The secrets behind MoneyMan...
Some people invest in stocks or early stage companies, we invest in toys. The main difference - if you take our route, you can literally play with your money!
It took a big investment from many talented people to create a small plastic financier. Here's how it all went down...
Concept
MoneyMan began in mid-2002 with the idea that accountants, bankers, insurance agents and other financial folks deserved some recognition and fun! In early 2003 we started outlining the character and accessories, and collected lots of reference art showing everything we wanted in our version of a financial superhero. We also created rough drafts of MoneyMan's superpowers and vulnerabilities.
In the summer of 2003 Ron Boyd, a Toronto-based comic artist came on board to draft the rough concepts. Some of Ron's early sketches of the character:
With the concept art done we brought Toronto animator Tom Nagy on board. Together we worked out the finer details of the character and accessories, and Tom created some groovy control art.
The final coloured turnarounds:
Sculpting
In late 2003 Raven Hood, toy sculptor extraordinaire, took the turnarounds and started creating MoneyMan's figure.
Raven sculpted MoneyMan as a 2-up, about 12 inches high or twice as big as the final toy. This helped him put in as many details as possible. First he roughed out the basic character on top of an existing base model with the articulation built-in. Then he added all of MoneyMan's detailing, created the accessories and added all those little extra touches of financial goodness.
The final MoneyMan model:
Paint Master
Two copies of the final model were sent to Suzanne Lunquist, a painter superhero. A paint master is used by the manufacturer as a template – they match the colours and paint detailing on the final toy. Suzanne used her experience and creativity to suggest different approaches to creating the best paint master possible. A few pics of MoneyMan during the painting process:
Packaging
MoneyMan's blister packaging was based on the excellent work Justin Cheong and Kyle Kim had done with the GeekMan package. Kyle created the MoneyMan logo and Justin designed new elements for the back of the package. Shirley created the package background, integrated the logo and refined and updated the design with a fresh new look.
Manufacturing
During spring and summer 2004 we worked with our manufacturer to create a final tooling model. This occurred through several stages, starting from our 12” prototype and ending with a 6” final model.
Our 2-up model had the temples of MoneyMan's glasses going through tunnels in his hair so they fit around his ears. This was a new method of engineering glasses that Raven developed based on feedback from fans. However, the factory felt this may cause problems during molding, and recommended that the tunnel not go all the way through. We decided to change the model so the glasses plugin directly into the holes in MoneyMan's hair.
Below is a pic of the first shot, an unpainted test used to refine the molds, and an engineering pilot which is a near final check on the painted toy.
From these test toys we made a number of minor changes, from tightening articulation points to fine-tuning MoneyMan's pinstripes and some small paint colour changes.
With all the changes done we were ready to go, and MoneyMan got ready for his own IPO!
MoneyMan Action Figure - Credits
MoneyMan was brought to you by...
MoneyMan Creative Team
Raven Hood – Sculpt
Tom Nagy – Illustration
Suzanne Lundquist - Painting
Ron Boyd – Concept Sketches
Kyle Kim, Justin Cheong – Graphic Design
Kris Schantz, Shirley Yee – Creators
Happy Worker Biz Team
Kris Schantz – Mr. Happy Worker and Co-owner
Shirley Yee – Mrs. Happy Worker and Co-owner
Rod Thacker – Legal-Eagle-Beagle (Advisor)
Jason Herod – Mr. Money and Bean Counter (Advisor)
To our families, friends, and everyone who gave their time, feedback and support - THANK YOU!
