Mechavirus Show at Rampage Studios

 A new show, featuring customs by Todd Robertson, opened today at Rampage Studios in Tokyo. It was a really fun show to cover - thanks Todd for making toys that are so fun to photograph!

Customs by Todd:

 More after the jump:

Plaseebo customs for upcoming show

Here's a preview of several of the customs which Bob Conge (Plaseebo) will be releasing at the upcoming Recent Works show.

Skullo slug:

This version of the slug has a larger body. Also, the arms are made of translucent, rotocast resin.

Pic with LED on.

 Alien Night Gamer:

LED on

 Zombie Night Gamer:

Check out the LED brain!

Show Preview: Bob Conge's Recent Works

It seem nearly every time we see new works by Bob Conge (Plaseebo), he's on a new creative track: working with new sculpts, materials, and electronics. Fans of Bob's work will be happy to hear he's got a new show coming up.

Simply called Recent Works, the show will be held at Phillips Fine Art and Frame in Rochester New York, from September 22 to October 20. The site's address is 248 East Avenue, Rochester, NY 14604-2640.

The opening reception will be on Saturday, Sept. 22 from 1-5 PM.

Here's a look at some of what will be released at the show:

And some thoughts on the themes of the show in Bob's own words:

"THE TOY AS ART” would be a befit­ting phrase to describe the arena my recent work inhab­its. These are pieces inspired by the vivid mem­o­ries of a fer­vent belief in the likes of Santa and Franken­stein, the tragic loss of that vibrant real­ity and on occa­sion my revul­sion with the real­ity of today. My pieces find expres­sion in the form of small sculp­tural fig­ures in vinyl or resin and large folio lim­ited edi­tion prints."

Skullwagon custom by Bob Conge

Bob Conge (Plaseebo) has long been one of the most creative customizers out there. He sent over pics and info on his new Skullwagon, made for the upcoming Playsam 500 show at Super7. Here are pics of the figure, followed by its backstory (click on the image to see its full size).

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!

Plaseebo x Todd Robertson Mecha Brain Crawler

Bob Congee (Plaseebo) writes in to tell us about a new collaboration with Todd Robertson, whose mecha virus creations have been seen at many a locale, including Pachisummit, the Blobpus x Masayoshi Hanawa exhibition, and of course the Lot F gallery. Bob we also know well from his many sofubi creations and customs which have been shown at countless shows worldwide.

The two have joined forces to create a stunning short run of figures, called the Mecha Brain Crawler. Here's a description of the collab, in Bob's words:

"We are pleased to offer the second collaboration with one of our favorite customizers. For this offering Todd has infected the Plaseebo Night Gamer vinyl brain and Bobs hand cast resin Octocrawler base with his "Mecha Virus" to create the "MECHA BRAIN CRAWLER ".

Using Styrene, aves sculpt, found electronics, vintage vacuum tubes, resin, vinyl, and glass marbles, Todd has created a masterfully crafted  original figure lusciously painted with MonsterKolor, Montana sprays, acrylics and One shot. This unique character is based on Todds original backstory."

More pics of the figures, followed by Todd's backstory of the figure + ordering info:

 More after the jump:

Plaseebo Toy Karma 3 custom

Bob Conge, the madman behind Plaseebo, sent in these stunning photos of his latest custom, which is one of his entries for the upcoming Toy Karma 3 show at Rotofugi, opening on September 10. Click here to visit the TK3 website

The figure is a mashup of Paul Kaiju's Boss Carrion and Bob's resin Ink head.

Rather than attempt to paraphrase the unparaphrasable, here's Bob's description of the piece:

"This is the "Boss Carry-on Partyphant P-2" a one of one custom mash-up of Paul Kaijus clear vinyl Boss Carrion and my hand cast resin Ink head with inset eyes and a belly full of party favors illuminated by an internal color-changing LED unit that turns on by rotating the fish head on his rear. Ready to Party the night away !"

Now that's a gutfull!

Congrats on another aesthetic victory over the mundane, Bob!

Astro-Not custom by Bob Conge

Check out this awesome custom entitled "Astro-Not," which Bob is submitting for the Sofubi Godfathers show being held at the TAG gallery on July 8. Bob's in great company, joining other toy designers including Mark Nagata, Blobpus, LASH, and more!