your magic to the Thundervote site. Go now and download, papercraft, win…oh and vote!

Urban Paper the Movie from Studio N8 on Vimeo.

Halloween’s slow, cold approach is giving the art-toy world plenty of time to honor it properly, with everything from customized action figures to papercrafts to ritual bloodletting. Remember to cut AWAY from yourself when you’re lopping off those Dunny ears, guys. In that vein, check out Thunder Panda’s digs for a free set of six Zombiefie papercrafts!

A simple set of black and white monsters, Thunderpanda’s scrawly designs are an untraditional choice to law down on the decidedly cubical and mathematical paperforms of five different artists, which include Tyler Tinsley, Marshall Alexander, Matthew Hawkins, Brian Gubzica, and Matthijs Kamstra.

Incidentally, Tyler Tinsley is asking that aspiring paperdesigners send in their custom designs to be included in the first ‘Artist Series’ of his no-glue-necessary Bopper figure, so stop on by and send in your designs, o mighty papercraftologists.

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[adult swim] shows never seem to get proper action figure respect, so it might be a while before you can send a 5″ Assy McGee to crime scenes in the Monarchmobile and testify in court before Mentok the Mind Taker. Let’s be honest - Kid Robot’s chunky PVC figures just don’t cut it for dedicated Sunday night devotees. So, until a glorious action scenario is possible, check out Tim & Eric’s webshop for a free papercraft set depicting Casey and His Brother.

With a few simple cuts and folds, you can assemble a three-dimensional homage to some of the most discomforting pseudo-child performers humanly possible. Hopefully, it won’t be too long until Tim & Eric (or an enterprising papercrafter) cobble together a complete set of companions for the siblings. David Liebe Hart, the Beaver Boys, James Quall, Jan and Wayne Skylar, and above all else, Doctor Steve Brule couldn’t be possibly less appropriate to craft out of paper, and that’s exactly why it should be done.

For now, PaperFoldables.com brings us Spagett. May he be only the beginning of a long legacy of unease.

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The second Obama custom action figure for this morning is also a paper toy from master paper toy crafter, Matt Hawkins. Ironically, this is the first plastic toy that Matt has ever customized, stylizing the action figure and giving him a papercraft White House mecha. You may recall Matt’s previous Barack Obama papercraft, the free, downloadable Obama from the Build-O-Bama Blog. Regarding that figure, Matt wrote: “I’ve been thinking a lot about my work, and while I love to make funny little characters, I feel like it’s my responsibility as an artist to speak my mind through my work every once in a while when I feel strongly about something. Obama is one of the first canidates to come along (ever) who has actually inspired me!” Well said. Sales of Matt’s figure could help put the real Obama in the real White House.

Check out the current lineup of Art + Action = Obama 08 [blogged] here. The show goes off at Toy Tokyo’s The Showroom on October 17th. Keep it tuned to ToyCyte for exclusives, sneak previews, available work and coverage of the event.

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Have a little heart. A little Heart of Uamou that is. These figures were designed by artist Ayako Takagi and have been released in very limited and a very exclusive run of the Heart of Uamou. How exclusive? These were only made in a run of thirty, yes thirty!

This new version on Uamou is beautifully clean and simply designed. This new version of Uamou was recently on display at the Rooms fashion show in Tokyo, Japan. There were three different versions produced. One with a pink, one with a white and one with a glow in the dark heart. All of the figures are made of crystal clear resin. It stands twelve cm tall and has a heart suspended into the resin. Each one goes for $87 (US funds). Plus each is signed by the Ayako Takagi and comes with it’s own serial number, yes, it’s own serial number. You can order yours via Tokyocube here.

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Sharim Gubbels over at Singapore-based Crossville Toys just posted a bunch of new Ghostboy platform papertoys customized by Jon Burgerman, Easy Hey, Delkographic and KOA (joining the roster that includes TADO and sketchBot). Not sure these are downloadable, as is the case with many a papertoy, but the blog mentions an upcoming show. I also found an interview with Sharim here in which he explains Crossville as:

Crossville and it’s name came to be because of two main reasons. One, it would provide a perfect place for me to crossover from 2D to 3D, as well as a fun place to crossover with other artists - something I enjoy a lot and is always an extra incentive to keep going. The other being that I didn’t want to randomly create toys, so I decided on having all my creations be a part of this one contained world - from it’s inhabitants to their vehicles and mechs or even foliage. It adds an extra dimension to the creation process which keeps it interesting to me and it’s fun to see the world expanding over time.

Keep tabs on Crossville projects on his MySpace page. If you know more about Ghostboy or how to get these, please email me or leave a note in the Comments.

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He first introduced the Furrschnickens on his Myspace blog:

These furry beasts are the most organized, cultured and domesticated beings in the land of Gallamarell. They strive for enlightenment, advancement and tranquility. Which means they pretty much have all the same problems we do… minus electricty and technology and stuff.

His “Wack & Blite” currently takes place at the Mobius Gallery in Los Angeles. You’ll be able to see all of his creatures including the Tribalnots and the Swinging Spunkees. He also has a resin prototype of his Wack & Blite toys. If you can’t make it to the show, you can see more of his artwork on his blog. To see more of his Hedkase papertoys, visit this link.

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Just saw this on JoshSpear, and now I’m thinking that this is one of the first papertoys to get me excited since Cardboy. Super-Bastard is a new Box Art Character toy designed and created by Undoboy. Undoboy is a graphic designer originally from Malaysia and now residing in Portland, OR.

Super-Bastard Box Art Characters consists of 16 toys in one set, with 4 unique characters on each face of the box. The toys are designed so that you can detach the head or the pants and interchange them. The philosophy behind the project begs the question: Can a George W. Bush head go with a Saddam Hussein commander suit? Each blind-boxed toy measures 4” (h) 2″ (w) x 2″ (w), or 101mm (h) x 50mm (w) x 50mm (w) and is made out of heavy cardstock with matte laminate. Each piece has a removable top (head) and bottom (legs) so that it can be mixed and matched across figures and rotated to form new mash-up characters. The character art incorporates all kinds of iconic images and pop culture references from presidents to bad guys to pop stars to apes to mummies. Super-Bastard Box Art Characters were produced in a run of 1000 pieces. Once they’re sold out, that’s it.

As with the many options for interchanging your Super-Bastard Box Art Characters, there are a bunch of ways you can purchase them:

• single character (blind box) for $5.95
• set of four (blind boxes) for $20.95
• set of eight (blind boxes) for $39.95
• set of twelve (blind boxes) for $59.95
• set of sixteen (complete set) for $99.95

Shipping is $5.95 for purchases up to $49.99 and $9.95 for purchases up to $9.95. In addition to the Super-Bastard Box Art Characters, Undoboy’s new web store includes wall decals (suddenly seems like everyone’s doing decals) and Mimobots. Stay tuned to Undoboy’s blog for more “design that brings happiness.”

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What’s a NaniBird you might ask? Why that is the paper craft project by mckibillo AKA Josh McKible. Of his project he says “ Nani is the Japanese word for “what” and it pretty much sums up my experience of living here in Japan. I constantly find myself asking “nani? nani?: …Since “what” seems like a pretty universal question, I decided to see how other artists and designers would answer it…in “bird” of course.” Batch two of the paper craft NaniBirds has recently launched and you can download a bevy of birds decorated in a variety of styles from a wide array of illustrators and artists from all around the world. You can also still print out the first four birds made as well as batch number one. Fly on over here to get yours. (spied on toysrevil)

What do you win? One winner will be selected from each category and they’ll win a prize package including a Dookie-Poo Six Figure set (for Diorama winner) or a DIY Dookie-Po, and NYCC Exclusive Sleepy Time Dookie-Poo (for Props winner) sponsored by Chaotic Unicorn. To enter just create your craft and get it in by July 21st. The entries will proudly be on display on a special blogspot created just to showcase these creations here. So get thinkin’ and creatin’ and make Dookie-Poo some cool crap for his crib. For full details on the contest visit Toyrevil here.

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At the New York Comic Con last month, the kind people of the Dookie-Poo empire gave out some super cool and stylish limited edition papercraft items to enrich you and your Dookie-Poos life, like the Pooville Go-Go Kart set and the Sleepy Poo Set (see my write up about it here) If you missed out on that giveaway at the Chaotic Union and ESC booths, you can go ahead and download this Dookie-Poo Aracde Set that is an exclusive for the fabulous toy blog Toysrevil’s I Like Toys. This “Vinyl Enhancement Paper Kit includes “the coin-eater-game-machine, an additional modular NINTENDON’T Entertainment System and a paper-shirt for Dookie-Poo” plus some coins and a little brown lock of hair to enhance your Dookie-Poos folliclly challenged brow. The was created just for Toysrevil by Dookie-Poo creator Manny Galan and this papercraft is made especially for the 4 inch Dookie-Poo figure. Will all these goodies, Dookie-Poo will be living a better existence than most of us! To download your own free Dookie-Poo Video Game Set, just go here.

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Found via PaperKraft.net

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William Goldman, one of the producers of the very sweet Food Network show Ace of Cakes, is baking up a book based on the show and is on the search for papercrafters with a sweet tooth to create a project based on one of the cakes from the show or the bakery’s website. Try your hand a creating a paper designed dessert masterpiece. To find out more, click here.

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Yes, I do have a toy fetish, but being that I’m a red blooded American girl, I also have a great big lust for all things shoe and bag related. Needless to say, as soon as I spied this set of free downloadable Hermes Kelly bag, I immediately had to get the entire set. Sure my finished product will be made of paper instead of finely tuned leather, but as least I didn’t have to be on the waiting list for a year or spend thousands to get one. The bags will only be available for a limited time, so get yours sooner rather than later. There is a blank customizable bag and seven gorgeously decorated (birds, trees, gummy fish) ones you can choose from, it’s your bag baby.

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Almost everyone I know has illusions of grandeur that they have what it takes to create their own clothing line. Slap a witty slogan, a retro pic or just scribble your initials, and it’s a marketable shirt. But instead of flooding an already oversaturated market with your vanity clothing project, just go and customize this Urban Fresh Hoody papercraft. The papercrafter Urban Fresh has a call out to all you would be designers to make a unique and graphically stunning papercraft hoody. Go here to find out more. The template is only available through email, so hit him up and get your designing dreams to come true.

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Be kind to animals with these earth and animal friendly cardboard busts. Laser-cut from local, recyclable, toxin-free cardboard, the 3D puzzles have a precision fit for easy assembly using slotted construction. All of the animal figures (deer, rhino and moose) are designed and manufactured in the United States. Makes a great gift! Best part? When the novelty wears off, toss them in your recycling bins. Medium ($24.99) and large ($47.99) models available from Perpetual Kid.

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You know what’s cool about Japan (okay there’s a LOT that’s cool about Japan), but one thing that’s pretty rad for those who like to consume a bit of the booze, are the beer vending machines that line the streets. To celebrate this commercial phenomenon Kirin Beverage Company (the king of Japanese beers) has created the Kirin beverage dispenser /robot. Something you’d generally not see until you’ve drunk your weight in their ale. Pink Elephants, flying pigs, Kirin robots…I think I’ll stick with just doing this papercraft instead of drinking my way into hallucinating those things. If you are a tea toadler you can make a soccer ball, panda or an apple among others.

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Series: Sacramento Art

1. Sacramento Puts the “Art” in Party. Pt. 1: Annie, Amos and Tito
2. Sacramento Puts the “Art” in Party. Pt. 2: Basco, Cinder, Nic Caesar and Ceramic Panties

Who knew our state capital could throw such a massive art block party? And what exactly is 2nd Saturdays?

Every month, galleries in Sacramento stay open for an art walk late into the evening, transforming the city streets into Sacramento’s largest art event. Second Saturday is a night to wander about, visit galleries and have fun. You can meet artists, people watch, socialize and perhaps buy a piece of art or two.

After checking out the SaraJane gallery for the Annie Owens and Amos Oaks show, I headed off to Upper Playground to see who was on their walls. The Sacramento shop is UP’s 6th location and on this occasion, they were hosting an exhibit by Santiago-based pop surrealist, Basco. The retail area of UP was pretty packed, and shirts by Jeremy Fish and Sam Flores were flying off the shelves. What was with the uncredited Joy Division Unknown Pleasures graphic, though, I wondered?

After passing by an experimental theremin street ensemble, I followed a crowd into Body Tribe Fitness, an exercise studio that had, for the evening, traded its benchpresses for installation art. This place was brimming with good energy. Designers mingled, and art was priced to sell. I spotted plush toys and papercraft immediately. This is where I ran into Cinder, who I could have sworn I’d seen the prior weekend at The Maker Faire. Alas, must have been a doppelgänger.

Cinder had a range of media available: from papercraft Hakubots (nee Cinderblox) to bunny paintings to hand-carved tiki pencils. Expect to hear more from him as he finishes transitioning his MySpace page to a Blogspot blog. I’ll be staying in touch and bringing you more of Cinder’s Hakubots–which are scheduled to get a rat rod makeover later this month. There was a communal spirit in this gallery. I purchased the Hakubot (above right), and Cinder planned to use the cash to get one of Nicolas Caesar’s zombie plushes (also shown in the photo).

Nicolas Caesar seemed to be holding court with a small crowd at all times, but was super-friendly and stopped for a photo-op and quick chat. Said Nic: “I grew up on Creature Features, plastic toys, horror decals, comic books and ghost stories. My art is a reflection of that era.” According to his website: Nicolas had “worked as a knife salesmen, tour guide for the Winchester Mystery House, and did the taxes for Tiger Woods but he couldn’t escape his destiny being the wild and spooky artist he is today.” Nicolas updates his Scary-Art site daily with new paintings and plush toys (hand-sewn by his wife, Sarah Karas). If you think you can’t afford original art, I encourage you to check out his shop. There’s stuff within my budget, and remember, I’m a toy writer. Which reminds me, I ran into an old friend, Mitch, who I hadn’t seen since our days producing medical journals in a stuffy South Bay office some years back. Mitch is now a happy gym teacher. Hear that, kids? Want to teach P.E. or write about toys? Stay in school!

I’ll leave you with this image: ceramic underpants by Emma Luna at the 20th Street Gallery. With “fancy panties” selling for $350 and “stack pastel washcloths” for $1,200, it has me wondering if I should cruise by a construction site and try to dip some knickers in cement.

Stay tuned for the next adventure as I rove around northern California in search of art, toys and art toys.

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