My Collections: Designer Toys

My collection. At least most of it.

Among the ranks of my peers, both working in the designer toy industry and being collectors of it, I score pretty low on the "toy collection" scale. I don't have cabinets full of figures, and I am really picky and selective when it comes to what I put into the collection.

One thing I've had to do since moving into a smaller living space is to limit my collecting. I'm much more strict when it comes to curating now, and I've set some limits on collections that normally I would have had wide open.  For toys, it's a limitation by color - I pretty much only collect pink, grey, white, and pastel blue. Cotton candy colors.

Muckey, in all his glory. His teeth are translucent, and his head/neck joint
can be opened about 1/2" to either hide or reveal them. His tummy and nose are flocked.
He was a gift and came all the way from Japan, before they were available in the U.S.

Muckey's backside, revealing his second face. Also, to the left, RealxHead Mini Lucky Cat Billy
and Nathan Jurevicius Peleda owl wind-up toy.

I tend to go for cute stuff...even the monsters I collect are cutefied. I really love "serious" toys, like artsy designer-y stuff and amazingly detailed creatures with infinite articulation, but there's very little calling out for me to own them. But cute stuff....I can't help it. It must be some latent protective instinct; I have to take care of them.  Yes, even you, Rangeas. You're adorable in your own special way!

It's always good to see what your contemporaries are doing - you can learn so much, and be surprised by their good ideas. You can also learn a lot about your own aesthetic taste in what you choose to be a part of your toy collection. For example, it's strange to me that while everything I make is ragged, grubby, and primitive looking, I really love flat color, simple shapes, and clean execution in toys.  Perhaps it's because it's a style so unlike my own, that it appeals to me.

On the left, double Kaiju Negoras - one a full-sized flocked vinyl, the other a keychain from
a capsule toy machine in Japan. Also a pink Dragon Quest slime, a Chima "Wool",
and a resin Pink Bubblegut by Chris Ryniak.

Rangeas SS in White, by T9G. I love this thing. It sits under a glass dome in my
living room. I love that it is all white - it looks like a porcelain statue.

Rangeas has magenta doll eyes, which make him look absurdly cute for all those
spikes and claws. He's my buddy.

 

Pickled Stinky Ginger by Chris Ryniak on the left, and in the blurry foreground, a
Gatcha machine keychain of a "Cat in a Macaron". The glittery black and grey
ice cream cone is Brian Flynn's "Milton", from Super 7.

I'm sure I'll have to add a third shelf soon...but for the right toys, it will be worth it!



Reference:

Designer Vinyl:

Rangeas SS (White): by T9G
Stinky Ginger (Pickled): by Chris Ryniak
Kaiju Negora (Flocked Candy Snow): by Konatsu/Max Toy Co.
Muckey: by Instinctoy
Wool: by Chima Group
Mini Fortune Cat Billy: by RealxHead
Milton (Glitter Gray): by Brian Flynn/Super7


Japanese Vending Machine toys (keychains):

Miniature Kaiju Negora
Cat in a Macaron (why? Because!)
Dragon Quest Slime (one of my favorite character designs of all time!)


Other:

Bubblegut (Pink): by Chris Ryniak
Peleda Wind-up Owl: by Nathan Jurevicius