MegaSeth Loves....Toys

Although I have been making art toys for years, somehow closed off in my own little world, it wasn't until the last year or so that I became involved in the Art Toy scene. Since a door opened up to the realisation that there was a world outside myself I have found the scene to be incredibly welcoming, open and supportive. You always hear people referring to it as a "community" and that is exactly what it is.

I think one of the best aspects of such a diverse yet niche genre is that everyone is so passionate about the work they and their peers are producing. Artists and fans support one another in so many different ways, giving you the feeling of being part of something much bigger than yourself.  This is a very refreshing feeling to me, given that I started life in applied arts, and thoroughly confused everyone with the strange figurative work I was producing.

Some work from 1999 to 2006 ish!

Another major and core part of this community are the blogs: Toysrevil, Tenacious Toys, The Toy Viking, Jeremyriad, Spankystokes, Trampt, Toybreak, Clutter, Tomopop, Tic TocToy to name a few.  They all offer something different to the art toy, pop-art lover and maker like myself. There is a constant wave of creativity and these people strive to keep us informed of what is happening all over the world - they also support the small, self-producing people like myself.   

So when I released my first toy into this market I wanted to do something a little special with it, to honour the people and blogs that enrich my everyday life.  (And obviously Megaseth gets a blatant plug!)  I made three custom one-off Seths for the following people:

When I first started looking at toys online Toysrevil was kind of the mecca because his international coverage was so extensive, it seemed if there was anything to know he knew it.  Andy Heng is a 24/7 blogging machine!  He brings daily worldwide coverage of toys, movies and pop culture. I can go to his site morning noon or night and there's something new to read.  His blog is a hive buzzing with all the latest news.  So when I tentatively submitted my first custom works to him and he featured it I was astounded!  He supports the new people like myself, using his passion for toys to help us become established.

Trampt is amazing.  What more can I say.  Keegan and Blake have built this amazing site that is the hub of everything art-toy related.   In addition to a blog with current toy-related news and a live feed much like Facebook where you can follow people, there is the beyond-extensive library where artists and collectors and artist/collectors alike now have a place to go to share their creations and collections.  Every new piece from big releases to one off customs will be up to date on Trampt.  Any registered user can add to the site, and I think I have only beaten Keegan to uploading a new piece of mine maybe once.  In my experience I have literally just released images online, I head over to upload to the Trampt Library and said piece is already there...like I said, amazing. If you like toys, art, then you have to join.


"Incase you're wondering, Toybreak is your weekly internet show featuring news and reviews all about the wonderful world of toys.." I watch Toybeak religiously every week...I have learnt so much from the show hosted by Ayleen and George Gaspar, it's like hanging out with them.  I always watch while I'm working, making toys and watching people talk about toys is my happy place.  The special thing for me about Toybreak is you feel like you know the hosts and guests, the toys they review you are actually getting to see in real life, rather than just still images.  Seeing something in it's box and being opened up, imagining the smell of new vinyl that Ayleen describes so well (smellovision) and seeing the piece being held and handled in relation to a person.

And here they are all together before jetting off to different parts of the world and to their rightful owners.

So, thankyou for the support and the inspiration!

War Tourist

So, back in December I entered a competition Toycon UK ran to win the chance to design and create a one-off custom of a giant War Tourist, a collaboration by RunDMB and Planet Domu.  The lucky winner would have their creation on show at the event next to the only other giant War Tourist, a custom by Jon Paul Kaiser.  I was the lucky winner!

I had already fallen in love with the original resin platform (pictured above and also released at Toycon UK) from Planet Domu's very first development images I had seen online earlier in the year. No surprise that I jumped at the chance, if nothing else just to satisfy my desire to design on this brilliant character.

It is like nothing else out there, bold and powerful; it hints at possible characters but has enough ambiguity to be developed into many different styles or themes.  RunDmb AKA David Bishop's stoic but dynamic form has been beautifully translated into three dimensions by the incredibly talented sculptor Planet Domu AKA Sam Griffiths. Also launched at Toycon UK, the resin version is four inches tall, limited to 20 per edition with two interchangeable heads and available at planetdomu.bigcartel.com

"Endzone" was my entry.  I was a massive American Football fan as a kid and the figure immediately brought a footballer to mind, in the "hut hut" position. The strip had to be Toycon-themed to celebrate it being the first ever British toy convention.  As a War Tourist he also had to be battle damaged, to me he is an epic character that has survived and witnessed wars but is kind a mascot or symbol of hope for new beginnings. 

When the gigantic box arrived it was like Christmas!  I had very high expectations of this sculpture and when I opened up the box and lifted him out the reality far exceeded.  The scale itself was impressive, but the sculpting was perfect.  I felt like a kid, so thrilled to get my hands on this prize, and get my teeth stuck into it.

But the excitement soon turned to a little bit of panic, if I'm honest, the realisation that the jump in scale meant a lot more work, and time was of the essence!

My weapons of choice were car-body filler (horrible stuff!), power tools (big guns!), surform files, knives, tin foil, hot glue and lots of sand paper.  It's not pretty, but I bulked out the basic shape with hard compacted tin foil glued in layers with hot glue.  Then I built up layers of the car body filler on top.

I'm not a big person and the size of this beast was a challenge in itself, just physically maneuvering it to get at all the angles.  I definitely lost a few pounds in the making of this!  However, I loved every minute of it and I'd do it all over again given half the chance.

Once you start spraying a base coat all these little pin holes show up and need filling.  It's a tedious process, escpecially on this scale, but worth taking time over.  I also went through a lot of spray paint and have to say thanks to Chris Alexander of Creo Design for his help and advice in putting me onto a new brand.  All the details of the stripes, numbers, etc, I drew out and masked on to paint, and the logos on the helmet were all hand-painted in acrylic.

And so I Break Toys husband and wife team set off, 586 miles to London in our little Yaris packed full of our wares and "The Beast", set for Toycon UK, very tired, excited and a tad nervous!

Here they are reunited in situ at the entrance to the event.  A proud moment ... .Having the only other Giant War Tourist along side Jon Paul Kaiser's was an honour in itself.

"My War Tourist is inspired by my Riot Cop custom (I did) earlier in the year, though this guy is a little more old-school and brutal. Specifically he's based on a policeman from the 1980's, one of the numerous heydays of British civil disobedience and this time was particularly known for the violent clashes between the coal miners and the police in the UK during the infamous Miners Strikes.

The motto on huge helmet comes from Full Metal Jacket - I think the character 'Joker' has it written on his helmet." ~says Jon-Paul Kaiser.

Standing at a massive two-foot-tall, mine and Jon Paul Kaiser's Giant War Tourists are each one of a kind, and are available from planetdomu.bigcartel.com

 

So, lastly, we put together a film to document Endzone, though not totally happy with the photos but lucky we got them as they were literally taken before getting in the car to London.  But we are really happy with our very own awesome song "War Tourist" written by my brother in law, Peter Lockhart, of "Mindflare" who you can checkout on his Soundcloud.

Thanks so much to Sam Griffiths, David Bishop, Jon Paul Kaiser and the team behind Toycon UK for this most memorable opportunity.

MegaSeth Worldwide Release

 MEGASETH RELEASED WORLDWIDE

After MegaSeth was officially launched at Toycon UK

we are very proud to announce that he is now available to buy worldwide

from 

www.fugime.bigcartel.com

Back where it all began.....
The 2012 Heavy Metal Qee Show
Jazzy Dan, the organiser of organisers
Brought forth the heaviest of the heavies

It was here MegaSeth got his big break Opening for Iron Maiden
But see for yourself
You will find that it was Iron Maiden
Who opened for MegaSeth!

 

 MegaSeth comes in 2 hand painted colour-ways, 10 pieces of each colour, making a total of 20 pieces. There will be 2 chase versions 1 in each colour-way, MegaSeth comes blind-boxed in a presentation box, along with special MegaSeth Rock Memorabilia, Gig Ticket, Mini Print, Real Plectrums, and Badges.

www.fugime.bigcartel.com

Sneaky Snowball

So it's the 1st of December, the first day of Advent and the Sneaky Snowball opening is all over.  The opening last night was a huge success and I am proud to be a part of Sneaky Raccoon's collection of  Festive inspired Kidrobot Munnyworld custom toys.  If you're near London get yourself down to the Kidrobot store for a festive treat as this show is running over the weekend.

 "Hissy Fit"  is a very angry little girl. She never gets what she wants, especially at Christmas time.  A custom Rooz.

"Oh Deer!" is the second of my pieces in the show. 

A very special little Reindeer that showed so much promise, plucked too early from the world, who knows who he could have grown up to be.

Toys that weren't snapped up last night are still available and you can contact Kidrobot London for details.

(The writing of this blog post took at least 20 Polly Pocket clothes changes with my 5 yr old sat next to me)

Added on some WIP photos:

Used the Rooz ears for the bow.

Bones

"Bones" is my piece for Project QiQi. 

 

Chris Alexander of Creo Design is showcasing around 35 international artists interpretations of Ziqi Wu's original toy at ToyconUK next year in April.

I loved working on this toy, it's sculptural form gave me endless ideas, but I had to pick one! I reinterpreted the little shape on the top of Ziqi Wu's original design as the tip of a bone, and cut it away to create a housing for a full length resin shaped bone pendant/necklace, which is worn on an oxidised silver chain and and stows away in the figure's head at the end of the day.

Below is the film I made to illustrate how it functions.  My brother-in-law Peter Lockhart AKA Mindflare produced the music that themes Bones.

For those about to rock.....

We salute you!

Monskey

Just wanted to share a photo from Monskey HongKong.  The goofy looking "Sidekick" on the far right is my design!  Monskey HK are producing these toy speakers which are amongst some of their products they are promoting at a trade show in Hong Kong this year for worldwide buyers.
This is really all the information that I have on it, but it's exciting to see a design I produced on paper being realised into a 3-d product.