Super7 Interview

Ultimates & ReAction - SDCC 2024

July 25, 2024

Kyle Wlodyga: Associate Art Director.

Interview by The Articulation Series

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Founded in 2001, Super7 is the premier pop-culture design house and producer of lifestyle-oriented collectibles, toys and apparel based in San Francisco. Led by designer Brian Flynn, Super7 has harnessed the graphics, aesthetics and energy of his youthful obsession with science fiction, giant monsters, comic books, punk rock, skateboarding, robots and rebellion to build a unique and innovative business that crosses all categories and is not bound by traditional manufacturing boundaries.

THE ARTICULATION SERIES (TAS): I'm here with Kyle Wlodyga, Associate Art Director, from Super7 and we're going to talk a little bit about their involvement with the Godzilla franchise and what's on display here at San Diego Comic-Con 2024.

KYLE: Yeah, happy to be here!

TAS: What inspired Super7 to get involved in the Godzilla franchise?

KYLE: We're fans. We've been fans for years. You know, I grew up reading the Dark Horse comics, drawing Godzilla, and watching the Heisei movies as they were coming out. In terms of toys, I grew up with Trendmasters figures, so those were my Godzilla toys of the time. I've been a Godzilla fan for years though. He's one of the original things that inspired me to get into art and into design. A friend of mine over at Mondo, Peter Santa-Maria, once told me that he believes that Godzilla is an avatar for creative expression and I have wholeheartedly believed that ever since I heard it. Think about all the iterations, all the artists who work on it, and all the people who love him so much. There are very few icons of creative inspiration, like Godzilla. Brian Flynn, our founder, has been wanting to make Godzilla figures longer than I've been alive. We all love Godzilla here, and it's very genuine.

TAS: Yeah, I feel like everybody's got their favorite version of Godzilla. Whether it's from a movie or some kind of version completely made up, or an iteration from their favorite toy company. You can never have enough Godzilla.

KYLE: Spoken like two men who don't have their wives here.

TAS: HAHA! <continues to laugh for another 15 seconds> Okay. What’s it like working with Toho?

KYLE: It's great. They're great partners. There are very few things that they'd say no to. Our discussions usually go like, “Hey, can we make this?”, and they're like, “Well, let us think about it. But yeah, I think so.”, and they do what they can to empower us to make the Godzilla stuff we want to make. For example, the 1200-degree Celsius Godzilla, the one with the melting face. We were kind of nervous about pitching that one, but they were into it, so it's really crazy good right now.

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TAS: Very cool. When it comes to the Ultimate's line what is the future of that look like? It’s been a little quiet.

KYLE: It has been quiet… We have Spacegodzilla & MOGUERA releasing very soon and Minus One on the way, even though it’s technically not an official wave. I do believe that wave five is coming... When that is, I'm not exactly sure... But it's in the not-too-distant future. It's probably a little longer than people would like, but we are continuing with the Ultimates line. There are some other form factors we're considering exploring... Godzilla Minus One is doing exceptionally well for us and I think there's a vast well of versions of Minus One we could do. So, I think you can expect to see a lot more of him in the future as well.

TAS: When it comes to your monster selections. For Ultimates it started out with the Heisei era and the ReAction line with the Showa era. Can we anticipate a shift in the future where we see the opposites in both lines?

KYLE: Yeah, I and I wanted to clarify, we did ReAction and Ultimates at the same time. It may or may not have been the form factor collectors wished for their favorite characters, but we had something for both of those collectors at the start. Eventually we’ll shift gears with that kind of stuff. But a lot of it was that, you know, I love this stuff. I love Heisei. This is what I want to do. I’ve seen the comments, “everybody's does Heisei. Heisei has been done already.” To everyone, I’d just like to say, Yeah, but we haven't. We haven't done it. Yes, there’s some Destoroyah’s. Yes, there's an abundance of Burning Godzilla's. But Super7 didn't have a burning Godzilla, you know. So, I understand the logic, but we're also fans and want to see our versions of these characters too. So, a lot of what kind of drives us is, what do we want to do? And it happens to work out that you guys also want that too.

TAS: Very well put. We’re going to move onto what’s on display here at SDCC. For those reading at home, you can refer to the video tour and follow along as you read. Let's talk about this big guy first, can you tell me a little bit about this Mechagodzilla?

KYLE: Yes. The Shogun Mechagodzilla we did before was a big hit. And you know what makes more sense than a regular Mechagodzilla? A metallic one made out of space titanium! Just joking! He's not made out of that, but it’s a new recolor with metallic plastic. It’s got the same functionality as the previous one; missile firing fingers, rolling wheels, and five points of articulation. It does come with brand new stickers, but they’re not all here today. It’s very much inspired by the old vintage Shogun Warriors Godzilla.

TAS: So, you’re saying this is completely brand new because something like this didn't exist back in the day, right?

KYLE: Correct, this is a Super7 invention. Since we’ve done one before that makes this one the second of its kind.

TAS: I had heard that the previous classic Shogun Warrior figures actually used the original manufacturing method to make them. Even though this is a modern creation, did it undergo the same process?

KYLE: Yeah. This one follows the same process. Which is harder to pull off than it sounds because that's such an old kind of technique for toy making. For instance, when we approached a factory, we’re like, “Hey, Mr. Factory, you know, that material that gasoline canisters are made out of?” And they’re like, “yeah, of course.” And we’re like “Well, we want to make a whole toy out of that and it’ll be 19-inches tall.” And they’re like, “What are you smoking? No, don't do that.” <laughs> But we found a partner who works with us and we were able to get it done. Especially, and this is really impressive--we're going to toot our own horns here, the metallic sheen on this figure is not easy to do without just massive swirling issues. You're looking at it right now. Do you see any of that?

TAS: No, I don't. It looks very clean, actually. This is what we can expect for the final production piece to look like?

KYLE: More or less, yes. It’s up for preorder right now for $395 with an estimated shipping date of October 2024. You can order directly from www.super7.com

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TAS: Okay, let's move on to some of the Ultimates here. We've got Spacegodzilla, MOGUERA, Godzilla Minus One, and Blazing Godzilla (which is a 1200-degree Celsius clear orange variant. There’s also an accessory pack for Spacegodzilla & MOGUERA as well. Is that sold separately or come with the figures?

KYLE: It is sold separately, but that was only available if you preordered the entire set directly from Super7’s website. So, what you’re seeing here today are the final production versions of Spacegodzilla & MOGUERA. This will be shipping to everyone very, very soon. Crystal set and an alternate head comes with Spacegodzilla. MOGUERA comes with flight mode head and wings parts.

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TAS: Let's talk about, Godzilla Minus One. It looks very cool at this scale. Looks like it's got all the right details and all the right places. There’s a lot of dry brushing throughout the whole figure. I had read that there were some liberties taken because the 3D model was not finished at the time when Super7 was planning on making the figure. Any more info on that process?

KYLE: Yeah, so when we got it, it was the 3D files used in the movie, but there were certain parts that were missing. If I recall correctly, it didn't have the claws or teeth, something along those lines. So, we had to do a little bit of research to figure that out. When you get a model like this from the studio, it’s just one solid sculpt that isn’t prepared for toy making—no articulation. So, we had to work very closely with Toho and we worked with our amazing in-house sculptor, David White, who helped me articulate it. We sort of did this Vulcan mind meld; we want it to move like this and then he masterfully made it work in drafting and mold making to make it move beautifully. As a result, we were able to put a ball joint in the abdomen. Look at the twist and the crunch that's already happening on the figure here on display. The thing that I'm most proud of is the tail articulation. It's a whole new tail system. The most articulated tail that we've done for the entire series so far.

TAS: Oh, that’s so cool!

KYLE: Think of it like this. Godzilla Minus One and Minus Color are unofficially sort of wave five-ish… Not labeled as such, but like it's the fifth in the series. That said, each time we do a wave, I like to think that we've been iterating on how the tails function, and I with Godzilla Minus One, I am finally very, very happy with where we're at on articulation.

​TAS: So, let's move down to the second shelf. We've got some past released figures here. There’s Rose Biollante, Godzilla (1989), Mechagodzilla (1993), Burning Godzilla (1995), and Destoroyah.

KYLE: Yeah, so Destoroyah has been reissued recently through Big Bad Toy Store. So, if you missed out on Destoroyah, now is the time to grab on before it’s sold out.

TAS: I don't know much about the Shogun Godzilla, maybe you can share a little more on these guys on display?

KYLE: Shogun Godzilla is very important to us. What you have here is the Ultimates Shogun Godzilla, which is a scaled down version of the original 19-inch original that was done in Shogun Warriors. The first wave was the normal green one the lime green one. The second wave, we’ve recolored them. The red one is our exclusive for SDCC this year and then the burning pattern is shipping soon.

TAS: Okay, let's move down to the next shelf. Looks like a plethora of ReAction figures. Let’s start with the ones that look like they’re inspired from Stern Pinball.

KYLE: Yeah. These are our exclusives with Target. We were able to partner with our friends over at Stern Pinball who allowed us to use some of the art from the actual Stern Pinball machines, and then make figures based off of that art. So, you can pick these up at Target now.

TAS: I see a Golden Shogun Godzilla as well.

KYLE: This is a US Godzilla Store exclusive. You can order it here: US GODZILLA STORE

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TAS: Alright, moving right along looks like more SDCC 2024 exclusives?

KYLE: Yes, we got Baragon and Anguirus continuing the glow in the dark series that we've done as convention exclusives for probably the past 2 or 3 years. They’re the ninth and tenth set, which feature different characters from our Toho ReAction line, that have this glow in the dark, monochromatic kind of color scheme. Right next to them we have our other exclusive, which is a 2-pack featuring Jet Jaguar and Godzilla shaking hands. The rest of the ReAction on display are samples of what we have on offer; wave one and wave two. Same with what's going on with the bottom shelf. Just sort of the greatest hits of us just showing off what we can do. You can also order these exclusives from the US Godzilla Store now, while supplies last.

TAS: Awesome. Well, let’s go ahead and wrap this up. Is there anything you would like to let, fans of the line, Godzilla in general, know about what to keep their eyes out for in the future for at Super7?

KYLE: Definitely keep your eyes out for more ReActions and more Ultimates. Other secondary items like apparel, pins, that kind of stuff are also in the works. There's going to be a lot more fun surprises coming your way.

TAS: Thank you so much, Kyle!

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SDCC 2024 EXCLUSIVES

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