CS Moore Studio - Mondo-chi - Jumping on the DIY bandwagon. | Designer Vinyl Toys & Art Culture | Clutter Magazine | Tags: CS Moore Studio, DIY, Mondo-chi, Platform, SDCC 2012

I want to start this post by saying that CS Moore Studio produce some awesome sculpts/toys for the main stream comic and games market, so I am not writing this post to simply downplay their work. I'm writing this post because I am frustrated. I'm frustrated because it seems the outside perception on how to become involved in the designer toy market is to produce some half assed DIY character platform. I guess its due to the success of the Munny - companies see these units fly off the shelves and want a piece of the action. Most people fail to realize it  wasn't an overnight success and its a very generic shape, making it perfect as a blank canvas. 

Don't get me wrong, my love for the Art toy market is not exclusively driven by production pieces, I strongly believe in and support the Custom/DIY scene. I love the level playing field it offers, however I hate the larger market trying to capitalize on it. 

So the latest DIY platform to hit my inbox is this.. the Mondo-chi, of course with a SDCC exclusive (Booth #2800). Its 3" in size and based on their real life Chihuahua family. I'm not really sure who this is aimed at, probably kids, which is totally fine and if that's the case then good luck to it, its cute and i can see the 10 year old girls loving it. But its not what I would consider a great platform. For one its already a strong character (I wouldn't be surprised if Disney sued, because from the back its straight up Piglet). What really confuses me is that its made of vinyl, but it has no points of articulation (by the looks of the pictures), so its not a Toy, its a statue. 

I'm sorry that this toy sees the brunt of my frustration, but come on people, lets step it up!!