Medicom's R2 and 3PO

[The Craw]

R2 has the working drop down 3rd leg i see. wonder if he'll have any arm attachment accessories.

 

[OSCORP]

Someone translate

 

[The Craw]

it says "R2-D2 and C-3PO will be the next RAH figures in medicom's star wars line".


"oh and R2-D2 has working lights."

 

[jkno]

Cool. I like the idea of R2 with lights! But what about C-3PO will he have lights as well?

 

[kazukijun]

At this moment, we really dont know whether C3PO has lights or not, but I do hope they include it. Seems Pretty dumb if they don't.

 

[icruise]

Someone translate

Okay then, I will. I left out a few things like the part explaining about Gentle Giant's corporate background, but everything else is here. These articles tend to be mostly PR fluff, so take them with a grain of salt, but there are some new details.

Breaking news! Test shots of the ultimate C-3PO and R2-D2!

They’re exactly like the props! Medicom Toy asked Gentle Giant to help them make the prototypes for this 1/6 scale duo.

The droids C-3PO and R2-D2 appeared in all 6 films in George Lucas’s “Star Wars” saga, one of the most monumental science fiction film series of all time. And now Medicom Toy has announced that they will be releasing them in 1/6 scale! We’re bringing you the first ever shots of the toys’ unpainted prototype test shots. These two will be released as part of the RAH (“Real Action Heroes”) line, and are a collaboration with America’s Gentle Giant Studios, famous for its 3D scanning technology. Gentle Giant’s Karl Meyer and Medicom Toy’s Tatsuhiko Akashi have indicated that this is a major project for them, with the goal of getting as close as possible to the actual props, so it seems certain that these will be a big step forward from past Star Wars toys. And since they’re made in the same scale as the other figures in the RAH line such as Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, you can put them all together to recreate your favorite scenes! The release date is not yet set, but we’re certainly looking forward to seeing painted production samples.

REAL ACTION HEROES C-3PO
He looks like he stepped right off of the silver screen.
You almost expect him to start walking!

In his life after being built (at least part way) by the young Anakin Skywalker, this hapless protocol droid would end up in pieces over and over again. As with R2-D2, this figure does not have an inner body. The finished product will have light up eyes and be covered in gold chrome from head to toe.

REAL ACTION HEROES R2-D2
Incredibly detailed 1/6-scale craftsmanship.
And he lights up!

Some say that this little astromech droid is the true protagonist of the Star Wars saga. R2-D2 is the most heavily merchandized character in Star Wars, but this figure by Medicom toy has a level of quality that will make it stand out in the crowd.

The head features red and blue LED lights. They plan to weather the body’s paint job as well.

R2-D2, who even had a small cameo in this year’s “Star Trek,” has legs that have been faithfully reproduced down to the cords on his feet, and are moveable just like in the film. The center leg is spring-loaded and can be locked in place inside his body, allowing you to recreate the many scenes in which R2 stands on two legs.

“Our goal was to recreate moving props just like you saw on screen.”
We talked to Medicom Toy CEO Tatsuhiko Akashi about what went on behind the scenes of this long-awaited project.

Q: You’re finally going to be releasing C-3PO and R2-D2.
A: It all started when we were talking with the product planning team. Now that the Star Wars market is quieting down a little bit, we thought we should try putting out something that would really make people sit up and take notice. When we were thinking about what that might be, the idea of working with Gentle Giant Studios came up. They’re top-class sculptors and have even worked on Lucasfilm projects. However, they’re very busy so we weren’t sure if they would be able to help us out. Plus, Sideshow Collectibles distributes our products in the US, and they’re one of Gentle Giant’s competitors. So we timidly put in an offer, unsure of how it would turn out (laughs). Luckily, we’ve had a relationship of mutual respect with them for some time, and they quickly said that they would be happy to help. We talked with Gentle Giant over and over, staring with the very first prototype, and also enlisted the Japanese sculptor “MOTOR KEN” to help. And now we finally have these test shots finished. If things keep going as they have been, these should turn out to be quite impressive products.

Q: It sounds like you achieved a sort of synergistic effect by combining your two companies’ strong points. What was Medicom Toy most concerned about during the development of these two products?
A: We really wanted to make these feel like the props that you saw on screen. That extends to the moveable parts – we wanted to make sure that the parts that moved on screen would move, and the parts that only move a little bit (like C-3PO’s elbows) would not. At the same time, we also wanted to ensure that the characters’ endearing qualities and humor would come through. For example, R2-D2’s middle leg can go up inside his body and he lights up. Instead of making “action figures,” it was more like we were trying to make movable armature props. In that sense, these are probably closer to the 1:1 scale Jack Skellington figure that we released in December of 2005.

Q: What plans do you have for future development?
A: 2010 will mark Medicom Toy’s 10th anniversary producing Star Wars products, so we have a number of exciting things planned. Personally, I really hope that they’ll make some more live action Star Wars films. I’m sure a lot of people would be pleasantly surprised if J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot would reboot Star Wars like they did with Star Trek (laughs).

A message from Gentle Giant to Japanese fans!
“Both Medicom Toy and Gentle Giant are proud to stand behind these products.”

Gentle Giant is proud to play a part in the creation of these amazing products, and we were also happy to get the chance to work with our good friends at Medicom Toy. As we worked with Medicom on the R2-D2 and C-3PO RAH prototypes, we couldn’t help but be impressed at the clear vision they have for their products. We did our best to do our part by giving Medicom access to classic archive images, the latest digital models from Lucasfilm, as well as our scan data of the original R2-D2 and C-3PO costumes and parts to make these as accurate as possible. The reputations of Gentle Giant, Medicom Toy, and Star Wars itself stand behind these products, so we worked night and day to make sure they would get done right. We hope that the fans and collectors will add these to their collections and treasure them for years to come.

 

[kazukijun]

Wow, thks for the translation icruise!!!

Now I'm really excited for this two figures, C3PO will have working lights & being covered in Gold Chrome is great news!

 

[OSCORP]

Lights on both = win

Nice Medicom.

Now hopefully they don't charge 499.99 for them

 

[Wanderer]

Lights on both = win

Nice Medicom.

Now hopefully they don't charge 499.99 for them

If that's Yen then i'll settle for that price pointI have a bad feeling about this though...Gonna cost a bomb

 

[jkno]

I have a bad feeling about this though...Gonna cost a bomb

I'm afraid of that as well. Maybe later the price will go down.

 

[Wor-Gar]

Are these the same figures we've seen already or something new?

Someone translate

R2's working leg and lights are terrific.

 

[TheObsoleteMan]

R2 lights up? Neat!

 

[turtlepower73]

by the time sideshow gets to them..they will have put the star wars line on pause..

 

[The Craw]

i'd like to wait for sideshow but who knows how long that will be. so how in scale will these be with other figures i wonder?

 

[icruise]

Are these the same figures we've seen already or something new?

You think Medicom is going to put out two sets of 1/6 scale droids? I think these look really nice -- better than we saw in the toyfair photos -- but I'm not sure if they've actually improved them or if it's just that you can see them better without paint. I'm interested to see what the chromed 3PO would look like.

 

[joda76]

Wow pretty cool news. I wouldnt mind this set to display with Anakin and other Medi figs.

 

[SpaceCrawler]

Ok, so Medicom AND Sideshow are releasing 3POs and R2s? Is that correct?

Also, from the translation provided it doesn't really seem like 3PO actually moves at all (though R2 obviously has articulation in the legs similar to Hasbro's R2). Is that the case or will Medicom's 3PO be articulated?

Sean

 

[icruise]

Sideshow will eventually release the droids, but they're still way in the future (likely 2011 or beyond). They'll be distributing the Medicom ones, though.

The article isn't very clear about C-3PO's articulation (aside from making it clear that he won't be a standard articulated body wearing a droid costume), but I gather that he'll have pretty much the same range of movement that the original costume had.

 

[Wor-Gar]

You think Medicom is going to put out two sets of 1/6 scale droids? I think these look really nice -- better than we saw in the toyfair photos -- but I'm not sure if they've actually improved them or if it's just that you can see them better without paint. I'm interested to see what the chromed 3PO would look like.

It threw me that we saw these figs so long ago and now there's this work in progress type posting with additional stuff like lights. Wasn't sure what to make of it.

They look great so far and the chrome and lights are an excellent touch.

Knowing Medi-prices, these things are gonna be expensive as hell for both.

 

[IrishJedi]

I am very skeptical about Medicom chroming C-3P0 properly. But that R2 will be a must-have.

Oh, and up yours Sideshow for still not being close to doing these.