Lily the Zombie Girl Scout

Her cookies sales were the best,

Till one bad cookie led to death.

Placed 6 feet under, laid to rest.

The cause of death had other plans,

A zombie virus meant for man.

The living dead is what remained,

She left the grave in search of braaaains.

To us, Lily represents much more than just another customized toy. She represents our growth as artists not only as individuals, but as a team. She was truly a group effort from beginning to end and pushed Jenn's sculpting skills and my storytelling abilities to a whole new level. Lily is the whole package in terms of creative effort as she comes with a story, supporting graphics, and photographs that bring her to life. Lily is also our first custom vinyl toy to travel to another country. And not only is she traveling across the Atlantic to London, but she's going to the mecca of all toy stores: Kidrobot. She'll be surrounded by dozens of other pieces created by people so talented it's impossible to put into words.

From the minute Sneaky Raccoon asked us to be in her show, this piece changed the way we creatively approach our customs. We really wanted to push ourselves and ultimately feel that our process, as artists, has completely changed because of it. It was an amazing experience from start to finish and with the sculpting complete, we felt that the only way to photograph this piece properly was to take her to our local cemetery. Amidst 100 year old graves, creeping vines, mausoleums, and the autumn leaves, Lily really came to life.

Ultimately, we couldn't be more proud of our work and our ability to perform as a team. We're so excited to be part of Sneaky's show and even more than that, we're thankful for this opportunity.

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

tri-Sarah-tops

I'm not going to lie, as robots we often dream about world domination. Not the kind of domination that we all see in the movies, but rather the kind of domination where you can find one of our pieces on every continent, in every house, and on the shelves of every gallery. Needless to say, with our third show in three weeks, we feel like we have dominated the month of October.

So without further ado, introducing tri-Sarah-tops, our newest piece for This Is Halloween, a custom toy and art show being held at Daddy Kool Records in Saint Petersburg, FL.

Ultimately we are thrilled with how tri-Sarah-tops came out. From concept to finished product she is exactly what we had envisioned.

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Being Sneaky

We are super excited to announce our participation in Sneaky Raccoon's upcoming custom art show at Kidrobot London.

The show appropriately titled "Tales From the Sneaky Crypt" is celebrating Sneaky's 5th anniversary and is packed with phenomenal artists.


We are blown away that Sneaky would give us such an amazing opportunity to help her celebrate and can't wait to share our piece with you.

Check back later for the full reveal. We promise, it's worth the wait!

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Busy Bots

It's hard to describe how insane this past month has been for the Jenn Bot and I. Since the Zeus show and the introduction of Astra and Vega, we have been asked to be part of four additional shows which all take place in October. YIKES! It has been exciting, stressful, and ultimately so much fun creating four unique characters for four amazing shows. And while we would love to spill the beans and show you everything we have, we can currently only share with you two of our newest pieces.

MISSION: MUNNY

On October 1st, another one of our pieces found its way to LIFT Designer Toys and Gallery in Detroit for their MISSION: MUNNY show. The show was benefiting The Art Experience and welcomed any artist of any age to participate.

Being that our only parameter for the show was that we had to use the Munny platform for our piece, we went wild with ideas and then threw everything out the window for an idea that struck us at the very last minute.

The piece affectionately named Baby Betty, was inspired by our current obsession with the TV show Mad Men.

We don't know what we like more about her, the butt flap of the one piece pajamas, the throwback hair style, or the simplicity of her blanket.

Dia de los Muertos/Day of the Dead

Opening a week later in Romeo, Michigan, we were super excited to participate in Heather Hansma's Day of the Dead inspired show at Starkweather Arts Center. The show was easily one of our favorites to date as it pushed us to create in a venue that we have never explored: death.

When we started brainstorming the piece we knew we wanted two things. We wanted to customize a Dunny and we wanted the piece to be a take on the sugar skull, a traditional symbol in Mexican culture.

Needless to say what followed was one of our biggest headaches to date. Our initial idea was a logistical nightmare and perhaps too ambitious for the time constraints that we were faced with. Forced to regroup we visited an idea that we had been tossing around for quite some time: a dead bride.

Thus, our piece was born. Kind of. After four *bleeping* attempts, which were a result of polymer clay baking disasters, our piece appropriately titled "Till Death Do Us Part" left our studio.

In the end, the bride ended up being one of our favorite pieces to date. Plus all the sweat, insanity, and tears made it all the better. For something "dead" we formed quite an attachment to it.

Check back soon as more exciting reveals are coming!

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Astra + Vega

With the Zeus Vinyl Custom Show upon us, we are excited to reveal our newest custom duo: Astra and Vega.

These crime fighting and crime causing doppelgängers were inspired by the toy show's location: a comic book store. Once we learned the location, we were inspired by the nerdy vibe of the shop and wanted to make that feeling tangible through these kick ass girly superheroes.

If you're in the Dallas, TX area this weekend be sure to check out the show. There are quite a few talented artists participating, so it's sure to please!

With currently three more shows in the works for us, be sure to keep an eye out for more toys in the next month.

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Something in the Night

This is a sneak peek of a set of Dunnys we made for an upcoming custom toy show. We're so proud of them and can't wait until we can show them in all their glory!

These guys will be showcased along many talented artists' work in the Zeus Vinyl Custom Show in Dallas, Texas on September 10. If you're in the area be sure to stop by and check it out. From what we've heard, it's going to be one awesome show!

Stay tuned for our full reveal. You won't be disappointed!

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Dunny WIP

They really do exist!

Meth and Hot Dogs 2

Those that follow us closely know that we talk about three things incessantly: robots, vinyl toys, and the array of crazy projects that we are working on. Unfortunately, no matter how badly we want to spill the beans, some of our projects need to stay under wraps until the appropriate time.

With that said, one of the projects we have been most excited about was our participation in our very first gallery show, Meth and Hot Dogs 2: A Collection of Unscrupulous Characters. The show which is curated by one of our friends, Kill Taupe, features an amazing collection of artists from all over the world. Needless to say just to be included amongst our peers and idols is truly humbling and an honor.

And while we felt we belonged, we knew we needed to bring it not only to represent Kill Taupe and his show, but to introduce ourselves on a stage that we had yet to ever be part of. With this in mind, our brainstorming sessions were many and resulted in several different potential directions that we could approach the pieces that we would send to the show. Ultimately, we scrapped everything and in a stroke of genius decided that we wanted to tell a story that literally arced across all of our pieces instead of sending individual pieces that had no true cohesive nature.

So without further ado, we give you our line-up of not only pieces but criminals:

In the end, we are proud of everything that we created and feel that while each piece holds true to our style, they also represent a shift or perhaps a preview of things to come. And for those of you interested we highly suggest you make the trip to LIFT Gallery to check out the show that Kill Taupe has put together. However, if you can't make it to Meth and Hot Dogs 2, you can see the show in its entirety here on Kill's Flickr photostream.

Thanks once again to Kill Taupe and LIFT for putting on such a crazy collection! We're honored to be part of it.

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Happy Earth Day

Ever since Jenn and I started customizing art toys we have long since tossed around the idea of turning one of them into something a bit more functional. In light of this, and with Earth Day approaching, we set out to customize one of our favorite toys into a planter. From day one there was never a doubt that Marshall, created by the amazing 64colors, would be the ideal toy to do this with.

In the end, this piece ultimately was a huge departure from how we typically approach our customs. First and foremost, it marks the very first time that we have turned to acrylics as our medium. And while we prefer working with polymer clay, and stake no claim at being Da Vinci, we were both very pleased at the result and will at times return to the medium to truly grow as artists…just as our plant hopefully will!

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Something Sketchy

Behind the Bots - Bitbots Competition

Back at the end of November, we had the unique opportunity to enter several of our designs into a competition for bitbots, a vinyl toy hailing from the UK. The rules were straight forward, the reward incredible. Simply put, winners would have their designs included in an upcoming series of blind boxed bitbot toys.

Considering everything we do is very character driven and that our ultimate goal is to have our own toy series or be included in one, we jumped at the opportunity to make our mark. In the end, we entered 5 designs out of the 10 we came up with. Below are our entries:

In the end, we lost to some incredibly talented artists. And while we would have loved to be included in the series we are excited at the potential of future work with bitbots.

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Something Sketchy

Behind the Bots - Meth and Hot Dogs 2

We are very excited to announce that for the very first time The Bots will be included in a gallery show this spring.

The show, affectionately named "Meth and Hot Dogs 2" is the brain child of our friend Kill Taupe and will take place at toy haven Lift Designer Toys and Gallery in Royal Oak, Michigan.

The exhibit itself will bring together 39 extremely talented artists that have "an appreciation for the demented, cute, and strange."

As for us, we are currently deep in the planning phase as Kill Taupe has asked us to provide two custom toys and a collection of our handmade sculpts. Everything that we will send to the show will be completely original, never before seen, and will surely live up to the demented, cute, and strange that the show is guaranteeing.

So, keep an eye out during the upcoming weeks for more behind the scenes information as we move out of the planning phase and into design.

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Something Sketchy

Behind the Bots - Dunny WIP

With our first custom Dunny series well under way, Jennifer and I thought we would give you a little sneak peek as to what's to come.

Unfortunately, as I went to take his picture I quickly found out that either this little guy is camera shy or he feels his best side is his backside :P

Keep an eye out for more behind the scenes pics as we continue to work towards our ever looming July release. Perhaps next time we will be a little less cryptic.

For the time being, however, any guesses!?

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot

Toy Tuesday

"Gnome" Rest for the Wicked

Toy: tic toc APOCALYPSE

Website: kidrobot

Something Sketchy

Behind the Bots - On the 1st Day of Christmas...

...my true love gave to me: lots of toys under the tree!

Toy Tuesday

Root, Root, Root for the Kawaii!

Toy: 2TONE DUNNY

Website: kidrobot

Something Sketchy

Behind the Bots - Lifestyles of the Rich and Robotic

The Holidays may be over, but the bots are living large in their recently completed McMansion.

And while the landscaping may be lavish, it is the outhouse that will literally blow you away.

beep! boop! bop!

Jenn and Tony Bot