This past Saturday Feb 3, 2007 saw the first wave of the Munny invasion hit South Florida. The Bear and Bird Boutique, located inside Tate’s Comics in Ft Lauderdale, hosted its first custom Munny show appropriately titled “For Love of Munny”. The 700 square foot wood floored loft gallery could hardly contain the throngs of avid vinyl toy fans that showed up for the opening night.

The Munny is the product of Kid Robot. It’s an 8″ inch vinyl doll that looks like a teddy bear. It comes in white, black and glow in the dark. Each Munny includes 4 secret accessories, a Hello-My-Name-Is card, and one of several surprise Munny coloring books by artists Tokidoki, Persue, or Andrew Bell. You can draw and paint on the Munny. Use crayons, pencils, paint, or anything else you can think of to make it your own.

I arrived at the show only a little late and already the line to enter the loft gallery had stretched to the back of Tate’s 8,000 square foot comic book store. Fortunately for me, my brother and his wife had been in line long before me, and I was able to slip right into the line. Even though the doors had only opened maybe an hour earlier, the event was packed shoulder to shoulder. I was surprised at the sheer amount of people attending the show. The crowd was full of diverse personalities and ranging in ages from 5 to 65 all for the love of Munny. It could have been that this was the first show of its kind in South Florida, but the majority of the people were anxiously waiting to view the artwork or marveling at Tate’s monstrous inventory of items for sale at this pop culture Mecca. We actually had to wait in line for a long while to see the exhibit and I was tempted to leave at one point, but I was also there to support my brother who had also submitted a Munny for the show. Luckily there was plenty of wine and cheese to go around as well as good music while we waited.

It took 45 minutes to work our way up to the loft gallery and the exhibit itself. On the way we chatted with others in the line and ate hors d vuers that were made available to the guests. I have to apologize for the blurriness of some of the photos. Almost all of the pictures had to be snapped in between the crowd, and in a rush so as not to block the guests view. Still, the work on display was amazing to behold.

Some of my favorite pieces in the show where by the husband and wife team of Sas and Colin Christian. I had the pleasure of seeing there work on display this past December at an art show they were a part of for Art Basel week and I am a big fan of their work. You can see more of their art at their website HotBox Designs.

Another of my favorites was Ricardo Porven who brought his Donnie Goth character to life in the form of a Munny. Ricardo’s Munny caught my eye because it just seemed to capture the likeness of his Donnie Goth character so accurately. The Munny platform was just made for it. Plus he did a heck of a job on the base.

As long as you didn’t mind the wait in line, the show itself was great. Everyone seemed to be having a great time, whether it was gawking at the Munnys on display, enjoying the free wine and cheese, or the music. The atmosphere and the crowd itself were nothing short of festive, and everyone did their part to make the show a success. This was definitely one of the most incredible shows I’ve been to in a long time.

I would personally like to thank Tate and Amanda of Tate’s Comics and The Bear and Bird Boutique as well as the rest of their staff for putting on one hell of a show. They did an amazing job and deserve a big congratulations on a job well done. I hope there will many more shows like this one to come because I will definitely be there.

To find out more about Tate’s Comics please visit their website. You can also learn more about The Bear and Bird Boutique and their upcoming events here.