Interview with toy modder Dustin Cantrell

Fun & Games
Interview with toy modder Dustin Cantrell
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ToyCyte, the toy culture collector’s site, has an interview with Dustin Cantrell. Dustin did the T.W.E.R.P. toy hack, which we blogged about last year, which crossed a ThingamaKIT with a Mad*L vinyl toy. Now, Dustin has crossed a Dunny toy with a plasma globe.

The Plasma Dunny is kind of my way of exploring our relationship with technology. The science of the plasma globe comes from Nikola Tesla’s observations and experiments with finding ways to use evacuated glass tubes to observe high-voltage phenomena. I think it’s interesting that his work and discovery, which at the time must have seemed like some kind of magic, has been reduced to a cheap, Chinese-made novelty toys to be sold in malls at stores like Spencer’s Gifts.


custoMONDAY: Win a Plasma Dunny by Dustin Cantrell

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Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. And he has a new best-of writing collection and “lazy man’s memoir,” called Borg Like Me.

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