G. I. Joe Fisher Price Little People

I never had any GI Joe action figure when I was a kid. I was very much a Star Wars kid, so my action figures were all Kenner, all the time. But I loved the GI Joe cartoon, up until about the time they brought in Sgt Slaughter and Serpentor and all those other characters. So really, probably only the first two seasons of the cartoon or something.

Still, GI Joe was fun. Stalwart heroes, ridiculous villains, and a nice moral at the end of each episode, so you could overlook all the guns-a-blazin' over the previous 24 minutes. This is one of those shows that, once I started making Fisher Price Little People versions, I wouldn't stop, so I decided to stick to three heroes and three villains:

Duke, Scarlett, Snake Eyes; Cobra Commander, Destro, Baroness

I like how they turned out, although Destro's collar isn't quite right; Scarlett does have a long ponytail not in view in that particular picture. Anyway. I made them. So now you know. And knowing is half the something-something.

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.

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.

A-Team Fisher Price Little People

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.