ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

Jure (“U-re”) Gavran sent us these photos of his awesome upcoming Scapegoats figures, which he designed himself. Not only is the scapegoat a unique sculpt, but the cleverness carries over into details like a bandana and a thug tattoo. There’s also some interesting paint ideas, like the translucent belly and yellow-drip paint. The figures toy with modern scapegoating in our society, but with a satirical perspective.

As the story goes: Until recently, the act of blaming others for one’s mistakes has been faceless and anonymous, but to everyone’s surprise this very act has decided to take form and come out to show his ugly face. He goes by the name of Scapegoat Billy and his sole purpose is to inflict discriminatory blame on the innocent. Billy thrives off his victim’s sorrow and helplessness, which is why he uses his semi-transparent belly. The belly is used to trap and display the vulnerable Blamees. Once the Blamees are securely trapped in the belly, Billy transforms his appearance to label, subjugate, and ultimately blame his victims. So be careful, he might want to blame U next.

Threezero provided the tooling and DKE will be distributing the toys. Only 250 pieces of each colorway will be produced. The final price and the date are still being worked out, but the general details are: Billy the Scapegoat is 8″ tall and his Blamee is 3″. There will be 250 pieces of the Urban Criminal Billy (black colorway) and 250 pieces of Immigrant Billy (brown colorway). Urban Criminal Billy comes with a GID Blamee, black collar, leash, bandana, and gun. Immigrant Billy: GID Blamee, red collar, leash, and green leaf blower.

Jure’s formative childhood experiences included Tokusatsu and Mazinger in Guatemala and sun, smog and traffic in Los Angeles. He’s now a graphic designer living and working in the Bay Area. I wanted to ask him about making the transition to toymaker, since it’s a question on a lot of readers’ minds. Jure said:

My job as a graphic designer is to synthesize concepts and imagery, so when I flirted with the idea of designing a toy, I knew for a fact that I wanted to communicate a message. I don’t want to get all emotional on you, but the main reason why I’ve always loved toys, which ultimately led me to Billy, is because of their capability to inspire creativity. Whether I was playing with GI Joes and creating stories as a kid or simply displaying one of my many vinyl toys, I’ve always seen them as an outlet for creating. Scapegoat Billy provided me with a creative outlet to communicate my stance against a social ill.

Regarding the process, he said there were some obstacles, but it was a surprisingly smooth path facilitated by his involvement in the creative field and the generous knowledge of artists and industry people he met along the way. It took about a year and a half from concept to production. Can’t wait to see the final pieces. Stay in touch, Jure!