From Fan-Art To Vinyl Idolz - Chatting Collectables With A Large Evil Corporation

Tell us a little about the Vinyl Idolz series? Where did the idea come from?

Last summer I spotted on Twitter that Director Edgar Wright often re-tweets pieces of fan art inspired by his films, and being a fan of his work myself, I thought I'd do my own little tribute to Shaun Of The Dead. I tweeted the image to Edgar with the promise to do more if people liked them, he re-tweeted it, and there was a very positive response from lots of people on Twitter, so I did Hot Fuzz, then The World's End, and it carried on from there!

The images were created digitally, but with a real-life 'toy' asthetic. Was this simply a stylistic choice from the get-go or were you always looking to get the pieces produced?

Being from a stop-motion model making background, I always try to retain tangible aesthetic in the work we do at Evil, as I think having something look 'real' is much more appealing than something which is obviously CG. So that stylistic choice came naturally. There wasn't really ever an intention to produce them for real, but all of sudden people started demanding it!



What's the process for the design? Do you have a base-model that you add elements to or does each one get created from scratch with the key characteristics (off-set eyes, signature pose) applied to them?

I always start the head from scratch but I've built up quite a collection of limbs and clothing which I dip into.

How did you decide which characters to produce first?

Generally I chose characters from movies, or TV shows etc which I was personally a fan of, just because it makes modelling them easier, and more enjoyable. In terms of producing them for real, we had a list of requests from Funko, which we discussed with them, that was based on what they thought would be most popular, most of which weren't characters I'd done yet.



What was the catalyst for the explosion in popularity? We certainly noticed it when the Shaun Of The Dead figures were put up and Nick Frost and Edgar Wright championed them. Were we late to the party?

No, that's really what started it! After Edgar we managed to get a lot of love from other comedy legends such as Graham Linehan, the creators of the League of Gentlemen, and Bob Mortimer. The increase in popularity happened very quickly, obviously thanks to these icons with thousands of followers online, re-tweeting them giving us a huge reach.

Did you always have all of the characters in mind? Did you take on suggestions from the online community or is it 100% EvilCorp faves?

The ones I do (and I have slowed down now, as we're more focused on producing ones for real) were always my own choices. We get requests from the general public all the time, but it's just not possible to produce them all. Funnily enough though, quite a few of the suggestions we get are ones that were already on my lists.



Did you have any particular themes in place when you started designs? The early ones (from memory) were quite rooted in UK comedy, with movies coming a little later. Do you plan 'series' of figures?

It certainly started with UK comedy, and has branched into film, and even some musical icons, but really there's no strict theme – they don't have to be from one of those mediums.

How did your collaboration with Funko come about? Those guys are pretty much the kings of pop-culture vinyl, so you must have been chuffed?

They kindly reached out to us and expressed their admiration of the vinyl designs, and requested a conversation. We clicked right away with them and we're very pleased to be working with them. They're very experienced and are able to take care of the things which we had zero experience in.



Funko aren't shy when it comes to licenced products, with their range in the hundreds. Can we expect a large-scale Vinyl Idols run in 2015, or are you starting off slow and drip-feeding us goodies?

I think we can now officially say that the plan is to have the first run out this year, which I think is about 8 or 9 'licences'. So there's a fair few coming out to start with, but I would imagine they want to test the water in terms of how they sell. Funko's license library is a huge advantage, as not only do they already have so many, the success of their lines allows them to almost get any they want.

How cool was it to see the physical characters produced and on-display that the New York Toy Fair?

It was great to see them on display, as we'd only seen a few of them prior to that, and it was even better to see the reactions from people online. 6 months ago it was an image on my computer, and now they're stood next to some of the biggest toy lines out there right now. We're very happy.



Did many changes have to be made between the initial designs and the physical representations? Were there certain things that didn't work in 'real life'?

That's a good question, and something we were always nervous about, but due the nature of the designs, we've actually had to change very little for them to be produced. It's little things like, a slight thickness on the legs, or less fine detail on the hair – for example, Ed from Shaun of the Dead originally had much spikier hair, but it's smoothed out just a little for the real model, so the 'spikes' are thicker and there's less of them. It's very small bits here and there, but the defining features all remain the same as designed.

Are you allowed to tell us which figures can we expect from the initial run?

We're actually not 100% sure, but we think all the ones on display at the Toy Fair are in fact all the ones coming out this year for the initial run. There may be a couple more that we're talking about but we're not sure yet!



What figures can we expect in the future? Do you have any themes/genres you'd like to visit? (can we bagsy Harold & Maude and Alan Partridge)

We'll send you figures of those should they ever get made! We're currently discussing with Funko what figures could go out in 2016, so there's been no decision made yet. If it was up to me the Vic and Bob ones would be made tomorrow, but obviously, a mass market needs to be considered…

You sent out a lovely animated Christmas card featuring the Shaun and Ed characters. Any plans on putting out any more animations based on the designs?

Hopefully. The idea with the viral was to show that they can be animated, and that it works really well.We wanted to remind people that we are first and foremost an animation house. We'd love to do more with this style of character as it seems to appeal to people and they're great fun to work with.



Do you have a favourite design so far?

The Vic and Bob ones, and Young Frankenstein (which WILL be out this year) are my favourites so far. I can't wait to hold them in my hand.

Aside from filling our shelves with loveliness, what's up next for you?

There's a couple of things with Funko (not just toys) which we can't really talk about yet, but we're hoping it's the beginning of a great relationship working with them. We're also looking a lot more into digital content and have been churning out a few vines using some simple CG techniques…just for fun…more of them soon!