Dustin Cantrell’s handmade Plasma Dunnys (as seen here on JS last February) sent a ripple through the art toy community–and beyond. First appearing on custoMONDAYs (a series of 20 emerging toy artists curated by yours truly), Dustin’s Dunny quickly attracted attention from Gizmodo to Kanye. Everybody wanted one, but only 4 existed, and they sold out fast. Enter Kidrobot, makers of the Dunny toy. They tapped Dustin to create 3 more Plasma Dunnys in metallic gold with wood bases. The Dunnys are currently on display in Kidrobot’s New York store and for sale at $600 each in the custom art section of Kidrobot’s website. This puts Dustin in the same category previously occupied by Tara McPherson’s sculptures. Congratulations to Dustin, and let this be an inspirational story for those who tweak their toys worldwide!

Update: They sold out in less than 24 hours. At $600 each. By an unknown/emerging artist. What recession?

San Francisco-based interactive design firm, 17FEET, revealed their first designer toy at Phoenix’s Resin Collective group toy show. When I caught up with 17FEET last December, the Feeters were still in the prototype stage, but now the tiny trio is ready. Loosely modeled on Kidrobot’s Dunnys and DIY figures, they chose the shape of a giraffe (which measures 17 feet, the combined height of the firm’s directors) and worked with Patch Together to realize it in resin. Although the three figures are a first for each designer (Brandon Herring, Malea Gadhoury and Lisi Howell), they’re not sticking their necks out for no reason: When you buy your toys through Food for Feeters, all proceeds go to the San Francisco food bank. A donation of $25 gets you a mystery Feeter; $60 for the set of three. Each design is limited to 100 pieces. For every $1 donated, the SF food bank distributes $9 worth of nutritious food to more than 132,000 local people in need. The Feeters are available now online and at select designer toy stores. Toys that do good. We like that.

Cleveland-based artist Phoebe Marie is unabashed about her mixed heritage and unapologetic about her sense of humor. Following her breakout/sold out Dia De Los Dunny series, she did a few Halloween editions. Now, just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Phoebe combines two seemingly disparate cultures into one awesome toy. Her series of six original customized Dunnys reimagines the platform toy as a group of “drunken leprechauns.” Although half the pieces have already been sold to those who appreciate the intersection of Mexican and Irish rituals, a couple are still available for $45 each here. If you think you have the luck of the Irish (and a good St. Patrick’s Day yarn), Toycyte is giving away the sixth (and most elaborate) figure in the series. Leave a comment here with the best story of drunken misconduct.

We love our designer toys as much as any other collector. The Plasma Dunny: we’ve got first dibs. The adorable Chinese New Year Yoka: we give it a mini-hug before going to sleep every night. But if they were side by side in a display case, Toy ‘N Block (click Decor) would be the one that stands out. Reminiscent of the building blocks you had when you were a kid, OIO Design’s fun-hearted creations are printed with illustrations on certified wood. I’m into the endless possibilities that these wood-cut, street-art blocks with a twist can have. The Brazilian company is showing in Sao Paulo’s upcoming Craft Design Fair for retailers, which means they’re looking for people to stock their wares. E-mail them via the contact form on the site if you’re interested in adding these must-haves to your collection.

If you thought the ground-breaking work of Nikola Tesla and Paul Budnitz couldn’t possibly share any commonality, think again. California-based artist Dustin Cantrell has combined a plasma globe with a designer toy to create an ultra-limited run of Plasma Dunnys. Dustin’s creation is a rumination on the idea that Tesla’s toiling, which “at the time must have seemed like some kind of magic, has been reduced to cheap, Chinese-made novelty toys to be sold in malls at stores like Spencer’s Gifts.” Of course, designer toys have nothing in common with the kind of wares hocked at novelty shops, and Dustin’s Tesla-inspired figures will find fans in fine art connoisseurs and Burning Man attendees alike.

The metallic silver interactive Plasma Dunnys are limited to four pieces (valued at hundreds of dollars): three will be for sale later this month in ToyCyte’s new store for emerging artists, and one is being given away for free right now as part of ToyCyte’s custoMONDAY series. Dustin is looking for your favorite gadget (real or imagined), and will choose a winner based on all comments received here by February 15th.

Kidrobot has just dropped word of their releases for October, and the theme is dark. With toys spanning sex, death, nightmares, zombies and psychos, there’s officially something for everyone. The month opens and closes with 8-inch Dunnys: the kickoff figure is a dystopian Dunny by Australia’s Jeremyville on October 2nd. A week later, Kidrobot tips its hat to Playboy with two figures: a 1978 pinup in vinyl as envisioned by comic artist Paul Pope and Hugh Hefner as a PEECOL platform figure by eBoy. Cheekily suggesting that size matters, October 9th also sees the release of giant 18-inch DIY GID Munny figures. Death is not the end; it’s just a continuation as Andrew Bell brings out KidReaper 15, the 15th edition of Kidrobot’s iconic character, on October 16th. On October 23rd, Ryan Bubnis’ tricked out sugar-coated zombie mini-figures hit the shelves. And finally, to close out the month in style, Kidrobot releases Huck Gee’s Hello I’m Insane Dunny on October 30th. This Dunny will be a boon to collectors whose pockets aren’t deep enough to get in on Huck’s custom toys. But with Huck’s sets of 10 custom Dunnys selling out in 8 seconds, simple math would suggest that 500 affordable production figures will come and go in less than 7 minutes. Be prepared for an insane month.

I’m not sure if Kidrobot’s Dunnys are the “world’s greatest vinyl canvas” as their press releases proclaim, but they certainly are one of the most popular. As a designer toy created by KR founder Paul Budnitz (with Tristan Eaton), Dunnys have been released in four core assortments and a handful of special series. Series 5, however, is prepared to dominate with a truly amazing selection of artists.

The 19 new Dunnys include designs by: Amanda Visell, Aya Kakeda, Clutter, Devilrobots, Dirty Donny, Frank Kozik, Huck Gee, JMGS//Jellymoon, Jesse LeDoux, JK5, Junko Mizuno, Kathie Olivas, MAD, Mad Barbarians, MISHKA, Reach, Sneaky Raccoon, Steven Harrington, TOOFLY.

Each Dunny is sold blind-boxed for $6.95. You might get doubles, but you’ve got a shot at the Kozik Mecha or 1 of 600 Golden Tickets redeemable for an exclusive Huck Gee figure (that’s like, $8 million dollars on the aftermarket…). Dunny Series 5 drops September 4th. Let the trading parties commence!

The Simpsons series (out August 21) marks Kidrobot’s largest mini-figure series yet. Twenty-four vinyl figures stand just three inches tall, but the implications of the Kidrobot/Simpsons collaboration are huge. Despite the fact that Simpsons-creator Matt Groening redrew his characters in Kidrobot’s signature Dunny/Munny style, toy fans cried foul (loudly) on the site’s forum. The allegation: This new release violates Kidrobot’s core philosophy that nostalgia equals death.

KR founder Paul Budnitz holds tight to the belief that reminiscing on the past is a sure-fire creativity killer. His company creates urban art toys with a focus on fresh designers from the international graffiti scene. He points to subjects like dinosaurs and Stormtroopers as toys people buy due to memories, not artistry. And yet, the citizens of Springfield are unequivocally linked to nostalgia; be it their sloppy origins on the late 80s Tracey Ullman Show or the catch-phrases that became T-shirt fodder in the 90s. In an unprecedented move, Budnitz turned to his blog to explain his decision process, where he, among other things, discusses what really sucks (which, according to Paul, do NOT include LaCoste shirts, the Muppets and France).

Mike Heisler introduces three of the friendliest Slobots to date, expanding his world of functional machines turned personable friends of man. Two of the new additions, Slo-Damen and Slo-Herren, are boxier with an old school look. Their orangey-red color is well-suited for their occupations as operators of the Martian Space Port and Lunch Counter, the quaint, imaginary Red Planet establishment created for them by Heisler’s imagination. It reminds me of Rosie from The Jetsons.

The other new bot on the block is Slo-Dunny SERV02, a mechanical spy turned Venus ice cream franchisee. More like the previous Slobots, Slo-Dunny’s head totally looks like an orange with a peering eye in front and sweet looking canisters of essential gases wired to his back. The posable “ears” totally make this one.

More bots after the jump.

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It’s about time that the rumors about a new Tristan Eaton Dunny coughed up something tangible, and now — after almost two years of speculation — we can finally say that an actual Dunny (designed by the actual co-creator of Dunny and founder of Thunderdog Studios, Tristan Eaton), will be released in the middle of January. The gas-masked, 8-inch Tag Team Dunny comes in either pink or black, and will be accompanied by his own Fatcap mini assistant in a matching color. Two signings for the new Dunny will go down in New York and Miami, respectively; head here if for more deets on either event.

Tomorrow on oki-ni, a few lucky shoppers will be able to nab a new Evil Invader Dunny. The kidrobot x oki-ni collab, inspired by the 80’s video game, offers eight inches of pixelated love, and will be co-released with an even more exclusive matching hoody (coming to you in an exciting Fair Isle/double colorway print! Wowza!). Only 175 of the Dunnys and 50 of the hoodies will be up for grabs, so if you want to be one of the lucky few who get to wear the hoody while holding the Dunny (a feat which should subsequently land you a very hot girlfriend), you’d best be on your toes for the soon-to-come site update. Don’t forget that oki-ni is a London-based company, and to account for time differences accordingly.

Kidrobot’s new Dunny’s are awesome; If you haven’t checked them out yet, go here, and if you don’t even really care to check them out, go there anyway. Normally, I could care less about Dunny’s (not for any good reason — I like to look at them, but never buy them) but after seeing the collection our buddies at joyengine have already started for themselves, I think I’ve had a change of heart. A big one, actually. As in, if they started putting them in kid’s meals at McDonald’s I’d go there three times a day and start eating meat (well,”meat”) again, subsequently gain 15 pounds in two weeks and only kind of care because my Dunny collection would rawk. Artists like Frank Kozik, MIST, and Tara McPherson contribute to this run’s amazing artist line-up, so check them out, cross your fingers for the Golden Ticket Kosik Dunny, and start buying them up.

Related: Dunny Archive

French graf artist Mist (known for his drippy style and evil eyes) paired up with Kidrobot to deliver this severely limited edition, mostly psychotic-looking, 20-inch Dunny. I love Dunnys, and I love monsters, so the fact that this beast looks like he’ll sneak straight out of his glow-in-the-dark shell and come eat off my toesies puts him right at the top of my “Scare the Shit Out of My Future Babies With…” wishlist. Did I mention that there’s only 300 of him? No? Kinda? Well, to clarify, the Mist Dunny (oh, let’s just call him Lucifer Jr.) is going to be tough to find soon enough, but to help you out, we’re going to mention that Hero Design Studio has been bragging on their recent acquisition, and if you contact them here, you might just be able to land one. I found a few others while googling around — including one on eBay for way too many dollaz — so don’t give up hope; Lucifer Jr. wants you, bigtime.

The guys over at Kid Robot are giving away 5, one of a kind Siemens CF110 cell phones and 8” chrome plated Dunnys. Dunny, the action figure originally made of soft, smooth vinyl was created to be customized in a broad variety of styles by diverse artists working in different mediums and now, has been transformed into a pattern. The Dunny pattern appears to be lasered on to the back of the cell phone, but could be just a print. Either way, it's definitely worth signing up for a chance to win!