Hey everyone, after reading the "who's got the best sculpts" thread and the quoted message from Stealthtank below, I was wondering if we could a get a thread going about folks who have created Neo-Kaiju. Specifically information on the designers and sculptors; who did what when and why. I always thought the Skullbrain was sculpted by Cosmo Liquid and assumed it was designed by Hiddy of SB? But it was Chanmen and Kiyoka? It turns out that the two people behind my favorite line (the SB fight figures) also created my favorite of S7's Fight figures. What else have these two created? I've never really thought about the individuals responsible for creating these toys, but I feel like I really should. So if you know who designed what, or who sculpted what I'm asking you to post it here: I'd like to know who was behind Gargamel's re-envisioning of Zagoran, Deathra, etc.. I always thought Mori did all the designing and sculpting for the Mutant Zone stuff, but that isn't true? So I'm asking for some schooling by the more informed Brainers- this information might be scattered throughout the thousands of threads, but I think it would do good to have it all here in a single new thread. phil
Re: History Lesson- Sculpting "Neo" Kaiju Here's some info about Cosmo Liquid. I asked awhile back and here's what Brian Flynn said. A quick note here, as Cosmo Liquid is the "company name" of the sculptor Kondo. Cosmo Liquid sculpts are a variety of styles, he enjoys simple, clean objects the most, but excels in detail work (in my opinion). For reference, Cosmo has sculpted the body of the Finkshit (not the head), the Skull Bee, The Skull 2 Mantis, KVP, Stomp, Squirm, Mongolion, Cococroc, Nara's puppy in the fountain,and much more. Here's a shot of the KvP he sculpted, that I got from the internets.
Man if I had money I would commission kondo to make my dream toy. God his skill at making toys are so amazing it hurts to look at.
The KVP is one of the few figures out there that states the sculptor on the packaging. Given how much of the success of a toy rides on it's execution, not just it's concept, I am amazed that more sculptors are not mentioned on the header or packaging.
Unfortunately a lot of the images are gone, but here's some proof for anyone wondering: http://web.archive.org/web/20040619174212/gargamel.jp/works/skullbrain/sb_01.html Apparently some of the early skullbrains were even "Painted by Gargamel", pretty cool. some other things from the early days of gargamel that I've come across: http://web.archive.org/web/20041209013526/www.gargamel.jp/works/works01.html http://web.archive.org/web/20050211041735/gargamel.jp/works/sb_03.html http://web.archive.org/web/20030628033406/www.gargamel.jp/others/others.html http://web.archive.org/web/20030728052306/www.gargamel.jp/clingle/clingle_soda.html
Jeff Lamm designed the greasebat and Walter Jacott aka Chauskoskis did the sculpt http://www.greasebat.com/ http://walterjacott.blogspot.com/
I am making a habit of doing this now on my stuff. Obviously as dan mentioned with Greasebat and my next figures.
the pvc "anime girl" fig market is really good for this as is revoltech, they list everyone from the designer,producer, and manager of the figures production proccess
I like monster 5 too, has he done any neo-kaiju ? I have a wrestling figure which is signed by him on the foot. A few observations and interrogations on this fascinating subject: 1. I find it interesting that Japanese sculptors seem to prefer actual clay to the synthetic puttys and sculptors wax favoured by western sculptors. 2. The anonymity of toy sculptors is similar to the anonymity of woodblock carvers and printers of old. Then as now it is the designer and publisher whose names are attached to the final product. Nothing appears out of the blue in japan and i would propose that the whole soft vinyl toy world functions much like the producing, publishing and collecting of woodblock prints did in the past. Super limited editions, color variants, bootlegs, glitter/mica (!) and more are/were notable features of both scenes.
This post on the Onell blog describes the evolution of Dead Pre$ident's Cosmic Squadron, which was eventually sculpted by Sunguts: http://onelldesign.blogspot.com/2011/01/cosmic-squadron-project.html
Thisis really cool. I wish all the images were still functioning. Maybe someone saved those images when they were online. I know I've seen a post on T9G about how he sculpted rangeas.. With pics, when I get back to my home computer I'll add the links.
It makes you wonder, how much of their own style the sculptor leaves on the finished figure. It would be cool if a design was handed off to Cosmo Liquid and Gargamel and then the 2 finished sculpts were compared to each other. In regard to clays preferred. The KvP above looks like super sculpey bulk with grey or sculpey firm skin. I think that is what most westerners who don't use wax prefer. I remember looking at an Elegab sculpt not too long ago and it actually looked like paper clay. I have met an American who sculpts with that though, just an unusual choice, maybe more popular in Japan, as the American preferred a Japanese brand of Paper clay.
I would love to see more sketches, progress, revision, and final photos of other toys. Here is a great documentation of the Greasebat From Walter Jacott aka Chauskoskis Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/walterjaco ... 769619254/ Heres the rough and first version of Grease Bat on regular clay... this is for Jeff so he can see the size and overall look before we go with the real sculpt... Jeff love it so far, size and all, so now... work on the final sculpey version here the beggining pics.. here goes some of the sculpey version... after i finish the sculpt i decide to add more sculpy in between scales cos they were too perfect, so we want it a bit rustic like, so... Greasebat • Jeff Lamm - sketches
