Toy OTD: Bounty Hunter Plush Doll: Pete (2007)

Bounty Hunter has always been at the forefront of art toys - they arguably created the first designer toy, Kid Hunter (an appropriation/steal/homage of "Dave" from the Cap'n Crunch commercials) in 1997. Ten years later (well, twelve now), they're still at it!

I don't know if this plush is a licensed Disney product or not, but it's very nicely done. Often art toys portray a lascivious or scatological side of a cute character, but rather than repeat themselves, BxH decided to make a toy of Pete (aka 'Pegleg Pete', 'Black Pete', etc.) 'disguised' as his nemesis Mickey Mouse. Since Pete's a villain already, the take is a lighter touch, more mischievous. It's a really appealing design with loads of nice touches.

First of all, Pete's sculpted likeness is great - not simply a cold, technically accurate mimicry, but a sweet, retro-interpretation of the character... in other words, what Pete would look like as an old-school toy. The scale is a good call - a medium-sized toy that won't eat up too much space, but big enough to feel like a substantial teddy bear.

The use of materials is especially good here, with vinyl head, hands and feet - straight from the '50s plush playbook. The furry body gives Pete cuddliness, texture and volume. The fabric pants are just the right weight to make them seem baggy and ill-fitting.

BxH didn't throw anything into the packaging - they usually bag their toys, and Pete is no exception. I opened mine some time ago, but if I remember correctly, it was in an undecorated bag.

The only real minus is the balance issue - it won't stand reliably on its own, though it has a better center of gravity (not to mention the vinyl shoes) than many plushes. You'll still need to lean Pete against something in your display case, but he'll at least pose well in the process.

These plushes sold out some time ago, and I can't find any for sale online. I paid about $80-$100 for it originally, and I imagine it'll cost more than that now. Jump on that eBay favorite search, and good luck!

Toy OTD: Mindstyle, Cameron Tiede 13 Tomadachi Figures: Edgar, Oswald, Agatha

It's so great to see a new design aesthetic emerge in the world of art toys - granted, these figures debuted two years ago, but Cameron Tiede's style still feels fresh and new! He had the good sense to team up with Mindstyle, one of the best in the designer toy game. The results are really special!

The sculptor did a wonderful job of bringing Mr. Tiede's very flat graphics into three dimensions. The chunky shapes are drawn into bold relief, and emphasized still further with color - faux highlights and cast shadows both create more dimension, yet also call back to the 2-D feel of the source art. The colors are appealing and true to Mr. Tiede's palette. Parts are separated along color lines for easy assembly, and to make the overall figure even richer in dimension.

The paint work is a skillful blend of large paint areas, dyed vinyl and smaller apps, creating a striking effect. There's some bleed-over here and there, but nothing too significant.

The characters are good choices for vinyl figure work - all of them have sufficiently low centers of gravity to minimize balance problems (display bases really aren't needed here!). I do recall that at least one piece was broken off upon opening the box, but in general the toys ship well with minimal damage.

The packaging is sturdy and quite attractive - you'll be tempted to keep (or re-purpose) the brightly-decorated drums that protect each figure. If not, they're made of cardboard, so at least they recycle easily.

These toys had a pretty small run - only three hundred of each! It looks like you can still get them (including the dog Roofus, which I decided to pass on) here at artoyz.com for €39.90 each. Good luck!

Toy OTD: Mindstyle Dark Crystal Vinyl Figure: UrRac The Scribe (2007)

Dark Crystal fans have waited a long time for character figures - twenty-five years - but MINDstyle has finally given us a toy that's worth the wait (no offense to Plan-B Toys, who has also produced some fantastic mini-busts). This recent Mystic figure is simply gorgeous!

Everything about this vinyl figure is top notch - the sculpt is beautiful and extremely accurate. The pose is straight out of the movie, and the paint apps are on-model and appropriately complex. If you want a vinyl version of this character, you simply couldn't ask for better!

Granted, there could be more articulation, but I think to maintain the design integrity, MINDstyle could have gone the jointed-figure-in-a-cloth-costume route, a la Hot Toys. To get hair that isn't sculpted, they could've gone the hard-core-clothed-resin-figure route, a la Sideshow, but both of those routes would make the figure much more expensive. Now you know I love both of those approaches, but to make a figure this accurate and this detailed for under a hundred dollars is really terrific!

And then there's the box. Even the box is incredible! Its design is on theme to the film's style, and it's covered with lovely photography and eye-catching foil passes. There's even a front-panel-door that allows you to check the figure out if you're one of those mint-in-box types. I think it had magnetic fasteners, but the may have been Velcro. Either way, the packaging is stand-alone great!

This toy sold a year ago for $70-$80, but you're in luck! It's available for sale at toynk.com at the lower price of $59.99 + shipping - grab one now, before they wise up!

Toy OTD: Bathing Ape Vinyl Figure: Baby Milo

This is an early find, back from when I first started collecting designer toys. I began by buying Michael Lau, Eric So, and Bathing Ape figures. I always liked Baby Milo, but I missed out on his initial release, and had to look around for a while. Eventually, I found him at Toy Tokyo (a great toy store and online shopping site) and picked him up there. I think he cost about eighty dollars at that point.

This is a really nice design - simple, streamlined shapes. Since that can be a real challenge to sculpt, it's executed in three dimensions very well. The color palette is also appealing and tasteful - the manufacturer used a combination of dyed vinyl and paint to achieve it. There isn't an excessive amount of paint here, which is always nice.

Since the figure is top-heavy, balance is a bit of an issue, but the sculpt is solid enough to minimize problems. Also helpful is the relative lack of articulation - the neck, shoulders, and possibly the waist, but there's no awkward hip or ankle joints to throw off the toy's center of gravity.

Packaging consisted of a sealed plastic bag decorated with text, and a looped cap on top for hanging. The bag graphics were nice, but otherwise things were pretty minimal in that department.

This toy has been out of print for quite a while, so I doubt you'll find one for sale easily or cheaply. I can't find one online at all, so brace yourself for a lengthy, pricey search if it's a must-have (expect to pay around $120 if you find one). Good luck!

Dylan Sisson's New Vinyl Toy!

Check out Idle Hands, a nifty ten-inch vinyl toy that'll be premiering at Comic-Con! It's the creation of Dylan Sisson, and you'll be able to get any one (or all) of three colorways at the Toy Tokyo booth (#5237). See you there!

Toy OTD: Bwana Spoons x Gargamel Sleeping Killer Vinyl Figure

I can't remember where I bought this toy - I think I got it at Double Punch. Regardless, it's a very cool vinyl - one of my favorite Bwana Spoons designs!

The toy came in bag-with-hang-tag packaging, decorated by the artist. I thinks it's appropriate, since the whole design evokes the kaiju-toy stylings of the sixties and seventies. There's at least six colorways - pink (above), yellow/green, 'dark chocolate', 'milk chocolate', a blue custom, and black/yellow.

I'm not sure that I see the 'killer' part of the equation, since the sculpt is such a cute, peaceful mix of whale and coelacanth, with just a pinch of Godzilla for good measure. It's a simple paint job, but the great color use really makes it stand out! There's no articulation at all, but it's more art piece than action figure, so that's fine with me.

This figure originally cost sixty-five dollars, but it's become hard to find these days - most of the colorways are long sold out. You can buy a pink one here at knunt.com for ninety dollars + shipping.

Toy OTD: Sony Creative Time Capsule Toys: Jim Woodring's Imperial Newts

I'm not sure exactly when or where I picked these up - I may have ordered them from KidRobot, or eBay. Regardless, someone at Sony had the great idea to ask themselves, "How cool would it be if we made toys that look like they should be dispensed from those quarter machines outside your local supermarket, but were actually designed by really talented artists?" Not only did they ask that question, but they answered it!

This series is comprised of six different newt designs, all created by comics great Jim Woodring. Each toy comes in its own little dime-store egg. Half of it is clear plastic, so you can even pick the figure that you want! Nice.

The sculpts are strong and detailed, very faithful to Woodring's designs. The paint work is a little shaky, but acceptable for the scale of the figures. They're sold disassembled, but building them is pretty trivial - the figures are reasonably well designed for post-purchase construction.

They've been sold out for at least a year, so buying them online might be tricky. There's three of them for sale on eBay for roughly $20.00 + shipping each, so you'll have to keep looking for the other three. Good luck!