Now a very popular part of Mattel and Matchbox‘s toy offerings, in 2006 the Mega Rig Shark/Squid Attack play set was nothing more than a styrofoam and parcel-tape mock up listing badly to one side in a bathtub with a pile of sketches:

Mega Rig Shark Attack preliminary design sketches

Catalyst Pictures was tasked with the job of putting together 3D computer models of the toy; rendering a short video to bring the concept alive and demonstrate the toy’s transformation features. This in turn became one of the projects I and two colleagues completed.

Sadly the original video has been lost in the four years that have passed since this project but I still have a lot of the original renders. Click on the thumbs below to see full-size images.

Rendered Mega-Rig Shark Attack Set

MegaRig gives chase to Mega Shark

Mega Rig begins transformation into small fleet

Mega Rig continues transformation into fleet of smaller vehicles

Submarine exploring the ocean floor

Squid Attack!

Below is a short piece of an early version of the animation that I’ve managed to dreg up. In it the transforming capabilities of the mother ship are demonstrated as it breaks up into a fleet of smaller boats, ships and submarines whilst giving chase to a shark. Apologies for the poor quality of the clip!