In Living Kolor is a series of modern (mostly designer) kaiju-centric custom toy shows organized by Walker and sponsored by a bunch of independent toy makers such as Ultra-sensei, Mark Nagata. Sure, there was a lot of Mark's Max Toy Co offerings on display, but there isn't any one particular toy maker exclusively featured. In fact, the show isn't really limited to Japanese vinyl. Sure, it's mostly kaiju, but there was some wild diversity at the show.
So what's the unifying factor? Well, the toys sent in by various artists on display at the show are customized using Walker's versatile Monster Kolor paint. The paint is formulated for soft vinyl toys, but these cats put the shit through its paces. I saw all types of resin toys painted up in MK...hell, I even saw a ill hacked-up G1 Slag. Pretty crazy stuff.
The first In Living Kolor show took place in Japan, and was incredibly popular. Mad top-shelf Japanese kaiju toy makers such as Dream Rockets, Sunguts, and Real x Head showed up for the live-painting segment of the show. Yes: Matt actually sets up airbrushes for folks to use on the various free toys available at the show or anything else they want to bring! So while some truly off the hook customs sent in by artists are on display, the Monster Kolor flows like water for attendees...and everyone gets a chance to get in on the artistic action!
Like I said, this particular ILK show took place in our own backyard: Boston! The venue was Lot F Gallery right in the financial district...and very close to the Occupy Boston protest. Kinda surreal, but it was just nice to honk my horn in support of the folks standing up to this inhuman economic system. Anyway, a bunch of the massholes came out to represent and show support for Walker. And that's what was probably the best part of the show for me: the people.
Not only was it good to see folks I have regular contact with, but it was INCREDIBLE to reconnect with folks I haven't seen, literally, in years. More on that later. And finally, it was cool to meet heads from the area whom I'd only heard of before--people into the same geeky shit that drives us!
^^ Walker, himself, with JoshF and Regan--good peoples and great artists in their own rights (though not toy-related). They always come out for local
events so it was no surprise to see them come out to support our boy, Walker.
^^ For once, Ben didn't fuck up the dates...like he did with the Summit. In fact, he drove some seven hours to get his ass to the show. Good on 'im.
^^ Nekrodave, my boy and kingpin, was in attendance, of course. Like JoshF and Regan, he always comes through for local toy happenings.
But ultimately, what blew my fucking mind apart was seeing Matt Doughty of Onell Design and that whole crew! Now, I hadn't seen Doughty in a good year and a half. Motherfucker! Well, my man was looking good and while we didn't talk for all that long, it was great to renew the friendship and commit to seeing each other more.
As for the rest of the crew...
^^ The inimitable Jessie Moore of RawShark Studios and, of course, Callgrim.com. I love Jessie. The man is a beast--yet another incredible artist and toy maker. One of the funniest, sweetest bastards I know; again, it was fucking great to see his Gimli-looking ass again after all this time!
^^ Boris Savic of Planet Banimon. Another great guy I met through Doughty and Jessie. Heh...me, Boris, and Jessie always talk about playing basketball together, but we're just a bunch of old fucking men! :P Boris is the shit, though. Nicest guy ever and, in fact, he just had his second child, so I'ma take this moment to wish him a big Congratulations!
And while I didn't get a shot of him, the crew's enforcer, Grillo, was there too. Another good cat who's always in attendance for the big events, Grillo provides muscle when it comes to QCing Glyos figures prior to shows, bagging and tagging stuff, boxing and preparing toys for shipment, etc...
So anyway, besides long-standing friendships and renewed old ones, I got a chance to meet a couple cool folks. James, the host of Lot F, was mad cool. It was good to get to know him a little bit and even if we didn't have a ton of time to talk with all the action going on, I look forward to doing more shit with him in the future. I mean, who knows, right? Maybe someday, I'll be hosting some kind of Brownnoize Productions toy show there!
Also, I got to meet one of James's boys and Monster Kolor forum contributor, Todd Robertson. Todd's been blowing up the spot lately with his mechanized customs, but I had no idea how down to earth he was. He's just a pure, straight up and down toy fan. Zero pretense. Couldn't give a shit about "the scene" or being a big personality on the internet (*ahem*). All love for the toys. I look forward to following his work more. And speaking of which, check this shit out:
Well, besides Todd's amazing customs, there were some other cool toys on display, of course. I've given you a little taste above, but you should check out my photobucket for more pics of a bunch of random shit. Here's a couple more quick highlights before signing off:
^^ Walker's legendary custom Jumbo Machinders. These guys (straight from my collection, by the way! :P ) are absolutely rock-solid. That paint ain't going anywhere. Those who're familiar with trying to refurbish or customize Jumbos knows how notoriously difficult it is to get paint to adhere properly to polyethylene. This super-secret MK formula Walker used on these things is no joke. It's a game changer.
^^ And some jerk had a bunch of special edition metal-plated Gin Gin toys for sale. In fact, some may still be available here! ;)
Anyway, that's it for now. JoshF will be posting more coverage on the TBDX Brog soon...and I can't wait! He was painting like a machine at the show. And, damn, wait'l you see the custom projects he and Walker have cooking.
Like I said before, check back soon for another post with a big update about what's going on with Brownnoize. Stay tuned, kids!
