Gargamel X Eric Nilla Micro Kaiju News!

If you're a Japanese vinyl collector, or Sofubi if you're in the know, you know all about Gargamel.

Gargamel is one of the more popular companies out there for your nostalgic fix of old-school Japanese kaiju figures.  You know the type:  hollow, semi-soft plastic, with maybe only waist movement.  If you haven't seen authentic sofubi, you have likely seen bargain bin knockoffs at the dollar store, trying to pass off as the real thing.  Emphasis on trying.

Traditional sofubi figures are rather larger, at least compared to keshi, but Gargamel has released micro versions of the figures they fans love.  They were shrunk down to what appeared to be three inches of kaiju awesomeness, and I imagine this perked the ears and interest of the keshi community.  Ditch the vinyl, we must have said.  Rubber is better.  And who better to do it than American independent keshi artist Eric Nilla?

It didn't go like that, I'm sure, but however it went, I'm glad it ended all the same with these amazing looking guys.  Gargamel makes some really amazing kaiju characters, but the sofubi format is just not for more.  I love Godzilla like everyone else, but I never was lucky enough to get too many large monster toys growing up, nor do I have the budget now for some limited-run throwbacks.  I did however drop many coins for knockoff MUSCLES and other strange wrestlers and monsters.  This sort of project looks like that perfect bridge between both worlds, and Eric's resume and work is quickly turning him into the top guy in America for keshi minifigures.

For more information, check out the links below!

http://gargamel.jp/

http://ericnilla.blogspot.com/

http://ericnilla.storenvy.com/

B.Done X Eric Nilla Chameleon Drop!

I'm not sure if it's safe for me to call it a trend, but if it is, I totally support this trend!  Oh sure, independent artists and toy makers get to make all sorts of awesome figures, but we've seen a couple here and there get released from the unlikeliest of places.  I've covered keshi news on comedians, but I haven't done one on a hip-hop artist yet, so let's get on it!

It's called Chameleon, and it's a collaborative piece between hip-hop artist B. Done and keshi artist Eric Nilla, packaged as a solo figure with a random hip-hop accessory, like a boom box or headphones.

This neat little dude was released bright and early today at the Oak City Comic Convention in Durham North Carolina.  It was released as a convention exclusive, but if any parts survive, you'll likely find them in their respective web-stores.  But act really quick!

I get a bit of nostalgia from cross promotional stuff like this.  I reminds me, in some weird way, of collecting bottle caps, cereal box tops, or what have you, to send away for that radical toy.  Sure, it's not anything really close to that, but I like the reemergence of keshi figures getting back into things other than just toy shelves.  If this sort of stuff is anything indicative of the future, it's going to be a great ride.

For more info, check out the links below!

https://www.facebook.com/B.DoneArtist
http://www.bdoneartist.com/
http://ericnilla.storenvy.com/

S.U.C.K.L.E. Series 2 Production Update!

For those who followed and hopfully backed the uber-successful Kickstarter last December, the series two set called Revenge of SUCKLE has a lot of minifigures ahead of them to make.  It's quite the workload for sure, but we've been able to get a little glimpse into how it's going before it's Spring/Summer drop.

So far, these guys look just amazing, and I'm really glad to have gotten into the project when I did.

The green shown in the pictures here are a test shot color and plastic, likely leftovers on whatever production the factory was working on at the time.  It's not to say an army green colorway won't be making it to this line, but under a magnifying glass, you might see they might not be completely up to standard quite yet.  It's why they are only test shots.

Revenge of SUCKLE looks bigger and better than the first, and I can't wait to see some in some hot pink and glitter.  I'll certainly keep everyone posted with more news as it comes out.

It Came From a Vending Machine: Panda Erasers!

If you didn't already know, my hometown of Keshiville U.S.A is experiencing some scary and rather chilly winter weather.  What will even send a chill down your spine is what you can find in a vending machine for a couple coins!

Today, let's take a look, if we dare, at Panda Erasers!  They are 'cute and buildable', if that's even a word, or at least that's what the vending machine header advertises.  Heck, if nothing else, these endangered little guys are best in my backpack than still imprisoned in the machine.  And as much as I joke about awful vending machine toys, I always try to throw coins in them and suggest everyone else should too.

That was my intention, knowing very well these guys weren't keshi figures as we know keshi figures nowadays.  Eraser figures, I thought,... close enough!  But really, if you look back into the past of keshi minifigures, you'll eventually start finding erasers.  Now granted these guys aren't really aimed for the collectible market, with all that building you can do with them.  I'm guessing they are meant to be customized.

I'm sure there are a thousand words that would better explain it, because 'buildable' is probably the last thing these cute pandas are able to do.  What they do, actually, is come in three pieces, the front half, back half, and the black middle part that holds it all together, through willpower alone.  I certainly wouldn't slap your pandas out of your hands if you wanted the front half pink and the back half blue, but I might just stand up and shout at you for calling it buildable.

And that's it!  Analysis over!  With a complete set of three: blue, pink, and white, you would be hard pressed to figure out a way to want more.  Sure, I suppose you could get dozens, so you can have every color combination, but that's probably a little much.  But at the end of the day, it's a fun little figure thing for fifty cents.  A lucky draw and a dollar and a half will get you all three, and then you're ready to erase your worries away. 

Tenacious Toys Exclusive Despair Drop!

Everyone favorite microphone-wielding comedy demon is back again, and this time he is exclusive to the Tenacious Toys web store!

That's right.  Just announced on their Instagram, Adam Quesnell's keshi piece from The Disarticulators and October Toys called Despair is getting a new color variant!

Matching Tenacious Toys' love for their shade of navy blue, this guy is dropping Sunday, March 8th, only off the Tenacious Toys online store.

For those following the runs of this character or just like their keshi a little larger than normal, this is a brilliant guy to get into.  As an added bonus, I wouldn't be surprised a digital download of his comedy album was also included with this colorway, like others were.  If I recall correctly, he asks for something in the range of $20-$30, but where that includes a CD, that's really not a bad deal at all.

Be there at Tenacious Toys March 8th, because we know this sort of stuff flies off the shelves quickly!  Follow the link below to get a head start!

http://www.tenacioustoys.com/

WWE Royal Rumble Mini Figure Set Preview!

The 2015 New York Toy Fair has even more news for those that enjoy minifigures and such!   Wicked Cool Toys, the makers of Crashlings, has been working with WWE with some of their oddball releases outside their action figure lines, and this one in particular seems to be a little more interesting than some others.

They are calling it the Royal Rumble Mini Figure Set, which from the picture here appears to be a container full of army men-esque wrestlers with a detachable wrestling ring lid.  The minifigures themselves look to be rather neat, maybe aside from those awful bases stuck to their feet, but for the price I'm not really going to hold them to it.

The price these guys are going to be releasing this figure set for is only ten dollars, which is quite the bargain, considering their might not be much to collect after the initial buy except for possible color variations.  Granted these guys are nothing world-shaking, and somewhat disappointing compared to Kinnikumnan figures, but for the price I think it's worth the support to nudge them further down the minifigures path.  Heck, one can only hope tossing ten bucks down on a silly figure set like this will ensure we will see something better in the future.

Now what the heck is up with all this optimism?

Grossed Out 6: The Day The Earth Stood Gross!

It seems like if it's not Wonderfest in Japan, or a marathon in California, it's certainly the Toy Fair in New York City.  I just can't catch a break with all the news, drops, and everything, but I'm not complaining.  It just means it's shaping up to be an awesome 2015 for minifigures.

These guys were announced just recently at the Toy Fair from the awesome guys at Moose Toys.  You know from my past posts, I enjoy Moose's stuff, well, mostly.  I keep them in my radar and always give them a shot.

This go around, they announced they are coming out with a blind bag series called Ugglys Pet Shop.  It's a minifigure version of the hand puppets they released under the same name, but this time seem to be following the Trash Pack model.

I'm a sucker for animals.  I love dogs, cats, birds, everything, so these guys are so ugly they are cute, but what about them as minifigures?  They appear a bit larger than Trash Pack, which isn't completely a deal-breaker, but they are completely covered in paint, which, on top of that, might just keep them on the store shelves for me.

The coolest thing, oddly enough, with these guys is that these minifigures come with little plastic models of poop, and even stranger, rare chase golden poop.  Exactly how rare these poop pieces will be, and if anyone will really be shredding boxes to get them is still up in the air, but it's certainly a cool added bonus in a set I would probably otherwise not get into.  

I'll be honest, there's a lot I like and don't like with these guys, so I imagine I'll grab the ones I like the most in auctions and be done with them, but I suppose we will have to see if that's what will truly happen.

Grossed Out 5: It Came From the Gross Dimension!

News of the minifigure variety came from the New York Toy Fair over the last weekend.  It appears after some time in the classics section of the movie store, Ghostbusters might be coming back.  Of course, I'm sure all of you have heard of the new movie in the works, but I was even pleasantly surprised to see a product like this lined up for release.

It's called Ghosts in Glowing Slime, and it appears to be something of a blind box with ooze and a mystery minifigure from the classic 80's movies.  Pictures available are scant at best, but these guys look pretty awesome.  You know me, I love my gross ooze and blind minifigures, and these guys look to be right in my wheel house.  I do have to say, the bases on some of these figures are pretty ugly looking and a bit too large for my liking, but some appear to have it's base blended in with the dripping goop body of the ghost, so I'm guessing it'll be a piece-by-piece sort of judgement.

Either way, I'm interested to see this happen and pick up a few.  Hopefully it takes off and gets more people interested in this sort of stuff!

New Mystical Warriors of the Ring Prototypes!

Mark looks to be hard at work, putting his next series of Mystical Warriors of the Ring that much closer to production and release.  But if you can't wait, you're in luck, it appears his online store has some resin prototypes you can get your hands on right now!

Three different guys are up:  Tembo Jiwe the elephant, Takeshi Sumo the hippopotamus, and Clubber the horse.

All of these guys look pretty sweet, but I have to say, I am really looking forward to Takeshi Sumo.  I've been getting into sumo fandom lately, and this character is just scratching that itch.  Plus, I love how thick and chunky this guy looks as well.  He's certainly something on my radar for later on this year.

 To grab these guys before they are sold out, go to the Mystical Warriors of the Ring website and online store!

http://mystwarriors.com/blog/
http://mystwarriors.com/shop.htm

Mega Toy Haul 02/13/15!

Hey guys!  As you may know, this last weekend was a crazy one for toy drops and happenings, and today I got a good chunk of the spoils from it's events.  The picture above is a shelf that homes a lot of the newer stuff, but still, some of the other small random things I picked up are crowded on other shelves and unfortunately are not pictured at this time.  Moving on, let's take a look at what I got in the mail today and share some views on them.

Starting off with the tiny stuff not pictured, I grabbed all the of OTMFG releases for this month that were on sale during their 24 Hour Toy Break marathon.  That included the dark blue Mini Gwin, the clear purple Zombie Pheyden, and the light blue Toy Break mascot.  All of these minifigures are variants of others I already own.  Picking these up just expanded my already complete set of them.  I like all of them, but some criticism could go towards the Toy Break mascot for being top heavy and the Mini Gwin for being rather small.  Other than that, these are cool additions to the set and I'll likely continue snagging up these cheap guys as they come along.

Now to the stuff in the picture.  Finally, after some deliberation, I have a quasar, clear pink, set of OMFG series one.  I have the clear red and the maroon variants already, but these guys are just stellar.  I love the color, just as I figured I would.  I'm such a sucker for hot colors and glitter, and these guys stand as some of my favorites right now.

In front of them in the picture, are my first couple sets into ToyFinity's Mordles minifigure line.  These guys are pretty neat, all sharing some sort of trait together, while having little differences, they certainly feel like a species of alien creatures.  I picked up both the unpainted flesh set and the black detailed set, and I like them both equally.  They are a little on the small side, but for only a dollar each, you really can't go too wrong.

Finally, but certainly not least, I have the second series of Kinnikuman x Georgia Coffee promotional keshi figures, straight out of land of the rising sun.  I love how wacky and juxtaposed these figures are to their natural buff and wrestling poses, but there is one big difference with this new set that I never considered, covering it the first time.  The keshi in this set is noticeably smaller than before.  And, really, of course it should be - the set is twice as big, doubling up on room on the coffee can.  I guess I never really thought of what it meant when I was going to get two figures instead of one each bubble, but it makes perfect sense now.  The figures aren't small enough to not fit in scale, but compared to the first set, they look rather tiny.  But what's odd, is that they are actually more to scale to classic Kinnikuman figures this set than before.  I wonder why I didn't notice the first set was so large...  Hmmmm...  But even still, some of the minifigures in this set are just perfect and I'll certainly be looking out for series three, if it's ever a thing.

Anyway, that's what I got in the mail!  All great stuff!  And I'm sure more is on the way, so I'll be back soon with them to share!  Thanks for stopping by!

Strange Monsters: Tug O' War Preview!

I've certainly been covering a lot of Japanese keshi lately, with Wonderfest and all, but that's by no means where the good stuff is.  Well, sure, maybe there is an argument for that.  You all know my absolute love for the new Kinnikuman promotional stuff, as well as the utter heartbreak on missing the Punk Drunkers x Onion Fights release, but still, there's a ton of great stuff being made by artist here at home.

Zectron, of the Disarticulators, has been working on something a little special that I think is worth your attention.  He, along with a few other independent artists, is doing something of a keshi all-stars series, centered around Japanese kaiju inspiration.

It's called Strange Monsters, which is awesome, because that might actually be the exact translation of what kaiju means.  That aside, Zectron has been working hard on his submission for Strange Monsters and I think it's quite the beast.

Take a look at Tug O' War!

Granted this is still a piece he's working on.  It's not the final product, but even with these early photos, the minifigure looks just outstanding.

You can look at the design of this character and see how it would lurk just under water level, waiting for a poor ship to pass him in the bay before leaping up and destroying everything in his path.  The pose is just electric and really gives you an idea of what this strange monster is all about.

Last year, when I was writing about the art in the simplicity of keshi, I had detailed why I enjoy the toy medium over others with less restrictions.  I felt making something great in keshi, even in the face of immense restrictions, showed expert-level design and talent, and I feel this piece is right there.  I can't wait to see this guy completed and hitting the market.

Keshi Weekend Recovery!

Boy, let me tell you, what a crazy week it was for toy collectors and me particularly.  Of course, across the Pacific, Japan was enjoying the first Wonderfest for 2015, and in the States, October Toys was doing their annual marathon, 24 Hour Toy Break.  Not to mention, plenty of keshi were being released all across the globe.

I did what I could, but I'll tell you, the marathon just drained me completely.  Even so, I completely forgot about that amazing Punk Drunkers x Onion Fights keshi that I wanted so much.  By the time I remembered the next day, it was long sold out.  My heart is broken, but now, I have a goal for this year.  I will find that keshi in my collection.

Besides that, however, everything else was really fun.  It felt, even super far away from Japan and even California, there was something of a keshi convention going on everywhere on the Internet.  Instagram was on fire with convention photos and the 24 Toy Break stream was fun to watch from start to finish.  I really tried to stay up for the entire time, but I failed a little here and there.  I even bought a four-pack of energy drinks, but a couple cans of that stuff in and I had a massive headache, so it was working against me.  Soon, I had my eyes closed and turned from the screen just so my head wasn't pounding, and then... I woke up a few hours later.

Even missing a couple hours, I think I scored a fine haul.  Every release October Toys had in limited quantities I was able to snag before they sold out.  I even angrily bought the quasar set I had my eye on, just for missing that Punk Drunker.  And as an even better ending to the weekend, I was able to purchase the new set of Kinnikuman X Georgia Coffee promotional keshi figures.

Overall, it was a great time.  It very much felt like a convention, which makes me want to travel to Designer Con this fall or all the way to WonderFest someday as well.  It was fun, but boy, have I been tired.  Completely wiped out.  Even fully rested, I was overwhelmed by the keshi/toy world, I just couldn't really think straight about adding anything to the website, but I'm certainly fine to go now and I can't wait to do it all over again.