How is it that something that didn’t exist when I was a kid can fill me with such a sense of nostalgia?
Rather than dwell on it I think I’ll retreat to the attic to dig out my Ovion figure. Maybe I’ll even find Imperious Leader, whose design seemed so disappointing compared to the shadowy figure on Battlestar Galactica.
Pretty cool figures but $50 to ship out of the US? Seems a bit excessive.
I don’t get the reference to Masters of the Alternate Universe, which implies Warpo did a similar tongue-in-cheek line of merchandise along those lines, but the link doesn’t support that — it’s just somebody at Warpo writing about bootleg toys.
Hey Ashy Pete - I know, $50 is rough but we were really conflicted with offering international shipping at all. We’re a small group of guys trying to get this off the ground. From all the research we’ve done on other KS campaigns the organizers continually comment that international shipping was time consuming and always more costly than what they expected. So, with the product being a clunky size, and with us properly packing them to ensure they don’t arrive damaged, and with all the extra time - we think it comes out pretty close to right on in the end.
Thanks for your interest in the campaign Pete!
Team Warpo
Hey algomeysa2,
Sorry for the confusion - we’ve actually had warpo.com up for some time now posting articles about retro toys. The article you’re referencing is just a study on the MOTU knock off world… which we could or could not of been researching for our next product line 
Thanks for your interest in the project!
Team Warpo
Warpo’s Eric Lefeber insisted that the “stiffness” of the figures isn’t just a retro affectation: it’s a design choice that embodies the 1970s and 1980s, and honoring it is an important part of the toys’ appeal.
“Take a look at monster-type figures from that time like Hammerhead from Star Wars or Ovion from Battlestar Galactica and you will see a similar posture,” said Lefeber. “We feel that these are the kinds of subtle details that naturally evoke nostalgia and hard-core vintage toy collectors will really appreciate.”
That sounds pretty much like an exact description of what a “retro affectation” is, actually.
I feel like the set of four is a bit expensive, but on the other hand, I’ve spent hundreds of dollars on individual kaiju vinyl and Ashly Wood robots from bambaland, so it seems obvious that I’ll back this…
These look AWESOME. And I actually think the cost is pretty reasonable, considering.
Only:
“Warpo’s Eric Lefeber insiste that the “stiffness” of the figures isn’t just a retro affectation: it’s a design choice that embodies the 1970s and 1980s, and honoring it is an important part of the toys’ appeal.”
Nobody remembers Micronauts? Ken Kelly even worked on the card art for the aliens. Regardless, these remind me a lot of the 3.75 in. DFC Dragonriders of the Styx figures.
Other than the old barbie sized Big Jim/Evel Knievel/GI Joe, the Micronauts were basically the only action figures that I had…
I had one issue of the comic book…
Yeah, I never read the comic. As a result, the Micronauts were completely rudderless when it came to playtime, unlike Starwars figures, which had their roles pretty well set by the films. In a way, that was sort of liberating.
Micronauts were a beloved toy series in my household. But to be honest, if it was made of metal, weird and featured some kind of robot it was absolutely golden in my home. The little 3 inch Shogun Warrior toys were top of the toy pyramid but the Micronauts were not far below.
No, I can understand and it wasn’t an attack. In my professional life I’ve had to ship odd size product to all over and I’m well aware it can be excessive. It’s a shame you can’t give your neighbours to the North a break. I mean screw the Australians by all means but the Canadians? Come on! [I kid…]
WARPO is a big fan of Dragonriders of the Styx. It’s often overlooked but amazingly fun line that stood on its own when its contemporaries had movies and TV to support them.
As far as the quote about the “stiffness,” I wanted to emphasizes that every design decision was made with the purpose of evoking nostalgia. It’s not that we just happen to like things that way, we HAD to do it that way for the figures to look and feel authentic.
As far as price, if we could afford to make them cheaper, believe me, we would because I know we’d get even more of them into people’s hands and in the end, that’s where we find the most joy in making toys.
It looks like we need a visit from Stealth Mountain. Ironically, I think it was on BoingBoing that I first heard of Stealth Mountain.
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