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Toyfinity Attacks!

Toyfinity starts 2018 off right, with another powerful wave of reimagined classic characters from the old Ideal catalog, poised to raid your collections tonight, January 17th at 9PM EST! Details are posted over at the Toyfinity blog!

The recent Gendrone Union metallic copper also makes its return with matching Zeroid Zobor and Robo Force Maxx Zero (in Maxx Zobor form) editions (shown in their combined Super Zobor form above), opening up more build potential across the different Glyos lines.

Another big character debut for this new Toyfinity release is the official rollout of the Knight of Darkness, the original Ideal version having been a big time personal favorite of mine since its dubious entrance into the toy world back in 1977. This is a significant round on many levels!

These are a blast, John! So excited to finally see these guys happen!

Clash of the Toyfinity Classics

The great Toyfinity has returned with an all new line up of classic characters, pulled straight from some of their most requested files! Head over to the Toyfinity blog for all the release details and a look at some awesome new art of the special "Super Zeroid" build by our friend, the illustrating super cyborg Jason Ho!

Seeing Zintar the Explorer and Hun-Dred  produced in the tradition of their original colors has been a lot of fun, and the trend is set to continue in the coming months with some more classic combinations in the works.

An excellent rollout, John! Almost as fun as the time we nearly crashed the Mystery Machine rental on the way to Funspot. Almost.

New Robo Force Rollout

Our good friends over at Toyfinity have something really good on tap tonight, just in time to cheer us up. John put a ton of work into the latest round of stuff, and the results came out super good. Vanguard shares the orange hue from the recent Granthan Corps LSA as well as a secondary redorange that is very close to one of our upcoming Crayhunter colors. All in all, an awesome wave.

It's been a strange week, but sitting at the computer and editing some new pics has actually helped to settle my short circuited brain over the last few days. Nothing like traveling into the imagination to reconnect the wires and feel inspiration pulsing again. It's definitely going to take me a bit to get used to Hutch not sitting next to me as I work on this stuff, but the show must go on.

My sincere thanks again to all of you.

New Robo Force Rollout

The Toyfinity Team has a great new round of stuff scheduled for release tonight, March 23rd, at 9PM EST over in their store!

You can find all the details here!

Both PVC colors for this assortment match right up to the Ultra Silver and GITD green of our recent February wave, as well as the Kabuto Mushi swarm attack from last week.

The original Sentinel has always been one of my favorite Robo Force characters, sporting a compact yet sleek look to its core body design. The new Sentinel (shown above), was designed to hopefully evoke that classic 80's structure, but also allow for maximum customization potential.

On a related note, as we were working on the Robo Force parts it became pretty clear that with a little pushing and pulling, the head geometry of Sentinel and Enemy could be connected, resulting in a reversible design that could also serve as chest armor for Hun-Dred. The whole figure is kind of a Mecha Puzzle.

Having an already established cast of characters adds a different dimension to the process of making a toy, especially a property like Robo Force. The Toyfinity/Onell teams absolutely wanted to make sure that we honored the classic toy series, yet incorporate brand new elements that would give the modern figures options that did not exist before. Had the classic Robo Force toys perhaps featured some more modular parts, the experience of playing with them might have been a more creative and long lasting one. I do still love those old mech-frigerators, though.

It can be a bit of a tightrope redesigning something that fans of the original hold dear, and I know that all of us involved in bringing Robo Force back put everything we had into the project, because we are those very fans.

Join the Rebellion

A theme running in the background across all the Glyos related lines is crossover. Because all of the creators are fans of each other, the notion of finding doorways that bridge the different worlds is very appealing and employed more often than you might think. 2014 will see some cameos from a few familiar characters popping up in some unexpected places.

The version of Maxx Zero shown above is meant to explore the possibility that perhaps some members of the Robo Force may have ventured into the Glyos System at some point. Or, maybe some Gendrone tech was stolen by an unknown agent of Nazgar, on a mission to gather new potential weaponry to be used in multidimensional conquests.

Wherever your imagination takes you, that's the place to be...

Acromaxx

2013 has been filled with some really fun projects, which helped to balance out the various curveballs that were thrown throughout the year. One such project was Toyfinity's resurrection of Robo Force.

Working on the Robo Force relaunch ended up taking a bit longer than I had originally anticipated, with many weeks spent up at the shop working with the always amazing Ron Daley. By the time we finished the prototype I had taken around 500 pics of the process, attempting to catalog the various alternate builds that we tried to hide within the parts as well as the actual progress. John, Mike and Charlie over at Toyfinity were always encouraging and trusting and made for great partners in the development of their new Maxx Zero.

Once we finally got Maxx into production, John and I spent a lot of time talking about how to roll the new series out, and the best possible way to coordinate the releases with the story John wanted to tell. As we had been shooting ideas back and forth for the greater part of a year, the decision to have some shared colors across our respective lines seemed to make the most sense, for potential building as well as for crossover story purposes.

The recent blue hues from the Ecroyex wave were selected to pay homage to Takara's Giant Acroyear and Mecha Acroyear (thanks Microforever!), two true classic toy designs from Japan. As strange as this may sound, as a child I would always dream of seeing characters from one series color swapped with characters from another series. Something about that idea still sticks with me to this day, so when the chance came up to possibly see Maxx sporting the colors of a Giant Acroyear, we had to go for it.

It's been a true privilege having the opportunity to work on bringing Maxx and the Robo Force back to life with the Toyfinity team, and I'm really looking forward to watching the line expand in 2014.

New Robo Force Rollout

Our friends over at Toyfinity have a brand new Robo Force release on track for tonight, 9:30PM EST!

From the Toyfinity blog:


Hello Zetonian Fans!

The next release of ROBO FORCE product will be this Friday, December 20th, at 9:30 pm Eastern Standard Time.
 
It has been a blast coming up with new colors for the Robo Force. The colorways in this release match the recent Onell Gendrone Rebellion/Ecroyex Initiative colors exactly, so you can upgrade your Robo Force with Glyos pieces (or vice versa)!

Product details are as follows:
 
- Robo Force Reforged HUN-DRED THE CONQUEROR Edition
Kit includes the standard 41 piece complement of Glyos compatible parts -now with over fifty paint applications and one secret faction symbol! -allowing you to build either Maxx Zero, Sentinel the Protector, Enemy the Dictator, Hun-Dred or your own robotic creation. 
$18 per kit, limit of four per customer.
 
- Robo Force Origin ENEMY THE DICTATOR Edition
Kit includes the standard 41 piece complement of Glyos compatible parts and an additional 12 pieces for maximum customization possibilities! With over 50 paint applications and one secret faction symbol, kit can be used to build any of the four main Robo Force characters. 
$20 per kit, limit of four per customer.
 
Additionally, there will be a limited quantity of Robo Force shirts in the store - only $15 each.
 
Toyfinity is also proud to offer, for the first time, an assortment of Zibits! Zibits are fantastic mini R/C robots with lights and zounds! Six different characters will be available in limited quantities.
 
All items will ship directly after the Christmas holiday.
 
After your purchase your new Force members this Friday, be sure to check out the Comics section for a new Robo Force page!


The close up pics shown above feature the new kits in their Maxx-X configurations, revealing some familiar symbols from around these parts...

More pics and some thoughts about the color selection process in a bit!

Maxx Works 3

As Ron and I worked out the proportions for Maxx, we tried different sizes for the little bot's head, starting with a significantly smaller noggin on top.

Using existing Glyos production figures for the scale match was a very important part of the blocking process, and served as a central point of measure.

The primary goal at this stage was to find just the right size for this new Robo Force. We wanted the sculpts to appear powerful and fairly massive in comparison to what we had worked on before, yet also maintain 100% compatibility with everything else already in full production.

The other major concern was that Robo Force would make sense financially for the Toyfinity team to produce, so we moved forward with certain dimensions and metrics in mind, conceived to hopefully result in an overall success and not just simply a redesigned classic robot.

Maxx Works 2

Above are a few pics from the early development of Maxx Zero.

Ron and I sized Maxx's "Core Block" so that it would line up with our old Rechlen and Aves Trapping Rigs (a prototype of one can be seen in the background of the top pic).  That original set of proportions was worked directly into the new Maxx design, and thanks to the Toyfinity team being so open minded about new directions, we incorporated that DNA right into Maxx's code.

Regular Hexagons and Isosceles Trapezoids also factored into Maxx Zero big time, as these basic shapes emerged as the top problem solvers, especially on the tread base (more on that later).

Future Rewind

Toyfinity's John Kent brought his impressive Robo Force vintage collection up for another fun visit, and the boxy bots still remain as charming and quirky as ever.

These shots were taken as the classic and new Robo Force characters discussed their next set of moves on our kitchen counter.

I'm pretty certain that I overheard Hun-Dred mention something about a metallic pearlescent red...

Maxx Works

Tonight (October 27th) marks a very special release for our friends over at Toyfinity, for when 9 PM EST rolls around,  the old series Robo Force will make its return to the world of toys nearly 30 years after its original production run!

This special  project has been running in the background over here for quite some time.

Working closely with John "Doctor" Kent, Mike Hart and Charlie Parry of Toyfinity, we developed the new toys in house, which utilize the Glyos fit functions and play mechanics. My mentor Ron Daley and I built the Maxx Zero prototype from the ground up, based on my original design scribbles. The Toyfinity team, who are like family, put a lot of trust in us, and both Ron and I gave the project everything we had so Maxx's new form would hopefully honor the Robo Force name.

I personally still have my original Maxx from when I first received it back in 1984, and it has survived multiple toy collection cutbacks over many years. I've always felt that Maxx never got a real chance to shine as the cool character that he was, so having the opportunity to create a brand new version of Maxx has been a dream come true. I want to sincerely thank the Toyfinity team for allowing me to work on their property, which holds a place very close to my heart.

Over the month of November, I'd like to share a few notes on the creation of the new Maxx, from conceptual drawings to pics of the prototyping process at Ron's shop. There are a ton of secret builds hidden within the 41 parts that comprise Maxx Zero, from old Tomy robots, ZOIDS and Zeroids to the Trapping Rigs used by our own Rechlen and Aves. My hope is that this reforged Maxx will open up a new world of building and playing possibilities across the spectrum, and that Robo Force will make you smile like you were a kid again.

Cheers to the Toyfinity Team and their new adventures with Maxx Zero and Robo Force!