#throwbacktoythursday: Bertie The Pipebomb

(And of course I had the battle-pounches on the wrong way round! LOL)

Before "3A Toys" announced their launch in the toy-world, there was a "World War Robot" released from Aussie-artist Ashley Wood x Hong Kong-based toymakers threezero x USA-based Bigshot Toyworks. This 1/6th-scaled 12-inch tall plstic behemoth at that faithful time, was named "BERTIE" - also known as "Bertie The Pipebot" or "Bertie the Pipebomb". Subsequently, this incarnation of Bertie was known to be the "robot with a stick-up-his-butt", which was technically true, but extremely unfortunate, methinks :p

"That was a great time, that project was a total Nerd Nuke when the Samples were teased and revealed at SDCC and then the Bloody Berties were dropped in NY. Teased slowly online first then in person. It was a rare moment when all sorts of possibilities became a reality, and proved that if you build something really really good it will find an audience and drive the market." -added Klim Kozinevich of Bigshot Toyworks

(only video I ever uploaded, circa 2008)
I was elated with the piece. I was excited. It blended the 1/6th-scaled hobby with giant robot, and that appealed to my wilds fantasies … and as well the advent of articulated fingers that would forever change the hobby, IMHO. The time was 2007 when I first posted about the piece (A Bertie & a Bambalad too!), a floodgate of play-possibilities lay await ever since, even until I received the Desert Rat Edition and Dirty Deeds … (after I begged them silly, of course LOL). Heh.

"Ash, three Zero and Bigshot worked hand in hand to develop, sculpt, prototype and manufacture the figure. Clearly everything was designed by Ash but it was all a highly collaborative effort with a lot of "hey lets give him a giant sword and Zombie heads" and "Fuck it lets have all the fingers move" " 9" is too small lets make it 12!" It was a great fun jam" shared Klim Kozinevich of Bigshot Toyworks.

I had tons of review videos filmed too, but never edited until my hard-drive crashed (my bad) … I had taken plenty of pics, and was even inspired to start a dedicated Flickr-group so other folks/collectors could share my toy-joy! But I will never forget that time when I started a photo contest, which unfortunately the prize was never fulfilled …

Nevertheless, it was, and still is, an awesome toy - a stick up his 'bot-butt, or otherwise :)