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MONSTREHERO is Sean Blay and Cliff Kirschner, two guys who live in Orlando and like to make toys. They draw influence from superheroes, Japanese monsters, comics, old school action figures and the environment around them. Perusing MONSTREHERO’s Flickr, you’ll immediately notice that the duo is not afraid of color or texture. One of their signature original figures, The Victim, ranges from a sweet soda shoppe Shirley Temple colorway to the Skittle-vomit Mardi Barf variant. And Codename P.A.N.T.s exists in a seemingly infinite spectrum of finishes. I’m really blown away by the level of success they are able to achieve with their constant experimentation on figures like The Victim, Axeface, Skullmaster and P.A.N.T.s. I’m not typically the hugest kaiju fan; sometimes I look at a figure and think, who threw up on that toy? With MONSTREHERO, I eagerly await their latest images and really see the beauty in the medium. Sean and Cliff recently went on a bender and made a ton of new figures for last week’s Kaiju Monster Invasion. Any work that didn’t sell at the event will make its way to their MONSTRESHOP, where you can find custom toys. To keep tabs on what MONSTREHERO is up to, sign up for their newsletter by dropping a note to info [at] monstrehero [dot] [com]. They’ve got lots of new releases and some hush-hush store-exclusives on the horizon, not to mention some tutorials they’ll be contributing to ToyCyte in 2009. But speaking of custom toys, how would you like to get a custom Victim made to your specs by MONSTREHERO?
I have no idea how these guys do what they do, but here’s what they’re going to do for you: Leave a comment suggesting a new colorway for a Victim figure and they will choose one winner and actually make it for you. How cool is that? Be as creative as possible; they’re looking for a challenge and if you have a look at their stuff, you’ll see they’re up for it. Get your colorways in by Sunday at 12AM PST. We’ll announce the winner before next week’s custoMONDAY. Good luck!
How and when did you get started making toys as MONSTREHERO?
It’s almost been exactly one year since we made our first bootleg, the Veteran. We both love toys and figured that we’d try and make our own. We bought some supplies, did a little research, and MONSTREHERO was born. The hardest part was coming up with a name.
Can you tell us about your process?
We’re always sketching and coming up with weird creatures. We work independently of each other when coming up with ideas, but when we find something we like, we consult and discuss the possibilities. We then get to work sculpting. The two of us have different sculpting preferences. Sean likes wax, while Cliff likes to use Super Sculpey and Apoxie Sculpt. We concentrate on this stage the most, because if you have a crappy sculpt, not even the best paint can save it.
After we have finished a sculpt, we create a silicone mold, then cast in resin. We like to use different additives in our resin, like dyes and powdered pigments, to get interesting effects. Next begins the long and arduous process of cleaning up our castings. This is really the most time-consuming and least fun part of the entire process. But, then its saved by painting. We usually have a vague idea of what something should look like, but we leave it open to whatever fits our fancy when we get to painting. It makes it much more spontaneous and less paint-by-numbers, and it makes up for the crappy time we had cleaning up the castings.
You do some of the most unique colorways and textures. What have been some of your favorites? Which ones bombed?
We try to make all of our paint jobs unique and exciting. We try not to let anything that we think isn’t up to par into the wild. A piece will get worked on until its “right”, which could take an hour, or a month. Its hard to pick a favorite, because we like everything we do, but if we have to pick, Sean’s favorite colorschemes would be the original Black Skullmaster, the Green Axeface, the new Skullsmaster Skullmaster, the large Stage 2 green and blue versions, and pretty much all of the little Pants Monstres. Cliff would have everything on his shelf if he could.
Who/What influences your work?
Our main influence is probably Japanese tokusatsu and their vinyl counterparts. Sean loves the superhero shows like Kamen Rider and Kikaider, while Cliff likes all the cool vinyl monsters that have come out over the years. We’re also greatly influenced by other artists like Le Merde and Lamour Supreme.
Cliff draws a lot of his influence from natural environments, hence his gritty textural paint schemes. Sean is a big fan of comics and movies, so his work tends to have bold colors and dynamic shapes.
We’re especially influenced by old school action figures, like the original Ninja Turtle line or MUSCLE toys. We try to have that big, goofy fun that you see in these old toys by having movable parts and accessories. We’re trying to bring this important part of our childhood and lives into a more fine art setting.
What toys do you collect?
There is definitely diversity in what we collect. We have been toy collectors our whole lives. At the moment Sean’s been enjoying Transformers, Star Wars and Japanese vinyl. Cliff prefers Japanese vinyl like Real Head, Rumble Monsters and Le Merde. We both like GI JOE, especially the new 25th anniversary line. There really is no set parameter, though, and anything that looks cool or fun usually ends up on our shelves.
Jeremy Brautman - 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.
December 8th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
pink that glows in the dark!
December 8th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
A Victim in shades of gold with a pale blue flame.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:27 pm
There is a stained glass window in a church in sleepy hollow, by Marc Chagall. It is titled Jeremiah. The color and image is dope.
December 8th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Mint green.
December 8th, 2008 at 8:58 pm
A Jack Kirby struck by a cosmic power colorway would be rad. Knowing you guys are comic fans, I know you could nail it. That old school 60’s cosmicy yellow/purple/pink/black and with a little bit of the dot patterning of 60’s/early 70’s comic printing.
December 8th, 2008 at 9:53 pm
Posessed-
Big White Round eyes
Black / Dark Grey / Grey / Light Grey Color scheme
The cloak ..or blob thing that you put over them could be a transparent white
White / Dark Grey swirls all over the body.
December 9th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Translucent dark red head, fading into translucent light green feet. And filled with small, gold skulls.
December 9th, 2008 at 7:19 am
I think a milky translucent white with candy cane stripes, tis the season for death.
December 9th, 2008 at 7:38 am
transparent with anatomy inside
December 9th, 2008 at 11:35 am
Light Gray incorporated with white and blood, dark red
December 9th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
for the victim I would want it to be like a translucent pukey lime green at the top of the head fading into a solid fleshy pink about mid stomach. Inside of the figure would be a rubber skull fit as close as possible to anatomically correct for the figure. The ooze should be translucent purple with sparkles mixed into it and a silver spray from the top down on it. Oh man I’m getting chill’s just thinking about it.
December 9th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
all neon, bright, like miami!
December 10th, 2008 at 4:28 am
Make one wearing an IKEA uniform…Swedish Blue and Yellow !!!
December 10th, 2008 at 10:15 am
A blue skeletal design black body with red splatter spots over hands and randomly on body, with neon green green flame with a black skull design over the front.
December 11th, 2008 at 12:34 am
like an old bullmark hawaiian hedorah with red blood. GID?
December 11th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
The victim should be pregnant chick with the baby inside so you can see through her. But the rest of her should be like 50’s advertisement where she is happy and colorful. Then a little bit of blood should be coming from her eyes, or mouth. I just creep myself out sometimes.
December 11th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I would like to see the Victim as a victim of a freeze ray.
That part that covers the entire upper body of the Victim
would be clear light blue with white paint barely airbrushed
here and there to resemble ice/snow.
The Victim would be experiencing hypothermia and frostbite
so his all his skin would be pale and his extremities looking
blue (lips, ears, and fingers) Here are some photos of
hypothermia and frostbie I gathered from the Internet :
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r200/pixel-panther/HypothermiaandFrostbite.jpg
The clothing on the Victim should show he wasn’t expecting
to be hit by a freeze ray. So he could be wearing Hillbilly
ragged jeans & ragged shirt, Hawaii surfer swim trunks and
expensive shirt, tourist clothes, etc… For his feet just
be sure to leave off the socks.
Feel free to add any ice/frost texture to his body and clothes.
Looking forward to the result no matter whose idea is chosen.
December 14th, 2008 at 9:43 am
The victim has accidentaly ingested a radioactive micro organism that has multiplied very quickly. The radioactivity has made victim’s internal organs glow in the dark, and we can see them glow because the organism feeds off the pigment our victim’s flesh making him a translucent sac of glowing organs.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:45 am
This just in from MONSTREHERO: “Well, it was a really tough decision. However, since there are two of us, we’ve decided to pick two winners! Our choices are KeithB’s Jack Kirby Tribute Power Cosmic Victim, and krakit’s Freeze Ray Hillbilly Victim.”
I was secretly rooting for the IKEA victim, myself! Stay tuned for more custoMONDAY, a little later than usual today, but it’s coming…
December 15th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
WOW! Thanks Monstrehero and Toycyte! Monstrehero is rockin’ a whole new world of toys. I cannot wait to see what you two come up with. Great contest and lots of good ideas. I liked the radioactive innards.
December 15th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Cool! I can hardly wait for the results after seeing
MONSTREHERO’s versatility with the Victim colorways
in the pics above. The range in difference is going
to be huge – Kirby Cosmic Power Explosion at one end
and Frozen Hillbilly way over at the other. Ha ha I love it!
Thank You MONSTREHERO and ToyCyte for having this contest!
January 13th, 2009 at 10:57 pm
I just received the Freeze-ray Hillbilly Victim!!
Here’s some photos I took
of him freezing his butt off
http://www.octobertoys.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=12207#12207
January 14th, 2009 at 9:39 am
WOW. That came out rad.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Thanks for entering guys! We loved the suggestions, and had a great time making the prizes.