ThreeZero PopFuzz Glow in the Dark The Robot ThreeZero, 2019
Day #2,077: March 26, 2019
Glow in the Dark The Robot Direct from Brooklyn
ThreeZero PopFuzz
Item No.: No. n/a Manufacturer:ThreeZero Includes:n/a Action Feature:Glows in the dark Retail:$29.99 Availability:2006 Other:Glow limited to 350. Available in Silver, Blank Black, Blank White
For the last few years, I make a trip to Brooklyn during New York Toy Fair. It's weirdly quiet at night - the streets are usually pretty empty and it's cold. I hop in a number of record stores, including PopFuzz - a toy shop with video games, toys, DVDs, records, and things I wish to see. They worked with ThreeZero to make a mascot toy, and this year I bought their Glow in the Dark The Robot. I saw the silver one in previous years and thought it was pretty neat - but I'm trying to cut down on extraneous purchases. Because it glowed, the 8-inch vinyl toy seemed like a viable purchase.
Dating back to 2006, this figure came about when Urban Vinyl was new to the mainstream press, warranting newspaper articles about how they were the next big thing - despite the fact runs were very low and nobody you personally knew owned one. They were charming, clever, weird, fun, arty, and unique - much like this fellow. He sems like an old robot, hand-drawn in some kid's notebook pages. Big teeth, boxy eyes, tentacular arms, and various panel lines bring it to life as sort of a freak creation. A lot of really cool figures came out back then, some of which - like this one - sadly didn't sell through. It's a nice chunk of vinyl for the asking price.
The PopFuzz robot has joints at the neck and hips, all of which swivel horizontally. The arms are unlike anything I've seen - swivel wrists, with ball-jointed shoulders and a wire hanger-style armature in flexible limbs. When you push one arm down, the other follows - you can bend the wire if you like, but I prefer not to. You will need to adjust the arms a bit to find the sweet spot for its center of gravity, otherwise he'll fall over.
While I was checking out, the owner was telling me about how the designer was really adamant that this figure glow brightly and for a long time. I can confirm that it does. I could see it in my hotel room when I woke up in the middle of the night, repeatedly, because apparently I am cursed to not sleep through a single night when I'm in a hotel room. With proper "charging," this thing really shines. After adding it to my glow-in-the-dark toy closet, I noticed he and the sofubi Colossus Rex light it up enough where I can make out a lot of the shelves and furniture - it's not brightly lit, but it's different from being in a dark room with glowing green figures everywhere. Now I can see the room. The arms are a little weak in terms of glow, but the robot's hands, head, body, and legs shine brightly.
I assume this figure was made because the owner loves toys and had a great idea - and it's one that stuck around for a while. If you're in Brooklyn you should stop in PopFuzz, and you might see some of these guys there. The box is sturdy, the design is cool, but it has signs of age. The clear wire twist ties are absorbing black paint from the arms, and there's a vinyl odor which may or may not be normal. It's charming enough that I'm glad to have it, it does not disappoint.
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