Too good to be true

If you think that the title of this post is talking about the fact that I'm making two posts in a row, well Ha Ha! Mr. Funny guy, but it's not. Also, screw you! How dare you make fun of me that way...

OK, OK, forgive me, some pre-trip tensions... Good news in the toy world today, thanks to the very opportune advice from my friend Ben aka Fishmilkshake, I was able to buy some Mattel exclusives online today, and I'm pleased to say that everything worked out great, no screens of death, no refresh nightmares, and the voucher arrived and everything. Incredible.

If you think that the title of this post is about the fact that Mattel didn't screw up in an online sale. Well, it certainly might be, but it's not.

Today I'm talking about the awesome art of one Jared Cain also and perhaps better known as Nikejerk. I saw Jared's work online and he was one of those artists that stand out so much I just had to send him a message congratulating him on a custom set of ninja turtles using Dunnys as the base.

I was so amazed by those that I asked him if he could do a set for me. But he said he was sorry, that he never repeated commission customs. That way he ensured the uniqueness of the piece for the collector.

I can't really argue with that logic, so I thought about something else I wanted and I ended asking him for two of my favorite comic book characters made in Dunny form.

And he even made custom boxes for these!



After all this introduction, maybe you are a bit anxious to see them...

So here they are:



Blue Beetle and Booster Gold in all their Dunny goodness.

I just love Nikejerk's style, the bold black lines, the sculpted bits and the colors just seem to fit, even when using a platform that forced him to work around a couple of big, annoying bunny ears.



Booster Gold is great, the goggles and the hair are sculpted and the face (Jared told he worked on several facial expressions until deciding to go with this one) is just great. I love this character, ever since I started reading superhero comic books, he will always be one of the greatest for me, and I love all the attention he's getting recently.



Blue Beetle is also a great representation of the character, and this version of him does work better with the base, since Dunnys are chubby creatures and BB had a few extra pounds in those days.

And if you were wondering what he's holding.



Jared went all the way and made a removable BB Gun. In a word? Awesome!

If you like to see more of Nikejerk's work, you can see it here.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
And if you want to ask him for a commission, tell him Tom sent you, but you can't have another Booster and Beetle Dunnys, 'cause those are all mine!

Just kiddin'.

But seriously... Mine!

Another post tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

Dunny by artist: Clark R.

Sometimes you come across a custom so good you just need to have it. Most of the custom dunnys I have were made by friends or other people I know. In this case, I didn't knew the artist, I just saw a post about him on Spanky Stokes' blog and I immediately contacted this so called "Clark R."

The name of the custom was Day Dreamer Dunny.



Clark was super cool and told me he was going to do a run of 20 of the DDD (Day Dreamer Dunny) but that they were not ready yet. I liked the box the dunny came in, but I liked this even more:



I like that he took the time to write something in the box for me. I try to do it when I mail something too (not always, I'm afraid, but I try to do it as much as possible), because what we are doing here is not only buying or selling or trading is also getting to know people that share your passion, and I dig that.

But let's get to the toy, what caught my attention that badly?

Here it is:



This is a 3" dunny. Is painted white (is very shinny too), and inside his clear head there's some incredible micro-sculpting. I tried to take better pics of it, but it was really difficult 'cause they turned either too dark or the light was reflected on the plastic. Here's the best one.



You can still tell how awesome it is. The details and colors on the little landscape are great. Is one of those pieces that just makes you smile when you are working sixteen hours a day with just two thoughts: "I really want to be outside right now" and "man, that shotgun wasn't THAT expensive".

On those days, this dunny makes you forget that shotgun. That's how good it is.

Until next time.

Dunny by artist: Zukaty

Bad news everyone: I caved in and started to buy another line. Like Action League before this and MOTUC before that and Super Hero Squad before that and Futurama before that and JLU before that and TMNT before I even knew I was collecting toys. OK, OK, considering my personal history, I can't really say this is "news", but it certainly is "bad"...

I just got sucked in another money-wasting-nerve-wrecking-blind-boxed toy line: Dunnys

It all started with George Gaspar's Skull Dunny and continued with other random figures until I decided to start getting them in a more build-a-collection way. I don't pretend to be a completist, that is impossible, there are millions and millions of Dunnys out there. What I'll do is try to get Dunnys done by specific artists (both official and custom). I'll try to be a completist with the regular ones: I.E. every dunny by Doktor A or Frank Kozik.

But today I'll show an awesome custom created by UK based artist Paulo a.k.a. Zukaty. Some time ago, he decided to recreate the (almost) complete Dunny 2010 series. Here's the result:



All of these are great, but since the beginning of his quest (posted in the October Toys Forum), the one I really wanted was the Poison Dunny. And guess what?



After sending him a mail, I got what I wanted!



It looks great, and it is just a fun concept. The sculpted parts look good and he was able to be very accurate with the paint in a very small scale. It's a simple design but incredibly effective, proof that you don't need to be over complicated as long as you can create something truly original. Zukaty did.



When I saw it, the "Final Condiment" line made me laugh out loud, that's because the original Dunny used to create this one is the Ketchup (or Sket-chup) Dunny by Sket-One.



There's also a Sweet Relish Dunny, a Mustard Dunny and a Mayo Dunny (And no, I'm not joking here people). But it doesn't end here, you see, Paulo didn't just send me the Dunny, he went the distance and included a mini canvas original painting.



Why did he do this if I only wanted the Dunny? Because he's an awesome guy, that's why.

Zukaty is selling the rest of his creations here. Check them out before they are gone!

I'll start posting more Dunnys soon, but first I have some superhero toys, more customs and a ton of MOTUC posts to go. Busy busy busy.

Until next time.

Dunny by Artist: George Gaspar

There are a few problems for Argentinean collectors that want to get in the world of art/designer toys:

1) There are very few places that carry designer lines from, lets say, Kid Robot, I can only think of one or two places and even they have very limited (and usually very old) options.
2) The blind boxes, one of the usual ways to get these toys, are not blind at all, in fact, all the stores will open the boxes and charge according to the rarity of the piece. Yeap, that sucks!
3) Since designer toys are rare, they are expensive, consider I can pay for a smorking labbit what someone in the U.S. would pay for a Masters of the Universe Classics figure (you don't even want to know what a MOTUC costs!).
4) Most stores will only get one case of figures so the possibilities of completing a set are very close to a negative number (oh, I also should warn you that I really suck at math...)

So, for these and some other reasons I never, until some time ago, owned a Dunny. But that changed when George Gaspar (of Toybreak fame) asked me if I would be interested in one of his awesome custom Skull Dunny(s) in exchange for some bootleg crap I had.

Lets see... Awesome custom in one hand... Bootleg crap in the other... I may suck at math, but even I knew the obvious answer... I said yes!



So basically, George took the Rainy London Dunny from the Ye Olde English Dunny line (designed by Triclops) and erased the rain drops, popped the head open, inserted the skull he sculpted and that's about it. It may sound simple, but with only those changes he turned this:



Into this:



Of course, the true skill of George can be seen in the skull, the sculpt is incredible, very detailed and fitting perfectly in the clear head. George is also a cool guy that left Triclops' name under the skull Dunny's foot. I agree with that, you should give credit when credit is due. But, the only mistake George made was not signing his own name in the other foot. After all, two very creative people were needed in order to help this little monster come to life.



I'm extremely happy with my first Dunny, because is freaky, and cool and I know is special. For now, until things change, If I want a Dunny I'll stick to trade or buy the great customs of the awesome people I meet online every day.

Until next time.

(Or... If I see a really cool one somewhere and I can't control myself. Along with math I was also never very good at controlling myself...)