Circus Posterus x Tomenosuke: New Sofubi Toys
Once upon a time, I was the Toy Maven, and all I wrote about was designer toys. These days, there are so many different things I want to write about and so very little time! This creates a situation where various clever ideas fight their way to the forefront of my brain, and, well, sometimes a toy soldier tramp stamp or giant helium-filled breasts with cat eyes declares dominance. So, I’m declaring today Toy Tuesday, and let’s catch up on a few top toy releases.
Japan’s Tomenosuke has long been a favorite destination for toy art on this blog. Founder Shinji Nakako has an impeccable eye for producing toys, curating toys and staging epic toy art events. Back in August, I featured Tomenosuke’s first sofubi character toy, Stingy Jack, created in conjunction with the Circus Posterus collective.
Tomenosuke got together with Japan’s sofubi experts, Obitsu, to cook up a few sofubi pals for Stingy Jack.
The lovely lass shown in the animated gif above is Calliope Jackalope by Kathie Olivas. This light blue colorway (version 1.0) was released in an edition of 120 signed and numbered pieces for $95 each. Tomenosuke’s stash is sold out, but you can look back at her fascinating 6-part production process here. At press time, the Calliope Jackalope sofubi is still available from Circus Posterus here.
Also recently taking root as a Tomenosuke x Circus Posterus collaboration: Chris Ryniak‘s Stinky Ginger. If there’s three things I like, green stuff, vegetables and gingers are all up there. Sweet colorway for the first of these stinkers! Take a look back at the prototype and process for making this toy here.
Finally, the original Stingy Jack gets a marshmallow-colored doppelganger. The second version of the figure was released in an edition of 120 pieces and is (as of press time) available through Tomenosuke here and Circus Posterus here for $95 a piece.
The entire fleet of CP x Tomenosuke toys look terrific. In particular, I’m impressed by how each toy is clearly a product of the artist who made it, yet together they form a cohesive collection. In comparison, Super7’s similar-scale Monster Family sofubi project takes a streamlined series approach over individual styles, and in the process (IMO), loses a bit of what makes the Tomenosuke toys pop. Well done, Shinji, Kathie, Brandt, Chris and everyone else involved!
