For the past year, the urban vinyl community has relied on Face Your Manga for all our avatar needs. But now one of our own has stepped up with an app that renders our likenesses in Kidrobocolor. That would be the awesome Tristan Eaton, whose Thunderdog Studios just released the B-BOT app for iPhone. B-BOT is the closest you will ever get your mug to a Munny. You can create your own B-BOT and also customize your contacts. When you receive a call from them, their B-BOTs will show up on the caller ID (and vice versa).

B-BOT was conceived by Tristan Eaton and Peter Cortez while working together on the 2008 Barack Obama Campaign. It was developed by Greg Elliott, the creator of SynchStep.

It’s been over 2 years since we brought you word of Tristan Eaton’s Billy Bananas figures. Tristan’s been busy with Thunderdog Studios, but Billy is back in five new colorways you can grab at the Jonathan Levine Gallery here in New York. The Billy Bananas Show kicks off Thursday night, featuring new paintings and prints, the Billy Bananas 5-inch vinyl toy and a special Billy Bananas video installation by INTERSPECTACULAR. Each edition of Billy (Toxic Glow, Medic, Lucky, Billy for Girls and Classic) is limited to 150 pieces or less, and Tristan will be on the scene to sign toys from 6-9PM. Get ‘em while you can.

Back in January, LA’s Gallery1988 paid tribute to the Beastie Boys with Under the Influence, a group show featuring Beasties-influenced art by Alex Pardee, Dave Flores, Jim Mahfood, Mear One, Tristan Eaton and more. Today, the gallery made available three limited edition prints from the show: Scott Scheidly’s “The Brass Monkey Has a License to Ill,” David MacDowell’s “Hey Hey Hey Ladies” (shown here), and Casey Weldon’s “B-Boys Unite.” Each print is limited to just 25 pieces. Interested? Check availability by calling G1988 at: (323) 937-7088.

One week left to go before the presidential election. We’ve shown you the posters, shirts, websites, bike, video game and toys. Now it is up to you guys to actually go out and do it. Just in case you need a little extra encouragement, a new website THUNDERVOTE.com has launched with the direct goal of getting out the vote. You can print off posters, make a paper toy and even instructions on making your own Obama bike (if you’re an Obama supporter), all for free from the design brain of Tristan Eaton. Make your way to the website and turn your office into a DIY campaign headquarters. And remember Thundervote’s motto: Don’t be stupid. Show up and vote on November 4th.

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!

The car people out there should take a look at this video, which covers the insane sticker job that Tristan Eaton (think: Kid Robot) and the rest of the Thunderdog team recently did on a Mini Cooper belonging to Matt Farah of the New York Motor Club. After-market auto tweaks are one thing, neon blue ground effects are another, but this glow-in-the-dark job, well, it’s something from another world. Matt’s request to Thunderdog was inspired by the BMW Art Car Project, which was going on between 1975 and 1999, and featured work by artists that we all know and love (e.g. Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein). My vote is that the Thunderdog crew get commissioned to kit out the next Batmobile– imagine that: a glowing black Lamborghini Murcielago.

It’s about time that the rumors about a new Tristan Eaton Dunny coughed up something tangible, and now — after almost two years of speculation — we can finally say that an actual Dunny (designed by the actual co-creator of Dunny and founder of Thunderdog Studios, Tristan Eaton), will be released in the middle of January. The gas-masked, 8-inch Tag Team Dunny comes in either pink or black, and will be accompanied by his own Fatcap mini assistant in a matching color. Two signings for the new Dunny will go down in New York and Miami, respectively; head here if for more deets on either event.

Thunderdog, an NYC creative agency and designer toy label, is holding a one night exhibition at London’s Exposure Gallery tomorrow night, Thursday, May 31st, from 7 till 11 p.m. The event will feature, toys, music, live painting, drinks, and plenty of art courtesy of their awesome collective (a juicy line-up that counts Tristan Eaton, Jeremyville, and DevilRobots as members). Thunderdog is blowing up right now, and this is absolutely where I would be tomorrow if I wasn’t in Colorado — send us pictures if you go, please!

Full flyers after the jump…

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A week ago, Billy Bananas “Shooting Blanks Edition” was unveiled at NY Comic Con as a collaboration between INTERspectacular and Thunderdog Studios (Tristan Eaton particularly). It was the first of a blind chase assortment that they’ll be releasing throughout this Spring. You may recognize Mr. Bananas from Comedy Central– he’s quite the character– a ladies man, a butcher, a scenester and a moocher! These 5″ tall toys will be available exclusively through Thunderdog Studios, so keep checking back with them if you’re interested in these limited edition goodies– I’d say they are a must for you devout toy collectors out there.

BA-Reps, an illustration agency based in New York launched a limited edition collection of designer toys last week by artist Tristan Eaton, Gary Baseman, Stephen Bliss, Dave Needham, and Andrew Rae. This collection is an addition to the popular Thundermutt Series and is particularly special in that each of the 100 figurines have an added bonus, a hand made or hand painted object that has been inserted into the hollow heads of each little figure. One artist stuffed their Thundermutt's noggin' with hand painted bottle caps, another with hand painted peanuts, one set even includes glass vials of captured rain water straight from the NYC skies! This, the 14th series in the Thundermutt lineage should prove to be of the most detailed and personal, if not the most unique, sets of toys ever crafted by Thunderdog Studios Inc. The project will be released in two waves, the first was September 29th at Neo Studios NYC (628 Broadway, between Houston and Bleeker), and you can look for the second release in February 2007. Only 50 pieces will be available to the public with the remaining being reserved for the Mutt Club. Full flyer after the jump!

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