Where have I been? It's a long story, but early last year, two toy buddies of mine, Bryan and Tommy approached me with an idea for a company that would make brand new toys in a style that was completely authentic to another era. These would not be re-makes, re-issues, or re-hashes of things that came before but brand new characters and licenses that could and SHOULD have existed at the time but for some reason, didn't. I loved the idea but since I was already knee deep in the development of another project, I said I would be willing to consult for them if and when they needed me.
That night, I couldn't stop thinking about the concept and all the potentials that could be explored using that methodology. The next morning, I called Bryan and told him that I wanted to be as involved as he wanted me to be. He told me that he and Tommy had already discussed it even before we met-up the night before and wanted me to be part of the company. That made it official, I put my own project on hold and we became WARPO. What followed was a whirlwind of research, discussions, design, and development that manifest itself as our first toy line; Legends of Cthulhu.
Our Kickstarter launched at the beginning of this month to rousing cries of R'lyeh from Lovecraft fans and vintage toy collectors from around the globe so much so that we were fully funded in 3 days! While our pace of growth has slowed since then, it has been a steady climb up the mountain of stretch goals including the translucent "Conjured Cthulhu" and "The High Priest."
I love these two figure designs as the Conjured translucent body harkens back to the "space" themed Adventure People and the High Priest comes straight out of Dragon Riders of the Styx.
We are now poised before two of my favorite stretch goals. The first is a figure that pays homage to the man whose stories made this line possible; H.P. Lovecraft called "The Author." He features Lovecraft's likeness and comes with a translucent green Necronomicon accessory.
The second is The Great Old One: Cthulhu himself. This 12" figure was part of our line from the beginning, but we knew we would not be able to afford to produce it without the overwhelming support of toy and Lovecraft fans. He is inspired by such awesome 80's monster figures as Clash of the Titans' Kraken, Godzilla from the Shogun Warriors line, and Kenner's Rancor. At $200,000 we will unlock him and anyone who pledges (or has already pledged) at "THE CULTIST LEVEL" or higher will be eligible to purchase him.
Most of my custom figure pieces have been modern style so I understand if this is not your cup of tea, however, if you remember where all this 3 3/4" "action figure madness" began, or if you just appreciate the art of the late 70's and early 80's give our Kickstarter a look and pledge. You'll get some kick-ass toys and help us make some of the (in the words of my partner Bryan) bitchingest toys that never were, today.
Here's the link to our Legends of Cthulhu Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/warpo/legends-of-cthulhu-retro-action-figure-toy-line
And here's a link to our company Warpo's website: http://www.warpo.com/
Until next time, I remain "The Insidious One."
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