I was making my way through the list of 2011 San Diego Comic Con exhibitors and noticed that a few designer toy stalwarts are not to be seen. I had known that Patrick and Rocket World was planning on sitting this year out, but the big surprise was not seeing STRANGEco on the list.

Being that the designer toy industry is relatively small, you often hear rumors...especially when you write about it. One of the recent bits of gossip I heard was that STRANGEco had folded up shop. If true, it would be a huge loss to the industry. Gregory Blum and Jim Crawford started up STRANGEco back in 2002 after leaving Kidrobot.com. Their lineup of toy releases is impressive, working with artists such as Mars-1, Ron English, Pete Fowler, Gary Baseman, and Shepard Fairey...to name a few.

After hearing the rumors...seeing that STRANGEco wouldn't be at SDCC...noticing that Jim Crawford was now working with Clutter Magazine...realizing that STRANGEco's Twitter account hasn't been updated since April 2011...I decided to check out the California Secretary of State's office. (For those of you who don't know, Strange Collective LLC is a registered Limited Liability Company in the state of California) Unfortunately, I found that their business entity status was 'Canceled'.

This doesn't mean that STRANGEco has folded up shop (they could be registered in any of the 49 other states). But the totality of all of these instances just increases the likelihood that the designer toy genre has lost one of their biggest (and oldest) companies.

STRANGEco is back with a new limited edition vinyl figure from artist Shepard Fairey. Mr. Spray is the first original vinyl figure design by the artist in eleven years and will be released around July 20th 2010. (It's currently available for pre-order through STRANGEco)

The rotocast vinyl figure stands in at 11" tall, featuring 4 points of articulation. The piece includes an OBEY mini stencil.

Mr. Spray will be made available in four different colors:

• Black - (350 pieces) Available at STRANGEco's online retail shop and at select retailers.
• Red - (350 pieces) Available at STRANGEco's online retail shop and at select retailers.
• Gold - (200 pieces) OBEY special edition.
• Silver - (100 pieces) Strangeco special edition, available at the SDCC 2010 and through Strangeco's online retail shop.

STRANGEco has announced the release of their latest tokidoki collaboration. The Adios & Ciao Ciao plush dolls are the soft rendition of one of tokidoki's most beloved couple. Sold separately, each plush doll stands 9" tall and should retail around $19.99.

STRANGEco has announced that MyPlasticHeart will have a very small
number of Bumble & Tweet Tree Editions available at their NY Comic Con booth (#866). There will be 18
pieces of each, first come first served.

They have also announced wholesale pre-orders of the new
Adios & Ciao Ciao plush dolls, which will be shipping to retailers
in late February or early March 2009.

STRANGEco announced the King Ken Mini Series,
a new toy series created under license from London-based Amos
Novelties.  Designed by James Jarvis, this series consists of new 4" versions of his popular King Ken character in six special color variants.  The King Ken Mini Series debuts worldwide on November 22, 2008, for the holiday shopping season.

STRANGEco has just announced a special added feature to the new
Cap'n Rotnclaw and Keel Haul Cleg figures by Greg "Craola" Simkins.

Each figure is packed with a special treasure
map - The Treasure of Cap'n Rotoclaw.  Most maps will be branded with the words Avast and Take Heed, but a
small number of maps state Ahoy and Gangway.  If you are one of the
lucky few whose map reads Ahoy and Gangway, you have won the treasure.

That treasure is a special limited edition giclee print of Cap'n Bristlebeard by
artist Greg Simkins.  Limited to only 25 prints, each one signed and
numbered by the artist and is printed on Somerset Velvet art paper. At
22 x 13.5 inches, this treasure also makes a great background for your
Rotnclaw figure.

John Kricfalusi (the creator of Ren and Stimpy and Spumco) will be releasing three rotocast vinyl figures depicting three of the biggest names in American politics.  Produced by ReelFX and distributed by STRANGEco, the Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and John McCain figures should be made available this month.