On the site Mintinbox.net they had the chance for a very exclusive interview with the man behind Attakus and he revealed some interesting things!
Here's part of the interview!
--Can you tell us very simply why they were such a silence in your communication? Whys does it take so long? Is there a good reason?
There is not a single reason, but certainly many.
Our communication never stopped. Our website contains all the information about our products and we tried to provide all the necessary information but it is difficult to have all the people satisfied. We never stopped informing out commercial partners and they are supposed to relay it.
We did downloadable digital catalogs on our web site and we made posters showing our new products that you can see in different stores but regarding Star Wars, it is true, we made a break.
Keep in mind Star Wars is not our only market and since 2 years, as you can see in our catalog, we focused on making several new products about French/Belgian comics such as the fight in the Asterix village (50 years of friendship!) that requested 15 months of development.
It is not because we have licenses like Star Wars or Marvel that we are a multinational corporation, we are and remain a small team, dedicated on trying to make the best products.
We used to post on different internet forums on our spare time but it brought us some annoying troubles in the past. That is why we stopped doing it on a regular basis.
We had troubles with hard and non constructive criticisms from fans on forums despite honest answers from our side.
We suffered of hacking on our own forum or our IP addresses. Following these problems, we decided to focus on our core job: the sculpture and let dedicated fan site and forum deal with the rest. We understand completely it could be frustrating for people who used to follow us closely.
Our activity is not only focused on the licenses in general and we are still making statues like we did the last twenty years.
We made six original Star Wars characters for ATLAS Company, giant Warhammer statues for GOA, Adibou and other toys manufacturers.
--Will Attakus take care of the Fan’s choice that took place on some websites several months ago? (ROTJ Boba Fett, Commander Cody, and Scoot Trooper were picked by the fans)
Absolutely! We just re-signed with LucasFilm until 2013 and we do hope they will take care of this fan’s choice. On the other hand, Lucas Licensing pays attention that other (mostly US) companies do not produce and release the same kind of product the same year so it would depend on them too.
--How many characters have you decided to produce (even if the prototypes are not made yet) for the new series V ?
We should release some limited statues (between 500 and 1500 pieces) and their number could be six.
--Can we dream about having the sequel of the Hall of Fame series from Original Trilogy et especially from Episode IV (some missing characters such as Tarkin, Greedo, Luke Episode IV, Leia Episode IV) or do you already have in mind on focusing on modern trilogy?
The choice is not easy for us because we have to take into account the reality of the market, fans choices et existing statues.
We will continue our Hall of Fame series by little touch only.
--Do you have an estimate date of the first Series V statues releases?
Not yet but we could say more after our creative meeting with the Skywalker Ranch but be sure the first one will be available in June or September 2010.
--The number is still limited 1500 pieces plus 200 pieces for Japan?
There won’t be any new series for Japan and you’re right about 1500 pieces as a maximum for a character.
--Can we imagine of having one of these days characters such as Kit Fisto, Shaak Ti, Ki-Adi Mundi, Plo Koon, Aayla Secura, a Clone Commander, the Admiral Ackbar, Lando, etc.?
You never know … so wait & see
--For how long do you have the Star Wars license?
As we said it before, we re-signed with LucasFilm until 2013. As long as LucasFilm is happy about what we do and our business with this license and as long as we can have money back on our financial investments in this Universe, we will continue. The goal is clearly not to invade the collectibles business but only create beautiful sculptures that remain fantastic for the collectors.
--Let’s discuss about the Millenium Falcon diorama, will you produce and sell more metal figures?
It is not planned at all now..
--At that time, you were talking about one diorama per movie, is it still planned?
To be honest, it is not planned anymore. We have to be realistic with the financial crisis that is still ongoing, this kind of project is impossible to develop with financial benefits these days.
--Will you develop Expanded Universe character such as Mara Jade, Admiral Thrawn, Kyle Katarn, Corran Horn, Jacen Solo, etc.?
Not at the moment, we asked the authorization to create a collectible based on a famous illustration but by the time we received it, the product was done by another company.
--Do you complete interview and some pictures check the following link. (on the right side of the site is English!)
http://www.mintinbox.net/reportages/QR_attakus
