Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Who the Hell is Huck Gee?

Remember the name Huck Gee. He's an up and coming local artist who is making quite an impact in the "Urban Vinyl" toy scene. He's one of the uber hip artists I was referring to earlier that has made Kidrobot's Dunny figures so successful. If you can find his 2" Dunnys on eBay, they are going for a super premium equal to several times retail price. He's at it again with his upcoming Don'yoku 8" Dunny Yakuza complete with dragon tatoos and traditional Japanese steam bath undies. Completely and utterly cool. If you're real smart and listen to me now, you can go to the Kidrobot San Francisco store on Haight Street tomorrow (Thursday, December 1st) from 6-8pm and not only meet Huck Gee, but get him to sign the $39 Don'yoku Dunny being released. Then you can sell it to the poor bastard that doesn't live in San Francisco on eBay for like $250 on Friday. Seriously. Not kidding.

The story behind Don'yoku? From Kidrobot: "In a time long lost there lived a successful merchant by the name of Don’yoku. Successful being an understatement and the term merchant used very loosely. He was rumored to be one of the country’s highest ranking Yakuza. The proprietor of several acclaimed Geisha houses, it was said that Don’yoku’s real trade was his ability to balance his dealings with both the Yakuza and the country’s politicians, using each to keep the other in check.During his long reign the few that dared cross him were quick to learn the error of their ways. The next morning they would wake to find their entire household had been slaughtered while they had slept. Servants and family alike, no one was spared except the individual that had crossed Don’yoku. The only evidence that was left behind was a shuriken with the number Ni (2) engraved upon it. Some believed that the Ni represented the second chance the individual had been given. Others believed that it was a marker left by the infamous Nimaime ninja clan. Although no one dared finger Don’yoku for these horrendous retributions, the ’massacre while you sleep’ eventually became known as "The Don’ni".After a long life of success Don’yoku retired to lead a humble life in the country. How humble is left to speculation, for many of the land’s highest ranking Yakuza, politicians, and Geisha were often seen traveling the lonely road to his small estate on lake Kuroi Kiri".



Check out his Custom one-off Munny Samurai figure on display at the Minna Gallery in San Francisco. How cool is that? Badddd-Assssss!!! I want one! Huck, put this one in mass production!!!

Below: Some of Huck Gee's earlier 2" Dunnys.

A bit about Huck Gee from his website:
"Huck moved to San Francisco in the early 90's to pursue the venerable life of a b-boy. Maintaining day jobs that expanded his artistic vocabulary; he spent his nights testing his skills, and his weekends searching for inspiration. Graphic design by day, graffiti by night, studying Miyamoto Musashi on the weekends. He later culled his skills as an illustrator, allowing him to explore more commercial art styles and delve into the alluring world of Japanese pop art.
Huck recently completed a series of figures for Barneys New York which feature the designs of Marc Jacobs, Dries Van Noten, Jil Sander, Rick Owens, and Duckie Brown. He is currently working on numerous toy designs with Kidrobot, including figures for DJ Qbert and N*E*R*D, and has additional figures in production with Toy2R and Wheaty Wheat Studios. The coming year brings a full schedule as he also plans a world gallery tour with stops in England, Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Mr. Gee's clients have included Kidrobot, Yokohama Tires, Toy2R, Wheaty Wheat, Monkey Business, MTV, Sanrio, WB, LiquidMercury, and ToysRus. Huck presently resides in Northern California pretending to be a race car driver.



SAVE HUCK GEE FROM BEING DEPORTED!!

As I read a bit more about Huck, I kept on seeing logos to SaveHuck! Curious, I opened up the link to his sad, but true story. In a nutshell, Huck may get deported back to England after living in the United States for 24 years for an incident that occured 14 years ago involving a little weed. Read his story and contribute to his legal defense fund.

Kidrobot Vinyl Figure Blue Tengu


What happens when you take the basic Kidrobot figure and add a bunch of cool accessories? You become a Blue Tengu!

Kidrobot 08Vinyl FigureBlue Tengu

"From high in the Japanese mountains, these serial pranksters are now inhabiting Kidrobot and depicted by the one and only Damon Soule. He works his magic and creates Kidrobot Version 08 - Tengu. Virtually unrecognizable, this incarnation comes armed with a mushroom, fan, a set of wings, armor, and long nosed mask - completely prepared for mischief.All accessories are removable to reveal the OG kidrobot design."
$29 each from the kool kats at kidrobot

Monday, November 28, 2005

Evangelion "XX" Series Angel-Girls Coming!!

For all of you horny and perverted Evangelion fans out there that can't get enough teenage Rei and Asuka figures, Wave is coming out with it's "highly anticipated" XX Series Angel Girl figures. For those of you familar with the series, you will undoubtably recognize these figures, yet be somewhat confused at the same time. The "Angels" from Evangelion were alien-monsters of some kind that the good guys (Rei and Asuka) had to fight and kill with their EVA Robot/mecha/alien things. So to see Wave come out with figures showing hot, cutey girl versions of these monsters is creative, fresh and no doubt pleasing to all the perverted Evangelion fans out there. Yours truly included, of course.

Picture here are the normal and hottie versions of the Sachiel and Zeruel side by side so you can see what the original Angels from the anime looked like . Also coming out are versions of Tabris and Lilith. When you compare them side by side, it's hard to imagine how they got these babe-a-licious figures out of these grotesque "Angels".

They are coming out in January - too late for Christmas, but at around $21 each, not including overseas shipping, they make a fine New Year's gift. Pre-order them from yes, our buds at HobbyLink Japan. I'm liking the rei version of Lilith below!



Tenra War Rocket Ranger Figures


Don't know anything about these little Tenra War figures except that it looks like they come as a basic figure and then you can add all of their armor and weapons to create the hulking mecha's of doom pictured here. Pretty cool and cheap at around $16 each not including overseas shipping from Hobby Link Japan.

Stocking Stuffer: Panda-Z Robo Animal

I'm a little late to Mega House's Panda-Z craze, but it's catching on like a bad cold in a nursery school. It all started when "Go Devilman Nagai" produced these hilarious little creatures with this little cute Sanrio-style panda piloting a Sanrio-style Mazinger-look-a-like robot. Very cute in all its sugary mecha. I didn't think too much of the original Panda-Z, but then they came out with these other characters like HamuGear which is a hamster piloting a giant robot hamster or Black Hamu which is a more sinister black Hamster, I got hooked!

I just ordered both Hamster mecha's from Atamaii's online store which should be here in time for my daughter's stocking stuffing! $19.95 for the grey HamuGear and $39.95 for the cooler, but more evil Black HamGear.

The cool picture above left from Flickr buddy Peppered is who I can blame for making me want to go out and buy these stupid figures in the first place. See what great photography makes you do?

I kinda like the Red Metallic Panda-Z version from Hobby Link Japan which goes for $32 without overseas shipping. The cool and subtle silver Panda-Z is also attractive and $32 without overseas shipping from Hobby Link Japan.

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Stocking Stuffer: Zeonography Zaku Flipper

Santa is going to be putting this Zeonography figure into my stocking this Christmas! As with other figures in the awesome Zeonography or Fix Figuration line by the master Hajime Katoki, this figure converts from the blue MS-11 ACT Zaku into the very cool MS-06E-3 Zaku Flipper.

Metal Gear Solid Trading Figures

You might have read my post earlier bitching about the blind assortment mini figures and how I was at ToyTokyo in New York and got like two (2) lame Emma's. Well just an update to let you guys know that I did finally go out and purchase a few more shown here off eBay. I saved a couple of dollars off retail and was able to get the figures I really wanted. Most notably the Fatman. Totally cool with his big bomb suit and roller blades!

Thursday, November 24, 2005

UPDATED: Art Asylum Minimates Street Fighter Series 2 Coming!!!


Last month, I posted a blog about the new Street Fighter Minimate figures coming in December from Art Asylum featuring Ryu and Akuma plus Chun-Li and Bison. Same guys that do Marvel Minimates. Just saw that CornerStoreComics is pre-ordering the 2nd Street Fighter Series already! This set will feature fanboy favorites Ken and Blanka plus Zangief and Guile!!! I can hardly wait. I've pre-ordered both sets already! The 2nd series is due out in April, 2006. Around $7 for each 2-pack.

mmmmmmmmm...more mini figures...yummmy in my tummmy...

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Gundam MK-V Core Works v.2 Coming in January!

I was in San Jose's Japan town this afternoon and I stumbled across this little dusty old store that happened to have a small anime section with a few toys. They also have a decent variety of Japanese magazines and books. I have been looking for Hajime Katoki's book called Fix Figuration. It was the book that started the whole toy line. It's a classic and pretty hard to find. I have seen it for as high as $98 online so when she had a copy for $28, I immediately snatched it up.

As I flipped through the book, I was very familiar with almost all of the Gundam figures showcased, but there was one that has not been made it to the Fix Figuration line: Gundam MK-V. I don't think I have ever seen this version before. I fell in love immediately. Awesome Katoki design in this vibrant blue color. I can only hope Bandai makes a Fix Figuration version.

When I got home, I wanted to check if the MK-V was on any kind of pre-order list on Hobby Link Japan or something. I'm pretty up to date with the upcoming Fix Figuration releases, and I hadn't seen the MK-V. However, whilst I was doing my research, I stumbled across an interesting site called Hobbyfan.com that had the 1/100 MK-V Resin Kit. This kit is available for pre-order and should be deliverable in January, 2006 for around $90.

Hobbyfan.com is a site for hardcore resin kit builders. I can't even make the Bandai Master Grade kits which come molded in full color and snap-together look very good. Resin Kits are a whole 'nother level. These guys are more artists than model builders. Master Grade kits are the "paint-by-numbers" versus the Picasso of resin kits. Resin kits come with colorless resin-parts that somehow get attached together with metal pins and glue or something. After you somehow figure out how to put them together, you have to paint them. I have no idea how these guys get these kits to look so good. I bought a small resin kit one time, and I could NOT even build the thing let alone paint it. No kidding.

What is cool about Hobbyfan.com is that I saw a number of kits of Gundam Robots that I have never seen before. Some of these are pure resin kits, but some of them are conversion kits which are resin parts that convert the Bandai Master Grade kits into new versions with new weapons and accessories. They aren't cheap either at around $100 each. So you actually pay more for a kit that is much more difficult to build and paint?! Insult to injury if you ask me.

In any case, there were a few outstanding models shown here that I really wish they would make into a Fix Figuration version for us lazy and un-talented bastards.






Super Robot Wars Die-cast Figure Coming!!!

I first read about this next tidbit from another cool site called Gunmecha Gantry. It's a news site of sorts for all thing MECHA!! From their website:

"Gunmecha Gantry currently serves as a mecha news and link center. This will expand to include a mecha background universe for an PC RPG (Role Playing Game) I'm working on in my incredibly spare time. Once enough of the game is playable in demo form I will release it to the public along with the Gunmecha universe background. In the meantime, I post news items from around the world, keep an eye on the local mecha scene in America, and prepare to release my first playable game. I've had a passion for Japanese animation since I was 3, and this is a small culmination of what I've had running through my gears. Look around, enjoy the machines, and keep an eye out something special".


If you're into mecha, then you owe it to yourself to check out this site!

Back to Super Robot Wars...Sounds like Unifive is going to be releasing a high-quality die-cast figure of the robot Alteisen shown here. The pictures shown are actually of the Kotobukiya model kit, but like Gunmecha, I don't have the time (nor patience, nor talent) to build models the way that I would like. Luckily for me, the die-cast version is due out in March for around $115. Pictures courtesy of a pretty good toy photographer in Japan named Syurabayashi.

I think I want one.

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