All Photos By Gail

Those who tell you that you’re too old to play with toys have never been to Five Points Festival: a colorful celebration of Designer Action Figures and Art Toys where creators, collectors, artists, and  fans gather together for one weekend each June to shamelessly act like little kids. Whether you’re looking to sell, buy or just browse, Five Points creates a world where Toys — and the people who love them — just plain rule.

What Are You Lookin’ At? (Toys By Last Bastion)

While we can’t really call them “Adult Toys” — because that’s a different thing entirely — Five Points traffics in the kinds of toys that one treats like tiny, collectible works of art, some of which never even leave their packaging. As it should be.

Please enjoy a selection of my photos and accompanying witty commentary from this year’s show!

Toys from Clutter Studios‘ Booth

Upfront, we must give a shout out to Clutter Studios, a wildly creative boutique  production and design house that also publishes Clutter magazine — which is like the Art Toy Bible — and operates a  gallery space in Beacon, New York. Clutter produces Five Points every year, so we owe them a debt of extreme gratitude, because they do a great job in making it all come together.

We always enjoy seeing the usual suspects, like Zimotco, who invite you to touch their toys — because the prices are on their feet!

Super7 cannot be ignored. While I’ve already featured an entire group of their Reaction figures in a separate post, I didn’t want to leave them out of the recap, because their toys are always fun and spectacular.

These hulky Cyclops Vikings (or whatever they are) by ONZI, spotted in the Global Figure Showcase booth, cry out to star in their own adventure show!

I love the retro vibe of these assorted Sofubi (soft vinyl toys) by Uh Oh Toys exhibited by Toy Art Gallery, who traveled to the show all the way from Hollywood, CA. Super fun!

We spotted a few trends, or variations on themes, at the show. Case  in point: Tanks. This Church Tank (sadly, always topical) by artist Bernardo, obviously recalls the sculpture series that Kris Kuksi was doing over 20 years ago, but I suppose there’s always room for a fresh take.

Also bringing Tanks to to the party is 47 49 Designs with their small-scale Tank Dino: a dinosaur with a tank for a head. Tank Dino is highly collectible, as it comes in lots of colors with a variety of tank heads!

Another mini-trend: Worms (and pink ones at that). Seen here is the Party Worm (Hard Partying edition) from Sad Salesman. If you see him passed out on the sidewalk, please don’t squish him. He is just sleeping one off.

I couldn’t help but be enchanted by the astoundingly vibrant hue of these Pink Wriggler ‘wurrms’ by artist Joseph Somers (AKA Squibblesink) spotted at My Plastic Heart.

Here’s another trend: Cupcakes! These little cuties are by Trash Panda.

More cuteness attacks your senses with the Teenage Unicorn Cupcake, part of the Cupcake Monsters series by Moru Mark Toys of Japan.

Slightly more menacing, but still yummy-looking,  is this skull-topped Monsta Cupcake  by Creepy Monsta (who we’ll see again later in the recap) featuring a custom GID and super UV Fluorescent paint job by Priscilla Marquez.

At Five Points Festival, everyone can hear you squeal.

These little guys are called Run-a-Mucks, by Bryan Fulk of Last Resort Toys. While characters are based on designs by other artists, Bryan creates his own interpretations for these highly-collectible miniatures in bright colors that, sadly, didn’t really come across in my photo. Example: the Snowman melting his face with a blow-dryer (Blowman) is bright red. He came home with me for only $4 (what a bargain)!

Assorted figures from art toy retailer My Plastic Heart.

Making their debut at Five Points was Monster Party: a set of 4 miniature sofubi from the wild and weird folks at the Bogxsquad. So collectible!

Check these guys out: Astro_Not! resin figures by TJP Art.  Available in sizes and colors to suit every collector’s tastes.

We like Monsters, yes we do. Conflict Home by Tom Hensley for Bogxsquad was a show stopper, for sure.

If,  just recently, you feel a strong urge to shout “Eff The World!” while waving your middle fingers in the air (I sure do) this toy can be your spirit animal. Meet Eye Baller Muckoid, another masterpiece by Bryan Fulk of Last Resort Toys. Honestly, he speaks to me.

How much do I love Sharks? OMG so much, so obviously I am digging this land-walking Megalodon sofubi by Sunguts.

Lets meet a few artists! This is Michael Bogle, a skilled tattoo artist and founder of the New Orleans-adjacent Tolzar Toys who’s holding his original creation King  Krawju: a Crawdad/ Kaiju hybrid. Fierce! A 12.5″ tall luxury figure available in three different colors, King Krawju pays homage to traditional New Orleans faire and folklore. Nice meeting you, Michael!

Peet Sketches of Monster Bloodbath. Peet is a multi-disciplinary artist who creates original character drawings and toys that are cute but just a little bit scary, which his how we like it. Peet is holding his collaboration with Douglas Horn.

Check out the Pink Neon version of Peet’s Mayhem character, which is kind of adorable, despite those fangs.

It’s always fun to catch up with David of Bruckaroni Toys N’ Thangs. David had a great selection of plushies, pins, Pezz dispensers and figures portraying his adorable Chubby Ghost and other unique character creations.

Earlier in the post I mentioned the Clutter Gallery, so this is a good time to say that if you’ll be in the Beacon, NY area on July 13th, make sure to pop in at their 163 Main Street location for the opening reception (5:00 – 9:00 PM) of their Mini Mayhems show. This exhibit will feature the works of Brucaroni and also The Bots, who create characters like that cute little rabbit you see on the flyer. Why not make it a day of Art Adventures with a visit to the Dia Art Foundation, lunch in town and some shopping! Just do it!

I also enjoyed seeing my friend Mafe of Creepy Monsta, whose business is thriving! I love her toys and she has a fun personal style!

She even had some Pride Merch!

Gay AF, I love it.

Here’s a one-off design by Joshua Schneider of Fett Up Toys, which I am sure you will agree is just Divine!

You might assume that Five Points is just for art, toys, and collectibles, but you can also buy stuff that you can wear on your body, such as this Monster Head-Print Skater Dress, which is not only totally rad, but also a bargain at just $45! This dress was spotted in the Jellykoe booth.

Coincidentally, I took a spy pic of  the dress being worn by its designer, Kelly from Jellykoe, while she was chatting up artist Matthew Lineham. As you can see, she has great style!

You can also find unique jewelry, like these resin Slime Necklaces by Gray Kennedy for Graveyard Rave. I love them.

Now here’s an item that truly is unique: a Pooh Key Cap for your computer keyboard by Yim Keys. I am speechless.

Let’s look at some art that you can hang on your walls. This is a really fantastic print that I think depicts what goes on in a Child’s nightmares. I did not catch the artist’s name, but I think the booth was called Mythos. If you have any identifying clues please leave them in the comments or DM me on Instagram.

Righteous Indignation also trades in nightmare fuel, with their drawings and paintings of assorted monsters and cyborgs  that will also make the walls of your cave extra cozy.

A collage of creatures by Elliot Lobell.

Sexy Ghost by Sami Kerwin.

Back 2 Reality by Glitch Bitch of Brooklyn.

It was a fun surprise to run into pop surrealist artist Pedro Baez at Five Points, whose booth was tucked away in a corner by the bar! His work reminds me of the great Kenny Scharf! Pedro was super nice and remembered the article I wrote about him a few months back. You can read more about Pedro, and see a ton of his art, at This Link!

Pink Gorilla By Marusan Toys of Japan

And . . . we’re going to call that wrap for Five Point Festival 2024! Yay! I hope you enjoyed this recap as much as I enjoyed bringing it to you. See you next year!