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.

ToyCyte will be publishing a weekly bulletin of SDCC exclusives. This week was heavy with revelations, and choosing just 5 was tough:

Victor (Marka27) Quinonez’s Killa Instinct. Much-hyped newcomer BIC Plastics acts as producer for the first urban vinyl toy from veteran graffiti guy, Marka27. The 8″ Killa Instinct comes with brass knuckles that spell “KILL TOYS,” spray-cans and markers, bloody bat, bolt cutter and gas-mask. Killa Instinct is “set to destroy anyone or anything that gets in his way of world domination through the means of getting up, with his Killa Styles, burners, tags, throwups, by any means necessary.” Price TBA.

Paul Pope’s Karimbah. Cast in Pope’s signature manga-meets-fine-art style, this two-figure action piece includes an original box design, a 16-page comic and a secret vinyl throw-in. Karimbah’s dog is apparently the size of an actual little Boston Terrier. Kidrobot says this was the most complicated and challenging toy design they’ve tackled yet. There are 300 available at $150 each. Paul Pope will be at the KR booth to sign on July 26th from 1-4pm.

Mike “Nemo” Mendez’s Haremongous. Not much is known about this elusive warrior rabbit collab from Nemo and ToyQube. There are two versions–a white standard release and a black-on-black colorway for SDCC. Both figures wear a battle-ready helmet and an armored arm brace and come adorned with a black skull tattoo on their chests. Killer rabbits? What’s not to love? Price TBA.

Munky King’s Black on Black Trio. Munky King has been running banner ads for three all black limited edition figures from their in-house production line. Each is limited to 150 pieces. The figures are Nathan Jurevicius’s 8″ Monkey King, The Pizz’s Eyegore, and Yoskay Yamamoto’s Koibito. Prices TBA.

tokidoki’s Geisha, Kaniza and Dunny. tokidoki has a handful of exclusives for SDCC 2008. First up is the 4″ Geisha for $40 from ToyTokyo in an edition of 500. Next we have the Kaniza from ToyQube in an edition of 1000. Finally, there’s an 8″ Dunny for $50 from Kidrobot. A wee bit of controversy surrounds that last one; some folks feel the figure is merely floating by on the tokidoki name, others complain of Italian stereotyping. But tokidoki fans are sure to love them all. Simone Legno will be signing at the KR booth on July 27th from 11-2pm.

Read last week’s SDCC exclusives roundup here.

Stay tuned for more SDCC exclusives next Friday!