Thursday, October 17, 2013

Seen at NYCC 2013: Tenacious Toys




    One of my favorite places to stop and gawk at New York Comic Con is the Tenacious Toys booth.  Benny always manages to get the most diverse group of exclusives together and present up and coming artists in a way that makes them look like super stars.  I would dare say that he is the first guy to ever hold signing events with artists who were making toys in their basements and not just the guys who were designing for the huge companies.  Tenacious Toys is like a great indie rock label that has all the majors waiting in the shadows to see what he does next.  And judging by the response they were getting all weekend, he's definitely doing something right that they aren't.  

    Their booth was loaded to the brim with exclusives that spanned the worlds of resin, plush, and vinyl.   A lot of stuff sold out, but there will be some leftovers available this week.  Sign up for their newsletter by going to http://www.tenacioustoys.com/ so you can get in on them.  Meanwhile, check out some more pictures.








Toy Art Gallery Exclusive Deathshead S'Murk from David Flores x Black Book Toy



    I've seen this figure in a load of color combinations, but this simple black and white scheme is by far the best.  I thought I would like the blue version, because it is the same as the obvious inspiration behind the toy, but the simplicity of this paint job really allows you to appreciate the detail of the toy.  And it tastes like chicken.

    That is my restaurant critic review of this Deathshead S'murk from David Flores and Black Book Toys.  This is why no one ever calls me back when I want to write for their magazine.  I do so well, then my brain has a need to force something ridiculous in at the end.  My mind is the evil saboteur of my writing career;  it is Jekyl and Hyde.  By the way, if anyone is reading this that wants to hire me I'm totally ready and swear I could get my crap together.

    The toy you see up there is an exclusive to Toy Art Gallery and will be going on sale tomorrow at noon Pacific time.  It's limited to 50 pieces and will retail for $95.  


Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Seen at NYCC 2013: Kris Dulfer/Kid Ink Industries




    Kris Dulfer is a dude I've known for a bit online but never had the chance to meet in person, until New York Comic Con.  He is truly as nice of a guy as he is a great artist and it is really a pleasure to share his work with you.  It was great too to see a lot of these pieces in person rather than just pictures online, as you can better appreciate the craftsmanship and the personality of each one when they're right in front of you.  Check out some of the pictures of his work and then pay his store a visit to add some of it to your collection.








    This was a collaboration between Kris and DuBose Art.  Dubose made the praying mantis while Kris made these cool treasure boxes that they stood on.  



Seen at NYCC 2013: Skinner and Healeymade



    Skinner and Healeymade shared a booth at New York Comic Con, which makes life a lot easier when you're trying to see as much stuff as possible while wading through a sea of people.  And since they shared a booth they also made a toy together.  The backing card on this figure was seriously like two feet tall, but it has to be when you have so much crazy art work to look at.  If you didn't have any way of transporting this sucker at the con or if you weren't able to make it, Healeymade will have some for sale on his website this weekend.  


    Do you see this?  This monstrosity should really be viewed in 3D so that the pure sickness of the sculpt can creep its way into every wrinkle of your brain and lay eggs.  Skinner teamed up again with Unbox Industries (which is run by Dan, who happens to be my favorite person from the UK who isn't on Downton Abbey)  to bring this unholiest of unholies to life.  There are moving pieces all over the place on this thing and each one comes pre loaded with the spirit of an ax murderer, so you don't have to worry whether you'll get the one that's possessed or not.  


    This may or may not be it's butt.  There's a little demon in there though, which is pretty much how it feels after you eat one of those mummified hot dogs from 7-11.  Sometimes they seem like a good idea. Speaking of which, the other morning we stopped at one for donuts and they had a Dr. Pepper Slurpee. No one told me about this and I am outraged I have not yet tasted it.   I would have been all about that had it not been 6am, and being that we were on our way back to comic con, I didn't feel it was the right time to experiment with new frozen beverages.  Back to the figure, it should be up online for preorder soon, as they were taking orders in person at the con.  I couldn't buy one yet because I'm still waiting on my shipment of holy water, you know, just in case.  



    Skinner also has a butt ton of hand painted figures that were selling pretty quickly.  The man makes magic with every toy he touches.  Black magic of course, none of that Harry Potter "I wish my parents loved me" wussy magic.  





    Healeymade had a ton of his original resin creations on display, my favorite of which is the Heisenberg mini figure made to look like the infamous blue meth from Breaking Bad.  There was a lot of stuff inspired by the show at various booths, but nothing stood up to this.  Look, it's even packaged in a little baggy like you bought it straight from Badger on the corner.  I miss that show.  





Check out more pics from NYCC at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Seen at NYCC: Sons Of Anarchy Harley-Davidson


    
    You never know what you're going to see at New York Comic Con, but I didn't expect to see this.  It's a fully licensed, Sons of Anarchy Harley-Davidson.  Evidently a few years ago Bartel's Harley in Marina Del Ray, California had created 100 of these bikes and sold em for $25,000 a pop.  This one was on display at a booth that sold nothing but SOA merchandise and had been signed by a few member of the cast.  As if you weren't already excited to watch the new episode tonight.  










Seen at NYCC: Lulubell Toy Bodega


    One of the good things about New York Comic Con is that I get to meet people that I normally only get to correspond with on the internet.  Granted, I am much less socially awkward online so I probably seem like less of a weirdo that I do in person, but I try.  It was good to finally meet Amy from Lulubell Toy Bodega, who are by far one of my favorite toy stores/manufacturers.  They come out with some of the most mind blowing stuff you'll ever see and they are great at keeping it affordable.  

    While that dragon figure you see from Restore was not for sale, it was pretty impressive.  The detail on it was some of the best I've ever seen and will surely be popular when it goes into production.  


    I managed to snag my first ever Ultrus Bog.  Skinner created this dude and I've wanted one forever, but the timing has always been off for me to actually get one.  Now he is resting securely in my display case and freaking out the cats, who I'm pretty sure think he is some sort of mutated insect coming to take revenge for the amount of bugs they have consumed in their lives.  Or they just can't believe that this is how we are spending their inheritance.  


    I was sooooooo tempted to get one of these Shub Zeroths from Metacrypt.  It really is the only thing I regret not picking up while I was there, but I was trying to behave myself as far as my spending went and unfortunately he didn't make the budget.  But this figure is gorgeous in person, especially with this paint job.  


    Rotten Rexx was a literal big hit.  This is one gigantic chunk of mean looking plastic.  They had these crazy marble-swirled versions but they sold out before I got there.  This unpainted guy though was pretty sick and at only $125 you won't find a bigger figure for that low of a price.  You can preorder one now directly from Lulubell.  


    And I bought my first ever piece from Velocitron!!!  This pocket idol was only $3 and was my favorite unplanned purchase by far.  I just fell in love with this little dude, and he was a great lunch companion.  


    We took a lot more pictures and posted them up on our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/TheToyViking so you should look at them and stuff.  

Monday, October 14, 2013

My New York Comic Con After Thoughts





    New York Comic Con is always an experience to say the least, but this year it was much different for me.  My grandfather passed away just before the convention began, and my wife and I spent the first two days of it in Virginia to attend his funeral.  The idea of gawking over toys and taking pictures of super heroes didn't seem that important to us.  It was one of the hardest things I've ever been through in my life, and the idea of sitting on the couch for the next few days and decompressing sounded really good.  But then we talked about it on the drive back home and we decided that it was important for us to go.  We needed a break from the loss we had just experienced, and when you really think about it, that's exactly why stuff like this exists in the first place.  People read comic books and play video games and watch movies as a way to escape their own lives even for a brief moment.  For an hour or two a day you don't have to think about the job you hate, or the bills you owe, or anything else that may trouble your head.  You can live vicariously through vast stories in complex worlds and everything that bothers you just melts away.  It's what we needed, so we packed up the car and headed north.

   We're really into designer toys so the fact that they made The Block even bigger this year was a plus for us.  We got to see a lot of old friends and finally meet people we had known online for years.  And we bought a ton of stuff that I will now have to rearrange my house to display, but that's not the worst problem I could have.  Here are some random highlights from the con:

1.)  We discovered the press lounge.  

       Every year we wait in line to buy pretzels and then hunt for an open spot anywhere along the floor to sit down for a few minutes.  Then we found heaven.  The press lounge was about the size of a football field and filled with tables and chairs that sat empty, waiting for us to park our tired behinds in. And they had their own concession stand.  And there own bathrooms.  The latter of which may not seem important to anyone else, but is the most welcome sight to anyone at comic con.  Sharon waited in line for a half hour the first day just to have her shoes soaked with toilet water and pee pee from the floor.  Normally I would find that hilarious, but the germaphobe in me was quick to point out that we didn't take separate cars.  But the bathrooms in the press lounge were pristine.  It was as if they expected Beyonce to show up and drop the kids off at the pool.  I felt guilty washing my hands.  


2.)  We went to our first ever panel.

      We've been going to NYCC for years but have never actually attended a panel.  So after I had checked our hotel room for bedbugs and dead hookers we perused the guide to see if there was anything that caught our fancy.  We were obsessed with the tv show The Following and they were doing something with the cast and creators of the show to talk about the upcoming second season.  So we thought ok, if we didn't have to wait in line for three hours we would check it out.  Ten minutes before it was scheduled to start we walked right in and got pretty close.  The guide didn't actually name any of the cast that would be there so we figured it would be "janitor number 2" or some other random dudes from the show.  Oh no, it was THE ENTIRE PRINCIPAL CAST, which includes KEVIN BACON.  That's right, I was officially like 1 degree from Kevin Bacon.  I still have a bruise in the shape of my wife's hand wrapped around my arm when he took the stage.  They showed a preview trailer for the next season and then talked about a bunch of stuff, answered questions, etc etc.  It was pretty cool and will probably be the gateway to me attending more panels.  

3.)  On The Subject of Hotels.

      If you think you got an amazing deal on a hotel room at the last minute, you didn't.  You will be made well aware of this when you walk in and there are fans everywhere trying to dry out the first floor where your room happens to be and which also had just flooded a few days before.  If you are still in doubts about your awesome deal the very rude girl working at the front counter will be happy to let you know with her horrible attitude and by the fact that "the stupid maids forgot to put towels in your room so you'll have to carry them."  Your lack of deal will really be driven home by the six rooms on either side of yours that were too water damaged to be rented out and whose doors were left open to air dry and whose floors were covered in flood debris that no one bothered to throw out.  I checked a few of them to make sure the smell was just mold and not something that I needed to call the police about.  But I'll give them credit, I didn't find any bed bugs, so I actually slept pretty well.  And I almost made it out of there without something under the tub giving way while I was taking a shower and the middle of it sinking a few inches beneath me.  Almost.  

4.)  I Love Comic Con.

     Seriously I do.  They need to find a way to make comic con it's own sustainable community, with apartments and grocery stores.  I would love to live at comic con.  The booths could just update themselves whenever new stuff came out and it would probably be the happiest place on earth.  It could be like the Vatican for nerds.  

     I'll be posting a lot of pictures up and talking about more of what I saw all week, so check back often.