Four Horsemen Gothitropolis Raven Test Shots Look Amazing
While the Four Horsemen refer to these as the “first” test shots, the more accurate way to describe them would be as the first test shots after earlier looks at the Gothitropolis Ravens revealed problems with scale and detail that required retooling. I don’t recall if this was part of the earlier acknowledgement of the issues, but this latest update discusses a move to a new factory for the fix.
There are a couple of shots of the upcoming figures with the Scarabus, the previous figure from the Gothitropolis Fantastic Exclusive line – while it could be the perspective of the photos, it still looks like the Raven may be a little undersized. But what is undeniable is that the detail and articulation of the figures looks great. The Four Horsemen provided 32 pics in this update, so enjoy!
GOTHITROPOLIS: RAVENS FIRST TEST SHOT ARRIVES!!
Well, it looks as if all of the headaches, waiting and extra money we had to spend to make these things happen is going to pay off. We just received the first images of the Gothitropolis: Ravens test shots from the factory and we expect to have a couple of them in our hands next week for inspection. But from what we can see from the photos the factory sent to us, these things look amazing. We definitely made the right choice in switching factories. Even though it’s taking a few months longer than we’d planned to get these things to you, the end result is going to be an incredible action figure of the highest quality. Please check out the pics in this and the next couple updates, and let us know what you think.
Also, we mentioned “test shots” above (otherwise known as “first shots” or “engineering pilots”). We should probably explain what that is to those of you who may not already know. We lifted the pretty thorough definition pasted below from http://www.behindthetoys.com/features/creation.asp
“After the sculptures are made into hard urethane castings and sent over to the factory for production, steel molds are made. From these steel molds engineering pilots commonly known as “test shots” or “first shots” are created. Test shots are the first non-painted plastic mold injected examples of the action figure. The main purpose of test shots are to test the molds to see if they are filling correctly. In addition, test shots are also utilized to check to see if the action figure product assembles correctly, as well as the product detail. Since the main purpose of test shots are to test the molds the vendor factory will utilize whatever colored plastic pellets are being utilized on the line. For this reason, test shots can often be found in non-production colors.”
