Aurelio Voltaire

Voltaire started his career as a stop-motion animator. It is an art form that requires making rubber, posable models. Add to that the fact that Voltaire also creates comic books filled with colorful characters and it's probably not surprising then that Voltaire has always dreamed of seeing some of his creations made into toys.

For years his pursuit of landing a toy deal lead only to having many doors slammed in his face. Voltaire learned the hard way that toys are expensive to make and that toy companies generally don't take risks on intellectual properties unless they have millions of fans (see: Superman, Batman, Mickey Mouse, etc). However that all changed when the "designer vinyl" wave swept over the land. Designer vinyl toys are generally toys designed by artists that are made in limited runs generally ranging from 500 to 1000 pieces. Their rarity as well as the reputation of the artist involved give them their intense value with collectors and fans.

In 2004 Hong Kong's premiere vinyl toy company, Toy2R, introduced Voltaire to the world of "designer vinyl" by manufacturing a toy of his comic book character, Deady. It was an instant hit and lead to a string of other Voltaire toys including a line of "Pocket Goth" plush toys for Toy Network that were made for the games and amusement market. Those toys were available as prizes at all of the major amusement parks as well as in crane machines at Walmart, Toys R Us, etc.  

The coming years saw Voltaire make Hot Wheels cars for the Japanese market and many Deady toys including a figure made by Disney and Mindstyle (of Deady as Stitch from their film "Lilo and Stitch"), an 8-inch Deady figure by Toy2R that was co-branded with the popular on-line role-playing game AdventureQuest World as well as collaborations with the ubiquitous "Skelanimals" characters (also by Toy2R).  

Recently, bootlegs of Voltaire's toys have begun spilling out of China, a bittersweet sign that his designs are finding fans the world over.

Voltaire continues to make toys, mostly of his character, Deady and is often involved in custom toy shows.

You can see some of the toys Voltaire has designed here in the Toy Gallery section. http://www.voltaire.net/toy_gallery