2.28.2013

Custom Micronauts Huntarr

The Micronauts will forever be a massive influence on my creative endeavors (ha!), sneaking into the DNA of just about every project that comes out of this house.

The custom version of the living bio-weapon known as Huntarr (from the original Micronauts comic) shown above was sculpted back in 2000 and tinkered with for a few years after that, eventually landing in the original Microshow booklet we did in 2004.

I was, and still am, crazy about this character. Huntarr was sort of boring in some ways, looking like a lumpy orange alien with gray boots (why he needed those boots is anybody's guess) and no real distinctive details. He could shift his shape to deal with different situations and for some reason just seemed awesome to me. Later in the story, Huntarr transformed into a very Alien inspired form, which I tried to capture by having a removable outer head that could plop onto the first form's noggin.

The actual 3 3/4" custom is sculpted with Oatey Plumbers Compound over a twist tie armature that was wrapped in layers of electrical tape. The eyes are melted "stained glass" plastic pellets and the paint is Tamiya and auto finish.

I played with this figure for years, eventually snapping most of the wires inside due to excessively rough play. Huntarr saw some serious action and has lived to tell about it, now resting with the rest of the Microshow cast, exchanging tales of being abused by some giant bearded geek.

The cruddy drawing was done today, and is a little extra dedication to one of my favorite Micronauts characters of all time.




2.26.2013

The Kind of Old Days

Man, that was a spell! The last few weeks have been a whirlwind over here. Lots of production related challenges had to get wrangled, as well as a general mopey vibe in the air that was kind of bringing everybody in our little circle down. Maybe the winter blues were to blame, or maybe just regular old stress. Whatever gremlin was messing with the works seems to have taken a break from causing trouble, at least for now (though we did lose one of of our chickens to a raccoon last night).
 
To unwind, I've been going through old project boxes and drawing files, remembering the days when I was really custom building crazy. Being a Microman (Takara) and Micronauts (Mego) nut, many hours were spent building various representations of characters from those worlds, as well as branching off into fan fiction stuff, like the Microshow. Takara still remains one of my all time favorite companies, right up there with Fisher Price.

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to put up some images and scans of those old customs and drawings, Micro related and beyond. I warn you that some of the stuff is pretty rough, and at times downright cruddy, but it may at least make you laugh!

In production news, a new wave is planned for the first or second week of April, and if luck is on our side, something new will be in store (and in the store) when everything goes live. The mystery item has been worked on for quite some time, but may not be what you're expecting. Multiple steel tools are currently in the process of being cut, one of them being a complete figure with all new parts. Should be fun to customize with!

I hope you guys are feeling good and staying creative during these winter months!



2.15.2013

Melting

Now that the snow is under control, we can finally get back to our regular programming.

Ralph delivers once again with the latest round of pages from Operation: Sonesidar!


2.11.2013

Cannonball


Never thought I'd cannonball off my back steps...


Solitary Mission

A break from the shoveling allowed for a little adventure.

Also, 95% of the orders have now gone out, just a couple left to finish!


2.10.2013

Blizzard Business

Nature delivered another wild experience last Friday, dumping over 2 feet of snow and whipping 65 MPH winds across most of Massachusetts. It was a shoveling and plowing odyssey! The drifts alone were over 5 feet in our yard, and the big gusts created a snow comb over on our roof.

The snow delayed the shipping by a few days, but we are nearly done packing everything up now, and should have all orders from the last release out the door by tomorrow afternoon.

The next installment of the comic will pop up shortly as well!


2.08.2013

Nate's Take

Ran a little late getting this up, but we were on a shipping roll.

When I first opened this file I was stunned by how convincingly the image that appeared was rendered. There is so much depth and subtle detail , that it's easy to become a little hypnotized by Nate's incredible workmanship. A true digital wizard at work.

Check out those Mini Rigs and DSGs getting geared up near their camp, and that flying Hub Drone formation! I especially love the Travelers reviewing what looks like a holo-map. If only they knew what they were getting themselves into....

Thank you Nate, for taking the time to create such a mesmerizing piece. I swear, this is the lost cover to a Glyos sci-fi novel from another dimension.

What a beauty!


2.07.2013

Updates!

We are cranking away on shipping everything out from last week's release. There is a fairly massive blizzard headed our way, with a forecast to strike tomorrow morning and last into Saturday. This may affect our postal runs a bit, depending on what actually goes down (hopefully no more trees). As of now we are expecting over 2 feet of snow! Gah! Chances of us making the Toypocalypse show on Saturday night are now looking pretty slim.

On a far more positive note, later tonight we'll be posting up something very special that Nate "Baena" Baertsch has created to expand the development of Planet Sonesidar. It's absolutely remarkable how Nate can create such convincing paintings entirely on his computer. You literally feel like you're standing on the surface of an alien world when looking at what he's put together!

The Cosmic Comic King, Ralph Niese, has also knocked out another great round of the comic. We are aiming to post the next installment at some point tomorrow, in between battling the elements! Ralph has rendered some amazing new panels that continue to push the boundaries of conventional composition.

Working with Ralph, Jesse and Nate on the content for the Sonesidar release has been the best, as they are each truly masters at what they do. We are lucky ducks to know these hyper talented machines.

Now back to shipping!


2.02.2013

Thank You!!!

Without further delay, here are the first few pages of Operation: Sonesidar! Gigantic thanks to Ralph for working so hard on this new adventure. Seeing him render the DSGs digging away has been a trip! We'll post more pages over the coming week as we process everything from last night.

Speaking of last night, you guys are a force to be reckoned with! Thank you so much for getting the year off to a very positive start! I was personally surprised by how many of you still seem to hold the old Adventure People inspired colors close to your hearts. That yellow-orange is kind of an strange color choice, but it did OK for an oddball. Thanks for giving the no detail lined approach a chance, I hope that when this stuff lands in your hands it sparks the desire to play!

My apologies to those of you that had some problems with the store loading last night, as I received a handful of emails that there was some lag in the interface when everything went live. We are still pushing to improve the release night experience, and are constantly tweaking things from production numbers to dealing with our servers to make things run smoother. Thank you for sticking with us even when we have a some static in the reception.

We'll be processing everything over the next few days and are aiming to start the shipping towards the end of this coming week.

Thanks once again for allowing us to keep going. You guys are incredible.


2.01.2013

Sonesidar Is Live!!!


Special thanks to painting ace Jesse Moore for another masterpiece  that makes our little goons look cool.

We will have some more special content popping up later tonight,  featuring all new artwork from the ever impressive Ralph Niese.

Have fun!!!

Getting Ready

On track for 9:30 tonight!