SoftoyHobby Archives

MAN-E-NEWS// 7 Seals ‘Death Seal’ reveal from Menace Inc Studios…

Jeff Beck over at Menace Inc Studios has just revealed his contribution to the 7 Seals resin series (find out more here) in all it’s glory, Seal #4: Death… Standing at around 4″ tall with scythe, the beautifully sculpted piece has been cast in resin with an iron coating applied which Jeff then used a special technique on which rapidly rusted the metal to create the glorious effect you see above. Along with an as-yet-unrevealed chase figure (1/7), Jeff has also created a special one-off of Death that will be available at the series launch as part of a whole host of giveaways throughout the night… As an added bonus, we can exclusively reveal the ‘7-Eyed Lamb-Beast’ rings our very own Tru:Tek will be offering up as the ‘golden ticket’ prizes! Cast in a stone grey urethane rubber and finished with a black acrylic rub, the ‘one-size-fits-all’ pieces will be winging their way to 3 lucky purchasers of the 7 Seals along with a mini-print designed by Tru:Tek…

“Coinciding with the Mayan’s prediction for the end of the world, Jeff will be dropping the 7 Seals on Thursday, December 2oth 2012 at the Geeksboro Coffeehouse and Cinema, NC from 8:00pm to 12:00pm, with any remaining stock heading to the Menace Inc store the day after for just $30 plus shipping… as long as that fateful prediction doesn’t come true! Head over to the dedicated 7 Seals Facebook page here for the complete lowdown…”

MAN-E-NEWS// ‘Coal Lump Grump’ and ‘Ray Skull’ H.U.S.T.L.E figure from Hungry Imp…

“This year The Grump is feeling a bit out of the holiday spirit. Something about the “Good Will to All Men” bit just isn’t doing it for him. So, he’s decided to do the only thing he knows and ruin it for everyone else! This Christmas, be sure to leave a note for Santa letting him know to close the flue behind him when he leaves so this soot covered Grump can’t come down the chimney to open your presents, spit in your eggnog, and break all your treasured ornaments!”

Travis McIntosh aka Hungry Imp is proud to present the latest addition to the Grump family, the anti-Christmas ‘Coal Lump’ edition! Cast by Travis in resin and hand painted in a suitably grim coal black, the awesome little fella can be yours for just $15 plus shipping… You better hurry if you’re interested though, Coal Lump Grump will only be available on the Hungry for Imps store until the end of today!

Already previewing here on Man-E-Toys in a couple of different forms, it comes with great honour to bring you guys the very first test pull of Hungry Imp’s H.U.S.T.L.E entry, the aptly titled Ray Skull! Standing at just under 2″ tall, the completely original sculpt is set to drop late January with a total of 14 other figures from some of the art toy scenes finest… Keep checking the H.U.S.T.L.E blog for up to the minute developments, and be sure to stay tuned for info on Hungry Imp’s Skelitor themed Ray Skull AP release!

MAN-E-NEWS// The FreakyTiki M.U.S.C.L.E custom from 4thWall Design…

Once again spotted over at the Muscle Things forum comes the first ever M.U.S.C.L.E custom from 4thWall Design, the FreakyTiki! Featuring a beautifully clean cartoon sculpting style, the awesome figure is due to be produced in an authentic flesh-tone rubber once a few mould issues have been ironed out. No news as to when or where the little guy will be released, but you can be sure we’ll post any updates as soon as we get them…

MAN-E-NEWS// The B5100 resin photo guide from Tesselate…

All aspiring resin artists take note! Following a hugely successful release last month, Tesselate has been kind enough to create a photo guide for his latest resin masterpiece, the ED-IT DJ’s B5100! Covering all aspects from digital sculpting, 3d printing, moulding, casting and painting, the comprehensive guide is a perfect starting point for anyone looking to get into the scene. Anyone interested in checking it out should head over to the Tesselate site here. Unfortunately B5100 has long since sold out, but we’re guessing there’ll be more colourways and new characters very soon!

UPDATE// Tesselate has just revealed that there is still one B5100 up for grabs, so if you’re interested, be sure to hit him up through his site here with any enquiries…

MAN-E-NEWS// Lucha Shark ”El Tiburon” test pull from Ben Spencer…

After months of agonising waiting, Galaxxor creator Ben Spencer has finally revealed test shots of ‘El Tiburon’, the first figure to feature in the highly anticipated Luch Sharks line! A collaboration between Ben and production partner Marty ‘The Godbeast’ Hansen, El Tiburon should hopefully be seeing his first painted run early next year… From the looks of it, the designer resin action figure will be the first from Ben to feature articulation (a keen eye will notice arm placement appears different in each shot), so here’s keeping our fingers crossed the feature makes the translation into the final product! Be sure to keep an eye on the dedicated Lucha Sharks blog here for further developments soon…

MAN-E-NEWS// The Split Kit GPK Cheap Toy custom from NolanJP…

Muscle Things forum member NolanJP is proud to present his latest custom sculpt, the Split Kit GPK Cheap Toy! Taken from one of our favourite Garbage Pail Kid trading cards (pictured bottom left), the half punk/half police officer has been meticulously sculpted in the original Cheap Toy style, making a perfect addition to the limited cast of original figures. Currently in the final stages of sculpting, the figure will hopefully be cast up by Alec over at Muscle Things in the near future… Stay tuned for more news as soon as we get it!

MAN-E-XCLUSIVE// The birth of The Disarticulators!

Whilst the H.U.S.T.L.E Series has and will continue to dominate pretty much every waking minute of our lives for the foreseeable future, there has been another huge project that we’ve been dying to let out of the bag since it’s conception back in July- Well, with 3 all-new separate releases ready to drop in the coming months, we thought now was as good a time as any to introduce you guys to the rubbery nostalgic world of The Disarticulators… Born out of a joint passion for minis, MOTU, art toys and 80’s/90’s pop culture, the group, consisting of Man-E-Toy’s Tru:Tek, the Amazing Zectron and Lee Burbridge from Bigmantoys aim to ignite the passion for mini figures in the art toy scene once more, with the introduction of several new one-off and ongoing releases. Today we exclusively introduce you to the first three…

“SHNBF” HIGEKAMI: Master of Beard-Fu

Originally posted as a finished sculpt a couple of months back, we are now proud to reveal that Zectron’s incredible Higekami: Master of Beard-Fu will be featuring in The Disarticulator’s first ongoing series, the outlandish “Super Hyper Neo Break Fighters”. Set to feature a whole host of characters from the faux early 90’s beat ’em-up, expect more figures from all 3 artists in the very near future. Pictured to the right of the test pull is the windowed SNES style box that each hand cast rubber figure will be sold in… The first batch will be making their way to an undisclosed Toy Show in Japan soon, so expect a full release (and a different colour) at the end of January.

The “Tiny Terrors from the Deep” 3 pack

Treading similar territory with their first fully collaborative effort, the “Tiny Terrors from the Deep” is a one-off series of 3 figures inspired by XCom’s seminal 90’s underwater RTS game, TFTD (how’s that for timing!), featuring sculpts by each of the 3 artists; the Lobster Man from Zectron, PAT from Bigmantoys and the Bio-Drone from Tru:Tek. Proving some of the most challenging casts we’ve had to work on to-date (the 3 piece brain section and the lobster’s looped antenna of particular note!), the end results really speak for themselves, and whilst there are still a few issues that need cleaning up, full production will begin soon… As with Higekami, the Tiny Terrors from the Deep will come housed in a windowed videogame box- this time in a slightly more apt PS One inspired design! Again, a small batch of these will be debuting at an undisclosed show in Japan next month, so expect a general release soon after!

KESH-E-FACE: Evil Brother of Min-E-Face

The first release to crossover into the world of H.U.S.T.L.E, the oversized mini figure KESH-E-FACE has been created as the ultimate arch-nemesis to H.U.S.T.L.E’s main protagonist, the rather unfortunate Min-E-Face. Sculpted once again by the uber talented Zectron, the jaw dropping 3″ tall figure takes all our favourite parts of the He-Man/MOTU aesthetic; Man-E-Face’s rotating head, Skeletor’s face, Ram-Man’s shoulders, a chest symbol straight from Mosquitor and Hordak, plus a Trapjaw inspired cybernetic arm (albiet wildly enhanced!), and combines them to form one of the coolest mini figures we’ve ever seen… The legs were one thing Zectron did decide to change though, opting for the smaller thighs and huge boots to help balance the figure out- an excellent choice, I’m sure you will agree! Due to come cast by Tru:Tek in an authentic rubber with fully functioning rotatable head, the first wave of Kesh-E-Face will be heading to an undisclosed show in New York next month, each coming packaged in the authentic blister pack seen above… Stay locked for details of a general release soon!

That’s all we can reveal for now, expect more info on releases as soon as they’re confirmed… Normal posting resumes tomorrow!

MAN-E-NEWS// HTF Spiral Zone Keshi customs from Eric Nilla…

As a huge fan of the super-rare Spiral Zone keshi line, casting master Eric Nilla jumped at the chance when a fellow LRG member asked him to repo possibly the best figure from Series 2… the awesome tank and micro set! Pictured here in a neon purple and orange (2 colours NOT available in the original line), each set consists of one authentic rubber tank body with articulated turret, plus 2 interchangeable pilots. No news as to whether further castings will be made available in Eric’s shop, but we’ll keep you updated if we here of any further developments…

MAN-E-NEWS// The Rivet Wars board game from Super Robot Punch x Cool Mini Or Not…

After a whole year in the making, Ted Terranova is proud to announce that Super Robot Punch will be teaming up with Cool Mini Or Not for the release of the Rivet Wars board game! As a few of you may remember in our interview with Ted last year, this was definitely on the cards for the brand at some point down the line- we just never knew it would happen so quickly! With rules, sculpts, art, tiles and other components already in the final stages of development (including the various protos we’ve posted recently), Cool Mini Or Not will be rolling out a Kickstarter to help support the game in the next couple of weeks, which, if successful, will allow the team to add more miniatures and items to the core game and hopefully expand things well beyond that. In lieu of a full reveal next week (hopefully!), we leave you here with new images of the heavy horse cavalry officer, Wolverine heavy assault suit and the latest print of the monowheel… Expect more news as soon as we get it!

MAN-E-NEWS// The Rudolf one-off custom from Elmos Empire..

UME Toys‘ youngest member, the embarrassingly talented Elmos Empire, has been at the toys once again as she reveals her latest piece, the stunning Rudolf one-off custom… A mash-up of vinyl and custom resin pieces hand cast by the artist herself, the super clean figure has been given a fittingly minimal paint job in brown, white, red and black acrylics. Sitting at 13cm from ‘bum to bobble’ the adorable Rudolf can be yours for just £20 plus shipping, available through the Elmos Empire store right here. Elmo has also stated that the lucky purchaser will also receive a hand made adoption certificate…

MAN-E-NEWS// The ‘Sapling’ Treegar keshi from Bigmantoys…

Our good friend Lee over at Bigmantoys is proud to present the very first spin-off from the hugely popular Treegar action figure… the ‘Sapling’ keshi! A super-cute SD rendition of the MOTU styled character, the 2″ tall resin Sapling will be available initially in 3 different colourways; the pictured neon pink, orange and of course, flesh. Priced at just $13 each plus shipping, the little guys, alongside a whole host of new neon Critter designs, will be available in the Bigmantoys store this Friday (December 14th) at 6pm EST. For more info on the figure, head over to the Bigmantoys blog here…

MAN-E-NEWS// The NNWA Top Rope Namakeshi from Nama-Niku…

Posted as a work-in-progress here last month, Tyler over at Nama-Niku has just revealed the very first production shots of the highly anticipated ‘Top Rope’ Namakeshi… The first figure in the ongoing Nama Niku Wrestling Alliance series, the ingenius kit-bashed M.U.S.C.L.E figure features an originally sculpted wrestling ring torso, complete with hand stitched (yes, stitched!) ropes and even micro-sized versions of both Mud Man and The Claw! Cast by the legendary Eric Nilla and coming bagged with header art from Tyler, the first batch (pictured) have been created for an undisclosed Toy Show in Tokyo (more on that VERY soon!), with more heading to the Eric Nilla store in the near future…

MAN-E-NEWS// The post-holiday art toy catch-up!

After an awesome 7 days away on the unique isle of Cuba (first week off this year, woot!), we’re back with all the latest news in the ‘alternative’ art toy scene, including exclusive H.U.S.T.L.E updates, reveals of our latest projects under the new ‘Disarticulators’ umbrella (a collaborative effort between our very own Tru:Tek, Zectron and Bigmantoys), plus news on the various upcoming shows we’ve been so very honoured to be asked to take part in over the coming months! To kick off our return, we’ve decided to give you guys a quick rundown of the best news we missed on our trip away, starting with the second wave of custom bootlegs from upcoming artist themarkultra…

New custom bootlegs from themarkultra…

After a very successful debut release last month, themarkultra is back with a second wave of custom bootleg figures! Dropping in themarkultra store last Friday, the series consists of 3 all new figures; the moon headed Night Moves, kaijin inspired Mkultraman, and an astronaut known quite simply as Dave, all coming hand cast in resin, this time around sporting some awesome Monster Kolor flourishes. A huge step up from the first wave, we seriously can’t wait to see what this promising artist comes up with next… Wave 2 have been priced at $16 each, with 5 super-secret one-offs available for just $22 plus shipping.

Rampage Molezilla from Plaseebo x Kaiju Coup…

Bob Conge aka Plaseebo revealed the latest Molezilla release last week, the ‘Rampage Molezilla’ in cahoots with Kaiju Coup. Coming in an ultra limited run of just 2 pieces, the 7″ tall blood-drenched figure has been hand painted by Plaseebo, featuring a grisly severed head of an animal testing lab assistant in hand cast resin by Kaiju Coup. Due to go on sale in the Plaseebo webstore tomorrow (December 11th), pricing on Rampage Molezilla is still to be confirmed…

Little Ox first colourway release…

Following the ‘Unfold’ show info we posted a couple of weeks back (check it out here), Alto and Creo Design are back with details of the very first Little Ox colourway release, Iron Ox! Designed by Alto and hand cast by Creo, the awesome resin figure comes in a unique metal finish, proving weighty and cold-to-the-touch… Limited to an edition of just 10 pieces (including 1 secret chase), Iron Ox will be heading to the Alto store this Friday (December 14th) at Noon GMT for a wallet friendly 325 (approx. $40) plus shipping.

Christmas UU’s from Rampage Toys…

With the holiday season approaching fast, Jon over at Rampage Toys is proud to present his latest wave of sofubi, the Christmas UU’s! Originally planned for release last year, a hold-up in the factory meant that the aptly titled ‘Spectral Beastcorn’ UU’s had to wait a whole 12 months before seeing the light of day… at least they were well worth the wait! Looking somewhere between a yeti and a gnome, the awesome hand painted figures each come with a hand sewn cap created by Jon’s wife. Limited to just 10 pieces, the Spectral Beastcorns can be found in the Rampage store for just $45 plus shipping…

Mixed media plush from Taylored Curiosities…

“These rare anemones have been found by Dr Taylor Curio herself on one of her many exploratory adventures. She has managed to procure some of them for you to re-home.”

Getting back to her roots on her latest piece, Penny over at Taylored Curiosities is proud to present her latest mixed media designer plush/art doll…Combining fleece bodies with painted cotton faces and woolen tentacles, the unique looking 5″ tall creatures are available in an initial ‘Purple Inaria’ colourway, retailing for just £20 plus shipping in the Taylored Curiosities store… Stay tuned for the Seedling Warrior test shot we promised before our holiday tomorrow!

New Flavor Monsters from TRUTH x Lulubell…

Lulubell Toys revealed a whole slew of new Flavor Monster sofubis last week, with the addition of 5 new Wild Strawberry colourways, 2 Wild Apples and 4 Honey Buzzers… Created to coincide with TRUTH’s new gaming app available for both Android & iPhone in which you must “fight off the Flavor Monsters & save humanity from destruction”, the Siccaluna sculpted/Luke Rook produced figures are available for just $15, $35 and $85 respectively. Find them on the Lulubell Toy store right here…

Right, that’s it for now… expect normal posting to resume as from tomorrow!

MAN-E-NEWS// Man-E-Toys signing off until 9th December…

MAN-E-XCLUSIVE// H.U.S.T.L.E Artist Series: Rampage Toys and Brutherford Industries first test shot…

Signing off in style before our week away, we bring to you the first production shot of Rampage Toy‘s ‘Battle Ready’ Ugly Cenicorn and Brutherford Industries‘ Hungry Hungry Hordak for the upcoming H.U.S.T.L.E Artist Series! Cast in an authentic M.U.S.C.L.E-tone rubber, the pair will be joined by another 13 designs for the gatcha capsule-style release in late January… Production is in full swing on around half of the figures already, so expect a whole bunch more reveals upon our return next week! We have a whole bunch of exclusive colourways set to drop on top of the standard flesh release, so be sure to stay locked on the H.U.S.T.L.E blog to catch the big announcements first…

On a side note, how many of you guys would be interested in seeing the custom H.U.S.T.L.E Wrestling Ring released? Let us know by leaving a comment below…

MAN-E-NEWS// The ‘Doom Trooper’ Star Case Commander from Rampage Toys…

As a few of you may know, Star Case‘s line of bootleg Star Wars-style sofubis hold a very special place in our heart here at Man-E-Toys, so when choosing an artist to paint up our latest blank Destro Commander we knew there could only be one… our good friend Jon over at Rampage Toys! Given the simple brief of making the figure ‘retina shatteringly bright’, Jon was able to go to town on the piece using an awesome psychedelic mix of V-Color neon sprays, stenciling and black/silver/red brushed detailing. Unfortunately (for you guys at least!), this piece will be making it’s way to Man-E-Towers soon, but if you’re interested in commissioning a similar piece, hit Jon up through his blog here…

MAN-E-NEWS// The NIBBLERS Project from The Tarantulas x Fig-Lab…

Just a quick reminder that the highly anticipated NIBBLERS Project from The Tarantulas x Fig-Lab will FINALLY be touching down in the Fish Tank Castle store this evening! Featuring a tripple-A selection of one-off NIBBLER customs from some of contemporary kaiju’s finest, the Real x Head produced soft vinyl figures will also be joined by a special painted run of ‘GO NIBBLERS’ from Rampage Toys’ Jon Malmstedt (pictured). All but one* of the pieces will be sold at fixed price in US$ (prices TBC) at midnight (GMT) tonight (30th November), with all proceeds (bar shipping) going towards new charity organisation ‘APRICOT‘ (find out more about their work with earthquake and tsunami victims here). Head over to The Tarantulas blog here for a full reveal of the 10 pieces on offer…

*Atom A Amaresura’s figure will be auctioned on Yahoo Japan starting 9am JST 1/12 ending 9am JST 2/12. Link will be posted on http://the-tarantulas.blogspot.co.uk/ on the night.

Featured artists// Uamou, BLObPUS, Skull Toys, Atom A Amaresura, NERD ONE, Frenzy Bros andPaul Kaiju

MAN-E-NEWS// The Robot 13 Kickstarter resin 5 pack from Deadbear Studios…

After months of set backs and delays, we can finally reveal the full Robot 13 mini figure set from Deadbear Studios! Created for Blacklist Studios’ Robot 13 Kickstarter campaign (find out more here), the pack features 5 of the comic series’ most memorable characters including King!, El Conejo Furioso and of course Robot 13, each cast in both black and pewter editions. Unfortunately only available to pledgees of the original Kickstarter campaign at the moment, the M.U.S.C.L.E style figures should hopefully be making their way to the Deadbear Studios store in some form or another soon… Original pledgees will be glad to know that orders are now slowly being filled, so expect your set soon!

MAN-E-NEWS// The ‘War on Prehis’ custom bootleg series from Goodleg Toys…

Following our look at the ‘Wrestlers of the Universe’ yesterday, Berlin based Goodleg Toys are proud to present yet another promising custom bootleg series… War on Prehis! A self indulgent fusion of cyborgs, zombies and pre-historic beasts (come on, what’s not to like out of that mix?!), the line is set to feature numerous neo-vintage style resin figures infused with elements from the likes of MOTU, Zoids and Dino Riders. Hand cast and painted, the first in the line is due to come in the form of the pictured test-pull ‘Drone’ figure, with a proposed drop date of Spring 2013… We’ll be bringing you more news as soon as we get it, but in the meantime, head over to the WoP Facebook page here for a closer look of what’s in store.

MAN-E-NEWS// The Glyos Infection Spyder Armorvor from The GodBeast…

Marty “The GodBeast” Hansen reveals the latest addition to the ever growing Armorvor Glyos line… the Infection Spyder! With the aid of Onell Design‘s Matt Doughty, the awesome head sculpt has gone through numerous design changes resulting in the awesome organic look you see before you. No news as to when or where the little mite will be released, so be sure to stay locked on the GodBeast blog for the latest info… there’s also a great in depth post explaining the various design changes Spyder went through- definitely well worth a look!