Some thoughts

Hi everyone,

thank you for your support on Nova Commander. There has been alot of discussions in various forums about Nova Commander. We would like to clarify from the perspective of the our designers.

From an inspiration point of view it was from the pictures done by Don Figueroa. His pictures especially in the book by IDW- Best of Don Figueroa gave us the vehicle, robot pictures to work on. (Don if you're reading this email please email us)

With the base pictures, it is more complex then just taking the pictures and converting into a workable mecha with the transformation. One of the more difficult things to do is to get things to slide, and fit properly from robot to vehicle mode while still maintaining a semblance of articulation and proportion. It's like a huge jigsaw puzzle, one which has to be translated from the mind into the computer then into a physical model.

We had a look at Dak's pictures, which was the winner for one TFCON08 competition, but still we had to spend most time (90%) in 3D design of the interlocking parts and figuring out very important detailed parameters and ultimately prototyping.

On a personal note: if a designer takes inspiration from various sources to come out with an improved version, we think that the whole community does benefit, which has been the case for all the kitbashes and customs that we see being done by various members in the community. So let us not argue on this aspect as it leads us no where as a community.

So the issue of Intellectual property is this. Pictures are one thing, translating it into a working, engineering design is another thing, and based on our study and discussion about IP, Nova Commander is a unique engineering model that is part of our works - as per what had happened to Hal's ARC - Arcee model - which i believe Hasbro did see his works and certified it as unique design owned by Hal.

Lastly on mass production. We would gladly like to get this figure mass produced by big companies like Takara or IDW or Hasbro. Our first option is to get their endorsement even if it's like what happens in Japan's Wonderfest (limited endorsement for resin kits etc). However if it ends up as a long drawn PR by the big boys as to them feasibility and commercialism comes first, and we use our limited time to discuss with a zero end game, then we'd just continue as-is or have to see alternatives.

Thats all for now, as we reply to various mails we've been receiving.

We're contactable via email administrator at mastercollectables.com

Cheers
D.K