Creators of the Nibbler, one of the art toy community’s most highly desired figures, The Tarantulas are about to celebrate their fifth year in the scene. Working with the likes of Onell Design, Real x Head, Triclops Studio and more recently A Little Stranger, The Tarantulas’ ever elusive Nibbler has taken on a number of weird and wonderful incarnations since its conception as a Glyos head way back in 2008. With February’s GID Nibbler, an upcoming Datadub collaboration, resin drops and more planned for the coming months, The Tarantulas show little signs of letting up…
After several months of trying, we’ve finally managed to prise the ever busy Tarantulas away from the studio long enough to talk about inspirations, experience in the toy industry, and of course, the future for Nibbler…
What got you into the art toy scene, and toys in general? Your Nibblers and Fishtank Castle playsets pay a loving homage to the world of He Man and MOTU, but what other toys were important to your childhood?
I got into toy design straight out of college in the mid 90s – started off doing cereal pack toys then luckily got into Hasbro in late 95.. The whole idea of ‘art toys’ was pretty new – I remember Michael Lau’s original Gardener series & Medicom stuff like Kubrick inspired a change in what we were trying to push as designers – but it was a hard sell at that time. Then the pioneers of resin opened things up – I remember getting a Sucklord 77 at Kid Robot in New York back when they were showcasing interesting obscure stuff as well as pushing their own brand – then meeting Matt Doughty in 2008 which was the catalyst to create the Nibbler. Matt basically said – make a head for Glyos & a few weeks later I sent him a Nibbler cast.
[2008 The Tarantulas x Onell Nibbler]
I actually never had any He-Man toys – I’m 40 so it was all about Star Wars figures for me.. I loved the He-Man cartoon but all those TV toy brands I missed out including Transformers.. I’m into sci-fi & fantasy in equal measures tho – I’m trying to combine the two with the Nibbler stuff.. Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica & other sci-fi around the time like The Black Hole & even Silent Running I remember seeing on TV as a kid – then you had everything that came in the wake of D&D like Citadel Miniatures & the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks we had in the UK which really got me into fantasy stuff. Before Star Wars I remember being massively into die-cast cars – we used to customize them by throwing them up in the air & letting them smash onto the road to bash them up. We even heated up pins with a match to push through the windscreen to make little bullet holes !!
[A Little Stranger Real x Nibbler promo, Feb 2012]
What artists have inspired your work? Are there any particular people/collectives that you’re following at the moment?
Everyone I’ve met through Matt & Don – the whole Global Figure Symposium at SDCC – such an honour to be in that kind of company. Matt has been a huge inspiration – partly down to how much of a total dude he is & partly the work he does – he’s making the best action figure line in the world at the moment without question. He’s forging his own path & those are the people that make the really special stuff – Mori-san & Paul Kaiju are the same in that respect. There’s so much stuff out there I love it when something leaps out – like Lamour Supreme’s Simon head in 2008 – things that make you jump out of your skin because they’re so amazing & open new ways to think about stuff.
[Mecha Nibbler/Fish Tank Castle promo, 2011]
You’ve gained a huge amount of respect for your work in kaiju/resin (various Nibbler lines) and commercial action figures (1/6 scale Teen Wolf ), but how do the process’ in creating each style differ? Obviously having complete creative control over the Nibbler project is a plus, but does it make any of the decisions any less stressful?
I worked in 1/6 for years so I certainly know a lot more about making a 1/6 figure than I do about making soft vinyl figures – all credit to Mori for making the Real x Nibbler – he is a total master. Process wise I’m an old school toy designer – I come up with ideas & sketch them up. For the resin stuff I do my own sculpting but I leave mold & cast to the experts. Doing my own stuff isn’t really stressful – as you say I’m not accountable to anyone – but it’s always getting tougher to find the time…
[Selection of Real x Nibblers, Future Nibblers and Winter Nibblers, 2011]
What can we expect from The Tarantulas in the future? Are there any more Nibblers in the pipeline, and are there any plans for more collaborations?
I’m trying to get a couple of collaborative projects together at the moment – everything stalled for a while because we just moved into a new place which needed quite a bit of work – it’s taken forever so it’s really nice to start getting back into it. It’s roughly 5 years since I started The Tarantulas – so there’ll be a Real x Nibbler release to mark this in April. Going to put out some more resin soon too – the Cy’bbler collab with Datadub & maybe a final run of Future Nibblers.. I’ve got two new figures designed ready to sculpt so hopefully at least one of them will make an appearance later in the year…
[Cy’bbler The Tarantulas x Datadub, 2012]
Any final words?
Thanks for your patience !! – & *cough* http://the-tarantulas.blogspot.co.uk/ – http://thetarantulas.bigcartel.com/ – http://the-tarantulas.tumblr.com/ – @tarantulastwit
We’d like to give a massive thanks to The Tarantulas for taking part in the interview (well worth the wait!). Be sure to stay tuned in the coming weeks for more details on the 5th anniversary Nibbler and that Cy’bbler Datadub collab…
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