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.

Muppet Snowman

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!