Go Go Power Rangers!
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by Jamie
Bullen
An artist has shown the
world his latest ‘Mighty Morphin’ creation when his 6ft Power
Ranger was unveiled at a toy fair to celebrate 20 years of the
children’s TV show.
Robert Bradford
(below) of Downs Park, Herne Bay, was approached to create a
toy sculpture to celebrate the brand’s 20th anniversary since they
first appeared on our screens.
He spent over 200 hours
glueing and screwing together more than 650 individual power
rangers to a wooden structure which was unveiled for the first time
on Tuesday at the Toy Fair in London.
His previous works include a
six-metre Big Ben made out of coca-cola cans and a 20-foot wooden
sculpture of a beached ship which was set alight on Herne Bay beach
in August as part of the Herne Bay Festival
celebrations.
He said: "I’m really
excited.
"I have never been to the Toy
Fair and I understand it is huge, there will be hundreds of people
there so it will be quite a unique experience.
"I think it is likely it will
lead to further commissions. I’d like to make something really
huge, maybe something 10 metres you never know."
He said his latest
masterpiece was unique in the sense he normally old, second hand
toys he has picked up from various sales.
He added: "This is quite
unique in the sense I normally use recycled toys from car boot
sales. I always buy power rangers because they are well
proportioned.
"The difference is that they
were all new toys so I can play with colour a bit more.
"What interests me about the
toys is that it has a history and a human contact.
"When people first look at
the stuff they often say "I used to have one of those." Often
people send me their old toys to incorporate into my
work."
Mr Bradford’s works have been exhibited across
the world including New York, Milan, Paris and Amsterdam but he
prefers to stay within Canterbury using the town’s latest art
gallery as one of his working spaces.
He said: "I like working near
home in my own space. Normally I will work for a few hours and then
I’ll go have some lunch and come back to it later on.
"In Herne Bay it’s good
because we have the Beach Creative studio nearby so I’ve uses that
as well."
His latest artwork will be
shown in front of hundreds of toy manufacturers at the Toy Fair in
Olympia which takes place from Tuesday until Thursday.
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers
was first aired on television in 1993 as the brainchild of
Israeli-American media mogul Haim Saban.
The 19th television series
will be introduced later this year.
Japanese toy making firm
Bandai said Mr Bradford’s work was a "fitting tribute" to mark 20
years of one of the most successful and iconic action
brands.
Marketing Director Darrell
Jones said: "We are extremely proud to have been a part of Power
Rangers incredible 20 year history. Having personally worked on the
brand since its inception, it’s great to see the Power Rangers
brand as strong as ever.
"There are not many brands
that have been so successful as Power Rangers and continue to
dominate the market worldwide twenty years later,so it’s definitely
something worth celebrating."
Over the past 20 years Bandai have sold over 400 million
Power Rangers toys worldwide including over 210 million Power
Ranger figures.
22/01/13
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