Public debut of the Powered Suit Fake Type

Okay folks, I can finally start spilling the beans about something I'm real excited about--something that's been taking up most of my time for the past few months...but that I haven't been able to breathe a word about. Until now.

Starting August 1st, our buddy and esteemed Takara SF super-fan, MicroBry, is joining forces with designer vinyl/custom toy magnate, Bwana Spoons, for a Microman/Micronauts-themed art show at Grass Hut in Portland, OR. This show is called My Friend the Micronaut 2013, and will feature Micro-themed artwork and toys from over a dozen DIY toy makers...including yours truly!

Yup--my first art show...that I'm not just crashing! :P

But I won't be repping Brownnoize by dolo. Oh no. For a show like this, I've enlisted some local talent in order to come up with some VERY special offerings. First off, Mason, our bacony-good cohort and host for many East Coast Chogokin Summits in years past, has organized a team to hand-paint a trio of Powered Suit Fake Types--my Diaclone Powered Suit replicas--exclusively for the event. Yes, these are the Shapeways-printed offerings I've been blogging about for a while now. Stainless steel bodies, magnetic shoulder joints, 3D printed "Inch Lady" female Diaclone driver...and all 100% compatible with the original toys!

But most definitely *unlike* the photos of Shapeways prints I've shown before, each of these figures will feature a unique hand-painted color scheme in keeping with the show's theme! Mason is an experienced wargaming miniature painter and he and his team will be lovingly transforming these toys into true one-of-a-kind works of art. I haven't even seen them yet--other than the teaser pic above--but I'm just honored to have such an established painter painstakingly work his magic on my humble replicas!

Oh, and like the post title says...this is also a big deal: these will be the first Powered Suit Fake Types available to the public!

And on a related note, I did get a chance to take a photo of one of the Inch Lady female pilots, primed and ready for paint. Finally we get to see a decent shot of her!

Because of the translucent plastic she's made of, matte primer is pretty much the only way to see the detail on the print--even looking at the figure in person. So Mason showing me the primed figure was the first time even *I* got a sense for the print resolution. It's pretty wild! Even primed, to the naked eye, those print lines are all but invisible on such a microscopic figure. But now, of course, I'm dying to see her all painted up!

Next up, we have some 2D artwork that is sure to melt some eyeballs! Once again, Larry from Minutia Studios comes to the rescue with his absolutely mind-boggling skills! If I'm nice with 3D CAD, Larry is godlike with 2D software. Whether vector or raster, I've never seen anyone work like him!

Larry took my 3D CAD model for the Powered Suit Fake Type, developed a pose, photorendered it, mapped stickers to the surfaces, and got it all gussied up...before my very eyes. And the result? Brilliant.

I can say that this magnificent artwork *will* be available at the show in one form or another...but I can't give away ALL my secrets just yet! There's one more homegrown surprise in store that I think will go over well. Stay tuned. ;) In the meantime, y'all should check out Bry's Tumblr page for the show and peep the previews for some of the truly AMAZING toys and artwork that will be on display at Grass Hut!

Til next time, I'm out!

Spinning Head Sunshine update!

What's shaking, folks?

I just wanted to post a quick update mostly regarding Spinning Head Sunshine. Well, my Shapeways store is up and running and it's ready to take your monies. :P Seriously, I did what I could to keep the prices down--you shoulda heard the swearing as I tried to hollow out the 3D Systems version...but what can ya do? They charge--a LOT--by volume. :/

Still, there is good news! As it turns out, the SLS polyamide version is not only affordable (from the perspective of a custom MUSCLE-style minifig anyway!), but they actually look killer in the different colors available! Peep this:

I was honestly SHOCKED to see how well these came out. I just assumed with the polishing, all the detail would be lost. Sure, the surface still has a very fine grainy texture, but you can still clearly make out the ridges between the "bricks". Even my logo on the bottom of the feet is easy to see!

So, naturally, I've been plastering this stuff all over my instagram...and I definitely recommend following me to keep up with my misadventures! You'll get WAY more timely instagram updates than the usual walls of text over here. :P I won't be abandoning my blog anytime soon, though, because it's critical for posting details that just aren't appropriate for a quick photo caption...

And before I jet, here's a couple pics I already instagrammed. ;)

A couple weeks ago, I was up at Minutia Studios HQ, purveyors of dope skateboard decks and apparel designed by my buddy, Larry. Well, Larry has joined the Brownnoize family to help a brotha out with Gin Gin stickers and other graphics-related stuff.

Well, let's just say for now that with Walker in charge of paint and Larry in charge of stickers, Gin Gin is firing on all cylinders!

DIY twerp

Heh...that's the term I used to describe myself on TBDX the other day. A bit of self-deprecating humor, to be sure--and certainly NO disrespect meant to other independent artist, toy-makers, and DIYers--but it was simply a statement comparing myself to Yamato (now known as Arcadia), purveyors of rather controversial Valkyrie toys from Super Dimensional Fortress Macross. The point I was making in that thread was that there are myriad in's and out's when it comes to bringing something from product idea through resource allocation, licensing, design, iteration, approval, packaging, distribution, etc.--things that we, as fans, are often 100% oblivious to.

I wasn't trying to "apologize" for the flaws in Yamato's VF-1 Valkyrie or make excuses for their numerous bunk releases leading up to the current iteration. I was just offering possible explanations for the junk they've pulled. Sure, they may have done some unsavory things from a fan's perspective...but my point was simply that it's likely that other factors we can't possibly know about were the cause of these questionable practices--NOT that they're bad or lazy engineers. Clearly, that's not the case. They're making licensed goods, so they have extremely tight schedules to meet licensor and retailer agreements...

Which brings us back to me, the DIY twerp! The stuff I'm making does NOT require expensive tooling. The stuff I'm making does NOT require licensor approval (*ducks!*). I don't have to worry about deadlines and whatnot. I have the luxury of taking my sweet-ass time with everything I do. Sure, I still have to iterate the hell outta designs even as simple as my Foe-Gokin Gin Gin--and you lucky kids get to hear me complain about it all right here!--but ultimately, I can afford to take all the time necessary to make my baby "just right" before releasing it.

^^Those are just some thoughts that've been on my mind as of late.

Anyway, what the hell happened to May??? Yeah, I went two months without a blog post. Not good. But what can ya do? I spent a week in Costa Rica with my girlfriend and some new buddies...good times, but that didn't exactly help with my crazy schedule. And speaking of crazy, who'da thunk...but I've actually up and registered my ass on Instagram! Yup, I've pretty much bypassed facebook, and I'm going straight for the jugular with this significant upgrade to my onlineness. Oh, I'm still gonna maintain my blog--it's the only way for me to post more detailed updates. But now, I'll be able to post a LOT more teasers a LOT more often via Instagram. I've only been on for a couple days, but I've already seen some incredible stuff. Most definitely recommended for the DIY crowd...

Okay, you want more crazy announcements? Well, I think June will make up for May's doldrums. How's this grab ya?

Wednesday night, I finally got a chance to head down to Dead Pre$idents Designs new Monster Kolor shop down in Middleboro, MA. That's a LOT of room...for toys, artwork, events--you name it. With FOE Gallery in Northampton, Murda Mass is becoming the spot. Of course, *we* always knew that...and we're used to waiting on the rest of the world to recognize. ;)

But back to the topic at hand, Walker's got a couple events coming up quick that I wanted to put on blast. First up, on Saturday, June 22nd, head over to the shop to Paint Your Own Tripus. For the price of admission, you get one of Mark Nagata's Tripus kaiju toys, some genuine Monster Kolor paint, and hands-on instruction from the Man himself on how to liquefy people's eyeballs with your custom-painted creature! On the strength, it's a pretty amazing deal.

Next, on Saturday, June 29th, Walker will be hosting his first gallery event at the shop: Locals Only, featuring Brian Mahony (Guumon), Todd Robertson (Mechavirus), and Will Long. All awesome dudes...and all will be there in person. I'm most likely gonna miss the Tripus class, but I definitely want to be there for Locals Only. Should be a killer event!

Okay, I have some more event announcements, but they're for later this summer. I'll hold off until my next post (maybe that'll force me to be a little more timely, y'knowmsayin?)...

I think that brings us to our usual progress reports! SOOOO much good stuff cooking. Don't worry--I wasn't sleeping last month! Pretty soon (hopefully), I'll be unveiling a new source for Foe-Gokin Gin Gin plastics. I'm in the process of testing things and playing around with options, but if this pans out, it could amount to one of the most significant developments in the years-long process that has been this toy project! It could potentially be higher quality and vastly cheaper than printing parts out via Shapeways or some other online 3D print shop. As this vetting process continues, I'll be sure to update you guys, but for now, here are some pics I took today:

Yeah, I know he's missing the middle horn. Working on that... :P

Looks pretty damn good so far though, if I do say so myself!

Meanwhile, I have a new sticker source who is extremely unlikely to screw me over. I know where he lives. ;) And with Walker having the paint mixed and ready to roll, we're almost set to make these things happen. Finally!

And now, the most exciting news of the month...remember my second keshigomu collaboration with Alec at MUSCLEThings.com, Spinning Head Sunshine? Well, if you were following along, Alec was able to make just a few of these figures before the first mold collapsed...and unfortunately, the geometry was just too complex to re-mold the suit portion without causing him some serious injury. It's a miracle he was able to mold it the first time without losing a fingertip to the X-Acto gods!

Well, peep this!

Alec has been diligently casting up *just* the Spinshine tops that he'll be selling directly through his site. Yup, genuine hand-cast rubber from one of the true masters in the hobby! But remember: this figure was born out of 3D printing and my "digital sculpting". Well, with this offering, we're bringing it full circle.

At some point this week, I'll be posting a 3D printed SHS suit in my Shapeways store! The suit will be offered in 3D Systems (Shapeways' so-called "Frosted Ultra Detail") because it has the best resolution while still maintaining a nice, sturdy figure. That's the strongly recommended material, anyway. Unfortunately, it's also the *most expensive*! While the original hand-cast rubber suit from Alec was $20, this Shapeways version will likely be about $40.

It sure looks pretty, though...

Anyway, I'll also offer it in different colors of polyamide ("Strong and Flexible") for those who want one but can't deal with Shapeways' steep middle-man markup, but I fear the low resolution may make the polyamide version kinda suck. Choose it at your own risk.

Flip the script entirely, I may also offer the suit in the different stainless steel finishes. That's for the true ballers out there! Hey, there was demand--albeit not that much--for AshuraShine in steel...so why not the SHS suit???

You've probably noticed by now that this new Spinning Head Sunshine suit is different from the one Alec originally cast in rubber. Well, since we're not planning on molding or casting this version, I could alter the design in ways that would make it even less feasible for molding (but that 3D printing could easily handle). Hence the gada, a traditional Indian mace! I wanted to add something that would differentiate it slightly from the original. Now, even if you already have Alec's original rubber version, you can also get this Shapeways figure for some dome-cracking fun!

Of course, 3D printed materials are usually rigid, so I had to get a little creative with the design. See, Alec's rubber version was simple: you just flexed the shoulders on Spinning Head Sunshine (the suit) apart, and pop in either your Spinshine (top) or the original #195 Sunshine F top...and you were off and running. Can't do that anymore. So this time, I just chopped a wide opening in the back of the suit so that you can press either top figure in! Pretty slick.

Anyway, I'll post again once I've got the figure finalized and available in my Shapeways store. I'm looking forward to seeing how folks feel about this offering. If there's enough interest, we might arrange the same sort of thing for #107 Sunshine E at some point in the future.

Well, I think that's enough for now. I have a couple more things brewing, but they're either super-secret collaborations or just way too early in the conceptualization phase. All part of the game when you're a DIY twerp! ;)

Did I say 'Next Week'?

Okay, a little later than I had originally planned. But, yo, things are moving really quick at the moment. It's kind of exciting! Before I get into the usual updates, I just want to mention that this is shaping up to be a big year for Brownnoize Productions. And this ain't the usual vaporware either! LOL

The collaborations on tap are gonna be off the hook. The in-house toys produced by yours truly are gonna be off the hook. Not much of a teaser trailer, I know, but I just wanted to express my gratitude to those cats who've stuck around and supported my diverse and weird efforts at making stuff people like over the past few years. You will be rewarded. But enough about that...let's get it poppin'.

I know a lot of folks are anxious to hear the latest about the "Throne of Chaos" Unicron stands, so we'll start with a quick update. The order with our fabricator was placed last week, so the first wave of stands should be touching down very soon! The support for these things has been pretty amazing...and I know the price is a bit steep for them, but once you have your Unicron sitting atop one of these stands, I think you'll agree it was well worth it! If you have any questions or are interested in ordering, please e-mail us at unicronstands at gmail dot com.

How about some Gin Gin news? Well, there isn't much I can show off at the moment, but I can say that everything at the moment is riding on finding a reliable sticker guy. We're looking far and wide for the right person, but I know it'll happen soon enough. Ha...y'all been waiting long enough, huh? :P Well, there's another closely-related update to go along with Gin Gin's progress: Monster Kolor now has a brick-n-mortar shop! Located in Middleboro, MA, Monster Kolor Studios will bring the funk...as well as serve as a US-based factory for a whole lot of dangerous projects planned for the future. Stay tuned...and in fact, swing by for a visit and see the mighty Dead Presidents in person and in action!

As for LRGs, there's not a ton to report at the moment. My part in my the latest collaboration is over and now the project has moved into the mold-making phase. Masters are being meticulously sanded, glossed, and generally babied as we speak! More to come...

Okay, now for the hottest news (in my opinion!). Diaclone Powered Suits...ACTIVATE!! First up, though, some background on my custom Diaclone driver. In the tradition of the M18x Lady Command Microman figures, I whipped up a female Diaclone driver!

I am Micro Woman. Hear me roar!!

Her design was originally inspired by Samus Aran of Metroid fame, but I had to ditch her iconic ponytail because it extended too far back in the Powered Suit cockpit. What's a gal to do, right? Instead, I opted for more of a 60's Mary Tyler Moore-esque "flip" haircut. Much easier on the headrest inside the suit...

Anyway, hair notwithstanding, this is all pretty awesome in theory. But as it turns out, the actual printed figure is so fine that most of her details get lost in the translucent plastic! Still, I'd love to see one of these figures painted up by someone with wargaming-miniature-painting skills. Time to make some calls...

And now, onto the suit, itself!

Please forgive the wobbly look of the upper arms--I didn't have any glue on hand to fix them into the shoulder pauldrons. But I gotta say, the suit's looking freshly dipped. The shoulder joints are straight *money*. The teeny magnets work perfectly. They can't support much weight, but they don't really have to. And because they're magnets, you know they'll never wear out like friction-based joints.

And as you can tell, the other nice upgrade over the original--the aligned viewport--is now just about perfect!

And finally, the shoulder mount for the weapon works pretty much without a hitch. I didn't take any pics, but the projectile just slides in and out...and fires perfectly from a stock type c weapon.

So I think I'm gonna do just one more run of all the parts just to be 100% sure of the fit and finish on everything. Once I'm completely satisfied with the design, I'll post it publicly with purchasing instructions (buy in kit form from Shapeways, then hit me up for the magnets). Hotter than sauce...

Unicron Stand Redux!

Guys, I'm putting together a bigger post with the usual progress pics (and tales of woe!) for next week, but I wanted to post some exciting and immediate news. Due to popular demand, I'm pleased to announce the Return of the Throne of Chaos! Yup, Brownnoize Productions' very first TF accessory is going to be available again for at least a limited time.

Need a refresher on this thing? Check out EmGo's killer youtube review:

Ever since BBTS sold out of these Unicron display stands, I've been getting a fairly steady stream of requests from folks for them. Of course, with a day job, my other toy design projects, a girlfriend...y'know--a life!...I simply lacked the resources to offer them anymore. So with a heavy heart, I had to turn away these fellow Chaos cultists! Well, I've been talking it over with my kingpin, Dave, and when we asked our acrylic fabricator if he'd be willing to go back to producing the small batches we were doing before, he said he was all in! WU-TANG!

So things are going to work pretty much the same as before. At first, just to feel things out, we're gonna do a preorder for the initial wave. All ordering and other correspondence will be going through Dave @ unicronstands at gmail.com, but as usual, feel free to hit me up with any questions using the **Contact Brownnoize** link to the right. Depending on how things go, we may offer them perpetually, but for now, we're just focused on hooking up the folks who've been anxious to get these things for ages.

That's pretty much all there is to it--just holla at Dave and he'll guide you through Paypal-ing the money, and once we have a critical mass of preorders, it's off to our fabricator! The response so far has been pretty wild...so THANKS, EVERYONE!!

Design evolution

That's the concept on my mind as of late--"design evolution". Why? Well, a couple of the projects I'm working on right now have mutated considerably over the last couple months. The realities of toy manufacturing can sure poop all over the ideal vacuum of CAD modeling. That's just the nature of the beast, I guess!

Actually, one decision that has been going through some evolution has been this whole facebook thing (see last month's post). I'm sure you're all riveted to hear if and when I'm finally gonna give in and join the Borg collective. Heh. Well, that little adventure might just be on hiatus...again. See, some of my buddies have been reporting to me that facebook groups (including the TBDX one) kinda suck. It appears that there's no real perpetuity. I guess there's a search function...and even though commenting on an old post will bump it back to the top of the list, no one really uses the group that way. The net result is a bunch of disjointed one- or two-post "conversations", where someone will post a picture of a toy, and a couple people will say "cool"...and that's it. Completely inane, and hardly the basis of a fandom or community.

Ugh.

Thanks, internet. But we'll see...

I'm probably going back to my original plan: join once Foe Gokin Gin Gin is actually done. And speaking of that project, not a ton to report. The recent blizzard New England was smacked with a couple weeks ago has driven a wedge into our recent progress...but things are slowly thawing and getting back on pace.

Anyway, speaking of TBDX and evolution, our very own Alen Yen of Incubot is bringing mo' funk with a fully-licensed Grendizer USB drive live on Kickstarter RIGHT NOW! Go there and pledge your support. The Godfather needs us.

Moving on to little rubber guys, things are going pretty well. And of course, as you've come to expect, I can't tell y'all a damn thing! :P I mentioned "good news" last month regarding a collaborative project I'm working on--well, it's still in development so I can't say much, but it's really becoming a little slice of awesome. In my opinion, it blows away the MUSCLEs I've designed thus far, and I'm hoping that by next month, I'll actually be able to share some of my excitement with you guys.

Now, before I break some of my cooler news of the month, I wanna send a mecha-sized shout out to Nicole and Jim Shea of FOE Gallery in Northampton, MA for hosting the "Rise of the Robots" art exhibition at the gallery last weekend. "Art openings" aren't my scene at all (I know--you're shocked! :P ), but I've gotten to know Nicole and Jim, and they're cool peoples. They're passionate and they're doing what they do for the right reasons. Gods bless 'em...'cause that's more that can be said for a lot of folks out there trying to hustle.

Anyway, with a title like that, the exhibition was all about toys and artwork based on ROBUTTS! The aforementioned blizzard delayed the opening eight days, but the turnout was impressive and I was even able to meet some very cool locals, including Transformers: Robots in Disguise cover artist, Casey Coller. Talented and humble.

Catching up with old buddies was also great, of course. I had a feeling he'd show up, but I wasn't sure...so it was nice to bump into Todd "Mecha Virus" Robertson. Solid dude. Just a couple train stops away, we always promise we'll hang out in town!

^^One of Todd's "Amonaito" resin figures painted in Monster Kolor

And, of course, our pal David White was there to dazzle us with his amazing left-handed artwork...and tell horrifyingly dirty jokes. Yeah. We get along great.

And, of course, can't forget our lil brother, Ben Mininberg. Ben really showed and proved at the show, and I'm proud of the lad. He was reppin' hardcore with his very own line of ridiculously well-painted 3D-printed power armor figures. Conceived, designed, and manufactured *from scratch* in his lab, these were the closest to actual toys in the whole show. Peep his blog to learn more about his process and see more pics. Oh, and I happened to snag one of his figures:

And before I forget, my girl snagged a killer piece of artwork (not sure what to call it 'cause it's not really a painting) from James Biggie. That name sound familiar to you? Well it ought to! Partnered with Frankie B. Washington, he makes up half the creative team behind Robot God Akamatsu. We first met them a couple years ago at the 2011 East Coast Chogokin Summit (damn, I miss my 'fro!).

Anyway, back to the artwork. She picked it out this particular piece...and I gotta say, I couldn't've made a better choice:

Okay, so I've given y'all updates on the current collaborations I'm working on, I mentioned Alen's Kickstarter, and I talked about last week's art opening at FOE. Now it's time to reveal that solo project I teased about at the end of last month's post! If your eyes are good--and you're well-versed in Transformers lore--you probably already know what's going down. I'm working on a reproduction (read: bootleg! har) of the Diaclone Powered Suit!

Diaclone was a hard scifi toy line by Takara in the early 80's that evolved from their Henshin Cyborg (yes, the descendants of GI Joe, by way of Japan's "Combat Joe") and Microman lines. No discussion of Japanese robot toys could ever hope to be complete without thorough consideration of these toys--they were marvelously detailed and never failed to spark youngsters' imaginations with their outrageous design aesthetic. I mean, forget how Transformers evolved from this toy line. Taken on their own, they're simply amazing from a design perspective.

^^Okay, but what *are* these things, exactly? Well, most folks aware of the Transformers' Diaclone roots, are familiar with Diaclone drivers, the ubiquitous 3cm-tall dudes who piloted and populated the bigger toys in the series. Some USers will remember the "Diakron" and "Kronoform" lines' wild scifi robots and ships with these driver figures. And of course the Diaclone Car Robots that were eventually brought to here--sans drivers--as the early G1 Transformers toys.

The "Powered Suit" was a sort of accessory to enhance these lil guys. A cheap Diaclone fix for kids. As the name implies, they were very small mecha that the driver figures could fit inside ([nerd]I shy away from calling them true "power armor" because the driver's limbs don't actually control the mecha's limbs via natural, analog movement...[/nerd]). They were available in three different sculpts and two colors; tiny, fragile, and intricate. And while they were dirt cheap when the first came out, they easily command in the neighborhood of $200 a pop these days. Yikes!

Anyway, fast-forward from the early 80's to several months ago. A conversation between me and my bacon-loving cohort, Mason. Why not CAD-up some of our own Powered Suits?? We'd seen online some amazing efforts at repro'ing these toys, but the projects seemed unfinished...and the products--if any--unavailable. Well, some recent experiments with stainless steel printing sparked the idea in my head: the silver body of the suits is unpainted diecast metal on the original toys, right? Then why not make the body of our toy printed steel, and the rest in 3D-printed plastics?

And the evolution just took off from there. My intention was never to make a *precise* replica of the original toy, but I wanted something that looked legit and performed well functionally. And that means that besides looking good, 1) a stock Diaclone driver had to be able to fit inside it, 2) a stock weapon and my repro weapon (including the projectiles) had to be fully-interchangeable and compatible with stock and repro suits, and 3) my suit had to be able to fit inside Big Powered (an even BIGGER robot that the suit fits inside...like a crazy matryoshka doll!). I think I've nailed the look of the Type C suit--the most common variant--and I'm proud to say that a driver figure (which are relatively easy to find) fits nice and snug inside. I haven't tried to fit the repro in a Big Powered yet, but I don't expect any difficulties.

But wait--there's more! Besides those basic requirements, I wanted to add some enhancements to the original design. See, as much as I dig the original toys, certain aspects always irked me. The biggest kick in the groin was the complete lack of shoulder articulation! That's got FAIL written all over it. The original toy's main body and the shoulders are just one big solid hunk of diecast metal. These guys are great at standing at attention...but pretty crummy at chop-socky. :/ Well, until *I* came along, that is! It didn't take me long to discover that 3D printed stainless steel is ferromagnetic...and you know what that means! Magnetic shoulders!

Next, more of an aesthetic gripe: even though there's a nice view port where the face is on the suit's main hatch, you can't actually see the driver's face through the damn opening! Here's an early prototype that didn't account for this...annoyance:

I've since been tweaking the inner dimensions of the suit to prop up our hapless driver a bit. Y'know...so he can actually see where he's going! :P

It's coming along nicely and my next prototype should have him propped up another half-millimeter or so.

And finally, I originally wanted to devise some way to mount the weapon on his arm so that he could be posed aiming it (putting those new fancy articulated shoulders to use!), but then I realized that the Type C weapon is just WAY too huge. Next best thing? A shoulder mount!

It's just a simple adapter that plugs into the normal hole on the back of the suit for the weapon. It can accommodate all three weapon types...and it doesn't look half-bad! ;)

Anyway, this particular project has been a wild ride. I know you've heard me say that before in regard to other toy designs--it seems to be a common utterance in this absurd hobby! But this "not-Diaclone Powered Suit" has presented me with a pretty unique challenge: getting multiple solids printed in different media to play nice. See, if this were all injection-molded ABS plastic, designing would be a snap because of ABS's dimensional stability. But because 3D printed materials have such wildly-varying properties, producing even a simple mechanism comprising parts of different materials can take dozens and dozens of iterations to nail the right dimensions in CAD or select the material with just the right balance of resolution and toughness. Very time-consuming...but hopefully worth it in the end!

I'm getting close to having the design tweaked to account for all the tolerances. Once it's complete, I'll just add it to my Shapeways store, announce it to the TF community, and await feedback. Good times ahead!

Big changes on tap for '13!

Sorry, folks: yet another wall of text for you guys since I can't seem to get my junk together enough to post more frequently! :P Well, let me start off with some pretty major house-keeping news: It looks like 2013 might just be the year I transition my blog from this site to...the dreaded, horrible FACEBOOK!!! Mwahahaahaha!!

If you know me at all, you know I've always been dead-set against MySpace, facebook, or any other crap like that. I've got plenty of friends as it is. Really, an overwhelming number, in fact. I can barely keep up with socializing in meatspace. Flip the script--I have MOAR than enough online diversions...between the several toy websites I frequent and contribute to, and the several e-mail accounts I maintain to manage my social and business endeavors, taking on yet another internet-based responsibility seems about as sensible as trying to nail jello to a tree.

And yet, here we are! Half my boys can't stand facebook...and I have to listen to them complain about it all the time. So I can't help imagining their disappointment to learn that the last pillar of resistance(!) in their community is buckling before the might of social media. Heh...but there's a reason for the treason: see, my bread-n-butter has always been ToyboxDX. Started by Alen Yen in the late 90's, it's where many of us toy-geeks got our start, y'knowmsayin? It's where we met, exchanged stories of how we got into this weird hobby, shared the joys of our toy-scores and the pains of our lost auctions...and ultimately built a little community around a shared passion.

Well, the traditional BBS is rapidly going the way of the dodo. The board doesn't get much traffic these days...and in fact, Alen has recently created a TBDX facebook group. And that joint is BUMPIN'! So...I guess if I wanna continue interacting with my people, I'ma have to suck it up and sell my soul to the devil! And I guess if I'm going down, this blog's going with it! :P I'm not trying to maintain multiple online presences, so if I can get my BBS fix and rock a blog--all via one "social media" website--well, I guess I can get behind that.

What's kinda funny to me about this potential transition is that this blog has been around since 2010, and it's original purpose was to herald the "Foe Gokin" Gin Gin figure--a goal we've yet to realize! Well, 2013 may see the end of this site...but I'm pleased to report that we may see Gin Gin first! Shockingly, all the issues I complained about in my last blog post (yes, over two months ago!) have pretty much been resolved. My partner-in-crime, Matt Walker, recently sent me some *actual* work-in-progress shots of him painting up a Gin Gin body in his lab:

Could this project be FINALLY coming together!? I just couldn't help but post these shots. I'm ready to drive down to wherever he's painting these things and...I dunno...stick one in my mouth? Well...I dunno what I'd do. I just know I'm excited, damn it!

The parts are being painted with genuine Monster Kolor brushable paints, and even though you can see the strokes, Matt assures me that once it dries and gets top-coated, it'll look nice and tight!

Matt's getting over the flu now, but work is going to start back up again soon. The stickers should be finalized shortly as well. Very cool! And, of course, I'm in charge of packaging and all that's good to go (finally).

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Anyway, I wanna switch over to the keshigomu tip for a minute. Some good news and some bad news. The bad is that production of Spinning Head Sunshine has ceased indefinitely. The mold for the suit portion of the figure is extremely difficult to create...and it involves VERY careful cutting with a VERY sharp knife. And even though Alec, the wizard behind MUSCLEThings.com, managed to rock that first mold, the second mold attempt nearly cost him a finger. Yikes!

So those few folks out there lucky enough to score one from the first mold may end up having the only SHS figures ever! Crazy. Well, the nice thing is that this actually gives Alec the opportunity to focus on his own amazing creations. And who knows--we may go back and revisit this mold again in the future. Either way, y'all ain't heard the last from us! There will most definitely be more collabs between us in the future...

Oh, and that good keshi news I was referring to before? Well, this is mostly still under wraps, so I can't divulge too much at this time, but I've got yet another collaboration in the works right now to produce a toy that should *ROCK* fans of a particular 80's scifi property...both here in the US and in Japan! Much, much more to come...

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And finally, I wanna post a little something about a special project I've been working on for the past couple months with my boys. It's not quite ready yet, so this is just another teaser...but perhaps a bit more appetizing than just typing it out, how about a picture???

Strictly for the Diaclone/Pre-TF fans!! ;) Been a minute since I showed them heads some love! Again, stay tuned for more...and thanks for the continuing support, folks!