by Marshall Watson
What’s the first thing that springs into mind when you hear the term Kidrobot? To some of you it may be unknown, to others it’s much more familiar. Let's take a look down the Dunny burrow and discover the magical world that is Kidrobot!
Originally produced by designer (and "serial entrepeneur") Paul Budnitz the Kidrobot brand was birthed as a company in a Californian garage in 2002. Budnitz sunk funds acquired from selling a previous business venture known as Minidisco to kickstart Kidrobot which now produces around sixty new toy projects each year that are sold in thousands of stores worldwide.
Early on in the production of Kidrobot Budnitz called upon the talent of his friend Tristan Eaton, an illustrator he had previously worked with while doing animated films. Together they created two of their bestselling characters, the Dunny and the Munny which have become well known symbols of the brand.
Early Dunny and Munny figures were painted by various contemporary artists and are now displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (and other museums) as part of their permanent collection. The inspiration to create Kidrobot originally sprouted after discovering images of cutting edge vinyl toys coming out of China and Japan. These vinyl toys were based on cereal box characters and mash-ups of GI-Joe that became stylized B-Boys. Paul recognized the quirky and intricate toys as works similar to those elsewhere in pop culture, mixed many aspects of fashion, cartoons, graffiti, comics, music, and fine art.
Focusing his main attention towards artistically creating toys like the ones imported from Japan, Hong Kong and Europe, he also co-designed most of Kidrobot’s acclaimed clothing line in 2006, with the limited edition selling in most high end department stores worldwide ranging from $175 to $3000 a piece.
The many variations, editions and releases of several figures include different designs and customs, rare exclusive releases, collaboration pieces and even one-off classic pieces that can vary in size from 3 inch up to 4 foot or larger. Prices vary up to $5K. These are big boys' (and girls') toys!
Kidrobot also make a series which is well-known called Mascot. These are generally varying stylized figures of the robot logo, often known as KR followed by a number in its name, also related to the edition of the release. For example the 15th version of the Robot mascot produced would be known as KR15 and so on. The Limited Edition collections vary from, custom "do-it-yourself" Dunnys and Labbits to Futurama, South Park, Simpsons and other well-known characters in different styles. The brand keeps evolving and coming up with great new designs, custom painted figures and different themes for all their various series'.
In the coming months I’ll be looking at key features of Kidrobot to offer my perspective on figure quality, feel, look/style and lots of other important points the collecting community may be interested in. Drop us a line if there is something particular you want us to look into.
That's just a brief introduction into the history of Kidrobot. There’s always a lot more to learn and if this has sparked a new interest this will be the place to check regularly for updates and news on such products. Over the next few reviews and reports we will be looking more closely into the ever growing and changing ranges available from Kidrobot collections including past and present releases along with the old chases and exclusive favorites to keep an eye out for plus future releases to look forward to.
Next Time: Join me for a closer look into the creative world, and many faces, of the Dunny world. Stay safe + be happy!