Rivet Wars

Name of Toy Line: Rivet Wars

Production Company: Ted Terranova

Distributor: Ted Terranova

Years of Production: 2011

Countries/Regions Available: Worldwide via Internet

Size/Scale: 2"

Figure Trade Markings: None

Approximate # of Figures: 1 sculpt, multiple blank colorways

Details:

"Rivet Wars takes place in a world locked in a decades long battle. The inhabitants of the planet Rivet have divided themselves into two factions, the Allies and the Blight.

The Allies see themselves as fighting for the freedom of all Rivets. When the Blight began their attacks, the free nations of Rivet gathered their forces and formed an alliance to defeat the Blighter threat.

The Blight believe that the world of Rivet is theirs to rule by right. Blighters see themselves as Rivet's chosen rulers. They will stop at nothing to crush any opposition to their plans to conquer all of Rivet." (Source: Rivet Wars.Com)

Rivet Wars was created by Ted Terranova as "a context in which to make toys, art, stories and stuff." His first piece is the beautiful Vert Tank. Its creation is a wonderful story. I first learned about Rivet Wars on the October Toys forum. Ted had submitted his Vert Tank design, then called Sherman, as a submission for series two of the OMFG! minifigure toy line. Shortly thereafter he created a 3D design of the sketch using a computer program called 3D Max, submitted the design to Shapeways.com, re-named the piece Light Vert Tank, received a 3D printout of the design in the mail, created a mold of the printout, and finally cast a small army of awesome, new, hard resin minifigures!

If that all sounds very simple and easy, I can assure you it wasn't! However, Ted has made the entire process seem incredibly easy. He has tentative plans to create an illustrated guide of the process he used to make the Vert Tank. Be sure to check his Rivet Wars website for that potential future offering.

In keeping with the military theme, Ted first cast the Vert in shades of green. As you will see, I convinced him to try some new colors.


Let's start out by looking at the packaging; a clear bag with custom header card.




Credit: Rivet Wars.Com

The characters and art of the Rivet Wars world has a fun, cartoonish feel to it, which to me is a very good thing. For a hobbiest, I'm impressed with the consistency of the art style across his website, the header card, and the 3D minifig as you will see.

Included with the package was a stat card; Ted graced the back of the card with a unique sketch as way of showing extra thanks for those of us who've purchased figures from this first run. Images of both below. It's time to take a look at the sculpt!

Let's start with the sunshine yellow colorway.







Never having handled a minfigure designed via 3D max and prototyped via Shapeways (that I know of), I wasn't sure what to expect. My first thoughts after handling it were, "this thing is freaking tight!" It's true, the sculpting is super tight, crisp, and clean. It's absolutely bursting with detail. I spent about 5 minutes just turning it over in my hands.

As you might note, the brightness of the yellow overcame my camera lens a bit. Don't be fooled by any minute blurriness.

I also requested a light blue colorway, as I know that this color allows the details of a minifigure sculpt to really pop. I wasn't disappointed.



Some additional shots of blue. It looks as though it were chiseled from a block of ice. It's gorgeous; I hope you agree!

In a minifigure collecting world that is joyously seeing an increasing number of custom, independent creations, Ted Terranova's Rivet Wars has made a big splash. Wow, what a way to start. Let's end by taking a look at some comparsion shots with a few other minifigures.


MUSCLE Figure


Cris Rose Bits N' Bytes


Glyos Crayboth

Vert Tank is a wee bit bigger than the average minifigure. As noted above, it's made of a hard resin. The end result is a nice, beefy chunk of plastic (if you can call any minifig "beefy") that feels great in the hand. Not too light, not too heavy. The sculpt balances perfectly and display great with other minifigs.

Stay tuned to the Rivet Wars website for artwork, news, purchasing information, and WIP pictures of the next Rivet Wars minifig. Who doesn't love a mech?

Finally, the insert card, front and back, included with the packaging.






Vert Tanks in search of some female Tachikomas

(Also, many of you will be happy to note that none other than Ralph Niese has taken an interest in this toy line, and he has even made a Rivet Wars-inspired sculpt!)

Related Websites:

Rivet Wars Website

Rivet Wars Blog