The Monster Squad Screen Print by Tyler Stout

When The Blot was a little kid, The Monster Squad terrified me. Even back then I knew it wasn’t a horror movie, but there was just something about Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman that scared the heebie jeebies out of me. Thankfully, I got over that pretty quickly and ended up loving this 80’s classic. So much so, that I would often be heard quoting the movie’s most memorable line, “Wolfman don’t have nards!”


When Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse held a special screening of The Monster Squad with a Q&A with the movie’s director Fred Dekker held afterwards, Alamo commissioned artist Tyler Stout to design a screen print to commemorate the event. Stout’s print was so awesome, Dekker proclaimed it the best poster ever created for the 80’s classic.


Two versions of Tyler Stout’s The Monster Squad screen print were created, a red standard edition limited to 450 pieces and a blue variant edition limited to 100 pieces. Both versions are 24”x36”, printed with metallic inks and hand numbered. The blue variant edition is sold out, but the red standard edition is still available from Mondo Tees and retails for $40 each.

Under The Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Art Show

Gallery1988 LA is following up its hugely successful collaboration with ABC, the "Lost Underground Art Project," with a new art exhibit produced in conjunction with Mattel entitled “Under The Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.” For this show, Gallery1988 LA invited 100 different artists (including many from the Lost art show) to reinterpret the influential 80’s toy and cartoon property and I have to say, the results look sick!



MOTU is one of my favorite childhood toy lines, and Mattel is doing an excellent job reviving the property through its MattyCollector.com exclusive line of redesigned action figures. "Under The Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" includes work by Alex Pardee, Todd Slater, Scribe, Eric Tan, Tim Doyle, Dave Perillo, Camilla d’Errico and Dan Goodsell. All of the amazing artwork featured Gallery1988 as a part of “Under The Influence” can be seen here.




Best of all, a few of my favorite MOTU pieces are available for purchase as limited edition prints. Todd Slater’s Skeletor inspired signed and numbered screenprint “Alen Oppenheimer” is 19”x23”, has a run size of 150 and retails for $45. Jeff Boyes’ signed and numbered screenprint “Greyskull” is 18”x24”, has an edition size of 60 and retails for $60. And last but not least, Eric Tan’s Battle Cat inspired lithograph “Fearless Protector” has a signed and numbered run size of 123, is 14”x30” and retails for $70.



“Under The Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” will be showing at Gallery1988 LA from January 8-29th. If you live in the Los Angeles area this is an art exhibit you won’t want to miss!

Dead Bunny Vinyl Figure by Brandt Peters

Kidrobot is definitely on a roll! Following yesterday’s announcement of its new Kidrobot Black line, comes an awesome new figure by Brandt Peters. The new figure is entitled Dead Bunny, who is the soulless ringmaster of artist Brandt Peters’ twisted nightmare carnival. The Blot's a huge Grateful Dead, and for some reason this figure is really giving off a Deadhead vibe to me, especially the coloring and font of its packaging.


This is two solid releases by KR in a row, and is hopefully a sign of more positive changes to come now that the company has decided to rededicate itself to designer vinyl and is in the process of relocating to Boulder, Colorado. (link)


The Dead Bunny vinyl figure is 6.5 inches tall and limited to just 200 pieces. This cadaverous cottontail retails for $100 and will go on sale February 4, 2010.

Blackest Night Black Lantern Wonder Woman Action Figure by DC Direct

Thanks to ExperiencetheWonder.com, The Blot is proud to present a photo of the soon to be released Black Lantern Wonder Woman action figure. While The Blot has loved all of the Blackest Night action figures produced by DC Direct, I cannot figure out for the life of me why they made a Black Lantern Wonder Woman figure. She was literally a Black Lantern for less than one full issue!


The only thing I can think of is they wanted a “Big Gun” for Wave 4 (having already produced Black Lantern Superman and Batman figures). But I would have much rather seen a Star Sapphire Wonder Woman figure (see below) than this design. Especially when you consider Wonder Woman mighty actually be a Star Sapphire for multiple issues as opposed to her brief stint as a Black Lantern. Regardless, I do have to commend DC Direct for keeping this figure under wraps until the release of Blackest Night #6. No one can blame them for spoiling one of the major turning points in DC Comic's Blackest Night mini-series.


The Black Lantern Wonder Woman action figure will be released as a part of Blackest Night Wave 4, which goes on sale April 14, 2010.

Barneyism of the Week - Suits the Musical

If you’re following The Blot on Twitter, then you know last night’s episode of How I Met Your Mother, “Girls Versus Suits,” was the show’s 100th episode! That’s quite a milestone for a show almost canceled a time or two early in its existence. This was a hotly anticipated episode by HIMYM fans because it featured Neil Patrick Harris in the show’s first ever musical number, “Suits the Musical.”



The scene was truly legen…wait for it and I really hope you’re not lactose intolerant because the rest of the word is…dary, and my quoting of the song would never do it justice. So, for the first time ever here on The Blot Says…, I will not be transcribing the Barney-ism of the Week. Instead, I have embedded the song in its entirety above for your enjoyment. Please take a moment and soak up all 3 minutes and 39 seconds of its greatness and let me know what you think of NPH’s performance!

- Barney Stinson

“Girls Versus Suits”

How I Met Your Mother

Kidrobot Black - Midnight Magi by Gary Baseman

Yesterday, Kidrobot announced a new line of vinyl figures under the new imprint “Kidrobot Black.” Kidrobot Black toys are created especially for Kidrobot's most devoted fans and collectors and each toy is produced as a super-limited run. This unexpected announcement threw The Blot for a loop, but in a totally good way! Honestly, after all the bad PR Kidrobot has been getting from collectors for the past year this is exactly the type of project KR needs to be doing for its core fan base. I for one am really excited to see what comes from it.


Designed by acclaimed artist Gary Baseman, the Midnight Magi is an elegant 8 inch matte black vinyl figure featuring white and pink accents that highlight the linework indicative of Baseman’s style. A leader of Los Angeles’ underground art movement, Baseman is a fine artist, painter, toy designer, and TV & movie producer whose work often blends toy culture and fine art. The Midnight Magi, the first Kidrobot Black release, drops today, Tuesday, January 12, at 12pm EST at black.kidrobot.com. The 8” figure is limited to just 200 pieces and will retail for $100 each.


Kidrobot Black was created by Kidrobot founder Paul Budnitz out of his love for vinyl toys. The line is inspired by the aesthetic of the late nineties urban vinyl toy movement, with an emphasis on texture and simplicity of form and color. Part of the goal of Kidrobot Black is to revisit this aesthetic and modernize it with cutting edge designs by Kidrobot’s top toy designers.

KR has invited some of its favorite artists to participate, and asked them to use BLACK as a theme and to concentrate on simple, elegant form rather than on elaborate paints. Artists were urged to take risks they might not otherwise take. Future releases will arrive from time to time on the Kidrobot Black home page, black.kidrobot.com.

Threadless - Pop Culture Villains T-Shirt “Shoot the Baddies” by Olly Moss

Olly Moss, the same artist who created the amazing Lost ARG screen print “Locke’s Secret,” recently had a t-shirt he created for Threadless reprinted. Mr. Moss’ star is definitely on the rise, and I’ve got a feeling Lost fans from around the globe will want to pick up this awesome pop culture inspired tee! Olly’s “Shoot the Baddies” features some of the vilest villains in all of pop culture and some of my favorites, including Darth Vader, a Terminator robot, Freddy Kruger, Megatron, Godzilla and a Goomba.

“Shoot the Baddies” by Olly Moss

Moss also threw in a James Bond villain, an alien from the video game Space Invaders and a zombie. The Blot wants to know, what bad guy would you have included if you had designed the shirt?

You can purchase the villains themed t-shirt “Shoot the Baddies” at Threadless.com for $18. The shirt comes in both guys and girls styles, sizes S-3XL.

Johnny Cupcakes x Looney Tunes Pepe’ Le Pew Valentine’s Day T-Shirt

Dropping soon (or at least sometime before Valentine’s Day a.k.a. February 14th) is an all new line of limited edition Johnny Cupcakes x Looney Tunes Valentine’s Day themed t-shirts. While we don’t know how many different designs will be released or which Looney Tunes characters will be included in the set, we do know there will be one featuring everyone’s favorite romantic skunk Pepe’ Le Pew!


On Sunday, JC posted the speak preview above of the upcoming Pepe’ Le Pew Johnny Cupcakes x Looney Tunes Valentine’s Day t-shirt and it looks pretty cool. (link) The Blot can’t wait to see what’s coming up next, and I’ll be sure to make a follow up post as soon as more details are released.

If you still haven’t purchased one of the original limited edition Johnny Cupcakes x Looney Tunes t-shirts released last September, they are currently on sale for $29.99 (regularly $40) at the Johnny Cupcakes online store.

TwoBit by David Flores Sneak Peek

The Blot has been anxiously awaiting a photo of David Flores previously announced but unseen until now new vinyl figure TwoBit (produced by BIC Plastics). Thankfully, the wait is now over since Mr. Flores was gracious enough to post a little teaser image of his latest creation on his blog this past weekend.


The Blot’s not sure if this is technically a pink or purple colorway of TwoBit, but if I know David Flores this will probably not be the only colorway produced. No word has been released yet as to the height, price or run size of the figure, but as soon as BIC Plastics releases more information I’ll be sure to post an update.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan Television Movie Premieres on Syfy This Sunday, Jan 10th

Please excuse the following rant, but did anyone else NOT know that the made for television movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan was set to premiere this Sunday, January 9th, on Syfy!?! I know this “movie” was released on DVD months ago, but The Blot, like most BSG fans, chose to wait to watch it until the 2 hour special debuted on TV. Now that the series is over, The Blot isn’t really following Battlestar Galactica news or watching Syfy, but shouldn’t more fans have known The Plan was going to air THIS Sunday!? Seems like poor marketing by Syfy, doesn’t it?


Not only is it bad marketing, but it also seems like horrible scheduling to The Blot. The channel formerly known as Sci-Fi could have aired this BSG special anytime in the last three weeks without any competition while most shows were on hiatus, but they chose to air it the same night as the season premieres of Chuck and Big Love (not to mention new episodes from Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters). I know most of you are thinking so what, the show’s already ended and has a totally different audience than most of the aforementioned shows. But in reality this movie should be acting as a springboard to Syfy’s new show, Caprica.


Now I have to figure what show I’m actually going to watch live on Sunday, Chuck, Big Love or The Plan. Thankfully, the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan has made my decision a little easier by describing The Plan as feeling “like a two-hour ‘previously on Battlestar Galactica.’” (link) Ryan is as big of a BSG fan as they come, and if she’s underwhelmed by The Plan then I’ve got a feeling I will be too. It’s really too bad, because I had high hopes for a BSG project written by Jane Espenson and directed by Edward James Olmos (who also plays Admiral William Adama in the movie).

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan’s world television premiere is scheduled for Sunday, January 10, 2010 at 9/8c on Syfy.