Where the heck have you been!??

That's a simple enough question I suppose... the answer however, is not so easy. For the past several months my life in toys has been turned upside down. Some of you night know that besides the art toy thing here I am co-owner of Cast-a-Way Toys, we produce(d) 8 inch MEGO style action figures and customizing parts for almost 5 years... we brought to life and 8 inch Captain Action and Dr. Evil! As well as; King Features "The Phantom"., both were very well received. in 2009, as the economy was in full "tank" mode our Chinese factory dropped the bomb that they could no longer support our smaller runs of product and that we would need to move our $25,000 in molds to another factory. We did so with much haste... right into the hands of a total a-hole who then held them hostage and produced parts that we never asked them to make and then tried to charge us for them. When we didn't purchase this merch. the a-hole tried to sell our molds to a competitor, who was cool enough to alert us. Long story short our molds were stolen and we have no means to produce toys... so this was years ago what's the deal? Well I am partners in Cast-a-Way Toys and therefor partners in the debt we took on to start the business. I started AmeriKaiju as a soul venture and was dedicated to the whole endeavor (still am), but the crushing debt and need to attend to the old business put old AK on the back burner. Add into the mix family responsibilities and a ever expanding "Day Job" and that's a recipe for disaster... So needless to say projects I had going hit the dirt. H.A.C.K wave two that I had collaborated with two other fantastic sculptors never realized... I let those guys down and myself as well. I should have never taken on such a project where others were depending on me. It's my fault and I own that. So What now? well things are much better, we are have a more structured way to re-pay the original Cast-a-Way Toys loan and even have a line on someone who may purchase remaining stock. This means that soon I will be able to devote time back to Keshi and Kaiju...

Mag Malicious "Char Baby" Edition

Ok so I got a few questions about the Mag Malicious "Char Baby" Edition... This is a standard keshi figure made of soft urethane rubber, just like all of the other H.A.C.K figures except with a few more steps involved. Normaly I either dye the urethane the disired color as I cast it, or I use dye to change the color afterward. This guy is the best of both worlds. Because the dyeing the figure afterwards only penetrates about a millimeter into the rubber you can do some pretty cool things afterwards. Here the figure was cast in bright pink, then dyed bright red and finally charred black (actually very dark purple). Next  I lightly sanded the high spots, to bring out the red under the char, and likewise a little harder to get through the red to the bright pink... thus the illusion of glowing embers. I was really pleased so I did two of these guys. They are available in the store for $15 each, bagged in the Mag Malicious header cards.


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H.A.C.K Singles! are here

Ok you cheap bastiges (and I can say that cause nobody's cheaper than me; I'm tighter than a gnat's ass on a lemon wedge). Anyway, in case you wanted just one of the H.A.C.K. wave one or didn't dig the 80's pink, here's your chance to get a few in different colors all bagged up in their own little packages with new headers. I even did up a few limited Editions, all cast in nice soft Keshi goodness.

Underwater love! The Deep ones

Check out these minis in the 2-2.5" range! from Fiber Eating Dragon...

More photos and upcoming details get posted up on the Fiber Eating Dragon Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/FIBER-EATING-DRAGON/13 9125982840448), as there is no current site except the Big Cartel store.

BEHOLD the Tornader!

Here is the first of the three new Sculpts for H.A.C.K wave two: Nature Fights back. This is my humble Contribution... wait untill you see the other two! Enjoy!

Here he is in rubber!

Real scary Zombies on the way!

Ok so Zombies have gotten real popular in the past few years... I mean who can't get behind the mindless destruction of ghastly, decaying, barely sentient beings hell bent on making a meal out of you...  So toys have seen the same uptick in Zombie fair, including Jakks Pacific's S.L.U.Gs and October Toys Z.O.M.B.I.E.S... Well a new player is bringin' zombies to town in the same mono-colored 2 inch format. EMCE toys known best for their 8 inch MEGO-esque figures is bustin out Glow in the Dark Zombies...

to Quote these guys: " It's a glow-in-the-dark plastic "toxic waste drum" filled with glow-in-the-dark slime and one of five different glow-in-the-dark zombies. If you don't like stuff that glows in the dark, this is not for you :-)"

So each Toxic Waste Drum contains a two inch GITD Zombie in GITD Slime! five sculpts in all...

Here is a sneak peek at the wax sculpts...

H.A.C.K Wave two... another tease

Ok, I have been away for a while but here is another tease for the upcoming H.A.C.K Wave two.... this time Handmade American Custom Keshi goes to the wild... not just with the theme "Nature Fights Back"... but also with the prowess of two of the best sculptors from right here at LRG. That's right Iron Mask (see Gorwad monsters) and Plastic Soul AKA Zectron (see Critter BadEgg bunch Keshi) have joined me in bringing three all new sculpts to mono-colored, rubbery, goodness! This wave is on FIRE! and will include an all new micro Keshi accessory/figure as well... here are a couple of new tease images... more to follow...

Critter Keshi! (they bite!)

Yup, you read right! Straight out of 1986! Critter Keshi, created by the Amazing Zectron AKA Plasticsoul! Behold this awesomly cute Keshi creation!

Gorewad Monsters = Hell yea!

GOREWAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chizeck this out! Jimmy over at Ironhaus Productions and Eric Nilla just announced these bad boys! They look awesome and I am digging the designs and colors. Just kick arse stuff here... He's even running a contest for a free set too! Just join the blog and let a few insults fly! 

H.A.C.K. Wave 2 Tease

Eat your Broccoli...before it eats you!

Check out this little guy... this thing is beyond charming... Simple, slick and executed to a "t"...

Paul Shih out of New Zealand via Taiwan is putting these out on a very limited issue..

Check em out here...

So what else ya got?...

Well since the Other World Aliens did so well it's time to do it again... H.A.C.K wave 2: Nature Fights Back is in the works... and I mean work! The sculpts are done and molds are made, yea I'm proactive like that... and just like the Empire Strikes back, this one is gonna be even better! More fight scenes, epic battles and Bounty Hunters! Well maybe not Boba Fette, but I have invited two sculptors to join in on this one to bring three all new, mind blowing, sculpts to market... immortalized in Carbonite.... er...I mean RUBBER! As you can see by the theme this is gonna be a wild one.... I'll be posting some sneaks as we get closer, so stay tuned Keshi Lovers!

In other news... Jimmy AKA Iron Mask was nice enough to post aobut the Other World Aliens on his blog... so check out what this straight shooter has to say about H.A.C.K!

Kruzilla!

Look at this new sculpt from Kobzilla out of Thailand! My guess is the scale will be 4 inches... I dig the clean lines and the overall feel of this piece. It looks to be dropping soon... I may just have to pick this up at the Kobzilla Store when it lands.

H.A.C.K reviewed!

H.A.C.K: The OtherWorld Aliens Gets a review by the University of M.U.S.C.L.E...  Click to see what the Mini-figure Gods have to say about my humble offerings...

Oh yea and the Uber Mini is a 80's boombox!

... it plays "in your eyes" by Peter Gabriel, just like on "Say anything"*

* that's not true... I can't back that up.

H.A.C.K hits the wild...

 So all the orders for the H.A.C.K: OTherWorld Aliens have gone out, and now they are hitting their destinations... that's right they are in the hot little hands of the folks who bought them. So hopefully I will hear some good things shortly... I, being a needy bastard, need to hear what folks think about them. I know Frank over at Little Weirdos, is gonna do a review and so is Chad over at Uof M.U..S.C.L.E... Chad even posted some pix at Little Rubber Guys. Again, thanks to these guys for letting the public know...

Micro-Keshi?! Oh hell yea!

Yea it's real... you should say something...

This is one of the coolest things I have seen in awhile... Now I loves me some Micronauts, and have been a huge fan all of my life... Keshi is a litle newer, while quite dear, to my heart. So who says you can't have both? Well this guy for one...Check out Bigman toys blog for the detes...

Gone baby Gone...

They are out the door (pronounced out tha dough!)... Thanks to all who have orderd the first edition of H.A.C.K Other world Aliens... I can't wait to hear back from folks once these land. My ADD can't stand to wait! So as soon as these land I hope to get some great feedback... There are still a few sets left so if you are waiting to see what others think, you might be ready to throwdown next week... I'm just sayin...

I'm baaaaack!

Ok so I have been wayyyyy out of the loop and let my blog go dark for too long. But the good news is... I have a whole bunch of cool update stuff to share. Since I last updated Shouju was on track and ready for production. Well I had  second thoughts after some good constructive feedback from some friends. So I went into hibernation for a bit... out of nowhere I got really interested in Japanese Keshi... what's Keshi? Short for Keshigomu, it's soft rubbery, usually monochromatic, mini figures under 2 inches tall. A great site for all things Mini-figures (and Keshi in General) is MXD. We knew this phenomenon in the 80's as M.U.S.C.L.E, here are a couple of good sites for that as well:  Nathans's M.U.S.C.L.E blog Here and  University of M.U.S.C.L.E Here. Now back more important topics: ME. Ok so I got into sculpting these Little guys and it's been a blast! Check out my FLCKR page to see them all...

This is my latest art toy(s) for sale under the H.A.C.K (Handmade American Custom Keshi) label... they are a three pack of  2 inch(ish) tall soft rubber keshi figures. You get all three of these other worldly aliens plus a mysterious, bonus, blind bagged, ubermini figure!

 Click here to purchase these guys

Here's the first three pack of 2 inch(ish) tall soft rubber keshi figures. You get all three of these other worldly aliens plus a mysterious, bonus, blind bagged, ubermini figure!

Mag Malicious- The living Volcano! This guy is always ready to erupt so watch out for this ill tempered "hot" head!

The Mysterious Mas Mano! This guy is way more than a handfull, so don't underestimate his abillity... despite his looks he's far from all thumbs!

CySquatch! Only one eye but all Monster! The hairy beast from the nether regions of space is the most elusive of all! Not only is he imposing in size and strength, he's nie unphotographable... so be on the lookout!

Size: 2-2.5"/5-5.5cm
Material: Soft urethane rubber
Articulation: Nada, Zilch, Zero

The first colorway is 80's pink and is limited to 20 sets... Glow in the Dark and True Color, colorways to follow.