Episode 33: Designer Toys

But I have two illustrious guests here today, actually good friends of mine, not like those strangers we usually have on uh. Today, I'm sitting with Rope, Calm and Kwong. How you doing? How's it going? How you feeling? How y'all feeling? I mean I'm pretty good. Good. Um. Just to be clear, I had McDonald's today and then never do that. Oh no, was it like a long time since you've had McDonald's. I can't get into that either.

I guess it's a long history. But I actually did have McDonald's while watching the movie The Founder, Like I felt like that's something that I had to do. Ye oh yeah, definitely. Yeah, I'm trying to think of other foods you can eat while watching certain founder other movies. Yeah, like if you're like watching Harold and Kumar, maybe like closing out with White Castle. I feel like, if you eat it, you know what? That movie made me so

sad there was on the West Coast. It's like, yeah, that's how I felt about Sonics until I realize you can go behind the orange curtain final, right, you know your boy was in Compton, like, you know, where's the Sonics? I keep seeing the commercials. I don't know why I talked like that, but yeah, but yeah, so let's get into yeah, yeah, great song is a photographer? You do? You do it all? You you design toys, you work at stance. You like, what is there anything you don't

do half free time? Yeah? Yeah, I'm pretty busy. And we're actually getting ready for a show called dcon Um that should be This comes out this weekend. It'll be this weekend if you're listening to it. If you're in that general l A area, drive down to Anaheim, go to d com and come meet them in person. If you're like I like those voices, let me go see them in person. Yeah, it's gonna be pretty great. It's it's three times the size of what it was last year. Wow. Yeah,

and they've brought some pretty incredible vendors. So for people who don't know what dcon is or Designer Con, uh, can you explain it to them so they can give them like a quick T L d R. Yeah, Um. Dcon is a it's a great convention that has a lot of like different products made by probably some of

your favorite favorite artists, you know. Um, And it's a way to sort of interact with them outside of like like a comic con where it's like, you know, jam packed your sardines, and their dcons a little bit more breathable, a lot more personable. You know. It's a way to just get to know and like really handle and see things like up close and personal and have like everybody

has essentially their own boots, so it's like a personal gallery. Yeah, you know, it's like hundreds of artists they are showing off all their best stuff. They've they've everybody's worked towards this like all year long. So it's pretty incredible. That's awesome because on the Comic Con episode, we talked about how we feel comic Con has pushed artists to like their artists Alley Corner, and really it went from celebrating art to more celebrating television and media companies and things

derivative of you know. Yeah, we call it like we kind of you know, make fun in our own way. Just called it like pop culture con at this point because it's it's like, it's interesting when I'll look at like artists that draw, you know, all the books and stuff, and they'll sell pages for you know, very affordable amounts, and somebody there's somebody selling like a cute version of of the character as a print for like twenty bucks. Yeah, you know, basically like hurting the bottom line of the

guys that are actually creating, you know, creating the products. Yeah. So oh man, let's let's I'm gonna turn over to my main row com but we go still here, way back. We go so far back. I think you were in high school. Yeah you know what we u We were on a podcast when we first met. Yeah yeah, and I then I just latched on you. I was like this this rapper right here, this is my guy. That's right, I know. And then you finally re released those tracks

on Spotify right, just a couple of weeks ago. That stuff had been stashed away forever, and um, I I looked at it. You used to be very expensive to put your music up on streaming services, and then, um, now, since it's really the only way people are listening to music, I found a place that does unlimited albums for twenty bucks for the whole years. It's time to do this. It's okay if no one listens, I could, Yeah, I could skip an action figure in twenty dollars into uh

into my music being on lines. Yeah yeah. And you know, if you're listening to the podcast on Spotify, how about you go ahead and click over and uh go listen to some of roll comps of music after you're done here. But that's not all you do years ago. Yeah yeah, So um so the reason I think I'm here for this episode, uh kick started a vinyl toy um back in February and it was funded and so um the toys finally come from the factory maybe a month ago or so, and it's gonna debut at Dcon this weekend.

So um that'll be at blitz Creek Toys. UM. At the end, I'm Convention Center so it's been a ton of work. Quong Um does all of the custom work on the toys we do for the limited runs, and so he's been super busy painting. And I'm not the only guy who's toys he's doing. So there's Um, there's Mishka, there's Quangy could probably speak to this. Oh yeah, I'm paying up some toys for Blitz Creek Toys of course, Um Mishka as well, and Real Calm some things for

Ish justin Ishmael's toy brand. So I'm pretty busy. I think that's part of the fun thing with the community at Deacon or for designer toys in general, is that community because there's not really that many people out there. You know, Dcon is a huge show. There's a lot of people at that show as vendors, but I think as a designer vinyl scene, there's not that many names like Um, I mean Designer Con. When it started, it

was the smallest room. It was like a five dollar entry fee, and it's just exploded into this thing that's like three full halls. It's probably the same size as blizz Con now for this year, and we've never seen it like that. Well, it's crazy to see how designer toys have kind of blown up. And I know we're talking all around it, and we'll get into the origin and deep stuff now, but this is the kind of

interesting combo and just a little background about y'all. Um, but I feel like it kind of in the most quote unquote mainstream way, like when people started seeing pop and got comfortable collecting those, it just went from there, because at least that's how it was for me. Like I had a pop and I was like, yeah, but this uh this, uh what is it? The I'm gonna mess it up? The Bunny one? Yeah? Right, so kid Robot back, I think around early two thousand's they had

the Dunnies, which were all artists driven designs. It was kind of it's I think it's a mix between Devil and Bunny is how they got that. And then there was the blank custom versions which are called money, which was kind of like a monkey done type thing. But um, those were the ones that really kind of set off an artist series of this is kind of the blank template, which fun Copop definitely is um and then using an

artist angle at each one. The only thing is fun code is all license driven whereas Kid Roebout, its origins were all artists driven right fun fact with the with the duney itself, I believe it was Tristan Eaton. Um. He's a graffiti artist and a phenomenal artist. I think when he was eighteen he helped co create that toy

um with Paul Paul. We got infull on that. We got some notes on about Paul, But the Donny, it's kind of incredible, you know, just to think of, like, you know, an eighteen year old like help co creating this toy that all these people bought and collected and drove. So dope. But let's just go in just for some of the people whose heads are spinning. Was like, hold on, y'all are talking all about the deep stuff. I need to get the origins, all right, what's a designer toy? Yeah, yeah,

we we got we got lots. But I'm gonna kick it off with this quote, uh that Dan put up top, which I'm which I'm sure is to set off the tone of the episode because he also highlights it's so uh so for you to no, no, I'm gonna put you on, blast you on, blast you on the blast zone. Now, what's the most important quote for the whole show. For you to dig Urban Vinyl, you have to dig what it's about. Not everyone can relate to Loud because they

may not live the lifestyle depicted. But now there are so many creations and themes that it's not hard to find an artist and toy that you would like. But remember these are artworks and are usually made in limited runs, so expect the higher price tag than a figure you can pick up at a chain store. But you're buying a piece of art, so you can feel good about it.

And that's why that actually good job, Dan, That actually is a good quote, because I do want to talk about that before we fully jump in, because art is in a weird place right now where it's it's so easily manufactured in some facets that the value of it is lost to some people. Like it's so interesting to see, especially on Tumbler, a lot of people complaining about just how often people are like, oh, that's how much you're

charging for this commission. That's and it's like that is so disrespectful to me, you know, to to something any like as someone who has started who wanted to do art before their Nigerian father was like get into computer science, and then I made them even more mad by becoming

a comedian. Like the work that goes into just a simple line work, so then to see it jump off the page and to be on a actual like for the sculpture or a toy like that takes a lot of effort, just even full disclosure project that was back I bought the Doom and just seeing the work that Quang put and it looks so good, and you can tell the difference when you get like a mass printed toy and then like I can pick up like I just pick up and look at it because the paint

job is so good and you just don't you're not going to get that from anywhere else, but like someone who puts the time into hand paint stuff. Yeah, and I think even how subject how subjective art is in general. You can pick up one of Quong's painted toys and see the hours that went into getting that finished done on the metal, and the different colors that he used

for the palette. And you can also look at a toy that might score double triple times that and it has like three paint slashes, you know, just just kind of as it would seem just kind of messy put up, but that has its own intrinsic value in the creator that put it out in their style and how it is so um. I think vinyl toys are just as

subjective as any other part of the art world. Oh yeah, And I think if we want to even go back to bunco and like simplify it, it kind of is that way where like one license property will fetch so much more money versus like something people don't don't care about. And let's not even get into how available it is. And yeah, yeah, we'll get into all of that, but let's start with bubble heads, because you know, there's a lot of you know, question of did to start with

bobble heads? You know, bomble hands are kind of the first kind of nick knack patty whack that people were posting up because during the seventeenth century, figurines of Buddha and other religious figures called temple nodders were produced in Asia, and the earliest known Western reference to a bubble head is thought to be Nikolai Gogel's short story The Overcoat,

which was dropped in eighteen forty two. I like to talk about short stories like their mixtapes uh, in which the main character's neck was described like the neck of plaster cats do uh like the neck of plaster cats which wag their heads, which I think is one of the most we all know what that's talking about. The thing? Yeah yeah, swinging back and forth. By the way, doesn't it sound like kind of a low blow to Google's thing like they saw and they're like, oh, I'm gonna

describe this real rough. Yeah, oh man hater, yeah, but yeah, well um. By nineteen sixty, the Major League Baseball had gotten in on the action and produced a series of paper mache babbo head dolls, one for each team. And it's crazy because like till this day, like bad, yeah, that's the night. Oh yeah, I got a what's his name? Losorta, Tommy Losorta Dodge, and I don't have the heart to throw it away, even though it's like I'm like, you

don't fit in with any of my other toys. It's like it really genuinely well, I have Death Jaguar and all my DBC stuff on a separate thing, and I'll have like Overwatch something from Desny and Tommy Losorta. Go see, that's what I love like that stuff sticks around, Yeah, didn't didn't he just transfer himself into like being a spokesperson for food or something down there. Tommy Losorda's Trattoria is a restaurant that he he has a Dodgers Stadium restaurant.

So I guess maybe that was very specific to that place. Yeah, yeah, very well. But so he was a bubble head, Yeah, but I Funco was founded as a bubblehead company by Mike Becker in Washington, and in two thousand and five, Beckers sold Funco to its current CEO, Brian Mariotte, who moved its offices to Lynnwood, Washington. I got so hyped for a second because I thought it was going to be in California and I was majorly wrong here. Yeah,

and significantly expanded the company's license product lines. So then, you know, so maybe maybe that that that was like, oh man, I'd like this bubblehead if its head wasn't moving all the time. But what we do know is that designer toys also called art toys or novelty toys and collectibles created by independent artists and designers, which they usually produced within limited editions. Artists use a variety of materials such as a bs plastic, vinyl, wood, metal, latex

and resin. Many designer toys are plush toys. Creators often have backgrounds and graph design, illustration, or self described low brow art. Some artists have classical art design training, while others are self taught. I think that describes both of you. If I'm not correct a little bit. Yeah, I mean not the low brow art. I realized the timing in

which I said that we love lowbrow art. It's funny because when a designer toys obviously coming from an artist, right, and artis has a vision for something they created, they want this three D version of in vinyl and um, so that's gonna change per artist. So there there's artists that know the whole Adobe creative suite and they're like putting stuff in vector and really doing it up for their sculpture to make. And then sometimes there's a dude that has a kin, like a sharpie napkin thing and

he's like, make this a toy for me. People that make toys right, and they do it. So it's pretty fun to see how things get translated, because you could be that guy that's just nitpicking and like it has to be no the hand isn't not the wrong angle. That's me by the way it took me what I

was going to jump off to. I remember when you were showing me every step that you took for Death Jaguar, which I will take a second to describe what is Death Jaguar for the people listening, So for for the toy that I had put out first of all, in in the history of of just people making toys, because another facet of of these artists created designer toys is resin toys, which are things that people can make at home because they could do a silicone sculpt make something,

sculpt something out of clay or monster clay, and then create a sculpt to pour resin into, and then they can make their toys that way. Um. A lot of collector toys are done that way, but the ones from the sixties and seventies were all rotocast and vinyl and so um that's kind of the thing that everyone collects that's vintage and old, and everyone wants a vinyl toy, and when you don't have the means for it, you uh often do resident. So I really wanted to do vinyl.

The startup costs for any toys always ballparked around ten k. And so at that point, there's so many people that before Kickstarter and um crowdfunding sources, they would go in,

they dropped ten k to get a mold. Yeah, they'd wait whooever knows how long because Japanese production can take three or four plus years because you're waiting in this line of very limited factories that can make molds for you, and who knows if there's favoritism in that or um if things just get mixed up and someone jumps the line or however it goes, you could have ten grand

out and you're waiting four plus five years. We have a friend that's been waiting three like three plus years years just to just to get his molds made, not even like a toy back. So I found a manufacturer that was pretty quick and did limited numbers, and I needed that ten grand. I went to Kickstarter. That's why I went there because I wanted vinyl instead of resin and so once that is raised, So my toy is

actually based on the Godzilla character. So there's a Godzilla robot character called Jet Jaguar that was in God's Deliversus Megalon and uh, it's it's kind of an uncommon um toy to come across. So I did a flip of it, like an evil version called death Jaguar, and so that's what I ended up making through the help of friends and fans. Yeah, yeah, you know, guys, I dropped a million dollars on it, and that's that's how. So you all can thank me. I can definitely thank you for

open that car. No, but yeah, no, just seeing the it all come together. It's just you showed me every step of the way and you had to design it, and then you kept you would have like samples come and you'd send it back and you're like it's almost finalized, and my dang, this is taking so long and what's funny? Iss oh man. So so that's so that's on the

short side. Based on Quang's tone there, No, it's laughable because with the manufacturing how it is today, which is much faster, Chinese factories are able to do a lot more um and better than they have in the past. So a lot of people are turning that direction. And then you know, there's a really great company called Unboxed that that produces some of the top stuff right now, even even Japanese companies are starting to like look to Unboxed to create things for them, and you know, and

with the turnaround time so quick, it's insane. It's unbelievable to me, somebody who's very familiar with things, like, oh, your toys done. It only took a year and a half because they're always has been this rift and quality where people are like, they want their vinyl to be Japanese, asked me, Japanese made. Um, there's that quality and it's still there, but Chinese manufacturing is really catching up to it to where you can get a really good quality product.

Like when I when I held mine in my hand, I was like, this is I don't want any different like this? That's perfect. We'll get it. Actually, I feel like we keep jump into the future because it's so interesting. So like this is like one of those like Damon Lindelof is directing this episode of the podcast, because we're jumping in the future and jumping back. But we're gonna start off at the origin, Michaelo. First, we gotta hear a few messages from our sponsors and we're back. I

hope you like those messages. Who knew was it one? By us or one from one of the other freaks over here at how stuff works. I don't know. It's randomized too, so everyone has their own flavor. So hopping the discord and talk about your favorite ads or not. I have my favorites. Yeah, okay, I see catch me on social media here about those, Yeah, to make sure you catch roll com. But yeah, let's kick it off

with Michael law who. You know, this was interesting because you know, you and Dan we're kind of talking about Michael laugh and you're saying that there's you know, it's it's not just as straightforward as it may come off from the page of Michael Lou being like it seems like the godfather of this, right, and I think Kuang had mentioned that, um, that was kind of what was going on on the Chinese scene. But there's also the story of Bounty Hunter and how they kick things off

in Japan. Okay, well, I'm gonna jump out of Michael Loo and then we'll cut into Bounty Hunter when you like, let me like, yeah, let's let's see what Mikey is about, you know, on this, and then we'll jump into so a thirty four year old with a ponytail and whispy suggestion of a goatee. This another I know who wrote this? This is a mad early out the gate roast was this was this bounty hunter who wrote this? It's so good?

All right? Well describe it again. Yeah, thirty four year old with a ponytail and a whispy suggestion of a goatee Like that's how someone would describe my facial hair. And it hurts my allow looks like an artist, and he seems to think of himself as one. To goodness, where is this from? It's such a bird? Yeah, I know it is. This was New York Times, New York Times with that he Low was one of six children born to a chicken farmer in Hong Kong's New Territories.

The family letter moved to a public housing project in the Capitol. They couldn't afford store bought toys. I sculptured Yoda out of cheap soap and made furniture out of a newspaper. And on September the Wan Shi neighborhood off Hong Kong, a line of people snaking the street from fourth floor showroom awaited a mission to an exhibition of ninety nine customized action figure by a young designer named Michael Low. Look, that's what that sounds like a supreme

line right there, right, yeah, oh my god. Lines are such a part of just collecting. If there's no line, I don't want it. Oh man. But in the combustible world of Hong Kong trends, this was something seriously new, transforming hard plastic twelve inch action figures in the pop culture icon. But but let's let's let's go over the fact that they were saying he was sitting there making Yoda out of his soap, right and he's making furniture out of paper. And then they jumped to this kid

with all his creativity doing that stuff. Then moved on to have this crazy art show with these ninety nine figurines I wonderfuls, a jay Z reference Fi raines, but soap aint one. Um, and he jumped to that. So you take it on from there, just do it a quick yeah. Um. But then you started doing grown up toys using bodies he scavenged from dolls like g I. Joe's and molding different heads, hands, and feets out of

hard plastic. Loud created skateboarder, surfers, and snowboarders decked out in baggy shorts, clamp camouflage jackets, tent lights, sweatshirts, and of the moment sneakers adorned with this sounds like New York time of the moment sneakers that you look all right. I'm gonna say it, my brother didn't write this. Adorn with chains, earrings and tattoos. Their hair and dreadlocks are pressed beneath bright colored caps. Street culture and hip hop

culture and skateboard style. We're coming up loud, explained when he met with him not long ago. In Hong Kong, the culture included fashion, music, graffiti. It seemed really fresh. It's like a uniform. People in Hong Kong and Tokyo and Britain and the States all looked the same. I feel like that's like a take that people still try and use now about streetwear. It's like, y'all out of here, spending so much money just to look alike. I was like, no,

we not look clok. These are blue? Yeah, these are blue. I got a different color way. Uh, but yeah, it seemed like, you know, he just kind of like it started off as like these cool toys and kind of grew into being part of the culture, and you know, the culture when at least I'm referencing it all the

time is like streetwear and fashion and designer toys. Uh, and so this is going on like it seems like, you know, in the late nineties, sent is when that toy show kind of happened, but allows gardeners inspired other Hong Kong comic book illustrators, graphic designers, and ad agency

artists to start making their own figures. While a few Japanese cult boutiques had previously issued some limited edition collectible toys to Hong Kong designers in gender to craze, over the next five years, riding on the wings of the Internet, such toys quote unquote, which is like definitely, how I have to describe them to my wife. They're not toys. Their art, as their enthusiasts called them, spread from Hong

Kong first to Japan, then the web. So you know, we had lou and we're talking about that big show in which was from the New York Times article kind of kind they're kind of retelling of you know, designer toy culture. But actually if you go back a little three years earlier, uh, in it's set that collectible violent toys were popularized by Bounty Hunter, a cult boutique based in Tokyo that combined the production of limited edition urban

clothing with the fetish for seventies pop music. And then that year Bounty Hunter began selling limited edition numbers of vinyl toys that boards discernible resemblance to such cultural landmarks as Frank and Berry or a sailor on a Captain crunch box. Which that's that sounded a lot more like the designer toys, I know, Like that's also that's really mirroring fun Co's beginnings, right, Yeah, that's true, And that's kind of like you know, when you're talking about hip

hop in in in clothing and sneakers. That's really how I got introduced to designer toys. Is like streetwear for me and designer toys kind of went hand in hand.

Like I remember, I have a great friend named Takafumi, who you know, it was kind of a crazy story where he's this Japanese kid in like junior high and high school, living alone in this giant, giant house by himself, and he would fly back and forth and you know, his parents trusted him, and he would just buy stuff in Japan and just bring it back for us, and you know, here we are in like the late nineties, and he had like like Babe gear and he and he basically would hook me up with like bape t

shirts because I liked the plan of the apes. I had no idea what Babe was at the time. And then he had toys from Bounty Hunter and things like that, and that was like my introduction to these two designer toys. And I really loved him. I mean, they looked like like a Captain Crunch character or whatever, and there's all

soft vinyl. And it was really interesting because during this time, a lot of companies, like art toys were like appearing and and I didn't really correlate Bounding Hunder being like the first, but I knew it was like the earliest thing that I ever had. But then artists like puss Head he you know, famously he did a lot of art work for like Metallica and things like that. He

he was having toys pop up. Um. He had this thing called the Posty traction car, which was like a car that you would push and there was a little motor inside that would cause it to move forward, and it was just it was amazing because I had never seen anything like that before, like Low run like it

was definitely not made for kids. Um. And then around this time, I think Medicom had popped up, um, and they were producing like really great toys some more somewhere in the Michael Low style where it was like the twelve inch figures, um. And I remember like, and I don't know if it was a Medicom toy, but like they had produced figure somebody had produced figures of the Beastie Boys and that was like unreal, Like it looked

exactly like them. They had full outfits. Um, there's like a Daft Punk from the Discovery album I believe figures that had come out and and these things were unreal because it was so detailed, um, and it was it wore the clothes, you know, the jackets were perfect from music videos and things like that. And that sort of helps set off this explosion within the culture where you're like, as an adult, you you really appreciated the craftsmanship and

it wasn't it wasn't for kids. Yeah. I mean that's kind of how very similar to me, how I kind of my first taste of designer toys because kid Robot had a run of Guerrillas figures and they were dropping them and I'm a huge Guerrillas fan, and I was like, oh, this is nice. And then just kind of falling down the rabbit hole, you saw stuff like you know, Donny and stuff like that, and really I got what was it. It was like an event that was at It was

like a designer content and it gave me a gift bag. No, it was the one I went for you Yeah as the monkey Yeah, Monkey King art show. And that's when I really it really snapped for me. So, uh, Roe com does a Monkey King. I think you've done it every year. It used to be a battle. It started as an art battle where where you're doing these four ft by four ft canvases against other streetwear not streetwear but a designer toy artist kind of kind of going

versus on that. Yeah, let me give give the outsider kind of run down how it is for me because this event, it's there's nothing like it, and to me, it's my favorite thing. I think I've made it this year. In the last year, I wasn't down for comic Con and I missed it and I've just regret it. So gosh,

it's like the coolest thing. You there's no real way to describe it unless you're there, because it's like so perfect being at comic Con because it is like truly celebrating art in a way that I don't think arts being celebrated down there, you know, like not to say that it's not but too literally literally thing and and honestly, like you know, I always wait, um every year for San Diego to do that event and see something like that.

But honestly, there's a there's an event called Secret Walls that's been going on forever that does these versus battles and what our friend Greg judges them off tonight, Yeah, he m sees them and um, And so they happen in l A sometimes. So if you guys are interested in that type of that part of the culture, it's it's usually graph artists, um or anyone in in kind of more the low brow arts scene, and they just go head to head on these giant walls and it's

really fun. Yeah. So so this is let me set the scene for you. It's in what's the name of that bar that's always Bar Basic, Bar Basic. It's always the Tope Pizza And it's like, imagine you walk into a bar and you think a rap battles going on, but you look and it's just dudes painting on the wall because everyone's surrounding the walls because it's happening live in front. And it's cool because y'all know what y'all are doing, but everyone else is just trying to figure

out what y'all drawing. And and there's like like roe Com said, almost called you by your government, Like roe Com said, you know, good pizza, flowing, drink specials. It's it's a party. It's an art party and it's way packed, so prepare for that. But it's so fun. I highly recommend if you're down if you're down there, it's usually like that. It's always Thursday, Thursday, Thursday night. Make sure you're there. It's been there every year. I don't see

it stopping anytime soon because it's not gotten smaller. If anything, it's gotten bigger. And you did this baller piece this year where it was it was the Cobra. Yeah. Yeah, So this year was nuts because we used black light reactive paint, which I've never painted with. But that's pretty much, you know, it's just these hot highlight colors and so I've never painted with that, so I just went about it how I usually do. But um, yeah, I did a full Johnny like in Skelton costume from scart Kid.

And so what's dope is Golden Apple Comics, which is right down here right. They had posted a picture of me painting that on Twitter, so I just kind of I retweeted that and hit up William Zobka, which is Johnny on the show, and he retweeted it and he's like, yo, I need one for the dojo. Yeah. It's just like it was the best compliment you get. Yeah, but he hasn't hit me up as I'm going to be like, yo, if we can get that on season two, let's do it. Let's hashtag Roe com in season two. So back to

the back to Bounty Hunter. On the day of the toy's release. At Bounty Hunters, people would line up for blocks outside the store, like we said, and the collector culture waiting is nothing. I think two people don't mind waiting, collectors and people who eat food. Like I don't know if you have been a milk bar down the street, but your I went to the New York one, buddy, Buddy, Oh yeah, no, it's it's that's that heat you Okay,

I felt like you did. Can I tell my milk bar story about I know there's it's a designer toy. People are like, all right, so I've heard great things. I'm in New York for New York Comic Con. So my friend Jesse, she's a food critic out there, I'm in line with her. I'm like, I want this dessert, like I been waiting all night. I'm in line and we get there and I'm thinking, like, you know, we're on the West Coast, so if you want dessert, you order, you hang out. You're just like chilling inside, or you

find a place on the patio. This dude just like hands me a bag and I gotta go. Like I just like, oh, we can't eat here. They're like, no, you can't. He was mad. I didn't know what was up. It was that usual like soup Nazi type thing, you know, sup Nazi situation. Classic. Yeah, so I got my crack pie is good. But what was weird like a loser on the curve. What was weirder that night was that couple that broke up right where we were sitting or eating food. That was the most new York thing. My

friend told me that too. You can't walk around New York without walking by people. Breaking up happens everywhere. There was like, there was like eight of us at a four person table, and we need we needed more people, like more room. Yeah, and this couple was breaking up there, the girls full on crying. We didn't know though, ye were just didn't eating. We're talking about partying and with a comic con and whatever else. And two of our

friends walked up and they needed room. So I just lean and I'm like, hey, can you guys move down a little without knowing that they're breaking up? And then and the quote, the quote was the girl tear eyed, was just like no, no, no, no, I gotta say like this. So our friend was sitting at the table before we joined the table, so she heard most of the breakup. So after they like they eventually leave, right,

so she's like, yo, I heard most of it. And during a point of their breakup, she asked him do you think I'm funny? Like a funny person, And he answers, It's not the first word I'd used to describe you know, you know, who is this man? Who is this horrible man? Dude? They had a dog with them, were like, who keeps

the dog? Just like but we just kept diving into their story, like what if she's a stand up comedies like her life and he had to sit in front of every show and she's like, you think I'm funny? Not the first word? I what is the first word? That's so very pretty by the way that look that must be that's when you're just going for the jugular, because that was like it was punched up to be that really trying to end this and go get in line for some toys right back. Yeah, look brought it.

Oh my gosh, so so like we're y'all pointed out that there was a difference between the brands that Bounty

Hunter was doing and Loo was doing. Um, I think it's all it's all designer art for sure, but right oh those were Yeah, if you've heard of like uh three, well the big the big difference between what they're doing is Lou was working on like twelve inch body like articulated figures, and what Bounty Hunter was doing was like soft vinyl figures closer to you know, like like Godzilla toys and things like that, um, like Monster toys that kind of vibed with things that had come out you

know in the fifties or sixties, seventies kind of thing, and so you know, they're they're very different, yeah, you know, but they all kind of fall under the helm of like art toy or designer toy. And then and then with that there's like sub sects of like designer vinyl. Um you can get into um like sufubi. That's something that I'm more um in line with with what I do is like soft vinyl toys that are airbrush and you know, painted and various things like that custom work

where like you can get into the other style of toys. UM. I'm a big fan of what Ashley Wood does. Was it with his company three A? He's a he's a tremendous artist like a painter and does a lot of comics and things. And he has his brand where he does like highly detailed like they look like miniaturized versions of real people. You know. Was with some of the work that he does. And then when you get into his art stuff, it's like his paintings are are jumping

off like like like the characters are walking off the paintings. UM, It's it's like so good and how detailed they are, but they're done in very low quantities. The clothes are probably better constructed than my actual clothes. I think those are the toys where you could have anyone off the street looking at him and being like, oh, this is art, Like you don't play with this, you know, whereas I feel like in Sufubi culture and soft Final toys, you can just mistake them as like, oh, that's a toy

from the seventies. Yeah, you know, um, well, yeah, because the reason I was asking is because I guess loud uh eventually had small vinyl versions of his twelve inch Gardeners, and he was wondering, like he was kind of worried about if that would change it, if that'll move, Yeah, they'll move, And of course it did. Smash smash, cell. I need less room to collect more of this, I'll take it. Yeah. Yeah. But you know, we've been talking about other brands, more known uh, more known brands too.

I feel like the more mainstream audience, like kid Robot uh, and we're gonna kind of dip into them a little bit, then talk about a little bit of uh the competition, then talk about a little bit of the competition, and then kind of step and really have an open conversation about y'all role in the world and kind of things you've learned and and stuff like that, because that's pretty much the history. And then after that it kind of runs wild, uh and not in the sense of like

it's crazy, but it exists. Well, a lot of people had seen the popularity with this stuff, like the lines like the mayhem that was brought on, and then you know, companies like like Toky Doki and kid Robot we're kind of popping up um and I wouldn't say like mass producing, but in more quantities than what had been done prod you know. And then they're they're creating stores and and that was the big thing is that a lot of the stuff was going on in Asia and being imported

over here as part of the culture. You know, Scarcy sneakers, everything, like people were going crazy for it all. Um. You know, this is where you you know, the introduction of Cause and his art and his art toys and things like that. But I'm a big I'm a big Cause fanboy, and it's funny for me because I know that's not that's no, I mean, I don't I don't know him personally. I've just been a huge fan of his art for I mean, yeah, well,

would you sharing that patient gun in your house? That's insane? Yeah, you know, like one of one of my my better pickups. Yeah, cause, let's say cause Kuang is doing the thing that I like to say in a streetwear culture is old, these old things, which is when you have an insane piece and you're like, oh yeah, battle, I got that. But we're gonna go into all that, uh and just a lot about y'all, But first I'm gonna take another break.

Welcome back, y'all. Sitting here with my two fams. I keep one to say, you're going No, I'm gonna say, rocam, I'm gonna keep it a mystery. No one knows you're being You did drop earlier, really just leep it out, Leep it out, believe it out as a matter of fact, believe it out and keep yeah, believe it out and keep this in. I did drop it earlier, but yeah, I won't know what it is. And Quang, which I

pulled up your website. I don't know uh why at the beginning, but there's this super dope pick you tek a Gucci Maine and I was like, damn it, you're good. It's in his book, it's in the Gucci main Yeah, this is yeah, this is kwang. Yeah, it's a lot of burgers. Yeah, it's so good. Yeah. We actually have two different versions of that. Yeah. The the photo shoot actually had to be extended even longer because I wasn't really happy with the look of the burgers. This is

my moment where they got the set designer. I was like, I need like at least fifty cheeseburgers. Whatever. He goes out gets these burgers, but the the buns are flat, they don't have sesame seeds on him, and I freak. I was like, dude, these don't look like like burgers. You know, these look like McDonald's cheeseburgers kind of. Yeah. Yeah, it didn't look right. So I made I made them go out and get like buns. It was sesame seeds, and I had to have them doctored to like look

like they're burgers. Yeah. Um, And people were just like, seriously, dude, I wish you like took those burgers off the plates, like, spit it. What is this you call this a burger? Yeah? I mean it was already a pretty hectic shoot, just having somebody of his profile and in this it was a huge mansion, um, and I didn't want to freak in front of him. I didn't want to like have

the energy of the set change. So I had to pull people aside like hey, guys, right, But but it was it was kind of one of those weird power trip moments where I was just like, you hired me for this job, like, and I'm just gonna give you my two cents, and I just feel like these burgers aren't quite right. I mean looking at the burgers, like I definitely see that. Yeah, it would look way different if it was like that McDonald's burger. No, I think

you went the right way with that. Guys, just go It's photos dot com, qu A and g If you want to see the photo, well, I'll put it in the footnotes. So I've been if you google search Gucci Mane, it's one of them. That's probably I was a complex con and this is a gal who painted like a giant, like ten ft wide like oil painting of it. Yeah,

it's it's really incredible. Um. And it was one of those moments where I was just like, you know, everybody's like that's your photo was like, no, that's her painting, Like like I'm not taking away into that because like something that was just a couple of clicks. You know, it took while to build the set, but like there's no oil painting, and she knew who you were, right, Yeah, it was. It was really cool moment, like she I walked into her booth to look at it and then

she like looked at me. She's like, oh my god, it's you. And I was just like, uh yeah, yeah. And it was really funny because she thought I was going to be bombed or whatever, Like I've never like you put in so much hard work and like you know, you knew what it looked like, which is kind of funny because you know photographer, who know, Yeah, it's all

celebrating it. Yeah, honestly, one of my biggest fears of me doing my death Jaguar toy because it's really made as this companion piece to the m one Go jet Jaguar toy, which is like a really celebrated Sufubi toy company from Japan, and so Quong has become friends with the creators of that brand, and I remember I gifted him my toy and so giving it to the guy that had the inspiration toy. I was worried. I was like, this guy's gonna get mad. He said, you took my stuff,

and he was just so thankful. He actually gifted me, um a jet Jaguar piece I was missing from my collection. He gave me this glow in the dark one that I'd never had, and so it was really a beautiful moment. It's actually a good moment to talk about m one because they're a vinyl toy company. Um, they in a way, they kind of fit that designer vinyl thing, and they're

part of the inspiration. Like a lot of people definitely like buy their stuff and um vibe with it because what it is is they're done to look like toys that would fit in line with the original toys from like the seventies, but their modern takes of characters and and things that you wouldn't have originally received back in back in the seventies, because you know, you're you're taking you know, as you you know, you lay out a toy line, you pick the most popular characters and then

you make toys of them. And what Ugi and Nietzsche would do is they would take the c list characters Like obviously over the years growing up watching a film and being like they never made one of you know, the twins of from Mathra and they would make those toys that would fit as a companion to piece, to fit fill the whole that you had as a collector.

Um and you Gi is like when you use the term super collector or somebody who's like it, he embodies that, like at you know, anybody that pretty much collects anything excite for a side. Maybe Forrest Ackerman is like, you're like a duplicate of this guy, because this is a guy who will go and he will collect every version of everything down to movie props, you know, um, like signatures from actors. It's like molds from movies. Like you're like, oh,

here's a mold from a gremlin arm. He's like, oh, I have that, um and and it's pretty incredible that he has taken that sort of fandom. And then he has like this toy company, um and there's there's actually a really great story that he uses because he was the first guy, from what I understand, to create a wonder one replica of the of the Terminator and UM, I believe it is Stan Winston that that that created.

Maybe you guys can factor that. Yeah, yeah, so so does that movie never have a full scale prop or you just replicated it? Well, he he created the model kit that you could buy of the of the end of skeleton head, and he had put some little things in it because when you when you actually when he when he actually visited and looked at it in the workshop, you know, it's made as an on screen prop, which is much different as than something that you can walk up to and look at and touch and paint on.

And so he he took some liberties with the blessing of of of the creators, of like how to how to make the details a little bit more sharp and finer, and so he put little things in there so that he'd know if somebody ripped off his sculpt So he'll look at modern sculpts and he'll be like, oh, somebody just casted the head. They molded my thing. Yeah, so you were right. It is Stan Winston and he uh yeah, he did the T T twos T eight Indo skeleton. Yeah yeah, and and you Ge is credited, I think

is the guy. You know, he he created this kit, the one to one replica, and it was just really funny that he has this like oh yeah, like I put I put little things in there, and he's like, I still see I'll go to toy show, so go to conventions and all look at it, like people are like I sculpted this, and they're like, no, I put that, Like that's intention. Yeah, there might as well have been his signature on the bottom of it. So you mentioned

Yugi a few times. Who is Ugi? For those who may not now, he's the um owner of a company called m one Go UM. It's a it's a vinyl toy company, and they they primarily do licensed toys of Subariah UM Productions and a Toho so Godzilla, Ultraman, those kind of characters, and like I said, they this Power Rangers, Supers or something. No, no, that's that's that's something different.

But and I've always loved that company UM, and it's it's one of the top things I actually collect UM because he focuses a lot on the weirder characters, the things that you just that were never really made back

in the seventies. And and obviously he makes like new versions of some of the older seventies toys, but it was always is like the fact that he would make figures that just fell in line with the original toys from Bullmark Um and they Bullmark is one of the original UM vinyl toy companies from Japan and POPI uh

that did that? Did like Godzilla toys and things like that. Yeah, yeah, I just saw Eugene Nishi mirror, right and uh, well, of course since you brought up we're gonna stop and talk about Kuang's toy collection, because you know, everyone has a collection in mind when you think of someone's toy collection. But let me tell you my experience of witnessing the glory that is Kwang's toy collection. I was that who was it? Was it a birthday? Christmas party? Knows the

Christmas party? Yesterday's christ All have the best Christmas party? And I am waiting for my invite for this suh man, it's and that secret saying I got sniped. I don't think I'm not still mad about that. It was the it was so good. It was the Mickey Mouse uh toaster where it scores Mickey Mouse ye. And I was like, oh, this is dope. It's gonna be for Naomi. She's good and someone and so just so people understand what we're we're doing Secret Santa in the sense where everyone brings

a gift. It's in the Pilephant, White Elephant. But yeah, it gets pretty pretty vicious. Yeah. So everyone can swap two times, so you and if you know, and everyone can only get stolen from two times, so if after you get stolen from the second time, you're safe. So stolen from once, it was like the last round two

and I was like, I think I'm good. I had this Mickey Mouse toaster and then nope, I someone stole and gave me this creepy doll that's a light and you know it's a cool doll but also very creepy. It comes with a ghost. Yeah. Actually know someone stole the ghost for me because that was because I think that was my first thing. And I was like, oh no, it's almost like, oh no, this is my bag light. But so we go um and uh. I think it was Quang who was like, you want to see my

toy collection. There were like, yeah, we kind of creepy. Yeah yeah, I mean yeah, but I was I was game. After the ghost doll, I'm like, let's go. Uh and we go to like your basement and you turn on a light, and it was the most toys I've seen in one place. And this is someone who's been to melt down, rest in peace. Uh, and like it was just so many and I was like, oh, this is what I need in life. I wish I can have this many dope toys. You know. I was really lucky

that my mom just really didn't throw anything away. Um. And and in all honesty, I've gone through like a lot of different times of collecting. I've I've been collecting like designer Vinyl toys for a very long time. And I actually weirdly went through a phase of where I got so over it when you know, um ebase have took hold of of it, and like the prices just went out of control, uh, you know. And and so I actually stepped away from the hobby for a long time.

And then I took a trip to Japan. And then there's a store kit called and Drack out there, which is you know there there's like it's a chain, there's a few, Yeah, there's a chain. Yeah, there's a chain of them. There's a you know. But the one that I was first introduced to is basically like an eight story mall where each floor is like a different like era of toy wo um and and the shelves are just packed and you can only fit like one person through at a time through the aisles and the prices.

At the time, we're very um good and I basically was just like I'm back in Yeah, you're like this. Yeah, I'm thinking I'm back yeah yeah yeah. And well you know, I I never asked this because you just kind of started doing it. But I mean, you're an artist that you've always been around the toy culture. But when was the moment You're like, I'm jumping in this. Uh, I'm gonna make a toy ro com needs a toy out.

It's it's honestly, um being friends with Quong and uh, you know we we've we've skipped this, but Kwang and I, um, we started this thing with our friend Dja when an animal pin company called Yesterdays and so you started four years ago and slowly we became the official pinmakers for the band The Misfits, for The Walking Dead, comics for Saga, a bunch of a bunch of comic books, and so it takes us to all these comic conventions. Um, but aside from us hanging out all the time for through

through that company. Um Kuang and our friend Justin Justin Ishmael. Um. He he makes really great license toys. Um. He's worked with Famous Monsters Magazine. He's working on a Billy Bob toy right now, which is from show Biz Pizza. It's like and um and also the Deadly On Yeah and so and so they're always painting and working on toys and I'm sitting here, dude, that's supposed to be the artist and I don't have my toy, and some them like,

where's my toy? Yeah? And so, Uh, Jet Jaguar had been a huge thing in my collection, so I wanted to kind of create that thing where um, here's here's my addition to that, you know, because um, I think even if you look at fundmaker Mike from Fun Cooke, he was looking for a Billy Bob bobble head. Uh, I'm not Billy Bob's Big Boy bobble head and um he was on eBay looking at it and it's just so expensive. He's like, for these prices, I'm gonna make one.

And so he went to Bob's Big Boy and he got his first bubble head done and so for me looking for Jett Jaguar toys all the time, I'm like, I'm gonna make my evil version and like I can have all of them. That's so dope. There's so many dope variants too, because you because there's the doom one that we talked about that only I got. Sorry, people keep asking quong To. They're like, yo, like can you do another one? I was like, we can't do if you're wrong, like he's got the one off. Look you know,

I would never be managed all, but don't do that. Yeah, and um, so we are running low on time, but I just want to I guess we'll tr T L d R kind of just some of the basics some of the quick questions we have because there are some things that you know, knowing y'all and talking to you all about toy you know, culture that there's like all these like different things without like quote unquote spilling tea or anything, but just like you know, honor things that

I thought was kind of cool. Like, so, uh, I'm gonna let you guide that one. So I don't like, you know, say too much. So you just mean in collecting and uh everything. Yeah, basically um uh as as a maker, I think there's there's always that thing between you know. When I was getting my toy made, the number one question was like, where's it being made? Is it Jeff Benese as a Chinese, you know, like because some collectors are very particular in that stuff and that

they kind of hate on different things. And what's funny is they don't understand that collectors in Japan don't care if your toys dope. It's dope, and then we're in their collection, and so there's little things like that are interesting, but it's slowly watched away. It's definitely an old school mentality. Well that's so funny because I feel like that happens to a lot of like westernized fandoms because I feel like it's the same way with uh with the anime

questions exactly. It's it's actually something that's being addressed with a lot of people that it is. It is a Western thing that that they definitely see like, hey, like in Japan, they're like, oh, I don't care. You know. I think that the words of fubie was for a long time exclusively used as like high end Japanese kind of thing, and then the people in Japan are like, no,

it's all called food. It's all soft. It's legitimately just soft vinyl, just like anime is literally animation, and people are like, no, it has to be in Japan, it has to look metal, lackwleness. Uh, yeah, that's so crazy. So how is it? Um? So we talked about kind of like the creation as a pain as a paint

or how is how is it for you? Quang? When you like what Obviously I think that the answer to this is going to be like things that look cool to me, but like how do you decide, like, oh, that's a toy that I want to paint, and how do you kind of come up with the design? It comes with textures and a lot of it. You get really high and I mean that because of the there's like a lot of chemicals involved and so you've got to be really careful. Um there's yeah that you have

to wear gloves. There's like you know, after a respirator, you know it's it's not I wouldn't call it dangerous, but there is a lot of chemicals involved and that's something that like as a toy painter, you have to know because there is a responsibility to your customers. And the paint that I use specifically, it's designed for toys,

final toys and chemically bonds um. And that's why when you know, you'll take your your Marvel Legends action figure and you'll paint on it with the critics and it'll just rub off. Well, part of that chemical mixture is making sure this is the right amount of thinner and everything that goes along with it, so that it's just adhering correctly to the figure. Um. And and if you don't, you know, you can spray. You know. I've had guys that will will paint figures with the critics and they're like,

oh clear code them all. But your figures end up like sticky, you know, and like things like that, um that you know, for anybody that buys one of my toys, I like, you know, and Rocom has definitely seen me like like really like toil over this kind of thing where I'm like, oh man, it's not right, Like I need another day to make this perfect because somebody's gonna go home with this and this is my reputation. Um right, you can't have them paying like three dollars take this

thing home and then the paints flaking off. Of it, you know, And so that's something I take very seriously. And so when it comes to like color combinations and various things. When it comes to the toys, I'll just look at something and see how it's textured, what it

vibes with. If there's a lot of like painting something that looks like something else, like your death Jaguar painted to look like Doom because I looked at it and it, you know, it has like this vibe of like the iron mask, you know, um, you know, with the robot face and everything else, and and Doom as a character that I like, I'm I'm a big Jack Kirby fan um. And that's a that's another thing people like a nerd out when they come over, is I have like a

Jackkerby original um. And so you know, I always try to pay homage to those guys, you know, the things that I love. And I think when people look at some of my custom work, they kind of get like if they would like me as a person, you know, like like I try to put a little bit of that in my work to where they might be able to get my personality a little bit more or like oh yeah, he he obviously really likes like John Carpenter

movies or think things like that, like you know, certain references. Yeah, so him well as a good wrap up question, you know, and a good question to give back to the nerd fan listening. One thing that I think you'll notice a lot of if you are inspired by this podcast and you'll start jumping into the game and buying Vinyl toys, because there's a lot of blanks, Like we're talking about

the money's and the other blank figures. So what are some tips calling that you have for it would be artists out there who are like, I'm gonna trying my hand in painting this um blank. After I start with don't you know, I think it's it's a lot of it's doing your research and taking it easy. I so this is this is a weird thing that's from me because I actually, in a strange way, I don't paint

toys that people like. People give me toys to paint, and I obviously like, well I buy them off of them or whatever, but with the awareness that like, I will paint them because well, I guess because I paint toys to sell them, where I guess if you're painting

him to keep yoursel elf. Like that's cool, but if you're buying them to sell them again, I just feel kind of dirty, you know, like like purchasing something from somebody and then I'm basically just painting all over it, you know, and then trying to flip it for more money. That's like I I personally look at that is a little disrespectful to the artist, you know. Where a lot of the artists I work with, I know personally, we

we we talk a lot. I discussed with them what I like because like you know, a lot of the paint jobs I like are like from classic Japanese characters as well. Um, And you know, I'll let them know and and a lot of times we'll be like, oh that's great, I love it. I love the idea, like the way you do things. And then you know, we hit it off and I go and I and I do it all. Um. Where if you're doing it to keep it, then obviously you're allowed to do whatever you want.

But I would really study the medium a lot more than because there's a lot of trial and error. You know. I probably went through like five different air brushes because I just kept busting them and then um and then Eventually it was like, okay, like I just need to sit and study, you know, I really need Like you know, I'm not the guy that's like a savant that just like picks it up and just like it does it.

It's like there's a lot there's a lot of chemistry involved, to be honest with you, um, and you have to kind of be ready for that. You know. You you go into my garage and it smells like kind of like a toxic waste up. And also, I mean we're talking about this this crazy high level end of Sufubi collecting and and blanks and painted runs in that realm, which you'll see a designer can this weekend if you

go to that show. Um. But I think the idea of the blank coming from kid Robot with the money and once I saw Rose Art and different like kids craft companies coming with these little blank plastic toys you can paint on. So it depends on what you're coming at. Like if it's something you're picking up at Target, there's not much to go with, and that may even be

a good way to practice. Our friends actually grab old vinyl dinosaur toys they might find and practice painting on those and that's kind of a good place to start. But it's really just finding the different avenues of where that blank lives and treating the rules differently per per place, because if you find you know, those I think they're doing vinyl Stormtrooper helmets for a while when they brought stuff into Target when the new movies had dropped, and

I mean, you could do whatever you want. You're not going to disrespect anyone, um. Yeah, and that that those those are made for the purpose of like painting on and making some cool stuff. And I think there's a lot of there's a lot to be learned with all that. I just think that before you you jump into it on the deep end, it's like, just practice a lot. You know. It took me a long time to get to the point of like where I'm even confident enough to like put myself out there, um, because a lot

of it is reputation. I don't want to be the guy that's like I remember like when people and I hear it from a lot of guys like I remember when you sucked. You know, I was there. Oh man, Oh well that was dope. That was a lot of info And y'all really just laid it down. I've loved talking Designer Toys. I love talking with y'all. Y'all that the homies, but for the new homies, how much you tell them where they can find you. First of all, thanks for having us on, you know, fans of the show,

and so it's great to actually be in here. We're missing Danny right now. But I caught that crazy jumpsuit. Yeah, it was wild, don't work, it was shining. I was trying to look for that app that makes things for shining good and find but you can find me guy on all social media as ro com r O c O M and uh. My toys will be at the blitz Creek Toys booth next to a lot of Quong's

painted works at Designer kanin Anaheim this weekend. Oh and Quang Yeah, I'll actually be mostly at the Yesterday's An Animal Pin booth and that's booth N and on social media, I'm just photos all of Quong. That's q u A n g yo yo, So definitely check that and you

know me, it's your boy. If you y I F Y n W A d I w E on Twitter and Instagram, if ds on Twitch, come through, drop that free Twitch Prime sub if it's been a month, because you know your boy loves to keep streaming and when y'all do that, and that's how I do that, you know, So don't forget about me. I'll never forget about you. Definitely make sure you hop on the Spotify. I know ro Com hates when I do this just because it's

old music album. As a matter of fact, we're gonna close out this episode with one of his songs, uh, because I remember Close Heart Surgery, I remember, I'll go way back to Box Ninja's, I know all of them. But yeah, like we and always do the things you love, by the things you love. Support your local artists, pay them what they're worth, and stay nerdy on. I'll see you later.