Exclu Archive - Volume 04

EXCLU

EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

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THIS IS BECOMING A HABIT THE EXCLU COLLECTIVE

@EXCLUCOLLECTIVE

So here it is - Exclu Issue 4. We’ve had an incredible time collaborating with such a diverse range of creatives who have all gone above and beyond to create some truly stellar shoots that highlight their own skillsets and also the versatility of the Toy Community that we service.

We’ve also been able to bring in further Industry input from JackalX and Sideshow Collectibles to give an inside glimpse into the workings of the teams that labour to represent out favourite

characters and licenses in our prized 3D format.

This Issue is the culmination of all that we have learned from our last 3 outings and we’re truly proud of the strong body of work put forward from all our featured creatives . Exclu extends a massive thank you to all those who were involved in ensuring that we had another incredible issue to share with the ever dependable Toy Community.

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CONTENTS EXCLU COLLECTIVE ISSUE 4

6 THE ARTIST FEATURES

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THE YOUNG AND THE BOLD

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THANK THE MAKER

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SPACE OBSESSED

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ONE MAN AND HIS FIGURES

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THE MASTER OF MINIMALISM

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THE MATT OF ALL TRADES

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DIGITAL REALISATION

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THE REAL SCENE SETTER

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THE EXCLU NETWORK

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EASTERN INFLUENCED

OLLY HOLMES

DAVID TOWERY

MOHAMAD HIEDAYYAT MIG JERNIGAN

JASON - SPENCER - SHAHZAD 4

ISAIAH TAKAHASHI TONY MILLS

MATT HEYWOOD

FADHREES SUHAIMI JAIMEJOEL RIVERA

THE INTERVIEWS

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ONE BAT AND HIS DINOSAUR BLAIR ALTMAN

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THE SIDESHOW INTERVIEW

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THE JACKALX INTERVIEW

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THE FUNKO POP UK INTERVIEW

DAVID IGO - SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES

ETHAN TANG - JACKALX

CARL MORGAN

22 84 EXCLU EXTRAS

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ARTIST CATCH UP

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ARTIST CATCH UP

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WORD OF THE MONTH

Director / Creative Lead

Content Team

jack@exclucollective.com

@workmoreorless

Jack Sturman

JEFF LEBARRON

Co-Editor / Marketing Lewis Woollard

DALE SCHENCK

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lewis@exclucollective.com

Jason Yang

Spencer Witt @swittpics

Shahzad Bhiwandiwala @sbphotographs1

The material seen here-in may not be replicated or reproduced without the express permission of Exclu Media Ltd. Any instances of the above will be treated seriously. Exclu Media Ltd is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or retailers seen here-in.

TANCREDI BUA - BRYAN MAYO 5

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ONE BAT AND HIS DINOSAUR BLAIR ALTMAN

@BATMANANDFRANK Our cover feature is becoming something of a benchmark for creative quality and so the mantle is passed onto photographer Blair Altman, who shares with us his story and thought process behind each shoot throughout our extensive interiew presented alongside a gallery of the images that first brought Blair to our attention.

Blair has something of a thorough process as his images are more

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than just simple character shots as he weaves a complex narrative into each iteration alongside an extensive scenario that include a whole host of different props and objects that really help to flesh out the adventures of his subject.

Blair has really showed why he deserves to be our cover feature for Issue 4 so without futher ado - Enjoy!

“I FULLY EXPECT A HORDE OF ANGRY NERDS WITH POINTY STICKS TO FORCIBLY STORM MY HOUSE AT ANY MOMENT NOW!” Hi Blair! Thanks for taking the time to speak to us, how are you?

weird side and take photos of the strange things that float around in my head.

Good! Thanks for asking.

Do you think Frank would make a suitable sidekick over Robin?

Has he got any special attributes as a companion?

Excellent! So for those who don’t know, your account Batmanandfrank is series of creative images stemming around the idea of Batman and his pet dinosaur Frank. When did the idea spring to mind to come up with this brilliance?

It was probably about two years ago when I decided to start doing this project. I didn’t know anything about toy photography or that it was even a thing at that point. My girlfriend showed me Darryll Jones’ account and it sparked the idea.

I thought it would be a fun project to work on that would give me an excuse to develop some new photography and more specifically lighting skills. I also have an interest in doing other types of still life photography but toy photography gives me an outlet to tap into my

Yes. I never really saw Robin as being particularly tough. Frank on the other hand is a dinosaur that somehow managed to avoid extinction. You can’t really get much tougher than that.

I never really think of Frank as being part of the crime fighting duo though. For whatever reason I decided that the Batman in my series has retired from his career as a superhero and now he’s just a guy with a pet dinosaur who gets himself into strange situations.

I feel I should probably explain why I decided to use 60’s Batman as my subject. When I was looking for a character to use for this series I had a few requirements in mind.

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It had to be a highly detailed figurine, which led me to Hot Toys, and it had to be a character that either had no specific character or was comedically weird enough.

By ‘no specific character’ I mean that someone like Luke Skywalker wouldn’t work for me because he is too developed of a character and you kind of expect him to behave in certain ways. Something like a Stormtrooper on the other hand would have been a good choice since they are generic enough that you can give them any type of personality without it seeming too conflicting. decided that the number of people using Stormtroopers in photos was already pretty saturated so I didn’t pursue that direction. When I came across the figurine of Adam West as Batman and immediately I knew it was the right choice for me. His character is so bizarre and camp that I felt it was appropriate to come up with strange stories to make him a part of.

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On your page, we see a variety of pictures from Batman indulging in Philadelphia cheese bagels in heaven, right through to him and Frank painting pictures together, but what has been your favourite series to shoot to date?

My favourites fall into two categories; ones that tell a good story, and ones that I enjoyed for the preplanning and prop building.

My favourite for story telling has to be the series with capturing and training the AT- AT. Those were all super simple for props and the only preplanning that was required was riding my bike around in the woods to find a good location. The story in those always makes me giggle a little though so they top my list because of that.

For prop building and planning there are a few. Japanese Tea, Philly Cream Cheese, and Lost in the Desert rank pretty highly on my favourites because of the work and/or problem solving that was required to pull those off. I do have several photos

in mind right now that will blow any of those out of the water in terms of time dedication required for set and prop building. Unfortunately you won’t be seeing any of those in the near future since I don’t want to rush them.

Aside from Batman and Frank, what else does your toy and figure collection consist of?

Ready for some controversy? My toy collection consists of nothing else.

I don’t actually collect toys.

Everything I have has been purchased specifically for use in this series.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate other figurines, it’s just not in the budget to buy more for the sake of collecting.

I’d rather spend the money on props and materials to progress the Batman series. I also live in a tiny cabin so I don’t have the space for a collection.

I guess some of the props that I have gathered for Batman and Frank do constitute a bit of a collection though since some of them are kind of unique or hard find.

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Blair’s images speak volumes about his dedication to his craft and the sheer time and effort involved in planning out the shoot before he even steps out to capture it.

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I particularly like his wooden rowboat. That kit (Midwest Boats 1/6 Yacht Skiff) is pretty rare and I think looks really cool.

which dynamic duo would you choose and why?

I have thought it would be be fun to use Chewbacca in a series. I never really thought about combining him with an animal but if I had to choose one I would probably go with an alpaca. Possibly they would run a hair salon together?

Over the Winter I put together an out of production model of a BMW R75/5 motorcycle from Tamiya which is ridiculously dope and I can’t wait to do some shots with. Recently I also bought a 1:15 scale triceratops from Collecta which is going to become a new character in the series. Those three are the biggest standout single props that I have collected, each making me question my sanity over my decision to buy them.

Not only do you shoot amazing toy photography on your Instagram account, but you have some stunning pictures on your website too. Is this something that you’d like to develop more in the future?

Pretty soon I am also going to have to purchase another of the same Batman figurine. I need to gain extra flexibility at the waist that the figurine out of the box doesn’t provide. At some point I will need to perform some surgery to cut out a bit of material on one of them to accomplish that. I’m a bit nervous about having to do that for sure.

Thanks. I am trying to develop photography more into my future plan. I have been posting other photos on my personal instagram account @blair.altman and on my business one @possumwagon.

My girlfriend and I have recently started a business that is going to be doing graphic design, as well as commercial, advertising, and product photography.

We’d love to see more of your quirky combinations in the future, so if you had to chose another hero and an animal companion from any franchise,

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“IT ISNT THE HAMMER THAT BUILDS THE HOUSE, IT IS THE PERSON SWINGING IT”

What are your other passions aside from photography and Batman?

Keeping with the theme of the Dark Knight now and we have seen many different people play the character, but who in your opinion, has played him the best?

Right now photography, starting a business, and working my day job which is still paying the bills, seem to take up all of my time and aren’t leaving room for much else. When I do have time I enjoy cycling. Lately it has mostly been riding on and off road on my cyclocross bike as well as doing some light touring for weekend camping trips. Cycling has been something I have been very involved with for a long time so it will always be a part of my life in some capacity regardless of how busy I am with other things.

I’m not going to lie, I can’t remember any Batman movies specifically other than the original. I know I have watched most of them but I’m far from the biggest fan of any superhero franchises. I fully expect a horde of angry nerds with pointy sticks to forcibly storm my house at any moment now.

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EXCLU So to answer the question out of sheer ignorance I guess I would have to say Adam West.

Does this actor coincide with your favorite Batman film?

Yes? The only Batman I watched growing up was the original series so the original movie is the only one that really sticks with me.

One question we always love to ask at Exclu is what are your top tips to getting in-to photography and what do you do to generate such original ideas?

Oh man, that’s a broad question which I could probably talk for hours about.

First - In general the biggest tip for people getting into photography is to care about telling a story with your images. A technically crappy photo that captures a great moment or story will always be more interesting to look at than a technically excellent photo that isn’t engaging.

Second - Take the time to learn about light.

Good lighting can make an otherwise dull scene come to life and set the mood. Good composition shouldn’t be discounted either.

Finally, you’re clearly growing in popularity as an artist, but where do you want you and your work to be in five years time?

In five years I want to be doing photography and graphic design as my full time work and living comfortably off of it. I imagine I will still be doing the Batman series since I have more ideas than I have time for. I have always wanted to produce a coffee table book with my Batman and Frank photos if I can sort out the licensing to do that. I also have it in mind right now to do some behind the scenes videos to try to share some of my limited knowledge and hopefully help others.

Thanks for your time Blair! It has been great speaking to you and all the best for the upcoming future.

We hope to catch up with you again soon!

Thanks for including me in this issue. It was a pleasure.

Third - Don’t be concerned about the gear.

You can make magic happen with cheap gear, it may just require more creative problem solving but it shouldn’t stop you from trying.

It isn’t the hammer that builds the house, it is the person swinging it.

Fourth - Don’t listen to me. I’m a hack. Do whatever makes you feel good.

Regarding how I go about generating ideas; I come up with them a few ways. Some just pop into my head after being triggered by something in my day to day life. Sometimes I find a prop and create a story around it.

Usually if I am really trying hard to come up with a fresh idea I end up just wasting time staring blankly. You just have to let ideas happen on their own or by prompting them with some sort of other inspiration.

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

ARTIST FEATURE

THE YOUNG AND THE BOLD OLLY HOLMES @OLLYOFFLAMES

A photographer who we have followed and worked with many times before both across our social channels and our showcasing site is Olly Holmes who always impresses us with his enthusiasm and dedication to improving his own skillsets which are already impressive considering his young age.

both Star Wars figures and ThreeA offerings too which show his comfort at handling both major characters who already have a set tone and expected outcome with lesser known figures that allow for a far greater freedom of expression.

We’re thrilled to have been witness to Olly’s development and we’re certain that his set in the following pages is his best work yet.

Olly brings a two - pronged shoot to bear in his feature that encompasses

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15 PISTOLS AT DAWN @OLLYOFFLAMES

BOY WONDER Hello again! I’m Olly, and I have been producing toy photography for almost 4 years now. I feel the sub-genre of toy photography itself is ever evolving and changing but even more so are my ideas. When I last spoke about my work back in issue 1, I said how my favorite thing to use are practical effects, and I must say this has only gotten more prevalent in my newest gallery of photos featured in the article.

As you can see, I have made use of –once again- the fast shutter speed to allow me to capture the fast moving particles of debris and sand. This is so I can create a sense of movement and action within my photos to create a cinematic and fast-moving tone to my photos.

If you are also interested in creating more cinematic images my tips would be to first, start with a faster shutter speed along with introducing some debris or pyrotechnics into the foreground of the image to create a sense of depth and movement to the image that can’t really be achieved by digital methods or with using static objects.

Recently, I have been exploring the use of sand and flour to try and create photos that replicate the extremes of both hot and cold weather depending on what goes with what figure.

Adding effects to show the weather and location is a useful tip if you wish to add another level of realism to your photos.

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To process my photos from RAW images straight from the camera to the final product, I put all the photos I have taken from a shoot onto an iPad from which I choose my favorites.

Those select few are then edited on the app SnapSeed where I will tweak the contrast and exposure of the shot before colour grading and deciding if I want the shot to be monochromatic or colour. Afterwards, I use Rookie Cam to add a small watermark to the top left of the image.

Finally, I would like to add, that if you are starting out and feel intimidated by the quality of some of the photos you see on here- Just remember we all had our beginnings, and some of the best on here use the best! So don’t be disheartened. The key to success is confidence and persistence. Personally, all my shots are planned out in advanced and not just a point and shoot photo, so take your time and just try your hardest and get out there and shoot!

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“...SO TAKE YOUR TIME AND JUST TRY YOUR HARDEST AND GET OUT THERE AND SHOOT!”

18 THE CREATURE FROM THE LAGOON DAVID TOWERY

SPACE OBSESSED DAVID TOWERY @BEAR__TRAP

A photographer that we havent worked with prior to now is David Towery and we have no idea how that is! The depth to each of his shots is really something special and we couldnt wait to collaborate on his set for Issue 4 which brings his characterful skillset to bear.

David’s work always has an almost surreal tone with a soft setting across all his shots that help to form a closely tied body of work that shows off his

strengths behind the lens and has made him a respected member of our Toy Community.

One of the things that we love about David’s photgraphy is that no character is out of bounds and its his ability to capture such a wide variety from Iron Man to the Ninja Turtles that really speaks volumes about his steadfast creative process that allows him to exert his style regardless of the subject.

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

ARTIST FEATURE

Dave really brings the atmosphere factor into each of his shots which compliments and enhances the characters that he shoots by combining them with their environment

“PHOTOGRAPHY HAS BECOME AN OUTLET FOR ME... WITHOUT IT, I WOULDN’T BE ALIVE.”

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Since I can remember, I’ve been in love with movies. I know a lot of people are, but I was obsessed. Every Friday night I would go to Video City with my dad and rent two movies for the weekend. After each movie we watched, it would become my favorite. As I got older I became more picky about what movies I liked, but I was still obsessed with the world of cinema. By the time I was in high school, I knew what I wanted to do after graduation: film school. Of course things change, and film school never happened. But I still had to create.

Somehow it was in my blood.

About a year before getting out of the Navy, I discovered the world of toy photography. I did not have any experience with photography, but I had a big a collection of action figures to learn with. So, after making a cheap homemade light box, I started taking pictures with my phone. After shooting indoors for a while, I gathered up some courage and went outside.

Taking pictures with your phone can only get you so far.

I hadn’t learned enough about this new world and I was craving more. And about 6 months after getting out of the military I had enough money saved up to buy a camera. And that is when everything changed. I finally started to learn what photography meant. I was finally learning how to create.

Photography has become an outlet for me. It’s my passion, my lifeline. Without it I wouldn’t know how to escape. Without it I wouldn’t have met my girlfriend (soon to be fiance). Without it, I wouldn’t be alive.

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

ARTIST FEATURE

THE MASTER OF MINIMALISM MOHAMAD HIEDAYYAT @ABSOLUTEMONO

One photographer who remained a constant fixture on our to-do list is Mohamad Hiedayyat who always stood out by pushing the artistic boundaries of what Toy Photography can be and what it really is at its core.

that we rarely see within the community that is brimming with big license shoots.

Mohamad is a huge fan of the ThreeA figure offerings as they truly compliment his artsy style of photography and are fantastic extensions of his creative process that is so evidently displayed in his set for Issue 4.

Reminiscent of our first cover artist Isaac Renteria , Mohamad challenges the genre with his minimalist style of photography that always helps to refresh our feeds and its something

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23 MINIMAL PORTRAITS AN @ABSOLUTEMONO TRADEMARK

Hello! My name is Hiedayyat from Singapore and I love photography. I take photos of anything that interest me especially of my family and toys while using my HTC10.

Believe it or not, it’s good even though it may not be as fantastic as compared to a professional camera. Just like any other mobile phone cameras, it’s fast, easy to use and most importantly convenient. I would love to switch to a professional camera in the near future but due to my work and family commitments (having two young kids is no joke!)

I have to put it on hold first. My passion in photography has significantly increased for the past one year ever since I became an avid fan for minimalism and ThreeA figurines.

The clean and fresh look of minimalistic photography really caught my interest and best of all, I can do it indoors in the comfort of my home! As for ThreeA figurines, these line of toys are absolutely awesome! I am sure most toy collectors know of Ashley Wood’s ThreeA creations. If you don’t, I strongly recommend it to those who love toys with attitude and edge.

“I STARTED WITH 1 AND ABOUT A YEAR AFTER, I HAVE 30 THREEA FIGURINES ADDED INTO MY COLLECTION!”

I received my first ThreeA figurine about a year ago after I was introduced by my Instagram friend named Kelvin @imakelv.

I did my own research about ThreeA products and found out that it had produced a Star Wars Stormtrooper variant figure named TK Star Warrior. As a Star Wars fan since young, I fell in love with it instantly! It started with 1 and about a year after, I have 30 ThreeA figurines added into my collection!

In March 2017, I was given the opportunity to write an article for The Excu Collective of my Behind-The- Scene shots I’m still keen on learning and experimenting new ways of toy photography with a minimalistic approach.

What else to say about myself?

I am a registered nurse specializing in oncology with 11 years of experience. Yes, call me a murse but I love my job! It can be tough and challenging at times however to see patients recover and return to the society brings me great satisfaction

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I am deeply appreciative of my wife for being supportive of my passion for toys. Surprisingly, she has a soft spot for BB-8 and even has a small collection of BB-8 figures and collectibles! Together with her, we are blessed with 2 beautiful children; a daughter and a son who is 5 and 2 years old respectively whom I Ioved very dearly. Despite my hectic work schedule, I will try my best to spend my time with them and bring them for outings on my off days.

Well, that is all about me. Thank you for reading my article. Do follow my Instagram @absolutemono to view more of my work. Last but not least, I can’t thank you enough Jack for this golden opportunity to be a part of Issue 4 together with other great toy photographers!

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26 THE DIGI-MASTER COMPOSITED BY MIG JERNIGAN

DIGITAL REALISATION MIG JERNIGAN @MINTCOMPLETE

Toy photography is a vast oceon of sub-genres and one such genre which is one of the hardest to successfully pull of is that of digital compositions where-by a practical figure is superimposed upon a digital background Mig Jernigan however is one photographer who has no problems at all pulling off his shots and most importantly, making them look

believable as he deals with such well respected and indentifiable vehicles from the Star Wars universe.

Mig shares his process and his structure behind every shoot that enables him to consistency create shots that represent the highest level of blending digital editing and practical subject photography that has led to Mig becoming one of the most respected photographers in his genre.

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

SPECIAL FEATURE

I think I was a weird kid.

I mean, a lot of 5-year olds play with toy airplanes, but I had to take mine outside and watch the sunlight glint through their cockpits; I had to cut off their landing gear for a more believable flight aesthetic; I ripped off their propellers, replacing them with battery-powered fans taped to the fuselage; and I ALWAYS had to hold them to my eye in such a way as to mimic the images in my dad’s military aircraft encyclopedia.

Yeah, I was definitely a weird kid.

But can you blame me? The coolest flying things on TV at the time were Disney’s Flight of the Navigator and that helicopter from Thomas the Tank Engine! If I wanted to see realistic dogfights, I had to make them happen myself. Then in 1995, my parents brought home the Star Wars trilogy on VHS and everything changed. My heart skipped a beat the first time I saw an X-wing. I became a man the first time I saw the Imperial Shuttle.

This started a life-long love affair with Star Wars, especially with its ships, and I began collecting the Hasbro vehicles as soon as I got my first job in high school. By the time I started college, I had amassed quite the impressive collection (which turned out to be a total babe magnet, as I’m sure you can imagine).

Then one fateful night last year, I randomly stumbled across @blksrs on Instagram and everything changed again. What can I say, except that I was amazed beyond belief? My first thought was “there’s no way these are toys!” Quickly followed by “I want to do that too!” So I opened up my entire Star Wars collection, reducing 50 “mint in box” vehicles to “lose mint complete” (hence my username), and went to sleep, determined to take some epic pics in the morning.

Only they weren’t epic. I knew absolutely nothing about photography and it showed. My lighting was horrific, my composition was garbage and, to make matters worse, every stray twig, leaf and pebble threw off the scale I was going for. I had wanted to create “real A-wing flies down epic canyon,” but what I got instead was “plastic toy flies down neighborhood ditch.”

If I didn’t know a bit of Photoshop, I might have given up right then and there. I started erasing all of the elements I felt ruined the shot and, before I knew it, had erased almost everything but the ship itself. That’s when I decided to stop editing the background to fit the ship, and start editing the ship to fit a background. I looked up “sci-fi planet” on Google images, plugged one into Photoshop and the rest is history.

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To tell the truth, this is why I’ve never been entirely convinced that what I do counts as true toy photography. Sure, I take pictures of toys in the literal sense, but without any of the meticulous figure posing, brilliant shot compositions or practical effects that people like @sgtbananas, @x_captain_kaos_x, @workmoreorless and @swittpics have turned into art forms.

Haphazardly taking pictures of a single ship, only to copy/ paste it onto an internet background, isn’t exactly what I’d call art.

purposefully take a more “painterly” approach.

This means scouring the internet for that one landscape shot that just “speaks” to me—a process that can take days because if I can’t see the action unfold in my mind’s eye, I won’t download the image. I guess this is my equivalent to staring at a blank canvas until I nspiration comes.

Next, I’ll separate my ships from their original photos by hand, using just Photoshop’s eraser tool and my laptop’s trackpad. If that sounds crazy, it’s And yet, I desperately because it is. But it want it to feel like art, helps the whole if for no other reason process feel more than to compensate organic…like I’m for my lack of practical painting a picture magic. So, when instead of just clickI gear up to work on a ing options from a new post, I’ll drop-down menu.

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I’m not gonna lie, this all takes a ton of time and a fair amount of bathroom breaks. But it’s totally worth it when I can finally start adding effects: shadows, rust, burn marks, engine lights, reflections, dust in the air…every little detail brings the whole piece together and it’s extremely gratifying to see (and fun to do)!

And that’s why I love this community—everyone wunderstands the struggle and is so supportive…not to mention just downright inspiring!

Whenever I start to lose that toy photography fire, @avanaut will drop something unbelievable, or @forcedadphotography will post something so beautifully cinematic I can’t help but follow suit. Every time I scroll down my daily feed and see everyone’s latest masterpieces, I’m filled with the same sense of awe I felt when I first discovered toy photography. And then I think “there’s no way these are toys!” Quickly followed by “I want to do that too!”

BUT (and this is a big ‘but’), there’s no guarantee that all this time and effort will even pay off. In fact, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gotten 10+ hours into an edit, only to realize that it’s just not working out. So, I’ll scrap everything, scream into my pillow and spend the next couple of weeks trying to work up the mental/emotional resolve to try this whole rigmarole again. Maybe I’m just a drama queen, I don’t know. But when you want art, you sometimes have to suffer for it.

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“AND YET, I DESPERATELY WANT IT TO FEEL LIKE ART, IF FOR NO OTHER REASON THAN TO COMPENSATE FOR MY LACK OF PRACTICAL MAGIC”

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EXCLU NETWORK JASON YANG

@WORKMOREORLESS

SHAHZAD BHIWANDIWALA

@SBPHOTOGRAPHS1

SPENCER WITT

@SWITTPICS

Our incredible photography team have been hard at work creating some incredible content for their own feed’s but they’ve taken the time out of their schedules to work on a very special shoot that was designed to show 3 intepretations of a common narrative.

The narrative in question - “Death Becomes Us All Eventually “ - Slightly macarbe , but it was chosen to really challenge the team to create content

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outside of the norm and to challenge their creative process and the way that they approached the shoot.

Each of our team has compiled their shoot alongside an explanation of the process behind it and their thoughts on our presiding theme that runs throughout all 3 sets of images.

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This project has been a ton of fun and I have truly given it my all. I do hope you guys enjoy these images as much as I did in creating them. As always a big thanks to Exclu for making this happen.

It was pretty awesome to think outside the box while being constrained by a theme.

Bandai Tamashii Nations Red Guard and Boba Fett Death of an Immortal.

The title of the picture is pretty self explanatory. Boba Fett’s sudden and unceremonious end in the Return of

the Jedi was something of a shock that most Star Wars fan boys did not see coming. To the end that Disney made it official that everyone’s favorite bounty hunter did indeed survive the Sarlacc Pit. This inturn leaves us to give Boba Fett the adventures he deserved. Unfortunately this adventure is probably Boba’s very last.

In 2016 Bandai Tamashii Nations gave us the very cool and surreal Movie Realization line of figures where the Star Wars universe was re-imagined as a Japanese Fudeal era epic instead of a space opera. The picture here depicts Boba Fett meeting his end at the

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hands of a mysterious foe. Boba Fett is designed as a Ronin in this line of figures. A Ronin was a samurai with no master, to that end fitting him perfectly as a possible bounty hunter. Whether this foe bested Boba in combat or just dumb luck, I leave that to you the viewer. Boba Fett’s pose has been re-created staying typical to samurai culture where the samurai would try his very best to hold onto his katana till the very end. The colour scheme chosen is one that signifies the end with the smoke being a medium to convey death enveloping Boba. The smoke has been created using practical effects.

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SHAHZAD BHIWANDIWALA @SBPHOTOGRAPHS1 Diamond Select Toys Zombie Sabertooth Rebirth The figure used here is one from a grossly underrated line of figures done by Diamond Select, the Zombie Arc of Marvel Comics where a rogue virus converts everyone in the marvel universe into zombies.

Sabertooth to start with was never a nice guy. Being Logan aka Wolverine’s blood brother meant he too had the regenerative abilities and bone claws just as his younger brother. I have taken the liberty of taking the literal meaning of the theme as becoming a zombie is as good as being death incarnate.

The smoke and fire is aimed at capturing Sabertooth’s personality of being in your face. The compistion decision of a close crop was taken to have Sabertooth take over the frame showing how larger than life this super villain was.

Again, all the sfx you see are practical effects.

Hasbro Black Series Han Solo and Troopers Whacked The figures used here are the Hasbro Star Wars Han Solo (40th Anniversary Edition), Crimson Trooper (Imperial Forces 4 Pack Entertainment Earth Exclusive), Sandtrooper (White Pauldron) and Sandtrooper (Black Pauldron).

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The theme here is that death has finally caught up with the galaxy’s beloved smuggler, Han Solo and he’s about to meet his end in the woods in the middle of nowhere. I always wanted to know if Han had ever got himself into such a sticky situation early on in his career and am still hoping to see something like this in the anthology film.

The colour tone is rather muted and bleak to convey the feeling of impending doom with the exception of the Crimson Trooper that stands out as though he is death itself.

SPENCER WITT @SWITTPICS

Boba Fett / Sandtrooper Series: This was the first time that I had shot both my Hot Toys Collectibles figures together. This shot I have Boba Fett looking over a dead Sandtrooper.

I wanted it to be vague, as to whether Boba Fett is the one who killed the Trooper or if he just stumbled upon him. This flows perfect with the theme “Death beomes us all eventually.”

Throughout the Star Wars saga, Stormtroopers are the faceless army of the Empire. It wasn’t until Finn in The Force Awakens that one of the Stormtroopers actually was a main

character – besides the Clones in the Clone Wars. I would love a “Star Wars Story” from the perspective of a Storm Trooper squad. They too had lives, and it would awesome to learn about their perspective.

This series of photos, in essence, tries to capture that feeling. Does the Empire even care when one of their troopers died? Death becomes us all, even The Empire. Either Boba Fett just found the body, or he killed the Trooper. I can see Boba Fett working against the Empire too. He is a bounty hunter and will do work for whoever pays him the most.

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This series has three different shots, two that are similar, but one in black-and-white while the other in color. The other is shot from the back, with a tilted-angle. This shot has Boba Fett in focus, with the Trooper blurred.

This shot continues to add to the ambiguity whether Boba killed the Trooper or found him. To the Trooper it doesn’t matter if Boba killed him or he was already dead… death becomes us all eventually…

EXCLU

This figure is from Mezco’s One:12 line, which has become one of my favorite lines. These six-inch figures are highly detailed, pose-able, and have great detailed soft goods. They are almost miniature Hot Toys. This is a figure based from Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns.

many flaws. I really liked the visuals in the Knightmare sequence. It was cool to see Batman in this post-apocalyptic setting; I tried to capture the same mood using the Dark Knight Returns Batman figure. If you are unfamiliar with the Dark Knight Returns, it is an older-Batman coming out of retirement, and it is arguably the best Batman story.

This series is inspired by the “Knightmare” sequence of 2016’s highly controversial “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.” Many of you know that I am a major Star Wars fan. But you may not know, that I have also been a Batman fan my entire life.

And I actually enjoyed BvS, despite is

For this, I also think of a quote from the end of Mad Max: Fury Road - “Where must we go, we who wander this wasteland, in search of our better selves?” I tried to show that even Batman is wandering this world figuring out who he is, and where he belongs. Even Batman, Bruce Wayne,

Mezco Dark Knight Returns:

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will die. That’s what I like about the Dark Knight Returns. He is older. Worn down from years of experience. Close to death. But, he still comes back to be the Batman.

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JASON YANG

@WORKMOREORLESS Death - It’s something we’ve all pondered at least once in our lives. The uncertainty of what lies on the other side of this life makes for an interesting theme. Some see it as an end, while others feel that the afterlife is only the beginning. Regardless of your perspective, one thing is for sure - death is inevitable.

I enjoy trying to create tension in my shots while leaving some room for interpretation for the viewer. Doing so gives the photo more depth, allowing it to become its own narrative. For this series, “Death becomes us all, eventually”, my goal was to capture the moment leading right up to the end. I took inspiration from a quote attributed to Julius Caesar which reads, “I love the name of honor, more than I fear death.”.

As I was thinking through a concept for this series, I wanted to challenge myself a bit. It would have been easy to pull out a Rogue One Deathtrooper and call it a day since my go-to action figure line that I prefer to shoot is the Star Wars 6” Black Series. Limiting myself to what I had laying around proved to be more difficult than I originally thought.

However, I remembered winning an Acid Rain Bob “Bucks” Team 3.75” figure through an instagram giveaway, which I had yet to shoot - Bob was the perfect subject.

The sarlaac pit tentacles were taken from my Hot Toys Deluxe 1:6 Boba Fett, which until now, had never made it into any of my shots either. The details worked great with the scale of the figure, while the articulation allowed me to pose the figure in a dynamic way. I originally thought it would be interesting to add the rest of the beast connected to the tentacles but in the end, I chose to keep it open to interpretation.

To create the scene, I used my computer monitor as my background, which I like to call the Digirama technique. I chose a photo with some surreal, ominous clouds which helped bring some dramatic lighting for the scene. I then matched the color of the light in the cloud photo with a simple two light RGB LED bulb setup.

To capture the image, I shot with a 2.8 f-stop, at 0“6 shutter, ISO 100. I always shoot in RAW which allows quite a bit more control once I move my shots

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to my computer for post processing.

I chose to keep this image mostly in-camera by not including effects, or much color grading outside of the initial Photoshop import. I always like to achieve as much as as I can practically through the lens when possible.

I’m pleased with how this shot turned out as it was a bit of a departure from my usual approach. If anything this project led me to be a bit more creative with my concept and resources. In order to grow, I think it is important to continuously challenge ourselves both creatively and technically.

40 CUSTOM 6” REX FIGURE CRAFTED BY ISAIAH TAKAHASHI

THANK THE MAKER ISAIAH TAKAHASHI @BLKSRS

We’ve always strived to show off the process’s and behind the scenes work that goes into creating the images that form up the content of our community but never before have we had the opportunity to go to to the level as we are now.

Its all thanks to Isaiah Takahashi who we first worked with back in Issue 2 and this time he is back to show-off his incredible custom 6” Captain Rex

figure that really blew us away we first saw it. Isaiah breaks down the entire process from the planning , to the 3D modelling and printing through to the embroidery and paint application in what has to be one of the best examples of a custom figure that we have ever seen and its really to Isaiah’s credit that he has taken the time to share his process with the community.

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

SPECIAL FEATURE

I must be honest. I only started watching Clone Wars a little over a month ago when I heard it might be leaving Netflix. Before that, I could’ve cared less, and I knew nothing about Captain Rex. Even still, as of finishing this figure, I’m only halfway through Season 4! My eyes have been opened to my ignorance though, and I’m loving it!

THE PROCESS

Once I started watching I knew I had to create my own Rex figure.

I just had to think about how I was going to go about it. I’ve broken the process down into 4 stages that I’ll be sharing with you. I’d like to also thank the team here at Exclu for giving me a platform to share with you. Hope you enjoy it!

STEP 1 : 3D MODELING & PRINTING If there’s one theme throughout this entire project that rings true, it’s that I have no actual talent with my hands. Of course, I’d love to be able to sculpt and paint like so many amazing artists in our community, but it’s just not within my ability.

On the other hand, I’m pretty handy with 3d modeling as well as classic design.

My initial thought was to just do a Phase 1 Rex. I’d model his pauldron, holsters, and blasters. I’d then paint his helmet and stripes, add a kama, and call it a day.

Once I started researching more and realized that Rex’s Phase 2 armor was so unique and awesome looking, I knew I’d have to pull out all the stops and model his helmet as well. Now the fun begins.

The first step was to scan in the actual Phase 1 clone trooper body as reference for size and scale. Using a regular photo scanner, and scanning in at 300 DPI, you get close to true scale and helps you with final sizing. For the 3D Modeling I used 3DS Max.

Isaiah first featured with us back in Issue 2 with an incredible array of shots such as this exclusive snap of Commander Cody contemplating his recent order...

EXCLU Helmet : For those that don’t know, Rex’s Phase 2 helmet is a combination of the Phase 1 and 2 helmet. I used a basic Phase 2 helmet as the starting point.

Reworked most of the geometry, as well as added in his Optics and the differences in his visor and faceplate.

Pauldron : This one took me a couple of tries. Using as much reference as I could find online. Including screenshots of the show, as well as the amazing Sideshow version of Rex I came up with this final model.

Belt and Holsters : This one also took a few tries. My first attempt actually had the kama (skirt?) built in with the holsters. Even though this did actually fit, it was far too restricting. I ended up modeling a completely new belt with space for a cloth kama and holsters built in.

Blasters : These were fun! Similar to scanning in the figure, I also scanned in a regular Black Series pistol to use as size and scale reference. Then modelled Rex’s DC-17 pistol on top. .

Next step was to send it off to the printers and hope for the best! For this, I used the amazing service Shapeways.com. I’m sure many of you have heard of them.

They offer many amazing materials and great pricing. Be sure to check them out! A week or two later and I have my prints! Feels like Christmas morning when you open that box!

“FEELS LIKE CHRISTMAS MORNING WHEN YOU OPEN THAT BOX!”

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STEP 2 : PAINTING

Continuing the theme of me not having any real skills, my main concern this entire project was how I was going to be able to paint those tiny details on Rex’s helmet. As I was considering my options, as well as possible alternatives, an idea popped into my head. An idea that initially came from my sister Faith (you’ll hear more about her later). Waterslide decals! Anyone who has ever done any sort of scale modeling knows at least a little something about these. As I started researching a bit more about it, I realized this could be a real solution for me.

Let’s do it!

Materials. There are a few necessary things you’ll need for this to be successful.

The first or course being the actual paper. There are so many different kinds, it was a bit overwhelming at first. I ended up finding some on Amazon that worked with my printer and did not require any extra steps after printing. The next two things you’ll need are optional, but in reality, are an absolute MUST. They pretty much are the only reason this ended up working out in the first place. They are Micro Set and Micro Sol from the company Microscale Industries. They specialize in high-end waterslide decals and solutions.

This company is actually local to me. They really helped me out when I was having a hard time finding these solutions. If you are interested at all in this technique be sure to check them out at Microscale.com.

Ok, so now we have our materials. Next step is designing our decals. Using reference, a ruler, and after many test prints, I was able to get the stripes the size I wanted them. Also, since I already had the 3D model of Rex’s helmet, I was able to use that as reference to get the scale and placement of his face paint exactly where I wanted it. After all is said and done, I have a nice sheet of decals ready to be applied. I hope this works…

Next step, base paint. The prints were cleaned and lightly sanded. Next was primer, a few coats of paint, and then a clear varnish.

Unfortunately, this was all done by brush. In the future, it would be nice to use an airbrush, but for now brushing worked just fine.

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This ended up working out better than I ever could’ve imagined and really opened my eyes to new possibilities in the future.

Ok, figure is ready for decals! Here are the steps as I understand them : Step one: Cut out the decal as closely to the edge as possible.

Step two: Dip in water for a few seconds.

Step three: Slather a bunch of Micro Set onto the model where the decal will be placed. This solution softens the decal a bit, as well as helps with adhesion.

Step four: Apply the decal and nudge until it’s in place. Let dry.

Step five: Apply Micro Sol on top of decal. Let dry. This solution softens the decal even more and allows it to conform to the surface below. This step can be done as many times as it takes.

Step six: Once completely dried and cured, clean the model, let dry, and finish with another couple coats of varnish.

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STEP 3 : WEATHERING After the figure is painted, decaled, and sealed I move onto the weathering stage. I’ve done this technique a few times with some other figures. I stumbled across it on a YouTube video from Chris Stanley, Cosplay Chris.

It uses shoe polish and a towel, and has been my go to since. I’m sure there are better ways of doing it, but this has worked for me. It’s pretty simple actually.

Step One: Slather on a bunch of polish.

Step Two: Wipe it off. I’ve come to find the more time you spend on this stage, the better the result. Take your time and just keep repeating the steps until you get the look you want. Here are a few of the pieces before, during and after weathering:

Its amazing to see the difference a lit bit of weather can have on a figure like this and it really helps it to have a more imposing presence in any photoshoot.

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STEP 4 : FINAL TOUCHES almost there! One of the final pieces that AND ASSEMBLY We’re needed to be completed was the Kama (Skirt?).

This could not have been done without the help of my ultra-talented sister, Faith. A few of you in the community know her, and If you don’t, you can find her on her Instagram @FaithandProvidence.

She specializes in custom handcrafted everything!

Whether it be sewing, leather, ceramics, food, or woodwork, she’s your girl.

She was kind enough to carve some time out of her busy schedule for her little brother and make me a custom stitched kama. It only took her a couple tries. Now all I had to do was glue the kama into place, and finish off putting all the pieces together!

“I’M SURE THERE ARE BETTER WAYS OF DOING IT, BUT THIS HAS WORKED FOR ME...”

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48 AN EXCLU EXCLUSIVE @BLKSRS

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THE FINAL MAKE

REPORTING IN

This process was incredibly fun, as well as a huge learning experience for me. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without the encouragement and support of my good friends and fellow C3PBros Jason @Workmoreorless, and Spencer @Swittpics. Both of which you all know well by now. Also, a huge thank you to my wife for being so supportive and letting me make a huge mess on the dining room table for a few weeks, love you! Lastly, thank you again to the awesome team at Exclu for the opportunity to share this with the community! I leave you with a few exclusive shots of Captain Rex, complete! Cheers my friends!

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THE SIDESHOW INTERVIEW DAVID IGO FROM SIDESHOW COLLECTIBLES @SIDESHOWCOLLECTIBLES Recently we had the incredible opportunity to get a behind the scenes insight into the creative process of Sideshow Collectibles as we got to chat with David Igo - Sideshow Collectibles Art Director of Licensed Products.

We also talk about how Sideshow are able to work with a whole host of characters and licenses that have allowed them to become one of the most respected and appreciated toy manufacturers .

David talks us through the things that make Sideshow so special as a company and as a component of the Toy community particularly our own being so creative as it is .

Alongside our chat with David we were lucky enought to get an inside look at the work the team does to ready their subjects for the camera courtesy of some exclusive behind the scenes shots from the Sideshow studio.

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EXCLU ourselves “Are we doing this right? Can we do this better, or smarter?” We’re always pushing ourselves to do better and evolve, never sitting still…

EXCLU: Would you agree that community Toy Photography is quickly becoming a vital part of fan interaction?

Photography has always been a HUGE way for fans to see what we’re up to. One of my 3D modeling instructors told us “Light is one of the most important aspects of modeling, because without light, you can’t see what you’re doing!” same goes for photography. Without it, the vast majority of our collectors would never see, or know, what we’re making.

It shines a light on our world.

Hey! Thank you for talking to us please do introduce yourself and tell us your story.

My name is David Igo, and I’m the Art Director of Licensed Products here at Sideshow HQ. I grew up as an 80’s cartoon kid, and drew all the freaking time, and I knew that I wanted to draw for a living by 4th grade. I went to college to learn 2D and 3D animation with an emphasis on 3D modeling, and got a job in the Toy Industry about 10 years ago as a designer. I have been working at Sideshow for the last 7 years.I also like AT-AT’s, Venom, Game of Thrones, and pizza…

What makes Sideshow stand out in the Toy Industry?

What I love about Sideshow is their pursuit of quality and their self-analyzing, super-critical nature. As a company, we’re always asking

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How do you think Toy Photography is perceived by the wider popular culture community?

Sadly, I think a lot of people take it for granted, because good photography doesn’t shout out “HEY LOOK AT ME!” it shows off the collectible in the best way possible, and almost goes unnoticed, which is a shame. Hopefully that will change.

The work we see these days on Instagram in particular is awesome!

I think that’s shining a light on the industry in a whole new way.

We have an awesome in-house photography department here at Sideshow HQ, and without them, we wouldn’t be able to showcase our work in such an awesome way.

We’ve produced 2 books highlighting our photography, called “Capturing Archetypes – The Art of Sideshow” and it’s an awesome way to celebrate and share what that team does.

What are some of your favorite projects that you’ve worked on at Sideshow?

I’m a HUGE 80’s cartoon kid, so a lot of recent products have come from that era, like our new Voltron Maquette, Masters of the Universe 1:5 scale line, and our Teenage Mutant Turtle statue line… I’ve loved working on those, they made me feel like a kid again. We have so much more coming up that I really wish I could tell you about!

It’s like my life went full nerd circle… it’s hard to think what can top those projects for me, my dream project, maybe a 1:6 scale Rancor… mmmm……

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What would you say are some of the defining moments from Sideshows history?

Hiring David Igo was definitely the biggest earth-shaker (laughs) but in all honesty, one of the biggest defining moments during my time at Sideshow has been our transition to a more heavy digital sculpting pipeline.

Digital sculpting opens up so many opportunities to work with so many great artists around the world, and gives us so much more control with the fidelity in our sculptures as well as having control over pose and sizing, it’s just unreal!

We’ve taken big steps over the last 2-3 years, and we keep learning and growing and improving how we work.

Finding that balance between traditional and digital sculpture and bringing out the best from both worlds. It’s still not perfect, but we’re leaps and bounds ahead of where we were when I first started here, it’s nuts. We still use traditional sculpting in a lot of our work, but having both is obviously the best.

“THE WORK WE SEE THESE DAYS ON INSTAGRAM IN PARTICULAR IS AWESOME! I THINK THAT’S SHINING A LIGHT ON THE INDUSTRY IN A WHOLE NEW WAY”

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Give us a rough overview of how a project looks from conceptualizing to finalizing

project from idea to the small-run collectibles ready to go out to our fellow fans and collectors.

We always start with an idea, what do we want to make? Once we figure that out, we start with the design, and that can either be a 2D illustration, a rough sculpture (digital or traditional), or a mix of the two.

Once the design is locked, we move the project through development – sculpt, mold and cast, paint, cut & sew, back to paint etc. until we finally have a finished prototype.

The whole journey is full of challenges, but it’s a labor of love... we do this ‘cos we love it. Everyone here is a fan first. You can’t fake that.

That whole process is a real team effort that can take months or even years. A whole crew of people bouncing a design around to make the best possible piece, all lead by an Art Lead and a Project Manager to make sure things are as awesome (and as produce-able!) as they can be.

The project then goes to photography for our online gallery, and then off to production overseas. We’re with it every step of the way, overseeing production, quality control, everything you can imagine to take a

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Where is the best place to stay up to date on all things Sideshow?

Our website (www.sideshow.com) has some really awesome galleries with photos of our products that get updated weekly. You can also sign up online for our newsletters and emails which not only have the most up-to-date news but lots of opportunities for contests and giveaways.

Our blog is a good place to get the latest photos and product updates as well. Also, you should totally be following us on social media and checking out our weekly Facebook Livestream for sneak peeks at prototypes, videos, interviews and all that good stuff.

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

ARTIST FEATURE

ONE MAN AND HIS FIGURES TONY MILLS

@PASSAGE2ALDERAAN Some photographers have such a natural instinct behind the lens that allows them to capture their subject in their own tone and style whilst still being true to the characters.

he touches on both the staples of the community - namely Star Wars - whilst also covering cult characters These hark back to an age when horror and grit ruled the silver screen such as Alien and Dredd who were at their peak which all come together to form a really impressive body of work which shows just why Tony is one of the community’s best.

One such photographer who has this knack is Tony Mills and as evidenced in his shoot here-in really has got it down to a T. We fell in love with Tony’s Issue 4 content as soon as we saw it as

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59 THE HERMIT TONY MILLS

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“I DONT WANT TO WATCH PETE’S DRAGON! I WANT TO WATCH THAT!”

Hi my name is Tony Mills and I’m a 43yr old father of 3 and soon to be granddad from Portsmouth, England and I play with Dolls (the Missus told me to say that) I didn’t know how to really start this so I’ll go right back to the 70’s when I was only a few years old. My mother took me to our local cinema to watch Disney’s Pete’s dragon and I remember protesting outside, pointing at a poster and saying that ‘I don’t want to watch Pete’s Dragon, I want to watch that’. That Movie was of course Star Wars and as a very small boy this film must of made a huge impression on me as for as long as I can remember I have had a passion for this film and it’s characters. Growing up through the 80s with films such as The Empire strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Aliens, Predator and The Terminator to name a few, my love for Film and science-fiction only grew stronger and so with this came the desire to collect characters from these films. These collections started with Kenner Star Wars figures and vehicles during my childhood years to collecting and building kits from the likes of Billiken, halcyon & Ertl as a teenager and into my early 20s.

Following the birth of my first daughter and the release of the original PlayStation, collecting fell by the wayside as I got more into gaming and the challenges of being a father. It wasn’t until my early 30s that I starting collecting again; mostly Star Wars statues, busts and pr op replicas. During this period my collection was always evolving, until around 4 years ago when I finally found my love for 1/6 scale figures.

Tony show’s that he is more then comfortable working alongside a variety of lisence’s stemmed from his childhood films from Star Wars to Alien.

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Then when one day I was browsing Sideshows blog and came across a stunning image of a Hot Toys DX11 joker in a sea of orange flowers. I had never seen figures used in this way and had to know more about this image so after a bit of searching I found the instagram account @mossallthetime. The photos of figures out in the wild blew me away and although I had never previously had any interest in social media, I immediately made an account so that I could follow him and enjoy his photos.

I quickly discovered that there were many more super talented toy photographers out there such as @az_x_famouz @avanaut @sgtbananas @x_captain_kaos_x to name just a few and not to mention a huge army of 1/6 collectors all showing off their figures.

I had never considered photographing my collection but started to take and post pictures of my own figures. They were crude at first just, taken on a shelf with my phone, but as time went on and with a daily stream of inspiring photos I was inspired to take better pictures myself.

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I started experimenting with different angles and backgrounds to try and produce a good-looking image rather than just show off the figure.

For some of my featured shots I decided to try something a little out of my comfort zone and experimented with different light sources, I am really happy with the results. Moving forward I would like In January 2016 I decided to treat to continue sharing my growing myself to a DSLR so that I could take collection of 1/6 figures whilst more creative pictures and with a few improving and developing my tips from my photographer sister my photography skills and techniques. pictures started to improve. I don’t I would also like to start taking my think I’ve really found my style yet, figures out into the wild to try some although I do tend to lean towards outdoor photography. close up profile shots to capture the details of the figures.

Before I go I would like to thank the huge community of toy I use a macro lens most of the time photographers and collectors on and like to shoot in natural light.

Instagram who inspire me everyday I tend not to edit any of my photos and especially those who take the so what you see is the original image time to like and comment on my captured. I really don’t consider posts. I really do appreciate your myself to be a photographer, just a comments and support. collector with a nice camera and I feel extremely privileged to be featured here amongst so many talented photographers/artists.

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THE JACKALX INTERVIEW ETHAN TANG - JACKALX W W W. J A C K A L X . C O M A recent newcomer to our community, JackalX are a toy manufacturer based in Malaysia and we predict big things from the small team who have already sold out on pre-orders of their upcoming debut release Sgt. John Reese. Not satisfied with simply creating a figure, JackalX have gone one step further and created a full narrative to compliment their figure and to show that they really mean

business when it comes to operating in the brimming toy industry.

We talk to founder and creative director Ethan Tang who has dedicated a huge amount of his time to get JackalX off the ground and in a position to release their debut figure as shown throughout the interview and we cannot wait to see it up close and personal towards the end of the year.

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Both Aaron and I have no choice but to self funded JackalX ourselves at the moment. We mortgaged our homes to get the fund to jump start JackalX , and with our wife and kids breathing down our neck, homeless is the last thing we have in mind. Failure is not definitely an option here...haha .

Secondly, the original storyboard, design and idea took time and resources to develop. We do not have big design team and huge budget as other big toy company, movie studios or game developers. We only have a very thin line to walk on.

After many trials and errors, it took us approximately 19 months to get John Reese from conceptual idea to prototype and finally, a production worthy figure collectible.

Special features of the 1/6th scale John Reese Collectible Figure:

Introduce yourself and tell us your story.

Hi. I’m Ethan Tang. I’m the founder and the creative director of JackalX. It started in a humble beginning. I had the idea of JackalX way back in 2010. It was the same year that I founded my online toy store, Toypanic (www.Toypanic.com).

Since it was a new kid on the block at that time, I’d focused 110% of my time and energy into Toypanic. It was a challenging time then, juggling between Toypanic and a demanding full time job. I wouldn’t use the word ‘tough’ as in a way, I kind of enjoyed these up and down experiences.

Looking back, I guess PASSION did play a big part. It gave us the extra miles we needed so badly. Well I guess Steve Job was right all along...

By 2012, as the business grew, I decided to take the plunge by resigning and going

full time on Toypanic . At the same time, I’d also engaged an old buddy of mine, Aaron to be my co-founder. Together we worked our butt off to bring Toypanic to what it is today.

As Toypanic is stabling down, the little friendly guy called “comfort zone” is slowly creeping up and I’m not keen on falling into it. I knew the time was right and I wanted to challenge myself to something new. Something challenging.

Something that I longed since I was a little kid.

So JackalX was officially born. It was August 2015.

This time, the word ‘challenging’ is an understatement. It was a total eye opener.

First and foremost, the design and development alone were very costly, not mentioning the later part of mass production. It required a deep pocket.

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- Body with over 30 points of articulations - Approximately 30 cm tall - One (1) pair of gloved hands - One (1) X8 tech helmet - One (1) magnetic face armor Costume: - One (1) army combat shirt - One (1) ACU pants - One (1) assault vest - One (1) tactical backpack - One (1) duty belt - One (1) pair of assault shoes - One (1) Betty’s scarf Accessory: - One (1) tactical gloves - Four(4) utility pouches - Two (2) JXR-14 mag pouches - Three (3) JXR-14 mags - One (1) drop leg panel - One (1) tactical holster platform - One (1) shotgun shell bag holder - One (1) set of shotgun shells - One (1) pair of knee pads - One (1) tactical lanyard Weapon: - One (1) JXR-14 assault rifle - One (1) JXR-14 suppressor - One (1) JXR-14 multi-purpose grip - One (1) XM1040 shotgun - One (1) T-widow maker revolver - One (1) T-widow maker suppressor - One (1) T-widow maker scope - One (1) T-widow maker infrared unit - One (1) pair of EX-2 exo arms - Two (2) frag grenades - Two (2) EMP grenades

EXCLU What are you goals for JackalX? I’m a collector myself. I like military elements and I love science fictions with futuristic ideas. I would love to be able to provide collectors with range of collectibles that have the combination of these attributes. Our first series Ophiuchus: Dawn of Humanoid (backstory is available at http://jackalx.com/#Ophiucus), which John Reese’s character is based upon. At the moment, I’m focusing to have a new 1/6 figure release every quarter.

The way we created the universe of Ophiuchus: DOH gives us many possibilities to scale and to stretch our imagination to the limit. Having said that, one of the goals is to expand of Ophiuchus: DOH into scaled mechas, vehicles and aircrafts.

Last but not the least, I will not rule out if opportunity knocks on the door, I want to bring Ophiuchus: DOH to printed media (eg: comics, novels, board games) and broadcast media (eg: cartoons, anime, tv series, movies). Who knows few years down the road, JackalX might be following the same footstep as Hasbro and Lego. The companies that bring their own products to the big screen.

What makes you stand out in the Toy Industry?

Firstly, I want to offer a ‘wow’ factor to collectors. Today, I’m combining both modern military and science fiction elements into our storyboard as well as the figure design.

It gives both our storyboard and figure the futuristic look and yet it stays grounded to our modern day elements. Imagine mixing the rugged look of military and the sophistication of science fiction, that equals to ‘wow’.

Secondly, it is the uniqueness. Take John Reese for an instance. There will be only 1 John Reese. You will never find another different version or scale of John Reese from other companies.

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How do you utilize Toy Photography as part of your marketing?

Toy photography is a dynamic art, it creates flow and story in just one particular shot. If you combine both toy photography and the power of social media, it can create amazing result. I won’t deny that, it is considered as one of our best marketing tool today.

For our marketing strategy, we already have few toy photographers that are eager to take John Reese as their subject, however due to the availability of our prototype (it can’t go to 2 places at the same time), we should be able to see their masterpiece work on John Reese in the coming months.

How do you think Toy Photography is perceived by the wider popular culture community?

I think no one can stop a trend. Today I’m seeing a very positive and encouraging anticipation from toy collectors showcasing their skill in toy photography. This is made possible with available social media platforms, accessibility to digital medias such as Photoshop and affordable digital cameras.

It’s one of the best thing that happens to collector communities. Whether other culture communities going to accept it or not, I bet my money, toy photography is here to stay.

If Stan Lee and Robert Downey Jr are already embracing them, I don’t see why others can’t.

What are some of the defining moments from JackalX’s history?

JackalX debuted at Toysoul Hong Kong in Dec 2016. It was also the 1st time that we fully reveal John Reese as a prototype to the world. A total of 16 months of blood and sweat was poured into making this a reality.

I can’t describe it as nervous. It was more like nervous, thrill, exhilaration and steroid thrown in together. I still remember vividly, the 1st visitor that came to our booth and told us this was exactly the figure that he has been looking for. I could have rolled on the floor, jumped up and run down the aisle for joy, if no one is watching at that time . If that’s not the defining moment for JackalX, I don’t know what is...

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EXCLU Give us some backstory on your Sergeant John Reese figure? How did that all come about?

John Reese is a decorated war veteran from HRF (Human Resistance Force) in the X-2 War. In a nutshell, X-2 War is the war between the humans and the humanoids, which was won by the latter. After the war, the human rebels formed a new resistance force code name HRF2, and John Reese was part of this new resistance.

He was 38 years old and hailed from Eugene, Sector 2 (Old Oregon). John was the youngest person to obtain the rank as Sergeant in the 6th Special Squad. His first humanoid kill was taken during the initial of X2-War. During sabotage period, he shot an old lady humanoid who carried C-4 approaching his team. An unofficial report showed that she was cradling a toddler in her other hand. John Reese later stated, “That lady was already a dead. I wasn’t going to let her to take any of my team members with her. It is my duty to protect my people and the children on the nearby street. It was a tough decision to make, but my conscious is clear”.

At the end, John Reese and his surviving team were able to get rid of all the danger threats. Throughout the process, he was shot twice and 3 of his team members were killed.

For his heroic and selfless act, he was honored with 3 Eagle Claws Medals. It was the highest award for bravery by military personnel in Sector 2.

Due to his military expertise, John was top in the wanted list by the enemy. After keeping him under constant surveillance for months by the Humanoid Intelligence, John was ambushed at his home. Even though he was rescued by the HRF2 team, John sustained critical injuries and was in a coma for 6 months. After John woke up, he was crushed by the news that his beloved wife, Betty was killed in the midst of crossfire. She was 7 months pregnant. John was only able to retrieve her bloody scarf, his last remaining keepsake of Betty.

He would wear the scarf on every battle as redemption to himself, a reminder why he was fighting the war.

To make it little dramatic, in actual production, we will add in a subtle touch of blood stain effect on the scarf.

Personally, I’m an avid reader and a movie junkie so I drew many inspirations from what I read and see. Other topics such as human dynamics, history, politics and world events are my interests too. “Why there is a war, what pushed human into the extreme, what motivate a soldier in battlefield knowing each day would be their last, how a different cause would trigger a different chain of effect, who’s to blame in the total mess we are living today” and so on, those are some of the questions that always amaze me.

By intertwining all these topics and questions into the backstory, I hope it would be able to create the realism and collectors are able to feel connected to them.

What can we expect to see from you in 2017?

So far the reception on John Reese has been amazing, it has far exceeded our initial expectation. Our heartfelt thanks to all of our fans and collectors for their support. Without them, there wouldn’t be JackalX. Having said that, besides John Reese, I have another 2 figures in the pipeline for end of this year which is based of Ophiuchus: DOH series. I just can’t wait to reveal it to our fellow fans and collectors. Fingers crossed.

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70 THE MASTER CHIEF SHOT BY MATT HEYWOOD

THE MATT OF ALL TRADES MATT HEYWOOD @HEYWOODPOP

A natual born collaborator and all round great guy , Matt Heywood is just one example of the toy communities spirit. We’ve had the priviledge to work with Matt on various projects over the past few months from exclusive shoots to unboxing reviews and it all culminates in a really diverse shoot for Issue 4.

Pop which is were Matt really emerged as a toy photographer through to Star Wars figures utilising the digirama technique.

If youre looking for a developing portfolio of varied content from gaming to film characters then Matt Heywood is the photographer you need to be keeping a close eye on.

Working alongside a whole host of licenses and figure lines from Funko

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

ARTIST FEATURE

Hi, I’m Matt Heywood, and I’m addicted to toys and toy photography.

Many of you probably know me by my name on Instagram — @heywoodpop — but now it’s time to meet the man behind the handle, or camera, or you get the point.

I must first say that I’m extremely humbled and almost shocked that I was asked to be featured in Exclu Collective’s fourth issue of its online and soon-to-be print magazine. While I’ve been collecting toys since birth, I never thought to take pictures with them, but thanks to the creative types on Instagram I was motivated to try my hand at the hobby.

Before I dive into my journey as an amateur toy photographer I just want to fill you in a little bit about myself. Currently I’m a professor at a community college in Columbus, OH, and I also own and operate the geek entertainment site EntertainmentBuddha.com, where my team and I strive everyday to make humans better geeks, one post at a time. My two careers keep me busy, but they also have afforded me the time to test out new hobbies, which ultimately led to my obsession with photographing toys in creative ways.

I’m a huge geek and have been one since it wasn’t cool to be one. Star Wars is a major, if not the most impactful influence on my life, which is reflected in the toys I collect, as well as the toys I like to shoot. That galaxy from a far away place has shaped my person in every way possible, and has led to a lifelong love affair with the franchise, but also led me to my other preferences in life. Growing up in the 80’s I consumed every major sci-fi franchise in sight, which included the likes of the Alien films, Star Trek movies, the Predator films, Ghostbusters, Thundercats, Voltron, and pretty much any other bit of awesome from that era.

All of these films and their characters helped to contribute to my creative side, which quite frankly I kept under wraps for most of my life. I was very focused on making my parents proud when I was younger, so my main goal was to do well in school, get a degree, then get a high paying job in corporate America. I did achieve this goal, but like I said it was at the expense of exploring my inner creativity.

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As I reflect on this past year writing this piece, I’m extremely glad that I did, because toy photography, and the communities that support it, have changed my life for the better.

I never thought I’d reach a level where people would even like my work, let alone get featured in this awesome magazine, so the past year has been one full of growth and discovery, and it has humbled me greatly.

EXCLU

RONIN BOBA FETT

BY BANDAI

Matt has shown his proficiency across a whole host of figures from his origins in Pop photographer to his evolving portfolio of expanded lines.

After seven years in the game I retired and took my current teaching gig, and I also started EntertainmentBuddha.com, which when I look back on it was the start of my creative journey that has ultimately led me to this moment and magazine feature.

Sorry to bore you with my personal details, but I think knowing a bit of my backstory will help you understand the type of toy photographer that I am. And honestly, I’m still uncomfortable even calling myself a toy photographer, because outside of studying the masters on Instagram and asking questions on how certain shots were pulled off, I am all self taught. This encompasses using a DSLR camera, as well as the digital editing side for post processing. I’ve never been officially taught either discipline, which probably shows to the trained eye, but thanks to my love of all things fantastical, I’ve found that letting my brain flex its creative muscles has helped me to learn the tricks I’ve needed to look somewhat like I know what I’m doing.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve put in hundreds of hours this past year practicing this craft we call toy photography. I started with my iPhone 6 Plus taking pictures of my massive Funko Pop collection, which I’ve been amassing since 2010 when they first hit the market.

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My Pop collection is actually what got me interested in the hobby in the first place, because after seeing a few other accounts post pictures of them, I knew I had to do the same just to show my love of them to the world.

Pops actually make for interesting subjects.

For starters, they’re absolutely adorable, and yes I still feel manly after typing that. I’ve always loved the super deformed art style, or the chibi-style if you will, so naturally Funko’s Pop line was an instant hit with my artistic tastes. Yes, toys can be art, just look at some of the photos in this magazine. Anyway, Pops really are fun to shoot because they’re pretty easy to pose, which is a very frustrating process for other collectible lines like the Black Series Star Wars figures, which I’ll touch on in a bit. With that being said though, making Pops come to life through photography is a challenge because they lack any sort of posability outside of the turning of their heads.

You can’t really get action poses out of them, so most of the time you’re taking a portrait shot, which is a great way to learn how to use a more advanced camera like a DSLR. After maximizing what I could do with my iPhone 6 Plus I did plunk down some cash on a Canon 80D, which really changed my approach to toy photography, while also improving my pictures by leaps and bounds.

Like I said using Pops for portrait pics really helped me to figure out the settings of my new DSLR, which is a requirement if you want to produce the best possible pictures. Owning this type of camera taught me about the importance of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, and how all three settings can drastically affect your shot. It also allowed me to get more creative with my shoots, so after securing the Canon 80D last May, I was off to the races and haven’t looked back.

“I WAS OFF TO THE RACES AND HAVENT LOOKED BACK!”

For most of 2016 I only shot Funko Pops. I’m talking hundreds of them. I would shoot them around my house, which I implore you to try out, because you don’t have to live in an exotic location to produce otherworldly looking shots. I would even go so far to say that in the end an imagination is more important to a photographer than a high-end camera. You have to be able to dream up scenarios for your subjects based on your surroundings, especially if you’re someone who predominantly shoots outside like me. Trust me, I live in the boring Midwest, which lacks breathtaking locations to shoot in, but with my imagination I’ve been able to turn my own backyard into the forests of Endor, or the ice fields of Hoth by looking within myself, and not at my meager surroundings.

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EXCLU Although, if this is a hobby you want to dabble in, I do recommend taking your camera and a bag of your favorite toys with you on vacations, or even to other areas of your city. You never know what type of image you can cook up based where you’re at, so I do encourage you to pack your bags with toys wherever you may go. Trust me, you’ll feel like you’re five due to packing toys in your bag to entertain you, but it will pay off. I really started to produce decent shots after bringing a few boxes of Funko Pops to the beach, which in turn helped me to create even better ones after I left.

Once the fall of 2016 rolled around and I started to gain a small following on Instagram I started to dabble in a few of the other toy communities on the service.

I have to say that by participating in photo sessions each night and morning not only did my skills as a toy photographer improve, but so did my appreciation for the hobby as a whole. I was blown away by what people were doing with their toy collections, which led me to wanting to expand my horizons.

I love my Pops, and still enjoy shooting them, because they really are great little subjects, but after seeing what people were doing with action figures, I had to try my hand at it. This became a costly adventure, because it led me to scour the earth for old 6-inch Star Wars Black Series figures, which can cost a pretty penny, and then the obsession expanded to even higher-end toy lines such as the S.H. Figuarts brand, and the masterful looking Star Wars Samurai series from Bandai.

You just need to always be practicing this hobby, because every session you participate in will only lead to new discoveries and techniques that ultimately start to shape you into someone who may look like they know what they’re doing.

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After dropping way more money than I’d like to admit I had built up a pretty massive collection of 1:12 scale Star Wars figures, so I put Pop shots on the back burner and got to work trying to create some art with my new toys. At first, I found shooting figures to be a very, very frustrating experience.

Trying to get these damn things posed and in place so you can shoot them before they fall over is a task that can break the best of us, but when you do pull of an amazing shot, the pain of the experience quickly fades away.

I spent most of the winter of 2017 indoors practicing with lighting, staging, and posing. I found indoor shoots to allow for even more creativity than outdoor ones, because you can control the scenery with dioramas and lighting, so I instantly became a fan of the indoor shooting process.

This then led to me trying the art of digirama, which I was inspired to do by Exclu’s resident indoor toy photography expert, Jason Yang. He posted a behind-the-scenes look at how he uses a display screen for backdrops while also By shooting action figures I began to hone my craft even influencing light with colored bulbs and other tricks he’s more, so like I said earlier you should practice as often as cooked up. I loved the idea of being able to pull up the possible because you will improve and learn new techniques background of an Imperial cruiser, or Dagobah’s swamp on that will start to make your shots look like you know an my iMac’s screen, because it would allow me to get even inkling about what is going on. more imaginative with my setups since I could literally take my toys to a galaxy far, far away from my man-cave.

My figure obsession led to me getting out of my comfort zone Shooting in this style also really helped me to learn more of only shooting outdoors, because some of the dioramas about lighting, and how key lights, fill lights, and background out there for Star Wars 1:12 figures are to die for, so I had to lights all need to work hand in hand to pull of a great looking procure them and try to cook up even more creative looking shot. By practicing in this medium I once again added a few shots than I had been doing. I went for a set of Space Walls more skills to my growing toy photography toy belt, so as from GTP Toys, and the rest was history.

I’ve been saying throughout this article — practice, practice, practice — it will only make you better.

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EXCLU It’s very rewarding to participate in these communities, which are great at making you feel welcome and special, but also at helping you learn. There is no doubt that these communities and the toy photographers that inhabit them are what led to my growth, and they’ll continue to motivate me to improve. I’ve since started practicing much more on the digital editing side, which has helped me to create even more creative looking shots.

I still do all my edits on my iPhone, which you pros will find to be lunacy, but I just love the convenience. One day I may have to plunk down some cash for Photoshop, but for now I’m going to keep getting by with a few apps that are easy to sue and can allow you to get as creative as your brain will let you get.

If you’re someone just starting out in toy photography, or want to improve your skills and following, I recommend the following tips: • Don’t focus on what you don’t have, do the best you can with what is in front of you. This applies to your gear, as well as your shooting locations.

• Practice makes perfect. As lame as that sounds it’s so very true for this hobby.

• Allow yourself to become a kid again.

Try to channel the days when you use to play with your toys and made up scenarios in your mind while doing so. Imagination is everything.

• Participate in the various toy photography sessions on Instagram to build a following, but more importantly to feel the warm embrace of the community. It will make you a better photographer, and it may also give you faith that not all people suck on social media.

• Eventually invest in a DSLR camera.

While they’re not mandatory to excel at this hobby they do give you so many more options to work with that there is no way your photography won’t improve with one.

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve DM’d other photographers to ask how they pulled off a certain effect, or what settings they use for their cameras.

I just want to thank the Exclu Collective one more time for this opportunity, because it is very humbling. I’ll never consider my work to be the best, but that’s just me, so I’m honored that other people think I’m somewhat competent at what I do. I also want to thank all of my fellow toy photographers on Instagram, without you toy maniacs there’s no way I’d be enjoying this journey as much as I am. You all truly put a smile on my face everyday with your own work, but more so for the kind words you take the time to leave on my submissions. Without you all I’m nothing, so I appreciate the love and your continued support.

May the Force be with you all, always…

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• Don’t get caught up in the feeling of needing ALL the toys. I went overboard this past year and spent thousands hunting down new subjects. While I’m fortunate to have the money to do so, it’s not necessary to go all in just to get a few shots. Trust me, you can create endless amounts of photographs from a handful of toys, so don’t go into debt over this hobby.

• Last but not least, have a blast. If you’re not having the time of your life shooting toys, then quit, because there is no other reason to participate in this hobby if you don’t love it with your soul

THE FUNKO POP UK INTERVIEW CARL MORGAN FUNKO POP UK A key aspect of our Toy Community is the various groups and platforms that act as social spaces for like minded collectors and enthusiasts that allow people to engage and grow with their chosen interests.

One such group is the Facebook platform Funko Pop Uk whose primary function is the common discussion of all things Pop’s aswell as to service and buying and selling of Pops across

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the various members in a safe and like-minded environment.

As huge Pop collectors ourselves we were priveledged enough to chat with group moderator Carl Morgan who talks us through his extensive collection and what he thinks it is about the Funko Pop line that makes them so popular and approachable as a collectable line.

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I hold these pieces very close to my heart as I never thought for one second I would ever be lucky enough to own one of these let alone all 3.

Hey Carl! Let’s dive right in – What started off your passion for Funko Pop? My first purchase of Funko Pops came purely by accident, I was looking through eBay for gift ideas for my nieces birthday and came across these cute looking things that i thought I have to get a few of these they look awesome. So I bought 4 straight off, it helped the seller had a deal on for a discount on multiple purchases. i bought two from the Disney range, Ursula from the little mermaid and cruella from 101 Dalmations and wicked witch and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. As these Pops! are now vaulted they are extremely hard to come by and all cost upwards of £80 to get your hands on.

What is it about Funko Pops that you feel makes them so appealing to so many people?

Pops! are extremely appealing due to a number of factors I believe. Firstly they are affordable when initially released which makes them obtainable for all. Secondly I think and most importantly if the amount of licenses Funko! have acquired. I love that I can have a collectable for all my favourite franchises in the same design.

I never thought i would own a She-ra, the Golden Girls and a Headless Ned Stark all in the same design. Nearly all of my favourite TV shows, past and present have some form of Funko Pop!. A line that has

These four remained my only Pops up until Christmas 2014 when my partner bought me some from the TV Series range American Horror Story, as this was our favourite TV show at the time and really other than Pops there wasn’t really any other merchandise available easily. Remembering I had 4 already from years back, which unfortunately had made their way to the loft due to lack of space and no real desire at that time to pursue collecting.

I quickly retrieved them from the loft and thought i am going to start collecting these properly and the rest as they say is history.

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Just how many pops have you now got in your collection?

At current my collection stands at 492 Funko items, comprising of Pops!, mystery minis and two prototypes.

I’m going to have to ask it – Have you got a favourite grail piece or at-least a top 3?

I dont have one stand alone grail piece that is my favourite, but if i had to narrow it down to just three Pops it would have to be Clown Dumbo from SDCC, only 48 of those were made, Chase Boo Berry which is a super cool glow in the dark Pop! that was limited to 24 pieces and finally Batgirl from SDCC 2010, one of the first four Pops! released by Funko.

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EXCLU Masters of the Universe, Harry Potter, Game of Thrones, Whacky Races and the Golden Girls all under the same umbrella for me is perfect.

We all have a broad range of interests which i think Funko have encompassed brilliantly, there literally is something for everyone.

What was it that made you want to get involved in a social media Funko community and just how important a place is Funko Pop UK to you?

The Funko community is the reason I believe my collection has become what it is today. Its nice having an interest or hobby but if your experiencing the excitement of collecting by yourself you almost feel isolated and sometimes there is a feeling of where do I go from here. Luckily when I first started collecting I searched Facebook for Funko Pop! groups and found Funko Pop! UK. After a speedy click on the “join group” button I was welcomed into a community that shared my love (obsession) for Pops!. Funko Pop! UK is my go to group for anything Pop! related. i have bought and sold numerous Pops! through the group super smoothly.

The group has always been run super efficiently, with the Admin team always at hand to help out whether it’s to give advice or to make sure people are adhering to the minimal rules the group has. The group currently has over 8000 members, so between us all we get all the hot of the press news regarding new releases and any updates, plus there is always something going on with free giveaways for members. Funko Pop! UK really epitomises the idea of a community spirit.

“THERE LITERALLY IS SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE!” 81

Members are always more than happy to pick up Pops! for you if they are out and about shopping or quick to “tag” you into a post if it’s an Pop! or news you may be interested in. I thoroughly recommend any Pop! collector to join the group, wherever you live in the world. I was honoured three months ago when I was asked to become a moderator for the group, I naturally accepted instantly.

Since becoming a moderator I have gained so much more admiration for the guys who run this group, it’s practically a full time job with no pay, and the guys have done a phenomenal job from starting this group to making it one of the best Funko Pop! groups around today. Most importantly through Funko Pop! UK I have made some great friends that I talk to on a daily basis and not always about Pop! related topics.

Is there any characters or lines that have yet to been turned into Pops that you’d like to see and if so who and what are they?

There are quite a few lines i hope Funko release in Pop! form. I would love to see a Modern Family line, 80s cartoon Dungeon and Dragons, James Bond and celebrated Olympians. With Funko being a U.S based company I think alot of my most wanted may never be made as they are predominantly U.K in origin, such as the Carry On films, Gavin and Stacey, Worzel Gummidge, Phoenix Knights and Only Fools and Horses. I can keep my fingers crossed What are your top 3 grails that you are desperate to add to your collection?

Within the last year I have started to

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collect the Freddy Funko range of Pops!

This is the Funko mascot in various guises, my favourite being Freddy as well known characters. The problem with these Freddy Pops! is the how rare some of these are. Some of the character based Freddy Funkos I collect are limited to a run of just 12. I have luckily acquired three 1/12 Freddy Funkos, all glow in the dark variants, Freddy as Buzz lightyear, Beetlejuice and Bumble. Naturally I would love to add more of these to my collection with my most desired being 1/12 Metallic Freddy as Tony Stark, 1/12 Glow in the Dark Freddy as Count Chocula and 1/12 Metallic Freddy as the Winged Monkey from Wizard of Oz. As only 12 of these were made of each Pop! trying to track them down is almost impossible and if you are ever lucky enough to track them down they cost a small fortune, likely going for $3000 plus each!!!!!

Do you have any predications for what we might see in the way of SDCC Exclusive this year?

Every year I have enormous expectations for SDCC. This year I would love to see a Wilma Flintstone and Betty Rubble to go with their significant others. This year has been a fantastic year for all fans of Winnie the Pooh with a lot of new Pops! being released, so with saying that high on my wishlist is a flocked Tigger, that would be an amazing addition to any collection. I am secretly hoping we see a Harry Potter exclusive, with my most wanted being a Molly Weasley and Bellatrix duelling two pack. Freddy Funko Pops! wise I would love to see Freddy as Lord Voldemort, with a limited 1/24 version that glows in the dark.

What would your advice be to people who are thinking of getting involved in Funko collecting and the community on a whole?

Iw would encourage everybody to start collecting, there is something for everyone. But if like me you have an addictive personality avoid at all costs as these little beauties are extremly addicitive. I would suggest collecting the themes you like or Pops that appeal to you and do not get into it with the intention of making money by collecting these or as a financial investment. Finally even if you are yet to start your collection or have over 1,000 Funko Pops come and join Funko Pop! UK on Facebook.

A huge thank you for your time Carl! Happy hunting!

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

ARTIST FEATURE

THE REAL SCENE SETTER FADHREES SUHAIMI @R2KTROOPERS

As scenario focused toy photography goes , Fadhrees is simply one of the best. Not only is he able to pose and style the figure but to also match this perfectly to an environment to pull of shoots that are truly something special.

his further skills of practical effects and the use of diorama’s to help ground his figures in a sense of their reality.

Fadh always has a way to always fill each shot with so much content that it is practically brimming whether that be multiple figures , explosions or just intense action scenes - Fadh has it well under his control as his shoot for Issue 4 proves beyond a doubt.

Both his Marvel and Star Wars shoot make use of this skillset as Fadh builds up a narrative around each shot to enhance his offerings and to show off

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85 AN ARTFUL EXECUTION FADHREES SUHAIMI

Hi, I’m Fadhrees Suhaimi and I’m from Singapore. When I’m not geeking out on toy photography, I work full time as a product designer in an engineering company. I have been loving video games and comic characters since I was young. I love both Marvel and DC characters but ultimately, Star Wars got me started collecting toys and toy photography.

It was after my trip from Japan in 2015 that got me hooked onto toy photography and rekindled my interest to collect toys. During that period, The Force Awakens has just started screening in the cinemas.

I was amazed by the Star Wars promotional stuff in Japan and I bought myself a Bandai Darth Vader model kit. After assembling the kit, I took some photos and posted them on my personal instagram. That’s where I discovered and was blown away by the vast amount of creative toy photos through the hashtags.

Feeling inspired by those photos, I decided to get involved and created a toy photography instagram page, @r2ktroopers.

My first camera that I used was a Sony RX Mark II, which is actually my point and shoot camera for travelling.

While the pictures looked decent enough, I felt that I needed something more to improve the quality of the images. As I progressed, I paid more attention to details on my photos and look at what could be improved on. I decided to get a mirrorless camera for the compactness of the setup and the ability to change lens. Now I use a Fujifilm X-T1 with 35mm and 50mm lens. I chose this camera as I like the colour reproduction and the feel of it in my hands.

Through the toy community, I managed to forge some great friendships and constantly share tips and tricks of toy photography amongst one another. Many thanks to those who shared their knowledge and behind the scenes of their shots.

It has certainly help me improve my toy photography skills. I started my toy photography journey by shooting Star Wars figures as I’m a big fan of the Star Wars movies.

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After a while, I felt the need to expand my creativity by including other comic figures from my childhood memories. It is always fun to recreate scenes for your shots or to come up with an original concept. My inspiration comes from movies, music, fellow toy photographers and basically the figure itself.

Before I shoot the figures, I think of a scene I would like to achieve and how the placement of the figures should be. I love shooting the figures with a ‘digirama’ as you can get really creative with it.

The next step is to get the lighting right. The challenge is to blend your lighting with the background so that it will look seamless. Thanks to Jason a.k.a @workmoreless for sharing his tips and tutorial on lighting and ‘digirama’ technique over at Exclu Collective website. While I enjoy setting up my shots and be my own director, there will be times of frustration where the figures or the diorama will fall just before you hit that shutter button. One of the quick fix I use would be thin metal wires to hold your figures in place.

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Another process I enjoy is editing my photos.

My main editing software is Lightroom. I like to experiment with the colours and the tone of my photos when using this software. The important thing I take note is to not over saturate the colours and keep things simple.

I find this hobby very addictive and I feel that I can shoot toys all day! It is definitely a welcoming break for me from my daily job and an outlet for me to express my creativity.

I appreciate the support I’ve been getting so far from everyone and the toy feature pages. I am very grateful to have a supporting wife too.

I hope my photos will inspire others to start their toy photography journey. While my journey has been good, there are still room for improvement and other shooting techniques that I would like to try.

Last but not least, I would like to thank Exclu Design Collective for this amazing opportunity to feature my photos in this issue. It is a rewarding feeling and will definitely make me strive for better quality photos. Thank you once again everyone for the support. Keep calm and collect toys.

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When we say that Fadh is a master of filling each shot with an incredible amount of content we were being totally serious...

90 THE WATCHING GUARDIAN JAIMEJOEL RIVERA

EASTERN INFLUENCED JAIMEJOEL RIVERA @THEETERNALEXPERIENCE

Our Weekly Themes across our social network have allowed us to delve into content and sub-genres of Toy Photography that we have previously not engaged in and one such theme was “Anime and Eastern Influences Week” which is where Jaimejoel Rivera really stamped his mark and showed us that he was serious and dedicated to his craft.

Since then his skills as have only developed further as he continue to work alongside the Eastern themed figure lines and characters that play so well into the hands of action based photography with the over-the-time chaos and posing.

Jaimejoel’s Issue 4 set really touches on some of his favourite licenses which allow him to show off his photography to the max.

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EXCLU DESIGN COLLECTIVE

ARTIST FEATURE

I’m Jaimejoel Rivera, also known by my artistic handle, “The Eternal Experience” and I’m a 22 year old toy photography enthusiast from Puerto Rico. Ever since I was young I always loved action figures. I always had that collector mentality even at a young age. Fast forward a couple of years and I finds myself fresh out of high school going to college to study and get a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, that’s when I stumbled upon a couple of toy groups on Facebook.

That was when I rediscovered my passion for collecting action figures.

It all started with a couple of 3-inch Marvel Universe figure which I quickly replaced with the newer style of Marvel legends. That was a key moment for me because before I only collected 3 inch figures. I didn’t realize at the time that I was missing out, big time. In terms of paint, sculpt, and articulation 6 inch figures are, in my opinion, superior.

I later learned that it was only a step in a bigger picture for me. My point of view on collecting totally changed when I discovered Japanese imports.

It’s crazy. All of these amazing figures from all of these amazing franchises and characters that I loved, done beautifully with lots of articulation and awesome accessories. I was mind blown it’s like I stumbled upon a world that I didn’t knew existed.

That was it. I just liked having them around because it was a physical representation of the stuff I love, but man! Was I blown away! I saw different artists create these intricate and realistic looking scenes that made the figure come to life. At this point collecting was like making your own little movie scenes and I was definitely interested.

At the time (early 2013) I started my voyage, my journey in this new and mysterious world called toy photography which I quickly made his daily hobby. I just loved taking photos! I took a whole bunch of photos daily! Just for fun. I loved taking wacky crossover photos and just funny looking photos, I was having proper fun with this while I admit I got frustrated when I wanted to improve quicker and it was still a fun way for me to relieve stress.

A few months later I decided to finally join the group that was mostly responsible for my passion for the art.

A group with artists so fantastic they inspired everyone in the scene, ACBA. This is the place where you go and basically learn to be a proper toy photographer, that’s what I thought. I was very intimidated when I first joined the group, I have been following their Instagram page for a while and all I saw was stuff that was beyond my reach, but I remained motivated.

I started collecting these figures with a passion. All of these Japanese imports also complemented with domestic figure lines like Marvel Legends, Black Series and currently Mezco one:12 collective figures, but everything changed when I stumbled upon the toy photography scene on Instagram. I was blown away and thought collecting these awesome action figures was cool and it was enough for me for a couple of years.

I posed them for a bit, messed around with them, and back in the shelf they go.

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I was in a mind-set I had never been before. I had one goal and it’s still my current goal, to learn everything I can so he can improve upon his own work as much as I can, I learned a lot. I am really thankful for that community, it’s really a special thing for me. I earned a lot and grown a lot and I’ve met a lot of awesome people. The best part is that I’m not even close to finishing this awesome journey and I don’t want to - I loves this hobby too much.

While still learning and having fun with it, I became an active member of the ACBA group. That’s when I met Adam, @Urban_Spidey on Instagram, another aspiring ACBA/Toy Photography artist. We became great friends and so Adam introduced me to his other group of friends who were also ACBA/Toy Photography artists. Nic (@Nics_toys), Ty(@gameboykage), and Nicho(@_Nichotine_).

They mentioned about a podcast/YouTube channel they were working on called Go Figure! and so they invited me to join them in their show. I was interested immediately so I decided to ask if I could join them and I did.

Eventually they decided to bring in toy photographers as guests into the show every Friday. One of their first guests was Luis(@based.bacon). Luis who was one of my early inspirations and probably the one who actually got me motivated to get into toy photography more seriously.

Eventually Luis also joined in as part of the crew. It was crazy feeling and I finally felt I was in the right place.

I currently co-host the Go Figure!

Podcast with my other friends and I continue on my own journey too to improve upon his tangibly based art.

No edits or Photoshop - the challenge is on to create the whole scene tangibly. “I want to thank The Exclu Collective for choosing me as one of their features for their 4th issue, it’s truly and an honour and a blessing to be able to share my story with you guys! I’m humbled!

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JEFF LEBARRON @DARKSIDESINCE77 There has been a great disturbance in the force since Issue 3. Shortly after the release of the issue, my mom passed away unexpectedly.

Thankfully she got to see my interview with Exclu and my collaboration with Hasbro before she passed. She knew I had a few projects I was working on as well and she was very excited and couldn’t wait to see them when they were done. I, myself, couldn’t wait to share them with her.

It was the greatest feeling for me hearing her say how proud she was of me.

My mother has always been my biggest fan! After she passed, it was hard for me to even think straight let alone pick up a camera and continue doing shoots. The part that has helped me every day is seeing her smile and hearing her voice in my head. She would have wanted me to keep doing the things I love the most and to keep pushing forward.

I have a few collaborations coming up that I can’t wait to share with everyone. Also, I’m working on getting a website up with a gallery of my work and prints available for sale. The link will be in the bio of my Instagram page @darksidesince77 so make sure you check that out in the near future. Besides that nothing much else has been going on. It has been a bit quiet on the home front.

Been spending time with my fiancée, daughter and family in general, taking pictures and kickin’ butt! LOL. With that being said, reach for the stars and keep following your dreams! This one is for you Mom, I Love You!

I’m slowly getting back in to the groove of things. I recently upgraded to a better camera, but haven’t started to shoot the stuff I’ve been wanting to do quite yet. It’s coming though, trust me…LOL!

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DALE SCHENCK @DARTH_SHANK

I’m sure no one has asked themselves what I’ve been up to since issue 2 was released about five months ago… But I’m going to tell you anyway, and if you read the entire article I’ll buy you a beer the next time I see you. No craft beers though, I’m a baller on a budget!

featured, which I’m sure only a few of you actually read, but I swear, they’re funny! It’s our ultimate goal to make “Michael Bay” a verb, and with your help we can make that dream a reality, so the next time you blow up your toys, don’t forget the hashtag #michaelbaythatshit.

First and foremost, I’m here to tell you about the best page on Instagram, @michaelbaythatshit, created by yours truly and run by @actionfigurefriday and myself. We aren’t your average toy photography feature page, we only feature shots with explosions, and preferably with helicopters in the background as well. (if you’ve ever seen a Michael Bay film then you know 90% of the movie is nothing but explosions and helicopters) We also try to add humor to our descriptions on each shot

Honestly, this section of the magazine should be over, you should already be on Instagram looking up @michaelbaythatshit and telling all your friends how awesome it is… But i promised free beer, so I gotta make you guys work for it. Since issue 2 was released, I’ve moved from upstate New York to Austin, Texas where I don’t have to dig my car out from three feet of snow every morning in the winter. Joke’s on me though, Texas has brutally hot summers and the air conditioner is

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broken on my car, I guess I didn’t plan this out too well…

Another project I’ve been working on is a series of trading cards for toy photographers. So far I’ve only released ten cards from ten different artists but I hope to end up with 100 different cards and sell them as random packs so that you will have to collect the whole set. I might even make a few of them rare just to be an asshole.

By this point you’re probably asking yourself if that free beer is really worth it, well, it’s probably not but this is almost over, I swear. I should probably make a password so that I know you actually read this… how about “glip glop” wait, no: “plumbus” yeah… Let’s go with plumbus.

WORD OF THE MONTH WINNER TANCREDI BUA - MARCH @TANKTOYS

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WORD OF THE MONTH WINNER BRYAN MAYO - APRIL @ACTIONFIGUREN00B 99

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SPECIAL THANKS BLAIR ALTMAN

ISAIAH TAKAHASHI

MATT HEYWOOD

JAIMEJOEL RIVERA

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Issue 4 June ‘17

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