Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Tripasu: The First Five


Tripasu is a very exciting collaboration between two of my favorite toy companies: Cronic and Max Toy. The figure was designed by Mark Nagata (owner of Max Toy) and realized in kaiju form through a sculpt by Naoki Koiwa (owner of Cronic).

The first Tripasu release was through the Max Toy Co. mailing list in July 2008. It was a clear green unpainted figure, which is quite appropriate for the creature from the sea!

(BTW, click on each photo to see its full size.)


The debut release came with this fantastic giclee from a painting by Mark Nagata for the figure's header card:


The first painted Tripasu was released at the 2008 SDCC. This version was designed by Mark, who handpainted each piece. It's a super-meticulous design that shows some of Mark's signature colors:



Naoki's first crack at painting Tripasu was around the same time, at the 2008 WCC. (Naoki also released a clear unpainted version of the figure at the show.) The painted version uses Naoki's "rainbow" style. What makes it even more exciting is the application of metallic spray along with traditional V-color, making this a really amazing kaiju paint app:




Here's a side by side shot of Mark and Naoki's debut figures. It shows the different styles and visions of the two kaiju masters. Personally, this is what really makes Tripasu so exciting for me - seeing how each artist works on the figure to bring it to life!

Exactly two weeks after WCC, Naoki released his second painted Tripasu, at the 2008 Summer WF. This design has a milky white base with metallic blue, red, silver, and gold spray:



Don't you know it - Tripasu loves good literature!

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