I got some sad news, my buddy who is helping me with casting is in the ICU. He is having issues with his kidneys. My thoughts and prayers are with him and his family.

As a result the projects he is helping me with are on hold. I will not be able to have any more Manta Raiders or Hammers this year after the current orders are completed. Hopefully everything will be okay and we will be back on track in a couple of weeks. If not then I will come up with a plan B. I will not leave you hanging!

The Warlords of the Universe project has received a lot of attention, more than I expected! So I do plan on having some limited sets available for the fans. This is all done by me so it is not affected by anything. I hope to have some sets available by December in time for Santa.

Thank you for all your support!
-Joe

Power Con customs

The two customs I brought with me to Power Con for the Custom Figures panel were my Ram Man V2 and my Robobot (Ralph McQuarrie concept)

Hunter Kight recorded the panel if you want to watch it here:
http://youtu.be/HB8xwwRKLGU

My first reveal is based on the concept robot Ralph McQuarrie did for the Master of the Universe movie! Imagine a Ralph McQuarrie  / Master of the Universe Robot...my two favorite worlds collide!!!

Since they could not make some of the cartoon characters Ralph McQuarrie's idea was to have a little robot like an R2-D2 type character. The idea was not used but once I saw him...and loving robots...I needed him!  He is an orginal 3D sculpt that has been outputted and painted by me. He is about 4.5" tall and is fully poseable.

First, I'll show you pictures of the final figure

 This is where the idea came from

Here are my designs and plans for the actual figure

 Here is the 3D model and some renderings I did

The other figure I showed was my Ram Man V2 custom. It's my own take on the classic character, but in my version he's more of an Avengers Hulk than a short stocky guy. You guys saw the first version, right?

I love the different scale of figures

Once I saw the Marvel Select Avengers Hulk all I could think was Ram Man!

I was very influenced by Emiliano Santalucia's drawing

I made him mainly out of Magic Sculpt

Manta Raider Update

So...I have good news and bad news...

First let me say this is by far the most complicated fan project I have ever done!
Coordinating everything was a huge task! I love the end results, it looks like production...but it's not...it's fan made by hand! Above are pictures of the final Manta Raider in packaging.

The good news is that the casts of the Manta Raider arrived yesterday!
So we are moving forward. I was freaking out!

The bad news is I will not be doing a pre-sell for the Manta Raider and we will have very limited stock at Power Con. These will be for sale at Rudy Obrero's booth.
NOTE: It is one per customer and the price is $50.00

But not to worry, the rest of the Manta Raiders will be sold online after Power Con to everyone! Rudy has agreed to sign all the back cards so every Manta Raider will come signed, in case you missed the opportunity at Power Con. That was the main reason I wanted these for Power Con.

Keep checking my Blog and Twitter for updates.
I will let you know with plenty of time in advance.

As a bonus I also attached pictures of the Manta Raider and Pilot (based on Rudy's painting) that I donated to The Power-Con / ThunderCon Charity Auction.

The auction will take place during the convention on Saturday, September 22 from 4:00pm – 6:00pm.
Fifty Percent of the auction’s proceeds will benefit Keep A Child Alive.
Keep A Child Alive provides treatment, love, and support to families affected by HIV/AIDS in countries around the world.

More info:
http://www.thepower-con.com/2012/09/charity-auction/

Thanks,
Joe
http://twitter.com/amaro_joe

Manta Raider - Will be available to the fans!!!

San Diego Comic Con was awesome!

At the He-Man.org Power Party I finally got a chance to sit down and talk to Rudy Obrero face to face. Did you know Rudy is doing the box art for MOTUC Granamyr!

At the party Rudy told me that he wants to make the Manta Raider available to the fans!!! I need to figure out the logistics and price but it will be a very very limited run, definitely under 100 pieces. These are hand made.

We talked about having it in some type of packaging so we can use Rudy's awesome painting!

The plan right now is to have it ready for Power Con in September. Rudy will have a table there with some prints for sale. Best of all you can have all the items signed by Rudy!

I wanted to clarify, the Manta Raider is not associated with Masters of the Universe or Mattel. It is Rudy Obrero's original design and it's a limited edition hand made piece of art and not a toy. In fact Rudy is revising the painting and I am revising the sculpt now to make sure we don't infringe on Mattel at all.

I should have some updated images tomorrow. Let me know if you have any questions!

Joe

 

If you have been following me on Twitter you know that on April 21st I decided to scratch build a Masters of the Universe Attak Trak...Filmation style. Since then I have been Tweeting work in progress pictures. Well I finally finished it!

The final vehicle is massive and has a bunch of features:
- Fits two MOTUC drivers
- Cargo hold can hold a bunch of figures including Battle Cat
- Opening rear ramp for deploying troops
- Top cannon swivels
- Cargo area has a light
- Top front section is removable to put figures inside
- Front top opening portal, perfect for Mekaneck to stick his head through...ah thinking ahead!!!

It is mainly constructed out of foam core with additional details made of Styrene and some parts from the ERTL model of the Attak Trak...for good measure.

Follow me on Twitter to see more work in progress shots of my projects: @amaro_joe

Check out the pics below.

The Mystic Hammer sculpt is now finished! Here are some pictures of the hammer with various figures to give you an idea of scale. The size is 5.5" tall by 4" wide. It's now it off to get casted and then they will be ready for sale. I do not have a pre-order section. I will post a link here and on Twitter to the sale page when they are ready.

You can follow me on Twitter for more updates as well: @amaro_joe
If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me: amaro.joe@gmail.com

I'll be doing a panel at Phoenix Comicon about action figures! It's mainly for kids but everyone is invited!!!

Action Figures & Toys - Behind the Scenes
Sunday: 12:30pm - 1:30pm Location: 228B


http://www.phoenixcomicon.com/programming/category/youth