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A Brief History of Kono the Yeti

Squink’s 8″ Kono the Yeti Dunny from Kidrobot

arlier this year, English artist Chris Booker ‘s already extensive designer toy oeuvre increased by three limited edition pieces, these factory-made works included in Kidrobot ‘s Wild Ones Dunny Series . All accredited under Booker’s chosen alias, Squink , one of these new additions to his dozen-year-long career was titled Kono the Yeti . And this was neither the first nor, it appears, the last time that collectors would be treated to this Abominable Snowman -inspired beast’s appearance.“Honestly, I can’t remember if it was a commissioned idea or if I just decided to design a yeti”, Booker admits regarding his unique, hand-painted debut of Kono the Yeti in 2010. Completed roughly a year before he became a full-time, self-employed artist, this piece doesn’t embody the embellished flourishes and speckled overlays that he would later become associated with, though this cartoonish character still reveals his attention to details and an overall polished aesthetic. Already a design that he “had been eager to revisit”, according to Booker, when he was invited to participate in Kidrobot’s factory-produced Wild Ones series, he knew “it was a good fit for the theme”.And mere weeks after this limited edition interpretation debuted, Booker personally augmented the form further for his Artist Proof Set, the factory-produced Kono rendition being found therein with a blood (or ketchup) splatter applied for a “post-meal look”, as the artist’s solicitation called it. This was quickly followed by Booker creating two hand-painted “hyperchase” renditions, the pink-hued Bubblegumland and monotone Newsprint editions. But something bigger was on the horizon for Kono, as Kidrobot were already preparing to unleash an approximately 8-inch tall rendition of the beast.Using the same overall decoration on this larger rendition as its smaller counterpart, a simple but effective series of lines creates the visual texture of fur while subtle inclusions of cartoonish hearts and lightning bolt-like stress marks keep the overall feel playful. Able to reincorporate “a few details that were missing” on his Wild Ones series contribution “due to production/scale limitations”, Booker specifies an example as “the darker blue zig zags on the ears and arms”. With the exact upscaling of his previous factory-produced version being known as the Ice Edition, a blue-toned rendition which is limited to 700 vinyl pieces worldwide, there are two variant colorations being issued as well.The first is the Bubblegum Edition, a Kidrobot.com exclusive that has been produced in an edition of 200 pieces. Inspired by the “pink yeti” that Booker recently hand-painted “to go alongside the original”, the artist refers to choosing this color scheme as “a no-brainer”. The other variation is the 1930’s Sighting Edition, which “I thought would continue the vintage cartoon theme of my Panic design” from Wild Ones, Booker explains. Regarding this more monotone rendition, an exclusive edition of only 100 pieces for select Kidrobot retailers as well as the brand’s own website, the artist admits that he “was also thinking about the sepia-toned, ‘totally real’ photographs of Sasquatch” as an inspiration. And “as if the 3-inch [factory-made] ones weren’t enough of a surprise”, Booker exclaims, having “a ‘daddy’ version to accompany it is just perfect”.

Click Here to Acquire Squink’s 8″ Kono the Yeti Dunny from Kidrobot, or Click Here to Find a Kidrobot Retailer to Order it from.

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