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

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

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

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!