Creatus Maximus Launches at Comic-Con
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click to see larger imageLaunch Codes Released For Smart Bombs™ and Creatus Maximus™!
OHIO, July 12, 2006 - If you ask Ken Lilly to define Creatus Maximus™, a new collectibles company that officially launches next week at the San Diego Comic-Con International, don't expect a simple answer. The former Product Manager of ReSaurus and Vice President of Product Development at Palisades is very loose in the way he describes his overall vision of the company he started in 2005 after resigning from his position at Palisades.
"I want this to be a very different experience for collectors, something more personal, intimate and informal for anyone who wants to be a part of it," explains Lilly, known in online circles and on his own message board (www.creatusmaximus.com/forum) under the moniker residentlilly. "It's important to me to maintain a very strong link with all the folks who have supported the work we've been doing, and to branch that off into some experimental and interactive opportunities... something that can be more fulfilling than just walking down an aisle in a store or filling out a form to buy a product online. Creatus Maximus will help me grow these relationships and involve consumers with the product in ways that they rarely get an opportunity to experience."
click to see larger image
Case in point is the company's first product line, called Smart Bombs™. These designer figurines, based on the atomic weapons known as Fat Man and Little Boy (the two devices dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima in 1945) make their debut in Duo Packs at the San Diego Comic-Con, but the paint schemes were NOT designed by Lilly, who is actually an accomplished artist, and instead were designed by two participants in an online contest Lilly sponsored on his message board.
"That's what it's about though," Lilly continues. "Yeah, Smart Bombs are my vision, my passion, and I do have some designs to paint on the 3-D canvas whirling around in my head that I will get going in the first real "release" of Fat Man, but I wanted to, right out of the gate, make a statement about how precious consumer participation is in this entire process to me. I mean c'mon... who wouldn't give their left one to get a shot at designing the look of a product and getting your name put on it and seeing it develop all the way from that concept to a finished piece?"
No limits. That's what Lilly considers to be the key and the phrase he keeps in mind when injecting this basic philosophy into upcoming concepts for Smart Bombs, as well as other product lines he has waiting in the wings. The follow-up to Smart Bombs is a block figure line called kockBLOCKerz™, a line whose evolution speaks volumes to Lilly and his intentions for the overall development of Creatus Maximus.
Suggested by a friend on the Creatus Maximus message board (located at www.creatusmaximus.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=32), Luke (punchbunny) Milton, who Lilly worked with on the Palisades' Collectors Club during his time with the now-defunct toy company, kockBLOCKerz was born in a way that was exactly what Lilly hoped for when he first pondered the future of his company.
"I had a product in mind to follow-up the Smart Bombs with, and had a plan for how I was going to do it, and then BLAM, Luke posts this WACKY take on the traditional block figure line," Lilly reminisces. "It was perfect. It fit in every way into my vision of Creatus Maximus and how I want to foster the creative process in our little online community. Luke was into it, was totally cool with signing off on the designs and then EVERYONE started getting involved, making suggestions, designing crazy, crazy add-ons. That's something special... and that's what this whole experience is all about."
Starring an enigmatic hero called Captain Bitchin' and his sidekick Cabin Boy, kockBLOCKerz features some of the funkiest designs you'll ever see in a product line. With characters like Ninja Shakespeare, Baron Murderkill, Zombie Freud, The Enigmatic Dr. Tit, The Jerk-Off and even God, Lilly maintains you can't go wrong.
"The greatest thing about a line like this is that there ARE no limits. When we made PALz at Palisades, it was a lot of fun, but when you are making a line based on licensed characters there are limitations. You can gently push boundaries, but at the end of the day you have to steer the product in the direction of the original source. With kockBLOCKerz you can go right up to that boundary, pull out a grenade launcher and blow a hole right through it. ANYTHING is possible. Luke has a brilliant mind and he can take a single comment and in a nanosecond turn it into the funniest goddamn thing I have ever seen."
Look for kockBLOCKerz sometime next year, but even Lilly warns not to get too excited just yet. "One project at a time," he said. "I'm a one-man band as far as the company goes for now, with a ton of people giving me an assist, so it's a matter of getting Smart Bombs up and out and getting a little cash flow cooking and THEN we go on to the next thing." Look for the first two Duo Packs of Smart Bombs, called Fat Bat & Little Bird and 1-B29 & C-4NR, next week exclusively at the Creatus Maximus booth at the San Diego Comic-Con. Each Duo Pack set is limited to a mere 269 pieces.
"I'm stoked to see a bunch of the folks from the board and meet some new ones... catch up with some friends. It's been a LONG time since I've been able to make it out to Comic-Con," Lilly said, chuckling. "We're in Booth #5038... I THINK. Been moved around a few times, so who knows what it will be by the time I get out there!"
About Creatus Maximus™ Creatus Maximus™ was founded on the philosophy of creating products that are a little different than the standard fare while fostering an online community that can be totally involved in the creative process. The company was formed in 2005 by Kenneth Lilly, with a goal to create an atmosphere where the consumer's "experience" with the product is just as important as the product itself. Through interaction on the website and message boards, consumers can be as involved as they choose in the creative process, often designing their own product! Creatus Maximus™ is a privately held company based in Galena, Ohio.
CREATUS MAXIMUS, SMART BOMBS, KOCKBLOCKERZ, the Robot Monkey Brain Logo, and all names, symbols, emblems and logos of Creatus Maximus and its products are trademarks, service marks and/or copyrights owned by Creatus Maximus, LLC. © Creatus Maximus, LLC 2006. All Rights Reserved.
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