.Mel Birnkrant! One of my favorite discoveries in the past week was the discovery of SUPER talent Mel Birnkrant! He is a awesome illustrator, a fantastic sculptor, amazing inventor and supreme toy maker GENIUS!
Be sure to check out the MAGICAL world that is www.MelBirnkrant.com ! The site is full of toys that made it into toy store shelves and toys that didn't get the chance to see the light of day.
The site is a wonderful resource for all his toy inventions. The site includes concept art, production sculptures, promotional pitch videos that were used to sell the toy products to toy companies and lots of behind the scenes journal entries discussing the ups and downs of being a toy inventor.
Mel pulls no punches when he discusses the reality of selling toy invention ideas. Everything from the toys that sold great and held true to his vision and the toys that the "toy executives" botched and destroyed or flat out ignored.
Mel Birnkrant is now one of my favorite artists of all time! His toy inventions are so genius and so cool. Had all his inventions come out in there purest form unchanged by the "toy powers that be" all the kids in the 80's and 90's would have had their minds blown and their childhoods incredibly enriched!
To start out I posted some of my favorite toy inventions of Mel's that did make it out onto the toy shelves in one form or another. Tomorrow I will post part two of the inventions that didn't get a chance to make it out, but were just as genius (if not more than) as the toys that did make it out to the toy stores!
Enjoy the genius that is Mel Birnkrant!
The Outer Space Men
Super cool and perhaps on of Mel's biggest success "The Outer Space Men"!
MAXx FX
MAXx FX is a toy I remember well. But according to Mel the toy company never really got off the ground with the idea he was trying to push. These toys were still awesome none the less!
The Real Little Nursery
This toy invention was perhaps one of his coolest and most original ideas. However, as he writes the "toy executives" in charge of the toy idea couldn't get it right and his original vision was lost. Girls in the 80's would have lost their mind for these dolls and its heart breaking the toy manufactures botched his original vision!
Bogleech Creatures
One of my favorite of Mel's inventions. You have to see the original pitch idea video below to see just how amazingly cool and genius these toy ideas were! This is were Mel really shows how intense his toy genius was! These guys did eventually come out under the "Aaahh!! Real Monsters" line.
But in my opinon the purity of his idea and coolness was really lost in the final product. Had these toys come out in their orginal form as Mel had inteneded me and every other kid from the 80's and 90's would have lost our mind!
Invasion Earth
Another absolutely genius invention! I think "Invasion Earth" was planned for years to come out but never did. This such a shame! If you get to check out the pitch videos below you get to see how amazing and genius these toy ideas were!
Be sure to check out Mel's site www.MelBirnkrant.com for tons more toys that made it out into the toy universe! There are tons of beautiful illustrations, mock up prototype sculptures, lots of pitch and demo toy videos and tons of behind the scenes stories. The world of Mel Birnkrant is a MAGICAL place everyone must see!
Check back tomorrow for The Magical World of Mel Birnkrant! PART TWO and discover the amazing toy ideas that never made it out that absolutely should have! AMAZING STUFF!
all images and video copyright Mel Birnkrant
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