Voyage of the Alien Space Cadet by John McCormack and Devil's Head Productions

there's a new addition to Devil's Head Productions (makers of The Saddest Devil) and he hails from outer space! Voyage of the Alien Space Cadet sees "Obie" visiting our Earth, in search of ... socks?

created and designed by John McCormack, VOYAGE OF THE SPACE CADET stands 10.5-inches tall (with sock-flag :p) and will come in 2 official colorways (initially): with ORANGE version limited to 400-pcs and a PINK version limited to a run of 45-pcs, as well as a very small run of BLANKS (more info on that soon). tentatively scheduled for a mid-April-drop, the SRP is tentatively between US$70-75, but has yet to be finalized (stay tuned for updates, yo!) ... meanwhile, I had the opportunity to chat with Obie's creator, John McCormack, about the origins and development process of "VASC" ...

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TOYSREVIL: what was the genesis of the Alien Space Cadet? how did it all begin?

JOHN McCORMACK: After a few years of hardcore collecting, Toby (Dutkiewicz, creator of "The Saddest Devil") and I were discussing how cool it would be to make our own toys. The discussions became obsessions, second mortgages were drawn, and a year later we're releasing our very own toys.

My toy is called, "Voyage of the Alien Space Cadet", which actually started out as a kids' book idea, but it turns out that it is way more fun to make a toy than a book. Riding on Toby's coattails, I followed his lead and began the whole concept-to-object process with the help of threezero.


JOHN McCORMACK:The toys are now 1 week away from being loaded onto a boat and I hope to release them for public consumption by mid April. I have a target $$ of between US$70-$75, however final numbers need to be crunched with shipping, etc.

TOYSREVIL: coolness. threezero rawks! ... and loving the alien! (and yes, tis Bowie's) the socks were a fab touch, IMHO - have you always had an alien in your mind? and by that i meant "a creation of an alien toy" ... and how was the development process like?

JOHN McCORMACK: I actually was going to do a booze swilling bug first. I called Toby over to check it out and he hated it. The alien was on the same page of sketches, and he pointed it out as being a potentially better idea to pursue. The sketch looked a bit plain, and another toy collector happened to walk by and yelled out, "he needs socks". The wackiness of a sock wearing alien really appealed to me and the bug was officially history.


TOYSREVIL: the sock officially rawks for me now! LOL

JOHN McCORMACK: I then had a buddy of mine make the alien test sheet, which he rendered in maya, to see if the sketch translated well once it existed in a real environment. When I received the test sheet, I was like, whoa, I gotta make this. It took a few tries to get someone to call me back, but threezero said they would take on the project, even though I was totally green and had no idea what I was doing. That was back in September, so it has been quite a drawn out learning experience.


TOYSREVIL: i am very intrigued+impressed with the details in your developmental images and specifically of the cartoon illustrations - you mentioned Obie (aka Alien Space Cadet) started off as a kid's book, but i reckon he would make quite an intriguing moving visual cartoon star, IMHO ... was there ever a dream to go beyond the realms of "toys"?

JOHN McCORMACK: Oh yeah, definitely. I started writing down a few notes as to why an alien would need a pair of socks, and those notes just kept evolving into an entire story. I had no idea how involved getting a book published was, but originally, I thought I could call a few agents and get the story published in no time, then use whatever I made in that deal to fund getting the toy made.

After a few months worth of rejection letters, and some research, I realized just how monumental a task it is to get a foot in the door of that world. That's when I took out the second mortgage on my house to pay for the toy.

This is even more silly, but I called up a few people I know at some movie studios and said I had a great idea for a movie. The typical response was, "yeah, you and ten thousand other people". One studio told me they had 400 full time employees pumping out ideas and scripts, and the chances of something of mine ever getting looked at were slim to none, but stranger things have happened.


TOYSREVIL: that sounds like quite a journey you've taken John (which in itself is a film about making a toy a reality, IMHO - no disrespect, of coz :p) and always appreciate that the toy/figure HAS a story as well, giving it a "history" and perhaps even "emotional motivation" (if not "depth") rather than just a great looking figure ... tell us about yourself, John - what you do and what's your background?

JOHN McCORMACK: Well, I have always been creative. As a kid I was obsessed with copying comic characters. That led to painting and sculpture, then art school. I actually went to the same art school as Toby - Rhode Island School of Design, although we weren't friends at the time. In art school I became focused on painting, then when It came time for the real world, I worked as a photo assistant, then as a graphic designer. I am currently employed as an art director for a construction toy company that I can't name. I till pursue the fine art side of things, and still have that dream of being a full time painter. I have managed to sell quite a few paintings, but that's quite a niche market to be in.


TOYSREVIL: did you do the illustrations and sculpting of Obie yourself?

JOHN McCORMACK: threezero did the sculpt. I figured they are the pros at that sort of thing and there would probably be fewer issues with production if they did the work. All I did was supply poses of the alien.



JOHN McCORMACK: Because I work in a design department, I had quite a few people pitch in to make the alien a reality. Tim Otis did the maya rendering of the alien, as well as the pencils of the book layout, Greg Hyland did the illustration on the back of the alien packaging and the story thumbnail sketches. Scott Decoteau did the video work (more to come on that!) and Joe Galluccio did the animation.


TOYSREVIL: and well done on all fronts, gentlemen! ... time for SPACE-CADET-STATS! how tall is he? how many colorways are there planned? how many Cadets will be entering the stratosphere? and when?

JOHN McCORMACK: With his sock flag, the space cadet is 10.5 inches tall. There are 2 official color ways, an orange version, with a run of 400 and a pink version, with a run of 45, as well as a very small run of blanks. Now that the aliens are made, of course I'm second guessing my color choices, and want to do a run of black, gold and teal aliens. Maybe if I score that movie deal I can come up with enough cash to make that colorway a reality. They are due to ship at the end of February, with an estimated month long boat ride over here. So hopefully they will disperse by mid April.


[what does the future hold?]

TOYSREVIL: SPACE-CADET-MISSION-STATUS = where's he at now? cruising the milkyway? or thrill-riding the rings of Saturn?

JOHN McCORMACK: I just heard from Kim at threezero in Hong Kong - the toys are being boxed up as we speak. So the journey has begun.


TOYSREVIL: i would ask you for the theme music for Space Cadet's journey (but we'll keep that for another day :p) ... cheers for your time and trouble, John and best of luck for Alien Space Cadet's eventual introduction and immersion into the toy-culture! (Editor's note: John shared with me the name of his next project and it has gotten me uber-excited LOL) and as we await further news of Obie, here's the Story of the Voyage of the Alien Space Cadet for your reading pleasure:

Our story takes place deep in outer space. There was a chance encounter, a passing glance. A passion was ignited for an unlikely pair. While eating a breakfast of Super Chongo Puffs Cereal, an alien named Obie glanced up to see a new discovery. A planet called Earth was the topic of discussion. Scientists found a new form of life there, something called a human.

He thought this was neat, but upon closer inspection, there was more to the story, this much was certain. He paid close attention to a specific detail. The human had unique, fuzzy coverings, unlike anything imaginable. Socks! Soft and supple, they offered comfort and warmth. The best part of all, there were two! Obie lived in a society that was so advanced that things like comfort were sometimes forgotten. Obie decided that he needed some of those warm fuzzy foot warmers for himself, and searched his planet high and low, but couldn't find a single pair. It seemed a mission necessary, a search of every galaxy, one by one. And so began the voyage of the alien space cadet.