I find it more interesting that Taco Bell is cashing in on the vinyl culture thing than anything else. There's so much blind box vinyl out there I guess I feel like the styles are all borrowing from one another.

Reply

Holy Crap! Actually a guy by the name of Tom Tretter is the creative guy behind the looks of these figures. How do I know this? I used to work with the guy and he actually contacted me for possible freelance working on this project. Mikko is his boss and the 2 of them are kind of like a double threat when it comes to creative QSR promotions. I got to give Tom a call... I had to give some props for my man Tom! He's an amazing talent! I almost think it's a waste for him to be doing kids meal toys. The guy should be working for Stephen Spielberg or some kind of giant toy company... What ever floats his boat.
This is trippy stumbling across this!

Danny Boy

Reply

$.39 taco Sundays, Mtn Dew Baja Blast on tap, and now Bellhedz? I'm making a run for the border this weekend.

Reply

I know Tom Tretter too... He's a dick. But I like the Bell heads

Reply

P.S. I THINK THE UV DIE HARDS WILL BE HAVING A HEART ATTACK. SO FREAKIN COOL! BITCHY BITCHES!

Reply

My GF Tangi will Love this. Love it. Thanks for the post. Doubt I would've found out otherwise.

Reply

I have the screen capture of the missing blog entry.

http://toysetc.livejournal.com/28431.html

Reply

If anyone on here knew the way QSR promotions work this is a big deal. I truly understand the way some might feel about this imitating designer toys but as a promotional toy this is brilliant. The guys being mentioned in the blogs on the net (Mikko Meronen and Tom Tretter) Are extremely talented guys. I worked with one of them and I know the work of the other. Yeah they borrowed heavily from Kid Robot but from what I can see they did their homework avoiding legal issues. I work for a competitive agency of Strottman and we are all very jealous that we didn't try this ourselves! They did this right because everyone is comparing this to Kid Robot. If it looked like anything else it would of fallen through the cracks. EMAK worldwide made a huge mistake letting Mikko Meronen go! In this little indusrty we work in he is as good as you get. And Tom, That guy could be working for any major studio and his affinity for toys keeps him in the promotions realm. Yeah I'm a little biased to these guys but if you only knew how this industry works you might understand a little.
Burger King should be strangling their creative team!
Great job Tom and Mikko!
Strottman hit the goldmine hiring the two of you!

Reply

I actually think this is kind of cool.
I would buy one.

I think it's kind of dumb for KidRobot to be so up in arms about this. Its very obvious that the people behind the project were inspired by them. And if something like this gets my little brother into designer toys, i'll be happy about it.
Is KR just scared that their stranglehold on designer toys might be loosening?

Reply

I think KR may actually see a big opportunity here. If I was in their shoes, I'd see this as a chance at mainstream exposure of a type money can't buy.

Stir the pot, act outraged, create a conflict with Taco Bell, and get it in the mainstream news where people will eat it up. Namely, people who've never heard of Kidrobot, or the designer vinyl concept in general.

I mean, they saw it fit to give away 1000 Dunny vinyls just to create this kerfuffle. I'd be surprised if legitimate outrage is behind that decision. Taco Bell's promotion can bring designer vinyl to the attention of demographics KR hasn't really broken into yet - that alone is great for business. But leveraging that into main stream exposure in big media outlets? That's gotta be irresistible.

-GV

Reply