The design and development team are wrapping up the last couple of Transformers busts for 2008 and without revealing who they are, all I can say is that these 2 are leaders in the fan favorites category. This final piece for the year marks the 31^st bust in the series and we at DST would like to thank all the fans and retailers for your support of the line. Thirty one pieces is definitely a milestone for any product line, let alone high end collectible busts.

To mark this milestone we would like to take time to discuss some of the design decisions in designing the Transformers busts and some features we incorporated in up in coming busts.

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I got this question forwarded to me by DSTChris and I thought everyone would enjoy hearing the answer.

I’m sure you’ve gotten a million questions on these already, so perhaps you already have a FAQ sheet or something with more detail that compares and contrasts the Medical and Science Tricorders?

I’m not sure which one to pre-order, so I’m looking for differences.

-Kenneth

Excellent question, Kenneth!

We’re releasing two Tricorders - the standard Science version available in stores everywhere and the Entertainment Earth exclusive Medical Tricorder. Both include removable scanners (different ones for each) and features different sound effects and voice clips. The screens will also feature different graphics, which I dug up to include below. Hope that answers your question!

You can also pre-order your Medical Tricorder from Entertainment Earth by clicking here.

Since this is one creepy looking figure (it’s life sized!) I’ve been having a lot of fun with the puppet around the office! First it scares the pants off of me… Someone slyly left it in my cubicle facing out. Creepy! THEN it shows up in corners and closets, lurking for the next victim. I can tell you there have been many shrieks coming from our office since he showed up.

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Hello Everyone,

Uriel here! Gonna take a moment or two for a quick into. Currently, I’m one of the two artists that are responsible for the 2D artwork which serves as control art. This is just a fancy way of saying that I get to draw the Minimates from scratch so others can know what they are going to look like. It’s largely very fun work, taking a favorite character and transforming them into a Minimate and seeing it ‘come to life’ from the 2D stage to the final 3D prototype. Invariably there will be some challenges, like having to get the likeness of an actor or actress who has distinctive features that may not translate readily into Minimate form. This can be very exciting at times since there’s a lot of input from the creative team and the final result always looks great and I end up learning something. Designing the super hero sets of Minimates has its own challenges in the way of their various interpretations throughout the years, from colors, to hairstyles and costumes. Getting the right version is as important as getting Madonna’s beauty mark on the correct side of her face (only seen in early pictures). But the greatest reward from all this comes from seeing or hearing that the fans and collectors are happy with the end results. That kind of feedback is definitely fuel for the fire. Well, now you know ‘who’ and ‘what’, I think that next time I might tackle trying to summarize ‘how’.

Till next time!

Please see revised faces for Indio and the 2 Mancos. Looking over Manco this weekend, I thought the eyes just need to be refined. Think we nailed both their likenesses now.

As you know by now we here at the glorious DST have been working day and night, in 24 hour shifts to get all the awesome new UQS (Ultimate Quarter Scale, don’t make me tell you again now!) Star Wars figures ready for you. I can’t tell you how many hours I spent on Darth Maul now. At night I dream about Darth Maul, and his many layers of outfits, and photographing said outfits, and revising the outfits, and blogging about the outfits. I think when I say we are almost there I mean it this time. By there I mean to the point where we are showing these off to the intenets and blogospheres around the world.

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Nice work, DSTRyan!! He toned down my email and relayed all the Quarter Scale problems to the factory. Based on the email I received this morning, it looks like we are back on track. Plus, DSTChuck sent me a DSTRobert email that cleared up all my worries about the joints for production figures. Holy sh#t I think UQS is going to be OK while I’m in SD.

“I’ll throw you the whip you give me the idol…” yup, we just got in a painted idol prototype from the factory, just in time for SDCC. The factory almost has everything they need for Raiders of the Lost Ark (Classic) Indiana Jones Ultimate quarter scale figure. They should have all the approved accessories for this figure by the beginning of next week.

The best part of preparing for any big show is the gambling that we do on whether or not an item will make it there to show off for the first time. For instance, the Ultimate Quarter Scale Trek figures did not make Toy Fair… So now the current gamble is whether we will have some BSG Series 4 figures to show off in San Diego. My guess is yup. Stay tuned!

There were problem with having the old Art Asylum method for the boots and gloves, so I had HK try this method where we would tool a half-calf boot so the ankle joint would become part of the actual boot. Factory is holding the cost of the tool with these 2 additional pieces. There is still a space between the leg and boot so we can fit the pants down.

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