ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

You know how you occasionally see a toy and imagine a whole vignette unfolding behind it? That’s kind of how I felt the minute I saw Jamungo’s TUF-FLUCK Crappy Cat. I finally got my hands on one and headed straight for the train tracks. It’s easy to conjure up a world in which Crappy Cat lives in a discarded Zenith television. This is a really fun toy to photograph. The experience begins when you take Crappy out of his box and are promptly bitch-slapped with the incredibly toxic aroma/aphrodisiac of vinyl.  I also found Crappy to initially ooze a bit from the joints, giving the impression he was sweating at the armpits. The only critique I have of this 9-inch toy is that with the wide swatch of matte black vinyl across his head, if you’re OCD about your toys, prepare to deal with some grease, finger prints, etc. Otherwise, he stands up well (the tail grounds him) and the spent six-pack accessory is really phenomenal. Photographing toys is about as artistic as I get, but if you’re good with paints and pens, Jamungo has released Crappy Cat blanks exclusive to their website for $45 shipped in the US.  If you just want to stage your own photoshoots,  get standard, mono or TUF-FLUCK editions of Crappy Cat from Wizard Sleeve Toys.