UGLY GUIDE NEWS

Like you want to read about the books
AGAIN, but this is easier than getting back
to everyone's emails one by one.
It is true, Amazon seems to be sold out
of the first Ugly Guide. The good news
is Giant Robot (click here to see)
and your local neighborhood shops
should still have plenty.
They've gone back to press so
Amazon order fulfillment will resume in
early June. Don't forget to submit
a review so you can warn off others!


If you enjoyed the Ugly Guides,
or even if you didn't, our
Ugly Calendar picks up
where the guides left off.
Now you can count down to
2012 with the rest of us.
Available July 30th.

G6 with soul

The G6! Carrygator has arrived from Japan.
The 6th vehicle in the DX Go-Onger
robo toy line. This guy is an orange
carrier truck. But not for long. He can
either become his own robo if you
combine him with cars #4 and #5,
or he can be the feet and head of
the mighty G6.


Or both.


He comes with the orange soul chip
but if you know someone, you can
get the clear limited G6 soul chip.
Super Ben has them right here.


You can see the batteries and innards.


The G6 is rad. I was a big fan of the Super Daibouken.
This kinda feels like that with even larger feet.


The G6 head. Like Robo Cop with
a pipe organ sticking out of his
head.


This is me reading to twenty very small children.
Sun-Min says it looks like Trump saying
"You're fired!" Maybe its the hair.

FAO VEGAS

The Uglydoll store at the FAO in
Las Vegas is now open!
Hard to tell but this one is much
larger than the NYC location.
And you can walk through it
like a big ugly cave.
Can you see the giant
Chuckanucka? He worries a lot.
I think he wonders if he left
the VCR on before going out.

SWEATIN LIKE AN EAGLE

Thanks for stopping by the
Borders booth in the hot
sun. Someone fainted!
Yes, that's a Go-Onger shirt.
So to all those kids who
worry about what others think,
I say don't think twice about
wearing something other
than what you like, just to
make others happy.
Unless you want to wear
a fur coat in this heat.
Now that's crazy.


J.Otto Target logo!


We received some awesome
gifts at the signing.
One of a kind Bossy Bear wallet!


And historical figure museum guys!

TerebiKun

That's the name of the magazine.
I've been buying this monthly for
almost 20 years and never knew the
name. Time for lessons.
This is a monthly magazine which
serves as a huge advertising campaign
for Ultraman, Sentai and Kamen Rider TV
shows and the related toys.
They have blacked out
"secret" sneak peaks at what's coming
soon. If you look hard you can
kinda make out the minor details.


Just got back from a great dinner with
Mr.Nakamura. I forgot to take photos.
I was bad with the photos today.
I tried to explain the Jedi Samurai
I found and his impossible
light saber holster. So if any
Star Wars trivia masters could
help out...how can he keep his
sword ignited while sheathed?!
Yep, Saturday night.
Hope to see you all
Sunday, 12 noon at the
Borders booth.


Super Ben came through
once again. I stole his
image here and even
made it green somehow
accidentally.
These are soul chips.
Every Go-Onger robot needs
a soul chip to come to life.
Ok but the one on the right is
a super hard to find see-thru
soul chip. They made 100?
Thousands of kids
in Japan are chasing after
this as we speak.
I gots minez.

FIRST PAGE

It was WARM in Orange County today.
No good pics yet but the signing at
First Page went very well with tons
of interesting questions from dozens
of kids of all ages. No real story to
read this time so I just kinda started
to fill everyone in on where this all
came from and where it's going.
Despite my reassurances that
nothing was going mass, there
were mostly cries for a movie.
Tomorrow is the LA Times
book fair. I'm at the Borders
booth at noon.


Speaking of mass, woah I found
elderly Indiana Jones out at the
OC Target. Hat on the side.


There's a great mini
Little Tokyo off Bristol
just South of the 405 exit.
Found more Shogakukan
kids TV magazines with
all the toy propaganda.
Ad for DX G6!


There's always more on the way, by land, sea, or air.

STORY TIME 2008

Story time! But the Ugly Guides aren't really stories,
so I'll have to make it up as I go.
First event is this coming Saturday at
the FIRST PAGE book store in
Newport Beach. Here's the info:
"Event Date: April 26th, 2008
Event Time: 10:30am - TBA
Location: The First Page Newport Beach
Contact: Kim or Kelly, (949) 644-5437,
kim@thefirstpage.net
http://www.thefirstpage.net
Then on Sunday we're at the LA TIMES
Festival of Books:
April 27 at 12:00 p.m.
The Borders stage will be located at booth #301,
on the west end of Dickson Plaza near Royce Hall at UCLA.


Hard cover!
These are the "Library binding" versions.
While the regular versions are soft cover and
sell for $5.99, these are only available on
Amazon and at uglydollbooks.com
(but not for long, as I understand it).
These are missing the fun facts and art
on the inside foldy covers. But the
cover is very stiff and durable.
Oh and the back cover art is actually
the inside flap art from the original
versions. So you miss the inside cover
art and the original back cover art,
but you get a neato alternate version.
Some completist trivia.


Our pal Gary introduced me to a great place for breakfast
this morning. Bloom Cafe on Pico. Pretty good.
I first met Gary when I was 15 or so.
He looks the same! I don't.
I bet it's dark magic.


They had really fatty breakfast quesadillas.
Really good. We don't have those in Korea.


With Gary comes beautiful books and toys.
This toy is called Hot Cha Cha Cha.


He put some well wishes on there.


Can't tell from this photo but this intersection of Venice and
La Cienega had 10 HUGE Indiana Jones billboards
coming at you the in all directions. Amazing set up.
Makes me feel like a kid again. Back then, seems like
seeing movie billboards was really exciting.


More of the Indiana Jones guys.
No Toht this time!


The best thing...one of them came with NURHACHI!
That's bad ass! He's a really small guy.


No Star Wars figures in Korea so I grabbed this guy
when I saw him. I don't remember him though.
All I remember is fans being sad.


Japanese book store on Sawtelle had a board
book with nothing but the new Go-Onger and
Kamen Rider Kiva toys. So basically you pay for
a toy catalog. I don't have this one, or this one,
or this one!


Once I get back, I can finally add the big
orange feet on this guy to form
Super Dumpy Robo 2000.


Found these at the Super Market today.


Ah! No chain on the head this year!
So I can't wear all 6 of them on my phone
like a total immature strangeo.


Maybe I should wear this on my wrist
when I go to the movies this weekend,
and when the sign says "turn off your
wireless devices" I can pull the noisy
shift gear which then activates the
super action sound.
That way I can eat the popcorn
people throw at me.

I HATE SNAKES

UglyDollBooks.com is now up!
It's the Random House site for our books,
and you can copy/paste the code for these
neato banners like the one on the side
and at the bottom of this blog.
Thanks for the mountain of very kind
emails about our book and it's contents.
We'll do our best to make each one better.
Or ugly-er. Something.


I LOVE these Indiana Jones toys!
I found them in Pomona.
I guess they have a May 1st street date.
Why do I love them? Because they nailed
that GIANT gun holster!
Everyone remembers the Indiana Jones
character for his giant holster, and
these guys got it right! Booyeah.
Not sure why he comes with a
brown string though. What is that?
Did you know he's a replicant?

NOT THAT KID FROM RESEDA

Remember when the Karate Kid picks
up that girl at her house with mom waiting
down by the car and he breaks the brick
on her porch? That was here.


Traveled from the Valley to the Ocean
with Super Ben, hitting every Borders
and B&N in the city. Had to make sure
the Ugly Guides were facing out.
Uh and placed right up in front.
Amazon has them HERE and we
sell them on uglydolls.com's web
store, but I say support your local
mom and pop book shop!


Why does the floor move?
Because all I can find is Sallah!
Time to go into the back room.


BBQ at Farmers Market.
The B&N there now features
the Ugly Guides right up in front.
I didn't switch them with Hanna Montana
books, I swear.

UGLY GUIDES ARE HERE

The first 2 Ugly Guides to the Uglyverse are in stores as of April 22nd.
Know all there is to know about the Uglydolls and the Uglyverse.
At least all there is to know until guides #3 and #4 come out.
We just finished those.
Now available at your local book shop or anywhere
you can find Uglydolls.
We hope you enjoy reading them as much as we
enjoyed making them.
The deadlines were the best part! Woo hoo!


DEHARAVATH UPDATE:
Last night while eating giant steaks very late at night,
Dehara told me that he will send the remaining
Menta Ice-Bats to Giant Robot while the show is still up.
There were 50 total and about 20 are already sold at the opening.
I know we get 2 of them. I am sure he will keep a few.
So that leaves roughly 10 white eyes and 10 blue eyes?
More on that soon. Big steaks late at night are
bad news on the tummy by the way.
You may already know.


The side of the box shows which
version is in the box.
White eyes or blue.

WHATCHYOU TALKING ABOUT WILLIS

Tonight was great. I hope everyone had a great time.
I think that was some of Dehara's very best work so far.
The Piranha swimming around in the Zombie Kid's head
was my personal favorite. I somehow missed the
raffle for the 5 plush dolls. When did that happen!
It must of been when I finally broke away to find
the restroom. Dang!


Satoshi looks a lot like my stepfather.
I also love themes addressing salarymen or
the everyman hard working stressed out
office culture, so this was a must have.


After it was all done, someone approached me
to tell me how much they did not like my work
at the show and was unable to tell what
I was "trying to say". Which is GREAT.
Criticism leads to exciting conversation
in general, I think.
It's very rare because I think most people
feel it may be rude to say something
critical at shows, or they are too shy, etc.
Uh but then I realized the poor dude was
very drunk and it was really hard for me
to follow him. It ended with some sort of insult
about how I should at least look like I care about
being there. I tried to tell him that's just
how I always look and that
my jet lag was covering up my
kid at Christmas face.


So what am I trying to say?
Kids left alone to watch TV, nasty Internet, and
play video games with no parental guidance while on
ADD meds, turning into zombies? No no.
Mostly I want to say thank you.


Thanks x 1000000 to every single
one of you, and a big thank you to
the nice people who waited all day.
New faces and old friends.
I read on Skullbrain that
someone had traveled a great
distance and had a fantastic time.
People enjoying themselves is
what it's all about for me.
May be hard to tell, as apparently
I don't look like I care, but seeing
those familar faces keeps Sun-Min
and I going and your being there
means a lot to us. Many of you got us
through scary book readings
with some pretty harsh 8 year olds.
So, thanks.


Huge thank you to Giant Robot for
putting us on the same wall as
one of our heroes.


Thank you to Dehara for letting us
share the space together.
I'm up drawing all night now.
You know when you were a little
kid and had to race home to draw
after seeing Star Wars for the first time?
It's like that.

MENTA ICE BAT KAIJU

Here's the two different kinds.
Blue eyes or white eyes.
Each one hand painted with
a hand painted box. There's a special
sticker on the box too.
And Satoshi will be there!

DEHARA & US

Saturday night 6:30 PM the
doors open at GR2.
There's way less than
50 Dehara Ice-bat Kaijus.
I think there's 20 but there
may only be 10 at the show and
the other 10 will stay with his personal
collection in Japan.
Anyway Sun-Min and I had a lot
of fun preparing for this one, and
we hope you'll stop by.
Looks like there's room for our
drawings after all, too.
Please come see Dehara's works!
They are his BEST yet! Amazing.

CLEAR GREEN WAGE KAIJU IS UP!

UGLYDOLLS.COM EXCLUSIVE
Click here to go to web store.
Uglydoll Kaiju: Wage exclusive version #1 Clear Green
Kaiju Wage is made in Japan from super hi-
grade materials found nowhere else in the world.
Edition of 100 PCS.
Produced by Intheyellow.
Collectible art piece:
This item is not a toy.
Ages 15 and up.
ADDED:
Solid Orange Wage is late May/eary June and Solid green Wage comes in time for SDCC.
(We'll place most on the site and bring a couple to the show.)

GIANT ROBOT SATURDAY

Yukinori Dehara, David Horvath, and Sun-Min Kim at GR2
April 19 - May 14
Reception: Saturday, April 19, 6:30 - 10:00
GR2
2062 Sawtelle Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025
gr2.net
(310) 445-9276
Giant Robot is proud to host Deharavath, a group art show featuring the work of
Yukinori Dehara, David Horvath, and Sun-Min Kim.

Dehara's hand-painted clay depictions of debauched salarymen, brutalized gangsters, happy monsters, and other unique figures stand about 5-inches tall. Although the pieces are detailed and glossy, the subtle and intentional flaws of the Japanese artist's self-described "crummy" style project more humanity than horror, and are oddly sympathetic. His work has garnered a cult of collectors around the world, and is celebrated in books, stickers, and other merchandise. For this show, his subject will be "zombie children."

David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim are best known for creating of UglyDolls, the indie plush dolls that have gained a rabid worldwide following and sparked a movement of cool handmade toys. For this show, the duo is making one-of-a-kind framed prints, drawings, paintings, and handmade plush surprises. Horvath and Kim promise that everything will be all new, including a special Ice Bat kaiju figure made in conjunction with Dehara.

Note from David to parents of small children:
Dehara is our #1 favorite artist in the world.
He's a genius.
His specialty is dead zombies and dying/drunk yakuza guys
with turquoise open wounds, neon guts flying around,
and multi colored private parts showing!
Just FYI if you're going to bring the kids...

PINK ICE-BAT KAIJU ONLINE

The pink Ice-Bat Kaiju Kinkirobot Korea exclusive is up for sale
online at KINKIROBOT.COM
The above link will take you directly to the
English page. They do ship to the USA
and accept Paypal. This was an edition of 5o pcs.
Huge thanks to Stephane
and everyone at the Shinsa store for
a great event!
http://www.kinkirobot.com/shop/shopdetail.html?brandcode=001000000086
Click above for instructions in English.
UPDATE:
How to order
We welcome international orders.
Please DO NOT put any item in the cart. Instead, write us an email
at help@kinkirobot.com. Just indicate the items you want and the quantity.
Also, give us your FULL name and address, so that we may calculate
your shipping fees.

How to pay
We will then send you an invoice via Paypal.
You can still decide not to buy at that stage if you think the overall
cost is too high.
However, we cannot reserve your items while you are pondering whether
to buy or not to buy :)
Typically, shipping to the USA costs about 20 USD.

Shipping
Items are shipped with FedEx International Priority.
We use oversized boxes to protect your items.
We get a 40% discount from FedEx that we pass on to you, so we think
this is the best shipping method.
Allow 3 to 4 working days for delivery after your payment is confirmed.

Questions / Problems ?
Please contact Stephane: stephane@kinkirobot.com

GO GO GO

Ugly Guide #2: Things that go, and things that
should go...but don't.
The first and second Ugly Guides are on their
way to stores now for an April 22nd release.
While guide #1 is a kinda general intro, the guides
get more specific starting with #2, which is
sort of a guide to the many vehicles of the
Uglyverse. Guide #3, The guide to being alive
and staying that way, is sort of a guide to life.
#4? Making that one now.
We were SHOCKED to learn that Guides #1 and 2
are already going back to press due to pre-orders.

IT'S CLEAR TO ME NOW

Clear green Wage Kaiju is one of 3
Uglydolls.com exclusives. We just
received ours today here in Korea
which means the Uglydoll office
in the USA should have them up
for sale online by the end of the week.
Clear Orange is on it's way to your local
Kaiju shop as we speak.

WAGE KAIJU IN STOCK

Wage Kaiju in stock now at Intheyellow!
Huge thanks to the nice people at
Intheyellow for making our Kaiju
dreams come true. Here's the first
version of Wage in clear orange.
Edition of 200 pcs.
INTHEYELLOW
Click link above to see.

KINKIROBOT SIGNING

Woah! Well a HUGE thanks to Stephane
and the Kinkirobot staff. Some of the
nicest people we've met here in Seoul.
Quite a turnout and some great interviews
for Elle and Marie Claire magazine.
The Choco and Minty giveaway
raffle was fun, and it was nice to
meet the many nice people who
actually collect toys in Korea!
Even ours.


The remaining pink Ice-Bat Kaijus
go on sale Tuesday afternoon Korea time
on kinkirobot.com














It was a real pleasure. We were not sure who would show.
It was a real treat to meet so many different people
from many different walks of life out here.
Thanks very much for coming.


Pete Fowler. Now THESE are incredible.
Remember Monsterism Vol 1 and 2?
For me, in my own opinion, that was THE time of the designer toy.
Before there was such a label.
Medicom, Sony Capsule, Critterbox, Cube Works, Fowler, Lau, Jarvis, So, Greenblat, Devilrobots, Dehara, Mori Chack...
they were the pioneers, and there was no scene. It was just GOOD.
There's a lot of good now, but those were the days.
Before the dark times...before the EMPIRE.
If you ask me.
Still, a good day to be alive in the land of Ugly, and it is
an honor to see this many nice people show up today, 6
years since the masterpieces created by the genius I mentioned above.

KINKIROBOT TODAY

Today is pink Ice-Bat Kaiju day.
If you're in Seoul, stop by Kinkirobot Shinsa location
today. We'll be signing for the people who collect
toys here in Korea. All of them! I'll take lots of photos.
Big thanks to Stephane and his lovely team
ahead of time for everything.
4PM to 5PM
Pink Ice-Bat Kaiju will go up online soon after the event.
Here's the link!

IT'S EASY BEING SOLID GREEN

Wow well the Yahoo LIVE! thing didn't work at all for us this time.
I think some could see but nothing from this end. So we'll hold
on those until we move into our new office. Our whole network
went down for half the day thanks to that one!
Anyhow, one of the many things we wanted to show was
SOLID green Wage Kaiju. He's an edition of 50 pcs and the 3rd
of the 3 different uglydolls.com exclusive versions of Wage Kaiju.
The other 2 being see-thru green (100 pcs)
and solid Orange (100 pcs)
The original Clear orange version is shipping any day now.

Solid Green version has white eyes and teeth.
Clear green has silver eyes and teeth.

UNCLE ASHLEY 1924-2008

Dr. Ashley Carter, Bell scientist, Drew professor Dr. Ashley Hale Carter, a resident of Madison, died on April 6, 2008, of lung cancer. A memorial service will be held at a later time. Dr. Carter was director of the Charles A. Dana Research Institute at Drew University. Members of the institute are retired scientists from industry who continue their research at Drew in collaboration with undergraduate science majors. Dr. Carter was also adjunct professor of physics, teaching upper-level courses in physics, mathematics and the history of science. Dr. Carter was born on June 27, 1924, in Upper Montclair, the son of a Congregational minister. He spent his early years in Ashtabula, Ohio, and Westbrook, Maine, and graduated from Westbrook High School in 1942 and from Harvard University in 1946. Thereafter, he joined the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution as a research associate studying the physics of underwater explosions. He joined AT&T Bell Laboratories in 1953. His initial assignment was in research on the propagation of low-frequency sound in the ocean. The work formed the basis of the Navys passive sonar submarine detection system, known as SOSUS and dramatized in the novel Hunt for Red October. Under the auspices of Bell Labs, he earned his doctorate from Brown University. In the years following, he conducted research on the electromagnetic pulse due to a nuclear explosion and techniques for electrical protection in the Bell System network, and continued to work in underwater acoustics. He retired from Bell Labs in 1990 as a department head and distinguished member of the technical staff. Beginning in 1975, Dr. Carter taught physics courses at Drew University and continued to do so after his retirement. He joined the Charles A. Dana Research Institute immediately after retiring and in 1997 became director, a position he held until his death. Dr. Carters research interests at Drew were in quantum scattering, inverse methods and thermal physics. He was the author of a textbook entitled Classical and Statistical Thermodynamics.
I will miss him and our discussions on the nature of reality, if there is such a thing.

11AM YAHOO LIVE

Next Yahoo LIVE will be 11AM Thursday
JAPAN TIME. So that means some time
on Wednesday night for the USA.
I think 11am in Japan on Thursday
is 10PM Wednesday in New York and 7pm
Wednesday in LA. I think.

AKIHABARA

A lot more graffiti in Tokyo these days.

I guess it might be the cool thing right now.

Well I hope it goes out of style soon, because it reminds me

of L.A. in a bad way. It isn't cool. Not in Tokyo. It's lame.

Please stop. You're ruining something freakin amazing.

OK now that the rant is out of the way, 

I never get tired of this place. 5am, seems

empty in Shibuya but down the street there

were tons of people already on their way to work.

Some off to work here, home of Littlebony.

Lots of meetings on this trip so not much sight

seeing or shopping. Ah but the other night, Super Ben

helped me get that out of my system.

It was good to see everyone again,

and I was blown away by everyone having

frames ready to go. Thanks for the shirts!!!!

The rain was a bit much. I was early

for Kiddyland and my pants got soaked.

Ah but Kiddyland isn't where I will be going

for my toys anymore. I'll explain later.

Breakfast. I skip the NATO!

No thanks!

Cheapo version of red Go-Onger car.

I love the cheapo versions.

New Kamen Rider guys.

One Kaiju per trip. That's the rule.

Modern Ultraman Monsters don't count

as the one per trip. So really it's 2.

More rain. There's the LAWSON STATION

I hang out at all the time.

OK now this is where I got so sick from

sensory overload. This was a whole

building filled with RETRO video games.

We're talking video cables for Super Famicom,

in the box, brand new. Used copies of FFV

for the SFC in with the box in perfect shape.

Just everything.

Then on to my new favorite toy shop.

I'm coming back. Many times.

Basically Akiba is my new home.

I'm moving in. Really.

Super Ben and I had really good Indian food.

The plane ride over had retro ear phones!

Check out the dials on the radio!!

Wait, the whole plane is retro.

EAT UP!

Many have asked if Kinkirobot in Korea
will take international online orders.
Indeed! And there will be a place
to order in English as well.
Others asked if 4 ice-Bats in
one month meant 100 versions
by years end. Not even close, but
there will be a couple more
later on. #5 is at the Dehara
show on the 19th.


This was for real.
I ate there and feel ok.

KOREA GETS ICE

Pink Ice-Bat Kaiju exclusive to be released for our
event here at Kinkirobot on the 12th.
Edition of 50 pcs. This time he has white
eyes and white teeth. The clear pink
looks more red in some photos and
seems to be more pink in sun light.


So he glows in the day.


This one will be online soon.
More details asap!
CLICK for the DETAILS PAGE
일시 : 2008년 4월 12일 PM 4시
매장 : 킨키로봇, 신사점 (02-3444-7044)
주최 : Kinkirobot

DIE CAST

Die Cast Go-Onger cars.
These don't change into anything
but pretty awesome anyway. Like
Sentai Hotwheels. Speaking of
Hotwheels, I heard our print
went to someone at Mattel.
I wonder who.


Hell Boy creator Mike Mignola
wearing an old TARGET shirt
during Hell Boy 2 discussions
with the director. I was pretty
amazed to see this. I've been
a huge fan since Gotham by
Gaslight. Awesome.

JAWS OF LIFE

Half and half. Favorite food of the working man.
All this for $7.00 delivered!
And no tipping here. That's right.
Not only that, when you're done,
you put the bowl outside and they
come BACK to pick it up!


JAWS ice cream.
That's what it's called.
When you bite into the
shark skin colored ice cream,
you find the inside is colored
like blood.
Not licensed by Universal.

NO FOOLIN

I'm not 100% sure if they do April fools
here in Korea. Nobody tried to trick me
today. So in a way it was reverse April
Fools day for me. I'm counting the
days to the next Japan trip. It's
going to be a quick one but I need
to recharge the creative batteries
and that's the place to do it.
Although I have a meeting every
2 hours the whole time!
That's Satoshi-san by Dehara
up there. If you want to see
more of that, please stop by
GR2 on the 19th!
If you're in Korea, please
stop by Kinkirobot on the 12th!
Oh and if all that aint enough,
join our TWITTER! That way you
can keep up to date with all the
nonsense I do. Because you
really want to know what I ate at
TGI Fridays here in Korea.
http://twitter.com/uglydolls

KIVA BELT

I wasn't kidding. Today I brought that
phone straight into the belly of
TGI Fridays here in Seoul.
I hadn't been to TGI Friday's in
ages but they're hard to miss here
in Korea.


This wasn't bad at all. For 14,000 WON you
get the above, some green bean fries,
and a very tiny piece of cheesecake.
And they took 20% off because
of some sort of deal through my Korean
cel phone carrier. How's that!


Many emails coming in asking where
we get our toys from Japan when we
aren't in Japan.
CS TOYS is THE place to go for
new Sentai and Kamen Rider toys
if you don't live in Japan.
Everything arrives in super nice
shape and right on time.
And the people who run the show
are super great, so here goes the
official Sun-Min and David thumbs up:
Check them out by clicking here.