Interview with Mayhem Mekanics

The Unrustable Bastards Kickstarter project is promising to bring us some fantastic new transforming robot toys and action figures that will work perfectly with Acid Rain, G.I. Joe, and other 1:18 scale toylines. The project closes soon, and fortunately the team at Mayhem Mekanics was willing to let me interview Ceno Kibble about the new toys. Check out the interview, and then take a closer look at the Kickstarter project before it closes.

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Thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions about your new Kickstarter project for Unrustable Bastards. The prototype pics shown on the Kickstarter page look fantastic, and I appreciate you giving me an opportunity to look closer at the background behind these new toys. There have been hundreds of new transforming robot toys released over the last five or six years, so first off, before we get into the Bastards themselves, can you name three or four other transforming robot toys that were designed by Cassy Sark?

Ceno: Oh blimey, just three? I can do three for three. Lets go with MMCs Feral Rex, Carnifex, and Spartan. KFC’s Simba, Transistor, and Crash Hog. Finally Apex and Geminus for Mech iDeas, iGear Raptor Squadron and the much delayed Perfect Effect Deathstalker.

Thanks! With that out of the way, what makes the Unrustable Bastards really stand out from all of the other robots on the market? Collector dollars are stretch thin these days, and these new toys have to compete in a crowded marketplace. Why do you believe collectors will want to add these designs to their collections?

Ceno: You make a great point about the crowded marketplace, it certainly is combative. I feel that’s actually our greatest strength right now. Let me explain; we believe over the last seven years of 3rd party toys, collectors have come to enjoy companies and designers as much as they have the actual characters behind the homages. I’m certainly in for all MMC toys regardless of Masterpiece or CHUG scale, and the same with the iconic Maketoys designer who has worked on Fans Project and Action Robo toys. The problem is, as collectors, we don’t NEED seven different Springers, or four different Infernos, so it means we’re all starting to skip on releases from companies and designers we’d otherwise love to add to our collections.

I think the 3rd party customer is ready for new and original designs from their favourite designers, and I think we’re perfectly positioned to release an original product just as people are suffering from same character fatigue. Rather than all fighting for a slice of the same ever decreasing pie, we’re attempting to bring a new product and intellectual property to market – with original fiction to back it up in the form of comic-books – one which has the opportunity to bring new collectors to the transforming robot scene with it’s unique 1/18th compatibility.

With a little creativity, we can make the pie bigger, then everyone eats!

The choice of making these work with 3.75-inch scale action figures strikes me as inspired, especially after watching the success of new lines like the Acid Rain series and Marauder Gunrunners’ successful Kickstarter launch. Have you tested the Bastards cycles with those two action figure lines? I see a Deadpool pic on the Kickstarter page, but what other lines have you tried alongside the Bastards cycles?

Ceno: Thanks for the kind words. We have to be honest, we completely under-estimated the 1/18th crowd’s interest in this project, and we’ve gone from “oh, that’s cool, 1/18th figures fit on the bike as well” to “okay, 1/18th is now integral to the design, build and customer base”, to the point that the final release will actually be scaled up about 1.5%, barely noticeable at a glance, but it means 1/18th will fit more comfortably and the Rider / Prospect figures from this line will stand eye-to-eye with other 1/18th figures, whether they be Star Wars, Marvel, GI Joe, Dime Novel Legends or Hell Screamerz.

While we haven’t tested it with Acid Rain and Marauder Gunrunners specifically, the scale is the scale is the scale.

Going into the final week, you stand at about 3/4 funded. Do you think the project will be funded? Can we expect to see these toys released at different online shops, or should collectors not count on finding these at spots like TFSource and Big Bad Toy Store? I know a lot of people pre-order at those two sites — and others — and what’s best for the line right now?

Ceno: I believe we will. The fanbase for this is much wider than what we’ve currently tapped into with the Kickstarter and we’re still getting the word out there. We already have retailer interest in these, but we want to make sure the Kickstarter is the priority and that the 5 exclusive Kickstarter characters stay limited to their strictly limited quantity of 200 units. We have a few updates and surprises planned for the final week of the Kickstarter so while we’ve never been arrogantly confident about success, we are cautiously optimistic.

What’s best for the project right now though, is absolutely people backing us on the Kickstarter. Not only are you securing the first release of the figures at a cheaper price point that the proposed $120 RRP, you’re investing in an original concept. Not just in a product line, but an idea. An idea with enough scope which opens the door for every imaginative toy collector to get involved with out sandbox universe, either with customisation, fan art, writing, animation, painting or any other creative outlet, or just by finding a home for our new toyline on their shelves.

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Check out the Unrustable Bastards transforming robot toys at Kickstarter today!