Plagiarism?

A few weeks ago I ran across a new t-shirt design on shirt.woot.com. It was titled "Mr Toast" and the story on the site goes like this "he was just a simple slice of bread, traveling with his loaf to start a new life in the place they called “The Wild West”. They caught up to his wagon just outside of Kansas. Kid Marmalade. Jesse Jam. Pat Butter and Layer O’Cheese. They took everything he had. Crumbled up his family and left them for dead. Only he wasn’t finished with them yet."

Maybe they did well selling this design but it is not really cute or fun or even interesting. So I didn't really give it a second thought.

Then right before I was leaving for NY I ran across this on Flickr.

Two bogus Mr Toasts in less then one month, who would have guessed. This one was for Threadless and it ended up scoring a 2.12 out of 5. The funniest thing was that in the comments section someone wrote "dope illustration, too bad mr. toast already exists."

It is impossible for me to know if either of these is actual plagiarism. The one thing I do know is that Mr Toast is not just one time silly image for a t-shirt. He is a character with a history and story. I am going to keep making real Mr Toast t-shirts and hopefully these weak, fake ones will disappear.....

New York Comic Con

I love New York. It is such a great city and the NY Comic Con is such a fun show. As usually there are tons of new Mr Toast fans. I also got to hang out with old time fans like John & Natalie, Jason & Amy, Jessica T, Todd Webb, Eric Talbot, and many more. Met alot of cool industry people including some of the guys that work on Little Golden Books. I even got to do a fun signing at the MyPlasticHeart booth.

So big thanks to everyone who came out. You all made it a great show.

Happy Earthday

NY Comic Con

This weekend is the NY Comic Con. I am flying out for the show and will be set up in the Small Press Area - it should be booth #2367.

I will also be signing at the MyPlasticHeart booth on Saturday from 1-2PM. Their booth is number #866.

New York Comic Con is held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan. The Javits Center is located at 655 West 34th Street. Open to the Public: Friday, April 18, 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM Saturday, April 19, 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM Sunday, April 20, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

For more information visit: NY Comic Con

Funny Face Cartoon

It seems that the Funny Face characters are making a comeback. I just read on the cartoonbrew.com website that "Renegade plans to produce an animated television series based on the property. The studio is currently producing a pilot episode while seeking distribution and licensing agreements. According to the press release:
The Funny Face television series will be aimed at kids from 6 to 11 and will recall the animation style and the spirit of classic, theatrical cartoons such as Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes."

I can't wait, the designs look spot on and I am sure the kids would love it!!!

Good Food

Puddin Head

Hostess Cupcakes

Toll House Cookies

Hostess Twinkies

Baby Huey Oatmeal Cookies?!?!?!?!

Extreme Sports

Woody's SmorgasBurger

Jungleland

NY Comic Con

Next weekend is the NY Comic Con. I am flying out for the show and will be set up in the Small Press Area - it should be booth #2367.

I will also be signing at the MyPlasticHeart booth on Saturday from 1-2PM. Their booth is number #866.

New York Comic Con is held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in Midtown Manhattan. The Javits Center is located at 655 West 34th Street. Open to the Public: Friday, April 18, 3:00 PM - 8:00 PM Saturday, April 19, 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM Sunday, April 20, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

For more information visit: NY Comic Con

Overkill

Mr Toast's USA Tour - Missouri

Look! Up in the sky! Mr. Toast drops in for a visit!

Time to “show” this toast tourist some swell places and keen things in our happy state.

First stop at Hickory Hill Antiques where we found some cool vintage stuff.

It might’ve been a bland and dreary day, but we had fun singing “I’m Just a Bill” on the steps of the State Capital building in Jefferson City.

The sun peeked out just in the nick of time as we walked up to the famous Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Mr. Toast wished he hadn’t forgot his parachute.

Busch Stadium home of the St. Louis Cardinals.

Hall of Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith finds Mr. Toast instead of a baseball in his glove. Good catch from the Wizard!

A trip to St. Louis isn’t complete without a visit to Ted Drewes Frozen Custard. Yummy!

Mr. Toast just loves the buzz of vintage neon and an excuse for a Shamrock Shake at McDonald’s in Holts Summit.

Hanging out with some friends.

One night Clem came over for root beer and monster movies.

The next roadtrip was to Kansas City and the first stop was President Harry S. Truman’s house in Independence.

Look it’s Mayor McCheese. He said he might run for Prez this year.

Captured by Stormtroopers at Planet ComicCon! Luckily, Mr. Toast used the force and with a few Jedi mind tricks, we were safe. (Shh, don’t tell Mr. Toast, but we had to cross the border into Kansas City, KS for the Con)

It’s always fun to hob knob with celebrities, especially when they’re pop culture icons. This is Kenny Baker, the actor who played R2-D2 in all six Star Wars films.

Mr. Toast enjoyed meeting lovely scream queen, Brinke Stevens and she didn’t even take a bite out of him.

Botany Bay, it’s Walter Koenig! Known for portraying Pavel Chekov in the original Star Trek series and Alfred Bester in Babylon 5.

Yippee! It’s Drive-In movie season!

Now for a tour of the Lake of the Ozarks.

Above the historic Bagnell Dam.

Another view of Bagnell Dam. A rare look with all the working gates open.

Whoa, these Muffler Men sure are tall.

Waving hello.

Taking a ride in the General Lee.

Spring is finally here!

Enjoying an Ozark view at Ha Ha Tonka State Park in Camdenton.

Castle ruins in Missouri?

Yep right here in Ha Ha Tonka State Park.

We enjoyed having Mr. Toast as a guest and he enjoyed his tour of Missouri.

Thanks Todd for showing Mr Toast all around Missouri!