Yesterday I got a package in the mail from Hudson Entertainment. It was to show their appreciation for me being such a fan of their games, and for taking part in a 2-part feature about my toy customization, Bonk and Bomberman Munny vinyl toys. Total Hudson fanboy, right here.
Sweet T-shirt, and game too. Bomberman Land 2 was reviewed pretty good.
Hudson Art with Albert Art -- Marketing people love me long time.
These days it's easy for Fan artists to come under fire for violating trademarks. We all remember the cease and desist order from Epic games sent to the Gears of War Munny creator Emilio Lopez, back in early 2007. His fantastic character themed after the popular shooter was an instant fan favorite online, featuring professional packaging that easily could have been sold in stores. As a gift to his cousin who was a fan of Epic's title, Lopez probably never thought that he'd be greeted by a threatening letter from the lawyers at Hunton & Williams. Knowing of this seemingly intimidating and risky situation that might have happened to me, I still went ahead and attempted to create toys based on my own favorite video game characters -- Bonk, Megaman, and Bomberman.
Who would I piss off? Hudson, Capcom or maybe even both? I certainly hoped not, so in the interest of keeping my ass out of hot water, I created these toys without the professional presentation (logos, and all) that made the Gear of War Munny so convincing. They still turned out pretty kick ass though.
Flash forward several months to March 2008. Who would have thought that the custom toy creations I've made would be embraced by Hudson Entertainment itself. HUDSON! The long time video game publisher asked me to participate in a Q & A after seeing my Bonk and Bomberman toys online at 1UP.com and Tomopop. Gladly I accepted, because these toys definitely deserve to be recognized by Hudson. Artists such as I, are doing the Marketing folks a great service by giving their products free advertising, even though that wasn't my intention when I created these toys. Bonk and Bomberman are awesome characters that I wanted to have on my shelf, but I couldn't find any toys based on them, so I made them myself. And it caught Hudson's attention. Why sue, when you can have your cake and eat it too?
In a two part Feature series on HudsonEntertainment.com, I talk about my process, and expand on my life as a long time Hudson gamer. Part 1 went online today, while part 2 will go live sometime next week. Definitely check it out!!!
I especially love the little thumbnail icon of Bonk Hudson made. It makes the Toy look so official.
So I posted my Bomberman toy on rez2cool.blogspot.com just prior to the end of 2007. Since then it has found its way to numerous websites like any good viral spread of information online should be. Sites like Plastic and Plush, and Saki Wrote What?!, have been very kind in featuring my toy, also adding their own thoughts on the Munny custom. But one of the coolest plugs I've received comes from TOMOPOP, collectible toy culture. It was a complete surprise to me having thought that the toy would remain in the archives on my blogspot site, never to be seen again after a month. But Bomberman all of a sudden resurfaced today and I like it VERY much! Apparently, so do the folks at TOMOPOP. I'm happy the toy put a smile on their face!
For those new to any of my blogs, I dabble in Vinyl toy customizing outside of my profession as an Animator, when I'm not blogging and/or writing articles. I love making stuff people can enjoy looking at, and so far, Gamers and people in general have loved my Munny's.
Cheers to Bomberman! Thanks TOMOPOP!
Related: Check out TOMOPOP if you're a fan of Vinyl toys, this site is for you! And check out my Bonk Munny on Kotaku.
