Ah, Dead Zebra Inc.’s has brought us a plague personified! The Giver of Disease is a wonderful little toy.
He comes bearing the Soup Dumpling of Doom!
And the back view makes me laugh…
There is also a Giver of War.
Category: toys
-
-
The absolutely incredible retroCRUSH (a treasure trove of vintage goodness) actually featured the obscenely artificial Baby Alive food packets I recently mentioned.
Here they are, shown in mixed glory on the refill packets (I remember the “Yummy Banana” having a distinct bright yellow shade though):
And now for your additional amusement, a Baby Alive comic, a.k.a. advertisement, also from retroCRUSH (click to enlarge):
I love the final exclamation: “WE EVEN GET TO CHANGE HER DIAPER!” Oh kiddies, just wait…I don’t speak from experience, but I’m pretty sure the act of diaper changing does not remain thrilling privilege it appears to be.
-
Okay, we all know that THE original bad*ss doll was Talky Tina from the Twilight Zone.
I had Baby Alive, which was only slightly less terrifying because it didn’t possess the power to kill. I remember mixing the “food,” which came in three blindingly unnatural shades of red, yellow and green gel. After spoon feeding, the substance would drip through the doll and into the diaper. Even as a toddler, the sight of neon gel dripping from my doll’s nether regions was disturbing.
Do you dare to remember?
Now, Baby Alive is back
, with a modern (though no less uncomfortable) twist on her appearance:
On a related note, I came across this commercial for Baby Laugh-a-Lot, whose frozen open mouthed grin and maniacal cackle put Talking Tina and Baby Alive to shame. Even the children in the ad look shocked and miserable as they whip their head around to see where the awful racket is coming from.
Anyone have a favorite old toy which is, in retrospect, absolutely unholy?
-
I’ve got toys on the brain today, perhaps because I’m heading to the Wacko Toy Swap and Sale tomorrow.
One Up is releasing a very limited edition “Inc Bear” later this month; a wonderful item for vinyl toy collectors. The very sight of him instantly piques one’s curiosity.
Curious about the face on his behind? It will all make sense if you watch this one minute clip about the bear’s origin (that fateful day when a blob of infectious black ooze pounces on an unsuspecting bear, overtakes its body and merges with it):
Inc Bear even has glow in the dark details:
It looks like a really well done piece. Too bad the release is so limited.
-
These pictures are stunning. Deviant Artist apricot8585 has a little gallery of Alice in Wonderland characters, rendered in colorful Japanese style.
I could stare at these forever; so much detail.
I *highly recommend* looking at the rest of her gallery and checking out the full image sizes.
And for fellow Alice in Wonderland fans, here are a few fun related things…
Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass
Jan Svankmajer’s Alice
American McGee’s Alice
American McGee’s Alice Score
Alice in SunderlandThe American McGee’s action figures
-
Expert toy customizer Cris Rose has designed one of the most unique figures I’ve seen this year: the Runcible, hand painted with resin casting. Click photos to enlarge.
Each Edition has something different cast into the clear head, the visual representation of what Runcible is thinking of, as he has no voice.
Isn’t that wonderful? I’m just glad my own head doesn’t work that way.
Rose’s grandfather, a radio repairman, was the inspiration for the series. He says
“Edition A “Grandfather” contains an original 1940/50s radio part of my Grandfather’s – unique and beautiful in it’s own way. I have a limited number of these parts that I’m willing to part with as part of this project, some pristine, some decalyed, but 1 will be incorporated each time an Edition is released. As you can imagine, the uniqueness and sentimental value of this piece is high.”
I love this concept. When my grandmother passed away, it meant a lot to me to keep pieces of her costume jewelry (worth nothing monetarily) for use in future handmade jewelry and art projects. It’s a small slice of immortality and tribute that I find quite meaningful.
More pictures of the process and finished Runcible sculptures are on Cris Rose’s site, along with an impressive gallery of other custom works.
And one of my favorite blogs, Toys R Evil has more photos and information (including the fictional story/bio of Runcible).
-
The esteemed, or shall I say eSTEAMED Doktor A is without question one of the finest toy modifiers out there. I love his work so much that it’s nearly impossible to choose examples to post.
I do have a special love for this little fellow:
Isn’t this the most stunning custom toy collection?
I highly recommend browsing all sections of Spookypop to see his creations.
(The above is dedicated to my father, who has an unnaturally virulent hatred for the Pillsbury Dough Boy). -
Every year as Halloween approaches, I invariably come up with some outlandish costume ideas, and some incredibly minimalist cheesy cop outs. Here we have the latter…the best useless product I’ve seen in a while:
I think I could parlay these babies into a Halloween costume. What special powers do they endow me with? Wouldn’t you like to know?
I have to get my hands on some Party Rats (no pun intended).
From Nerd Aprroved
-
When I was a child, I wrote a story in which a group of moths kept a collection of humans pinned to trees in a remote part of the forest. It seemed like poetic justice, given the human penchant for displaying collections of dead things.
I had a pang of nostalgic thrill when I saw the new animation by Rotofugi, the wonderful toy store and gallery.
I can’t embed the clip, but watch it on NOTCOT (which is, incidentally, a great site).
-
Allow me a childish moment, if you will. Months ago I made Sparky, my pet neuron. I just found out that Giant Microbes (a company I love dearly), now makes THIS!
Let’s take a look side by side, shall we?
Sparky:
Giant Microbes Brain Cell:
It’s not like they ripped me off. The plush neuron is simply an idea that has reached it’s proper time for creation in the order of the universe.
The child in me pouts at the fact that I seem to be forever JUST ahead of this order. I make strange products, only to discover that someone else has independently created a nearly identical product…and is reaping serious financial benefit as my version sits happily on a shelf or wall, reaping dust and the occasional entertained smirk from visitors.
SheWalksSoftly 