In 2001 the American economy had finally burst a pipe with the crash of the dot com bubble. The trend, even in the video game industry, was to lighten up on staff and increase productivity, in plain English: layoffs. I was among them. A senior artist at the well known NAMCO video game company.

Finding another job in the current climate was daunting. However I was trained in all aspects of video game design and always had a strong passion for modeling in 3D. After seeing some of the latest stereo lithography ( 3D printers ) technology demonstrated in Los Angeles in late 2002 I had an idea. What if sculpts could be done entirely in the computer 3D environment: wouldn't that allow for infinite possibilities in posing and alterations at any stage? I began modeling for the new technology and was impressed with the initial outputs: I was hooked. Also fortunately I had always painted miniatures and had a history degree as well as a bachelors in traditional art. So I set up a small studio in my garage and began casting and actually hand painting whole product runs myself. After successfully test marketing a few pieces I decided to gather my things and move to Austin Texas. I knew there was no way I would be able to grow my nascent business in California.

In Austin I hired a few employees and attempted to manufacture the large scale 1/6th scale line in Austin myself. Well we got great products but simply didn't have the knowledge to create paint media that would grip tight to surfaces and cast metal techniques that would prevent breakage. So late in 2005 a decision was made to focus just on prototyping and look to those in the Far East that have had hundreds of years experience manufacturing toys to do the hard part. Currently we have four employees and over 50 product types in our catalog and I believe the quality is second to none.

As we move forward with our three product lines I hope to be always optimizing, growing quality, and tightening price points to increase affordability. I can only thank profusely the kind and patient customers that have seen us through these last three years. Cheers to you and I hope we can always prove deserving of your loyalty.

Best regards,

Brian Levy: President
The Collectors Showcase Inc.