Review: Mythical Warriors of the Ring

So, I have always been of the school of "Hand sculpted figures rule, everything else is garbage". 

That being said, I am always reticent to involve digitally sculpted toys with my collection... 

This is the part, where I admit to being a bit myopic folks.

I saw the Mythical Warriors of the Ring line being promoted over at Little Rubber Guys Forum, and at first it was a resin-cast concept line... I saw some 3-D modeled animal wrestlers, and they looked cool... But still, 3-D modeled, right? Then the guys behind the line, went and got some of their figures factory produced, and at $9 for three figures, I couldn't resist. I had seen great reviews of their work on LRG, and had to see what the hubbub was about.

I ordered a pack, got them in hand less than a week later, and WOWZERS.

Guys, I am hooked. 

There is the spider guy Widowmaker, Kayin Kungaa (the gorilla, channeling the spirit of Andre the Giant), and Sheldon Sabre (reminiscent of Satoru Saiyama/Tiger Mask)... All three are in different dynamic poses, and being cast in PVC, they are extremely playable. 

My favorite, is Sabre, as I am a big mark for the Tiger Mask lineage, and his pose lends itself to the emulation of a lot of your favorite pro wrestling moves. I have to admit, this line has definitely opened my mind to 3-D sculpting, and I look forward to picking up future releases from this line. At $9 for a 3-pack, and $5 for a ring with glow in the dark ropes, the affordability of the line is certainly a draw too.

Buy them HERE. You don't really have a good reason NOT to.

-Rommel

The Forgotten Ones: Hell Turtle Edition

It's time for another installment of The Forgotten Ones, where Ol' Rommel trudges up age-old sculpts for the sake of a little public humiliation! 

Haha, Actually, the point of this feature, is to illustrate the advice I give to people when they e-mail me about sculpting...

"Sculpt something every day. Even if you don't finish it."

"If something isn't working, don't be afraid to start over."

These are probably the two biggest pieces of advice, that I give on an ongoing basis. 

I'm going to use my first attempt at the Hell Turtle sculpt, to show you exactly what I mean.

We'll start with the concept sketch of our boy H.T.

I had this idea to give him a spiky shell, and more of an alligator snapping turtle visage... He looks monstrous but there are little design pieces, like the knee and elbow pads/spikes and wrist guards, that just didn't play. I was really high into the idea of making a monster turtle, weaponized, and decided to run with the idea as-is.

So, I got to work on him, and felt it was really important that he have a scaly texture. The general pose was never in question... I wanted to do something a little more dynamic, for playability value, but after putting in some time on him? I didn't feel that I was capturing the look that I was going for. The scale look wasn't adding anything to the design scheme, and the elbow/knee spikes never materialized into anything meaningful.

I got to the point, where I was getting frustrated with the sculpt, and with the concept. Every day, I was putting in work on it, because I was determined to make it work. It just wasn't happening. Eventually, I put the sculpt down, and worked on some other stuff (You might have heard of "Universe of Violence", I put down this HT sculpt, to work on the Blemmyae Warrior). Eventually, it was time to pick the sculpt up again... And when I did? I put it back down again. I came to the realization that his design needed less professional wrestling, and more "Hell".  I went back to the design, added the face on the shell (instead of the spike gimmick), worked the spikes into his collar, and abandoned the scale texture to focus on making the piece look kinetic. The result? Well, here is the two sculpts side by side. You tell me.

By putting the piece down and analyzing what design elements were necessary, and getting rid of the details that weren't helping the piece, I feel like I was able to finally negotiate the piece. Ultimately, I am happy with what I ended up with.

Moral of the story? Don't ever give up. Just because you put a piece down, or start it over, doesn't mean you have given up. Sometimes a fresh perspective is all you need.

Always try.
-Rommel

Monday Night Crawl

Hoo-hah, Horde! It's Monday night, and I have got some news to lay on you guys. 

#1. Check out Imperfecz Realm: Mutants figures over at Imperfecz Big Cartel store. There are ten sculpts to choose from, and a number of ways to get them: 2-packs (dedicated, with the pairings being represented in the picture to the right), 3-packs (random, with exclusive color variants), and the full eleven figure set. You can also buy the Mutant Hunter figure a la carte, so pretty much any way you want to collect the whole line, you can. Whether you pick up the 2-pack, the 3-pack or the full set, you can get these guys for less than $10 a figure. This kind of affordable madness is what happens, when two crazies like Jimmy Rommel and Luke Harris put their minds together. 

#2. November 13th, 2013. Ironhaus is going to try something a little different. You've been warned.

#3. The Ironhaus store has been updated with new stock. When Frankenblem, Big Head, and the first wave of All-New Gorewads are gone, they are gone, to make way for the new stuff I have been working on.

#4. Next week: New Murks!

You've been warned!

-Rommel

Hahaha

NOVEMBER 13TH

...

November 13th

Party Time Update, Suckas!

As promised, Party Time Beetle Punk has landed in the Ironhaus store today.

What I DIDN'T promise, was that the first five orders that go out after this post, will also get a little bonus... I can't tell you what it is, or show you...  But once they are circulating, I will gladly go into more detail over in any of the Ironhaus threads over at the LRG forum. 

Also: expect an announcement soon, about new Murks figures... I think you guys will dig where that whole project is going. I'll be finishing the playset that I have been working on for them soon, so hopefully there will be news on that front, as well.

Next, read this awesome review Ironhaus got over at Nerditis. It's really cool to see people enjoying the toys, and the Life in Plastic writer took really cool pictures to cover the review. Thanks, Nerditis!

And, finally... Keep checking the Imperfecz blog for news on the upcoming Luke Harris/Jimmy Rommel collaboration. I'll let Luke bust the full news out on you guys, but I will tell you that there are ten original sculpts in the line, and there is a pretty diverse visual palate... Very excite.

(Oh, and don't let me forget to pimp Frank K.'s Little Weirdos blog. It's awesome, and you should immediately go check it out, if you haven't.)

-Rommel

New Micro Bastard, Coming Soon

I will have the store updated with Micro Bastards stock this weekend... Along with a new challenger....