toybot studios Toy Vacation!!! Part II: We Are All Mad Show!!!

It took me 6 1/2 hours to drive down to LA from San Francisco. Since I went to Super 7 in the morning, we didn't get to LA until really about 7pm. I had to eat dinner with my parents and then boogie to the show which began at 8pm, but I didn't get there until around 9pm.







The "We Are All Mad" Show was held on Melrose Avenue at the hip Gallery 1988. The show featured Alice in Wonderland artwork and custom Cheshire Cats by a wide variety of the household and not so household toy designers. The Designer vinyl crowd are an interesting mix of nerdy toy geeks, wannabe artists and some real artists using vinyl as their latest canvas. Although I did my best to look like a hip, grungy, artist type, I probably merely came off as an un-shaven, smelly geek with a camera and a baseball cap. They were passing around the price sheet and I noticed many of the pieces were listed for $125 which I thought was really reasonable given they are one-off customs. As I was about to go up to the cash register and pay for the custom Ledbetter Cheshire Cat, I overheard that these were the starting prices for the online auction later that week. ohhhhhhhhhh, that makes more sense... as I put my wallet away and took the Ledbetter cat from underneath my arm amid stares and burly security bouncers closing in...



Dr. Bao and Cameron Tiede hanging out looking artsy...standing next to these guys, I might look hip...







Ledbetter cat before I took it up to the register....

New Pic of Zeonography Kaempfer!!

Here's a new pic of the upcoming Zeonography Kaempfer!! I stole it from the Gunota Meister himself Danny Choo. Probably the best Zeon design IMO. This is the figure that I've been waiting at least a couple of years for! It's coming out in November for around $30 not including overseas shipping. If I were you, i'd pre-order it now just in time for the holidays!

Also from Danny are these groovesome pics of the Kaempfer in person at the recent Plamodel Radicon Show in Japan!! Notice the subtle differences in the two sets of armor. Zeonography and Fix Figuration feature interchangable parts to create different versions of the same mecha. Kaempfer probably has the most subtle differences that I have ever seen in a figure in this line-up. I'm not complaining cause both look really sharp, but it would have been cool to see something completely different on the variant.

Kaiyodo Revoltech Figures Keep Coming!!!

The Revoltech Juggernaut continues to storm through the toy world! Most recently we have this very cool and detailed Mazin Kaiser figure. I just pre-ordered this bad boy for $19.99 which is due to be out January 2007. Next up we have the interesting Getter 3 mecha to round out your Getter collection. Since Getter 1 was one of the first Revoltech figures to be released, I got that one, but wasn't feeling Getter 2. Getter 3 is pretty cool, but overall, my biggest problem with this set are the colors. I'm not into the red,white and orange.



Then we have another Dougram Mech. This is the Dougram Soltic which is ok and has a nice green color, but since I wasn't digging the first Dougram that much, i'm not about to start now with the Soltic.



Finally, I guess the guys at Kaiyodo or Organic have a thing for Patlabor cause they are already making a second version of this guy. I like him better than the first version which I didn't buy, but this one is not that much different to make me want to buy it either.



ok, toy snob, what licenses would you like Revoltech to get? Well....Votoms to start out with. Although there are a ton of Votoms figures coming out, you can never have enough. How about Five Star Stories? Hmmmmmm? Difficult to manufacture? Yes! Completely awesome? Yes! Yes! Raideen anyone?

toybot studios Toy Vacation!!! Part I

A couple of weeks ago, I took my family on vacation to Los Angeles. My toy vacation was cleverly disguised as a trip to see my family as well as take my daughter to Disneyland for the first time. However by the fifth toy store that we visited in LA, my wife was on to me.

Normally we would have left the Bay Area in the morning on Saturday to begin the long-ass haul to So Cal. I told her that we would have to leave around noon on Saturday because I had to go to Super7. She replied: "WHAT? Why do you have to go to Super 7...again???!!" I explained that there was a new toy being released (S7 Exclusive Blobpus the Last Kaiju and mini Blobpi) and that I had to take pictures of it. I tried to calm her down by telling her I wasn't going to buy it, which was true, but since this was the first Saturday that Isaac and Brian were back from Japan, I didn't want to miss any of the goodness those guys may have brought with them to sell at the store.


















Isaac telling us all about his travels to Japan!



The other fringe benefit of showing up early on Saturday was to see the Mark Mothersbaugh art show before the opening later that night. You might remember Mark (if you're an geezer like me) as the iconic front man in the uberhip 80's band Devo. If you don't know who Devo is, check them out young buck! I actually quite like his art. It has a playful and colorful, yet edgy kinda pop nostalgia going on...Check out the robot with the guitar belting out Devo lyrics!













Unfortunately, there no good schwag to be had from Japan. That kinda sucked, but it would have sucked even more if I left for LA earlier and everyone telling me, "ohhhh did you see what Isaac brought back from Japan..." I didn't get either the Blobpus the Last Kaiju or the mini Blobpi. Could be one of the only times I have ever left Super 7 empty handed. So it was onto the Los Angeles and the "We Are All Mad" custom Cheshire Cat Show at Gallery 1988 that night...

Super 7 x Secret Base: "Ghoul's Night Out" FrankenGhost

SUPER7 X SECRET BASE
"GHOUL'S NIGHT OUT"
halloween set: FRANKENGHOST

The first of five figures for Halloween 2006, Frankenghost comes in a special silkscreened bag with a special pin. If you collect all five pins, the set of five pins will be redeemable for a free bonus figure. Each figure in the Halloween set will be released on the following Saturday for a total of five Saturdays, ending on November 18th.

Frankenghost will be released on Saturday, October 21st, at 11:00 am PST when the Super7 store opens. Those in attendance will be the first to buy, after that, the figures will be available for phone and web orders. There are no holds or pre-orders. $65 per figure.

www.super7store.com - 415.409.4700

toybot studios: So the Super 7 Halloween madness begins. You know where I will be for the next five saturdays! Looks like the early reports on the clear orange vinyl were wrong...maybe. I'm in the GID as much as the next guy, but it would be cool if they mixed it up a bit. Of course, if you look at the last Gargamel set, it does look pretty cool when all the different figures look uniform. Kinda like a gang!


Collection and picture courtesy of Locomoco!

toybot studios Gargamel Gallery!!

Some more random shots I took recently. I'm really digging Gargamel these days. One of the guys on Skullbrain posted a link to a page on the Gargamel website where you can download these color paper inserts that you cut out and put inside the figure! Totally cool and they have different versions for different Gargamel figures.









This next Gargamel figure was designed and painted by artist Bwana Spoons. Can you tell from the pics that he's stoned? From Bwana's website Grass Hut Corp:



My first ever toy exclusive is done. I teamed up with gargamel(my most favorite japanese toy company) to create Earth Restroyer. Earth Restroyer walks the land and sea pollenating the world with a special virus. If you get one, you win a special prize. Congratulations!!! Your body is now fresh compost and a palm tree sprouts out of your chest. Earth Restroyer is about 4.5" tall, trans rootbber brown, and comes with a special mini, mini hedoran ER giclee print. paper 4.25 x 5.75, image 3.75 x 5. Earth Restroyer comes bagged with a traditional header card. Only 80 made and the print is signed and numbered.








This last little guy isn't actually Gargamel, but a Secret Base figure called the Walder Skullbrain, named after the King Walder purple colorway. Highly sought, relatively rare, but they do pop up from time to time on Yahoo Japan. Because of the clear purple vinyl, I really wanted to get this guy. I lucked out!