RAMPAGE TOYS and ART

This Week's Stuff

2012-01-23T23:59:00.000-08:00

GOOD EVENING! Well,...it's evening for me - who knows where you are!

This week sees the release of two most excellent runs of toys - both of which are collaborations that I've been excited about for some time!

1) RAMPAGE x Blurble "Pretty Ugly Unicorns"! Mike (Blurble) painted up a sweet little run of Ugly Unicorns last week. He's releaseing them in his on-line shop this Thursday at 12 noon PST. They were painted using all sorts of color change and metallic paints from Monster Kolor! I, personally cann't wait to get my hands on one.

Here are pics on Blurble's Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kidtv/

And Blurble's BigCartel: http://toxickaiju.bigcartel.com/

2) RAMPAGE x Splurrt "Guardian Daemon Cadaver Kids"!!! SOOO Psyched for this batch of vinyl! I'm still working on these dudes, but here's the info:

What: Run of 10 Cadaver Kids - painted with a brain-melting araay of sprays and brush-work. I'll have these done by Wednesday (Japan Time).

When: Releasing in my BigCartel on Friday morning (Japan time - which will be night time on Thursday in the states) Teaser!

Next week will see yet another really exciting release! Stay Tuned!

Cute Attack!

2012-01-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

Hey there all you super keen people ;-)

Wow! So much going on now - I do't know where to start. How about with this Friday's release in zee shoppe!

For Superfestival I painted up a run of Kikkake's cute little Bears (Kuma-chan). They all departed for new homes at the event! However, at Sufes I also recieved more bears and more elephants from Kikkake, and I set to work on them over the past week. So, this Friday will see a nice sized drop of painted and blank Zou-chan (elephants) and Kuma-chan (bears)!

Here's what will be up in the shop this Friday:

"Starburst Clan Zou-chan" - run of 10 - lots of sprays and details on turquoise vinyl

"Strawberry Ears Kuma-chan" - made to order. I only have 10 bears, so I'm offering the choice of one painted OR one blank figure

Here's what the blank little guys look like ^_^

These will all appear sometime in the morning hours (US time) this Friday (1/20/2012). I have yet ANOTHER release panned for next week, and the week after that! Teasers coming soon ;)

Post-Sufes 58

2012-01-10T23:44:00.000-08:00

To all who followed on twitter and instagram - and especially to all who attended Superfestival 58 - THANK YOU! The event was a great success for RAMPAGE TOYS, and I believe it was one of the most well attended and altogether successful SF's in a while! Indy Sofubi IS NOT DEAD, and people in Japan seem to be gaining more and more interest in the creations of Japanese and non-Japanese Indy sofubi makers alike. This show made me really excited for 2012 - I'm already looking forward to the next Sufes in April!

below are a few shots of the RAMPAGE TOYS table, and some other stuff. There are bundles of pictures on my Flickr as well as a VERY VERY in depth report of the event over on my Buddy Andy's Blog (Kaiju Korner). Andy did such a thorough job of covering the event - it would be silly for me to attempt to do the same! Here are some of my pics:

"Zee Rampage Booss"
Ilanena-san with some vintage Starwars awesomeness (in front of his table)
Some Card-Monster and Ugly Unicorn Comradery

Ilanena Custom UU's! A taste of the (maybe near, maybe distant) future!

All of the remaining items from the show (Ugly Unicorns, Collab stuff, etc.), will be in the shop tomorrow, January 11th - early morning time in America - late night time in Japan ;-)

Here's the shop:

http://rampagetoysandart.bigcartel.com

Next up - more Kikkake Elephants and Bears, and then some REALLY exciting stuff! Who likes things that glow in the dark - I DO!

SUPERFESTIVAL 58!

2011-12-26T23:49:00.000-08:00

Today I depart fropm the Snowy North (Akita - Japan), and board a train for Tokyo! Ahead are plans for some hanging out, toy perusing, a visit to Studio Uamou, Shinto Gangu, Mandarake, etc. - and a nice trip to Kyoto for some 'other' culture as well.

At the end of the trip we will return to Tokyo for SUPERFESTIVAL 58! I'll be laoding my little 1 meter table with tons of Sofubi Toys - Ugly Unicorns and Collaborations galore!

Here are pics - I'll let them do the talking:

Clear X-ray Ugly Unicorns:
"Snowgon Ugly Unicorns" :

COLLABORATIONS (rampage paintwork on other designers figures):

Chima Group Bolo:

Kikkake Kuma-chan (little bears):

Velocitron Ghouls:

Chima Group Tnegallon:

Come to Tokyo! Should be AWESOME!

RAMPAGE x Imps and Monsters MANOTAUR!

2011-12-21T22:30:00.000-08:00

Hello Toy People!

Update time! A couple quick-fire posts coming right up!

1st off - RAMPAGE is teaming up with Justin Hillgrove (Imps and Monsters - http://www.impsandmonsters.com/) to release a very cool new Sofubi figure - the MANOTAUR! The sculpt was done by Justin himself, and it has already been recieved at the wax/mold workshop here in Japan. We're looking at a spring release - hopefully at Justin's booth at this year's Emeral City Comic Con in Seattle!

This guy will stand around 8 inches tall - he's pretty bulky too! Here's the sculpt:

This toy is being made here in Japan - with the super high quality vinyl we are all getting used to seeing - and prep for releases will be done primarily 'in house' in the RAMPAGE TOYS' studio - here in Japan as well. I will be painting the realeases, and Justin and I will both host sales of the figure on each of our websites/shops. Also expect small and unique painted runs on occaison - from both Justin and myself.

Here's a little info about this dude (written by Justin)- gives you a feel for the character and Justin's sense of humor

"The Manotaur roams the world in search of something he can’t quite remember. In fact, ever since he invited that fire spirit into his head he’s had trouble concentrating on little other than catering to his countless neuroses and consuming anything with the word “gummy” in the description. In any case, he’s pretty sure he’s forgetting something really important..."

Here's a digital doodle that Justin did for this fellah - SWEET!

I'm psyched for this release! Hope you all dig this dude :-)

Playing Catch-Up

2011-11-29T18:01:00.000-08:00

OK... way behind on the blog! Things are moving right along with the Ugly Unicorn and life in Japan - and time is flying by so fast!

The fall shows were great - NYCC and Design Festa! Most of those toys are off in the hands of the UU faithful (Thanks People!).

Anyway, here are some pics of recent Ugly Unicorn releases. There are still a few items up in ye olde shoppe, and more to come soon as well!

Some customs that came out of the woodwork for Design Festa (in Tokyo a couple weeks back). The fleshy fellow in the foreground awaits a warm(-er) home - it's frickin' cold here in Northern Japan!
Design Festa Exclusive "Original Ugliness" Unicorns! Did a run of 5 in this colorway.
"Army of Brightness" Uglies! These guys were a bit of work indeed... But I'm psyched on them - nice bright sprays over black vinyl. As I'm writting this, you can still grab one of these fellows here.

Up next is a release that I'm SUPER excited about! I'm teaming up with KFHC (Kentucky Fried Hardcore) for a very very cool UU release! These guys will be coming up just in time for Christmas - and there's a bit of a surprise in the works ;-)

Lot's more coming for 2012 and beyond!

BOO! Halloween is Coming!

2011-10-26T00:16:00.000-07:00

It's that time of years again - ghosts and goblins and all that sort of stuff!

So, what better time to get some paint going on some fresh sofubi?

I managed to pull together a nice little pie of goodies - all of which will go live in the shop on Halloween - sometime in the morning (around 11AM EST I'm thinking... depends on how late I'm up here in Japan!).

PICTURES!

GID micro-run - edition of 5! These will come bagged and carded with GID screen printed header cards (not done yet :-P ). Lots and lots of work went into these guys - setenciling, brushwork and the like:

Customs - some of the more detailed customs yet! I've been messing with paper accessories and more masking techniques - basically having fun! There will be 3 Ugly Unicorns and 1 Adult sized RxH Mutant figure up in the shop:

Last, but not least - I have not forgotten my resin roots! I'll soon be releasing some new resin minis into the wild - a new MUSCLE mash-up and a new Monster in my Pocket (MIMP) mash up. More details soon, but here's a little picture of what's done so far (being cast up by Monstrehero - Cliff - in all sorts of wild colors, like candy!):

After NYCC and CCM! Only one UU left Standing!

2011-10-22T21:29:00.000-07:00

Hello people out there in the internets!!!

So, NYCC was a big old success, and a very great first Stateside outting for the Little Ugly Unicorn Fellah! The figures at the Lulubell booth went like hotcakes upon releasing on Friday, and the Tenacious Toys' release trickled down to just one remaining! (NOTE- join the mailing list if you are interested in having a chance at grabbing that last TT Ugly!) Not sure who noticed, but there was a tiny little surprise at the Tenacious Toys' Booth as well - the clear blue guys were split 50/50 orange and yellow eyes - a little variant fun ;-)

The two eye variants at TT's booth looked like this:

And some pics of the little blue guys in place at the con! Thanks to Kris Dulfer (Kid Ink Industries) for posting the pictures on Facebook! Awesome to see the Uglies in the company of such greats as Bob Conge's (Plaseebo) Molezilla!

And then there were the pieces at the Cotton Candy machine in Brooklyn! I was happy to see people postin pics around of these guys - and I really dig the pastel colors. Not sure how many there were (or how many went off to new homes), but here's a shot of one of the two variants. The other is just a switcheroo - blue legs and pink-ish top. I'll be getting some of these at some point, so keep your eyes peeled for updates if you want one but were unable to attend the SUPER COOL show at the CCM.

Another exciting bit of news - Andy, of Kaiju Korner fame, put together a great review of the Ugly Unicorn! He took some great pictures (and wrote very flatteringly) of the little 'Poppy Goji' dude! Here's a picture I stole from Andy's blog - so cool! Head over to the blog to read the full review, here:

http://kaijukorner.blogspot.com/2011/10/kk-reviews-ugly-unicorn.html

Last, but not least - NEW STUFF! I'm almost done with the Halloween Ugly Uicorns! These guys are done on GLOW IN THE DARK vinyl, and will feature bundles of stenciling and brush-work! Dropping on Halloween - here's a teaser:

Cotton Candy Machine!

2011-10-12T20:07:00.000-07:00

Just a real quick note! There will be a very limited number of exclusive UGLY UNICORNS (I think 5) available at the Cotton Candy Machine's Friday evening partay! There will, of course, also be loads of other awesome things! I highly recommend checking it out if you are in NYC this weekend. All the info is here

http://www.thecottoncandymachine.com/events/show/cherry-vinyl

NYCC - Why are you so far away?...

2011-10-12T19:47:00.000-07:00

Yeah, all whining aside, NYCC should be ROCKIN' this year! Folks like Paul Kaiju, MVH, Plaseebo, Skinner, Lulubell Toys, Tenacious Toys and many many more are all bringing in some AMAZING stuff! Really, it's good I can't go - I'll save a ton of money ^_^

Anyway, the Ugly Unicorn will be there, and he'll also make a rather stout appearance in the RAMPAGE TOYS BigCartel site! I'll be dropping, a micro-run, some customs and some paintings (and a few other choice this and thats) on Thursday (10/13) at ~8PM EST (basically - when I wake up here in Japan on 10/14)!!!!! So, set an alarm, and hit the shop tomorrow evenening for a mini "Rampage-NYCC" release! Here are some pics:

The shop is HERE

New York Comic Con!

2011-10-06T01:56:00.000-07:00

Greetings All!

So, things are moving right along here - still getting acclimated to the life of a 'very-little-japanese-speaking-foreigner-living-in-Japan'... :-) But it's all good! I've got my little studio all up and running, and I've been having loads of fun with my new Airbrush! I'm also trying to get in the swing of using some gouache paints - very cool stuff - very unique painting experience!

Anyway, as most who are reading this undoubtly are aware, New York Comic Con is just arround the corner! There is going to be sooo much amazing stuff in the Javitz Center this year! ...it's a shame I can't make the trip. BUT, I did mail a nice little box to my good friend Benny (Tenacious Toys), and inside of that box is a bundle of painted toys! The UGLY UNICORN will make its first stateside con debut in two locations and in two (or more ;-) ) separate forms:

1)Tenacious Toys (Benny) will host a run of 10 Ugly Unicorns in booth 876 (along with Toy2R). These guys have clear blue and metallic blue spray over top of clear vinyl! Super Fun to paint, and Great fun to photograph too! These will come with some signed and editioned screen prints for the header cards. $42 each - first come first serve - ONLY 1 PER PERSON!

2)Lulubell Toys (Luke) will host a run of 5 Ugly Unicorns in booth 589. These guys have bright blue hair and some sleepy eyes over top of bright yellow vinyl, and they alse come bagged with editioned screen printed header cards! $42 each - first come first serve - ONLY 1 PER PERSON!

In additon to the 2 mini-runs of UGLY, you might just find a custom one-off Ugly and one of the elusive crystal clear Ugly Unicorns (...I suggest looking at the Tenacious Toys Booth ;-). Benny will also have some other RAMPAGE TOYS goodies mixed in with his stuff, so have a look-see!

There is also something in the works for an on-line release - maybe DURRING NYCC? If you are on the Ugly Unicorn mailing list, you'll be the first to hear the details, so feel free to shoot me an e-mail (rampage.toys@yahoo.com) to be added!

Next up - customs and Fall/Halloween! And then, in November, is Design Festa at the Tokyo Big Site (Odaiba)! I'll be there with Datadub - and a bundle of Ugly Unicorns, paintings, and the like!

Quick Post SF Hit!

2011-09-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks!

Superfestival has come and gone, and I'll do a full-on write up about it (and the Bwana show at gargamel) soon. But here's a quick note to let you know that SF Exclusives that are still remaining are now available in the Rampage Toys BigCartel shop! Go ahead and check them out here:

http://rampagetoysandart.bigcartel.com/

Ugly Hath Arrived on the Scene!

2011-09-15T02:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Folks! Time for a quick update before I jump on the night bus - headed for Tokyo!

The UGLY UNICORN is in full swing! I got the first box of blank vinyl 2 days ago, and yesterday was a day of nothing by painting! I'm excited beyond belief that this project is happening, and I'm also psyched on the first painted runs.

So, without further delay, here are pictures:

Bag of candy! The whole house smelled like vinyl for hours :-D

The airbrush studio - ready to go!

Two painted runs for SUPERFESTIVAL on the 25th in Tokyo! "Allsorts Liquorice Ugly" and "Poppy Goji Ugly"!!! I had a blast painting these and can't wait to paint more - for NYCC ;-)

Did some simple painted and screen printed headers for these two releases. I love header cards - it makes a toy into a 'whole package' for me!

If you're in Tokyo on the 25th come by and say 'hi' at Superfestival - and get a chance to grab these figures first! Leftovers will go up in the shop on the 27th in the morning - also known as the 26th in the evening/night in America ;-) E-mail reminders will go out to the mailing list.

One last note - pre-ordered blanks will go out in the mail on Friday!

Thanks for stopping by the blog and reading up on UGLY's progress!

Making a Sofubi - How it all works!

2011-09-03T07:39:00.000-07:00

OK, so, perhaps some of you have checked out the blog, and you get the resin thing, but aren't into the vinyl - or maybe you ARE into vinyl - regardless, for anyone on either side (or both sides) of the coin, perhaps you haven't gotten the full story on how the whole vinyl production process works. There are many steps to making a vinyl figure (no matter where you do it), and this summer I finally got the full story laid out in front of me - almost entirely all first hand; as a result of the UGLY UNICORN project. I can finally say I have seen just about every step in the process of making a Japanese soft vinyl (sofubi) toy, and I've taken pictures and videos along the way - So, I figure it's time to share! The process is VERY hands-on - at every step there is a craftmans/artist/artisan working with raw material and creating an item. There is next to no machinery involved, and that which is used is operated by one person. The figures produced are, in my mind, as hand-made as any resin figure - though the processes and materials are slightly different. The experience of making a figure has been SUPER eye-opening, and makes me appreciate my own collection just that much more!

...but I digress...

Without further adieu, here it is, an intensive multimedia overview: "Making a Sofubi Start to Finish"

1)You need an idea! Let's say a painting/drawing - a character essentially. For example the Ugly Unicorn --->

2)A sculpt needs to be done. Normally this is done in clay (sometimes in wax - depending on the preferences of the artist doing the sculpting). This is generally refered to as the "Clay Proto" (Clay Prototype) - it's your master copy of your figure and should basically be the final form of your figure once completed. Here's part of the Ugly Unicorn - sculpted in clay - and visible behind him, a clay proto by Paul Kaiju - his Seagool --->

3)A wax casting is needed of your figure in order for a metal mold to be made. For the Ugly Unicorn, this piece looked like this... --->

....and it was made by the following process:

3a)The clay proto is molded (usually with silicone - the same material used for resin figures' molds). This is the mold for the UGLY UNICORN --->

3b)Wax is poured into the mold - giving you the 'Rough Wax Proto' (Wax Prototype).

3c)The rough wax proto is smoothed and made nice and shiny - like the one shown above. The finish on this piece will be the finish on your final vinyl casts, so this step is SUPER important! Artists like Ricky Wilson (Velocitron - http://www.velocitron.org/), and Luke (Lulubell Toys/ Grody Shogun - http://www.lulubelltoys.com/) work in small studios in Japan (many being in Tokyo - it is the epicenter of this process), to help artists take their designs from concept to toy. These guys do A LOT of work on the wax for figures designed by artists in many countries (Japan and the US being a couple of the larger contributors), and they also make their own awesome creations! On top of it all, these are the guys doing all of the brokering with the factories (building relationships, ordering liquid vinyl, and getting in orders so artists get figures for events like SDCC and NYCC). Ricky and Luke in particular are working hard to keeep the torch burning in the Japanese Soft vinyl scene - putting new stuff out and promoting and assisting others who wish to do the same - HUGE thanks to these guys for what they are doing! Here they are; hard at work in their studio ("The Fort") - smoothing wax during a hot day in Tokyo this past August --->

4)The wax proto is very gingerly handed over to the mold maker, who makes the final (and damn near immortal) metal mold for the figure. This process involves: a)electro-coating the wax proto with copper, b)melting the wax out from inside the mold (yep - hours and hours of work... melted and swept away in seconds...), c)welding the copper mold to a steel frame for use in the factory/workshop where the vinyl will be cast (note - the balance of the mold is SUPER important, so this is no slap-dash welding job!). This is the one stage where I was not able to see things as they were done... However, here are some molds that were used to make some really popular figures for this year's Sandiego Comic Con (the Cannibal F**kface), and for one of my favorites - UAMOU! --->

5)The mold is given to the factory that will casts the figures, and they get started! First they have to do some testing of the mold, which results in 'Vinyl Test Pulls" - which are usually done in stock colors (flesh, white, black for example). Once these guys sort out things like the cure time for the mold and the best way to pour and cure the vinyl, they can start pulling figures like mad! And that's where we hit the "Multimedia" portion of our 'lesson' :-P Here is a video that I pulled together with footage from a recent trip I took to Takahashi-san's vinyl factory - near Kamaeri in Tokyo. It's up on YouTube, and it seems to be working just fine, so please enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cHuU_cKD0M

What an amazing experience - going and actually watching some really AWESOME toys being made (some of Luke's figures)!!!! And again - thank you Ricky (Velocitron) for making it happen! Here's a little snapshot-sample of what they were making that day --->

6)The figure is in production! I haven't gotten any shots of the production runs of the Ugly Unicorn (red and yellow casts - coming right up!), but the test shots are in the post bellow! Also, James - over on the Grass Hut Message Bored (spelling is correct!) - put together some cool photoshoped images to get a feel for the colored casts of the Ugly Unicorn, and one thing that isn't doin the previous post is the following picture - which shows the foot-stamps (company name, where it's made and the figure name are all common on foot-stamps. They are either carved into the wax proto or actually 'stamped' on using metal stamps - similar to what are used on a paper printing press) --->

7)Of course then there are all of the other things that follow the actual 'manufacturing' of the solid colored casts. Painting (or hiring out someone to paint for you), finding shops to stock your stuff, going to shows, networking and internetting about your art/toys/figures (however you wish to call them ;-) )... Suffice it to say - it doesn't end here. But this post is ending!

I hope you enjoyed reading about this process! Like I said above - it's been an INCREDIBLE and eye-opening experience to produce my first Japanese sofubi figure! I look forward to painting the coming casts and to making more in the near future!

UGLY LIVES!!!

2011-08-31T23:31:00.000-07:00

I just got the pictures of the Vinyl Test Shot for the UGLY UNICORN! Very Exciting :-D This flesh cast looks so nice and shiny, and it makes me psyched for the red and yellow that should be up late next week from Tokyo!

Pre-orders are staying up in the shop for another week (until 9/9 in America), or until they sell out (whichever comes first). Following that I will be starting on the painted runs for Superfestival in Tokyo on September 25th, and also the pieces for New York Comic Con in October! More info on releases and all that very soon! Here's the figure!

Grab your blank yellow or red figures here: http://rampagetoysandart.bigcartel.com/

UGLU UNICORN Pre-Sale Going Live!

2011-08-16T15:21:00.000-07:00

It's an extraordinarily exciting time for me right now; having moved to Japan, and now announcing the official release of my very first Soft Vinyl Toy! I hope some of you guys like this little fellah, as I'm SUPER Excited to make more already!

Here is all the info you need:

'Pre-sale goes live on Tuesday 8/16 @ 8pm EST (5pm West Coast or Wednesday 8/17 @ 9am Japan Time) in the SHOP.

A little more back-story: The UGLY UNICORN (アグリーユニコーン ) is a mysterious creature believed to come from a planet where cake and frosting are the main source of sustenance. Via some semingly random circumstances (a wormhole perhaps?) he has come to earth and now seeks the only thing that can keep him alive - CAKE! Due to his absurdly rediculous size (measured by scientist to be somewhere around 75' - depending on his food intake at time of measurement), UGLY tends to make a mess of his search for food; destroying things and leaving rubble in his wake.

Each figure is made in Japan, measures slightly over 5 inches in height and will come bagged and header carded. I'm releasing the first two colors (unpainted) at the same time. Red and Yellow! The color swatches in the attached pics should match the Pantone requests I put in. I have been told to expect the casts by the end of August. 15 of each blank color-way. Painted one-offs and small runs will starting being available at SUPERFESTIVAL in Tokyo on September 25th!'

Many thanks to all the folks who have checked out, voiced interest, blogged about or otherwise helped in getting word out about this thing! YOU ROCK!

Also, I'll get a post up soon that details the ENTIRE process of sofubi production - start to finish - sculpt to vinyl casts - including PLENTY of photos and VIDEO! Have to make use of my new video editing software ;-) I just have to sort out my 'alien registration' stuff first!

UGLY PROTO

2011-08-09T07:04:00.000-07:00

OK - quickest post EVER! I got pics from Velocitron of the WAX proto for the UGLY UNICRON sofubi figure! PSYCHED! Pre-sale in the shop soon for blanks - bright yellow and red, HEADER carded!!! Here are the pics!

THE GREAT JOURNEY BEGINS!

2011-07-23T17:25:00.000-07:00

Hello all you most excellent people! This will be one of the last posts from a computer residing within the United States because I’m about to move to JAPAN!!! That’s right, RAMPAGE TOYS is up and moving to the ‘Toy Mecca,’ the home of Godzilla, Heddorah, King Ghidorah, and all those other great Giant Monsters – not to mention the birthplace of all the greatest Soft Vinyl toys EVER!

Not to worry though, this move only means great things for production. I’ll try to keep on top of the small resin releases. I’ll also be moving into the world of Soft Vinyl – releasing the UGLY UNICORN around the end of August! If you are in Japan, look for me at some of the upcoming shows – I’ll be at Super Festival with Velocitron (Ricky Wilson – who is doing the production work in Tokyo for the UGLY UNICORN) and his fellow Sofubi Producer ILANENA, and I’ll get more information up about that as soon as I have it! What I know now is that I’ll have a spread of OG paintings,Prints, Resin Toys and the first release of UGLY!!!

Since I’m outta here in only 2 weeks, I figured it’s a good time to get one last batch of work up in the shop! So, I’ll be adding some small paintings and some mini resin figures on Monday – July 25th – around 12 Noon Eastern Time (as I’m currently ON the East Coast). Here’s a little taste of what I’ll be adding to the shop:

A RAINBOW of Flex Packs. The last batch of the Flex Packs will come in 6 solid colors, all cast by me - RAMPAGE TOYS. The first sets I personally casts, the only sets to be cast in opaque resin and the last sets that will be made!

Another 'final batch' - the last release of the Cupcake Buddha V2.0! If you've been waiting to grab one (or another) of these guys, here's the last chance! V3.0 is in its infancy - perhaps late this year? Perhaps Vinyl? ;-)

Booska LOVES Cupcakes! So, yeah, he NEEDS Ramen Noodles to survive, but that doesn't men he doesn't love cupcakes! This is one of the pieces I did for the show at Cakespy in May. 5x7 - Pen, Watercolor and Acrylics on Archival Paper.

Another one of the pieces I did for the show at Cakespy in May; this is part of a series of 5 paintings - all with the same 'apple a day' theme. 5x7 - Pen, Watercolor and Acrylics on Archival Paper.

I'm sure I'll get one last update up before I head out of the country, so keep your eyes peeled!

TENACIOUS TOYS x RAMPAGE TOYS

2011-07-01T15:41:00.000-07:00

Quick blog hit!

The TENACIOUS TOYS x RAMPAGE TOYS mini kaiju cupcake series is live in the TENACIOUS TOYS webstore!

This VERY cool blind box series was based on my 2 inch mini cupcake kaiju platform! We hand picked four great artists (and I did some as well), and had them each do 5 pieces - making a total of 25 custom resin toys. The figures were blind boxed by TENACIOUS TOYS with some screen printed packaging art that I supplied. The series went live last week on the Tenacious Toys Website - $35 per piece with possibility of finding a GOLD TICKET!!! The lucky person who finds the gold ticket will get a little RAMPAGE TOYS care package to include a 5x7 OG painting and some other special one-of-a-kind goodies (toys!).

The Artists roster includes the following folks:

***Justin Hillgrove: the genius behind "Imps and Monsters" (http://www.impsandmonsters.com/)

***Osiris Orion: a magician with an airbrush!!! (http://www.osirisorion.com/)

***NREAZON: she has an eye for colorful and AWESOME (http://nreazon.com/)

***Nasty Niel - Wasted Talent - a true renaissance man ;-) (on twitter: @WSTDTLNT)

***RAMPAGE TOYS: ummm, me. (http://rampage-toys.blogspot.com)

The series is available for sale here: http://www.tenacioustoys.com/Mini_Kaiju_Cupcake_Custom_BB_p/mkcbb.htm

Go ahead and grab yourself some mini-cake art-toy awesome - and tell all your friends about it!!! Below are some images, but there are even more on the TENACIOUS TOYS website!

Thanks Everyone!

アグリーユニコーン Full Reveal!!!

2011-06-14T21:03:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie here folks, and mostly pics! I sent the sculpt off to TOKYO for this guy. I expect it will get there in about a week, and we'll see test pulls (in VINYL!!!) in about 2 months! More info soon! Here are the pictures of this guy in all his UGLY GLORY!!!!

アグリーユニコーン !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A little group shot for scale, and, well, FUN!

More info soon - as it rolls in from Japan ;-)

As Seen on SPANKY STOKES!

2011-06-09T15:50:00.000-07:00

Hey Peoples!

So, thing is, I'm ok about getting things out there... just not on my own blog! Silly, right? Anyway, perhaps some of you folks have seen information about the "Ugly Unicorn Sofubi Project" on blogs like Spanky Stokes, or Toys, etc., or maybe even elsewhere. And perhaps you've seen the bundle of Work in Progress pictures that I've gotten on Flickr and Facebook. But Now they are here! Right here where they should be!

So, this is super exciting! I've recently completed the sculpt for a figure that is intended for Japanese Vinyl production! This little guy is the "Ugly Unicorn." He is generally a docile fellah', but the thing is, he needs cupcakes to stay alive! If a sky scraper or unwitting pedestrians were to get in between him and a cupcake, he can't really be held liable for the destruction that might ensue. So (and this might be stating the obvious) he is the arch enemy of the Cupcake Kaiju! Whenever the two cross paths, there is sure to be a problem - a fight even! Think: "Giant Cupcake Eating Booska"

That's a little bit of the backstory - more to come (in an illustrated format!).

Now to the pics of the sculpt! This figure will be right around 5 inches tall. He articulates at the hips - and he is built to resemble a traditional bullmark kaiju figure! The idea is to have this guy be a nice clean vinyl design, but to retain the handmade feel of the old Ultra-kaiju figures - with a bit of a resin figure 'edge' ;-) Basically, I want it to be a handmade figure - and it will be - each figure made in Japan is meticulously cast in beautiful soft vinyl. I cannot wait to see the first pieces pulled from the mold - hopefully later this year! For now, keep an eye out for the full frontal reveal - seen by very few so far - and not dropping here at the moment ;-)

Enjoy!

He's got some knobby knees and thunder thighs! I think the cupcake diet is to blame :-P

Oh, and one more thing - unrelated to the exciting Ugly Unicorn project, but still super exciting!
New FLESH FLEX PACKS drop in the RAMPAGE SHOP next Monday! I just got the casts from Monstrehero yesterday, and they need a little cleaning and some header card action! Here's the 'pile o' resin' shot ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

NEW additions and NEW Projects

2011-05-26T19:52:00.000-07:00

Just a quickie here people! :-P

I dropped a few new things in the shop yesterday - go have a look see! Here are some pics for those just passing through.

HANDPAINT Glyos Head! Cast in colors and clears and painted up a bit

SLIMED MIMP Cupcake Propaganda Customs!

BLOODTHIRSTER Cupcake Luchadors - These went FAST! Thanks!

And Here's a little teaser for a soon-to-be-released project that will be released by my friend Benny of TENACIOUS TOYS! This is some packaging art (these are screen printed stickers) for a blind-box series. The series will feature figures by Justin Hillgrove, Osiris Orion, Nasty Niel, NREAZON and RAMPAGE TOYS (of course!). More info and teasers going up regularly in the Tenaci0ous Toys blog and twitter page!

And it's just about time for the next FLEX PACK release! This set will be 100% flesh, and is being cast up RIGHT NOW by Cliff - MonstreHero. Here's a pick of the test pull below the original figures used for the mash-up. SWEET!

SOOOOO much going on. Expect more updates very soon. Especially regarding this super secret (not really) project!!! Later!

CAKESPY Show, et.al.

2011-05-22T22:40:00.000-07:00

Update Time!!!

So, a bit slow on a number of things... that's a bit of the norm though :-P

First up - "Monsters, Cupcakes and Monster Cupcakes" Opening at the CAKESPY SHOP on May 12th. The opening was a blast! Thank you to everyone who came out to check out all the new works - especially to the folks who saw fit to bring a little something home with them! It was a fun evening of cupcakes, wine and artwork. I was especially happy to spend the evening with so many friends, who I won't be seing to much of after I move to Japan... WAIT! "Move to Japan?!?!?" That's right - I'm moving to Japan! THIS Summer! More on that later though (and a VERY exciting new project). For now - here are a few pics of the CAKESPY opening

Wall Mural Action!!! I decided to do it up right for this event - and figured a nice 3'x6' Wall Mural would do well to bump up the aesthetics a notch.

Artwork (to be pronounced 'ahhht-woork' of course) Hanging and FOR SALE. The pieces should be available from CAKESPY on-line (e-mail cakespyshop@gmail.com for inquiries). More up on Flickr soon as well.

There were TWO zombie cakes... one was eaten... or was he eating brains... or something... Anyway. RAWR! Some resin and customs.

In other news, a couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending the "Sloth 'n Moth" opening at Grasshut in Portland Oregon. What a blast! Bwana Spoons was a splendid host, and he even delivered a new painting to me - SWEET! While at the hut I dropped of a few more resin pieces, so if you're in Portland, and you want to get your hands on the LAST TWO available "Flex Packs" (from the release edition - a new edition is in the works - fleshtone anyone? ;-), then go grab 'em! Anyway...

Bwanashowing of my new painting (SOOOO AWESOME), and the Flex Packs for the shop.

Some RAMPAGE TOYS bagged and carded resin up for SALE in the Grasshut Shop!!! Proud to be mixed in with some S7 and Buta no Hana Sofubi!

AND, some new stuff!!! Buddha V2.0!!! These guys were cast up with a few other for the CAKESPY opening, and I'll get a batch up in the shop soon!

...a glimpse of 2 of my 3 pieces for the upcoming TAG "Open Call Resin Show"! More pics on Flickr.

Another post will be soon in the coming. Info about Japan and this 'exciting new project' soon soon soon!!!

SHOWS!!!! and stuff

2011-05-02T23:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings Ladys and Gentlemen! Now for some more stuff - YAY!

As I've had in the side bar for ages now, but was far to slow at adding to the main text body of this little blog, I have my very first SOLO show opening very soon - here in Seattle! The show will be up at the most excellent CAKESPY SHOP in Seattle's Capitol Hill Neighborhood - opening reception (where I will be in attendance of course!) on May 12th from 5-8 PM durring the Cap Hill Artwalk. Be there or be square! Well, actually, the show will be up for about a whole month, so you won't be too square if you get in there sometime in that month ;-)

You can announce your attendance (RSVP not required though!) on the Facebook Event thingy HERE

And here's a bit of 'promo' info:
'Monsters, Cupcakes and Monster Cupcakes' will showcase paintings and toys from Seattle based character designer Jon Malmstedt - RAMPAGE TOYS! Jon's work focuses on fun and colorful creatures that just so happen to be monsters. Expect scenes of urban destruction a' la the classic films 'Godzilla' and 'Mothra', but with a bent in the direction of silly - instead of Godzilla think 'giant cupcake that has no arms.' The show will include paintings, custom vinyl toys, handcast resin figures and a couple collaborative pieces done with the Cakespy herself - something for anyone who loves monsters, cupcakes, monster cupcakes or all of the above! Oh, and need we mention that actual, real, edible and delicious CUPCAKES will be in attendance? YUMMY!!!'

Also, this coming weekend, on May 7th, I'll have a booth at the ever fun "Crafty Wonderland Springtime Shindig," and would love to see some of you guys there! I'll have toys, prints, jewelery, and other various and fun items for your purchasing pleasure ;-) Stop and by - if you mention the blog I'll give you a little discount! If you happen to be in the Portland area, you really should also be at GRASS HUT on May 5th for the show they have opening - it's sure to be AMAZING.

So, of course there need to be some pictures of toys up in here! Here are some recent favorites that went over well in the good old RAMPAGE BigCartel Shop. First are the ACE Luchadors, which have just today been 're-activated' on a 'choose your own color' basis! I've made 10 more available, so head on over and order up you favorite color if you missed these guys the first time around!

I recently joined the "October Toys' forum, and am happy to find that those guys were quite interested in my little Cupcake Propaganda Glyos heads! They're all gone at the moment, but I'll get some more up soon!

And last, but certainly not least, a little painting. This little guy is a 3x5 ink, acrylic and watercolor piece on archival paper - the 'Ugly Unicorn' is one of my newer little guys, but expect to see A LOT more of this guy in the not so distant future :-) He's fuzzy, ugly and he CRAVES cupcakes (think 'giant booska' that needs cupcakes rather than ramen noodles!).

Thanks for stopping by - I hope some of you can make it out to Crafty Wonderland and/or the BIG EVENT at the CAKESPY SHOP on the 12th!

Post-Con Post

2011-04-11T23:54:00.000-07:00

As the Germans love to say: Greets! And the amazing world of resin and otherwise rediculous RAMPAGE TOYS and Art survives yet another convention! Emerald City Comic Con was fun - hanging with my buddies Justin Hillgrove and Mike Capp - and Wondercon was AMAZING - leaving me wishing I lived in the Bay area... But now it's back to work in beautiful mostly cloudy 50% chance of showers Seattle, Washington, and things are picking up speed again! First of, here are some more pictures of the Flex Pack figures that I released at Wondercon. I can't stress enough how happy I am with these casts - Thank You Marty (The Godbeast Customs)!!!! There are still about half of these sets available, so hit up the listings on ye ol' RAMPAGE BigCartel, and get some sweet resin and header card art! And then there are the ACE Luchador figures, which are currently SOLD OUT in the shop. I'll be re-stocking these guys as soon as I can - probably in 2 weeks. The color ways will be slightly more limited - primarily flesh and bright pink, but I'll throw in a few randoms and perhaps a 'swirl' or two, so keep an eye on the shop! They'll still come bagged and carded! There will be a few additions to the shop by tomorrow sometime (4/12/2011). I'll finally be getting my Monster In My Pocket Cupcake Propaganda figure posted up, as well as the Glyos heads and some small customs! And here's the portion of this post where I thorw in some 'shout outs' to people who RULE! I was recently in 'the old country' (Germany and such), and I had the opportunity to meet up with my friend SmallStuffPepe!!! Pepe and his lady joined me and a friend for lunch and CAKE (YAY CAKE!!!) in Munich, and we chatted about toys, art, ...that kind of stuff. Here's the man himself - along with his better half ;-) And, to top the post off, here's Jessie Oleson - owner of the Cakespy Shop in Seattle! I'll be hanging my show at 'Cakespy' on May 9th and 10th, and the opening will be on the 12th from 6-9pm. It's going to be a raucus shindig - complete with libations, toys, wall art, music and (of course) CUPCAKES!!! The show title is going to be "Monsters, Cupcakes and Monster Cupcakes" - all of which will be in attendance!!! So - Be There!

Oh right - one last thing - here's a little 3x5 Watercolor, Ink and Acrylic piece I did while I was in Germany. "Cake #2"

GODBEAST x RAMPAGE Wondercon Release

2011-03-23T01:44:00.001-07:00

Big news for the upcoming Wondercon on April 1-3 in San Francisco - I'll be releasing some AWESOME new figures! This will be a 2 figure set - Sculpt/Mash-up by me and the release run of 15 sets all cast by Marty Hansen, better know as TGB - The GODBEAST Customs. Marty does some amazing work with Crystal Clear resin, and he deffinitely nailed it with these figures! They'll come bagged with a header card (I'll have the original header art for sale at Wondercon as well) - Clears will go for $35 a set and GID for $40 a set. Heres pics (I'm in Europe at the moment - some new pics when I get back!):

And, some logistics info - I'll be at booth Number 1239 with 'Imps and Monsters' - which is near exit number 13 on the Folsom Side of the Convention Hall. I'll have bundles of stuff, so come on by and say 'hi.'

Emerald City Comic Con!!!!

2011-03-03T15:28:00.000-08:00

On Saturday March 5th (THIS coming Saturday) I'll be at Emeral City Comic Con, hanging with my Friend Just Hillgrove (Imps and Monsters) and showing (and selling) some resin toys and prints! I've been frantically working to cast up a number of items for this event as well as Wondercon because I'll be off to Europe for a bit in March, and Wondercon is the same week I return! Yikes!

I have some super fun new releases to share, and I'll have a few of these pieces at ECCC as 'pre-release' (read: early bird locals) specials! Here are some photos:

HOLY PILES OF RESIN BATMAN!!!! Lots of casting go on around here. New stuff, old stuff - I've blown through 3 molds this week alone!

Custom SEISMIC ACE and ACE M.U.S.C.L.E. Helpers!!! The little helpers are 2 casts from the mold I made for Mattyboombatty of Smash Tokyo Toys. He'll have more of these at SDCC this summer.

New Cupcake GLYOS head sculpt! With the blessing of Matt Doughty (Onell Designs), I'll be casting up a bundle of these glyos heads - only a few at ECCC!

Some Handpaint Kaiju and Japanese Vinyl action! Here's a custom Mini Crouching Deathra - I love this toy!

And last but not least - Here's header art for something SUPER exciting! I'll be releasing a sure to be AMAZING run of resin toys - sets of two. These are a collaboration with my friend TGB (The Godbeast Customs), who is a MASTER with crystal clear resin casting. This release run will be limited to 15 sets of figures, bagged and carded. I'll also have the original header art for sale ;-)

Hope to see you all at one or boith of the upcoming cons! Should be a blast!

New Shop Madness!

2011-02-11T14:36:00.000-08:00

HALOOOOOO!

So, along with the fancy new update to the blog's format (YAY - that was long in the making... short in the actual 'doing'... only took an hour or so...), come MANY MANY items up for sale in the shiny new Shop!!!!

I've been casting a bundle of resin, and finally taking the time to do some painting, which was sorely missed durring the shop and web-update phase from the past weeks.... I've got some old and some new items available. So, without further adoo (umm, adieu? Add-oo? I duh-no...), here are some pictures! All items available HERE.

YAY! Buttons! 12 for 10 bucks!

New Run of Happy Cupcake Buddhas! 2 sold in the first 5 minutes of being posted! Grab the last one quickly! The slimy guy is an homage to Heddorah the slime Kaiju!

Horray For handpainted MiniCakes! Edition of 3!

MiniCake -Artificial Color Edition with OG handpaint header card!

Local Resin AWESOME guy, Dave Sheely, ran off a few nice casts of the Cupcake Luchador! 2 left - their going like 'Hot Cupcakes!'

Next week (next Friday) I'll be putting up some ancient treasures! Keep your eyes peeled!

Back in Action!

2011-02-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

Hello Hello!

After a hiatus (much needed and much enjoyed) from work and 'normal life' in general, it's back to work in the Studio for RAMPAGE TOYS. There are exciting things afoot - new custom toys, new resin figures (being molded as this is being written!) and plpenty of artwork, and, finally, all of this will be readily available in the BRAND NEW on-line shop! I've invested some serious time in getting some stuff pulled together for the RAMPAGE TOYS BigCartel Site, and I'll be launching the shop in full-swing this coming FRIDAY - February 4th 2011.

Along with the myriad of toys and artwork that have been left sitting in boxes about the studio and around my apartment, there will also be a SUPER AWESOME exclusive blind-box series available on Friday - Cake Caps!!! I've Married Kidrobot's vinyl Fatcaps with some Resin Love, and came up with these little guys.

Each 3 inich figure (Montana Gold Spray Paint and Resin on Vinyl) will come blind boxed in hand painted (stenciled) packaging. Aside from the two (or 3 ;-) unique versions (ummm... "chase" I suppose) one will even come with some sweet mini-artwork!!!! And priced at 25 dollars each, you won't have to break the bank to get your hands on some handmade sweetness!!! Up on Friday! get Some!

And, now that we've handled the business side of things - here are some more recent works. More resin coming soon!

Cake-Dunny! Sent to Mr. ViseONE himself as part of the Custom Toy Union's secret Santa Trade. I might have to make one or two more of these guys - Montana Gold and Super Sculpey in Vinyl.

This little guy ("Jersey Devil in a pouty Mood") was my contribution to the GENUINE ARTIKLE (NYC) "Almighty Dunny Show" in December. He's up for sale in the Genuine Artikle Webstore.

Here's the next thang! I was invited to do a custom on the BRAND NEW Mini Qee Platform for the RELEASE at Yoyamart on February 14th - sweet! Above is the event poster and below is a sneak peak of the piece I made - Check out this show if you're in NYC - it should be AWESOME!

The 'Merry Christmas' Post!

2010-12-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hey Toy Peoples!

A lot has happened since my last post, and it's mostly been GREAT! First was a little show/sale near Seattle - sold some new stuff. Then Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center! What an awesome time that was! A whole bundle of RAMPAGE TOYS and Artwork went away to new homes :-) The booth was a 5x10, so things were packed in there - it was a tight fit:

Above are some new Full sized Kapuke-ki Kaiju and the new MINI KAPUKE-KI Kaiju figures!!!! All of the above figures found new homes at or after Urban Craft! Thanks to anyone who picked one (or more) up!

And then - the next weekend - My lady and I headed down to Portland for the Crafty Wonderland Holiday Mega Extravaganza! There were a gazillion vendors at this thing - maybe the reason why the shoppers weren't going nuts. I ran into Bwana Spoons, Hungry Eyeball, Jon Knox and Monstre Hero while down in Portland - AWESOME to meet those guys! Bwana took some of my resin for his shop (Grass Hut in downtown Portland), and I picked up some Jon Knox resin to paint up (in February).

Here's the RAMPAGE booth:

Now I'm on the East coast... away from my studio and all of my stuff... I might cry a bit...

Anyway, if you're looking to get your hands on some new Mini-Cake Cupcake Kaiju - e-mail me, and I'll get a list started for when I return in January - rampage.toys@yahoo.com. And, as always - lots of pics on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27483582@N00/

There is a ton in the works for February - resin releases, some collaborations and customs galore!

Merry Christmas to all! May it find you surrounded with toys and other such great art-stuff!

RAMPAGE TOYS Event Spectacular!!!!

2010-11-07T21:37:00.000-08:00

Happy November!

Now, if you're like me, you're not entirely psyched for the coming of Winter and the type of weather that keeps you cooped up inside... But, luckily, this year is a bit different! RAMPAGE TOYS will be in attendance at MANY artsy and crafty events, and you all should too! Come one come all to the following displays of AWESOME:

1)"Art Of Toys" Group show at Tasty in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood! Opening THIS FIRDAY - November 12th.

Justin Hillgrove, Imps and Monsters, and I will be showing off a whole ton of new Art, and even more TOYS! There will be blank resin, painted resin, canvases, glicee prints, sceen prints and all sorts of other great stuff on display and for sale ;-) Justin and I will be in attendance, as well as plenty of liquid awesome (yep - beer). Other artists contributing include the very talented Kerstin Graudins (Seattle local Screenprinting MASTER) and "Small Stuff Pepe" - all the way from Switzerland! Here's a glimpse of things to come:

Happy Cupcake Buddhas! Part of my upcoming Kapuke-ki Propaganda Resin Series!

A fine selection of custom Vinyl Toys :-)

Kapuke-ki Luchador Resin Figures! Bootleged MUSCLE toy from the 80's!

Mysterious - and Fantastic Customs (this is a work i progress shot of my 10 inch Teddy Trooper for the show);-)

2)Winter edition of the Indie Banditas Bazaar! - November 26th (noon-6) and 27th (10am-5pm)(yep - black friday and the following Saturday) at te Grange Hall on Bainbridge Island, Washington! This should be a fund event - lots of cool local artist should be in attendance - selling loads of fun things! Get your holiday shopping on! I'll have bundles of resin, jewelery, prints, paintings - all that good stuff :-)

3)More infoto follow, but the following 2 Events ARE GOING TO BE HUGE!!!!!!

WINTER URBAN CRAFT UPRISING! I'll be there December 4th and 5th with BUNDLES of stuff - come on out early and get a schwag bag! Seattle's most ginormous and amazing display of handmade awesome!

WINTER CRAFTY WONDERLAND!!!! I'll be there December 11th and 12th, again, with BUNDLES of stuff!!! Portlands most ginormous and amazing display of handmade awesome!

Don't miss out on all the fun! Come check out all of these great events in the PNW!!!!!!!!!!

NYCC and Other Great Stuff

2010-10-20T22:44:00.000-07:00

YES! Time for new toys!

I recently attended the 2010 New York Comic Con - where the Kapukeki Kaiju was revealed to the public! I didn't sell much... but that's financial info, and not interesting reading material, right?...

Anyway, The Con was AMAZING! There were A LOT of big name toy artists to schmooze with and plenty of toy fans to hang out with as well. I carted around a blank Kapukeeki to show to artists and gauge interest in getting some pro-customs done. Feedback was general super-positive and I'm looking forwar to pursuing these interests in the very near future!

Enough gab though - Here are some pics of the event:

The RAMPAGE TOYS Shelf at the TENACIOUS TOYS booth!!! Thanks to Benny (purveyor of AWESOME via the Tenacious Toys website) for hosting my first 'big' release fig, and for being just all around AWESOME!

My Favorite place to hang (besides the Tenacious Toys booth!) at the Con! The O'Nell Designs booth had THE BEST toys at the Con! These resin masters were not only fully stockes with amazing toys, but also happened to be the coolest, most friendly artists anywhere! Shout out to Marty (TGB), Paul (Kaiju), Jesse Destasio and Matt - AWESOME!!!

So, NYCC aside, things are rolling along in the RAMPAGE studio. I'm wokring on some acrylic paintings and LOTS of toys for the upcoming "Art of Toys" show at Tasty Art Gallery in Seattle
. I'm also pouring resin and offering blank figures and painted figures via the RAMPAGE BigCartel site and soon via the Custom Toy Union's Webstore! I'm also working on some new ultra-mini resin figures (quasi bootleg - but in a good way :-), and I'll be posting about custom resin and vinyl in the very near future! I digress: here are some photos:

Blank Kapukeeki Kaiju resin figs! Any artists want one?

Halloween edition of the Kapukeeki Kaiju Resin Toy! Only 5 will be made - maybe less! They will be made to order. Available here.

Remember these toys from the 80's???? 'Muscle Men' - I think they were called. Well, here's one converted into a Kapukeeki-Lucha toy! All 1.5 inches of AWESOME! Not sure when I'll mold/cast these, but it will happen!

Thanks for checking in! If you want any toys or paintings or anything like that, just e-mail me! I'm psyched on comissions right now, so ask away!

KAPUKEEKI RELEASE INFO!!!

2010-09-30T00:46:00.000-07:00

OK - The time is nigh! The RAMPAGE TOYS Kapukeeki Kaiju will be unveiled at New York Comic Con - October 8-10 at the Javitz Center in NYC. Head right on over to the TENACIOUS TOYS booth in the Cultyard and get yours! Limited run of 5 pieces ONLY - each hand cast resin toy (cast in 3 different colored resins) will come with a hand painted and screen printed box, a very limited (edition of 8) photolithograph depicting the header card art for Future releases of this toy, AND a secret message for each buyer! What will the message say? For now, let's just say - possible free ART!!! I also hope to include some pins :-)

Here's a teaser -stay tuned for the full reveal next week!

MASSIVE EDIT!

So, instead of a brand new post (how time-consuming is that!), here's, instead, an UPDATE! Below are full reveal pics of the upcoming Releases at the Tenacious Toys booth (#2878) at NYCC TOMORROW!!! GO get your hands on some RAMPAGE TOYS resin and print art!!!

The full package - 4 inch resin, super limited photolithograph and spray painted/screen printed box! RAWR!!!

THE KAPUKEEKI KAIJU ARMY ARRIVES!

Edition of 3 - 5 color Screenprint

I'll be there on Saturday! I'll be happy to do sketches if you've got a book with you :-) STop by the Tenacious Toys booth, or just find me - I'll be wearing a light green RAMPAGE TOYS T and carrying around free RAMPAGE buttons!

NYCC Exclusive - and MORE!!!

2010-09-10T11:53:00.000-07:00

Greetings all you Mega-Super Peoples!

In short - the RAMPAGE studio is finally up and running - and the projects are quickly piling up... This is a GOOD thing! After some fun at summer shows, and a fantastic month-long break from just about everything, I've finally dug back into the toy making biz and it's really really exciting! Here's the skinny on all things recent and AWESOME:

1)New York Comic Con Exclusive with Tenacious Toys! I'm working on an exciting piece for the October NYCC - The release of the long (and thoroughly) planned Kapukeeki Kaiju Toy! The toy will be released at the Tenacious Toys booth in the NYCC "Cultyard" - which will be the place to be for ALL things AWESOME in the toy world! Even better - I WILL BE ATTENDING, and you should too! I'm posting progress shots on Flickr, so you can keep and eye on the toy's progress, but what would this blog be without pictures of all mentioned projects -

2)SCHMANCY Exclusive Kapukeeki Kaiju Plush! September 1st saw the release of the first RAMPAGE TOYS Exclusive toy at Schmancy Toys in Downtown Seattle! Kristen Rask, the awesome owner and curator at Schmancy (http://www.schmancytoys.com/), hosts some of the best artists around, and RAMPAGE TOYS is proud to have a presence in such an awesome shop! Check out the following shots and head over to the Schmancy webstore (schmancytoys.bigcartel.com) to get your plush fix today!

3)Promo Piece for the November "Art of Toys" resin show at Tasty Art Gallery in Seattle! Justin Hillgrove - of Imps and Monsters fame - and I have finally finished our sculpt and have cast our first piece for the "Art of Toys" show in November. This piece will be painted soon - to be completed by the 13th of this month for max-promo-exposure!!! Keep an eye out for more information - and be sure to put NOVEMBER 12th on you calendar for the opening during the Greenwood Art Walk at TASTY!

As always - thanks for checking in with the RAMPAGE BLOG! Be sure to stop by the Etsy shop (rampagetoys.etsy.com) and BigCartel (rampagetoysandart.bigcartel.com) to get your hands on some RAMPAGE toys and art!

Summer Show Re-Cap!

2010-08-10T09:03:00.000-07:00

Greetings out there in Internet Land!

Well, it's been a bit of a crazy summer! It all started off with RAMPAGE TOYS participating in two summer art/craft shows - one in Port Townsend and one in Seattle! Many many hours of work went into preparing for these events, and I really hope anyone who made an appearance enjoyed what they saw! The shows were certainly a learning experience - I'm looking forward to doing it all better at some upcoming winter/holiday shows at the end of the year!

Now I'm moving my studio AND house! Well, the house isn't going anywhere - just all my stuff... So, expect more new things starting in September! I've got a bundle of vinyl lined up for customs, and I'm always plotting away on a resin project ;-)

One last thing - RESIN ART SHOW IN SEATTLE!!!! I'll be doing a resin show with another local artist - Justin Hillgrove of IMPS & MONSTERS!!!! Details to come soon, but for now I can tell you that it will open the first Friday of November (the 12th) and it will feature a collaborative resin toy from Justin and Myself, as well as both of our personal resin creations :-) YAY!

Enough jabber - here are some pictures from the summer shows and more :-)

Here I am - sitting at my booth at the Indie Banditas Bazaar - a bit of a slow day...

Yeah! RAMPAGE TOYS rocking the Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center in Downtown Seattle!!! Thanks to all who stopped by to check out all my stuff!!!!

The LOVELY RAMPAGE TOYS assistant showing off some merch ;-)

Of course - some new stuff! These Glow in the dark owls were the lasst two pulls from my old mold... A new mold now exists and it's producing really really nice casts! I have one of these guys on hand - e-mail if you're interested (rampage.toys@yahoo.com).

Like all of the owls I'm making, these guys get their very own custom header cards! Screen printed and spray painted with a mod-style masking pattern! YEAH!

As always, thanks for checking in! More is on the way soon!!!! There's new stuff up on the RAMPAGE etsy page - CHECK IT OUT!

http://rampagetoys.etsy.com

Toys Toys Toys!

2010-07-05T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hey All - come out and buy some toys THIS Saturday and Sunday - July 10th and 11th! RAMPAGE TOYS will be at the most excellent and MAGNIFICENT Urban Craft Uprising at the Seattle Center in Downtown Seattle - selling toys, plush, clothing, prints, jewelery and More!!!! YAY!

Come by the booth and say hi. It would be a pleasure to meet some of you loyal blog-followers (of which there are a million now!... or is it 9?... Same thing, right?). I'll be there with my lovely assistant, sporting a sport jacket (is that redundant?...) and vending the RAMPAGE goods to all!

In order to get you psyched, here are some pictures of things that will be for sale, and some pictures of a new toy I just finished for an artists trade with another local Artist - Kerstin Graudins! Kerstin does AMAZING screen prints, and it just worked out that she's as into octopi as I am! ENJOY!

Limited Run of 8 CC Cookie resin toys - with hand screened and water colored Header cards!

Various Nachteule toys! 5 color ways to chose from! Spary painted and screen printed headers!

Lots of SUPER COOL prints! Screen prints, monotypes, stencils! WOW!

A new OCTO toy! This guy isn't for sale, but you could always commision a similar piece ;-) He's built on a Mini Munny Body - lots of armature and sculpting work here - and the usual, spray paint and acrylics. He was a blast to make and paint!

Of course he glows! Fishnet pattern and ALL!

Hope to see you all at the Seattle Center this weekend! It should be a blast!

Indie Banditas!

2010-06-21T12:27:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Just a short post to bring to your attention that RAMPAGE TOYS will be selling tons of new and AWESOME stuff at the Port Townsend Indie Banditas Bazaar on this coming Staurday, June 26th - 10am 'till 5pm.

I'll have NEW limited edition (very short run) resin, lots of clothing, plush, jewelery, editioned screen prints and much much more!

Here's the event flyer :-)

I'll make sure to have pictures up next week, at which time all left over items will be up on Etsy, at MONSTER (in Ballard - Seattle) in Schmancy (Downtown Seattle) or on my new developing BigCartel site!

Busy, busy, busy...

2010-05-19T23:47:00.000-07:00

Hey There!

If you're reading this, first of all - you rule! Second of all, glad you happened upon a new post; it's been a while...

But being busy means there is A LOT to report!

I recently took a trip to Portland and happened upon the 'Crafty Wonderland' show at the Portland Convention Center. There were HUNDREDS of super cool artists selling really great stuff! It was a good opportunity to talk to people about art, check out what's being done in the good ol' PNW art/craft scene and, of course, to buy some stuff! For example, this awesome hat made by 'moth & squirrel':

Yeah! That's Donatello on there!

Just prior to my trip to Portland, I had submitted a piece to Toy2R's 15th Anniversary Qeeology show (as mentioned in the 'breaking news' piece at the top of the blog), and here's the toy, Choco-Chip on a rampage, in all it's glory!!! :

There are many many more picture on the RAMPAGE TOYS Flickr Page, including many work in progress shots - so check it out! The original figure was a Earg Qee. I Sculpted the jowels and eyes, and modeled the teeth out of thin plastic card. The speckled paint was achieved by peppering (at a distance) with normal every-day spray paints - SPLATTER SPLATTER! The chocolate chips were individually sculpted and are 100% life sized! Each has his own little scared or confused expression :-)

Also in RAMPAGE TOYS news - NEW RESIN TOYS!!!! Yep, I've been lazy posting these guys, but here they are (finally) - the RAMPAGE TOYS' NACHTEULE!!!! Nachteule is German for 'Night Owl' (literally translated)... kind of a nick name I've acquired since I'm always up so late making stuff... I'm casting and painting various colorways for this figure, and here are the first three sets - including some that GLOW IN THE DARK!!!! YAY!!! I'm screen printing the header art on these guys, so you get two pieces of handmade artwork for each piece you buy! WOW! Some of the original colorways figures are on sale at MONSTER ART and CLOTHING in Ballard, but the rest won't be available until the Indie Banditas Show on June 26th and the Port Townsend American Legion Hall. Be there!

The Original Colorway! Edition of 3.

Disco Edition (of 3)! This has it all! It glows in the dark (check it here), AND it's got that awesome fishnet pattern on the wings! WOW-WEE! On top of all that - the header art glows in the dark too!!!

Sleepy Owl edition (of 3) :-) These guys glow like mad! Here's the evidence. And again - the header art glows! YAY!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check the RAMPAGE Flickr Page for updates (on a very regular basis!). Ciao!

Prints and Trades

2010-04-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

Greetings!!! - after a period of silence...

Hope all are well out in the internets there ;-) RAMPAGE TOYS is plotting away on many new and exciting things - including NEW toys, new ART and new languages! IN anticipation of an upcoming release, I'm trying my very bestest to acquire a bit of Japanese language skill - with hopes of getting some stuff in the Japanese market! They do have the best toys EVER after-all!

So, that covers the new languages bit. Now to the new ART bit (and some pictures - since that's what everyone wants to see anyway!). I finished making a whole bundle of monotypes and stencil prints recently, and here are a couple for your viewing pleasure. The two robots are BIG (2.5 x 3 feet) monotypes. The set-up for these things took over an hour each - and that's AFTER cutting out the stencils. It can all be messed up with one bad pass through the printing press, but these two 'made it out alive.' YAY! This in 'On-Off-Bot in Silver and Black':

Also, in recent news, the awesome and prolific designer and toy maker UAMOU (Ayako Takagi) and I did a little toy trade - 1 for 1. She got a RAMPAGE TOYS Jelly-O resin toy, and sent a fluorescent orange Uamou vinyl toy (one of her MANY sold-out Uamou designs) my way! Here's a pic of the little guy (left) - along with a couple of his friends:

And last but not least- new TOYS - a sneak peak of something new that I'm working on right now (literally!). A new RAMPAGE TOY for release early this summer - and to be sold at the 'Indie Banditas Bazaar' - June 26th 2010 in Port Townsend, Washington - be there!

SkullyBoom PVC Entry!

2010-03-15T21:53:00.000-07:00

Hallo Leute! (That's 'Hey guys' in German...)

So, last month Lief over at Delicious Drips invited me to take part in the Skullyboom PVC (Poly-Vinyl Cranium) show/contest; so of course I jumped on it - despite the somewhat short notice. I was asked to choose a Skullyboom DIY skully and make some magic happen ;-) The result: "Octo's New Home"!!!! This toy was inspired by a small acrylic painting I did - some time back - of a little purple octopus - 'Octo.' Now octo has taken up residence inside a glow in the dark skull! He's even got some barnacles and a starfish to keep him company. YAY!

If you've got a moment, please head on over to the following link and vote for 'Octo's New Home'! It's quick and easy :-)

http://deliciousdrips.com/submissions/submission.php?i=407

This guy was sculpted onto using armatron wire, Super Sculpey and Kneadatite, masked and splattered with spray paint, then finished off with many many layers of acrylic paints, washes and inks - plus a little glow in the dark paint on the eye. I'm psyched on the results! The tentacles feel like they have good movement going on, and the GID plastic contrasts well with the purple tentacles - don't you think? Enough chatter - here are the pics!

The requisite Toy-Full-Frontal-Shot! YAR!

Detail of the eye and skin texture - that's 5+ layers of purple and pink!

Barnacles!!!!!

He GLOWS!!!!

Thanks for checking in! As always, there are lot of things going on in the RAMPAGE TOYS universe. I'll be releasing some print art for sale soon, and designs are near complete on a production plastic toy that will be manufacture in the USA!!! That's right - keeping it national! Head on over to the RAMPAGE TOYS flickr page for updates and A LOT more RAMPAGE TOYS and ART!

Dunny-Monaut Custom!

2010-02-25T00:16:00.000-08:00

Hello!

So, finally I'm able to post about this rediculous toy that has taken me over a month and a half to complete! It seemed at every turn I was running into an issue with the various found objects I was using - or I just kept on having more and more new ideas, and couldn't make up my mind how to move forward!

Anyway, here it is - My RAMPAGE Dunny-Monaut (think 'Cosmonaut' but for Dunny) Custom!!! The body on this guy is a Mini-Munny, and the head (inside the helmet) is a Dunny. Here I used the left-over parts from last December when I made 'Kawaii' (check out the January post "Kawaii!" to see where the other parts got to). The hinged helmet opening was tricky, and took numerous attempts to get right... I eventually came accross a small make-up compact that wass the right size, and only took a hour or so of dremel work to perfect. All of the sculpting was done with Kneadatite 'Green Stuff,' combined with found objects, some plastic card and some masking tape here and there. The paint is primarily sprayed on (gray then blue then white), leaving some areas less covered and some more 'splattered' looking. The rest is acrylics. The Dunny head was painted and floced (yay! fuzzy bunny!). Anyway, enjoy! I'm psyched on the results and welcome any and all comments!

Here's the full-frontal view - helmet closed to keep the out of the vaccum of space!!!!!

...And here's te open-helmet-view. The hinge moves smooth like butta'.

Dunny-Monaut has three kills - so far... I used waterslide decals for these skulls and some of the other tiny details. The gun was modified from the full sized Munny accessory, then masked, sprayed and detailed with acrylics.

Detail of the LASER OF DOOM - note the 'power-o-meter' and the two buttons for either 'mame' or 'destroy'

Here's Dunny-Monaut himself - Handlebar Moustache and all! Watch out!

Check out the RAMPAGE TOYS Flickr page for more photos - including documentation of this fella in the making. I'm also working on about 5 other custom toys at the moment - including one for the upcoming PVC Show (hosted by Delicious Drips and Skully Boom). Stay tuned for more toys and art from RAMPAGE TOYS!!!

Famous People + RAMPAGE = AWESOME!!!

2010-02-12T23:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Again out there in Internet Land!

Well, as the title of this post suggests, RAMPAGE TOYS has been on the go and 'working' in the presence of some massive celebrities! Yeah! So, yeah, they might not be known to all people in all lands the world over, but these people are known to me and MANY MANY others within the two most righteous circles of coolness: Toys and Sci-Fi! What more DOES one need!?!?!?

First, in early January, Mr. Huck Gee payed Seattle (AKA - 'Rampage-toys-town') a visit; gracing the premis of Seattle's own little toy and plush source - Schmancy Toys. Having heard that Huck would be heading north to Seattle from the Bay Area, I decided it was high time to prepare a toy for him to sign and doodle upon. I had this Trexi lying about the place, and had no plans for it, so it got a smattering of pinkish spray-can tones, and off it went to the artist's signing! I then took the little guy and added some acrylics and a nice thick clear-coat. Awesome! Here's all the photo evidence:

Huck himself - doin' a doodle in the RAMPAGE TOYS sketch book. A trusty can of Ranier (pronounced: "Ron-yay" of course) nearby.

Trexi from the front. Some smooth paint and Huck's signature doodle on the belly. Very Nice!

Huck x RAMPAGE. YEAH!

Paint splatters. Precise AND random! umm.. that makes sense, right?

More recently (i.e. last week) RAMPAGE TOYS filled an order from a modern literary mastermind of sci-fi - Kij Johnson - winner of the 2009 World Fantasy Award for her short story '26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss'! (read it here!) This lovely lady put in an order for two yummy yummy cupcakes from RAMPAGE series one, and I don't think it's a stretch to say that she was psyched to get them! Here's some pics from delivery day:

Kij and her cupcakes! YAY!

Coffe and Cupcakes? But wait, the cupcakes are taking bites out of YOU!

As, always, there's a ton in the works - including some 2d Artwork, and more toys. Check back in the next couple of weeks for more from RAMPAGE TOYS! In the meantime, feel free to check out the flickr page for photo updates.

Jelly-O and Punkin Pie REVEALED

2010-02-01T18:18:00.000-08:00

Finally, here for your reading pleasure: The storied pasts of Jelly-O and Punkin Pie!

Punkin Pie: After a long stint as a juvenile pumpkin on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Punkin Pie finally grew up and joined the ranks of pie-dom! Having achieved the ranking of black belt in his karate class, and master gardener at the lovely Longwood Gardens, Punkin Pie hit the road in serach of new adventureS. He now travels the world making friends in youth hostels and inns, and teaching them the way of the Punkin. Turns out we all have much to learn...

Jelly-O: Jelly-O is the most savage of all the RAMPAGE characters! His sharp teeth and 132.77 psi jaw clamping capacity make him a toe biting terror, so you'd better watch out! Jelly-O wants nothing more than to play the ukulele, and therefore lives a life of frustration - he has no arms!!! He takes out his angst on unsuspecting children, who run away in fear once they realize that the Jello-snack they though they just found was in fact a ravenous monster with sharp pointy teeth and NO MERCY! BE AFRAID!

NEWS FLASH: RAMPAGE TOYS are now for sale in the Rampage Toys ETSY page! Just search 'rampagetoys' on www.etsy .com or go to http://www.rampagetoys.etsy.com/

More soon on the RAMPAGE BLOG! MUCH MORE!!!

PLUSH!!!!

2010-01-23T23:51:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a new RAMPAGE blog posting!!! I hope this finds you all well, and surrounded by mounds of RAMPAGE toys and other such awesomeness!!!

Anyway, after being in the works for ages, the RAMPAGE plush series is in production and out for sale. These cute, cuddly, fuzzy (and ankle-biting) fellahs are up for sale at Monster Art and Clothing (<--click for more info) in Ballard, Seattle. They will also be up for grabs on the new RAMPAGE TOYS Etsy page (http://rampagetoys.etsy.com/). Bear with me while I get things up there, and do feel free to contact me if you need a cuddly companion immediately!

Marketing jargon aside - here it is: the first run of the RAMPAGE plush line - fresh off the sewing machine!!!! We've got Choco-chip, B-Scotty, Cupcake and Jellyo (who you'll be introduced to in an upcoming post - I know, you were worried).

Above: my wonderful RAMPAGE assistant, hard at work on the Singer! Making toys is FUN!!!

Also, don't forget t get you RAMPAGE TOYS t-shirt! You can send me a blank shirt to screen print, or put in an oder for a size and prefered color.

Just e-mail rampage.toys@yahoo.com !!!!!

Storytime Continues!

2010-01-11T12:43:00.000-08:00

Time for more RAMPAGE profiles!

This time around you'll get the nitty-gritty on Devil Dawg, Choco-Bar and Choco-Chip - the 'Choco-Fiend-Trio'!!!! So, without further ado:

Devil Dawg: Cast from the depths of HELL (actually the subburbs of Northern Jersey, but what IS the difference really?...) by plaintive neighboors, after throwing one too many wild parties, Devil Dawg fled to greener pastures in the greater Pacific Northwest. Free from a stressful existence amidst his Drakes Cakes Fraternity (<--yes, this is hyperlinked), he discovered the wonders of the mountains and the relaxing company of new friends. Devil Dawg now spends his days plotting world dominion and sipping Mac'n Jacks along with his partners in crime: Choco-Bar and Choco-Chip.

Choco-Bar: At some point, this tasty fellah' found himself boarding a ship in Brazil bound for Portland, Oregon. What attracted him there? Was it the vibrant music scene, the myriad of watering holes, or the moderate climate? - all of the above? What we know for sure is that Choco-Bar knows how to rock out on the drums, and his penchant for loud music eventually led him to team up with Devil Dawg and Choco-Chip to form the 'Choco-Fiend-Trio.'

Choco-Chip: Grandma Fruxbee of the UP, Michigan was terrified when one day she opened her oven to behold Choco-Chip and his sharp pointy teeth!!! Like many hip Midwesterners who yearn to escape lulling boredom and snowy winters, Choco-Chip joined the western migration to Seattle (<-- also hyperlinked). The long rainy season of his new home provided ample opportunity to hone his rockin' guitar skills. Choco-Chip loves mexi-fries and pop!

Up Next: Punkin' Pie and Jell-o, and some tasty RAMPAGE plush!!!

KAWAII !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-05T00:28:00.000-08:00

Hallo!!!

This post will be short but colorful. Yay! As I mentioned in an earlier post (10-29-2009), Japan is just littered with cuteness, and what better way to preserve the vivid memory of kawaii (Japanese for 'cute') than in the semi-immortal form of a plastic toy! After all, plastic will outlive all of us (in a purely chemical sense)...

So, long story short, the Tokyo bus system mascot looks like this:

As soon as my wife saw this cute little guy, she mentioned she just might like to see him in toy form (she thought Santa's Elves just might make him...), and here he is! Enjoy!

The head is that of a Kidrobot Minny Munny, and the body was salvaged from a rather ugly Kidrobot Dunny (you never know what you'll get in a blind box...).

The wings, antennae and little-red-tail were made from air-dry sculpting putty, thin steel wire (wing outlines), transparency paper (wings) and armature wire (antennae).

I'll return to the RAMPAGE characters' stories soon. It's been a busy time - in a good way. A lot has been happening, and production is ramping-up in the RAMPAGE TOYS world!!! Much more to come SOON.

RAMPAGE TOYS in BALLARD!!!

2009-12-31T12:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year Everyone!

Prior to the Christmas Holiday RAMPAGE TOYS were unveiled en Masse at MONSTER Art and Clothing in beautiful downtown Ballard. This super cool shop stocks a ton of fantastic art - all creations of local (to the greater Seattle area) artists. Stop in (5000 20th Avenue Northwest) or check out the website (www.monsterartandclothing.com), and get yourself some RAMPAGE TOYS!!! Don't delay - the first edition of RAMPAGE is a limited run (numbering about 40 total), and they are selling like hotcakes!!!

Motivated by popular demand, the characters that are RAMPAGE TOYS will begin to develop personalities, and you'll learn all about them right here on the RAMPAGE blog. I'll cover a couple toys in a series of posts over the coming weeks. So, without further ado:

B-Scotty: This timid fellah has a soft side - but he'll still eat you! (a little at a time... if you let him...) B-Scotty weighs in at a massive 12.3 ounces; where DOES he put it all... so fit and healthy. WATCH OUT! He's gonna bite your little toe! Truth is, B-Scotty comes from a small town in Southern Italy, but has recently moved to Rome where he rents a nice hollowed out bust. He speaks Italian and a little german - this helps him handle all the tourists. His favorite movie is "Attack of the killer Tomatoes," and his favorite food is kittens - which he finda a plenty on the streets of Rome.

CUPCAKE: Sweet as can be, and full of chocolatey goodness, Cupcake is perhaps the star of the RAMPAGE series. With his razor sharp teeth and 15 ounce mass (he's a bit hefty.... but he IS snack food after all!) he can easily overwhelm unsuspecting infant mice, which just so happen to be his prefered dietary staple! Cupcake was born and raised by a family of Vanilla cupcakes, who shunned him and sent him out to face the world alone after realizing his ingredients would just never been like theirs... He now roams the streets of Seattle searching for something to make his life more complete. What is it? Will he ever find it? Will he even be happy if or when he does?....

Stay tuned for more RAMPAGE TOYS profiles and a Christmas Custom Munny! YAY TOYS!!!!

HALLOWEEN and a MURDEROUS I.W.G!

2009-11-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

Hello Peoples!

Well, now that Seattle has reverted to full blown poo weather (as is the case during most of the Fall and Winter months), many of us Seattleites are retreating to our warm abodes and doing things like watching movies, reading books and MAKING ART!

Halloween brought with it the annual punkin carvin' fun, and here's what RAMPAGE TOYS (in collaboration with Lizzie - my ever patient wife) came up with:

Aside from holiday festivity, I've been wrapping up work on a custom toy that has been more or less sitting in the planning phase for 6 months (yeah, toy making takes the back burner to much needed sunshine in the summer and early fall months!). And here it is: a ROCKET WORLD I.W.G. Baby-Cubs Custom!!!!!!!!!! ( http://www.rocketworld.org/)

This baby panda is almost 100% flocked, so he's soft and cuddly. BUT DON'T BE FOOLED! HE'LL GOUGE YOUR EYE OUT! YIKES! But seriously, the toy is based with acrylics, and then flocked with like color flocking powder of varying textures. The muzzle is done with a particularly coarse material (intended for architectural model use) to give this guy a gnarly bearded look. The eyeball was painted using gloss acrylics. SCARY! (that's what my wife thinks...). Enjoy the photos, and don't forget to e-mail if you want a rad custom handmade by RAMPAGE TOYS!!!!

Rampage Toys in Japan!!!

2009-10-29T21:32:00.001-07:00

Hello Loyal Fan Peoples!

Well, here it is, the end of October and finally time for a RAMPAGE TOYS update!

In recent news: Japan is awesome!!! Not only is Japan awesome, beautiful and home to some cool and crazy people and places, but it's basically the capital of AWESOME toys and toy designers! In fact, I'd go so far as to say that Japan is the capital of design in general - what with kids and designers pumping out the cutting edge in style and other such craziness, and flaunting new fangled (and old-school) styles in a way few Americans (or even Euros) would feel confident doing. Need I repeat the word: AWESOME!!!!

Much anticipated in my travels was a quick visit to one of the ALL TIME BEST toy and graphic designing collaboratives in the world: DEVIL ROBOTS! These guys are amazing! They manage a balance between the standard (and requisite) Japanese Kawaii (= cute) and cool and edgy designs. They merge these two elements wonderfully and have come up with some of the most enduring and FUN characters in modern toy and graphic design - to name a couple: DeviRob (a gangly and mysterious guy who wears a helmet with BIG RED horns) and Tofu Oyako (the marvelous little cube-headed figure loved world-wide by kids, adults and all ages in between). Here are a couple of shots of the Devilrobots studio - LOOK AT ALL THOSE TOYS!!!!

Above: Devirob in the top middle on the table, and Tofu Oyako bottom left in the red one-zee!

The DR head-cheese (Shinichiro), and his second in command, were incredibly welcoming and even threw some free schwag our way. How awesome is that! Check out Devilrobots on Facebook or take a gander at their website (http://www.dvrb.jp/w/) - though Japanaese proficiency might help on that end of things - not much English on the site. I would also highly recommend visiting these guys if you are EVER in Tokyo!

Anyway, what would a RAMPAGE blog posting be without some RAMPAGE artwork!?!?!? So, here it is, inspired by Hyo Myazaki (possibly the most talented person in animation - "creator of Spirited away" an "My Neighbor Totoro") - my take on the Makuro Kuroske - those Cute little dust creatures that live in your attic and keep evil spirits at bay. Everyone can use a little extra good luck hanging around! These guys are made of felt and yarn - oh so soft and cuddly.

ENJOY!!!

Ollie the Munny-World Entry Munny

2009-09-10T17:35:00.000-07:00

Yo!

Ollie here (named in honor of my wife's dearly departed and beloved goldfish of many years) didn't quite make the cut in the Munny World Contest, but He did make the first spot in the 'check out these cool 'other' customs' list!

Ollie's fins and tail are made from armatron wiring and masking tape (simple in theory , difficult in practice). The paint-job is primarily the result of layering with orange, white, gold and silver spray cans, and the face details and portions of the tail are sculpted with green stuff (a 2 part epoxy-like sculpting putty - no baking required). Enjoy!!!

The full frontal view. Check the subtle coloring on his belly!

A 'little bit o' detail' shot. Put this guy in water, he could swim with those fins!

Congrats to all the winners - whoever you all are. Rampage Toys will keep chugging away, and maybe they'll do another one of these comps!

As alway, send any inquiries about t-shirts, stickers, customs or any questions to:

rampage.toys@yahoo.com

Up next - some plush and a ROCKET WORLD I.W.G custom. Yeeah! Give me a couple weeks though...

AWESOME RAMPAGE MUNNY MOBILE

2009-07-24T23:57:00.000-07:00

Check these photos!

After copious amounts of procrastination, the RAMPAGE MUNNY MOBILE is finally up for viewing on the RAMPAE TOYS blog!!!

Please feel free to contact with questions or interest in a custom Munny. Sculpting, painting, drawing - it's all a go!

Enjoy!

Check out the stylish jeans, leather belt and RAMPAGE TOYS t-shirt! - not to mention the sharp fang and bushy eye-brows. SCARY!

Flames make the munny mobile faster --- of course! Check out those white walls!!!!!!!!!!!

A euro plate - they just look cooler!

Going on 2 Months - Time Flies!

2009-07-09T12:40:00.000-07:00

Hello All Interested (and therfore interesting) Peoples!

Work is a drag, right? Well, that's the general consensus among us striving artist-types - whiling away our time at work durring the day... The past two months have flown by with no updates on this page!

But no matter! Things are bustling along and Rampage Toys is sticking it out!

If you live in Seattle, keep an eye out for people clad in RAMPAGE TOYS t-shirts! The assembly line has been spitting out the occasional shirt and hoodie for commited fans, and they're looking awesome. Here's a peek:

Also, check out the shop at http://schmancytoys.bigcartel.com/ for RAMPAGE TOYS on sale on-line! The AWESOME Kristen Trask at Schmancy Toys (Downtown Seattle on 2nd next to the Moore Theater) is carrying a full set of Series 1 RAMPAGE TOYS!!!!

MORE TO COME - INCLUDING AN AWESOME CUSTOM MUNNY MOBILE!

WORLD DOMINION BEGINS!

2009-05-08T12:23:00.000-07:00

Greetings!

Most recently RAMPAGE TOYS has been focusing on taking over the world. So, with that goal in mind, I've had to come up with some clever subterfuge-esque methods (don't want the man catching on).

First stop: AMSTERDAM. And what better time to start than May Day - that pivotal moment in central europeans' year when they decide everything sucks and they need to smash stuff. PERFECT!

My method: Stickers of course. Check out the pictures for RAMPAGE TOYS' international debut in the form of the (soon to be) iconic RAMPAGE mascot on a schmancy homemade sticker. Yup.

Soon to Come: Stuttgart, Germany (home of Porsche and the Scwaebisch tongue), and, of course Paris, France and London, England (homes of, well, lots and lots of things...). Check back for World Dominion (i.e. sticker) updates!

Contact me at Rampage.Toys@yahoo.com if you want stickers. They're biodegradable and really pretty, and like all current RAMPAGE art - individually handmade.

Local Retailers Carrying RAMPAGE TOYS!

2009-04-14T19:43:00.000-07:00

Hey TOY People!

So, the newset development from the world of Rampage Toys is an increase in retail availability. In other words: RAMPAGE TOYS are out in stores now!

Check out the following shops in Seattle where you can get all sorts of rad stuff including RAMPAGE TOYS.

Schmancy Toys - Downtown Seattle
http://www.schmancytoy.com/
206-728-8008

Gifted - Ballard
Check them out at: http://www.yelp.com/biz/gifted-seattle
206-781-0882

Atomic Boys - West Seattle
http://atomicboys.net/ (this site is under construction)
206-938-3255

This first edition of the Rampage line is super limited. There will be less than 40 total of the rampaging snack-food monsters anywhere IN THE WHOLE WORLD! So, snatch 'em up and put them on the shelf next to whatever other awesomeness you're currently collecting. E-mail me for direct requests! rampage.toys@yahoo.com

Welcome and T-SHIRTS

2009-03-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

Hello Fans of Toys!

A couple of quick items to get this blog rolling.

1)On facebook??? Check out the Fans of RAMPAGE TOYS group!!! Join and post. That will be one of the other outlets for RAMPAGE TOY's dominion.

2)T-Shirts will be available soon. They will resemble "team jerseys" - just softer and cheaper and WAY COOLER. The design is at the top of this post, and RAMPAGE TOYS will be in bold font accross the top reverse of the shirt.

More to come - and a lot more pictures!

RAMPAGE TOYS and ART

This Week's Stuff

Cute Attack!

Post-Sufes 58

SUPERFESTIVAL 58!

RAMPAGE x Imps and Monsters MANOTAUR!

Playing Catch-Up

BOO! Halloween is Coming!

After NYCC and CCM! Only one UU left Standing!

Cotton Candy Machine!

NYCC - Why are you so far away?...

New York Comic Con!

Quick Post SF Hit!

Ugly Hath Arrived on the Scene!

Making a Sofubi - How it all works!

UGLY LIVES!!!

UGLU UNICORN Pre-Sale Going Live!

UGLY PROTO

THE GREAT JOURNEY BEGINS!

TENACIOUS TOYS x RAMPAGE TOYS

アグリー ユニコーン Full Reveal!!!

As Seen on SPANKY STOKES!

NEW additions and NEW Projects

CAKESPY Show, et.al.

SHOWS!!!! and stuff

Post-Con Post

GODBEAST x RAMPAGE Wondercon Release

Emerald City Comic Con!!!!

New Shop Madness!

Back in Action!

The 'Merry Christmas' Post!

RAMPAGE TOYS Event Spectacular!!!!

NYCC and Other Great Stuff

KAPUKEEKI RELEASE INFO!!!

NYCC Exclusive - and MORE!!!

Summer Show Re-Cap!

Toys Toys Toys!

Indie Banditas!

Busy, busy, busy...

Prints and Trades

SkullyBoom PVC Entry!

Dunny-Monaut Custom!

Famous People + RAMPAGE = AWESOME!!!

Jelly-O and Punkin Pie REVEALED

PLUSH!!!!

Storytime Continues!

KAWAII !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

RAMPAGE TOYS in BALLARD!!!

HALLOWEEN and a MURDEROUS I.W.G!

Rampage Toys in Japan!!!

Ollie the Munny-World Entry Munny

AWESOME RAMPAGE MUNNY MOBILE

Going on 2 Months - Time Flies!

WORLD DOMINION BEGINS!

Local Retailers Carrying RAMPAGE TOYS!

Welcome and T-SHIRTS

アグリーユニコーン Full Reveal!!!