GFX-04 Wrecking Ball Robo: the Actual Toy

[Treadshot A1]

Hey guys, it's me again. That's right, Treadshot A1, back from his exams and trying desperately to concentrate on anything except studying right now. :lol

So anyway, i just go this guy in the mail the other day, and i'm glad to say everything works. Wrecking Ball Robo is the result of what happens when you spend way too much time on a game and end up getting whacked over the head with a spiked ball a few too may times. Honestly, somehow when i played Gotcha Force, i always got hit by massive spiked balls. So annoying. Anyways, i set out to make a toy which could do exactly that: hurl a spiked ball, and hopefully crush something in its way. If you watch the video, you'll find out that apparently throwing a ball is not as easy as it sounds.

Wrecking Ball Robo, aside from being the epitome of creatively-named robots (:lol), includes all the articulation that's expected. Ball joints for ankles, knees, hips, a waist, shoulders, elbows and two joints per wrist (one per claw). That's right, his claws actually move independently, so he can open and close his claws to grasp the huge wrecking ball. I've also tried to detail it as much as i could. On his chest, "IRON BALL" and "T-489" are engraved, and his waist piece says "04-15". I must state here that the toy is not made from iron, no matter what the words say.


GFX-04 Wrecking Ball Robo on Shapeways

Anyways, here's the build video, so you guys know how to assemble Wrecking Ball Robo.

Attachments:

[herpanda]

Nice! looks pretty good man.

How much does a print like that normally cost? I've never really printed something that big lol, I've only seen the costs for a ring I made but never printed.

[Metal]

Nice.

[Frozazen]

i love how there's so much attention to detail on your toys man. completely show up all of the stupid pieces of plastic that people try to pass off as toys these days. now everything either makes electronic noises (which breaks really easily) or is made to connect to the computer.
what happened to all the action figures? how can i enjoy posing my toys and messing around with them without worrying about the hardware that's crammed inside them? i like your approach to making toys. you have my approval.

one thing, though. does your manufacturer have problems with cutting out smooth curves? because megaton robot's head isn't exactly a... ball...

[Treadshot A1]

Apr 27, 2012 18:26:41 GMT herpanda said:

Nice! looks pretty good man.

How much does a print like that normally cost? I've never really printed something that big lol, I've only seen the costs for a ring I made but never printed.

Thanks bro. A print the size of Wrecking Ball Robo, in White Strong and Flexible generally costs around $30-40, keeping in mind GFX-04 was hollowed in as many areas as possible to save on material. That's the thing about Shapeways, the model is printed by computer operated hardware, so complexity isn't in issue. The cost is solely based on the volume of your model. That's why Wrecking Ball Robo's spike ball is hollow and there's a hole in the back. It saves on material (and cost), and makes the ball lighter. If i'd left the ball solid, i'd expect the price to be around the $80 mark, which is about double. Currently Wrecking Ball Robo sits at the $36 mark.

i love how there's so much attention to detail on your toys man. completely show up all of the stupid pieces of plastic that people try to pass off as toys these days. now everything either makes electronic noises (which breaks really easily) or is made to connect to the computer.
what happened to all the action figures? how can i enjoy posing my toys and messing around with them without worrying about the hardware that's crammed inside them? i like your approach to making toys. you have my approval.

one thing, though. does your manufacturer have problems with cutting out smooth curves? because megaton robot's head isn't exactly a... ball...

Thanks Frozn. I agree, today some toys are now just too plain. With my toys, it's always important to me to make the toy look at least somewhat like it was real. A fictional bike should look like it would work, a fictional robot should look as detailed as a real one would (well, minus the actual electronics, of course), and of course a toy of one of my favorite video game characters doesn't belong on my shelf if it wasn't detailed to the n-th degree.

As for the ball, the manufacturer is perfectly capable of making perfect spheres (see Sigma Iris 2 for examples of spheres in my designs). Wrecking Ball Robo's ball was designed to be visibly polyhedral; that is, not a perfect sphere on purpose. Looking at the in game models, almost all of the 'round' parts are octagons. Wrecking Ball Robop's own shoulders should be round, but are actually drawn as octagons in the game, and hence i kept the shoulders of the toy octagonal for accuracy's sake. The spike ball was made polyhedral to keep with the theme of round thins never quite being round in Gotcha Force. In fact, octagons are exceedingly common in GF. Neo's and G Red's chest has a detail in the centre (which is equivalent to the detachable piece on Red Crash Robo) which should be circular, but is modeled as an octagon. The screw on the front of Violet's and Red Attacker's large bombs should be circular, but are instead octagonal. On all my models, i use the octagons and polyhedra whenever the game isn't perfectly spherical for accuracy's sake. For the record, Wrecking Ball Robo's spiky ball was made using 24-sided polygons (8 being octagon, infinite being a circle). I thought this was a nice balance to make it fit with the theme without looking too 'blocky'.

[Treadshot A1]

Amazing what a paint job can do!