When discussing designer toys, KidRobot’s 3” Dunny seems to be the standard in any collection. After five standard series and a few auxiliary series of Dunnies, the little vinyl rabbit has appeared in over 100 different guises designed by a huge variety of artists. When the collectors over at the KidRobot forums were going all wacky over ordering entire $160 cases of Dunnies, I had to see what the fuss was about. The very expensive fuss.

I bought myself a case of Series 5 Dunnies. With 25 figures in a case, the figures worked out to cost about $6.50 each, after shipping. I could justify this expense (like I justify most expenses) by telling myself that this was for the love of art, and that I was going to customize and improve any of the figures I didn’t really like. If I was really lucky, I’d score a rare Dunny worth $30, $75, or even $300. Since every figure is blind boxed (as in : you don’t know what you’re getting), you run the very real possibility of pulling a large number of very unappealing figures. And some of them, although ‘designer’, are the very essence of ug.

With the odds of finding each Dunny listed on the side of the package, I knew what I was in for. The odds of finding the Frank Kozik Mechadunny that I really loved were 1/100, the slimmest odds of the whole series. You’d have to buy four full cases to tilt the odds in your favor, and even then there’s no guarantee of the contents of each box. The flocked Kathie Olivas Dunny was roughly 1.5/50, though the box stubbornly refused to reveal its numbers, and the much coveted Huck Gee Dunny was also roughly 1/50. As far as designer toys are concerned, Huck Gee is a complete goldmine.

Nothing to do but open up the case and see what was inside. I don’t know if I can properly explain the exhilaration of a case blind boxed toys. I’ve even bought inexpensive cases of things I didn’t love to get the rush of defeating the odds, completing sets, and a series of 20 or more surprises. It’s genuinely addictive.

When my very first box contained the rare ‘chase’ Huck Gee Dunny, I couldn’t really believe my luck, and then I panicked. Was I accidentally sent one of the erroneously distributed cases that were STUFFED with Huck Gees? This recent debacle had colored the whole ‘Dunny 5’ experience for many collectors.

I opened a second box and was relieved to find that this box indeed had a different Dunny. The next three boxes all had new, interesting figures in them - a cute Amanda Visell elephant, a Reach, and a Mad Barbarians pizzaDunny. So far, so good!

Box number five contained another surprise - the uncommon Kathie Olivas Dunny that I wanted! I have a weakness for flocked toys, having fleeting experiences with a Masters of the Universe Mossman in the mid-90s. Olivas is one of the hotter pop surrealist artists right now, so anything by her is a sure sellout. Box six contained a common Dirty Donny Dunny, but I’d already had some pretty great odds.

Box number six is when the doubles started pouring in - and not even of designs that I liked. TOOFLY, Clutter and Aya Kakedas started overtaking my desk. That initial thrill of new figure after new figure became dulled with that quiet dread of ‘I paid $160 for this?’ That’s always part of the emotional arc of collecting cases of blind-boxed toys : the initial excitement, the disappointment at a mass of doubles, and by the end, things perk up as your collection fills out and a sense of completion warms the scene. Still, after a dozen cases of Heroclix and way too many gashapon, I’m never prepared. At least I could use these doubles to make my OWN Dunny designs and further infiltrate the custom toy world.

A few more boxes in and I found the rare 1/50 Jellymon Dunny, which existed in only 50% of all cases, and was WAY too ugly to keep. The Steve Harrington I wanted showed up in the 22nd box, another rare Huck Gee showed up in box number 23, and with two boxes left, I still had no Mechadunny.

Box 24 was a decent JK5 that was destined for the scrap pile. Box 25, glorious box 25, had my much-coveted Mechadunny, grand in its mechanical, spiked rabbit form. I had a pretty lucky case, even if I missed out on the common Devilrobots Dunny, and the rare Junko Mizuno. Otherwise, my collection was technically complete. I didn’t plan on keeping them all together, honestly, because I was genuinely in it for things I liked - even if completed Dunny sets can retail for hundreds of dollars.

I went onto the Kidrobot forums to talk about the case ratios, and I was almost immediately hit with messages asking for my extra figures - notably, the Jellymon and Huck Gee. By the end of it, 5 of my undesirables were traded away for eleven more Dunnies that I could use as art fodder, so even that ugly Jellymon served its purpose. If times every get really hard, there’s always that $75 Mechadunny to fall back on. You can love something for how cool it looks, but that doesn’t preclude that you need a new muffler.

So, collecting my first case of Dunnies was a rewarding experience, and I immediately started in on turning three of them into better things. Anything that eventually becomes art is inherently priceless to me anyhow.

We continue our talk with Ryan Myers.

David : Now, if you could suggest a few creators who you really think are changing the face of art right now, who would you mention?

Myers : Wow, good question… You know I don’t think I could justly answer that question, there are so many great people… the huge, omnipresent guys and ladies I guess would be the ones that always seem to be in Juxtapoz, like [Mark] Ryden, Camille Rose Garcia, Baseman… It’s weird though, there are like first generation folks. I got into this culture a little late. I sort of stumbled in a back door. There’s so many other great artists though. That’s why I went with the cliché answer.

David : I’m getting so tired of reading about them, but at least they’re all old and balding like me, so I feel better. Did you have one of those moments where you were doing your own thing and suddenly realized ‘HEY! These guys are doing it too! And it has a name!’?

Myers : Sort of. I was trained as an illustrator, so I was trying to gear myself towards magazines and stuff. I got a few jobs, but my portfolio consisted of stuff I thought was amusing, and that’s not really the best way to get hired. So, I tweaked my personal work a bit, gave up magazine aspirations and geared myself towards galleries. I was lucky - I had a very supportive gallery help me when I first got into the game. Actually, I found out about the Juxtapoz crowd through KidRobot, but everyone seems to always know ryden …so I knew but didn’t know.

David : Back to the Melancholia plushes and you, do you have ideas or plans for future collectible-type art objects?

Myers : Yeah, absolutely… one the cards for the Melancholia figures I was initially going to put [in] series one. I have been working up some ideas for what series two might be, but I think that’s a little ways off yet.

David : I was lucky enough to get a pink AND a black bunny, though the pink was ’shortpacked’… and there’s a mystery figure. Care to reveal what it might be?

Myers : As far as the mystery figure goes, I think I’ve made 3 or 4 so far. I think its pretty obvious what I might be. How ‘bout you guess and I’ll tell you if you’re right? [laughs]. That way I don’t feel guilty about spilling my guts.

David : I figured that it might be the BEAR?

Myers : You got it. Yeah, the bear was sort of a catalyst for me early on. I have this teddy bear picnic painting that is quite iconic for me.

David : Can these be purchased from your website?

Myers : Yes they can! I actually just made the doll page about a week ago. For now it’s only the Melancholia plushies, but I hope sometime soon [to have] more.

David : What words of advice might you give to aspiring art-crafters?

Myers : I think just try and be true to yourself. I do things that amuse myself primarily. I love when other people get it… but its mostly about creating something that you like yourself - that and persistence. Thick skin is good in the art world. That. and work ‘til you’re passing out. Remember [that] Picasso did sculpture as a hobby, and he was one of the most prolific sculptors ever.

David : I’ve found that a lot of the people who are already involved in it are so receptive and interested in what you have to bring into the scene, because they genuinely love what they do.

Myers : Exactly. The first time I ever had the Melancholia bunnies in public, Heidi from mypapercrane came up, (and she does so much plush its crazy), and she had some really nice things to say. That’s the difference in the crafting versus painting communities. Painters are behind-the-back talkers, and I don’t see crafters doing that.

David : Plus, CUTE GIRLS like crazy.

Myers : The art community on a whole is populated by an unnatural amount of cute girls. It’s dangerous for married guys. [laughs]

David : Do you find yourself collecting anything else?

Myers : Absolutely. I am quite obsessive about nutcrackers and smokers as well.

David : Smokers?

Myers : Yeah… oh, if you don’t know, you’re missing out. Same family as nutcrackers, I guess, but they are little smokers quite literally. Basically, it’s an incense burner, but let’s say it’s a cobbler - he’d be smoking a pipe where the smoke pours out. It’s very old world. I think just the craftsmanship is what attracts me to them.

David : You can see that appreciation for fine details in the plushes, certainly.

Myers : The way I figure it, those little bunnies represent me, so I wouldn’t want to send out something that is sub-par. I’m borderline riddled with guilt [to] have “short packed” the rare pink Melancholia bunny. I may lose sleep. Not really, but I feel crappy.

David : I got one! And that’s all that matters. Kubricks pack some of those guys 1 in every 96 boxes. You’re doing good. Spectacular Spider-Ham was rare as all get out.

Myers : You know what… I think the exclusivity thing helps drive demand, but it also backfires sometimes. I had a woman onetime literally yelling at me after she found out there were pink bunnies, and I wouldn’t or couldn’t just “give” her one. The good part was that I had no idea what each box was. I don’t secretly mark the boxes somehow. I love when people open them in front of me so I know what they get. Maybe when I hit 100 made, I’ll make something uber rare for anniversary purposes.

David : That would be stellar. I’m partial to gold metallics.

Myers : I actually had plans for urethane-based figures that would be handpainted, but those would be much more limited. They sorta fell by the wayside in the wake of the Melancholia plushies. I am a big fan of your meatbots by the way - not sure I ever voiced that.

David : Thanks! I’d like to do a lot more with them. I think they’ve become a signature piece. Of course, they’re REALLY slow to make.

Myers : Well, it’s like the advice I gave earlier… it’s a niche. People like them. Run with it! I run my poor bunnymen and bearboys ragged.

David : That seems to be the way to go, seriously. Find a signature and drive it home - like that bigfoot guy.

Myers : I mean seriously. As far as I know, he IS Bigfoot, but everyone knows him.

David : That guy never does ANYTHING different. It kinda irks me, but then again, he’s in Juxtapoz.

Myers : And in lots of shows. I wonder if he had the pseudonym ‘Bigfoot’ before he used the image - that would be funny, sort of a convenience painting for him.

David : Like when supervillians have real names like ‘Victor von Doom’ or ‘Otto Octavius’. Do they really have a CHOICE in becoming Dr. Doom and Dr. Octopus?

Myers : Well, hope for his sake his name is, like, Rob, and not Hugo Foot.

David : [laughs]

It was in the dark backalleys of MySpace that I first encountered Ryan Myers. In my desire to network myself into oblivion, I’d befriended hundreds upon hundreds of artists who seemed to be working in the same vein as myself. I also befriended pretty girls, because you can never have too many pretty girls aware of you. Mr. Myers grabbed my attention, though, from among the sea of creatives and pierced young thangs.

I’m a fan of plush items, most notably those bizarre little items that are hand-made, unique and completely out of the ordinary. ‘Plush’ has the automatic connotation of being for children, cute and soft and bedtime-huggable. I sleep with my fair share of plush cthulhu dolls and Spider-Men and octopeds well beyond an acceptable age to do so, and I’m not ashamed. Midwinter nights in upstate New York are frigid, and a little stuffed Hellboy might be just the right size to plug that hole at the bottom of your blanket. It’s purely for survival, you see.

Plush figures, especially those made by artists, are recently finding themselves highly desirable. We’ve gone far beyond the Beanie Baby obsession of yore and entered art and craft territory, populated by the Uglydolls and Shawnimals, and the countless creations of other mad sewing geniuses. Ryan Myers has found his way among these folks with his Melancholia mini-plush figures. These are handmade in small quantities, and packaged in mystery boxes, and completely sucked me into their charmingly morose world. For a mere eight dollars each, I couldn’t let myself miss out on them, and I wanted to know more.

Collin David [for CQ] : I suppose that the first question I should be asking you is exactly WHAT it is that you do. So what is it that you do?

Ryan Myers : I’m an artist trying to make himself known, I suppose.

David : Well, I came across you on MySpace and totally was blown away by your Melancholia mini-plushes.

Myers : Thank you, I appreciate that. I actually did a lot of foot work with them before I put them on MySpace.

David : Where are these coming from?

Myers : Well, initially the idea was derived from a reappearing figure in some of my paintings, which was a dead bunnyman. The first versions were quite larger, more of the uglydoll ilk. I gave away a few to friends and such. I thought about marketing some that way… they had x-out eyes and numbers on their chests.

David : X-eyes are the bomb.

Myers : Yes the bomb, but a pain in the ass hand sewn. They were metallic red, and it was quite cool, but I evolved them out of necessity, unfortunately. [Produces images of the original plushes]

David : Nice! Where did the face get changed to a painted face?

Myers : Those were about 10 inches tall, so when they got smaller. I think it was for sanity purposes.

David : These Melancholia are the first example of a semi-printed plush I’ve seen. It’s really innovative.

Myers : Yeah, I got a little inspiration from a friend of mine on that. He figures all this crazy art stuff out, then passes it along to me. We figured out a way to get my paintings onto Zippos at about the same time I was working on the smaller versions of the bunnies, and I think the idea kind of carried over. That, and the sullenness is more subtle with an alive face opposed to x-eyes.

David : It’s wonderful to innovate on these mundane and unusual processes and make totally unexpected things out of them.

Myers : Either that, or it’s art whoring. Haven’t decided yet. [laughs]

David : I like to think of it as dissecting what exists and making better things out of it!

Myers : I’m a ‘glass half empty’ guy.

David : I think that my glass is half full of hypersensitive bees and old milk. For real.

Myers : No, but seriously… since the shape is so basic, I like having inlaid detail, not reinventing the wheel. Just adding the bling rims.

David : There you go! You’re more adept at the hip analogies.

Myers : Either that or I watch too much ‘Pimp My Ride’.

David : These Melancholia mini-plushes are about 3 inches tall and also seem really intricate and labor-intensive.

Myers : I actually hand sew them. I am not handy enough with a sewing machine for the type of curves and things that need to be sewn. I’ve got it down quite well - I figure I’ve made about 50 to date, maybe more. All I know is I am running out of boxes.

David : Do you find that consistency is an issue with mass-production of this nature, or are the possible inconsistencies part of the inherent awesomeness?

Myers : I like the fact that each one is a little different…. Even though I guess I am sort of mass producing them each one is a hand made art object. I have spoken to some other more prominent plush people and they were aghast at how inexpensive I price them…

David : I admit I was also!

Myers : … but that was part of my reasoning for making them to begin with. I wanted people who liked my paintings but didn’t want to spend the sort of money - they deserve to be able to still have something hand made by me.

David : Who are some of the big-name plush people you spoke to? I met Jenny Harada (who is semi-plush) at Renegade and all of those people are incredibly kind.

Myers : Yeah yeah, I like her work quite a bit. Mainly it was Heidi of mypapercrane fame. We had some MySpace correspondence, [and] then we were in a show together. Strangely enough, I had some bunnies at Renegade but never have been to one myself. The gallery that sort of reps me in Philadelphia took some along with them and wound up selling them all. I would like to think of myself as semi plush too. That’s well on the way to my childhood dream of a nerf world.

David : So you’ve found yourself involved in that whole crafting subculture now.

Myers : Exactly - its weird, straddling the line. I think stores like KidRobot, amongst the many others, helped to blur the line of art and consumerism.

David : Do you shop there? What do you find yourself collecting for inspiration?

Myers : I was just there this past weekend, I love that place. I don’t really go there for anything specific… the Dunnys of course are always in the forefront, and they are fun. I have bought, painted and sold a bunch of the 8″ Munny. I have 3 in my closet waiting to be painted.

David : I totally have one ready to go also.

Myers : So now to answer your question which I avoided - umm, I don’t really gear myself towards any one artist or figure. There’s some Japanese guys or ladies who are great. I find a lot of stuff just surfing and browsing names, like Toki Doki. His Bastardino is great - the little dog in a cactus outfit. I tend to favor things in suits, I guess cause its similar to what I do.

David : Yeah, I dig the whole masquerade face-stickin’-out thing. It’s a subtle theme in the whole pop-surrealist world right now. And tentacles.

Myers : Yeah, my work gets compared a lot to Kathie Olivas, who works with a lot of those themes. She’s borderline-big reputation wise so I don’t mind the comparison. P. S. : I love that you said ‘pop surrealism’ instead of ‘lowbrow’. You just stepped up in my cool book.

Stay tuned for Wednesday, when I drop the rest of this man’s heavy, Melancholia soul all up on you.

In another periodic exploration of the urban vinyl and designer toy scene, let’s take a casual glance over at what’s currently at the top of the list. Casually! Don’t let them know we’re looking. They’re surly.

The first item in my trifecta of palm-sized awesomeness is Akamushi’s Cardboy series of toys, by UK artist Mark James. While most of these mini-figures usually come in series that offer a large variety of characters in ‘mystery boxes’, never letting you know what you’re going to get in any given box, Cardboy figures ARE the boxes that they come in.

In a beautifully innovative move, the Cardboy figure emerges when you turn the box itself inside-out and re-fasten the tabs. Contained within the box are pegs and a few body parts, as well as the pattern that represents the Cardboy’s character. Once you pop a few pegs in and invert the sturdy box, your Cardboy is ready to go! Maybe it’s my fetish for toys that require some assembly, but these are probably the greatest thing to happen to the lowbrow-art toy market. There’s a variety of eight different Cardboys, some more rare than others, all of them truly awesome. Be careful when you’re opening them and assembling them - cardboard isn’t the most durable material ever, but part of the appeal of these figures is the makeshift, slightly-worn-and-bent look of them. I like to think that’s part of my appeal also. Like Sloth from The Goonies, but with a beard.

Second on today’s list are the Mongers, distributed by Kidrobot and created by renowned artist Frank Kozik. One of Kozik’s more popular ventures into the urban vinyl scene was his ‘Smorkin’ Labbit’, which happens to be a simplified bunny smoking a cigarette, with a removable upper-shell which revealed a skeleton underneath. Kozik isn’t the first artist to stick cigarettes into things to increase their inherent hipness, and there’s more than a passing reference to the artist known as Kaz and his notorious comic in which a cat proclaims that ‘smoking isn’t cool’, but that death IS. The Mongers amplify that theme to a point of ridiculousness, sticking cigarettes into salt and pepper shakers, cupcakes, bananas and even into larger cigarettes. It’s an art culture that embraces a certain amount of vice, all the while acknowledging how wasteful it is. In this series, you can get any one of seventeen different smoking things, all of them angry and bizarre.

Last come the Blow Up Dolls, produced by Jamungo. Before you start thinking too hard about that, they have bombs for heads, thus the ‘blow up’ in their name. The designer toy market has only explored inflatable toys marginally at this point, but expect to see more in the future. Blow Up Dolls are another example of anthropomorphication making things cute. Stick eyes and a mouth on something and it’s immediately something that you can relate to. There are ten to collect in this first series, and each comes with a plastic match accessory - presumably to light themselves off with. While all having the same body type, their paint schemes are designed by different Pop Surrealist artists, including the aforementioned Kozik.

There’s such an incredible variety of these ‘designer toys’ that nothing looks out of place in any display that you choose to set them in, because nothing ever really looks IN place. And while smoking and bombs aren’t your usual fare for kids’ toys, these are clearly aimed at an adult market appreciative of art and fun.