Ordinarily there’s a mere four days between when First 4 Figures opens up reservations for a new statue and when the official Pre-Order date (with validation for low numbers!) occurs, but thanks to the all-consuming whirlwind that was GamesCom 2018, the latest PO got an extra seven days between reservations and validation! One of the tallest pieces that F4F has ever put out, the Psycho Mantis EX statue has now arrived and Day One is in progress! Haven’t made up your mind and don’t have time to watch the Making of Documentary video before Day One expires? I’ve got you covered…

2:34 Alessio Bucci “How did you choose Psycho Mantis as second in the line?”

• Why not? Does it make a difference if we made Psycho Mantis second, or third, or fourth?
• First 4 Figures has launched many different lines where the main character wasn’t even first in the line
• The popularity of the character won’t change whether he’s the first or fifth character in the series
• The reality is that F4F was developing several Metal Gear Solid statues at once, and Snake happened to be the furthest along in development, followed by Psycho Mantis

4:51 Matthew Reed “How much did it help this line when IGN specifically covered Solid Snake on its site in 2017? That is personally where I first heard of the F4F company. IGN even flat out said in 2017 you were doing a Snake, Mantis, Fox and were also working on a Sniper Wolf. Did that part of the video bother you, as you guys are so secretive with your projects?”

• Matt must have seen that IGN video back in October 2017. Thanks to IGN for coming to our booth at NYCC 2017!
•  F4F was really happy that IGN covered that, and there’s no issues with them having some coverage regarding the potential future pieces in the line
• If you immediately launch with a PO, it has a feeling of magic–but on the flipside, high-end statues aren’t impulse purchases and collectors like to know that they’re coming so that they can save up and plan for them.

7:41 Daneil Ily “What did you use as a reference when sculpting him?”

• Some different types of references: the official artwork for Psycho Mantis; the original Playstation game; and the Twin Snakes version from the Nintendo Gamecube
• Some aspects of Psycho Mantis’ costume come from the original game, and some aspects come from the HD version
• The original Playstation game had very polygonal art, and First4Figures had to make sure that the proportions were up to scratch and that the suit was accurate
• The original version of Metal Gear Solid had some of Psycho Mantis’ fingers gloveless, which is reflected by this statue
• The sleeves cut straight down at the top of the shoulders, while the sleeves curve outwards on the Twin Snakes version
• Had to find the right balance of using both the Playstation and Gamecube versions as reference aids

10:41 Deniz Kip “Was it hard to choose his pose, or was it pretty straightforward to have Mantis like he is now?”

• It was pretty difficult to choose Mantis’ pose; Alex went through quite a few different styles of poses, with a lot of internal debate and discussion about which style F4F should go with
• Because Psycho Mantis is a telekinetic who moves things with his mind, the open palms ultimately chosen could be doing many things (such as creating flames that don’t actually exist, etc.)
• He has this sense of being levitating and up in the air
• His feet are angled downward to give some stability against this broken pillar
• Mantis’ left foot isn’t actually touching the base, in order to give this feeling of floating
• Mantis’ right foot actually is connected to the base, however, but that’s not where your eye is drawn
• His back is also clearly arched to give this feeling that he’s floating forward
• Can’t have the feeling of psycho-kinetic powers without talking about the base

14:39 Brenton Friedli “What other concepts for the base were you considering?”

• This question comes hand-in-hand with discussions about the pose; let’s first talk about the actual statue and then what wasn’t done
• In the video game, you encounter Psycho Mantis in a library-like study room with books and busts in it; the environment really needed to look like it was a scene from that fight, as that was the only place where Psycho Mantis could really be at
• If you look in the actual game, there’s a sort of marble flooring in the game that’s reflected on the base of the statue
• The base complements the pose, as Mantis is posed levitating and using his magic powers, and the “marble” base already has this rippling effect on it (which could be interpreted as Psycho Mantis manipulating reality)
• The books on the base are all over the place, giving the effect that Mantis is manipulating them; some of the books have a ripple effect in them as well to give the impression of something strange happening that’s not real
• Actual print inside the book is distorted/confused/wavy; none of them have just straight text inside; all of this is to give the impression of someone using their powers and giving a dynamic connection between the pose and the base–Mantis isn’t just floating, he’s manipulating his environment at the same time as well
• “The Tragedy of MacBeth”; “The Interpretation of Dreams”; “The Psychology of Success”; “The Art of War”–All famous books scattered on Psycho Mantis’ base that you might find in a study; Titles written on the spines and/or covers
• Chose not to pursue concepts with fire, even though there are bits in the game where the environment is seemingly on fire: Psycho Mantis is about psychic powers and not being an arsonist; the concept chosen matches Mantis’ character perfectly

27:20 Kei Meara “Did you consider making the eyes of the mask solid orange instead of transparent orange to give them a brighter appearance, or could this brighter appearance be achieved with lights?”

• This is a very detailed sculpt–the straps are textured like real leather throughout the body; not just shiny black strips–have stitching and texture all over them; there are silver accents against a shiny black strap throughout the piece as well
• The mask has tinted translucent lenses so that you can actually see the eye underneath
• F4F first announced Psycho Mantis in the 2017 Christmas Sneak Peeks; in this teaser, the eyes were not showing and the lenses were solid; Alex felt this was a disservice to the character, though, and remade the head and mask to show the eyes behind the lenses
• The translucent lenses came out really, really well–gives depth and allows the highly-detailed eyes to be seen
• The mask is more complicated like the translucent lenses–but looks much, much better
• It wouldn’t make sense to Alex to make a light-up feature for the mask,  as a standard gas mask wouldn’t have that kind of light-up function; Alex is 100% sure that they made the right choice making the lenses translucent and not opaque
• Mantis doesn’t have much skin showing, but what he does have has lots and lots of skin texture sculpted onto it
• If you compare Psycho Mantis to Snake, he is way thinner than Snake is–Mantis’ statue isn’t quite as thin as his own in-game model, but he’s still leaner than the Snake statue (with his ribcage showing and skintight clothes, but toned muscles)
• You can see the whites of the stitching going across the back of Mantis’ head
• Chock isn’t really isn’t S&M stuff, but Mantis’s outfit is really like that kind of style
• Boots are very military-styled with big, chunky grips; could have been really lazy and ignored the soles of the boots since you don’t usually see them, but didn’t want to cut corners and sculpted them really nicely
• You can see the cracks and floral pattern in the pillar itself on the base
• Alex prefers to have statues looking forward, but having Mantis look horizontally wouldn’t make sense since he’s floating high above the group and should be looking down at Snake

46:17 Sergey Chab “Will you consider using electromagnets to make him levitate?”

• This statue is made of resin and has a significant weight to it
• While some PVCs or lighter objects have been made to levitate, those are usually models of a car or some other horizontally-oriented object
• “Curse you, gravity!”–Too much of a risk; No proven technology (even a magnet box) that could safely hold up this vertically-oriented statue for years
• Alex would be interested in seeing if a hovering PVC could be achieved, though

48:28 Adam Elgammal: “Can he read my card history and tell what purchases I’ve made?”

• “I don’t think you’re going to have to worry about that too much.” — Alex Davis

50:56 On The Exclusive Version Psycho Mantis Statue

• The Psycho Mantis EX comes with an additional head: an unmasked portrait
• “All you need is a barcode on your head!” — Tsoek Cheung
• “…I just realized the bald reference!” –Alex Davis
• Right after you’ve fatally wounded Mantis, you see this shocking face when you pull off his mask
• The stitching used to be in metal-colored silver, but was changed to white
• A really good representation of the face you see as Psycho Mantis is dying

55:46 Brendan Rastello “How did you decide on the exclusive?”

• It made sense to have this version of the character from when you finally unmask him
• Alex knew early on that the exclusive would be an unmasked head
• “If he had all of his mouth stitched up, he couldn’t do or say much!” — Alex Davis

Other Details:

• Just shy of 6 Cans Tall
• Weight: 7.2 kg
• Height: 26″
• Width: 13″
• Depth: 16″

Optic Camouflage Psycho Mantis!:

• “In the game, you’re fighting Psycho Mantis, minding your own business, and then he disappears”
• He’s messing with your mind the entire time and not actually turning invisible
• Beautiful translucent effect gives him the feeling of being optically camouflaged
• Has subtle color changes instead of just being a colorless, clear translucence
• Slight pinkish color wherever skin is showing
• Eyes are a little bit too strong–Alex will rework this to make the eyes and barcode more subtle
• You can see the differentiation between the black of the suit, the hands and the head–not just one chunk of clear resin without paint apps
• Made sense very early on that First4Figures wanted to do this version of him
• Switch-out interchangeable head had a very, very strong magnet in it
• Has all the same details as the regular and exclusive versions of Mantis; also includes both interchangeable heads

1:07:23 Alessio Bucci “Can you show us a comparison with Snake?”

• Psycho Mantis is nowhere near as beefy as Snake–F4F actually went back and even reduced his biceps further
• EX head is slightly bigger than the masked head right now, but First4Figures is upscaling the masked head to make sure it’s in the proper scale

1:10:49 Julen Marcos Santamaria: “Are you going to continue the Metal Gear line? Maybe Gray Fox?”

• First 4 Figures will most certainly keep the Metal Gear Solid line as long as collectors support it
• Gray Fox (Cyborg Ninja) has already been approved in 3-D and is now proceeding to physical form
• Gray Fox will have the same style of buffness as Snake and Mantis
• What do collectors want to see next? Sniper Wolf? Revolver Ocelot? Let F4F know!