Evil Ape Fink’s Big Adventure Vinyl Figure by MCA x UVD Toys

This Tuesday, UVD Toys will be releasing the newest colorway of MCA’s new Evil Ape Fink vinyl figure! Check out Evil Ape Fink’s Big Adventure, which celebrates the 30th anniversary of the t-shirt release that started it all for MCA. In 1991, a store called TAANG Records in Harvard Square took a chance on a new shirt by young artist MCA. The graphic was inspired by a recent event with Paul Rubenfeld (aka Pee-wee Herman) and commented on how he was being portrayed in the media at the time. MCA branded it Evil Design and the rest is history! 

Inspired by Pee-wee Herman and his classic 1985 film, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, the Evil Ape Big Adventure Edition vinyl figure stands 4” tall, features 4 points of articulation, and is limited to 50 pieces.  It will go on sale at 12pm ET on Tuesday, January 26th, at UVDtoys.com for $60.

Influential Figures Solo Art Show by Lou Pimentel at Gallery1988

This Friday, January 8th, Lou Pimentel’s new solo art show, Influential Figures, opens at Gallery1988 in Los Angeles.  For this exciting new show, Lou has created 37 original watercolor paintings inspired by vintage action figures and pop culture icons.  Each watercolor painting ranges in size from 6”x9” to 11”x14” and is then mounted onto a laser cut backer board with a silk-screened wood back. The corresponding classic vintage-style action figure is then mounted onto the art with a blister to make the final pieces.

Originally dubbed Vintage Gold, the Influential Figures art show, curated by DKE Toys, is a continuation of the series that premiered at New York Comic Con in 2018 with the first 20 pieces (seen here) and followed by another 20 pieces for NYCC 2019 (seen here).  The complete show will be available for viewing and sale at gallery1988.com starting at 12pm PST on Friday, January 8th. Following the virtual launch, at 1:30pm PST Gallery1988 is hosting an Instagram livestream virtual gallery tour with artist Lou Pimentel and Jensen Karp at Instagram.com/Galleries1988.

“For the Vintage Gold series I traveled back in time to my childhood. I remember the feeling of walking down the toy aisle and seeing all the fun, bright packages that contained the figures I so desperately wanted. I wanted to channel that energy, and excitement into my paintings. I wanted the inner child in all of us to say I WANT THAT!!” – Lou Pimentel

Pee-Wee Custom Vinyl Figure by kaNO

Good things really do come to those who wait! It’s amazing to think The Blot first saw kaNO’s epic Pee-Wee custom vinyl figure at Designer Con 2012, and now they’re finally available for purchase. Inspired by Pee-Wee Herman, these custom figures are hand painted mash-ups featuring a 5” Mad*l’s body with a Kidrobot Mascot’s head. It’s the perfect dedication to one of kaNO’s favorite movies.

The Pee-Wee custom figure stands at 5.5" tall, comes signed and numbered by kaNO, and is limited to 20 pieces. Pick one up today from kaNO’s online store for $300 each.

“Get Out Of Bed” Pee-wee’s Playhouse Screen Print by Tim Doyle

Tonight, Spoke Art is welcoming back Austin artist Tim Doyle for his third solo exhibition with the gallery, and the latest installment in his ongoing “UnReal Estate” series. Inspired by the popular culture landscape, quite literally, Doyle re-interprets the iconic settings found in contemporary cult television. The Blot was blown away by Doyle’s first two “UnReal Estate” shows, and I’m super excited about his new crop of screen prints. We’re featuring a different print each day this week in honor of UnReal Estate III at Spoke Art in San Francisco.

The third UnReal Estate III print we’re spotlighting here on TheBlotSays.com is “Get Out Of Bed”, featuring Pee-wee’s playhouse from…Pee-wee’s Playhouse! The Blot freaking loved this show as a kid. I literally watched it every afternoon after school. Mecca lecca hi, mecca hiney ho! The Standard Edition 16"x20" screen print has a limited edition run size of 125 pieces, while the Glow in the Dark Variant is limited to just 35 pieces.

All of the limited edition screen prints from the show will first be available to attendees of the February 6th opening reception, with all remaining copies available online at the Spoke Art online store starting Friday, February 7th. The first 100 attendees to the opening reception will receive a limited edition silkscreen print, only available at the show, and included with online purchases of the full set of 11 regular edition prints. This exhibition will be on view until February 22nd.

Big Top Pee-wee Screen Print by DKNG

Later today Mondo will finally be releasing the long delayed Big Top Pee-wee screen print by DKNG! It was originally designed for a special screening of Big Top Pee-wee in LA that was unfortunately canceled, but thankfully the print is still being produced and seeing a wide release. The Blot really loves all of the imagery and colors of this print and I’ve got a feeling many of you will too!

Big Top Pee-wee by DKNG is a 24”x36” hand numbered screen print, with a limited edition run size of 150 pieces. It goes on sale via the Mondo online store today, Thursday, November 29th, at a random time for $40 each.

Threadless - "It Would Have Been Cooler As A Van" Pop Culture Themed T-Shirt

While I don’t usually blog during the day, when I went to check out Threadless’ Hallow-Tees $10 sale I knew I’d have to write about this shirt. To be honest, I totally skipped over the “It Would Have Been Cooler as a Van” t-shirt at first glance. Thankfully, I went back to take a second look and was totally floored by what I saw. Basically, “It Would Have Been Cooler as a Van” re-imagines some of pop culture’s most well known vehicles as vans! This has got to be one of the coolest Threadless tees ever!

It Would Have Been Cooler as a Van by Brandon Ortwein

Like most pop art, the design isn’t overly complex. It’s just a fun idea that anyone could have come up with but didn’t! I’ve gotta give some serious props to artist Brandon Ortwein for following through on this one. The shirt features 21 pop icons from television and movies; some are animated while others have been in comic books and on the silver screen. Can you identify them all!?!

I’ve been able to identify a good chunk of these, but even The Blot can’t get them all. The top two rows are pretty obvious; you’ve got Back to the Future’s time traveling DeLorean, The Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1, the Dukes of Hazzard’s General Lee, Optimus Prime from Transformers, The Griswolds’ family station wagon from Vacation, and Speed Racer’s Mach 5. There are also shout-outs to Thomas the Tank Engine, The Blues Brothers, Grease, Maximum Overdrive and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure included on this shirt. If you there are any you aren’t sure of, head here to see the shirt’s key.

The “It Would Have Been Cooler as a Van” t-shirt is currently on sale for $10 (regular price $18) on Threadless.com and comes in both guys and girls style tees.

Johnny Cupcakes x Pee-wee’s Big Adventure T-Shirt

I know The Blot Says… has been very t-shirt centric the past two days, but I couldn’t ignore the newest Johnny Cupcakes movie themed tee released just yesterday. Last Saturday, August 22nd, JC hosted another one of his extremely popular midnight movie screenings at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA, this time showing the 1985 classic Pee-wee’s Big Adventure starring Paul Reubens and directed by Tim Burton. Did you know Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure was the first full length movie Burton ever directed?


According to the Johnny Cupcakes blog, Pee-Wee Herman was one of JC’s biggest role models growing up and helped turn him into the weird, jokester he is today. Johnny even credits Mr. Reubens for much of his success. I have to say, this Pee-wee’s Big Adventure tribute shirt is killer. I love the t-shirt’s huge font and futuristic retro look. Plus, who wouldn’t want to sport a shirt featuring Pee-wee Herman’s famed stolen red bike. When I was a kid I wanted the red bicycle from Pee-wee’s Big Adventure so badly! I didn’t even care that it had the red streamers coming off its handles. I think this is one JC t-shirt I might have to order.


The Johnny Cupcakes Big Adventure t-shirt sells for $35.00 and comes in both guys and girls styled tees. You can purchas this Pee-wee’s Big Adventure tribute t-shirt directly from the Johnny Cupcakes online store here.