That incredible Samus Aran figurine (with LIGHT-UP HELMET and CANNON ARM) is, bafflingly, a customized Celsius vinyl toy, executed by artist Dave Quiles. Look at the details on her Varia suit!
This lovely bounty hunter is just one custom vinyl toy at the Ganmettal Celsius Custom Show, which opened July 10 at LA’s Toy Art Gallery.
The show also featured at least one Mega Man custom (well, duh, right?).
Last week, I was pretty startled by the sudden appearance of two new Kidrobot plush bears (PJ Berri and Sweety Bancha) right here in my workplace.
Maybe I didn’t quite recognize them immediately, but each of these heavy-lidded teddies is based on the art of one Rodney Greenblat, better known to video game-goers as the guy behind the distinctive look of PaRappa the Rapper and UmJammer Lammy.
PJ Berri and Sweety Bancha retail at about US$30 each.
Last-instant edit: Damn! GameSetWatch totally covered this yesterday.
Following up on his nightmarishly awesome Mushroom Kingdom on Crack action figures, toysmith Donald of KodyKoala returns with a custom Wario action figure. And this villain is built like the Bluto of brick shithouses—Mario and Peach better watch out.
“I never realized how feminine a guy could look with purple overalls,” Donald writes at his blog, “until I started to paint him. Luckily I was able to darken up the purple, and make it a bit more masculine.”
Donald of KodyKoala is a formidably prolific crafter; his more recent custom Animal Crossing Qees are as cute as pie.
But Donald’s “Mushroom Kingdom on Crack” custom trio of action figures are absolutely terrifying. Filed under “nightmares.”
Nissie of Deadcraft made a ton of incredible Metroid amigurumi last year for a customer, and I didn’t know about it (this seems to be the trend).
Nissie also handcrafted the absolute cutest little metroid you’ve ever seen.
You know, if I read the Roto Forums every day like I claim I do, I would’ve known about and lusted for these Reactor-88 custom dunnies way back in March errr, three weeks ago. Like, at least.
In the comments, Touch My Pixel’s Tarwin Stroh-Spijer says,
The [Scarygirl] game is almost ready to play (going through final approvals), but in the meantime we’ve got this juicy final trailer for you, which should show a lot more of the game than you saw last time.
The Melbourne-based Touch My Pixel team has worked well over a year to bring the art (and toys) of Nathan Jurevicius to life. Scarygirl, a browser-based 2D platformer, will star everyone’s favorite eyepatched heroine in 14 levels of gameplay—which include, according to Tarwin, “platforming and adventure elements, as well as physics-based bike riding and even a street Street Fighter style fighting game.”
I cannot wait for this to come out.
You probably already saw these on Kotaku and Vinyl Abuse, but because I love them, here they are again: CASTLE CRASHERS TOYS.
The artist decided to customize vinyl Teddy Troops figures. With the Troops’ faces smoothed over with Sculpey, they bear (hur!) an uncanny resemblance to the heroes of Castle Crashers. Aside from the Knights’ admirably strong brows, I think the renderings of the little pets are the best part.
No more toys! I insisted to myself last week. I was miserable. My bedroom, once spotless, is now cluttered with lidless boxes, each one full of tiny gashapon. I’d simply shelve the toys, but my shelves are already unhappily stacked with boxes full of Toy Collection 2006.
Poorhouse, meet my total lack of resolve. Because here they are, folks: ridiculously articulated figures from the Gyakuten Saiban series (including Ema Skye and Trucy, both from Apollo Justice).
Ema is my favorite. Forensic science is rad, and look how detailed her satchel is.
I can’t wait to get my hands on these, but no word yet on when, where, or how.
Don’t Panic, in association with Sony, has launched the LittleBigPlanet Character Creation Competition!
In this contest, entrants create designs for the game’s Sackboy and Sackgirl characters. To compete, simply download a Sackboy template, doodle on top of it, and submit! Not only will the prizewinner receive a PS3 and a copy of the game, he can also look forward to limited fame and moderate notoriety: the winning character design will be included in Sony’s UK marketing blitz.
Maybe more thrillingly, Vinyl Abuse has announced they will turn their own favorite entry into a limited-edition six-inch figure.
The top ten entries will be determined by user votes; from there, the winning entry will be decided by Don’t Panic’s judges. So even the artistically disinclined can participate in the competition by voting. The competition closes on August 4, so hurry!
Recent reconnoitering of the Rotofugi webstore turned up this gem. Erick Scarecrow’s Soopa Coin-Up Bros. figure 
is, essentially, an arcade cabinet with feet. And at US$30, it is blank and consummate for the stroke of your genius.
To accommodate the less artistic, of course, Soopa comes prepackaged with lots of stickers.
But prepare to be totally inspired! More than 30 gorgeous custom figures were exhibited at the “Soopa Show” (which coincided with New York Comic Con this past April). Most of those Soopa customs are truly works of art, to be sure, but Jude Buffum’s “Cock Blocker” is maybe the raddest:
Splendid! (The i am 8-bit curator already bought it.)
The Ninjatown cast of characters is already pretty diverse: there’s a Zombie Ninja, an Anti-Ninja, even a Baby Ninja. But what if you could design your own ninja? A Chef Ninja, a Bunny Ninja, a Ninja Librarian…?
Shawn Smith’s Plushform is a blank, customizable canvas, a DIY ‘plush’ toy that shares the Wee Ninja’s iconic silhouette. And at 20 bucks, he’s pretty cheap.
Plushform launches tonight, June 27, at Rotofugi in Chicago. For the event, artists from around the world have customized their own Plushform, which will be on exhibit in the store’s gallery space. If you live in or near Chicago, there’s really no excuse to not go.
Rotofugi Designer Toy Store and Gallery
1955 W. Chicago Ave., Chicago
June 27, 6-9 P.M. (CST)
Earlier:
We’ve been thrilled about Shawn Smith’s Ninjatown DS game ever since we first heard about it through the grapevine. Ninjatown is based on Shawnimal’s line of plush ninja toys.
To be sure, the pixelicious sprites do blocky justice to Shawn’s character art. But is the game any good?
Kotaku’s Leigh Alexander sat down for a hands-on preview of the game, and from her description, Ninjatown sounds like a real-time strategy based on the “tower defense” template, like PixelJunk Monsters and Desktop Tower Defense before it. (And yes, she says, it’s good.)
DS owners can expect to push shinobi this October.
