Keepers update

Well well well, the aim of course is to cut down and I have begin that hard job of sorting out the toys collection, but when my favorite "keeper" artists create something wonderful... I cannot simply ignore them! After all I have not given up collecting :P

So a few new pieces from James Jarvis and Ayako Takagi, and an old custom piece by Rolito, who I've covered already in the previous posts :)

1. Hello Kitty VCD produced by Medicom and just became Martin's new BFF



2. Oops! I ate Uamou Burgerbuns custom by Ayako for the Super7 Funbuns show



3. Amezaikou Uamous + Takoyaki Fortune Uamou by Ayako for the Double Punch Kaiju Bazaar show



4. Custom Deko-Boko for Toy Saves Children (2006) by Rolito



So +7 for the counter

Keepers #2 - James Jarvis

My first James Jarvis toy was unintentional! :P I really wanted a pair of Stussy exclusive Nike Court Force Low and it happened to came with a toy. He's called Leon and he looks exactly (with James Jarvis style twist) like the bloke running the store!!!

Then I saw Clutter selling this exclusive Pink Gorilla called King Ken that's featured on the cover of the magazine. I thought I would have one of them! Who wouldn't like a good 12" pink gorilla?!?!

Now I am kind of hooked and really needed to check out who this Jarvis bloke is! As a toy addict, you read about the stories, in this case Vortigern's Machine, and found out how many colorways and figures that you've missed already... Many moons later, apart from the one and only olive green prototype King Ken, the brotherhood is complete at the Toy Shrine!

The obsession went deeper and deeper. His first toy was Martin released back in 1998 by Bounty Hunter, so it was a lot of catching up to do! The mini In-crowd characters were easy to get into, and there were still some sets knocking about at reasonable prices. More Vortigern's Machine characters, including a 20" Troll, Yods, Bird Gods, mini King Kens, Calebs, etc... So far I've only sold a pair of Wrestling Elves, because it is the one that's the least coherent with the rest of the collection and I can do with the room it freed up. Everything else is a keeper!!! :)

So with James Jarvis toys, it is very simple for me. They are filled with personalities, bringing to life many of the characters from his illustrations, which is good enough reason for me (well the designs are good of course). He's one of the best Britain has to offer and is going to take up a large quota in my collection!!!

Mini King Ken S1 signing @ Playlounge, London

See more James Jarvis toys at my Flickr set,
http://www.flickr.com/photos/doc18/sets/72157605828084801/

Here comes the Keepers count :)

+6 King Kens
+14 Mini King Kens
+12 Kurbricks
+1 Be@rbrick
+6 King Kens
+7 Vortigern's Machine
+4 Martins & Leon
+2 KingKuns
+3 World Of Pain
+4 Yods
+2 Bird Gods
+6 Gashapons (capsule toys)
+42 In-crowds
+3 MartinXes
+1 Caleb
-1 Wrestling Elves

not 500?

Some of you might have been thinking, what's up with the 500 target number and upping it to 800? My ideal target is 500 but I do love my mini figures and a quick count the other day made me realised this;  even though I will be very focused on a few artists, themes and styles, my collection on some of them have already reached 3-digit numbers. To accommodate my favorite artists, I think I will aim for 800 initially.

Here are two artists that I love and you might have noticed in my photos already :) I don't think I can part with most of their toys.

1. Uamou (Ayako Takagi 高木綾子)
 Simple high quality Japanese vinyl and resin figures with hundreds of colorways are very addictive.

Tower of Uamou from doc18 on Vimeo.

2. James Jarvis (Amostoys)
A funny take on modern civilisation with his In-Crowd collection.

As you can see just two of my favorite artists have taken a big chunk of the target quota, they will not leave much room for the others (Rolito, Devilrobots, Amanda Visell to name a few). Of course I will be talking about the artists in more details soon.