ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

And it begins. It’s day one of Comic Con, and already I’m overwhelmed. This is my first time to be out here, as I’ve never been able to justify the expense, but damn, what a day for seeing some amazing things. Let’s try and run down some of the list.

Skeletal Carnival 3 – The opening of this art show lasted about an hour from launch before all the goods were gone. As people lined up waiting for a chance to snag beautifully dirty pieces from Pushead, Usugrow, and Sutfin. Bops, Pirates, and Jars of Pus ran freely (at designer prices) and all three guys were on hand to sign the figures. I stared longingly at a KVP that was meant for my shelves, but unfortunately I have rent to pay next week. In other Super7 news, Brian and the team teased us with a massive oversized jumbo machinder Stormtrooper. It’s possibly the most amazing piece I’ll see this week, and it’s only Thursday. On top of all that and a Gorilla Biscuits figure, they also debuted a set of six new figures with the newly released Zombie body. The heads are all designed by the Super7 family (including Josh and Joe seen below middle and right) and go from the cute Tokoji, to something that reminds me of the snail guy from Uzumaki. Stop by the Super7 booth tomorrow for an Itokin Park Himalan release and signing. And want to talk to the Master Controller of Super7? Brian Flynn will be signing figures (including the Ikageruge inspired Squirm) and probably talking Ultraman at 1:00pm on Saturday.

GI Joe – I scoped out the Sideshow Collectibles panel where they talked about the upcoming COBRA Commander 12” figure. The level of detail that goes into the Sideshow toys really shines especially after listening to the team talk about the amount of research needed from the fascist oppressive feel of the COBRA uniforms, to the Eastern Bloc inspired weaponry of the 80’s 3 3/4 line. It shows just why Sideshow is the only company other than Hasbro to release the 12” figures.

While on the topic of GI Joe, I went to the IDW party (just got back home at 2am) and wound up talking to upcoming Joe artist Robert Atkins. He’s given me the inside scoop (well, for at least 12 more hours) on the upcoming comic starting with issue 0. Rumor has it that the first issue will be crammed full of Joe icons including Hawk, Flint, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, and Roadblock. On the COBRA side, we should be getting a villainous vision of Cobra Commander, Destro, the Baroness, and of course, Storm Shadow. Expect to hear some more news at the Transformers panel Friday at 4pm.

Camilla and I at the Arcana booth

Camilla d’Errico - Taking a step away from Japanese monsters and Cold War fascists, comes the work of Camilla d’Errico. She was kind enough to sit and chat with me for quite awhile to discuss her high fashion clothing line, designs for Mind Style, and her one year recovery from a scone addiction. Expect that interview up next week.

Hiroaki Okada shares his work

Gargamel - I’m probably going a little kaiju crazy right now, but, it’s some of the biggest toy news today. The guys at Gargamel had some great figures at their booth including a brand new Eaton with a soft vinyl removable head! The new colorway is lime green with orange swirls. The story goes that the bottom creature is being attacked by the “head” character creating the Eaton you’re familiar with. Gargamel also showed off a Bwana Spoons Globby, and Koji Harmon’s August release of a grey Tokoji Seijin.

Wearily I’m finishing this at 2:30am giving me about 5 hours before I’m up and have to do it again. I can’t wait.

Yoskay and Peekaboo at Munkyking party

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