Doc Octoroc (Levi Buffmun) is essentially one man with a 3D printer and a lot of conceptually creative ideas about World of Nintendo accessories. Recently I had the opportunity to chat with him about his latest work....
Q. Doctor Octoroc is both a “The Legend of Zelda” and “Amazing Spider-Man” reference? Please explain such a creative title for us.
A. I originally wanted to create a band that did piano rock covers of classic Nintendo games with myself on piano, a drummer, upright bassist and other keys player - it was around the time that the Minibosses first started playing in the early 2000's and the name I came up with for the band was "Octoroc", which seemed very fitting since a piano has 88 keys, the band would have 8 arms between us and I was a huge Zelda fan. After a few attempts to get people together but no luck (hardest part was finding the upright bassist, not surprisingly) I was thinking about doing some DJing (only ever had one gig playing an art show at a comic book store in Philly called "Brave New Worlds") and the name "DJ Doctor Octoroc" came to mind. The doctor part is really a reference to a number of things - Doctor Doom, Doctor Horrible, Doctor Who, Doctor Octopus, etc. There are a lot of doctor characters in pop culture and video games alike so it seemed like a fitting title rather than something like "Master" or "Monsieur". DJing didn't really happen either so I started using the name on it's own for all the art and music I would upload to various sites around the Internet and that's how the name came about. Also, being a huge Doctor Who fan it's nice to have an excuse to just sign my name as "Doctor".
Q. So you use a 3D printer to make un-official World of Nintendo figure accessories. How did this idea come about?
A. I was definitely inspired by the WoN toy line but I'd like them to stand on their own as opposed to be seen as for use with the line. I've always loved pixel art and have been doing it both for fun and professionally for years - I've been drawing with pixels since I was a kid and found MS Paint on my home computer back in the 90's, and even further back I would recreate video game sprites on graph paper that my mom had laying around for her cross-stitching patterns. So with my recent leap into more intense 3D modeling for a new job, I started exploring 3D sprites. It's not anything that hasn't been done before but a lot of the people doing it didn't seem to put in the effort I felt the medium and subject matter deserved - they were more like extrusions of the actual sprite with little detail in between the front and back faces. So I decided to try a few myself and really liked how they came out, so I did more.
Q. In your catalogue of products what is the most fun to have created or the item you are most satisfied with?
A. S.O.P.H.I.A. from Blaster Master was a lot of fun, mainly because it was much larger than other sprites I had done so there was more room for creativity within the model while still adhering to the design of the original sprite from the side view - I try to stick to the actual sprite artwork as closely as I can with all of them but obviously, there are times I need to change it up a bit, like when building Link, the front and side don't match up perfectly on account of the 3/4 view in the game, so I fudged them to make them line up. In the end, it's the overall appearance and aesthetic that's important to me.
Q. What figure do you think has the most detail in the entire series of World of Nintendo?
A. Disregarding scale, in which case the 20" SDCC Exclusive Link would naturally be the most detailed, I like the way the 6" Metroid came out. It's a great design and looks far more quality than the others on account of the different materials and the way it's constructed.
Q. “Fallout 4” seems to be trending really hard right now.. Do play Nintendo games exclusively or do you also enjoy third party titles?
A. I honestly don't play a lot of video games, believe it or not. I play every Zelda and Metroid game as they come out and that's about it - as of this moment, my Wii U is only used for streaming TV shows and movies and occasionally for popping on the YouTube channel to show a friend my latest animation on the big screen. Once in awhile, I'll play Hyrule Warriors to level my characters up but those sessions are few and far between. I'd like to play more games and I don't even own any version of the Xbox or Playstation (aside from the PSOne in my video game console collection), but I spend most of my time making props, building 3D models and working on other projects because I have to keep the creative juices flowing. I tell my girlfriend all the time that I'm working even if I'm watching YouTube videos because in some way, everything I do online is a way to learn more and improve on my abilities as an artist.
Q. Would you venture past the World of Nintendo line if given the chance? If so what other products would you like to improve upon?
A. Are you speaking in terms of collecting or creating? Collecting, I don't collect much else aside from random Zelda related merchandise and Doctor Who stuff - I have a nice collection of sonic screwdrivers, some I made myself, others made by other prop builders and a few licensed products as well. As far as the models, sure - but the main issue I'm having with these 3D sprite models is that if the original sprite has a black outline it's hard to work that into the 3D form since from other angles, it will block the 'inside' colors. You can see that a little bit on the S.O.P.H.I.A. model but it works with that one due to it's size and the fact that there is a lot of black within the borders of the outline as well. So other sprites would have to be more of a custom job and less faithful to the original sprite like the rest tend to be.
Q. Favorite video game of all time and why?
A. You knew this had to be a Zelda title! It's hard to choose but as far as overall enjoy-ability, Wind Waker was my favorite to play and one of the few I've ever replayed the whole way through. I know a lot of people were bummed about the cartoon graphics but I think it works better for a Zelda game and fits the stories, theme and environment in a way that mor realistic graphics wouldn't. In addition, it was hands down the best soundtrack of the series and aside from a bit of sailing (quickly alleviated once the Ballad of Gales is acquired) it was a perfect length/play time for someone like me that doesn't like to sit for ten hours at a time just to make some progress in a game.
Q. I have seen a few of your products and I am very impressed. Would you mind doing an 8-bit “Megaman” maybe call it “Mighty Bomber of Blue #9” to avoid a lawsuit? I would love to have a 2’-4’ of a pixelized Rockman in my collection Capcom sanctioned or not.
A. I'm not too worried about using the names of the characters like Samus, Link, etc. which are more generic than their exclusive use in their respective games - it only gets tricky when the name of the character is the same as the game itself, as in the case of Mega Man. Aside from the challenges I mentioned a few questions ago related to recreating a sprite with a black outline in three dimensions, Mega Man is the name of the game and people wouldn't be able to find the model very well without using that tag or name in the title. Fortunately, many companies like Capcom are fan-creation-friendly. If you've ever heard of the rapper Random (aka Mega Ran) they actually hired him to do promotion and other stuff for them after hearing his Mega Man themed album.
If a company is smart and sees creative potential in an artist doing something interesting and unique with their IP, they tend to commend them or occasionally, hire them. Usually, a cease and desist will be issued first because pursuing a suit against a small time artist isn't financially feasible unless they're a real monetary threat, but it also has more to do with the lawyers than the creatives at the company. Their job is to protect their clients IP, not scout talent, so they act first, think later most of the time.
I actually got a CAD from Joss Whedon's lawyers when I created an animation based on Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog and was able to get in touch with Maurissa Tancharoen (married to Jed Whedon, who both also worked on Dr. Horrible) and she was astonished to hear that they had sent it. Prior to that, I had tweets from the official Dr. Horrible Twitter account, Nathan Fillion, Felicia Day, Neil Patrick Harris and Maurissa. I don't know what went on behind the scenes but I didn't hear anything from the lawyers after that so who knows what she said to Joss or his brother or if that even had anything to do with it.
You can learn more about Doctor Octoroc's Props & Scale Miniatures here.