El Chakal666 (also known as Avatar666) continues to raise the already high bar of toy customization with this beautiful Tequila custom. In El Chakal's skilled hands, Tequila has been transformed into Leonidas, the legendary Spartan warrior and inspiration for the 300 film and comic. As with all of El Chakal's toy customs, the beauty shines in the details. For more images of this and El Chakal666's other customs be sure to visit and marvel at his Flickr page BY GOING HERE. As always it is a honor to see El Chakal666 unleash his creative magic on one of Muttpop's figures!

Congratulations to Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks on making it into the 2011 NBA Finals. As a Laker fan, I was stunned to see the Mavs sweep the Lakers as easily as they did. Mavs have been a consistently great team for several years. But this year, there's been something magical happening with them.

The NBA is about moments. The Mavs have had plenty of them in the Playoffs. Stuff like: Terry hitting 9 threes on the Lakers alongside a temporarily rejuvenated Peja. Nowitzki constantly coming through with big shots including that Game 4 comeback that began with Dirk taking over with less than 5 minutes left in what looked like a Thunder victory. Kidd hitting that three in Game 4 (I LOVED Game 4!). Shawn Marion stepping up to the challenge of guarding Kevin Durant and looking like the "Matrix" of Phoenix.

Tyson Chandler has definitely brought something to the team. But guys have also acknowledged Caron Butler's dedication to recovery as inspiration. Adding more fuel to their fires of inspiration, Terry had the NBA Championship trophy tattooed on the inside of his right arm at the beginning of this season (see pic below). It's the Mavericks championship this year. Good luck to a helluva team.

It's rare to hear the craft-related thoughts of any cartoonists... particularly ones that do not regularly work on mainstream superhero comics. And yet, here's a wonderful discussion of story between three of my favorite American cartoonists: Paul Pope (THB), Sam Hiti (Tiempos Finales) and Brandon Graham (King City).

This reminds me that I have to pick up a copy of Sam Hiti's DEATH-DAY.

CLICK HERE to listen to the recorded TCAF panel via Ink Studs.

Tequila Classico can now be purchased in finer Designer Toy Stores worldwide. He's an excellent addition to any toy collection and looks pretty snazzy to our other Classico figures!

Tequila Classico will be offered to your favorite Designer Toy retailers through our distributor (DKE Toys) in the next couple of weeks. Limited to a total of 500 made, Tequila Classico is the long awaited grey/black & white rendition of our favorite masked cactus-inspired warrior.

Here's another detailed look at the Butterfly Dog by Gobi. In these two illustrations, Gobi explains how the Butterfly Dog is capable of scaling walls like a chameleon. The LAST Avatar 2 inspired creature illustration will be revealed later this week.