Joan Cornellà x AllRightsReserved — 'Selfie Gun' Vinyl Art Toy (10.17)

Following the release of Joan Cornellà's Selfie Gun sculpture as a bronze edition, AllRightsReserved will make the buzz-worthy piece available to a much larger audience with a new vinyl art toy edition. Other than the slightly smaller size (10" vs. 12.6"), the new vinyl edition appears to match the design of the bronze edition.

Whether you see the piece as a critique of people's obsession with documenting their lives on social media or a more general commentary on self-destructive behaviors, Selfie Gun combines a double-take visual with a concept that lingers long after the novelty has subsided. 

Limited to 1000 numbered pieces, the Selfie Gun vinyl will available from ARR's Ding Dong Takuhabin store on Thursday (10.17) at 8 PM PDT for $199.  For those whom the bronze edition was out of reach, this vinyl edition is a perfect way to collect Cornellà's striking work at a considerably more affordable price.

Banksy Opens Gross Domestic Product… Really.

The wonderful, mischievous enigma that is Banksy has seemingly started a new chapter with the actual opening of his very own 'homewares brand'. Gross Domestic Product started in high-profile fashion with a window-shopping only showroom in Croydon, England that came and went.

Now, GrossDomesticProduct.com is live with more or less official products ranging from what we'd call fine art multiples such as the Banksy Met Ball helmet and the Banksy Ultra HD TV to open-edition items including the Banksy Balloon Tee, Mugs (apparently painted by children) and more. Fittingly, all the products are crafted from locally available, recycled items. 

Given high demand and the unusual nature of the products, the purchasing process is not a direct one but involves instead selecting an item and indicating you'd like to purchase it.  Successful 'applicants' will receive an email with further instructions.

Perhaps almost as interesting as the once unlikely idea of Banksy selling merchandise is his stated reason for doing so. He has explained that that he is taking this step at the advice of his lawyers as way of protecting his art and name from a greeting card company, an apparent reference to Full Colour Black, that is selling products with photos of his art.  What's really interesting is it appears that most of the presumed-official Banksy art toys appear to be relying on 'licenses from … Full Colour Black including the recent Mighty Jaxx release and it appears Medicom's Brandalism Sync line. If this post seems a bit hand-wavy, that's intentional.  With Banksy, absolute black + white fact is often elusive.

With that said, the store is open.

[GDP Store photo: Colossal]

Mori Chack x Superplastic — Gloomy in Black Superjanky (10.17)

As teased for the past few days, Mori Chack's Gloomy Superjanky is back, in black no less. The follow-up to the pink OG edition, the Gloomy in Black Superjanky features what appears to be a matte, light  black finish rather than a deep, jet black color. The Black edition features yellow eyes for creepy contrast, muzzle and alas, Gloomy's deceased human companion, Pity.

The Gloomy in Black Superjanky drops on Thursday (10.17) for $65 direct from Superplastic.  The creepy cutie is slated to ship in December. Based on previous releases, we expect this to go live at 11 AM PDT.

Kidrobot DesignerCon Exclusives Pre-Order (10.16 - 10.18)

Kidrobot has lined up arguably their strongest DesignerCon releases to-date.  Their four DCon exclusives include three special edition Dunnys and a brand-new Hello Kitty art toy from Candie Bolton.  Speaking of Dunnys, KR will have the La Flame 8" Dunny Ice Edition from Junko Mizuno (250 pcs, $100), the Santa Muerte 8" Dunny Prosperity Edition (70 pcs, $100) by Stephanie Buscema, and the Spiritus Dea: Bastet 3" Dunny DCon edition from Candie Bolton.

While we love ourselves some Dunnys, the highlight of Kidrobot's DCon exclusives just might be the new Hello Kitty 9" art figure Blush Edition (250 pieces, $75) designed by Candie Bolton. Holding a cluster of golden Kitty ballons, the figure features an adolescent Hello Kitty, bright and colorful but dealing with the shyness and uncertainty that comes with growing up. From the youthful outfit to her downward gaze and inward feet, Bolton's Hello Kitty endears with her awkward in-between state: part child, part future adult. She also reminds us that becoming an adult doesn't require parting with dreams, imagination and play.  All of us can relate to this most human Kitty.

As is their tradition, Kidrobot will offer their DCon exclusives via an online pre-order starting on Wednesday (10.16) and running thru Friday (10.18) with limited daily quantities of all four toys. Limited quantities of each figure will be available at DesignerCon (12.22 - 12.24) from the KR Booth [#2210].

ABCNT x Mighty Jaxx — Alice in Wasteland (10.19)

U: Added release details and corrected description.

LA street artist ABCNT has once again teamed up with Mighty Jaxx, this time  to create an art toy of of his Alice in Wasteland imagery.  A long way from the fantastic sights of Wonderland, Alice is left to try and sort out the literal mess she finds herself in, with little more than a face mask. The diorama style toy features Alice seated on a pile of all-too-realistic trash, dying flower in hand as a reminder of what's been lost. The Alice in Wasteland polystone figure (8.5" will be available for pre-order for 24-hours beginning this Saturday (10.19) at 8 AM PDT for $249 (includes global shipping) from the Mighty Jaxx shop.  This is the artist's second toy with Mighty Jaxx, following 2017's Bitchy Rich.

If you act quickly, there's still time to pick up the Alice in Wasteland print from Silent Stage (18x24", $124.99).

Amanda Louise Spayd x Chris Ryniak — Halloween Tees + Totes

To celebrate the scariest (sweetest?) 'holiday', Amanda Louise Spayd and Chris Ryniak have released a large and varied collection of spooky cute tees in a wide range of colors (11 designs/$25 each) and totes (6 designs/$24 each).  Whether prefer bats, unicorns  or candy corn beasts, black + white or lively color, there's something (or two or three) for you.  Oh, there's also a GID Halloween Bee Pin. The  Halloween collection awaits at the Bindlewood shop.

Kidrobot x Sanario —QUICCS Hello Kitty 80s Retro + Midnight Run Editions (10.25)

The QUICCS Hello Kitty (8") returns in two new editions from Kidrobot. First up is the colorful, street stylin' 80s Retro with multi-color hoodie which will be available from select retailers and KR. Kidrobot will also have their exclusive Midnight Run (black + pink) edition available only on Kidrobot.com.  Both drop on Friday (10.25) with KR's releases going up at 9 AM PDT as usual. No word on pricing yet, but for reference the first two editions retailed for $49.99.

Watsd x Funny Model Club — Gramps

It's been about five months since Funny Model Club opened pre-orders for their first, since sold-out art toy, Boss by Watsd (Watchara Boonpokkrong) .  Now the artist and brand are back with Gramps, a funny figure featuring an old-school gamer (or is that just plain OLD) with adjusting to new-fangled gaming with his very own hand-held console that bears a striking similarity to the Switch. With his over-the-top design featuring vintage tube TV  head, 70's era gaming shirt, short shorts, knee high socks and more Gramps is instantly recognizable as a throwback to the 8-bit era and bound to spark more than few gaming tall tales.  And perhaps a few confused looks from Millennials. While the cat-piloted Boss 'bot and Gramps are at first very different, the sense of humor, bright color palette, and retro vibe bring them together as two expressions of a universe we'd like to revisit often.

Limited to 199 pieces,  the traditionally-sculpted Gramps (10.25") resin art toy is available for pre-order for $111.50 direct from Funny Model Club's FB page and their retailer network which includes myplasticheart, Strangecat Toys, PlayToysForever (TW), Tomenosuke (JP) and Toy Galleria (SG).  The figure is slated to ship the second quarter of 2020.

Ronald Ventura x Nickelodeon x Secret Fresh Gallery — SpongeBro (10.20)

Secret Fresh Gallery has collaborated with Filipino artist Ronald Ventura and Nickelodeon to create the extremely limited SpongeBro series of art sculptures.  Produced by ToyQube, the four figures revisit the famous inhabitants of Bikini Bottom with Ventura's pet-centric style. SpongeBob gets a kitty makeover while Patrick has become a star-shaped dog treat.  An edition of 35, SpongeBro will be released on Sunday (10.20) from Secret Fresh Gallery. 

Twelvedot — Wild at Heart APO Frogs (10.18)

The APO Frogs return with a fresh style just in time for Autumn with the new Wild at Heart edition (5") from Twelvedot.  The newest APO Frog features a blue + yellow frog, comfortably cloaked in a vibrant, all-over print coat featuring a tropical jungle motif with toucans and fantastic flora. The design ties back into the APO Frog project's inspiration: raising awareness of the need to protect endangered frogs and their disappearing wild habitats.

Wild at Heart will be released on Friday, October 18th direct from Twelvedot as well as several retailers including myplasticheart, Strangecat Toys, Ozzo (SG) and Xinghui Creations (CN). No word yet on pricing or edition size, but based on the recent APO Frog editions, it's quite possible that these will retail for $69.99 and be limited to 300 pieces.

Pushead x Usugrow — Insomnia Popcorn rebelCaptain from Secretbase

Secretbase has released the new Insomnia Popcorn rebelCaptain from Pushead and Usugrow.  The new double-pour edition featuring the Captain head by Pushead and the Rebel Ink body by Usugrow brings together an outer layer of clear vinyl + black glitter with an inner marbled layer of blue and whitish red. The mix is gritty yet graceful.

The new Insomnia Popcorn rebelCaptain is available directly from Secretbase for ¥15,400  ($144). Orders outside of Japan are processed via email to [email protected] — please review the brand's official international order guide.

ComplexCon Exclusive Sket-One x QUICCS Phase-1 TEQ63 by Martian Toys

ComplexCon has announced their Exclusive Phase-1 TEQ63 from Sket-One, QUICCS and Martian Toys.  The drippy, rainbow-hued design will be available at the upcoming convention in Long Beach, CA (11.2 - 11.3). The rear design is similar to the artist's giant mural that graces the inside lobby area of the Long Beach Convention center, the ComplexCon venue.

Per Sket, expect 200 pieces to be available.  Since this is a ComplexCon official exclusive, the toy should be available from the show's official store/booth at the event. If you can't make it to CompexCon, you can take some comfort in the fact that there's more Sket One TEQ63 action in the pipeline.