One of the sweetest, and most charming news I received this week was the upcoming release of Shawnimals’ Ninjatown Zipper Pulls. Shawnimals teamed up with Squibbles Ink & Rotofugi, to deliver 16 designs based off the Ninjatown video game that was released October 2008.  Keep reading to check out all 16 designs, along with some packaging photos.

I’ll start off with, YAY!!! I always experience a unique joy when it comes to shows that Brent Nolasco participates in– and in this case, the joy is extended to the 4 other participants of the upcoming 5 Eyed Dragon show coming up in April at Dragatomi. The show will feature the works of some of the biggest names in the customizing world; Leecifer, DrilOne, Betso, Brent Nolasco and Southern Drawl.

I am experiencing a bout of jealousy in regards to this show. Mostly because for the past couple of months Southern Drawl has been rather quiet in the scene. Just days before the postcard for the show was leaked, I’d thrown his name out as a suggestion for a show and the person I was talking to didn’t recognize his name and it basically gave me an excuse to revisit and share some of his older munny designs. Anyway, this show is the first time in a while that he’ll be putting out a body of work– at least I hope so. Since it is five gentlemen (uh, where are the ladies?!!), I’m not sure how many pieces each artist will get to show. But the rest of the line up, includes artists who are very complementary to each other.

I can’t wait to see more photos of this show– Betso is already winning my heart with the custom on the card– I’m not entirely sure what figure he’s using for it. Anyway, if you’re in Sactown in April (the week after WonderCon), consider stopping by and giving Joanne/Ray and the rest of the crew a hug from me. <3!

Thanks to Grain Edit (a great design and illustration blog), I discovered Hey Studio and their Calendar they produced in December, which featured a new character for every day of the month. The site is in Spanish, but if you can’t read it, the images are pretty easy to understand or Google Translate does a pretty good job. I love the graphic, black-outline aesthetic, and simplified geometric shapes that tie all the characters together. And I’m a sucker for redesigning classic pop culture icons (Darth Vader, Mary Poppins, Ghostbusters?! – so awesome!). I wonder how they decide on each day’s character (CJ Parker from Baywatch??).

Plus, they instantly made me think of the Android toys by Andrew Bell that were recently released – and sold out ridiculously quickly. Now if we could just get these two together for a second series…I would buy those figures in a minute!

Note: Android figures are being released to select stores, so check with your favorites and snatch some up while they’re still available!

I know I haven’t posted in a while. For those who follow my twitter, you’ll note that my computer crashed during a crucial time in posting and then I proceeding to get sick. Such fun was had. Anyway, I fell behind on many aspects for a while, but I think I’m pretty caught up with the various scenes I scope out and will start with finally posting about the upcoming custom Jibibuts show taking place at Munky King Melrose next month. I’ve gone ahead and searched the internet for some of the customs surfacing on the net, so hit the jump to check out larger images and additional customs…

At 9am Est. time, Hello, Brute will be releasing the first two Sookie LaLa color variants. I mentioned wanting this figure to be my first Hello, Brute figure– but sadly the 29th has arrived too quickly. Being broke is no fun, but these two figure are. If you’ve got the dough ($88 to be exact) consider purchasing one of these. Just click here to purchase. Good Luck, these are super limited and really possess the spirit and hard-work that Jon Knox puts into his pieces.

Later tonight I’ll be at MyPlasticHeart to celebrate the release of the Femme Fatale dunny release. They’ll be having a trading party too– so, if you’re in the neighborhood, stop by. =D

The benefits of being a night owl (or early bird as ChelC has suggested since I’m still awake at 6, 7 and sometimes 10am) is that you don’t miss important tweets that contain news of an upcoming release like Mitch from Neon Monster. <– That was a long sentence. Neon Moster, located in San Francisco is a really trendy shop that amalgamates designer toys, comics and records (the musical kind). During our visit the staff were very friendly and they had some great merchandise– they even had The Walking Dead available (favorite zombie comic), so they scored brownie points with me for that.

Oh the ever elusive zipper pulls. To some, it was their way of continuing to show off their geekiness with miniature representations of their favorite designer toys– and although this also applied to me, zipper pulls were also a tiny way of rebelling against the proper work attire. Well, Marshall now joins the ranks of munny, gloomy, things that hurt and many other zipper pulls that have come before it. The news make me uber happy, because I’ve shown my love for 64Colors several times– but seeing the image above, I have one concern. What material are they using for these zipper pulls?

From the photo, I can tell they’re not the same material from the 4″ Marshalls. Whatever material it is, is messing with the aesthetic I already associate with Marshall, a sort of matted vinyl plastic if that makes any sense. It captures the essence of a marshmallow a lot more. Either way, I’m sure I’ll still be picking one up– specifically hoping I score the nerdy one, you know, because I’m a nerd. =D

These will be available from Rotofugi end of February/beginning of March and will retail for $3.95.

If you follow me on twitter– you’ll know that last night I tweeted about wanting Sookie LaLa for the pure opportunity of getting to call it Sookie in Vampire Bill’s voice. Don’t know Vampire Bill? He’s from Showtime’s True Blood (cheesy vampires for the win, but I’m all about Eric. Rawr!). Anyway, I lied– that’s not the only reason I want Hello, Brute’s newest figure– it’s mostly because after a year of not being sure how I felt about his hand-cast resin figure with oddly lines– I am officially in love.

I was always a fan of Hello, Brute’s characters– but I have a sick need for my toys/figures to be impeccable. I want clean paint jobs and a smooth finish. So, when I’d spotted Hello, Brute’s figures I just couldn’t get past the additional air-bubbles and really what I now see as an unique charm. It wasn’t until I coincidentally got to see Brute’s art and figures first hand at DoublePunch in San Francisco. I thought I couldn’t get past the added personality, but when they were in front of me– I really wanted to kick myself. Do you realize how many figures this guy has produced since I’ve been introduced to his work? Do you know how many; Jeffreys, Dannys, Jakes and many more I passed up on? The lesson here is, get ‘em!

Well, if I manage to save my monies, I would love Sookie LaLa to kick start my Hello, Brute collection. According to Jon’s (that’s his legal name) blog, if all goes well, Sookie will be released early next week? Perfect b-day present if anyone wants to hook it up? Wonder what they’ll look like with paint? So far, I’ve been a fan of Jon’s color combinations.

I spotted this post on VinylPulse a couple of days ago, and since have been obsessing a little about the newest addition to the Mr. Lapin family. I was lucky enough to score an all black one two years ago from the lovely Colette (1st lady of Tomopop) and later that same year scraped up the cash for the Marie Paysant-Le Roux edition.

Anyway, ever since then, I admit, I’ve been rather hooked on these sophisticated rabbits. They carry themselves so well, I can’t really refer to them as bunnies. As soon as I spotted the sneak peek, I knew the newest addition would be flocked, you can see the texture in the photo. I can’t wait to see what the expression on the front looks like. By the way, Mr. Lapin is photographed in his many forms quite often. I took the liberty of sharing some of my favorite photos after the jump.