Independent toymakers will once again spill their guts about the ups and downs of turning characters into toys, featuring an awesome array of great minds in the designer toy universe. If you’re coming to Comic Con International in San Diego next month, don’t miss this awesome chance to learn all about making custom toys!

Thursday, July 12 – 6:30-7:30 pm Independent Toymaker Roundtable: Turning Characters into Toys— Indie toymakers spill their secrets on how to successfully create and market awesome plush and vinyl toys. Learn from toy world luminaries Nitin Bhargava (Kidrobot), Shawn Smith(Shawnimals), Dan Goodsell (Mr. Toast), Kerry Horvath and Darth Rimmer (Evil Ice Cream), Dov Kelemer (DKE Toys), Joshua Ben Longo (Longoland), and Kris Schantz (Happy Worker), moderated by Wendy Bryan (I Heart Guts). Turn your sketches into something you can hold. Room 4

Plush toast, mean ice cream, handmade monsters and furry internal organs — these aren’t your baby’s stuffed animals. Veteran independent toymakers spill their secrets on how to successfully create and market awesome plush and vinyl toys. Turn your sketches into something you can squeeze! Learn from the folks at Kidrobot, Shawnimals, Mr. Toast, Evil Ice Cream, DKE Toys, I Heart Guts, Longoland and Happy Worker. The panel is Thursday, July 12th 6:30PM – 7:30PM Room 4 at San Diego Comic Con.

Panelists Include:
+ Nitin Bhargava, the director of merchandising at Kidrobot, which creates collectible toys in collaboration with the world’s best pop culture artists.
+ Shawn Smith of Shawnimals, the character design studio behind adorable plush ninjas, huggable moustaches and 400+ other fuzzy friends.
+ Dan Goodsell, creator of the lovable breakfast characters who populate The World of Mr.Toast.
+ Kerry Horvath and Darth Rimmer are the cold creamy center of Evil Ice Cream, those diabolical frozen treats.
+ Dov Kelemer of DKE Toys, distributors of the world’s finest collectible vinyl toys, and the brains behind the Vader Project and Spoonful of Star Wars.
+ Joshua Ben Longo of Longoland gives life to bizarre plush monsters with a sewing machine.
+ Kris Schantz, a co-founder of Happy Worker, a specialty toy and gift manufacturer, will discuss how to turn your ideas into toys.
+ Moderated by Wendy Bryan of I Heart Guts, home to plush internal organs.

Hope to see you there!

Since EMTs sometimes call motorcyclists “organ donors”, so the folks at Death Spray Custom have taken this to heart and made a custom organ-themed motorcycle suit for those gutsy riders out there. {via Monster Eats Design. Thanks, Laura!}

Found these old friends in a box in the basement, the handmade felt organ prototypes I made with my mom around 2006. You can tell they’ve been well-loved, they’re super ratty looking. We’ve had some fun times with these guts, check out all the places we took them here.

The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, has a great new window display featuring I Heart Guts and Giant Microbes in one big fun orgiastic pile, check it out!