Friday, 20 May 2011

Good news, bad news

Hello,

As always, my apologies for no posts recently. In my defence I did try to post last Friday but received a message from Google saying the blogs were being updated.

Anyway, I have a lot of good news and a little bit of bad news.

First a bit of good news: The Classic Marvel Figurine Collection has been extended to 200 issues, so another 20 figures are coming your way. Thanks to everyone who collects the magazine, these extensions wouldn't happen without you.

And now for the bad news: Unfortunately, I'm going to have to pass on the blog duties to my colleagues John and Dan. At the moment I'm just too busy with some new developments and overseeing some of the other comic related products. I'm not going to completely abandon the blog and will attempt to make posts whenever I can, but more regular updates will come from the other members on our team. Hopefully this means we'll be able to put out more updates, but please understand that both John and Dan are also extremely busy.

Right, that aside, here's a couple of pics.

First up Magik. We decided to go for her New Mutants costume with the soul sword and soul armour. The demon girl look she had recently just didn't sit right with us.



Next I have paint images of Avalanche.



And finally I have some images that a few people have waited along time to see. Please understand that I can not guarantee these will be a double pack, but if not, they will be in 181-200. I give you Northstar and Aurora sculpts. I really hope you guys like what we've gone for. The blocks under their feet will eventually be small clear pegs to give the illusion they are flying/floating.



Have a great weekend, everyone.

Friday, 8 April 2011

Avalanche

Just time for a quick update this week, I have a new painted Odin for you and an early stage of the Avalanche sculpt.




Have a great weekend everyone, and if you're heading to Kapow Comic Con, drop by the Comic Book Alliance booth as former CMFC editor Alan Cowsill should be making an appearance. Alan is currently editing a charity book to raise funds for disaster victims across the world.

Friday, 1 April 2011

Q & A

So, I promised I'd answer some questions, here goes:


Q: What reference are you using for Odin's colour, because everything I have seen he is more gold than blue.

A: Please see below for that answer.



Q: Question, any chance of a Warriors Three Triple Special

A: Highly unlikely considering the problems we’ve had with the double packs.


Q: (i) is Eaglemoss considering the cancellation of our collection?

A: Eaglemoss always states the current end point of a collection and then considers giving the series extensions. At this point it looks promising for another Marvel extension.


Q: (ii) if not, when can we expect the next extension to be confirmed?

A: Soon hopefully, it’s not up to me but those higher up than myself, I’ll let you know, when I know.



Q: (iii) assuming an extension is green-lit, can you persuade the powers to give the go-ahead to another 50 or 60 issues, rather than a measly 20 issues?

A: Unfortunately not. All our collections work on a 20-issue extension; this is how we cost our projects.


Q: can we marvel collectors get any surprises like a sub set or some other kind of marvel related collection in the near future?

A: At the moment we are not planning any more subsets, DC or Marvel. This could quickly change though. My personal opinion is that we should not produce too many subsets at the same time otherwise we may quickly find collectors buying none.


Q: Are you considering doing any other figurine collections in the near future? 
some interesting ideas have been listed on this blog by fans / collectors in the past and present.
tell us what you think rich , and are any of them achievable ?

A: We’re always considering other figurine collections – after all, we produced LOTR and tried a New Line Horror collection. I love the ideas that you guys have, they are very similar to the ones we’ve talked about in the office. Personally I’d love Street Fighter, Doctor Who, Star Trek, 2000AD, Hellboy, Sandman, the list goes on, I’m a big geek.


Q: are we going to get anymore specials this year ?
are we going to get anymore double packs ? they seem to be very popular in demand , especially northstar and aurora.

A: Our specials this year are Blob, Sauron, Odin, TBC, and hopefully we’ll be able to put some more out. Double packs are not out of the question and I really want TBC to become Northstar and Aurora. But even if this happens it doesn’t guarantee we’ll do anymore double packs.


Q: would you consider producing a few triple pack specials to complete teams ?

A: Highly unlikely.


Q: The only question I ask at the moment is can we pretty pretty please see a sneak peak of a painted Blackheart soon please Rich?

A: Yep, here it is:



Q: Have you a personal favourite sculpt? Ages ago you said you liked Gladiator but with so many amazing sculpts like Spiral, Cannonball and Blob have your favourites changed?

A: It’s a little unfair for me to call favourites, as I work with all the sculptors on this project and appreciate all their work. However, I have a soft spot for Blink, as she was my personal choice for the collection.


Q: Have you considered slipping generic units into the collection. Grunts like AIM agents, Hydra agents, Hellfire Club drones and Hand Assassins are just as important as individual villains

A: We have but I’m not convinced this is what the majority of collectors want. I’m sure this has been debated before but let me know how you feel about generics in the comments section.


Q: what's the prognosis on two packs in general? We the collectors think they're a fine idea and want Colleen & Misty Knight, Cypher & Warlock, Darkstar & Vanguard among others to make the collection - what can we do as collectors to convince the bean counters it's a viable idea?

A: Simple answer to this is that they are something I like but are not that easy to implement. Please try to understand that since the collection started our costs have gone up and this makes it difficult to ship two figurines in one special. Remember double the figures is double the costs of sculpting, tooling, painting etc… It is a fine balance as not everyone that collects the regular issues buys the special issues.


Q: Hopefully sales of the CMFC continue to be strong and the announcement is imminent. Has the use of resin actually had any impact on your bottom line? Has it increased the viability of the collection continuing?

A: As mentioned in the previous answer, costs have gone up but the collection has stayed at £5.99 for 6 years so you can imagine the ‘bottom line’ has decreased. The most important thing though is to keep fans like yourself on the series.


Q: If there is an extension, will we see another contest to choose the final character of the extension? While the final choices always inspire debate - it is still very exciting and I'm always stoked for the winner! 

Q: Would you ever consider a contest for a Special Slot? There are SO many incredible special sized characters out there - it would be awesome to choose who might come next!

A: I like the idea of the competition so would choose to do it again for an extension but not for a special I’m afraid.


Q: Is there a chance we will see some of Marvel's more esoteric creations in the next extension? Rawhide Kid, Two Gun Kid, Night Nurse, Werewolf by Night, Squirrel Girl, Killraven or Howard the Duck? Or will we be sticking to the more mainstream super-powered community?

A: All are welcome in my eyes but really I think it’s up to you guys and there is some strong debate on these characters – especially the Duck.


Q: I look forward to seeing it (Odin) as an exclusive preview at the Kapow Comic Con in April. Which is kind of my question too, will you be there?

A: I will be at Kapow but I don’t think Eaglemoss will be doing a stand so if a preview of Odin is there, it will be on a Diamond Previews stand.


Q: It seems like a gamble to release a huge resin/lead dog, but can we please get confirmation on Lockjaw.

A: Not ruling him out but he’s not planned for this year.


Q: What are your thoughts on classic characters versus popular modern characters? I ask because we don't see a lot of modern characters, but some like the Hood or Wiccan are highly recognizable to any Marvel fan and I think should have a place. Is it more of a gamble with newer characters?

A: As you all know from the debate here and on the messageboards, there’s a mix of collectors, so I think it is important to make sure we cover all the bases and have a good mix of both.

General Blurp about other Collections:

I’ve seen some of the comments about new collections and thought it best to make a quick comment. I think the fact that we are in a position to offer more DC and Marvel products is great, and if we don’t work on these projects one of our competitors will and personally I think our collections are of higher quality to some others I’ve seen.

Friday, 25 March 2011

Brief update

Hello everyone,

It has been a crazy couple of weeks here at Eaglemoss. First, I want to say congratulations to the DC Super Hero Collection for winning a Diamond Gem award for 'Best Magazine' 2010. That's the second year in a row and our third here at Eaglemoss.

So first preview of the day is an early pic of Odin painted. The All-father is nearly there but we're going to make the blue a little darker, to match Thor's trousers.



The next preview I have for you is early Wizard sculpt. We went for a sort of evil thinking man sculpt – hope you like.



Moving swifly, I have the initial sketch for the Avalanche figurine. For this character we're trying to get a feel of him using his powers.



Sorry if there are loads of questions I should be answering, I will do my best to put a Q&A together for next update. If you have a question please put in the comments. I can't promise I'll answer all but will do my best.

Catch you all later.

Friday, 11 March 2011

All-father!

Hi guys,

Sorry for the wait for an update but hopefully this will be worth it.

First, I have the sculpt images of Odin. The good news is that he looks amazing, the bad news is that you'll have to wait a little while for him to come out. Due to a few problems, the all-father won't be making an appearance until August-September time.




That aside, I thought I'd explain our costume choice. As I may have mentioned in the past, Odin is a complete and utter nightmare for costume choice. If you read through his comic appearances you'll see that literally every issue he changes costume – and I'm not talking about small changes, quite often he'll go from wearing a horned helmet with a viking look to futuristic armour with a giant crown. I guess when you're the lord of Asgard you get a little bored with wearing the same clothes.

Obviously there were some story arcs where he kept the same costume (Simonson's run on Thor) but in the end we chose a costume that was reminiscent of Kirby's style, had aspects of Simonson and had appeared in a number of '90s comics. We were also careful to make sure Odin has his eyepatch and one (yes, I know he had more) of the crows.

Personally, I think this is one of our best specials, the sculptor did a fantastic job.

Moving swiftly on, the next topic is the subsets.

Thank you all so much for the great ideas and support for various types of subsets. All I can say at the moment is that we have no plans to do Marvel subsets but I will pass on all your comments to our marketing department and my boss. Hopefully, if the Blackest Night series does well and we feel confident we're not over saturating the market, we'll try a subset before the series ends (whenever that will be).

I just wanted to add one quick note on the subsets: The main reason we tried a Blackest night collection was to try and tie-in with the hype of the Green Lantern movie and the mega-event that is Blackest Night/Brightest Day. Perhaps an Avengers subset would be good for the movie next year but then we have done most of the Avengers already. I guess only time will tell.

Last thing I'd like to show you is the Shanna She Devil paint.



Have a great weekend.

Friday, 18 February 2011

Whipped into shape???

Hi guys,

I thought I wouldn't be in the office today (and so would have to update yesterday) however, thanks to the 'great' guys at BT (yeah, right) I'm sitting at my desk ploughing through my work.

So anywho, here's this week's slightly quick update.

Dan our designer mentioned we tried a different pose for Captain Marvel, well below is how this turned out. While I don't really agree with Dan about the 'fetish' look, I do think it doesn't work. The pose was too rigid and not natural enough. The legs are also too close together, we considered putting him on a larger base but then the figure had too much dead space in front and behind.

Hopefully you will agree we made the right decision.



Your sneak peeks for this week are Forge and Thunderbird painted.






One final comment from me, thanks for all the debate about subsets. I've only had time to skim read them but some of the suggestions are great. As I mentioned we're not planning to make any for Marvel just yet but you never know. Personally I'd like a 20 issue extension over a subset but that's just me.

Have a great one everybody and enjoy your President's Day holiday on Monday, you lucky Americans.

Friday, 11 February 2011

An update, at last...

Hi everyone,

First update I have for you this week is the current running order for figures #150-180.

150 TRITON
151 ARES
152 DESTINY
153 BALDER
154 WRECKER
155 SONGBIRD
156 TOAD
157 MOONDRAGON
158 SPIRAL
159 SIRYN
160 BLACK HEART
161 PUPPET MASTER
162 KARNAK
163 HYDRO-MAN
164 CAPTAIN MARVEL
165 PHOTON
166 MAGIK
167 BEETLE
168 SHANNA SHE DEVIL
169 FORGE
170 WIZARD
171 ARACHNE
172 LADY SIF
173 TIGERSHARK
174 MOCKINGBIRD
175 THUNDERBIRD
176 DRACULA
177 AVALANCHE
178 DOMINO
179 NICO MINORU
180 J. JONAH JAMESON

There are a couple of figures that I’m running a little behind on so I can’t guarantee this order will stay but I will let you know if anything change.

Next up is a preview of Destiny and Captain Marvel.





Also, just wanted to pick up on some of the comments made about the DC subset. I would like nothing more than for us to do a Marvel subset but the opportunity hasn’t really come about yet. We need to look at licensing issues and choose a subset that is popular. With the upcoming Green Lantern movie and Blackest Night being recognized as one of last year’s greatest comic events, it was decided to test the waters with this subset. I can’t promise we’ll put out a Marvel one, but if the demand is there, we will definitely consider it.

By the way love all the suggestions for different subsets, here’s a random thought: would you guys go for an original X-Men (Jean, Beast, Cyclops, Iceman, Angel) subset? This would have the characters all in their original costumes.

I also love the idea of a Marvel Zombies subset but that’s probably just me and my unhealthy obsession with the walking dead.

And lastly, while I’m here, I’d like to get your opinions on the pose and costume for Lady Sif. What do you reckon? I’ve not commissioned the sculpt yet so any images or ideas you have put them in the comments section. I can’t promise we’ll definitely use them but who knows.

Right that’s it, I’m out of the office next Friday (waiting for BT to sort my home phone line out) so I will do my best to have an update of some sort for Thursday.