Industry interviews and Q&A from Mattel, Hasbro, and more
With Thor: The Dark World set to hit an $84MM opening weekend in the US, on top of a strong international box office the past couple of weeks, I wonder if Hasbro feels the whoosh of an opportunity passing them by. Back at San Diego Comic-Con, we asked the brand and design team if they had plans for Thor Marvel Legends – in short, they said no.
And while they have brought Marvel Universe-scaled Thor figures to the market, there’s a lot more they could have done with Legends.
Hope you had a good Halloween! Here’s some treats from the gang at Mattel.
1) With regards to 2014 / 2015, you’ve said that since there are two Snake Men left it’s likely to see them split across the two years. Does the same kind of rationale apply to Stridor and Night Stalker? Or is there too much tooling to consider them in the “big hitters” category that qualify for the next two years?
Our goal for 2014-2015 is to release all of the basic figures. How many beast or vehicles released has yet to be announced. We can tell you the more tooling a beast or vehicle has the less likely it will be released ?(unless a basic vintage figure like “Gwildor” etc.. which we will prioritize).
Last week, I suggested that Mattel is making a mistake by choosing the “bound” or “jail-suit” version of Doomsday for its San Diego Comic-Con exclusive next year. To summarize, I put forth that most people would prefer the “unleashed” version of the monster that killed Superman, and that with 2014 being the swan song for DC Universe Classics, going out on a whimper would be a disappointment to fans and Mattel alike.
And then I put it to you and asked which Doomsday would you prefer. So far, a couple hundred of you voted, and I’ve taken a look at the results – are any surprises in store?
Continue reading “Soapbox Sunday: Doomsday Unleashed vs Bound – By the Numbers (Yours)”
If you’re a toy fan, even if you don’t know his name, you’re probably a fan of his work. Dave Cortes started his professional career at McFarlane, but soon went independent. I first became a fan when he worked with Toy Biz on Marvel Legends, but his work on the Mezco Hellboy lines is still the tops.
One of his recent projects is on the Dream statue commemorating Neil Gaiman’s return to the character. Dave talks about sculpting, including the transition to digital from traditional clay sculpting. Be sure to check out the full interview with Dave Cortes.
For those of us who are unfamiliar with the process of sculpting a collectible like this, can you give us a quick rundown? How does it generally work?
When starting a new project, I’m first given artwork, either concept or control art depending on whether it is a statue or articulated figure. I usually take reference photos for the projects, which means I’ll be dressing up one of my friends to shoot 360 images of them in a pose to get clothing detail and wrinkles which will make the whole modeling process go quicker. Then at some point I deviate from all reference and just do my own thing. About three weeks later we have something that everyone is happy with, then the model is prepped for 3D printing and the rest is out of my hands.
Do you miss sculpting traditionally or have you completely adapted to the digital medium?
I do miss traditional, but still get to do some here and there. I teach a traditional clay class as well as digital sculpting at SVA (School of Visual Arts), so I at least get to sculpt every fall with the students. Digital modeling is a great tool for the professional industry. There are many benefits to working digitally, so I will always suggest doing projects digitally for the companies I work for. At this point, I also favor the medium for my own work. I can work much quicker. But I do feel that my sixteen years sculpting in clay made the transition to digital easier, so I suggest some clay sculpting for every digital sculptor.
via Dreaming in Three Dimensions: An Interview with Dave Cortes | DC Comics.
Totally my fault this time. Toy Guru got our answers back to us on the 15th (all of them, this time!) but I was distracted winding down after New York Comic Con. My bad!
1) The new Masters of the Universe comics from DC have provided some new design twists for existing characters. What kind of collaboration is there between the Mattel design team and the comic book creative team? Do you consider the new designs on the table for MOTUC in 2014 / 2015?
The MOTU franchise team works very closely with DC on story lines and character designs. We certainly could look into DC designs in the Classics line, but not until after 2015.
Continue reading “Ask Matty Q&A for 10/15 (a Few Days Late)”
