TeccoToys is a new up and coming original toy company that is getting ready to launch a Kickstarter for their amazing robotic creations. I follow them on Facebook as well as Instagram, which you should do as well if you love to look at amazing mecha creations, and freaked out when I saw their packaging reveal.
After seeing this original piece in its tasteful and seriously well designed packaging, I knew I had to chat with the masterminds behind it. Now remember, TeccoToys won’t be launching their Kickstarter until next month, so we will provide links and do a more formal interview with the guys then. However, Michael Herm from Tecco Toys was willing to provide us with images and a little background information on their brand. Therefore, let us prepare to drool.
Hi Michael! Thank you for providing Toy Wizards with more information about Tecco Toys so our readers can fall in love with your upcoming products, too. Would you give us a little background about your brand, please?
I started working in the gaming industry and later switched to animation, so I’ve been working digitally as a designer, modeler, animator for the last 19 Years.
In 2009 I formed a collective with fellow animation graduates in Berlin called Talking Animals.
Back then I just finished designing a digital mech walker (The Rook) as a private project when I stumbled upon an ad by Michael Fichtenmayer from Industria Mechanika who was looking for collaborators, mostly concept artists from the entertainment industry, to provide interesting and unusual designs which could be translated in high quality resin model kits.
We worked together on 3 kits, based in a sci-fi mecha universe which were quite successful (considering the small number runs IM is able to produce).
I always tried to build in more articulation into the kits, which was not so easy, since the model kit customers don’t care much about it, and it is more expensive to produce as a resin kit. Also I couldn’t test it, since I didn’t have access to 3D printers back then and only got the see if my ideas worked when I had the final product in hand.
(of course, Michael tested it on the prototypes before they went into production).
In 2014 together with 4 friends, I created a new company, Lumatic, focusing on character animation and VFX for film and TV. However I got a bit tired of working only digitally and inspired by the collaboration with IM I was thinking about creating something touchable on my own.
At some point in late 2016, I had this idea to create a highly articulated mecha action figure line, so I started tinkering with some design, shape and articulation ideas.
I had to get my hands on a 3D printer though and started to save for a Form2, since it was the best consumer SLA Printer back then that was able to produce the fine detail I needed.
After I got the Form 2, I started prototyping my ideas and created the TeccoToys and Age Of Mecha brands.
I decided to go completely public with the development of the toys on social media, to attract as many potential customers as possible by the time the project will be going live on crowdfunding to finance factory production.
The basic idea behind the Age Of Mecha line is diversity and playability. Putting it into the 1/35 scale world means, that it can be appealing not only to kids and toy collectors, but also to model kit builders
who often work in that scale.
Also due to the smaller size, it is very convenient for kids to take the toy with them when on trips (something I often liked to do as a kid).
So the idea is to create a bridge between kids and their parents, highly detailed, but sturdy toys that kids can play with and collector parents don’t need to worry about when they take them out of their display shelves 🙂
The next thing was poseability. There are a lot of great mecha toys out there which offer a lot, but I often had the feeling that design stands over function, especially lines who look fantastic, like Frame Arms,
but lose a lot of poseability when the armor parts are attached, or simply fall apart when posed.
I wanted a mecha toy with compatible, interchangeable parts between different mechs without losing poseability. So I created a standard frame of arms and legs, which is shared by all the different mechs,
and designed the armor parts around it, in a way that they keep full range of motion, no matter how you mix those parts.
And last, I was always a fan of the action figure heroes (pilots) and in case of, e.g. G.I.Joe, the great vehicles which have fantastically detailed cockpits, which is rare.
So that was a must have for my mechs.
I’m currently in contact with some great people who are helping me get this thing done (production management, distribution/retail) and also was lucky to find Robbie Trevino, amazing illustrator who
is going to create all the package Illustrations.
We’re currently in the quotation stage and awaiting numbers from the factory, one of the last steps before the Kickstarter campaign can go live.
Toy Wizards will update with more information as TeccoToys gets closer to launching their Kickstarter!
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