It’s review time and we’re reviewing the new TADO x MATHMOS Chuppi customisable toy/night-light.

Contents:

• 1 x Chuppi
• 2 x Sticker Sheets
• 1 x Charging Base
• 1 x Charger [and the required adapter depending on country]

Right out of the box Chuppi is a sizeable little fella at approx 8″ tall.  Upon taking Chuppi from it’s box I was quite surprised at how light it was; yet it’s sturdy enough as to not fall over from the slightest bump.

Chuppi comes with 2 sticker sheets with 18 stickers for you to play with.  The box and instructions show 18 faces you can create as designed by TADO, or you can mix and match to create thousands of possible faces.

I wasted no time in attempting to recreate the face of Wario on my Chuppi (as can be seen below).

I plonked my newly dubbed Wario-Chuppi onto it’s charging station fora while whilst I waited for night time.  On the underside of Chuppi is a single button which is used to activate the various light modes; a single press sets it to cycle through a rainbow of colours, pressing it a second time sets it to solid blue, a third time sets it to red and a fourth and final time sets it to green.

Each colour was vibrant and also provided an ambient glow.  By default, after 30 minutes Chuppi will graduaully fade until it goes off, this setting can be changed by holding the button down (for 3 seconds) until the underside red LED goes off.

PLUS: Vibrancy/Range of Colours, Endless possibilities with stickers/customization, Portable, Sleep Timer, Charging Station, Rechagrable

MINUS: Would’ve been nice to be able to pause mid colourcycle / greater choice of light colour.

I highly reccomend picking up a Chuppi from MATHMOS, they’re awesome little toys with some added functionality that will especially be appreciated if you have kids that are afraid of the dark.  The ease of use, portablity and the fun that can be had customising your Chuppi makes them a more than worthwhile purchase.

Big thanks to Emma / Miss Cakehead of Stay Puft for providing us with a Chuppi to review :]

Hasbro and Sweet Street’s upcoming My Little Pony Project 2012 is nearly at hand and the customs are finally starting to be revealed. Not wanting to be left behind, Mikie Graham of Blamo Toys shows us his entry into the show…. a piece he is calling “The Enemy Within.”  As you can see Mikie has taken his DIY Mega Pony and transformed it into a scale replica of the famed Trojan Horse.

Mikie talks about his creation:

“Because I was specifically doing this custom for Blamo I wanted to find a way to merge both of our styles. By combining the use of natural wood, sculptural re configuration, and the tongue in cheek use of Playmobil soldiers I feel that I have done just that!
To create my custom I used over 400 individual mini wooden boards cut from doll house flooring that I found at my local craft store. I then adhered the wood strips to the vinyl pony using a combination of several glues and the use of over 200 tiny brass nails that you can see ornately decorating the outside of the figure.
Since this was a Mega pony I tried to packed it with as much detail as possible. Highlights include 2 scale accurate Playmobil soldiers visible through the pony’s eyes, a hand sculpted tail and mane, and 4 functioning wooden wheels. If you look closely you can even see a tiny hidden door in the horses belly, with which the soldiers inside will escape their wooden decoy once safely within the walls of Troy!”

As you can see by the plethora of pictures, Mikie went all out for this custom and if all of the other artists have worked as hard and long on their pieces this is bound to be one hell of a show!
If you’re in L.A. on or around the 5th of May make sure to drop by the Toy Art Gallery and check out all of the amazing work.

Saturday May 5, 2012 7pm – 11pm
MY LITTLE PONY Project 2012 Launch Event at Toy Art Gallery
7571 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90046

“Thanks to the inspiration from Rotofugi in Chicago, I have become inspired to create toyz from my characters. The past couple months have been devoted to making prototypes with Rhinoceros, lazer cutters, 3D printers and scanners and paper folding methods. I am now ready to create my toys in there final forms.

I need backers support and help to purchase materials and continue my creative process to fully develop N.E. Thing Goez into a legitimate hand crafted designer toy collection.”

N.E. Thing Goez is a project by Nina Palomba, an Illustrator and cartoonist attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her handmade toys have an awesome classic cartoon vibe and that have retained all their character in the transition from drawing to real world objects.

There’s isn’t alot of time left to help her reach her $4,500 goal (currently at $3,025) but you can help realise a great artists ambitions by backing this project.

“Iconic UK brand MATHMOS have teamed up with graphic art duo TADO to create Chuppi – the perfect interactive child’s nightlight AND an adult’s collectable art toy. The wireless colour changing customizable Chuppi available internationally from the 30th April at www.MATHMOS.com and is priced at £30 (40EU).

Harnessing almost 50 years of MATHMOS ambient lighting expertise, Chuppi can be set on a single colour or allowed to cycle through the spectrum. He (or she!) will fade off automatically after half an hour, but can also be set to stay alight. Each Chuppi comes with reusable stickers for 18 different characters allowing for full customization. Should you ever tire of your light giving companion you can simply rearrange the stickers. Wirelessly this unique customizable art toy and light lasts for up to 6 hours and you simply place Chuppi on their home to charge.

Commenting on the collaboration TADO said:

“The main challenge was coming up with a fun little guy that offered something a little bit different to the customizable toy market. As such we wanted to try and make something that could be used either as it comes, or as a platform to be customized, with the added dimension of it being illuminated. The stickers we created also allow people to have some fun and get creative without having to break out the pens and paints! We worked really closely with MATHMOS to come up with the characters shape and pose, a true collaborative project in every sense of the world and we are delighted with the results.”

We’re really excited to get our hands on a Chuppi, in the worlds of Steve Carrell, “I love lamp”.  Leave it to TADO to be the one’s to come out with a customisable toy as awesome and innovative as this.  The stickers alone make it possible to create hundreds of different quirky characters.  It’s going to be awesome seeing the customs that are created from this form, especially as the lighting element can play a big part in the creative process.  Keep your eyes peeled for a full review as and when get our mitts on a Chuppi of our own.

high and dry
1. Lit. [for water] to recede and leave someone untouched. The waters receded and left us high and dry.
2. Fig. to leave someone unsupported and unable to maneuver; to leave someone helpless.

“High & Dry” isn’t just the name of a Radiohead song, but it is the name of this awesome custom Coarse Jaws Loser figure, by Task One for a KR Boardie.  Love the attention to detail, especially on the back tattoo, and the conversion from figure to sculpture is outstanding.

photos courtesy of Brad Topolewski

Stay tuned for more..

At New York Comic Con this year Ohiya gave away a custom munny painted by Ohio-based illustrator Jason Tharp. This time lapse is span across 3 days with over 10 hours of work!

“Ohiya encourages us to go beyond personal boundaries – to simply say, ‘Hi.’ A chance encounter can suddenly turn into something magical, all with the help of a simple two letter word.” – Tharp

Quim Tarrida | “IF YOU BLINK, YOU’LL MISS IT”

Opening: Friday December 9th, 7-11 pm
Dec. 9th – Dec. 30th, 2011

TAG | Toy Art Gallery

“If You Blink, You’ll Miss It” is the artist Quim Tarrida’s first exhibition in the United States.  This project is part of the Subheroes Project, which includes a large part of the artist’s multi-disciplinary production from the past few years. The title is derived from a film industry jargon term, which is used to refer to subliminal images inserted in some sequences, and which are imperceptible to the naked eye.

The exhibition consists of an approach to the personal universe of Quim Tarrida, which he himself calls the Subcutanian World, a microcosm inhabited by strange, metamorphic and viral beings, true antiheroes on the verge of the uncanny.  Projections of the self or of Neo-pop alter egos, ultra-world characters, compose a unique and prodigious imaginary, and attain form through a series of sculptural pieces, limited ceramic editions, and drawings, notable among which are classical pieces from his iconography, such as Subsub Family, The Soldier, Subcutanian Ninja, Oh Gaar, or his latest productions, Relaxing in Blue and The Monkey Knows.

Quim Tarrida (Barcelona 1967) is a multi-displinary artist whose art production, beyond work related to music and performance, includes photography, video, painting and sculpture, where he also establishes links to the universe of lost childhood. An irretrievable childhood opposed to an adult world in which the oneiric imaginary no longer has a relevant role, and in which the dominant game is established through economic and political interests that lead to power struggles. In short, a world in which play is presented as something far removed from the sweetened image which normally surrounds childhood. Thus, the artist emphasizes the closeness that can exist between play and violence, between reality and fiction. Tarrida works on the limit which swings between the ludic component of the simulacrum of the toy and the military artifact, revealing the weak border which separates one reality from the other.

What: The Sucklord presents OCCUPY CYBERTRON
Where: END OF CENTURY, 237 Eldridge Street, NY, NY 10002
When: December 7th, 2011: 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm

OCCUPY CYBERTRON will serve as the launch event for a new line of collectible “art toys” inspired by the Occupy Wallstreet Movement. On December 7th, the Sucklord, acting as the leader of the Decepticons, will defend his vast fortunes against a solidarity protest of Autobots, which represent the 99%, in a conceptual performance art piece that will “occupy” the End of Century retail space and gallery in New York City’s Lower East Side.

Longtime Sucklord co-conspirator The Crystal Pharoah will appear for a DJ set, and Beerlao has joined the cause as a drink sponsor.

According to The Sucklord,

“In the spirit of the 1% that an evil supervillain such as myself represents, I thought the timing was ripe for Suckadelic to appropriate the Occupy Wall Street movement for my own material gain… so I made action figures of the protesters and the masters of the universe who financially control them. They make great Christmas gifts.”

A small batch of limited edition OCCUPY CYBERTRON trading cards have been produced for the event by a collaboration between Suckadelic, Appro Nation (Creators of “The Art Hustle” contemporary art and artist trading cards) and Sidekick Media (manufacturer of the Suckadelic Suckpax trading card series).

A free pack of cards will be given to anyone who attends the event in a costume relevant to the theme. The Sucklord will also be offering a limited quantity of custom art toy action figures in 8”, 3 ¾” and 3” scales for sale.

There are way too many sites out there trying to take a cut out of everyone’s sales,

and we truly believe selling products online should be free.

• Over 8,500 Stores
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• We already have stores such as Lift, Synthetic Compound, Vinyl Zoo and more
• And yes it’s free to setup a store, list and sell items

Sneaky Raccoon is turning 5 and to commemorate the occasion will be holding a  group show that celebrates the friends made along the way. Tales From The Sneaky Crypt will feature the immense talents of artist friends: TADO, Jamfactory, A Little Stranger, Cavey, Lunartik, Emily Bee, Felt Mistress, Waste, Map Map, Loulou & Tummie, Lunabee, Cris Rose, Triclops Studio, Jon Paul Kaiser, MEGAMUNDEN, Phil Corbett, Okkle, Anabelle Nielsen, Mimic, Tesselate, Steve Fable, Poked Studio, Clark Rotharmel, Podgy Panda, Creature Kebab, Rhys Brown, Jenn & Tony Bot, Dolly Oblong, Planet Domu, Fadeworks and Sneaky Raccoon.

The spooky show will run for four days (Fri 28th -Mon 31st) at Kidrobot London, & Sneaky Raccoon would love to see you and Say hello.  The evening will be filled with live screen printing and drawing, homemade treats, a fundraising  raffle and a crypt full of eerie art and creepy customs.

Toys from the show will be available for sale online from Saturday 29th at 10am GMT for fans worldwide at the Toys in the Sneaky Crypt Store
10% – 100% of toy sales and money raised will be donated to McMillian Cancer Support, so pop along and help raise money for a wonderful cause.