SecretBonusPoint
Banned
I need to get this off my chest. In the toy/figure collecting world there are some 'great' companys such as Medicom, Hot Toys and Enterbay, but none match the spirit and just genuine fucking passion of ThreeA. Their dedication to their fans, amazing upcoming prospects and the outstanding quality of their products has pushed me to be almost evangelical of them and their output. So GAF, take a journey with me through their brief yet awesome history.
The History
In 2008, artist Ashley Wood worked with a small toy company startup called ThreeZero to make a 1/6th scale figure of his titular robot character Bertie from his ongoing series World War Robot.
Clearly the experience between the two parties was pleasing, because not soon after did they combine forces to forge a new company, ThreeA. Their first released figure was another character, this time a humanoid, from World War Robot (WWR): NOM de Plume.
The rest is history. Their continual expansion began from releasing yet more bots from WWR in the 1/6th scale (Bramble, Large Martin), quality always increasing, and sometimes size also. 3A dedicated itself to improving the paint-job on the toys far beyond the still "toy looking" original Bertie, to create amazing looking rusted metal effects with weathered decals and more. Ash also resolved to leave unnecessary stands behind, ensuring all future WWR bots and figures would be poseable and able to stand without requiring support. Articulation was great from the start of course, but now they became so much more poseable and dynamic. Also, this allowed for big ass bots:
Just lookit that giant bastard, a Frosty Large Martin.
What once began as a company focussed on making robots from Ash's series WWR then expanded to all of his ongoing work, including Popbot. The first figures from that range were Tomorrow Kings, a set of clones bred to be leaders from Ash's other ongoing comic series. Heres one pictured with the 1/6th WWR Euro Bramble:
TK's proved popular and many variations were released, and just as 3A began dabbling in making T-shirts as well. One of the figures was supposed to be packaged with a real T-shirt to complement the same one worn by the figure. However, plans went awry as 3A were not satisfied with the quality of the tee print, and so rather than delay the figures being sent out, they supplied an IOU note. This event would mark 3A passing from "great toy company" to "greatest toy company". When the T-shirts eventually went out, there was a big surprise:
With no extra charge, the T-shirts were delivered in a custom vinyl Bertie orange container. Unsurprisingly the community lost their shit, and other T-shirts have since been released in the same way, coming in Black Bertie containers and also recently Large Martin containers.
ThreeA up until this point had clearly been in the realm of hardcore toy collectors, with reasonable prices yet hefty due to the size and articulation of what you were getting. Prices would often hover around $250 for a big ass bot and $120 for a humanoid sized figure. Dealing exclusively through their online store Bambaland, they began outreaching to retailers with the goal to start seeing their products available from other outlets. One of the first releases to really indicate this, and the new level of incredible paint-jobs on their figures, was the release of the cute WWR 1/6th Square:
Available in all assortments of flavours, one available only for the hardcore collector ordering 10 at once, was a DIY Square, an entirely paintless white version, intended for customisation with paints and more, something really big in the vinyl scene. This marked the beginning of the DIY variant, but probably the biggest deal was made out of the 1 year anniversary of ThreeA, which was celebrated with a DIY release of one of the company's mascots, Bambaboss. Shown below is the original and some of the great custom jobs from the ThreeA community:
Anyone that follows Ashley Wood's comic will know he has used zombies more than once, and so it was no surprise when he started yet another new line of toys called Adventure Kartel, with the first release being Boiler Zomb:
But for me personally, the real party began when ThreeA set their sights on the 1/12th market, allowing for their strongest push to retail yet. The first release in this size and the newly dubbed World War Robot Portable (WWRp) was the MK2 Bramble:
Far more collector friendly, these 1/12th outings lost none of the detail or articulation of their bigger brothers. The quality was astounding, as if they'd just taken a shrink-ray to the 1/6th models. Smaller bots also allowed for more colorways to be released at once at cheaper prices. At $40-$45 for a WWRp bot, prices finally hit that level that made them available to a far bigger and willing market. So as to not leave the community behind in this push towards retail with the WWRp range, Bambaland online store exclusive packs were offered with a 6 Pack featuring all the Brambles and one extra DIY one. Thus began the new ThreeA tradition of giant brain-wrecking numbers or robots involved with these WWRp packs. One of the craziest packs to date was a push from the community based on the lore from the ongoing art comic series of WWR. The most recent release in WWRp was a return to the very beginning with the MK2 Bertie:
Each Bertie comes with its own 1/12th Square as well, so the Bambaland Exclusive 7-Pack actually features 14 robots all in all :lol As you can see, these giant packs are also a great excuse for Ash to adorn each with a big ass piece of his gorgeous custom artwork. Surprisingly this 7-Pack wasn't the biggest available. A super-special insane pack was made available based on the fiction. NOM de Plume is said to be the commander of a squadron of 12 Berties called the "Dirty Deeds", a black robot adorned with skulls and rust, as you can see from the original Bertie and in that 7 Pack. So a limited pack was made available of the full dozen and a couple of Squares thrown in along for the ride
In 2009, ThreeA also had it's first big exclusive show in Hong Kong called Venture. Showcase other artists Ashley Wood has worked with (Jeremy Geddes, Kenny Wong and others) exclusive ThreeA toys on sale, galleries and announcements it was a big event for the community.
2010's event promises to be even bigger with yet more exclusive toys on offer, more art on show, more bombshells dropped, taking place in Beijing, China. Not to ever be deemed sane, the shows big claim to fame however will be that its the only place on earth you'll be able to pickup one of the 20 fibre-glass constructed 1:1 life scale Squares.
As if ThreeA's prospects weren't exciting enough already with their own IP releases, they obviously caught a lot of attention in the toy world from other companies and franchises. Following properties theyre passionate about themselves, ThreeA now has toys and merch in production with Kojima Productions (Metal Gear Rex prototype shown below with a Ray planned as well!), 2000AD (The Mighty Tharg protoype shown below), Tank Girl and even something with McFarlane:
So exciting things still yet to come from ThreeA as they continue to expand and become one of the biggest forces of good in the toy industry. Big WWR 1/6th bots to come, more Popbot figures, wacky characters from Adventure Kartel, the rocking WWRp 1/12th line (Large Martin multi-packs getting released this week!). Just yesterday they unveiled the prototype of their 1/12th humanoid figure:
Losing none of the articulation and detail from 1/6th, no moulded plastic clothes either, this is a very exciting prospect for any 1/12th collector. ThreeA is conquering the toy production world, and it seems nothing can stop them!
The Who/What/Where
The main-site: http://www.threeaonline.com/
The blog: http://www.threeaonline.com/blog/
The online store: http://www.bambalandstore.com/
Its also worth noting how this works for people unfamiliar with the nature of toy companies like ThreeA. For packs bought from Bambaland, typically you're placing a pre-order and paying at least a month and often 2 before the toys will begin shipping. This way their factory (referred to as The Hatchery) knows what quantity to make. Shipping is always covered and included very kindly in the stated prices at Bambaland as well, thus making the multi-packs the best deals possible. Retailers also offer pre-orders in a similar time-scale but obviously with additional shipping charges.
Big US toy site Sideshow http://www.sideshowtoy.com is obviously the best place for American customers wanting to pick up the single retail releases, but I personally use UK retailer OneSixthBruce http://www.onesixthbruce.co.uk for my pickups! And of course the after-market on ebay is swamped with assholes charging insane prices for the rarer exclusive figures.
Whew, and there we go. To round off, some straight up toy porn:
