My heart broke a little this week when it was clear there wouldn’t be a ToyCon UK 2021. It is totally understandable with everything that’s still going on in our world, but after so many happy years meeting artists and other collectors at ToyCon UK I was definitely sad to hear my favourite designer toy event wouldn’t take place. Since a year ago I was preparing to go to London, I wanted to throw it back to better times this Thursday and show off more great artists and toy companies as a small reminder there’s still a lot to look forward to.
Unbox Industries for example had a truly wonderful booth with a huge variety of toys. From adorable Elfies to several of Paul Kaiju’s Boss Charged figures, a one eyed Raabiit and Kidrobot’s Dweezil the Dragon (which I didn’t realise was so big haha). There really was something for everyone, including DIY figures if you wanted to give customising toys a try yourself. I think the Burger Elfie and TriDino were my favourites, but there were a lot of cute toys to be found here!
Something that I love about ToyCon UK is that although the event is relatively small compared to its international counterparts, the artists and toy stores at ToyCon UK come from all over the world. ZazaToyBox pretty much risked life and limb to visit last year without knowing it at the time, but they sure had a wonderful booth to show for it. Some of my favourite pieces were Zipitz from Designer JT. I especially liked the little guy with the rose and custom Diamanté version. So many sparkles! As it’s always a pleasure talking to these guys I sure hope we can see each other again in 2022.
Jaykblue also isn’t unknown to ToyCon UK and had a mini art show going on with customs from artists like Horrible Adorables and Hippotol. I think I loved the cute ladybug with the huge blue eyes the most, but the Lunartik custom guarding a jar of lucky stars was cute too. And I mean, can’t we all use a bit of luck at the moment?
Another artist whose work I really like is Thorns and Horns. Those mushrooms are just too sweet! While all of them were adorable, I definitely loved the little pumpkin guy chilling in his mossball. I mean, how cute can it get?! There were loads of different painted and unpainted Seplitas and all of them were gorgeous. I really like nature themed toys so I’m definitely hoping to see Thorns and Horns again next year!
Heartwood Realm also has amazing nature themed creatures. From creepy yet very cute pumpkin spiders to a lovely snail with a pretty golden shell and Baby Bites that just beg to be adopted. Whenever I see creatures like this my mind wanders off to the places they might live. What a wonderful place that must be!
Then there also was 1000toys who brought a lot of cool robots and action figures to ToyCon UK. I thought the Classic Classicbot was especially adorable, but the more humanlike figures were pretty cool too! Posable designer toys like this are amazing for photoshoots and who doesn’t like an interactive toy? Although I’m always a bit hesitant to get my collection out in the open as I’m afraid of damaging something, it sure is fun. As I’ve worked with humanoid robots, maybe I should just start a little robot collection… I’m sure my cabinets would be grateful to have another cabinet friend joining the party hahaha.
The booth of GFS with Teresa Chiba and Kaori Hinata definitely tempted me into getting another toy cabinet as well. All of their characters are a combination of cute and beautiful. I love it! There were a lot of pretty Inu-Harigon and Morris figures in various sizes and they were hard to resist. If only I had that Disney castle…
With that being said, I think I may have made it in time for a Throwback Thursday in the Dutch timezone by a minute so I better hurry up and prepare Flashback Friday O:).
Check out my other ToyCon UK blogs here: I, II, III and IV.
