Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Coraline Bendy toys

I just saw Neil Gaiman's blog where he got the most awesomest, coolest Coraline Box of all... an actual Coraline animation puppet with cat!!!:
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Ok, turns out this isn't actually one of the Coraline Mystery Boxes.... it's more a special gift for Neil as the author of the book from his friend Henry S. But it made me say $@#$!..... I WANT one of those!!!!

So a quick Google search turned this up:
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Entertainmentearth.com - Coraline Bendy toys


Coraline bendy toys!!! And look at what they're standing on.... makes them look like actual animation puppets. As if they have tie-downs. Hmmmm....

Well, I kind of doubt they really do though. That would just be TOO cool!! More likely these are pre-production pics of actual puppets, intended as a "suggestion" of what the actual toys will look like. I hope they don't suck... but these are made by NECA, known for some of the best toys in the industry. So I have high hopes.

I wonder how many of us big, manly animators are going to have these girly dolls standing around in our basements in January?? Playing dress-up with them? (they come with multiple outfits)

Weird, but they should be pretty animatable. And who knows.... they just MIGHT actually come with tie-downs already in the feet!!!

Ok, just found this -- apparently you actually get 3 different bendy toys, each with a different facial expression and different outfit and accessories. Kind of cool, but not as cool as interchangeable faces (and tie-downs!!).

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Ok, Jeremy mentioned prototype bendy toys on Flickr, and here's what turned up:

Prototype Coralaine Bendy toy at ComicCon

This one has a selection of replacement faces -- we can keep our fingers crossed, but somehow I doubt the actual production version will have them. Seems like they would have mentioned it in the advertising on one of the sites I already linked to above.


9 comments:

j.spake said...

those ARE actually pics of the puppets. i'm pretty curious to see what those toys are going to look like, myself. somewhere online there are some pics of a prototype coraline bendy doll that NECA had at comic-con this summer. i'm sure they are on flickr. i doubt pretty seriously that what they had at the con is how the actual toys are going to be (replaceable faces, etc...) but maybe that's the ballpark.

Edwound Wisent said...

(^ if they make em they will sell.
(^ plus if they sell a small digicam with them, the perchasers will self train themselves to become animators
(^ less cost invested in training the next generation of storytellers.

Darkmatters said...

Yep, I was thinking much the same. Hell, put SMA.com somewhere on the packaging too!

Anonymous said...

I don't really think stop motion animators are trained by studios, as most of them are do-it-yourself-ers and then hired on based on their skills, but it would be cool to have a toy that behaves like a stop motion puppet when you pose it.

The only thing I don't get is the whole replacement-faces thing. It looks great, but what ever happened to resculpting the face every frame? There are still animators in Portland from the days when that was the norm. Most of them went into computer animation because clay fell into disuse and this was their bread and butter for two decades.

It's kind of a shame. I love stop motion, but... BRING BACK CLAY!!

jriggity said...

Ha!....cool news.

I am a total TOY DORK!

And I am sure I will have a coraline sitting on my desk as long as the quality is good.

jriggity

Anonymous said...

Same here, I have the Mayor of Halloweenland from NBC sitting on my desk, the latest model made by NECA. His head is pretty cool.

What do you think these toys will be made from, probably an internal wire armature, posable fingers?

Mike, will you do any surgery on a doll like you did with the real arm. Its a waste of 40 bucks but could be interesting.

Edwound Wisent said...

(^ $40.oo is cheap in terms of research and development.
(^ never a waste if then using the cut up puppet to create new ones with .

(^ model kit cut ups and reconfiguring is an art form used in the making of stuff for films that goes way way back.

(^ it's actualy why many months ago I suggested to nofby he crunch up his old child snatcher set and mix it in to the newer project he started.

(^ wastepaper products often have interesting textures that never come prepackaged.

wyrd verf seckbant = neckband secant sectarian semantic

Darkmatters said...

Well, considering there are 3 'puppets' in the set, I COULD put one under the knife....

But I suspect the construction will be very simple..... basic wire armature inside cast rubber exterior. Just like the Pink Panther bendy my friend had hanging from his mirror in his orange Pinto.

I'm not so much interested in how mass produced NECA toys are put together - but a chance to see the magic made at Laika - priceless!

Cara Russell said...

I love that movies are still using puppets rather than relying solely on computer animation techniques. For all those who love the puppet aspect of Coraline, check out these great Hand Puppets from SuperSmartyPants and bring the magic of puppets you saw on film into your own home!