Mr. Gittleman Comes to Town

All photos by David Gittleman

Recently we had a visit from our friend and photographing genius, David Gittleman. Dave is the man behind all the amazing pics you see adorning the packages of the toys produced by McFarlane Toys. He is their main man for visual data and does work on prototype development and product quality control as well.

One of Dave's passions is learning about how things operate. Whether it's an iPod, a camera or a business, he has a true interest in what makes something work.

Combing his razor sharp skill behind the lens with his analytical mindset, Dave has been working on an original project for the last year. This fresh endeavor is an account, both visually and through the written word (and even some video), about how independent artists do their daily business and stay alive.

Dave has been up to the house a total of 2 times now, and we have loved having him visit. This guy really knows his craft, and puts his left handed wits to work around the clock. We are lucky to be involved in his mission to record the crazies at work, and we're really looking forward to visit #3!

Crossed Over and Wrapped Up

SDCC was really fun this year. The Crossover theme brought many creative minds together and some wild work popped out as a result. Getting a chance to meet some of you highlighted the craziness that is the Con. It was great to talk in person and share some time discussing all kinds of topics, especially with the super creative people who keep us going through their dedicated support. I hope my grizzly looks didn't scare you guys too much!

The biggest draw of the Con, for us anyway, is the opportunity to spend time with our friends and customers (who usually also become our friends). Between the crews from Japan, the UK, Canada and all over the USA we had a regular United Nations of toy nuts. I personally feel luckier than ever to be allowed to break bread with such awesome people -on both sides of the table.

Thanks to everyone who made SDCC 2010 such a memorable experience, and Jesse didn't even get arrested!

Phase Assault

Tracker Battle

Last Shots

He's No Good To Me Dead - Episode II

Back at NYCC one of our long time customers (and friend), EatYourChildren, came bearing a incredibly cool gift...a casting of Pheyden encased in Carbonite! Perfect for a companion piece to the Sucklord crossover we released at that very show with the Suckmaster himself! EatYourChildren put some serious thought, energy and effort into this unique and well crafted piece. After getting it home and staring at it on my desk I was inspired to create its natural match. Now accompanying the "Pheydenite" comes the "Sucklorian". Paying homage to a few of our favorite things (Sucklord and some bounty guy), the Sucklorian might be a close Cousin to the inimitable Sucklord himself. Thank you so much EYC for an amazing gift that lives and plays amongst my favorite collection of things. For more info on the work of EatYourChildren, head over to www.eatyourchildren.net and have a look around and see Episode I. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does next!

Deployed

Just about every Custom Corps order has been shipped and should start showing up at their various destinations over the next few days. Just a few last packages to finish up and then I may go into a mini coma. Thanks again for making what was just an experiment into something solid. The next Custom Corps is already under construction......

Kaiju Blasphemy Show

Resin casting madman, KiLL! , put together a custom show recently out in Arizona that centered on his Godamnit vinyl figure. KiLL! got some great contributions for the show and we were very honored to participate. Since two of the little Godamnit figures showed up I had some more options to build. The tinkering resulted in one strange beast! A new creation, Killroth, was born from two Godamnit figures,a bunch of sacrificial Pheydens and six tubes of compound. I tried to blend KiLL!'s style with my own to put a fun twist on our two weird worlds. Killroth can move at the shoulders, elbows, knees and has a secret movable "pelvic jaw" (I know, gross). I think he might be the product of a Madball that married an Inhumanoid, who then gave birth to Killroth in a galactic sewer. Double gross. Big thanks go out to KiLL! for the chance to make some new stuff! Check out his website www.killgraffiti.com for some truly original hand cast resin.

Conversion Rate

Well, that was insane. Huge thanks to everyone who grabbed one of the Custom Corps Wave. I learned quite a bit over the past few days and was reminded again how incredible all of your support is. The final count was double what I had projected and I've been going like a lunatic putting everything together. Because of the extra figures, I won't be shipping until Wednesday so that I can mix all the figures up fairly before the packing begins. I have just a few more to complete before that happens. All the completed figures have been photographed and documented and at some point will be posted. In the interim, here's a few shots from the assortment. Thanks again to all of you for making our latest madness a lot of fun.