Cris Rose has announced the upcoming release, with a look at 3 of the new Sprog sculpts - that's half of Edition D - Rankin, Ronis and Rothstein. At 3" tall, these fully resin bots are the stylistic brothers of the Observation Drone 3" Dunny customs which are being phased out. All 3 Observation Sprogs are 2-faced and can be displayed front or back.
Sprogs Edition D comes in Spring Green and will go on sale Thursday April 14th 2011 at 6PM London time (1PM EST). There will be 20 Sprogs available as blind boxes and a limited number of 3 pack sets.
Backstory:
Observation Drones Mk1 to 3 had always been considered as their own class of robot, but with significant growth in the Sprog line of small commercial and home automatons, many customers were requested similar feature sets. It was decided to merge them into the Sprog line and make use of the developments in the platform to produce 3 new models, MkIV, MkV and MkVI. As part of their more consumer-friendly image, it was felt these should also be given names, thus Mk IV became Rankin, MkV became Ronis and MkVI became Rothstein.
Like their predecessors, these Observation Sprogs were built around large optic units with spark-generation static coils and rearward "faces" to scare away animals. The optics became larger and more sensitive, the static generators more directional and the faces were made more personable to the general public, designed to reflect their unique personalities. While overall they'd become less robust, their workings were far more repairable and they cost far less, leading to an understandable spike in sales over their predecessors.
Whether observing rare wildlife at a distance or the results of natural disasters close up, Observation Sprogs offered the best view possible for those operating on a tight budget... or those with huge budgets as it turned out, something all too apparent when Paparazzi Sprogs started appearing in bushes all over LA...