Deep within the chaotic scene at the Javits Center during last month’s New York City Comic Con, as cosplayers masqueraded around dressed as the year’s pop culture icons—Beetlejuice, Deadpool, and the Joker were all well-represented— one classic team-up took center stage among the exhibitors.
Tenacious Collective—a 1000-square-foot booth on the showroom floor where more than 650 exhibitors showcased their original art, costuming, and merchandise this year—is more like a mini-mall. Including collectible toys, tattoo artists, and more, the NYC-based collective is almost its own con-within-a-con for independent artists among the major retailers.
“There’s a lot of stuff on the show floor. It’s a bit repetitive, and the one thing that I can say about my booth is that nothing appears anywhere else in this show.” Benjamin Kline, who runs the collective, said.
Kline, 46, kicked off his business, Tenacious Toys 20 years ago and has shown off his products at New York Comic Con for about 16 years. This allows him to collaborate with other independent artists to create and customize his limited-edition toys.
“I realized that it wasn’t just me doing a thing. I was like, let me call it a collective,” Kline, who also shares his emotion about the collaborations between artists, said. “I was really fascinated by these things because they are the intersection of art and toys. It’s not an action figure, and it’s not a painting.”
Tenacious Toys, a company that offers one-of-a-kind, hand-painted limited collectibles, led the collective of ten businesses. Kline’s place, adorned by vinyl toys, resin statues and licensed action figures, made his booth a place where you can rarely see those types of toy designs.
Among other exhibitors within the booth, Juan Muniz, founder of Ninobuni World, came from California to introduce his art through toys, books and T-shirts.
“The company itself started as a lifestyle brand with my illustrations, toys, t-shirts and mostly books for children about mental health in minority communities,” Muniz said. “I was born in Mexico, and [mental health] is not a thing we don’t really talk about, especially growing up.”
Originally from Tijuana, Muniz started his business to spread mental health awareness and pay tribute to his brother.
“My little brother, Felipe, unfortunately, passed away when I was eight years old. So, I created a [toy figure] inspired by him,” Nino shared. “Through him, we are able to present it not just like art but also in t-shirts and toys to promote the end of the stigma behind mental health.”
As Muniz’s story, each business within the booth has something unique to share, including toys.
“I have the Ninja Turtles action figures from a Taiwanese company called JT Studio. He’s an independent toy maker,” Kline said. “I always bring really interesting stuff from elsewhere that they’ve never seen, brand new things, new companies. It’ll never be on Target or Walmart.”
Kline also collaborated with the 501st Legion-Empire City Garrison, an all-volunteer organization that promotes interest in Star Wars by building and wearing costumes for Star Wars-related events for charity and volunteer work.
The 501st Legion gathers charity to donate to Make-a-Wish America, a collection of independently chartered nonprofit organizations. However, as the comic con draws a sea of cosplays, the stormtroopers’ costumes may be overshadowed.
“Outside of the bubble of conventions and cosplay and stuff, you wouldn’t really know about it,” Kline said, supporting the charity act by giving a customized set of Star Wars stickers. “A young guy bought some custom toys and asked, ‘What are those stickers?’ I explained the whole thing to him. He said, ‘They’re awesome! How do I donate?’ And he donated $10 and received a set of stickers.”
