Continuing the interview from yesterday’s post, in the second half of my interview with the Four Horsemen they discuss Masters of the Universe Classics, their ongoing FANtastic Exclusive project and the future of the studio.
POE: While details are few on Masters of the Universe Classics so far, we have seen a proto of the King Grayskull SDCC Exclusive. How similar with these figures be to DC Universe Classics in size, style, and articulation?
JIM PREZIOSI: Both lines are very close in the amount and types of articulation they have, but the style is more of a throwback to the original 1980s MOTU line than DCUC. The style will retain a lot of that old school flair, but there will be enough detail and modern applications that the figures won’t feel at all out of place in todays’ market.
ERIC TREADAWAY: As for size, they’ll be close in scale with DC Universe Classics, but the proportions of the characters will be so different that we’re not sure that they’ll fit all that well together in some collectors’ eyes.
A clarification regarding the FANtastic Exclusives. Will Scarabus and/or the Queen be available this year (at the SDCC or otherwise)?
CORNBOY: As it stands right now, neither Scarabus nor Queen Allexundra will be available in time for the 2008 San Diego Comic Con. With all of the set-backs that we had with the production of Ramathorr and the Anitherian Nine last Summer/Fall there just wasn’t enough time to go into production with either of those in time to have them ready for SDCC ’08. We hope to have Scarabus ready to go by late Fall/early Winter. And we want to follow up quickly with the Queen in late Winter/early Spring.
ET: We do hope to have some of Scarabus’s little skeletal minions the Time Keepers ready in time for the 2008 San Diego Comic Con. Theyr’e in production right now, and we’re crossing our fingers that we can have them delivered in time. We’ll send out press releases about those as things get farther along. Keep your fingers crossed for us!
From what was revealed at the New York Comic Con, it looks like 2008 has been (and will be) one heck of a busy year for you guys. Just take a look at this. Looking at that, do you feel like you’ve succeeded at what you set out to do back in 1999?
CB: No way. If we start thinking that way, we might as well just close up shop now. We’re never satisfied by resting upon the last thing we’ve accomplished. We’re always looking for that next step to another challenge within the toy industry. Every day brings a new and exciting aspect of what we do into our studio, and we couldn’t be happier or feel luckier that we have the opportunity to do what we do for a living, and that some folks out there see fit to pay us for it. We never really got into this business to make a name for ourselves. We just wanted to make cool toys.
CHRIS DAHLBERG: Exactly. The Toyfare Hall of Fame award that we just received was completely unexpected, but very much appreciated. We never imagined when we left McFarlane Toys back in 1999 to start Four Horsemen Toy Design that anyone would ever think enough of us that they’d consider giving us an award! We just hope that any progress we’ve made in the industry will help new generations of toy industry workers flourish in an art form that has never gotten the amount of respect it deserves.
As mentioned above, this seems to be the Year of the Horsemen. What NON-Horsemen-designed toys are you each looking forward to this year?
ET: There’s not a whole lot of stuff out there that’s really exciting me as a toy collector right now. I’m still looking forward to some of the G.I Joe and Transformers stuff that’s coming out. I’m sure the NECA Street Fighter [IV] stuff will be fantastic!
CB: Any time Mattel releases any new JLU figures I’m there!
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I’d like to thank the Horsemen again for taking the time out of their extremely busy schedules for this interview. Be sure to check out the latest on their FANtastic Exclusive and stop by the Fantastic Forum.