by RAF KATIGBAK

The term “toys for grown-ups” instantly inspires somewhat offputting mental images of buttplugs and blow-up sheep, but those aren’t the only plastic playthings piling up in the homes of those past the age of consent these days. They may be priced a bit high, and released in arrogantly limited numbers, but a new generation of designer toys are showing up on the bookshelves of downtown hipsters in the know.

There are several precedents that helped the movement build momentum. Japan has its gatchapons, fancy, assemble-yourself figures of Ultraman, Hello Kitty and far more that spill out of glorified gumball machines. Hong Kong, meanwhile, hosted a wave of urban-aggro action figures—imaginary gangstas, punks, extreme-sports enthusiasts and such—by designers like Michael Lau. Over here in North America, Todd McFarlane’s figurines of familiar superheroes, movie monsters and rock stars started filling the homes of drooling über-geeks.

Granted, a foot-high Gene Simmons with bat-bass accessory is pretty dope. But it just ain’t as dope as figures crafted by underground comix figures like Charles Burns and Jim Woodring, graffiti kings like Sam Flores and Doze Green, or rock-poster powerhouses like Pushead and Kozik.

Initially, those of us truly obsessed with these toys had to trek to New York City’s Kid Robot and Toy Tokyo (Magic Pony in Toronto soon followed). More recently, fragments of this scene—Nathan J’s horror-dorable Scarygirl line, the enigmatic cutie-monsters of Super Furry Animals collaborator Pete Fowler—have been present at Montreal boutiques like Mojo on St-Laurent and Turf Gallery on St-Pierre in Old Montreal. But the folks at the nifty new gallery/store Madame Edgar (located in a converted Chinese discount dress shop in the Plaza St-Hubert shopping arcade) have taken it upon themselves to do a definitive show of designer toys, called Étrange Vinyle.

Monsters in miniature

“It’s been a long time that the whole creative team at Madame Edgar has been crazy about the vinyl toys,” says the space’s general director, Frédéric Gauthier (also of La Pastèque, publisher of cool comix and more). “We have been buying many of them for some years, and now we’ll have them all with us in the store. Also, Madame is producing its own collection of figurines for the fall, so with the exhibition, we can introduce this media to the Montreal crowd.”

The Étrange Vinyle title is a bit misleading, because some of the offerings, like the wood and plush creations of Friends With You, aren’t fashioned from vinyl. But that’s splitting hairs. The point is, they’ll have a crazy spread of toys, from popular lines like Scarygirl to Holy Grail rarities and variants—limited editions even among limited editions. Madame Edgar has partnered with San Francisco’s Strangeco—manufacturer, distributor and general node of enthusiasm for such toys—to make sure they can show off stuff like James Jarvis’s odd characters, Jeremy Fish’s cute Bunnyvan and the squishy Sasquatches of Bigfoot One.

“Strangeco is a focal point in North America for those toys,” says Gauthier. “They have been distributing them for some years and most of all, they try to have the toy creators recognized for their work. They have a great Web site where they try to gather all the information about this scene.”

On June 2 (the show runs till August 7), Étrange Vinyle will host the launch and signing for the new Toy Monkey figure by Gary Taxali. “This is the first toy designed by Taxali for his new toy company called Chump toys. Taxali will be here at Madame Edgar to sign them. He’s an amazing artist and the Toy Monkey is superb. A not-to-be-missed event.”

On a personal note, this writer is getting seriously fidgety to see the actual figures from Strangeco’s too-cool Neo Kaiju Project. Kaiju, FYI, is the Japanese term for rubber-monster-suit movies, Godzilla and his ilk. Strangeco asked outstanding hipster artists like Todd Schorr, Tim Biskup and Gary Baseman (names familiar to Juxtapoz readers) to design their own dream kaiju—and goddamn, did they ever deliver the goods!

Vernissage tonight, Thursday, May 5, 6 p.m., at Madame Edgar (6370 St-Hubert)