Elephunt Figure Foto

Universe of Violence: Elephunt

Toy Line: Universe of Violence

Sculpt Name: Elephunt

Color: Dark Grey (looks light grey in photos)

Collector's Note: This badboy was sculpted and cast by Eric Nilla and continues the horror that is UOV.

Namakeshi Figure Foto

Toy Line: Namakeshi

Sculpt Name: Manzilla II

Color: Pink (Cast be Eric Nilla)

Collector's Note: This is version two of the Manzilla concept. The first was with lowered arms. The raised arms are a significant improvement. Tyler, webmaster of Nama Niku, has perfected the art of the kitbash, taking various parts from various pieces and combining them seamlessly and imaginatively. Be sure to add some Namekeshi love to your minifigure collection if you haven't already.

Universe of Violence

Name of Toy Line: Universe of Violence
Production Company: Ironilla Productions
Distributor: Eric Nilla
Years of Production: 2012-2013
Countries/Regions Available: Worldwide via the Internet
Size/Scale: 2"
Figure Trade Markings: None
Approximate # of Figures: 7

Details:

This independent mini-figure toy line is brought to use by the demented minds of Eric Nilla and Jimmy Rommel. Apparently unsatisfied by the constant onslaught of violence and depravity brought to us everyday by the MSM and Entertainment Industrial Complex, they decided to add to the insanity by creating the Universe of Violence. (This is the same creative tandem behind Gorewad Monsters.)

By my count - which may be wrong - UOV currently stands at seven (7) unique sculpts, 5 of which will be featured in this entry. Both Eric and Jimmy have sculpted pieces for this line, while Eric does the mold-making, casting, and distributing.

The figures stand at approximately 2" tall and are made of rubber. They come in a wide range of colors. Let's take a look.

First up is Eyeklops, who I've already featured here at MXD. He's a hulking, tentacled cyclops sculpted by Eric Nilla.



Eyeklops

Next up is Blemmyae Warrior. Ridureyu, a professional toy collector, has a nice little write up about this piece on his excellent Flickr stream (which I used as a reference for this entry). This piece was sculpted by Jimmy Rommel.



Blemmyae Warrior

Universe of Violence Figure Foto

Toy Line: Universe of Violence

Sculpt Name: Eyeklops

Color: Teal

Collector's Note: If you haven't gotten your "fingas" on any of Eric Nilla's and Jimmy Rommel's UOV figures, do so immediately.

Minfico: Challie

Name of Toy Line: NA
Production Company: Minfico & Muscle Things
Distributor: Muscle Things
Years of Production: 2012
Countries/Regions Available: Worldwide via the Web
Size/Scale: 1.5"
Figure Trade Markings: None
Approximate # of Figures: 1 sculpt (currently)

Details:

Challie is the first of many minifigures that I would like to make under my "company" name Minfico (mini fig company). I've been an avid collector and documentor of minifigures for about 10 years now, and I decided to try my hand at creating one.

You can read a little bit more about his creation in this past MXD entry. A couple weeks ago, the uber talented custom toy molder/caster, Muscle Things offered to cast Challie up and sell him via his website. I jumped at the chance. What you see in this entry is the fruit of Muscle Things' labor.

Of course, not only is the color exquisite, but it's made of his patented, unique plastic material. Here's what I had to say about it in a previous entry:

If you've never held a figure cast in Muscle Things' plastic/rubber, you should. It has an incredibly pleasing memory-foam like action, while simultaneously having the look and feel of MIMP rubber/plastic. Meh, that's a horrible description. Sorry. You really just need to experience it first hand. (The fact that I've managed to talk more about the material than the actual aesthetics of the piece should tell you something about how interesting and unique it is.)

I've also commissioned the equally talented Eric Nilla to create art for a trading card that will be included in any purchases of Challie figs from Muscle Things. See below for a rough draft of Eric's art.





Here's a comparison shot with a piece that heavily influenced my creation of Challie, a mordel; and finally Eric's rough sketch for the Challie trading card.





Related Websites:

Muscle Things Forum

Universe of Violence Figure Foto

Toy Line: Universe of Violence

Sculpt Name: Eyeklops

Color: Green

Collector's Note: I finally got my hands on some UOV figures! I've had zero time to work on MXD, but I just had to post a picture of Eyeklops. This is one, nice meaty figure that feels and looks great in the hand.

More pics and info coming soon. In the meantime, check out Eric Nilla's keshi store, where you can purchase this mini-figure and many more: Eric Nilla Customs

Gorewad Monsters

Name of Toy Line: Gorewad Monsters
Production Company: Ironilla Productions
Distributor: Eric Nilla
Years of Production: 2012
Countries/Regions Available: Worldwide via the Web
Size/Scale: 1"
Figure Trade Markings: None
Approximate # of Figures: 3 sculpts, multiple colorways

Details:

Gorewad Monsters come from the twisted mind of Jimmy Rommel, aka Ironmask/Iron Heights. Rommel shared a bit about the Gorewads at the LRG forums saying they "are a secondary line that I call Gorewad Monsters. They serve as kind of a companion set to the upcoming Universe of Violence line, and an ode to my love of gross out lines, like GPK and Boglins, and such." According to a post at Rommel's blog, IRONHAUS Productions, he first began working on the concept at the end of May 2012. Rommel tapped Eric Nilla to do some molding and casting, and a month later they had their first test pulls. The figures were available to purchase in mid July 2012.

Each of the three sculpts stands at a diminutive one inch tall. Eric cast the figures in a firm, rubbery material with a nice weight and glossy finish.

Let's take a look at these guys!

Namakeshi Figure Foto

Toy Line: Namakeshi

Sculpt Name: Deathmatch Halfbaked Ham

Color: Blue

Collector's Note: As you can see, this particular Namakeshi has a bit of flashing around its edges. I got it as an extra freebie in a toy transaction with the webmaster of Nama Niku, the creator of the Namakeshi.

I could clean this figure up myself with my dremel, but I like having it as is in my collection. It's a pretty unique piece. Namakeshi can be purchased via Eric Nilla's store and the Grass Hut store (coming soon).

Cheap Toys Repros Figure Foto

Toy Line: GPK Cheap Toys Series Two Reproductions

Sculpt Names: Les Vegas and Berserk Kirk

Color: Custom Green and Yellow (non-Novo Bonbon)

Collector's Note: These two figures are custom reproductions of S2 Cheap Toys figures. They were produced by Eric Nilla, noted illustrator, sculptor, and mold-maker/caster. Eric has quickly been increasing his skills as a mold-maker and mini-figure caster, and it shows with these two Cheap Toys reproductions. He appears to have cleanly captured every detail of both highly-detailed sculpts.

Unless attempting to complete a toy set, I'm not typically one to acquire multiple figures of a sculpt. Rather I'm happy to have one figure of a sculpt in a color that shows its detail well. Thus, I've never been a big purchaser of repros. However, in this case, I don't currently own original S2 Cheap Toys - and I've never owned these two sculpts in particular - but I'm a huge fan. Therefore, adding these two figures to my collection is very satisfying. I can finally admire the wonderful Les Vegas sculpt up close and personal.

For those who are opposed to reproductions on philosophical grounds or for fears that they will devalue original S2 figures, have no fears. These figures are easily distinguished from authentic S2 figures; they are made of an incredibly pleasant, firm but flexible rubber and they have noticeable (but not obtrusive) dremel marks on the bottoms of their feet. Finally, the colors do not exactly match the original Novo Green and Yellow.

Well done, Eric. I can't wait to see which mini-figure line you visit next!

Crite Figure Foto

Toy Line: N/A

Sculpt Name: Crite

Color: Pink, Green, Black

Collector's Note: This AWESOME little sculpt is a production of PlasticSoul a.k.a. Zectron a very nice guy with unbelievable sculpting skills. His work has some resemblance to sci-fi/horror franchises that graced us in the '80s (like Ghoulies or Gremilins), when CGI couldn't ruin yet the amazing works of puppeteers and many talented people.





Thanks to Eric Nilla his creation has been brought to life (..rubber?) and here's the result!

The first small batch has instantly sold out but more is in the works as you read. Plus, a resin version is also in production!





Be sure to head over to his blog to see many more pics and keep you updated on when it will be available!.

Splatterhouse Rick Nillakeshi Figure Foto

Toy Line: Nillakeshi (Independent keshi figure made by Eric Nilla.)

Sculpt Name: Rick

Color: Semi Translucent Red

Collector's Note: This is the second independent figure sculpted and produced by Eric Nilla. The first being the large, Kinnikuman-inspired Sunigator claw. This time, his inspiration came from the Splatterhouse franchise. More pics coming soon.

Namakeshi

Name of Toy Line: Namakeshi

Manufacturing and Distribution: Nama Niku, Muscle Things, Marty "THEGODBEAST" Hanson, and Eric Nilla.
Years of Production: 2011-
Countries/Regions Available: Unknown
Size/Scale: 2"
Figure Trade Markings: *
Approximate # of Figures: 5 sculpts, dozens of colorways

Details: Namakeshi are the creations of the Nama Niku webmaster; Nama Niku is an English language website devoted to covering Kinnikuman related news. Kinnikuman is a Japanese property that began as a manga and has since been represented in anime; mini-figure, action figure, vinyl, and designer toy genres; video games; apparel; and more.

In brief, the Kinnikuman story centers on the goofy but super powerful, main character, Kinnikuman (Muscleman) and his struggles against a plethora of equally powerful evildoers. The story is incredibly rich with humor, creativity, originality, and charm. Since their origin in the golden 80's, Kinnikuman and "Kinkeshi" toys have overtly and subtly inspired countless artists and creators.

Mattel's M.U.S.C.L.E. toy line - which many Western collectors will recognize - used some of the sculpts from the Japanese Kinnikuman toy line but discarded the characters and story. While this allowed/forced Western collectors to create their own storyline and characters, we missed out on one of the greatest storylines to ever come out of Japan.

The Namakeshi proudly fall into the category of toys overtly inspired by Kinnikuman. In fact, Namakeshi are "kitbashed" sculpts, meaning they were created by using parts from Kinkeshi sculpts and original sculpture. *Thus in many cases, the original Kinnikuman keshi trademarkings, YSNT, can be seen on Namakeshi.

The author of Nama Niku tells us:

Nama Niku means "Raw Meat" in Japanese, and is a nod to the "niku" (肉) in Kinnikuman combined with the idea of raw/fresh Kinnikuman news.

Most of the figures I come up with are either an homage to something in the Kinnikuman universe, or a shout-out to the term Nama Niku (生肉) itself. For instance, the Meat Grinder is all about the Raw Meat!

/Tɔy·pē·di·ârt/: Eric Nilla Custom Claw

/Tɔy·pē·di·ârt/

Click to enlarge

Inspiration: Header Card to my new
Deka size Sneagator Claw Sculpt.

Artist's Note: Ink drawn then colored in Photoshop. :)

/Tɔy·pē·di·ârt/

Click to enlarge

Inspiration: I love Spiral Zone Keshi and am willing to admit that I am an addict when collecting them. :D This is my first time drawing them and decided to go with the same style that graces the pamphlets that come with these figures in the capsules.

Artist's Note: Pencil drawing inked, then colored in Photoshop.

/Tɔy·pē·di·ârt/

Click to enlarge

Inspiration: I was looking at my Mega Man Mechs today and thought it would be funny if Muscle man tried to drive it... He's a little bigger than Mega Man. :D

Artist's Note: I used my trusty 0.5 mech-pencil. It took just under an hour.

/Tɔy·pē·di·ârt/

Artist: Eric Nilla

Medium: Pencil

Name of Piece: ...

About: This is a conceptualization of what the starship from the C.A.Z.A.M. toy line might look like.