MUNNY MUNTH Winners With Paul Budnitz

posted in: Artists | 7

mm-pbKidrobot’s president and co-creator of MUNNY, Paul Budnitz has taken on the categories of Best Parent/ Child Duo, Best Movie/Event Reenactment and Best Headdress.

Best Parent/Child Duo:

1st Place

Artist: Team Tucker: Preston, Ethen and Bruce
Title: Naughty Bear
Purchased at Kidrobot Miami
Miami, FL, USA

A very mean looking teddy bear has just beheaded an ill-advised visitor to his domain. All kinds of yucky white stuff is flowing from the bottom of the skinned yellow skull; angry bear looks down in satisfaction at another job well done. I’m impressed by the workmanship on the fur – it’s no small thing to cover a MUNNY in fur, and to do so seamlessly, with eyebrows no less. That axe looks darn sharp too.  1st prize for an uninhibited display of tribal brutality.

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2nd Place

Artist: Dad and Kalen
Title: Boo
Purchased at Kidrobot New York
New York, NY, USA

This guy has a face on the back of his head, and I have no idea what is on the front of the head, and I don’t want to know, because I’m totally terrified. Note the little scary face drawn in the “BOO”. Some people draw little hearts to dot their “i’s”, or make smiley faces out of their “o’s”. But this guy is definitely out to scare us, pure and simple. Second place for great focus.

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3rd Place

Artist: Ma and [ktmmmb] Title: Like Mother, Like Son
Purchased at Mrs. Tiggy Winkles
Nepean, Canada

What we have here is a perfect representation of Plato’s Symposium on the creation of man and woman, in which he explains how the gods split humans in half, mixed up the parts, and then sent us out into the world, vainly looking for our missing half for the rest of our lives.  In a way, this is Plato in Play-Doh. The Teddy Bear and Ice-cream sitting to the side just add to unanswerable existential questions that surround this wonderful work of art.

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Best Movie/Event Reenactment:

1st Place

Artist: LambyLove
Title: Play With Us, Danny
Purchased at Kidrobot Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Blank faced twins stare blankly at us from a blank room. Jack’s in back with an axe. Redrum. I’m terrified! 1st prize for a brilliant conceptual art piece.

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2nd Place

Artist: Michal Miszta
Title: Rocky The Champ
Purchased at kidrobot.com
Dblin, Ireland

When I first looked at this toy, I couldn’t figure out where the MUNNY went. But if you look closely (and at the build photos the creator generously gave to us) you’ll notice that Rocky’s short’s are also MUNNY’s legs. Brilliant! Sly is looking a bit old and depressed, which I also approve of because I imagine this is true to life once his career went downhill after he fought Mr. T.  Furthermore, he’s just kicked the crap out of a little Teddy Bear who lies dead on the ground.  2nd prize for a well thought out original design, solid craftsmanship, and for killing the teddy bear.

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3rd Place

Artist: PSYCHO J
Title: Carl (UP The Movie)
Purchased at Tate’s Comics
Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

What can I say? The old guy is going up. I’m pretending I don’t see the stand that’s holding his foot up and pretending that he’s just suspended from the black balloon cord. I love the swimming pool in the background, and the fact that the artist took his pictures outside, with the sky as a background. Really great work, great presentation.

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Best Headdress:

1st Place

Artist: Gabe Griffiths
Title: Ship For Brains
Purchased at Lost Marbles
Ottawa, Canada

Insane sculpting. I have no idea what the hell is going on here with this Munny, but it is truly amazing. It’s kind of a cross between a Transformer mixed with an M.C. Escher painting mixed with a tag wall mixed with Marcel Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase mixed with a Stormtrooper.  The appropriated references go on and on. Has the ship crashed into his brain?  Has his brain grown a ship?  It doesn’t really matter because the design is beautiful and completely unique and I love it. 1st prize!

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2nd Place

Artist: Kong Andri
Title: Dayak MUNNY
Purchased at Plastic Culture
Jakarta, Indonesia

Dayak MUNNY is fantastic. That looks like real wood! He has a bird on his head that provides the feathers for the headdress. I wouldn’t want to meet this cannibal alone down the end of a dark alley at midnight because I’m sure he’d kill and eat me. Wonderful craftsmanship and excellent attitude.

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3rd Place

Artist: Silvia Tampi
Title: Munindi
Purchased at Plastic Culture
Jakarta, Indonesia

To me the reason this MUNNY’s headdress is amazing is that it’s placed on the Little Indian’s head at a cocky angle. I would never think to do that. Look again at the photo. If the headdress were put on straight this would just be another Indian – but placed at an angle, the beautifully carved featherdress turns Munindi into a PISSED OFF Little Indian. Pissed off and kind of jaunty, like all those kids with New Era hat’s you see going home to Brooklyn on the C train. I love it. Great work!

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7 Responses

  1. sean

    My son (7) and i did the BOO. It was so much fun to work on the project together, he had such a great time. It was even better to be recognized with 2nd place by the great Paul Budnitz!!!! Sure he didnt seem to realize that this was Boo from Super Mario Bros. but who cares!! Thanks so much to Kidrobot for throwing this awesome contest! it was such a blast!!

  2. iMonkey

    I like the fact that Paul gives good constructive reasoning along with his picks! I think every artist appreciates his critiques : ) Thanks Paul!

  3. Tweets that mention MUNNY MUNTH Winners With Paul Budnitz:: Kidrobot's Blog, The KRonikle -- Topsy.com

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by claudia colomine, Kidrobot. Kidrobot said: Check out Best Parent/Child, Movie Reenactment & Headdress categories judged by @paulbudnitz http://bit.ly/9R16Nr […]

  4. JEMoores

    The most interesting part of this process is to read why the judges chose what they chose. I wish all judges would critique 2nd & 3rd place like this. Thanks Paul – great insights. It is so interesting to see what you like, and why. Does 2nd & 3rd folk win a prize too? It's not clear.

  5. Ubunut

    @#1 You do know Paul invented Kidrobot right?… Trolls be trollin :/
    Great critique Budnitz! :)

  6. mario bros. lover!

    are you serious??? have you never played mario??? it's the boo from the ghost level of mario brothers! this judge is seriously stupid! how can you not see that???? for someone who is into urban things he certainly doesnt know anything about the most common video game out there!!