User:TheLastGherkin/Rodimus (DOTM)

First 4 Figures is a high-end collectible model and figurine company operating out of the United Kingdom and Hong Kong. Established as "Puzzle Productions" in 2002, the First 4 Figures brand was put on the map in 2003 when they acquired the worldwide resin statue license for what was then known as WWF. After also acquiring the license for Magic: The Gathering, a genial relationship with Hasbro enabled the smooth negotiation for the Transformers license, a childhood favourite of the company's director, Alex Davis.

First 4 Figures' Transformers merch began with high hopes, with several different lines and multiple characters on the docket for production. Davis proved communicative with the fanbase, posting polls on the company's homepage, directly emailing fan news sites himself, and even running a contest in conjunction with TFW2005.com to get a fan submission made into an actual figurine. Unfortunately, a challenging marketplace affected the company's ambitious plans, with lack of retailer interest causing pre-orders of future items to remain unfulfilled before ultimately being cancelled by 2008. All told, the vast majority of Transformers models planned by First 4 Figures remain unreleased.

Despite these setbacks and humble beginnings, First 4 Figures persisted, and now produces collectibles for the highly popular video game and anime markets, with merchandise for franchises like Super Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Cowboy Bebop, Fullmetal Alchemist, Spyro the Dragon, Metal Gear Solid, and Sonic the Hedgehog. Not bad for a company which counted the Dwayne Johnson Doom movie among its first licenses.

Merchandise

Owing to First 4 Figures' loss of the license, much of the figures below did not see release. Figures that actually were released have been rendered in bold text.

Transformers Battlefield

One shall stand, one shall not.

Announced in conjunction with their acquisition of the license in June 2005, Transformers Battlefield was an ambitious concept: each release would feature a battle scene between two "Generation 1" characters, complete with a square base designed to interlock with other bases in the same range to create a massive diorama. The statues also made use of "REPs", or "Replacement Exterior Parts", to allow buyers to minorly customise their purchases. Each release in Battlefield was to be designed by Argentinian sculptor "Mad" Alterton.

Unfortunately for a series designed around interconnectivity, only the first set, Optimus Prime vs Megatron, was released. Online retailer BigBadToyStore solicited all three sets before F4F lost the license, revealing the characters intended for release in the latter two.

Optimus Prime vs Megatron

Hot Rod vs Ravage & Rumble

Soundwave vs Jazz

SD Ultra Magnus

Further in 2005, First 4 Figures partnered with fansite tfw2005.com on a contest to create a fan-designed super deformed original Transformers statue. The top ten entries were announced in October 2005, and included renderings of ultimate winner Ultra Magnus, along with Cosmos, Jazz, Shockwave, Unicron, Skybyte, Bumblebee, Grimlock, Jazz and Trypticon. All entries were later incorporated into a collage-style poster made available through the First 4 Figures website. They also produced G1 film cells for sale through their website.

• Ultra Magnus
• Ultra Magnus (Diaclone)

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

G.I. Joe vs the Transformers

First 4 Figures also produced statues based on the Devil's Due Press G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers crossover, specifically a rendering of Storm Shadow atop the disembodied head of Optimus Prime Optimus Prime, as well as a version of Optimus Prime, depicted as a transformed HISS Tank, holding a battle-ready Snake Eyes. Other proposed cross-over statues, including a sculpted Baroness and Ravage, were later cancelled due to poor retail interest.

• Snake Eyes & Optimus Prime
• Storm Shadow & Optimus Prime
• Baroness & Ravage

"Generation One" series

A challenging retail market place affected other ambitious plans for the company, including a series of Beast Wars busts, planned Battlefield extensions featuring Soundwave versus Jazz and Hot Rod versus Ravage and Rumble, and Generation One statues including Scourge, Jetfire and Swoop. Although images of a number of prototypes (including Scourge, busts of Optimus Primal and Waspinator, and the Baroness/Ravage combo) were prepared and shared on the internet and at various presentations, subsequent orders were unfulfilled until being ultimately cancelled in 2008.

• Scourge
• Swoop
• Bludgeon
• Jetfire
• Galvatron

[6]

"Beast Wars" busts

$49.99 SRP Cheetor Dinobot Rattrap [7] Ravage Rhinox Scorponok Terrorsaur Waspinator

$54.99 SRP Megatron Optimus Primal

$64.99 SRP Depth Charge

[8] [9] [10]

Film cells

[11] [12]

Posters

[13] [14] [15]

References

[16] [17] [18]

External links

• First4Figures homepage

Category:Companies