Updated: April 26, 2023
Ultraman Toy Blog vol.53 DX Earth Garon Development Story ①/Overwhelming "movability" with 20 points throughout the body!
Hello everyone. I'm Nono, in charge of Ultraman toy development.
Well, in this blog, we will be looking at the second main item in the "Ultraman Blazar" toys.
Featuring "DX Earth Garon "!
The main fighting force of the defense force, SKaRD, in this game is the "Earth Garon."
In New Generation Ultraman, the presence or absence of defense forces and the state of mechanics vary greatly each time, so in a sense, this "Earth Garon" was the biggest surprise of all the information released the other day!
Now, when we think of the Defense Force's robots, the Strayge from "Z" comes to mind, but if we think about it, all of the special air vehicles such as Sevenger and King Joe were "humanoid."
Therefore, as a completely new character with a pure monster silhouette and no relation to previous series, Earth Garon is surprisingly the first defense force monster robot in the series' history!
As a toy maker, I wanted to take the recent Defense Force Mechanic series to the next level, and so I set out to develop the ultimate Earth Garon toy that is overwhelmingly cool, incredibly fun to play with, and you'll want to touch it forever!
The biggest feature of this product is that in addition to the standard gimmicks of "lights up" and "sounds" that have been included in previous products, the element of it being a "movable figure" has been greatly enhanced.
In fact, when I was working in the department that made candy toys, I was in charge of planning for "Sodo" and "Minipla", and from that experience I understood firsthand how high the play value is when cool characters are turned into moving figures.
So even after coming to the toy department, I still had this vague idea in my head that if I could add some movable elements to DX toys, they would be even more interesting...
At that time, I came across the design for "Earth Garon" which seemed like it would be very worthwhile to use, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity.
So, in this article, we will be reviewing DX Earth Garon, focusing on its "mobility"!
The story behind the development of Earth Garon <Overwhelming 20 points of articulation throughout the body>
As previously reported on the product page, DX Earth Garon has 20 movable points throughout its body.
▲ Incidentally, this number is based on only the locations that you can confidently answer if asked "Where are the 20 locations?", so in reality there are still other points that may vary slightly...!
Our aim was to take full advantage of this range of motion to "create active poses just like in the movie," but what we focused most on during the design process was "being able to move well while maintaining the overall silhouette and proportions."
In terms of design, the armored parts are quite bulky, so if we simply expanded the range of motion, we would have to shave off the interfering parts, which we were concerned would ruin the appearance of the figure.
Therefore, when it came to designing the actual product, we first defined the most important requirement as being that the following two poses be performed beautifully, and then began development.
Key pose 1: A monster-like, lowered stance
Key pose 2: Roaring pose with head up
You might be surprised at just two poses, but the key point is actually this "monster-like" quality...
If you try to get to the bottom of this, you realize that there are many requirements that must be met, such as "bending the knees," "being able to maintain a half-squat position," "being able to point the neck up," "having tight armpits," and so on.
In other words, the aim was to go through the process of creating the "most monster-like pose" and ultimately achieve the shortest route to "expanding the range of motion with good proportions."
With this "target pose" in mind, we revised the design ** times...
We received a lot of ingenuity and ideas from the design and EL staff, which helped make the completed Earth Garon 's range of motion possible!
▲This is a secret! We continue to go over these kinds of details as we move forward with the design.
Now, I would like to use an actual sample to show you the specific range of motion of Earth Garon.
This extremely cool pose has already been revealed in the promotional photos, so in this blog I will be introducing a pose that focuses entirely on "making the range of motion clear."
▲Product development is currently in its climax! We will be showing you two samples: a painted early prototype, and a new prototype (unpainted) with even more precisely movability!
As mentioned earlier, the pursuit of monster poses has allowed us to achieve an "exquisite angle for the legs and hips," which makes it easy to achieve poses with the body bent backwards or a steep forward leaning posture, as shown in the image below.
Another thing I'd like you to notice in this photo is the movable head that faces upwards, which not only makes the "roaring" pose natural, but also allows you to keep your gaze straight ahead even when the figure is leaning forward.
This range of motion is achieved by a ball joint structure as shown in the figure below.
This ball joint allows the neck to move 360 degrees.
Starting from the basic posture with your chin tucked in...
Now you can look up at a natural angle...
What's more, the mouth can be opened, allowing you to create a very "monster-like" expression.
What's more, it can even rotate 180 degrees! (Of course, this isn't depicted in the film...)
Having few restrictions on head movement is very helpful when expressing poses, so I think this is something that will please you.
Now, the next thing I'd like you to pay attention to is the movement of the arms.
We spent a considerable amount of time on posing for this promotional photo, and to achieve a "monster-like pose," the way the armpits are opened (and closed), the angle of the elbows, and the direction of the wrists are all extremely important.
Therefore, the following five movable points have been provided around the arms to expand the range of motion...
As a result, we were able to achieve a range of motion where the arms can be placed behind the back as shown in the left image below!!
The arms are attached via ball joints and the shoulder armor can move independently to avoid interference, allowing for particularly high freedom of movement in the vertical direction.
Now, the one-legged stance on the right side is a bit too noticeable for a photo meant to show arm mobility, but that's not an issue.
In order to balance the overall silhouette, the toes have been made slightly larger, so that the figure can stand firmly even in unstable poses!
Check out this vibrant kick pose!
(Note also that the child on the left is sitting cross-legged!)
This time, the mobility around the hip joints is pretty well done...
The five points shown in the diagram below move with just one foot, allowing for more delicate poses than you might think.
As an easy-to-understand example, the movement required to achieve the kick pose mentioned earlier is shown in the image below.
The range of motion is ballerina level!
This means that your crotch can spread 90 degrees to the side, and if you move your body, you can point your legs almost 180 degrees straight up.
By the way, the tail is also connected with a ball joint, so you can rotate it to give it different expressions.
You can also swing it left and right by pulling it slightly to expose the axis!
What did you think!
It's been about six years since I last reviewed an action figure, so I'm feeling pretty excited about it... I hope that this excitement and fun can be felt by everyone.
I almost forgot because I focused too much on the "movability" this time,
This item is a DX toy that lights up and makes sounds!!! This review is just the beginning!!!
Recently, "movability" has become a trend in the robot toy world, but "DX Earth Garon" challenges the limits of robot toys with "It moves! It lights up! It makes sounds!"
Furthermore, there are many points to talk about in terms of the overall "shape" and "materials"... but I will cover these in order in subsequent articles.
We hope you will also take an interest in the behind-the-scenes development story of "DX Earth Garon" along with our other serialized project, "The Secret of DX Blazar Brace 24."
That's all for now. Thank you for reading to the end!
<Development Blog Back Issues>
■The Secret of DX Blazar Brace 24
・First
Ultraman Toy Blog vol.52 Blazar Brace 24 Secrets / Part 1 Unveiled! This is Blazar Brace! | Ultraman TOY WEB | BANDAI Official Site (bandai.co.jp)
< Ultraman Blazar toy information>
■ Ultraman TOY WEB
Ultraman TOY WEB | BANDAI Official Site (bandai.co.jp)
■ Ultraman TOY WEB Official Twitter
https://twitter.com/bandai_ultratoy
■ "DX Blazar Brace" product PV
(77) [Ultraman Blazar] Lightning Transformation DX Blazar Brace Product PV - YouTube
■Banmani! "DX Blazar Brace" Special
(77) [Ultraman Blazar] [BANDAI Official] Fastest!! Introducing all the transformation items for Ultraman Blazar!! Introducing the "DX Blazar Brace" and "DX Blazar Stone"!! [Banmani!] - YouTube
Well, in this blog, we will be looking at the second main item in the "Ultraman Blazar" toys.
Featuring "DX Earth Garon "!
The main fighting force of the defense force, SKaRD, in this game is the "Earth Garon."
In New Generation Ultraman, the presence or absence of defense forces and the state of mechanics vary greatly each time, so in a sense, this "Earth Garon" was the biggest surprise of all the information released the other day!
Now, when we think of the Defense Force's robots, the Strayge from "Z" comes to mind, but if we think about it, all of the special air vehicles such as Sevenger and King Joe were "humanoid."
Therefore, as a completely new character with a pure monster silhouette and no relation to previous series, Earth Garon is surprisingly the first defense force monster robot in the series' history!
As a toy maker, I wanted to take the recent Defense Force Mechanic series to the next level, and so I set out to develop the ultimate Earth Garon toy that is overwhelmingly cool, incredibly fun to play with, and you'll want to touch it forever!
The biggest feature of this product is that in addition to the standard gimmicks of "lights up" and "sounds" that have been included in previous products, the element of it being a "movable figure" has been greatly enhanced.
In fact, when I was working in the department that made candy toys, I was in charge of planning for "Sodo" and "Minipla", and from that experience I understood firsthand how high the play value is when cool characters are turned into moving figures.
So even after coming to the toy department, I still had this vague idea in my head that if I could add some movable elements to DX toys, they would be even more interesting...
At that time, I came across the design for "Earth Garon" which seemed like it would be very worthwhile to use, so I decided to take advantage of the opportunity.
So, in this article, we will be reviewing DX Earth Garon, focusing on its "mobility"!
The story behind the development of Earth Garon <Overwhelming 20 points of articulation throughout the body>
As previously reported on the product page, DX Earth Garon has 20 movable points throughout its body.
▲ Incidentally, this number is based on only the locations that you can confidently answer if asked "Where are the 20 locations?", so in reality there are still other points that may vary slightly...!
Our aim was to take full advantage of this range of motion to "create active poses just like in the movie," but what we focused most on during the design process was "being able to move well while maintaining the overall silhouette and proportions."
In terms of design, the armored parts are quite bulky, so if we simply expanded the range of motion, we would have to shave off the interfering parts, which we were concerned would ruin the appearance of the figure.
Therefore, when it came to designing the actual product, we first defined the most important requirement as being that the following two poses be performed beautifully, and then began development.
Key pose 1: A monster-like, lowered stance
Key pose 2: Roaring pose with head up
You might be surprised at just two poses, but the key point is actually this "monster-like" quality...
If you try to get to the bottom of this, you realize that there are many requirements that must be met, such as "bending the knees," "being able to maintain a half-squat position," "being able to point the neck up," "having tight armpits," and so on.
In other words, the aim was to go through the process of creating the "most monster-like pose" and ultimately achieve the shortest route to "expanding the range of motion with good proportions."
With this "target pose" in mind, we revised the design ** times...
We received a lot of ingenuity and ideas from the design and EL staff, which helped make the completed Earth Garon 's range of motion possible!
▲This is a secret! We continue to go over these kinds of details as we move forward with the design.
Now, I would like to use an actual sample to show you the specific range of motion of Earth Garon.
This extremely cool pose has already been revealed in the promotional photos, so in this blog I will be introducing a pose that focuses entirely on "making the range of motion clear."
▲Product development is currently in its climax! We will be showing you two samples: a painted early prototype, and a new prototype (unpainted) with even more precisely movability!
As mentioned earlier, the pursuit of monster poses has allowed us to achieve an "exquisite angle for the legs and hips," which makes it easy to achieve poses with the body bent backwards or a steep forward leaning posture, as shown in the image below.
Another thing I'd like you to notice in this photo is the movable head that faces upwards, which not only makes the "roaring" pose natural, but also allows you to keep your gaze straight ahead even when the figure is leaning forward.
This range of motion is achieved by a ball joint structure as shown in the figure below.
This ball joint allows the neck to move 360 degrees.
Starting from the basic posture with your chin tucked in...
Now you can look up at a natural angle...
What's more, the mouth can be opened, allowing you to create a very "monster-like" expression.
What's more, it can even rotate 180 degrees! (Of course, this isn't depicted in the film...)
Having few restrictions on head movement is very helpful when expressing poses, so I think this is something that will please you.
Now, the next thing I'd like you to pay attention to is the movement of the arms.
We spent a considerable amount of time on posing for this promotional photo, and to achieve a "monster-like pose," the way the armpits are opened (and closed), the angle of the elbows, and the direction of the wrists are all extremely important.
Therefore, the following five movable points have been provided around the arms to expand the range of motion...
As a result, we were able to achieve a range of motion where the arms can be placed behind the back as shown in the left image below!!
The arms are attached via ball joints and the shoulder armor can move independently to avoid interference, allowing for particularly high freedom of movement in the vertical direction.
Now, the one-legged stance on the right side is a bit too noticeable for a photo meant to show arm mobility, but that's not an issue.
In order to balance the overall silhouette, the toes have been made slightly larger, so that the figure can stand firmly even in unstable poses!
Check out this vibrant kick pose!
(Note also that the child on the left is sitting cross-legged!)
This time, the mobility around the hip joints is pretty well done...
The five points shown in the diagram below move with just one foot, allowing for more delicate poses than you might think.
As an easy-to-understand example, the movement required to achieve the kick pose mentioned earlier is shown in the image below.
The range of motion is ballerina level!
This means that your crotch can spread 90 degrees to the side, and if you move your body, you can point your legs almost 180 degrees straight up.
By the way, the tail is also connected with a ball joint, so you can rotate it to give it different expressions.
You can also swing it left and right by pulling it slightly to expose the axis!
What did you think!
It's been about six years since I last reviewed an action figure, so I'm feeling pretty excited about it... I hope that this excitement and fun can be felt by everyone.
I almost forgot because I focused too much on the "movability" this time,
This item is a DX toy that lights up and makes sounds!!! This review is just the beginning!!!
Recently, "movability" has become a trend in the robot toy world, but "DX Earth Garon" challenges the limits of robot toys with "It moves! It lights up! It makes sounds!"
Furthermore, there are many points to talk about in terms of the overall "shape" and "materials"... but I will cover these in order in subsequent articles.
We hope you will also take an interest in the behind-the-scenes development story of "DX Earth Garon" along with our other serialized project, "The Secret of DX Blazar Brace 24."
That's all for now. Thank you for reading to the end!
<Development Blog Back Issues>
■The Secret of DX Blazar Brace 24
・First
Ultraman Toy Blog vol.52 Blazar Brace 24 Secrets / Part 1 Unveiled! This is Blazar Brace! | Ultraman TOY WEB | BANDAI Official Site (bandai.co.jp)
< Ultraman Blazar toy information>
■ Ultraman TOY WEB
Ultraman TOY WEB | BANDAI Official Site (bandai.co.jp)
■ Ultraman TOY WEB Official Twitter
https://twitter.com/bandai_ultratoy
■ "DX Blazar Brace" product PV
(77) [Ultraman Blazar] Lightning Transformation DX Blazar Brace Product PV - YouTube
■Banmani! "DX Blazar Brace" Special
(77) [Ultraman Blazar] [BANDAI Official] Fastest!! Introducing all the transformation items for Ultraman Blazar!! Introducing the "DX Blazar Brace" and "DX Blazar Stone"!! [Banmani!] - YouTube
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