Daft Punk brought disco back to the top of the charts and somehow convinced a whole new generation of kids to care about Giorgio Moroder, accomplishments that all but guaranteed them superhero status.
And now, it’s official: Because Daft Punk are getting their very own action figures, courtesy of Bandai’s Tamashii Nations, which creates a line of highly-detailed, premium collectibles that have become widely-sought both in Japan and abroad. The ‘Bots are decked out in their Random Access Memories finest, stand nearly 6 inches tall, and come with precise points of articulation and seven sets of interchangeable hand parts (for maximum pose-ability). And for Tamashii Nations’ developer Tsubasa Utsumi, they’re a dream come true.
“I wanted to work with a property that was outside the realm of TV and comic heroes … I wanted to make a product based on the music characters that I like,” Utsumi wrote in an email. “For some time I was discussing Daft Punk with a license agent in Japan while showing them actual figure sculpts. A year-and-a-half later, I finally got the green light to proceed with these action figures. When I heard of the new album announcement, I launched myself into the project so that we could time our pre-orders with the actual album release date.”
Click For Photos Of The Daft Punk Figures.
And, as you’d probably expect from a group that spent five years (and a reported $1 million) making Random Access Memories, Daft Punk were incredibly hands on throughout the process. Seems they wanted these figures to be perfect, too.
“For this project the sculpts were designed completely by reference materials. I had typically been involved with action figures based on Japanese live-action heroes such as Kamen Rider and Power Rangers, but for Daft Punk it was important for the proportion of the figures to be more stylish and slim,” Utsumi explained. “I [was] referencing photos and working closely with the sculptor. The approval and adjustments for the project were completely overseen by the group’s management and the artists themselves … when they reviewed the prototypes the feedback was very precise: they asked me to reduce the head size and specified the reduction down to the actual percentage!”
The figures are set to be released this December, and Bandai said they’ll cost $44.99 apiece … and for a fan like Utsumi (his favorite songs on DP’s new album are “Get Lucky” and “Lose Yourself to Dance,” fyi) they’re just the beginning. In the future, he sees Bandai producing even more music-related figures, but admits that, for their first foray, you can’t do much better than Daft Punk.
“I think Daft Punk will contribute to the future development of the ‘music genre’ action-figure market, and I really hope to make more action figures of music artists in the future,” he wrote. “It’s my goal to make the most articulated and beautiful action figures in the world!”
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