Prometheus Rising Studios   Ben Mininberg's models, toy customs, and design work.

It’s super last minute, but I managed to squeak a little painting in, and will have the first set of version 2 Escherichia killers with me at NYCC on Saturday!  Along with a much cleaner and more consistent mold, E.killer v2 introduces a new feature to the Killer Culture line.  Killer Culture is now magnetic!  Using rare earth magnets allows for much more durable and consistent articulation, as well as some interesting possibilities down the line.

Reviews of the first E.killer also pointed out that the base was something of a weak spot in the original tooling.  I agreed, and made a major revision to the base part, and the figures now have a nice, bold, and simple logo, which I’m really happy with.

Figures will be $35, and I will be carrying them around with me on Saturday.  I’ll be around the Onell booth many times during the day, as that’s where some of the coolest artists will be!  I got a taste of what Onell is bringing to the show last night, and it is not to be missed.

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The Bureaucratic Agency for Killer Culture Tracking, Analysis, Countering, and Killing (BAKCTRACK) received a partially scrambled transmission from a Joint Killer Culture Defense Force (JKCDF) task force in the field.  From what was recoverable, the JKCDF team responded to a distress call from a local microbial research laboratory.  The following image was received from the recon unit before the signal was scrambled.  BAKCTRACK scientists are analyzing the photo to determine the nature of this unknown monster, but it is clearly some new form of macrocellular menace.  Unfortunately, when JKCDF reinforcements arrived, the lab was burned to the ground with no survivors.  It appears the recon team initiated Class 9 containment protocols, which are only used in the worst contamination events.  Something clearly went wrong during the purge, however, and the recon team was overwhelmed.  Further investigation into this photo by BAKCTRACK experts will hopefully give us some insight into what new threat we are facing.  One thing we do know is that this new creature appears to be wielding something not of biological origin.  It appears the Killer Cultures are evolving, which can only be cause for concern.

I was greeted on Facebook with this fantastic surprise, a piece of painted E.killer fan-art by none other than my friend and digi-boss Josh Bernard, owner of CollectionDX.  You can check out more of Josh’s art on Quibx Blog.  Josh has an awesome metal album-art style with heavy black inking and a dark sensibility, and it really brings the E.killer to life!  Click the image for the full-size… it’s unreal.

Phil Reed have talked quite a bit about toys since I noticed his posting a link to my site a while back on his site, Battlegrip.com.  I sent Phil one of the first E.killers as a thank you for all of his help and advice from his experience with sculpting and casting resin toys, and he was nice enough to post a review.  Check it out here.  I’ll forgive Phil this one time for thinking it’s a plant monster, since it IS green. 😉  Check out Phil’s other awesome reviews and Spotted Online features; he’s really in touch with a good slice of the DIY toy community and keeps tabs on a number of artists and sites.  When you’re done checking out Battlegrip, come back here and pick up an E.killer for yourself!