Last week, F4F launched pre-orders for what is beyond a doubt the tallest figure that First 4 Figures has ever, ever made: Meta-Ridley! Seven days later, Validation Day has arrived for the Signature Edition (with bonus Rewards Points and signed Alex Davis art card) and the best chance at securing a low number for this new Metroid Villains Series of statues! Still on the fence about this piece and trying to decide before validation, but don’t have time to watch the one-hour documentary? I’ve got you covered…

[As always, the best way to experience these F4F Making of Documentaries is by watching the actual videos. But in the absence of having the time to watch the whole thing and drink in every detail, I’ve documented the bullet points here and encourage you to jump into any parts of the video that interest you using the timestamps located within this article!]

Brendan Rastello (3:20 into the video): “What made you choose Meta-Ridley first instead of Ridley?”

• In the past, F4F originally made 1:6 statues of Metroid Prime Varia Suit, Gravity Suit and Phazon Suit Samus, as well as two Gunships from the Metroid Prime Series; in addition, 1:4 Light Suit Samus and Varia Suit Samus have also been made by First 4 Figures from Metroid Prime 2
• Wanted to make this Meta-Ridley to logically fit with and be to scale with the 1:6 Samus statues previously produced; wouldn’t make sense to make the original purple/organic Ridley who wasn’t from the same series as all the previous statues
• Have the confidence to make this huge, complicated piece now that F4F wouldn’t have had back in the day when the first Metroid Samus statues were released
• Metroid Prime series also had arguably a bigger exposure than the original Metroid games
• Last thing First 4 Figures put up for order from Metroid was also from the Prime series, back in 2016 (Varia Suit Samus)

Mark Johnstone (9:12 into the video): “Ridley has been in production for a long time. What was the most challenging element of his design/creation?”

• There was a bit of development pause while First4Figures sharpened their skills for this piece
• How to get that sense of motion in the pose was the biggest challenge; that beautiful flowing motion from his face and mouth all the way down to his tail
• Posed angular; lurching forward with aggression; a sense of gliding and coming at you at an angle; wings posed swooping down, rather than a steady glide; looking to the left and arms tilted to the left, so you know that he’s moving in that direction
• Really did consider the spacing of the wings with regard to collectors’ display space logistics; collectors tend to have more vertical space than horizontal
• “If you are a Metroid fan and you want showstoppers…? Right over here.”
• Head and body are twisted; tail curved outwards and then moving toward–like a double attack
• Each piece of tail is segmented in its own way, but each section is not bent–the connection point is slightly tilted
• Fully-opened jaws at their widest point (like a T. Rex or crocodile) and eyes squinted; Ridley is close to Samus with neck pulled back, waiting to slash
• Organic skin to either side of the mouth
• Left knee is out, allowing for powerful left slash; while right leg is still out for speed

On Various Details of the Sculpt:

• Robotic, metallic spokes make up the structure of the wings
• Ridley was originally organic, but many of the organic elements of the dragon’s body have been twisted into being robot/mechanical, such as his wings
• Would be a disservice to have the wings just be one color–different shades of dark brown and orange as you get closer to each mechanical spoke
• Metal feeling, scratch marks, wear & tear all over the silver robotic parts of Meta-Ridley’s body; could have made it completely smooth, but wanted to show that Meta-Ridley has been through a war; scuffs are primarily on the mechanical silver parts of the sculpture and not the purple organic parts
• Champagne-bronze color around the feet; gives off a feeling of dirtiness to the feet
• Crazy detail around the neck; lots of circles and different types of pistons/hinges; there’s a reason for the circles being in the locations that they’re in; any movement areas on Meta-Ridley are depicted with circles
• No doubt about it–a very robotic, cyborg-esque creature here; exhaust pipes on the back of his head

Kei Meara (35:43 into the video): “What efforts did you make to try to hide the support pole? Did you consider a perch incorporated into the base at any point?”

• It made sense to put Meta-Ridley into an aggressive mid-flight pose to pair with 1:6 Samus staties previously released
• It was never a consideration to have Ridley stationary and perched instead of in an attacking pose
• These types of poles had been done before on the two Metroid Prime Gunships; the poles will look quite consistent when you put the various pieces in the line together
• Meta-Ridley needed to be stable; didn’t want to have a ball-joint to allow the statue to be tilted since it could degrade over time; wanted a cool fixed pose
• The base itself is very similar to those of the Metroid Gunships; wanted the base to have a metallic, robotic feel to it with lots of scratch marks
• Originally thought about doing base in silver, but then it took away from Meta-Ridley himself

Cody Weaver (40:20 into the video): “How did you go about evaluating the structural engineering? What are some of the things you wanted to address to make sure this statue looks the same as Day 1 for years to come?”

• The connection point between Ridley and the pole is right at the center of gravity for the purpose of stability
• The wings have a metal pole that go all the way down through them so make sure that they remain stable
• Will use drop tests to evaluate the types of materials (ABS, resin, PVC, metal) that must be used for each piece of Meta-Ridley to guarantee his quality for years to come
• Will inform collectors of any changes made to the statue during development/production

Lashel Diaz (43:18 into the video): “How much does this bad boy weigh?”

• 6.48 kg (about 14.3 pounds)
• Alex and Chocks don’t have enough cans in the studio to complete the cans-to-height test for Meta-Ridley! Meta-Ridley is over 7 cans tall–the first time F4F hasn’t had enough cans to complete the comparison.
• Meta-Ridley is 37″ tall (94 cm!)
• Width (from clawtip to wingtip) is 33″ wide (84 cm!)
• Depth is 22″ (56 cm)
• Because of the layout of Meta-Ridley’s body, you’ll be able to display him with some other statues next to/under him without needing additional horizontal shelf-space
• “#He’sWorthIt–We can’t wait to see the collection shots when you guys get him.”

On The Exclusive Verison:

• Like all the other Metroid statues that First4Figures has produced, Meta-Ridley EX features light-up LEDs on his eyes and chest
• Meta-Ridley’s neck is thin, so it’s really quite difficult to fit the wires into the neck that connect to the head and power the LED lights in Meta-Ridley’s eyes
• Glow in the Dark Powder cast into the wings of both the regular and exclusive versions; a very subtle glow; effect isn’t as strong as F4F wants it to be, but will look into increasing it at the production stage; an extra touch to give Meta-Ridley’s wings extra luminosity, since the wings are too thin to incorporate LED lighting into
• Height/Size/Weight of Meta-Ridley Exclusive the same as the regular edition

Alessio Bucci (56:47 into the video): “Can you show us a comparison with the other Metroid statues you made?”

• Meta-Ridley vs. Samus Varia Suit has always been the dream! Look at the perfect scaling between the two! Varia Suit Samus released in 2007, so 12-13 years between that original piece and Meta Ridley being made!
• Light Suit and Varia Suit Samus both fit nicely under Ridley’s wings and can be displayed closely to it
• Meta-Ridley will be an awesome addition to any Metroid collection
• Alex would love to see Mother Brain, a 1:1 Metroid and other characters released in this new Metroid Villains series in the future as well

…And that’s it for this documentary! The Metroid Meta-Ridley EX Statue is now up for order on the First 4 Figures website. Learn anything new or interesting from this “Making of…” video that influences your decision whether or not to purchase Meta-Ridley one way or the other, F4Fans?