From Russia with love comes the handcrafted stylings of Sergey Safonov. Sergey's creations, while often cute, have an other-worldly feel to them. Giant birds that wear fedoras, smiling little lunar rovers, a Lovecraftian monster sitting in a little boat as it floats along; Sergey's work stands out as something different, yet at the same time, it's friendly and elegant. From what I can remember about Sergey (especially in regards to the Luno project), that other-worldly feel is intentional, as he's a fan of all things outer space. Maybe that means our little Dunny friend could be a cool-looking astronaut for Sergey's space missions? It's a fun thought, but for an artist and character designer of Sergey's caliber, he deserves mention for a series where design is important.

Of all the artists on the list, no one might get more of what he finds around the house than Singapore's Phu!, who routinely uses found objects and other odds and ends in his custom pieces. But there's more to liking Phu! and his work than just what he builds his creations with: it's how he designs everything to scale and doesn't overlook things like mechanical elements in his custom work. Though he sticks with a relatively simple color palette for the most part (lots of black, silver and purple), Phu! always manages to surprise, and I wonder what he'd come up with for something like a Dunny series. Unfortunately, being a mass-produced figure might mean no found objects on the Dunny, but I trust that Phu! could improvise a cool design (maybe a Rebel Pilot-like Dunny with a jetpack and antennae for ears?) that Kidrobot could duplicate without too much difficulty.

Most people probably know Tony "Nakanari" Shiau from his pop culture-inspired customs, taking icons like Hello Kitty and Doraemon and putting his own twist on them. For that reason, the Orlando-based artist might normally not find himself on such a list, because it might be a bit harder to get away with doing that on a mass production level. But Nakanari is no one-trick-pony: the creator of Spiki is more than happy to take his creations beyond pop culture parody, infusing some of his designs with a bit of inspiration from both Asia and the streets. The end result, especially of some of his earlier pieces like his Yeti Munnys, reminds me of something I might see tagged on the side of a building in a major city, except wrapped around a vinyl figure.

Keita Takahashi — the creative mind behind the Katamari series and Nobi Nobi Boy — always makes things that make me smile ... even when they frustrate me. And by things, I mean games. And by smile, I mean I love the art direction of his games, which is uniquely his. Using plenty of basic geometry and a cel-shaded type of look, Takahashi's style is just plain fun, not to mention rather easy on the eyes. Like Mike Krahulik and Takashi Murakami, not everyone's a fan of his style, but you can't deny that a rainbow-striped Dunny that perhaps resembles Katamari's prince wouldn't look amazing. And if you can, you have no soul.