ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

Jared Deal, semiprofessional carnivalologist, is another one of those successful toy artists that’s just cool to talk with – no matter how deeply you try to pry into his subconscious to figure out where this circus stuff comes from. Ultimately, it’s a little bit of Coney Island and a little bit of the rotating (and more adult-themed) makeshift circus that he’d bore witness to in his younger days. The NYCC exclusive purple Pierce and Dogboy were on display, but seeing as how the family (which is slowly being united in vinyl) was originally conceived as a cartoon premise, I asked if we’re going to see the full cast in three dimensions.

“I’m debating on whether to keep going with the Carnys or not, or start something new. I don’t know if I want to go THAT deep into it – I might just stop here.”

What it comes down to is sales – so, if you want to see the whole Carny family, buy ‘em up! Ultimately, a toy series has to be at least self-sustaining. Also at the booth were the ridiculously popular Vlad resins – which Deal revealed were also a more satisfying product to produce.

“The Vlad resins have a quicker turnaround, they’re more hands-on, less problems, less stress.”

Within a few hours of the Con opening, four of the six final Vlads had already sold, leaving these two specimens behind. While I didn’t scout ‘em out before the end of the Con, I assume that these guys also found loving homes. Perhaps more resins are in the future.

Check out sculptor Eric Nocella on the right in this photo also – he’s the guy with his hands all over these Jared Deal designs, turning them so perfectly into the sculpted toys that we dutifully collect. Nocella was psyched to talk about Galtow, a comic and sculpture property he’s working on, so go check it out! The future holds full-sized sculptures in a traditional comic vein.