PGPoA’s anniversary was December 1, and you know what that means–another interview with the Four Horsemen!

As always, I want to thank the fabulous Foursome Horse-some for taking time out of their extremely busy schedule to answer a few questions. In case you haven’t been following it, the Horsemen have been updating their website, FourHorsemen.biz, with frequent shots of the next Fantastic Exclusive, Scarabus. He’s looking incredibly awesome, and he might just be the best FE since Xetheus! (Not a knock on the other FEs, I just love Xetheus…like, a lot.) –PG

POE: For those who may not know, what is the concept behind Symbiotech? Do the figures work together in some way, or does the “symbiotic” aspect have it more to do with the “world” behind the toys?

Eric Treadaway: Symbiotech has been an ever-transforming property story-wise since it’s inception. We originally wanted to create a world where the characters that inhabited this world could look like nearly anything you could possibly imagine, and they’d be set up in pairs that would depend on each other in many ways.

Chris Dahlberg: Then, over over a decade ago now – before we even began making prototypes of the figures, we decided that it’d be cool to not only make an awesome action figure line of this property, but to also incorporate a game into those figures.

Jim Preziosi: That’s where the “tech” part of the Symbiotech name came in. The large characters – the Goleth – would have removable armor that would connect them to the smaller characters – the Pygma – to create a symbiotic link between the two. There were also various weapons and accessories that you could attach to the armor and other weapons and accessories to prepare your characters for battle. A spinner dial connected to the armor would decide movement and battle stats during the game portion, and the armor and accessories would have various values that would allow a character to become more or less powerful during battle.

Cornboy: Since so many other action figure/game hybrids have come along since then and most have failed, we’ve decided just to approach Symbiotech from the “awesome action figure” standpoint for now. If demand is there, once it’s released, who knows, maybe the gaming aspect will make a return in some form or another. There have been LOTS of technological advances since those early days that would allow us to have a lot of fun with that now.

ET: Wait… what was your question again? Haha…

How far along is Symbiotech in the development process? What vendor avenues are you pursuing, and do you have any idea when the figures might be available?

ET: We’re doing some revisions to the articulation and style of some of the characters, but we’ll be able to talk more about that later. We’re almost ready to go into production in them, but it seems like something more important comes up every time we get ready to roll on them.

JP: Our current plan is to shoot for a pre-SDCC 2011 release of two of the Pygma and two of the Goleth. All of which will probably have some pretty cool variant versions to chase down. See? It still is gonna’ be a bit of a game. Any Geo-Cache fans out there? Hmm….

Harlan Rosen asks: Recently, the community has taken notice that the feet and wrists of the upcoming Bow figure resemble those of the vintage New Adventures He-Man design, leading to speculation that an NA He-Man is in the works. (Poe’s note: we’re not asking you to confirm whether or not we’re getting an NA He-Man.)

CB: Well, as evidenced by the release of Optikk, we’re definitely working some New Adventures characters into the MotU Classics line, but we have no idea if a New Adventures He-Man is being planned or not. We will say that a New Adventures version of He-Man is not currently on our schedule for the next year or so, but if the line continues to be as successful as it’s been so far, who knows what’s possible? If Wun-Dar, Vikor and Mo-Larr made it into the line, why not New Adventures He-Man? Keep supporting the MotU Classics line, and keep your fingers crossed.

When you design figures, do you and/or Mattel consider all the possible re-uses immediately (for example, Trap Jaw’s legs being re-used for Optikk and soon Roboto) or do you go back to it at a later time?

ET: We work with the talented design team and Scott Nietlich over at Mattel on MotU Classics to figure as much of that out in advance as we possibly can. There are times when we look back and think “Hmmm… We probably could have gone this way here”, or when we get surprised at how easily some parts work well for other characters later on, but for the most part it’s planned months in advance.

PrfktTear asks: I’m curious what a typical day in the life of a Horseman is. Do you stick to a typical schedule like 9 to 5, or do you come and go from the shop as you please (as long as the work gets done)? Do you work on multiple projects/figures at the same time, or work on one until it’s completed? Do you have music playing/TVs going, or maybe you each have your own radios at your work station? Basically, what’s the atmosphere like at 4H studios?

JP: We moved into our new studio space about a year and a half ago now, and each of us have our own offices/studios where we ply our trade. There’s never a typical schedule around here, especially when we get into a tight deadline, but the average hours are from around 9:30am to about 7pm or so.

CD: Luckily, we have a career that does allow us to sometimes take work home with us (which is often necessary if we want to see our families), so the “average hours” doesn’t really apply there.

CB: Since we have separate offices we don’t have one specific radio station or type of music that we all listen too. We mostly listen to podcasts. He-Man.org’s Roast Gooble Dinner, Toy Break, Adam Carolla, Big Kev’s Geek Stuff, Uhh Yeah Dude, Diggnation and a few others. Lots of iPods & laptops floating around the place.

Chopa asks: Do you think you might consider remaking some of your existing figures in scale and compatible with the OSM/Glyos?

CB: It’s always a possibility. We love Onell Design’s stuff (hi, Matt!), so we’re definitely considering it if it’s cool with Matt Doughty – the owner of Onell. Although it’s not set in stone yet, we are considering making Symbiotech in a way that it would be somewhat compatible with the Glyos stuff. We’ll see if that actually comes to fruition.

ET: Also, the new plan is to take MagmaCORPS down to a 3-3/4″ scale. The size would be compatible with Onell’s Glyos figures, but we’re still undecided as to whether we should make MagmaCORPS compatible as far as the articulation goes. That may be another year or two down the road, so we’ll put some more thought into it.

What do you think of the big Mego revival going on right now? Are you fans of the style?

JP: Absolutely. We’re huge Mego fans and seeing interest in new Mego styled figures is awesome. To be perfectly honest, we don’t think anything could ever totally replace the coolness of the original Mego figures, but we’re certainly happy that someone’s willing to give it a shot.

You guys are quite busy with your Mattel and in-house lines, but are there any current toy lines or TV shows/comics/movies out there that you really wish you could make some figures for?

ET: We’re really content with what we’re working on now, but we’d certainly like to be more involved with any of the DC movie properties that Mattel is going to be making toys for. The Green Lantern movie has the potential of being one of the best movie based action figure lines in years if there are as many alien creatures as we hope there’ will be, and we’d love to have a hand in creating some of those!

CB: I’m a HUGE fan of 3A/Ashley Woods’ stuff: World War Robots, Popbot, Adventure Kartel. Great stuff! I don’t think I’d really want to work on any of their existing lines (they do a spectacular job with out me gumming up the works), but I’d certainly love for our two companies to collaborate on something some day. A 3A/4H joint…

What (non-Mattel, non-4H) toy lines are you collecting (or just admiring) right now?

CB: As I said before, I’m really into all of the 3A stuff. The design elements are so unique and the paint applications are some of the most intricate and impressive that I’ve ever seen. I can’t afford to buy all of it that I want, but I’m definitely doing the best I can to collect all of my favorite releases. I also really dig those little Marvel and DC lead figurines that are being imported from the UK by Eaglemoss. Got ’em all so far, but with my 3A obsession growing, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to continue getting those.

ET: I have been picking up the small scale S.I.C. figures lately. I am getting more and more into the smaller scale, and these figures really push the limit of paint and sculpting detail at this size- plus they are a lot more affordable than their larger scale counterparts! I am also a big fan of Star Wars, Transformers, and G.I. Joe. All of the Onell stuff is amazing as well. It’s hard to describe what it is about these little guys, but once you pick one up it’s impossible to stop pulling them apart and putting them back together again.

I’m not sure if I’ve asked this before, but since I can’t remember I’m going to ask again. I’ve noticed what seems to be a subtle bias toward left-handedness among 4H sculpts. Many 4H figures have been designed so as to wield their weapon only in their left hand (Millennium Tri-Klops, Mekaneck, Zodak; Classics Moss Man) or had their weapons holstered in such a way that they could only properly draw them with their left hand (Millennium He-Man, Classics Skeletor & Count Marzo). So–is there a bias, or is this not something you were conscious of?

JP: There’s not always a conscious effort to create an over abundance of lefty characters, but we figure they can’t ALL be rightys, so having a few leftys here and there can’t hurt.

CD: Sometimes that decision comes from the weapon the character’s wielding or whether a two-handed grip would work better in one way or another. Lots of factors go into that decision.

There are rumors that labor costs in China will go up even more soon, putting the squeeze on an industry that has already gone through significant price hikes over the last few years. Do you think action figures are in danger of becoming a market offering only two options: cheaply-made kids’ toys and high-priced collector’s items? What changes do you foresee in the industry moving forward?

ET: There are probably always going to be various levels of pricing on collectors toys. It all really just depends on what you’re into and how much you’re willing to, or able to, spend. We think that Mattel’s made a HUGE step into what the future of toy buying will eventually become – especially from a collector’s standpoint – with the creation of MattyCollector.com.

CB: Obviously there are some minor issue and kinks that they still need to work out with that type of toy distribution, but MattyCollector’s definitely a model that a lot of other companies – even a small, independent online store like Store Horsemen can learn from and build upon.