This is the set of custom painted Kidrobot dunny vinyl toys I made as a homage to my favorite TV show of all time. I started watching “The Big Bang Theory” since it premiered in 2007. It was before I discovered my interest in toy making. I was already building architectural models in my spare time, starting my online portfolio but this set was created in 2011, after some experimentation with Munnys and first wins in Munny Munth contests and before I could buy any descent collectible on this theme.
Some of you may be wondering why they have rabbit ears and what the dunny is? DUNNY is a type of vinyl designer art toy created by Paul Budnitz and Tristan Eaton, and produced by Kidrobot since 2004. The toy is based on a rabbit figure with distinctive tubular ears. Its sold 3-, 5-, 8- and 20-inch scales, though artists have customized Dunny models as tall as four feet. The 3inch version is sold in blind-boxes already painted by selected artists and released with some kind of theme. They are collected and traded and very often repainted to create one of the kind figures or very limited editions. This is what I made here, created my own and one of the kind set of my favorite characters in dunny form.
I started my Big Bang Theory set with Howard Wolowitz because after researching internet for caricatures of the cast, his face looked most distinctive . I painted him on dunny and this time no sculpting was involved. I put this limits on myself, because I wanted to keep the shape of original canvas toy. I was very satisfied with the look and similarity to the actor, Simon Helberg.
Howard is an aerospace engineer at Department of Applied Physics at Caltech’s Department. He is just engineer and often mocked by Sheldon for lack of doctoral degree. He is living with his mother but he believes that he is ladies man and often provides outrageous pick-up lines in female presence. He has funny bowl-style haircut and wear loud outfits with turtle-neck under shirt. I wanted to show it on my figure by gluing head bit higher on dunny’s neck. He also likes unusual belt buckles in this case I painted him with Nintendo controller. He travels on Vespa motor scooter and is not afraid to use soldering iron. He knows how to build machines and robots, but always breaks something at the end like Mars rover or space toilet for International Space Station (not to mention robotic arm)
Here you have second character from my Big Bang Theory series of customs, Leonard Hofstadter (played by Johnny Galecki), experimental physicist from Caltech and extremely patient house-mate of Sheldon Cooper. He has the most social skills from the gang. He wears big black Clark Kent type glasses, sneakers, sweat jacket, brown trousers and physics-themed t-shirts.
He collects toys and comics with Superman and from many other series, he uses Star Wars hygiene products and is a fan of Battlestar Galactica like others. He comes from family of accomplished scientists with Sheldon like mother who caused his childhood difficult. He never celebrated his birthday and as a child had to build hugging machine to compensate for the lack of affection from mother 🙂 He is shy around women but he felt in love with his next door neighbor Penny within seconds of spotting her. His infatuation with Penny is major force that drives all series. He is very likeable guy.
Rajesh Ramayan or simply Raj played by the actor Kunal Nayyar is third character in my little series of custom vinyl dunny toys from The Big Bang Theory. He works as an astrophysics in the Physics Department. He comes from New Delhi but prefers to eat hamburgers than Indian Food. He is very shy and not able to speak in presence of women unless he drinks some alcohol and then he becomes talkative but very arrogant. He likes comic books, computer games and chick flicks. He is patient with Sheldon because he believes in reincarnation, and after all suffering with him in this life, as a reward he will be reborn as billionaire in next life .
Sheldon Lee Cooper the main character of the show, played by actor Jim Parson. At this point The Big Bang Theory is so popular that it doesn’t need introduction, but if your TV and internet was broken for last couple of years, Sheldon in theoretical physicist with probably all possible degrees B.S, M.S, M.A, Ph.D., Sc.D he thinks about himself as a genius. He has his routines and favorite places which he never changes. He doesn’t understand sarcasm and how to interact with other people what is the source of humor in all episodes.
He wears T-shirts with superhero logos like Flash, Superman, Green Lantern. He usually wears long sleeve shirt underneath. This style is so popular that you can buy all this different designs in many online shops. I now see them on streets everywhere, especially the red one with BAZINGA, a word he uses after the prank instead of saying “fooled you!” or “gotcha!” At the time when I was painting this toy, it was not that many merchandise on the market, so I dressed him in the t-shirt he was wearing the most of time. This one is painted on DIY toy platform called Vinylmation and produced by Disney. I selected this model because it is taller than other characters painted on Kidrobot dunnys. Mickey ears is a nice additional feature, it reminds me one episode when Sheldon and Penny came back from trip to Disneyland.
After I released photos of first four characters on my blog, I got few suggestions that I should paint Penny to complete the series. So I did over the weekend and here is the picture I hope you like it.
Penny (played by Kaley Cuoco) is the main female character in The Big Bang Theory, the cute and beautiful next door neighbor. She is aspiring actress but working as a waitress and bartender while waiting on big role. She hangs out with the scientists but she is not an intellectual, the contrast between them is a main source of humor. She believes in horoscopes, is messy, drives too fast and doesn’t care about the blinking check engine light in her car, what drives Sheldon crazy. Unlike the others she has good social skills and had many relationships over the course of the series. The most interesting is the one with Leonard, but no more spoilers, just go and watch it yourself.
When I was painting this little collectible, the only thing you could get were handmade figurines or fabric dolls. Now you can get everything, Big Bang Theory related; figurines, bobble heads, wacky wobbles, vinyl toys, mugs, socks, soft kitty pillows, key-chains, even LEGO set.
Judging by the shelf space occupied in my local Forbidden Planet store, Funko Pop is very popular this days. I am thinking about buying one and try to repaint it with acrylics to get more realistic caricature sculpture.
Let me know if you would like to see more characters like Bernardette, Amy, Stuart or Emily painted like this by leaving comment below. I would like to know if you find this page at all or it is lost on servers 🙂 If you like my work, feel free to share it on your blogs or social media with credit link to this page. Thanks!
