Voltaire: Blog

( a message from DEADY'S creator ...and sometimes human slave... Voltaire)

Hi,

It's really hard to believe that it's been a full year since the last blog entry.  I'm ashamed of myself, really!  But believe me when I say that it hasn't been because the gears at Deadybear.net have ground to a halt... quite the contrary, it's been a real whirlwind of a year since we last spoke.  In that time I made an animated short film narrated by Danny Elfman that played at 57 film festivals in 9 months and won ten awards, I released not one, but two new CDs (a country album and a CD of music for kids), I started shooting my 5th short film (which is nearly done), played Lord knows how many shows, toured Australia, appeared with Deady yet again on AdventureQuest Worlds and in there somewhere made some new Deady toys.  But alas, all of the work and travel made for a less visible web presence for us both. Nonetheless, lots got done in the world of Deady in 2010.

Kate Terrio models Deady Fleece Hat by Grapevine Fires

Since some of you asked for it last year around this time, we did get around to making Deady fleece hats with a fine company called Grapevine Fires, but since the hats are quite intricate and each are made by hand, it's been impossible keeping them in stock!  It seems like as soon as I get some, they are gone.  Obviously, I'm just going to have to place a HUGE order with them in 2011 but that means some poor sap over there is probably going to go blind and lose his mind stitching them together! 

There was also a super nice new Deady shirt this year by Offword Designs.  You can always pick that up from their website:       http://www.offworlddesigns.com/s-7-voltaire-ts.aspx

One of the coolest Deady toys made to date came out this year.  That was the Deady as Stitch toy by Disney and Mindstyle that was part of their "Experiment 626 -series 2".  Those sold out so fast it's as if they were never made at all! Seriously, we all love it when a release is successful, but these toys sold out almost immediately upon coming out.  It's sad to not see them around. : (

2010 also saw the Skelanimals and Deady team up for an "artist series" where different artists were invited to redesign the Skelanimals for a vinyl toy line by Toy2R.  Deady redesigned 5 of the little critters.  Series one saw the release of Marcy the monkey as redesigned by Deady.  Series two should be hitting stores in 2011 and rumor has it that series may have one or two more Deadified-Skelanimals. If all goes well, it will be raining Deadified-CATS and DOGS. I guess we'll know soon enough.

As has become a tradition, on every friday the 13th, Deady and I (in animated form) appear in the game AdventureQuest Worlds to lead a quest, or in Deady's case, to unleash havoc.  This year was no different and on friday the 13th last August, we did just that while I sang Goodnight Demonslayer to help a certain Moglin get to sleep.

Zombie Pets game "Deady Bear"

There were also some new Deady bootlegs this year. They are always a source of mixed emotions for me.  A game on Facebook called "Zombie Pets" had a "Deady Bear" as their final and most highly prized creature. It makes me feel flattered and ripped off simultaneously.

Sadly, 2010 was also the year a couple of Deady projects went south to never see the light of day.  One of them was a Deady toy I was really looking forward to that for reasons I'll never really understand the company decided not to make.  Unfortunately that happens a lot in the "designer vinyl" world.

But all in all, it was a good year for Deady and that little extraterrestrial teddy bear and I are gearing up for what we hope will be the biggest and baddest year for Deady yet! 

There are some new Deady toys coming down the pike in 2011, I will be working on getting those Deady fleece hats for sale in a more regular way and I really think it's time to make that Deady hoodie.  The folks at Artix, who make AdventureQuest and I have talked about doing something new with Deady in 2011.  It could be a new mini-game perhaps or it could be something really big! No details yet, but we are working on it.

So like we did last year, we will hand the mic to you again and ask.....  what would YOU like to see happen in the world of Deady this next year?  As always, you guys continue to shape his world and steer his strange little path and we really appreciate it!  

Oh crap, I have to go. I think Deady just ate the neighbor's cat!

Voltaire