ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected

Shogun Warrior and Star Wars geeks alike gawked in awe as Super7′s Jumbo Machinder inspired Stormtrooper made appearances at Comic Con and at Tokyo’s Star Wars Celebration. The two foot tall toy was the main topic of conversation at Comic Con. I was fortunate enough to sit down with Super7 master designer (just call him the MCP) to discuss Lucas Films, Mazinger, and Homer Simpson’s car designs.

ToyCyte: How long has it taken from the idea to getting a prototype?

Brian Flynn: Well it’s sort of happened in two stages. Originally we wanted to make jumbos just as themselves. It wasn’t specifically a stormtrooper at that point, I just knew I wanted to make something in the jumbo style. We spent a couple years just trying to figure out how to get one made. The same technology has evolved, and that’s what they make shampoo bottles out of, but it’s not made the same way. So first you have to find a place that has the equipment, then you have to find a place that will do it, then you have to find somebody that understands the aesthetic. Right when we finally found a factory that used to make some of the jumbos, is when we were talking to Lucas films, so it really synced up. We were like, we want to do some Lucas Films stuff but we don’t want to make it cheesy. There’s a lot of product for products sake…and that’s not what we wanted our twist to be. So right when we finally figured out how we could make a jumbo, we’re like “you know,  nobody has made a giant stormtrooper!”

TC: It’s completely unheard of. It’s just not even been a concept.

BF: Exactly! That’s one of those toys that I would have killed for as a kid. It seems like such an obvious miss. Like “Wow, why didn’t they think of that?” And luckily Lucas Films was really excited about it because for them it was really outside what they expected us to pitch them. It wasn’t just another vinyl toy, it wasn’t another action figure… It was “I want to make this really weird, blow molded, two foot tall, missile firing stormtrooper that has all these bells and whistles, that don’t really look like anything else.” Its really retro and it has a really distinct history and a place that people resonate with…but nobody’s touched these. It’s completely untapped.

TC: I went to a party last night, and behind me I heard a couple people talking about this, and they were saying “Oh my god, we had the jumbos when we were kids!” People are kind of blown away by it.

BF: You know, it’s not taking a small step. It’s like we’re going to dive in, and we’re going to dive in big! If you’re going to make a toy, make the best toy you can. And that’s what we really wanted to do with it. How can I make this the coolest thing I can make? I’m going to satisfy myself as a collector first. We’ll worry about the business side later. And I think that’s a key difference with all this. There’s no grand marketing plan. We’re a bunch of toy nerds that are making stuff that we want to buy. The moment we make something we THINK people want, they don’t want it. So we just make what we want to make.

TC: Well it’s completely genuine because there’s nothing forced or artificial about it.

BF: And the thing that’s interesting about it, and the thing I thought people might have
A little more hang up with, is that they see us so tied in with Japan. Obviously we’re even making the jumbo in Japan, is that it’s not a monster. It’s a Western license. It’s like, none of us collect just one thing. I got back into toy collecting to get my Star Wars toys. When I get to Japan, I look for the Takara vinyl Star Wars toys that were made in the 70’s. All of these things circle back around. So whether it’s a Kaiju or not, is sort of immaterial to me. It’s “What is that great toy that I want?” And we’re coming from our roots of what we do, which is working at these authentic Japanese factories with…toys that were made back then because those were great toys made with passion. It’s not about just any old toy.

TC: Well, you have the Tron stuff, and all the spaceship stuff, which is obviously not limited to just Japanese design.

BF: Exactly! It’s science fiction nerd-dom. How do we take that and not just make it the obvious answer? I don’t want a t-shirt that has Darth Vader from the neck to the waist on it. I wore that when I was 8. How can we we make a smarter design that makes sense for me now. And that’s the same thing we put into the product. I grew up with Tron obsessing about it…One of the first shirts we made, were actual replicas of the Tron figures…That was the only part of the movie we could take away. That was as deep as you could get! I’ve still got the same energy and passion for those things, but I want to show them to the context of having 30 more years of experiences under my belt. How can I tie things together that would seem disconnected, but the second you put them together it’s like “oh man! Those go great together! Your peanut butters in my chocolate! My chocolate’s in your peanut butter!”

TC: On the Jumbo, what are the features that are going to be on this thing. I had heard, rocket fist. Is that a rumor…?

BF: We’re going back and forth with rocket punch. Everybody remembers the missile firing fist, but if you really go back and look at the jumbos…the ones that had firing fists, it was a character part. Originally we had planned on making just the gun missile firing, but so many have been really wanting the fist…I’ve been second guessing it…only because the only reason I objected to it first, was because it wasn’t true to the character. A stormtrooper doesn’t fire its fist. But we’re putting wheels on its feet and we’re making it true to the jumbo that way. So we’re already taking it away one step from true…so maybe it’s ok for it to have missile firing fists.

Kotobukiya's Boba Fett

TC: If you’re already going with the wheels on it and making a stormtrooper as a jumbo, why wouldn’t you just go with the other nostalgic feature that people recognize?

BF: Well it’s been 6 of one, half dozen of another. At what point do you distort the character and at what point do you stay true, we have to kind of navigate that line. My gut is the same as everyone else’s, and my knee jerk is “yeah! Missile firing fist! Lets put kids eyes out!” But just because that’s my reaction, is that right? I don’t know. It’s taking a really good look at what the toy should be and not “oh I love blue, I’m gonna make it blue!” Frank over at Kotobukiya is really pushing for the missile firing fist. He’s trying to wear me down… so we’ll see.

TC: I was curious how you ended up with Kotobukiya, and in production have there been any translation problems?

BF: I’m friends with Frank, and [he] is an old time toy guy. He used to work at Diamond. And we were talking about the jumbo, and being that he’s a collector and a fan as well, he was very excited about that and I said “Would Koto be interested in it?” And he was like “I will ask them, I would love to get our side on it.” And for us it was a great fit, with Koto now, I know I’ll get people sculpting it in Japan that grew up on jumbos and understand translation of the character to the format, as well as they understand what Lucas Films looks for in those things. Koto makes great products, so having them sculpt the toy for us is another layer of not just credibility, but of making this the best way possible. I’ve got the guys making the best Star Wars sculpts on the planet working on my jumbo. And working with Frank is great. And the guys at Koto are really excited, and they’re like “We would have never thought about this! You’re really going to spend THAT much money to make this? That’s kind of crazy!” Cost is a major issue. But if we’re going to go down in flames on it, lets make it the most amazing flaming burnout ever. Like, it’s so beautiful we destroyed ourselves. Fine. I’d rather have that then some mediocre thing that comes out and is half of what it should have been. And everybody is disappointed. I want that big beautiful toy. And even if this is the only one that ever happens, I hope not, we’ve got a lot of other plans, but if that’s the only one that ever happens…I’ll forever have my jumbo stormtrooper.

TC: So why a Stormtrooper first?

BF: Well in my mind, I really resonate with the troopers. I like the stormtroopers a lot. It was such a great thing [Lucas] did with that. In essence, the bad guys are wearing white. By the time you get to the first movies, all the foot soldiers are there, and they’re pure white with the black accents. It was really cool and really aesthetic and nothing looked like them before. Everything is sort of derivative from where the stormtrooper was headed, since. Darth Vader may be the badass that everybody loves, but I love the stormtrooper, so I’m going to start with the stormtrooper, because that’s the one I want. I’m making my toy, so I’m making the stormtrooper first.

TC: So then, who’s going to be next?

BF: We’ve got plans to do Darth and Boba Fett if it goes well. It’s one step at a time. Let’s get the stormtrooper out, then we can go from there. Lets make this toy right instead of worrying what the next toy is before we get this one out. We’re going to get this toy out as soon as we can. It’s really cool because I think this is the first time you can transparently see here’s a fan that got to make the toy he wants to make. We’re not a giant company. We don’t have all the assets those other guys do. Hasbro makes great toys, they’ve got a lot of die-hard collectors that work for them, but it’s like, I’m the biggest nerd in the room, and I’m getting to make the toy I want to make. Like Homer Simpson making his dream van. It’s got 48 cup holders…

TC: …A bubble dome…

BF: That’s us getting to make this for Lucas Films. We’re really excited about it, and they seem excited about it, so I really hope things continue to go like that!

TC: And what’s the release date for it?

BF: I’d love to have it by Christmas, but I think it’ll probably be march of ’09. We got the sculpt here, we’ll run up to Lucas Films, then we head back to Japan and it all depends on how long it takes to get the tooling just right. These are really old machines that haven’t been used in a long time. I’m not sure how long it’s going to take and I’m not going to release it just to release it. I’m going to wait until it’s perfect.