Yes, it does. But as I said he rarely impresses me. that Gargadeath IS stunning, there's another peice he did I really really liked, so great, thats 2. But there's stuff that other customisers do that routinely blows me away. I don't resent him, I don;t get the sense that anyone resents him. The term "resent" implies jealousy, and I for one, am not jealous. I'm just not impressed. I wasn't impressed by the frankenBxH, it's pink, great, you managed to revert the toy back to it's original influence. Good on ya. The Gargadeath took it to another level. If he did that more often I would change my tune. But for the most part it's "Make it shiney, and draw some lines" woo! I'd rather see any number of people have a go at a toy than see more of the same. I don't mean to be harsh or judgemental or opinionated (that all comes naturally ) but I think you (in the royal sense) get strong reactions because posts like this applaud Dead Prez as some kind of breath of fresh air or what have you, and there's those of us who don;t see it like that. And "who am I to argue?" I'm part of the buying public and I'm also allowed my opinion. I have no doubt that the people who own these love these and are blown away. But in my very humble opinion... meh... and I don't understand the excitement. But then I don't get Itokin at all, so...
I agree with you Keith on several points. Particularly on DP's low board participation and the percieved staleness of many of his typical metallic/ pinstriped pieces. Hell, he admittedly was painting and pinstriping toilet seats just a few months ago, and was paid handsomely for it. Though, I can also see that Matt has been hustling (in a good way) to get a large variety of product out and seems to be very coachable in bringing boardmember's commision ideas to fruition. I liken him to a good cinematographer who shows great skill in bringing a director's vision to the screen. Christopher Doyle, who DP'd for Wong Kar Wai on many of his great films, likens himself to a whore who is willing to do whatever it is the director asks of him to do. Matt has great skill, no doubt, and is showing great improvement whith each set of pieces he completes. I also have to state that Matt asked that we not buy from him when he first showed us his customs while near the Gargamel booth, and moved us over to where he was having his signing later that afternoon. I think the excitement of fellow sb'ers took precedence over manners though, espescially near the pushead event later. However, Matt did again mention at that time that he did not feel comfortable selling there. Anyhow, I'm glad I snagged that Gargadeath, and am happy to report that he is still hanging out in my display case where he belongs.
I think Backtrack said what I meant to say, but more tactfully... I guess I'm currently entrenched in the "not impressed" camp... but if he were to break away from the "canned process" pieces that we've seen too much of already, and showed some more variety in styles and made an effort to be part of the community, I would be more than willing to change my opinion. For the record, I'm sure he's a nice guy... enough people have said that that I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I'm still not convinced that he's coating Japanese vinyl for any other reason than that it's hot right now. I really haven't seen him post anything on this board to really convince me otherwise.
Differences of opinion are what makes forums and boards lively and entertaining. Please however make an effort to not cross the line into personal attacks. And just for the record, I'm sure if the S7 staff saw something at the con they didn't like they'd have taken care of it, and certainly not by inviting the person in question to participate in the next custom show under consideration. If anyone is convinced otherwise please take it up w/ S7 directly. You all know what's appropriate to air out in a public forum and what is not. Play nice. Thank you.
Well, that's the thing... S7 was SO overwhelmed trying to herd everyone around for the Pushead event, I'm not sure they would've been able to do much even if they did notice it. DP pulled a garbage can into the center of the aisle to propped up his display case to show off his customs - literally, kitty-corner to the front of the booth so the people in line would see them. All the subtlety of a scalper at the Superbowl. And if he did get invited to a customs show at S7, I'm disappointed. Seems like all the wrong behaviors are being rewarded in this case. It won't be a show I will attend.
Also I believe its been made clear in several quarters that the selling of unauthorized Chaos customs is not condoned behavior - even if it is a Philips auction. --> http://www.phillipsdepury.com/auctions/ ... &lotnum=94
I've contacted Matt and asked him to have that pulled. There is no defense of customs being painted and sold without permission of the creators. I don't think that could be stated enough.
Then please speak to him about this one as well: http://www.phillipsdepury.com/auctions/ ... &lotnum=91
Matt didn't pull the garbage can to the center of the aisle. It was already there. He also did not prop up his display case, a few of us asked if we could see them. Keith, you were in line, you don't really know how it all went down. He never once mentioned a price unless someone asked him. There was S7 staff near by, and if they saw anything wrong, they would have said something. You want to point fingers at someone, I'll take the blame. I saw Matt and asked him if he brought anything with him. He said yes and asked if I wanted to see them...then I said yes. The recycling can was close enough and had a flat enough surface so that's where we ended up. Did you even remember that it was a recycling can and not a garbage can?
I know it was one of the green bins with a lid on it. Garbage bin/recycling bin - semantics. Regardless... the proper thing to do would've been for him to say "not here, not now".
I don't remember what type of can it was but I was hoping Carl would drop his unpainted croc in the hole so that I can scoop it up.
It was a blue recycling bin, and a bunch of us were leaning on it, just taking five. I was the one that actually asked him to see his stuff, and he actually DID say, "no, I don't think its a good idea.." and the three of us standing there said, "fuck it, c'mon lets see what you've brought....". And he reluctantly pulled some stuff out. I am still not terribly impressed with the majority of his stuff, and told him that face to face. He was extremely receptive to criticism, and didn't I FART A LOT, or wince a bit, and we really laid into him. Most of the pieces he brought were "the ususal" and I personally don't care for the pinstriping stuff, to me that's Cronic's trademark, and shouldn't be mimic'd. I even gave him more shit over the "kaiju industry" crack in an earlier post..... That being said, there was no denying that the "black hole" Damaged Brain figure that had this 3D outerspace thing happening, along with the Gargadeath that Stealth bought, were gorgeous. Ironically, these pieces had the least amount of pinstriping. I'm not going to tell anyone how they should feel about Matt's work, or his sale of his customs on the board, but I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more of his stuff, to see if his style continues to give something extraordinary to some of these figures...
I picture Sunguts Honpo waking up in a cold sweat realizing he should have had the Betaseijin coated in metalflake auto paint right from the get go. Thankfully since there isn't anyone capable of applying metallic flake auto paint in Japan, Matt Walker was available...
yes, he acted the same way in front of the Gargamel booth. He told me he didn't want to interupt traffic for Gargamel. He even asked Kiyoka if it was ok to show his customs near the booth. When Kiyoka and Koji saw his Gargamel customs, it appeared that they really liked them. but who knows, maybe they were just being polite...! and perhaps Jason was being polite too when I showed him Matt's gold/orange Desura which was pin-striped to the hilt. I think you said something along the lines, that it "unbelievably amazing....to see it in person changes everything..."
Yes, as suspected, the colors on his pieces are insane in hand, and the effect of the paints he uses are completely lost in pictures. That being said, there is alot of his work which is just nicely painted plastic, where the character and sculpt of the creator are completely lost, no resemblence remotely to Patchi Kaiju's soul......which is what I believe most find so objectionable, myself included. But there is no denying that on a couple of figures, Matt is restraining himself in terms of his paint effects, and getting more interesting results, accentuating the characters and sculpts, which is where he needs to keep all of this going IMHO. The paint should never speak louder than a figure's form and base vinyl color....
Obviously customs are a huge grey area, but the thing that strikes me is that I don't know of anyone else here that is a "kaiju customizer" specifically. All the folks I know of that make customs are collectors first, and customize in addition to collecting. DP is the only one I know of that is first and foremost a kaiju customizer. Part of me thinks that if you don't collect these toys, you shouldn't be customizing them. I'm not about to say DP's customs suck since there's no accounting for taste and supposedly you haven't experienced them unless you've seen them first hand...but when somebody is painting kaiju (regularly mind you, so if they aren't mass-produced blanks or "solids" then there's a problem in itself) but not into kaiju enough to be collecting them, that's kind of lame or even opportunistic. Maybe he's a great guy, I wouldn't know since his only presence here is posting works in progress. I doubt people would be so irked if he had a real identity here, but he doesn't so it's makes him an "outsider", for lack of a better word. I do like that Gargadeath though, which is the first piece of his that seemed like something other than going through the motions.
So let's see some collection pics MF ! Or even just a Celga stash he just picked up??? I have to agree, it would be cool to see the fanboy side of DP !
Matt should visit here and tell his side of the story. This is an interesting discussion, but it's sort of empty without the man in question present. Does he collect kaiju? All I've seen so far are fight figures...
Yes! Ive done many an event ... paid to be in the event. Its just very rude to sell your stuff in a venue where everyone else paid for the rights to sell there. Not here not now for sure. But congrats to him for the collab.
