LEGO Teen Titans

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.