I know it's been ages since my last blog post, but things have been moving at a breakneck pace since Future Factory! The class went amazingly well--tons of local folks involved with the hobby or just interested in 3D printing in general came through to check out what we were doing. All eyes on us! And why not? What we're doing is kind of ground-breaking, after all. As far as I'm aware (and believe me--I've been searching!), there really aren't any other folks directly 3D printing complex toys and hand-finishing them in their own homes. I'm sure in a few years, this medium for custom toys will become as commonplace as resin/rubber casting...but it's kind of an amazing experience to be among its pioneers. And, of course, having all of you folks along for the ride to give us feedback and support is what makes it all worth it. So Thank You for letting us do our thing as independent artists/DIYers!
But like I said, we ain't resting on our laurels. Here's some big last-minute news, folks!
If you're actually reading this blog, I'm sure you've already heard about Super Robots Giant Monsters by now (via my crankin' instagram feed or via the other various social media outlets talking about such toys and events)...but I just wanted to make a quick post to talk about it a little more. I'm actually going to be involved on TWO different levels. First off, I'm sharing a vendor table with none other than the inimitable Ben "Prometheum5" Mininberg! Together, we'll be selling armies of 3D printed toys. Remember those 3D-printed super robot minifigs I teased about in my last blog post? Well, if you haven't been following my instagram feed, they're called the Shogun Voyagers...a rather obvious homage! ;) These micro figures debuted at Future Factory and every figure I produced for the class sold out before the end of the day! Well, these production-level, fully-packaged figures will finally be available to the public!
Also available for the first time publicly will be the mighty Powered Bio Suits! It's been a long time coming, but the production versions of these toys are finally ready for prime time. Go big or go home, Micro-fans! ;) I'll only have a few available at Super Robots Giant Monsters (since they're so time-consuming to manufacture), but I'm just looking forward to getting some in fans' hands after all this time.
These guys are enjoyable to mess around with, they're durable, reasonably well-articulated (given the source material), and they come with nice packaging and accessories. As I've mentioned before, I'm transitioning away from copying existing designs and doing more original stuff (like the Shogun Voyagers)...but damn if these aren't cool figures! I think they're a fun way to enhance your Microman/Micronaut action figures, and they simply make for excellent, high-end 3D printed offerings.
Oh, and lastly, I'll be debuting one more class of offerings at SRGM. I've only just barely teased about it on instagram, but something VERY dope is in the works...
But, yo, I mentioned I was involved with SRGM on TWO levels, right? Well, let's take a quick step back: Super Robots Giant Monsters is the first of, hopefully, a yearly sequence of small toy-collector conventions that focuses tightly on--you guessed it!--vintage Japanese robot and monster toys. We'd been talking about doing something like this for the past couple years...especially with how big the East Coast Chogokin Summits have been getting.
SRGM just seemed like the next logical step.
There are tons of folks who grew up watching the same cartoons and movies we did in the 70's and 80's--folks who have the same reverence we have for those classic Japanese characters and toys that were brought here during those years. But not everyone is connected to the organized collecting community. So JoshB of CollectionDX took it upon himself to organize this first-of-its-kind show to open up the hobby to more folks. And I'm saying, yo, it's gonna be EPIC!! A lot of the locals, of course, are involved, including Matt Doughty and the extended Glyos fam and Alen Yen, the Godfather, and his Incubot label. But they're not the only ones bringing the heat...
See, one of the focal events at SRGM is gonna be the vintage Japanese toy gallery...that yours truly is curating! That's right: I've been put in charge of melting people's eyeballs at this event. And TRUST: eyeballs *will* melt! We decided that we're gonna kick off this hopefully-yearly con with a bang. "Bring serious fire" was the mandate we set. So to that end, on display will be toys from my own personal collection, and those of Josh Fraser and Warren Schwartz. If you're familiar with those names, then you understand the gravity of what I'm explaining. If you don't...oh hell...if you don't, you will...
You.
Will.
So that's it for now, but I'll leave you with just one more little tidbit: stay tuned for a major site makeover coming soon! ;)
