Via Aggressivecomix.com we can share for you a very interesting Interview With Takara Tomy Senior Product Designer Takashi Kunihiro About HasLab Unicron.
Long-time Transformers designer (starting with G1 toys), Takashi Kunuhiro talks about some interesting facts about designing the Chaos Bringer figure: when he heard about the project for the first time, the people he talked to for references or advice, the original size he planned for this figure, and of course all the challenges involved in the designing process.
You read the interview here or a text version after the jump. Click on the bar to join to the ongoing discussion on the 2005 Boards. Unicron has just passed the 7000 backers barrier and we are sure you want to share your impressions with us.
Unicron is almost here folks. With only four days left for the Haslab Unicorn to be funded, the biggest Transformers figure of all time has 6,873 backers of the 8,000 needed to see the project made. As the final push begins, a slew of announcements were made yesterday, including that the figure now has 15 points of articulation in his hands and fingers, and backers of the project will receive access to an exclusive digital comics bundle from IDW. Today we are excited to share a new Q&A with Takashi Kunihiro, Senior Product Designer at Takara Tomy and Transformers about the design process behind Unicron, how it all came about, and more!
How did you first hear about this project?
2 years ago when we heard that Unicron has been selected as part of the Haslab project I was ecstatic! Being on the same platform as Star Wars, I felt happy that Transformers in now seen in the same spotlight. My immediate thought was that I wanted to make this at least 100cm in size. But very quickly after, I had a feeling of “this is going to be an extremely complicated project” and as I looked around the room with other senior designers we all felt the same without saying a word.
Where did you even start with the idea of designing this giant toy?
There were a lot of trial and error at the beginning of this project. The biggest setback was how we started our thinking from looking at the previous largest Transformer toy we’ve created and that’s Titan class Fortress Maximus. My first instinct was that Unicron has to be at least twice as big if not more than Fortress Maximus. So I consulted with Ono-san, our senior designer who made the original G1 Fortress 30 years ago and see if there’s anything we can learn from his development of the toy.
So how did the learning of Fortress Maximus apply to Unicron?
I quickly realized that it doesn’t. Not in the slightest bit. Ono-san had a lot of creative liberty within Fortress as long as he can create a big, cool robot that convert into a big base. On the other hand, our Unicron is inspired from the 1986 movie character where he has distinct Robot and Planet mode design.
Then what would you say was the biggest challenge in designing Unicron?
The biggest challenge is to make the planet mode a perfect sphere with absolutely no space/crack from any 360 angle. As if that’s not a challenge enough, Unicron has unique robot features so I knew the conversion steps was going to be extremely complicated to build. Another challenge worth mentioning is that even if I wanted to recycle parts like his horn, the size varies as robot vs planet mode so I couldn’t. Therefore, we ended up with twice as much as parts for Unicron and much heavier toy than Fortress. Speaking of weight, if I made this toy as big as 100 cm like my first instinct, there was no way plastic could hold that much weight to create the Unicron shape.
Lastly what do you want to say to all the TF fans?
Through hardship and challenges we’re at the last stretch of the Unicron crowdfunding period. I believe we’re at a cross road in Transformers history where the largest converting Unicron will be made or it may end as a dream. The choice is yours.
NTPrime
It is based on the US release… if there's an international version of the movie with Unicron colored differently this is certainly the first I'm hearing of it. Screenshots would be very cool please. I would like to know if these alternate colors you speak of actually did factor in (or exist at all).
deathsheadII
it's not free shipping to anywhere outside of the usa , to the uk $227.15 shipping plus esitmated import charges of $457.78
Dead Metal
I can't believe that after we stopped complaining because everything was said, people still question it.
The problem for me and others is that the maw is blue because Hasbro cheaped out the deco, when thing was sold to us as having a consistent colour scheme for the focus point of the planet mode. We were fine with the yellow, which was close enough. The orange is nice, it's just that the entire area that was orange in the movie should have had the same colour, this way it looks unfinished.
The yellow would have been incorrect, but it was close enough and consistent with the rest of the figure. That's what this is about.
G1 Cassette Hunter
For all the people not liking the final result, which version of the movie was this supposed to be based on? I am seeing the movie in different countries appearing animated & released in significantly different ways vs. the US market final release – coloring & animation was apparently very different. So I am just curious…I also wish the original cut was the released version cause it was much more rock & roll themed.
Shattered Trousers
EDIT: Nevermind, I realise now you're talking about a much earlier draft than I've ever read.
~L~
RavageX-9
No surprise a 10 year old link is dead. Anyone have a copy of the PDF?
Dead Metal
I've always liked that design, not only does it make it look more like Saturn, but sleeker and makes the "bumps" look more like moons. We sure that scene was animated based on that though? I always took it that the ring rotated between shots to be in position for the arms. But if not, still cool.
Kinda want that design to be used again. But instead of using mist, they can have the ring split open to act as another way to grab the pray planet, like the "horns".
samisham
Well, get Palpatine on the phone time to start construction.
Life size Megatron to go with him and it's just a gun.
4249david
Remember that time someone said that Unicron would never be in scale? That he would have to big as big as a house or something equally ridiculous? And how that's just never happening?
Kapow Toys LTD
samisham
Okay, there is one thing about this figure in person that I cannot stand, the way the shoulders transform. I appreciate the effort put into recreating the way the arms worked in the film, but it really messed my wrists up, it also flexes some very thin plastic and then there's a clip meant to hold two panels together that barely works. As cool as the idea is, I don't think the trade-off was worth it.
Shattered Trousers
I had fallen away from Transformers for a couple of years in the mid-'90's, pushing back against all the voices telling me it was time to grow up and stop being so into toys.
My facination with Unicron lore is what brought me back in, rediscovering the 1986 movie through teenage eyes and learning about all the Marvel comics material. Who knew Unicron's head ended up on the Planet of Junk, controlling the Junkions? Or that Primus was Unicron's good counterpart, inhabiting Cybertron itself? Or that Unicron's essence would eventually be channelled into the Matrix and that Rodimus would spend the remainder of his life keeping that evil contained?
Well, people who grew up reading the Marvel UK comics knew, sure, but it was a whole new world for me to discover.
Learning that Unicron appeared in planet form in a brief flashback in Beast Wars season 1, and then the image his head appeared in the last episodes of the season were all the push I needed to start watching Beast Wars (and fall in love with it!)
In a big way Unicron has been a catalyst for my Transformers fandom which has lasted from 1997 through to today.
~L~
Terrorcon Blot
I also like that in transformation to robot mode, rather than the hands sliding out like you'd expect, the forearms actually slide up to reveal them… which is how they transformed in the movie too.
Sixshot
Thanks for the link. That initial post is fascinating. I will have to look further into it. Love Unicron lore. Thank you!
pokemonsdoom
Early Ron Friedman Draft of TFTM Available for Download
samisham
I love the idea of Floro Diri just doing designs and the screenwriters radically rewriting the film to accommodate.
Is there anywhere we can read the old drafts? They sound pretty crazy.
Sixshot
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dragologer
Aw… That's too bad. I would have loved to see a review of Unicron from Peaugh.
Always enjoy them.
Shattered Trousers
Yep, you had it.
It's kind of an unfortunate design trade-off, now that I think about it.
Having the orbital ring in it's original orientation looks more like Saturn's rings, which helps Unicron look more like a planet, but they would get in the way of him feeding.
The orientation used in the final design leaves the maw unobstructed, but turns the ring into more of an anglerfish lure kind of design, or an array of sensors around some immense sci-fi space station. Neither of those things communicate "planet mode" to me.
It's not a big deal, but it does take away from the original purpose of the ring.
~L~
pokemonsdoom
thats the mist I was talking about
Shattered Trousers
At that early point in production, The Entity (later Unicron) would discharge a pink electric mist that would digest a planet outside of his body.
Later, when the movie was being animated, the decision was made to have Unicron violently consume a planet with his maw.
There is evidence of the corrosive pink mist version in Marvel comics The Transformers The Movie adaptation.
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~L~