While F4F is typically known for making resin products, they’ve been dipping their toes more and more into PVC figures since last year. First 4 Figures is bringing their skills and experience from resin over to PVCs, with a whole range of Dark Souls SD PVC figures planned. And the second and third additions to the super-detailed series have arrived: the Dark Souls SD Solaire Exclusive & Praise the Sun Editions are now up for order! Don’t have time to watch the Making of Documentary before Day One? I’ve got you covered…

[As always, the best way to experience these First4Figures Making of Documentaries is watching them yourself. This recap runs down all the details if you don’t have time to watch or just want a refresher, but you should definitely watch the whole video (and subscribe to the F4F YouTube Channel!) if you’ve got the time. I’ve also posted the video above for the sake of convenience.]

“Why was Solaire chosen as the second Dark Souls SD character? The resin Dark Souls line has gone Artorias/Sif/Solaire/Ornstein so far, but you jumped over Artorias’ puppy and went straight to Solaire in the SD line.” (from Dabid Kuhrt, 2:14 into the video)

• There is no hard and fast rule that the Dark Souls statues created in resin will come out in the same order (or at all) in the Dark Souls SD line; it just so happened that the first figure in the series was Artorias
• The proportions were easier to translate to Solaire and Ornstein than they would be to Sif, who isn’t a humanoid
• There’s a difficulty with regards to Sif being a wolf that would need more checking and refining for its proportions–Sif might take longer in development if in fact First 4 Figures were making him

On Detailing and Differences from Resin Solaire of Astora:

• Resin version has six rivets on the front of the helmet, when there’s only supposed to be five; used this knowledge to make the PVC Solaire SD statue’s helmet right the first time
• Pitted damages, certainly not a clean/smooth helmet–wanted to make sure that this figure was chock full of detail, despite the cartoony style
• Shoulder pads are different from how the resin version was done–on the PVC, the fur is sculpted onto the shoulder pads, whereas the resin one has more faux fur-like material used in that area; green base with light brown to highlight the tops of the fur
• Even at this small scale, you can see the individual fingernails and the muscles in the palm
• Tons and tons of detailing on the chain-mail; shows the kind of attention to detail necessary to give this statue a feeling of realism
• Horizontal lines on the tunic give it a cloth look; ripped/torn edges of the cloth to make it appear weathered
• No sword in his scabbard, as F4F wanted to be authentic to the video game (where he doesn’t actually have one in there)
• Scabbard itself has a ton of detail, with the gold and the brown on it neatly painted
• Still has a resin look to it despite being PVC; wanted to give the piece a hand-painted feel despite not being fully hand-finished–weathering and paint wash done by hand to give it a finishing touch
• Very detailed base; different colors and sizes for the different pebbles; moss between the grooves
• Dark Souls PVCs need to flow with the previous releases, so Solaire PVC has summoning energy spires rising up from his base similarly to the purple energy on Artorias SD’s base–this is very different compared to the resin piece
• Purposely placed the lower spires in the front so that they don’t obscure the focus on the face and body of the piece
• Wanted to give this Solaire its own identity compared to the larger resin version; think it looks fantastic

“What Changed from the NYCC prototype?” (from Alessio Bucci at 21:43 on the video)

• Solaire debuted at NYCC 2017 in October 2017, where both the regular versions of Artorias and Solaire SD were shown
• The one shown at NYCC was a resin prototype, whereas the production piece and piece shown in the documentary are made of PVC
• The flames on the resin prototype were all yellow, whereas the PVC prototype has different colors in the summoning energy effects; quite tricky but turned out really well

On The Exclusive Version of Solaire of Astora SD:

• The version found at local retailers will always be the regular version
• The effect going around Solaire lights up on the exclusive version, which is only available for order via the F4F website
• There are 8 or more LED lights in the summoning effect
• The exclusive will have a slightly thicker base, even though the prototype doesn’t have that implemented yet
• Solaire SD EX also has a pulsing mode for the lights where the lights are moving, in addition to an “always on” mode
• The regular edition has a very similar packaging theme to that of the regular edition Artorias PVC
• SD002 is the numbering designation for Solaire PVC in the F4F SD Range
• Is also 02DS in the Dark Souls DS numbering, as it’s second in the Dark Souls range
• Back of the box has beautiful pictures of the PVC statue and the credits (Chocks’ name is in the fourth row!)
• Holographic sticker on the top right corner of the box will signify that it’s a genuine F4F product and not a knockoff or bootleg
• The exclusive version is numbered and comes with additional beautiful packaging
• The edition size will be on the bottom of the base of the exclusive edition, with some sticky pads on the bottom of the base to raise it so that the number doesn’t get scratched off
• Alex and Chock have a handmade mock-up of the Exclusive Edition box to show off during the documentary
• EX box will have a thick cardstock inner cover that will go on top of the box and contain either just the authentication card or both the authentication card and Day One Edition card (for those who order or validate their Solaire SD EX on the F4F website on Day One — June 5, 2018)
• Your statue number will also be written on the bottom of the box
• The EX box top will have foil printing on it and a classy design with a picture of Solaire and the Dark Souls logo
• The Day One Edition will come with extra reward points and a holographic sticker in addition to the Day One art card signed by Alex Davis
• The whole packaged exclusive will be shipped in a brown shipper box with foam corner pads to ensure the box arrives undamaged

Devon Wennstrom 45:41 “What was your inspiration for the design of the exclusive packaging?”

• It was really important to have consistency across the Dark Souls SD range; Solaire’s packaging has its own characteristics while still looking similar to the Artorias packaging
• The top of the box is all about Solaire, while the bottom is black with the blue stripe that will be common across the Dark Souls SD series

The Exclusive Solaire of Astora SD Praise the Sun Edition:

• Praise the Sun Solaire SD is all orange, but not just one color of translucent orange–highlights and varying shades throughout the figure, just like in the resin Praise the Sun Edition
• Great synergy between the translucent orange color of Solaire and the bright colors of the light-up summoning circle
• For those who wanted the resin Praise the Sun Solaire in a smaller size, now you’ve got it with this smaller PTS Solaire PVC figure
• You can still see the logo on his chest, but it’s semi-translucent so it’s a bit harder to see
• All of the sculpting details are still here–just with lighting

“Did you decide to go with a PTSE Solaire? If so, combo pack? It only makes sense.” (from Sav Kantus at 49:53 on the video)

• Yes and Yes!
• The Exclusive and PTSE will still have their own individual boxes even when purchased as part of a discounted combo pack, however
• Rising animation of the internal LED lights is built into the Praise the Sun Edition Solaire SD PVC’s body–this isn’t possible in the painted version since the paint covering the body is opaque
• The ring of light will fade away first and then the body on the figure
• This version is only available via the First 4 Figures website
• The Praise the Sun Edition has a differently-colored box with a beautiful orangeness to it that the other versions of Solaire do not; will also come with the numbered base and sticky pads
• This version will also have a uniquely-colored orange leaflet with a code for 500 F4F Rewards Points in it; the other versions will have a different-colored leaflet
• Interior of the leaflet also shows SD Artorias and the silhouette of Ornstein
• DS03 and SD003 are the numbering designations for the Solaire Praise the Sun Edition–it has its own unique numbers in the numbering sequences

Measurements:

• 9″ Tall; 5″ Wide; 5″ Deep; About 2 Cans tall

“How many total DS SD do you have planned?” (from Brenton Friedli at 1:02:25 on the video)

• “As many as you guys want. We have a ton in the works. We have already announced Ornstein is coming… we look forward to doing a massive, massive range.”
• “Do let us know who you want next after Ornstein, and any other characters you think we should do in the SD line.”

1:03:14 Matthew Goggans: “Can there be extra large SDs for characters like Nito and Seath?”

• Nito is much bigger than the other characters in the game world compared to someone like Solaire
• However, since Solaire and Artorias are exactly the same height and size, Alex would probably go with the same-ish size for Nito and maybe offer it in a larger scale in resin
• Trying to keep the size of the PVCs consistent, as these Dark Souls SD pieces are meant to go into retail stores which have specific sizes they’ll accept
• Larger Seath possible in resin, with the PVCs in a smaller scale
• These are things for Future Alex to worry about, should they ever be coming up

…And that’s it for the Solaire Documentary! Learn anything fun or new from the video, F4Fans? Will you be picking up either (or both!) of these Solaires? And don’t forget that you need to validate your Solaire SD PVC orders on Tuesday, June 5th to secure your Day One Edition!