Great new stuff from STRANGEco!

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I’ve been bad about press releases in the history of this site, but these caught my eye! Take the jump for the scoop.

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When my friend and coworker Rodney left town for a few days, we decided to take his Storm Shadow figure on a wild photo adventure. (Apologies in advance for the quality of these photos… We were limited by our little pocket camera.) Hit the jump to see the full series of pictures that range from Storm Shadow’s frustrations at work,

his evening out,

his awkward sexual experiences,

and eventually his demise… (20+ pics ahead!)

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PingMag has a great interview with Australian designer Alex Kubalsky about his work designing toys including the transformations of Transformers Bumblebee and Mirage. Kubalsky talks about his methods and there are some great images showing his process of drawing the entire transformation by hand. He also shares a pretty wild dream about Mary Poppins floating on a cloud, that admittedly give me the willies, yet somehow led him to create transforming toys long before this Transformers gig came up.

Hard to complain about such a great interview including so many interesting pics, but I wanna see more of those crazy prototypes he mentions throughout.

STRANGEco is one of the coolest producers and distributors of designer toys in the US. Their portfolio of collaborators is a veritable “who’s who” of custom toy designers and artists.

Co-Founder Jim Crawford graciously agreed to an quick interview about STRANGEco and the rising popularity of the designer toy scene. Take the jump for the interview!

Yay! South Florida gets the opportunity to meet Chris Lee at the release of the Flocked Mellow. He will be signing prints, fuzzie little guys (Mellows), and almost anything your little heart desires The first 25 customers to purchase a Flocked Mellow at the release will receive an Exclusive Mellow print for free! There will be raffles and so much stuff you don’t want to miss and of course free coffee, free cupcakes and awesome music as always.

HOST: PINKGHOST & CHRISTOPHER LEE
WHEN: SATURDAY JUNE 30, 2007 from 8:00 PM to 10PM
WHERE: PINK GHOST
21 WEST LAS OLAS BLVD
FT LAUDERDALE, FL 33301

Flocked “Sherpa” Mellow Pre-Orders are available at www.pinkghost.net!

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To promote a huge toy sale in Australia, actors dressed as toys and wore giant hands around their waists, giving the illusion they were being played with.  The concept was concocted by The Campaign Palace in Melbourne, and executed perfectly. There are three sets that I can find: wrestlers, a bride and groom, and a soldier.

I was a big action figure kid, and the poses in these pics are bringing back some fond memories. I would spend hours assembling armies led by He-Man and Skeletor. Heroes and villains would fall one by one, leaving a four-way battle, pitting He-Man and Moss Man (my favorite) against Beast Man and Skeletor. Reenacting scenes from the comic books with my Marvel action figures followed the He-Man obsession. Wolverine in his brown and yellows with retractable claws was the tops even though he had almost no points of articulation. And though I have never been a Cyclops fan, his light up visor made him one of my faves as well. This overwhelming feeling of nostalgia is making me want to go buy my kid some action figures now. Damn those manipulative ad wizards!!

In an effort to spark a little chat, what were your favorite action figures/dolls as a kid?

[Source= Ads of the World]

This is pretty sweet, and you don’t even have to attend to enter!

“PinkGhost has joined forces with some of the coolest toy companies to bring you an awesome contest! PinkGhost costume Contest sponsored by Wheaty Wheat Studios, mimoco, Jamungo, Gama-Go, and STRANGEco. We challenge YOU to design and build a costume based on our mascott the PinkGhost.
A special event will be held at the store for contestants to wear and show off their designs before judges, who will ultimately pick 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize.

Everyone in the US is welcome to participate and wearing your costume at the judging event is encouraged If you cannot attend the judging event you can mail your costume to PinkGhost by June15th.”

Go to their site to check out the prizes!

I saw this over at Urban Retro Lifestyle and fell in love.  Crafted with care by designer Kazuko Shinoka, the Tofu Robot brings some much needed character to a bland, yet versatile treat.  You can pick up your very own Tofu Robot slave for only 20 bucks over at SpicyBrown.com.  I need to get this for my vegetarian baby daughter to play with while she eats her tofu cubes.  That’s right…  She actually eats it plain.

Tahir from urbanretro.co.uk, and Andy from toysrevil.blogspot.com have combined their powers to create Custom Toy Lab!  Created to to provide exposure to custom toy artists, Custom Toy Lab is already cranking out the goods.  I have been a loyal fan of Tahir and Andy for a while, so I know this site is going to flourish.

To promote the launch, they are giving away these one of a kind GID ZLIKS By Bil BetsOvic to one lucky human.  All you have to do to enter the drawing is comment on this post!  These are too damned cool.

Over at OgMog, I saw this and dropped my jaw. A website with scanned images of original G.I. Joe packaging art. We are talking quality scans here and large enough to read the awesome original bios for each character.

The art is impressive and I am flooded with nostalgia. I remember when it was okay to have art that wasn’t anime inspired. Anyone that grew up in the 80s will love this. I was always more of a he-man kid, but seeing Mutt and Junkyard again is awesome.

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Call me a cheapskate or pennypincher or whatever you want, but I admit that I have a hard time paying the going (exorbitant) price for the latest, hottest toy for my son to play with.  Especially considering the fact that he gets as big a kick playing a rousing game of Box* as he does playing with the latest Sesame Street or Blues Clues contraption.

That being said, the toys above really float my boat, not just from a financial perspective but also when viewed through my “designer” eyes.  The gang over at Fwis, a multi-location U.S. design firm, have created these elaborate toys, called Readymechs, that cost nothing more than a bit of time, some double-sided tape and some heavy paper.  Choose from over 20 different patterns and designs to download and get busy assembling your own readymechs!

Also, be sure to check out the Fwis website, for a nice portfolio and some great insight into the entire creative process (conception, misunderstanding, rejection and fruition).

[Readymechs]

*Box is like air hockey, but it can played on any flat surface with an empty box (usually from a new, ignored toy) filling in for a puck  and a lot of enthusiasm and giggling filling in for anything resembling rules.

I’d like to think that one day I will have the discipline and the mental capacity to maintain the life of a small plant.  Until then, designer Smoggy Mountain (Joji Okazaki) will make sure that no more tiny trees die by my hand.  His Atomic Bonsai comes in a box and the assembly is open to your interpretation.  In true bonsai tradition, it can flow in the direction you see fit.  Amazing design too!

I met Chris through a friend-of-a-friend type of scenario, and boy does he have an interesting portfolio.  Chris went to Florida State and then went out to L.A. to do some special effects work.  It was there that he did work on a number of things including Buffy, Angel, House of the Dead 2, and even a Dixie Chicks video of all things.  Honestly, his resume is a bizarre list of projects.

Currently he has been doing concept art for Dreamblade, a collectable miniature game.  He gets direction, then proceeds to design the characters that eventually are made into these cool little miniatures.  It would be so cool to see something you drew interpreted in three dimensions.  The guy has talent, so check him out.

In protest of the pollution problems in Singapore, Andy Heng of toysrevil has produced a series of solutions using various figurines called HazeGear. He has damn near 40 of these, and they are fantastic. I love art, and I love toys, so this is right up my alley. Each figure has a very powerful expression.  I imagine it would be difficult to maintain the serious feel of the subject matter when using toys like this, but Heng keeps it straight through the entire series.
For more info on the haze, click here.