Crowdfunding Corner 8: Explore The Mork Borg Action Figure

Sean Jaffe back again with another Crowdfunding Corner. This month, I took some time to talk to Justin Sirois from Severed Books about his exciting project: The Mork Borg action figure and Zine expac “the Skeletal Creed!” The project is live now, so jump on and grab a cool skeleton monster to battle your action figures while your players fight for their lives!

Sean B. Jaffe: What was the Impetus behind this project?

Justin Sirois: Firstly, thank you for having me here. It’s always fun talking about what I do day in and day out.  I’ve always loved a challenge and after 12 years of Severed Books, it was time to grow a bit and try something new. The first action figure we had on our schedule was Nick Pitarra’s Ax-Wielder Jon. We had to move his project back a little due to some pretty amazing news on his part—not sure if I can spoil that bit—so the Mörk Borg toy got bumped up and is now live: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/justinsirois/mork-borg-action-figure-w-zine-by-stockholm-kartell

The character is iconic at this point. That rotting hyena-headed skeleton lurking on the cover of the core book. Why not try to bring that dude to life? I feel like we’re summoning him off the page! Now he is going to live on thousands of shelves across the world. 

Sean: What inspired you to do a figure?

Justin: I’ve collected Mike Mignola related artwork and merch for over 30 years—original art, comics, and of course toys are a big part of that. Taking inspiration from how well a lot of those products are done was a large inspiration for this. The Mezco line of Hellboy figures are one of my favorites. The way they honored Mignola’s art was remarkable, really, from the chiseled angles to the fine details of the accessories. 

I’ve always wanted to adapt artwork sculpturally. A few years back, Severed Books created a very large and heavy mini out of my character Caver (www.severedbooks.com/p/caver.html) so that was the first step in moving towards action figures. Of course, that’s not articulated, but I learned a lot from that process. Now we’re ready, with the right team, to make something more ambitious. 

Sean: How does the figure work with the game (if even only as a fun prop)?

Justin: It doesn’t work with the game, really. Forcing this big dude to become a “mini” felt odd. That said, we are about to show the metal mini we’re making for the campaign so if people are interested in minis, go follow the action figure Kickstarter.

Sean: What advice do you have for designers in the indie toy/game space?

Justin: Find the right property to adapt. You’re going to have to have a large fanbase behind whatever character you’re making a toy from. If you have 20,000 fans of a game, maybe only 500 of them want the toy. That’s likely not enough to make an articulated action figure viable. 

You have to assemble the right team to execute the project. We could never have done this without the thousands of Mörk Borg fans enthusiastically playing and creating for the system. And Johan and Pelle have been awesome to work with. Our 3D sculptor is really gifted and our publicist team is professional and fun. We have the right manufacturer and rep to handle the project from start to finish.

I think the big thing is to find something that’s different and will stand out from the very crowded field. Creating a line of barbarians probably won’t be enough to be successful. And I think the whole 80s/90s retro vibe is super played out and boring now. You can’t rely on nostalgia to carry your brand because you’ll date yourself and become predictable. I feel like toys often fall into that trope because people are chasing that 80s feel. That train can only carry you so far. 

Sean: Any other thoughts you’d like to share?

Justin: A general one would be to never give up on your creativity. It’s one thing in my life that’s brought me an immense amount of joy. Experiment and grow—take chances and don’t be afraid to fail. Just keep making and always push for the next new thing.


This article is part of the Indie Game Developer Network’s blog series. The content of this article reflects the views of but one member of the IGDN. This IGDN blog article is brought to you by Sean B. Jaffe from Nerdy City. If you want to get in touch with the contributor you can visit their website at nerdycity.com.