First, I am not posting this thread to promote, and no sales will be offered via this message board. Really just wanted to share a project that I have been working on with Jun Masaru for a while now. Jun did the vintage styled pachi kaiju card artwork of a prototype I made called Kurmudgeon: "Kurmudgeon Rising" Prototype from 2013 (cigarettes are bad, please don't smoke!) Finally going into production in Japan after a couple major obstacles were overcome, wax is done: Kurmudgeon will have 6 joints, skull will not move but instead lower part of tail will get the extra joint. Dedicated to my Dad, though inspired by years of pachi kaiju influence, this Sofvi is HO:Scale and rather than popping out endless runs we are choosing to do only four standard colors over a four year period. Making this for myself most of all, but do hope that a few others will also enjoy the results. To all those who inspired and have help see this project through- Domo Arigatou!
Nice work John. Original sculpt, nice to see toys not riding the coat tails of popular trends. I hope you do a blank run as well. Looks like a fun toy!
Beautiful. I'm sure I've said this before but sculpts that don't remind me of anything are always my favorite and to my uneducated eyes this thing looks very original but still feels like an old pachi monster. Well done.
Love it! Looks like a cool little size, all the articulation sounds really fun and feet are overrated on toys anyway... No where for punk ass customizers to put a signature
From my earliest days of trolling Y!JP: a plastic monster posed with a pack of American cigarettes is as Japanese a thing as I can think of! So happy that you've finally shared this joint-creation of yours in public, John! The propatchiganda that proceeded this reveal has been fueling my dreams :
Love everything about this guy! Still as excited about this as the first time I saw it. Such a fun size and just FULL of character. Can't wait to get one of these!
Well thanks folks, I know pachi kaiju is not the flavor of the day but I look forward to these. @Joe I wish I could go back to that time man, every day was a new adventure! If anyone here wants a free postcard of the art Jun did, just PM I have them in hand now.
Very nice. Congratulations. This is such an interesting sculpt. I'm especially a fan of the arms and the unconventional tail body. Kurmudgeon is to Galtan what the 2nd form is to the 4th form of Shin Godzilla. I look forward to seeing more angles.
Congrats John! This curmudgeon likes that kurmudgeon! Its always fun to see a good board member make a cool toy!
This looks like a really fun pocket toy to carry around and play with! Thinking of an unpainted release? Congrats, John!
Congratulations, John! The wax looks great, as does the toy itself. I love the personal reasons and ties this has to you, as a person and collector. Very much lookin' forward to its progress over time, as well as hoping to add one to the shelves!
Always great to see something original with a story behind it. Congratulations...I know that feeling of seeing pics of wax. It's the best!
To address and answer a few questions: From my earliest memories I have been fascinated by Sea Monsters, old Hallowe'en Skeletons and stories by H.G. Wells and Jules Verne Along with Poe, Lovecraft and many others I spent much of my youth reading books and learning about hidden mysteries of the unknown Kurmudgeon in many ways was there in the shadows keeping me company all along the journey. I have drawings of it from age five It never had a name nor did it need one, but once I reached back to my early memories I related to what it all was... a curmudgeon Originally I made the prototype to serve as reference towards doing it as a standard size Sofvi with one of my favorite Japanese companies After choosing a different, yet still very personal doll to have made by Target Earth there was still a desire to have Kurmudgeon done Unpainted blacks dubbed "Black Tar" will be the only unpainted offering and not part of the 4 standard colors being pulled for the Kurmudgeon We just wanted to make this fun thing that would be available and not stupid hard to get nor exploited by folks getting them to resell Paints will also not be overdone, just simply sprays and accents to keep within the vintage atmosphere of old time monster toys As for package, we are working on vintage style boxes rather than doing standard header cards and bags except for "Black Tar" run Reason behind doing the boxes is the doll can be put back into the box while one can not put it back into a bag once opened Well that is about it for now, thanks again
Very happy you have decided to share this here John. If there is anything I can really appreciate, it is a true passion project. And as something that you have carried with you since childhood, I can only imagine what it means to you, and feels like now to have it finally being realised in a permanent physical form. I think the positive reaction here is a direct response to the honesty and 'purity' of the work. Loving the pachi monster design, definitely classic inspiration there. I also quite appreciate the points of influence from vintage action figures in both design and sculpting. The wax looks really good man, you've executed a really nice balance of detail, without being overly textured. Will the body of the final version have similar proportions to the prototype? While I don't usually go in for skull designs, there are a few cases where it works (like Skullmask) and this is one of them. Perfect for the pachi card weirdness we love from Japanese kaiju. I also think the choice in size is just perfect. I have often lamented the dearth of smaller scaled toys, and especially now, people seem so focused on larger and just....MOAR. Sigh. This is clearly thought out, and fills a huge void in the market (if such a thing exists). In fact, a whole series of these scaled pachi monsters done in a sweet checklist/collect-em style would be marvelous. Secondly, I think that the packaging option you went with is brilliant, and just perfect for this type of figure. Reminds me so much of what it should be; similar to the vintage Popy-packed Star Wars guys, boxed die-casts, and general novelty toys that came packaged this way. I am really excited about that, almost as much as the toy; and it just fits with what you are setting to achieve here. But all of that is neither here nor there, because what is important here is that this guy is what you want. Whether there is more to come from it, or it leads to a great response is all secondary to having realised a lifelong dream, so for that I offer a firm shake and a tip of the hat. The fact it came out so great is just happenstance. I can imagine how having this guy in plastic will really be something special, and somewhere, sometime, little John is grinning with glee and pleasure at the monstrous adventures he is going to have with Kurmudgeon. Anyway, congratulations on it, thanks to you and Masaru-san for the work, and big .
Amazing work John. I'm really admiring the sculpting on this. Fully thought out textures and refined crudeness. Very refreshing to see this. The claws and tail are soo well done dude.. never overcook lobster guys
Really cool. Concept, artwork, and sculpt are all awesome to me. I've always admired John's artistic sensibilities. Excited to see more progress shots when they show up
