Demons Exorcised, Toys Created! MAp-MAp Drops Five Deeply Personal Customs!

Sometimes you make toys because you have a cool idea... and sometimes you make toys because something has been rattling around inside your head long enough that it needs to GET OUT.That second category pretty much sums up the latest batch of customs from MAp-MAp, who has just unleashed five new hand-sculpted and painted creations through the MApTownSqr store.Unlike some of MAp-MAp's more obviously themed releases, this collection doesn't really have one neat little umbrella tying everything together. Instead, these are some of his most personal customs... figures that started life as quick sculpting sessions while working through things that had been driving him up the wall over the past year or so. Some were revisited and painted later because, in his words, they were still holding onto him in some way. And that makes this particular batch of weirdos REALLY interesting.

First up is Locked and Loads, a sculpted and painted custom 3" Kidrobot Dunny priced at £100. MAp-MAp sums this little guy up perfectly as, "Designing, selling and apologising for weapons." Short, sharp and loaded with the kind of social commentary hiding beneath the surface that makes his customs so much fun to unpack.

Then we have Murhod, a much beefier 5" Teddy Trooper custom priced at £140. This one introduces Mur and Hod, two characters apparently working in perfect union to tidy up any woodland unfortunate enough to require their services. Compared to the tiny Dunny customs, the larger platform gives MAp-MAp a ton of room for all that sculpted character and detail.

And speaking of detail... holy crap, check out Sumut Wrong. Priced at £190, this hand-sculpted and painted 3" Kidrobot Dunny somehow manages to cram a BOAT into the equation. MAp-MAp describes it as "an evil boat with evil intentions/sailing to deliver aid to vulnerable people." It is easily one of the stranger concepts in the group, and knowing how much sculpting went into all that tiny boat detail makes the whole thing even crazier.

Rheonin comes in at £85 and transforms a 3" Dudebox platform into a character who, according to MAp-MAp, is "still a king in their own castle." Simple little description... but there's definitely something simmering under the surface with this one.

Finally we have Fiant, a hand-sculpted and painted 5" Yuurei Neko Sama custom priced at £140. MAp-MAp calls her "a terrible little woman willing to stand up to any fascist she meets." Yep... that sounds like a MAp-MAp character alright.

What I dig most about this release is that none of these feel like customs created just to fill out a drop. There is clearly something personal baked into each character, even when MAp-MAp isn't spelling out every last bit of meaning behind them. They started as a way of getting ideas and frustrations out of his head, then became these strange little physical artifacts of whatever was going on at the time. That's kinda rad. Locked and Loads, Murhod, Sumut Wrong, Rheonin and Fiant are LIVE NOW in the MApTownSqr online store. These are individual hand-sculpted and hand-painted customs, so if one of them speaks to your particular flavor of weird... you know what to do.