Steampunk Urban Vinyl Toys

*THIS MESSAGE HAS BEEN REMOVED BECAUSE IT CONTAINS COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY.

This is against the spirit and mission of the Core77 discussion board as per the rules posted here:

Moderators, although it violates the terms on many levels, please, please keep this topic for posterity. In order not to feed the link bait, I have included a screen capture. I think it is a classic grab of the spirit of late 2012 (for some). Note that a contribution of $10,000 will get you the two 4" high prototypes.

The biggest risk comes with keeping deadlines on schedule. Like any big project, their needs to be areas where if minor issues occur, I am able to have a time frame to fix an issue. We have put a lot of effort into designing great characters that we want to make sure are perfect. So in order to do this we may need to go back and forth with our manufacturers to make sure the product we produce is up to our standards of excellence. We will definitely keep everyone updated as to production process and how everything is progressing. This also goes for any stretch goal products that are created from going past our goal. We want to make sure every piece is great quality and shipped out as soon as possible.
Thank you all for your support of RIVALS


Prototypes are awaiting paint.

Theodore: I’ve sent you an email about your activity. We do not allow commercial activity on the boards.

However, like Nxakt, I share a certain warm feeling in my heart when I look at your project and therefore, I have only edited your initial post. Please continue to post ONLY if you want to share the story of the process of your project, your challenges and pose questions for us to help you with.

RIVALS vinyl

Hey just wanted to post some process pics for anyone that might be interested. Each toy has 3 points of articulation and stands about 4" tall. It has been a tough process but we have learned a ton along the way. One of the biggest challenges we have had so far is finding the right manufacturer to work with. This is our first toy design series and we couldn’t be more excited to see it come to life.

We would love to hear your feedback and answer any questions!

Thanks for checking out Rivals Vinyl.

  1. How big is your team? You keep saying “we”

  2. Is this your first plastic product design?

  3. Have you found a manufacturer? What made it a challenge so far?

It’s a team of two. James Hugo (myself) and Chase Layman. We opened Wheelhouse Creative in Edmond, Ok this year which focuses on Design, Film & Motion Graphics.

Yes, this is our first plastic product design. We have been wanting to get in the world of Urban Vinyl for some time now.

We did find a manufacturer that we are very pleased with. http://chlproducts.com/

The challenge was finding a manufacturer that we trusted to do our sculpts. We thought we could provide a 3D computer model we created and send it off for production. It can be done but we learned it needs to be built a certain way for them to do a 3D print. So, we handed over control to the manufacturer and provided them with illustrations shown in the image above. They assured us they would provide us with as many revisions necessary to reach our level of excellence. They are the professionals and did a fantastic job with very few revisions needed.

All in all I would say it’s learning the process of creating a product that has been the biggest challenge.

Thanks for the questions! Hope I answered them clearly.

Valuable contact and interesting to hear the back and forth involved. Make sure to post some photos of your painted versions when you get them.

Thanks Ray!

They are being painted as we speak. Here’s a process shot.

Hand painted RIVALS prototypes are in! Super happy with them so far. More details will be added to the characters soon. I can add more photos if profile and back view if anyone is interested.

Im curious as to what the design brief was for this? What was the process to get to the final design? What were some of the other concepts, and why did you go with this one? Why a pirate and a space guy/scuba diver? How do you plan on selling these?

Thanks for the questions Joyride! There was no design brief for this project. This toy was brought to life by James Hugo & Chase Layman at Wheelhouse Creative in Oklahoma.

About Cog and Nautilus:
Welcome to the Lurk, the deepest of the deep seas. Altercations between the different races have been a problem for a hundred years. The people of The Cog, a race of steam-powered divers, have been trying to push their way in for nearly a century searching for the mineral resources to keep their civilization steaming along. The territory they desire is that of The Nautilus a race living in harmony with its surroundings…and they hate company.

It’s funny you say pirate because that was our initial direction with the toys. Only Pirates. We started working on the pirates and soon realized it might be a short lived concept. We wanted to created a brand that could grow into more than just the Cog and Nautilus Factions. Rivals could really be any two opposing characters which leaves a ton of room for creativity.

The concept is to do a series of the Cog and Nautilus. Always releasing two at a time. It’s fun because everyone has there favorite of the two which brings the concept of Rivals into the collector.

Why these Characters you say? Well Chase and James have always had a thing for Steampunk and Nautical themes. That became the centerpiece for the style direction.

The Process:
Concept: first Pirates then Rivals.
Sketching: We have piles of sketches that will probably become toys in the future.
Refining: We narrowed down ideas and combined elements we like into 2 characters.
Computer Illustration: For advertisement and promotion. Also a color guide for the manufacturer.
Prototypes: We have been working with the manufacturer to refine our prototypes. So far it’s been (3d computer model, 3d printed prototype, resin prototype, painted prototype)

There are also other elements to this project I will post later.
Branding
Package Design

How will we sell these?
They are being funded on Kickstarter as we speak. If the KS project is successful we will go into production. After that toys will be sold online and a in a few exclusive toy stores. Each set will be a limited addition.

Hope this answers your questions.

Thanks!