Are they going to fix the teeth and arm hair on the later batches?
Posted this on the XM General Discussions but pasting it here as well for the Wolvie fans!
Just to clarify, we are using Stencils as the application technique to replicate the Hair effect on Wolvie's Arms, but we also add shading to further accentuate that hairy area effect. (Most hairy areas the skin tend to have slightly darker shades). Let me share the thought process which got us here.
XM's Creative Director, Dr. TPH aka Mr Invisible aka Seng (from now on, we are all calling him Dr. TPH and will be revealing the real meaning later...) was looking into the best ways to apply the hair effect via painting techniques (avoiding decals at great length). When we first started, we didn't add hair to the arms and were reminded (gently LOL) by fans that the arms has gotta be hairy!!! We tried sculpting the hair in but it didn't turn out nice (looked like scratches). For the prototypes, Dr. TPH painted on the hairs by hand and they turned out great however we realized there was a huge risk having to depend on numerous different Factory individuals to do these by hand. Imagine the QC horrors!
In the end we went with the stencil and shading approach. At that point in time, we felt it was the most effective, factory practical and consistent way to create this hairy effect application across all the pieces, and ultimately we wanted everyone to get consistent pieces.
You guys know us, we do try our very best (cough - changed Phoenix hair ... cough.... multiple times..... near production stage.. cough) but Wolvie has literally packed and shipped. With some people already receiving it in hand, it's hard to recall all the pieces back (especially from peeps who are actually happy with it). Also we didn't like the idea of having later batches of Wolvies out there without hair - the value on hairy Wolvies would soar! Last but not least, we still think the current technique is the most practical way to apply the hair and in our humble opinion better than a hairless Wolvie. It's our design approach, not a QC defect.
Dr. TPH has also been mulling over this hair technique (so far in our work only Wolvie requires this special treatment), so he has been hard at work researching and trying various methods to create the best painted hair effect which is achievable by factory production. I think he is making some good progress so we will unveil that technique on later characters that require this effect.
Their reply.
Conan is right around the corner.
