LEGO Star Trek

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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!