FAFI... IS... COMING... STATESIDE...The Carmine Vault Release Party @ Nucleus Art Gallery

Get Ready California...LE SIGH... This news breaks my heart a little bit that I am an East Coaster. I am seeing a pattern here... Anyhow, enough about me. Nucleus Art Gallery will be hosting Fafi for ONE EVENING ONLY. All the way from Paris, oh my... so don't miss out on being in her company and waving hello! This little soiree will be held in honor of her book release, "The Carmine Vault", which I posted about HERE earlier this week... CHECK IT OUT! In addition to getting your book signed, waving hello, EATING CANDY... mmm, there will be new artwork on display and three exclusive prints released. It really doesn't get better than that. My dream come true. If you can't be there in person but still want Fafi love in your book, Nucleus are still letting you get your hands on a signed copy on their site. How nice!! The magic moment happens April 16th, 6pm-9pm! ET VOILA.

Source: [Gallery Nucleus ] [Image: Clutter Magazine]

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Motorbot works with… the youngest toy designer to date?

You read that title correctly… the one and only Motorbot would like to introduce you to the Mooncrow, a new figure he's releasing that was designed by his 7-year-old daughter. And, like her dad, she obviously has an affinity for the strange creatures of imagination.

On the left are the original drawings she did of the creature and, on the right, is Motorbot's production sketch based on his daughter's design. Needless to say, she was thrilled that her creation was being made into actual toys. Probably even more so when she saw the massive 5" tall end result:

And — right now — these rare & elusive beasts are in Motorbot's web shop, ready to take flight to your home. Priced at $35 each, there are only five glow-in-the-dark pearl white mooncrows and five one-off designs available. And, of course, a percentage of each sale goes directly into the 7-year-old designer's pocket…

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SouthernDrawl's custom Bunny for tonight's Nathan Hamill x Toy Art Gallery "Bellicosity" show!

SouthernDrawl did a lot of work manipulating Nathan Hamill's Bellicose Bunny platform in preparation for tonight's "Bellicosity" group show at the Toy Art Gallery. There's a lot of sculpt work hidden in this piece: those legs aren't standard, those arms & ears are much longer than normal, the tail is some weird hybrid between the rocket exhaust & the platform's original tail, and the head on the rocket is… OH! Um, are we allowed to show that on here? Shouldn't there be like a big  CENSORED!  bar over that thing. Oh my… Regardless of your taste for risque humor, no one can fault the beautiful work put into this custom. Bravo!

The artists listed on the flyer are: A Little Stranger, Ardabus Rubber, Ayleen Gaspar, Mikie Graham of Blamo!, Bob Conge aka Plaseebo, Brandon Griffith, Brent Nolasco, Carson Catlin, Cris Rose, D-Lux, George Gaspar, Gris Grimly, J★RYU, Jeremiah Ketner, Jermaine Rogers, JESTER, Jon-Paul Kaiser, Josh Mayhem, Julie B., Julie West, KMNDZ, Lash, Leecifer, Luke Chueh, Martin Hsu, Miss Mindy, Nebulon5, Okedoki, OsiRisORion, Peap, Ragnar, Rohby, Rsin, Scott Tolleson, John "Spanky" Stokes, Steve Talkowski, Southerndrawl, TaskOne, Todd Robertson, Tomi Monstre, Touma, Toybot Studios, and valleyDweller. Though not listed on the flyer, we've heard that Chauskoskis, Shojono Tomo, and Voltaire will be in the show as well.

"Bellicosity: The Bellicose Bunny Group Custom Show" will open on March 23rd and run through April 6th at the Toy Art Gallery (TAG), 7571 Melrose Ave. (corner of Melrose & Curson) Los Angeles, CA, 90046.

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What do Tenacious Toys, Monster Kolor, Brutherford & Toy2r have in common? Trampt!

As we previously announced, Trampt are currently running a "For The Love Of Art" giveaway, which is open only to verified artists in the Trampt database. The announced prizes were $500 cash, six months free advertising on the Trampt site, and a "Customizer Dream Package." They have just announced the first group of items included in the Dream Package and it is amazing:

• Courtesy of Tenacious Toys, a collection of Monster Kolor paints — which we know every customizer loves;
• Brutherford is donating a pair of the amazing Ice Scream Men figures, one in the open Vanilla Edition and one of the signed & numbered Strawberry Edition… and a matching mini-figure of each color, which have not been officially released yet; and
• Toy2r are stepping up the game by including:
  • a 5" Captain Sturnbrau Mini Qee 'Pieces of Eight Edition' by Jon-Paul Kaiser;
  • a 5" Bossy Bear Kaiju; and
  • a random mix of 5 to 10 Blind Boxed 2.5" Qees.

And if you're not an artist, Trampt are still doing their "100 Day Hu$tle" campaign with great prizes for everyone. You can find out about the first 'challenge' in this contest HERE.
If you're not a member of Trampt yet, I don't know what you are waiting for… Join now!

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Cris Rose's Bellicose-End Bunny for tonight's Nathan Hamill x Toy Art Gallery "Bellicosity" show!

Cris Rose's "Bellicose-End Bunny," based of the Nathan Hamill rabbit platform, is for tonight's "Bellicosity" group custom show at the Toy Art Gallery. While I could rave about how amazing looking this piece is, I fear that words don't quite do it justice. Luckily for me, Rose has a backstory for this character that he'd like to share:

The Bellicose-End Bunny was a personal project undertaken by an irritated engineer with too much time on his hands.
Constantly aggravated by the trivial bickering of his neighbours, family, co-workers and peers, he set about creating a little robot bunny that few would pay attention to.
Hopping around around in a stunted, clunky manner, only the very observant would realise that this was nothing more than an act; that underneath the facade of a child's plaything, a level of analytic sophistication was keenly at work, scoping out it's target in detail without receiving so much as a second glance.
With incredible speed and dexterity, a raygun almost as big as itself would be folded seemingly out of nothing and pointed in the direction of the insufferable quarrel. A silent burst of blue-orange light would gently drape itself upon the now stunned individuals without so much as a twitch of understanding.
Slowly the realisation would dawn upon them that they could hear the thoughts of the other, their concerns and issues had become their own and that the problems that had been so poignant, moments before, appeared as pithy and without form as a discarded napkin.
Few would notice the slow and clumsy exit made by the small robotic rabbit, but whatever bellicose has previously existed between the parties, was no more.

The artists listed on the flyer are: A Little Stranger, Ardabus Rubber, Ayleen Gaspar, Mikie Graham of Blamo!, Bob Conge aka Plaseebo, Brandon Griffith, Brent Nolasco, Carson Catlin, Cris Rose, D-Lux, George Gaspar, Gris Grimly, J★RYU, Jeremiah Ketner, Jermaine Rogers, JESTER, Jon-Paul Kaiser, Josh Mayhem, Julie B., Julie West, KMNDZ, Lash, Leecifer, Luke Chueh, Martin Hsu, Miss Mindy, Nebulon5, Okedoki, OsiRisORion, Peap, Ragnar, Rohby, Rsin, Scott Tolleson, John "Spanky" Stokes, Steve Talkowski, Southerndrawl, TaskOne, Todd Robertson, Tomi Monstre, Touma, Toybot Studios, and valleyDweller. Though not listed on the flyer, we've heard that Chauskoskis, Shojono Tomo, and Voltaire will be in the show as well.

"Bellicosity: The Bellicose Bunny Group Custom Show" will open on March 23rd and run through April 6th at the Toy Art Gallery (TAG), 7571 Melrose Ave. (corner of Melrose & Curson) Los Angeles, CA, 90046.

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SEN's Monkey King 3" custom Dunnys… Bringing the Chinese character to life!

Indonesian artist SEN has done a new custom of the famous Chinese character The Monkey King (aka Sun Wukong) from the epic Journey to the West novel. Made from 3" dunnys, SEN has constructed three of these customs to form a limited edition run. I like the look of the sculpted belts and leggings, the fabric cape seems solid, and the overall paint job is clean. I do think the sculpt on the head looks a bit too rough (but sculpting perfectly on a 3" dunny is exceedingly hard) and the eyes look a little raw as well. These figures are available now for $65 each (worldwide shipping included) HERE.

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J★RYU's Playsam 500 custom for the Super 7 show!

Presenting J★RYU's contribution to the forthcoming Playsam 500 custom toy show at Super 7: the "EMO500i," which bears the memorable tagline "Lament in style." I love the look of it, but wonder if all that is actually cut out of wood (which would be very impressive) or rather resin cast & painted to look like wood (which is damned impressive too, actually). Either way, fantastic piece.

"PLAYSAM 500" opens on April 28th at Super 7, 1427 Haight St. (@ Masonic), San Francisco, CA 94117. Participating artists include: Andrew Bell, Arbito, Clayton Bailey, Dacosta!, Super Cooper Berella, Beast Brothers, Betso, Kat Brunegraff, 64 Colors, Carson Catlin, DrilOne, Tristan Eaton, Brian Flynn, George Gaspar, Paul Greenwood, Gary Ham, Greglovestoast, Nathan Hamill, Jay222, Walter “Chauskoskis” Jacott, Jryu, Jeremiah Ketner, Paul Kaiju, Aya Kakeda, Frank Kozik, Josh Herbolsheimer, Travis Lampe, Matthew Langille, Josh Mayhem, Sarah Lunabee Miskelly, Frank Mysterio, Motorbot, Ritzy Periwinkle, Plaseebo, Patricio Oliver, Task One, Dave Pressler, Reactor 88, Jason “Aka Big Money” Rodan, Jermaine Rogers, Cris Rose, Scribe, Rsin Art, Ardabus Rubber, Skinner, Bwana Spoons, John “Spanky” Stokes, Steve Talkowski, Cameron Tiede, Scott Tolleson, Vise One, Angie Vtec, Ben Walker, Adam Washburn, The Air Rat, Julie West, Kevin Winnik, Nicholas Woodworth... and many others!

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SpankyStokes's Belligerent Bunny for tonight's Nathan Hamill x Toy Art Gallery "Bellicosity" show!

Dear sweet God, what is that thing?!? So horrible looking, so nightmarish, so mesmerizing… It's our own SpankyStokes's "Belligerent Bunny" custom for the Nathan Hamill organized "Bellicosity" group show at the Toy Art Gallery tonight. Yes, instead of riding a rocket into outer space, Stokes's rabbit is riding a cold mug all the way to the bottom. Apparent years of over-consumption of those sweet hops & barleys have led, beside to certain liver and kidney damage, to his 'cute & fluffy' bunnyness being called into question. I love how — if you look carefully, especially at a side view — you can vaguely see the Bellicose Bunny platform's outline still, though it has been masked under a skillfully crafted (and rather disturbing looking) face sculpt and matted fur exterior. While his visage is a certain highlight with those askew glass eyes, protruding nose bump and horrific teeth, it is actually his cracked & broken fingernails that get me; such attention to small details is what makes this piece 100% work. And, at least, the bunny does still have his cotton tail… off-white as it may be.

The artists listed on the flyer are: A Little Stranger, Ardabus Rubber, Ayleen Gaspar, Mikie Graham of Blamo!, Bob Conge aka Plaseebo, Brandon Griffith, Brent Nolasco, Carson Catlin, Cris Rose, D-Lux, George Gaspar, Gris Grimly, J★RYU, Jeremiah Ketner, Jermaine Rogers, JESTER, Jon-Paul Kaiser, Josh Mayhem, Julie B., Julie West, KMNDZ, Lash, Leecifer, Luke Chueh, Martin Hsu, Miss Mindy, Nebulon5, Okedoki, OsiRisORion, Peap, Ragnar, Rohby, Rsin, Scott Tolleson, John "Spanky" Stokes, Steve Talkowski, Southerndrawl, TaskOne, Todd Robertson, Tomi Monstre, Touma, Toybot Studios, and valleyDweller. Though not listed on the flyer, we've heard that Chauskoskis, Shojono Tomo, and Voltaire will be in the show as well.

"Bellicosity: The Bellicose Bunny Group Custom Show" will open on March 23rd and run through April 6th at the Toy Art Gallery (TAG), 7571 Melrose Ave. (corner of Melrose & Curson) Los Angeles, CA, 90046.

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Sergio Mancini's Most Wanted Dunny first sneak peak…

So yes, the sneak peak teaser of Sergio Mancini's contribution to the Most Wanted Series 3 customs set is some wonderfully hand-sculpted flat caps (also known as dai or ivy caps). And while this might seem like a bit of a let down for those anticipating more, it does give valuable insight: (1) there will be at least six customs by Mancini for MWS3, (2) there might only be six customs by Mancini for MWS3, and (3) since hats usually play a very distinctive and appropriate role in Mancini's customs, we can assume he'll be doing a dapper character or a golfing figure or a newsboy or something along those lines. See, we learned a lot from very little.

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Nikejerk's threeA custom being raffled off to benefit the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer!

Nikejerk made the above pictured figure for last year's official threeA "I Am Legion" custom toy show and now he's decided to raffle the piece off with 100% of the proceeds going towards Breast Cancer research and treatment, specifically in the form of backing someone walking 39.9 mile in the upcoming Avon Walk for Break Cancer (May 5-6 in Washington, DC). First I'll discuss the figure, then how to enter the raffle (so skip the next paragraph if you just want to buy a raffle ticket).

The figure is entitled "Rasp" and was built using a Heavy Bramble backpack, 5 Dropcloth arms, a WWRp Bramble gatling gun and backpack, and 2 Bertie arms along with custom claws. The driver is a custom made and painted Glyos figure as well. It's quite the amazing looking piece, with tons of time and careful work obviously put into it. But now onto the important stuff…

Each entry into the raffle to win this figure costs $20 and you can enter as many times as you would like; remember, 100% of this money will go towards sponsoring someone participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. Nikejerk's goal is to fill 40 spots and that is the set maximum number of raffle slots he is selling; he'll refund any payments received after that quota is filled. Once all 40 slots are filled*, a random selection generator will pick a winner.
To enter, all you need to do is send payment to jared.cain@gmail.com in increments of $20 via PayPal. Please make sure you make the payment as Personal and then check Other, adding "Avon Walk Donation" into the comments box.
In addition to being entered in the raffle, Nikejerk will send a personal "thank you" to each person who enters… a thank you that will include a small custom something in the mail! People donating will be contacted through the e-mail address you use to make your PayPal payment.
Nikejerk will personally cover the cost of worldwide shipping for this raffle.

* There is a minimum requirement of 30 spots in the raffle being filled or Nikejerk will cancel the raffle and refund all payments made. But I don't foresee him having any trouble getting to that number…

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Jon-Paul Kaiser's custom Bunny for tonight's Nathan Hamill x Toy Art Gallery "Bellicosity" show!

Well, that head is certainly from Nathan Hamill's Bellicose Bunny and this is Jon-Paul Kaiser's custom for tonight's "Bellicosity" group show at the Toy Art Gallery, but where in the heck did that body come from? Kaiser tells us that it is crafted from sculpey, but it is so natural and flowing that I easily mistook it for a custom sewn beanbag with arms… Kaiser's piece, entitled "There's a Superhero Inside All of Us," introduces you to a rabbit that is "a Home-Made superhero, donning his goggles and a handmade uniform, ready to tackle crime and ample dinners." Perfection. I love that the costume as the underwear on the outside and his wee shirt appears to have a slightly slanted bat on it. The flowing cape is the final touch the sends this over-the-top… into humorous excellence!

The artists listed on the flyer are: A Little Stranger, Ardabus Rubber, Ayleen Gaspar, Mikie Graham of Blamo!, Bob Conge aka Plaseebo, Brandon Griffith, Brent Nolasco, Carson Catlin, Cris Rose, D-Lux, George Gaspar, Gris Grimly, J★RYU, Jeremiah Ketner, Jermaine Rogers, JESTER, Jon-Paul Kaiser, Josh Mayhem, Julie B., Julie West, KMNDZ, Lash, Leecifer, Luke Chueh, Martin Hsu, Miss Mindy, Nebulon5, Okedoki, OsiRisORion, Peap, Ragnar, Rohby, Rsin, Scott Tolleson, John "Spanky" Stokes, Steve Talkowski, Southerndrawl, TaskOne, Todd Robertson, Tomi Monstre, Touma, Toybot Studios, and valleyDweller. Though not listed on the flyer, we've heard that Chauskoskis, Shojono Tomo, and Voltaire will be in the show as well.

"Bellicosity: The Bellicose Bunny Group Custom Show" will open on March 23rd and run through April 6th at the Toy Art Gallery (TAG), 7571 Melrose Ave. (corner of Melrose & Curson) Los Angeles, CA, 90046.

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New Erick Scarecrow x Monster Kolor "Kissaki Summer Dream" from ESC-Toy!

Erick Scarecrow's ESC-Toy Ltd. releases a brand new version of the Kissaki platform, "Kassaki Summer Dream." Limited to just 9 copies worldwide, this incarnation of the 10" tall vinyl figure has been hand-painted by Scarecrow himself using Monster Kolor sprays. It still "wows" me to look at this beautiful figure, especially how the pommels of the swords hilts are tiny fists. Each copy of this fourth official colorway of the figure will include a special giclée print and, the set, will retail for $200 each. They are available now HERE.

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Adam Greeley's "Sleepy Time Owl" custom Trikky baby shower gift!

Adam Greeley's "Sleepy Time Owl" was a gift he made for a baby shower; instead of just giving the standard baby supplies, he wanted to provide something more personal & memorable; and I'd say, hands down, he accomplished just that. I love the painting — varying between the sharp, simple lines and the more subtle, detail-oriented areas — is what really sets this Trikky custom off. And the removal of the arms to paint the wings on, which are cradling a baby owl, works perfectly here. This is something that, I'm sure, his friend's baby will continue to grow to enjoy in new ways as s/he ages; which, in the end, makes it one of the best gifts you can give.

We're not certain if Greeley is currently accepting customs commissions, but you can contact him HERE to inquire.

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Steve Talkowski's piece(s) for tonight's Nathan Hamill x Toy Art Gallery "Bellicosity" show!

The other day we reveal some amazing work-in-progress pics of Steve Talkowski's piece for tonight's "Bellicosity" group show at the Toy Art Gallery. Talkowski remarks that when he received Nathan Hamill's Bellicose Bunny platform, "I knew immediately that I wanted to separate the bunny from the carrot, but didn't want to treat it as a rocket. A few sketches later and I came up with two droid companions that would be sidekicks to the Bunny." And the bunny is quite simple looking, a two-tone silver & pewter paint job, but one wouldn't want him detracting for the bots… The obvious time went into turning the two halves of the rocket into robots, though I do like the misting of red on the head of the blue guy. And I don't know where I've seen that sticker on the red guy's chest before, but I know I have…

The artists listed on the flyer are: A Little Stranger, Ardabus Rubber, Ayleen Gaspar, Mikie Graham of Blamo!, Bob Conge aka Plaseebo, Brandon Griffith, Brent Nolasco, Carson Catlin, Cris Rose, D-Lux, George Gaspar, Gris Grimly, J★RYU, Jeremiah Ketner, Jermaine Rogers, JESTER, Jon-Paul Kaiser, Josh Mayhem, Julie B., Julie West, KMNDZ, Lash, Leecifer, Luke Chueh, Martin Hsu, Miss Mindy, Nebulon5, Okedoki, OsiRisORion, Peap, Ragnar, Rohby, Rsin, Scott Tolleson, John "Spanky" Stokes, Steve Talkowski, Southerndrawl, TaskOne, Todd Robertson, Tomi Monstre, Touma, Toybot Studios, and valleyDweller. Though not listed on the flyer, we've heard that Chauskoskis, Shojono Tomo, and Voltaire will be in the show as well.

"Bellicosity: The Bellicose Bunny Group Custom Show" will open on March 23rd and run through April 6th at the Toy Art Gallery (TAG), 7571 Melrose Ave. (corner of Melrose & Curson) Los Angeles, CA, 90046.

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