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With the help of the Unofficial TITAN Merchandise Society on Facebook, Matt Jones AKA Lunartik has put together a great Q&A session that Matt has shared to The Toy Chronicle for you all to enjoy.
How did you get into the sculpting business with TITAN?
Matt: I designed a rocket logo in 3D in 2009 when I was living back in the UK, and I got this item produced for TITAN with my overseas connection. From there I got to strike up a good relationship with the boss man at TITAN Merchandise and we made a small test figure of a Doctor Who Doctor Matt Smith platform body.
Which collection was your absolute favorite to work on?
Matt: By far my favorite wad Aliens and Doctor Who.
I loved Aliens back in the day, so it was great to work on a licence which I watched many times in my life. Doctor Who is an all time classic UK series, so that set was just a joy to work with, it was also the first designs that we made with Matt Smith playing the role as Doctor Who.
Did you come up with any other designs for the overall form before settling on the one that TITAN went with?
Matt: The body design was looked at long and hard, we had many variations but we choose this design as we believed it was the most flexible design we had come up with. Also it is easily converted into different forms, this one was a Mans form, but adding a skirt and some extra details we made it into a woman’s figure. We ended up with about 6 body types in total to choose from when designing a new titan figure.
If you could TITANISE anyone, who would it be?
Matt: Good Question who would l like to TITANISE… I would like to have a pop at Star Wars Yoda or the A-Team, I think i both these could make good figure sets.
Was there one moment where you realized that your figures were a big hit, and when was it?
Matt: I think seeing them all in the shops was great, all my work lined up on display, fans buying them and seeing people collections, it was a good feeling and still is great.
Was there one IP that you really wish you did figures for?
Matt: Again, The A-Team – I can imagine a great Mr.Tea figure, maybe with a cup of Tea in his hand, or an exclusive Lunartik in a cup of tea Mini figure to go with him 🙂
Or just a huge 18” Mr’ Tea, I think this would rock.
Did you find working on a IP easy or hard based on your personal knowledge of that property (the less you knew about it, the easier it was to work on it since you didn’t have a vested interested?
Matt: Breaking Bad was a tough one for me, but also a joy to work on, The IP owners had many great photos of the Breaking Bad cast available when you work with them, so this made it more easy to get the looks correct for the figures. It’s all about the details, and the better the details the better the figures look. Designing these figures is a bit like designing for a pantomime, you have the cherry pick the best bits from the characters costumes and make them large as possible and correct as possible, all these details are what makes these figures great to look at.
Is there one collection you wish you could go back and redesign?
Matt: I think it would be Matt Smith, the first Doctor, as it was the first it a more stylised fashion, and from there the faces got much more detailed from then on. But saying this, I do like his stylised look of Matt, IMHO I like this look a bit more than the over complicated looks of the later figures like the Preacher Series, I felt we should have done more of the simplified stylised looks rather than super detailed. But this is hindsight and it’s what we offered the clients.
If you had to pick one of your figures, from all of the ones you created, that best sums you up as a person, what figure would it be and why?
Matt: This is off TITAN now, from all the figures i’ve designed in my life, I would have to say “Lunartik in a Cup of Tea” is my strongest design i’ve ever come up with, I think i can’t do better currently and i think as its part cute guy and a good cuppa Tea, it’s the perfect brew i can do 🙂
What have you learned about the toy/collectible industry during your time with TITAN?
Matt: I have tried to keep my distance from the toy industry while making these figures, I stopped going to Toy Conventions. I tried to stay low, it’s all about loads of man hours and dealing with many many changes from my client (who are great BTW).
I’ve also learned it’s not all about being the big EGO, but it’s more about doing a good job for others to enjoy 🙂
Thanks Matt for taking the time to answer the questions posed by the Unofficial TITAN Merchandise Society on Facebook. Matt also has a special offer of £10 on any of the TITAN figures on his webstore. Visit his site using the button below…
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