A year ago, I came across a toy customizer who was selling off blind custom toys for $25. Having grown tired of Dunnys, but still to poor to commission custom art, I took him up on the offer. What I got was a 3″ Qee that looked like it was plastered with asphalt. Simple yet effective, the Qee is still one of the highlights of my custom collection. Soon after, Brandon “Manimal” Usher began offering mystery boxes for sale—surprise packages teeming with vinyl goodness. The boxes sold out instantly on the local toy boards, and established Manimal’s name as an all around cool dude in the vinyl scene. Recently, Manimal has stepped up his game, taking on customizing Kaiju (a platform I have long despised), and redesigning classic and modern pieces with an airbrush and an artistic imagination. Life In A Bungalo caught up with Manimal as he was gearing up for another round of Kaiju customs.

What inspired you to work with airbrushing?

I remember reading a few posts on the Kid Robot boards about Japanese vinyl toys. I always thought that those toys were weird—nothing really “clicked” with me so I passed over the few threads that were about them, paying then no attention, but I did remember a website that was spoken about—www.skullbrain.org. So my curiosity grabbed ahold and I surfed over to peep this site.

I arrived and found it to be a very primitive messageboard setup—nothing flashy at all. I figured , yep—just as I expected—its seemed to be an uber elite group of “super” toy geeks much worse off than myself and in too deep obsessing over these fugly weird creature toys. I decided to stay for a few minutes and check out the American Idols section because I didn’t think there was any USA action to be seen within this seemingly all Japanese toy scene.

First name I hit upon is Kozik and I ask myself “What the heck is he even mentioned in here for?” I read and read—discovering that he has a healthy interest in this stuff and produces his own toys on this side of the toy scene as well. Color me a bit happy after finding this out—I jump on over to the Customs Section. I’m interested to see just how the hell people are customizing these toys—most being specific, defined monsters…much much different from the blank DIY platform toys Im used to viewing as customized works as well as painting myself.

Holy shit does this custom section hit me like a ton of bricks.

These are the most beautiful toy customs I have ever seen—they strike a chord in me like no other custom toys…and I have seen a lot of customs from all over. I dug deeper to find a handful of people airbrushing these toys—such beautiful work. I messaged them all behind the scenes to ask all the dumb questions I needed to have answered. After a week of research I bought an airbrush and began working on what became the most fun I have ever had customizing toys since I started last year. The transition from hand painting to airbrushing is a challenge—it’s a whole new piece of equipment. It’s not like changing from painting with oils to watercolor—where you would normally have to experiment with how the paint differs.

What is your favorite platform to work on and why?
Hands down, any day of the week - it’s gotta be QEE.

Raymond Choy is a genius who produces the highest quality blank DIY platform toys on this planet. The Qee come in a wide variety of head styles while still using the exact same body on each toy which I feel gives you enough variety but also some stable balance.

Your most recent work has been with transparent Kaiju figures. How do you think differently about the toy when you are tackling a subject that is actually see-through?
I want to tell everyone—see-thru transparent Kaiju toys are the best thing going. Many a day was spent, as a kid, chewing on gummy bears and worms and any other squishy gummy candy. I wasn’t a chocolate spaz like the rest of my buddies. These clear Kaiju toys are as gummy as the candy…almost. The vinyl used to create these is the most appealing thing. Just holding the toys and playing with them, moving the parts and posing them—they are just so damn fun to touch. It sounds weird—I even thought it to be weird reading others post about this—but once you get a few and check them out you realize how great quality vinyl is. They makes me feel like a 9 year old in a candy store dropping dollars on penny candy.

When I customize Kaiju. I open up and think in more of a grand abstract way. I look at the toy, locate the key points, then decide where lights and darks will go. Picking colors is very important in anything, but It seems to be so much more crucial when I do clear toys—making sure it all blends but still remains glass-like when I’m finished. I do mix opaque/transparent paints on customs, but I like to leave 90% of the toy see-thru . I have many displayed on rotating lighted stands, some have disco lights pumping through them from underneath. Others just sit in my recessed window boxes. I like light coming through all my customs and I make sure, when beginning a custom, to visualize its finished state and how the light will ultimately work in and through the piece.

What inspired your asphalt figures, and how did you actually go about making them?
My main inspiration for creating that Stone Gold Killers Qee series was skateboarding. Having skated through a few decades, I have seen a lot of asphalt. As far as how they were created, that is a secret locked away in my toy lab, and you don’t have the key.

If you had to make an About Me section on your Web site, what would you write?
I’d have to say that I’m am a child at heart. I’m finding it difficult to grow up. I still play videogames more than I do housework. I eat candy like a kid in junior high. I play with toys. I make loud noises. I’m a manimal.