For those of you who were unable to partake in this year’s SDCC madness, Dragatomi has just put up all remaining figures in their online shop! Up for grabs is Chris Ryniak’s Bugglestump Forest, KO & BP’s purple custom Squid Skull, and a handful of customs from DrilOne (including his collab with Jason Limon!).
Enjoy all shopping without the Con-SARS! Hooray!
European friends, we’re coming to visit! For the first time ever, the Circus is packing up and heading to Paris for Le Carnaval des Spectres, a special gallery exhibition at Artoyz Shop + Galerie this September. Centered on the theme of ghosts and spirits, Le Carnaval will showcase all new works from Brandt Peters, Kathie Olivas, Travis Louie, Chris Ryniak, Amanda Louise Spayd and Teodoru Badiu (who’s celebrating his first showing with CP AND it’s on home soil. Excitement!).
And to answer a common question that’s been buzzing around the forums … YES, new figures will be releasing at this show!
What figures? Well … these might make their debut. There might also be a certain colourway of this. There was also something about some vinyl making an appearance, but those could be LPs for all we know ;)
There’s other stuff, too, which will be trickling out in the next couple of weeks; pieces for the show will be shipping soon, so with that photoshoots, more info and other things to make your eyeballs tingle.
Le Carnaval des Spectres opens Sept. 13th with an opening reception that evening. Brandt, Kathie, Travis and Teo will be in attendance!
So last week was a bit of a brain melter, no? All is chill and quiet on the CP front as they prepare for Paris, KO prepares for AFA, etc., when out of nowhere you pick up your phone and it’s like WHAMHAIINSTRAGRAMFACEMELTLOOKATMEI’MBEAUTIFUL!
And not once, but TWICE! And within DAYS of each other! How delightfully cruel.
It all started with the Blue Mist Kuma, above. 9.75″ tall. Blue fade. Embedded GID Lucky Skull. The first embedded edition that CP has ever done.
Yes! **Edition!!!** (Music to our ears!)
66 of these beauties will be made and will likely release in small blasts throughout the rest of the year. It will make its official debut this fall during a certain European hoedown, but — an important but! — CP members actually have a shot at preordering one right now via the CP forums. So pop over there for the full scoop from KO.
And then there’s the ever-morose Grieving Greeter, who will also be making his debut very soon. The edition size is limited to 30 pieces at $225 a grin. It’s hard to tell from the filter (my fault), but his cloak is a smoke grey, with the usual antiquing. Looks quite sharp, if I do say so m’self. More info about all this goodness as we grow nearer to showtime!
As part of his ‘… Of All Ages’ showcase at the DKE booth (#4728) at SDCC this year, uber sculptor Scott Wilkowski has infected Brandt Peters’ Kuma Skelve. Adding an incredible, prehistoric-like skeletal piece encased in smoke or ice-coloured resin, each colourway is limited to a mere 25 pieces each (50 total figures) and will retail for $300 a head.
I really can’t muster any more than a “holy shit” at this point. I can’t even decide on a colourway. Good luck to all who enter the breach for this these — they’ll be available starting Friday the 13th at noon!
Ohhh boy, here comes trouble.
Chris Ryniak’s contribution for OhNo!Doom’s group sculpture show, Septenary, is a trio of buck toofed critters called Nuggleworts. Each of the 6-inch sculpts are one-of-a-kind, made with CMR lovin’ and are never to be seen like this again. And, believe it or not, the Nuggleworts (from left: Valencia, Juneau and Mangrove) are one of the rare CMR breeds that are devoid of the usual, well-endowed cheekage in the rear region (figured we’d share).
Septenary opens July 7th and runs through August 4th. The show preview has already gone out and these three are spoken for (sorry), but you can still pay ’em a visit if you find yourself in Chi-Town!
Speaking of projects that I’m genuinely excited about: Kathie shared some snaps of the first vinyl test pull of her Calliope Jackalope via Instagram yesterday. This thing is looking seriously beautiful, especially given the complexity of the sculpt by sofubi standards. The figure is comprised of 8 interlocking pieces, some of which can be switched out … like this!:
Errrrmahgerd, mash up madness! Just wait till there’s a whole series of CP sofubi figures with body parts you can switch out … it’s a toytastic acid trip just begging to be happen. Seriously, could you imagine the trading parties?! What if there were unique chase pieces/custom pieces or booster packs you could buy? Would y’all be down?! There are so many exciting possibilities with this project … can’t wait to see where it goes!
More info on Calliope as soon as she’s through test painting — as for Brandt’s Stingy Jack, I actually have an interesting piece of (semi-related) news on him, so stick around!
Every once in a while a project comes along that really, genuinely, excites me. It may be because it’s new, appeals to my personal tastes, or is just out-of-this-world conceptually.
Chris Ryniak’s Bugglestump Forest nails all of these things.
Did you catch last week’s teaser? The wooden collab project with Austin-based Ink It Labs is definitely not what I was anticipating and this is one of those rare occasions where I’m damn happy I was wrong. This combines everything I love (and is right) about the designer toy movement: artistic merit, superior quality, ingenious design, affordability … and what’s more, it’s 2D and 3D at the same time. It’s a freaking wooden pop-up block, people! I’m sitting here totally tripping out and poking my computer screen.
Oh! And did I mention they’re packaged flat in a custom box? Look!
(Dimensions are 3” W, 2.5” L, 2.75” H if you’re wondering.)
This is just too cool. And I know you want one. Are you going to SDCC? Well, if you are, stop by the Dragatomi booth (#4935). Fifty will be available and they’re $50 each. If by freak occurrence there are any leftovers, they will be available via Dragatomi a bit later. And don’t fret if you’re not going to Comic Con; this isn’t an exclusive. Just sit tight here and release info will be along soon!
DrilOne’s Military Bird Skelves are moving into position and are set for release tomorrow, June 22nd at 1pm PST via email request to strangerfactorysales@gmail.com (buyers, please include your address for an accurate shipping quote). The collaborative project with Kathie Olivas is a Stranger Factory exclusive and a limited edition of only 18 pieces at $300 a pop. Message board members, visit the associated thread on the Sideshow for your chance to win a guaranteed spot to purchase the figure. The winner will be announced this evening!
One random order will also receive a free custom Orange Bird Companion from Kathie Olivas (below). … Seriously, can it get any sweeter?!
Good luck to all! Get on yer crash helmets!
Brandt Peters’ sofubi Stingy Jack inches ever nearer to completion from the looks of these new snaps showing off the mischief makers’ first colourway: a regal transparent purple. The figure is still undergoing some tweaks (gloves and eyes will be brighter, a fade will be added to the body), but we now have a general idea of what to look forward to. A release date will be set once these adjustments are made, which should be very soon!
You’ve seen the wings of desire … now … behold the militant archangel they’re equipped to! Coming soon from DrilOne and Kathie Olivas is MBG-1812, a series of custom Bird Greeters and DrilOne’s first editioned Skelve since joining the artist collective late last year.Standing a menacing 10 3/4″ high, the MBG’s (Military Bird Greeters) feature a custom-cast chest plate and removable wings that are built upon Kathie’s iconic sculpt. Each of the 18 figures is hand painted by Dril and retails for $300. One randomly selected order will also receive a custom Kathie Olivas bird companion!
The drop is just around the corner; man your battle stations and await the signal!
