[BN] Teh Jerk makes another toy!

Once again, I'm co-opting the Incubot board for my own sinister purposes! This time, Brownnoize is making a new toy...and I'm not doing it alone.

I'm teaming up with Alec of MUSCLE Things (and LittleRubberGuys fame) to produce a custom Kinnikuman character mash-up: AshuraShine...



He's 1.75" of pink Peruvian-Indian mayhem! In the manga, Sunshine teamed up with Ashuraman to form the "Stray Devil Choujin Combo" tag-team. These were two of my favorite MUSCLE characters growing up (of course, I had no idea what their names were or anything about the Kinnikuman story!), so mashing 'em together was a blast. None of this should be a surprise to anyone who's been watching my blog--this past summer, I designed the figure, posted pics of him, and even shopped around the design to local resin casters.

Well, it wasn't until recently, that I got hooked up with Alec to make the figure a reality. Read more about how everything came together here, on my blog.

So, yeah...this is a real neat thing for me. What started out as a very simple and fun side project has now taken off into an actual production piece. But what's really amazing to me is that this is not resin, guys. Alec is casting this figure in flexible rubber.



So not only does this toy look like it could be a legit kinkeshi...it actually feels like one too! I'm both proud and blown away by how nicely this whole thing came together. Again, peep my blog for more info and pics.

For those interested in picking one up, we're shooting for early April. They take CRAZY long to produce, but as long as folks keep wanting them, we'll keep making them...so no R@R3!!L1M1T3D!!!HYPPEZZZ bullshit here.

Thanks and lemme know what y'all think!

Nice progress! An actual squishy rubber pink wrasslin' dude!

Having seen some of your Shapeaways samples,and being blown away by the detail on tiny stuff, it's real cool to see the rubber mold can pick up ALL of it.

Any variant colors planned yet? I'm gonna buy like three of these if you do some cool solid colors in addition to the pink (omg, would metallic gold be possible?). The many forms of Sunshine were ALWAYS my favorite of the pile of MUSCLE guys I had as a kid.

-Paul Segal

"Oh, the anger is never far, never far." -SteveH



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2012 06:43PM by asterphage.

Thanks for the feedback, fellas. Yup--actually squishy! Fucking awesome! Alec is totally The Man. But you're right, Jon...the level the technology has gotten to is pretty wild: on one hand, any schmuck with access to CAD can design something super-small and super-fine...have it printed out in pretty damn high resolution for a reasonable cost...then cast that thing in a crazy-wide variety of materials. And yeah, I know that having access to CAD is not exactly a trivial feat...and the expertise to produce working molds and cast these items at home is certainly more art than science. But we ain't Bandai or Mattel!

Paul, just for you, I'ma ask Alec if he can pull off metallics! Haha...a metallic gold AS *would* be mind blowing, huh? :D

But as for future plans, we're just trying to hustle enough traditional pinkies for the LRG crew and anyone around here who wants one. After that, I'm sure we'll be doing other colors and effects. Unfortunately, some pigments and powders cost a TON, so glow or color-change (temp or sunlight) will likely cost some $10 more than a standard opaque color. Like I said, though, we're doing what we can to keep costs as low as possible.

Anyway, I'm guessing that the opaque colors will include all the colors legit MUSCLEs were available in. Different color glows are definitely a must. Color-change in sunlight is kind of a must...IF we can pull it off with the rubber. And I'm not even sure translucents are possible. I'll ask Alec tonight and post what he says here.

I'll definitely take a pink one to put with my vintage Sunshines, and then see what you guys come up with.

A metallic gold might come out with swirls of lighter and darker gold, like many gold rubber toys... but even that would be a classic cheap-toy look.

Also, this photo is kind of a work of art in itself:


-Paul Segal

"Oh, the anger is never far, never far." -SteveH



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/2012 09:31PM by asterphage.

Sorry for the delay, but I just got some top-secret photos of test shots MT has been working on.

Holy shit.

Let's just say that gold won't be a problem...

;)

Guess I should stop commenting and just put my name on whatever list is froating around for support. I'll buy one of course.

Heh...we're trying to make lists obsolete with the "crunch all you want; we'll make more" policy! Remember: despite the turnaround time being real long, we're gonna keep cranking until no one wants 'em.

That said, I'll set one aside from the *first* batch for you, Jon! Oh, and you too, Paul, if you're down!

This is awesome. I'll be buying one. How is it scaled next to a MUSCLE figure?
-Mason

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Matthewalt "I actually kinda LIKE that approach! You know: let's make a TOY. Remember those? Products designed to be played with without breaking? DO YOU REMEMBER, LOVE?!"

Thanks, man!

mcfitch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How is it
> scaled next to a MUSCLE figure?


Poifect...if I do say so myself!

Sanjeev Wrote:
> Oh, and you too, Paul, if you're down!

Absolutely!

-Paul Segal

"Oh, the anger is never far, never far." -SteveH

Yes that scale is spot on. Nicely done.

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Matthewalt "I actually kinda LIKE that approach! You know: let's make a TOY. Remember those? Products designed to be played with without breaking? DO YOU REMEMBER, LOVE?!"

What's it say on his chest, Om?

--------------------------
I want YOU for Moé Sucks Army

Yup! Cue the Gundam-covered-in-religious-sayings jokes! LOL

Yours seems at least somewhat appropriate to the design and congruent with the subject and doesn't really overwhelm any other aspect. The biggest mistake the other guy made was attaching his obnoxious religion in such a gaudy manner. I think it would have been cool if it was more subtle and he had incorporated the symbols into Katoki Fix-style asymmetric angular paint splotches like the digital camo on the Metal Composite Z-Plus or G.F.F.N. ZII. He didn't add anything to the Mk II to make it his own other than the symbols. At least your design is a mashup and kind of original in itself so why shouldn't it have a different symbol on its chest? The other guy basically painted a giant scaled up exact copy of the Mona Lisa and put OBEY stickers all over it.

--------------------------
I want YOU for Moé Sucks Army

True...but in all fairness, that dude was just making the one custom for himself (from what I gather anyway). In that case, he can smear shit all over the fucking thing...and it's totally fine. I see no reason to get worked up over shit like that. There are enough terrible customs out there to go around...

Anyway, as for AshuraShine, I was originally gonna leave the sun emblem, but while staring at the design in CAD, it just looked like there was too much Sunshine and not enough Ashuraman. Adding the Om just came to me to balance the two characters' influence on the mashup...and I really dig how it came out!

Heh, I just went and dug up the MUSCLE boxset #1 "Thug Busters", and diggity if both Sunshine, and Ashuraman aren't right in there, in slots one right above the other! I was pretty sure I had them, but now cool reason to keep handy.

Oh damn, Jon, you have that boxed set??

Jealous!!!

I just have a bunch of loose figures (not even the full run!)...I really should look into picking up some boxed 28-packs or something...

Sure! I'll get a pic up later.

Just noticed this, the Sunshine in my set is a bit different than the one you've posted. Mine has a slightly more square body, wider spaced straight legs, and his right hand is balled in a fist facing palm forward.

Cool, I never dug into the detail info on MUSCLE, but obviously there must've been multiple variations of characters' molds? Maybe even more so between original Japanese, and latter Mattel versions? ...Maybe I should shaddup, and read up on a LRG forum? So many questions! =0)

repairtechjon Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sure! I'll get a pic up later.

Sweet. Uh...don't I still have your camera??? :P


> Just noticed this, the Sunshine in my set is a bit
> different than the one you've posted...
> Cool, I never dug into the detail info on MUSCLE,
> but obviously there must've been multiple
> variations of characters' molds?

Yup! You nailed it. There are actually seven variations on that shape-shifting bastard!

I don't think there were too many Japanese-only kinkeshi that came out in the original run. There were a few special dudes like Satan Cross and Spinning Head Ashuraman...but they were the start of Kinnikuman branching out into other lines (like the "deka" versions, which were larger, more realistically-sculpted figures of the same characters done in more actiony poses).

Fun shit to learn about!

Ah, awesome, I've never looked that deeply into the figures that are out there... I still have Sunshine type D (Hell's Pyramid) and Sunshine type E (Hell's Triumphal Arch, one of the coolest names for anything ever) and I think I have a type B or a New Sunshine lost in my parents' house somewhere.

As a kid I always thought I was missing a middle piece, which would clamp onto the head of the arch-type Sunshine, provide a pair of arms, and a place for the pyramid-type Sunshine to land and form the head, making a giant version of regular Sunshine. If I were ever to cultivate the expertise necessary to design my own MUSCLE/Kinniku figure, that would be it!

Sanjeev Wrote:
>
> Anyway, as for AshuraShine, I was originally gonna
> leave the sun emblem, but while staring at the
> design in CAD, it just looked like there was too
> much Sunshine and not enough Ashuraman. Adding the
> Om just came to me to balance the two characters'
> influence on the mashup...and I really dig how it
> came out!

Good call. It gives the figure its own identity, more like an strange yet familiar interloper than just a character variation.

-Paul Segal

"Oh, the anger is never far, never far." -SteveH

Ooooh....sweet ideas, Paul!

Yeah, like I said, not to pat myself on the back TOO much (when do I *ever* do that??? :P ), but I like how the mashup came out: the Om on the chest and the three faces with different expressions is pretty groovy!

Sorry if I missed it in the reads on the blog, but how did the personal connection for these 2 characters come for you Mr. TehJerk?

And, yes, my snappy cam IS indeed trapped still in Mama Jeev's garage, so you are viewing current pics on "BorrowedCam!" ;)

Thug Busters Box Set:


Left side figs, including Sunshine, and Ashuraman:


Right side figs, including....a whole buncha other guys:




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2012 11:50PM by repairtechjon.

That is SWEET, Jon! I love it! Man...I really need to get me a boxed set like that. I guess I could hock your camera to get money for one...

Totally kidding! :P

Anyway, nothing too crazy when it came to those two characters: Ashuraman is obviously an asura from Hindu mythology, so that was a bit of a no-brainer, and Sunshine is just hardcore! A walking, shape-shifting Peruvian ziggurat...what's not to love??? ;)

I have other favorites as well, but these two were the most compelling to blend into a single character.

HOLY SHIT.