Even as the series ended last August, the Agimat spirit of Foldabots is still alive in some people's creative hearts and minds, including myself. As we move on, it seems that only a few in the fanverse still makes Foldabots, and yes, I am now testing un-rendered patterns I've drafted in graph papers, to see which design is good enough to be serialized in the new Foldabots series. I have not talked to Jomike Tejido about reviving the toy line as an indie project rather than commissioning a publishing company in producing the toys on a regular basis.
The New Foldabots Project will be run independently by veteran fans who had made strong foundations to the toy line from start to end. I guess this idea of mine could be the key in reviving Foldabots, but God only knows when will this be a reality.
Now, about the thing about graph papers and test patterns...
The Power Is On Once Again
Lately, I've heard about the news of the new Power Rangers movie which will be on theaters March 2017. And with it, new suits, younger actors, and certainly a new Megazord.
And speaking of Megazord, while many dislike the design, some have favored it more than the one we got for Ninja Megazord back in 1995. I mean, granted the CGI was far too bad than what we see these days with a more realistic look and feel. And the hopes for the best to not suck more than the last one save for Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie, which was a bit of a flop despite not seeing the movie myself.
The new Megazord is a bit less DaiZyuJin, and more bio-mechanical. I definitely liked the Deluxe Battle Zords more than the Interactive Megazord, in terms of play value, although the resulting toy will be two feet tall. And because of the idea, I've decided to make a paper version out of the gimmick, although the design at the point is not final and still needs more adjustments. Here's the sample...
As you can see, the idea is pretty simple, just like the upcoming toy, although I find the other parts to be... well, it is still a beta design, and I'll try to improve the design to still incorporate the interlocking parts which I really love over using paperclips in some designs.
Foldabots Re:Remix
I finally consider Foldabots Remix a cancelled prequel to MegaMix, despite the loss of most of my old files after my old computer died. But the Foldabots from the fan fiction are still fresh in my mind partly because of the tested toys I still have. The old designs has tons of flaws except for some functionalities regarding their own gimmicks.
The new patterns which I've designed long ago have retained their gimmicks but with changes resolving the issues of my previous designs.
The old designs can be seen here on this link: http://ejsotto.blogspot.com/2014/04/foldabots-remix.html
I didn't include Dobletron in my recent scans and prints (which I need to cut a lot of ink because it's just a test pattern, but I'll include them in the future.)
Ultimate Exceldrone - This had a lot of alterations from their old version including the scrapping of those annoying legs save for Excelver's, the weapons which I need to sacrifice and reduce the number of parts to a bare minimum of 11 parts. Ultimately, the new tack is much more simple than its original version and the combination
Sandigan - Alone, I find his proportions TOO WRONG, partly because of the separate vehicle modes being the same length and the render with the torso too long and the legs too short. The new version also fixes the flaw of the SUV design which I find it very terrible. The patterns for both parts were adjusted too, whereas the jet loses one piece to assemble due to integrating the tail to the main body, the SUV gains a piece due to lack of space on my graph paper. Just imagine if I did this on PowerPoint or Photoshop or any other program, I would merge the windshield and the rest of the roof part to make the canopy and axe it back to just 6 parts.
Barkotron - This, also suffered from the faulty design which is practically gives him very weak connections and the super gestalt with Sandigan is also terrible. The new style may have no paperclips used in holding the pieces together, but at least I've finally resolved the flaws from the old one. I just hope the design will make Armored Sandigan much better looking than ever.
Hakotar - This I believe has the least alterations made, which is to say the succeeding character to this one will have a lot. The only change to him is the addition of slits on his legs to replace paperclips again.
Piyesanator - In contrast to Hakotar's subtle changes, this one had a lot of alterations. First the body parts were totally altered from the crotch part being the Max form's helmet to being the chest plate and the wing parts have replaced the box part with just the connectors for Hakotar. Second, the arms can now be connected without the use of paperclips yet again. Finally, the legs were as stubby as heck, and the idea of making them fatter and inserting Hakotar's legs onto them rather than mounting them with yes, paperclips. Combined, I would say this will be better than the old, just like the other characters preceded. Unfortunately, the resulting design is a bit tricky until I found the perfect configuration for the partsformer--which is a simple jet.
Gubatron Scramble
Ah yes, going back to the earlier designs, and a rather legendary one--Gubatron.
Gubatron came to be around the latter half of 2008. Whereas the older designs were a bit like hand-drawn, Gubatron was the first to have the modern and edgy design of Foldabots that would indelibly stay with the series until the end. Gubatron was also the first combiner to have five full members than the earlier four-part gestalt like Higantechron, or with one unit to have two Foldabots in it like in Elementron and Aquatikron. There was even a bonus of getting Lu-Sho, the original main antagonist of the comic series that began earlier that same year.
In order to complete Gubatron back then, you would need 6 K-Zone issues from June to November 2008, which will include Lu-Sho alongside. The original design was actually different from the later and more familiar version where the two birds are the arms. Kuwago in the original release was a leg than an arm.
It had been a long time before I went back to that Gubatron concept I made three years ago, and I almost forgotten how I did it in the first place. But the only charm this version has over the official version is the extended gimmick spearheaded by the idea of Kagat and Kuwago switching places, where Ramo and Kalaw joins in the fun.
I've already said about this matter before about Scramble System which I used them in other personal designs, including this rendition. But of course, I'm still thinking of a way to perfect the configurations of Gubatron, such as changing the orientation of how Kuwago and Kalaw are formed as legs, despite I've added Ramo an arm connector like the other three.
Super Sentai Inspired Designs
Recently, I've went back to doing simple Foldabots concepts based on Super Sentai robots from the earlier years. I know I've made some before but they had some imperfections which I never bothered altering at this point.
Let's start on the first one, Bio Robo. I haven't come up with a name to distinguish this and the actual Sentai robot... Ah... Electron King.
Electron King
Made up of just two jets: Player 1 Jet and Player 2 Jet, which is a bit like a 2-player vertical shooting game. The idea of this is just like Sandigan where one forms the top half, and another forms the bottom half. The way I did the interlocking mechanism is a bit OK, despite I've given it some good ideas on how to make a less-kibble design like folding Player 1 Jet's nose part to form a nice backpack, and inserting the tab of Player 2 Jet onto it.
Our next gestalt is I call Highway Titan...
Highway Titan
It's basically five land vehicles: sports car Speeder-R, truck cab Greater-K, mini jeep Wilder-B, dune buggy Sandster-Y, and wagon van Spacer-P. The formation's a bit like Turbo Robo's but the charm point of it is the neat asymmetrical slits where the legs connect, partly to fit the connectors I added instead of using paperclips. I resisted from doing thick boxy arms in some of these designs including the aforementioned Ultimate Exceldrone, partly to save in canvas space and to cut building time a bit.
I also have other designs which I'll cover in this blog, like this next one--the aptly named Earth Triathlete.
Earth Triathlete
I may have tried this design before, but that was the time I'm still using paperclips in making the designs. Now that I've went using my own developed technology, I've also simplified the once complex design into a more convenient version. Hop Hauler, Step Panzer, and Jump Flyer are the components named after the triple jump.
Next is Hyper Kaiser...
Hyper Kaiser
This among the Sentai-based designs is the most versatile, and the most exciting of the lot. This is composed of Carry-Base, Main-Roader, and Brain-Winger. The latter two aforementioned mecha can be placed on top of the other one for transportation purposes. Combined, the resulting gestalt has a tubular head, which is uncommon with Foldabot gestalts, and yes, this is the first one to have this type of design.
Conclusion
As 2016 draws to a close and the new year ushers in, we look back at the sweet success and bitter end of the Foldabots toy line which revolutionized an entire era with a sensible and rather affordable yet collectible toys. 10 years, 124 K-Zone issues, 138+ characters, 8 Toy Books, 22 gestalts, and thousands of fans. How much more if Foldabots were never cancelled and if the new editors didn't bother, we could probably know what happened next in the comics like what happened before with Combatron when it was abruptly cancelled, we would've got Toy Book 9 and more Foldabots up to now and beyond. But let's face it, most of us fans are growing old and some of us have already retired from this fan club, and I'm probably not one of them... at least not now. I still have a lot of designs to share, but I'll carry them over to 2017. And until then, Happy New Year and we'll be catching you guys next time on The Foldabots Archives.
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