Richard Dixon's Zero Hour Toys 2: An Inside Look

Hi Moonbase readers

Welcome to Zero Hour, When the Brave must fight to save the world!

This is a look at the Children's Toy Range which was created by Bluebird Toys of Swindon , England . It will take us back to the late Eighties and early Nineties , through 1989 into 1990 .

My name is Richard Dixon , back in 1989 my work in those days was a young Advertising Photographer based in Lancashire , England .

The previous year saw me start TOY PHOTO DESIGN , a visual media production unit to serve the Toy Industry .

My first product I had been involved with was Kenner's M.A.S.K Range . This was an action figure and transforming vehicle combat range from the USA which sold very successfully here and across Europe .

In 1989 the M.A.S.K. range was coming to the end of its store shelf life . I was looking to expand my work further in the Toy Industry and started looking around to see what other products were out there which might benefit a helping hand .

That Springtime saw the first releases for Zero Hour make their first appearances on the shelf of my local Woolworth's .

They looked interesting from a design point of view , but the packs had mostly only art work impressions of the items inside the boxes .

I thought , what if photography of the items could be done to enhance the products display potential .

I had not photographed products in this kind of small size before , it would be a challenge . In those old days I liked a challenge , it might even be fun to see what could be done with the product .

I therefore purchased a few packs of Zero Hour items and back at my Studio I set to work to create a series of twelve images .

All the figures in the packs were painted in single colour schemes , so to make them look realistic I painted around sixteen of them using the artwork on the packs as a starting point for colour scheme ideas . I added a few extra details as I went along .

The images were printed out and mounted on card for presentation......then parcelled up and off to Bluebird Toys in Swindon to see what they thought of my interpretations for their product range .

I did not have to wait very long .

Two days later I was invited to Bluebird Toys to give their Creative and Marketing Team a presentation of my new style of work for Toys and discuss the possible benefits to the Company .

The meeting went extremely well and as I left Bluebird Toys that evening for the drive north to Lancashire , I had just been given the job of Principal Photographer and Set Designer on all Media Advertising for the product .

ZERO HOUR was about to show the way for a new style of presentation technique for small product advertising for toys .

With the confidence of the Marketing Manager and the Directors of the Company with me I set about the transformation design from a purely art based look , to a full colour visual model animation photography based look for ZERO HOUR .

First off the production line for this new look , I would create a selection of advertisements for the Children's Comics.....six editions would be targeted , including the EAGLE and Ninja Turtles Comics with full page adverts in colour . A large production model landscape set was created in my Lancashire studio to show the Supreme Headquarters Mono rail set as the first set to get the model animation treatment .

The feedback from the Trade was instant , as soon as the advertisements were run in the Comics , they loved the images !

Following on from this the go ahead to go all out with a full model animation style look for everything on Zero Hour was given .

Over a four month period five large model landscape sets were constructed in the Studio , each five feet wide and around four to five feet in depth . Each would feature a different landscape theme to cover images of all the different figure sets and vehicles .

Photography on these sets was mostly done with two Pentax 6x7 Mk II Cameras using transparency film......in 1989/1990 Digital had not arrived - film was still "king"....because of the small nature of some of the items Macro lenses were used in most situations , together with wide angle lenses for the wide shots on one of the big landscapes .

Reaction to these new pictures was coming in from all over the trade and it was decided that I would make a portable set to go on the road around leading Toy Shops for display .

I took a monorail set and created a display with a large Perspex cover . A battery control system with an upgrade for shop use was installed on the set so the monorail could be shown working in a Toy Shop . This unit went out for a limited display around the country and included Hamleys in London .

While all this was going on it was also decided that a full poster of the complete range be created using my techniques . This super poster showing the full range was given away in a large number of the Scorch Bomber gift sets and some Toy Shops also received them as well for counter promotional giveaways . The model set for the poster would feature the largest set built to date , six feet wide and seven feet in depth .

Up next came the Toy Fair Displays at the London and Harrogate shows , six feet wide for Harrogate and a massive twelve foot display for London .

These would incorporate ski jump style ramps for the Scorch Models to simulate them taking off .....a high spot for the whole presentation to the Trade .

My work with Zero Hour took another turn for a few days when I helped out on the products TV Commercials.....I stood in for the Bluebird Marketing Director on the TV Shoots and helped the TV Crew create the model landscapes . I advised them on what each of the products did in the context of the world of the Product . This was another first for myself and it was very enlightening on how these sort of things were produced .

Zero Hour provided me all those years ago with the perfect entry to a career in the Toy Industry .

It took me forward to extensive work opportunities with Hasbro Toys , Mattel Toys , Marvel Comics , Toontastic Comics , Cartoon Network , Warner Bros and Titan Comics and MGA Toys over the last thirty years .

The products I have worked with ....ACTION MAN....ACTION FORCE....MEGA FORCE....GI JOE....MIGHTYMAX....ROBIN HOOD PRINCE OF THIEVES....STAR BRIGADE....POWER RANGERS....LOONEY TOONS....MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE....TRANSFORMERS....DIGIMON....BUTT UGLY MARTIANS....THE BRATZ and many more......

Thanks for looking in on this view of Zero Hour.....I have enjoyed telling you some of the things that have happened to bring this product to the market place .

Maybe next time some more secrets from my archives can be given a showing to you on here.

Here are a few more images.

The first one is myself....with the super poster of the entire range and one of the large sets which was built for the photography of the range .

The second image covers a close up on the large poster image .

The third image ....Harrogate Toy Fair Exhibit....part of the model set I built for this exhibition - six feet wide . January 1990 .

This one , image number 4 , this was an extra model set I built for the Bluebird Trade Catalogue to show the Mono Rail in a landscape setting .

Image number 5.....the advert for Ninja Turtles Comic....the first time my work appeared in a Marvel comics Publication .

Image number six , the shop display working mono rail model ....a comic magazine mock up for Eagle Comic....eventually they decided to use a double page spread showing the complete shop display model in preference to a single page .

More soon!

Regards

Richard Dixon