ION MEN 4" Mini Japanese Vinyl Robots by A.O.I. -2 bodies -8 heads -2 sets of legs -over 100 variations -4 parts of articulation Being produced at The Fort by Velocitron in Japan with sculpts done by Siccaluna. Still early days but here is a grainy, blurry pic of at least 16 combinations. At this stage the first releases will be unpainted.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys Wow! Very nice! With all those options I'm hoping for affordable and fun toys here!
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys I'll hold judgement until some better teasers are around, but Ricky's a pretty talented sculptor so I'm definitely interested to see how this project turns out. The asymmetry of the body on the right and the drill head (Getter-2 homage?) look particularly intriguing.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys We made this at factory at 9" in 2010 and it has always been poo-pooed by the U.S. designer toy industry in a "Wow, that's shit. You should have done that in vinyl" sort of way. It's not really something the designer toy scene could appreciate, I marketed it towards the wrong crowd. So now we are doing him and all our main characters in J-vinyl and moving the fuck away from the U.S. design scene and taking the toys where they should have been in the first place. Thing is, the Seismic Ace wasn't really that god awful, it just wasn't available anywhere, too expensive and has been locked away in a warehouse for 2 years. A problem I've just had rectified....he's being re-released and he'll be cheap just in time for when these minis come out later this year (if all goes well.) Basically these new minis are supposed to be a homage to the super-robots of the 70s and even the geared-up tin robots of the 60s. I like simple, non detailed robots and that was the focus with all our designs. We did this whole thing completely old school, the way things would have been done back in the 80s....no using Illustrator/photoshop to do the turnarounds, no crazy 3D models (like the ACE had) all hand drawn turnarounds for each robot done on art paper, sent to me by TurboPistolla, re-inked and then sent back to Velocitron for sculpting. Since the Japanese vinyl process is all done the same way its been done for 50 years I wanted this to be done the way things were done before everything became technology oriented. It's been BLOODY HARD! Things must have been nigh impossible for guys who weren't in Japan or employed by big toy companies in America to get toys made back in the 70s-80s.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys Nice to hear that the Seismic Ace is getting a revival. I will definitely get one of those and then surround him by mini's.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys You have my support brother! Stick with what you believe in and make it happen. I dig Seismic Ace too!
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys Thanks PlasticHunter and BB, it's been a loooonnnggggg time coming and a lot of fighting but I've finally got him out of the warehouse where he's sat unsold forever and now he's actually going to be sold all over the U.S. now. ...and you can put someone's eye out with him....stick him to the fridge....use him as a shark lure (he's heavy with magnets!) Hopefully I can slowly trickle more info about the minis soon but there's more pics all over my blog that show some of the designs (The pic above was "early days" into the design process and most of the heads were scrapped but that KUMATANK is a definite.) Obviously Velocitron is very busy with a lot of other projects and if you watch any of the vids up on the various sites you can see all the work he's doing currently. There's a lot going on. I'm patient. It's taken us over a year to get this far with major setbacks all last year smashed sculpts, ripped up artwork, snubs, taunts and BS.... I've developed the patience of a saint. Hell, I released the Seismic Ace in 2010 and it's only now getting a proper release two years later because I've got the right people on the job. Learn and evolve.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys Great news! I'm definitely interested in Seismic Ace. And the minis look like they'll be big fun.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys WoW! I absolutely love the old school robot homages in the design of this fella while still making him your own. I see Getter, Tetsujin etc...Seismic Ace would fit perfectly in a Go Nagai anime! Well done!
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys My only issue is....can you make the text you type in a little bigger.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys That was because I couldn't resize the ENORMOUS pics and there was a huge amount of text....it would have covered half a metre of page at regular size so I made it one size smaller. Stupid photobucket, those weren't even large pics. When Seismic Ace was first made I had 0 idea of what I was doing so he's kind of crap to look at but he's basically a Getta Dragun type-shogun body wth a ROM Spaceknight jetpack and a drill head. I've learnt a lot since then, released another toy that's sold crazypants, done skatedecks, cards with Sucklord, prints etc. Hopefully these minis are the goods. 60-70s giant robots was def the look that we wanted and I basically said "Hey, all the toy companies who's mini toys I have collected over the years have stopped making that style mini....lets continue it...but our way." While not all that original I have this gap on my shelf that needed this sort of toy so I'm seeking to fill it. Nothing worse than when you collect something with a passion and it's not there to collect anymore! Although these are unrelated to the actual minis some people haven't seen these and there aren't enough factory pics in the world....
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - Smash Tokyo Toys Is it me, or does "Seismic Ace" basically look like a non-super deformed Robert de Castro robot?
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION Except drawings and sketches of Seismic Ace were first put on the net as early as 2008....before his robots were announced, my copyright predates his, however, you are right about his nipple nuts/rivets. When we sent the turnarounds off to China it looked like this: They asked us if we wanted to make any changes and I said "Can you add rivets all over him and make him bigger?" and thats what we got. Since this was the exact time that Combat R-0 was huge it is not at all unbelievable that they took it straight from there. However, I think you'll find his body looks exactly like any one of Go-Nagais super robots (as shogun warriors) because originally I wanted to do a new 9" line of mini SHOGUNS but couldn't afford it. He even has lightning bolts on his legs like Dragun which aren't on the original turnarounds. I've always said on forums that the Combat R-0 is probably the best robot design in a decade to come out of the desginer toy industry and own every colorway myself. The resemblance was entirely unintentional though. My Combat R-0s actually have pride of place at the front of my collection! The prototype for SEISMIC ACE doesn't have any rivets and looks completely different. UPDATE: Last week SMASH TOKYO TOYS was abolished, and we started the new company in Japan two days ago with these mini toys in producton at Siccaluna with Velocitron doing the wax so we should start seeing actual sculpts in the next couple of months. The new company is called A.O.I. which is basically an acronym for "ANY OLD ION". Velocitron suggested that "Smash Tokyo Toys" would cause rather unique and interesting problems in Japan for a number of reasons (it was named that because it's a hat-tip to what all giant robots and monsters do whenever they come to Japan, they "Smash Tokyo" not as an insult or racial slur.) The minis will look more like the original plan and will go back to that chunky style, very simple, old school look of 70s super-robots. People will complain that the designs are goofy....that's the point though!
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION Glad you're changing the name of the company. "Smash Tokyo" was a bit...off. For the reasons you mentioned. And not to start beef over something that doesn't seem very important, but Robert de Castro had posted news about Combat-R Zero well before 2008. If you developed your sculpt at the same time (or before), then it's a fantastical coincidence. If you drew your guy after seeing pics of his, then whatever...no big. I mean, it's quite clear that you pick many elements from existing designs to incorporate into your own. I think it would just behoove you to be more open about it because I've noticed more than a few eyebrows going up upon seeing some of your work. For example, I recall seeing a robot with a teddy bear head...and precisely-lifted gun arms from a Glaug (Zentraedi Officer's Battlepod from Macross/Robotech). I guess some people were pretty heated about it. I hardly cared enough to follow the hubbub, but the simple thought occurred to me for you either to 1) be immediately up front about your "homages" or 2) just alter your designs and make them all your own. Regarding #2, you can still make homages...but there's a very WIDE range between a precise copy of something and something totally unprecedented. And the last thing I wanted to suggest was maybe not saying "Go Nagai" so much when referring to your robot designs. I think mini vinyl robots are a neat idea and I hope these turn out cool, but I the robots you've come up with (Seismic, the "Centurion" dude, and the silhouettes above) are just not very Go Nagai-esque. The posture of the designs is off. The basic anatomical structure is vastly different. The aesthetic of the details is wrong. It's almost like you've tried to assimilate his manga art style and then somehow reconcile it with Popy's chogokin/Jumbo Machinder sculpting style...but in doing so, you've ended up quite wide of the mark in both categories. Just adding drills and rivets to a basic robot platform doesn't really make it Go Nagai-like. Keep in mind that this isn't an insult--in fact, what I mentioned about being more original is nicely upheld here! You've got your own style (the wide-but-slumping shoulders, the super-narrow waist + narrow thighs, short legs, etc.) and that's not at all a bad thing. But it'll probably make a lot more sense to say that these designs are inspired by "70's Japanese super robots" in general...and NOT "Go Nagai's super robots". 'Cause these just don't look like robots he'd ever make...or robot toys a company would ever sculpt based on his artwork. These look more like something out of a modern Yasuhiro Imagawa anime (like his throwback Tetsujin or Giant Robo work). Or going back to the stylized manga of Shotaro Ishinomori...or even Tezuka, himself...where the designs were kind of edgy and avant-garde, and less hard-scifi than Nagai's stuff.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION I just have to echo what has already been said. I don't get a Go Nagai feel from these, the style and proportions are just off - which, as Sanjeev said, is great for making your own 'thing.' The minis in particular (in their stance and proportions) really seem like kinnikuman, which is equally great. I am interested to see how the wax sculpts come out from Velocitron. So what is the story with the new name, if I might ask? Doesn't matter how many times I read it, I swear, it doesnt matter how often, every time I read it Any Old Iron (which works for robots, but of course is not correct).
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION Good eye, Steve. I think you nailed it. I didn't really get a specific Kinnikuman vibe, but if you go back and look at classic mecha and super robot keshigomu, there are a lot of similarities in the silhouettes. Where's Eric Nilla? He's an expert on robot keshigomu...he'd be able to school us on this shit... But, yeah, my brain keeps making me read it as "Any Old Iron"! Y'know, his name actually WAS Screw Head!
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION Robert De Castro makes unreal robots, I hope he makes more. Let me point out I announced straight away the new beartank has Glauss arms as a tribute to robotech from the start, it's not like we tried to deny it. Square barrel guns pop up pretty much everywhere in all print media these days though, square gun barrels with two exit holes are in nearly every page of early McFarlane comics being held by big guys with inexplicable anatomy. Square barrels are the new round! @Ultrakaiju - fair enough, I just echo what people have been telling me for years....that Centurion is a direct rip off of Getter Dragun and the blogs have always said that my robots were "heavilly influenced by Go Nagai". It's funny because Centurion K16's head is based on an actual gladiators helmet design from the Roman days, Dragun and Joe Pi from Top Ten so those guys were sort of right. ANY OLD ION is a play on words of exactly what you said, and as you said robots aren't really made of iron so it's a bit of an in joke with robot nuts like me. These robots are supposed to be badly made, like anachronisms, they couldn't possibly work, they have gears on the outside, no joints....where do the pilots go? How do they bend their legs? Where do the giant weapons and fists dissapear to? Nobody asked these questions as a kid watching cartoons back in the 80s while watching Mazinger z or Getter Robo so here are a whole set of new super (stupor) robots to hopefully give collectors of minis a start on, especially if they were looking for a new series of minis to collect...I was and thats why I've done this, I kept starting on minis that kept ending. These will be released more like the grody line then Kinnikuman...I should make that clear. They have different body parts that will be blind bagged together to create at least 100 different unique characters. I just got the very first pics from Siccaluna today and the Seismic Ace will look more like that original version we first submitted free of any rivets, totally smooth. However, to get a proper pull with the vinyl they've made him rounder and bigger which may get some criticism. Some things can't be avoided when pulling vinyl. We can't put those pics up yet because there were some things that need to be tweeked.
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION Wow. This is really cool. I would like to echo Sanjeevs and UltraKaiju however. These are definitely not machinder style proportions. If anything they look like disney / teen titan villains. You'd need not look at go nagai so much as Popy machinders. It's the unique take on the character forms, that simplified material use and assembly process, and yet still had them packed with gimmicks and true to form appearance, that makes it a machinder. I wish more of the machinder and chogokin collector based guys here were involved in design. We've certainly got enough references and I for one would love to help out. Looking good! Keep at it!
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION Guys, for three years, many robot collectors have said "Go Nagai" to me so thats something thats stuck. Some big toy robot designers said it too, probably guys whose toys you have on your shelves, even guys at Takara. I know what you're saying and get you 100% but maybe I just wanted them to look that way SO MUCH! With the kumatank guns...I did say straight up that they were big, gaus cannons just like the guns on the officers Battlepods (over on another forum and the only people who got heated were the same people who tend to get heated whenever I say anything yet don't actually buy my toys) it was only here that I expanded that big square cannons are actually quite common in sci-fi media these days and not just restricted to Robotech...you'll find these will probably pull differently enough to get away with it especially if he never has 2 on at a time. Also, there's practically no chance anyone will pull two "Cannon arms" per robots from a blindbag These are minis, any resemblence to anything else will go out the door when they're poured anyway....I've already seen the start of the base sculpts, they don't look like their pictures because their proportions are completely different now. They're a bit fatter than the originals and a LOT fatter than the 5" resin below. If you like Siccaluna, you'll love the shape these. They look WAY better then their original sketches because now they are 3d and not 2d. I love Jumbos, I had to sell off 40 jumbos to make the ACE and to move house after my baby died, I only kept Garada and Godzilla. I would have been happy to work with the biggest Jumbo collectors in the world man, you guys spin me out with your collections. Thought I'd show this, this is similar to what we're doing but if you are familiar to Siccalunas' robot style you'd know they do more "barrel-bodied" robots which is what I love about their style....but I wanted to show that this print is actually based off a customisers own interpretation of Centurion K16 and since we don't have any set colors for our robots we gave him these colors for the print. We're still looking but this color may be done in the future. I would prefer him to be brighter colors. Ace isn't actually that weird silver-gold metallic paint either, neither is the Beartank the same color as War Machine that "THAT" toy was. (sorry to the customiser, I can't reference your custom as my memory of your name is completely gone, maybe, Adam Pratt?)
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION Best of luck with the project Matty. But, dear god - the jointing and molding fees!!!!!
Re: Japanese Mini Vinyl - ANY OLD ION Looks like Lulu has the initial run of guys up right now. Congrats on getting some to the right market finally. I am sure at 20$ a pop, these are gonna fly out. I actually really liked the bluish rub in the factory photos, not that the metal sprays aren't cool too. I didn't realise these were all resin though. Might I ask how fragile they are then? A huge part of the love of vinyl toys for me is that, they are toys, so I can beat them up and have a blast with them. Especially for large robots, being heavy and clucky might be realistic, but is really only good if you want stuff to sit on a shelf.
