The Bearbrick series

Medicom is a Japanese company specializing in the creation of figurines and derivatives. They develop many emblematic international licenses (from Starwars to Rolling Stones), collaborations with artist foundations like Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat or Jackson Pollock… and quickly became the storage Brands iconic such as supreme, nike or pepsi.

Medicom was created in 1996 by Tatsuhiko Akashi while working in computer science. Quickly, he created a figurine called the Kubrick, in the form of Lego and in tribute to Stanley Kubrick.

It is such a success that the organizers of the World Character Convention of Tokyo request Akashi to design "Toys "As early as 2001. There followed a multitude of requests and faced with the impossibility of responding to them, Akashi decides to create a single articulated model which, like a canvas, will serve as support for the different creations.

He then decides to put a bear on the head of the Kubrick - the teddy bear celebrated his 100th anniversary in this year 2001 - and this is how the Be@rbrick was born! The first series was released in August 2001 and the very first collaboration, with the HMV recorder of Tokyo, was released a month later.

Made from ABS plastic, the Be@rbrick has a unique form, only sound Design changes according to projects, whether it be projects of artists, companies or Brands.

There are different sizes of Be@Rbrick, represented by percentages. THE Be@rbrick Basic measures 70mm is 100%, but it exists in other formats: 50%(keychain), 200%, 400%and 1000%. The 400 and 1000% are the parts of choice.

THE BEARBRICK are represented in the form of series, 2 per year: The summer collection and the winter collection. All editions of BEARBRICK are limited, it is rare that they are re-edited. Each series has 4 different types of designs: Basic, artist, secret and standard. In the standard, there are recurring themes like the Jellybean, the Pattern, the Flag, the Horror, the SF, the Cite, the Animal and the Hero.

Each 100% series includes several figurines in different themes (but taken up in each series). In addition to the "basics", which are uni-color figures on which one of the letters of Be@rbrick (nine figures placed side by side form the brand), original models are created by contemporary artists and designers, which collaborate with Medicom.

All series are sold in blind boxes, so that the happy buyers cannot know what they get only at the opening of the box. Each box contains a figurine, which means that it is quite difficult to collect a complete collection. This partly explains the fascination and success of BEARBRICK. The boxes are presented in a display containing 24 boxes.

The first series dates from 2001 and now remains as a collection more than collector!

The first artist put in the spotlight is other than Hiroto Komoto, Japanese rock singer who managed The High-All group! (the penultimate)

With uniform figurines, we can then recreate the word "BEARBRICK" !

Released exclusively in Designercon, this set BEARBRICK limited edition includes five 100 % BEARBRICK of five different artists: Steven Harrington, Tristan Eaton, Luke Chueh, Joe Ledbetter, AndKano.

This year, we had the right to a 44 series At the top with known licenses like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, Squid Game, Stranger Things, Magnet, Yamiken, Czarface or James Bond.

Finally, let's move on to 45 series, the one that is so long in coming and should be available at Artoyz this week!

Let's discover the most detail!

Basic:

We no longer present it! This "basic" adorns the famous B, first letter from BEARBRICK. Its simplicity makes its charm and it will be even better next to its other 8 similar!

Jelly Bean:

here is the BEARBRICK Perfect for the most greedy of us, with this mountain of very sweet vouchers!

Pattern:

Discover here a lush jungle, with this predominant green which is synonymous with safety. Will it wake up your soul of an explorer?

FLAG:

Scotland, northern nation in the United Kingdom which includes mountainous wild regions such as cairngorms and Northwest Highlands, interspersed with glacial glens (valleys) and lochs (lakes). It is there that we find the famous monster of Loch Ness!

Horror:

Emily The Strange, a little Gothic girl known to be particularly rebellious and strange. Before having his own comics, the character was created to appear on t-shirts and other clothes by his creator Rob Reger.

SF:

The C-Rex, a race of extraterrestrial conquerors, decide to invade the earth to seize its resources. The vigilantes of the space commanded by Professor Kom send on earth X-OR, in order to defend the earth.

Cute:

Rilakkuma is a character of plush bear, who is one of the many characters created by the Japanese San-X company. He was invented in 2003 by the designer Aki Kondo.Its name comes from the combination of the English word “relaxed” to pronounce in Japanese and the word “kuma” which means teddy bear.

Animal :

Baby Puss is Fred and Wilma Fllingstone's saber cat. Although rarely present in the original work, it still remains as one of the iconic characters of Hanna Barbera.

Hero:

Black Adam is one of the heroes of DC Comics created in 1945 by Otto Binder and C. C. Beck as an evil version of the Shazam superhero. Her personality has evolved over the years and today she oscillates between good and evil. We find him in a new 2022 film, in which Dwayne Johnson is headlining.

Artist:

Thomas Billington, born December 5, 1958 in Golborne and died on December 5, 2018 in Ince-In-Makerfield, better known as the Ring of Dynamite Kid, is a British wrestler.He was the main rival of Tiger Mask in Japan !