By brownkidd on November 18th, 2009 in Comics, Gear
This week The Hundreds will be releasing two fresh new limited edition T-shirts at their flagship stores in SF and LA. They’ve joined forces with the iconic comic book master Stan Sakai, best known for his comic book series Usagi Yojimbo, which is currently published by Dark Horse Comics.
Each tee features none other than the one and only Miyamoto Usagi, a ronin samurai rabbit loosely based on Miyamoto Musashi – the famous Japanese swordsman. You may also remember Usagi from a little cartoon back in the day called Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
Stan Sakai himself will be making an appearance at The Hundreds store in LA on Saturday, November 21st from 11 am to 12pm to sign the latest issue of his monthly series. And to top it all off, the first 25 people to show will also score a signed copy of Yokai, the first full-color Usagi Yojimbo comic.
“I am always excited to hear stories of the impact of Usagi on other creative individuals, especially those working outside of comics” said Usagi Yojimbo creator, Stan Sakai. “I hope that this collaboration exposes a whole new group of people to Usagi, and comics in general. I’m grateful to have had the chance to work on this project with Bobby and everyone at The Hundreds.”
“Much of what I do today, as creative director for the Hundreds, stems from poring over Stan Sakai’s Usagi Yojimbo art as a youth,” said The Hundreds co-founder Bobby Kim. “To this day, it was one of the most influential comic books in my life, and so it was an honor to work with Stan on two exclusive pieces of art for The Hundreds. To any fan of The Hundreds, it is important to acknowledge and appreciate Usagi Yojimbo’s inspiration to the brand.”
Designer toy culture is somewhat of an underground movement. It’s a collection of all types of people, but mainly artistic hipster types. The ones who don’t like seeing their beloved hobby going the way of the mainstream. The ones who fear that one day they’ll see their favorite designer toy packaged in a McDonald’s Happy Meal (I’m talking to you, Kidrobot) or sold at giant retail stores.
Me, I could care less. Just as long as prices don’t go up, I’m all about being able to buy my favorite toys at more places than just my local indie record shop.
Dark Horse, who own the U.S. rights to Domo, the mascott for Japan’s NHK television, and Toy2R, who make the Quee figures, are part of Target’s “vinyl toy test initiative.”
Yes, Target just incorporated vinyl toys into a catchy corporate buzzword. Begin skepticism.
Apparently, this new initiative is a way to “introduce the ‘mystery box’ genre to a more casual consumer,” aka “un-hip people have no fucking idea what a blindboxed toy is, so we’re gonna’ try something different and hope it works.”
So, instead of being able to buy a blindboxed Domo Quee, you’ll be able to buy one that comes in a blister pack (above pic) or a double pack that comes with one figure that you can see, and one that’s blindboxed. If you buy the single packs, you can pick which color you want. If you buy the double pack, you only have the option of getting the brown Domo, but the included blind box contains one of 4 different “mystery colors” that weren’t included in the original Domo Quee blindboxed series that came out a while ago.
Wait… a blindboxed series of only 4 colorways? WTF? Why wouldn’t Target just stock the regular blindboxed Domo Quee series? Are they that afraid of something that’s such a staple in designer toy culture? And what about all the collectors who hunted down each colorway. They’re probably gonna’ be pissed when they find out that they coulda’ just waited and hand-picked their colors at Target.
All in all, selling urban toys at bigger stores has huge potential, but it seems like Target’s going about it in an odd way.
Oh shit, it’s time to fuck up some robots on your iPhone in The Terminator game from Dark Horse and Big Head Games! It’s basically just a run and gun top-down shooter. Think along the lines of the old Capcom game Mercs.
This game’s only gonna’ $.99 cents for the first three days of release and a free downloadable second installment is coming later down the road.
Speaking of Terminator on your iPhone, you can also check out The Terminator: Death Valley comic on your iPhone for free for a limited time.
Dark Horse Entertainment and Universal Pictures just announce the live action adaptation of the Dark Horse Comics miniseries The Secret.
From the official press release:
Scott Milam, who wrote the forthcoming remake of the horror classic Mother’s Day, has been signed to write this adaptation. Milam’s other projects currently in development include Bedlam for RKO/Twisted Pictures, Ab Tak Chhappan for Paramount Vantage with Jinks/Cohen producing, and Karnival at Rogue with Michael Zoumas producing.
The Secret tells of a group of high-school seniors who play a silly prank, only to see it backfire when one of their friends vanishes without a trace.
Mike Richardson, president and founder of Dark Horse, and writer of the comic on which the film is based, will produce for Dark Horse Entertainment alongside Scott Stuber, who will produce for Stuber Productions. Pam Abdy and Jared Pfeifer will oversee the project for Stuber Productions with Keith Goldberg and Chris Tongue overseeing for Dark Horse Entertainment.
Universal’s Senior Vice President of Production, Scott Bernstein, and Creative Executive Dave Targan will oversee the project for the studio.
“Scott is a terrific writer and we’re excited to be working with him on this project,” said Richardson. “The story is full of scares and surprises and goes places no one will expect.”
Hrmm… a bunch of highschool kids play a prank gone wrong? Sounds groundbreaking. Considering the trade’s only $11 on Amazon, I guess I’ll pick it up out of curiousity.
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