Saturday, December 7, 2008 was Uglycon 3, the third annual convention for the fans, collectors and creators of all things Ugly. It was held at Giant Robot, an awesome designer toy store and exhibition space in the East Village.
Chances are if you're a nerd you've at least seen Uglydolls at your local comic store and at conventions, but you may not fully understand the level of fandom associated with these little guys. They have the distinction of being adored by both girls
and boys, a mutual demographic most toy designers will tell you is simply preposterous. And of course adult collectors go nuts for them too, because there are tons of variations of scrounge up. All of these groups were well represented at UglyCon, and no one was shy about showing their enthusiasm for all of the new prints, toys, and dolls available at the show.
More pictures after the jump...
Handmade versions of the upcoming line of Uglys were available to purchase by raffle, and were displayed high the wall, presumably to avoid scenes by kids who couldn't control their fandom. Below there were paintings by Uglydoll artisan Sun-Min Kim. My favorite was Ox dressed a pirate, which is a very appropriate costume because, as one collector observed, Ox is "a little thief".
Creator David Horvath was on hand to sign anything fans wanted him to, and was extremely gracious about making sure everyone in line got an autograph. I insanely forgot to bring my Ox doll, but David was kind enough to give me a sketch on the back of one of the show postcards.
Huzzah! Here, Ox seems to have his pal Wedgehead on his mind (aw). As the good Mr. Horvath sketched, I mumbled that my Ox doll frequently helps to resolve disputes at my apartment (true), to which he replied "Yeah, he's good at that."
I thought the coolest part of the show were original posters and prints by David Horvath featuring the Uglycast. Horvath's unique voice for the Uglys (somewhere between LOL speak and Beavis and Butthead) is a big part of why they appeal to both fans of cuteness and weirdness. They're kind of dumb and a little mean, but ultimately adorable.
Babo seemed to be a major fan favorite. Heard lots of people squeaking out his catchphrase, "WHAT DAT?" These Babo Os look like something I might not want to eat.
Lots of Japan iconography on the prints, like this Yakitori house. Nom nom nom.
Some blank artists proof were on display, such as these casts for the Miny and Chocco toys, who got their start on designer candy bars. True story!
I am ashamed to say did literally all of these things in junior high, but to my credit it stopped there. Don't hurt me guys!
Here's a painting by Laszlo Horvath, David's brother. If I could have bought one painting at the show, it would have been this one.
My favorite of the new Uglys...everyone at the Con seemed to know all these new guys names, but I don't. Any fans want to help me out?
Lots more photos, including detail shots, at the Geekanerd Flickr. You may also want to check out the Giant Robot site, which I think will eventually have photos of the costume contest (that's right). And David Horvath has a very kind write-up on his UglyBlog. And for New York readers, this show will be up until the end of December (we've got a link on Weekanerd, in our sidebar), and I highly recommend it.
PONYO! Yes she's a weird superdeformed fish/bug/fairy thing, but she's so freakin cute!
Eh, maybe it looked better this way? Shaddup.
This is probably the greatest shirt ever. You don't need to read the rest of the post, cause it's all downhill from here. You don't even need to be a fan of Futurama to enjoy this shirt; anyone can enjoy the horrific comedy inherent in the idea of a Mecha Nixon running for public office.
This is a dumb cheesey font and unimaginative design. I think Zaphod would have his campaign team go a lot, A LOT, flashier. You should have to plug this shirt in. There's so much potential. It's a good thing D. Adams is already dead, because seeing this shirt would kill him. Someone please make a better one.
Sometimes a show does all the work for you in designing the campaign iconography; in the 3rd Season of the Wire, we saw this plain and simple campaign logo all over the place, but it took a weirdly long time for someone to make a decent shirt out of it.
You'd think there'd be like a million awesome Harvey Dent shirts online, right? Nope! The official viral campaign shirts are lame and no one has made any cool ones. This Obama knockoff is the best the internet has to offer. Sad sad state of affairs. Get it, state? State official, election, district attorney....eeheh. I guess there's no need for re-election campaign materials anyway, because one party with Bruce's friends and he'll never need another cent! Also he's dead.
THIS GUY!
Gigantic Lego Representations of Famous Icons
Minimalist Lego Representations of Every Day Items.
I never though of Legos as little mini Rorschach tests before, but now I can't think of them any other way. Hit the jump for a few examples of what we at Geekanerd saw in the toybox of Google image search...
A Left 4 Dead medpack.
Krang! Ahh!
A Mondrian inspired sculpture next to a big piece of tofu.
Saturday, December 7, 2008 was Uglycon 3, the third annual convention for the fans, collectors and creators of all things Ugly. It was held at Giant Robot, an awesome designer toy store and exhibition space in the East Village.
More pictures after the jump...
Handmade versions of the upcoming line of Uglys were available to purchase by raffle, and were displayed high the wall, presumably to avoid scenes by kids who couldn't control their fandom. Below there were paintings by Uglydoll artisan Sun-Min Kim. My favorite was Ox dressed a pirate, which is a very appropriate costume because, as one collector observed, Ox is "a little thief".
Huzzah! Here, Ox seems to have his pal Wedgehead on his mind (aw). As the good Mr. Horvath sketched, I mumbled that my Ox doll frequently helps to resolve disputes at my apartment (true), to which he replied "Yeah, he's good at that."
I thought the coolest part of the show were original posters and prints by David Horvath featuring the Uglycast. Horvath's unique voice for the Uglys (somewhere between LOL speak and Beavis and Butthead) is a big part of why they appeal to both fans of cuteness and weirdness. They're kind of dumb and a little mean, but ultimately adorable.
Babo seemed to be a major fan favorite. Heard lots of people squeaking out his catchphrase, "WHAT DAT?" These Babo Os look like something I might not want to eat.
Lots of Japan iconography on the prints, like this Yakitori house. Nom nom nom.
Some blank artists proof were on display, such as these casts for the Miny and Chocco toys, who got their start on designer candy bars. True story!
I am ashamed to say did literally all of these things in junior high, but to my credit it stopped there. Don't hurt me guys!
My favorite of the new Uglys...everyone at the Con seemed to know all these new guys names, but I don't. Any fans want to help me out?
People love eating things that look like things. Anna The Red makes bento boxes that look like nerdy cartoon and video game characters. This Wall-E and EVE is incredible, though I'm very upset about the exclusion of M-O. Look, they've already got the little compacted trash cubes!
That adorable chubby mouse from Spirited Away, plus his little bird pals and those dust things.
Tootaroo!
No Face and company...this one is particularly perfect.
A box full of Rabbids...okay so this one isn't that pretty, but there are must cuter cookie Rabbids on their Flickr page. DAAAAA!
This is a triumph. Again you can see details on Flickr, as well as Anna's blog. There are several other series represented, and Invader Zim fans will definitely find a lot of stuff to like.
Lovely portrait by Alex Ross.
Hilarious, But can anyone tell me who this artist is?
General Grevious meets Edward Scissorhands? This piece by Jurgen van Zachten clocks in at $1,500
Is that the Phantom of the Opera?
Credit where it's due to the organizers of the event, Kerry Lee, Hans Yim, and Patrick Francisco. For more information on the show (including artist info and a full price-list), check APW Gallery's official site.
