Doug Hardy's WITCH CAT LULU In Sofubi!
While previous seen and made available as a resin collectible, San Francisco-based Doug Hardy's WITCH CAT LULU is poised to leap unto the scene as a SOFUBI collectible! And I don't think you'd need to "conjure up" any excitement for this!
Witch Cat Lulu is the premier release from Cat Magic Toys! She stands 12cm tall, and is the first of at least three planned figures in the Witch Cat Lulu series. Doug added; "...this is from my design but I haven't been able to see Makino San's sculpt in person yet."
Featured above is an image of the first test pull for this articulated figure, while featured below are various WIPs - the development for which can be followed on Instagram @catmagictoys and/or Twitter @Kaiju_Sommelier.
"...this is the design I sent Makino San. After the initial sculpt I asked him to add a few more small patches of fur on the sculpt. He is a master at his craft! I initially fell in love with his work when I first saw the sculpt he made of King Negora for Max Toy." - shared Dug Hardy,
BACKSTORY: "The story of Witch Cat Lulu- Lulu is a master witch on a journey with her brother, Woods Scout Dexter, and her annoying apprentice Rokit. Their journey takes them to many mysterious lands and sometimes lands them in peril! They must find the monster Gan Akuma who took the life of Lulu's master, Granny Witch Cat Pachinko and retrieve Pachinko's magic tome from the monster warlord can unlock it's secrets and use it against the world!"
"Witch Cat Lulu, Woods Scout Dexter, Apprentice Rokit and Granny Witch Cat Pachinko are all based on my cats. I originally drew my cat Lulu as a witch for fun, making her into a sticker a few years ago." - shared Doug Hardy, who added; "Eventually I decided to redesign her as a toy, and had her digitally sculpted and printed so I could use that as a master for a resin toy that I would cast and paint myself. I took the first prototype on trips and eventually debuted the resin Witch Cat Lulu at 2017 Designer Con at the Max Toy Co booth."
"Although I learned a lot in the process of making the resin figure, I had to be honest with myself and really wanted to have her made as a sofubi. With the help of Max Toy's Mark Nagata, I was able to reach out to TTToy Makino to hire to do the newly redesigned sculpt. It's been a bit of a process having to communicate through the language barrier, but Makino San has made the figure exactly as I pictured Lulu and I'm incredibly satisfied with the results!"
"If all goes well I might be able to debut the very first figures at the upcoming Kaiju Paint Party/Kira Kira Harajuku Soft Vinyl Expo at Design Festa Gallery this coming June 16 & 17. Fingers crossed on that. Worldwide premier will be online at catmagictoys.com in July!" - added Doug Hardy.
(Above: WIP header art for new sofubi figure!)
