Articulated Icons: The Feudal Series - Ninja Action Figures

Interview at Doomkick and Shipping Address Updates
almost 10 years ago – Tue, Jun 21, 2016 at 05:43:51 PM

Good Morning!

Here is your latest update on Articulated Icons.

First, be sure to check out the interview we had with the awesome team at Doomkick. We provide a few updates about the production process, and where we are at this time. You can read the full interview here:

http://doomkick.com/follow-up-interview-with-nic-wood-of-articulated-icons/

Thanks to Jesse and the DK team for putting this together for us.

Also, we have had a lot of inquiries about shipping addresses and how updates can be made. Obviously, it was expected that shipping addresses for some Backers would change between the close of the KS campaign and when orders would be fulfilled, so we have planned for this. 

Essentially, if your address has changed, YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO ANYTHING AT THIS TIME.

Once we get close to shipping, we will be sending out a communication that will REQUIRE everyone to either confirm their shipping address, or update it. This will be an active participation request, so you MUST confirm or update your address prior to us shipping anything out to you. You will get the opportunity to change your address, but that will be closer to ship time.

We hope that will clarify things as far as shipping goes. 

Thanks for checking out this update and we will be back with more soon.

Team AI

Articulated Icons at Power-Con 2016
almost 10 years ago – Tue, May 17, 2016 at 08:55:12 PM

Good Morning!

We have a quick update for you today, and an exciting announcement about our first convention presence!

First, we are expecting the remaining production schedule from the factory in China within the next week or so. Obviously, we will be adjusting our delivery times a bit based off the their new time line, and while it might take us a bit longer to deliver than originally planned, we know it will be worth it. The careful work the factory has performed up to this point will really reflect in the final product, and we are certain the detailed tooling phase will make for some amazing figures. Not to worry though, we are still confident that the final figures will be "on the water" sometime this summer. Exciting!

Additionally, if you have not seen the news already, Articulated Icons will have a presence at this year's Power-Con! Held on June 4 and 5 in Los Angeles at the Torrance Marriott Redondo Beach hotel, we will have several painted prototypes on display. If you are in the LA area, or are planning on coming to the show, be sure to stop by our booth and say hello and check out some of our prototypes in person! You can find more information about our presence at the show here:

http://www.thepower-con.com/2016/02/exhibiting-at-power-con-2016-the-fwoosh/

Additionally, here is the information about the show itself. If you are interested in attending, get your tickets now, the last day to purchase is May 20th!

http://www.thepower-con.com/information/

That is it for now, but we will be back soon with more updates and pictures from the show!

Thanks for your continued support,

Team AI

Here and There, Back and Forth, and Around Again
almost 10 years ago – Mon, Apr 18, 2016 at 07:46:53 PM

Greetings!

We wanted to check in with a very brief update today to help keep everyone in the loop on how tooling production is going.

We have passed several early rounds of reviews on a LOT of parts for the figures as we move along through the production process. This is going at the expected pace, but it does take time due to the fact that they actual pieces we are reviewing have to be sent from China to the US, and back again for each round. The process has been very fruitful as we have been able to ensure that the quality for everything is up to our standards, but we have also found some good solutions to integrating a lot of our articulation into the sculpts while staying as true to the form as possible. 

We are hoping to have some pictures to share with you very soon as sign-offs on individual figures occur. This will move to finalize the steel tooling as we move through the production process. This is one of the slowest climbs of production, but we are NOT rushing anything with this because we are ensuring that the tools that will be used to create these figures will be as close to perfect as possible. 

As we continue with this, the factory will have more concrete information on their timelines, so when we are given the final production schedule, we will pass it along to all of you.

Our next update should come quickly, and we still have some great Matt K prototype pictures still to share, so we will be bringing those out soon, too. 

Thanks for sticking with us, after the sprint of the Kickstarter Campaign, the tooling process feels more like a marathon, but we are moving along. These steps can feel tedious at times (especially when it comes to having "cool" stuff to show for updates), but these details are going to make sure Articulated Icons are the best figures they can possibly be.

More coming soon, and thanks,

Team AI

Quick Tooling Production Update
about 10 years ago – Tue, Mar 15, 2016 at 08:27:05 PM

Greetings, Devotees!

As promised, we want to make our updates more frequent now that the production process has started, so we have a bit of new information to share with you.

As we stated in the last update, the "tooling" process is underway at our factory in Asia. This is the first real production step, and all of the steel molds that will be used to create the hundreds of parts needed to make these action figures are being created as we speak. This important process has a lot of quality checks in the planning phase (it is REALLY expensive to cut that steel), and we have had a few sign-offs already, so things are going well.

We wanted to share an example of what occurs when a prototype is used as a tooling master, and what changes happen in order to transition a handmade resin sculpture to a full-blown action figure.

This picture is a small example of some of the changes that occur during this process. As you can see, due to the design of the shoulder and ankle joint disks for the final figures, the pins that were visible in the prototypes will no longer be necessary. We realize that the quality of a figure is often discussed in terms of degradation from prototype to production, but this is one of those cases where the production process improves the overall look and functionality of some crucial joints.

Now, we know that many of you are action figure aficionados, and that you likely know this is a pretty standard production change, but if this is your first time seeing this type of work-in-progress step, we hope it casts some new light on the complicated process of making action figures.

Again, this is just a small example of many tooling requirements we are monitoring at the moment, and it is very reassuring that the factory is being proactive in suggesting improvements where they can be made, and they are also being very accommodating to our strict quality and aesthetic requirements.

We are cataloging all of these steps closely, so we hope to share more updates like this, if you find them interesting. Be sure to let us know in the comments.

Thanks for checking this out, and we will be back with more soon!

Team AI

Tooling is Underway! Also: Several Pre-Orders are About to Close
about 10 years ago – Tue, Mar 01, 2016 at 04:05:03 PM

Greetings, Devoted Legionnaires! 

It is an exciting time here in the Articulated Icons offices, so as promised, we are back with some updates. As you may know, the Lunar New Year festivities have been taking place over the past few weeks, but those have concluded, and work at the factory is up and running again. That brings some exciting news: tooling for all of our items is now underway! “Tooling” is the term for the process whereby the actual steel molds that will be used to create the figures are now being created. 

This is one of the most complicated parts of the of the entire production cycle because each mold must be cut and created perfectly to ensure the level of detail and quality we are demanding for Articulated Icons. However, we are very confident in our factory as we have forged a great relationship with them, and their prior work shows they share our commitment to quality. 

That said, we are expecting several rounds of testing approvals to make sure everything looks good, and each mold is engineered to maximize playability and stability. These reviews are absolutely crucial to ensure we are on the same page with the factory, and that changes can be made when needed. We are dealing with a lot of figures, and even more individual pieces (the more articulation, the more tiny joints are required), so we will be taking very detailed steps to ensure everything is able to come together properly. As the process moves along, we will be sure to keep you posted. Once physical tooling samples begin to be produced, we will share pictures and stories, we cannot wait to be able to do that, and we are very much on our way. 

In somewhat related news, we wanted to share that our pre-orders are doing very well right now, and we are getting very close to closing pre-orders for several of our items. Shoken, Itami, Shibito, and Seijun are getting very close to selling out, so if you have been waiting on these guys, now is the time. Once these sell out, they will not be made available again, at least for this production run. We are currently not scheduled for any further runs at this time, so if you want them, come and get them! 

Finally, we have had several inquiries about the need to update shipping addresses. We know this is very important, but do not fear: when we are close to actually shipping product (that is, within about two weeks) we will send out notifications to confirm or change your shipping address so that we have the right information. At the stage, you need not worry about updating your address, that will be handled when we are closer to ship time. 

Thanks so much for patience and continued support, we really appreciate it. During the early stages of the tooling process there will likely be little to actually show, but we have several background stories and photo features of our characters that have not been shared yet, so expect some of those while we work through this very important step of production. 

More soon, we promise! 

Team AI