Vinyl Toy Mods

Today I'm showing off some of what most people would not call art. These toys were modified by me! Yay! I've always had a fascination with making toys...one could make a good argument for all of my costuming and prop building to be an extension of the desire to make toys. Heck, I've made puppets and dolls...I'd love to make an action figure (I've modified one), but these are just modified.

The My Little Pony dolls (MLPs) were my first foray into modifying vinyl toys. I had no idea that this was actually a popular movement when I first did 'Steam', the black cyborg pony. I knew that I'd seen a couple of customized MLPs, and that it looked pretty cool, so I bought one with the sole intention to ruin it (which is apparently a sin in the Custom MLP world). I had fun, so I bought a second one and made the My Little Punk custom. Both use a lot of plumber epoxy putty for their build-up and changes.

After this growing trend caught on full force, Munnys became available. They are blank and made just to customize. They also cost a lot...or more than I'm willing to pay, anyway. Thankfully, when a trend becomes a trend, there's others out there who will capitalize on it. RoseArt made some Munny knock-offs called Color Blanks. They are available here and there (K-Mart and Craft Stores among others), and are around $5 each....well within my price range.

The 'Bitch' and 'Bone Cow' are both RoseArt Color Blanks that I sculpted on and painted. The added bits are all plumbers putty, and the paints are just acrylic. I even made a little bull whip out of epoxy for the little dominatrix doggie. I suggest that anyone and everyone try messing with this stuff at some point. It's a lot of fun, and not nearly so nerve wracking as doing 'real' art (unless you decide to paint fish nets onto your vinyl toy....that was tense).