Indulge Your Naughty Inner Child at Rotofugi
I adore this store. I'll just come out and say it. I recently discovered the phenomenon of Dunny Azteca (www.kidrobot.com/) at a Rotofugi party and have been hooked ever since on collectible, limited edition toys. This store carries all kinds of these toys, and they're totally addictive.
So what, exactly, is Rotofugi all about? What are these toys, and what's so great about them? They're irreverent, quirky and supercute (and NOT for children, by the way). Many of them are Japanese-inspired. It's like trading cards. When you buy a box (or a case), they often come "blind"--you don't know what's in them, or if you've gotten a valuable toy or not. You trade with friends, you collect ‘em all, you get excited when you get one of the mystery designs, you spend a lot of money at Rotofugi.
And you have to see these toys to believe them. My personal favorites include Tokidoki LLC's Moofia, a series of milk carton-shaped cows, and Kidrobot's Labbits, a series of tiny rabbit figurines who engage in bondage and cigarette-smoking. I also like Kidrobot's Gloomy Bears and I own the cutest part cactus, part girl, part dog figurine called Polpettina (means "little meatball" in Italian) from Tokidoki (at www.tokidoki.it/) and STRANGEco.
Rotofugi features all of these toys and more, including figures based on tofu, ninjas and the Gorillaz. There are do-it-yourself glow-in-the-dark Munnys, Gloomy Bear keychains, pins, even stuffed, er, animals. All right, they're not really animals. For example, you can get plush pork dumplings. You'll also find cigarette-smoking ice cream cones (Smorkin' Mongers) and of course the Dunny Aztecas, a series of upright bunny-shaped figures that have been designed by the hottest names in Mexican art, fashion, graphic design and industrial design.
The store is small and well-organized. Every shelf amazes with its intriguing collection, and a table in the center of the room allows for opening boxes (in case you can't wait to see what you got) and trading. There's a gallery next door featuring original artwork that's much like the toys and possibly inspired by them. During an event I attended, a lot of trading went on in the gallery because the store was totally packed with shoppers. A Dunny figurine in a blind box goes for $5.95; you can buy a case of 25 for about $140. Other toys range from the single digits in price to hundreds of dollars. It's easy for the purchases to deplete your wallet without your even realizing it.
Rotofugi Designer Toy Store & Gallery is located at 1953-55 W. Chicago Ave. Since I've only listed a small fraction of the kinds of toys they've got here, you must visit their Web site at http://rotofugi.com/ to see more. Then go to the store and start collecting!
