Beauty and the Kaiju + Kaiju Invade Harajuku 2 in 1 event!

Back to Harajuku! For the third time this year, Max Toy and friends hooked up at the Design Festa Gallery in Harajuku. This time they upped the ante yet again, combining two shows in one: Beauty and the Kaiju (featuring the kaiju-inspired art of 6 woman artists) and Kaiju Invade Harajuku (featuring the work of the dynamic quadruple: Max Toy, Dream Rockets, Dead Presidents, and Sunguts).

This time, the group rented a space on the western side of the gallery.

 I rolled up an hour before opening and snapped some set up pics:

They really went to town souping up the gallery space, which was well-packed with toys, art, and Christmas cheer!

Kaijette Tulip setting up the tree.

Santaguts in the house! Is this dude ever not in a good mood?

All the hard work came together in a gorgeous kaijucopia of mind blowing sofubi.

Tons more after the jump!

Soon the kaiju faithful arrived to bow before their gods!

OK, here we go.....beauty before beasts.

Beauty and the Kaiju

Mark Nagata invited six woman artists to strut their stuff in a field that, until recently, has been pretty male-centric with exceptions like Michiko-san of Vinyl Junkies. Other designers like Uamou and Refreshment Toys have made inroads recently, and it looks like the trend is set to continue!

Beneath each original work is a caption introducing the artist. (Click on each image to see a mega sized pic that's big enough to read the caption. :O)

Tulip in front of her work.

 Kaiju Invade Harajuku

Max Toy Co.

Mark painted six illustrations which were made into prints. I really like the way each piece was set up next to the figure it was based on.

Here's a close-up of the new Alien Argus. (Not on sale yet.) Best version so far - I knew I'd eventually come around to AA! (I need a meeting....My name is Andy and I am a sofubi collector.)

 More event releases:

There were also plenty of minis to be had!!

I LOVE the monochrome figures!!!

So Christmasy....So Argusy

 Dead Presidents

 Matt Walker went to town on some Sunguts figures!

Love this piece.

 Matt also painted some Cosmic Squadron figs for the event:

 A nice touch were a few print outs of Matt's pinstripe art. Here's a close up of one:

 Dream Rockets

Wow, was he BUSY setting all this up! An amazing combination of new toys, classic paint jobs, and super-intricate customs.

 

Debut of Gibaza. The wings fold back really nicely. Beautiful design job.

 Sunguts

Sunguts always puts on a magic show for the senses and has a total blast putting together his displays.

Kappa House!

I love this use of Christmas lights as barbed wire in a six-story high melee of raw Kaiju Power!

 Some nice paintings to complement the toys:

 Here's what I picked up:

Matt told me the idea here is Kappa got nailed with a candy gun. Looks like it was a Blowpop Bazooka!

Whew! Good stuff in Harajuku. The show runs through Friday, so if you're in Tokyo, make sure to check it out!!