{"id":155648,"date":"2019-08-13T06:01:44","date_gmt":"2019-08-12T22:01:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/featured\/-1799724\/"},"modified":"2019-08-13T06:01:44","modified_gmt":"2019-08-12T22:01:44","slug":"bringing-art-to-fandom-merch-interview-with-mondo-collectibles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/2019\/08\/13\/bringing-art-to-fandom-merch-interview-with-mondo-collectibles\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing Art to Fandom Merch: Interview With MONDO Collectibles"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/mondo_heman-650x365.jpg?resize=640%2C359&#038;ssl=1\" width=\"640\" height=\"359\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"figcaption\">The He-Man 1\/6 Scale Figure from MONDO. (Photo Credit: Mondo)<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>You\u2019re probably familiar with <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">MONDO<\/a> given the waves the company makes every time it drops a new limited-edition poster or screenprint. Those prints, which are made by a curated selection of artists and come in limited quantities, often sell out almost instantly. The company also boasts a deep selection of <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/collections\/music?_=pf&amp;pf_st_stock_status=true\"  rel=\"noopener\">special-edition vinyl records<\/a> drawing from the most fascinating corners of film score lore. But the brand\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/collections\/collectibles?_=pf&amp;pf_st_stock_status=true\"  rel=\"noopener\">collectibles division<\/a> has stepped its game up in a big way over the last few years, making a strong impression with a wide array of products. From sixth-scale action figures to collectible Tiki mugs to <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/collections\/pins?_=pf&amp;pf_st_stock_status=true\"  rel=\"noopener\">enamel pins<\/a>, they bring an artistry to fandom merchandise and collectibles you don\u2019t see often these days.<\/p>\n<p>Geek.com recently had the chance to chat with Brock Otterbacher, the division\u2019s Creative Director, to talk about the company\u2019s upcoming slate of releases, what goes into making a great MONDO Collectible, and how the brand has gone about bringing the love and care we\u2019ve learned to expect from MONDO into the world of toys and collectibles.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Geek.com:<\/strong> <strong>Let\u2019s start from the top: how did MONDO Collectibles get started?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Brock Otterbacher:<\/strong> Yeah! About six years ago one of our former creative directors had asked me to come on board and start a toy line. I had been at Sideshow Collectibles and left around 2011. We had worked with MONDO while I was at Sideshow so a couple years later out of the blue he told me they wanted to start a toy line and wanted to know if I could help. It was pretty unglamorous! Just, \u201cHey, do you wanna start a toy line?\u201d \u201cYeah!\u201d And that was that.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/D7fGQ3AQ104?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Geek.com:<\/strong> <strong>Between the brand\u2019s presence at <a href=\"https:\/\/geek.com\/tag\/sdcc\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">SDCC<\/a> and a bunch of announcements that came up around that time, what do fans have to look forward to in the near future from MONDO Collectibles?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BO:<\/strong> We do all kinds of products, everything from small vinyl figures to statues to <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/search?q=tiki%20mug\"  rel=\"noopener\">Tiki mugs<\/a>. So as we\u2019re going into the next few months there are a few more figures from our Masters of the Universe \u2159-scale line coming up. The first preorders for our Mondo Mecha series, which is gonna be our all-encompassing robot line, will be up soon. We\u2019re taking Captain America and reinterpreting him as a Japanese-influenced mecha. We\u2019re going to be reinterpreting a number of characters but also including characters that are already robots as well. We\u2019re starting with Cap and a new version of our previously-released <em>Iron Giant<\/em>. Originally it was a 16-inch but this one is going to be 12-inches. It\u2019ll be a little more affordable and hopefully people who missed out on the first one can get in on it. We also just launched our MONDOIDS line, our <a href=\"http:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/index.php\" title=\"\u672c\u7db1\u9801\u63d0\u4f9b\u4e00\u500b\u65b9\u4fbf\u7684\u5e73\u53f0, \u70ba\u5927\u5bb6\u914d\u5c0d\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2,IT freelance, \u79c1\u4eba\u8001\u5e2b , PHP\u88dc\u7fd2, HTML\u88dc\u7fd2, CSS\u88dc\u7fd2, JavaScript\u88dc\u7fd2, XML, Java\u88dc\u7fd2,Server\u88dc\u7fd2, MySQL\u88dc\u7fd2, \u4e2d\u5b78\u96fb\u8166\u79d1\u79c1\u4eba\u88dc\u7fd2, \u5728\u8077\u4eba\u58eb\u96fb\u8166\u63d0\u5347\u88dc\u7fd2,\u5c08\u696d\u8003\u8a66\u96fb\u8166 \u88dc\u7fd2,\u96fb\u8166\u5716\u50cf\u8a2d\u8a08\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2, gra\">collection<\/a> of vinyl figures with interchangeable heads. They\u2019re very much influenced by the gross-out toys of the \u201880s like Madballs that we grew up on. Series 1 ships in October. It\u2019s our excuse to have fun with every license possible. It\u2019s got everything from <em>Gremlins<\/em> to Marvel to<em> Jurassic Park<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Geek.com: Yeah, speaking of which, you guys work with a ton of incredible properties. There\u2019s such a wide array, so I\u2019m curious to know how you and your team go about deciding if a property is a good fit for MONDO.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BO:<\/strong> That\u2019s the million-dollar question, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s a little experience, a little science, a little math, and a little black magic. I always try to look at it in terms of what niches we can fill in this world. What hasn\u2019t been done yet? Years ago when we were first talking about doing something for <em>Masters of the Universe<\/em> I realized I had never seen a sixth-scale He-Man before. It was an easy call. But in the case of our <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/batman-1-6-scale-figure-mondo-deluxe-exclusive?variant=1287371751438\"  rel=\"noopener\"><em>Batman: The Animated Series<\/em> line<\/a>, I\u2019d always wanted to see versions of those characters done in a way that as much as possible matched the animated series itself. Because of the size we\u2019re able to hide articulation a little bit better and we can make them appear as though they\u2019re animated cels.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ItfV2IE9GPk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Geek.com:<\/strong> <strong>Yeah, it\u2019s interesting how they compare to other figures produced in tandem with the series and it\u2019s wild how much it looks, as you said, like an animated cel drawing.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BO:<\/strong> That was always the big push. We do have an advantage of working from a larger scale than others have, and I think what DC Collectibles has done with their <em>B:TAS<\/em> line is great. But when afforded the much larger size, you can do a lot more with the articulation, paint, etcetera. But that\u2019s kind of what we look for: places we can fill the gaps.<\/p>\n<p>And with our Mecha line, part of the joy is reinterpreting characters. That\u2019s just something I\u2019d never seen before. I\u2019d seen it done as customs, you know, painting a Gundam like Wolverine, but what if there was a licensed product built that way from the ground up? What would Captain America look like as a giant anime robot? It\u2019s using imagination and working with a lot of great people to figure out what fits the best. It\u2019s hard to define what does and doesn\u2019t. I can pretty much say yes or no if you shout out a name. It\u2019s a gut feeling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Geek.com: I think that speaks very well to the way the brand has defined itself. You can pretty much name a property and know immediately if it\u2019s a MONDO property.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BO:<\/strong> Yeah, and we\u2019ve totally tried to reach outside of our comfort zone before. We did <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/cassidy-statue-mondo-exclusive?variant=12158111744114\"  rel=\"noopener\">Cass<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/jesse-custer-statue?variant=12158108631154\"  rel=\"noopener\">Jesse from <em>Preacher<\/em><\/a> and, you know, they didn\u2019t do gangbusters but the product turned out really well. That was more of an experiment in figuring out if we could do a fully rendered painting reinterpreted in 3D sculpture as close as possible, with a paint job that forced the lighting and perspective of a painting on it. I think they look great. It wasn\u2019t the smash-hit we\u2019d hoped it would be but it still turned out good. Even if it didn\u2019t blow up, we still have a good product that comes out of it and reached outside of our comfort zones. There\u2019s always room to try something new, to take a risk.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1799728\" style=\"max-width: 410px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1799728 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/PREACHER_MONDO.jpg?resize=400%2C604&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/PREACHER_MONDO.jpg?resize=400%2C604&#038;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/www.geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/PREACHER_MONDO-300x453.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Preacher: Cassidy Statue (Photo Credit: Mondo)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Geek.com: Is that pretty comparable to what you guys did with the <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/batman-red-rain-statue-mondo-exclusive\"  rel=\"noopener\">Batman: Red Rain statue<\/a>?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BO:<\/strong> Kind of! That\u2019s one of three instances in which we made a product that started as a <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/red-rain-ff-poster?variant=927962035\"  rel=\"noopener\">poster<\/a>, the other notable one being the <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/waiting-for-my-j-man-harley-quinn-statue\"  rel=\"noopener\">Harley Quinn one<\/a>. We have the rights to be able to reinterpret our posters as statues and right away I was like, I can imagine how this one would go. Same with <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/harley-quinn-matt-taylor-poster?variant=861422395\"  rel=\"noopener\">the Harley Quinn one<\/a>. In the case of the other, our <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/spider-gwen-statue-exclusive\"  rel=\"noopener\">Spider-Gwen statue<\/a>, it was already going to be a poster but we looked at it and kind of helped push it towards something that would be a little more approachable as a statue. Sometimes you work with artists who have already made a poster, sometimes you help push a poster\u2019s design towards something you can work with. And in the case of the <em>Preacher<\/em> ones we knew it was going to be reinterpreted as a statue from the start. As a toy collectible division we work with a lot of artists who don\u2019t do posters but are amazing in their own right, from sculptors to printers.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Geek.com: Walk us through the process of what it\u2019s like to create one of your sixth-scale figures.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BO:<\/strong> It\u2019s different for every product we do. Those are developed a bit differently from statues. We always start with an idea that turns into a concept. How will we approach this? Are we reinterpreting it? Are we being accurate to the character? Once the concept is done and approval is given, we work with a sculptor. Within that, there\u2019s a lot of other factors. With sculpting you\u2019re turning a piece of 2D art into something 3D. Some things already transfer well, some things have to be adjusted or revised. We may say hey, let\u2019s add a metal cap to the end of He-Man\u2019s scabbard as a nod to Battle Cat. Or we\u2019ll adjust his face a little more or add a new accessory. All of that happens in sculpting.<\/p>\n<p>Generally from there, if it\u2019s hand-sculpted it gets molded. If it\u2019s digitally sculpted we make a 3D print of it. From there we do multiple 3D prints and refine it, and from there we go to painting. That\u2019s the phase that really solidifies the product. You don\u2019t actually know what the thing is REALLY going to look like until you see it painted. At SDCC we had a number of products that I\u2019d seen in every single phase of but hadn\u2019t seen assembled and painted. Once I see them put together though, that\u2019s when I fully see what we\u2019re doing. From there we go to the factories and develop our packaging, the sort of second cherry on top after painting. We try to make them a work of art in and of themselves.<\/p>\n<div class=\"flex-video widescreen embed\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Xd6f9Z2vflU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p><strong>Geek.com: The boxes are very well-designed, yeah. They\u2019re worth keeping and really complete the package.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BO:<\/strong> We\u2019re a company that was founded on two-dimensional art, you know, prints and posters and record sleeves. That\u2019s why people buy our stuff, the art. Why not have that on our packaging and our 3D products?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Geek.com: Is there a single piece or product that the company has made that you\u2019d consider your favorite?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>BO:<\/strong> Tough one. One of our first was the larger scale <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/collections\/all\/products\/copy-of-the-iron-giant-deluxe-figure-1?variant=1123359771\"  rel=\"noopener\">Iron Giant figure<\/a>. A lot of talented people worked on it and our factory really killed it in terms of production. Nobody had really touched <em>Iron Giant<\/em> in 15, 20 years so I\u2019m pretty proud of that. I think it\u2019s more, to me, looking at our He-Man line or Batman line. I always try to do something familiar but new, something that makes you look at it and go oh, I haven\u2019t seen that before. So for example, Mattel never did a Skeletor figure with an articulated skull. Jaw, yes, but a full skull that you can make look around in his hood? Never been done. So <a href=\"https:\/\/mondotees.com\/products\/skeletor-1-6-scale-figure-mondo-exclusive\"  rel=\"noopener\">we did that in ours<\/a>, and it\u2019s such a minimal thing but it\u2019s a cool touch. That\u2019s what I find myself most proud of, the thing you don\u2019t even realize is there until you\u2019re holding the figure and see it.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>More on Geek.com:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/culture\/toy-tuesday-the-most-powerful-he-man-toys-1784709\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">The Most Powerful &#8216;He-Man&#8217; Toys<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/culture\/cool-batman-toys-1751121\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">The Craziest and Coolest Batman Toys<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/culture\/why-transformers-still-resonates-35-years-later-1793535\/\"  rel=\"noopener\">Why &#8216;Transformers&#8217; Still Resonates, 35 Years Later<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/mondo_heman-650x365.jpg\" width=\"650\" height=\"365\"><\/p>\n<div>The He-Man 1\/6 Scale Figure from MONDO. (Photo Credit: Mondo)<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>You&rsquo;re probably familiar with MONDO given the waves the company makes every time it drops a new limited-edition poster or screenprint. Those prints, which are made by a curated selection of artists and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/culture\/bringing-art-to-fandom-merch-interview-with-mondo-collectibles-1799724\/\">Bringing Art to Fandom Merch: Interview With MONDO Collectibles<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.geek.com\/\">Geek.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/2019\/08\/13\/bringing-art-to-fandom-merch-interview-with-mondo-collectibles\/\">\u95b1\u8b80\u5168\u6587 <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"slim_seo":[],"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[6648,3281,2133,2996,2,6649,2047,2351,7,240],"tags":[398,402,397,414,413,410,499,409,407,408,406,399,400,394,10,401,396,403,412,411,395,405,404,504,455],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7prtj-Eus","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155648"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155648\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/test\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}