Concept and Turns
The inspiration for creating a Shiba Inu Mechtorian, came from a 2021 drawing of Doktor A's pup, Thorin Ethelsson (then Thorin Strokenshield).
Initially named "Mintworthy", the first challenge was to portray Mugi in an invitation-to-play pose and fluffy looking, all while being a "robot" made of curved and riveted "metal" plates.
Going big with the design, allowed us to give him an ascot and three interchangeable hats, in Doktor A's signature style.
Digital Sculpt
Digital sculpting enabled easy tweaking of the model. Head and snout shapes, ear proportions, opening of the mouth, slanting of the eyes, rivet size and spacing - you name it.
The back legs were going to be challenging to cast because of the slim undercut. We played with them a little, but eventually the factory made them separate parts.
For casting of the back part to be possible, we also had to make sure the tail does not cross the waistline.
How do you like the butthole? If we learned anything from the late Frank Kozik is that all animals have one.
Prototype Model
Printing the parts of our digital sculpt was more challenging than expected. While our digital sculpt was great, the studios I tried had a hard time printing the model without leaving noticeable traces of the supports and broken rivets. The parts were heavy and required many of them, including at visible model parts. Some of the grooves and slits were also not quite nice and crisp.
Therefore, we decided to let Doktor A bring the best printed result to perfection in his UK studion.
Doktor A cleaned up the model, re-did the shallow and broken rivets, including in parts Mugi didn't have them before, drilled tiny holes in the snout, and even toyed with the possibility of giving Mugi sculpted paw pads.
This refined model was ready to go to Japan to become wax.
Wax Model
The wax master in Japan prepares the model parts for becoming molds.
The back part had to be modified - back legs were masterfully turned into separate parts - total of 7 parts.
Our initials and "Japan" stamps were placed on bottom of the paws. Not much room for the full names or fancy logos, but simplicity is part of the magic of sofubi.
Test Pulls and Packaging
The final product is finally ready! It was shipped to us late 2023 and it is perfect! Taking photos of it against the Swiss December snow was my favorite! Doktor A used my photos for the design of the header card.
Found these sturdy polyethylene bags that are the perfect size for our toy to stand sideways. Here the package is tested with our test pull. With the header card, everything fits nicely, I really like the proportions.
We are now ready for production. Be sure to get the latest news on releases of Sir Mugi Teaworthy