It is really rare for a person to get to mix work with pleasure, and I’ve had the opportunity to do that for the past year. Between April 2008 and April 2009, I saw great art, met cool people, increased my toy collection tenfold and wrote over 1800 posts. I hope you’ve liked reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Here’s a quick rundown of some of my favorite stories and “greatest hits.” This little trip down memory lane includes pirates, Huck Gee, Alex Pardee, Obama, feces and farting. Cheers to Year 2!

• With pirates back in the news this month, it reminded me of the first ‘highbrow’ feature I wrote for ToyCyte in early May of 2008. Art & Artifice: Examing Copyright: Pirated Works. We were still getting our format down. I got to chat with Jon Burgerman, MCA and others whose opinions would later turn back up in other stories.

Last month, the Internet illustration community was abuzz with an enormous breach in copyright. A coffee table art book called Colorful Illustrations 93°C was supplied by a person named Zhao Jun to a company called Sendpoint who then turned it over to a publisher known as Index Books. So what’s the trouble? Seems that everything in the book, from images to interviews, was taken verbatim without permission from The Little Chimp Society and Darren Di Lieto.

• There were a shitload of poo toys released in our first year. I didn’t understand the movement behind it. I still don’t really. So one day in May, I composed the cleverest stupidest article I’ve written.

Customization has certainly become a large movement in the designer toy community. This latest entry from Dookie-Poo seeks to fill the void in defecation DIYs. If you’re not just a floater, which is to say you customize with some regularity, you should be able to really turn it out here. There’s a huge load of prizes to be had, so you’ve got to distinguish yourself from the pile. You may experience some relief and satisfaction if someone on the Kidrobot forum dumps on you by saying your piece looks like shit. But remember: there’s only one grand prize, #2 wins nothing! Now go off to the thinking room and come up with something that isn’t pure crap. But hurry up and pinch one out, the contest begins soon. Check the pipes for contest rules here. Feces!

• If I were giving out an award for Best Sport, I’d give it to Huck Gee. In August, I learned that it’s better to just try asking someone a question than writing snarky commentary. And Huck has been game to chat ever since. Huck Gee Gets The Third Degree.

Of late, ToyCyte (and specifically me) has been pondering the prices of Huck Gee. But we’re not alone. Since the San Francisco-based artist began dropping $800 figures, people have been talking–on forums and across continents. Is there a ceiling to what can be charged for art toys? Should there be? If toys are art, why shouldn’t the artist be able to get paid what the market will bear? Didn’t Damien Hirst get $100 million (cash) for his diamond-encrusted skull?

• The award for Most Likely to Make Me LOL went to everyone who pitched in and entered our Win Free Gas For Life from Touma contest. It was also great working with Taipei’s Paradise Toy Land on this. This was lowbrow at its lowest, and you know what? Everybody needed it. An exciting addendum to this story is that I had the opportunity to meet up with our first place winner in Phoenix last weekend for the Resin Collective, and I was reunited with that very special Pooty one more time. Here’s the story that cracked us all up:

I quit going to church when I was 7 or 8 but when I was 15 and realized how many hot chicks were at the local catholic church I started going again, just for the girls, I know I’m a super classy dude. Anyhow, one day I’m super close up front with my grandma and a group of nuns walks by us and goes to sit in the pews across from us. After everyone was seated a placard indicating the hymns that were to be sang fell off the wall and onto the floor. One of the older nuns went to retrieve it and when she bent over, she ripped one. The whole crowd was in silence and my grandma says in a loud voice(although she thinks she’s whispering) ” I think somebody just FAHTED in church, the nerve.” The priest and everybody else erupted in laughter, funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

• If 2008 was our premiere year, it was also a banner year for Alex Pardee. What didn’t this guy do in 2008? His output and talent are humbling. We covered it all. And definitely one of the highlights was when he opened his solo show right here in San Francisco.

Last night, Alex Pardee opened his Letters From Digested Children solo show at San Francisco’s FIFTY24SF. The central theme of the exhibition is missing children who have been eaten by monsters. Since monsters have slow digestive systems, many of the children are still alive inside their stomachs. While the children wait for salvation, they scrawl S.O.S. letters. Alex collected these missives, along with police reports and portraits of some of the “more popular” monsters, transforming the gallery into a walk-in milk carton. This is concept art and is best experienced to be appreciated. For our readers around the globe, I’ll try to explain.

• Of all the shows I missed in our first year, the one that I lamented the most was ART + ACTION = OBAMA 08. Talking about art and politics in the same sentence was new and exciting. Luckily, Collin David was there to cover the opening.

The customized toy show thing might still be pretty insular to those who are already partial to the world of designer toys, but when you throw politics into the mix, you’ll start pulling people out of the woodwork – and when those politics revolve around Barack Obama, you’ll get some pretty hip, smart people. What I’m saying is that you don’t see ol’ McCain inspiring any great works of art.

• Hands down, my brightest recurring idea for ToyCyte so far has been custoMONDAYs. I absolutely cannot pick a favorite among them. Each artist has wowed me with his/her talent and generosity. The whole experience is fun for everybody involved, and we’ve got a great lineup scheduled into the Fall of 2009 already set up for you.

Whether your Mondays are manic or you just don’t like ‘em, the beginning of each week is not customarily cheerful. With the help of a vigilant community of customizers, ToyCyte wants to change that. Presenting custoMONDAY: Something reliably fresh and fun to look forward to and start your week off right.

• But that’s not to say that’s my only recurring idea. We just premiered our Guest Expert series with the encyclopedic Steve Agin. Stay tuned for much more knowledge in Year 2…

There, Bwana in “granny glasses” I still remember well from the headshops on McDougal St. in 1965, sat, beatific and bearded with a smile as much a part of his dominion as the work set out on the table. As I drank in his “Little Killer” (whale) and Globby (octopus-guy) which I’d seen earlier in other painted ‘clothes’ colors at the great Gargamel’s table (I began to realize the very strong bond and working association between these two transcontinental crews), I felt the nature of the ‘optimystic’ effuse in the tiny atmosphere that hovered like just one more of Bwana’s characters–the air, itself. I just didn’t see the smile, but I felt it. The music, the benignly smiling, Buddha-like little vinyl figures (like the gator with the mad butterfly net hurrying on the hunt, in specs, looking more than a little like Bwana himself), it was all there. And I remembered what “Bwana” means.

• Interviews. I talked to a lot of people. I plan to talk to many more. Sometimes, my mom even helped out, and we posted in French too. Again, I can’t pick favorites, so here’s the whole list.

• Blindsided was an epic undertaking where I spoke with toy companies, toy fans, toy stores, toy artists and toy bloggers about blind box packaging/marketing/fun. Much to my surprise, mostly everyone talked to me. Some people didn’t want it to be brought to light and others were afraid of what would come out of it, but all in all, it was well-received and remains one of my favorite pieces of writing for ToyCyte.

This article isn’t about me, but here are a few things you should know nonetheless. When I was a kid, I collected Smurfs. If I had used my allowance to buy Handy Smurf and instead I got Baby Smurf, I would have been pissed. I also collected Matchbox cars (blister-carded) and rocks (scattered on the ground). As an adult, I collect art toys, and I’m not a big fan of surprises. Toys are like little legal pick-me-ups: they briefly take the edge off life’s stressors and reward you with a nice piece of art. I don’t look to them for thrills or socializing. If I wanted a social thrill, I’d go jump out of an airplane with a group of my closest pals. So on that note, let’s jump right in.

• Finally, there were so many great shows in ToyCyte’s first year. To pick a favorite would be a disservice to all of the artists and curators who worked on them.  Getting out to shows is one of the best parts of writing about toys. It’s great to see art and art toys in real life. And each show has a life of its own; a vibe. To that extent, I’m going to end with the last show I’ve seen, a show which really felt as though it was on the edge of a movement. The Resin Collective.

Never before has there been an all-resin art toy group show of this proportion and significance. Over the course of the evening, people chatted about how it is the “right time” for resin. The recession slowed down factory (vinyl) production and simultaneously gave collectors pause to rethink buying pricier products. Meanwhile, a handful of art stars rose to fame with the aid of companies and stores, leaving many artists on the periphery. Is resin the solution? Well, anyone with artistic intent can learn the process and pass on the cost savings to their collectors. This results in a vibrant art toy community, the likes of which we haven’t seen in years.