December 30, 2017

Electric Monarchy Goes Sleazy With New Bukkake!

Go on, Google Electric Monarchy right now and tell me what comes up.  Okay, well it's not nothing.  It's still a few articles here and there, some leading back to the blog, but that's besides the point.  The point is your basic protein-based Pokemon is evolving into it's next form.  God, that sounded a lot less gross in my head.

Currently deep within it's cocoon, lies the twisting and throbbing remains of Electric Monarchy, writhing it's body parts and fluids into a new focus and brand moving into the new year.  You can find glimpses of it now, quickly patched over the now re-branded Electric Monarchy Instagram account.  The name given to this new emerging abomination, dripping it's filth onto the world, is called Sleaze.

News like this can be unsettling for some who don't care much for change.  I can certainly fall into that camp, along with avid collectors who much rather collect full production lines until the sun goes supernova than start something new, but I can say, with some certainty, is that it's just a re-branding of sorts.  The impression I'm getting is that moving forward, customers and collectors will get a better sense of the world and vision of Sleaze as a more focused concept.

I think there is no better way to convey this than to bring back an old favorite in a new flavor.  Collaborating with illustrator and comic book artist, Russell Taysom, Sleaze is releasing the neon green Nuclear Bukkake.  I dont have the exact date of time when you can befall onto the online shops, but talk around the water cooler would indicate the team is working on a late January release, however I wouldn't take that as gospel quite yet.  I'll update this post when I have a more exact time frame.

https://www.instagram.com/sleazetoys/

November 5, 2017

It Came From a Vending Machine: Real Heroes! Real Horror?

Just because Halloween has passed us by, that doesn't mean you can't be scared stiff by your local vending machine offerings.  What is it this time?  Cartoon characters with gooey globs of paint dripping from every conceivable inch?  Maybe razor-sharp flash-covered plastic things, just begging to use up your last Band-Aid?  Or maybe some stickers, squashed between some cardboard, just to instantly remind you how uncool and out-of-fashion your choice immediately was?  Actually, none of those really, as this one is maybe the least scary this series has ever seen.

Introducing, Real Heroes, not to be confused with other imitators apparently.  These soldiers, in various classic poses and army camouflage color-ways, are a modern re-imaging of classic army men mini-figures with updated molds and weapons.  And the first thing you can notice and the thankfully exclusion of those hideous figure bases of the classics.  These, balanced more evenly, stand on their own, in every pose.

Pulling away from it's classic past and its differences from the hard thin plastic figures, what do these offer in the way of classic, purist, keshi nonsense?  You know, what does someone like me want to know about these guys?  For one, paint application on these are very minimal.  Small dashes over the hands and face are generally all that cover these, which allows the dessert, forest, snow, or night-time camo to really be the focal point.  Another positive point is the damn-near perfect feel and flexibility of the material used to mold them.  Surprisingly not poured in a super-hard plastic, recycled from bleach bottles and trash bags, I resist to use the term perfect when describing the amount of firmness these guys have.  Instead of being too hard and brittle or too soft and squishy, these mirror classic keshi minis in hard rubber feel without going too far in either direction.  The only significant knock I would have against these guys are the size and scale.  Like the monkeys, mini-ninjas, and other things we've found lurking in vending machines, these too stand only roughly an inch tall.  For a couple quarters, I suppose that's fine, but when talking about whether you should be interested or not to collect the whole set, this might be a deal-breaker, if you're interested in a certain flow within your collection.

Besides all that, I was actually pretty pleased to drop a few quarters in this machine.  I usually regret it, but sleep well knowing I'm still supposing something I still want around.  This time, I actually dig these guys quite a lot, and I don't even like army men that much.  Far from perfect, Real Heroes could actually be a gem to be pretty excited about, especially if this theme really gets your blood flowing.

October 22, 2017

Where is SpiderEarth? Is Keshi Drop Dead?

Hello, everyone!  Long time no see!  Don't get me wrong, I am fully aware I should open this bad-boy up with an apology for my absence, and one with no explanation.  Well, further explanation, I mean.  But, past all that, I do want to apologize to those who checked in for news and ramblings only to find spiderwebs, and not the 'Yeah, I get it.  He's a spider,' type.

I'm sure everyone knows the story, but early this spring the world thought it would be a good idea to allow me to bring another one like me into being.  I warned them about the long-term ramifications, but alas, my son was born late June.  Wait!   I haven't even updated you all about that.  Okay, let's rewind a little further back.  In preparation of my son being born, I told everyone I was going to be having him sometime in the spring and that my work here and the blog wasn't going anywhere.  Then late June he was born.

It was a roller-coaster of emotions that's for damn sure, and I wish I could say they were all positive.  Leading up to it, we were getting very sentimental and very anxious to meet our little man, but it was problem after problem after problem with the hospital and their staff that really kept it from being a perfect experience.  Long story short, unbeknownst to us, natural labor was not in the cards and the longer we pushed it, the more stressful it got, and near the end of day three of labor, I was on the floor weeping, praying, and falling apart, sure that this bloody hospital had killed my baby and girlfriend.  Through those rough patches though, and a Cesarean later, we made it through, and god-damn, if our child was made from brimstone, my girlfriend literally marched down through every level of hell and grabbed him herself.  Just the amount of physical, mental, and emotional sacrifice she gave to someone that'll carry my last name and not hers, is something I know I'll never be able to repay, but she keeps saying, every time I bring it up, is that she'd do it every time for the baby.  This whole debacle with the hospital is story for another time and, frankly, a lawyer too, at some point, but let's wrap this part up quickly.

With the baby born, we stayed in the nursery for a little over a week later, ironing out kinks the hospital created and making sure everything with junior was peachy for his life outside mommy.  One of the one's on my side, was that I was experiencing some insomnia and when I was getting sleep, I was getting some pretty severe nightmares.  But it wasn't anything that was going to kill us at this point, so we were just waiting for things to get better in other places.  In time there were, so we went and started to relax at home, but raising a baby is rough work!  Holy hell, people joke, but it's the honest truth!  When you're raising a baby, whatever title you think of yourself, be that artist, worker, pointless blogger, or whatever, that is all quickly transformed to father real quick with no time for much else, at least in my experience so far.  So at first, writing on the blog at all was a complete no-go.  I had fallen off the keshi wagon altogether.  I had no idea what was coming out or being teased or anything!  I was on baby-detail around the clock, but I loved it all the same and still do.  However, the little-one is almost four months old now, and no one would believe me if I said that sort of crazy routine was still going on.  So what's my excuse then?

None.  I don't have a really good one, but I think you find it common around the social-sphere of the Internet.  You'll see a video-maker or writer or artist just completely fall off the face of the earth and then come back after quite a long break with really no reason for their prolonged absence.  I think part of it I just briefly mentioned.  I had completely fell out of touch with the keshi community.  I missed a series of conventions, releases, and general news, I had no idea where to jump back in.  I suppose the right answer would have been 'Anywhere', but it certainly didn't feel like that.  However, I do have to thank one thing that brought me back to write this, at least.

Halloween.

Halloween and vending machines, actually.  Which I felt was almost too perfect, as vending machine junk is what got me back into this hobby a few years ago.  It dragged me back in again, sort of.  Well, with All Hallows Eve drawing near, I just happened to pass across some new, maybe not new at all, mini-figures at the grocery store's vending machine and I thought 'Hey, that would be good for a 'It Came From a Vending Machine' article, just in time for Halloween!'  And the longer I thought that, the more I was open to get my toes wet again, even despite how little free time and play money I have.

If it's not spent with the babe, the rest of my day is spent at my new job.  Sadly, shortly after my previous post, I was let go from my place of employment because the business was shutting down.  Yeah, pretty great, right?  Unemployed and having kid, lucky me, but to be honest, it worked out well in the end.  I got to spend a lot of needed time with the family and I got a lot of experience and lessons under my belt about being a dad quick, so I wasn't panicking and worried later.  After the summer, I found a new job and probably the best one I've had so far.  I now work with a toy company, believe it or not.  It's not keshi, sadly, but I work in the shipping department of a toy company that specializes in kid's toys of all sorts, so it feels like I am shopping half of the time and working the other, while being paid far more than I previously was.  Absolutely zero complaints.

I think that brings us up to the present, with a lot of events going on and not much excuse to what took me so long to come back, but to be honest, I have some reservation saying I am coming back right now.  Having a baby takes a lot of effort, a lot more than I first thought, and producing anything on my own right now seems to be something I need to schedule a babysitter to assist me with.  However, I want to make a better effort.  In my previous post, I promised Keshi Drop wasn't going anywhere, and I am still upholding that promise.  I just don't think I can regularly write a lot.  At this moment, I won't be able to cover news and releases when they should be.  Things would have to fall precisely in the times of day or week where I could spend some time with it, and I think that won't really work outside some rare cases of pure luck.  But despite all that pessimism, I think some effort should be put forth.  I should write something, so for now, this is that, and later, maybe you can expect some more opinion pieces, where I delve into thoughts and explorations about topics than articles of news and happenings.  I think that's something I can do, that's not all that time-sensitive, so with a crooked-smile, I say you can expect that, but I should probably warn you not to get too worked up over it.  Right now, I am super busy.  More than I thought.  And it will be a process of thinking up something to write, tossing it around my mind a bit, lay it out in my brain and sorta' write it mentally, and finally put flesh to keyboard.  I have no idea how long of a process that'll be, but I am going to start taking baby-steps back into things.

Thank you for stopping by for this and reading the ramble this far, and I hope you you come back soon when I have something a bit more keshi-sentric prepared.

May 2, 2017

Call to A.R.M.S! Keshi Attack on Designer Toy Awards '17!

Ladies, gentlemen, dorks, geeks, nerds and shut-ins, today we have an important mission!  Today, I come to you not as your rambling toy hobo, shouting at the clouds, but as your rambling toy hobo general, calling for your swords and shields to battle by my side.  Some of us will die.  In fact, since the 80's our keshi armies have not always seen much victory, so none of us might make it back, but don't let that cloud your mind from victory.  What we lack in size and articulation, we more than make up for in simple elegance, design, and durability!  We are proud keshi soldiers and we will conquer all!

We have already deployed a secret platoon of elite keshi marines, but as we all know, we need a stronger force with a higher body count.  We need a mass of foot soldiers to maintain our position and to topple the opposition, completely and utterly.  That is where you all come into play.

Your target?  The 7th Annual Designer Toy Awards!  Your enemy?  Every infernal blind box abomination!  Every fragile resin reject, with a gallon of paint smothering it's insides!  Every hollow hunk of sofubi!  Every plush will hang on spikes, to rot and be picked a part by birds!  Everything falls to our monochromatic, inarticulate might!  It is the time for the Keshi Army to reign supreme over the toy landscape and the time to do that is now!

Soldiers, here are your instructions!  Visit the link below and sign up to the Designer Toy Awards.  That's the only way you can vote for the both A.R.M.'s Stranger Minis and Super 7's Street Fighter M.U.S.C.L.E., in their respective Licensed and Non-licensed categories.  It would be so amazing to see them both emerge as winners.  Both companies have been blowing the doors off the keshi scene the last couple years and these two projects have really defined their efforts.  Seeing keshi go 2 for 2 would be a lightning strike of a kill-shot to the toy community.  Sure, some hunk of sofubi garbage won this category and some bunny-eared slop won a different one, but all challengers pitted against keshi fell to the might of our swords.  We are the kings atop of the mountain!  We get to eat the drumstick!  Or the breast meat!  Or whatever part of the turkey we want!  Just be thankful if we share our turkey at all!

Alright, Keshi Army, we charge on my count!  On three!  One!  Two!  Crap!

Crap, both categories Stranger Minis and Street Fighter M.U.S.C.L.E. are in are panel only, and not open to the public.  That's a huge bummer, and really takes the frenzied mob thing out of it all.  Leaves keshi completely in the hands of these shady Illuminati panel members, probably not of this world.  Hopefully, they understand how many there are of us and how frenzied this mob can get, if we ever get to frenzy the mob in any regard.  Threats aside, hopefully they understand how incredible both of these projects are, and how superior keshi is in general.  We're watching you, reptilian panel members.  Don't screw this one up!

Well, that was a lot of hot air for nothing.  Welcome to the Keshi Drop, everyone, but do visit the link below and vote for all the public categories.  I think it's still important and fun, even if we can't really whip a mob up together.  Maybe next year...  maybe next year...

https://www.designertoyawards.com

April 19, 2017

Bandai Reveals Kinnikuman Kinkeshi Vol. 3 For Preorder!

Welcome back everyone!

With the brand new revitalized Kinkeshi Volume 1 reaching the hands of pre-ordered customers in the past week, Bandai announced Premium Volume 3 is up for pre-order now!

For those who somehow don't know (hey, it's cool, welcome aboard), Kinkeshi is arguably the grand daddy of keshi mini-figures and late last year they announced that the classic line from the 80's would see a return with new figures and new resculpts of old favorites.  This being the third announcement brings great news, as fans across the world have signaled the desire for this line to continue on.  It's great to see such a success story in both the keshi business and the keshi community.  In times like these, it's always healthy to have a little artistic coming together.

Displayed in the new set, are a lot of familiar faces, looking good as hell, but there's some new wrestlers entering the ring for the first time too.  One catching my attention the most is the USB flash-drive character, who also seems to be catching more eyeballs than just mine.  The studio behind the Kinkeshi revival also seems to have something of a soft spot for the modern mutant man.  He's certainly strange as hell, but that's part of the charm.

For more information, check out the link below, and as always, thanks for checking in.  In the next few months, I'll be having some baby news.  It's crazy to imagine it, but it's almost time.  Coming upon the last lap.

http://p-bandai.jp/item/item-1000114076

April 9, 2017

MWOTR Teases Something From The Deep!

Welcome back, everyone, to the Keshi Drop!  Today I've got some interesting and exciting news from the universe of professional wrestling anthropomorphic animals.  That's right, the crew of Mystical Warriors of the Ring have made their Spring 2017 presence know with quite the interesting teaser image on social media.

Looking to possibly stack up against their other heavyweights, this character certainly introduces the power of a great white shark into the mix.  And with other clues that the kayfabe wrestling landscape will be radically altered in the near future, you have to wonder if that revolves around this new beast.  Regardless, it's always exciting to see another character introduced to the MWOTR world.

It's hard to tell whether there is plans to keep this shark character in a single piece or part him out within their Evolution brand.  From the shadowy picture, you can't really make a judgement either way.  However, it seems like the team has been toeing that line as of late with both Cero and Talos mini-figures seeing single-mold resin casts.  It does pose the question if final PVC production of them will be multi-parted, but if this trend continues, we could very well expect to see single-molded resin sharks, at the very least.  But that's why teasers are made, they stir up interest and have you wondering what's coming next, and that's exactly what I suggest.

Get hyped about Mystical Warriors of the Ring for 2017, by following the link below for extra information and to see what is still available to sale.

 http://mystwarriors.com/blog/

March 15, 2017

Electric Monarchy & Tru:Tek Ready For A Bit of Ultraviolence!

I return momentarily from the exhausting baby readying process, to share some new updates on the mini-figure that I'm beginning to suspect got my girlfriend pregnant.

Welcome back, everyone, to Keshi Drop.  I swear, like every time, that I won't be away so long, but believe it or not, we're looking at the last three months or so until we have a mini SpiderEarth rampaging this earth.  God help us.  And how time as flew by already.  Hopefully this pace continues through the 'elbows deep in baby poop' phase.  I have no need for that to be longer than it needs to be, but that's not what we're here about.  Today is a day for Bukkake.  Sure, that's a sentence.

Bukkake, for those who don't know but hopefully know enough not to enjoy this piece from the wrong side of the Internet, but you know what, do whatever, is a keshi mini-figure that I can barely call mini anymore.  This monstrous abomination of seminal fluid is a 3D juggernaut, eclipsing other keshi figures in your collection.  He's been released in his god-intended white color variant, flesh, and is looking to fitting in a purple sometime soon too.  But now you can add an attractive neon orange to that too.  Dubbed the Cockwork Orange variant, this one will be an exclusive sold only by the state-side Tru:Tek, who has actually been a part of this mini-figure's production anyway.

I'm not saying dealing with Electric Monarchy hasn't been a blast, but I've ordered two Bukkakes and my girlfriend got pregnant.  Coincidence?  I don't know, but I starting to suspect my wild friends in Germany are up to no good.  Plus, for us fans and collectors on this side of the ocean, expect cheaper freight.  To my knowledge, Tru;Tek is a filthy American pig-dog, so hooray for us!

The exact date and time this nasty little thing will be dropping is still on the "sometime soon" front, but you know, when I find out, I'll be updating this post to let you all know too.

Alright, thanks everyone for stopping by and reading my babble.  Until next time, have fun and support your independent artists out there.

http://www.electricmonarchy.com/
http://softoyhobby.bigcartel.com/

February 25, 2017

Late to the Party! Super 7 Comes Out Huge @ Toy Fair!

Hey, everyone, welcome back!  Sorry, this write-up is so late and ancient news by now.  The SpiderEarth family has been fighting off one of those late-winter early-spring colds, and I finally fell sick to it just recently.  I had considered just letting it go and move on, but I do have some thoughts I wanted to share about it all, so hopefully it's not too late for that.


As I am sure most of my readers know by now, as well as keshi collectors that are just dropping by for the first time, Super 7 has been quite the keshi flag-barer the last couple years.  Ever since their first wave of Masters of the Universe/ MUSCLE cross-over mini-figures were announced in the spring/summer of 2015, they have had their foot firmly pressed on the gas pedal for keshi, and this year's Toy Fair shows no sign of stopping anytime soon.  Who can't love that?

Actually, a lot of us should have expected it.  They did announce quite a lot of this in advance, but there certainly have been surprises along the way, as well.  When they revealed the set of Masters of the Universe MUSCLE, they had announced plans to include the movie Alien, Mega Man, Robotech, Ghouls N' Ghosts, Street Fighter, and others.  This year's Toy Fair was certainly one that has showed how much progress they have made since then.

On display, were the Mega Man, Robotech, and Street Fighter mini-figures previously announced, but they had some surprise company as well.  At least, surprising to me, were the displayed The Worst and Shogun mini-figure sets announced, as well as the blind bag Street Fighter figures that have me crying in my wallet already.  And if all that wasn't good enough, additional sets of Alien and Masters of the Universe was there to satisfy the fans looking to extend their current collections.

What I wanted to bring up, however, is this weird division I have in my head.  On one side, I am nothing but thrilled Super 7 is doing so much with the keshi format.  They are adopting nearly every trademark they have into little rubber mini-figures, and that's awesome.  That's exactly what I would command them, if I had some sort of wand of dark magic.  However, on the other side of my brain, I see some of these figures, particularly the Mega Man and some of the new Alien mini-figures, and I can't help but admit how unattractive they are.  I know they can't hit home-runs every time, and I know they do have to blend both MUSCLE and the other franchise together into something that will look natural in both worlds, but, even still, some of these look pretty awful.

And that's what's so weird, you look at other things coming out and there's a lot of great looking stuff.  The Street Fighter set, in particular, looks top notch, and The Worst stuff isn't too far behind.  Was there just too much work that needed to be done, because there is a significant drop-off when it comes to the Mega Man set.  And that sucks, because I really dig Mega Man, but for me, the proportions are all off.  Some parts are too thin and too long and others are too blown out, to create a figure that looks more like a MUSCLE character with a Mega Man costume on than an actual living character.  Like I said, I know there has to be some compromising to detail, so characters of movies and video games can blend into the MUSCLE world and all the mini-figures can all have a similar look, and if that's what happened to the Mega Man set, I have to question why other sets break that rule and look so much better because of it.

There are other Mega Man keshi sets out there, maybe it was a matter of separating their product from how those look.  I am not sure, but I did want to share my opinion, because things could change in future series.  I think creative feedback is always a good thing, and I am hopeful that Super 7 will change things if this first Mega Man set fails to reach expectations.  I'm not sending an online hex or anything, I am just setting up high standards for the company that's been representing the keshi format largely these last couple years.  Maybe some crumby vending machines get a pass for being ridiculous novelties, but Super 7 outgrew that a long time ago.  I would argue, if anyone finds keshi on toy shelves nowadays, it'll likely be made by Super 7, so it's only proper we make sure they are putting the best out there for new and old fans alike.

February 19, 2017

IronHaus Productions' Gorewad Monsters Review!

Sometimes, even the lowest of the low get lucky.  Sometimes, even the most professional afternoon nappers and bedtime sleepers wander to the front of a long line.  Such is the case, at least this time, with your Crazy Uncle SpiderEarth.  I've covered IronHaus' drops before, maybe just to transcribe the flashes in time where something was being sold then immediately sells out moments later.  This time is really no different, but at least this time I was there to capitalize and capture some goods to review for old blog.

IronHaus Productions is a ground-level company with just a few independent artists collaborating to make the highest quality stuff they can, and for those who enjoy the artist-to-hand experience, IronHaus has to be on your radar.  There's no middle man, no demographic test groups, no board of directors to answer to, or quota to reach.  It's pure creativity and ingenuity, realized in a physical form by the artist themselves, sent directly to the people attracted to it, and have been an 80's kid with action figures, it's a breath of fresh air.

Within the last few years, I've bought a couple interesting action figures of the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Playmates.  I would argue these skew vastly towards the toy experience than the art experience, but it won't take you long to notice, somewhere along it's creation and production, it was compromised as such.  A true artist sketched it out.  A true artist sculpted it with his or her hands.  You can tell from all the minor details across the figure that never gets a paint application.  Somewhere before the figure is packaged and put on the shelf, the artists involved are removed from the equation.  It just becomes a toy and a product, and to some extent, that's perfectly fine.  I would argue, after decades of that, you'd grow to appreciate something like IronHaus' mini-figures a little more.

I recently received a litter of the recent Gorewad Monsters in the mail, and I was rather impressed with just how detailed and wild these things were. Their size was rather small, about the size of what you'd expect of Trash Pack mini-figures, but the amount of detail was insane.  What size are their fingers?!  What are they sculpting these mini-figures with?!  A single hardened hair?!  What's going on here?!  I can't sculpt a bowling ball without leaving an entire hand-print around the thing.  How are these guys this well-done and this small?  If the answer isn't just raw talent, it's a question too complicated for my spider brain.

I've rambled on for quite a bit already.  IronHaus' Gorewad Monsters are some really top-notch independent mini-figures.  They are crazy, wild, imaginative, and really well-sculpted.  You have no problem reading the character off each sculpt.  You know which ones are the slimy ones, the stinky ones, and the ones that just go around screaming, by just looking at them.  I would absolutely recommend these to anyone looking for a bit more of a personal touch to their toys, however the secret is already out.  Like other independent studios, their stock sells out almost immediately after the drop, so you'll have to be extra diligent and aggressive to get your hands on your own.  But when you do, it's worth it.

For more information, please check out the IronHaus website below.
http://ironhauspro.blogspot.com/

February 8, 2017

Retroband's "Yuuge Waste" Receives Second Drop!

I've kept this place pretty non-political, but I have to say right here, I'm going to gush about this piece for a little bit.  I think this last election completely crushed my spirit about yammering about agendas and all that.  I think it still has, but I think this update is on a different strand of thought.

Welcome, eyeballs, to Retroband's 'Yuuge Waste', a politically-charged mini-figure for those who aren't fans of the guy or people who just like to be punk rock jerks.  For a controversial piece, I really enjoy it, not because it satisfies some deep hatred I have of the guy, but because it's raw, vicious, and straight to the point, in my honest opinion.

If I was to ask you what you first think of when you think of Donald Trump, before the presidency or even the election cycle, you might think of large golden letters on a tall building or casino, a boss-man character on The Apprentice, huge stacks of money, and maybe other things.  But here is Retroband's 'Yuuge Waste' spray-painting the side of the casino with his brown turd sculpture.  Does it penetrate that central thought and idea of The Don and/or rather does it now represent him more accurately than in the past?  Questions only for the viewing public can answer, and no two will be the same.

But what I really love about this piece is that it puts it's money where it's mouth is.  It's one thing to stir the pot and to cause a ruckus, just to cause chaos or awareness.  There's some merit to that, I suppose, but proceeds from the sales of 'Yuuge Waste' go towards Planned Parenthood charities.  That's pretty awesome, to add an extra element of importance to a piece that's already looking to be red hot with controversy, and I can appreciate the effort of doing something you feel is right, besides just capitalizing on current events and making a quick buck.

The best news is that 'Yuuge Waste' is seeing his second drop coming Friday February 10th 12pm CST at the Retroband web-store.  This guy flew under the radar the first time on a lot of collectors, myself included, but enough people called for a encore, so we're lucky to see a rare sequel this weekend.  If this sort of thing tickles your political or bad-boy bone, be there or you might be sh*t out of luck.

http://www.retrobandtoys.com/

January 28, 2017

Late To the Party! Eric Nilla X Deadly Delivery Drop!

Hey, guys and gals,  my apologies on this one, as I really meant to be more punctual on this one, but yesterday became too much of a tornado of other events to allow me to jump on the computer.  Nevertheless, it looks like luck is on our side this time.

With positive vibes generated by amazing independent still kickin' it in the keshi community, we had the Gorewads announcement from Ironhaus Productions just a few days ago and yesterday evening, Eric Nilla released a drop of mega proportions.

The first part of it being new bouncy-rubber variants to the Critter, with one set being a colorful glow-in-the-dark set and the other being a thermal cat capsule set.  As much as I think a bouncy glow-in-the-dark Critter may be, there's some primal instinct, maybe the fact I've been on the Internet way too long, some cosmic pull from the kitteh Critters.  Is the the bonus cat capsules, the mini-figures, or the stickers?  I don't know, but I feel some mighty strong witchcraft with this one.

The second part is the first ever collaboration with Deadly Delivery, producing this ominous golden totem head.  It was excellently advertised as the final treasure for a certain adventurer, before the whole temple came crashing down.  So if you're into that sort of risk, I would implore you investing in this gold.

The last part is a collection of nearly-impossible-to-find mini-figures, now in easier-to-find bootleg variants in a much more reasonable price than what you can expect to find them for in the secondary market.  This portion of the drop may strike some collectors in a not so positive way, but I feel there is an argument for their acceptance.  They are neither replicating the originals color ways or value.  They are distinctively reproduced and not ashamed to flaunt it.  I feel they are a good alternative to collectors who love these sculpts, feel they need these sculpts, but for one reason or another, never checked it off their bucket list.  Now, in a way, they can.  Just don't hurt their feelings too much about their collections being "not entirely" complete.

The best part of the news is that, from the moment I am writing all this, all of these are still in stock to some regard.  I imagine they won't be for much longer, but at least I made it in before the bell rang.  Do yourself a solid and check out the link below, and snag up anything you like, while you can.

http://ericnilla.storenvy.com/collections/272314-ericnilla-customs

January 25, 2017

Ironhaus Productions Announces New Wave of Gorewads!

You know me, whenever I share anything negative or depressing, I'm quick to bury it in something a bit more uplifting.  And with that, I am excited to share that one of my favorite independent artists Ironhaus Productions is coming out with another wave of Gorewards!

And all I can say is 'Good, because the last wave sold out in minutes!'

But that's exactly what happens with in the independent toy scene.  When certain studios gather enough of a crowd and create a large enough fan base, and they love each other very much...  they... sell... out... quickly...  and...

Revealed to come out sometime next week, I'll make sure to update you with more exact information when I find it.  However, if it's anything like last time, you won't want to rely on me to get you to the front of the line.  Follow Jimmy on Instagram and check out his website regularly for more updates.

UPDATE:  Release date has been announced to be 2/10/17.

https://www.instagram.com/ironhaus_jimmy/
http://ironhauspro.bigcartel.com/

January 24, 2017

October Toys Calls It a Day!

Wow, guys, this one really sucks.  I mean, we all saw it coming, but it doesn't make it any better.  2016 started really strong for the company, but then there was a something of a wall and things sort of froze.  Matched with various shows and events cropping up, there seemed to be something writing on the wall when it comes to October Toys and late yesterday they released a letter confirming that they are exploring new adventures outside the October Toys brand.

The more I think about it, the more the idea of a future without October Toys leaves a rain cloud over my head.  It was their community that really cemented my interest back into keshi mini-figures years ago.  It was their forum I joined first and it was their Toy Break show that taught me the world-wide cast of amazing artists.  It was their OTMFG toy line that I gravitated to first, with a small, digestible, release schedule, checklist information, and a trading forum to really get my mind acclimated to everything.  Certainly, their forum has been inactive for quite some time and their releases have come too few and far between, but this brand was certainly without a doubt my trampoline back into things.

Knowing my always expanding October Toys collection now has a limit, other things dawn on me.  Although I have a good whack at completing what mini-figures I have missed throughout the years, things that were in the tunnel for the company are going to be likely left down there.  The worst victim of this, I feel, would be Series 5 of OMFG, that found it's final designs but possibly nothing further.  Although I never fully got into the series, but I can't help but recognize their Skeleton Warriors brand will be leaving a lot of others in a similar situation.

The shows and conventions are changing, but with the baby on the way, there was a fantasy of flying out to the west coast with the young one in the coming years.  There certainly are others to attend, but a sad fact of yours truly never got a chance to attend a Designer Con, despite the handful of opportunities.  I suppose it's one of those things you take for granted, and regret not taking a more serious approach before it's gone.

But you know what, I think I just might be something of an animal of habit.  Maybe I reject change a little too much,  Maybe I like repetition a little too much, because as I think of it now, as a collector, I am very different to the one that got into all this years ago.  I've come from someone knowing absolutely nothing about anything but what I remember from growing up, to someone knowing maybe too much about keshi mini-figures and providing something of a resource for newbies getting into it.

As much as this might be just a change of clothes for the people in the company, I can't help feel there are large contributions to the keshi community that are now missing.  Thankfully there are so many amazing artists and production teams out there, small and large, that can tickle your keshi bone, but I'm not sure there will be one like October Toys, and I'm glad I was there for the time I was.

Well, 2017 hasn't started out that swell for keshi right now, but now that the band-aid was ripped off, let's look forward to a brighter and more positive year.  Who knows what will happen and who knows from who?  There is only one way to find out, and that's just to keep on keeping on.  Keep collecting.  Keep trading.  Keep checking out everything, and keep supporting your favorite artists out there.

http://octobertoys.com/new-adventures/

January 19, 2017

Electric Monarchy! Greeendayo! Toy Geeks: BTC!

Hey, everyone, welcome back to Keshi Drop!  I'm flying in here before the workload gets anymore huge and backed-up.  Hopefully nothing feels too old, because I feel a lot of great stuff is coming out or being worked on, and if I don't just share all the excitement now, it'll pass me by.

Firstly, on the docket, the crew at Electric Monarchy has been super busy.  Not only has Bukkake been announced to having a purple colorway variant called Purple Rain, but a select number of Pug Burger pictures of test pulls have surfaced over social media.  Another Bukkake is great news, and hopefully purple is the missing piece in a lot of collections out there, but the production news and updates of Pug Burger has me very curious.

Seeing this dude in physical form, while still not in-hand, seems a lot less menacing that I had first assumed.  That's what you get with me, if you haven't learned that already.  I get psyched up pretty easy and try to find little details about things.  I yank on some string I feel is crucial to the whole work, hoping the whole sweater comes undone and I've discovered some secret.  More often than not, I'm just wrong, but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate this guy.  I just feel this guy, more than I expected, falls into the laps of fans and collectors of Madballs and all the keshi, resin, and vinyl mini-figures that have come out inspired by them.

Hey, that's completely cool and there is certainly a market for that.  In fact, I believe I had one or two Madballs growing up, phrasing?, but as cool as I remember it being, I don't think it resonated to me as much as other things, even despite how it feels like it should have in retrospect.  I remember it being a foam ball with paint applications, and after months of hard squishing, I think it sort of fell apart and I focused on other toys.  Other fans and collectors, I am sure, have different stories to tell, so I hope they give Pug Burger a chance to recapture some of that.  I certainly will be interested, even if it's not the wildly offensive and disgusting keshi of my dreams.

Another interesting piece I came across comes from Japan via Instragram.  I do apologize, I know very little about this piece, the people behind it, and any release information.  But I just wanted to share a look at something that caught my eye, and something I really do what to know more about.  From username Greeendayo on Instagram, this Tiger Mask mini-figure looks gorgeous.  It's a very well done piece indeed, with stout stature and chubby proportions, the piece looks brilliant and fierce standing on it's own.  Fans of Mystical Warriors of the Ring, as well as just Kinnikuman in general, need to look this guy up and see what's happening with this guy.  From what I am surmising his the artist's blog, I am reading that this guy is coming out for the 2017 Winter Festival, but I could easily be wrong about that.  I Really enjoy this guy in both muscle flesh tone and black.  If anyone has any more information about this mini-figure or even just the artist or company involved or release info, please leave me a comment or email me.  Thanks!

And my final piece of news and excitement today is a new toy show happening on YouTube.  It's called Toy Geeks: Behind the Counter, and although it's new, a lot seems very familiar if you've been around the American toy world in the last few years.  It's curiously starring a good chuck of the Toy Break crew, which might naturally lead into some behind the scenes speculation, but that's nowhere I want to go or worry about.  That sort of stuff tends to happen when it comes with teams and crews of all sorts, so there's no need to pry into personal matters and whatnot.  I'm just glad the toy scene is still reaching out and creating excitement with their fans.  Episode 1 of the show was quite entertaining, if not a little shorter than I expected, but production levels were distinctively improved.  I would suggest you follow the link below, give it a watch, and subscribe for further volumes.  Granted there wasn't any keshi on the show, but that's where we come in.  We gotta' make our voices heard and have them ogle at all sorts of keshi mini-figures, and with George right there, I'm sure it wouldn't be much of a difficult coup.

Okay, that's all for me today!  Thanks a lot of dropping by and reading my words.  Sorry this is more or less a check-out-the-cool-things-I-found update, but this might be a trend in the following months until I know I can hit up the computer reliably.  I hope that's cool, but if it's not, you furiously huck your mini-figures through my windows.  A part of me won't even mind.

http://www.electricmonarchy.com/
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/gantzfan2007
http://toygeeks.com/

January 10, 2017

Super7 Reveals Street Fighter M.U.S.C.L.E. Drop!

What's going on, everyone, and welcome back to the old drop blog.  I don't want to get too hyped up, but there is a lot of stuff bubbling under the surface when it comes to keshi stuff.  I feel there will be a lot to ramble about very soon, which will be really great.  I've been really wanting to hit a good natural stride lately.  Like, you know, blasting out the words in a natural flow that doesn't take me too long to think about and edit, and I think updates like certainly get me in that mood.

Keshi champions of 2016 and coming out early this new year swinging, looking to level out all the competition.  Super7 is red hot, despite all rotten veg I could sling their way.  It started with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, then Alien, and now it's the classic fighting video game franchise, Street Fighter.  Everything they are touching is turning into G.O.L.D, and that couldn't be more exciting and awesome for anyone else but us.

Adding on to their previous successes, Street Fighter M.U.S.C.L.E. will be seeing the light of day January 11th 2017 on the Super7 webstore, and I have to say, maybe more than the previous series they've produced, this one looks the best and has me the most excited.  Sure, I enjoyed watching both He-Man and Alien, but I don't think I could accurately guess hour many countless hours I've spent smashing controller buttons to Street Fighter, and seeing how well these mini-figures turned out is even better.  I love the proportions and how stubby arms and fists are, just like classic Kinnikuman, and there is no confusing who is who.  If you're a fan of the video game, I am willing to bet you're into it.

Thanks for stopping by everyone!  Just to quickly reiterate for those who missed it, I may be a little ghostly in the next few months, and scroll down for more details about that, but when something big happens, expect to hear my point of view on it.  \Do also make sure you read from other bloggers and forum members too, just so you're fully educated on every possible angle.  And of course, for more official information, please visit the link below.

http://super7store.com/

January 1, 2017

Happy New Years + Life Update!

Welcome back,everyone, to Ye Ole Drop once again, and a belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Reflecting on 2016, I can't wait for 2017.  The sooner we can forget this string of movie star and musician deaths, the political disemboweling, and wonky weather patterns the better!  On the whole, however, keshi has been pretty damn good this year!  The news of Kinkeshi coming back was a walk-off home-run out of the blue.  Super7's continued interest in crossing movie and video game franchises with small rubber figures is a plus, and talented independent artists around the world delivered more excellently than before.

I'm not one for Year End Awards or much reflection.  My focus is always on the forward.  What's next?  What's the next chapter?  How can this evolve and continue?  How can we keep surprising people?  What companies will come and what companies will go?  How will this community transform?  And that's why I am excited to see what a new year will bring, however, I do have a bit of update of sorts to announce with everyone.

Last December, I was quite absent.  It wasn't just holidays or the shopping rush or even the lack of keshi news, drops, happenings, and all that.  In fact, there was a quite a lot that fell through my fingers, so I hope in that regard you have a collection of bookmarked blogs and websites to capture every corner for you collection.  I am truly sorry for those who masochistically visited too often to find too little, but I am afraid I am powerless to a huge change in my life.

Without anymore fiddling around, at the joint-crackling age of 32, Crazy Uncle SpiderEarth is having a baby.  Actually, I don't have a huddle of spider eggs on me particularly, but my girlfriend does, and it's been a head rush, to say the least.   It's something we've always discussed, but nothing we ever thought we were capable of doing.  She's a normal human woman.  I'm a giant puking spider.  Things just weren't in the cards, or so we thought, so we were going to live our happy lives with tiny dogs, mini-figures, and loud rude music, but I suppose you should never rely on the nevers or always in life.  As small of a chance as something is, give it enough time and that one percent will happen.

So, as I have been wanting to jump on and talk keshi mini-figures, my mind has been completely elsewhere, but that's not to say this a permanent state of mind now.  Right now, in these early stages, we are making sure the homestead is ready and comfortable for our new addition due this summer, but I think it will plateau out eventually.  Eventually everything will be in order and my mind can dial it back some.  I think this first stage will be the most dramatic.

It's still so wild to think about, but I couldn't be happier for my girlfriend, myself, and our new transforming family.  She's been such a wonderful rock for me.  There have been numerous times I've frantically written some garbage and had her look it over, just so one pair of sensible eyes give it a once over before I have to answer the Internet for my transgressions.  She's been the cool, collected, mind reassuring me to continue on doing things as raw and uncompromising as I first intended.  She's been the secret force behind the Keshi Drop, keeping me from editing out things I have grown to have second thoughts about, 3am in the morning in my underwear.  She's also been a blank slate when it comes to reviewing a mini-figure.  Where I may have clouded my judgment with enthusiasm or nostalgia, she has offered opinions from a new point of view.  And on another special occasion, she's helped me execute my more manic plans by being my model for the photo I took for Electric Monarchy's Bukkake.  Is that how babies are made?  She's been a such a great source of support, intelligence, and character, I am very grateful to be voyaging on this new adventure with her, but let me make one thing perfectly clear, just so there is no confusion with my plans for the future...

Keshi Drop is going nowhere.  I am still going to be right here, being rude, being weird, and getting too wrapped up and involved in every keshi conspiracy that comes our way.  There will just be a new member of the team.  Will the baby enjoy keshi?  Will it be a keshi purist or someone more reasonable?  Will he or she want to express themselves in text and ramble about toys?

Stay tuned.

Much love, everyone.  Thank you, from the bottom of my spider heart, for another fun year.  I am extremely sorry I have been ghostly recently, but I won't always be.  Things will return to normal.  Until then, I want to thank everyone who ever visited the site, read an article, dropped a comment, sent me an email, hit me up on Instagram and followed my exploits there.  I've said it before, but I first started this site, selfishly just for myself, just so I had my own corner of the web to talk to myself about toys and crap, but I wasn't allowed to be alone for very long.  My thoughts and opinions weren't weird and off-base enough, and before I knew it, I have made friends in almost every time zone, all shared in the love of keshi weirdness.  It's wilder than wild, and I am truly fortunate.  Even when I look at my bank account and I can't pull enough scratch for every drop I want, I would prefer this sort of fortune.  You guys have made this so special for me and I can't wait to see where it goes in the coming years.

Thank you all very much.