Dustin Cantrell’s handmade Plasma Dunnys (as seen here on JS last February) sent a ripple through the art toy community–and beyond. First appearing on custoMONDAYs (a series of 20 emerging toy artists curated by yours truly), Dustin’s Dunny quickly attracted attention from Gizmodo to Kanye. Everybody wanted one, but only 4 existed, and they sold out fast. Enter Kidrobot, makers of the Dunny toy. They tapped Dustin to create 3 more Plasma Dunnys in metallic gold with wood bases. The Dunnys are currently on display in Kidrobot’s New York store and for sale at $600 each in the custom art section of Kidrobot’s website. This puts Dustin in the same category previously occupied by Tara McPherson’s sculptures. Congratulations to Dustin, and let this be an inspirational story for those who tweak their toys worldwide!

Update: They sold out in less than 24 hours. At $600 each. By an unknown/emerging artist. What recession?

Nestled beneath the Manhattan Bridge overpass in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn is a haven for fans of Japanese art and subculture. It’s called Zakka, and it’s home to an awesome array of art books and more. We’re talking tomes on toys, street art, graphic design, package design and much more stretching across an entire wall of the shop. As for the toys, this is the spot for Kubricks– this is no Kidrobot. Rare figures by Michael Lau and wacky characters from Japanese gameshows fill glass display cases. They’ve even got Mugen’s Pop Pop, which replicates the sensation of popping bubble wrap. Recently Zakka collaborated with New York-based bilingual art magazine, COOL, on a series of in-store events surrounding the decorated eco-bag (”decob”). You could bring your old clothes, and they’ll transform them into decobs. I could spend a whole afternoon here, easily. Thanks to Steve Talkowski for the tour!

We gave you a head’s up in March that Tara McPherson’s Gamma Mutant Space Friends mini-figures were en route, and they’ve arrived at Kidrobot and other designer toy store worldwide. But let’s say you’re a connoisseur of limited edition art, and you’re in a position to scoff at the tiny $7.95 production figures. Well, you’re in luck: Tara created a handful of ultra-exclusive resin and aluminum sculptures for Kidrobot Customs. The three 2-foot Mr. Wiggles sculptures are priced at $2,500 each. And Tara made just one colorway each of the three $12,000 3-foot Skullflowers. Kidrobot suggests calling to check availability before placing your order.

On May 1st, Selfridges, the high-end UK department store, celebrates its 100th birthday in style. Over the last century, Selfridges has remained on the edge of fashion and culture by collaborating with luminaries like John and Yoko, Salvador Dali and Vivienne Westwood. In October of last year, they opened a designer toy lounge in conjunction with Kidrobot.

For their 100th birthday, Selfridges commissioned exclusive apparel, accessories and products in signature Pantone 109 yellow. The collection, which will be sold in the store throughout May, features pieces by Ralph Lauren, Levi's, Converse, Simon Carter, Fender and Moleskine. In addition, the Big Yellow Festival (including music, fashion, cabaret and gay bingo) kicks off May 1st. If you’re in the old city, be sure to stop by!

San Francisco-based interactive design firm, 17FEET, revealed their first designer toy at Phoenix’s Resin Collective group toy show. When I caught up with 17FEET last December, the Feeters were still in the prototype stage, but now the tiny trio is ready. Loosely modeled on Kidrobot’s Dunnys and DIY figures, they chose the shape of a giraffe (which measures 17 feet, the combined height of the firm’s directors) and worked with Patch Together to realize it in resin. Although the three figures are a first for each designer (Brandon Herring, Malea Gadhoury and Lisi Howell), they’re not sticking their necks out for no reason: When you buy your toys through Food for Feeters, all proceeds go to the San Francisco food bank. A donation of $25 gets you a mystery Feeter; $60 for the set of three. Each design is limited to 100 pieces. For every $1 donated, the SF food bank distributes $9 worth of nutritious food to more than 132,000 local people in need. The Feeters are available now online and at select designer toy stores. Toys that do good. We like that.

Gig poster artist, painter, illustrator and musician Tara McPherson is finally getting a mini-figure series for the characters who inhabit her world. The Gamma Mutant Space Friends series includes 10 figures and 2 chases and will be blind–boxed for $7.95 each. They’ll be dropping all over the place on April 23rd. But if you’re in the Chicago area, stop by Rotofugi on April 25th. Tara will be on hand to sign figures and copies of her new book, Lost Constellations.

Many toy fans have been closely following Kidrobot’s evolution from designer toy hub to lifestyle brand and media conglomerate. The latest news falls into the latter category, with Kidrobot essentially curating the redesign of the Cartoon Network. Per motion design studio Capacity’s press release:

“Using one unifying body shape (designed by urban vinyl legends Kidrobot) we created an interchangeable system of elements that gathered all of CN's characters into one place. These blank figures, called Noods, are the canvases upon which characters of all shapes, sizes, and styles can coexist. The CN logo is also an extension of that vocabulary as the colors and patterns from the characters — their DNA — find their way on to the network's blocky logotype for the first time. The resulting world is a playground of rich colors and unlimited combinations, ownable only by Cartoon Network.”

Or ownable by you? Sources speculate the company that’s responsible for getting Rosie O’Donnell hooked on toys have developed Noods into platform figures, which are inevitably and eventually destined for retail.

Kidrobot is schooling poser-punks with a history lesson packaged as a vinyl toy. When they drop the latest incarnation (#16) of their logo/mascot today, you’ll find that the sentiment screams: punk’s not dead! In an inspired move, Kidrobot produced a trio of Kidpunks, each wielding a standout album and wearing the respective T-shirt of the years 1977, 1980 and 1984. The Sex Pistols, Dead Kennedys and Black Flag are represented by the 8-inch figures, which will run you $50 each. Later this month, an ultra-limited fourth variant will be released at the London Kidrobot pop-up store at Selfridges. Wonder what album that figure will hold? I’m guessing The Clash and hoping for X-Ray Spex.

1. Stealth R/C Helicopter: Read JS Review | Buy It ($30)
Break out your favorite pair of aviators because the Black Stealth R/C helicopter is the perfect little gadget for all you wannabe flyboys. With the ability to fly left, right, up, down, backward and forward, you’ll be terrorizing your coworkers (or pets) with ease.

2. Mostrini: Read JS Review | Buy It
The Mostrini puppets look like monsters you’d find a bizarre, drug-induced dream world. Yet, these little guys aren’t scary – they’re quite cute, actually.

3. Artoyz: Read JS Review | Buy It
Just because you have to do grown-up things like paying taxes and worrying about your worthless 401K, doesn’t mean you can’t still play with toys. Artoyz has many great designer toys from a slew of world-renowned artists. One of our favorites is Kid Onion by Easy Hey.

4. Thingamagoo: Read JS Review | Buy It ($120)
Thingamagoo are little metal creatures that beep, buzz, zap and make the noises you would hear in any Atari game. Push the buttons, twist the knobs and create your own synthesizer creations.

5. Shelby Slot-car Track: Read JS Review | Buy It ($249)
Channel your inner child with this giant Shelby series slot-car track. Assuming you have the patience to construct this thing, you’ll be zipping around the track for hours.

6. Slobots: Read JS Review | Buy It ($175-$650)
The Slobots are great little robots looking for a purpose in life. Each one is hand built and comes with its own life story.

7. Les Deglingos: Read JS Review | Buy It ($40)
Each Deglingo is a quirky and lovable creation. The multiple textures and vibrant colors make these little creatures an amazing gift.

8. Jon Burgerman’s Heroes of Burgertown: Read JS Review | Buy It
U.K. artist Jon Burgerman is always up to something. Earlier this year he added toy design to his impressive resume. Heroes of Burgertown is a great little collection of 16 vinyl mini-figures that will bring a little joy to your desk.

We wanted to give a big thanks to toy guru Jeremy Brautman from ToyCyte (and formerly here at JS.com) for helping us put our list together. Check out ToyCyte for the latest news in the toy world.

Everything’s going green these days, and the toy world is no exception. Perhaps appealing to our guilt at the amount of plastic we consume as toy fanatics, a growing crop of collectibles attempts to balance the extraneous and the ecological. Just because you live in the city doesn’t mean you can’t grow a garden. In America, artists are making potheads out of Kidrobot’s Munny figures. Japan exports Crack-a-heads egg-shaped herb gardens, the mecha-meets-Chia Igrobot and Nyokki: a set of ceramic plant “pets” perfect for people who are allergic to animals (but not grass). Spain went green way back in 2004 with Martí Guixé’s Plant-Me-Pet, which won him a DesignPlus award. Those figures are currently making a resurgence with toy collectors; if you can bear to bury them, they’ll reward you with pumpkins, melons and tomatoes. For more information on the growing trend of eco-toys, check out Herb-n Art Toys at ToyCyte.

Kidrobot has just dropped word of their releases for October, and the theme is dark. With toys spanning sex, death, nightmares, zombies and psychos, there’s officially something for everyone. The month opens and closes with 8-inch Dunnys: the kickoff figure is a dystopian Dunny by Australia’s Jeremyville on October 2nd. A week later, Kidrobot tips its hat to Playboy with two figures: a 1978 pinup in vinyl as envisioned by comic artist Paul Pope and Hugh Hefner as a PEECOL platform figure by eBoy. Cheekily suggesting that size matters, October 9th also sees the release of giant 18-inch DIY GID Munny figures. Death is not the end; it’s just a continuation as Andrew Bell brings out KidReaper 15, the 15th edition of Kidrobot’s iconic character, on October 16th. On October 23rd, Ryan Bubnis’ tricked out sugar-coated zombie mini-figures hit the shelves. And finally, to close out the month in style, Kidrobot releases Huck Gee’s Hello I’m Insane Dunny on October 30th. This Dunny will be a boon to collectors whose pockets aren’t deep enough to get in on Huck’s custom toys. But with Huck’s sets of 10 custom Dunnys selling out in 8 seconds, simple math would suggest that 500 affordable production figures will come and go in less than 7 minutes. Be prepared for an insane month.

Aardman Animations‘ Wallace and Gromit have been recruited as spokesmodels for a series of advertisements for luxury lifestyle store Harvey Nichols. Some of the designer clothes featured in the posters and magazine ads include an Alexander McQueen suit, a Dolce & Gabbana shirt, a Giorgio Armani tie, a Paul Smith scarf and Ray-Ban wayfarers. Nick Park, the Oscar-winning duo’s creator, quipped that “Wallace isn’t exactly known for his street-wise fashion sense; he usually shops at Tank-Top Man.” Harvey Nichols chose the pair as the faces of a new store they are opening in Bristol, where Wallace and Gromit were created.

This, of course, isn’t the first time that cartoon characters and toys have decked out in fashion store finery. Back in 2005, Kidrobot produced a set of Huck Gee’s Skullhead figures exclusively for Barneys. The 12-inch designer toys were outfitted in a collection of threads by Marc Jacobs, Jil Sander, Dries Van Noten, Rick Owens Lab and Duckie Brown. Someone send a memo to Tyra Banks for a new reality show starring toys…

An impressive group of artists and vinyl toy companies have come together for “This One’s For The Children of Sichuan,” a charity auction orchestrated by MINDstyle to benefit victims of the Chinese earthquake. The auction includes original paintings, rare toys and limited-edition collectibles from KAWS, Joe Ledbetter, Michael Lau, Ron English, Buff Monster, tokidoki, Shepard Fairey, Devilrobots, Amanda Visell, Doktor A, Tim Biskup, Kathie Olivas, Brandt Peters and many more. A few of the auction’s highlights: Lau’s sold-out “Jordon” Gardeners, Ledbetter’s signed lot of monotone toys, a 4-foot tall KAWS companion (and pair of promo Nikes) and numerous large-scale resin figures. There are 29 lots posted with pictures and estimates on eBay here. The auction commences August 31st at 6 p.m. PST, but absentee bids can be placed immediately. Be charitable if you can afford to, and be sure to read all the rules of the auction, which may include additional shipping costs.

I’m not sure if Kidrobot’s Dunnys are the “world’s greatest vinyl canvas” as their press releases proclaim, but they certainly are one of the most popular. As a designer toy created by KR founder Paul Budnitz (with Tristan Eaton), Dunnys have been released in four core assortments and a handful of special series. Series 5, however, is prepared to dominate with a truly amazing selection of artists.

The 19 new Dunnys include designs by: Amanda Visell, Aya Kakeda, Clutter, Devilrobots, Dirty Donny, Frank Kozik, Huck Gee, JMGS//Jellymoon, Jesse LeDoux, JK5, Junko Mizuno, Kathie Olivas, MAD, Mad Barbarians, MISHKA, Reach, Sneaky Raccoon, Steven Harrington, TOOFLY.

Each Dunny is sold blind-boxed for $6.95. You might get doubles, but you’ve got a shot at the Kozik Mecha or 1 of 600 Golden Tickets redeemable for an exclusive Huck Gee figure (that’s like, $8 million dollars on the aftermarket…). Dunny Series 5 drops September 4th. Let the trading parties commence!

Jon Burgerman is one of the most prolific illustrators in the U.K. His doodles have adorned platform toys, shirts and skate decks. On September 25th, when Kidrobot drops The Heroes of Burgertown, he can add a line of mini-figures to his portfolio. Fans of Jon’s style will recognize characters like Coco Gulab Jaman who’ve popped up throughout the years, even appearing as figures in a 2006 Artoyz show. The premise for the new series is that each character has been made into a toy as a reward for their achievements in Burgertown. Says Jon: “It’s a gentle jab at the cult of celebrity and how it’s the dubious accomplishments that usually get rewarded with recognition.” The blind-boxed vinyl series contains 16 standards and two chase figures and will retail for $7.95 each.