*ON SITE* Meredith Dittmar's fantastic "Transmutation" sculpture show at Toy Art Gallery!

Last weekend, among the other shows and events I visited in Los Angeles, I was able to swing by Toy Art Gallery for their latest opening... the fantastically fantastical work of sculptor Meredith Dittmar in her solo show titled "Transmutations"! Upon entering the gallery i already knew I was going to fall in love with the show... tons of little sculptures adorned each and every pedestal. They all ranged in size, from small to large 18" tall center pieces, Meredith created an entire world of her majestic little creatures... all of which were meticulously created out of polymer clay... and when i say meticulous, I mean it! Each and every piece included such small intricacies... I was totally blown away. Oh, and as if the figures on the ground weren't enough, Meredith created some skillfully crafted wall hangings... so beautiful!

Each piece showcased the playfulness of the clay they were created in by highlighting their rich colors, wonderfully crafted forms, and ubiquitous natures... needless to say, I really enjoyed each and ever one of them. Do yourself a favor and go out to TAG and check this stuff out in person... better yet, purchase a piece... all of which range in price as low as $45 all the way up to $600+. The show will be on display until June 30th, and if you are unable to see it in person, check out the pieces online HERE. Hit the jump for a ton more photos of these rad creations!

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Frank Kozik's "Smash The State" Mini 10-Doh! Blind Box Series 1 from Squid Kids Ink!!!

We have been posting images up as soon as we see them of the upcoming Squid Kids Ink 3.5" Mini 10-Doh! blind box series... and today we are getting a look at the art work that artist Frank Kozik put together for this series... and the graphics Kozik put together for this figure turned out perfect, and is so Kozik'esc! In the series there will be 12 gray figures (like the one that you see above) and 4 rare gold figures for a total of 16 to collect... and these are set to debut at SDCC 2012 via the Squid Kids Ink booth #5137 and will retail for just $10 a piece!!!! Oh, and if you are interested in in who else is doing designs for this series, Squid Kids Ink got designs from: Andrew Wilson, Doktor A., Jerome Lu, Jesse Hernandez, Kozik, Kwestone, Luke Chueh, Matt JOnes, Nakanari, Nate Mitchell, and Scott Tolleson... Stay tuned for more figure reveals, as well as more goodies for SDCC from SKI!!!!

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Super7's Rose Vampire "OuterSpaced" Casket Cruiser

Spotted for the first time in the Super7 2012 Luck y Bags customized by artist Joshua Herbolsheimer, these now soon to be released Rose Vampire "OuterSpaced" Casket Cruiser is set to blast off this week! The figure itself measures 4" long, is cast in transparent glitter vinyl and features blue, red and gold paint! Oh, and it actually has rolling wheels!!!! These are going to be available HERE on Thursday June 21st, at 12:00 Noon PST for $65 each.

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DKE Toys x Alex Pardee - "Bunny With Hammerhead" image leak... what could it mean?!?!?!?!

For the DKE Toys SDCC 2012 announcement today... rather than dropping concrete info on a specific release, they tease us with the above photo. Now, you may all recall a few years back the awesomely disturbing plush HERE from Alex Pardee... well, our hunch is that Alex is releasing a new plush, and it's of his "Bunny With Hammerhead" that you see above. Now, this is just speculation, as it could be a t-shirt, or a print... so we will just have to wait for the official announcement!

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Get your Funko Blox Vinyl Figures @ FAB!!

OOOOOOH. I like these guys courtesy of FUNKO. CUTE. Cheap as chips, not breaking a twenty dollar bill for 3.75" of Blox vinyl figures!! Go peep FAB, join if you are not already a member or hit someone up who is... QUICK QUICK, before they are gone, gone gone. I'll take the Ugly Charlie!! Thanks ;)

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Igor Ventura, Mr. Munk, Ritzy P, & Sergio Mancini's custom Androids for Dragatomi's SDCC 2012 series!

Continuing our series of reveals for the Dragatomi blind boxed Android customs series to be issued at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC) we have pieces from four contributors! Above we have a pair of "Unlucky Android" customs by Most Wanted Collective member & co-founder Igor Ventura. These 'one-armed bandits' look amazing, such tiny detail work hidden all over them.

Mr. Munk — I think — is the first person to deliver two unique designs instead of doing multiples. Entitled "Grime" and "Shine," I'm sure you can guess which is which. I like the subtle blending of colors that make the whole effect work. Very nice work.

The pieces by Ritzy Periwinkle, also known as Ritzy P, have a wonderful 'Day of the Dead' flavor to them. She did a fantasticly subtle job of resculpting the heads into skull forms and, when she removed the arms, she really made those belly images the focal point of your eye… which is good, because they deserve to stand out.

And last — but certainly not least — we have Sergio Mancini's slickly perfect looking "Project: Smoking Android." Mancini's line work is so phenomenally crisp that it's almost impossible to accept it is done by hand. But it is…

Dragatomi's blind boxed custom Android series will cost $80 per box and only 50 customs will be in the series. They will be available at SDCC Booth #4935, but day and time of release are still unknown.

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**Video Recap** J★RYU's Magnificent Mega Munny Custom at Kidrobot LA!

Following our initial write up HERE of J★RYU's LIVE custom Mega Munny event at Kidrobot LA, local video/photographer Jordan Ahern is giving us a really great video recap of the very same event that is edited very nicely and captures the awesome vibe from the event. Give it a watch, and make sure you stick around till the end to get a good laugh!

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Cavey's 2nd Birthday Competition closes in one week!

There are just 7 days left to enter Cavey's second birthday competition... which by the way we posted about HERE eons ago! So, you really don't have any excuses not to enter now ... do ya?!?! Oh, and if you need more incentive, one lucky winner will win a one-of-a-kind Purple Polkadot Cavey Pilllow, Cavey badges, postcards and sticker pack... and there will be runner up prize packages as well!!!! The contest closes Tuesday 26th June at midnight London time, where Holley will pick her favorite and a winner will be announced on their blog Thursday June 28th. Head on over HERE for complete details!

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Toy Break Episode 220 : Blanktastic

George and Ayleen of Toy Break are back for yet another EPIC episode, and this go around seasoned couch veteran, artist Scott Tolleson, is in the house for toy talk galore. They talk about YO, Boner, Zukie, Mr. Pinkterton Qee, TimBrucknerShop.com Launch, and Fujisan "Mountain Spirit" from Bigfoot x Dragatomi, and in preparation for the release tomorrow, they chat about our exclusive "Tiger" Stroll... AWESOME!!!! So what are you waiting for... give em' a watch!

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*SPOILER* Sucklord's Dunny 2012 design... revealed!

It appears that rules are not being followed over on the KR message boards as people continue to post photos of rare Dunny's for the upcoming 2012 series... and today, a doozie was just revealed... the case exclusive Dunny designed by Sucklord himself! Now, we showed off a rough photo of this piece HERE last week, but today we are getting the full monty... and I gotta say, it looks every bit of awesome and KR did a great job capturing the "Bootleg" nature of Sucklords work. This hot pink figure will only be available is you purchase a full case... while supplies last. Oh, and I bet the Sucklord himself will have Artist Proofs(AP's) up for grabs in the near future. What are your thoughts folks... does getting this piece justify buying a case?

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Dory's "Rough & Tumble Crawdad Kid" OMFG! custom!

Daniel "Dory" Yu took a crack at customizing his own Crawdad Kid piece from the OMFG! Mini Figures series and, while there's a lot of depth and skill in the paint job, the true standout aspect are those hand-sculpted boxing gloves. If you're unfamiliar with how the figure should look, he has pincer claws on each arm so this "Rough & Tumble" version required quite a bit of skillful sculpting to create those 'hands' on the 2" form. This piece is actually on it's way to Flabslab, but should you want your own customized Crawdad Kid then you can always contact Yu through his website.

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NemO's custom Spray Paint Can for Toy Invaderz show!

NemO decided to think a little outside of the box when he created his custom piece for the upcoming Toy Invaderz group art show… he customized a spray paint can. Using Magic Sculpt to craft that fantastic looking face on the cylinder, NemO then finished the entire thing with some acrylic paints. The end result is something mean & evil looking, but oh-so-beautiful at the same time…

The "Toy Invaderz" Group Art Show opens on June 30th with a reception from 6PM to 11PM and runs through July 30th at RGB Lounge, 1420 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago, IL 60622.
Participating artists include: Jim Magee, Lynell Ingram, Task One, JC Rivera, Steven Patt, Shane Haddy, Alison Perez/Zukie, Czr Prz, Audrey Smith, James Fuller, Valerie Gudell, Nerviswrek, Frank Mysterio, Dave Webb, Dan DMS, Osiris Orion, Shawn Wigs, Mike Mendez/NemO, Chris Moore, Adam Pratt/Halfbad, Anjali Bahl, Rezorek, BJ Storms, Frank Diaz, Ciermuco Toys, Erica Holuboff, JFury, Giannina Gutierrez, Jeff Beck, Travis Lykins, Audrey Smith, Matt Dcay Melville, and Emmanuel L White Eagle.

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Stuart "Stu" Witter's awesome "Goodnight Panda's Greatest Hits" custom 3" Dunny series

The ever-impressive custom work of Stuart "Stu" Witter continues to build some serious steam, and with the latest announcement of his amazing looking 3" custom Dunny series dubbed "Goodnight Panda's Greatest Hits"... just reaffirms why he is at the top of the toy customizing food chain! Stu tells us that he will have 10 of these bad boys up for grabs this Friday, June 22... and I know what you are all thinking... how are these customs, they look impeccable... almost production like, well... he's that good!

Each one comes with a bespoke silenced pistol which was cast in black polyurethane... each panda is hand sculpted onto a 3" Dunny, and painted by hand... and if you order one on Friday, you will also receive a FREE iPhone 4 case. These will be up for grabs HERE at 12 Noon PST this Friday... so don't miss out!

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DrilOne x Kathie Olivas's MBG-1812 custom Skelves!

Ever since DrilOne officially joined the Circus Posterus family late last year, we've been waiting for it to happy… waiting for him to have his own editioned Skelve release. In this collaborative release with Kathie Olivas, they have created a series of 10.75" Bird Greeters entitled "MBG-1812" (MBG stands for Military Bird Greeter) each with a custom cast chest plate and wings added to Olivas's classic design. Made in an edition of only 18 hand-painted copies, one lucky buyer will also receive a custom Bird Companion made by Olivas:

The MBG-1812 customs will be available starting at 12 Noon PST on Friday, June 22nd, 2012 through Stranger Factory. Each outstanding custom will cost a very reasonable $300, considering how much time and effort obviously was involved in the creation of this figures.

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Designer Toys 101: What's a Custom?

If you are new to this column, it is truly meant to be read from the beginning to the most recent.
Please start with the first installment, "What are Designer Toys?"

We discussed what Munny figures were last week, ending on the mysterious note of referring to them as a "Do-It-Yourself Designer Toy." But there was method to this madness, since explaining what a D.I.Y. Designer Toy is simply becomes part of the bigger question "What's a Custom?" Wanna find out more... hit the jump for the complete run down!

Let's put the term 'Custom' over to the side and instead talk in general art terms: anyone can go into an art store and buy a blank canvas, and while it's form and texture might be interesting, it's still simply a blank canvas. But when someone paints on that blank canvas, it magically becomes art, yes? Obviously, the skill of the artist determines certain things, but even a child's finger painting is still technically art. In these terms, the Munny is the blank canvas and the term 'Custom' denotes the painted form. And just like there are countless ways for an artist to express themselves on a conventional canvas, the same holds true to those "customizing" a Munny…

On the far left we have what the blank Munny looks like (which you may recall from last week), but all the other pieces are artists using their skill and craft to modify — or customize — that base form into something entirely new. They're creating a three-dimensional painting, if you will. By using everything from intricate line drawing to detailed painting, sculpting or sewing additional elements, the artist reforms the vinyl figure into whatever they want.

A customizer can even make a series of the same custom — or "multiples" — hand-crafting the same base design several times to sell a limited edition quantity of their work. So a custom is a unique piece of art that is handmade, hand-painted, hand-sculpted, hand-whatevered; even when "multiples" are made, each one is an individual 'painting.' Once again, these are very general terms, but the overall spirit of the premise is all I'm trying to convey.

Next Week: Why would an artist want to make a Designer Toy?
(which is a reader requested topic that seems rather important to discuss)

Designer toys used in the example set are (L-R):
Blank/D.I.Y. "Original" Munny: Manufactured by Kidrobot
"Police Officer" custom Munny: Customized by JonPaul Kaiser
"Hanbun Otoko" custom Munny: Customized by Artmymind
"Vampirized" custom Munny: Customized by Nevercrew
"The Reindeer Pyjamas" custom Munny: Customized by A Little Stranger

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Ferg x Rotofugi's SDCC 2012 gohst s003 [PLAYGE] Edition!

Ferg's newest full-size 6-inch-tall Gohst figure is a Rotofugi exclusive for the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con (SDCC). Entitled "gohst s003 [PLAYGE] Edition," this piece is limited to an edition of 125 copies that come with the bevy of accessories you've grown to expect: Playge hoodie, puffy vest, sAK-74, 'pipe bomb', 2.0 articulated arms, classic arms, and a removable helmet. Fifty of the figures will be offered exclusively to Collect & Destroy members, with the remaining 75 being released in groups of 25 per day on July 12-14 at SDCC 2012, Booth #4736 (Squibbles Ink + Rotofugi). The pieces will cost $125 each during SDCC and — based on past experience — we fully expect them to disappear fast!

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A Bathing Ape (BAPE) x Medicom x Andy Warhol's Banana Pillows!

Japanese brands A Bathing Ape (BAPE) and Medicom have teamed up to produce official Andy Warhol pillows based on the infamous "Banana" print, which came to worldwide attention when used on the cover of The Velvet Underground & Nico album as a peel-back sticker. But unlike the album art, when you pull back this banana's hide it doesn't reveal a lurid flesh-colored "banana" but rather the now iconic BAPE camo graphic in blue, green or pink. This wonderful looking piece is available in three sizes: 30" for ¥10,500 (approx. $130), 36" for ¥17,700 (approx. $225), and 48" for ¥21,000 (approx. $265).

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Paul Shih's devilishly good "Bevil" Figures to drop Friday!

If there was to be one culprit most widely considered to be the bane of every kid's existence, it would probably have to be broccoli… But he remains the evil gatekeeper of the desert, for you must devour all your broccoli or there is no after dinner treat for you! With all this in mind, it makes perfect sense that — in Paul Shih's world — broccoli is the Devil incarnate… but he's such a cute lil' devil!

This almost 5-inch-tall resin figure is both hand cast and painted, but this wave one of the original colorway is limited to only 15 copies (all of which come with a mini-photo print). Still not sold on the coolness? Shih tells us that this is "the first of many projects surrounding Bevil & St. Wiener," so now's your chance to get in on the ground floor… if you can luck out and be one of those first 15 to click the "Add to Cart" button on Friday, June 22nd at 1PM PST in Shih's online shop.

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ZacPac is Going Out Of Business… Everything Must Go!

After almost 15 years of wonderful service, Japanese retailer ZacPac is sadly closing it's doors. And while they shall most certainly be missed, they're having a "Everything Must Go" Sale… from now until the end of August (or until they sell out of everything), most of their entire selection of wonderful toys and collectibles are 40% off retail price. So if there's something you've been waiting to grab, head over HERE now and snatch it up… And while we'll miss them, we understand they've already started to build a brand new toy company!

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*REVIEW* DIY Zukie... is all kinds of cute!!!

A few weeks back, artist Alison P. aka Miss Zukie announced the release of her first vinyl DIY designer "Zukie" figure... which by the way is up for grabs HERE right now for only $10 a piece!!! Well, Alison sent one of these cool figure out to me to give the once over... to see if it's worth all your while to pick up... so I did a LIVE video unveiling and talked about it to the viewers in the video above. Give it a watch! The figure itself stands a very solid 4" tall and has a ton of workable area for all of you customizers out there!

I would normally say, why would we need another DIY figure... well, this piece for me has some really nice lines, and like mentioned above... has enough working surface. To me, I feel as though this figure will stand the test of time just like the Munny has for KR... and just from the short time being out, I have seen some really amazing customs on this very new platform! This has got to be a very exciting moment for Alison... seeing her once clay handmade sculpture, now in vinyl. Each one will come in all white, and with it will be a custom box, where you can color on it as well. DIY Zukie's are going to also be sold at Toy Tokyo in Manhattan, at Yukifish in Germany, and I am sure many other designer toy retail shops very soon! So what are you waiting for... the time is now, and at only $10 a piece... you can't go wrong!!!!

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