Trying something new. We thought it would be fun to pull the curtain back a little and show a bit more of what the Mega Construx Design Team does on a daily basis. We usually show off finished products or pre-production samples that are close to being released. The plan is to use this thread to show off prototypes and concepts during the design phase, earlier than we usually do, as well as discuss some of the ideas and thoughts that went into them.
Of course, some of stuff we do has to remain confidential for various reasons so we can’t show everything. Also, a lot of things change during the design process. That said, we’ll update as often as possible and hopefully it will be fun and informative.
Inside the MCX Design Center
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Kevin_MCX
- Toy Designer
Fri Nov 15, 2019 9:48 am
Let’s kick this off with a project we first showed off at San Diego Comic Con a few months ago – Battle Cat. He will be included with a Masters of the Universe set that will be released in the second half of 2020. You can see pictures of the display here:
When the display was put together, it was very early in the design process. We basically knew what we wanted to include in the set but had not started any of the detailed development work. In other words, we built a prototype, painted it and set up the display. For Battle Cat, that meant starting with the frame of one of our horses and adding some custom sculpted parts. This gave the prototype the right size and amount of detail, but only limited articulation.
We sat down as a team and figured out what kind of poses we wanted Battle Cat to be able to achieve while balancing other considerations (Like tooling, parts count and set budget. These are important factors that we always need to balance as designers, and they will come up again over the course of this thread. We’ll try to keep it to a minimum, it’s pretty dry stuff). We decided on:
1. Being able to stand on his rear feet. That means sleeves under his feet to snap onto bricks as well as a moveable tail to act as a ‘’3rd’’ leg.
2. Articulated front feet to be able to swat or claw enemies.
3. Articulated neck to be able to roar and recreate his iconic transformation sequence.
4. Removable saddle and helmet.
5. Lastly, ball-jointed legs and tail that are compatible with Breakout Beasts to increase customizing options.
After a lot of design and sculpting work, we outputted some 3D printed parts and assembled them. The surface details are hard to make out because of the color of the resin. I will post more pictures as the model gets painted. Check out the gallery for the pictures.
When the display was put together, it was very early in the design process. We basically knew what we wanted to include in the set but had not started any of the detailed development work. In other words, we built a prototype, painted it and set up the display. For Battle Cat, that meant starting with the frame of one of our horses and adding some custom sculpted parts. This gave the prototype the right size and amount of detail, but only limited articulation.
We sat down as a team and figured out what kind of poses we wanted Battle Cat to be able to achieve while balancing other considerations (Like tooling, parts count and set budget. These are important factors that we always need to balance as designers, and they will come up again over the course of this thread. We’ll try to keep it to a minimum, it’s pretty dry stuff). We decided on:
1. Being able to stand on his rear feet. That means sleeves under his feet to snap onto bricks as well as a moveable tail to act as a ‘’3rd’’ leg.
2. Articulated front feet to be able to swat or claw enemies.
3. Articulated neck to be able to roar and recreate his iconic transformation sequence.
4. Removable saddle and helmet.
5. Lastly, ball-jointed legs and tail that are compatible with Breakout Beasts to increase customizing options.
After a lot of design and sculpting work, we outputted some 3D printed parts and assembled them. The surface details are hard to make out because of the color of the resin. I will post more pictures as the model gets painted. Check out the gallery for the pictures.
Fri Nov 15, 2019 11:30 am
Yeah, me too! Can we get some Halo?Spartanz19 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 15, 2019 10:38 amI’m excited for this. Ready to see what you’ve got, team.
Fri Nov 15, 2019 11:44 am
I'm not a MOTU collector, but I need Battle Cat for Wasteland.
Fri Nov 15, 2019 2:57 pm
I love it, I'm guessing the same model will be used for Skeletor's Panther?
Fri Nov 15, 2019 4:26 pm
That would be awesome to see.nigelninja11 wrote: ↑Fri Nov 15, 2019 11:44 amI'm not a MOTU collector, but I need Battle Cat for Wasteland.
Sat Nov 16, 2019 7:16 am
Wow this is waaaaay better than expected. Wish I saw these designs before I bought the Loyal Subjects versions but I guess they are getting replaced. I love the work you guys do, I really hope this line survives for at least a couple more years
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