For the past year, the urban vinyl community has relied on Face Your Manga for all our avatar needs. But now one of our own has stepped up with an app that renders our likenesses in Kidrobocolor. That would be the awesome Tristan Eaton, whose Thunderdog Studios just released the B-BOT app for iPhone. B-BOT is the closest you will ever get your mug to a Munny. You can create your own B-BOT and also customize your contacts. When you receive a call from them, their B-BOTs will show up on the caller ID (and vice versa).
B-BOT was conceived by Tristan Eaton and Peter Cortez while working together on the 2008 Barack Obama Campaign. It was developed by Greg Elliott, the creator of SynchStep.
Many toy fans have been closely following Kidrobot’s evolution from designer toy hub to lifestyle brand and media conglomerate. The latest news falls into the latter category, with Kidrobot essentially curating the redesign of the Cartoon Network. Per motion design studio Capacity’s press release:
“Using one unifying body shape (designed by urban vinyl legends Kidrobot) we created an interchangeable system of elements that gathered all of CN's characters into one place. These blank figures, called Noods, are the canvases upon which characters of all shapes, sizes, and styles can coexist. The CN logo is also an extension of that vocabulary as the colors and patterns from the characters — their DNA — find their way on to the network's blocky logotype for the first time. The resulting world is a playground of rich colors and unlimited combinations, ownable only by Cartoon Network.”
Or ownable by you? Sources speculate the company that’s responsible for getting Rosie O’Donnell hooked on toys have developed Noods into platform figures, which are inevitably and eventually destined for retail.
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.
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).
Ada Pinkston at Current TV just sent over a video they just posted featuring their Brazilian host Rico (no last name) of the Globe Patrol show getting reacquainted with Sao Paulo after being away for a decade. You know we’ve always got the best coming from Brazil covered, but watching what’s going down will give you a different angle of how I see this awesome city. Rico jumps around town to the Munny exhibit at toy store/ art gallery Plastik, goes to venue Studio SP to catch up with long-lost friends and interviews the Brazilian Larry Flynt, aka the sleazy Oscar Maroni, who was arrested last year for running a brothel. More fun with Brazil here.
Sao Paulo’s premier toy art store Plastik, whose second-floor exhibit space I really love and have written about before, has gone virtual with a splendidly complete online shop stocked with the models that collectors in the most remote parts of Brazil can’t get so easily get their hands on, as well as the very works from former Plastik Gallery shows. While internationally recognized toy lines like Munny and Gloomy Bear make up the majority of the offerings, cute, stuffed national entries from collectives like Amonstro and Ash star — under an exclusive deal with Plastik, even — in the handmade category (pictured) and take over another separate artwork section. In fact, Plastik’s one of the strongest toy art vehicles promoting emerging Brazilian toy art makers. Rev up that armchair and travel to the site to get a cheap peek at the art form’s evolution in Brazil and spend the money you saved on airfare to pocket some goodies instead.
The last time we wrote about Sao Paulo’s toy artspace and store Plastik was when we profiled their Munny show, but right now they’re fresh into a new exhibition entitled Evoke that attracted so many people to the opening they spilled onto the street in front of the store. Evoke refers to the name of the Brazilian sunglasses company, which gave out dozens of their shades to a handful of the country’s urban artists and let them loose. One of my favorite graff artists, Boleta (whose work I pass every day on the way to the subway) turned in work featuring his trademark colorful swirls, while others painted scenes, like a burning church and Jesus by exhibition curator Stephan Doitschinoff, and a dude and parrot on headphones by Binho Barreto. These works prove that not everyone sees life through just rose-colored lenses!
Brazilian design studio Colletivo has finally finished putting up their new site, which looks pretty spiffy after a redesign and includes their most recent work. The group has worked with clients across the creative field, dreaming up brand identity, motion graphics and digital projects for national and international names like Cavalera and Nickelodeon. As you can see from their portfolio, they have a healthy fixation on monsters — big points in our book. While you’re perusing the site, check out the shoe they designed for France’s String Republic, plus the posters they did for Sao Paulo’s toy art store Plastik in addition to their entry into the Munny toy exhibit at the same place. The photo here is of a lamp created for their client, Melissa.
Sao Paulo’s equivalent to Kid Robot is Plastik, which houses a toy heaven for adults. Besides being ground zero for the toys we’ve come to adore and obsess over (plus a few more not known outside the country yet), the store also has as a gallery space located on the second floor that’s accessed by a perilous, winding staircase. The Munny Exhibit just opened here, and as the namesake implies, it stars Kid Robot’s customizable Munny figure. The store distributed three dozen Munnys to Brazilian tastemakers – fashion designers, graffiti artists, art directors, DJs, illustrators, just to name a few – and gave them free reign to do whatever they wanted with their doll. The whole crazy lot is now on display. Gary Baseman, who was just in town last week, kicked off the opening. Check out more photos from the exhibit after the jump…
Munny (Sponsored by Kid Robot) is supporting independent artists alongside our friends at Plastic Chapel and Capsule Gallery. They are having a Munny show fittingly named, “Follow the Munny†June 9th through July 14th. Featured designers include Evan Hecox, Scot Lefavor, and the world famous Jason Thielke (shown here), and you, well maybe. Part of the show is open to the public for an entry fee of $10 and there will be prizes for the best Munny including, money, money, money! Okay not really, but when else can you use that line? There are actually a bunch of great prizes including a signed Kozik 10†BONDAGE Smokin' Labbit. Entry deadline is May 31st so as Munny would say, “Work hard and practice†and get your best Munny out there for all to see! Details to the shows after the jump.
Everything’s going green these days, and the toy world is no exception. Perhaps appealing to our guilt at the amount of plastic we consume as toy fanatics, a growing crop of collectibles attempts to balance the extraneous and the ecological. Just because you live in the city doesn’t mean you can’t grow a garden. In America, artists are making potheads out of Kidrobot’s Munny figures. Japan exports Crack-a-heads egg-shaped herb gardens, the mecha-meets-Chia Igrobot and Nyokki: a set of ceramic plant “pets” perfect for people who are allergic to animals (but not grass). Spain went green way back in 2004 with Martà Guixé’s Plant-Me-Pet, which won him a DesignPlus award. Those figures are currently making a resurgence with toy collectors; if you can bear to bury them, they’ll reward you with pumpkins, melons and tomatoes. For more information on the growing trend of eco-toys, check out 
Brazilian design studio 
