Famous People + RAMPAGE = AWESOME!!!

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

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!!!!

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!

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 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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!!!

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!

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!!!!