ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

Every year, fanboys and fangirls of varying stripes descend on San Diego for Comic-Con. Although the event has extensive programming, there’s one activity that unites the collectors with the cosplayers, the MMP gamers with the manga readers, the superheroes with the steampunks: the pursuit of SDCC’s exclusive toys.

Designer toys are always among the highlights of SDCC. Imagine taking something that is already in limited supply by its very nature and then making a small portion of rare inventory available only to the members of an annual convention. Since most designers and distributors keep a tight lid on what they’re bringing, it’s impossible to say what surprises are in store for SDCC attendees. ToyCyte will be publishing a weekly bulletin of SDCC revelations. Here are five confirmed toys to grab by any means necessary:

Frank Kozik’s Ludwig Van (A Clockwork Beethoven) SDCC Colorway. Kozik fans have their work cut out for them at SDCC. There’s something for everyone: Anarchists get Labbits (Kidrobot) and Sharkeys (ToyQube). World War 2 re-enactors get 8” versions of Qee platform figures, Fritz and Ivan (Toy2R). But in absentia of the twenty spendy 16” bronze on marble busts, it’s the 100 vinyl mash-up of Ludwig Van Beethoven and Alex from A Clockwork Orange that are going to really drive the lewdies bezoomy.

Joe Ledbetter’s Swamp Yeti Smash. The sixth colorway (green) of this 7” vinyl ape by one of the scene’s most popular designers is also one of the most coveted. Ledbetter’s toys can ascend into the thousands (yes, that’s U.S. dollars) making them especially sought-after by collectors. Toy2R is releasing just 200 Swamp Yeti Smash figures—and only 100 of them are headed to San Diego.

UNKL’s MaK.Po. Portland design team, UNKL, based this figure on sci-fi legend Kow Yokoyama’s Maschinen Krieger mech suits. Fans have been waiting years for this piece, which features ten inches of exterior vinyl fighting power and an interior velvet comfort zone. MaK.Po is expected to debut at SDCC in a limited run of 400 green and 100 orange figures.

Scott Tolleson’s Tricycle Terror. A newer name in the designer toy movement, Disney digital artist Scott Tolleson transitions from 2D to 3D with his first figure. While the full-color 5” poly-resin Tricycle Terror is available in an edition of 450 pieces, the SDCC-exclusive mono Throwback version is limited to just 50 pieces.

Uglydoll’s Solid Green and Solid Orange Wage Kaiju.David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim continue their reign of all things cute and creepy with a line of 6” Japanese vinyl kaiju (strange beast) Uglydolls for adult collectors. They’ll have just 50 pieces of each colorway on hand at SDCC. Expect more fun stuff, like the unveiling of a new Uglydoll plush.

Stay tuned for more SDCC exclusives next Friday!