My Obsession with The Guyver Unit

[Conduit123]

For over a century, the cinematic medium has been an escape route from our regular lives to another reality. Whether it be based on real life events or in fictional realms. Within these worlds are objects that help build that reality and make them more tangible. When characters interact with these unreachable items, objects that are out of our world, they give us a sense that these things can be real. Either they give our characters tremendous power, stand for a symbol they fight for– or against, something that they wear, operate, or are simply a MacGuffin, these items tell a story in itself that help carry the narrative that we the audience are invested in.

The Lightsaber(From Star Wars), the Holy Grail(From Indiana Jones), the Ruby Slippers(From The Wizard of Oz), the Golden Ticket(From Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), the One Ring(From Lord of the Rings), and so many more have influenced pop culture in one way or another. You see, when a movie prop is extremely popular, a market grows for them. You’ll see many Prop Replicas out there in the world to choose from and to personally own for yourself. Sometimes you’ll find some with lineage if you dig deep enough(Replicas that have re-used parts from the original prop) or if you’re extremely lucky; you’ll get your hands on THE/or AN original.

Even niche objects find their way onto fan’s radar. Whether they be from underappreciated flicks, bad ones or B movies, the general idea still follows within those narratives. Now with finding these replicas on the market, you’ll either have very limited options or none at all. These are the kinds of props that I really find a fascination for, specifically for an object called the Guyver Unit.

 

[Conduit123]

‘Bio-Booster Armor Guyver’ is a Japanese Manga & Anime created by Yoshiki Takaya. A 1985 Sci-Fi story that revolves around a high schooler, Sho Fukamachi, who finds an alien object called ‘The Guyver Unit’. This celestial object gives him an all powerful bio mechanical suit of armor and transforms him into the Guyver. The antagonist entity that is after the Guyver Unit is called The Chronos Corporation; a secret organization that engineers creatures called ‘Zoanoids’, humans who can shapeshift into alien monster-like soldiers. With that bit of lore out of the way, let me tell you more about the topic at hand.

 

[Conduit123]

There are two versions of the Unit, one from the source material and one from the live action films. Although the Unit from the source material is beautiful in every way and is what inspired the film iteration, the design from the films always had my interests. Both are brilliant in their own ways, they share similar motifs and have their purpose in their worlds, but I could never truly figure out why the film version of the Guyver Unit has stuck around closest in my mind for over 2 decades. I guess one factor could be that it was physically built and shown on a real-life medium, presenting that if this object existed in our world, this is what it would look like.

 

[Conduit123]

Steve Wang(Co-Director of the first film ‘The Guyver’ and main Director in its Sequel ‘Guyver: Dark Hero') had a more organic vision in designing and moving the path on the looks of these creatures. Ted Smith, who sculpted the Guyver Unit prop for the movies, took Steve’s interpretation of the Guyver suit he was working on and translated that into the Unit. A very biological side of Guyver to the Bio-Mechanical source material. This was an object that was grown, a living organism in itself, an extension of what we’ve seen in the manga & anime.

 

[Conduit123]

Even though my introduction to Guyver was from the 1989 anime(Thanks to my older brothers) my history with the Unit started with a Blockbuster rental of ‘The Guyver’ (1991). It was around the early 2000’s era, I was probably 5 years old when my dad let me watch the Guyver movie and when that Unit showed up on the screen– I was instantly hooked. I wanted this object so bad, I practically bugged the crap out of my dad to get me one, as if you could just find it at Toys R Us or the Toy Section at Walmart. What my dad did instead was take one of his CD cases and draw a Unit on it with a Sharpie. That was it. I had it. Pulled straight out of the world of ‘The Guyver’. So over the days, taking a second look, it ended up inspiring me to elevate what my dad had made for me into something of a 20 year obsession.

 

[Conduit123]

I drew this thing nonstop like a child drawing crazy things in a horror movie, I even studied the VHS tape back to back. That’s when I was introduced to the internet. It was around the 2005 era. Some photos of the Unit surfaced onto Google images posted by Lucas Francis. But these weren’t screen caps of the movie, it was studio photographed images of the unit in a different color scheme. I was about 7 years old at the time and my mind was blown with these photos. I even commented in the forum that Lucas Francis had posted it saying something like “I’ll give you $20 for it”. To no surprise, I did not get a reply. Not to fast forward in time, but this was a collector’s item that someone commissioned Steve Wang to build.

 

[Conduit123]

Over the continuing years I started building my own Units. I would find round flat rocks around the neighborhood or creek and use a crayon over them. I would stack large amounts of cut out rounded paper together and make out the design as such, I even took a Camembert President round cheese box and dressed it up as a Unit. But it doesn’t end there. In 2014 I got my first job. I had some income that I could finally throw into my builds. I was 16 years old and I knew that my obsession for this object would only grow exponentially. That’s when I started making things seriously.

 

[Conduit123]

What was born was my first Movie style Guyver Unit. I know- I know, it’s not all there, but man I was so proud of it. I thought I was done, ready to move on to making other things, which I have, but there was a scratch that needed to be itched for the Unit. So I ended up making another one. Eventually my Units found their ways around and Guyver fans wanted to buy them. That was another door for me to enter. I used the additional income to improve the next Unit, and the next- and the next.

 

[Conduit123]

At some point in 2016, the Guyver Unit that surfaced online back in 2005 posted by Lucas Francis, showed up on eBay. I was in total shock. Not only were there updated images for reference, but I could possibly have it in my collection– For only $2,500. Yeah, not getting anywhere near that thing on minimum wage. I sadly had to watch it go, but at least I got some updated reference photos from it.

 

[Conduit123]

A better moment in 2016 though, Steve Wang announced that he and his partnered high-end statues and replicas company, Elite Creature Collectibles (ECC), were going to release a Guyver Unit of their own. My excitement shot through the roof. Of course I ended up getting one of the 300. It’s got the light up function and the sound effects which really took it up a notch for me. Great and brilliant piece, love it with all my heart, but it was not an exact replica to the piece that Ted Smith sculpted. It’s got a look of its own and it is a pretty sweet interpretation of the original movie prop. Lot’s of great reference here in terms of size and weight. There’s a possibility that I’ll be implementing some of the light up and sound effect ideas in a future Unit build.

 

[Conduit123]

It’s 2020 now, the Pandemic just hit and I’ve made about 15 to 20 of these things, both Source Material and Movie styles. I felt like I was done. Not because I wanted to be done necessarily, I mean these Units are very tedious to make but I just believed that I had done my job as a maker, even if I still had a scratch that needed to be itched. Out of the blue someone reached out in regards to wanting one of my Guyver Units. I was honored and took on the job. I wanted to make this guy happy and I also still needed to scratch that itch. This is my best Movie Style Unit up to date. I am truly proud of it. It was made with a lot of love, sculpted by hand, going through the trials and errors, I had finally done it. For the most part.

 

[Conduit123]

On January 21st, 2024, I learned that there was a 30th Anniversary Screening of ‘Guyver: Dark Hero’ being held in Santa Ana, California on that upcoming February 2nd. Some of the cast and crew were showing up, from Lead Actor David Hayter to Writer Nathan Long to Composer Les Claypool(the other one). Steve Wang was going to make an appearance as well. This was an event that I couldn’t miss. What better way to show my appreciation to Steve than to build a Source Material style Unit for him. But funny enough I hadn’t thought of making this gift until a week before the screening.

It began on Friday, January 26th, I was working on the Unit around the clock. I quickly made a 3D render of the panels and started printing. After each part was off the printer, I would go straight to the work bench. My week was basically waking up at 4AM, go to work, get back home at 5PM, work on the Unit then get to bed around midnight. I had finished the morning right before my flight, Thursday, February 1st. After successfully building it, I had a feeling that this large round complicated object would be difficult to explain to TSA.

 

[Conduit123]

But luckily enough, I made it through and was in Santa Ana in the afternoon. I had a blast at the screening. The theater was packed. I met the cast and crew, spoke with some fellow Guyver fans and secretly showed around the Unit before presenting it. I’m happy to report that Steve liked it very much. It felt great stating all the facts and details of how it came together and having the cast & crew appreciate it. I felt that I had finally completed my journey with the Guyver Unit. It all came full circle, down to this moment. But again, it's not the end of it. (To be continued...)

 

[The 48th Ronin]

This is awesome. Nicely done!

Ted is an old friend of mine. The Guyver was way before my time in LA, but I've known Ted for over 25 years now.

Ted sculpted the Guyver Unit for the first film only. The Unit was remade for the sequel, and was sculpted by someone else, possibly Steve himself. The Unit that you saw online all those years ago was posted by Paul Francis - his business was "Lucas Francis Studios." I can't remember if it was a one-off, or if Steve did a small run of them back then, but it was definitely something rare.

Ted actually saved the original Unit molds from the Guyver film production. These shots were taken in 2010 - at that point they were just over 20 years old, and it's quite remarkable that they were still usable:

We had drug them out of storage to make castings of the main components. The small orange domes you see are actually old production castings from back in 1989 - 1990 that had discolored with age, as that old stinky resin always did. Anyway, we were able to get some castings out of the molds, which was the first step of my plan to remaster and remold the Unit as a kit:

I know I took some pics of the process while I was working on it, but I can't for the life of me seem to find them on my computer now. I put together a kit for Ted, one for myself, and one for another close friend, but I STILL haven't gotten around to painting and finishing mine. I really suck at following through on projects.

Ted had also saved the original, screen-used Control Metal from the film:

He also had original production castings of the components for this as well, so I also did some remastering and remolding to do a kit of this too. Nope - never got around to putting one of these together either!

I definitely need to put them on the To-Do List...

 

[Conduit123]

This is awesome. Nicely done!

Ted is an old friend of mine. The Guyver was way before my time in LA, but I've known Ted for over 25 years now.

Ted sculpted the Guyver Unit for the first film only. The Unit was remade for the sequel, and was sculpted by someone else, possibly Steve himself. The Unit that you saw online all those years ago was posted by Paul Francis - his business was "Lucas Francis Studios." I can't remember if it was a one-off, or if Steve did a small run of them back then, but it was definitely something rare.

Ted actually saved the original Unit molds from the Guyver film production. These shots were taken in 2010 - at that point they were just over 20 years old, and it's quite remarkable that they were still usable:

View attachment 1947872
View attachment 1947873
View attachment 1947874

We had drug them out of storage to make castings of the main components. The small orange domes you see are actually old production castings from back in 1989 - 1990 that had discolored with age, as that old stinky resin always did. Anyway, we were able to get some castings out of the molds, which was the first step of my plan to remaster and remold the Unit as a kit:

View attachment 1947875

I know I took some pics of the process while I was working on it, but I can't for the life of me seem to find them on my computer now. I put together a kit for Ted, one for myself, and one for another close friend, but I STILL haven't gotten around to painting and finishing mine. I really suck at following through on projects.

Ted had also saved the original, screen-used Control Metal from the film:

View attachment 1947884 View attachment 1947885

He also had original production castings of the components for this as well, so I also did some remastering and remolding to do a kit of this too. Nope - never got around to putting one of these together either!

I definitely need to put them on the To-Do List...

Blowing my mind right now!

I’ve never seen the molds before, I’m surprised they survived that long. Those castings are so pretty and clean.

I’m currently working on restoring some Unit castings Paul Francis sold to me last year. They were in very rough condition, but I’m happy I have it in my collection and that I get to polish it up! Steve and Paul worked together on producing a small run of these Units that were sold to private collectors, he had a mold of his own but it deteriorated and what was left was one last kit in his collection, which is now in my possession

I was told that Ted lent Wyatt Weed his mold for Guyver: Dark Hero, as Ted was busy on another project at the time and couldn’t participate as much. I have screen matched the castings Paul sent me & the two films and the story seems to fit.

Ted has mentioned that he has his own castings and is wanting to put it together, just waiting for some time to do so(Which I’m so looking forward to) Not sure if he’ll do a kit run or create foam templates, but either way I hope he gets around it! I was going to ask him if he’ll scan his kit to preserve it at the very least, since we can’t necessarily depend on molds forever haha

You should also put yours together too whenever you get the chance! I’d love to see it

 

[Conduit123]

This is awesome. Nicely done!

Ted is an old friend of mine. The Guyver was way before my time in LA, but I've known Ted for over 25 years now.

Ted sculpted the Guyver Unit for the first film only. The Unit was remade for the sequel, and was sculpted by someone else, possibly Steve himself. The Unit that you saw online all those years ago was posted by Paul Francis - his business was "Lucas Francis Studios." I can't remember if it was a one-off, or if Steve did a small run of them back then, but it was definitely something rare.

Ted actually saved the original Unit molds from the Guyver film production. These shots were taken in 2010 - at that point they were just over 20 years old, and it's quite remarkable that they were still usable:

View attachment 1947872
View attachment 1947873
View attachment 1947874

We had drug them out of storage to make castings of the main components. The small orange domes you see are actually old production castings from back in 1989 - 1990 that had discolored with age, as that old stinky resin always did. Anyway, we were able to get some castings out of the molds, which was the first step of my plan to remaster and remold the Unit as a kit:

View attachment 1947875

I know I took some pics of the process while I was working on it, but I can't for the life of me seem to find them on my computer now. I put together a kit for Ted, one for myself, and one for another close friend, but I STILL haven't gotten around to painting and finishing mine. I really suck at following through on projects.

Ted had also saved the original, screen-used Control Metal from the film:

View attachment 1947884 View attachment 1947885

He also had original production castings of the components for this as well, so I also did some remastering and remolding to do a kit of this too. Nope - never got around to putting one of these together either!

I definitely need to put them on the To-Do List...

Oh and here’s what the castings that Paul sold to me, it’s an alright casting. Been taking me a long while to clean and patch it up

 

[Conduit123]

This is awesome. Nicely done!

Ted is an old friend of mine. The Guyver was way before my time in LA, but I've known Ted for over 25 years now.

Ted sculpted the Guyver Unit for the first film only. The Unit was remade for the sequel, and was sculpted by someone else, possibly Steve himself. The Unit that you saw online all those years ago was posted by Paul Francis - his business was "Lucas Francis Studios." I can't remember if it was a one-off, or if Steve did a small run of them back then, but it was definitely something rare.

Ted actually saved the original Unit molds from the Guyver film production. These shots were taken in 2010 - at that point they were just over 20 years old, and it's quite remarkable that they were still usable:

View attachment 1947872
View attachment 1947873
View attachment 1947874

We had drug them out of storage to make castings of the main components. The small orange domes you see are actually old production castings from back in 1989 - 1990 that had discolored with age, as that old stinky resin always did. Anyway, we were able to get some castings out of the molds, which was the first step of my plan to remaster and remold the Unit as a kit:

View attachment 1947875

I know I took some pics of the process while I was working on it, but I can't for the life of me seem to find them on my computer now. I put together a kit for Ted, one for myself, and one for another close friend, but I STILL haven't gotten around to painting and finishing mine. I really suck at following through on projects.

Ted had also saved the original, screen-used Control Metal from the film:

View attachment 1947884 View attachment 1947885

He also had original production castings of the components for this as well, so I also did some remastering and remolding to do a kit of this too. Nope - never got around to putting one of these together either!

I definitely need to put them on the To-Do List...

I had to recreate the tissue line base/shell/donut since:

1) It was definitely casted from a 1 part mold, so I didn’t have the back details

2) It’s got tons of air bubbles

3) The panels didn’t fit snug, they’re loose on the shell. As if it was flattened or something. I can’t figure it out. It can’t be a different sculpt because it matches all the references. But either way-

I 3D printed a base shell, then wrapped it with rubber cord. Panels now fit perfectly on it

 

[The 48th Ronin]

Oh, so it WAS the same sculpt for both films. I was always under the impression that it was a completely new sculpt for the second film. It always looked so different to me. Just a different paint job, then. I stand corrected.

So then the run that Steve and Paul collaborated on - do you know if that started as castings from the production, or did Steve sculpt that one from scratch? Maybe that's where I got the idea in my head about a new sculpt.

 

[Conduit123]

Oh, so it WAS the same sculpt for both films. I was always under the impression that it was a completely new sculpt for the second film. It always looked so different to me. Just a different paint job, then. I stand corrected.

So then the run that Steve and Paul collaborated on - do you know if that started as castings from the production, or did Steve sculpt that one from scratch? Maybe that's where I got the idea in my head about a new sculpt.

Haha yeah some people have had that mix up before

The ones that Steve and Paul worked on were directly from the production I’ve been told. The castings that I have are probably from a 2nd generation mold(maybe even 3rd?), as Paul re-casted the panels, shell and orbs that he and Steve put together for the private collector Units.

For this new sculpt you speak of; I can only think of is the miniature Units created for the sequence where the Ship gives Sean/Guyver the flashback visions.

Or perhaps one that Ted recreated for the first Guyver movie because he wanted a Stunt Prop to be thrown around instead of the Hero Prop.

 

[The 48th Ronin]

Here's my kit. In thinking about it, I believe that I may have sent the main ribbed "donut" to Ted to mold and make final castings. Or maybe it was my other friend... I honestly can't remember. At any rate, they were rotocast hollow:

In cleaning up the original casting of the donut, I noticed that there were some wonky spots. I studied it for a bit so that I could determine where to put the large "petals" to cover those spots. Once I had done that, I added some pegs - and corresponding sockets on the inside surfaces of the petals - so they can just plug on:

The "fingers" were a different challenge. Ted said that on the original prop, the donut was cast in self-skinning polyfoam and was squishy - it could be compressed to snap the fingers into place. Well, since these donuts were rigid, there was no way to get the fingers on, as they were. So I came up with the solution to make them two separate parts that would assemble around the donut - I made a registration key on one half and a corresponding socket on the other half. And as you can see, they also have a socket that corresponds to a peg on the donut for precise placement as well:

Now I just need to refresh my memory on which side is UP and which side is DOWN.