Tokidoki Blog

Reader Caty just let me know that she was at STCC (Singapore Toy and Comic Convention) this past weekend for Simone Legno’s appearance. She took some video and photos of him performing a live art demo and wanted to share them with us.

Other tid-bits:

• Pulse has a few tokidoki items on sale for 40% off
• Karmaloop just added the tokidoki for Hello Kitty wallet and pencil cases - hopefully those of you who are still trying to get ahold of them can finally snag them for a great price (20% off as always with rep code SR426 at checkout!)
• And finally, Jessica let me know that the tokidoki for Onitsuka Tiger sneakers are now available online at Nordstrom

Readers Janet and Sophie let me know that there is an announcement in the kidrobot forums that this year’s SDCC exclusive tokidoki designed vinyl toy will be the 8 inch dunny pictured below (retail price: $50).

And for those who have been wondering, Simone Legno will be signing these exclusive dunnys from 11am-2pm at SDCC on July 27th.

Reader Bridget also let me know that there will be a mini tokyoplastic geisha designed by Simone Legno as a ToyTokyo exclusive at the SDCC next month. She saw it at the ToyTokyo offices and will try to snap a picture for us before SDCC.

Update: here is the geisha photo, thanks to Will in the comments.

It will cost $40 at the ToyTokyo booth at SDCC, and it is approximately 4 inches tall.

Reader Michelle let me know that Simone will be signing at Nordstrom in Ala Moana Center in Hawaii on June 7, 2008. The details are:

Introducing tokidoki for Onitsuka Tiger
Meet Simone Legno
NORDSTROM
BP Shoes - Level 2
Saturday, June 7, 2008
1pm-4pm
1200 Ala Moana Center
Honolulu, HI

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Also, for those of you who have been looking for a store that will ship the tokidoki jewelry internationally, Sue from Canada just pointed out in another post’s comments that Trendy Stars will do so. I see that they just added the tokidoki for Hello Kitty necklace and just about all of the latest 2008 jewelry.

These are some pictures that my best friend Amy (that’s her in the second pic!) took of Simone doing signings at NYCC this past weekend - enjoy!

Reader Marhem attended the Pervasive Persuasion event at MOCA in Los Angeles, CA with her husband on Saturday. The event included a panel discussion moderated by Eric Nakamura of Giant Robot and live artmaking “inspired by the pervasive work of Takashi Murakami” by artists Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, and Simone Legno.

The artists painted both on their own canvases and on a mural that everyone in the audience later got a chance to add to. Everybody got to bring a piece of the artwork home with them. Marhem was lucky to snag the sushi portion of the mural before the MOCA people were instructed that they were not supposed to cut specific parts and that the artwork was supposed to be given blindly (in a box).

The event wasn’t an official signing, but Marhem managed to have Simone (who had the longest line waiting to meet him) draw a Sandy for her. Simone’s girlfriend also gave Marhem and her husband three stickers and two tokidoki uchiwas, which made them feel quite special.

And here are Marhem’s smile-worthy final thoughts: “Simone is the nicest, most humble, most accommodating and most appreciative famous person I know. After meeting him at the Mobius signing and last night at Moca, it just makes me like him more and patronize tokidoki more because he appreciates us and acknowledges that if not for us, his line would not be successful. I hope he continues to keep his feet planted on the ground despite his success. Way to go, Simone!”

These are some of the photos that Marhem took at the event.  I added a closeup detail of the Mozzarella keychain that Simone had hanging out of the pocket of his tokidoki jeans to the first one.  The guy in the center of the last photo is Oguri of Body Weather Laboratory doing a dance while Tim Biskup DJed and Simone and Gary Baseman painted.

Reader Marhem just sent in her photos from the Simone signing party at Mobius that took place last week in Los Angeles to share with us - I still want Simone’s hoodie.

Reader Liane sent in some photos from the Simone signing party at Mobius that took place last night in Los Angeles to share with us:

^^ I see a case of Cactus Pups blind boxes!

Los Angeles tokidoki fans are in luck - the tokidoki.it blog just reported that Simone will be at a signing event in LA on December 8, 2007. The event will take place at Mobius (3300 W. 6th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020) from 7pm-11pm to celebrate the upcoming release of the cactus pups and cactus cats.

ChristineDior and Sara both sent in pictures and reports from the tokidoki Simone signing at the Ala Moana Center in Hawaii yesterday, and it sounds like it was nuts!

ChristineDior waited on line for 8 hours(!) to meet Simone, and thought it was worth the wait. She asked him to autograph her Mozzarella toy and a photo from a previous signing, and Simone actually remembered her because he recognized the Hello Kitty necklace Christine was wearing in the photo that Simone autographed for her. Awww! Here are her photos:

Sara was third in line for the signing - she got there at about 6am. She said that Simone started signing right on time at 11am, and when she left her job the mall at 8pm, Simone was still signing and the line was still out the door! Here are her photos:

… have fun at the Simone signing at Ala Moana Center today!  If you take photos at the signing and want to share, send them in to me and I will post them tomorrow.

Reader Diana took some cellphone photos of the plush toys at the tokidoki signing at Yoyamart - as you will see, the Mozzarella plush doll, which was originally due to be released back in February, has resurfaced. The Mozzarella plush is now slated to be released in early November, and, if Vinyl Splatter’s dates are accurate, the long-lost Sandy plush doll should also be released at the end of this month!

And here are some more photos that reader Cleofe took at the signing and of her signed goodies:

So last night I went to the tokidoki signing party at Yoyamart in NYC that ran from 7pm - 10pm. I forgot how much of a mission it is to get to NYC from NJ by train + PATH train on the weekends, so I didn’t make it there until nearly 8pm. The store was packed with people, and there was a line to get in waiting outside - not as bad of a line as I feared there would be though, and it moved reasonably fast. Fortunately Kristina was running almost exactly as late as I was, so we had no trouble finding each other as planned, and we got to hang out and talk tokidoki and even trade bags (yay!! I am so happy with our trade!!) while waiting on line. We also got to meet pychobeauty who was coming out of Yoyamart right as we were finally getting in. Once inside it was pretty hard to move or see what was for sale, but I did get a look at a few tokidoki t-shirts, jewelery, New Era hats, and toys (Sandy, Bastardino, Poplettina, the Adios and Ciao Ciao “Til Death Do Us Part” set, Sahara 8 inch qee, and Moofia blind boxes). They were giving away free Bastardino and tokidoki x Onitsuka tiger stickers, so Kristina grabbed us a set of each. We weren’t early enough for the tokidoki posters though, sadly they were all gone when we arrived.

Kristina dove into the crowd to take photos of the custom tokidoki baby crib (!!) that was on display in the store - it has the same print from the moofia and lattes all-over print t-shirts and hoodies on it (price: $5,000). You can see photos of it in her set of photos below. And thankfully, reader Cleofe sent in photos of the upcoming tokidoki x STRANGEco toy collaborations that are coming up, because we couldn’t get close enough. You can see them in the third set of photos below - Adios and Ciao Ciao plush toys, a set of Gatto Spinoso vinyl toys (I am SOOO excited for them - and it looks like a new white cactus kitty character will be appearing as a counterpart to Gatto Spinoso - both are SO CUTE!), and a bunch more Bastardino-like cactus friends vinyl toys, all in different colors with different faces.

Here are the pictures I took:

Here are the pictures Kristina took, including photos of the custom tokidoki baby crib:

And here are the photos that reader Cleofe was awesome enough to send in, including photos of the upcoming tokidoki toy releases:

Reader Heather wrote to let me know that Simone’s signing appearance will take place on November 17th at the LeSportsac store in Ala Moana Center, Hawaii, from 11am-4pm. (Thanks also to djr0658 for confirming this date, and to the commenters for confirming the time.) The SA that she spoke to said that Vacanze should be released on the same day as the signing, and the Foresta re-release will be the day after.* Hawaii fans should expect a very long line for the signing, since people started lining up by 8 or 9am for the last one. Get there early and have fun!

*UPDATE: The SA’s info was slightly off -  Vacanze was released November 12th in Hawaii and the Foresta re-release was November 13th.

Saturday October 13th, tokidoki will be appearing at Yoyamart in New York City from 7pm - 10pm. This event will feature tokidoki toys, clothing, jewelry, and accessories for sale, as well as Simone appearing to do signings.

STRANGEco will also be at this event to announce upcoming tokidoki x STRANGEco collaborations for new vinyl and plastic toys. STRANGEco will also be giving away a platinum Adios and Ciao Ciao set during the night!

Yoyamart is located at 15 Ganesvoort Street @ Hudson St. in NYC. For more information, call them at 212-242-5511.

Is anyone else going?! I am so there!!

*** And speaking of Simone appearances, I also have word from a tokidoki fan in Hawaii that Simone is coming to the Lesportsac in Ala Moana Center in November. I will post more info if I get it.