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A Brief History of the Liquid Heart

My Impressions of Liquid Heart

ou might remember the piece King Korpse (2016) from my video review earlier this year ( see it here ), the giant, undead, King Kong -like ape that is loaded with impressive elements, such as this removable Liquid Heart aspect, held within the chest simply by the arterial vessels atop it. Not only a beautiful object in its own right, this singular part is almost a testament to and embodiment of the true collaboration that King Korpse is. James Groman ‘s original design for King Korpse included a removable ribcage, allowing for one to optionally expose the heart element, but when he 3D scanned his finished, handmade sculpture this aspect was absent. Hiroto Ohkubo had already planned to digitally embellish and build upon the 3D files with Groman’s permission, so he reintroduced the removable rib cage and even took it a step further: a removable heart, one that incorporated his own parasitic Liquid design — a signature element of his InstincToy brand’s pieces.In November of 2016, Hiroto-san revealed that he had been experimenting with inserting flashing LEDs into the Liquid Heart. At the time, it was easy to suspect that this element would be incorporated into a future edition of the King Korpse piece, but — as it turns out — it was the first hint of the Liquid Heart coming into its own.Which brings us to the introduction of… Liquid Heart, Series 1, which is comprised of three color schemes. There’s the one I have here, The Real, which is decorated like a traditional heart as well as Zombie, colored after InstincToy’s familiar color scheme of the same name, and Rusty Heart, which takes the appearance of a mechanical heart valve suffering from disrepair.All featuring a simple chain that runs through the piece, this aspect has the wonderful touch of a small metal badge, Groman’s initials on one side and Hiroto-san’s InstincToy logo on the other. But what truly makes this piece exceptional is that you can remove the chain, allowing the Liquid Heart to fit into King Korpse. And, with a solid shake of the piece, the LED still activates.So, yes, these Liquid Heart pieces each feature a motion-activated LED within them, one which emits a strobing red and blue light for about 15 seconds after the piece is shaken. In addition, all three versions were cast on glow-in-the-dark vinyl, giving a second manner of illumination to them.Now you might’ve noticed a slight gap between top and bottom parts of the Liquid Heart, which seems strange given how pristinely executed InstincToy pieces usually are. But this was a necessary imperfection, allowing one to easily twist and pull the top off. And doing so, you can remove the LED to replace the batteries as well as rethread the chain through the arterial holes.The Liquid Heart, Series 1 debuted at the Thailand Toy Expo in May of 2017, also being made available that same month at Five Points Festival as well as June’s Sofubi Shanghai Festival . It is expected that further copies in these editions most likely being made available online later this year.

For more information on James Groman:

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For more information on InstincToy:

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My First Designer Toy Nick Curtis I knew that "What was your first designer toy?" would most likely be asked of me. Or, at least, some variant on it, like "How did you get into designer toys?" So, to quell my nerves, I practiced an answer for that one question, rehearsing the reply silently to myself…