'Twas the update before Christmas...

Hello everybody,

Just time for one quick update before the Christmas/New Year break.

I have some images of new figures:

First, Spiral Painted:



Second, Songbird painted:




This is now our third 'shouty' character and we wanted to create a different pose to Banshee and Siryn. We decided to go with Songbird just about to bellow – a more subtle use of her powers.

SPECIAL TIME

I can also (re)confirm which specials we're currently working on for next year. I don't have any pictures yet but I can let you know that Odin and Sauron are currently at the sculptors. Not sure the order or onsale date yet but they will be making an appearance in 2011 alongside some others.

After a lot of debate on the Sauron figure, we decided that we just couldn't get him in the collection as a regular issue unless we greatly cheated the scale and wing-size. Hopefully everyone will be happy to know that I'm working with the sculptors to make sure the wings are not sticking out too much (ie the pose isn't too crazy) and that he's a normal special.

Just time to quickly answer one question:

Q. How involved are Marvel in the sculpting process?

A. When choosing characters for extensions we internally finalise the running order and then send to Marvel for confirmation. This allows Marvel to check the characters are not 3rd party characters and that no licensing problems exist. It also gives them the chance to suggest characters that may be about to be relaunched or feature in an upcoming storyline – although this latter point has never actually occured.

In general, Marvel let us include any character we want.

Moving on to individual characters, the next stage Marvel will see are concepts for the figurine's pose and costume. To get these concepts ready, I spend time making a list of all the character's appearances, buying most (if not all) the comics we don't have and then looking through each one for pose images and overall reference. I also use a number of websites for reference.

Often a pose can be found in the comics but if not we can have approved Marvel artists produce sketches for us.

Marvel then check the pose and costume and pass any comments back to us – this can be a change in pose or costume.

From this point all the approved reference goes to our sculptor who begins work. The sculptor will then send work-in-progress pictures to myself, these are also approved by Marvel to make sure we're keeping to the reference and everyone is satisfied with the sculpt.

Once finished, a cast of the sculpt is sent to Marvel for final sculpt approval before the sculpt is painted. First images and then a physical paint sample are supplied to Marvel. At each stage Marvel can ask for changes and often tweak poses/colours.

And lastly, pre-production and production samples are sent to Marvel for comments.

All-in-all Marvel get to see every stage of development and can supply comments/make changes at any point. The number of changes/comments varies from figure to figure.

Right I think that's enough for now.

Everyone have a great Christmas and Happy New Year.

Rich

Prowler & Firestar

Hello everyone,

We’re extremely busy here at Eaglemoss, trying to meet all our pre-Christmas and pre-Chinese New Year deadlines, so I’ll have to make this quick.

First up a couple of sneak peeks that I don’t think you’ve seen:

Prowler

Firestar

That should allay fears that we’re gearing up to change the running order.

Also, we should have an update going on the main site very soon showing the figures up to #145. Sorry for the delay,

Quick update on the ebay figures: First, thanks to everyone here and on the forum for pointing them out and not bidding because you thought they were stolen. We’ve contacted the seller and have worked out how he got hold of the figures. To cut a long story short, it’s not the seller’s fault; he picked up the figures from a local charity shop after they were accidentally given away. So no theft involved.

Apologies, but that is your lot this week.

Have a good weekend.

Behold I return with answers...

Hello everyone, apologies for the frankly abysmal lack of updates, I don’t know what happened, I went away to NY comic con and next thing I know it’s nearly bloomin’ Christmas. Is that a sign of getting old – losing track of time?

Oh well, time for me to answer some reader mail:

Q1) Where have you been???

A1) Where haven’t I been! It’s been a crazy couple of months but I’m back now.

Q2) With the themed packs already talked about, could the CMFC finally redo some characters and give us alternate versions of classic, A-list characters?

A2) This is definitely a possibility. However, at the moment we have not agreed with Marvel or internally if we’ll do Marvel subsets. Despite there being a few different groups that could be done, it’s not sure whether Marvel will have any spinoffs at this point. If we did, the idea of alternate costumes (say classic X-Men) would certainly be on the list.

Q3) Why have EM decided against producing multiple versions of characters unlike every other marvel product out there?

A3) Simply put, we’ve listened to a lot of feedback and in general it has seemed that new characters are favored over redos. This does not mean characters are ruled out, only that the general consensus is that there are still enough characters wanted by collectors to not need redos. If you’re after alternate versions of characters (such as Age of Apocalypse Wolverine) then this also has been discussed, but more support – in the office and online – seems to be for new characters.

Q4) Do the forum members reflect the figures of subscribers and collectors that you know are selling? Why cant subscribers, who must give details with address and email, get something in the post to decide on how the collection should go? As inexpensive as printing our bills.

A4) It is very difficult to know if the forum (and here) truly reflects the numbers of collectors we have. Obviously not everyone that collects the series (especially non-English speaking collectors) is on the forum. In general, I think the forum (and blogs etc…) represent a significantly wide variety and number of people to reflect our collectors. Clearly not everything can be taken at face value; however, the forums are certainly more representative than the 8 or so guys (myself included) who sit at Eaglemoss making the decisions.

To answer the second point, we’ve run a number of web-based surveys in the past asking about the collection, and did initially send out questionnaires in magazines. It’s not a prohibitively expensive act (except possibly offering a freepost service) and is in general something us ‘creatives’ leave to marketing. I will pass on the request for this and see if we can make it happen.

Q5) I would love to see an 'Art of' book or magazine feature that collected all production pictures of sculpts, WIPs, paint tests, different sculpts, the design process etc. Will something like this ever happen? Art books seem to be hugely popular now. I would gladly lay down £25-£40 for a book.

A5) A while back I looked into this and although it did seem possible it looked like it would be a lot of work. We use many different sculptors/painters for the collection and their input would be vital. We’d need to take a lot of time collecting more images from. It was debated in the office whether this type of book would actually sell. Plus it’s not something we at Eaglemoss tend to do, so there’s a little resistance to different ideas. I’ll bring it up in our next meeting.

Q6) I love specials, I really do, but can we not have forced megas and large characters just for the sake of filling up the gap and making us pay a fortune. I really don’t know how many more giant characters I would be genuinely interested in purchasing and would prefer more double packs or to move onto theme packs instead.

A6) Despite some of the comments I’ve seen, I guarantee that we don’t simply do big specials to charge you guys more. We look at all the characters that could be specials and try to balance the sizes. We’re bound by our licensors to make sure our figures are a good representation of the character and often that means Marvel or DC recommending a height. I’m working hard with our marketing team and sculptors to try and get the best value-for-money I can for you guys. If a figure can be sold out a lower price, I’ll argue for this.

Double-packs are tricky because despite the size of the characters some costs are simply doubled – these could be the fact we need two separate molds, two separate production lines for painting etc…

I’m keen to have double-packs so I’ll be looking at our 2011-2012 special line-up.

Q7) How about a competition to tour the CMFC studio?

A7) I guess this is possible but the winner may be a bit disappointed. We’re currently just an office in London working on a number of magazines. The actual sculpts are made elsewhere but perhaps I could talk to one of the sculpting companies about touring their facilities.

Q8) What costume was chosen for the Beetle figurine? (Hopefully the second choice he displayed).

A8) Yes, you are correct the second choice. Pics will hopefully follow in the next few weeks.

Q9) A while back, Rich, someone suggested occasional guest-slots on the blog by other members of the Eaglemoss staff as a way of ensuring more regular contact without loading more work onto you. Have you considered doing this?

A9) I’m happy to let my co-workers take over this blog anytime they want. Unfortunately, we’re all in the same boat and snowed under with work. I’ll see if anyone is interested.

Q10) Rich, the comments on here regarding a second character with Lockjaw were not exactly wildly enthusiastic. Are you any closer to deciding whether or not to release Lockjaw individually or with either Maximus or Luna?

A10) Umm no is the short answer. I’m not really any closer to a final decision. Essentially you guys have confirmed what I thought: Lockjaw could (and perhaps should) be offered as a separate special. We’ll see if/when he can fit into the run and then try and work out his size/cost. I’d like to believe we could do him justice and make him £10.99 but only time will tell.

Q11) In regards to an earlier post by Robert, who's sidekick would YOU like to be and why? (Well we know so much about each other, how about you share some of your views Rich?)

A11) That is a tricky one, I mean first-up I’d clearly like to be the star rather than the sidekick. But then if I have to be a sidekick I guess it’s a tough choice:

Spider-Man- Not sure I could put up with the ‘witty remarks’. Plus I’d probably get written out of continuity when Mephisto reverses another wedding/relationship.

Wolverine- NO WAY. Just look at the number of partners that end up dead or hideously scarred.

Hulk- I tend to wind people up a little, not a good idea with Hulk – I’d end-up smashed.

Batman- Couldn’t deal with the ‘Robin must wear tights rule’.

Captain America- See Wolverine. Bucky’s tend not to last too long.

Sooo many characters just don’t do sidekicks, hmm, I guess if we’re talking about Marvel I’d go for She-Hulk’s sidekick. Let’s face it she’s a total babe, very protective of her mates and has some zany adventures.

If DC I think I’d probably just go for being a Red Lantern – I can be a bit of a stress head and the rage can build-up. Does that count?

Right, that’s enough questions for now (sorry if I didn’t answer yours).

On to sneak peeks, check out Spiral, Wrecker, and Quasar. Please note Spiral is not on base in final position.







Enjoy the weekend everyone.

Will Rich be back Friday???

...No I'm here Thursday.

Hey guys, so I’m back from my extended holiday to New York and knowing how my Fridays usually end up, thought I’d update a day early.

The All-Father!
First up, I’d like to mention the Odin special. Having looked through a vast number of Odin’s appearances, from Kirby to Coipel, I can officially say that the All-father has had more costumes than any other character. Clearly a design choice by Kirby, Odin literally changes his outfit every single appearance. At first, I thought that there would be elements that remain the same (after all I seem to remember Odin looking a certain way) but when comparing images I found that the entire costume changes; he has a cape (with or without collar) as often as not, he goes from horned helmets to large ornamental hats, his look frequently goes from Cosmic to Viking, chainmail to modular armour… the list goes on.

What this means is that we’ve not fully picked the costume for Odin yet but essentially want to have him with the eyepatch, horned helmet and a cloak/cape. The image below is one of the images that stands out but I’m not sure we’ll be matching this exactly.



Anyway, while the sculptor and I work through these issues, I am happy to confirm that we’re aiming for an April-May 2011 release to coincide with the Thor film. I’m also aiming to have Odin no bigger/more expensive than the mid-special price point – £15.99. (He may be £10.99 but no promises) He won’t be as tall as Galactus/Watcher etc… The reason for this is very simple: in the comics Odin is generally drawn quite big and bulky but not super-sized, in fact he’s listed as 6’ 9”.

The Mutt
Right enough Odin-speak, let’s move on to Lockjaw.
The debate kicked up by the suggestion that he may come with another figure has been really interesting and has certainly provided food for thought. At the moment we’re not ruling out producing Lockjaw on his own (if he does indeed get made). The only reason to suggest having another figure was that I thought it would be nice to try and give you guys a little extra. The suggestion that Lockjaw should be accompanied by another character didn’t come from management or marketing, and was simply an idea I had. Looking at the size of Lockjaw, I imagined that he’d be priced between £15.99 and £18.99. If the figure was going to be priced at £18.99, I thought it would be good to give you all an extra – possibly smaller – (in the case of Luna) figure. There should be no suggestions that we are adding Luna or Maximus to make this special more expensive, if anything I imagine other departments at Eaglemoss would prefer not to include an extra figure.

But the debate has been really good and I agree with many of the comments that a solo Lockjaw would be a good special. We’ll just need to get the size/material and costs right at our end and I’ll certainly be listening to all your feedback.

Height: Does it matter?
The last subject I’d like to tackle is the height guide for specials. In the past I have stated that characters should be under 6’ 5” to be a regular and those above are likely to be specials. Now this is a general rule but is by no means binding. Of course, the character’s bulk and additions to costume play a large role in the decision process. If a character existed that was 7’ but had the bulk of Flatman, he could be a regular.

While 6’ 5” generally works, we do need to make the decision on a case-by-case basis, looking at height, bulk, costume details, accessories and pose.

The debate seems to have been opened up again with talk of a Sauron figure. Personally, I think it would just be possible to get the character in the regular running order BUT it would require cheating the scale a little, we simply couldn’t have him standing tall at 7’ and not having a very dynamic pose. We wouldn’t be able to have a lot of wingspan on display. If we did the character as a special, we could have him at full height and with his wings open.

Which would you guys prefer? (Neither is definite at the moment).

Right that leaves me with just a sneak peek to post: check out Ares.


Enjoy!

Runaway winner...

Hello,

A very quick update today just to officially announce the competition winner's chosen character.

Taking the last spot of this extension is Nico Minoru from the Runaways.



Certainly an interesting choice, I think the figure will look great and we've started a new team.

Right, I'm off to New York tomorrow so no more updates until I'm back.

Take it easy.

Competition has ended

Hello and welcome back to another blog update.

First things first, the competition is now closed and the winner has been contacted. I'll update the blog with his choice once I hear back.

The competition was a huge success with more entrants than last time, over 250, and surprisingly more incorrect answers. Only 32% of people that entered got the three correct answers, which were:

Bishop:


Hobgoblin:


Kraven the Hunter:


So thanks to everyone that entered.

On to the next hot topic at the moment – resin in figurines.

I’ve seen some of the debate on this topic and thought it best to explain things from my point of view.

The most important things to note are that we are NOT moving to an all-resin collection and that the quality of resin is not inferior to lead. Resin actually retains more detail than lead in the manufacturing process.
The decision to add resin to the collection is due to two reasons:

1. Cost of manufacturing figurines, and shipping them from the factories, has greatly increased over the last 4 years. In addition to the manufacturing costs, large-lead figurines are a lot more expensive to post to subscribes and deliver to shops. The extra costs involved make it very hard to produce large-sized figurines completely in lead. We have to make a choice of either scrapping large characters altogether, making a compromise or raising the price of mega-specials.

In the case of Sasquatch and Puck, a lead Sasquatch would have been priced at £18.99 on his own. One of the reasons double-packs are a problem for us is that no matter the size of the figurine, there is a large cost involved with having an additional mould (one per character). The additional cost means that we simply couldn’t offer an all-lead Sasquatch and Puck for £18.99.

I personally don’t think that we should scrap large-figurines, and would be against raising the cost of specials above £18.99.

2. The second reason for using resin is that it can add details and features unachievable in lead. One of the properties that resin adds is the ability to produce thinner (but strong) sheets of material for extra features on characters.

I personally apologise to anyone who is disappointed with Sasquatch, I think the figure looks fantastic and don’t think it being produced in resin should put off anyone who likes the sculpt.

On a side note, I’m moving house soon and after lugging over 300 lead figurines around, I’m starting to wish the collection was all resin. ☺

Right, on to a sneak peek. Please welcome the paints of Cannonball and Quasar and an early sculpt for Photon.







I’m off on holiday for two weeks from Monday, so there may be a delay before the next update. I will be heading to the New York comic-con next weekend, Eaglemoss don’t have a stand but if you’re there, I may bump into you.

Take it easy.

Competition Time

Hello and welcome back.

This week’s blog kicks off with news about the competition.
But before I go into the details, I just want to talk about the last comp. First of all, the reason that I asked for character choices to be included was that it speeds things up, gives me another source of information on what characters people are after and lastly it makes sure that people stick to their first choice.

No preferential picking or treatment was given and the winner was randomly chosen. But to assure you of this, you don’t need to put your character in the e-mail this time.

Here are some interesting stats from the last competition:

128 people entered the competition.
77 unique characters were requested.
Death’s Head and Howard the Duck were the most requested with 5 ‘votes’ each.

Now on to this extension’s competition. I once again wanted this to be something that a lot of collectors could enter but would give those that have collected the most figures a better chance of getting the right answer. I also didn’t want to make this a subjective competition – you know, something along the lines of 20 words on why your character is the best – it needs a system where you are either right or wrong.

I thought the magazine images turned out to be a little easy (if you had the entire collection and enough time to go through each issue). So using a similar system I’ve decided that you need to identify the three figurines in the below images. Obviously, we’ve not made this easy (well I hope we haven’t) and we’ve zoomed all the way into a detail on the figurine.


THE ACTUAL COMP
So competition rules are:

Identify the three figurines shown in the below images. They can be from issues 1-120 and the all released specials.

Send me an e-mail to eaglemosscomp@gmail.com with the three names in the e-mail title.

Please put your name and address in the e-mail. (These will not be passed on to anyone).

The comp will close AT MIDNIGHT GMT, 30th September 2010 and I will choose a winner at random from correct answers.

I’ll then contact the winner to let them know and ask who they want in the collection.

One entry per e-mail address only.
One entry per household only.
(Duplications will be deleted and each address needs to genuine, as the winner will receive a model of his/her chosen character, which may need to be signed for at the address provided.)
Characters chosen must be regular-sized figures (under 6’ 8”) with enough background/appearances to fill a magazine.
The character chosen should also be an original character that’s not been in the collection already, so no redos.