DesignerCon Pasadena 2026 - Back Home to Where it All Began

DesignerCon made it's way back home to Pasadena this year during Father's day weekend!!! They sold out of online ticket sales but they did have tickets available in person starting at 1pm. It's been a long time since the very first show so many years ago. The designer toy & collectibles scene has grown exponentially over the years. Dcon grew so big that they had to move it to Anaheim to hold all the interested artists & companies that wanted to exhibit at their show. DesignerCon was built with the support of local indie artists and small companies who took a chance and exhibited at the show as well as the support of collectors who attended every show to purchase art, collectibles, exclusives or to simply hang out with other collectors. 

A couple of years ago, DesignerCon moved from Anaheim to Las Vegas which alienated many local So Cal artists and small companies from exhibiting in Vegas due to logistics and if there were enough interest from collectors to want to travel to Vegas. It felt great to be back in Pasadena! Check out our photos below via our IG to view all the photos. 

Handmade by Robots Debuts Five SDCC 2026 Exclusives at the Icon Heroes Booth

 

Icon Heroes is proud to welcome Handmade by Robots to the KB Toys presented by Icon Heroes booth (#4344) at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, where fans will find five convention-exclusive collectible vinyl figures along with select new releases available throughout the show.

Known for transforming iconic pop culture characters into premium vinyl collectibles that resemble hand-knit toys, Handmade by Robots has become a fan favorite for its distinctive blend of craftsmanship, creativity, and collectible appeal.

KAYOU Announces SDCC Debut with a Multi-Stop Fan Experience Across San Diego

 

KAYOU Makes San Diego Comic-Con Debut:

Here for the Superfans with One Epic Experience at Three Locations

Across America’s Finest City

 

Global Trading Card Powerhouse Levels Up SDCC (July 23-26),

Celebrating New Cards Featuring Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters,

MY LITTLE PONY, NARUTO, and tokidoki

 

Explore KAYOU’s Walls of Fandom in the Interactive Zone at Petco Park; Shop the KAYOU Collection at The Shumi Company (Booth #4934, San Diego Convention Center);

Connect at Fan Meetups & Trading Events at Tito Rick’s Garage

Alliance Authentic launches Funko, Handmade by Robots & Vinyl collectibles

Alliance Authentic Expands Its Preservation Platform Across Collecting, From Vinyl To Funko To Handmade By Robots

Newly Preserved Vinyl From Olivia Rodrigo, Harry Styles, Zara Larsson, Charli XCX, Karol G, Hayley Williams, And Angine De Poitrine

Launching Newly Preserved Figures From Funko And Handmade By Robots

KAWS: FAMILY Exhibit at SF MOMA

 

KAWS: FAMILY Exhibit at SF MOMA ends May 3, 2026. This was the first time we had the chance to experience the larger than life sculptures from KAWS. Being in the Art Toy / Low Brow Art scene for many years, KAWS' figures were always sought after and highly collectible. So getting the chance to get up closer and take a look at the huge Companion, Chum etc... and the crossovers with pop culture characters such as The Simpsons, Sesame Street and so on was one of many things to cross off the bucket list. 

If you're able to check out any KAWS exhibit near you, we highly recommend you stop by and check it out. 

More pictures from the SF MOMA exhibit can be seen below:

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Collected Con Los Angeles 2026

Collected Con is coming to the West Coast. They've been in Chicago since they started back in 2024. If you don't know by now, the show takes place next month, April 25-26 at Magic Box in Los Angeles, CA. Get your tickets now HERE. They have limited VIP tickets still available as well as a weekend pass and single day passes. They also have an after party on Saturday which is a separate ticketed event at Lucky Strike LA from 7pm-11pm. So Cal has been missing a dedicated designer art show for a couple of years now since DesignerCon moved to Vegas. There's a lot of great artists and small companies that will be exhibiting at Collected Con such as Refreshment Toy who will be coming from Japan, 100 Soft and so many indie artists that you're just going to have to come to Collected Con yourself and see who else will be there. Stay Tuned for our coverage of Collected Con next month.

DesignerCon Returns to Pasadena in June

 

 

Recently announced was DesignerCon returning back to its roots in Pasadena on Father's Day weekend, June 20-21, 2026. This show will bring back the focus of the smaller companies and artists that made DesignerCon a success. It was a small community of artists and companies that really embraced the designer and indie art toy scene from low brow art to graffiti culture and everything else in-between. DCon Pasadena was THE SHOW to be at to get your art and work seen. 

As DesignerCon grew, it outgrew the Pasadena Convention Center and needed a bigger venue to fit everyone that wanted to exhibit and to allow more people to attend. They moved to Anaheim before leaving California to Las Vegas a couple of years ago. Dcon Las Vegas will still take place in November and will still be the bigger show out of the two. 

We are looking forward to DCon coming back to where it all started. Those were some of the best times especially when the designer toy scene was taking off. Meeting up with other collectors that we would bump into at other shows and matching message board names to faces. So much nostalgia and good times with a lot of great people in the designer toy community. 

We hope to see some of the OG collectors that we haven't seen in a few years, come out to DCon Pasadena. You can purchase tickets for Dcon Pasadena HERE.  

Super7 Peanuts Holiday Fun! Fun! Vinyl Figures

 

Super7 originally released their Peanuts Holiday Fun! Fun! Vinyl figures via Walmart as their exclusive. Our local Walmarts sucked and never got them. Their online store had most of them out of stock but a couple of weeks ago Super7 added them to their online store so we gladly snatched these up. Most if not all are still available as of this posting. They are 5-inches tall. Retail is $20 each or you can purchase the set of 6 for $120 via Super7’s online store.

Here’s all 6 figures out of their boxes. Really cute and affordable. 

 

DesignerCon 2025 Recap

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DesignerCon 2025 took place November 14-16, 2025 at The Expo at World Market Center in Las Vegas. This year marked DesignerCon's 20th Anniversary. How has it been 20 years? We've been attending DCon since their days in Pasadena and then to Anaheim as the show kept growing every year. This year had more exhibitors and a lot more attendees compared to last year. 

Kaleidos Creative x Dcon The Official Launch Party took place Thursday night, November 13th at Notoriety. Photos can be seen HERE.

Custom Kairos at Dcon can be seen HERE.

Custom Vans Shoes can be seen HERE. 

Here's more pictures from DesignerCon 2025 HERE. 

DesignerCon 2025 was awesome! Medicom, Punk Drunkers, How2Work, 3D Retro, GSF, MVH, Sunguts, Creature Bazaar, Paul Kaiju, Toy Art Gallery, My Plastic Heart, ToyQube, Leen Customs, Pretty Done, Rokimoto and so many more. If you haven't made it to Dcon since they moved to Vegas, make sure to save the dates for November 13-15, 2026. See you next year!!! 

Kaijufornia Vol. 2 Recap

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Kaijufornia Vol.2 took place on September 27th, 2025 at Bear Cave CCG in Northridge, CA. We were in So Cal and decided to check it out while we were down there. We were unable to attend last year's show. It was a chill event with a small group of local toy makers such as The Beast is Back, Uh-Oh Toys, Secret Handshake Toys and more. If you are in So Cal, this is a show that you should attend. Easy to get what you want with minimal crowds and lines. No date has been announced for next year yet but we will keep you posted when we find out. In the meantime, check out our pics above for a slideshow of what you missed. 

LA Comic Con 2025 Recap

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LA Comic Con was held September 26-28, 2025 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. We haven't been back in quite a few years. The show really has expanded using different halls for the artist alley, Horror Zone, Akiba Station and the main hall with a variety of exhibitors such as Refreshment Toy, Saturday Morning Cards, Dave & Busters and many more. One bit of advice is that if you need to park your car in one of the convention center parking lots, you really need to arrive early. Finding a parking lot with available space can be very hard. There are third party parking lots but note that they charge more than the convention center parking and even raise the price throughout the morning when they know people are desperate for parking. 

This show has really grown over the years and have a lot of different exhibitors compared to other shows such as Door Dash with their Giant Door Dash Bag giving out surprise gifts. You don't know what they will give you. Some people won iPads, Funko pops, external hard drive, gaming controllers, gift cards etc...or you can get a dud like a twinkie which someone did get and was not happy after having to wait in line. The wait in line did take a long time. Maruchan was also exhibiting at LACC and they had free sample flights of their noodles. The line for that was super long too. Yakult and Kopiko were there giving out free samples. If you live in the LA or So Cal area and haven't experienced LACC, you should. If you are local, rideshare would be your best bet to avoid parking headaches. Thank you LACC for inviting us. As of this posting, the dates for next year's LA Comic Con has not been announced yet. Check out our photo coverage above to see what you missed out on this year. 

Sega Pop-Up Shop Visit

A few weeks ago we got the change to visit the Sega Pop-Up Shop in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles. The Pop-up was open June 27th to July 27th. They had exclusives that you could only get in Japan. When we stopped by a lot of what they had were sold out like the Dreamcast bag that was in the shape of the console. Picked up a Jet Grind Radio 25th Anniversary T-shirt. Overall,it was a cool pop-up with merch that we don't get here in the U.S. Check out some of our pics below of the pop-up. 

Super7 Godzilla Station Pop-Up at SDCC 2025 Recap

Super7 always has one of the most creative offsites / pop-ups during SDCC. This year they transformed their San Diego store location into the Godzilla Station. They put up a temporary facade featuring Godzilla attacking the train station and always dope artwork on the side of their store. Inside the pop-up featured exclusive Toho Godzilla merchandise. There were exclusive apparel and collectibles. They had a signing with Director Shinji Higuchi. There were lines every day they were opened for SDCC. By Saturday, the store looked pretty empty. One of the sought after items is the Godzilla Station coin which you could pick up at their booth inside the convention center or at their pop-up. See pics below of their pop-up. 

Flashback SDCC 2024 - Mikey's Pizza

 Mikey's Pizza

TMNT Pop-Up hosted by Super7 

 Weird pizza, exclusives and a surprise appearance from April O'Neil, Shredder, Leo and Raph.

 

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Flashback SDCC 2024 - Dungeons & Dragons 50 Years Pop-Up Shop at Super7

 Super7's Dungeons & Dragons 50 Year Pop-Up Shop

 

 

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Flashback SDCC 2024 Part 4

 SDCC 2024 - Part 4

One of the best things about SDCC are the offsite activations. We have a bunch of them to show you in our upcoming posts. We did as many as we could with the time that we had.  

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Flashback to SDCC 2024 Part 3

 SDCC 2024 Part 3 

 

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Flashback to SDCC 2024 Part 1

With SDCC 2025 around the corner let's hit the rewind button and check out what you might have missed at SDCC 2024. Here's Part 1: 

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The Loyal Subjects heads to San Diego Comic Con 2024

 

The Loyal Subjects, known for its detailed, quality collectibles and now TLS Toy - the brand that brought back the popular and nostalgic Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite -  is making their return to this year’s highly anticipated San Diego Comic Con. 

Stop by the TLS booth (#2544) and immerse yourself in the ultimate SDCC experience! The limited exclusives will be available on the show floor Thursday, July 25  to Sunday, July 28 while supplies last, see details below. All the limited edition releases listed below.

Titan Entertainment SDCC 2024 Exclusives

Titan are delighted to announce the following products, all of which will be available EXCLUSIVELY at San Diego Comic Con from July 24 – 28 2024. These include books debuting at the show and limited editions, exclusive comics and awesome limited edition collectibles for fans of Doctor Who, Star Trek, Godzilla and Conan! Titan Entertainment will be found at Booth #5537 (Door C Cityside). See below for more details.

GODZILLA: THE OFFICIAL COLORING BOOK WITH FREE T-SHIRT!

Yes, you read that correctly! Every single copy of our wildly-popular Godzilla coloring book will come with a FREE t-shirt for you to color at home! Available in all sizes, see your favorite Kaiju face-off in front of a building emblazoned with San Diego 2024, just like the building wraps at our favorite Con! This t-shirt will only be available at Comic-Con, so make sure you pick up your coloring book AND t-shirt from Titan at Booth 5537!