THE BEST Vinyls

Chinese mythology buffs (you know you’re out there) will love this Lei Gong, God of Thunder vinyl. A bird in a Charlie Brown shirt with a bomb and flip flops: works for us.

We featured Keith Poon’s WW2 Sharky Vinyls earlier; Toyqube is now selling 54 custom, one-of-a-kind Sharkys. Our favorites are the Reactor88 and Ultraman customs.

Marka27’s 16″ tall Minigods have an ace up their sleeve chest — these limited edition vinyls also double as speakers, with a mini-jack and battery-powered internal amp.

The Oversized Darth Vader vinyl is named thusly because it’s double the size of the original 8″ collectible, towering at roughly 17″ in height. It’s limited to a run of 600 Anakins.

The Residents is a set of vinyls by Steven Cerio, named after an avant-garde band of the same name. There are only 100 available, ranging from painted to glow in the dark.

Michael Lau’s SK3 trio is an homage to three Stanley Kubrick films: A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket and 2001. Each includes accessories and an extra set of hands.

Shin Tanaka’s T-Boy is an exceptionally well designed vinyl, from the crowbar arms down to the sneakers. We particularly like the graphic ringer tee and that fact that his arms rotate.

We can’t get enough of The Simpsons, and judging from the successful launch of Toy2R’s Simpsons mini figures at Kidrobot LA, we’re in good company. Also available at Fugitive Toys.

Amazing colorways, Kaiju styling and a limited edition, glow in the dark Plutonium edition mean we’ll be emptying our wallets for Atomic Mushroom’s Combat-R Zero vinyls very soon.

Unfortunately, we came across the Student edition (above) of House of Liu’s awesome Shaolin Monk vinyls too late. However, scope out this equally cool bronzed Rotofugi version.

This heavily customized Yoka bear is mad expensive, but anything with a head like a Sarlacc gets our respect. We also like the retro/steampunk accents on the feet, ear and eyes.

Reenact the Battle of Britain with these two WW2 themed Sharkys by Keith Poon. “Kempfe” is based on Germany’s Messerschmitt Bf 110 G, while the other is based on the legendary Spitfire.

Urban War Fair’s Mini Skully comes in at 4″ and is ideal for cubicle jockeys; the little vinyl skulls ward off evil spirits, annoying coworkers and nosy bosses. Buy pre-painted or DIY.

Hasbro’s latest Mighty Mugg vinyls feature G.I. Joe and will launch in November. Boy are these stirring up Saturday cartoon memories; Snake is still the most bad-ass out of the bunch.

This Blood Diamond version of Da Warrior by Tim Tsui is all kinds of awesome. Features a removable helmet, spray can, extra head and a crystal eye. Limited to only 200 pieces.

Coming this September 13th: Colorado-based team CYPHER13 will be releasing SOFT&FURRY at Plastic Chapel. CYPHER13 produced everything from the sculpts to the final rotocast.

Released at the 2008 San Diego Comic Convention, this limited edition Red Baron TIE Fighter is a nod to hot rod culture. Coming soon: Darth Vader’s Star Destroyer dragster.

David Lanham is one of our favorite artists (you may know his work at Iconfactory), so we’re thrilled to see his vinyl Zog at StrangeKiss. Also available: Murder Zog, a Lanham/Kozik collab.

Just like the name says, Droplets are drop-shaped collectibles. Sold blindboxed, they’re hand-signed and hand-numbered, each with their own personality. Black is the hardest to find.

The Toy2R Forums are running a 10″ Bart Simpson Qee customs auction until August 25th. There are 49 dolls in all, and they cost from $100-$1000; the proceeds go to the Red Cross.

Let’s be clear: Darth Maul was gypped, but we’re happy that he’s getting some primo exposure with this vinyl collectible by Medicom (avail. Q2 2008). Preordering is a good idea: he’s limited edition.