Battlemouth

This is of course a continuation of my series started at www.battlemouth.com and as I said in Part 1 this time we will be talking about some of my favorite places to hook up with some disigner/urban vinyl! My wife has a habbit of calling them “toys” and why TECHNICALLY they might be “toys” I think any collector would rather call them art. And after you check out some of these sites you will most likely agree.

First off I suppose the easiest place to start would be the largest dealer to the Unites States (and probablly the largest contributing factor to the hobbies popularity State-side) KID ROBOT! (www.kidrobot.com) Kid Robot is the purveyor of one of the most “main-stream” lines of the vinyl/designer toy line: The Dunny! KR is currently on its 5th run of Dunnies and going strong! I personally don’t collect Dunnies (there are too damn many) however, I am a collector of several other KR products. Labbits, and BFF’s to name a couple, and if you get a chance to pick up a Kid Robot Mascot I highly recomend you go for it, they are amazing!

I could write a book on the countless other extremely talented artists and popular companies making pieces today but no one would read it. SO instead I will list a couple other places that I buy as well as find info and updates on my second favorite hobby!
For info, plenty of sneak peeks, and upcoming release dates definitley go become a member at www.vinylpulse.com. For sure the leader in whats up, down, and all around the “dt” world!

When I feel like taking a drive instead of shoping online (although they have a great online store as well) I found a wonderful little joint just a couple hours from my house. In the Windy City, a land known as Chicago, there is a glorious store by the name of ROTOFUGI (www.rotofugi.com)! Not only do they cary a world of rare and limited edition toys, their Gallery showings are out of this world! And they support all types of artists like Jeremiah Ketner (who is one of my favorites!) and the beautiful and talented Tara McPherson (who just put out a new series with Kid Robot)! Of course, there are a ton of other galleries in Chicago and yes some of them carry some very nice toys, but for my dollar, Rotofugi is the place to go in the Windy City.
Finally I will give you my top 5 favorite sites to BUY online…for those of us without a store within walking distance sometimes this is the best option….

1. www.myplasticheart.com Great prices and sales! Huge variety, and lots of info on upcomming shows!
2. www.fugitivetoys.com Smaller selection on the whole…but a lot of times they have incredible prices!
3. www.kidrobot.com Of course what better place than direct from the source. If its Kid Robot you want…um…they have it. ALSO their apparell is INCREDIBLE and all limited edition just like their art! They even number most of the clothes (1-150 or whatever)…makes it worth the price!
4. www.3dretro.com Incredible selection…lots of hard to find stuff!
5. www.thebananalab.com Pictures of stuff isnt the best but the selection is great.

This is getting long so let me just say that there are many other wonderful sites, not to mention all of the places to see customs…which is a rock still unturned here…
I will say that I am going to be posting some custom of the month pictures by different artists as we go so besure to check often for some new shots!