And somehow I missed yet another glowing review from CyberSocket back in February. Thanks guys!
Below is the full text of the review:
Lurid Action Figure Sex
Ken and GI Joe Get Busy In The World of Poseable Thumbs
Creating tableau out of miniatures, whether they be Legos, action figures, dolls, or puppets, is inherently a pretty damn obsessive activity. As it happens, most artists (and they are most assuredly artists, at least the ones who share the final scenes with the world outside their bedroom) with this calling happen to have a luminous and rather ingenious aesthetic sense that ends up being reflected in every bit of art-directed minutiae surrounding the figures, and at least as much in the way the results are photographed and displayed. When you introduce sex into the equation, the results get just plain delirious, without compromising any visual pop.
When I start thinking of microcosmic art (especially the hyper-stylized sort), my point of departure is invariably British master Gerry Anderson (www.fanderson.org.uk, www.bbc.co.uk/cult/anderson). Best known for Thunderbirds Are Go, Anderson’s ’60s “Super-Marionation” creations had aesthetically flawless, ultra-mod and absolutely radiant worlds constructed for them that were as intricate as they were bizarre. Thunderbirds is the ubiquitous example, but the self-styled-as-dark Captain Scarlet and the uber-lush Stingray were far and away the best. And if you think there was no implication of sex in these soapy worlds (e.g. Stingray’s frequent bitch-fights between Marina and various other vixens over captain Troy Tempest), you’re wrong. Hell, the “characters” were drunk half the time.
Other fine examples include biblical Lego site The Brick Testament which leaves nothing out to sanitize the original, depicting plenty of gang-rape, boy-on-boy sex and more), and any work by SoCal artist Luciano Perna (whose vivacious and disarming (albeit explicit sex-free) densely-saturated color photo work is sadly tough to find online, but well worth seeking out).
But what got us onto this train of thought in the first place was the happy accident of our stumbling onto Poseable Thumbs. Devoted exclusively to shimmering photographs of boy dolls and action figures engaged in “Hot Action-Man-On-Action-Man Action,” Poseable Thumbs is ridiculously charming, and oddly genuinely hot. And if there’s any question of their intentions, it’s immediately alleviated by their clever and endearingly direct disclaimer: “This site presents some very mature themes of a flagrantly, shamelessly homosexual nature. Even though you won’t technically see any nudity or explicit sexual material, you will certainly be reminded of it. If you are a minor, or if you are squeamish about this sort of thing, it would be better for everyone if you just went somewhere else. Thanks.”
You might start your tour by checking out the cast: Bobby, a muscle-bound blond; Daddy Joe, a black-haired bear, with full beard and leather jacket; Dez, the hot mohawked boy who may or may not be British; Dogboy, a suedehead bleach blond; Jeffy, a dark-haired club kid with big glasses and love beads around his neck; Max, a dirty-blond with a shaved head and bomber jacket; Rusty, a red-haired bondage boy with a gas mask; and Slave, a, well, slave with leather hood. (A few other unbilled figures come up as well.)
Next, head for the Action Galleries. Favorites in Gallery 1 include a sequence of Daddy Joe (hand on crotch) and Bobby manhandling handcuffed Slave, and Bobby bottoming for Slave, while he and Dogboy grope Dez’s upturned bare ass (jutting out from a pair of leather pants). Among the gems in Gallery 2 — Dez and Bobby f*cking each other, and a hot paratrooper type (in leather trench-coat) getting blown by Bobby and topping Dez. In Gallery 3, a black muscle boy f*cks Bobby in between them stepping on each other (boots on chests), and a bleach-blond top fists Dez. And in the most recent, Gallery 4, things get romantic between Dez and Max, before a steamy domination sequence with Max and another sandy-haired top wrestling and humiliating Rusty. If you think it’s insane to be recounting these in such detail, you’ll see for yourself that, dolls or not, these don’t seem all that far removed from real porn (and it helps that all are superbly photographed).
The virtuosos behind this site are also very actively looking for help to keep going, so if you dig what you see here, you have a few options for philanthropy: make requests for hot new scenarios or send real photos you’d like to see recreated to keep things fresh; send a porn story with the same end in mind; contribute dolls, clothing, and props (for which you’ll get deluxe signed prints of photos on the site, which are also available for purchase at $10 a pop); or just make a donation. You can also contribute by buying other product, including a limited edition 24-page softcover photo book available directly from the Poseable Thumbs site, and a host of other cool merch from their satellite site via Café Press. Items on offer here include a journal/day planner and greeting cards that are really quite nice, along with more basic tchockes (buttons, T-shirts, magnets). Just think of it as supporting the arts, and getting visually pleasing (if disturbingly arousing) loot in the process.
Lawrence Sachs wants a wall-sized Poseable Thumbs photomural.