R2D2 and Ice-Bat

Got to do some relaxing over Memorial Day Weekend. No working... just a bit of sleeping. I did get out to head on down to Golden Apple Comics on Monday. Picked up the June Previews/Marvel Previews books, issues of Brightest Day #2, X-Force #27 (part 9 of the Second Coming X-Men crossover event), Avengers #1, Galacta: Daughter of Galactus #1 and The Last Unicorn #1. As I was looking around the store I saw this display case next to a life-size R2D2 statue with signatures and doodles on it. Never paid too much attention to the R2D2. But this time I happened to be crouched down in between the display and the R2D2, to get a closer look at the figures on the very bottom shelf. Just then, something on the R2D2 caught my eye... Ice-Bat's head sketched and signed by David on the front side. I pulled out my iPhone and quickly snapped a couple of pics.

I also found out that they will be selling the Vader Project Auction Catalog and the auction preview is happening down the street from the store. June 12-20 open to the public. On June 11 there will be and Opening Night Party with DJs from 6pm to 10pm. On June 12 there will be a catalog signing with over 20 artists. Golden Apple has a window display with 3 of the Vader helmets.

Been a little too busy over the past month and a half to really post anything. My regular work schedule has been getting bumped around a bit. A few publications got axed or moved, so I've had to reorganize some of my plans for the latter part of the year. Luckily none of it interferes with SDCC. A project I was working on involved creating some sketches of a bunny for a movie, but that fell through. Since they went with another designer for this plush bunny, I'll use it for myself. So I have my Ty looking over the sketches to turn him into a plush. Hopefully it comes out okay. I did finish up some planning for my dad's 85th birthday party in August. Booked the Chinese restaurant, picked out the menu, guest list done and date set. Only things left to do are the invites and the party favors. I have Ty making some small plush origami cranes as party favors. He has made them before and should work well with the party.

2002 Ice-Bat

GR2 had their 2002 Ice-Bat release and signing event with Sun-Min Kim and David Horvath on Saturday (3:00pm-5:00pm). This Ice-Bat is modeled after the very first handmade ones that were first sold at Giant Robot back in 2002. These have 2 toes and 5 teeth. Limited edition of 300 and available through Giant Robot.

So glad the rain let up for this. The line for the event wasn't as too bad. I got there a little before 2:30pm, with only 6 or 7 people before me. Michelle started letting people into the store 6 at a time, just a little past 3:00pm. Everyone was limited to purchase 3 Ice-Bats per person. I had bought 3 post-it's from the GR2 Post-It 3 show last year and got them framed. The frame had two smaller areas that were perfectly sized for the smaller post-it's. So I put 2 blank ones there for them to sketch in to complete my frame. Was going to have them sketch something into my book, but I didn't want to hold up the line too much. I'm going to be going to SDCC this year, so I can get a sketch there. I bought my limit of 3, but needed to get 1 more for Justin. Figured I'd wait around outside until the end of the signing to purchase another one, if any were left.

While standing in line I got to catch up with Brandi (serial nerd) and Travis, who were just recently engaged. Finally met Hilda (hch05) and Corey as I was coming out from the store. We seem to always miss each other at these signings. Talked a bit with Eric while standing outside too. He and I were amazed at how many young kids were there.

The turn out was really great. Signing ended at just the right time too... it started to rain.

2010 Plush Uglydolls Revealed

David Horvath revealed the 2010 plush Uglydolls line on his Facebook page this past Monday. Well before Toy Fair in February. They are: Pointy Max, Picksey, Mynus, Ket, Nandy Bear, Ninja Batty Shogun, Cozymonster and Wippy.

4 of the new Uglydolls have already been seen before at the Dehara and David Have Mono show, at Stitch in Japan, back in September of 2009: Pointy Max, Ket, Batty Shogun and Cozymonster. These were handmade versions in different colors than these regular production versions. But it was unknown at the time if any of them would be part of the 2010 line.

Ket was one of the first to be confirmed as a 2010 release. When the Kiston Ket exclusive was released in November, it was mentioned that the regular release of Ket would be in a different color in late 2010.

Pointy Max and Picksey, are out in stores now. These were up for pre-order on the website at the beginning of December 2009. Mynus is up for pre-order on the Uglydolls web store. Won't know the release schedule of the others until Toy Fair. Along with the unveiling of the series 2 action figures, tin toy line and Ugly Hangers.

GR2 Post-It 4 Show

GR2 had the opening of the Post-It 4 show on Saturday. Heard there were something like 1300+ pieces submitted by 150+ artists. My camera's battery was dead so I had to take pics with my iPhone, which isn't that great. GR2 pre-show pics here and here. Pieces were priced from $5 to $40 for single post-its and $40-$300 for post-its made up of multiple pieces. This was a great chance to get a piece of original art from an artist at a really great, inexpensive price. All are "cash and carry." So once you bought it, it comes off the wall and you take it home right away. You could only purchase one item from each artist, since some only submitted one and others may have submitted more than one.

I got there about 5:30pm and there was a handful of people already there. At this point you could really get up close to the wall and see the artwork... that would change in the next half-hour at opening. Once Michelle put the sign up sheet out to purchase art a little before 6pm, a line formed quickly. I was last on the first page of the list.

The place got packed really quickly and you could hardly move or get close to the wall to take a good look at the post-its. Michelle started calling names from the sign up list and pieces started coming off the walls. It took people a while to get their pieces because some were still looking and making their decisions right then. Pieces are coded on the back. Unless you know the artists' work or they signed their piece, it could be difficult finding something you wanted. It took about an hour until my name was called.

This was such a great show! Even after I left, about 8pm, there was still a huge crowd there waiting for their chance to make a purchase. I got a David Horvath, Sun-Min Kim, Mina Horvath, APAK, Saelee Oh, Gary Baseman and Le Merde. I got all the ones I wanted to get, although the Baseman one was my second choice. First choice was a post-it with his Toby character in it. I went back the next day and there are still a lot of great pieces left. All of David's were gone. There were a couple of Sun-Min's and Mina's still available. I think I got pics of all of their pieces here.

GR Biennale 2 @ JANM

Little late in getting this post up. It has just been really busy for me at the moment, with work and happenings around town. But anyways... I went to the opening of the Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 Years Art Exhibition and Celebration. Got there really early, about 4:30pm, and decided to walk around J-Town a bit. Had not been around there for a long while and some of the stores and eateries I used to go to have changed. Even the area I used to work at during my college days has been developed into a parking lot for the Metrorail. So as I walked through the Village I bump into Justin, Bianca and his mom. I met them at SDCC this past year. I guess I should say Justin and his mom only, since Bianca wasn't there. Made a quick stop at the Yogurtland nearby to pickup a Tokidoki character spoon. 2 are out now: Mozzarella and Latte. 2 others come out Nov. 23: Donutella and Captain Coco.

After the stop, we went to stand in line at JANM for the opening at 6pm. There were only a few people in line there at the time, but the line didn't get too much longer until close to the time of the opening. Doors opened and we were let into the museum to view all the great art work for the show. They even laid out the red carpet for this opening with a Giant Robot backdrop that featured 62 issues of GR.

The main artists like David Choe, James Jean, Souther Salazar, Jeff Soto, Jack Long, etc. were in the upstairs part of the gallery. While the collaboration of Le Merde, David Horvath and Dehara was in the downstairs one, along with 50+ other artists. We started in the bottom gallery since it seemed that is where everyone was heading. There was a long line to get into that part of the gallery as the night progressed. Lighting was dimmer than I expected it to be in this area.

The figures that Le Merde, David and Dehara made were just amazing. The 3 Le Merde customs of My Friend Dave, Kaiju Ice-Bat and Kaiju Babo were... how can I put this... Gorgeous! Sun-Min's first resin, Sun-Min's Monster, were great to see! The eyes on some of them are a little cross-eyed. Loved seeing the colored blank My Friend Dave customs with handpainted details on them. Dehara's pieces always look great too. The collaboration figures they did were awesome you can totally tell which ones each artist worked on and the different heads they come with are a very cool addition. Sun-Min also had these half gourd-like sculpts hanging on the back wall too with her signature painted flowers. Those were pretty interesting to see.

There were so many pieces to look at in the bottom gallery that we almost forgot about the other one upstairs. But we had to make a stop at the food and beverage table in the main hall area, at least before the stage presentation started. There was some wraps, chips and salsa provided by Wahoo's and beverages provided by Honest Tea... delicious and satisfying. George Takei started off the presentation by introducing Eric on stage. Eric in turn introduced some GR staff (Martin and Michelle went on stage), then many of the artists taking part in the show. He even gave each of them a certificate from the City of L.A. After the ceremony, we decided to view the silent auction area, see the other gallery, plus meet and mingle with the artists. Got to talk with David and his sister Kerry, Eric Nakamura, Martin Wong, Jack Long, James Jean and a couple other people.

After the show we decided to try and get some noodles to eat nearby, but most of the places that I knew there were either too crowded or closed. Even Chinatown, although close by, was pretty deserted. So we grabbed a bite at the Denny's that I knew of down the street from where I used to work. Justin had 2 prints he purchased from the Three Apples show that he did not want to take a chance with on the flight back, so he wanted to know if I could ship them to him. I told him that I could, so I went back to their hotel to get them.

All in all, it was a very interesting night. Going to have to go back to view the show again. Just to spend more time to admire the pieces and take some better pics when it isn't as crowded. It was a little difficult in trying to get pics of the larger pieces. You are bound to get a few people not paying attention in your shots.