Thank you Everyone for your kind words and support of Max Toy Company ! As we enter our Lucky 13th year, 2018 is already booked ;-P Look for new toy projects, conventions and in September 2018 at the Japanese American National Museum, Kaiju vs Heroes – Mark Nagata’s Journey through the World of Japanese Toys (!) I’m co-curating the show with Maria Kwong ( http://www.latdamuseum.org/ ) More info coming in the new year so stay tuned and see you there !
Well decide to dump all the images hereΒ π Max Toy Dcon stuffs, see us at Table TE17 !!!
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Had the pleasure and honor to be interviewed by Marusan President Eiji Kaminaga for his Marusan TV channel while in Tokyo a few days ago. Actually it feels like a week ago with my jet lag ;-P
It’s alway cool ( to me ) to hear history about the vintage Japanese toys I collect. Once the cameras stopped I kept asking more questions too !
Kaminaga-san was kind enough to give me a copy of his book about the history of Marusan toys. It’s all in Japanese, which I can not read ;-( I told him to do a version in English, haha … but he said it might be possible in the future.
To be honest, this mug, is like the best thing I got on this trip (!) It’s like being on the Kaiju Tonight Show !!
During this interview, I revealed something I’ve worked on for about two years now .. what is it ? You have to watch to find out !
Hard to believe the year is almost done ! I want to take a moment to thank everyone whose supported Max Toys this year and for our 11 years + !
By the way, please check out the nice interview Andy at ToysREvil did recently:
http://toysrevil.blogspot.com/2016/11/happy-11th-anniversary-max-toy-co.html
Working a few more releases this month so stay tuned !
Well you’d better act fast, the newest Hello Kitty Kaiju is up for order via EMP museum’s web store !!!!!
http://shop.empmuseum.org/emp/en/Categories/Collectibles-%2B-Memorabilia/Hello-Kitty-Kaiju-Figure—EMP-EXCLUSIVE-COLOR/p/11849
Its exclusive to them, so no, I don’t have any to sell, sorry ! By the way, if you are in the Seattle area, the EMP museum is a very cool place to visit .. not to mention the Japanese American National Museum Hello Kitty exhibit now running there, but my personal favs are in the basement, tons of original Sci Fi and Horror props .. like the original Alien suit ;-O
Good luck !
Happy Kaiju Holidays everyone ! π
All orders placed today thru January 1st, 2016 will ship on or after January 2nd, 2016.
Well I suppose one should not under estimate the power of Hello Kitty Fans π The newest entry in the Hello Kitty Kaiju line quickly sold out at the EMP museum store. I think I can say we are working on making more but a lot of the timing of when the next batch arrives will depend on our factory in Japan. Many thanks to Chris and the store staff as well they had a massive line all night.
Stay tuned for more info and thank you to those who were lucky enough to grab one !
Seattle is of course a stunning city and the EMP museum is located right next to the majestic Space Needle. You can’t tell from this picture but it was pouring rain ;-P
I didn’t take nearly enough pictures but the preview show was totally packed on all levels of the museum. The rain had no affect on the Fans !
By the way, when you go be sure and check out the basement, as it contains some super duper rare movie props from Sci Fi & Horror films … like original Star Wars light sabers and original Big Chap Alien costume (!)
Seriously not fake … all Max and i could do was stare and droolΒ ;-P
I drag Max along to all these shows as much as i can, and you can tell he’s thrilled to see this piece … yet again ! Well, Hello Kitty Kaiju is now owned by Sanrio so I suspect she will see much more of the World than I π
The shows up thru May 2016, I highly recommend seeing it, and of course Seattle, too !
More info:Β http://www.empmuseum.org
Well, the cat’s outta the bag ! … We are happy to show the exclusive Hello Kitty Kaiju figure only via EMP Museum in Seattle ( http://www.empmuseum.org ) ! Each is fully hand cast in soft vinyl ( sofubi ) and hand painted in Japan by Master craftsmen.
The Hello Kitty Supercute exhibit travels from Japanese American National Museum to EMP museum with an opening party Friday night November 13th, 2015 ( I’ll be there π ) and public opening on Saturday.
The figure will be available in their store ( but please check with them in terms of online sales etc ) It’s exclusive to EMP, so I will not have any to sell sorry to say.
Sanrio X Max Toy x EMP museum, with special thanks to JapanLA !! Meow !
Next week on Saturday, June 6th, 2015, I have this original painting (left side) in Bwana Spoon’s FOE gallery show. Check FOE for more details, lots of good stuff to be had !
http://foe-gallery.myshopify.com
Just completed this insane Winged Kaiju Eyezon for a fan as well π
And last but not least, the final Hello Kitty Kaiju figure is now on sale at the Japanese American National Museum (http://www.janm.org ) store. There was a limited release online but they are now sold out. However, you can buy one in person still but one per person. No phone orders or email saves, sorry to say. Its while supplies last and this being the last weekend of the Hello Kitty 40th Anniversary show, I don’t expect them to last too long. I wanted to take a moment to not only thank the Fans for buying this figure but to Sanrio, Jamie at JapanLA and to Maria Kwong at JANM for their help in making this possible. Many thanks to Makino-san for the perfect sculpt, to Shimizu-san in Tokyo for casting all the vinyl pieces, to the Maruyama Brothers for hand painting each one in Japan and to Yo-san the Man in Japan for coordinating all the production. In order to make one toy there are many people who do their part, so you can have something to collect. So the next time you look at one of our toys or even a toy from Target, just remember that there are humans and hard work behind them π
On May 22nd the Japanese American National Museum (JANM )held it’s closing party for their Hello Kitty 40th Anniversary exhibition. There was an artists signing that i attended which was 2 hours plus of autographing and sketching for a steady stream of amazing Hello Kitty fans. I don’t get out to these types of events much anymore, so it was nice to have the talented Martin Hsu next to me … as entertainmentΒ π
I actually missed the opening of this show and Hello Kitty Con a few months back due to illness, so I was determined to make this event. My goal was to take a picture with Hello Kitty… goal accomplished !
The show will end on May 31, so you have only one last weekend to see it in Los Angeles at the museum. The piece above is my contribution to the show called “Hello Kitty Kaiju “.
I actually spent a part if my early childhood growing up in the Sawtelle area of Los Angeles in the early 70s. I have childhood memories of various LA buildings and such … like city hall.
Artists group picture above. I wish I had more time to introduce myself to my fellow artists, but these types of events are hard to do so. I’m so lucky to be asked to such shows, sometimes I’m not sure why I am with so many talented artists.
Photo by Richard Watanabe
All during this event we’ve been releasing with Sanrio and JapanLA our original sofubi toy, Hello Kitty Kaiju via the JANM store. The clear version above is our last release … and it barely made it to the signing from Tokyo. According to Jack at Vinyl Pulse, the postal guy wasn’t planning on delivering it since it was late at night, but stopped by anyways and was able to drop it off. We had 50 pieces sent early for the signing … and yes they sold out. Don’t worry the next and last batch have shipped. Keep checking the JANM twitter (@jamuseum) feed for more info on how and when they will be sold.
Lulu approves π
Many thanks to the JANM, their staff and volunteers for making this event run so smooth. Looking forward to the future of this Hello Kitty show !
Their web site:Β http://www.janm.org
