Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Robots - A Benefit for Giant Robot 2

Robots - A Benefit for Giant Robot 2 takes place this Saturday, September 24th. Show lasts until October 12th. Opening reception is 6:30-11pm on Sept 24th.

"Giant Robot will host a “special” art exhibition for the benefit of Giant Robot 2 – the gallery space.
Giant Robot 1 retail space began art exhibitions including Ai Yamaguchi and kozyndan. The space was limiting and art as we know it today was a limited world that was just beginning to bubble.

Opening in 2003, Giant Robot 2 or “GR2″ has hosted exhibitions by well known, soon to be well known and new young artists. The first exhibition in the space was by renown artist David Choe. Following exhibitions included Saelee Oh, Deth P. Sun, kozyndan, Barry McGee, Souther Salazar, Eishi Takaoka, Masakatsu Sashie, and many others who exhibit at many locations around the world. We’ve since worked with new waves of artists who’ve also moved forward at a rapid pace as well. Then yet another wave, and so forth. Giant Robot 2 has often and free exhibited young artists at an expense. In the end, who pays for the promotion, rent, staffing, etc? We do.

We’re not like many other establishments who force artists into contracts. We try and nurture artists so they can have their freedom. At times it works well. Our track record is powerful. But again, how does this get paid for? The hindering economy leaves us with less options, and a benefit show featuring our artist friends will carry us for a healthy amount of time and we hope to have your support. The goal for GR2 is for the space to be self sustaining as an art space in 2012 and on. We’ll release more news on our plans, soon.

Artists include:
Apak, Andrice Arp, Gary Baseman, Robert Bellm, Jill Bliss, Aaron Brown, Buff Monster, Jon Burgerman, Youjung Byun, Ako Castuera, Sean Chao, Louise Chen, Shawn Cheng, James Chong, Luke Chueh, Josh Cochran, Eleanor Davis, Evah Fan, Ulises Farinas, Jesse Fillingham, Jordan Fu, Matt Furie, Susie Ghahremani, Katherine Guillen, Clement Hanami, Nao Harada, Seonna Hong, David Horvath, Martin Hsu, Mari Inukai, Yellena James, James Jean, Hellen Jo, Kaori Kasai, James Kochalka, kozyndan, Le Merde, Tessar Lo, Barry Mcgee, Miso, Junko Mizuno, Tru Nguyen, Saelee Oh, Saejean Oh, Bryan Lee O’Malley, Ming Ong, Martin Ontiveros, John Pham, Sidney Pink, Ferris Plock, Jarrett Quon, Albert Reyes, Grant Reynolds, Dr. Romanelli, Luke Rook, Souther Salazar, Rob Sato, Scrappers, Ryan Jacob Smith, Space Invader, Deth P. Sun, Daria Tessler, Mark Todd, Kelly Tunstall, Aiyana Udesen, Edwin Ushiro, Esther P. Watson, Jing Wei, Yoskay Yamamoto, Jeni Yang and more!

Giant Robot was born as a Los Angeles-based magazine about Asian, Asian-American, and new hybrid culture in 1994, but has evolved into a full-service pop culture provider with shops and galleries in Los Angeles as well as an online equivalent."

If you're in the LA Area, stop by for a good cause as well as checking out the amazing artwork by a lot of talented artists.


via Giant Robot

Grody Shogun Ensorcelled Man Release

Grody Shogun has been releasing killer releases the past few weeks. For those who weren't able to get any of his figures, you will have your chance to pick up Grody Shogun's latest figure called "Ensorcelled Man". This is a a made to order edition so everyone has a chance to get one. $50 for the painted version or $45 for unpainted.

These will be offered Friday, September 23rd at 12 Noon Pacific at Lulubell Toys.


via Lulubell

New Toys From Super7 - Purple Puncher Power Mister & Strawberry GID Foster

Super7 is set to release Purple Puncher Power Mister by Sun Min & David Horvath as well as a Strawberry GID Foster by Brian Flynn this coming Friday, September 23rd.

Purple Puncher Power Mister = $35 each and Strawberry GID Foster = $25 each

Both can be purchased Friday, September 23rd at 12 Noon Pacific HERE.

via Super7

Friday, September 16, 2011

Toy Art Gallery Grand Opening & "Brain Evolution" Custom Jumping Brain Show

Today, Friday, September 16th, Toy Art Gallery Celebrates their Retail Showroom Grand Opening at 7571 Melrose Ave., Hollywood CA 90046. Not only will be it be TAG's Grand Opening but will also coincide with their new show, “Brain Evolution” Jumping Brain Custom Group Show by Emilio Garcia. Both Events are 7pm to 11pm. The "Brain Evolution" show will run until October 10th.

The pictures above show some of the exclusives and hand painted customs that will be available at TAG's Grand Opening.(Splurrt's Cadaver Kid, PPPudding's Kinohel, Paul Kaiju's Boss Carrion, Pico Pico's Beckos, Velocitron's Tulubokrug and Waotoyz's Waodogs and of course lots more........)

"We will be handing out tickets at 12pm Friday afternoon for exclusives and Jumping Brain customs. This will take the place of the line so you don’t have to be standing outside all day! We will be limiting all exclusives to one per customer per style, no exceptions. There is no limit on Jumping Brain customs. Remaining customs and exclusives will be on sale in our webstore starting Saturday."

For more info click HERE.

via TAG

Use The Force For Good! Star Wars Stand Up To Cancer Exclusive T-shirts & More...


Lucasfilm launches initiative to benefit Stand Up To Cancer. The campaign features celebrity fans celebrating their favorite Star Wars moments, an Ebay charity auction offering one of a kind items and a rare experience, an exclusive line of t-shirts and support from Major League Baseball.


"San Francisco, CALIF – Sept. 15, 2011 – Lucasfilm announced today that in celebration of the September launch of Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray, it is linking up with celebrities, eBay and Major League Baseball to ask fans to Use the Force for Good to support Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C). SU2C funds groundbreaking cancer research that will get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. 

“Lucasfilm joining with eBay, Major League Baseball and a wonderful group of actors is an amazing force for good being brought to bear in Stand Up To Cancer’s fight against this disease, and we are profoundly grateful,” said SU2C Co-Founder Sue Schwartz. “With one in two men and one in three women diagnosed in their lifetimes, cancer affects us all.  SU2C’s mission is to persuade each and every person to support the scientists working to end cancer, and this initiative gives legions of Star Wars fans fun and easy ways to do that.” 

The campaign will launch today with a video featuring celebrity Star Wars enthusiasts encouraging fans to Use the Force for Good and join Lucasfilm in donating to Stand Up To Cancer.  SU2C Ambassadors Aziz Ansari, Zach Galifianakis, Bill Hader, Ed Helms, Ken Jeong, Jaime King, Seth Rogen, Andy Samberg and Emma Stone – along with Star Wars alum Samuel L. Jackson – will each Use the Force for Good as they recreate classic Star Wars scenes to raise awareness for cancer research.  The all-star video tribute appears on the Star Wars YouTube channel youtube.com/starwars.

Also, eBay will use the Force of its 97 million active members to give fans an online destination for browsing unique and special Star Wars items: ebay.com/usetheforceforgood.  The destination will allow fans to bid on rare and exclusive items like a one-of-a-kind Star Wars edition 2012 Volkswagen Passat and a once-in-a-lifetime experience; dinner with prominent Bay Area filmmakers George Lucas, Chris Columbus, Francis Ford Coppola, Philip Kaufman and John Lasseter. All charity auctions will begin on September 16th at 4:00 p.m. PDT, and continue until 4:00 p.m. PDT on September 23rd.

Star Wars and SU2C have also created a Stand Up To Cancer line of Star Wars t-shirts.  The tees will feature iconic Star Wars artwork alongside SU2C’s signature upward arrows, with slogans like “Blast Cancer” and “Use the Force for Good.”  The exclusive tees are available now and can be purchased through the end of the year at store.standup2cancer.org/shop with proceeds benefitting SU2C.

Then, throughout the month of September, select Major League Baseball Clubs across the country will feature Stand Up To Cancer/Star Wars themed nights in their respective ballparks. The special events will offer Star Wars themed ticket packages with a portion of proceeds benefitting SU2C. Most packages will include appearances by Star Wars costumed characters, VIP fan photo ops, giveaways and the Star Wars Stand Up To Cancer exclusive t-shirts. For a list of participating Clubs, game schedules and ticket information, please visit MLB.com/StarWars. Since its launch, Stand Up To Cancer has grown significantly with support from players, fans and all 30 MLB Clubs. Major League Baseball was a founding donor to Stand Up To Cancer in 2008, and has donated more than $30 million to the groundbreaking research organization since its inception. 

“We are thrilled to be using the launch of Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray as a call to action for our fans to Use the Force for Good,” said Kayleen Walters, Senior Director of Marketing at Lucasfilm. “We are happy to use the power of Star Wars to support this noble cause.”

D23 Exclusive Disney x Mattel Toy Story Woody's Roundup

Mattel's Mailer Box
Was very surprised to see how Mattel used their mailer box to advertise the Woody's Roundup and the Old TV set. They could've just used the plain old boring white mailer boxes but they didn't.

Front
Sorry, Woody is gonna be in the tissue paper for a while. Not sure when I'll have enough time to mess around with him. On the top is a handle which can be moved up so you can move his arms since he is a marionette. At the back you can slide him left to right. There are 3 interchangeable backgrounds.

Back
This was another awesome D23 Exclusive by Disney x Mattel. The packaging is awesome! All I know is that once I found about this, I had to have it.

D23 Funko POP! Exclusive Flocked Lotso

D23 Exclusive Disney x Funko POP! Flocked Lotso vinyl figure. This was limited to 480 pieces. I was lucky enough to get a little help in getting this and another exclusive which I'll talk about in my next post. This guy will stay sealed in the box. Hard to dust flocked toys!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

RECAP: Garden Of Eden Art Show by Joshua Herbolsheimer & Wednesday Kirwan @ Super7

Saturday, September 10th 2011, Super7 hosted the "Garden of Eden" Art Show by Joshua Herbolsheimer & Wednesday Kirwan.

Lots of great artwork by 2 great artists! Check out some of the pics below:




To View more pics click the link here to view the album. You can purchase artwork that is still available at Super7.

POP! POP! POP!

Funko POP! Vinyl Figures have started to invade my collection. Funko has teamed up with Disney to release Disney and Pixar POP! vinyl figures. The prices range from $9.99 - $12.50 for the standard size ones. Funko did release larger versions at SDCC for a few of their exclusives etc... All the Disney versions are priced higher than say the Star Wars POP! etc... You can only get the Disney/Pixar POP! figures at Disney Stores or Disney's online store.

As you can see I'm a huge Toy Story fan/collector. If you know Disney, they will probably release every character they ever made etc.... Definitely have to be selective and Toy Story was a no brainer. 

The paint app on each figure varies. There will be imperfections.

Still need to re-do the collection/shelves to find a spot for these guys. 

New Super7 Releases - Pocket Invisiboy & Leroy C.

Super7 is set to release 2 new figures tomorrow, Friday 9/16/11 at 12 noon Pacific. 1st up is a Full Metal Jacket Leroy C. by Invisible Creature and GID Pocket Invisiboy by Brian Flynn.

Both can be purchased at Super7. Leroy C. is $35 each and Invisiboy $25 each.

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Wondercon 2012 Moves to Anaheim, CA

Wondercon 2012 moves to Anaheim.  The Moscone Center in SF will renovating. Wondercon has been in the Bay Area since forever or as long as I can remember when it was still in Oakland. It's sad that they couldn't find a venue anywhere in Northern California. Many Northern California folks that have attended Wondercon will definitely be saddened by this news.

Not sure if any of us here will be attending since it's going to be a choice of either Wondercon or SDCC since they are both in Southern California. We'll have to decide when it gets closer.

via Wondercon

Max Toy x Konatsu Hyper Hobby Magazine Exclusive Kaiju Negora

Max Toy x Konatsu Hyper Hobby Magazine exclusive Kaiju Negora. For sale in Japan NOW!!!

Ohhh the painted kitty and fish looks awesome! Guess you have live in Japan to get the exclusive. Oh well, must wait patiently for the next release.

via Max Toy

Splurrt's Two Skin Cadaver Kids for Toy Art Gallery

Splurrt's Two Skin Cadaver Kids for Toy Art Gallery. Will be available at Toy Art Gallery Opening September 16th.

Loving the micro runs of Cadaver Kids!

via Splurrt

Monster Worship Customs and Exclusive Greasebat for Toy Karma 3


Monster Worship is bringing customs and an Exclusive Orange Greasebat by Jeff Lamm to Toy Karma 3. The exclusive Orange Greasebat was inspired by vintage kaiju colorways. This is an exclusive to Rotofugi so if there are any left they will be sold through Rotofugi.

Monster Worship posted up some teaser shots of their customs for Toy Karma 3.
Red Rub Greasebat – a one off custom by Monster Worship.  Red clear vinyl with a Silver paint rub. 
Earth A.B. – a one off custom Altar Beast by Monster Worship. Black vinyl with a Green paint rub.
Moonlight Altar Beast – a one off custom Altar Beast by Monster Worship. Black vinyl with a Silver paint rub.
All I can say is WoW!!! Very nice customs, really digging the Greasebat. The Alter Beasts are BEASTS and I can't wait to see the other side.

If you are in the area or lucky enough to go to Toy Karma 3, this show is going to be so AWESOME!

via Monster Worship

Frozen for Freshness Cadaver Kids for Toy Karma 3

For those attending Toy Karma 3 at the Rotofugi Gallery in Chicago, IL, September 10th, you have a chance at owning one of these awesome Frozen for Freshness Cadaver Kids from Splurrt. These also Glow!!! Edition of 5.

via Splurrt

Related post - Toy Karma 3 @ Rotofugi