Sunday, July 28, 2013

NEWS - VARIANT Bronze/Golden Color!


Because some collectors requested the Lower & the Upper shields waves in the same color than the vintage ones (Bronze/Golden), I can officialy announce that a New limited run of variants is on the way.
When the webstore will be opened you'll can simply choose the color you are prefering for your collection ;) (prices will be the same ones).

Visuals:
                       




Visuals - UPPERS shields wave

Here is the Upper shields wave in an all new color: Purple.


We choose this color because regarding the Battle Beasts color weapons, the figures #01 to #09 are coming with grey/silver weapons (start of the line/ same color choosen for the Lower shields), the figures #29 to #40 are coming with golden weapons (middle of the line/ the color of the vintage shields) and the figures #65 to #76 are coming with purple weapons.
Because the upper wave is the last one, the logic was to do like for the last BB's wave figures: Purple.



Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Behind the production - Part #3 - Shields steel mold

Here is a picture showing the steel mold made for the Shields production.
The same job has been done for the Sleds.


Monday, July 8, 2013

NEWS - ALL PRICES FIXED

Download this picture on your PC to see details in full size.

NEWS - Repros Sleds are coming!

Because I received many requests about them, it is now official on my side: The Repros of the Sleds (vintage colors schemes) are also in the plan.
They will be available on sale at the same time than the 3x Exclusive ones actually planified in the next 2 months.




 

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Behind the production - Part #2 - The 3D shields work

The engineer of the factory which I am working with on the shields did 3D drawings to realize the steel molds. (Sleds are made in an other factory and the process is the same one)
As you can see it is not a direct recast job of the vintage shields, but an all new retooling work.
 
Why not a simple recast job? Simply because when you need steel molds by recasting directly a physical item, the result of the mold's form is smaller.
When you need to do real plastic parts like for this project and you need to keep the same size than your physical item, you'll have to work in 3D, no choice.

Regarding the 3D files, the result is very very close to the vintage shields one but not completely identical. (I need to say my shields are close at 98% around).
Some details are changing a little bit and it was exactly the thing I wanted because by this way Collectors can identify the Repros more easily when they are crossing one.
But do not worry, all the "vintage flavor" is preserved when you have them in hands and the changes are very tiny ;)




Visuals - LOWERS shields stickers wave

Here are closed visuals of all the stickers realized for the Lowers shields wave.
As explained in the "Behind the production - Part #1 - The stickers design creation" post, most were inspired by pictures and logos/illustrations found everywhere around the web.
Like by example for Zariganian, it was inspired by an illustration realized by Edward Kersh, you can visit his website here: http://www.edwardkersh.com/.





Friday, July 5, 2013

REPRO OR NOT REPRO? - How to identify.

-To identify a Shield Repro it is very easy:
On the back of each shield the original little number has been erased and "REPRO 2013" has been added in relief.
When you are crossing a shield on sale and that you are not sure about the authenticity, just ask to the seller to take a picture of the back.
Same thing on the back of the Lowers and the Uppers shields waves.

-Now concerning the Sleds Repros a similar way has been also used.
Here you can see a photoshoped picture to show you, a little "®" symbol will be engraved at the bottom of all sleds produced:

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Behind the production - Part #1 - The stickers design creation

The stickers drawings asked many and many hours of work and a lot of time has been spent trying to find nice animals designs and pictures as inspirations everywhere, mainly on internet.
The goal was to have cool designs in the same vein than the vintage ones.
 
 
 
The designs and ideas changed days after days, sometimes I had the good result at the 1st time, sometimes not.
 
 
After the good drawings selected Photoshop was the next step.
Drawings were cleaned, many colors were tested, emblems sizes of animals were changed a lot of time to be adjusted correctly at the shields forms, same thing for the ornament forms etc.
Some details were importants to be respected regarding the vintage ones: By example 6 animals on the 12 were designed in front views, 3x were designed inside badges, all animals designed by profile views were turned to the left etc, I tried to keep the same plan for the Lower & the Upper waves, keeping by this way better the "vintage spirit" of the line.
Also vibrant colors were selected, like the vintage ones.
A long job but a lot of fun to make all of them.
 
I was helped by two friends, "fans & hardcore collectors" of the toyline, during all the work, asking their notices and feeling regularly.
Many thanks to Arnaud Heyser & Sylvain Heyser, the help was very precious.
 
 
 
The last step was to find the good way to print all of them.
I really wanted to have the most professional result as possible like the shields themselves.
I worked directly with a Professional printer (a french one, shields were made in China)
At the begining the first printings were not good (problems with some colors, tints etc) and We had to redo the job several times to find the nice way.
 
 

Welcome

Hi, this is the first post.
On this blog you will find more informations about the "Laser-Shields" project and the store.
News will be regularly added, some "behind the production" spots will be revealed and more again.
Have a nice time ;)
Tokyonever.