Seen @ STGCC 2010: Vinyl Art & Pop Culture

continued from the previous post...

The 2010 Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) which is on from December 10 till December 12 at the Suntec International Convention Centre (Hall 401 and 402) brands itself as the ultimate Pop Culture experience. Well, you cannot have pop culture without vinyl art so here are some of those that caught my attention.

Bearbrick Batman - large & XXXL (SUPER large!). Bearbrick (spelled Be@rbrick) is a collectible toy designed and produced by the Japanese company MediCom Toy Incorporated. The name is derived from the fact that the figure is a cartoon-style representation of a bear, and that it is a variation of MediCom's Kubrick design.

The figure is an anthropomorphized bear with an extremely simplified form and a pot belly. Each plastic figure features nine parts (widely referred to as tools in the toy industry): head, torso, hips, arms, hands, and legs; These nine tools allow eight points of articulation: swivel head, swivel waist, ball joint arms, swivel wrists, and ball joint legs. [source: wiki]

Also present at STGCC 2010: 7-inch Domo Qee. This perpetually open-mouthed monster friend is the star of a Japanese series of stop-motion animated shorts and is currently the mascot of NHK which is sort of Japan's equivalent of the BBC.

This is the 7" tall Skeleton Domo which was my favorite

And here are the rest of the Domo Qees, including the 2.5" ones. Click on the pictures for a bigger and better view :) ENJOY

And these are the works of Tim Tsui (www.teamzero.com.hk), one of the hottest Hong Kong figure artist and illustrator.

First up is Da Fighter. Introduced as the newest member of the Tsui elite, which oddly enough is not an Ape as used regularly and in his Da Warrior series. Complete with armor and a mace, tribal printing, transparent claws and a blinged out gem bracelet, this fierce wolf features all the necessary elements to provide vinyl immortality.

Up front and centre is Da Sturm, a spray can wielding primate. Flanking Da Sturm at the back are Da TeamBronx Da Warrior Figures by Tim Tsui. The bad ass football playing gorilla includes three versions, normal, battle and monotone (only two are shown).

Another Da Sturm figure with Da Minci figure. The DaMinci figures have several movable parts, a removable spray can, a mask, and two belt buckles.

DevilRobots 18 inches tall Evirob vinyl figure and its smaller companions plus Be@rbrick

MORE DevilRobots

Gloomy Bear by Mori Chack. It's twice the fun with everyone's favorite poorly trained grizzly, Gloomy Bear. This highly poseable Revoltech reincarnation comes with an equally posable figure of his hapless owner, Pity-kun! The heavily bloodied Gloomy stands a big 10cm tall at his full, terrifying height; poor pathetic Pity-kun is 7cm tall. Two bases with jointed arms are included, to assist with violence-filled poses, and there's even a muzzle to attempt to restrain Gloomy. Pity-kun has an extra head, too, which looks to be in very bad shape! Put them in a different action-packed predicament every day (run, Pity-kun, run!)!

There's also the 12-inch figures created by Jason Siu. Hong Kong toy designer Jason Siu of Monkey Playground fame is a leading name in the realm of Urban Vinyl action figures. His toys and design reflect his fascination with hip-hop street culture.

Uglydoll is a brand which began as a collection of best selling toys created by creators David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim.

The story behind the dolls is most interesting: In 2001, when David's soon to be wife and creative partner Sun-Min had to return to Korea, he sent her many "I miss you" letters with his little Wage character drawn at the bottom. Sun-Min sewed Wage into a plush doll and sent him to David as a surprise gift. David asked Sun-Min to sew a couple more for the Giant Robot store in Los Angeles and they sold out in one day! A very excited Sun-Min sewed many more and those sold just as fast! Sun-Min and David then began to pull more characters from the Uglyverse, a universe where UGLY meant unique and special, to translate into plush Uglydolls.

And how can I end off without a picture of one of my favorite cartoon family of all time, The Simpsons :) The Simpsons are a typical (?) family who live in a fictional "Middle American" town of Springfield. However, they are anything but typical and that is the FUN of it all. The town of Springfield acts as a complete universe in which characters can explore the issues faced by modern society. In November 2010, Fox announced that The Simpsons had been renewed for a 23rd season, which means the show will reach 500 episodes.

And that ends my coverage of the Singapore Toy, Games and Comic Convention (STGCC) 2010 from the toys perspective. Go see it if you haven't, tomorrow's the last day :)