2008 Beijing Summer Olympics - Swimmer Amanda Beard Is One And Done

The Blot is sad to report that my favorite United States Olympic swimmer and reigning Olympic champion of the 200-meter breaststroke, Amanda Beard, failed in her bid to defend the gold medal she won at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. In a preliminary heat last night the four-time Olympian was unable to advance to semifinals in her signature event, the 200-meter breaststroke.

According to reports from Beijing, “Amanda swam the 200 in 2 minutes, 27.70 seconds, more than 2.5 seconds slower than her entry time and nearly 4.5 seconds slower than her Olympic record time in Athens four years ago.” (link) While Beard still currently holds the Olympic Record in the 200-meter breaststroke, I would imagine that mark will be eclipsed later in the week like almost all of the other swimming records have been over the course of these Olympic Games.


This was Amanda’s only event of the 2008 Beijing Summer Games and will more than likely be the highly decorated swimmer’s last race ever at a summer Olympics. I am sure the U.S. swim team and fans around the country will miss seeing the PETA supporting model at future competitions.

The Legendary Golden Claw 8 Inch Dunny by Huck Gee

There really is no slowing down for Huck Gee this August. The guy is releasing custom, hand painted 8 inch Dunnys at an alarming rate. Next up in his Gold Life series is...the Legendary Golden Claw!?! I know what you’re thinking, there is another Golden Claw?


The question you should be asking is which Golden Claw is the real one? Who knows since this latest 8” Dunny from Huck is hiding its identity behind a mask, but the figure is pretty cool nonetheless. There seems to be more to this figure’s story than is currently being told, but I am sure more details will be released from Huck’s camp soon. Maybe the story will unfold in Huck’s upcoming new Gold Life prints? I guess only time will tell.


The custom hand painted Legendary Golden Claw 8 inch Dunny will be released as a 10 figure set on Huck Gee’s eBay Store on Friday, August 15th 2008 at Noon PDT. Each signed, numbered and gold embossed figure sells for $800 and will be limited to one figure per customer.

Kidrobot’s Dunny Series 5 Drops Next Month

The Blot was really starting to lose interest in Kidrobot 3 inch figures after the disappointing designs of their last few releases, and then Kidrobot dropped the news that Dunny Series 5 would be hitting shelves on September 4th. They have really compiled an all-star lineup of artists for Series 5, and from this latest photo of designs my interest in 3” figures has been fully restored. I know a lot of fans had been complaining that Kidrobot was not getting some of the biggest artists in the genre to work on their flagship 3" Dunny line, but I think Kidrobot has finally shut up their critics with this Series' stellar lineup.


Dunny Series 5 will include 19 all new designs and will have 600 randomly inserted Golden Tickets redeemable for a sure to be extremely valuable 3 inch Huck Gee Dunny. Artists taking part in Dunny Series 5 include Amanda Visell, Aya Kakeda, Clutter, Devilrobots, Dirty Donny, Frank Kozik, Huck Gee, JMGS//Jellymoon, Jesse LeDoux, JK5, Junko Mizuno, Kathie Olivas, MAD, Mad Barbarians, MISHKA, Reach, Sneaky Raccoon, Steven Harrington and TOOFLY.


I don’t know about you guys but I’ve been really digging Amanda Visell’s work, especially her Drunky McSkunky Pink Elephant, so I was uber excited to see she’d finally be designing a Dunny. You can see her contribution to the Series in the top picture. It’s the grey elephant on the right and looks great. I’m glad to see her unique style has translated really well to the Dunny platform. As always, Dunny Series 5 will be blind boxed and sell for $6.95 each.