Exclu Archive - Concepts

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ith Concepts our goal was a simple one, to be as expressive and experimental with both the photography and the design edits to move beyond the conventional frame. For the team this was a new challenge and one which warranted their experimentation and a new approach to let go and see what happens. The same is said for the design direction of the publication itself with heavy colour edits and harsh crops building on the photography and taking it to new places.

Concepts has proven to be a successful project and has allowed everybody to flex their creative muscles in new ways with new experiences to carry into their everyday projects. We hope you enjoy the publication as much as we have enjoyed the new direction.

Jack Sturman Editor & Director

SPENCER - @SWITTPICS

ISAIAH - @BLKSRS

SHAHZAD - @SBPHOTOGRAPHS1

MARK - @MARKWALKERPHOTO

STAN - @VIMLOSSUS

TREVOR - @ONESIX_SHOOTER

MATT - @HEYWOODPOP

PATRICK - @WONDERBUNK

THAM - @YINGKEET0675

CONCEPTS

Jason - @workmoreorless

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iron man HOT TOYS

MOVIE MASTERPIECE SERIES

STEALTH SUIT

MRK.

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I admit I like blue colors and Iron Man so it was a no-brainer as I saw that figure in perfect condition on a private sellers group for a price that I felt like a thief. The Mk3 was released in two different versions, one was the normal version with the typical red/gold and then we have the “2015 Summer Exclusive“ version with the blue colour scheme.

diecast

A lot of people were confused why this version is blue. Well, theres an easy explanation because in the original comics the Stealth suit is blue and so its lifted from the source material for this exclusive version. The amount of detail is simply fantastic - braking flaps, hydraulics, small rockets and the shining color application makes it one of my most precious Hot Toys figures.

Patrick

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ith the interchangeable lower body he can also perform the superhero landing although most of the figure is made of die-cast parts. Speaking of the metal parts - the figure is fairly heavy and so I’d recommend the included figure stand if you`re displaying him. Another nice touch is the red arc and repulsor lights which makes for a great contrast against the blue metallic suit.

The blue suit makes him different and really stand out and thats what I like about him.

Mark Walker

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MEISHO MOVIE REALISATION

SHADOW OMNITSU TROOPER BANDAI TAMASHII NATIONS.

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ince their incredible Samurai inspired Star Wars figure line burst onto the toy scene in 2015, Tamashii Nations have been producing more and more photogenic figures ever since. Their various Stormtrooper realisations have become a staple of the toy photography community with their sleek yet lived-in sculpts and ingenious blending of the armours and warrior classes of ancient Japan, and the cannon fodder of the Galactic Empire.

Akira Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress being a major influence on Lucas’s vision for Star Wars creates a beautiful link between the two aesthetics, a link that Tamashii have exploited to its full potential when designing these figures. The attention to detail in the armour and helmet designs, and the choice and adaptation of weapons manages to simultaneously capture the essence of the characters from the movies along side the historical period they are borrowing from.

T

he Shadow Trooper - one of Tamashii’s most recent additions to the line - suits the role of The Onmitsu - The Ninja, so incredibly well. Clad in black armour and equipped with throwing knives and a shorter wakizashi sword, the design and aesthetic of the figure has been fine tuned to a tee. The figures have superb articulation which further means they lend themselves to toy photography perfectly.

役

DRIFT + + KURO KARA KURI 01.

FLAME TOYS

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ormally when photographing white on white its quite difficult to create a separation between the subject and the background. I decided to take up this as a personal challenge while creating content for this issue. The reason for using Long Exposure was that to get the lights of the figure showing in the final image without any post processing it was essential for me to use long exposure in order to get that right in the camera itself.

Shahzad

S P I D E R M A N PETER PARKER

The OG

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ith Spider-Man Homecoming we were introduced to three new suits of the friendly neighborhood spider.While the Iron-Spider suit was just visible for a few seconds the other two suits, homemade and regular, got a lot more screen time.

Bandai released both versions as part of their famous S.H.Figuarts line which stands for great articulated and good looking figures. An acrobatic character like Spidey benefits from the wide range of articulation which the SHF line provides. Almost all of his iconic poses are achievable without any huge problems.

Posing him is real fun and his character makes him useable for a lot of different scenes and pictures.

Another big plus of both versions: both come with an huge amount of accessories like a lot of exchangeable hands, several spider webs, exchangeable eyes, spider signal and wall pieces. The regular suit version comes also with a cellphone and backpack as seen on the movie.

Of course it’s one of the higher priced 6 inch figures but the value is worth every cent. If you like Spidey like I do then you should take a closer look to the SHF releases and thanks to Infinity War we’ll get the Iron Spider too.

BANDAI TAMASHII NATIONS SHFIGUARTS

> > > > > > > > > HOMECOMING Patrick

SELINA KYLE

Where’s the fun in that?

C

hristopher Nolan set such high standards for the superhero genre way back in 2005 when he gave us Batman Begins. I feel that so far, no DC movie have reached such standards that is comparable to Nolan’s Batman trilogy. It was such a waste that he stopped at The Dark Knight Rises. Although not my favorite among the trilogy but it tied up all three movies well. That brings us to my next subject for the Concept issue and that is the updated Mafex Selina Kyle figure released this year.

I have to say that I am such a sucker for female action figures and when I saw the solicitation pictures of the Selina Kyle figure on the internet, I know that I just had to get this one.

She was brilliantly portrayed by Anne Hathaway in the movie. The figure was a great update to their previous release with better articulations and sculpting. The headsculpt was perfect although some argued that it was a bit Anime looking.

> > > > > > > > > THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

C A T W O M A N Tham

I MEDICOM MAFEX

had a blast posing her for this series of shots. She is so well articulated and she balances well even with high heels and that says a lot for a 1:12 action female action figure! The shots were accompanied by props made by a talented Malaysian props and diorama maker by the name of Ziman Zafrin.

HOT TOYS MOVIE MASTERPIECE COLLECTION

? > > > > > > > > > AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON

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awkeye might just be my favourite Avenger. I like the character’s dialogue, his motivations and general attitudes to the extraordinary situations he finds himself thrust into. Looking at the Avengers roster, Clint appears to be - arguably alongside Black Widow - to be the closest thing to a real world character, which leads him to become our eyes and ears in the movie to an extent. This to me makes him very likeable.

where is hawkeye?

3’s BEAST KINGDOM EGGATTACK ACTION

Spencer

> > > > > > > > > MCU

R2 D2

THE GIANT DROID

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n the Star Wars series we have always seen that even though R2-D2 was the smaller of the two droids he was much larger than life in every aspect. Propping up the 1/6 R2-D2 against the 1/12 C-3PO really allowed me to bring out that fact. Lighting the very reflective C-3PO was quite the challenge in order to capture all the ridges, rivets and bolts on the figure.

R2-D2 / C-3P0

Shahzad

“ THIS IS M ADNESS!”

STAR PRINCE PETER JASON QUILL

BANDAI TAMASHII NATIONS S.H.FIGUARTS DLX.

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andai and Tamashii Nations SH Figuarts continue to impress with their 6� line with Marvel’s Star Lord. First and foremost, the facial sculpt and likeness to actor Chris Pratt is spot on. As a toy photographer, articulation is something I desire in a figure, and Star Lord scores high marks. As expected, the additional accessories including the interchangeable hands, masked head and weapons add value to an already incredible figure. However, the 3 explosion effects included are superb and are great additions for toy photo sessions.

Jason

> > > > > > > > > > > GOTG

logan WOLVERINE

T

he Wolverine is one of the most iconic characters in the Marvel Universe, and it’s easy to see why. He has metal for bones, he heals almost instantly, and he is a pure smart ass. What’s not to love? There have been many Wolverine action figures release over the years, and I can honestly say, this varient line from Play Arts Kai, is without a doubt, the best one I have ever seen!

> > > > > > > > > > > X-MEN

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PLAY ARTS KAI

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hile his style is unique, what Square Enix did with this figure is mind-blowing, and just looking at pictures does not do it enough justice. Each and every part of this guy is detailed in a way that, at times, will make you do a double take and wonder how they did it.

With the different head and hand options, you can get him into so many different poses, while maintaining that iconic Wolverine look. If those accessories were not enough, they threw in a totally bad ass sword to make him even cooler, which I thought would be impossible to do, but they did it!

If I had to choose my favorite from this line so far, it would easily have to be this one, and if you can get your hands on one, don’t hesitate to do so.

Stan

> > > > > > > > > ROGUE ONE

SCA RIF SHORETROOPER

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s a leader in the 1:6 scale arena, Hot Toys is known for their highly detailed and screen-accurate collectibles. In the Star Wars universe, the Scarif Shoretrooper may not be as iconic as the Imperial Stormtrooper, but it definitely holds its own. What makes the Shoretrooper stand out is the textural contrast of the hard surfaced armor vs the soft goods. The detailed deco and weathering make this figure worth every penny and with the right angle and lighting, toy photos can appear as though they were taken on the set of Rogue One. My love and appreciation for Hot Toys continues to grow with every release, while my wallet continues to shrink.

Jason

HOT TOYS MOVIE MASTERPIECE SERIES.

HOT TOYS MOVIE MASTERPIECE COLLECTION

BLACK

GOKU

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> > > > > > > > > DRAGONBALL Z

ith the Dragonball franchise, Bandai has one of the most successful anime figure lines in their product portfolio.Beside the big name on the package the SHF series shines with super posable figures, fantastic accessories and a great likeness of the heroes and antiheroes.

One of the newest additions to the Dragonball line is the black version of Goku.He comes with several interchangeable parts like hands, faces and hair - it features also the “Super Saiyan Rosé“ mode which is my favorite appearance.

A huge plus point is the included Kamehameha effect part which makes it possible to recreate Gokus iconic signature move.All figures I own of the DBZ series are great for photography purposes because they`re simply versatile to create different scenes. If you`re more into collecting than photography then they also should be your first choice.

In-box collecting is also no problem due to the huge window in front of the box but seriously...get them out of their package because the greatest joy comes with posing and displaying them in their full awesomeness.

Patrick

BANDAI TAMASHII NATIONS S.H.FIGUARTS

TA T OO I NE DEWBACK

Sandtroopers Best Friend

T

he Black Series Dewback and sandtrooper set was on of my most anticipated and desire figures in the black series line. The sandtrooper, is highly regarded as one of, if not the best black series figures to date. The Dewback is just awesome, with articulation in the arms, legs, mouth and even tongue!

For this series I used my studio lights to get the backlight, one of my go to set ups. It’s simple, yet effective.

Spencer

TA TOOI NE

HASBRO THE BLACK SERIES

SANDTROOPER

Tatooine Search

T

his figure is still one of, if not the greatest Black Series release to date. Stunning detail, amazing articulation. Great accessories! An incredible figure that set the bar high from the very beginning. The sandtrooper has always been my favorite of the stormtrooper variants.

From the first time you see them in the deserts of Tatooine searching for those dang droids. With all of Hasbro’s stormtrooper releases, this remains at the top spot! Here’s to hoping for a standalone orange pauldron sandtrooper re-release someday! #HasbroPlease!

HASBRO THE BLACK SERIES Isaiah

> > > > > > > > > A NEW HOPE

TA TO O I NE

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NEBULA

The Other Sister

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he Marvel Legends Gamora was one of my subjects in our Portraits issue. So, when I finally got my hands on Nebula, it was a no brainer to shoot her for our Concept issue. Plus I loved Karen Gillan’s portrayal of the character in The Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 2. She was also sexy and funny in Jumanji 2! I loved the relationship between Nebula and Gamora in the GOTG movies. My favorite line from the movie was “ You were the one who wanted to win. And *I* just wanted a sister!” She is such a tragic character, the daughter that got tortured a lot by her step father – Thanos. I hope to see her take revenge on Thanos for killing Gamora in the next Avengers movie.

am

Th

HASBRO MARVEL LEGENDS

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s with all female Marvel Legends figures, articulations are not that good.

I still love the headsculpt and overall sculpting of the figure. I used a blue background for this series of shots had the figure shot in various poses. I also used the Ubiquitous diorama made by a Hong Kong based company called Nova Revol for some shots as well. It’s a science fiction type of diorama that comes with its own lightings which is great for toy photography.

ANT MAN SCOTT LANG EAA-038 BEAST KINGDOM EGGATTACK ACTION

“SORRY I’M LATE, I WAS SAVING THE WORLD. YOU KNOW HOW IT IS.”

Spencer

man out of time CABLE

Trevor

HASBRO MARVEL LEGENDS

REGRET. HAN & LEIA

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he main idea behind this photograph was to create a sense of story with just one image.

Here you can see a much older Han Solo as seen in TFA regretting the actions of his younger days. It was implied in the movie that he distanced himself from his tragedy after his son turned to the dark side of the force. Using a commonly used troupe of flashback scenes I have attempted to create the same within a single frame.

Shahzad

TWO PLAY ARTS KAI

TWO- FACE BATMAN

Q

uick, who is the biggest nemesis of Batman? If you guessed the Joker, you would be right, but, who is the coolest villain in the DC universe?

Two-face of course, and this Play Arts Kai Varient figure does an absolutely amazing job of combining the two together to form one of the most insane figures I have ever seen.

FACE Stan

TH CL PRIN

HE LOWN NCE THE JOKER

The Clown Prince Of Gotham

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et me ask you guys a question, who is your favorite movie Joker?

It’s a tough decision for me but if I can only choose one, I will go with Jack Nicholson’s Joker in the 1989 Tim Burton directed movie, Batman.

Batman was one stylish, thrilling and hell of a ride movie. My favorite Joker line from the movie was : “Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” That being said, I am still hoping that S.H. Figuarts or Mafex will eventually come out with a 1:12 scale of Jack Nicholson’s Joker.

MEDICOM MAFEX

F O TH O G

Which brings me to my next figure for this Concept issue – The Suicide Squad Joker by Mafex. This version is the white suit Joker from the movie Suicide Squad. The Joker was played

by Jared Leto in the movie. Although he was not the main antagonist in the movie, he made his presence felt for sure. I wish that he had more screentime though. I used a pink background for this series of shots as I think that it complements the figure well. This figure came with two different headsculpts and my favorite was the laughing head. You

can see that I posed him in various poses and I tend to use the laughing head more. He comes with several alternate hands which are perfect for posing and also a walking stick and a revolver and machine gun. This may not be my favorite movie Joker but he sure is my favorite 1:12 scale action figure Joker at this moment.

Tham

M A H > > > > > > > > > SUICIDE SQUAD

SPIDER-PUNK

They don’t make music like they used to.

I

’m not even sure where this version of Spidey originated from, but the moment I saw him I wanted him for my collection. It’s just a really cool take on the character, and of course it’s ready made for toy photography. He poses great, has a radical guitar and alternate hands that truly make him look like a rock god.

And how about the spike hair? This Spider-Man is a blast to shoot, and definitely a new favorite of mine.

> > > > > > > > > SPIDERVERSE

Matt

CPT REX CT-7567

The Republic’s Finest

C

aptain Rex is one of my all time favorite Star Wars characters! Any fan of The Clone Wars series has to have a soft spot for Rex. His toughness, loyalty, and overall character makes him by far my favorite clone trooper. Many of you know, I spent a great amount of time and effort creating my own custom Captain Rex figure just before the official figure was announced! While there are a few areas I feel Hasbro could have done better on this figure, I’d definitely be nitpicking!

Isaiah

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verall he is an amazing figure. Hasbro has fixed one of the largest complaints with the clone trooper figures, the elbow articulation. Allowing Rex to get full bend in his arms, getting you some iconic poses!

Unfortunately I don’t have the release with Hasbro’s new face technology, but even this version is great! The soft good kama is great, and its awesome to see Hasbro pushing the envelope with details and accessories. I’m looking forward to Clone Commander Wolffe in the future, as well as more clones hopefully! Can we please get a Battle Droid already though Hasbro!! #HasbroPlease!

> > > > > > > > > CLONE WARS ANIMATED SERIES

“BLASTED CLANKERS!”

THE MAD TITAN THANOS

Fine, I’ll Do It Myself.

A

vengers: Infinity War made me an instant fan of the Mad Titan, so I knew I had to complete my second Marvel Legends BAF by collecting a few figures I would have never considered buying, but Thanos had to be mine. In the end the few throw away figures were well worth getting to have a pretty solid looking action figure, who also is a good candidate for toy photography. His head may be a bit small, but the face sculpt is pretty Brolin-like, so he has been a fun figure to shoot.

Matt

HASBRO MARVEL LEGENDS

WHAT DID IT COST?

EVERY THING > > > > > > > > > MCU

ISSUE 1 - ISAAC RENTERIA - @ISAAC.RENTERIA

ISSUE 2 - JOHNNY WU - @SGTBANANAS

ISSUE 3 - JEFF LeBARRON - @DARKSIDESINCE77

ISSUE 4 - BLAIR ALTMAN - @BATMANANDFRANK

ISSUE 5 - HOT KENOBI - @HOT.KENOBI

ISSUE 6 - JAX NAVARRO - @PLASTICACTION

PORTRAITS - TREVOR WILLIAMS - @ONESIX_SHOOTER

CONCEPTS - STAN RUSSELL - @VIMLOSSUS

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