FINAL HOURS! Carnotaurus and Yutyrannus Sets Unlock- Plus Lizard Dragon preview and Live Stream Countdown!
about 3 years ago – Thu, Nov 02, 2023 at 03:39:13 PM

We are now under three hours left in the campaign and I have a lot to get through so I'm gonna keep the this somewhat brief, but I do have a bunch of photos for you, so strap in!

Carnotaurus Set Unlock

 The Carnotaurus Set is unlocked and all of its items are available as a reward or an add-on! 

 And the Decimator armor is finsihed and we have a Dybukk prototype, albeit unpainted.

 Design

Ross Persichetti once again knocked this design out of the park!

 And big kudos to Aaron Doyle for the amazing sculpting on the armor.

 Dybukk

Every story needs a villain and Dybukk has finally arrived to bring some balance to all of these heroic characters. We'll dive into his backstory in a future update, but for now I want to show off this incredible sculpt by Ehren Bienert!

He also includes this alternate yelling head for those heated confrontations.

 Dybukk is easily the largest character at 4.6" tall, and plenty of bulk to go with it. He's even large enough to have additional articulation with double elbows and deltoid swivels!

 Dybukk was a character I came up with in art school quite some time ago, but I worked with JP Mavinga to develop a modern design. He's a dragon man in a sci-fi world, and used to have wings, but I decided to give him a high tech jet pack for the final version. 

 Dybukk isn't evil, but he has a tragic backstory and thus is alien to any type of sympathy or compassion. His hatred of the Tech Clan fuels his thirst for power. We'll get to know him better later on.

 Yutyrannus Set Unlock 

The Yutyrannus Set is also unlocked and all of its items are also available as a reward or an add-on! 

 As mentioned previously, some of the mounts have names in the story, and this one is Nxy, named for the Greek goddess of the night. 

 Nyx is accompanied by her companion, Qi'lara. This is the one prototype I ran out of time to build, but at least I started painting the armor!

 Since we don't have a physical prototype for the armor, here are some 3D renders courtesy of sculptor Aaron Doyle once again. (This body is just a generic mid-sized Tyrannosaur in case anyone is wondering.)

Alt mode

 Of course belonging to the Tech Knights, the armor can convert. This time we get a hover bike!

 Design

It's another excellent design from Ross! As these do, it went through a few rounds of design, but never really changed that much.

 And the final version, but we did end up adding the side guns.

Qi'Lara

Qi'Lara is the sister of Helina (Dragolina). Both were destined to be Tech Knights, but Helina ran away at a young age, leaving Qi'Lara to fend for herself in a twisted controlled society. 

 This figure was sculpted by Fred Aczon and painted by Matt Holt, of course they did a beautiful job! 

 She also has an alternate helmeted head and the blades can be stored on her back.

 What will happen when these two finally reunite? Will they be friends or foes? Either way, I'm looking forward to exploring this in our comic.

Design

Qi'Lara is another character that I've had for a long time now. Ross and I redesigned her as a Tech Knight, but she's basically the same character that she's always been. 

 Here's an earlier drawing of mine from about ten years ago, back when this story was a bit more geared toward the fantasy genre. 

Notice the helmet design we ended up with is very similar. She was always meant to have a feather theme to her armor, which led me to pair her with Yutyrannus.

Lizard Dragon Preview

And of course the final stretch goal! Many of you saw this coming, it's the ruler of the forest, the mighty Lizard Dragon!

 Unlike the Arctic dragon, the Lizard Dragon is a species of many and more animal-like, comparable to horses or wolves. 

 Here it is with Dragolina for scale. I also want to mention once again, Aaron Doyle did an incredible job with this sculpt, which is based on my Dragon vs. Raptors model kit design, from 2014. 

Paint

 And again, this was painted in all its glory by Matt Holt. Check out this cool video he made of his process!

Beast Bundle added

 And just a quick note in case any one missed it- you can now get all nine Earth animals in one swoop with the 'Beast Bundle, which is up now as a reward tier or add-on!

Live stream

 Myself, Ross, and Chris, we be doing a Live Stream for the final hour of the Kickstarter, at 8pm EST. Join us on my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@creativebeaststudio8182

Cyberzoic Fan Facebook Page

There's a new Fan page for all things Cyberzoic! Big thank you to Carlos Castillo for getting this started, I think it's a fantastic idea! Go to the fan page on Facebook here.

And I leave you with our character scale chart so far, first shown in the Kickstarter video. Who are the missing three? That will be a story for another update!

Less than three hours left and 35K away from unlocking the Lizard Dragon. Will we make it? Many will be asking what happens if we don't reach it. To be honest, I don't have a specific plan in that instance, but I will find a a way to get it made somehow. BackerKit seems like the most likely option, but we'll see. For now, let's try our best to get it done here! Spread the word one last time to whoever you can and let's keep bringing up that backer count!

I gotta run! More galleries, prototype follow ups and lore updates to come, but this is the final update during the campaign. It's been an amazing ride so far and I thank you all so much for the support and for coming along. And I also want to mention that I'm getting a TON of questions right now on several platforms, and I apologize if I can't get to everyone right away.

See you all at the Live Stream!

-David

Tech Clan reinforcements arrive- the Utahraptor Set is UNLOCKED!!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 07:44:30 PM

The Utahraptor Set with the Knight Pilot troop figure is now unlocked! This set and its items are now available to add as a reward tier or add-on.

Also added are the Knight Pilot troop builder 3-pack, the Wave B bundle, and the Wave A+B bundle, so be sure to check those out if you haven't done so already!

Armored Utahraptor

This was the very first Tech Clan armor unit that Ross and I worked on, which set the overall look of this clan. And as with the Knight Pilot, this armor unit was also sculpted by Fred Aczon! 

I think the Zoids fans out there will spot the obvious design inspiration used for this clan, which is especially apparent with this unit.

Using strong angles and mostly neutral tones, and a touch of aerodynamic lines, we wanted to establish a look that distorted where the vehicle ended and the animal began. Because to the Tech Clan- flesh or metal- everything is a machine to be fabricated and used for a specific purpose. 

In addition to its jet mode, the Jetraptor armor also has several modular features in raptor mode. We just saw it fully armed. 

Here it is without the magnetic disruptor wings... 

And without the cannons, using only the wings...

And in case you just want a casual ride the local grocery store, there's the basic armor mode. Gotta feed that raptor!

Jet mode 

And of course the armor can be reconfigured into the secondary jet mode!

This flight stand is not final, but it's a good 'stand in'... sorry I haven't been sleeping much.

This design also makes use of the raptor harness, doubling here as the flight stand cradle. 

And seen here with our unpainted pilot figure. I should also mention that the cannons do telescope, adding further to the various display options. 

Design

As mentioned, this unit was deigned by Ross Persichetti, and was early on in our development of the line, which has already been two years now.

Knight Pilot- Tech Trooper

We began designing a troop for the Fire clan, which ended up being the Fire Guard, and his equal and opposite was this Tech Clan troop, which for a long time was just referred to as 'Utahraptor Pilot', but that was never meant to be the final name. 

Designed by Ross, sculpted by Fred, and painted by Matt, these high-ranking pilot troops are the backup for the Tech Knights and are versatile enough to pilot a variety of dinosaur units, or act as infantry if needed. 

He also includes two alternate, helmeted heads. The main design depicts our troop as Caucasian, but we'll also be including an African-American head as well for more troop building options.

And that's about it for our Tech Clan Utahraptor set!

We're less than $10K from the Carnotaurus now which means, I've got another prototype to finish!

Soon...

And just a heads up- with less than 2 days remaining, I'm gonna have to scale back on the photo galleries for the remaining unlocks. Time is getting tight, but I'll show what can!

It's the home stretch now, gang- let's get those last three reward sets!

-David

First Look at the Cyberzoic Comic Book with new preview art!
about 3 years ago – Tue, Oct 31, 2023 at 08:52:22 AM

For those who've been following the development of Cyberzoic on my social media, you may recall mention that there's a Cyberzoic comic in the works to accompany the action figure line and help flesh out the story. Well we've been working on writing the first issue for some time now and we finally have the first sample pages to share with you all here, with art by comic artist Tadd Galusha! 

The comic begins with a typical Fire Clan gladiator match, in this case featuring Sykron and our main protagonist, Helina (who's fighting as 'Dragolina' at this point in the story). The gladiators with their thrill-seeking mentality provide some levity in the story, a contrast to the more stoic characters like the Tech Clan members.

Despite the upbeat tone of these pages, it is the 'calm before the storm' as the Tech Clan eventually interrupt the match, causing a disturbance in which all hell breaks loose.  If you can call being attacked by a wild Acrocanthosaurus 'calm' anyway. Speaking of which...

Fun fact, this Acrocanthosaurus color scheme was based on my own model kit from 2010, which was inspired by the Marine Iguana.

And for those wondering, Acrocanthosaurus will be part of Cyberzoic II. It is my favorite dinosaur after all. :)

Drawing process

I'm willing to bet that there's interest to see Tadd's process for this art, so he's also provided me with the inks and pencils for each page as well! 

I hope you all enjoyed this preview of the new comic. We're working really hard to make it something special and costs permitting, I hope to include a mini version with the figures next fall, just like we had in the 80's toy lines!

We're rapidly closing in on that Utahraptor Set stretch goal so I expect to be back later today with more on that. And just to make sure the Fire Clan doesn't get all of the attention,  I'll leave you with a look at our potential Tech Clan crew. 

See you all at the next unlock!

-David

Utahraptor is UNLOCKED and a 'first look' at the Carnotaurus!
about 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 06:21:19 PM

We've reached yet another stretch goal, this time for the Utahraptor ostrommaysi figure! This item is now available to add as a reward tier or add-on. 

The colors and patterns were based on the Harpy Eagle.

The Utahraptor figure was brilliantly sculpted by Jake Baardse, with articulation by Raul Ramos. Who said feathered raptors weren't cool?

Here it is with its Cyberzoic rival, Achillobator, each have armors that are compatible with one another. 

And alongside its Beasts of the Mesozoic counterpart... what a lovely couple!

And next to the big boss, the Arctic Dragon!

Now it's time to complete this set with the Knight Pilot (I almost called him a 'Knight Rider' but that was taken apparently) and the Jetraptor armor at $410K! This will also finish out the Wave B assortment, giving us additional wave bundle options. And then...

It's Carno time!

The next dinosaur unlock, is none other than the much anticipated Carnotaurus sastrei, unlocked at $430K! 

The listing has now been added to the campaign page.

Congrats on the new unlock, everyone. We're doing great so let's keep the momentum going! 

Later!

-David

New finished Dryptosaurus package art by Raph Lomotan!
about 3 years ago – Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 09:40:52 AM

I just wanted to share this brand new completed package art for the Dryptosaurus Set, done by Raph Lomotan! 

Those familiar with paleoart may recognize this composition. It's an homage to the 'Leaping Laelaps' painting by Charles R. Knight, from way back when Dryptosaurus was called Laelaps aquilunguis.

In the art, we get to see Helina and her rival, Sykron, battle it out in the Fire Clan gladiatorial arena.

While these contests were not meant to be 'to the death', serious injuries would often occur to any of th parties involved. But for fighters such as these two, the danger only made the matches more exciting.

We're now less than $5K away from letting the Utahraptor loose- let's go!!

-David