Doesn’t this TV look a bit sad and lonely in all its dustiness? And what an awful mess to leave this room in. It looks like it has not been taken care of for quite a while. But where is the toy? Where is the sculpture you may ask. Is this not a blog about these things? Sure. But today I thought about approaching the same same but different. If you have payed attention to the other toy blogs around you may recognize this picture.

This is not an ordinary room. It is one of many on a deserted island that once was a coal mining facility. It is being said that the workers and their families stationed there just left one day. Although very hastily leaving most of their belongings behind… But did they really leave or was there something else at work? A conspiracy? Maybe they found something that was buried there a long time ago…

A perfect setting for a horror story, right? Cthulu , for example, comes right to my mind. But what has all of this got to do with toys? Well, story, of course. Something that has been married to toys for ever. There are probably only very few children on this planet that do not have a story for every toy they own. Stories that are sometimes (but not always) connected to what the producers had in mind. But is this really necessary? Necessary, probably not. But on the other hand toys and sculpture in general can not convey anything beyond their form and painting. For this to work the view needs to have heard a background story first. Case in point, I have a toy standing here on my desk that I found in a pile of furniture and other things that a family left behind after they moved out of their apartment. It looks like a soldier and the armor is covered with skulls. The paint job is odd because one half is camouflage and the other side is plain white. What is it? Who is this supposed to be? I have no idea and the only reason why I took the toy with me were its crazy look and the fact that is was for free.

But back to the topic. Toys without stories do not do much for me. Kidrobot and many other companies churn out tons of little boxed blobs of plastic out every year but very seldomly do they (or the designers) ever offer any kind of story. As I said, a story is not necessary but I find the shapes of many toys (and especially platform toys) very repetitive and boring. For me this is the reason why I love the work of Carlos Enriquez Gonzales, Cris Rose, Bob Conge, Matt Doughty and other creatives who care enough to add more than just paint to the surface of figures. Don’t get me wrong, I have bought toys just for the visual appeal but a lot of times knowing a story (one that I couldn’t have thought of myself) makes a sculpture so much more interesting. This is exactly the reason why it is so compelling to collect Ultramen figures, Transformers and other merchandise. Having lived through the adventures of the heroes and villains makes me identify with the toys on completely different level.

Btw, if you click on the image above you will find out the rest about the TV and the coal mining island and its missing inhabitants.