The Making Of MOD1 with SuperModifiedstudios
making theIr debut during SDCC'07, SuperModifiedstudio's MOD1 robot-constructs have since garnered fab reviews since, and is currently available during this festive season via DKE Toys-distribution, in 3 styles: Wi-Fi, CTRL and a DIY-Blank-version! (US$80 each for the former 2 and US$70 for the DIY) - limited to 200-pcs per. super friction welded to be fully articulated and guaranteed to 'reclaim your space', these ultra stylized machines inspired by 80's design robots are super cool and come in a sleek window box.
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TOYSREVIL: what's the genesis of MOD1? and what were your influences, Nick?
NICK MANNION: I have always wanted to create my own toy and being a huge robot geek, it seemed the perfect place to start. My initial inspiration began with those original 80’s transformer designs from the TV show. Simple, hard edged shapes with large weapons seemed a lot more iconic than the modern super technical designs. Another influence was those old tin clockwork robots from the 50’s that I think still look cool.
I started sketching little thumbnails of robots battling each other and generally ‘kicking ass’, this was great fun to do while stuck underground on the London metro system. Once I had a stack of sketches I began trying to carve out the shape in foam. I realized in order to get the ‘action poses’ I would need to articulate each part and so it seemed natural to use some ball joints (kindly donated from a Bionicle figure).
TOYSREVIL: articulation is your friend! LOL from 2D-drawing to 3D-form, how was the development process for MOD1? was it a DIY-gig?
NICK MANNION: After some terrible weird shapes I arrived at something I liked and the next step was to transfer the measurements into the computer.
With an idea to getting some test models made I sent the 3D file to a rapid prototyping company and arranged for 20 solid resin casts to be produced. It was an amazing thing when the first one arrived, I felt like a proud dad!
During this time I began sketching ideas for graphics. Having initially had so many ideas in my head I was suddenly faced with the blank sheet of paper! So to start the ball rolling I just focused on all the stuff I really liked and was influenced by i.e.: 8bit video games, construction vehicles, naval camouflage, hot rods, etc.
After emptying my brains for several days I had around 30 ideas coloured up and after some tough selecting I decided to prototype around half of those.
Many crazy long days followed, spraying and cutting up transfers, until I managed to finish all the designs. They were then setup in our flat to show anyone who happened to visit. Always having to keep my toy collection to a minimum it was interesting to see how they battled for space among the other ‘home’ objects, hence the term ‘reclaim your space’!
By the time they had started to gather dust I had my shortlist and been in contact with a factory. With some great assistance I worked on developing the parts for manufacturing but realized now that my initial dream of a simple production process, ie. Roto-casting would now have to be injection molded. –(Mainly to achieve good articulation and the hard edged design).
Once the tooling of the parts had been completed I travelled out to china to view the progress and work alongside the team at the factory. It was totally fascinating to see how the things are made and really inspiring working there.
TOYSREVIL: cheers for the comprehensive making-of, Nick! and how did the SDCC-gig come about? i remember seeing them online and emailing you about it (way back when!) and was impressed that they were conceptual-pieces and as yet production items. and did you customize them all yourself?
NICK MANNION: In order to set myself a deadline I had booked a stand at the Comic Con in San Diego and so decided to launch the products there. That opening night was pretty scary as I had been laboring away on this and it was finally time to put it all out there for people to see.
Custom editions are one of the exciting things about this business and I was fortunate to have some good friends do some cool stuff to add to the event.
It turned out to be a fantastic show and just great to meet all the companies and people who are in this business and doing what they love. It was also great to meet other people who were starting out on their own journey to get their projects made.
NICK MANNION: The response to the toys was far beyond what I could imagine, way back when I was sketching something just for fun!
TOYSREVIL: what's the status of MOD1 now?
NICK MANNION: The MOD1 is now ready to ship and apologies to all those who have placed orders via email. Due to each design style and the limited number of units, the MOD1 range will be released in pairs over the next few months:
For Jan/Feb: Zero7 + CoinOP
For Mar/April: Camo + Flame
TOYSREVIL: have you achieved what you've set out to do when you first started? anything you would've liked to change or amend now?
NICK MANNION: It has been a really great challenge to take a series of little sketches and try and make them into a physical product. I am really pleased with the final design, and think it conveys the essence of the initial drawings.
Creating a good range of articulation was always going to be a major design issue, this part ended up taking a lot of time and effort. If you look at the prototypes, one thing I really wanted to have was more 'weapon' slots on the arms and legs.
TOYSREVIL: something to look forward to in Series 2 of MOD1s maybe? :) ... what does the future bode for MOD1?
NICK MANNION: One reason for getting into this was to work with other artists and designers. I love the custom shows and will be organizing one next year. I think 2008 is going to be the 'Year of the Robots'! MOD2 is currently being designed - all on post-it notes as usual (the high tech way!)
TOYSREVIL: robots-rawk! LOL - in closing, pls share with folks, Who Is Nick Mannion? and what does Supermodifiedstudios do?
NICK MANNION: I always wanted to be car designer, but after studying this for four years I realized I loved loads of other things. From there I went to do freelancing work for Lego, designing their cars was a lot more fun!
Then onto the early Bionicle action figures, aswell as developing new concepts and ideas for their Theme Parks and various future products. A project that was launched recently was the Lego Mars Mission range, working on that and just getting to draw 'Space Lego' was a real dream. Other clients include Nike, Sony, Mattel and the Captain Scarlet TV series. With regards to other webpages, im keeping things simple at the moment with just supermodifiedstudios.com.TOYSREVIL: cheers for your time and trouble, Nick and all me best to SuperModifiedstudios and MOD1!
