CYBERZOIC- Sci Fi Dinosaur and Dragon action figures
Created by David Silva
Armored Dinosaurs and Alien Dragons clash in this new science fiction toy line centered around nature and mankind's place within it.
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Wave A Delivery update, New Package art, Package Design Previews, and more!
2 months ago
– Fri, Sep 20, 2024 at 09:19:39 AM
Hello again everyone- is it Fall already? This year may be flying by, but we've been super busy with all things Cyberzoic here. As always, there's plenty to go over, so let's dive in and check out the latest, starting with our main news...
Wave A Status- New Delivery Date
As I mentioned in the previous update, I switched factories a few months ago for the development and production of the Wave A armors and human figures. Ever since this switch, I'd assumed the lost time would cause a delay for this wave, but we weren't able to determine a new shipping date until recently. Now that these fine cuts are finished, we are FINALLY moving on to the tooling stage.
So what's the new release date? The plan now is to ship wave A- all components- from the factory in January just before Chinese New Year, which is the end of that month. Factor in 4-6 weeks of transit time to the US/ UK and that means the new Wave A delivery date is now estimated for March 2025.
I've asked the factory to provide test shots of the armors and humans in time for our display at LegionsCon 2024 (Nov. 9-10). It's complicated tooling work, but the factory tells me that they'll do all they can to meet that request, so fingers crossed.
What does this mean for Wave B?
We do have the animal tooling for wave B finished, minus the neck and feet adjustments for Dryptosaurus, which is currently in development along with the new Yutyrannus parts. The wave B fine cuts are in the early stage of development now for the armors and will begin soon for all remaining humans, so I will keep the estimated delivery date of May 2025 as-is for the time being and hopefully we can stick to it!
Finalizing the fine cuts
Despite the fine cut armors looking great in the previous update, there were plenty of adjustments needed before proceeding with the tooling. I sent several pages of notes, all full of small adjustments to improve fits, durability, and functionality. For those interested in 'how the sausage gets made', below is a sampling of what some of those notes look like.
Final Human fine cuts
Finishing up the human fine cuts was a bit more tricky than expected. Argenteus was relatively easy, but the shoulder armor on the others was causing a lot for back and forth in order to find a solution that would keep the parts in place and inhibit the arm movement as little as possible. Below are the final figure results.
Argenteus
Helina
Dragolina
With both Helina and Dragolina, the armor had to be reworked to plug onto a squared shoulder key. The final shoulder armor will be in flexible plastic.
Fire Guard
Since the Fire Guard has a larger torso, we were able to keep the interchangeability of the shoulder armor while still maintaining the shoulder movement, but it still had to be re-engineered.
Looking forward to playing with these plastic test shots!
Arctic Dragon paint sample
We just recently received our first factory painted paint sample of Kuraokami, the Arctic Dragon! I've been making toys for a while now so it's not often that I'm super impressed, but this, THIS... I can't put into words how excited I am to see this. Just take a look!
They did an incredible job replicating the paint of the original prototype and the articulation makes it all the better. I'm so excited for people to experience this!
Fun fact- this figure has the most expensive deco of any that we've ever made- and it looks like it!
Here it is scaled with a 1/18th scale Jurassic World figure and a 1/12th scale Marvel Legends figure. Interestingly, it's about the size of a horse to a 1/12th figure.
For those wondering, Kuraokami will come packaged with the wings and tail on a separate tray.
Jetraptor/ Utahraptor package art!
One of the cooling things about developing Cyberzoic is exploring the world of Gaea 2 through the package art, and we have a brand new piece that does just that by Raul Ramos!
Pulled direct from the Cyberzoic storyline- a Tech Clan city is under attack by a mysterious invading force and the Knight Pilots are called into action. But who would be so bold to attack a superpower on their home base?
Click on the image to see a larger version!
New Character art
In addition to the main art piece, we have a couple of new character art pieces as well which will be used on the backs of the human figure packaging, both by Raph Lomotan!
Fire Guard
While we likely won't be using the 'non-armored' look for the final packaging, it's still cool to see!
Dragolina
This lovely piece was modified from Raph's previous art with the Smilodon, thus keeping everything connected. And on that note...
Sneak Peek at the package design types
With three different components to the Cyberzoic toy line, one might ask, 'how will each be packaged separately and still be visually connected?' Let's take a look at the Armored Smilodon with Dragolina set as an example of what we can expect.
Smilodon
The general design is combining assets originally seen on the Kickstarter campaign, but is also a 'sci-fi' take on the Beasts of the Mesozoic/ Cenozoic packaging, making it unique, but also hinting at a shared universe.
Saberbeast armor
The armor packaging will be very similar to the animal packaging, but will feature art of the armored animal with the armor stats and abilities on the back (still in progress).
Dragolina
Shout out to JP Mavinga for the excellent character profile art. All other package art here is courtesy of Raph Lomotan.
The human characters include nods to their animal partner on the back as well as using similar design assets from the boxes, but in blister card form. As for the photography...
New Catalog Shots
It's always a blast seeing how these turn out!
Armored Smilodon with Dragolina set
Kickstarter Exclusive Sabre Tooth Tiger with Helina Box Set
I want to mention here for the Kickstarter backers- we still have a few spots left for the exclusive Sabre Tooth Tiger Set, so if you'd still like to add it to your existing order, please contact me soon!
Other Beast-themed crowdfunds that are LIVE now
With our own news now sorted, I wanted to take a moment to spotlight a couple of awesome crowdfunding campaigns going on right now that I think you all will enjoy!
My toy industry buddy, Dave Igo, has created these amazing new animal hybrid action figures called MONSTORS! In a similar way that Cyberzoic is a spiritual successor to Dino Riders, Monstors is tapping into that 80’s and 90’s nostalgia for super fun toy lines like MOTU, TMNT, Street Sharks, and Extreme Dinosaurs, while still being it’s own thing. And the parts swapping gimmick makes these even better, especially if we get additional characters. I’m a sucker for cool animal-themed toy lines (see my Battle Beasts collection) and this feels like something that would have been a big hit back in the day. With these detailed sculpts and super-creative, colorful designs, it’s definitely bringing back a style that we rarely see in the modern action figure market. If you’re a fan of this aesthetic, I highly encourage you to check out this Kickstarter and support Monstors today!
Eons Realistic Articulated Wooly Mammoth Figures
As mentioned last time, our team here at Creative Beast Studio created some amazing new prehistoric elephant action figure prototypes recently for the new Eons BackerKit campaign going on now! This leads off with several Wooly Mammoth figures including a 1/35th scale adult, an huge 1/18th scale adult, a 1/18th scale Mammoth calf, and an exclusive 1/18th scale snowy variant 2-pack with the adult and calf.
If the initial funding is successful, there are three additional stretch goal species- Gomphotherium, Platybelodon, and Moeritherium! To support this awesome project, go to the Eons Realistic Articulated Wooly Mammoth Figures campaign now and help make these figures a reality!
Well that does it for another healthy dose of Cyberzoic news and then some. If you've read this far in- thank you! I only do Kickstarter updates about every 6-8 weeks, but you can follow our weekly progress on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter, or go to the 'News' section of my website updated each weekend. And while you're there, sign up for our newsletter at creative-beast.com for project news, preview videos, promotions and monthly gift card giveaways!
Happy Fall everyone- take care and until next time!
-David
Someone needs to do something about all these darn dinosaurs!
Beast Armor Fine Cuts, more Test Shots, and... Mammoths?
4 months ago
– Fri, Aug 02, 2024 at 10:42:59 AM
Hello again everyone, I hope you all are having an amazing summer! If you've been following the Cyberzoic action on social media, you know that we're rock'n and roll'n on development for the first wave. So let's recap the recent project news!
Factory switch
First off, I just want to touch on something I mentioned briefly on our last livestream. I recently made the decision to move the humans and armors for wave A from a new factory that we were trying out, back over to my regular factory. The main reason for this being that I felt the progress was going too slow and my regular factory confirmed they would be able to do the work. I'm also optimistic that having all of the components under one roof will help us recoup some of the lost time. This was a set back, but I'm hoping that any delays caused by this will be minimal.
Human figure status- wave A
We found that the fine cuts still needed some minor adjustments in terms of shoulder armor attachments and accessory thicknesses for proper functionality, so the plan now is to tool them along with the beast armors. Which leads us neatly into...
Armor Fine Cuts
The most challenging aspect of this project was always expected be the converting armors, but I'm happy to report that we've been making very good progress on this since the factory switch. They're now making sure that the armors fit correctly, and the parts tab together as needed for each mode. Final tweaks are still being made, but here's a look at the fine cuts so far!
Looking ahead to wave B, Ross is currently making some final improvements to the Jetraptor armor, improving both the aesthetics and functionality. Here's an in-progress sneak peek.
And speaking of sneak peeks, we have new art for this in the works as well!
More Dinosaur test shots
Picking up from last time with wave A and B creature test shot figures, we have two more to look at!
Deinoychus
(base not final)
Dilophosaurus
Razorhound catalog shots
Another round of fancy catalog shots, this time for our big Fire Clan raptor!
JoeFest was a total blast and we want to thank everyone who came out and visited with us!
We had plenty of awesome products for sale and also showed off test shots and prototypes to the public for the first time. We can't wait to return next year! See more JoeFest photos here and Ross and Chris go in depth about the event on Creative Beasts episode 8.
Prehistoric Elephants! Collaboration with Eons coming soon
Wooly Mammoth sculpted by Jun Huang, Mammoth calf sculpted by Ross Persichetti
That's right, Wooly Mammoths are on the horizon, thanks to the team at Eons, which you may know from their fantastic YouTube channel. We're creating new figures for their upcoming BackerKit crowdfund, set to launch on Sept 3rd! There'll be more exciting reveals soon so sign up for the project updates below!
BotM Utah and Achillo wave now shipping- final weekend to preorder
I just wanted to mention this here briefly that the new Beasts of the Mesozoic assortment with the first versions of Utahraptor and Achillobator is at our warehouse and fulfillment has begun as of yesterday! As usual, there are a lot of orders go ship so please allow our team several business days to complete all of the preorders. And for those who still wish to take advantage of the preorder pricing for any of these figures, you can still do so until Monday. Click here for the preorder section of the creative-beast.com shop.
Well, I think that's plenty for now. Our Kickstarter updates take a lot of time to read and to write, but if you're more into bite-size content, follow our weekly progress on my social media channels Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or you can visit the 'News' section of my website updated each week. And if you haven't already, sign up for our newsletter at creative-beast.com for project news, discounts and monthly gift card giveaways!
Enjoy the rest of your summer and until next time!
-David
New 'Beasts' Test Shots, more exciting Package Art, and Sneak Peeks at what's to come!
6 months ago
– Fri, May 24, 2024 at 11:40:14 AM
Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone! As we ring in the unofficial start of summer, it's time once again for the rundown all things Cyberzoic. But first, I do want to mention that for Memorial Weekend only, our Beasts of the Mesozoic in-stock items are 15% off!
Now with that plug out of the way, our biggest Cyberzoic news is that tooling is completed for the beasts of Wave A and B, and we now have our first test shot figures! There's also new package art, more improvements, our first catalog shots, and even a few sneak peeks at what's to come. So settle in, because here we go!
New Test Shots!
The first plastic-injected test shot figures are here for the Arctic Dragon, Smilodon, Deinonychus, and Dilophosaurus! Allosaurus has actually just been completed and is enroute to me now from the factory, so watch for new photos of that very soon!
Kuraokami the Arctic Dragon
It's extremely gratifying to finally see this design in plastic form (if you missed my previous update on the design history and lore of Kuraokami, I highly suggest checking it out here)
Much time and effort was put into getting the most range as possible out of the neck movement. I must say it works really well!
Our first mammalian figure was an interesting challenge to design and engineer, trying not to sacrifice any more of the anatomy than necessary for poseabilty, and I'm extremely pleased with the result. The range of poses that this figure can achieve is beyond what I thought possible!
Speaking of Achillobator, now that the factory has an actual plastic version to work on top of, we have our very first look at the fine cut for its armor, the Razorhound!
Need to move the armor forward just a smidge...
Still more tweaking to do, but it's exciting to see progress!
New Package Art
And with cool figures, we must have equally cool package art! Let's escape to Gaea 2 once again with these incredible works. (Click the main images for a large view.)
Deinonychus Set by Raph Lomotan
More great work from Raph, as we get a glimpse at the mysterious Desert Clan and their Badlands surface patrol.
This layered art will be used for both the Deinonychus and Gunrunner armor.
Lizard Dragon by Raul Ramos
I've been working with Raul for a long time now and he never ceases to impress, but he may have actually outdone himself on this one. I love everything about this so much. The composition, the colors, the depth and the mood. It's all there!
The Gaea 2 forests are a dangerous place, and it's often hard to tell who's the hunter and who's the prey.
Yeah, Velociraptors can climb trees on Gaea 2.
Long time fans will recognize this piece as a tribute to my 2014 sculpture/ kit Dragons vs. Raptors.
The new Velociraptor colors were based on the Utahraptor at the center of the original kit.. which was based on a harlequin duck. In retrospect, I think I sculpted it too small...
Man, has it really been ten years already? Sheesh.
More improvements!
We were able to squeeze in some last-minute edits to the Dragonslayer as well as finalizing the display stand.
Dragonslayer
A few parts had to be made to attach slightly differently to ensure a proper fit for Argenteus.
The most notable additions are the new foot pedals, which store inside when in armor mode. We'll also have clear plug-in 'headlights' on the back of the lower guns.
The flight stand has been in the works for sometime now, and will be compatible with stand parts for the dinosaur stands that we just developed.
The base will be reused again for the Pyrodactyl, Jetraptor, and Icestalker vehicles as well.
Argenteus
We made one more small tweak to Argenteus. Much like his hulking Fire Clan rival, Dybukk, Argenteus now too will sport a bicep swivel joint, allowing for more realistic poses.
Gladius Prime weapon port adapter
And last but not least, we've added a small adaptor part to be included with the Gladius Prime armor which will allow it to use guns and other side plug weapons from the different armor units.
Catalog Shots
We have our first 'catalog shots' for Cyberzoic! These will be for various promotional materials and will likely be on the final packaging as well.
Allosaurus set
Arctic Dragon
Sneak Peeks
Cyberzoic issue #1- Comic layout page
A lot of work is being done right now between myself and comic artist Tadd Galusha for the first issue of the Cyberzoic! And while it's too early to show much, I at least wanted to share one of our page layouts as an example of what we have in store.
Not giving anything away here, but I can say this happens within the first few pages. Can't wait to show more as we progress on this!
Bristle Dragon sculpt now in progress
In case anyone missed this last month, I've finally started sculpting Helina's trusty Fire Clan steed, the Bristle Dragon! This was originally planned for the Kickstarter, but as with several items, had to be saved for later. Feels great to finally be sculpting a dragon again!
You may recall seeing the Bristle Dragon shown some time ago in this awesome promo illustration by HPL gamedesign.
No release date info yet, but be sure to keep an eye on my social media for future updates!
Show appearances
Comicpalooza- Houston, TX- this weekend!
The boys are in Houston, TX this weekend for the big Comicpalooza convention! If you're in the area, stop by booth #1226 and meet artists Ross Persichetti and Chris 'Chaotic' Albers!
And just a reminder that JoeFest only one month away! Not only will we have our Beasts of the Mesozoic items for sale, but we'll also be showing off our latest Cyberzoic test shots, as well as a few other surprises.
Okay, I think that's enough to cram into one update. Thank you to those who've read this far, I realize these aren't short, but I do like to be thorough. But when I'm not making super-long Kickstarter updates, you'll be able to find me on my social media channels Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or just visit the 'News' section of my website for 'bite-site' content as it becomes available. And if you haven't already, sign up for our newsletter at creative-beast.com for project updates, exclusive discounts and monthly gift card giveaways!
Also, next Thursday, May 30th, join Chris, Ross, and myself on our monthly livestream show 'Creative Beasts' at 8pm EST at our youtube channel . We'll recap this past month, and also geek out about toys and pop culture, like we do.
Those pesky raptors are always going where they aren't welcome.
More New Package art plus Fine Cut updates for Creatures and Characters!
8 months ago
– Fri, Mar 22, 2024 at 07:59:53 AM
Happy spring, Everyone! It's time now for the latest from Gaea 2, and we've got a lot cooking for this Cyberzoic update so let's begin with some epic package art!
New Package art!
I have a couple of amazing new package art pieces to show this time around.
(Click on each image for a larger view.)
Saber Tooth Tiger Set
First up is the final art for the Kickstarter Exclusive Sabre Tooth Tiger set by wildlife artist and industry veteran, Ezra Tucker! 100% traditionally painted in oils, Ezra brings his classical style to Cyberzoic as only he can. What an honor it is to have been inspired by his work as a child and now working with him here. I'm so grateful to have him along on this journey to finally revisit a world of sci-fi wildlife!
In addition to the incredible package art, we're also paying homage to the Dino Riders Sabre Tooth tiger release from 1990! Here's a preview of the box front.
The package graphics will feature a lot of call backs to the vintage counter part, seen below.
These homage boxes are always the most fun to design- can't wait to see how this one turns out!
Kuraokami (Arctic Dragon)
Also revealed recently was another stellar package art piece, this one for Kuraokami the Arctic Dragon, done by Raul Ramos!
I've had the pleasure of commissioning Raul for many impressive illustrations, but this one might just top them all! As an amalgam of vertebrate lifeforms, Kuraokami is the embodiment of the natural world in all of its beauty and power- a concept which Raul captured here perfectly!
And here's a hint for what's in-progress now.
Fine Cuts
Moving on to the figures now, we have more updates on the fine cut development.
Here we have a look at the fine cut figures for the Wave B animals, Deinonychus and Dilophosaurus!
For as good as ol' Allo looked before, there was still room for improvement. These new adjustments include: a wider jaw gape, disc hinged wrists, an additional neck cut and...
A new modular stand and ankle pivot feet!
This new foot design is not only is this expected to allow for more dynamic posing, but also make it easier to swap the feet.
Arctic Dragon
And just one update for the aforementioned Arctic Dragon, but it's a big one. More tail segments added!
While this isn't something that would always work well visually for the dinosaurs, dragons such as Kuraokami here, have comparatively large scale textures, making this design ideal for hiding so many tail joints.
All of these animal figures, as well as Smilodon, are being tooled as of now and we should being seeing the first injection-molded test shots sometime next month. Armor unit fine cuts will be finalized and adjusted as needed once we have these test shot figures to work on top of, ensuring the best fit.
Character Fine Cuts
Not be outdone, our character figures are also currently receiving the fine cut treatment. Big shout out to my good friend and production manager, Dave Vonner for taking on the development duties for this side of the toy line.
Here's a first look at the Wave A character fine cuts!
Dragolina
Argenteus
Fire Guard
right arm and fist will be on final
Helina
These figures are enroute to me now from the factory for final review, with tooling expected to begin soon thereafter. Stay tuned for more!
Upcoming Conventions
Before I go, I have a couple of convention appearances to announce!
For those in the Houston, Texas area, visit the Creative Beast Studio team of Ross and Chris at Comicpalooza! They'll have plenty of Beasts of the Mesozoic products on-hand as well as a few other surprises!
Join Chris, Ross, and myself at JoeFest this June in Augusta, GA! We'll have plenty of BotM goodies for sale, new releases, and our first Cyberzoic test shots on display!
Well, that'll about do it for this update! For even more insights into our current projects and what's to come, join Chris, Ross, and myself on our next livestream event, next Thursday night, March 28th at 8pm EST on our youtube channel. This time we'll also be joined by special guest, SpinoDude!
P.S.- Somewhat related, we finally have a Stegosaurus!
Fun Fact: Dave Vonner's other job is dinosaur wrangler.
BackerKit Survey Lockdown is on Tuesday, Feb. 20th! Plus a sneak peek at the final Sabre Tooth art!
9 months ago
– Fri, Feb 16, 2024 at 08:29:36 AM
Hi All,
I just wanted send a quick reminder that the BackerKit survey lockdown is coming up this Tuesday, Feb. 20th!
Please be sure to submit your Kickstarter surveys and preorders soon if you haven't done so already. As of this writing there are still 219 backers who have yet to finalize their survey, so don't forget! Even if you don't intend to add anything else, we still need your mailing address. As of this coming Tuesday, all Kickstarter surveys and preorders will be locked down and credit cards will be charged for items added post-Kickstarter. For KS backers, this is also the last chance to take advantage of the Kickstarter campaign pricing and bundles.
I've heard of instances where backers did not receive a survey, so please be sure to check your spam folder if this is the case. And if anyone needs assistance, please direct message me, and I'll follow up as soon as I can!
Preorders
All Cyberzoic preorders will remain open until the items are in-stock, but the production quantities for wave A will be determined based on the order counts taken at lockdown.
Remember that while we expect to have additional quantities available after the preorder fulfillment, there is no guarantee.
Kickstarter Exclusive
And for Kickstarter backers, this is the last call to order the Kickstarter exclusive Sabre-Tooth Tiger Set with Helina!
Speaking of...the package art for this set, done by the amazing Ezra Tucker, is now completed! But we want to give that its own update, so for now, here's a front box teaser:
Expect to see a full reveal of this and more new art in the next update!
