ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

WOW. San Francisco’s own Kirkland Jue went all OCD on his latest custom and used almost 3,000 Swarovski crystals to transform a bird-flipping, exposed-brain kaiju figure into this blingin’ pimp. No longer a misunderstood piece of Japanese vinyl, Pimp Meister Many Mey could now easily be the next neck accessory for Pharrell.

Says Kirkland: “Normally reserved for teenage girls and their mobile phones, rhinestones can really add a bit of bling to anything.” As someone who recently bought an engagement ring, I, too, have a new appreciation for bling. Kirkland continues, “Although time-consuming, perhaps not as long as one might think. As you go along, you get into a rhythm which becomes quite therapeutic.” I hear that too. There’s a certain level of repetitive task that falls between brain-numbingly painful and trance-out transformative. To achieve the latter, some form of contraband substance is often necessary, so ideally you hit somewhere in the middle, and clearly flatback rhinestones are the safest way to go.

This piece is for the  “Popsoda 6th Anniversary Dynamite Custom Show” to be held at Super Festival on January 11th. The show, which will begin in Tokyo, come to America and then finish up in Popsoda’s home town of Osaka, features artists from around the world (including MCA/Evil Design, O’nell Design, Scrappers, LASH, RealxHead, L’amour Supreme, Mishka, Dead Presidents, Suckadelic, Mad Barbarians, Blobpus, Killer J and Rockin’ Jelly Bean.) There is also a special blog dedicated to the Popsoda Dynamite Custom Show:  Many Many Many Mey.

This will be my last posting until New Year’s Eve. I leave you with the blingingest figure that’s come my way and hope you all have a happy, healthy holiday season.