New collectables for Planet of the Apes, Jaws, Jurassic Park, Half-Life, Marvel and more announced!
A behind-the-scenes look at the Mondo collectibles line with Creative Director of Toys/Collectibles Brock Otterbacher, Production/Design Manager Michael Bonanno, sculptor Phil Ramirez and artist Scarecrowoven. This panel will give fans a first look at a few upcoming releases and insight into the toy-making process!
- The panel assembled much of the talent behind the Mondo Toys division, including Sculptor Phil Ramirez who worked on the Turtles and Harley Quinn figurines, and Michael Bonanno, who interestingly helped design the How to Train Your Dragon ride in Dubai.
- You may remember the launch of the Mondoballs line; however, a recent revival of the original Madballs company as well as some licensing issues has forced Mondo to change the name, hence the new Mondoids! They were originally conceived to be the start of a bigger line, building and expanding on the original Madballs concept, the extension being the interchangeable pedestals which would add detail and aid display.
- From a design and manufacturing point of view, the heads needed to be uniform, to allow the switching out. They also utilize a 2 piece mold to manufacture the vinyl heads, requiring planning to conceal the joins or any other things that rise from the manufacturing process. This is why the Venom ball for instance has his mouth closed, and the tongue is a separately added piece of vinyl.
- The intention with Mondoids was to create an affordable line of collectables, in the $20 range, but obviously one that was still of high quality.
- The first wave includes Venom, Jason, Alien, and the Green Goblin. But concept art and designs have begun for the followups: Krang, Cacodemon, Stripe (Gremlins), Thanos, and a pair paying homage to Jurassic Park, a Raptor and T-Rex. Images below.
- The T-Rex, and a mentioned Kong Mondoid, will be the start of a larger series, literally. While the announced Mondoids are the size of a racquet ball, these bigger beasts will be more sizeable, akin to a large orange.
- TIKI MUGS! The William Stout Cthulu marks the first of a “Designer Series.” The next up will come from Becky Cloonan.
- Asked about dream projects, Creative Director Brock Otterbacher cited the work of Rockin Jelly Bean as designs he’d love to translate into future releases. Otterbacher also mentioned having something in the works for a high end Princess Monanoke statue, if they could sort out the collab with Ghibli/Miyazaki.
Future Projects
For the following segment of the talk, the audience was asked to not take pictures of the upcoming projects. Peruse the text below for a hint at what’s in store for 2018.
- The recently announced Preacher statue, based on the art of Rory Kurtz, was described as the start of a “figure study” series. A way to examine the question of painting vs. lighting. If you look at the image below, much of the orange hues come from paint, rather than a lighting source. This statue and future releases will tackle that. The second figure in the line? Another Preacher character, Cassidy.
- 2018 will mark the start of a new He-Man figure line. Concept art was shown for Man at Arms, Merman, as well as Hordak. It was also hinted that the last one there hinted at another figure, an antagonist, which presumably means She-Ra.
- VIDEO GAMES! Collectable figures of Gordan Freeman (Half-Life) and Kratos (God of War) are on the way! The latter looked to have interchangeable parts, including weapons, armor, and different heads.
- TIKI MUGS! More are on the way. To coincide with cinematic anniversaries, 2018 will see Lawgiver (Planet of the Apes), as well as two Jurassic Park Tikis, showing off a T-Rex and a baby Raptor. That last one shows the raptor breaking out of the egg, which doubles as the mug. There’s also a Jaws tiki on the way which looked outstanding, showing the shark coming up out of the water.
- Universal Monsters more your thing? Then you’ll be in Tiki Monster Heaven with a line of 8 Tikis, each showcasing a monster, with the reverse of the mug a diorama style. The one glimpsed was the Creature from the Black Lagoon and the back showed the ship from the film.
- MONDO MECHA! An entirely new line was shown, coming 2018. The inspiration was to craft known characters in the Evangelion/Japanese mech style. A early collab with Lucasarts doing a Boba Fett Mech didn’t pan out, a shame as it looked great. But they took the idea and have struck up new lines with the same approach.
- MARVEL MONDO MECHA! Yep, Mondo Mecha designs for versions of Captain America, Spider-Man, Black Widow, Ultron, and Captain Marvel were shown. They should be at a price point of ~$150, 12″ in size. Other licenses to get the treatment include Transformers, and if you can think of a robot-like property, they’re probably on it. If everything goes according to plan, they should debut at Comic Con in 2018.
Prototype Images
