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Mon, Nov 17, 2008
Mike Slobot is an artist and a storyteller. Each of his creations is a character with a background (and a future). Many of Mike’s customs begin with a platform toy, but finding the DIY toy within the Slobot can be a game of “Where’s Waldo?” His customs really become originals–part of the ongoing Slobot series. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike back in June. We discussed everything from the secret Slobot sauce to Andy Warhol’s cookie jar collection. Read it here. ToyCyte isn’t the only blog to take notice of Mike’s work. Gizmowatch and BoingBoing both profiled slomunnyV3, calling it “The Cutest DIY Mini Munny Ever” and “a Post-Apocalyptic Cyborg Lemon,” respectively. With accolades like that and Mike’s upcoming solo and group shows, you won’t want to miss out on…
Mike is offering two prizes. First up is the slomunnyV4 whose provenance includes the Toy Box Apathy show in Las Vegas earlier this year. The figure is built around a custom 7″ munny (approx. 12″ with new legs) and features lucite limbs, found objects and articulated arms and “glider” wings. SlomunnyV4 was a Martian Agriculture Robot deployed to Mars before the first settlers arrived. His task was to begin growing desert plant species in an effort to increase the oxygen content of Mars. Now that Mars has been settled for many years now, slomunnyV4 needs a new job. The Martian Farmer robots have all been upgraded and slomunnyV4 now has no job and would like to relocate. He will need a new job based on his skill set. What career would you give this red robot with the green thumb? Best answer wins!
Next up, Mike created a brand new 3-inch slotrexi-04 just for custoMONDAY. This custom is built around Play Imaginative’s Trexi platform figure, and he’s ready to join the rest of the Slobot gang. But he is missing a story. Who is he? What does he do? Best answer wins.
You can enter to win both prizes. 1) Come up with a new job detail for slomunnyV4. 2) Pen a little story for slotrexi. All entries must be received by midnight (PST) on Sunday, November 23rd. Winners will be announced on Monday, November 24th. Keep tabs on Mike Slobot on his website, blog, Flickr, MySpace and shop. Currently, Mike’s got custom Qees, original polymer clay figures and watercolor paintings for less than $25 each on etsy here. You can’t beat that. Guaranteed to quadruple in value. Take my word and don’t sleep on this stuff!
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.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
i would like the slomunny to come and work with me in the cardboard box factory on the diecutting machine, just because it would be nice not to have to work with real humans, and i feel he would work well on all the worst parts of the jobs that i dont want to do,. also eventually it might lead to all the idiot humans in the factory being replaced, even me.
i know this might not be his ideal job , but then it isnt mine neither.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:11 pm
Slomunny definitely harvests the natural ores of Mars.
November 17th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
After retirement from supplying the Mars desert with plants, Slomunny now trims hedges for the government of Mars.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
ok, I worked hard on this one including research…enjoy
As everyone already knows, the porcupine population on Mars is getting out of hand. No one knows how the first porcupines made it to mars but due to the overabundance of salt on mars (google “salt on mars”) and porcupines’ ability to thrive on salt (see “porcupine” wikipedia article), their population has ballooned and they have become somewhat of a nuisance. Both slomunnyV4 and slotrexi will be dealing with problems related to these pesky porcupines.
1) Due to slomunnyV4’s previous experience handling prickly things (cacti) and his ability to fly over the landscape, he will be hunting down the porcupines and capturing them and they will be relocated to their natural habitats on Earth.
2) Slotrexi was designed withstand the harsh environments found only in the deepest bowels of, well, humans. Due to their love of “objects imbued with urine” (see “porcupine” Wikipedia article under section titled “salt licks”), and their needle sharp quills, many of Mars’ septic systems have contracted leaks. Slotrexi was designed to dive into the poo tubes of Mars searching out and repairing the thousands of leaks created by those pesky porcupines.
November 17th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
The Slomunny V4 a.k.a The NEW Google Robot!
The Slomunny can do everything from searching up your favorite
pirated movie to computing databases loads of cryptic information
in mere milliseconds.
Created by Google Engineer and Rising Artist Mike Slobot, This robot
is pure state-of-the-art. Includes bionic enhanced arms loaded with nano-technology and uranium that have the strength of 10 men ( and
gary coleman ) combined, Hydrolic powered legs that allow the slomunny to run as fast as a cheetah, and two jet powered wings on his back to puts superman to shame. There is nothing that the slomunny CAN’T do ( but for some odd reason it collects cacti as it’s basic function, some may even call it a hobby )
The “Jackbot-of-all-Trades, and the Master of All” it is.
________________________________________________________________________
The Lonely Slotrexi
There was once a robot, his name was BOB-001. The first prototype of a new generation of biomechanical pets. Such was that he was the first prototype, BOB-001 could not do much other then basic functions like sit, do some tricks, and dispose of his oil in places where oil should not be disposed. Months after his production, new robots came out. These robots overshadowed him, able to do amazing tricks using fire and lights as well as look good doing it. Feeling sad and lonely, he left the city as no one wanted him anymore. There in the wilderness BOB-001 met JILL-001, a prototype of a hair dressing robot that was produced years ago. Feeling sympathetic, she brought him to the village of used and old robots and there he lived to become appreciated among his fellow robots.
The End!
November 17th, 2008 at 8:42 pm
1. SlomunnyV4 will open a booth in a busy Mars neighborhood. This booth will encompass his finest skills: growing vegetation and handling sharp cacti spikes. When he grows the peppers, onions, carrots, zucinni, or any other veggie for that matter, he will slow roast them over a fire on long cacti spike. Thus, the Mar’s crowd will have best, fresh veggie kabobs ever known to man and robot kind. His kabobs will become the planet’s national food and munny’s everywhere will try to replicate his receipe, but they will fail and the people of Mars will feast on kabobs forever!
2. SloTrexi is a young robot that is training to be the next member of the Ghost Busters paranormal team. He takes small ghost hunting jobs here and there to make a living, but his dream is to be a Buster. He has used his life saving to buy his awesome thermal backpack to eliminate troublesome ghouls. He doesn’t have far to go to prove he is worthy to join the Ghost Busters!
November 18th, 2008 at 5:34 am
1. slomunnyV4, after working so hard to create the plant life on Mars, now has to contend with planned community developers who are migrating like mad from the Earth! If he can’t stop them, Mars will suffer the same fate as the Earth!!!
The new job for slomunnyV4: Environmental Protection and Enforcement Robot
(and when he’s not protecting the environment, his hobby is creating topiary)
2. slotrexi-04 is a Sol System Water Reclamation Robot who works primarily on the planet Pluto. His job is to chip away ice from the planet’s surface and launch it out into space to an orbiting ice collection ship. The ship then distributes the ice to planets like Mars, which is in dire need of water. Since the planet Pluto is so cold (and also because slotrexi-04 LOVES snowcones), slotrexi-04 keeps an ample supply of antifreeze in his back-mounted tank, which sends the chemical to all of his vital areas, especially his head where he gets brain freeze often (from eating too many snowcones). On his off hours, slotrexi-04 likes making ice sculptures of his favorite rock bands, and building igloo castles.
November 18th, 2008 at 6:32 am
I think slomunnyV4 should drill holes in cheese. I think he would love to do it!
ROCK ON
November 18th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Slomunny v4
After the lay-offs on Mars, Slomunny returned to his earthly home. There he was able to get unemployment for the next 3 months, but even more than that, he found hundreds of jobs. A robotic haven for robots that were discarded or that have become obsolete. Slomunny found a new job, this time in the geology field. He became the automated reconnaissance geologist, fitting into spaces no human could and with his glide wings, he can survey a large area in short distances. Considering his previous field, they also have him doing sampling of the rock or earth being worked on. His bright orange color gave him the ability to be seen at nite, A most useful advantage. Now on his days off, he gets his oil checked once a week, premium electric re-charges, and goes dancing at the clubs downtown!
Slotrexi
SloTrexi was given extensive training and programing in the medical field. Of course being a robot much smaller than his other classmate counterparts. Slotrexi was deployed in 2009 to John Hopkins Medical University in Baltimore, MD. He soon found that he liked the College much better that the training center or a big name hospital. All the students there adored him, and even gave him a nickname of “Rex the red” or just “Rex” for short. He now works exclusively developing and testing new radioactive treatments for Cancer patients. With his precision robot movements, he can even help out in cases of surgery. Handling materials or transporting chemotherapy medication, Rex finnaly found a place called home, saving lives and helping Mankind.
November 18th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
slomunnyv4
His new job is a mars weed unpicker(?) his thin, strong arms are perfect for reaching in small spaces and picking out those awfully long roots. His super cool eye can find weeds out from all the vegetation from far away and can fly there with his glider wings to get them. if there are no weeds to be found for the moment, he waters plants.
_______________________________________________________________________
slotrexi-04
believe it or not, slotrexi-04 used to be human. he worked for the R.A.W.R. alpha troop in the super fresh army. one day he was captured and put in a gas tank by the infamous tyrant Justin Moriking. Fortunaltely, he was found by the S.A.V.A.G.E rescue unit early, if not, he would have surely died. he suffered severe skin burns from the gas and after the incident, his lungs were found to be useless. he now is in a red suit made of superstrongmetalium (atomic number 99999) and must respirate through green tubes leading to a tank strapped to his back. how he gets rid of his human waste is classified o.O.
thanks!
November 19th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
After SlomunnyV4 had finished his work on Mars he was sent to Saturn to collect hydrogen and helium gas from the atmosphere to fuel the energy needs on the colonies on Mars and Earth. He was a perfect candidate for this because his gliders allow him to easily maneuver through Saturn’s Strong winds. His long arms allowed him to hold larger containers than most other slobots at the time which meant he could collect larger quantities per trip to the atmosphere.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
SlomunnyV4
While on his way to Mars, Slomunny got a chance to study a map of the solar system and noticed that there are other planets in it besides the neighboring planets of Earth. After he is considered of no use in Mars, Slomunny begins to wonder that if humans and robots were willing to relocate to Mars, would they be willing to relocate to another planet or at least explore other planets? While not knowing for sure, he decides to explore and relocate himself. So, Slomunny sets out to explore other planets and find out if they can be inhabited. Each time SlomunnyV4 finds a planet similar to Earth and Mars, he begins to grow plant life to find out if it’s good for human and robot life. He’s then dubbed “Planet Raider.”
Slotrexi-04
Slotrexi is a spy working for the Universal Bureau of Investigators (UBI). He travels from planet to planet secretly infiltrating it and searching for Alien criminals that pose a threat to any planet in the universe. While Slotrexi possesses no combat skills, he is the preferred choice for traveling to different planets because of his unique traveling abilities. As seen in Slotrexi’s picture, he carries small jet on his back, however, this is no ordinary jet. Slotrexi’s body is able to absorb any type of energy, transfer it to his jet and blast off in any direction he wishes. With his jet, Slotrexi can fly faster than any ship the UBI has been able to create. His jet can output so much force that he can even change the course of an object’s flight by impacting it. One time, he stopped a comet that was about to impact his planet and sent it flying back in the opposite direction. He was able to do this by absorbing the comet’s radiation energy. So, if an alien criminal tries to escape, no matter how fast he is, Slotrexi can surpass the criminal’s speed. However, since he’s only a spy, he will only pursue the criminal but stay at an unnoticeable distance. Once he has a fixed location of the criminal, he contacts the UBI who then “abduct” the alien criminal and put him away for good, hence, protecting the universe. Maybe that’s why we hear a lot about alien abduction’s all over Earth.
November 20th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Slobot Munny V4 can get a job as a ski patrol recon bot. He will be able to soar off the cliffs and use his highly calibrated optics to do full surveilance over mountainous regions. His long legs allow him to travers accross neck deep snow. His standard issue electronics (which have an RS-232 interface naturally) will be fitted with avalanche beacon detectors to find stranded or buried skiers, boarders and hikers.
Slobot MunnnyV4’s original topography on Mars has allowed him to have an operating temperature range that far exceeds the necessary requirements for mountainous conditions.
That said, this is one recon robot that will not be needing a walkie talkie.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:34 pm
I think SloMunnyV4, has not retired, but has been promoted to be the King of Agriculture. He got his gold watch. Which he had melted down to made into a golden shovel, as he has no need of time. Slobots don’t know time as humans do. They move so slow that their time is now of ours. He has a new position, at the Center for the Preservation of Agriculture, and is to be in charge of the teaching and practices of all things Agriculture and how they came to be, and the how’s and why’s that Agriculture came to be the way it is will most likely be in the future. He has come to know, and will therefore explain, how all things grow and have grown.
Hail SloMunnyV4, King of Agriculture!!!
On the other hand….SloTrexi….Has only One eye with which he sees Only the Love in all things. He uses his all seeing eye and 360o rotating head to process this Love which he then sends to fill his Love tank until it overflows and therefore dispences it’s overflow in a never-ending trail wherever his travels take him.
November 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
The Slotrexi robot was initially designed as a low cost labor robot for use in repetetive tasking taking place over a large floorplan. The machines initially saw wide use in many large scale operations as dedicated “parts movers”. The Slotrexi turned out to be an extremely durable and reliable tool. Many of these machines were whirring efficiently for decades after they were no longer even supported by their manufacturer. These inexpensive, hard-working robots were phased out of use (and thus, production) before the event horizon of the last Blexcroid cycle.
The robot’s low maintenance requirements, coupled with their more than ample programability to specific function through a wide range of environments has led to it’s use as a task and labor unit in an astounding array of so-called “underground” movements. from itinerant militia organizations to back alley noise music manufacturing / distribution collectives the Slotrexi robot is still in evidence today.
November 24th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Mike should be revealing the winners soon. Stay tuned!
November 24th, 2008 at 11:34 am
The results are in:
1st Prize: mrk00k
2nd Prize: William McDonald
I will be collecting your addresses to dispatch to the Slobot handler. Congrats!