“Eyes of the Dragon” Mystery Machine Custom Mad*L

A real working custom 10″ Mad*L vinyl art figure gumball/mystery machine created for the Tenacious Toys Candy-Coated Custom Show.

I was invited by Benny of Tenacious Toys to be a part of their first custom toy show, the Candy-Coated Custom Show. The show was held on April 21, 7-9pm at The London Candy Company, 1442 Lexington Ave. New York, NY 10128.

The theme of the show was either candy or something British; I decided to focus on doing something totally different than my usual work. I wanted to create a piece that not only would allow people to view it but also had them play with it. After much deliberation and trial-and-errors, I decided to concentrate on making a real working gumball/mystery machine.

This was created using a 10″ Mad*L and incorporating parts from a gumball machine into it. There were many obstacles in making this:
– getting the base of the figure to hold the slot/wheel
– getting the wheel to work correctly
– getting the quarter to fall into the correct place in the back
– getting a way to get into the figure to grab the quarters and locking it
– getting a way to put gumballs into the head
– getting the head to have the gumballs fall into the base correctly
– etc. etc.

At the show, the idea would be to put a quarter into the slot, turn the wheel and catch the gumball that comes out. I placed 2 marbles (the “eyes of the dragon”) inside with the gumballs and if you were lucky to grab one of the marbles, you would win a prize (one of my “Circuit Death” t-shirts).

Throughout the night, people were popping in quarters and only 1 person won a shirt!

This was probably my most ambitious and first functioning custom vinyl toy. I chose to not do too much paint work on the figure and keep it more to a mystery machine. Character on the front says dragon, one on the back is my last name. My piece is up for sale here: “Eyes of the Dragon” Mystery Machine

I hope people enjoyed my machine because I’m not sure if I would tackle something like this again! Props to Benny & Steph of Tenacious Toys for putting a great show together and allowing me to be a part of it!!!