The World of PhoTOYgraphy: OptiMunny Prime by Jan Calleja

If you are an avid vinyl toy collector then you have probably heard of the term "Munny." Basically it is blank piece of vinyl where you can customize it by doodle, painting, airbrush or sculpting etc. (kindly refer to the picture on the right). This is a popular hobby around the world where customizers showcase their talents by turning Munny into a masterpiece. Do a Google of custom munny and you will see numerous threads with pictures of works by talented artists. Enter Jan Calleja.

I first saw his customs last year at our annual Philippine ToyCon and was instantly amazed (http://www.flickr.com/photos/powerpee/sets/72157621853121211/). I immediately contacted and inquired about the prices. I did not purchase any of the customs because they are more than what I can afford. On the other hand I did complement and praised him for his excellent work. I also remember drooling over his Iron Man custom munny, which was the highlight of his collection.

One year after Toycon Jan and I remained in contact with each other via our flickr accounts. A few weeks ago I asked Jan if he wanted me to take pictures of his OptiMunny Prime and he agreed. The fact that Optimus Prime is my favorite Transformer made it even more enjoyable for me. After 2 weeks Prime finally arrived in my office and when I saw it my jaw dropped.

Packaging:

Jan sells his customs locally and abroad. Prime arrived to me bubble wrapped inside a sturdy box.

Collector’s Perspective:

You can buy a blank Munny for about P 1,250.00 here ($24.95 US) and try to think of ways to make it look like a piece of art, or you can purchase one of Jan’s customs. People put a lot of time and effort into customizing these masterpieces so I do consider them as collectibles. There are 2 push button switches at the rear of Prime’s head that activates the lights in his eyes. One word, AWESOME!

I asked Jan to give me some details on what he used to build Prime and this is what he said:

“It’s a 7inch munny DIY customized with some old scale model parts; scratch materials such as old credit cards, screws, metal washers… and epoxy. I used acrylic epoxy as primer then finished it with tamiya paints.”

There are toys for play and toys for display, this is intended as a showcase.

Some Issues:

1.) It’s a delicate piece with all the miscellaneous parts attached via super glue so extra care is needed.

2.) The paint job is already good but I feel it would be a lot better if he uses airbrush (Jan informed me that he is now practicing airbrushing).

3.) The LED eyes of Prime are designed to be disposable so once it wears out Prime’s going to be blind (Jan informed me that he is going to do something about it).

4.) Because of the complexity of the work involved his head and arms are not movable anymore.

PhoTOYgrapher’s Perspective:

I have to say that viewing the pictures of Prime in my flickr account is nothing compared to seeing the actual item. Because I do not own this piece there are restrictions on what I can do with it. I would love to bring this to an industrial zone or maybe La Mesa Eco Park and give it a strobist treatment.

Needless to say my first IR (infrared) Toy shot is with OptiMunny Prime and though the sun was not on my side during the shoot I was able to get decent photos.

Take a photo of it below eye level and you make Prime look huge and powerful.

The details are amazing so I took photos of portions of Prime’s body. The LED light is a definite plus factor with this custom. I have been a fan of Prime since he first came into television and seeing him evolved through the years then finally having a movie is a dream come true. Jan patterned his custom with the movie version Prime.