The Story

The Players

Joe Haldeman - Author of The Forever War, a science fiction novel informed by his experiences as a combat veteran of the war in Vietnam. Joe has won multiple Hugo and Nebula awards for his science fiction work, and has taught creative writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since the 1980s.

Naoyuki Katoh - Japanese artist and founder of design group Studio Nue. Over the years, Katoh-sensei has illustrated book covers for Joe Haldeman's novels as they have been released in Japan, not to mention countless pieces of science fiction merchandise.

Matt Alt - Co-founder of AltJapan, co-author of Super #1 Robot, and a longtime friend, Matt and I met through a web site devoted to collecting Japanese robot and monster toys. He was instrumental in maintaining the flow of communication between the English- and Japanese-speaking contingents over the years.

Asahina Yoshikazu - A colleague of Katoh-sensei's that we met by chance (see below), Asahina is a toy designer and professional modeller who has decades of experience in the Japanese hobby industry.

Ted Terranova - Like Matt, I have known Ted for many years through the Japanese toy collecting community. Ted is a well-established artist in the world of video game development, and his Rivet Wars series of toys inspired me to

Me - Just a guy who knows people who know people. Someone who counts The Forever War as one of his favorite novels and, once I learned about it, wanted to see a toy or model of Naoyuki Katoh's fighting suit design one day.

Check out the Links page to see what these people are up to, as well as items directly related to the project.

How It All Came Together

December, 2002 - During my first trip to Japan, Matt and I are waiting on line at the World Character Convention in Odaiba, where we're having what is probably an overly-loud conversation about 80s robot anime shows in English. Our conversation gets the attention of another convention-goer, Asahina Yoshikazu. A friendship is born.

April, 2004 - During my second trip to Japan, I visit Asahina and he shows me the Japanese edition of The Forever War. I had no idea the novel was released in Japan, nor did I know that the same artist who illustrated the famous Japanese edition of Starship Troopers did the cover illustration. Asahina lets me know that he has been working directly with Naoyuki Katoh, collaborating on the next edition of the Powered Suit model kit for Wave Corporation. I let Asahina know that I would love to meet Katoh-sensei one day.

November, 2005 - Joe Haldeman is on the East Coast, doing a presentation for Veteran's Day at SUNY farmingdale, and I cannot pass up this opportunity to meet my favorite writer. Braving torrential rain and infamous Long Island traffic, I make it to the presentation to hear Joe talk about War Year and 1968. After the presentation I get to talk a bit with Joe and his wife, Gay, and pick up a signed copy of his War Stories anthology.

December, 2006 - Back to Japan! Asahina arranges an evening for Matt and I to meet Katoh-sensei, and we tour his studio where he shows us all sorts of cool projects he's working on. We ask him about the status of the fighting suit design, who owns the property? He tells us that he does, and he can do whatever he wants with it. I let him know that I'm in contact with Joe. He asks, if Haldeman-san ever comes to Japan, can I arrange a meeting? No problem.

August, 2007 - WorldCon, the World Science Fiction Convention, is being held in Yokohama, and Joe and Gay are attending. I set up a dinner date to introduce them to Katoh-sensei, Asahina, and Matt. We spend the night drinking way too much sake and discussing the finer points of cross-country cycling and fictional powered suits. Katoh-sensei unveils his revised version of the fighting suit and gives me permission to produce items based on the design. Katoh-sensei wrote an article about this meeting for his Panzer Angel Gabriel book, and a translation is here.

September 2007 - After returning to America, eventually I chicken out and decide not to go ahead with the vinyl figure I was planning on producing, despite Asahina producing some excellent foam-core mockups. It mostly takes two things to produce niche-market toys: guts and money, and you mainly need the former to let go of the latter. The idea still sits in the back of my head, though, waiting...

October, 2011 - I run into Ted Terranova at New York Comic Con, who shows me the Rivet Wars figures he is selling, based on his CGI creations that are being printed in 3D at Shapeways. Gears start turning in my head.

December, 2011 - Matt Alt sends me a copy of the garage kit that was produced based on Katoh-sensei's fighting suit design (labeled "Combat Shell" on the box). Holding the pieces of the kit in my hands, more gears start turning in my head.

January, 2012 - I send an email to Ted titled, "Kicking a project around in my head." The idea: I want to make my own Combat Shell. Ted graciously offers to create the 3D model of the design. For reference, I send him Katoh's turnarounds of the design as well as the unbuilt garage kit. I also send him a copy of the book for good measure. He's hooked.

March, 2012 - The design is done! After much discussion, there have been some departures from the garage kit's interpretation of the radiator fins and the surface details have been reduced to suit the scale of the model. Ted renders two scales of the design, in 35mm and 70mm versions. We submit the files to Shapeways, and order up some test prints in varying scales and materials.

May, 2012 - The first prints come back and we are both extremely satisfied. I order a handful of the stainless steel prints for all parties involved (myself, Ted, Matt, Asahina, Joe, and Katoh-sensei) and send them out. The recipients are pleasantly surprised, I'm glad I was able to keep a lid on things...

June, 2012 - Prints are made available at Shapeways, the model is put up on Thingiverse, and this web site is launched.