Artoyz Elements Alpha Series was released throughout France this past weekend and is heading for U.S. shores next. The series is the inspiration of French artist Easy Hey from the Delkographik collective and proposes that all matter in the world is based on the four elements of water, air, earth and fire. Once the four new platform shapes were formed, Elements Prologue and Elements First Degree quickly followed. But now, the pièce de résistance is here: The Elements Alpha Series is made up of 22 gorgeous figures by 20 international designers: SKWAK, Steph Cop, RUN, Pulco Mayo, Koralie, KOA, Grems, Flying Fortress, Jon Burgerman, ARTIZARNAL, Superdeux, NYNO, MIST (deep breath) iLK, YOKAIKAI, Nathan Jurevicius, GREGOS, Supakitch,  Bwana Spoons and Jean Spezial. Individual figures are expected to cost about $10. If you buy a case of 25, you’re guaranteed 19 out of 20 unique figures. If you buy just one case of blind-boxed figures this year, this is the one to get.

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Despite the fact that we have accepted the need to traverse shoeless, beltless and beverageless through airport security, most of us still can’t stave off baggage carousel gridlock by bringing along anything other than a black roller bag. I’m among the guilty who assumes that my beat-up Samsonite stands out due to a few strands of green yarn I’ve affixed to the handle. All this is about to change with DotDrops, an innovative concept to customize your luggage. Using the snap-on microdots that come with the bags, you can send a message to TSA and your fellow travellers that says you love, among other things, America, martinis or aliens. As if that’s not enough, each purchase is accompanied by a DIY toy by French company Artoyz. With several styles of suitcases, an exclusive toy and lots and lots of dots, you can really make a personal statement.

1. Stealth R/C Helicopter: Read JS Review | Buy It ($30)
Break out your favorite pair of aviators because the Black Stealth R/C helicopter is the perfect little gadget for all you wannabe flyboys. With the ability to fly left, right, up, down, backward and forward, you’ll be terrorizing your coworkers (or pets) with ease.

2. Mostrini: Read JS Review | Buy It
The Mostrini puppets look like monsters you’d find a bizarre, drug-induced dream world. Yet, these little guys aren’t scary – they’re quite cute, actually.

3. Artoyz: Read JS Review | Buy It
Just because you have to do grown-up things like paying taxes and worrying about your worthless 401K, doesn’t mean you can’t still play with toys. Artoyz has many great designer toys from a slew of world-renowned artists. One of our favorites is Kid Onion by Easy Hey.

4. Thingamagoo: Read JS Review | Buy It ($120)
Thingamagoo are little metal creatures that beep, buzz, zap and make the noises you would hear in any Atari game. Push the buttons, twist the knobs and create your own synthesizer creations.

5. Shelby Slot-car Track: Read JS Review | Buy It ($249)
Channel your inner child with this giant Shelby series slot-car track. Assuming you have the patience to construct this thing, you’ll be zipping around the track for hours.

6. Slobots: Read JS Review | Buy It ($175-$650)
The Slobots are great little robots looking for a purpose in life. Each one is hand built and comes with its own life story.

7. Les Deglingos: Read JS Review | Buy It ($40)
Each Deglingo is a quirky and lovable creation. The multiple textures and vibrant colors make these little creatures an amazing gift.

8. Jon Burgerman’s Heroes of Burgertown: Read JS Review | Buy It
U.K. artist Jon Burgerman is always up to something. Earlier this year he added toy design to his impressive resume. Heroes of Burgertown is a great little collection of 16 vinyl mini-figures that will bring a little joy to your desk.

We wanted to give a big thanks to toy guru Jeremy Brautman from ToyCyte (and formerly here at JS.com) for helping us put our list together. Check out ToyCyte for the latest news in the toy world.

October and November are going to be big months for Artoyz. The French website and magazine that both covers and sells designer toys is slated to unleash a slew of products under it’s Artoyz Original label. The past Saturday they released their exclusive limited 100 piece run of Chaos Monkey figures in both white and guerrilla version, as well as the Elements First Degree figures from Easy Hey. The four figures are comprised of colorful interchangeable pieces representing fire, water, earth, and air. The final new wrinkle in the Artoyz Originals family that was just made available is Kid Onion, a vinyl creation also from the mind of Easy Hey, that is more or less a colorful scaly amalgam of a boy and a vegetable. You know what they say: you are what you eat. Let’s hope you don’t become what toys you play with.

Jon Burgerman is one of the most prolific illustrators in the U.K. His doodles have adorned platform toys, shirts and skate decks. On September 25th, when Kidrobot drops The Heroes of Burgertown, he can add a line of mini-figures to his portfolio. Fans of Jon’s style will recognize characters like Coco Gulab Jaman who’ve popped up throughout the years, even appearing as figures in a 2006 Artoyz show. The premise for the new series is that each character has been made into a toy as a reward for their achievements in Burgertown. Says Jon: “It’s a gentle jab at the cult of celebrity and how it’s the dubious accomplishments that usually get rewarded with recognition.” The blind-boxed vinyl series contains 16 standards and two chase figures and will retail for $7.95 each.

Artoyz, the French magazine and website that both covers and sells products within the designer toy market, recently announced a new branch of its company: Artoyz Originals. This division will focus solely on the development and creation of designer toys by international artists, with the first series to be launched in June. This set, known as the Elements Prologue, is based around the four elements (Earth, Air, Wind, Fire, and according to Captain Planet, Heart). They were created by Easy Hey, a member of the Delkographik collective studio and rendered by Gregos. The sets will vary from each other in color and transparency. Two vinyl figures based on this series will be released in July, and Artoyz has many more sets in the works to be released late this year.

Jeremy Andrew, a.k.a. Jeremyville, covers a bit more ground than your typical designer-slash-artist. Perhaps we should rephrase that, for while it is correct to refer to what Jeremy covers as “ground” (being that he darts around the world with a fearsome frequency), the bare truth is that what Jeremy really covers is stuff. A ton of it. Television screens, snowboards, books, bags, hundreds upon hundreds of t-shirts; Jeremyville is, in many ways, the king of self-branding. An affinity for creation, done at a somewhat obsessive frequency, has allowed him the opportunity to pair with hundreds of entities.

From Rossignol to MTV, Jeremy's ongoing series of collaborations has resulted in a lineup that would make even the editors of Hypebeast blush. Read on to find out what it is that keeps Jeremyville humming along so steadily.

Joshspear.com: You went to school to become an architect, became a cartoonist rather inadvertently, and then continued on to become “Jeremyville.” Was this series of events a result of following your dreams, or something more fate-driven?

Jeremyville: I’d say Jeremyville is the result of a million considered decisions, some erroneous in hindsight, some okay!

Jeremyville has evolved quite a bit; it's now best described as a project-based concept. Any idea or project that interests or excites me, I bring in to the Jeremyville story. A book. A collab. An animation. A t-shirt. A toy. A new character. Anything that adds something to the overall Jeremyville landscape, and that intrigues the viewer.

I mostly call myself Jeremyville these days, as I'm the sum of these parts – these projects are my babies and have so much of me invested in them. I'm proud to be really personal in my work, and universal at the same time. I'm striving for some sort of ‘universal intimacy', by which I mean I want both a kid in Paris and a 60 year old in The Midwest US to get something from my work, like from one of my comic stories. This might sound a bit esoteric, but I really do think about such things daily! And no, I don't read self help books!

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