I. Nature of Intent
a. The Client - Bankee Trading Incorporated is a local distributor for Toys in the Philippines, carrying popular toylines such as Beyblade, Gundam, Power Rangers, Ben10 and for some time, Zoids. Tomy before it merged as Japanese toy giant Takara Tomy, wanted its exclusive distributor Bankee to manage a series of exhibits and events to market its reintroduction of a popular toyline way back 1982; Zoids.
b. The Mission – the mission was to have a large centerpiece for one of Bankee’s Annual Custom Exhibit and competition. The exhibit was where customized and kitbashed entries made by toy fanatics who create small sculptures of art based from the zoid toyline. To market this efficiently, Bankee needed a large artifact to remind its audience that the toys can be kitbashed and customized to create new forms of their imagination.
c. The Material – Zoids appeared during the 1980’s in japan, appearing as small windups and battery operated animals in robotic form. Their competitive advantage was their popular assembly feature, which makes it double as a model kit aside from a toy. Tomy reintroduced the Toyline, reviving zoids thru several cartoon series which appeared during 2002.
II. Demographical Concerns - target market, specified audience with specific taste, behavior, class and breed.
B. Organic Therapod Design
c. The Material – Zoids appeared during the 1980’s in japan, appearing as small windups and battery operated animals in robotic form. Their competitive advantage was their popular assembly feature, which makes it double as a model kit aside from a toy. Tomy reintroduced the Toyline, reviving zoids thru several cartoon series which appeared during 2002.
II. Demographical Concerns - target market, specified audience with specific taste, behavior, class and breed.
a. Target Audience – The primary target are elder children ages 13 to 15, though for the custom contest , the predominant age bracket is ages 18 and above (ranging from 25-35 years old) . Teens ages tend to be market for the animation series while the older audience, while those who grew up with the toyline, perpetuated their interest to collection acquisition. Predominantly male, social class A-B, mostly Filipino.
b. Consumer Behavior – Target audience of the older market are into custom-building, creating kitbash toys as a hobby. Associated toylines include Gundam and Action figures. Most have skill in model painting and use of spray-cans, while a consistent segment comes from hobby craft enthusiasts that scratchbuild and airbrush their kitbashed custom Toys.
III. Design and Art trends - current and contemporary trends in specified medium, materials, work.
III. Design and Art trends - current and contemporary trends in specified medium, materials, work.
a. Materials – Zoids are made of primarily ABS plastic, a good base for paint and kitbash such as dremel and glue. The plastic needs to be treated first for new kits, removed of the oily mold release agent. Parts trees are manufactured in China, vacuum molded to desired shapes and specification.
b. Form – Zoids can be classified as cyber art, using mechanical elements and pieces to construct a particular design and image. Using everything from mechanical frills, gaskets and all sorts of man-made or artificial elements, they are structured to convey natural organic structure.
c. Kitbash Materials – Since the sculpture will be large, large screws and bolts are used to form the object into shape. Instead of the local mighty bond, mechanical metal threaded fasteners were employed to hold the integrity of the heavy structure.
d. Tools – Tamiya Acrylic Model Paints, Bosny Primers, Tamiya Airbrush, Black and Decker Drill were used to build and form the giant toy structure which was five feet tall.
d. Tools – Tamiya Acrylic Model Paints, Bosny Primers, Tamiya Airbrush, Black and Decker Drill were used to build and form the giant toy structure which was five feet tall.
e. Conceptual Tools – 3D tools such as Maya and Photoshop to help conceive the Final structure and build.
IV. Artistic Development - Seres of Derivations and Developmental studies used or unused, a consumed effort to either combine, abandon, or implement to the said project.
A. 80's to 90's Retro Robot Designs
IV. Artistic Development - Seres of Derivations and Developmental studies used or unused, a consumed effort to either combine, abandon, or implement to the said project.
A. 80's to 90's Retro Robot Designs
Derived the design for popular robot genres from the 80's and 90's era, when toy enterprises poured investments to associated collateral such as comics, tv and film.
B. Organic Therapod Design
Therapods are prehistoric reptiles that stand up using a biped form of locomotion, decreasing their dependability of their fore limbs. This is a very popular format used for toys in the sci fi genres.
D. H.R Giger Cyberart
H.R Giger is among the popular influences in Cyberart, incorporating primeval organic structure with mechanical elements, making a blend of eerie beauty and composition. His works were eventually absorbed to the famous "Alien" and "Aliens" movie and merchandise who he initially worked on the creature and production design.
V. Production Concerns - Space, infrastructure, availability of materials and resources, budget and time constraints
A. Storage Space for materials - my garage has to be a working area to clean, sort and prepare plastic zoid parts adequate for the construction of the said zoid. There were nearly 400 individual zoids used, its parts selected to build the said mass.
B. Change in Initial design - the form was supposed to be near to one of the largest items in the zoids series; the King Gojulas. Having its design based from the another popular japanese genres "Godzilla", I strayed away from the design because they were not large parts to effectively construct the figure. Boldy choosing a different design for the said project was difficult since it strayed from the initial plan.
C. Parts preparation - in the 2 months done to prepare the project, the six weeks was devoted to sorting and cleaning the parts for primer application. We had to organize the bulk of parts and select the proper components for assembly. 2 weeks was devoted to the assembly itself, assisted by an industrial designer Manny Dacanay.
D. CG Conceptualization - I used 3D as a reference to design the new parts and elements that lead to its final design. The result was not as accurate as expected but at least became a reference for the form.
D. CG Conceptualization - I used 3D as a reference to design the new parts and elements that lead to its final design. The result was not as accurate as expected but at least became a reference for the form.
E. Body Frame construction - I worked alongside with an attorney friend of mine, Ped Faytaren, who volunteered to create the PVC frame to hold the heavy parts of the giant zoid. While I was cleaning parts, he built the structure. However constant communication was a luxury for our day jobs, thus he ended up with a build that is far from what I have in mind. I made do and came up with a different approach for its construction.
E. Mirroring Parts - Parts were mirrored with Manny Dacanay, who was responsible of creating the symmetrical assemblies for the limbs. I needed assistance on the last two weeks, thus with his help, I was able to create the item on time.
F. Initial Color Treatment - My first application of the color was flat black with metallic and platinum highlights, similar treatment to raw cyberart images of HR.Giger. However the company who commissioned the project said its too strong for the target audience, stating kids would be too scared being near it. Repainted it to a tamer brown and red color scheme.
Overall. The Project was a success, circling major toy outlets and SM department stores in the Luzon Area for more than a year. There were mixed reactions from hobbyists that didnt like the structure, yet a larger audience of young zoid and toy fanatics loved the statue, taking photos with it.
