Enjoyed the video, I did a doc in 2010 called The Vinyl Frontier and it was interesting that the licensing of brands for toys was just starting to pick up. With Funko Pops, it seems like it's inevitable at this point! Paul went on to work on SuperPlastic with Huck Gee and they do similar small run vinyl toys. Keep up the good work!
Ha! Great finding you here. I went to the premiere for your film. Might have just been a screening but I'm pretty sure it was the premiere. It was so long ago it's hard to remember.
Back in the early days of KR we built a community on Melrose in LA... Art took over the street with TAG, MONKEY KING and of course BAPE AND KR. The artists like Luke Chueh would hang out ON THE STREET and meet with us. HUCK GEE and Amanda Vissel among countless others would come do signings for releases. We would line up to get the newest Dunny or Hoodie, The company threw events, scavenger hunts and cared about the culture. The staff became friends and we had a blast. The moment KR started leaning into licensing deals the writing was on the wall. I still have nearly every early dunny ever produced but sadly the amount of time and effort I spent acquiring them is no longer reflected in their value. It was a fun time but the brand killed itself and without THAT MAGIC no corporation will ever be able to make KR anything other than an impulse by at your local book store or art shop. Brand turned from a street art movement to a joke... its gone.. let it die and keep the memories that were good close.. sad
Man I loved kidrobot back in the day. I fell off after I noticed they were producing more licensed products and started seeing them sold in Target. I also think the rise in popularity of pop’s attributed to some of their decision making too. I would love to see them make a comeback and focus more on the art again.
I miss going to Kid Robot in Soho in the early mid 2000’s.. the pieces I regret never purchasing from them are still of my wishlist..the gray Kid Robot x Lacoste kicks and the themed air max 95 airplane model 😢
Great overview, brother. I had never heard of Kidrobot until today. Sorry to see they fell off, their style really speaks to me for some reason, maybe it's cause I was a kid when they were at their peak.
I just discovered Kidrobot brand and I love the idea of DIY blank toys and art that surrounds it. I hope, they will keep it going. Unfortunately, I cannot find anywhere in Europe place to buy blank Dunny :/
Man this brings me back . When Streetwear was still this new exciting thing and we had all of these brands like 10 deep, Crooks and Castles , Rogue Status,Anything , Alife, Huf… I can go on and on . And that’s not even counting heavy hitters like Supreme etc. Back then the Toy aspect of the brand was too “childish” for me because I was a teenage trying to feel like an adult . But now at nearly 32 years old I love these vinyl figures! Love these and Bounty Hunter stuff .
Kidrobot is the license that made me discover the world of art toys, we are in 2005 and in a vinyl record store in Amsterdam I discover this cute little toy that is nothing but a dunny. And I enter the spiral. Kidrobot during 5 years made me discover artists like Ledbetter, Tado, Supakitch & Koralie, Scott Tolleson, Dalek, Sket One, Amanda Visell and others and for that I loved KR but from 2010 the series were less interesting and then they went in the Basquiat & Warhol licenses and there we lost them..... 17 years later still in it and kidrobot which just became a competitor to funko pop, dunny's have no flavor anymore, the only thing from KR that remains are the "Vault Sale" 2 times a year to buy old KR toys. Thanks to Scott Tolleson for keeping the dunny's alive with the Shard. This toy is not a toy
I'd agree on most parts of this, it was never as good after Paul left and the suits got a hold of it. Also they way artists were treated by KR and a lot of other companies wasn't great. I designed for them for a while and it was great, the shows I was part of and the community was awesome but money seemed to taking over from artistic integrity, as it often does :(
Great video...had the sudden question of Kid Robot still existed at all anymore. I was a big collector of the figurines. After getting out of highschool and visiting cities for art college, I went to L.A. because of CaLArts. was trying to get into art college. I remember seeing the first iteration of the Gorillaz figurines and wanted them so badly, as I was obsessed with the Gorillaz. But they were soo expensive. My Uncle Lives in San Fran, and we'd visit him once a year. Once I discovered the Kid Robot store in Haight Ashbury, I'd go there to get the blind box figurines. Used to go to NYC often-ish, had family in upstate NY. Went to the Kid Robot store a few times long before it closed. So I have quite the collection of figurines, pretty much all blind box ones. Though I did get the second iteration of the Gorillaz Kid Robot figurines, had to get them online. They were still so expensive, but I think I asked to get them as a Christmas present. But one of the last times I went to San Fran, the store in Haight Ashbury was no longer the Kid Robot store. It was under a different name, but still selling Kid Robot figurines. This was a couple or few years before Covid, as the last time I went to San Fran was in 2019. But i see Kid Robot isn't entirely dead...but I don't see myself ever buying the figurines ever again...
I believe kidrobot can make a comeback in the street fashion scene. They got fun styles like Bathing Ape and a nice logo like the Hundreds. They can start by giving rappers their clothes so to catch the brand on the radars of the youth
Enjoyed your vid. Loved collecting the figures it went bad after they shut down the UK shop as you just vouldnt get the figures. I still have a couple of full early sets including the rarest production set made by Kidrobot "thoughts in Jeremyville" It was only possible to get 12 of these sets if you got the 12 chase figures. Plus it was estimated there was 15 artist proof sets so 27 sets possible worldwide they were only 1" figures so were not very popular and Jeremyville was not a top artist at the time so they went very much over looked. Enjoyed your vid it brought back many memories 😊
The bike company shut down during the pandemic. Superplastic is still going, but its got issues with the people working there. From my experience at least, there's a lot of low quality toys and packaging design (the gorillaz products are really mid-tier) and their PR team is hyper focused on making it influencer/instagrammy.
Delete something more positive on this video in the comment section; this is a great video the production value the music the design and the information were all really good appreciate it!
Good Vid. Paul makes no sense. He sold out to go make bikes, then makes a parody company with Huck taking stabs at the company he sold. RIP Frank too. He did what he had to, by mass producing licenses and getting in BigBox, which let him keep part of kidrobot alive. We knew it was all over when they killed the brick n mortar. Then they blew up the forum to drive people to facebook.... The MET set was cool. I did have to buy the new Sket Coke 8inch.
I still collect Andy Warhol and Basquiat Dunnys from time to time. Living is the designer toy world they are always there but I do agree with all the other corporate items they sell are trash.
Kidrobot founder is at the helm of Superplastic, which recently took on a $2mil investment from Amazon and will probably be adding NFT collectables functionality, which i am 1000% here for. I hope they keep it art and don't screw that up. My dude, you missed that major plot twist at the end.
Enjoyed the video, I did a doc in 2010 called The Vinyl Frontier and it was interesting that the licensing of brands for toys was just starting to pick up. With Funko Pops, it seems like it's inevitable at this point! Paul went on to work on SuperPlastic with Huck Gee and they do similar small run vinyl toys.
Keep up the good work!
Ha! Great finding you here. I went to the premiere for your film. Might have just been a screening but I'm pretty sure it was the premiere. It was so long ago it's hard to remember.
Funko pop shitted the whole game
Back in the early days of KR we built a community on Melrose in LA... Art took over the street with TAG, MONKEY KING and of course BAPE AND KR. The artists like Luke Chueh would hang out ON THE STREET and meet with us. HUCK GEE and Amanda Vissel among countless others would come do signings for releases. We would line up to get the newest Dunny or Hoodie, The company threw events, scavenger hunts and cared about the culture. The staff became friends and we had a blast. The moment KR started leaning into licensing deals the writing was on the wall. I still have nearly every early dunny ever produced but sadly the amount of time and effort I spent acquiring them is no longer reflected in their value. It was a fun time but the brand killed itself and without THAT MAGIC no corporation will ever be able to make KR anything other than an impulse by at your local book store or art shop. Brand turned from a street art movement to a joke... its gone.. let it die and keep the memories that were good close.. sad
Man it was so fresh back then so new and exciting. Not sure you could get that feeling back again.
Man I loved kidrobot back in the day. I fell off after I noticed they were producing more licensed products and started seeing them sold in Target. I also think the rise in popularity of pop’s attributed to some of their decision making too. I would love to see them make a comeback and focus more on the art again.
the rise and fall of streetwear brands series never disappoints! keep it up :D
I miss going to Kid Robot in Soho in the early mid 2000’s.. the pieces I regret never purchasing from them are still of my wishlist..the gray Kid Robot x Lacoste kicks and the themed air max 95 airplane model 😢
Great overview, brother. I had never heard of Kidrobot until today. Sorry to see they fell off, their style really speaks to me for some reason, maybe it's cause I was a kid when they were at their peak.
Great watch!! Thx for the bit of KR history.
Found ur channel from the peas n carrots video and I rlly like ur videos 👍
I just discovered Kidrobot brand and I love the idea of DIY blank toys and art that surrounds it. I hope, they will keep it going. Unfortunately, I cannot find anywhere in Europe place to buy blank Dunny :/
10:44 Kind of like that firey but "mostly peaceful" "summer of love" a few years back.
Talk about nostalgia
Man this brings me back . When Streetwear was still this new exciting thing and we had all of these brands like 10 deep, Crooks and Castles , Rogue Status,Anything , Alife, Huf… I can go on and on . And that’s not even counting heavy hitters like Supreme etc.
Back then the Toy aspect of the brand was too “childish” for me because I was a teenage trying to feel like an adult . But now at nearly 32 years old I love these vinyl figures! Love these and Bounty Hunter stuff .
Cool overview! I shared!
Kidrobot is the license that made me discover the world of art toys, we are in 2005 and in a vinyl record store in Amsterdam I discover this cute little toy that is nothing but a dunny. And I enter the spiral.
Kidrobot during 5 years made me discover artists like Ledbetter, Tado, Supakitch & Koralie, Scott Tolleson, Dalek, Sket One, Amanda Visell and others and for that I loved KR but from 2010 the series were less interesting and then they went in the Basquiat & Warhol licenses and there we lost them.....
17 years later still in it and kidrobot which just became a competitor to funko pop, dunny's have no flavor anymore, the only thing from KR that remains are the "Vault Sale" 2 times a year to buy old KR toys.
Thanks to Scott Tolleson for keeping the dunny's alive with the Shard.
This toy is not a toy
I'd agree on most parts of this, it was never as good after Paul left and the suits got a hold of it. Also they way artists were treated by KR and a lot of other companies wasn't great. I designed for them for a while and it was great, the shows I was part of and the community was awesome but money seemed to taking over from artistic integrity, as it often does :(
Great video...had the sudden question of Kid Robot still existed at all anymore. I was a big collector of the figurines. After getting out of highschool and visiting cities for art college, I went to L.A. because of CaLArts. was trying to get into art college. I remember seeing the first iteration of the Gorillaz figurines and wanted them so badly, as I was obsessed with the Gorillaz. But they were soo expensive. My Uncle Lives in San Fran, and we'd visit him once a year. Once I discovered the Kid Robot store in Haight Ashbury, I'd go there to get the blind box figurines. Used to go to NYC often-ish, had family in upstate NY. Went to the Kid Robot store a few times long before it closed. So I have quite the collection of figurines, pretty much all blind box ones. Though I did get the second iteration of the Gorillaz Kid Robot figurines, had to get them online. They were still so expensive, but I think I asked to get them as a Christmas present.
But one of the last times I went to San Fran, the store in Haight Ashbury was no longer the Kid Robot store. It was under a different name, but still selling Kid Robot figurines. This was a couple or few years before Covid, as the last time I went to San Fran was in 2019. But i see Kid Robot isn't entirely dead...but I don't see myself ever buying the figurines ever again...
I believe kidrobot can make a comeback in the street fashion scene. They got fun styles like Bathing Ape and a nice logo like the Hundreds.
They can start by giving rappers their clothes so to catch the brand on the radars of the youth
Enjoyed your vid. Loved collecting the figures it went bad after they shut down the UK shop as you just vouldnt get the figures. I still have a couple of full early sets including the rarest production set made by Kidrobot "thoughts in Jeremyville" It was only possible to get 12 of these sets if you got the 12 chase figures. Plus it was estimated there was 15 artist proof sets so 27 sets possible worldwide they were only 1" figures so were not very popular and Jeremyville was not a top artist at the time so they went very much over looked. Enjoyed your vid it brought back many memories 😊
Nice work. I still rep KR.
Had some fireeeee tee shirts as did pacsun too
I still customize kidrobot vinyls
PAUL BUDNITZ left and is now doing bicycles. He told me after I emailed him and he reached out. Very nice person.
The bike company shut down during the pandemic. Superplastic is still going, but its got issues with the people working there. From my experience at least, there's a lot of low quality toys and packaging design (the gorillaz products are really mid-tier) and their PR team is hyper focused on making it influencer/instagrammy.
I cant believe they went away a year before i was born they look so cool living in the old days must have been fun :(
Am kinda jealous
I've just got into it and I buy a lot of ebay, still pretty cheap
Delete something more positive on this video in the comment section; this is a great video the production value the music the design and the information were all really good appreciate it!
Thx fam, it really means a lot to see hard work appreciated 🙌🏽
Never new they were considered a street wear brand i only ever knew them for their Vynal toys.
Good Vid. Paul makes no sense. He sold out to go make bikes, then makes a parody company with Huck taking stabs at the company he sold. RIP Frank too. He did what he had to, by mass producing licenses and getting in BigBox, which let him keep part of kidrobot alive.
We knew it was all over when they killed the brick n mortar.
Then they blew up the forum to drive people to facebook....
The MET set was cool. I did have to buy the new Sket Coke 8inch.
I still collect Andy Warhol and Basquiat Dunnys from time to time. Living is the designer toy world they are always there but I do agree with all the other corporate items they sell are trash.
It's called super plastic now. And they're killing it!!!
Rip Frank kozik
Before Kaws
Kidrobot founder is at the helm of Superplastic, which recently took on a $2mil investment from Amazon and will probably be adding NFT collectables functionality, which i am 1000% here for. I hope they keep it art and don't screw that up. My dude, you missed that major plot twist at the end.
I think it's very generous to call crap like kidrobot and funkopops "toys". You can't even play with them.