I read about these toys in last months Wired(Issue 12.01) and meant to mention them, but it slipt my mind till I saw it in their archives, so here's the skinny:
These toys are a big craze over in Hong Kong and Japan right now, and have recently hit the shores of New York. They are soft vinyl, urban inspired, collectible action figures. Designed and manufactured by artsits in limited runs, not soulless corporate whores *cough*Mattel*cough*. These babys are amazingly designed and because of their limited nature they seem to fetch a pretty penny. But with good reason, they are just totally bad ass!!
For more info go read the article and once your interest is properly piqued, check out these related links.
- Wired: The New Cubicle Commandos
- kidrobot.com
- Miami Herald - Charlie Calderin profile
- brothersfree.com
- Brothersfree movie(.mov) - kidrobot.com
- showstudio.com
- freshnessmag.com
- Cute Robot Project
- ToyTokyo
- smooth-on.com (learn how-to make your own plastic figures)
- Polytek(learn how-to make your own plastic figures)
- kidrobot forum(discuss making your own figures)