So, maybe it’s been chilly at times in some parts of the country, but we can all agree that this winter has been down balmy. Even in Fargo, ND, the country’s coldest city, the high today is a downright blistering 32º. That’s like 67º to those people. Needless to say, this winter has been more than just weird, it’s been virtually non-existent.
Now, no one wants to cast dispersions on quaint traditions, but when that ‘prognosticator of prognosticators’, the groundhog, declared this morning that we’ve got six long weeks of winter ahead of us, you have to have your doubts.
We at Mimoco predict 6 more weeks of spring and then full blown autumn for about 2 mos. That will be followed directly by a real winter which will likely last for 4mos., only to suddenly thaw to a blistering summer that will last upwards of 4 years. After that, leave it to the large squirrel to tell us our fates…
It’s always surprising how awesome this movie is. It’s eminently rewatchable. Top 15 of all time? yes, that’s a serious question…
What’s the connection between personal data storage, cutting edge design and pop-culture characters, and the building blocks of our Universe? The brand-new Einstein MIMOBOT! Hey, it’s ALL relative, baby!
Einstein MIMOBOT will be unveiled at the Macworld MIMObooth #1036 and is available at mimoco.com, and in select stores. With capacities of up to 64GB of storage and preloaded with exclusive bonus Mimory™ and the MimoDesk™ personalization suite of Einstein-themed wallpapers, icons, and avatars, the Einstein MIMOBOT is the first in the “Legends of MIMOBOT Series”, celebrating iconic figures from history.
All us Star Wars fans understand that not everything can be perfect. In our hyper-detailed analyzation of all things born from Lucas-mind, we’ve noticed a few inconsistencies, a few moments of cheese, a few non-sequitors. We know that, in order for a story to be moving, entertaining, and engaging enough to create a veritable cult of fans galaxy-wide, there have to be a few holes…
The folks at “How It Should Have Ended” have a pretty funny spin on how they should’ve filled them in the original episodes of the Star Wars Series:
Episode IV: A New Hope
Fair enough… why didn’t the Deathstar just blow Yavin IV to Alderaan-sized pieces?
Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
This is the best one: A father’s joy…
Episode VI: Return of The Jedi
Good opener, tho I doubt a thermodetonator would take out a single room leaving a frozen carbonite wall decoration completely unharmed and not simply blow Jabba’s palace to smithereens. What is great, however, is the bit about Vader’s acceptance of having children and not taking the Emperor to task about the whole, ‘killing Padme’ bit…
We love all things SXSW. We love all things interactive, social, and media. We love beer, especially when it comes from our beloved hometown brewer, Sam Adams. So, yeah… this is AWESOME:
Sam Adams is collaborating w/ social-media guru Guy Kawasaki on the “Crowd Craft Project”, where the legendary brewer opens up it’s Willy Wonka gates to all it’s followers on Facebook to create a special beer available only in select Austin, TX bars during SXSW.
Install this Facebook App and YOU help decide the color, clarity and malt/hops/yeast proportions. Awesome.
Beer Nerds – grab your racking tubes, your siphon hoses and your degassers! Get your hands dirty with one of America’s (and Boston’s!) most beloved brewers and join Mimoco at SXSW Interactive this year down in Austin, TX for a pint. Yes.
2012 is going to be huge. Mimoco has been the home of the MIMOBOT designer USB flash drive, the first character-based memory stick, for over 6 years now. We were the first to bring character design to personal tech, and our product lines have included awesome fan favorite licensed characters and designs by world famous artists alike.
Now, Mimoco, Inc. is thrilled to unveil a brand-new product line of fashionable personal data storage devices called MIMOMICRO™. The MIMOMICRO product line is a smaller, more versatile device and demonstrates the evolution of the MIMOBOT collection. Not only can MIMOMICRO be used as a USB flash drive with removable microSD memory cards, but it also functions as a microSD card reader to transport data between mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, digital cameras, and mp3 players to your computer. It makes sharing your data with the world that much faster and easier.
MIMOMICRO boasts fully 3D sculpted characters and vehicles and features a cap-free design with flip-out USB plug, a built-in keychain, and LED indicator light. Mimoco is introducing this exciting new line of personal tech devices at CES 2012 with brand-new Star Wars™ and DC Comics™ products. MIMOMICRO will be available in select retail stores and online at mimoco.com in March 2012. Yes. 2012 is a great time to Refresh Your Memory!
“Mimoco, renowned makers of the MIMOBOT® line of character-based designer USB flash drives, has unveiled a new product line of fashionable personal data storage devices called MIMOMICRO™. The MIMOMICRO™ product line can best be described as a smaller, more versatile evolution of the MIMOBOT® collection. Not only can MIMOMICRO™ be used as a USB flash drive with interchangeable microSD memory cards, but it also functions as a microSD card reader to transport data between mobile phones, tablets, e-readers, digital cameras, and mp3 players to one’s computer.” Read More >
2011 had a lot of ups and downs for everyone, but we’re excited about all that 2012 has to offer. May the New Year be bright for you, we’re so excited for everything it holds in store!
Check back with us soon, SO MUCH happening here at Mimoco in 2012!
O! Holiday Jolly-day time! Everyone at Mimoco has been working as hard as Santa’s elves to get all the holiday shipments out and we needed an opportunity to relax and let loose. So, here now for your viewing enjoyment:
A Very Merry Teamoco Holiday Party!!!
It all starts with the exchanging of gifts!
Then… add a little bit of Santa’s Medicine into the mix:
Add a dash of friendly sport:
End in states of Agony:
And Ecstasy:
Everyone here at Mimoco Wishes You a Very Happy Holidays!!!
It’s been a huge year for our longtime friend and favorite cockroach, instigator, and punk toy maker, The Super Sucklord. He released several new series of toys, masterminded episodes of performance art, appeared at galleries and Conventions and, oh yeah, became the break-out star on Bravo’s hit reality series, “Work of Art”… not a bad year for an artist who “sucks”…
The Super Sucklord Spinning at the Mimoco booth at NY Comic Con
We connected with the Super Sucklord to get his sense of all that’s happened over the last year, and what lies in store for 2012:
2011 was a huge year for you. Back in January of this year, did you have any idea that the Super Sucklord was going to become a Reality TV star?
I had an inkling that it was going to happen. I had already done the audition and I was waiting to hear back for the next round of callbacks and I was pretty confident that I was gonna get it. So, yeah, I knew it was going to happen.
How does being in a Reality TV show fit into your artistic persona? Reality TV has a certain negative connotation.
Not for what I do it doesn’t. I’m a crass media manipulator, I’m an obnoxious capitalist and what I do is create crappy, lowbrow culture, popular culture. So no, it didn’t conflict in any way in anything. In fact, it served as a great platform for everything I do.
Did it achieve everything you thought it would achieve for you?
It was about what I expected. To be honest, I didn’t have specific expectations; I just knew it would raise my profile. I just feel like the biggest failure is that I just didn’t create really compelling artwork on the show. And all the opportunities that are coming at me now are not coming from the so-called “art world”, they’re coming from the world of media, which I was much more successful at, creating a media television spectacle rather than a successful art spectacle.
Would you have rather created a successful art spectacle?
I would like to have done both. If I had to pick one or the other I’m glad I made good TV instead of good art.
Really?
Yeah, cause who gives a shit about art? You know, TV is where it’s at.
I can always make better art, but you have so much more exposure to the world and people in the world have so much more access to you and what you do if you’re successful on television than if you’re successful hanging on a wall in an art gallery for a finite period of time getting access to a finite group of people.
First impressions are really important and you definitely did a great job making that first impression. That goes a long way with major media.
Yeah, it’s all about making media. The artwork you can buy as souvenirs from that.
Because it all serves the character? Is the character the biggest piece of art, really?
What character?
The “Super Sucklord”, that’s the work of art, everything else is the souvenir…
I’m just a character? Just a character to amuse you? I’m a fucking person!
Of course it is, right? You put on a persona, it’s not all of you, it’s a part of you, right?
It’s a part of me, but it’s not invented or fake or a contrived part. That’s who I am, that’s how I interact with the world. Just because I gave myself a professional title doesn’t mean it’s a different person or a separate entity.
Well, you did put yourself out there; you showed a lot of colors…
I mean, I was being myself; I wasn’t putting on an act. I was being completely genuine and honest in every single thing I said and did.
It’s like the writer from the Village Voice commented in their great write-up on you, that the way you operate in the world is what’s interesting and what you produce is secondary to that.
I’m not gonna say that that’s true or that’s the plan or that’s what it’s about. Maybe some people see it as that but I’m not gonna tell somebody that there’s another way to interact with what I’m doing other than the way they’re already doing it. You come to it, interact with it however you want.
My intention when I make my “artwork”, I’m just trying to make it as good as I can and make something that appeals to my sensibilities and my tastes, as pedestrian as they may be. It’s not like I’m deliberately making it terrible, I’m just making it. And if it happens to be terrible, well, I already warned you that it might be ‘cause I called it “Suckadelic”. What you do with it afterwards is up to you.
So, even though the main result of being on “Work of Art” has been more media opportunities rather than artistic opportunities, has their been any increase in sales of your art due to your appearance on “WoA”?
Yeah, there’s been a noticeable uptick. It’s not been dramatic, but it’s been more consistent. It reinvigorated my ‘regulars’, as it were. And then I’m getting more sales from people I’ve never heard from before. A little bit. Not dramatically, but a little bit.
Did it affect the toys and designs you’ve been working on since the show? Has it inspired anything?
The “Jerry Saltz” figure [one of the judges from Bravo’s “Work of Art”] is coming out today. And Jerry Saltz is gonna be writing a review of it for New York Magazine. So that was directly related.
What are some of your high-water marks for 2011? How do you think the overall work was this year?
It was just as good if not a little better than years prior. In my opinion, I’ve been putting out pretty strong work. At least by it’s own standard. Some of the better pieces from this year were the “Jerk of Art” figure, which is probably the most personal, self-referential that I’ve ever gotten.
And then I think the “Occupy Cybertron” stuff was pretty good as well. It was the most coordinated release with the trading card set, a public performance art piece, two new platforms of figures, etc. In that regard it was good. And then the excursion into Masters of The Universe was also kind of exciting as well.
The other highlight, I suppose, would be the “Suck-a-thon” at Designer Con last November. That was something that gave me an extended platform to speak and opine and interview and sort of, ‘wax philosophic’, about the thing that we’re all doing in this toy business. I think there are some people that maybe didn’t know that I was as nuanced. I think it left people taking me a bit more seriously, at least.
It’s easy to see the Suckadelic world and see a novelty act if you don’t know anything else.
Can you talk about “Occupy Cybertron” and how that all came together?
I’ve been wanting to do something with Transformers for a while. I have this 3¾ in. Starscream figure that’s been sitting on my desk for six months, I just didn’t have any ideas. Then, as the Occupy movement really started to take over the public consciousness, one day I just looked at the figure and decided on where to go with it.
I do like to dabble in topical things and I was wondering, ‘how can I make a Transformers Occupy Wall St. figure. And then it occurred to me that maybe the bad guys should be these Wall St. guys because you never really see these so-called 1% people in this whole conversation. You only see images of protesters. I thought it’d be an interesting way to direct the spotlight back towards the real bad guys of the story by making Megatron and Starscream the Wall St. guys. It’s a way of succinctly capturing what these guys really are. It’s just the way I’m showing the applicability of the Occupation As Protest, by putting it in a fantasy world that is defined very clearly between good and evil. It just shows the universality of the concept of Occupation.
I got a little sensitive to the fact that I was profiteering off Occupy Wall St. and I didn’t want it to be misconstrued somehow, that I was really advocating for the 1%. I always do some kind of performance piece whenever I do a show. Some sort of fight or spectacle where some drama unfolds. That night was no exception and I just figured “what would be an interesting resolution to that?”, and the idea came to me that the protesters actually convinced the bad guys that they’re wrong and then the bad guys acquiesce. You never hear anybody talking about what would happen if these protesters are successful, then what do you have, and the answer is the 100% where everybody is, more or less, on more equal footing in life.
What do you think are some of the best qualities of Transformers Universe in terms of it’s own mythology and the Transformers property?
To be honest with you, I was never really a huge fan of the toys. I liked them; I just never really collected them because I found them difficult to play with them. But I love the original movie, the cartoon with Orson Wells. I always really loved Megatron as the villain. I just thought he was such a great super villain because he wasn’t a brute. He was a tactical, charismatic guy who had a vision and he was reasonable.
I thought it added a whole other layer of depth to the story was his beef with Starscream, the way they were fighting over who gets to rule. It’s an interesting way of depicting a villain team. Usually, when you see a villain team, they’re just the opposite of the good guys, and they’re all on the same page. I thought it added a more realistic element to villainy.
I just think they’re more interesting characters. That’s why I thought the movie sucked so bad. All the characters in the movie are humans and the robots are just a plot device. Whereas on the show, it was what was going on with the robots- that was the story. I thought the villains had a great story and there could’ve been a whole lot more said about that in the film.
I don’t even know the names of most of the Autobots. I know Optimus, Bumblebee, Real Jack, whatever. But I know a lot of the bad guys. I love Shockwave, Thundercracker, Skywarp. All those guys are great.
Do you side with the Occupy Wall St. protesters or do you feel apart from all that?
No, no, I feel guilty that I didn’t go, regretful that I didn’t participate more. I support the 99%. I’m kind of a closet socialist. I’m an entrepreneur, but I’m not a capitalist. The real definition of capitalism is people who make money with money. If you run a store or sell products you’re not a capitalist, you’re an entrepreneur. I think there’s a distinction there.
I’m all for entrepreneurship, but unfettered capitalism obviously causes a lot of problems in society. So I’m definitely on the 99 team.
Was this the busiest year of your life?
Yeah. Undoubtedly.
Will next year be even busier?
I actually made a point to clear my desk. Except for Toy Lords of Chinatown 3 I have nothing coming up. I have the “Work of Art” judges that I’m working on now, that’s going on sale today. I’m taking pre-orders so the next couple of weeks I’ll be consumed with that. Then I’ll work on Toy Lords of Chinatown and then I’m fucking stopping.
I’m working with some business people to help me re-imagine my operation, make it easier for me to do what I do. I gotta get rid of the shipping dept. over here and kick that somewhere else. I mean, that just takes forever just packing boxes and tracking orders and all that crap that’s a waste of my time. And they have to start hiring people and managing work flows and projects and I could use an assistant.
I’m also looking to do more television, more entertainment, more media. So, I’m hoping to get some representation.
Calling all Hollywood agents! He’s gonna be a Staaaaaarrrr!
And there you have it. Honest words from the Super Sucklord. Coming soon… The Super Sucklord interviews BILLY DEE WILLIAMS!!!
“Hey, Mimoco! I love your MIMOBOT flash drives soooo much that I have a whole bunch of ‘em. Is there a cool USB hub I could use so I can make my multiple MIMOs happy???”
We can’t tell you how often we get that question. So, like, here ya go…
So, maybe it’s been chilly at times in some parts of the country, but we can all agree that this winter has been down balmy. Even in Fargo, ND, the country’s coldest city, the high today is a downright blistering 32º. That’s like 67º to those people. Needless to say, this winter has been more than just weird, it’s been virtually non-existent.
