Making Robots With Rotobox & The Reveal Of GOLION (Suprarobo Series)

TOYSREVIL presents an exclusive first-look at Rotobox's new custom for their Suparobo-series [tagged] with the reveal of GOLION! Showcasing uber-anime-awesomeness via a customed-Qee, the boys from Rotobox captures the spirit of the classic robot down-pat, IMHO - including the adorable mecha-lion-feets! TRE had an opportunity to cyber-chat with Spencer and Stephen aka the Rotobox-dudes [Multiply / Blog] about their craft, inspirations, as well as a sneak-peek at upcoming customs. CLICK THRU to read, and for more GOLION-peeks!



TOYSREVIL: Do share with us: Who is Rotobox? (Is it "Rotobox" or "Rotobox Vinyl Atomica"?)

ROTOBOX: Rotobox is Spencer and Stephen, sometimes we are one, sometimes we are two. We are two, but we are one. So two = one. But mostly we are two. We created the word “Vinyl Anatomica” because it sounds so unique, it also means vinyl anatomy since we make custom vinyl figures. We have a family business so rotobox is more like a hobby, that's why we are having so much fun thinking of weird ideas and creating them.

We also do graphic designs/web designs. We started out back in the late 90’s doing print designs, then gradually evolved into logo/web designing, and then into toy customizations. Some friends of ours teased our name since it sounds like “botox”

TOYSREVIL: What does Rotobox do? Besides customizing kick-ass toys and being creators of CELSIUS?

ROTOBOX: We started out trying to sell vinyl toys, but since its still in infancy stage here in our country (Philippines), we are having a hard time explaining what they are and selling them. In fact, one time while were are having a bazaar, a customer asked me if these are piggy banks... :P

Our customizations started out as a hobby since Spencer is good at drawing and Stephen is good at web/graphic designing. Then one day, doing nothing, we created something. We decided to make some custom toys that we love.

For Celsius, it all started out as an accident, or maybe its destiny? The guys at Kuso (hi Jason and Jonathan of kuso vinyl! We got interviewed here! Woot!) found our site with Celsius in it and they find Celsius as an interesting character, so we made some drafts of him and send it to them, they love the character and the universe he is in, so the rest is history ☺


[CLICK for Celsius-coverage on TRE]
TOYSREVIL: Maaaan, can't wait to see Celsius in final vinyl! Rotobox came to the forefront of toy-news and attention of the toy-world with the announcement of Celsius with KUSO Designer Toys - what is the status now?

ROTOBOX: Well, ganmetall Celsius is still in the womb, and hopefully will be born in the 2nd /3rd quarter of 2k9. In fact, the kuso guys are in china to personally supervise the production which is great because we know that the figures will be of high quality. So hopefully it will make it in time ☺ toysrevil will be one of the first to know in case Celsius is spit out from the womb.


[Celsius-black-proto @ NYCC 2009 / Image via Kuso Designer Toys]
TOYSREVIL: Ever ready to catch said ejecting-Celsuis, dudes! (LOL). I love a good story, especially stories about toys, and the world in which they came from. Explain the world created around Celsius.

ROTOBOX: The world Celsius lives in is similar to the world we are all in. Full of politics, comedy, tragedy, hope, despair, diversity, and us human being human (uhm Celsius isn’t entirely human though) The title TWINY (the world is not yours nor is it mine, it is ours) brings a strong message to us being people living in this world. It gives the meaning of co-existing with each other. Black or white, Asian or Caucasian, Buddhist or Christian, Rich or poor, if you love the Simpsons or Naruto, no matter what you are or who you are.


[Thanks for da TRE-lurve, guys!]
TOYSREVIL: And darnnit I hope you guys are considering animation for the world of Celsius and TWINY tho! (Another story for another day nyuknyuk). Does Rotobox always create stories around your creations?

ROTOBOX: We love making stories of our creations. In fact, back around the 90’s when we were still ugly naughty kids, we made lots of creations with unique and funny stories, we are having plans of reviving them. For us a story is the back bone of a character. We want people to grow with a character. Like Celsius' past, (HINT: Mashin Celsius, wicked!) his present situation and his future. We will be releasing a mini web comic of TWINY and Celsius soon, so stay tuned!


TOYSREVIL: "Toys" + "Comics" is a sweet combo for me personally! On the custom-front - What inspires you guys? Particularly for the Suparobo Project?

ROTOBOX: When we were 2 years old, we were watching super robot tv series like mazinger z, voltes v, mekanda robot (another hint) than watching sesame street. We learned the words “ROCKET PUNCH” first than “daddy and mommy”.

While growing up, we were not that fortunate to buy toys since they were rare and way too expensive. So all the frustrations and depressions went all out when we had our first pay check ☺ We love Japanese anime, art and their culture, we love watching gatchaman to gurren lagann and everything in between. We also grew up playing games, from PC to console. But what we love most are Japanese games like the SRW series and other Japanese games that we literally don't understand. We also believe in their sensitivity and quality in all their works, so we put them all in our custom figures.


TOYSREVIL: Do you guys collect toys as well? What do you collect and how do they inspire you?

ROTOBOX: We are toy fanatics! We appreciate toys for kids, for adults and sometimes for girls like blythe. In fact, we would rather starve to death just to save for a toy. Spencer is into saint seiya(saint cloth myth) and vinyl figures while Stephen is into gunplay and chogokins. As you can see, we are heavily influenced into Japanese animes based on our customs.


ROTOBOX: We love their uniqueness and originality of the characters like for example, mazinger z uses his breast to fire some hot stuff to melt the bad guys, and then uses his mouth to blow a tremendous amount of air to clean the mess up, so cool! Or when Duke Freed must make a stupid 180 degrees turn and then turn 180 degrees again just to go to the cockpit of his grendizer from his spacer.

You gotta love the ideas. I love you Go Nagai! So we put weird traits to our characters like Celsius’ arch rival Fahrenheit, who can’t speak at all! He must write everything like “UGH!, ACK! DIE CELSIUS!” on his blackboard (which is hanged around his neck) while simultaneously fighting with Celsius.

TOYSREVIL: Man, your passion is infectious! Fab collections too! Bring us thru the process of your customs?

ROTOBOX: The first process is the most important process of all, day dreaming, ☺ then when an idea comes we make rough drafts and sketches, then into illustrator/photoshop, then the sanding and primer of the figure, then lastly the paint job. And then day dreaming again.


TOYSREVIL: "Day-dreaming" is underrated, as far as I'm concerned! I've been getting pretty decent feedback about Rotobx-customs. Why do you think your customs appeals to collectors?

ROTOBOX: We put tender loving care to our customs. We love every second making them, so every toy we make has the ingredient “love” in it (this is so cheesy, blech). When we were in hongkong last December we met with Mr. Raymond Choi of Toy2R, and we learned something from him. The custom art you made might be appealing to you, but what about the market? does it appeal to them? So with that in mind, we made every toy we customize to be appealing to us and to the market.

We feel kinda bad when a toy we made got sold. We miss them! ☺ but when we think of a buyer who got his custom-made toy and the joy and contentment he felt while holding it, it satisfies us and keeps us doing more crazy custom figures.

TOYSREVIL: Definitely looking forward to more customed-goodness from Rotobox! Am lurving the GOLION! Thanks for your time, gents! In closing - please do share with TRE-readers - What's up next for Rotobox?

ROTOBOX: For the TWINY universe, we have some toy lines waiting for production, we are very excited for the cult favorite Revolver Girl 6ix. For our own customs, we have a super ultra secret ambitious project that has never been made on custom vinyl figures, hmmm, for a teaser, all we can say is “do you remember love?” uh oh, I don't think it's super ultra secret anymore ;) wink. And yes, its only 1 of 1. Hoo-rah!


[Do check out their Multiply & Blog for more Rotobox-goodness!]