Toy OTD: Tim Biskup, Gama-Go's Deathbot (2007)

Gama-Go (Tim Biskup's merchandising label) focuses primarily on clothing and prints, but every once in a while a marvelous toy or art piece will appear! While some are very limited and pricey, others (while still great) are more mass-produced and affordable. GG's Deathbot figure is a nice example of the latter.

Mr. Biskup's art and design sense embrace a playful neo-retro sensibility, and Deathbot's construction and look reflect that. The bold colors, simple shapes, and minimal detail are straight from his palette. The sharp paint passes help support his look, too.

The use of materials - wood and metal - evoke a nostalgic feeling as well, being reminiscent of children's toys made in the fifties and sixties. There's a great tactile quality you get with wood, and I'm sure it resonates strongly with older collectors!

The only minus with this figure - and it's a small one - is that the arms and legs are segmented (with a bendable core) so that they may be posed. This is great for potential balance issues - you can flex the legs if it's not standing properly - but the segments are so tightly packed together that the limbs can't be posed very much. This looks the most like the original design, but if you like to pose your toys a lot, Deathbot fits a little more into the 'display-as-is' category. I'm more of an 'on-model' guy, so this call is fine with me.

The packaging - as you might expect from Gama-Go - is really sharp! It makes a bold statement without hogging up a lot of shelf space. The 'bursting-wall' window border is clever, and the theme is carried through the rest of the package with a wrap-around cityscape. Again, Mr. Biskup's design sense is maintained nicely here.

Like older wooden toys, Deathbot was designed to be re-purposed as different characters with minimal changes. Add a hat, alter the paint, tweak the body shape, and presto - you've got an undertaker, an Oktoberfest reveller, a detective, or one made of solid 'gold'!

Four of the five versions are still easy to find and very affordable. You can get the undertaker version is at The Presto Gallery for $14.95 + shipping, and the lederhosen, gold, and detective variants are all at Ningyoushi.com for between fifteen and twenty dollars. Google shopping shows even lower prices, so compare before you buy! Unfortunately, the original version seems to be sold out, so you'll need to set up an eBay favorite search for that one. Happy Deathbots!

Artwork ©2007, 2010 Tim Biskup.

Toy OTD: Gama-Go Tigerlily Vinyl Figure (2006)

I think this toy may have been Gama-Go's first foray into vinyl figures, but I'm not sure. Tigerlily is an early Tin Biskup design, named after (and I'm assuming inspired by) his then-tiny daughter. She's decorated many Gama-Go items, so it makes perfect sense that she'd be the first toy.

It's a really great figure! The 'costume' is flocked in order to distinguish it from the vinyl 'skin'. Interestingly, the proportions are more extreme than the original design, which is incredibly rare. I think it was a good call, as it makes her look more childlike.

The color work is very nice, but overall the toy is much yellower than the 2-D version. It looks fine, but I'm not sure why that change happened. Could it be they couldn't get the skin tone that they wanted? Unlikely, but possible. Otherwise, the paint and flocking apps are excellent!

The articulation is what you would expect from the source art: neck, shoulders, hips and tail. It's another display/design piece, so that's a reasonable number of joints if you take that into account. Tigerlily does come with her pistol as an accessory, so the weird cute/violent contrast isn't lost.

Even taking the tail into account, the toy does have balance issues. Perhaps with a bit of tweaking to the hip joints, she'll stay upright, but a pegged display base might have been a good idea here.

It's been a while since I purchased this figure, so I don't remember the package design all that well - I think it was a box with a cellophane window. Naturally, Gama-Go produces terrific graphics, so it was good-looking! I simply can't keep all the boxes and the toys too, so I recycle almost all of the packaging.

Unfortunately, this toy has been sold out for quite some time, and I can't find one for sale anywhere. You'll need to set up a favorite search on eBay to find it. Good luck!

Toy OTD: SEG, Tim Biskup's Alphabeast Figure: Red Pollard

I've heard that this is Tim Biskup's first vinyl figure, and that could well be true - I can't remember the timeline of his toy releases, but I think that it was the first Biskup toy that I bought.

Regardless, it's great - a small vinyl originally in a retro-kaiju bag with a header card (also designed by Biskup)! Also included was a 350-piece, limited edition mini-print, which was very nicely done.

The sculpt is simple but appealing - very much in the style of Mr. Biskup's 2-D work. This toy is clearly meant to be an art piece - there's only one point of articulation (at the neck). The color more than makes up for it, though - again, not very many colors, but very well coordinated and applied.

This version of the Pollard is four inches tall - keep in mind that there's many other colorways, not to mention a 10" version in still more colors. Do yourself a favor, and do some research so you can pick a favorite before you buy!

This toy has been out for a while, but there's one for sale right now on eBay - it's currently at $26.00 + $4.80 shipping. The auction's going for five more days, so keep a close eye on it if you really want one. Good luck!

Photos From Vinyl Toy Network

I've been meaning to post these pictures for a while. Sorry for the delay...

(above) The door of mystery! I was a little disappointed in the size of the show, but to be fair, this is only its second year. There was enough that I wanted to buy as it was, though there wasn't any debuts or show exclusives that I recall.


The line wasn't too bad, though the show did open late. I did manage to get the goodie bag that I got up at 5:30 in the morning / flew into Burbank as early as I could stand to get. Ironically, I didn't want to keep most of the freebies, and wound up giving most of it away. Having to take everything you get at the show back on the plane (in your two permissible carry-ons) kept me from getting too crazy!


Lots of technology in line - not very surprising, really. If they've got money for designer toys, they're probably going to have gadgetry as well!


I think this is Michelle Valigura, who, along with Amanda Visell, comprise Switcheroo, an art/product company. Amanda made the hand-made Dragon Scout figure that I bought. Pricey, but it's closer to buying a drawing or a painting than a toy. Plus it's a great piece, of course!

UPDATE (10/24/08): Whoops! This isn't Ms. Valigura - it's Sarah Jo Marks, film distributor and wife of toy distributor Dov Kelemer. Pidgeonblog regrets the error.


The Strangeco table. I picked up the Ningyo Project Gosho figure (the traditional version) there. It looks awesome!


The Cardboard Spaceship table had a great selection of toys. I picked up the Mr. Capman Kanser figure there, which I'd been meaning to get for a while.


These are great mini-figures that had come out just recently, so I bought a few. In classic blind-box fashion, I didn't get any of my favorites. Oh, well!


Not surprisingly, Tim Biskup's Flopdoodle online store had a table there. His stuff is terrific, but I didn't buy any of it this time.


More friendly toy salsemen, more than happy to take my money. Not this time!


Cameron Tiede made an appearance, which was a nice surprise! His wife and I chatted while he drew my friend Brian a picture. I can't wait for Cameron's toys!


I bought a nice monochrome Booska & Chamegon vinyl figure set from the table right next to this one. The picture of that booth didn't come out, so this one'll have to do.


There were artier toy makers there, too, some working in other media.


Some people sold clothing and art prints as well.


All in all, it was a good show, and I had fun! Still, I don't know if I'll drop the cash for a round trip plane ticket again just for the event. If I can work it into a weekend trip, though, that'd be worth doing. Yay, toys!