Wonder Festival Summer 2019 Recap

It was a sweltering day in Tokyo where we had to brave the long lines and extreme humidity to enter into one of the most anticipated shows for sculpture, figure, and garage kit collectors- The Summer Wonder Fest 2019.

As the lines progressed we were eventually lead into the halls Makuhari Messe which were like a large opened mouth monster engulfing the mass of crowds. The two main halls were comprised with Gragae Kit Hall being mostly simple tables displaying garage kits from independent creators to Industry Hall which had booths from larger companies.

Wonder fest itself is quite a phenomenon because it allows independent artists to create royalty free limited-edition, garage kits based on famous characters for that day only. The figures were either original designs or based on popular characters, creatures and mecha from Tokusatsu, Kaiju, Anime, manga, films and video games.

There was plenty of anime-based kits but we focused on covering the horror/sci-fi/mecha oriented creations.

 Mitsumsa Yoshizawa's first work with ZBrush.

 ANDROID TYPE 001 by Kensuke Ito

20parts, used ZBrush and form2

"the beautiful / bizarre ones" series by Saito Heel Takaaki

PMGTZ-01: Reika and Anzu Yamasaki from GANTZ:O, anime science fiction action film

Rebuild of Evangelion Entry Plug Interior Ver. Asuka

CTHULUHU EVOLUTION by Ryu Oyama (Left), by Takayuki Takeya (Right)

CTHULUHU EVOLUTION designed by Katsuya Terada, sculpted by Takashi Tsukada

While most of these detailed works were produced by hand, we noticed the proliferation of Garage kits that were created using 3-D sculpting software such as the Zbrush and Blender. Currently in Japan, these applications are being used on a limited basis but we foresee increased usage in the future especially in this market, as well as further adoption in the media and entertainment industry. Several well known traditional sculptors are even transitioning over to using software for their designs.

Since digital sculpting is becoming much more prevalent, a section of the show floor called 3D GAN highlighted a variety of sculpting software both for VR and computer desktops. It also had several manufacturers displaying their 3D printing technology as well.

Overall it was a fantastic experience, and we are excited to see this hobby grow since technology will increase the accessibility, sophistication and quality of the sculptures being produced and go beyond the creativity of what the artists can envision.