Always a pleasure to interview a favorite company.
Fans Hobby has set their own path and continued to define it since their debut years back. Focusing on homaging Transformers series outside of G1 they’ve given fans of other series a breath of fresh air and frankly an opportunity to collect modern figures. I got the chance to interview them including some questions that the community were able to submit below. Check it out and leave your thoughts in the comments.
1.) How did you all come together? I know that you have people who have worked with other companies before; did you all know each other prior? And how hard was it to get everyone in sync in terms of direction/vision?
We know some friends who were in the field before FANS HOBBY was set up. We set the brand direction & had discussions with some of the friends during project development.
2.) People frequently state that you’re a sister company of other known companies, particularly Fansproject and Maketoys. Do you have any direct relation to them? If not, where do you feel these rumors came from?
We are a standalone company & not related to any other 3P brands.
3.) One of the great things about your offerings is that they break the mold of being Masterpiece scale but not being characters from the Transformers “G1” era. What made you all decide to do other series?
There are many companies in the market to do particular series & we prefer to explore something different.
4.) One thing that you guys have all been really good about is providing known repaints of the toys you’re homaging. What makes you decide what repaints to go with?
In fact we got many product suggestions & inspirations from FANS all over the world, those information gives us a good direction for items repaint.
5.) In terms of sales, have your products from these series like Masterforce and Armada met your expectations? They all seem to be really hot.
We can say those items offer us a room to survive in the market.
*.)Regarding Energon specifically, we’ve seen Optimus and we’re all looking forward to it, but what other characters can we expect?
A pal for MB-18 Energy Commander is under development!
6.) What are some releases that the fan reaction has surprised you all with, be it good or bad?
In a long run, the positive responses of Monster Squad are out of our expectations!
7.) Do you all have any series that you specifically want to cover in the future?
Pls. stay tuned for our news update : )
8.) Are you all open to doing products at a scale other than Masterpiece? Maybe Classics?
We shall still stay on MP scale for the time being!
9.) Of all of your releases so far which has been your favorite to design/produce? Why so?
MB-14 KAP is our favourite item so far, we like the outcome & balance made between the engineering execution & aesthetic interpretation. Also thanks for all the support from FANS to this item as well!
10.) As we all know, you’re producing figures that aren’t licensed. You have all carved your path with doing series that aren’t really covered by anyone else (and doing them very well,) but where do you see the 3rd party, unlicensed industry as a whole going in say… the next 5 years?
We can’t foresee what will happen after 3-5 years as market is keep adjusting. What we can say in coming 2 years we are still with the same pace as last 2 years. Still wanna explore more market possibilities.
11.) A number of companies have started to branch out into licensed products over the past 3 or 4 years. Is this something you all have considered? Are there any brands/series in particular you’d like to produced collectibles for?
We created FEXT HOBBY few years ago & we shall keep exploring more categories in collectible toys market.
12.) And with that, even if unlicensed are there some other series that you’d like to do homage to? Maybe Macross, Gobots, or Brave?
We don’t have any planning for other series now!
13.) I’ve got to ask… Roadbuster. What happened and do we have a chance of seeing it produced?
We do love MB-07 & MB-10, is a pity we don’t have a right timing to pick up those projects again for the time being.
1.) Will you continue to produce repaints of figures in the US/North America cartoon/toy coloration when it differs, like you did for Kap/Hosehead?
We think so.
2.) Are there any plans for a Megazarak recolor of Meg Tyranno?
We did consider it, but nothing fixed schedule yet!
3.) Do you all plan to keep going with Japanese Series like Masterforce and Victory?
We do want to develop more pals for both MB-06 & MB-08 : )
4.) Are there any obscure transformers characters (particularly the G1 side, but any series is fine) that you have WANTED to do, but most likely don’t think there would be enough interest?
No such characters for the time being.
5.) Are you considering ever doing City bots? And if so is there one in particular you would want to start with?
Not in our consideration.
6.) G2 Tank Megatron?
See above answer of question 13.
7.) Decepticon Headmaster Jrs?
Did consider, but still in evaluation!
8.) King Poseidon?
Not in our consideration.
9.) Combiners?
Not in our consideration.
Check out the gallery below and if you’re wanting to check out and purchase Fans Hobby items for yourself, order yours at TFSource.
