Joshua Artono's Top Ten Toys for 2014
WHAT-IS: *Celebrating 2015 with a series of "TOP TEN TOYS FOR 2014" as picked by fellow plastic-crack-addicts … eerrr … I meant "fellow toy collectors"! It doesn't have to be released in 2014, it just has to be purchased / gifted / unboxed in 2014. Living my toy-dreams vicariously through you collections! Share Your Toy-Joy, people!* [CLICK to read all]
Running his own inline store at www.plasticculture.toys, and now a brand new shopfront has opened for business in Grand Indonesia Shopping Town (More Locations in Indonesia), Joshua Artono (IG / Twitter @joshuaartono) is no stranger to art toys! But what is on his list for TOP TEN TOYS FOR 2014, you ask? All you need to do is scroll down this page to find out :)
(#10) GREEN ARMY MEN by Acid Rain
WHY: "From childhood, I always love green army man toys. I used to have few of the little guys and carry them everywhere. Then the movie, Toy Story brought them back again. Someone got me a whole bucket of them for my birthday. Oh, I also love the Lego ver. as well. This one here is special though. Acid Rain gave these Green Army Man articulations. How great is that! To top it off, they are limited. SCORE! -- bought them at TOY SOUL 2014, Hong Kong."
(#9) KING NEGORA by Mark Nagata of @maxtoyco
WHY: "Having mini Negoras on my shelves, I always knew that I need the King to complete the collection. I wanted to get them straight from MaxToyCo, but the shipping and customs fee are just too much at the time. I thought about it too long and King Negora was sold out. *kicking myself* so, the search for King Negora began. Luckly, one of the Brotherhood of Toys member has the biggest maxtoyco collection in Indonesia and he was kind enough to let this baby go for me. Thank you, @ictoys of Toy Kultur."
(#8) ULTRAMAN RAH by Medicom
WHY: "China Square Central is always my favorite destination in Singapore to hunt toys, but this time it was different. The evil-man himself, TOYSREVIL came along and did his thing. I remembered that this was towards the end of the year, and I already promised myself on instagram @joshuaartono that I won't be buying anymore toys again (at least in 2014). Then, on the way out of the building, we just had to stop by one last shop. This Ultraman figure was just standing there with a bargain price. I heard a voice, "Get it, man. Buy. Buy." You know the force is strong in this one, so *took out my wallet* I paid. Turns out to be awesome! Thanks Andy :)"
(#7) ZAGORAN by Gargamel
WHY: "It's one of those figure that when you looked at it the first time and you go, LOL! The face expression on Zagoran won me over. This version though, I scored from Gargamel Lucky Bag 2014."
(#6) GORILLA TANK by NerdOne
WHY: "Found out about this piece from @DavidTheKiller (Brotherhood of Toys) and he was telling us how this piece was sold in Japan. Got my interest and began googling. There I found that Lulubell Toys was offering it for sale. I just had to have it."
(#5) UNPAINTED RealHead X Uamou collaboration
WHY: "RealHead is one of the first few pieces that I have as part of my sofubi / kaiju collection. Bought my first RealHead in Japan back in 2010. Uamou has quickly began to fill up my collection. They are super cute and most importantly, wife loves them too! To see the collaboration between the two, I gotta say I am impressed. The details in this figure are top notch! If you look closely, there are mini Uamou on the head and left arms attached to RealHead body and feet. Since they are mixed parts unpainted, we could mix and match them in however we want. Super cool piece! LOVE THEM!"
(#4) MadBalls-inspired HATE BALLS by Frank Kozik
WHY: "Till this day, I am kickin' myself for not going to STGCC. There was quite a lot of pieces that I would love to get from the show and one of them is these HATE BALLS designed by Frank Kozik. Such a great piece and it's unpainted! Thank you @halorendy (Brotherhood of Toys) for helping me score one of these bad boys! "
(#3) SUICIDAL TENDENCIES by BlackBook Toy
WHY: "You know when you see a toy whether it's on a magazine or in blogs and you go, "What is that?! I love it. Where can I get them?!" Well, this is one of those toys. The figure itself is superb, but the added a few extras to make it even more SUPERB-er! The NewEra lil' cap and the tote bag that came with the figure. Super awesome! Hopefully there won't be a lot of colorways *wink!"
(#2) SLEEPWALKER NIMBUS by Paulus Hyu X Kurobokan
WHY: "Paulus Hyu, creator of Nimbus is a very good friend of mine and to see him became the first Indonesian to make sofubi / kaiju makes me proud. This piece here is a historic figure. Designed by @paulushyu himself, sculpted by Walter Jacott @chauskoskis with a header card design by @javierjimenez and produced by @kurobokan. There are only 30 pieces of this ver. Congrats Paulus. Can't wait to see what you're gonna do next!"
(#1) MR. HALLIBURTON SALARY IKA BY FRANK KOZIK
WHY: "I had to twist @wijayasantoso 's arm to get this. I missed out on the release because of my stupid alarm clock. I woke up in the morning, shocked and depressed. Salary Ika figure made a disappearance after the first release and Mr. Halliburton was the comeback figure. It's like Michael Jordan's 45 era of the Bulls. Historic. I had to have it. After weeks of negotiating, fellow Brotherhood of Toys @wijayasantoso finally let go. I am a happy camper.
Thanks Andy for letting me be a part of your Top Ten Toys of 2014."
