Unbox Industries Booth Tour, Splatterhouse, Retroband, Tetsuo & more! Full Interview! - Toy Con UK!

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Just here with Dan from Unboxed Industries, well my friends were going crazy today when they found out that you was here, they didn't know you was here and they were like "Fio, go buy me something and I'll send you the money". Just tell me a little bit about your background in this toy thing because as long as I've been on the Sephobi scene, this stuff's always been [00:00:35] Dan: like such a big part of it. That's very very kind of you to say so, so we started the company around about 15 or 16 years ago with a friend of mine in Hong Kong. It was a very steep uphill struggle to kind of get into manufacturing because at that point, because we work out of China and people were kind of like very reticent or resistant to manufacturing outside of Japan. But my colleague has a background in engineering and 3D prototyping and we were kind of mentored by people that were working for Bandai at that time making toys for Japan in China. So we learned from them and we set up our own factory and got a team together and then just started manufacturing and also sorting materials from Japan to kind of like get the best kind of quality product. What would you say are like some [00:01:21] Speaker 1: of your staple pieces? Another one that the dude's picking up here seems like a staple piece to me. [00:01:25] Dan: So yeah, I mean you can probably tell like we kind of diversify in what we do. So that kind of comes from like the people who work in the office. So for me, I'm all about the monsters and the real weird stuff. You and me both brother. So then my business partner, he's more about the cute and the kawaii and then the guys in the office as well. Everyone has a say in like, you know, what's a move or a shake or what they've seen and then we'll reach out to those artists or take a license and then try and make something. So we're not really risk averse and we don't really manufacture, I know it sounds crazy as a company, we don't really manufacture to turn a profit. We just want to make what we think is going to end up as a beautiful product. So and I say it's a case of like, you know, not like how much we're going to make on a project, but can we afford to do it and you know, see what happens after that. And touch wood, usually, you know, everything's been fine, you know, so and that's it. And also, it kind of keeps it fresh. You know, trends move, markets move and we're kind of always, you know, like just following our own journey rather than following what we know, what the kind of public [00:02:32] Speaker 1: kind of expect. Can I ask you about a couple of like the pieces that always stand out to me. So [00:02:36] Dan: this one for us for a start, I love this piece. This is by a chap called Aaron, who resides in Texas, goes on goes under the name of Retroband. So yeah, Retroband, that's right. I've seen it on Instagram. [00:02:48] Speaker 1: So dope. They've seen him in person as well. The size and everything's so awesome. Is it the same [00:02:52] Dan: body? It's different head? Correct. That's right. And so this is different paint apps. So these are both from like use the process called like marble vinyl to produce. So what you do when you when you have the the moulds, you pour in the colours and then just mix and stir and then they come out. So each each piece is unique. But then just to like add a little bit more icing on the cake, we just apply like paint applications. So that's why this one looks a little bit more dusty and everything, so that's the way it's been applied. And this one's got like the metallic finishes. With Aaron, Aaron, he originally comes from doing like hand pulled resin and now he's doing his own roto stuff, which is incredible. And we've done a character called Meats for him and then Toomb and Suffer. And he also helped us with Splatterhouse. We took the license from Namco and he helped do Rick, Jenny and Biggie Man. So again, like really like wonderful human being and a very talented artist. [00:03:44] Speaker 1: And you were saying about Splatterhouse when we talked earlier that you're working with one of the people who worked on the original Splatterhouse game. I was playing that game on the way down on my Evercade. What's that connection that you've got going on there? [00:03:55] Dan: So my colleague who runs Unboxed Japan, we do like her. There's some big shows called like Super Festival and Wonder Festival. And by chance, Josh, who was attending one of those shows met Oda-san, who basically he was showing some stuff. So he's a sculptor and special effects guy. But back in the day, like in the mid 80s, he was, as I understand, he was working as an intern at Namco. And they, as he was there on the day, they said like, oh, you know, you know, horror movies, can you help us design some stuff, this new video game coming out. And so he actually created like the design for Rick, Biggie Man, Nobu, Jennifer and a few others. So I think he was like 17 or 18 at the time. So flash forward to like, you know, over the last couple of years, we've got very good rapport with him. And we've commissioned him to sculpt like some of the subsidiary characters. So when we started the Splat House, it was a retro band and Zektron did their designs. Yeah. And now we're working directly with Oda-san with a few of the other secondary characters. Yeah, you've got the actual guy there. That's right. Full circle, man. That's awesome. I mean, this is, it's kind of like that bucket list kind of like, you know, opportunity, but also Oda worked on TES-202 body hammer. Can I grab this? [00:05:02] Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were talking about this earlier. Yeah. So, okay. So we worked on the [00:05:06] Dan: sequel to Tetsuo, Body Hammer. Correct. That's right. Yeah. That's right. Yeah. So again, through Oda and Josh, they reached out. So Oda is still friends with Tsukamoto-san and he kind of gave permission. In fact, we had to get permission from Tsukamoto. He still owns the rights to Tetsuo, but none of the other sequels. So we got permission from him and had to get permission from the original actor as well to sculpt his likeness. And then Oda sculpted this. So his was, this was kind of his first like Sophie project, you know, so it turned out like brilliant. All hand sculpted as well. [00:05:40] Speaker 1: Yeah, correct. Yeah, yeah. That's right. Such a different vibe to it, but it's, I love it. Yeah, yeah. [00:05:44] Dan: That again, and we've got other stuff coming up. We've got Oda working with another quite big artist from Canada at the moment. So that's quite exciting. That should be announced around about November time. So we're keeping him busy now. He's in the unbox fold, you know. Well, I'm going to let you get back to your stall because it's been very easy for you today and it still is, but thank you so much, [00:06:03] Speaker 1: man. Yeah, thanks a lot. We appreciate it. And keep up the awesome work. I love it. Pleasure. Thank you. Have you seen next year?