Todd Robertson + Will Long Studio Visit

There's some amazing creating going on in Boston. In fact, the whole region is a fast-growing nexus of toy making, worked in sofubi, resin, metal, and other materials. You've got new figures, customs, mashups, and new creations that I'm not sure we even have words for yet. And it's all awesome.

Down in South Boston, Todd Robertson and Will Long share a space where they work on all kinds of incredible figures, paintings, and other art. Yesterday, I visited them and took some snaps.

Their space is in an old rum distillery, which has been converted to a bunch of loft-type spaces that are rented out to artists and other creative types.

First up, let's look at Will's stuff. He's kind of a newcomer on the indy toy scene, and his background is in fine art. Will brings a really fresh aesthetic sensibility with an incredible eye for detail.

Here's one of Will's mecha creations, a mashup of an Optimus Prime head, some other toy parts, and a ton of found items.

More after the jump:

New England, Clutter, and long layovers....

Amazing, I know - a KK post without 300 photos. That's because there's a whole lot going on, which is going to lead to some pretty amazing content very soon!

As I type this, I'm at JFK, waiting to head to Boston, and from there I'll be making a few other stops on the East Coast. I'm really excited to be visiting some super cool toy people, and I'll be road blogging all along.

I'm also working on my next piece for Clutter magazine. It will be a feature article/interview with Ricky Wilson, one of the core people at the center of the modern sofubi movement who not only is the force behind Velocitron but also the man with the plan helping sofubi makers like Splurrt and MVH get their toys made in Japan. Ricky's a really thoughtful guy, and I think you're really going to dig the piece. Support Clutter - it's just $10 for a really high quality mag!

Oh yeah, before I headed out from Tokyo for this trip, I took a grip of behind the scenes photos, as well as pics of custom and rare figures. I'll be turning those into posts in the coming weeks.

Fasten yer seat belts!

Coming up: Konatsu Nagata Show

From March 31 to April 1, the venerable Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku will host a show featuring the work of Konatsu and Mark Nagata of Max Toy Co. Mark is planning to fly to Japan for the show, marking his first appearance in Tokyo in around 1.5 years. Unfortunately, KK won't be on hand to cover the event. Don't worry though, we've got some pretty amazing stuff planned in the coming weeks. ;-)

If you're in Tokyo, make sure to stop by. Mark always has amazing figures on hand for his shows, and Konatsu, the designer of Max Toy's red hot Negora + Big Fish figures, is sure to impress.

Here's the back pic of the show's flyer:

Games Workshop Miniatures in Japan

I usually cover the sofubi side of the indy toy world, but there's much more going on in Japan, and when I get the chance, I like to shine a light on some of those other pursuits. Plus, you've got so much artistic cross-pollenation going on across different media these days - with sofubi, resin, wood, clay, etc. - that you never know what will lead to what. Anyway, I think fantasy miniatures are just plain cool, and the craftsmanship of creative types here never ceases to amaze me.

Games Workshop, a UK company, has branches in a bunch of places, including one in Nakano Broadway. Also, at events like Wonder Festival, they sometimes have booths. Today I stepped into the Broadway shop and took some snaps of the figures on display. Of course, miniatures are sold blank -  kind of like the way resin kits are displayed painted and sold blank at shows - but it's always nice to see how they can turn out.

Here are some dioramas and figures on display at the shop:

 More after the jump:

Plaseebo x Leecifer Tropical Night Gamer

Plaseebo (Bob Conge) and Leecifer (Lee Gajda) have teamed up for a glowing, glaring, super limited collaboration. For the team up, Leecier painted 8 of Bob's Night Gamer.

Each figure has glass eyes and a motion sensitive LED inside that lights up when activated:

 The figures can also be black light activated:

Finally here's the figure's backstory:

Standing at 7", each Night Gamer will sell for $250. Six of them will be sold on the Plaseebo webshop on Wednesday March 14. It's always fun seeing Bob's creative customs and collaborations since just about anything is possible!

Japan 7-11 x Star Wars merchandise blitz strikes back!

It's time to party like it's 1999! Walk into a 7-11 in Japan, and you'll feel like you've been transported to the unforgettable cross marketing product blitz that accompanied Star Wars Episode 1...which was followed by countless bouts of fan angst, hand wringing, and cries of "Why, George, why?!?!?"

This current wave of "No we will never let you forget the prequels" marketing ties in with the theatrical release of Episode 1 in 3D in Japan. (Yes, it takes light years for movies to reach here.) Midichlorian counts aside, all the old imagery is back, and at every aisle, Darth Maul, Jar Jar, and crew stare you down and try to Force choke or stultify your brain into buying something.

Buy the bread, Luke....

...because dreams of plastic glory await!

Meiji chocolate isn't half-bad.

 Next we move on to product branding.

These frozen treats - Gari Gari - are kind of like big square popsicles. Not my favorite, but I was at a restaurant once that had this Gari Gari x soda x whiskey concoction, and it was goooood!

More after the jump:

Max Toy x Mandarake Dualos

To commemorate the relocation of its Sapporo shop, Mandarake is releasing an exclusive Max Toy Dualos. This is Max Toy's first collab with Mandarake.

The figure will be released on March 17. It will first be sold at the Sapporo shop starting at 11:00 AM. Then, online sales will start an hour later at 12:00. The price will be 8,400 yen per figure.

Here's a shot of the back of the figure:

For the full release details (Japanese only) click here.

Coming up: Rampage Toys x Uamou show!

 From 3.22 - 4.02, Studio Uamou will host a new show of Rampage Toys x Uamou collaborations in Akihabara. Jon will head down to Tokyo for the show.

He'll be bringing along 30 Uamous, 25 customs, and a bunch of other stuff.

Make sure to check it out!

New Assemble Borg exhibition at Akiba Zone

On the B2 level of the new Akiba Zone complex, Kaiyodo maintains a group of display cabinets that it uses to show its different figure lines. It's a great chance to check out new and upcoming figures out of the box. Also, Kaiyodo sometimes puts loose figures out on the tables of the surrounding food court. Pretty cool.

Today I spotted a new Assemble Borg display there. Like Revoltech, Assemble Borg is a super poseable line but with a kind of cyber punk sci fi bent. Here are pics of the display:

 

 More after the jump:

Ricky Wilson talks toys + Paul Kaiju's newest sofubi figure: Pollen Kaiser

Yesterday during my visit to the Fort I had a chance to catch up with Ricky Wilson (aka Velocitron) while he was working on the wax proto for Paul Kaiju's upcoming sofubi toy: Pollen Kaiser.

In the video, Ricky talks about Pollen Kaiser, upcoming Velocitron toys, the next batch of figures for the TAG Karoshi show, and a lot more.

I brought a tripod this time, so I think the video quality is a tad higher than for previous videos. Luke makes a cameo at the end and proves the ancient adage: left to right tripod swivel good. Limited up down tripod swivel makes photographer look Hobbit sized.



Here are a couple of stills of Ricky working on Pollen Kaiser: