Carson Catlin DCON Exclusives at the Spankystokes booth!!

Dcon is setting up to be one of the coolest Cons for vinyl toys.  If you are in the California area and collect toys you better be making your way out to Pasadena.

Carson Catlin just sent over some pics of what he will have for sale at the convention.

All of this will be up for grabs at booth #301 via Spankystokes.

Here is what he has going on:

Black Rainbow Reticulated Dunny’s:

Another set of 10 3″ dunnys cut free from excess vinyl and fully saturated with colors of the rainbow. Only to be drenched in pure darkness.

They will retail at $50 each. They sold out within an hour at NYCC so if you want one come early to Booth 301

3Mads:

This trio of Mad’ls consists of a 10″ brown with green interior and a blue with yellow and red with blue 5″ counterparts.

The 10″ will retail at $300 and the 5″ will retails at $150 a piece.

Left over 1000 points of light.

I had three of my 1000 points of light series in inventory and thought I would bring them along for the ride.

They will retail for $125 each. Batteries included.

Tango and Cash. (don’t ask why):

These two threaded Marka 72 dunny’s have been treated with a glossy ivory finish and threaded with red and black thread.

They will retail for the stupid low price of $75 a piece. But they beg to stay a pair. Just saying.

 From Carson “In addition I will doing live cutting throughout the day and selling what I come up with on the spot.

Also At 2:15 on the stage opposite of the Suckathon I will be doing a live cutting of a rare Pink 5″ Mad’l. Heres the kicker, it will be given away at booth 301 that day.”

R3VIEW – Yume and Spacesuits Panda

A review of my two most recent acquisitions; or why I love resin!!!

In the last week I received two of the best toys I’ve gotten in a long time: Spacesuits Panda from cacooca and Yume from Plastikmat. Both are about 5 inches, made of solid resin and are stunning.

Spacesuits Panda I found out about from an article on Toys R Evil and emailed cacooca as his sale sight is basically a Chinese eBay that doesn’t have an english version and if you want to use it you have to go through a 3rd party that chargers a fee. Emailing his directly was perfect though and he was extremely wonderful to work with and mailed out Panda the day I made payment.

Panda is made of solid resin and comes in 3 parts: body, head and helmet. The head is a separate piece so you can position it all sorts of ways and exchange it with other panda heads, which is really kinda cool. Everything has a very worn and scratched feel to it and there are some well done faded blood spatters on the helmet that add a lot of character. It’s almost like the astronaut that is featured in a lot of Jeremy Geddes’ paintings, just a panda version. It’s really quite fun how positioning the head different ways gives him very different expressions. Now I want more pandas and outfits so I can start mixing and matching. He has a really great weight to him too, making him feel like a solid toy.

The box he came in while simple with basic lettering – provided perfect protection from the stupid postal system that loves to break toys. A big chunk of solid foam, cut to hold him tight, got him half-way around the world safe and sound.
More info can be found at cacooca.blogbus.com

Yume is about as polar opposite a figure as you can get aesthetically. Still about 5 inches and solid resin – it is a marvel of beautiful, simple lines and exquisite craftsmanship. Is was a figure I was so scared about shipping. There are so many delicate pieces: the hair that comes down in graceful curves, the hair sticks and even the eyelashes that extend out from the figure are so delicate. But as with Panda, the packaging was perfect. Nice tight protecting foam within a cardboard box. The box artwork is amazing and worthy of being a print that I’d buy in a heartbeat.

The figure itself is stunning. Just a beauty of simplicity and touches of color. This is the color version – previously there was an all black and an all white version both of which I wish I has now. About the figure, I just can’t say much beyond the pictures – its just beautiful. I keep trying to come up with what to say about her and I’m at a loss for words. The pictures speak for themselves. This would be one of my picks of the best toys I’ve bought this year.
More info at plastikmat.free.fr

Episode 13: Attack of the Giant Queef Monster

Lucky Episode 13 is up and running.  So take a listen.

On this Episode we bring back our special Guest Manny Rivas to talk about the Most Wanted Series: Behind the Hype show at 1am Gallery in San Fran opening this Friday.

Manny has plans for a special treat for the fans attending Friday’s opening night reception!

Take a listen.

Episode run down will be up soon!

*To listen on you iPhone go to the iTunes App.  Search N3rd Link and click on our logo.

First Look kaNO Dragon King SDCC Exclusive!

One thing I have learned while collecting toys is to look at pictures artists post on social media of their workspaces.  A lot of times it can give insight into what the artist collects but more importantly, you sometimes get a sneak peek into what the artist has coming out.  Whether intentional or not it’s still pretty cool

The most recent one that was posted also could be one of the first confirmed exclusives at SDCC.

Today kaNO posted a picture on his that showed what looks to be the 5^th and final Red color way of his Dragon King figure.  It’s not exactly a close up but you can make out the shape of the figure in the picture.  kaNO also confirmed in a comment that it is the red version and will be released at SDCC.  No other information is known at this time. 

SDCC is only 2 months away so we should be seeing a lot more news about exclusives coming up.  Stay tuned because I am sure we will be having a lot of posts leading up to the con…so get excited.

 

Urban Decay III: Call to Artists!!!

The Urban Decay art show will open on Friday, June 1st at the Workhouse Art Center in Lorton VA.  The show curator, Debra Yarrington gives the following description of the show:

Urban Decay is an exhibition that will focus on the aesthetic of urban low-brow art practices and new contemporary ideologies within the modern art world. Lowbrow is a widespread populist art movement with origins in the underground comic world, punk music, hotrod street culture, street art, tattoo art and other subcultures. New contemporary emerging artists will be showcased alongside professional modern artists that have grown in popularity through common and distinct art practices that appeal to the popular culture of our time. This prospectus is open to all artists who would like to contribute an Urban Vinyl Art Toy to the exhibition.

Artists who would like to contribute, click here

The calendar of events for the opening weekend is as follows:

Friday June 1^st is the official opening to the public with a RSVP art talk given by three UD III street artists (Asad Ultra Walker, HKS181, Gregg Deal)

Saturday June 2nd is the big opening reception. There will be another art talk by a few UD III artists from 5pm-6pm, and the big reception will be from 7pm-11pm.

The artist line up for the show thus far includes the following artists:

1. Kathie Olivas
2. Travis Lampe
3. Scott Radke
4. Kevin Gosselin
5. RSIN
6. Gregg Deal
7. Jeremy Gann
8. Camden Noir
9. IAM181
10. Matt Anderson
11. Gabriel Pons
12. Carlos Aguilar
13. Graham Franciose
14. Tyler Coey
15. Betso Art: Dylan Dessner
16. Bryan A. Collins
17. Daryll Peirce
18. Lou Pimentel
19. Jesse Smith
20. Drilone
21. James Walker
22. Asad ULTRA Walker
23. Jack Labadie
24. Sylvia Ortiz
25. Kenny Brown
26. Kevin Murphey
27. Jc Rivera
28. Kevin Rodrigue

We will keep you up to date on all news regarding, what promises to be an amazing show. You can also learn more about the show at:

Urban Decay III Blog

Urban Decay Facebook Page

The N3rdlink crew would like to thank Circus Posterus board member “I love plastic” for all the info they provided regarding this show.

-Mawuli

R3VIEW: kaNO x Kuso Vinyl present – Dragon King Enter the Dragon

Kano released the 4th colorway of his Dragon King Figure at Wondercon. This colorway was dubbed “Enter the Dragon” and, like its predecessors, it came in a pretty nice box with a flocked shell, and was accessorized with a 1970s bolex camera and a baton. The back of the figure is adorned with a Yin and Yang symbol and the overall paint application seems to be at the same level of quality as the other figures. The head swivels and the arms easily move up and down (this is not the case on all of my previous versions).

For those that weren’t lucky enough to attend Wondercon, or get someone to pick on up for them (shout out to Kidrobot forum member 666ways2love who was able to get if for me) Kano has some available at his webstore http://www.kanokid.com/. Overall, this is a solid addition the the Dragon King family.

There is rumor of a 5th and final colorway coming out soon but we at N3rd Link are hoping for a limited Resin version much like his Moneygrip he created a couple years ago.

-Mawuli

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Stuff you heard on the Podcast.

Here is some of the stuff you heard on our podcast.

Some of our favorite Toy Shops:

Rotofugi - Hands down one of the best shops out there.  Great variety of toys (if it’s released to the public they most likely will have it.) Some of the best art shows in the Midwest.  Located in Chicago, IL

LiFT Detroit - Great owners great new location.  Located in Royal Oak, MI

Card Board Spaceship  - Great store works with Scribe a lot. Currently has some great deals. Located in Santa Cruz, CA

TV shows we talk about:

AMC & Kevin Smith’s – Comic Book Men

AMC’s – The Walking Dead

Starz’s – Spartacus

HBO’s – Game of Thrones 

Other stuff we talked about:

Jim Henson’s – The Tale of Sand

The Chronicle Movie – IMDB

The Land Gallery’s – The Legend of Zelda Tribute Show

Coarse Casting Shadows – Pain edition Release Info

What could turn out to be the most popular version of Coarse’s Casting shadows has just been revealed!   If you still have cash left over from the holidays or needed something else to add to your list, don’t sleep on these because they will surely sell out!

From Coarselife.com

Who: Coarse Casting Shadows Pain – Soul Edition (limited ed. 200)

Where: Available only at coarsehkg.com

When: December 20, 2011

Time: 10:59 eastern

Cost: HK$3680 (~US$472)

Shipping: 3-4 month wait

*Comes with 1 Friends & Family Card

Who: Coarse Casting Shadows Pain – Signature Edition (limited ed. ???)

Where: In stores Worldwide (probably coarsehkg.com during Soul edition release as well)

When: Spring 2012

Time: ?

Cost: HK$2820 (~US$362

*Comes with 1 Friends & Family Card

 

Silence Remains

Sung awake by the whining winds, it’s still night outside. The dozy noop drags himself from his damp sheets, curious to steal a glimpse of the hazy morning light. It’s been a while since cold and darkness began to take over his innocent life. He can hardly feel his frozen body and his head hurts as he tries to wipe away the remains of his nightmares.

He marches up a winding mountain path with his ever present shadow, nism, almost invisibly trawling behind. A howling wind blasts against their bodies as they trudge barefoot through the cold mud. The outlook is murky, the smooth days are no more.

Neglected, nism lurks in the peripheries as the noop’s kite finally lifts off the ground with a whipping noise. Today might be his last chance to send paw! a signal to rescue him. The wind is getting stronger every day and it could tear the kite into rags any second now. The sun gleams and begins to expose the fear and aspiration in the noop’s face. Abandoned, and left at the mercy of the elements – like scraps to bribe the land. While he waits, sickness creeps into his mind, muddling his thoughts and gaining control of his senses. His inner voice, drowned out by the slow murmur of sorrows past. What has he done to deserve this torture?

Exhausted and in total desperation, he yearns for a sign, any memory that might be able to guide him back to stability. But instead, his greatest disgust appears from out of the shade. It’s glinting fangs give away it’s ominous presence. As if they both knew it would happen, the beast glares at the noop in utter triumph over him.

The haze clears and the echoes in his head deaden. He returns to his winter slumber. Is he going to die alone?

kaNO x Kuso Vinyl: Dragon King OG Released

On the heels of My Plastic Heart’s exclusive Game of Death (G.O.D.) yellow colorway kaNO and Kuso Vinyl have released the original blue colorway for their Dragon King vinyl figure.

This has been one of my most anticipated toys of the year and I was one of the lucky few that were able to grab one of the 20 pre-released at this years Designer Con.  So now that the wait is over was it worth the hype?

The Good:

-Heavily influenced by the Legendary Bruce Lee, kaNO’s character design and styling translate extremely well to the overall sculpt of the figure.

-The Dragon King comes packed with 2 accessories, an old school Bolex camera and a green baton from Game of Death movie.

-The packaging; the Dragon King logo is printed on a thick cardboard burgundy box with a magnetic flip front that opens and closes nicely.  The outside is simple but works really well.

The Bad:

-The Packaging; The plastic enclosure the Dragon King sits in is a flocked plastic shell.  I am not a fan of flocked packaging due to the flocking can rub off easily.

-Articulation;  If you are someone that likes to pose their figures in many different positions you might be out of luck.  The arms (including wrists) and head are the most poseable parts.

The Verdict:

After the success of kaNO’s Moneygrip, Bodega and Hi-Def toys I believe the Dragon king is his best design to date.  I’ve been waiting for a piece that represents kaNO’s background in cartoon character design and I believe the Dragon King does just that.

I believe this is a definite pickup especially if you are a Bruce Lee or kaNO fan.  But if you are not a completist and the OG blue version isn’t for you, there are more colorways planned including a rumored an extremely limited “Green Hornet” version.

So what do you think of the Dragon King?

JOhn

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kaNO’s first Dragon King Release

A late addition to the “must have’s” for NYCC 2011 but since this was just announced I couldn’t have included it in my original post. If you are a kaNO, Bruce Lee or just a vinyl toy fan in general it’s a definite pick up.

From the Myplasticheart website:

“From jack-of-all-trades kaNO comes his newest figure, 8″ Dragon King G.O.D. produced by Kusovinyl. Originally making an appearance as a prototype at SDCC this year, the Dragon King will be available at NYCC in a colorway based off of Bruce Lee’s character in the 1978 film The Game of Death. The figure features the yellow jumpsuit and green baton from the movie and a Bolex handheld camera.”

So how to get one:

Where: Myplasticheart booth #879

Edition size: 75 (Exclusive to MPH)

Price: $70

For more info checkout:

http://kanokid.com/ – kaNO’s website (@kano on twitter)

http://www.myplasticblog.com/ – Myplasticheart’s Blog

http://kusovinyl.com/ – Kuso Vinyl’s Website