S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..

Discussion in 'Americans and Other Western Gaijin' started by Michael McCreery, Mar 18, 2019.

?

Do you like the S.W.A.R.M.M figure?

Poll closed Mar 20, 2019.
  1. yes

    3 vote(s)
    12.5%
  2. no

    21 vote(s)
    87.5%
  1. Michael McCreery

    Michael McCreery Fresh Meat

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    Hello everyone.

    Thanks for stopping by and checking out my 1st figure--S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monster) aka Mechacreatch.

    I honestly never thought it would ever be possible to actually have my very own vinyl figure until I met some cool artist that helped show me it could become a reality with some patients & networking with the right people. It took about 8 months for the original resin prototype by my man Scott Martin Thomas.Then another 4/5 months for vinyl production by my man Benny of Gums productions..The picture below is the 1st vinyl pull.Im super excited the way it turned out.The details look great and the limbs move great.He's 10.5"

    Thank to all that have shown interest & there support in the S.W.A.R.M.M process!

    It's been a really fun journey so far and looking forward in seeing what the future holds..!
     

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    Last edited: Mar 20, 2019
  2. ultrakaiju

    ultrakaiju Die-Cast Staff Member

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    Hi Michael, firstly, let me say welcome to the forum. I am glad you are so passionate about momsters - we wouldn't be very far without 'em. ;) There are a lot of threads here, with mountains of information, both on appreciating toy aesthetics, general geekdom, and making toys. I say this for a frame of reference, as a preface to what might come from starting off your posting here with a new toy you made. If you are coming here for general feedback, and criticism of your sculpt/design (likely constructive and otherwise) then understand that you will get it, and not just airy fluff, air blown up varying orifices, blank likes, or IG wants and prayer hands. So, if that (the former) is the spirit and sort of thing you are seeking, by asking people if they 'like' your toy, then you are in the right place, and should be prepared for advice and feedback from people who have been around this hobby for decades, have experience designing and pulling toys of their own, and people who have seen all the ups, downs, trends, and travesties of the soft vinyl scene. So, with that in mind, just expect honesty here from folks who are generally coming from a strong - and possibly [justifiably] opinionated - background.
     
  3. The Moog

    The Moog Die-Cast

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    Or of course there might be deafening silence and a collective shrug of the shoulders, which is probably worse!
     
  4. Anti Social Andy

    Anti Social Andy Die-Cast

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    Seems like a lot of W.A.N.K. (Wordy Acronym - No Knowledge) to me!
     
    Last edited: Mar 19, 2019
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  5. bunnyboy

    bunnyboy Side Dealer

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    [​IMG]
     
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  6. a.tom

    a.tom Addicted

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    Popcorn emoji
     
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  7. noeleaser

    noeleaser Addicted

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    :lol:
     
  8. Roger

    Roger Vintage

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    Unsolicited opinion, but my no vote boils down to a combination of "not my thing" and "it's too many things at once." I am not a fan of asymmetrical designs. It would probably look at home alongside Playmates TMNT or Toxic Avengers figures, sans the penis, but I don't collect those. The sculpting itself looks very good, I am just more interested in a figure that is all Gillman-type monster, or all Mechagodzilla-type robot, sans the penis.
     
  9. 3wing

    3wing Addicted

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    I'm not feeling the 1/8th audio jack dick spike.
    You nix a few collector demographics by slapping a dick on a toy.
    and... there IS a lot going on. Conceptually its very loaded.


    But, there are some cool things going on here.
    I like the record player arm, the energy of this toy.

    Kudos
     
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  10. MiscreationToys

    MiscreationToys Toy Prince

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    A few things.. 1st I think you are very brave to seek criticism from the bowels of hell that can be SkullBrain. I’ve seen everyone ripped to shreds here, there is no golden boy toy-maker. You will hear exactly what people think of your creation, no BS. With respect to that I will be completely honest too.

    As a collector there is nothing here for me in the toy, I see it is part creature, part mechagodzilla and part genitally arroused. I could question why but it doesn’t intrigue me enough to dive deeper. I love creature & love mechagodzilla and I’m ok with my own erection from time to time but not into all those things all at once. I have absolutely no need to shit on it, it’s just not for me.

    As a toy-maker/ artist I’ve done some odd mashups as well, (some who have been featured on the Fugliest toys thread here on SB, my personal favorite. The Moog especially writes good stuff.) I knew they were risks in the beginning financially but wanting to create something has to go beyond the financial aspect. If you made something that was calling inside of you (fugly at heart) the criticisms shouldn’t matter, the lack of sales shouldn’t matter, and you need to just do your thing even if not many people are into it because someone will be. Do it for the enjoyment of creating & not for trying to make quick money or praise. It’s very exciting to create your own toy, not so much trying to promote and sell a far out idea.
     
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  11. patrickvaz

    patrickvaz Addicted

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    :dam: :dam: :dam:
     
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  12. Waterbear

    Waterbear Line of Credit

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    First off let me say that if you are making a toy just because you love toys and you don't give a shit about popularity or getting your money back through sales or making anyone happy besides yourself then it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks. If that's the case all the negative and positive feedback doesn't really matter at all. If you made a toy that makes you happy you win. Fuck everything else.

    Since you asked for opinions though I'll bite.

    One of the things pretty much every toy maker learns pretty quickly is that you can't put everything you like into one toy. It just doesn't work that way. It will always come off as way too busy or just too silly. I love robots and monsters and aliens and skeletons but not all mashed up into one thing. You have to play the long game at some point. Make a monster. Next year make a robot to fight that monster. Then maybe a couple of mini toys of your full sized things so collectors with less disposable cash can still grab your stuff. Most of the toy makers I like have an entire world in their head and they share it will collectors one piece at a time to make that world real. They don't put that entire world into one toy.

    Your toy is well sculpted for sure but I can't even fathom how difficult it would be to paint that thing. It lends itself to two or maybe three very well defined paint applications but the problem is that it's so action figure oriented it doesn't leave much room for imagination. Most successful indie vinyl toys can be re-imagined countless ways. Look at the Kumon or DX or MEATS or SHB figures. You can spend years painting them so totally differently because the original sculpts didn't box themselves in. Your toy is a mash up of a bunch of actual things and creatures that look like they need to be painted in a specific way. Which makes perfect sense for a figure that will only get one release like a transformer or a teenage mutant ninja turtle but unless you are charging $500 bucks each, one release is not going to get your money back.

    As far as the design itself I actually liked some of the teaser stuff early on. I collect a few old playmates lines and it felt really old school action figure in the beginning. It came off as a toy rather than a monster or creature and I liked that. Until I saw the dick. For me that killed my desire to ever own one. It went from a rebirth of a childhood toy to something I'd have to take off my shelf and stuff in a drawer when my little nephews and cousins were visiting. I get why some toys have genitals and I don't care for it but sometimes it makes sense from a design perspective. Putting a dick on this thing just feels weird. Like a reboot of a classic monster mixed with some fun musical influence then all of sudden here's a cock so it's no longer kid-friendly even though the rest of the entire toy is. I would have liked it if you really embraced the old 80's action figure/cartoon/monster/music mash up vibe and avoided the shock value dick for no apparent reason thing. I've seen lots of people add dicks just to try and make their toy seem "adult" but there is nothing wrong with a toy just being a toy.

    Again, if you love it nothing else matters but if you want other people to love it too I would suggest narrowing your focus in the future. Sometimes too much is just too much.
     
  13. The Moog

    The Moog Die-Cast

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    [​IMG]
     
  14. straightoutta..LOKASH

    straightoutta..LOKASH Side Dealer

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    I like the design of the figure. I’m a huge TMNT /Toxic Avenger/Santa Cruz Skateboard fan and this sculpt checks a lot of those boxes. I saw the Painted mock up and dug that. I do agree with some of the criticism of limit ability of varying paint apps.
    I voted Yes in the poll, but if it has the robot dick in the final sculpt it’s a no buy for me. I’m not into dicks on my toys.
     
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  15. Roger

    Roger Vintage

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    Adding on to what @Waterbear pointed out:

    I think the "world" of the toy and the other characters in that world really does matter, and if you have a figure in mind, I think it's definitely worth considering an initial launch that includes as much of that world and characters as possible. If you're making it in sofubi, of course you need to consider the size of each toy and the pros/cons of possibly fitting all of those parts onto a single tool, but weigh that against the potential returns.

    Look at Ilanena, who created a trio of figures straight out of the gate and sold tons and tons of variants. I don't think they would have done as well if he just produced one figure to begin with. It also seemed like Gargamel sold many more of those mini Tetran/Beralgon pairs compared to the single mini figures. Even if the price point is on the high side, multiple figures can make a potential purchase more tempting than a single figure.

    There's a recent sofubi figure that had a successful Kickstarter project, but from the outside it looked as if it was a struggle to get to the finish line. It's a small fight-oriented figure that looks pretty neat but it has no opponent. I wonder how much more successful it would have been if it had something else to fight.
     
  16. Michael McCreery

    Michael McCreery Fresh Meat

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  17. Michael McCreery

    Michael McCreery Fresh Meat

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    Thank you very much for you input.Much appreciated!
     
  18. Michael McCreery

    Michael McCreery Fresh Meat

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    I defiantly appreciate your comment & advise! You said it best here "If you made something that was calling inside of you (fugly at heart) the criticisms shouldn’t matter, the lack of sales shouldn’t matter, and you need to just do your thing even if not many people are into it because someone will be".
    This is exactly why I made this figure!! Everything on this figure has truly effected me in some way growing up over the years.Started skating in the 80's.Im a dj.Love godzilla,creature & monsters..Ive met some amazing people being and doing the things I love.

    I had the resin prototype at last years dcon and actually got quite a few positive reactions .That felt pretty good seeing people trip out on it in person.
     
  19. DrilOne

    DrilOne Comment King

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    S.W.A.R.M.M(skateboarding,weird,aliens,robots,music,monsters) aka Mechacreatch vinyl coming soon..
    i like it but the dick does ruin it for me...
     
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  20. zindabad

    zindabad Line of Credit

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    I believe the dick is removable, no? I think there's still a visible bolt over there, but plenty of designs play around with that, both in the hobby and its influences in Japanese media.
     
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  21. Michael McCreery

    Michael McCreery Fresh Meat

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    Thanks so much for your input.I appreciate the honesty.I have actually added a extra bolt part to replace the penis for those not into it.Thanks again!!
     
  22. aarnfnchr

    aarnfnchr Toy Prince

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    Definitely not for me but I do like the Santa Cruz hand and the Powell Peralta chest bursting skeleton. Brings back that 80's/90's skater kid in me.
     
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  23. badteethcomics

    badteethcomics Post Pimp

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    I hate dicks on my toys and I also hate bolts/plugs that mark where the dick used to be.. I also hate reading the exact same reply posted ten times in a row to explain that there will be a bolt replacement for a poorly thought out dick attachment on a toy.
     
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  24. Anti Social Andy

    Anti Social Andy Die-Cast

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    ‘Community participation’.
     
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  25. noeleaser

    noeleaser Addicted

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    I thought the same exact thing. The skeleton bursting through the chest makes me remember all the Powell Peralta videos where there was actually an animated skill bursting through the frame at the beginning of each video.

     

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