Quinnarama

Bear in the Big Blue House Fisher Price Little People

2012-01-22T19:34:00.000-08:00

My very first customized Fisher Price Little People were based on Sesame Street characters. Shortly after that, I made some Muppet Show Little People, and eventually I got around to Fraggle Rock (not a series I grew up with, but fun all the same).

A production that I ended up really enjoying was Bear in the Big Blue House. Initially it ran from 1997-2007 on Playhouse Disney, and you can still find it on various channels and on DVD from time to time. Centered on a core family of characters, and developed by the Jim Henson Company, it has a lot of the same magic that Sesame Street and the Muppets in general have. By the time we had our own children, I loved Bear in the Big Blue House, and so of course I decided I had to make some Fisher Price Little People of the main characters.

More than some of the other properties that I made figures of, there are radically different body shapes and sizes, from Tutter--a small blue mouse, to Bear--an enormous full-body puppet along the lines of Big Bird, to Luna, a floating moon that sings a goodbye song with Bear every night. (Still one of my most favorite songs, and I included Luna in our Toy Room Mural.) So I had to depart from the usual Fisher Price Little People design more radically than usual, but tried to keep that same design sensibility in place. So here's the result:

(From left to right) Bear, Tutter, Treelo, Pip and Pop, Ojo, and Luna

Custom Action Figures of the 1990s...

2012-01-22T17:32:00.001-08:00

Well, this is kind of embarrassing, but I'll share it anyway. Because I'm an over-sharer. While going through my files on my computer, I found these pictures from sometime in the late 1990s. There had been a line of action figures that included some members of the Justice League, b
ut not all. Total Justice gave us Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman, and then a few bizarrely random characters like Huntress, Black Lightning...and...I forget.

Because that wasn't enough, I decided to buy up some other ation figures and repaint them as I saw fit. Blame some of the amateurishness on the 1990s, some on my developing skills, and some on the pictures...which were taken on my parents' front porch. Wow.

The Teen Titans: Starfire, Arsenal, Troia, Flash, Nightwing, Tempest, and Changeling. Wow. That was one of my favorite superhero teams, and versions of it still are. Love the Titans.

Aztek and Metamorpho. It's best not to ask.

This one is more interesting to me than others, just because I don't remember making most of them. But hey kids, it was the 90's There was CRAZY stuff going on. So that was the Justice Society, and included... Hawkgirl, Hourman, Dr. Fate, Atom Smasher, Black Canary, Green Lantern (Alan Scott), Spectre, Flash (Jay Garrick) and Wildcat.

This is just an assortment of characters. No real rhyme or reason. The Wonder Twins, Captain Atom, Captain Marvel, Supergirl, Firestorm, and...the Ray? I don't remember that at all.

Some New Gods: Lightray, Orion, Big Barda and Mr. Miracle. I actually liked how they turned out, although you really can't tell how awesome they are from the photograph.

And then some ladies...too often overlooked. I mean come on. It's Wonder Woman. She deserves some credit. So in that picture we have Fire, Ice (a favorite team-up from the Justice League International comics) Wonder Woman (that tiara. ouch), Oracle (Barbara Gordon, former Batgirl, now computer genius in a wheelchair...with Agent Scully's head. Great.), and Tomorrow Woman. Who looks to be turning Japanese. I really think so.

Wow. Sorry about that blast from the past. I feel kinda dizzy now. I think we need more Fisher Price Little People to cleanse the palate.

Ahhh. Better.

My and My Fisher Price Little People on TV

2012-01-20T17:20:00.000-08:00

So several years back, a friend of a friend (of a friend) of a co-worker told some other people about my weird hobby of mutilating Fisher Price Little People in the name of art. Or the name of obsession. Either way. Anyway, I ended up a human interest story at the end of a newscast. Better than being on the news for other reasons, I suppose.

Rubber Duckie in Washington DC (2011)

2012-01-05T20:46:00.001-08:00

Last month I got to go to Washington DC for a conference, and of course, Rubber Duckie came along. A few snapshots of him about town....

The Supreme Court Building...right after we left a woman started yelling at the security guards. I heard the words "duck" and "justice" and "bathtime" and just hurried along the way.

Across the street from the U.S. Capitol. I love the building, but think a lot of the people inside are kinda idiots. Still. Nice dome. Baby.

I had been to Washington DC several times before ever visiting the Library of Congress, but it is one of the most beautiful buildings I've ever been in, ever. I love the Beaux-Arts style of over-the-top ornamentation. I wouldn't want my house done in that style, but when I visit something as internationally significant to history, science, literature and culture as the LOC, I want to be impressed. They do it right.

The Washington Monument just before sunset--it turns out that this same evening, Kermit the Frog was helping the Obamas light the National Christmas Tree or something. And I was right there. I knew it was a good night.

This is the most recent memorial dedicated on the National Mall--it's the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and it's located adjacent to the Lincoln Memorial along the tidal basin. It's an interesting experience, walking through the cleft rock and then into a sort of open plaza dominated by an MLK statue, with quotes from him engraved on walls of stone.

Something I loved seeing was the numbers of African American kids and couples and families there running up to the statue to get their picture taken in front of it. Not that Martin Luther King is just "theirs," or that the other monuments and memorials in DC are any less important to people of color--but this was something special. I had to wait several minutes to get a clear shot of Rubber Duckie--because MLK is his hero too.

The most disturbing/possibly disrespectful photo of this trip: inside Ford's Theater. The site of Abraham Lincoln's assassination. I'd been outside before, but never made it in for a tour. I happened to have time before I flew out, and Rubber Duckie and I got in and enjoyed the presentation. It was sad, moving, and poignant. And then I took a picture with my Rubber Duckie. The lit balcony behind R. D. is where Lincoln was shot, and then the stage below. No disrespect was intended.

Besides, we've done worse.

"The Muppets" Fisher Price Little People

2011-11-29T19:40:00.000-08:00

After seeing The Muppets twice last week, I realized that something was missing in my life. It was making my own Fisher Price Little People versions of some of the breakout characters. At some point, I had made Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, the Electric Mayhem, Rowlf, Scooter, and everyone else I felt was important; now with this new movie, I had to add three more characters: 80's Robot, Walter, and Uncle Deadly.

80's Robot, Walter, Uncle Deadly

80's Robot is one weird little dude, but he stole several scenes. I love his retro design, his dated offerings of Tab and New Coke, and his sweet sweet modem. It wasn't until looking more closely at his design on Muppet Wiki that I noticed some of his details, like a floppy disk drive in his torso. While perhaps not technically a Muppet, and more a remote control, since he's voiced by Muppet performer Matt Vogel, he's Muppety enough for me.

Walter is the character I was most worried about in this new movie--the biggest role in the movie, and a total newcomer. Watching him, I recognized myself over and over and over--an obsessed Muppet fan who wants to see them succeed, and is willing to do anything to make it happen. I decided to put him in his Kermit the Frog t-shirt; I would have included his Kermit watch too, but since Fisher Price Little People don't have any arms, that would have made for awkward placement.

Uncle Deadly, while not a new character, has been absent from the Muppet family for decades, and even when he was around, he was always lurking in the shadows. Another of Matt Vogel's new characters, he was a henchman to the villain in the movie, and has to decide if he's a Muppet or not. I've always loved his creepy look, and I think he turned out okay, given my elementary school sculpting skills.

If you haven't seen The Muppets yet, you really really should. It's funny, it's sweet, it's got some great new characters, and all the old ones that you've missed. It's good for your heart. Like oatmeal. But less messy. Usually.

The Muppets (2011)

2011-11-26T02:17:00.000-08:00

I've been a fan of the Muppets for as long as I can remember. A true child of the 70's, I grew up watching Sesame Street, and some of my earliest memories involve Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, Grover and Kermit the Frog. Ah, Kermit. When people ask me who my favorite Muppet character is...a question that comes up more often for me than it probably does for you--my response is usually something along these lines:

"Well, I love Gonzo. Gonzo's like a brother to me. I understand him, I love him. But Kermit is what I aspire to become. A leader, a friend, a kind, generous, loving person." Those of you that know me know that I have a long way to go to becoming more Kermitlike, but that's my aspiration. I literally look up to a puppet. Part of that is the role Jim Henson had in taking the puppet-television format and folding into something both educational and entertaining; part of it is his larger vision of peaceful harmony with people (and species) that are different from you, so evident in Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and Fraggle Rock; part of it is simply that I think the Muppets are funny and make me happy. So when Jim Henson passed away two decades ago, I think I probably took it harder than was psychologically good for me. And it's taken some time to get over that loss. It's only been since getting married and having kids of my own that I'm able to watch A Muppet Christmas Carol without spiraling into a period of mourning (good thing I don't drink)(yet) for both Jim Henson and performer Richard Hunt, who died shortly after Jim did.

Each new Muppet project after Jim passed away moved me a little more into accepting a "new" Kermit, and eventually a new Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, etc. If I want the Muppets to continue being "alive," then I need to accept new performers for old favorite characters...but I want them to be performing something good--something I want to see, and recommend to friends without couching it in "well, it's good for me, because I'm a Muppet fan." And even though each new project--Muppet Treasure Island, Muppets From Space, It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, and even Muppets Wizard of Oz--had moments that were great, on the whole, they're weaker than any of the "Jim Henson era" movies. Until now.

The Muppets opened about 72 hours ago, and I've already seen it twice. I'm sure I'll see it at least one more time in theatres before it's off the big screen. Most people who see movies or watch television have seen trailers or commercials for this movie over the last few months, but obsessed Muppet fans like me have known about the pitch and planning and making of this movie for four years now. The anticipation, excitement, and fear has been building for that long. Which can make the first viewing more an exercise in checklists than anything else. "How many lines will Rowlf have?" "Will Janice say something inappropriate about nudity?" "Will Crazy Harry get to blow something up?" ...when it's twelve years between Muppet movies, there are a lot of pent-up lists.

To get to the review part of things, I loved it. I loved this movie. I don't think it was perfect (for some reasons I'll get to in a minute), but I loved it. It made me happy. It reminded me of all the many reasons I love the Muppets. I laughed out loud, I was moved, it made me reflect on my own life in ways that I didn't think a Muppet movie would.

I loved that instead of playing pirates or Dickensian urchins or Munchkins, the Muppets are themselves. They're back. And that incldues characters that haven't been seen much since Jim Henson and Richard Hunt passed away. Scooter, Rowlf, Janice, Sweetums, Dr. Teeth--they've all been relatively mute for about twenty years. Seen in the background, but mostly absent. They're back, and they have new performers, and Scooter in particular has as much to do here as he's ever had in any Muppet movie. Even though those characters aren't, and will never be, as high profile as Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, or Miss Piggy, they're part of the family, and to have them missing in action for twenty years was sad. Having them back is a major win for Muppet fans.

Even more remarkable is the incredibly obscure characters that writer/co-star Jason Segel got rebuilt and back into the movie that haven't been seen since the earliest days of The Muppet Show: Uncle Deadly, a blue dragon-like character is a major villain in the movie; the singing duet Wayne and Wanda get a big laugh when the power goes out; even the freakishly enormous (bigger than Sweetums) Thog. After every Muppet movie/tv special up until this point, I've found myself saying, "yeah, it would have been better--more Muppety--with this character, or that character..." Not this time. I was amazed at how many characters were worked into this production.

The songs, written by Bret McKenzie (from Flight of the Conchords) are fun, funny, and very...Muppety, even when the Muppets aren't the ones singing them. My favorite new song is probably "Life's a Happy Song," which both opens and closes the movie. Others are the heartbreaking "Pictures in My Mind" that Kermit sings, and the song "Man or Muppet," which hits the nail on the head a little too precisely for my comfort. Which made me laugh at myself, and Jason Segel, and Walter. More on him in a second. There are also versions of some of the Muppets' greatest songs: "Rainbow Connection," "The Muppet Show Theme," and "Mahna-Mahna" are all in the movie, so there's a good chance there'll be something there for any Muppet fan, old or new.

There's one new Muppet character worked into the mix, and I was prepared to hate him. Walter is Gary's (Jason Segel) brother in the movie, and he's a Muppet fan. Like...a huge Muppet fan. Like...me. And my weirdo internet friends. He has Muppet stickers on his bed, and posters on his wall, and a Kermit watch, and shelves full of Muppet toys. He has dreams about Muppets, he wants to be a Muppet. And holy crap, it's like Jason Segel (who seems a bit like Walter himself in interviews I've seen with him)(frog bless him) gets what it's like to be that guy. I was waiting for a joke to go too far, or for a dig to be too personal, but man. Walter IS me. And even if you're not a Muppet fan, you understand that level of love and fandom for whatever it is that you love--through Walter. He's a sweet, well thought-out character who seems as real and human as anyone else, but still as silly and fun as the Muppets themselves are. He's got a simple design, but it's really the writing, and the amazing performance by Peter Linz that makes Walter live. I went in with a big chip on my shoulder, because how DARE they try to push some new kid into my Muppet family, but I ended up loving him. And it didn't take long.

My only real problems with the movie are things that I think are so nitpicky and obsessive and fannish that they wouldn't be noticed by, or wouldn't annoy, your average moviegoer/casual fan of the Muppets. And that's just that several elements of the plot are recycled. "Let's get the gang back together and put on a show" is part of The Muppet Movie, The Muppets Take Manhattan, and It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. And that's an enjoyable part of those movies. I didn't feel like I needed to see it again. That said, the way they handle it in The Muppets, and the twelve years since they've been on the big screen, make it a little more poignant. And doing it via montage made it pretty darn funny. Then there are things on my own personal checklist, like me wanting Janice to say something inappropriate, or Gonzo being a little wackier, or wanting Link from Pigs in Space to have a line or two...things that don't matter nearly as much as the big picture.

That big picture is that the Muppets finally feel like they're back. For possibly the first time ever, I don't think I ever thought, "well, this isn't the Jim Henson Kermit, this is the Steve Whitmire Kermit." He was just Kermit. And it didn't matter that Frank Oz wasn't involved, because Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear and Animal are in good hands, and they are funny, and poignant, and loved. This is the Muppet movie I've been waiting for. Not just for four years, but for twenty. I'm so glad Jason Segel pushed for it. I'm glad Disney made it. I'm glad the performers did such an amazing job with it. They put everything they had into this one, and it shows. I'm proud to be a fan of such a great movie. Thanks guys.

LEGO Star Trek

2011-07-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

I had to wait until 1999 for LEGO to start making Star Wars toys, and when two of my favoritest things came together, well, it was worth the wait. I'm not holding my breath and waiting around for LEGO to make Star Trek toys, because I don't think the market's there for it. But wow. If it were, I'd be first in line. A line filled with other geeks, obsessing over tiny pointed ears and phasers. For now, these customs will have to do.

Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy -- one of my favorite trinities.

Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura.

A little bit of backup from Nurse Chapel, Yeoman Rand, and Transporter Chief Kyle...or possibly just a Red Shirt to die on an away mission. Depends on how the day is going.

The biggest challenge for me this time around was the hairpieces. The men were pretty straightforward, but the women had distinctively 1960's hairstyles that I wanted to try to represent. So I sculpted new hairpieces for all three women. Janice Rand's beehive was the most elaborate, but I think it's also the most successful of the three. Most of the time she was just delivering coffee to Captain Kirk, but she can still rock the 'hive.

I do like how Uhura turned out--she has her own hairpiece as well, and I added those green hoop earrings to the sides of her head. It's a good look. She deserves the best.

Boldly going where no minifigure has gone before!

The problem of course is that my OCD is having a hard time letting this be a complete set. Where's Captain Pike? Dr. M'Benga? Sarek and Amanda? And what about the villains? Klingons, Romulans, Tholians, Khan, Gorn...well, let's just say that if I started, I wouldn't stop.

And then there's Picard, Riker, Data, Geordi, Dr. Crusher, Counselor Troi, Worf, Wesley, Tasha, Guinan, Ro, Q, Borg, Sisko, Kira, Dax, O'Brien, Quark, Odo, Bashir, Dukat, Cardassians, Rom, Nog...I need to stop.

Live long and prosper, OCD. Live long and prosper.

Doctor Who Fisher Price Little People

2011-04-23T18:09:00.000-07:00

I swore I'd never do it. But after acknowledging that friends and family members were right, and I should have been watching the British sci-fi series Doctor Who for the last five seasons, I finally got on board. And now that I have...I need to start making some good Doctors. As is fitting for a time traveling television show, I'm starting with the last Doctor first, and I'll get around to others later.

River Song, The Doctor, Amy Pond, Rory Williams

River Song is a character that's really grown on me. We first met her in a few episodes in a previous season, and each time we see her, the mystery deepens. As portrayed by Alex Kingston, she's smart, funny, and every bit a match for the Doctor. I chose to make her in a Season Six costume, partially just because I dig the Western thing she has going on. She's got a gun in a holster on one hip, and her own sonic screwdriver on the other. The biggest challenge was her hair--the insanely beautiful curliness of it, and the fact that it changes color depending n what light she's in. The Doctor (Matt Smith) was another challenge, and another hair sculpting issue. But he came out okay. I tried for a tweedy texture in his coat, but don't know if I really achieved it. In any case, bowties. Bowties are cool.

Amy and Rory were both easier in a lot of ways...Amy's short short skirt was easy enough, and I like the red scarf. Rory was another matter--I wanted his red shirt and black puffy vest from the Vampires in Venice episode, but have YOU ever tried to make a vest for a person with no arms? I have. And I might have failed. But it was either this or the Roman Legionnaire, and I didn't want to do that. Rory's Rory. His nose.

Coming soon: more Doctors. More companions. Villains. Tardises. T.A.R.D.I.S.es even.

LEGO Death Eaters

2011-02-05T14:49:00.001-08:00

I like a fair fight. So when I ended up with Harry Potter, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Hagrid, and dozens of other Hogwarts heroes, I needed to bolster up the ranks of the Death Eaters to try and even the odds a little.

Here are the results.

Four random Death Eaters, flanking Voldemort (I know LEGO has released a few, but this custom was easy enough to make...)

Together with his psycho almost-girlfriend, Bellatrix LeStrange...played by my psycho almost-girlfriend, Helena Bonham-Carter

My custom-made Scabior minifigure, based on the most recent movie, alongside LEGO's official Fenrir Greyback minifig.

And my lovely two-toned Narcissa Malfoy, alongside Lucius Malfoy. Where's Draco when they need him? Let's say...Hogwarts.

The Death Eaters on the march. Mudbloods and Muggles, beware!

Toy Story LEGO: Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

2011-01-23T06:23:00.000-08:00

I love Toy Story. Since 1995, when Pixar first rocked my world, every Pixar movie has been a masterpiece--but the Toy Story family of characters is still the best of the best. Last year when LEGO started making Toy Story sets, I looked forward to completing that family, and they were off to a good start with Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and Bullseye, Rex, Hamm, and even the Little Green Army Men and the Aliens from Pizza Planet were all made pretty quickly. They soon came home, and it was like Andy's Toy Box all over again.

The Official Toy Story LEGO Minifigures...

But there were a few of those family members missing. Mattel was able to fill in some of the gaps with their Toy Story Buddies line of action figures--close enough to the LEGO scale and style that Bo Peep and Slinky Dog fit right in, even though LEGO isn't making them as minifigures.

Bo Peep and Woody

Slinky Dog joins Rex and Hamm

The real heartbreaker was the lack of Potato Heads. I'm assuming Hasbro was asking for too much money, or that the legalese between Hasbro, LEGO, and Mattel was too complicated for a "minor" character, but that sarcastic tuber has been in all three of the Toy Story movies, and Mrs. Potato Head in the last two. They're a sweet and disturbing couple, and should be a part of the Toy Story LEGO lineup!

They weren't included in the LEGO sets, so I thought I'd try my luck with the Toy Story Buddies from Mattel--no dice. So then I shopped around on eBay for Potato Head keychains, figurines--anything that would fit in close enough to the LEGO minifigures to complete my little plastic family. The closest thing would have towered above Woody and Jessie, and after months of looking in vain, I was left to my own devices. Here are the results:

Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head are sculpted completely from Sculpey polymer clay, and are baked around a set of "stubby" LEGO minifigure legs. This lets them stand on LEGO baseplates with the other Toy Story characters; even though the rest of the potato-shaped figure isn't LEGO, I wanted part of them to fit in with the others.

The size was a tricky issue--the scale of the Toy Story LEGO minifigures is inconsistent, with the Army Men being the same size as Buzz Lightyear, and the the Aliens being just a shade shorter. Woody and Jessie scored with unique long arms and legs, and--it's a crap shoot. I wanted the Potato Heads to be shorter than Buzz Lightyear (a standard minifigure) and taller than the Aliens, who are their adopted "children." ...and it's not until you've sculpted a Potato Head yourself that you realize what a disturbing, disproportionate, and bizarre creature they really are. Those lips... *shudder*

My other problem was their arms--in the movies, as on the toys, they have spindly long arms with gigantic white hands. That wasn't going to work in either LEGO or Sculpey form, so I compromised and gave them big white hands that are on either side of their body-head-torso-potato. Weird.

Anyway. Once they were finished and painted and "home" with the other figures, I pretty much love them. I think they're some of my favorite custom work I've ever done--not necessarily the quality of the work, but the empty spot that they fill is one that needed to be filled. And now...they're home.

He-Man Fisher Price Little People

2010-11-24T08:05:00.000-08:00

"I am Adam. Prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull. This is Cringer, my fearless friend. Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said, 'BY THE POWER OF GRAYSKULL!'"

You've gotta love opening credits with plot exposition. He-Man, Gilligan's Island, The Brady Bunch, The Facts of Life...okay, maybe not that last one. In any case, I watched He-Man way more than I should have, especially considering I was in my upper elementary school grades when He-Man came out, and should have been past it. I used my younger brother as an excuse, but I was really the one who wanted to watch it. Swords, magic, fantasy, weird bird-people...it was sweet.

And then I decided to make some Fisher Price Little People out of them. These are very hit and miss.

He-Man, Man-at-Arms, and Teela

The Sorceress, Ram-Man, and Orko

Skeletor, Evil-Lyn, Mer-Man and Beast-Man

I've gotta say, Mer-Man might be one of my best likeness ever, and Beast-Man my worst. What's up with that guy? And who at Lou Scheimer Productions and/or Mattel gets royalties for hyphenated names? Because...wow.

Next up: LEGO something or another. Probably. Maybe socks.

Rubber Duckie in Denver

2010-11-20T05:33:00.001-08:00

I was in Denver for the first time in almost ten years last summer, with a group of teachers. The workshop took us on a field trip, but most of the time was spent in downtown Denver itself. Rubber Duckie had a pretty good time.

Leadville--the Silver Dollar Saloon, where we had lunch. I think Molly Brown worked there or something. Yeah, let's say she worked there.
Also in Leadville--the Tabor Opera House. When they finally track me down, I'll be hiding in the prop room in the basement. Watch out for traps.

The weird clock tower on the 16th Street Mall. There's a cabaret that runs in the basement. We were a little too scared to check it out.

Larimer Street in Lodo--lots of nice old brick buildings and overpriced cafes. The bookstore around the corner is awesome, although there was a frightening man singing "Let's Get Physical" in the bathroom. I don't...think he was talking to me.

The old Tivoli Brewery, now the heart of the Auraria Campus. Nice campus--I just didn't want to be stuck in it all week.

Denver skyline--as a Salt Laker, I was a little jealous of their tall buildings. But as a Salt Laker, they should be a little jealous of our mountains. Booyah!

Buffalo Bill's grave on Lookout Mountain. Hey, at least I didn't climb the fence and put Rubber Duckie on the headstone!

The view of the prairie from Lookout Mountain.

Denver was a good time--I was just back there last week, and even with the cold and snow, it was still fun. Nice people, fun restaurants, great buildings.

Next up: Fisher Price Little People of a 1980s variety.

Rubber Duckie in Denver

Muppet Carrot

2010-10-29T01:54:00.000-07:00

One of my all-time favorite episodes of The Muppet Show guest stars the late Gilda Radner. A hilarious comedienne who managed to fit in quite nicely with the chaos of the Muppets, she has a cutting wit that was way ahead of its time.

On The Muppet Show, she ends up singing alongside a seven foot tall talking carrot. Like this:

Quite the cliffhanger, no? You can see the entire thing on Season 3 of The Muppet Show. Or fish around on YouTube. Anyway. A few years back I was feeling the ambition of the young, and thought, "I want a seven foot tall talking carrot to be amongst my Muppets..." and set about making one.

Most of the customized toys I make are simply toys I buy at the store, then I chop pieces off of them, slightly modify them using Sculpey polymer clay, and then reassemble them, paint them, and introduce them to their new friends. Not unlike Sid, the mean neighbor kid from Toy Story, but with better intentions. Usually. I hope.

I'm not a sculptor--I'm a cartoonist. And I'm not really a cartoonist. I'm a doodler. So tackling something as complicated as a giant Muppet Carrot seemed like it would be difficult, but like I said above, I was young and ambitious and hadn't been beaten down by the world enough yet to know any better. So I set about making the Muppet Carrot.

For the Carrot to be oversized but still in a toyish scale, I decided it had to be just over a foot tall. That's waaay too much Sculpey to use to make a toy out of, and it's not like there are many plastic carrot toys that would have fit the bill. So I tried an experiment--getting a styrofoam cone from a craft store, carving it down a bit into a carrot shape, and then coating the carrot with Plaster of Paris. I hadn't ever used it before, but it seemed like it would work. Around the lower part of the carrot, I buildt a tuxedo with Sculpey. Brilliant? I thought so. Until, to cure the Sculpey, I put it in the oven at the usual 225 degrees:

As the Sculpey cured, it contracted a little bit at the same time the styrofoam was expanding. This caused all sorts of fractures inside the carrot, and I had to start all over again. I mean, even Kermit the Borg was shocked. So you know that's bad. Fozzie doesn't look that shaken by the events. He must know that a happy ending is around the corner.

I used the same strategy, but made the tuxedo a little thinner, and fixed a few things I didn't like about the sculpt anyway. I found some plastic fronds that seemed carroty enough for his greens, painted the heck out of him, and voila! Which is French for CARROT!

Yes, he's standing on my bathroom floor. Don't judge me.

His eyebrows and moustache were sculpted separately and then attached; it seemed a Muppety enough approach. His beady eyes are just push pins. In this picture you can see all of his open, styrofoam pores that I didn't seal over well enough with the Plaster of Paris. Curse you, digital cameras!

The Muppet Carrot being welcomed into the group by the gang. Including the Swedish Chef, who I'm sure has some unsavory (actually, they might be savory) plans for the poor fellow. Beaker's still in freak-out mode. But when isn't he?

Then backstage at the Muppet Theater, adding to the general mayhem. Not Electric Mayhem, although he hasn't ruled out a performance with Dr. Teeth and the band.

Next: Rubber Duckie back on the road!

A-Team Fisher Price Little People

2010-10-21T04:52:00.000-07:00

I haven't seen the recent A-Team movie yet, and I might live the rest of my life without ever seeing it. For me, the A-Team was everything it should have been back in the 80s: action, adventure, a little bit of conspiracy, a cool van, and explosions.

Really, they could have called it the "B.A. Baracus and Murdock Team" and I still would have watched it. Mr. T was intense, awesome, and inspired one too many little boys to get unfortunate haircuts and wear gold chains, but I still loved him. More than him, I loved the one member of the A-Team I most aspired to be: the is-he-crazy-or-just-funny "Howling Mad" Murdock. Dwight Schulz was and is very entertaining, plus he got to fly the helicopters and planes and death machines that the team appropriated now and then. I didn't care much about prettyboy Face, although I did like it when a plan came together under Hannibal's leadership.

Anyway, in the interest of recreating my entire media childhood via Fisher Price Little People, here ya go:

Hannibal, B.A. Baracus, Murdock, and Face

Coming soon: more stuff. And junk.

LEGO Batman Villains

2010-09-11T06:28:00.000-07:00

When LEGO announced that they were making Batman building sets a few years back, it was several of my geeky dreams coming true. But because enough is never enough, I realized that to complement the Bat-villains they were producing, I'd have to build some of my own. With mixed results. Now that the Bat-license seems to be on hold, we may have seen the last of the Batman LEGO sets (although the video game still seems to be selling strong), so these may be as close as I get to the real thing.

Clayface may be the grossest LEGO guy I've ever attempted...here's he's a LEGO construct with lots of Sculpey put on him, baked, and painted. Not my best effort...and yet that's kinda what Clayface looks like. Uh...clay.

Ra's Al Ghul and Talia...he's in need of a cape.

Firefly--a simple custom that turned out pretty sweet.

Mad Hatter. I think I went overboard on his hat.

Black Mask, Harley Quinn (made before the official minifig came out in the second wave of Batman sets), and Man-Bat. I really wish they had produced an official one of him. He's using a Werewolf head, which is biologically inaccurate, but it works well.

Mr. Zsasz, a Bat-villain who cuts himself with a new tally mark every time he kills someone. I at least had the decency to give him underwear...

The official Bat-Villains mixed in with my customs...a fairly frightening group. No wonder Arkham can't keep things under control.

Rubber Duckie at Bryce Canyon National Park

2010-08-29T06:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we used the excuse of a half marathon to visit Bryce Canyon National Park. It's only about an hour's drive from our family's cabin in Southern Utah, but we haven't taken the time to go visit. I had been there myself when I was a pup, but my wife and kids hadn't ever been there. So we took a little look-see. Rubber Duckie hasn't ever been there either, so he came along for the ride.

At Bryce Canyon, as at the Grand Canyon and other Southwestern sites where you have a big dropoff, you always have people standing precariously on the edge of a thousands-foot cliff. In the case of Bryce Canyon, they mostly seemed to be European, in their California rental cars on their way around the "Grand Circle" of National Parks in Utah, Arizona, and Colorado. They seemed to be having fun, even at the 8000 foot elevation. Where's the biergarten when you need it?

From Left-to-Right: Carter, Rubber Duckie, and Miles. Rubber Duckie is in an enormous footprint which we were pretty sure was a Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, my brother-in-law, whatever.

"Back up just a little bit more...little bit more..."

Blue skies, orange rocks, a yellow duck. It doesn't get much better.

Thundercats Fisher Price Little People

2010-08-20T04:57:00.001-07:00

Ah, the Thundercats. Technically, the Thundercats might have been some of my first homemade toys I ever made. I was old enough when Thundercats came on tv that I was past my prime in terms of getting my parents to buy toys for me, but I liked the characters and situations on the cartoon enough that I still wanted some way to play with some toys. Not having the internet or the idea to butcher Fisher Price Little People yet, I had some salt clay that I made into very rudimentary peg-like shapes that then I declared to be Lion-O, Panthro and the rest. I even made a clay Thundertank and Lair. Man. I was a mess.

That mess has continued on into the 21st Century, where the internet does exist (thank you!) and Fisher Price Little People are being butchered right and left. Soon, unmodified FPLP will be an endangered species. Keep them safe from me.

I only made characters from the first season of Thundercats--none of the ancillary characters who came along later, like "Nasty Alley Cat-O" or "Longhaired Persianina" or whatever their names were. Just the characters I knew, and I didn't make the mutant villains or those weird Ewok-Daggit-Robot-Koala things. Rober-berbles? I do have some standards. Not many.

Lion-O, Tygra, Panthro, and Cheetara

Of this set, Panthro was always my favorite character--maybe because he was the inventor, maybe because he got to drive the Thundertank, maybe because of the nunchuks. In any case, he was baaad. I tried some color shading on the toys that was moderately successful, trying to duplicate their look from the show...then again, can anyone really duplicate the beauty that is Cheetara? I don't think so. That mullety 80's hair doesn't grow itself, you know. So. Hott.

Wily-Kit, Wily-Kat, Snarf, and Mummra

Even as I was aging out of the target demographic, I didn't like Wily-Kit and Wily-Kat. I liked their gadgets--those hoverboards they had, and little smoke bombs and all--but their voices bugged the heck out of me. And I always liked decrepit nasty Mummra better than his amped-up MUMMRA THE EVERLASTING version. And then there's Snarf. A character I was born to love. I mean, it's Snarf! I have no idea what the hell he is--lizard? Gremlin? Pekingese? But his grating, cracking voice, his nannying of Lion-O, and his Smurfy Snarfing all bring me great joy. And my FPLP version of him rocks hard.

That's it. A whole Thundercats post without me making a "HOOOOO" joke.

Muppet Batman: Joker and Harley Quinn

2010-07-11T07:52:00.001-07:00

The final characters we're visiting as part of the Muppet Batman group of enemies and allies is Joker and Harley Quinn. At one point, I think I was considering Fozzie Bear for the Joker, but I wanted someone with a little more edge. More edge than Fozzie Bear, you say? Impossible! But true. So I looked at the Muppets I had kicking around the toy box, and it became clear that the Muppet who unnerved me the most when I was a kid was undoubtedly Crazy Harry.

Crazy Harry was fond of blowing things up. And, it being the 1970's, people were prone to saying things like "That's dynamite, Kermit!" and then Crazy Harry would pop up with his little detonator box and say "Did someone say DYNAMITE???" and then depress his plunger, and an explosion would go off. It happened a lot. In any case, Crazy Harry was nuts. And, with a little bit of a paint job, I think he makes an excellent Joker.

It's surprising how little I had to do to the action figure to make him into the Joker, really. I lightened his skin a shade or two, painted his hair green, and just repainted his clothes to look more like an inmate--er--patient's jumpsuit from Arkham Asylum.

He gets an inmate--er--patient number on his back, too. That's not the PIN number for our bank accounts. In case you're wondering. Really. It's not.

The Joker's main squeeze is Harley Quinn, and in between me really genuinely liking the character, and her being named "Quinn," I had to find a way to get her in. After using Miss Piggy for Catwoman, and Janice for Poison Ivy, that only left one regular female cast member from The Muppet Show--Camilla the chicken. She's Gonzo's girlfriend (when he remembers which chicken she is), but here she's putting on the jester costume to play Joker's moll. So if there's a dust-up later on between Gonzo and Crazy Harry...things will get crazy. Er.

To make Harley Quinn, I just did a simple Sculpey jester's hat and collar. It's not completely accurate to Harley or Camilla, but it works. And hey, she's a chicken.

That's it for the Muppet Batman collection--there will be more DC Comics and Muppets figures coming sooner or later, but I think we need to visit some other genres first. The Fisher Price Little People are begging to be let out...I think we'll see some of them this week.

Muppet Batman Sketchbook

2010-06-19T06:02:00.000-07:00

Before the final reveal of Joker and Harley Quinn, I stumbled across these old papers--a kind of sketchbook of part of the "creative process" that I go through when I make these things. It's not just tearing action figures limb from limb and then reassembling them to make new toys. It's mostly that, but not just that. I probably drew these in between calls at a previous job, so be kind. I know they're disproportional and not in scale with each other and everything else--I'm a doodler, not an artist. In any case, it's interesting to see what worked and what didn't--who survived, and who didn't.

The first sketch was Batman and his allies--from the beginning, I wanted Batman and Robin to be Link and Dr. Strangepork from "Pigs in Space." Their allies started out with Kermit as Alfred, and Fozzie Bear as Commissioner Gordon. I still like those ideas--especially Fozzie as Commissioner Gordon. Fozzie didn't end up as any character in the final collection, although I suppose he could have made a creepy Joker. Comedy gone bad. Very, very bad.

Anyone who knows about my love for both Catwoman and Miss Piggy is probably somewhat disturbed by this fusion of the two. Due to the lack of female characters, Catwoman had to either be Piggy, Janice, or Camilla, so my choice was clear. Scooter-as-Riddler survived to the final cut, but the other two here, Gonzo-as-Penguin and sax player Zoot-as-Two-Face did not. I still like the idea of Gonzo as the Penguin, especially since I don't have any Gonzo in my final lineup. And...I just realized how much that little sketch of Gonzo looks like FDR. Awesome.

This sketch is the last one that has rejected versions of characters that didn't make it--my favorite too, Beaker-as-Scarecrow. Tall, lanky, and with the potential to be ubercreepy, I love this version of Scarecrow. But I didn't have a Beaker to spare (he's one of the rarer figures), and I did have a headless Animal. So...still creepy, but wow, that Beaker would have been sweet. Everyone else made it through to the final cut.

Here's the final five after recasting and revising them. I do love Rowlf-as-Alfred, both because it brings my favorite piano-playing dog into the fold, and because I like the idea of man's best friend being a gentleman's gentleman. Kermit became Commissioner Gordon probably for the simple reason that he was already wearing a trenchcoat. Sculpting a Muppet Penguin from scratch to be The Penguin was a stroke of genius that coincided with my burgeoning self-confidence in my sculpting skills (misplaced self-confidence, but it hasn't hurt anyone yet). When Beaker fizzled, Animal stepped in, in that inarticulate way of his...and Floyd became Two-Face when a Zoot became too hard to acquire. In Batman: The Animated Series, Harvey Dent and Pamela Isley have a fling before they become Two-Face and Poison Ivy, respectively; Floyd and Janice have a thing goin' on themselves, so I thought keeping them together would be sweet. I'm mushy like that.

Coming soon: Joker and Harley Quinn!

Quinnarama Baby Namer

2010-06-17T16:09:00.000-07:00

Back by popular demand, it's the Quinnarama Baby Namer! Okay, only one person asked me, but that person is popular enough that I figured I'd repost this. It was part of the original Quinnarama.com website, and published well before I was even close to having kids. Several years later, I have two sons, and even though I didn't get all the names I wanted in there (it turns out my wife had some say in it too), they're in there somewhere. Thank heaven I didn't have any girls. I'll present this in its original format, swear words and all. Sorry, Grandma!

Quinnarama Baby Namer

Besides producing hundreds of Fisher Price Little People, we're eventually going to produce hundreds of human offspring. This is a list of my favorite names for those lucky bastards; you can use them if you like.

BOY NAMES

Coke

Timex

Sherlock

Chewbacca

Hazel-Rah

Mahonri Moriancumr

Link

Lennon

Arthur

Belacqua

Hocky

The Edge

Boyardee

Beth

Fidel

Armagosa

Doctor

GIRL NAMES

Glumboclutch

Ichabod

Lonnorrhea

Charo

Amphibia

Indiglo

Conquistadora

Yodelle

Lulu

Gargantua

Caffeine

Hysteria

Lillith

Mugatu

Selina

Samantha

Jeannie

Carl

Scarborough

Cuthbert

Tortecakes

Osmondina

Desdemona

Zuckuss

Kriemhilde

Edeltraut

Urethra

Pelvessa

Delicatessen

Muppet Batman: Mad Hatter, Riddler, Ra's Al Ghul, Scarecrow

2010-06-04T20:29:00.000-07:00

In this penultimate posting of my Muppet/Batman crossover customs, here are some of the villains who don't always make it into the movies or cartoons, but who are still heavy hitters in Gotham City...and who have been making a more respectable showing in the 21st Century than I'd expected.

First up is Scarecrow, master of fear. He was a pysch professor who went a little nuts, and now uses his expertise to scare the heck out of people and take their money. For Scarecrow, I decided to use an Animal figure. While he's usually a drummer for the Electric Mayhem, I happened to have an Animal figure without a head. This seemed like a good time to use him, since Scarecrow's face is completely covered by a mask. So I sculpted a new noggin for Animal out of Sculpey, added a few details to his body, like a shirt and some patches, and that was pretty much it.

I tried to preserve the shape of Animal's face under the mask, although that nose might not be big enough. Then again, his nose is pretty much foam rubber, so it's malleable. That's right. Malleable.

I don't know that anything prompted me to turn Scooter into the Riddler other than I needed a Riddler and had an extra Scooter to play with. I sculpted his suit from Sculpey, based on the Frank Gorshin Riddler more than anything else, painted it, and gave him some "angry eyes" pupils on his glasses. Not much to him.

Since Dr. Teeth is a hat-wearing cat, and Mad Hatter likes to make cats wear hats, I figured I'd use the good Doctor for the evil Hatter. Based of course on the Alice in Wonderland character, Mad Hatter commits crimes using hats, usually to get more hats. He's a crazy holdover from the days when more men (and women) wore hats, and it doesn't seem like he'd really work as a villain today, but some writers have kept him around. I gave him a new hat and coat via Sculpey, turned a Muppet Labs Robot Rabbit into a White Rabbit, and that's it.

Dr. Teeth has very odd proportions. Far be it from me to judge. But he's a freak.

Ra's Al Ghul has been a Batman villain since the 1970's, and wants to dominate the world so he can destroy it, remaking it in his own image. He's tried to do that in various ways, and runs afoul of Batman every darn time. He was portrayed by Liam Neeson in Batman Begins, and is supposedly immortal, resurrecting himself via "Lazarus Pits" when the need arises. I think Sam Eagle would make a magnificent Ra's Al Ghul--the arrogance, the cluelessness, the hot daughter (it's never come up on The Muppet Show, but I'm sure Sam has one out there somewhere).

In any case, this Ra's is from a Muppet Treasure Island Sam Arrow, and has some sculpted ruffles on front of his chest, a cloth cape, and vicious talons to eviscerate enemies. Brutal.

A cadre of...lesser...Bat-villains, ready to flee from before Robin's might. Possibly even Alfred.

Next up: the Bat-finale, with Joker and Harley Quinn. Stay tuned!

Muppet Batman: Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze

2010-06-04T04:15:00.000-07:00

One of the best things about Batman is his "rogues gallery"--the villains who call Gotham City their home. You'd think that with the Caped Crusader locking them up after every attempted heist, they'd figure it out and try someplace like, I dunno, Omaha...but they keep coming back to Gotham City. And Batman keeps stopping them.

So when I started turning Palisades Toys' Muppet action figures into Batman and his allies, I knew I'd need to have his enemies too. I didn't dig as deep as Zsasz or Clayface, but I go beyond Joker and Catwoman.

These three villains are associated in my mind--partially because of Batman: The Animated Series, and partially thanks to the Batman & Robin movie that I've otherwise tried to purge from my mind. Mr. Freeze, a brilliant but tragic figure, was in one of the first episodes of Batman: The Animated Series, and completely blew me away. I decided that one brilliant scientist deserves another, so I used Dr. Bunsen Honeydew to create Mr. Freeze. I cut away his lab coat, added some body armor with Sculpey polymer clay, and a capsule from a gumball machine became the dome over his head. Once I painted the figure, I knew I got him right. All I need is a little frozen Beaker, and it'll be done.

The next villain is Two-Face, formerly Gotham's district attorney Harvey Dent. He's another character I grew to love in the Animated Series, then hated on the big screen when played by Tommy Lee Jones. The Dark Knight brought us yet another version of Two-Face, and I liked him there, although I felt like he was underused and probably overwhelmed by what Heath Ledger's Joker was doing in the same movie. In any case, I picked Floyd, the bass guitarist from Electric Mayhem to play Two-Face in my little caper.

I made this several years before The Dark Knight came out, and tried to make his scarred side of his face kind of cartoony but still gross. It's less graphic than what they did to Aaron Eckhart, which is probably a good thing.

The final villain in this trio is Poison Ivy, who uses plants to commit crimes, and feels that plants are more deserving of compassion than people are. I think Janice, the groovy lead guitarist for Electric Mayhem, makes a fine Poison Ivy, even though she'd never hurt anyone...but somehow i think she's got a green thumb herself. Her costume is made of some silk leaves that I cut into many many little pieces, and I think the effect works better than a Sculpey tunic would have.

I'm sure they're either hatching their next scheme or looking for directions to Omaha...either way, they're up to no good.

Up next: Scarecrow, Riddler, Mad Hatter, and Ra's Al Ghul. Batman's in trouble.

LEGO Teen Titans

2010-05-26T04:44:00.000-07:00

A Marv Wolfman/George Perez New Teen Titans comic book was the first one I read. It was one of those "very special" issues about how the New Teen Titans helped someone stay off of drugs or something like that. Not part of the regular run, but produced to give to kids in the early 1980s to help us stay off the crackpipe. And it worked for me. Of course, then the problem became that I was addicted to comic books, but that's evidently fine with DC Comics.

Maybe it's because of that early contact, or maybe because they're simply good characters, but that family of superhero characters is one of my favorites. I like them more than the X-Men, and often more than the Justice League. So when I was cranking out the superhero LEGO minifigs, I knew the Teen Titans wouldn't be far behind.

The characters I decided to make were a mix of my favorite versions of my favorite Teen Titans characters, so I don't know that this particular team in these particular costumes ever existed; but they do now. Started with the five sidekicks that were the core of the Teen Titans in the late 1960's, I also added in the four most important New Teen Titans, which became part of the team in the early 1980's.

Front Row: Aqualad, Flash, Nightwing, Wonder Girl, Speedy

Back Row: Cyborg, Raven, Starfire, Beast Boy

At some point, because I have obsessive compulsive tendencies, I'll probably make a more accurate Flash (Kid Flash) and a younger version of Dick Grayson as Robin instead of the older Nightwing. But for now, these are the Titans. These are the ones closest to my heart--when I think of the Teen Titans, these are the ones at the core.

And they're (usually) much better than the more recent version, these guys:

Miss Martian, Ravager, Wonder Girl, Robin, Superboy, Kid Devil

Muppet Batman: Catwoman and Penguin

2010-05-15T05:47:00.000-07:00

After an extended break due to a camera issue, we're back in business. The business of silliness, which doesn't pay much, but that's okay. After visiting the heroes of Gotham City, with Batman, Robin, Commissioner Gordon and Alfred, it's time to start looking at the villains. The first two include the simplest custom toy and the most complex: Miss Piggy as Catwoman and a Muppet Penguin as The Penguin.

Miss Piggy as Catwoman

Turning Piggy into Catwoman wasn't much more than a repaint. I added a few details with Sculpey to her head and legs to give her more of a mask and boots, but most of the figure was just stripping away her softer plastic dress and painting over it with black paint. I did have to decide which Catwoman to go with, and now that I've done this version, I may go back and do a "Vintage" Catwoman, which would really just be putting a green cape on the Miss Piggy action figure, since she's already wearing a purple dress. A small mask...anyway.

I gave Piggy some non-Catwoman details that were still in keeping with Miss Piggy, like some silver gloves and a silver belt, and I think she got the whip from an actual Catwoman action figure. I'm sure the catfight over it was epic.

The Penguin. Waugh!

Much more difficult was the Muppet Penguin as The Penguin, because at the time I made these, Palisades Toys hadn't made any Muppet Penguins yet. So it was up to me to sculpt one from scratch, and work in the Penguiny details of Batman's enemy. I really like the result, and the details like the top hat, the umbrella, the monocle and the cigarette in holder (don't smoke, kids!) ended up better than I expected them to. Penguins were always all over the place on The Muppet Show, so I was excited to be able to bring one to "life" with this little guy.

Note the oversized beak, making it clear that this is The Penguin, and not just a penguin.

Ready to take on Batman!

Next up: Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, and Poison Ivy! Same Bat-blog, same Muppet Channel!

But not Muppet Chanel. That would smell funky.

Toy Room Mural

2010-04-17T05:41:00.000-07:00

Six years ago we moved from apartment life into our first house. One of the things I wanted to do was have a toy room for our two sons that was fun and colorful. Our new home had a small bedroom with a low ceiling that we wouldn't be needing for something else, so we decided that it could be the Toy Room.

After several years of "Trading Spaces" with no creative outlet for painting on walls, I was pretty confident that I could just whip something up that would be worthy of a Toy Room. In my head, it would be a big branching tree on a hillside, with favorite children's characters all coming to visit and play with the boys. That's pretty much how it turned out, so I guess it worked okay.

R2-D2, Tutter, Winnie the Pooh, Marlon, Nemo and Dory, Poky Little Puppy

The collection of characters ended up being a mix of the ones that I loved when I was a pup and the ones that my older son was already getting into. I painted the mural when my older son was about three years old, and my younger son was about six months old. Between the two of them, they did end up loving most of the characters there--and still do. Originally I think my idea was that I would add new characters to it over time, but once the mural was finished, I haven't gone back.

Snoopy, Elmo, Kermit the Frog

If I had gone back and added characters, they would probably include the boys' new favorites, like Thomas the Train and WALL-E and Lightning McQueen and Batman and Robin and Darth Vader...but we'd get into some bloody carnage at some point. So maybe it's best that we stayed in the safely preschool area.

Curious George

One of the things I'm glad I did was that I made the leaves of the tree from stencils I made of the boys' hands. At first I thought I would just dip their hands in paint and use them like stamps all over the tree...I'm glad I had the stencil idea instead. As they've grown, they like comparing their bigger hands to their younger versions, and it's been a warm reminder to us that they won't be that size forever.

Slimy the Worm and Woodstock

Luna from "Bear in the Big Blue House"

Super Grover and Buzz Lightyear

The entire mural

My seven year old turns eight next week, and he was just looking over my shoulder and saying, "the Poky Little Puppy is still my favorite! Sometimes I still play with him in my imagination...but soon you're going to take that down." And he's right. Soon we're going to paint over it and make a new Toy Room for them. The new version will have framed pictures of old fashioned toys, and I'm thinking a painted grouping of Pixar characters on a canvas, so I won't have to paint over it again. It's been a good room. It'll still be a good room. But I think I'll miss the mural.

Lord of the Rings Fisher Price Little People

2010-04-12T20:53:00.001-07:00

I've never been the biggest fan of Lord of the Rings. I acknowledge what a masterpiece the books by J.R.R. Tolkien are, and even the film series, but I just never fell for them the way so many other people have. Some of my bestest friends are in love with Middle Earth, and I respect them for it...I just haven't maintained my own Hobbit-hole there.

Even though I'm not huge on the world or the characters, I figured with all these Hobbitses running around, and all the spare Fisher Price Little People running around my house, it was inevitable that I at least made some foray into Lord of the Rings. When I first started, I'm sure I figured I would make sets for all three movies, but so far, it's just been Fellowship of the Ring.

Frodo, Sam, Merry and Pippin

Gimli and Legolas

Saruman and Gandalf

Boromir, Aragorn, and Galadriel

The whole Middle Earth Gang. Watch out for tagging in Elvish.

Muppet Batman: Commissioner Gordon and Alfred

2010-04-07T05:50:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite Batman characters aren't superheroes or supervillains--they're the "civilians" that help Batman in his war on crime. The two most important, and long-time favorites of mine, are Commissioner Gordon and Alfred Pennyworth. Once I saw that Palisades Toys' Reporter Kermit came in a trenchcoat, and Rowlf in a tuxedo, it wasn't much of a jump to make two of Batman's greatest allies.

Kermit was a pretty easy makeover--a little white moustache made from Sculpey at the end of his nose (perhaps Salesman Grover sold it to him before selling him a moustache comb?), and that's it. I didn't repaint any of the rest of the figure, so he's a good enough Commissioner Gordon already.

I did make a little accessory for him from a broken Animal drumset and Muppet Show TV camera: the Batsignal. Because, as good a cop as Commissioner Gordon is, without the Batsignal, he's pretty much another cop in a deteriorating city bedeviled by costumed supervillains.

Commissioner Gordon ready to flip the switch, summoning Batman and Robin.

The Dynamic Duo--looks like Robin's getting a scolding. It's probably about the short shorts.

Rowlfred was even easier in some respects, because I didn't resculpt anything for him. The tux he was wearing was already perfect for Alfred Pennyworth's butlering, so I just painted the vest and pants a different color to make him a little more manservant and a little less grand pianist. I also put some gray in his fur to age him up a bit--Alfred's a nice surrogate father figure for Bruce Wayne. It helps if he's older. Maybe not Michael Caine old, but older.

Man's Best Friend and a Gentleman's Gentleman.

Cleaning the Batcave. There's probably some scolding here too. Guy can't catch a break.

Close up of those eye wrinkles and gray fur. He needs Just For Dogs.

The crime-fighting and Batcave-cleaning protectors of Gotham City.

Next up: the villains!

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Fisher Price Little People

2010-03-19T05:00:00.000-07:00

At some point post-SuperFriends and pre-X-Men, there was Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. The Saturday morning cartoon series starred Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar, all college students in New York City. I think somehow all three of them lived with Aunt May and "Miss Lion," a yappy little dog that Doctor Octopus should have crushed in the third episode.

I'm usually a DC Comics guy instead of Marvel Comics, but this was a fun cartoon that featured guest appearances from the X-Men, Fantastic Four, Hulk, and every other corner of the Marvel universe. If it were available on DVD, I'd buy it, watch the heck out of it, cringe at the shoddy animation, write reviews railing about how much it sucked, and return it disappointed to FYE for them to resell to the next nostalgic sucker.

Anyway. Here are some of the few Marvel Fisher Price Little People I've made. I'm surprised at how nicely Spider-Man came out. And Firestar's hair is awesome. Iceman...well, that was his design in the cartoon. He might need some work.

"Spider-friends, go for it!"

Yes, they said that.

LEGO Jawas

2010-03-17T04:44:00.000-07:00

Everyone who isn't a droid loves the Jawas. The dirty little hooded scavengers on Tatooine, they cruise around the sand dunes looking for lost and broken down droids, which they chop shop and resell to suckers eking out a living as moisture farmers.

But since they're played by little people, and say things like "UTINNI!" and have glowy eyes, they're adorable. A-freaking-dorable. And kind of dirty. And they probably smell like feet. In any case, they're an essential part of the Star Wars universe, but the only LEGO set they came with is the Sandcrawler, which cost approximately eleventy-billion dollars. So I never ended up with one, but still wanted some Jawas.

Me being the freak I am, I decided to make my own. Found some hoods, some brown LEGO bits and pieces, some paint, and before you know it, I've got five Jawas utinniing the place down. Turns out "utinni" is a bad thing. Disgusting creatures.

Five guys named Jawa.

With some droids they're gonna sell. If you buy them, Stormtroopers will probably kill you. But your adopted nephew will end up moving on to greater things. Like near-incest.

Muppet Batman and Robin

2010-03-14T10:34:00.000-07:00

For those of us who are obsessed with pop culture, there's not much sweeter than when those obsessions intersect. And if I have to force that intersection, so be it. A few years ago I had an abundance of time, and a friend at Palisades Toys sent me "extra" Muppet Show figures that had been damaged, were samples, or unsellable. So I had the chance to make way too many custom-made versions of my favorite characters.

Over the next few weeks, you'll see the denizens of Gotham City as you've never seen them before...unless you've seen them before. In any case, we'll start with the Dynamic Duo themselves, Batman and Robin.

I decided to "cast" the captain and scientist from the Pigs in Space sketches as Batman and Robin, so it's Link Hogthrob as the Dark Knight, and Julius Strangepork as the Boy Wonder. I used the Adam West/Burt Ward Batman and Robin as an inspiration, and I think they turned out pretty darn spiffy.

Link Hogthrob as Batman

His closeup...

Dr. Strangepork as Robin...with short shorts that make us all uncomfortable.

The Caped Crusaders, ready to defend Gotham City against any and all supervillains...until dinnertime.

Stay tuned for more Muppety Gotham City updates, including Commissioner Gordon, Alfred, Joker, Penguin, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze, Riddler, Mad Hatter, Two-Face, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, and Ra's Al Ghul!

Pork Chops

2010-03-06T17:10:00.000-08:00

Cartoons about a Fisher Price Family, and why that little boy is always so mad.

Rubber Duckie at Arches National Park

2010-03-01T04:20:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite places on the planet is right in my own backyard. Which, in the Western United States, means it's about three hours away. If you speed. Arches National Park is a beautiful, bizarre collection of sandstone arches and spires in Eastern Utah. I've been there several times, and we're hoping to take our sons there this spring. Here are a few pictures of Rubber Duckie among the red rock formations.

In the early morning, so there are weird shadows. And hands.

Much better. You get a good idea for how hot it can get there--this was in August, and the temperature was already nearing 90 degrees by 8 AM. But it's a "dry heat."

Cooling off beneath a double arch...

Contemplating gravity.

At Delicate Arch at sunset--one of my all-time favorite pictures, taken with a junky camera in 1998. I've got to get back there soon. I'll be sure Rubber Duckie is along for the ride.

Winnie the Pooh Fisher Price Little People

2010-02-27T15:25:00.000-08:00

I've been a fan of Winnie the Pooh since before I can remember. Some of the earliest pictures of me have me wearing Pooh Bear pajamas, and back when we listened to those little records and books that said "turn the page when the chimes ring," the Winnie the Pooh ones were some of my favorites.

As I got older, I learned to appreciate the original books by A.A. Milne, and I find them as charming as the Disney animated adaptations. When I was on a mission for the LDS Church in Germany, I read all of the Milne stories "auf deutsch" as a sort of language study, and whether it's in English or German, I love the words.

When I decided to make some Winnie the Pooh Fisher Price Little People, at first I was going to make them in the Disney style. Then I decided that making them in the "Classic Pooh" style of Ernest Shepard's illustrations would be more challenging, so I went down that road.

Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore

Tigger, Owl, Rabbit, Roo, and Kanga. And a blinding flash.

The whole Hundred Acre Wood Gang. They'll mess you up. And your Hunny.

Star Wars LEGO: Salacious Crumb and Bounty Hunters

2010-02-13T06:16:00.000-08:00

A few years ago, LEGO put out their first Jabba the Hutt sets. And while I think they did a nice job on The Corpulent One's design and sculpt, and some of his cronies like Bib Fortuna and the Gamorrean Guards turned out well, something was missing. Not Leia in a skimpy gold bikini--we got that too. What was missing was Salacious Crumb.

The cackling little "lizard monkey" was a part of so many scenes in Jabba's Palace that I couldn't overlook him. To make the tiny little guy, I took a round LEGO brick--a minifigure's head, actually--and added details made of Sculpey to make Salacious Crumb come to life. A beaked head, scrawny arms and tail, and then painted the rest of the details. He won't win any beauty contests, but he might be good at pulling Threepio's eye out of it's socket.

Bib Fortuna, Salacious Crumb, Jabba and Princess Leia

Another place that I wanted Star Wars LEGO to boost their numbers was with their Bounty Hunters. They made Boba Fett fairly early on in the Star Wars run, but where were the rest? I decided to make a few of my own. Bossk, IG-88 and Dengar were all seen briefly in The Empire Strikes Back, on their way to try and capture Han Solo. Bossk was made with a Sculpey head--the others with painted details. If I were to go back and redo them, I'd do them all a bit differently, but for now, they'll do. The fourth Bounty Hunter I made is Boussh--Princess Leia's disguise when she travels to Jabba's Palace, thaws Han Solo, and gets captured. I added Sculpey to a LEGO helmet, gave her an air tank backpack, and sent her on her way.

Since making these a few years ago, LEGO has produced their own Dengar and IG-88, although neither one really satisfies me. Bossk is coming later this summer as part of a new Slave I set (Boba Fett's spaceship), and the pictures I've seen look nice. One out of four ain't bad.

Boussh, Bossk, IG-88, Dengar

Beaker in Carbonite

2010-02-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

My favorite Star Wars movie is The Empire Strikes Back, and some of my favorite scenes from that involve Han Solo getting "frozen" in carbonite. To the point that when I was a pup, it wasn't unusual to find my mom's freezer stocked with Star Wars action figures that had all been frozen into little Kennersicles. It was usually up to R2-D2 to save them all, which he did surprisingly well. Especially after my mom was tired of pushing aside the heroes of the Rebellion to get the frozen corn. Priorities, woman!

I figured of all the Muppets to end up frozen in carbonite, it would probably be Beaker, once again proving that he's not paid nearly enough to be Dr. Bunsen Honeydew's lab assistant. So I took an extra Beaker figure I had lying around, got some Plaster of Paris, and encased that kid in carbonite. He should be quite well protected. If he survived the freezing process, that is.

Success!

Bunsen, undoubtedly explaining to Beaker how Beaker screwed up.

The longest "meep."

Addams Family Fisher Price Little People

2010-01-27T04:27:00.000-08:00

I must confess, I haven't ever seen much of the Addams Family television series. I first saw them on the "New Scooby-Doo Movies"...a series of hour-long Scooby-Doo episodes that had the Scooby gang solving crimes alongside media superstars like Don Knotts and Sandy Duncan. I guess the Addams Family gets haunted now and then too.

What made me really love the Addams Family was the movies starring the late Raul Julia and Angelica Huston. Macabre, morbid, but with a biting wit that I enjoyed. So I made a few Fisher Price Little People. And I know Fisher Price will never really make a set, but wow, it'd be a great playset. The mansion, with a cute little graveyard out back, a booming doorbell, some torture devices in the basement...it'd be the sweetest thing ever.

Until the Rocky Horror Picture Show playset came out. THAT would be amazing.

Pugsley, Wednesday, Lurch, Uncle Fester, Thing, Gomez, Morticia, and Cousin It.

X-Men LEGO

2010-01-25T05:16:00.000-08:00

When the second X-Men movie came out, I was loving Marvel's misbegotten mutants. I liked the actors, the characterization, the story and the designs for the movie. Not knowing that later X-3 would come along and screw everything up, I decided to make some LEGO toys that celebrated this great new (to me) bunch of superheroes. Most of my custom-made toys are part of the DC Comics universe (Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman etc.), but I figured I could spare a handful of LEGO dudes to make some muties.

A rare "behind the scenes" design sketch for the X-Men LEGO...

As I recall, at the time I didn't have a digital camera, so these pictures didn't turn out great. But they were good enough to get the collection sold on eBay when X-3 came out and I turned my back on the X-Men universe. Was that a mistake? Probably. But it was for something responsible, like diapers or medicine for a dying relative or more toys for myself. Something like that. Anyway, enjoy this look at X-Men LEGO.

Cyclops

Iceman

Jean Grey

Nightcrawler --love how he turned out. His tail is just a "twistie" that's been stripped down and then painted...his awesomeness surprised even me.

Wolverine (with his shirt on, much to my wife's dismay)

Rogue

Storm

Professor Charles Xavier

The X-Men Team (without the kids)

Oh yeah, the kids.

Magneto and Mystique

Muppet Octopus

2010-01-17T05:04:00.000-08:00

The Muppets have used octopus characters several times in their productions, dating all the way back to The Ed Sullivan Show. In fact, they've done at least three different versions of the Beatles' Octopus Garden, on Ed Sullivan, Sesame Street, and The Muppet Show. A Muppet Octopus or three also featured prominently in the James Coburn episode of The Muppet Show, so I figured that I might want to try my hand at making one from scratch to go with my Muppet action figures from Palisades Toys.

The process was relatively simple, because I was just making an octopus statue out of Sculpey polymer clay. You basically roll eight clay snakes, smush them together, paint it, and you get this:

Muppet Octopus: front view

Muppet Octopus: top view

Muppet Octopus: rear view

Muppet Octopus with Kermit the Frog, Gonzo, and Rizzo the Rat for scale.

I like how he turned out, but because he's made of baked clay and he's very tentacley, I'm sure he's going to smash into a million pieces one of these days. I haven't made very many of these "from scratch," and that's the biggest reason why. That and I need some sculpting lessons.

Anyway. Muppet Octopus. Who knew?

E.T. Fisher Price Little People

2010-01-16T08:10:00.000-08:00

This was one of the easiest little sets of Fisher Price Little People to make, partially because I figured you really only need two characters to tell the whole story. I wasn't going to make a little Drew Barrymore or anyone else for the set--I figured E.T. and Elliot pretty much do the job by themselves.

E.T. ended up being one of the Little People that I had to completely get rid of the head and start from scratch. So I gave him a squished Sculpey head that looked E.T.-ish enough. I tried to simulate his glowing "heart" with some pink and white paint. Elliot just ended up being a kid in a hoodie, so I hope no one was expecting something more than that. Now I just need a stupid little pot of geraniums, and they'll be good to go: a boy and his alien. It doesn't get sweeter than that.

Superman Family LEGO

2010-01-14T05:21:00.000-08:00

When LEGO started making Batman minifigures, vehicles and playsets a few years ago, I was hoping that it was just the beginning of a broader move into DC Comics' roster of characters. Like they'd start with Batman, move on to Superman, expand to the Justice League and Teen Titans...but alas, it was not to be. Last year marked the end of Batman LEGO sets for the time being, and it looks like they're not adding any other DC Comics characters anytime soon. So I had to do it for them.

I made Superman and about seven other Justice Leaguers all at the same time, and thought I'd be content with a little set of SuperFriends. But for some reason I'm missing the part of the emotion chip in my brain that says "it's okay to stop now," and I decided to keep going.

Not a bird or a plane.

For the record, I am more of a Batman fan than a Superman fan, but once I made the Man of Steel himself, I realized that sometimes he needed a little help from his own Superman Family. It includes his cousin Supergirl, his clone (sort of--that's up in the air right now) Superboy, his friend (please-don't-ever-watch-the-movie-with-Shaq) Steel, and Steel's niece and part-time superhero Natasha Irons. Oh yeah, and Superman's best friend, Krypto the Superdog. You've gotta have the Superdog.

Krypto, Superman, Supergirl, Superboy, Steel, Natasha Irons

In my LEGO dreams (which I do have, from time to time), they would have made things like a Fortress of Solitude playset, a Kent Farm, a Daily Planet Building, Lex Luthor's Lair...but instead, they pulled the plug. When I finish going completely insane, I'll have my revenge. Oh, yes. I'll have my sweet revenge.

Or I'll just make some more toys.

Muppet Mermaid Miss Piggy

2010-01-12T05:35:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one for today. I've been known to have an unnatural love for the Pig, so you'll end up seeing her butchered and reassembled in many ways on this blog. Miss Piggy has appeared as a mermaid at least once on The Muppet Show, in the episode with Mac Davis.

I think I made this version of Miss Piggy as a Mermaid before I saw that episode, so I just went with what worked for her. It turns out "what worked" was severing one leg, entombing the other one in a tail and fins made of Sculpey, and then layering iridescent wrapping paper over her tail for scales. Her gloves (gotta wear the gloves)(are there hooves under there?)(are these prostheses?) and tank toppy thing have swirls of blue and silver on them. For a swimming swing, she came out okay.

Gilligan's Island Fisher Price Little People

2010-01-10T06:00:00.001-08:00

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip...

I won't sing the whole song for you. But I could. I have. Even the closing credits "No phone! No lights! No motorcar, not a single luxury..." song. Ah, Gilligan's Island. Such a silly show, but one that's been a favorite of mine for decades. My first exposure to coconuts, to voodoo dolls, to Shakespeare, and World War II. I love Gilligan's Island. They were among the first sets of Fisher Price Little People I cobbled together, because, as with Scooby-Doo and some of the others, most of the people stranded on the island wore the same clothes every week. Sure, the Howells had all of their luggage, but Gilligan, the Skipper and Professor all had their same duds in every episode. I can only hope the Professor also built a laundromat out of coconuts to keep them staying fresh.

After I made these and they were on my first website (Quinnarama.com), Bob Denver's wife Dreama (her real name) came across them and e-mailed me, telling me she loved them, and that she was happy that Bob (Gilligan himself) had seen them too. So that was a small moment of greatness for me and my dumb little hobby. Gilligan giving you a compliment through his wife, sent through an e-mail a decade ago doesn't happen every day. Usually. Making these, I had some firsts, so some of them are more experimental than really polished. Things like giving the Skipper a paunch, which takes him out of the strict Fisher Price Little People mold, but I felt was essential to the character. I remember thinking that I wanted to find a small boat that I could blow a hole in the side of like the S.S. Minnow, but I never quite got around to it. That's fine. We all know they're stuck on the island. We don't need the wreckage to remind us.

Gilligan, The Skipper (Jonas Grumby) too.

The Millionaire (Thurston Howell III) and his Wife (Lovey Howell).

The Movie Star (Ginger Grant)

The Professor (Roy Hinkley) and Mary Ann (Summers)

Here on Gilligan's Isle!

Green Lantern LEGO

2010-01-03T05:44:00.001-08:00

Green Lantern has been one of my favorite superheroes since the days of SuperFriends back in the 1970's. The idea of a space cop who has a "magic ring" that can make anything he can conjure up in his imagination was exciting for me then and now. Over the years, the different stories and different versions of Green Lantern have all had their merits, and it seems like no matter what else is going on in the DC Universe, I've liked what was happening with Green Lantern.

Because the Green Lantern Corps isn't a single superhero, but a galactic police force, there have been a lot of Green Lanterns in the comic books and even on various television series. If you ask me who "Green Lantern" is, I'd say Hal Jordan. He was the one on Superfriends, and for several decades was really The Green Lantern. Asking my students at school, they'd say it's John Stewart, the African American GL who wore the ring on the recent Justice League cartoon. Someone a little older might say it's Kyle Rayner, who was GL for most of the 1990s, and if you asked someone who was an arrogant jerk (besides me, I mean) they'd say Guy Gardner. He's a jerk. And yet, he's still a Green Lantern.

Hal Jordan, John Stewart, Guy Gardner, and Kyle Rayner

When I took my break from making custom-made Fisher Price Little People, I still managed to move on to a new (and yet old) obsession, and that's making new LEGO Minifigures. Most of them come from DC Comics, and the Green Lantern Corps is no exception. Over recent years, many of these characters have undergone radical changes, so this is sort of a "best of" Green Lantern Corps.

This is my first version, before I added the ladies of the GLC; to Earth's GLs I added Kilowog (far left) a trainer in the Green Lantern Corps and one of my favorite comic book characters, period. Next to him is Tomar Re, one of the first alien Green Lanterns that Hal Jordan worked with. Front and center is Ganthet, a "Guardian" who bosses the Green Lanterns around.

This is my current Green Lantern Corps. With all of the changes in the comic books happening right now, I'll have to add to their ranks. I decided that the ladies of DC Comics needed to be better represented, so I added Arisia, an elf-like GL who's also cute as the day is long; Katma Tui, pink-skinned former lover of John Stewart and completely awesome in her own right; and Jade, daughter of the Golden Age Green Lantern, and very short-lived Green Lantern herself.

Will there be more? You bet. Will I also make the Red, Orange, Yellow, Blue, Indigo, Violet and Black Lanterns? Uh...I need more LEGO.

Scooby-Doo Fisher Price Little People

2010-01-02T06:15:00.000-08:00

Growing up, Scooby-Doo was one of my favorite cartoons. The original Scooby still is. Everything up until Scrappy-Doo came along was great. And really, even Scrappy was okay, it was just that he gave Fred, Daphne and Velma the boot so what had been Mystery, Inc. became Shaggy and two dogs. Which isn't nearly as entertaining. Or smart. Or scary.

I like the classic Scooby-Doo with the Mystery Machine and the Scooby Snax and even the random guest appearance by Sandy Duncan or Don Knotts or Mama Cass. Because who knows when you'll run into Mama Cass, right? Well, not now. But in the seventies, sure. And if she's running a haunted candy factory, all the better.

This set of Little People is just the five main characters as seen in the original Scooby-Doo series. Later on I'll show you some classic Scooby Villains I've made. Scrappy won't be among them.

Norville "Shaggy" Rogers and Scooby-Doo

Daphne Blake, Freddy Jones, and Velma Dinkley

The Mystery Machine--one of only two Fisher Price Little People vehicles I've customized from existing Fisher Price toys. The other one is the Batmobile. Personally, I think this ride is sweeter.

The whole Mystery Inc. gang. They're not like, a street gang. They used to the term "gang" more innocently back then. It was the seventies. A bunch of teenagers and a dog in a psychedelically-painted van wouldn't have caused any trouble in suburbia, right?

On their way to their next mystery...just waiting for the Mystery Machine to get a flat tire, run out of gas, or turn the wrong way down a Dead End. Zoinks!

December Poll Results!

2010-01-02T06:02:00.000-08:00

The first ever Quinnarama poll was a close one--for most of the month it was a three-way tie for who would become the next Fisher Price Little People. I liked all five of the choices for various reasons, but it looks like comedy won out over vampires and music and frakability and more vampires.

The winner is The Office! So you can expect to see those peeps as Little Peeps in about a month or so, depending on how quickly I scrounge up some new Fisher Price Little People. I haven't made any new Little People in about seven years, so I'm a little out of practice. But they'll be coming soon. -ish.

Here are the numbers for the last poll:

The Office 29%

Buffy the Vampire Slayer 28% (1 vote!)

The Beatles 23%

Battlestar Galactica 8%

Twilight 8%

Like I said, I do like all of those options, so I can see them being shuffled back into future polls. The poll for January has five options too, and chances are you'll like at least one of them. So be sure to vote, and tell friends to vote too. I don't know why you would, but it's all for a good cause. Mindless entertainment.

Fisher Price Little People Nativity

2009-12-24T05:15:00.000-08:00

I don't remember how long ago I made this Nativity Scene, but it's Fisher Price Little People in a Nativity Scene. Since making this, Fisher Price has made their own version with the new Little People, and it's durn cute. Still, I like this version. Enjoy!

Backdrop: a stable with an inn on the right, and the surprisingly lush hills of Judea on the left.

A blurry picture of Baby Jesus. In a manger. Which manger caused one of the few arguments between me and my wife. Because we'll fight over Sacred Farm Implements, but won't fight over things like bills and funeral arrangements.

Joseph, Mary, and Baby Jesus. You need to include the "Baby" part.

Two shepherds in from the Hills, and the biggest sheep you ever done seen.

Three Wise Men, including Mr. Hooper. And who's to say he wasn't? He was able to ease Bert and Ernie's pain on Christmas Eve with some paper clips and a rubber duck; he could bring the frankincense!

Three angels. But not Charlie's Angels. Although that's not a bad idea for an update...

The whole scene good to go. Can you hear the choirs singing? In your head? Out of your head?

Other visitors come to adore the babe, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Including Marge Simpson, Gilligan, a Sleestak, the Scarecrow (Wizard of Oz, not Batman Villain), the White Rabbit, Darth Maul, Bender, R2-D2, Batman and Bullwinkle. Everyone needs redemption. Even Sleestaks.

Merry Christmas!

Muppet Snowman

2009-12-24T04:58:00.000-08:00

In my opinion, the best Muppet merchandise to ever come out is the long-running series of action figures from Palisades Toys. They managed to make every major character from The Muppet Show in the span of a few years, and were able to make many minor ones as well. As always with an obsession, it wasn't enough for me, so I had to make others. Usually I'd take an existing action figure and make changes to it by cutting parts off, resculpting pieces out of Sculpey polymer clay, and then repainting the figure. A few times the new character's shape didn't fit an existing figure, so I'd try to make an entire figure from "scratch," out of Sculpey.

Is it cold enough out there for ya?

That's the case with this figure, a Muppet Snowman. He had a major part in the Muppet Family Christmas, where Fozzie Bear built him as the perfect comedy partner. He was funny, he made Fozzie funnier, and eventually ended up stealing some of Fozzie's thunder. Or snow. Or something. You can also see him for a split second in A Muppet Christmas Carol, when he dances a little jig during a verse of a song...up until his head falls off. Cute? Disturbing? Both?

I'd make a joke here about "snowballs," but that's too easy.

Really, he's a fairly simple figure, but I think he turned out well. Palisades would have done a better job with texture and durability, but for a little snowman made out of clay, I like him.

Snowman and Fozzie Bear, entertaining the troops. If the troops are penguins.

Merry Christmas!

LEGO: Gotham Allies

2009-12-19T06:43:00.001-08:00

When LEGO first announced they'd be coming out with Batman playsets, minifigures, and video games, I figured it was too good to be true. They made some great sets, many of Batman's worst villains, and some of his allies like Butler Alfred Pennyworth, Nightwing (the "old Robin") and the new Robin.

But it wasn't enough. The toy line only lasted two years, which wasn't enough time to make all of the characters that were demonizing and defending Gotham City, so I had to take matters into my own hands. The first ally I made was one of my favorites, Commissioner James Gordon. Commissioner Gordon has been Batman's closest friend since forever, manning the Bat-signal from atop police headquarters. How could LEGO not make him. My first attempt just had Jim in a bow tie and suspenders; he ended up looking like an old Jimmy Olsen more than Gotham's police chief. I also made his daughter, Barbara Gordon. She used to be Batgirl--after a run-in with the Joker left her paralyzed, she kept fighting crime as the computer genius Oracle. I need to make a better wheelchair for her, and that shirt she's wearing, which was supposed to be a kind of sexy look, is more muffintop than I expected. She'll get an upgrade someday.

Commissioner Gordon (v 1.0) and Oracle

So I updated Commissioner Gordon, giving him a long tie instead of a bowtie. I still like his moustache and glasses, so I left those alone. Ideally, he'd be wearing a trenchcoat, but since LEGO hasn't ever made one of those, and I don't want to restrict his movement too much, I'll keep him in shirtsleeves for now. Alongside him is the new Batgirl, Cassandra Cain. She's got a black cowl and facemask that entirely covers her face, so that part was easy; I gave her a more slinky utility belt and an updated Bat-logo, more like what she wears in the comics--a sort of hand-stitched looking costume.

Updated Commissioner Gordon with Batgirl

The final Bat-ally for now is Huntress, a more ruthless version of Batgirl who happens to be a school teacher during the day. Getting to take out her frustrations on punk kids by beating them after-hours sounds pretty good sometimes--no wonder she's so brutal. Her purple and black costume was pretty easy to make--simply a Severus Snape body from Harry Potter, with Dumbledore's purple cape. I added a large crucifix to her costume (a big part of the character at the time) and painted a mask on her li'l face. She turned out well, and I like her as an addition to the "set." There will be other additions to this set as I go on--new characters like Red Robin, Damian Wayne, and Misfit would all be easy enough to make. But this will do for now.

Huntress and Commissioner Gordon in front of Batman, Robin, and Nightwing

Fisher Price Cartoon: Family Dinner

2009-12-18T03:32:00.000-08:00

Cartoons about Fisher Price Little People and why that mad-faced boy is so mad.

Rubber Duckie in Germany 1993-94

2009-12-17T03:44:00.001-08:00

Getting launched out of a cannon near Heidelberg

For all of 1993 and 1994 I was living in Germany. It was an amazing time to be there, and I learned a lot about the German language, people and culture. I also learned a lot about my Rubber Duckie, and that he enjoys being put into pictures. He's always got a nice smile, doesn't blink when the flash goes off, and fits nicely into hands of statues, the mouths of cannons, and just otherwise makes the already scenic more scenic. I went back to Germany in 2008 and took Rubber Duckie with me again; there will be a "Rubber Duckie in Germany 2008" post someday.

With a lovely lady in the gardens of the palace in Karlsruhe

On the banks of the Rhine River...just before he fell in, and I had to go in after him. Stupid duck.

Perched on a curious statue in Marienplatz, beneath Heidelberg Castle.

Looking out from Burg Frankenstein, just outside of Darmstadt.

MAS*H Fisher Price Little People

2009-12-16T05:17:00.000-08:00

One of the ways I know I've been successful in capturing the feel of a television series or movie when I'm making Fisher Price Little People is that, as I'm nearing the completion of the characters, I'll get the theme music for that show in my head. Today, as I've been rephotographing the Little People set from M*A*S*H, I've got that song in my head. "Suicide is Painless" might be the most depressing lyrics for a sitcom, but M*A*S*H wasn't your typical sitcom. It was one that I didn't "get" as a child, but my parents loved--by the time it went off the air, I was just starting to understand both the humorous and tragic moments in that great series. It was a great show. And it's in syndication all over the place, so at least at certain times of day, you can't swing a dead cat without hitting a rerun.

Margaret, Hawkeye, BJ, Winchester

Because M*A*S*H ran for so long and had so many different characters, I decided to pick a time period and stick to it. So I aimed for shortly after Major Winchester arrived. Margaret was less ditzy, Radar was still around, Klinger was still wearing dresses now and then, and BJ had his moustache.

These were great characters, and I think I've done them justice with this set. My favorite details are often the simplest ones--for the M*A*S*H sets it's the dog tags you can see on Hawkeye, BJ and Radar. There's nothing printed on them--they're just rounded silver rectangles--but for me, they're what makes the figures work. That and the stubble on Klinger's face and legs.

Klinger, Col. Potter, Radar, Father Mulcahy

I can see myself revisiting M*A*S*H and making a set representing an earlier season--with Trapper, Col. Blake, and Frank Burns. All are excellent characters, and Col. Blake's Indiana sweater and fishing hat are just begging to be rendered in Quinnarama's Little People form. And then we'll probably need Klinger in a different outfit. Maybe Gone With the Wind. And Margaret in pigtails. And then a little signpost. And a set of them in surgery gear. And a little "Swamp" playset, complete with a little still...man. I have problems.

The whole 4077th. For now.

Rubber Duckie at the Beach

2009-12-15T04:02:00.001-08:00

For my 17th birthday, my little brother gave me a Rubber Duckie. He knew how much I love Sesame Street, and he since that moment, Rubber Duckie has gone with me on every trip I've been on. As a result, he's been to many places in North America and Europe that some of my own actual family members haven't been to, and I ended up with a habit of taking pictures of him in those places. This was before Flat Stanley or the Traveling Garden Gnome or some of the others. I have to assume they got the idea from me. Because I'm a superstar.

Rubber Duckie has been to a lot of places, but one thing that's pretty consistent with him is that he doesn't actually like the water. It probably goes back to an incident on the Rhine River when I almost lost the little guy--ever since, he hasn't really trusted water. Or me. He has nearly caused a few incidents, like when he was seen as a security threat in NYC, or when he made a security guard wet their pants in Washington DC, and I've gotten "the look" from several thousand people as I'm putting him into position near various landmarks. "The look" is basically, "what is that guy doing--oh. Oh. He has Special Needs. Don't stare, Beth--don't stare!"

These pictures are of Rubber Duckie on the beach at Del Mar, near San Diego. It's one of our favorite beach places to go as a family. We're about 800 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean, but if we were closer, we'd totally be beach people. In between the water, the sun, and the sand...we can't stay away. Even Rubber Duckie splashed around a little bit. But not too much.

Reflections of a Duck

Each time we go to the beach, we build at least one super-sized sandcastle...this was Rubber Duckie's.

A duck's home is his castle. Or in this case, his castle is his home. More soon!

Aquaman LEGO

2009-12-13T14:11:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a pup, I've loved Aquaman. Back then, he was part of Saturday morning's SuperFriends cartoon. He was alongside Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman and Robin as an equal, and even though that show went through many rosters over the course of a decade, Aquaman was always a team player.

His superpowers are that he breathes underwater (and on land), he's got super-strength developed from living underwater, and he can use his aquatic telepathy to talk to fish and command them to help out from time to time.

Aquaman's biggest problem seems to be that comic book and television writers don't know what to do with him. So even when he does make it onto the page or the screen, he loses some of that coolness that he has from his Atlantean heritage.

His other problem is common to many superheroes--even the Man of Steel. That's his villains. Where some superheroes like Spider-Man or Batman are blessed with Rogues Galleries that go on into the dozens, Aquaman has only ever had one that made it into the big leagues. And that's the Legion of Doom's own resident waterboy, Black Manta. With a voice like Darth Vader combined with a sucking drain, Manta was cool enough on the cartoon, and evil enough in the comic books that he killed Aquaman's son. Yes, Black Manta killed Aquababy. That's pretty low, Manta.

My favorite version of Aquaman is still the way he was on SuperFriends: the orange shirt and green tights, short blond hair and a big golden "A" on his belt. He's cheesy, he's superpowered, and he's happy. DC Comics has done a lot of things to the character, including severing his arm, transforming him into a monster, killing him, and having Mera leave him. It's a messy life, but for me that's just symptomatic of the problems that writers have with the character--not the weakness of the character itself.

I like these characters enough that they were some of the first DC Comics superheroes that I made as LEGO minifigures: Aquaman and Black Manta came first, then I went ahead and made Aquaman's sidekick Aqualad, and then his wife, Queen Mera. The three of them make a happy trio, and even though they're relegated to the sidelines any time Superman or Batman decide to come to the party, I still love 'em. And the seahorses they rode in on.

Like many DC Comics superheroes, Aquaman's base of operations was in a cave for many years; my sons and I made this Aquacave about a year ago, and kept it intact until Black Manta succeeded with his nefarious plot to capture a magical trident. Or maybe it was Dentyne. It didn't have sugar in it, whatever it was. Without the protection of that magical LEGO piece, the Aquacave was no more, but is still preserved in this beautiful photo, and now on the blog.

Long Live Aquaman!

Sesame Street Fisher Price Little People

2009-12-12T20:58:00.000-08:00

(Sesame Street Little People Playset, mid-1970s)

The Sesame Street Little People are to be blamed for my psychosis. I grew out of the Fisher Price Little People in the late seventies when I was supposed to, just like the other people in my Gen-X-ish cohort. We moved on to Star Wars figures and G.I. Joe and blowing things up with firecrackers and torturing ants and other wholesome activities. So I "grew up," started college, and went into the real world.

I was innocently working at my job at the newspaper in downtown Salt Lake City, when a friend named Janet brought in a handful of the old Sesame Street Fisher Price Little People to show me. I was known around the office for my love of Sesame Street and Muppets, and she just thought she'd show them to me. Well, at the time, being unattached and not having any children, and with eBay just hitting its stride, I decided I needed to Collect Them All. There was no big "twang" sound of something inside my brain snapping, no wide-eyed bloodlust across my youthful countenance...but something certainly changed that day.

In between eBay and a local swap meet with a startlingly scratchy-voiced woman who was very sweet, I started picking up Sesame Street and other Little People. And soon I had, indeed, collected them all. The Sesame Street Playset, which recreated the famous apartment building at 123 Sesame Street plus the courtyard, Hooper's Store, the Fix-It Shop and Big Bird's nest was mine. Produced more than thirty years ago, I still think it's the best representation of Sesame Street in toy form...someone needs to step up. Fisher Price? Hasbro? Anyone?

I also picked up the Sesame Street Clubhouse, which was never seen on the show, but has a lot of play features like a revolving door, tire swing, slide, and trapdoor. Plus scandalous grafitti, like "David Loves Maria" and "Bert Loves Pigeons" and "Cookie Monster for President." Coming out of the Nixon years, we would have elected pretty much anybody.

Ernie and Bert with updated stripes

Super Grover

Mr. Johnson and Waiter Grover (poor guy never got a decent meal...)

My old Little Bird (circa 1997) and my new Little Bird (circa this morning)

Grungetta, Oscar the Grouch, and Slimey the Worm

Of course the real appeal of these toys for me wasn't the buildings, but the Little People themselves. Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Grover, Count Von Count, Oscar the Grouch, Mr. Hooper, Gordon and Susan were all pretty easy to find...the more obscure ones, like Snuffleupagus, Roosevelt Franklin, Prairie Dawn, Sherlock Hemlock and Herry Monster all took more time and money. It's amazing today to think that Fisher Price even made those characters, but the seventies were a magical time. For everything but music. Anyway, back to the Little People. Within about two months of Janet showing me her collection, I had equaled it. It wasn't enough.

The Amazing Mumford, Barkley, Betty Lou, Farley, and Guy Smiley, with Lefty and Little Bird on the stairs.

Forgetful Jones, Telly, Count (with updated tux), "Yip-Yip" Martians, Kermit the Frog

This was roughly the same time the Tickle Me Elmo craze hit stores, and even though I wasn't Elmo's Number One Fan, I liked the little guy. So I made him. And then Zoe. And then Kermit the Frog and Telly and the Amazing Mumford and...a lot more. I tripled the number of the original Sesame Street Fisher Price Little People.

Rosita, Big Bird, Abby Cadabby, Elmo, Zoe, Baby Natasha, Baby Bear

This first foray into customizing Little People wouldn't stop for several years, and by the end of it, I had made over 700 Fisher Price Little People into my own creations. There was a bit of a learning curve, and in many ways the Sesame Street Little People I made were some of the worst. I hadn't ever used Sculpey or any other kind of modeling clay since elementary school, and I was learning how to sculpt at the same time I was learning to paint. So there are some pretty crude renditions of characters there. But I was having a great time doing it. Hopefully you'll enjoy seeing what else I've created; I've certainly had fun making them.

The whole Sesame Street Gang, with the exception of a few MIAs (Cookie Monster, Snuffleupagus, a few others). I blame children. They'll turn up. Right? You get bonus imaginary points if you spot the Twiddlebugs in that photo.

Why Fisher Price Little People?

2009-12-09T04:01:00.000-08:00

As obsessions go, I'd say butchering and reconstituting Fisher Price Little People is a pretty tame one. If bizarre. The real question is, why Fisher Price Little People? The easiest answer is because those are toys I grew up with. Produced from 1965 - 1990, chances are good that if you were a young child during that 25 year period, you grew up with them too. They were all over the place. Even if you yourself didn't own them, they'd be at your friend's house, or the babysitter's, or your grandma's.

The Fisher Price Little People line was one of the few ones that were fun for girls or boys to play with. Even though they were essentially little peg-shaped dolls with no arms or legs, they were our first entry into playing with toys and using our imagination. The Fisher Price Little People had castles and airports, houses and schools, and a big red barn that said "moo" when you opened the door. And it kept saying it over and over and over again when you kept opening the door.

I remember distinctly the playsets I had when I was a child: the schoolhouse, the blue and yellow house, the farm, the airplane...and those that I played with at friends' houses. I loved the castle, with its trapdoor, drawbridge and dungeon; the houseboat, which seemed unimaginably exotic to someone living in the mountains of Northern Utah; and of course, the Sesame Street set of apartment buildings, which I'll gush about in a separate post someday.

Even better than the playsets, I just liked the people. Their hollow pegs fit neatly onto your fingers, so you could wiggle them around like finger puppets (if you're into that), and their lack of moving parts meant they could take a trip to the sandbox or bathtub and come out in one piece. The figures seemed to be designed for both boys and girls, so while there were a lot of women and little girls in the line, there were also cowboys, Indians (one of the few that I can say has a "perturbed" face), firefighters and clowns. And sure, there weren't as many minorities as there would be in later Fisher Price Little People lines, but we were young and it was the seventies, and were just starting to figure all that stuff out. Racial diversity among my toys was the least of my problems. Although when they started singing "We Shall Overcome" in the toy box one day, I did stop jailing them for loitering.

These days, when I'm looking for new characters to make or trying to decide who's next on the chopping block, there's one family that's sacrosanct. I'll never alter this particular set of five characters:

Their names are simply Mom, Dad, Sally, Butch, and Lucky the Dog. They're some of the ones I had as a kid, and I think most people did--they came with sets like the house and the camper and other generic ones that it seemed like every house had. And for me, they're the very essence of Fisher Price Little People. They've got the four classic body shapes for the toys, the three hairpieces and the baseball cap, and all of the Fisher Price Little People I designed myself end up based on this simple design.

I've drawn comics with their adventures (they might show up on this blog)(If I get ambitious)(which is doubtful), I've had some of them on T-shirts and keychains, and the light switch in the room where I'm typing this even has Butch, the Mad-Faced Boy on it. When I thought about getting a pet dog as a kid, I wanted one like Lucky. With a plastic red collar, and ears that were eminently chewable. Always smiling, Lucky could even drive the family car or go to school with you if you wanted.

As a freckled kid who probably had a mood disorder, I identified with Butch. While everyone around him was smiling and happy, I bet Butch was consumed with worries of nuclear proliferation because he watched the Evening News With Dan Rather, and saw the chart showing the Soviet arsenal overshadowing ours, and wondering exactly why President Reagan was making the choices he was making. Still, he had his dog, and while he might not have been happy, he felt safe.

The Fisher Price Little People were a hallmark of my childhood. And although I have had hate mail from people who were horrified at my "destruction" of 744 Little People to make new ones, I really do chop them up and make new characters out of love and respect for what I consider to be one of the greatest toy lines of all time. Long live the Fisher Price Little People.

Quinnarama: The Next Generation

2009-12-05T19:18:00.000-08:00

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I briefly had a website, Quinnarama.com. It was before blogging and building websites is as easy as it is now, and thus Quinnarama was pretty bad. I liked the content though, basically just sets of my customized Fisher Price Little People, some cartoons and sketches. Sometime around 2002-2003, I forgot to renew the domain name, and someone in the Dominican Republic (!) sniped it. With me finishing my university work, working full time, and with two babies in the house, I decided...rather unwillingly...to put the toys on hold. Now that I'm done with school, the boys are a little bit older, and my wife wants me out of her hair, I'll be reincarnating Quinnarama.com here.

The Fisher Price Little People are where the site started, and that will be a big part of this blog. I've taken around 740 of the classic peg-shaped Little People and turned them into my favorite characters from books, movies, and television shows, marrying an obsession with toys to an obsession with media.

At its most basic, I'm taking the plastic Little People like this:

And turning them into something like this:

Max, Gilligan, and Spider-Man are all part of bigger sets of characters, and most of the Fisher Price Little People I've made are parts of "families" of characters. I'm sure I'll rhapsodize about that at some point. Right now, it's sufficient to say that there's more on the way. Much, much more. Too much, in fact.

After exhausting a supply of Little People, Sculpey polymer compound and acrylic paints, I turned to Palisades Toys line of Muppet action figures. There are around 100 of those that I've butchered to varying degrees, and those will show up here too. Things like taking Kermit the Frog and turning him into Kermit the Borg... Yes, it's sick and wrong, and many people have accused me of being a little too much like the neighbor kid on Toy Story who did things like putting a pterodactyl head on his sister's rag doll. Well, if I had a rag doll and a pterodactyl, I can think of worse things to do. So maybe I am like that kid. I hope I'm a little more constructive than destructive, but sometimes it takes a little pain to make things work.

And then of course, there's LEGO. Always LEGO. Those have mostly become characters from DC Comics and Star Wars, but there are a few that defy all description. I'll describe those later. For now, here's Flash, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman. In front of the Invisible Jet.

I don't know if I'll be adding other things to this site beyond the toys, but I've needed a creative outlet for some time now. I've slowed down on making the toys, but I still sketch a lot of ideas for future sets, and might post the sketches here too. I realize it's not great artwork, but it's a fun hobby that friends ask me about from time to time. Hopefully as I continue posting things, I'll be able to get feedback from people and see if there will be a new burst of creativity that comes as a result of all this...Goodness knows I don't have the time, but OCDs rarely ask if you've got the time for a new obsession.

I hope you enjoy visiting Quinnarama, and return often. You never know what kind of insanity you'll get next.

Quinnarama

Bear in the Big Blue House Fisher Price Little People

Custom Action Figures of the 1990s...

My and My Fisher Price Little People on TV

Rubber Duckie in Washington DC (2011)

"The Muppets" Fisher Price Little People

The Muppets (2011)

LEGO Star Trek

Doctor Who Fisher Price Little People

LEGO Death Eaters

Toy Story LEGO: Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head

He-Man Fisher Price Little People

Rubber Duckie in Denver

Muppet Carrot

A-Team Fisher Price Little People

LEGO Batman Villains

Rubber Duckie at Bryce Canyon National Park

Thundercats Fisher Price Little People

Muppet Batman: Joker and Harley Quinn

Muppet Batman Sketchbook

Quinnarama Baby Namer

Muppet Batman: Mad Hatter, Riddler, Ra's Al Ghul, Scarecrow

Muppet Batman: Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Mr. Freeze

LEGO Teen Titans

Muppet Batman: Catwoman and Penguin

Toy Room Mural

Lord of the Rings Fisher Price Little People

Muppet Batman: Commissioner Gordon and Alfred

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends Fisher Price Little People

LEGO Jawas

Muppet Batman and Robin

Pork Chops

Rubber Duckie at Arches National Park

Winnie the Pooh Fisher Price Little People

Star Wars LEGO: Salacious Crumb and Bounty Hunters

Beaker in Carbonite

Addams Family Fisher Price Little People

X-Men LEGO

Muppet Octopus

E.T. Fisher Price Little People

Superman Family LEGO

Muppet Mermaid Miss Piggy

Gilligan's Island Fisher Price Little People

Green Lantern LEGO

Scooby-Doo Fisher Price Little People

December Poll Results!

Fisher Price Little People Nativity

Muppet Snowman

LEGO: Gotham Allies

Fisher Price Cartoon: Family Dinner

Rubber Duckie in Germany 1993-94

M*A*S*H Fisher Price Little People

Rubber Duckie at the Beach

Aquaman LEGO

Sesame Street Fisher Price Little People

Why Fisher Price Little People?

Quinnarama: The Next Generation

MAS*H Fisher Price Little People