(Post) CNY 2014 Special: Project SIDECAR

After my tablet went ruckus and never got to update my Facebook for the past few days, and yeah, I decided to make a blog on this first day of the year of the Wooden Horse. I also haven't made a blog during Christmas break, due to the fact I don't have the time to write one, so I decided to make a document file containing the blogs I want to post soon including Komyutatron's Missing Bio.

Now, on this post, I'll focus on the little project I would like to call... Project SIDECAR

It All Started With Toy Book 6...

A lot of Folda-Fans were disappointed when the recent Toy Book was released. I was there at the launch event at that time. I even got to meet some of the fans as well. Now, the reason why we are all disappointed, is because the one Foldabot we've been hoping for a reissue for a long time is not in the book. The name of the Foldabot... is SIKLO. Like I said in my last blog, he is the last of the original 25 Foldabots that were hand-drew at that time. Siklo is a tricycle Foldabot which has a similar design to Kislap, with the addition of a sidecar to distinguish him from the other Foldabot.

Along Came A Surprise...

John Dave Salazar (the guy who made Tribe Wars and runs a review show just like me) posted something really surprising on Facebook. It was Siklo, this time, he looks really different. I was enlightened at first because of the somewhat the new bio page for Siklo, but when I noticed the sidecar is not so detailed. In hoverboard mode, it looked like Siklo is riding in a box rather than a platform and the wheel makes it off-balanced due to the fact the wheel sticks out even in this mode.

Eventually, a lot of reactions on the post saying it came from a new issue, others wondered why there are two pattern cards used to make this. Then, Salazar admits that it wasn't from K-Zone or any Toy Book, he made it all by himself. I myself got an inspiration from what he had done to share in the group.

Then it grew into a bigger idea...

Even before John Dave posted the pictures, I already made some ideas for it.

http://ejsotto.blogspot.com/2012/11/pre-toy-book-launch-special-1-reissue.html
http://ejsotto.blogspot.com/2012/12/pre-birthday-special-bonus-resiklo.html

The first two ideas were too complex than John Dave's. As a matter of fact, I decided to make a more simplified version 3 of my design.

The width of it is 3 centimeters, height from wheel to the edge of the box is 3.2 cm excluding roof, and length from front to back is 5 cm.

Here is a short video reviewing the sidecar I made at that time.



Take note I also added some additional features like the wheel can now be folded down so it can be placed flat in hoverboard mode. Also, the roof part is obviously higher than John Dave's to really replicate the actual tricycles you see on the road.

After that, I decided to make version 4 with yet another alterations. First is the box is redesigned, second the wheel folding gimmick is now changed, and lastly the way to transform into hoverboard is to put the roof strip onto the slit in the box so it comes out flatter. Sadly the downside on V.4 is it's still not flat, I mean real flat.

Conclusion

The reason why Siklo doesn't have a reissue yet is the sidecar is indeed very hard to redesign. Making the modern render is very easy, and so does the bike that makes Siklo (I thank John Dave for that), but the biggest issue is the sidecar that makes the Foldabot a trike. It took me more than one idea to come up with the best design. I am coming up with version 5 where the design is pretty the same as the last one, except the changes are the wheel is now fixed to the side and both sides can be folded out by folding out the tabs tucked at the back and the roof is glued on and the only way to do it is to flatten it down like so. In addition, the version 6 is basically boxy like John Dave's version, except it has the similar concept to my V.3. The sides could either have tabs whether you glue them or has a connector so it can be connected inside in tricycle mode or folded out in hoverboard mode; or since it will be in cardboard, there will be no flaps whatsoever, due to the fact it will keep its shape better than the material I used to make these prototypes. In fact, if Jomike Tejido reads this and likes this idea, he could finally add Siklo in the next Toy Book, thanks to me and of course, you know who.

And one last thing, I also made a campaign on Facebook on this particular matter, it's basically a hashtag I made called "#SIKLO4TB7". The idea is to give the fans what they've been asking for a long time--Siklo, finally in a Toy Book, specifically, Toy Book 7 which will be out later this year.

And also, what about the Astig from December 2008 K-Zone issue? Maybe he could be included too, since we wanted to have this variation in card as well, of course, don't forget about this year's rivals Likastron, the Foldabot gestalt made by Lester Bernaldez which runs from February to June of this year, and of course, Malvin Roix Orense's back with his third official combiner Trosonator, which will run on the second half of 2014. Other possible characters to look forward to is Alulong by Louis Adrian Arbes who won last November in the On-The-Spot Art Contest, part of the Toy Book 6 Launch event happened for the very first time in a new venue, Robinsons Magnolia (The first five were at Powerbooks Greenbelt at that time). I hope they put the next Toy Book launch there again to see my Folda-Peeps again.

Well that wraps up this blog for now, and we'll see again on the next blog where I could finally showcase Komyutatron's Missing Bio, some Replacement Parts for other Foldabots, and of course, my 2014 Foldabots Creations including Payasotron, Boltahedron, Lobatica, Likot, Basaanator, Baha, and Ipistroopers. Plus, I recently made Celtron 2.0, an improved version to one of my old Foldabots. SEE YOU ON THE NEXT BLOG!