tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-335055982024-03-20T03:21:49.568-04:00PVMan!Presenting childhood memories and adult obsessions of action figures and related toys from the 60s and 70s. Also delves into the art of customizing action figures to create one-of-a-kind figures the toy makers didn't think of or didn't get around to making.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.comBlogger133125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-68235118389869086852014-04-09T08:00:00.000-04:002014-04-09T10:04:48.852-04:00Rebuilding a Muscle Body GI Joe - Part Two<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJEdIyZ-oP-D4YYmSsk90O8yTRaztW_dVmlPmba5U3D6Qvm86G0LIO_Z3z5RHKpENPhENstqrWpRCAzGAYpqTxNiLElX6a71lSjXMYR-2ZQZH5e6jn0SfHuAuMp5bn_3YNvAuhHg/s1600/joequorum.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJEdIyZ-oP-D4YYmSsk90O8yTRaztW_dVmlPmba5U3D6Qvm86G0LIO_Z3z5RHKpENPhENstqrWpRCAzGAYpqTxNiLElX6a71lSjXMYR-2ZQZH5e6jn0SfHuAuMp5bn_3YNvAuhHg/s1600/joequorum.jpg" height="262" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adventure Team meeting in progress!</td></tr>
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In the previous post, I talked about stumbling onto some muscle body GI Joes in my brother-in-law's storage locker. The action figures had suffered the same fate as so many muscle body Joes: the rubber skeleton inside the figure that held all the parts together had rotted away and the arms, legs, and head fell off the body. Since I had always wanted some muscle body Joes for my collection, I thought I could rebuild the figures with the help of some careful Internet searches. Trouble was, there was very little available online for the do-it-yourself rebuilder, so I decided to come up with my own way of rebuilding my Joes. The following is a step-by-step explanation of what I did to make my talking GI Joe Commander whole again. Only time will tell if my repairs will hold up, so I make no promises that this is the best way to go, but if you want to rebuild a muscle body Joe and have no other ideas on how to go about it, I offer my solutions as food for thought. <a href="http://polyvinylman.blogspot.com/2014/04/rebuilding-muscle-body-gi-joe-part-one.html">If you did not read the first part of this post, you may want to go back and read about my thought process for these repairs.</a> Okay, here goes:<br />
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1) I'm assuming that, like my Joe, your Joe has completely fallen apart. Therefore, let's start by separating the front body piece from the back body piece. To do that, insert a thin screwdriver into the seam between the two sections. The upper arm socket is a good place to start since there is a hole there. Gently work your way along the seam to the neck, wiggling the screwdriver a bit to widen the gap between the two halves. Go slow and don't use too much force or you'll break the body parts. It may take a few passes around the body seam to fully pry it open. Once you get one side partially open, you may also want to place a screwdriver in that side to hold it open while you work on the other side. Eventually, the pins will work loose from the holes they are seated in. With luck, the pins will not break but, in all likelihood, most if not all the pins may break. Don't panic as we will be gluing the whole thing back together with modeling glue.<br />
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3) You'll want to use this same technique to pry apart the upper arm sections and the upper leg sections. Remove any leftover rubber bits and lay the pieces on your work table where they will need to go (e.g., upper right arm sections on the upper right hand side of the body, head stalk and head at the top, etc.). You want the work table to look like an exploded drawing of your Joe. That way, you know where the parts are supposed to go back together.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUl5518YxKYkWHTB28r1Bd7S_4VH2O5iLOkgYyJUdp7vv8sIh3thDTFzXttJgO1Mvm2aX908hZ3Xoit5mmmPSq0BWXpwQ7fEGm7tP_VXBAn8x3bm5W7n8o3vqfeflMACYFjZ-1mg/s1600/explodedjoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUl5518YxKYkWHTB28r1Bd7S_4VH2O5iLOkgYyJUdp7vv8sIh3thDTFzXttJgO1Mvm2aX908hZ3Xoit5mmmPSq0BWXpwQ7fEGm7tP_VXBAn8x3bm5W7n8o3vqfeflMACYFjZ-1mg/s1600/explodedjoe.jpg" height="272" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muscle body GI Joe with body section opened.</td></tr>
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2) Once you have the two body halves apart, you can get a view of the inner workings. You will likely have bits of dried rubber inside. Carefully remove the excess rubber. Also, if you are working with a talking Joe, the talking mechanism will be in the body. The mechanism has some foam rubber attached to protect the mechanism. If it is dry rotted, delicately remove the old foam and replace it with new foam that has a sticky side. I used some insulation foam from another household project. Cut it to the size and shape of the old foam and stick it to the mechanism in the appropriate spots. Lift out the mechanism and set it aside for now.<br />
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3) With the top of the body removed, you can also see how the legs were attached. In my case, the remnants of the rubber skeleton were visible in Joe's speedo shorts. A loop of rubber still clung to the large peg in his abdomen. Remove the excess rubber bits.<br />
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4) The upper leg sections should have a semi-circular cap inside. This sat just above the rubber half-ball part of the rubber skeleton. Since we will be using shock cord to string the legs to the torso, we'll need to create a plastic ball to replace the rubber half-ball. To do this, place some <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Polymorph-Modelling-Thermoplastic-Guarantee/dp/B00CAL4BRU">plastic modeling pellets</a> in warm water. When they have softened, remove the blob of melted pellets and begin to shape them into a ball that will sit underneath the semi-circular cap. Once you have the ball at the right size, take a wooden skewer or some other thin, pointed rod and work it through the center of the ball. This will create the hole that the shock cord will pass through. It should only be just big enough for the cord to slide through. Once you have finished creating the ball, see how it fits under the disc and within the thigh pieces. If it's too big, you won't be able to close the two upper leg sections together when you reassemble it. Repeat the process for the other side.<br />
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5) Set the balls and caps aside. Now we will concentrate on the knee pegs. The knee pegs from an original GI Joe will work for the muscle body Joe with some adjustments (replacement pegs can be obtained from <a href="http://www.gijoeelite.com/f_itemPart.asp?strPart=GIEX-P">Cotswold Collectibles</a>). There's a peg and slot arrangement the two halves of the upper leg sections. If you bore out the hole in the vinyl knee peg a little bit, you should be able to fit the peg onto the slot on one half of the upper leg. To check the fit, snap the two thigh pieces together and see how the peg moves. The hole in the top of the calf piece will be too big to receive the knee peg. To make the fit tight, I put some of the soft plastic pellet material into the calf hole and jammed the knee peg into it. The plastic pellet material will fill up the excess space and form a custom hole for the peg. You may have to cut away some excess material that might ooze out the top. With the pegs fitted to size, open up the thigh pieces and set aside. Repeat the process on the other thigh.<br />
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6) You can attach the feet to the calf pieces by using a wrist peg from an original Joe. Cut the original rivet out of the foot with needle nose pliers. If you do not have pliers that are small enough, you can use a small saw but be extremely careful not to cut up the foot. With the old rivet removed, line up the wrist peg with the loop inside the opening in the top of the foot. Insert a new rivet (3/32" X 7/16") in the hole on the foot from the small toe side of the foot so that it captures the loop of the peg. Rest the head of the peg on a hard surface and place a center punch inside the tube end of the rivet. Strike carefully with a hammer. The feet might move around loosely, but they will attach to the hole in the bottom of the calf.<br />
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7) Okay, this is where it gets a little dodgy. Start with an ten-inch length of shock cord. Wrap it around the long pin in the lower abdomen of the figure, then tie a tight knot in the center, leaving equal lengths of cord on either side of the knot. Run the lengths of cord through the leg holes of the speedo shorts. Place the outer half of the right thigh into the leg hole of the shorts and let it lay flat on the table with the length of cord laying inside the piece.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_qHwywL5cWEtUvWovlghwptMWDA0S40-Q2Qh5czzMxkGB1Sj7d8w-3x2B2mfZf6d1gz0p-0BQgd1pCGo1Hvk5wP0dEaX7u386nKAHrIORsiNCViDy3fHkRWqUyZUZi3GJE_xKA/s1600/joeabdomen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjp_qHwywL5cWEtUvWovlghwptMWDA0S40-Q2Qh5czzMxkGB1Sj7d8w-3x2B2mfZf6d1gz0p-0BQgd1pCGo1Hvk5wP0dEaX7u386nKAHrIORsiNCViDy3fHkRWqUyZUZi3GJE_xKA/s1600/joeabdomen.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of abdomen with shock cord tied around the large peg. The cord runs through both sides of hip sockets into the semi-circular plastic caps and my custom balls that I made. The taut cord is secured with metal end crimps used in jewelry making. Note how the left thigh section fits over the cap and ball.</td></tr>
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Thread the semi-circular plastic cap onto the cord, followed by your custom-made plastic ball. Push the two pieces up to the top of the thigh and pull the shock cord taut. While holding everything tightly in place, slide a crimp end onto the cord and up to the bottom of the ball. Then crimp the crimp end with a crimping tool (you might need an extra set of hands to pull this off). When you release the cord, everything should be held tightly in the upper part of the thigh piece. Cut off any excess cord. Be sure that the knee peg is still on the slot in the other thigh segment and glue the inner thigh piece to the outer thigh piece with modeling glue. The cord and ball arrangement, along with the knee peg, should now be securely contained between the two upper leg segments. Repeat the same process with the left thigh.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUJAQ8e9WqnxU0et0tVoaicfM4fZ15AgZBep9bdoUH9atKye5KGuMbOqKPL9ofNWlBoqMUC3mJQSTVg8c3EO1Z_mYhl_7ASHdZE4HUFsgD7URe9YeSmhvDZIFhnj4q168I7_w3Gg/s1600/joethighs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUJAQ8e9WqnxU0et0tVoaicfM4fZ15AgZBep9bdoUH9atKye5KGuMbOqKPL9ofNWlBoqMUC3mJQSTVg8c3EO1Z_mYhl_7ASHdZE4HUFsgD7URe9YeSmhvDZIFhnj4q168I7_w3Gg/s1600/joethighs.jpg" height="172" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another view of the leg repair.</td></tr>
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8) When you have finished step 7, the thighs should be attached to the body tautly, but with some twisting movement for poseability. The knee peg which we attached earlier should be held in place by the two halves of the thigh and ready to receive the calf and foot. With legs assembled, we can move on to the top of the figure.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlbzP-yWkaOM4TyPRnVbReoHqxBvbzOvVcU_QJiH3wXEbjvKeTbXhM3N9MbNeat5w5TYQAqpKAFAhKR6j8G-oF0FqaMTIOY_pC0XkdWgs2-VBHrFh_kzY_k8i13yzF3p6Rpob_Q/s1600/repairkit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPlbzP-yWkaOM4TyPRnVbReoHqxBvbzOvVcU_QJiH3wXEbjvKeTbXhM3N9MbNeat5w5TYQAqpKAFAhKR6j8G-oF0FqaMTIOY_pC0XkdWgs2-VBHrFh_kzY_k8i13yzF3p6Rpob_Q/s1600/repairkit.jpg" height="372" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The upper body repair kit from Cotswold Collectibles. The "T" shaped joints fit into the shoulders, the joints with the balls on one end attach the upper arm to the forearm, and the length of elastic cord is used to attach the head plug to the body.</td></tr>
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9) With the figure laying flat on your work table, Take one of the "T" shaped shoulder joints from your repair kit and place it in the upper left arm segment so that the top of the "T" is nestled in the appropriate slot. The disc side of the joint will be fitted into the body later.<br />
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10) Remove the rivets from the elbow area of the forearms using the same technique as we used on the feet. Take the elbow joint from the repair kit and place the disc side into the slot of the forearm. Slide a new rivet through the hole in the slot starting from the thumb side. Position the head side of the rivet against the table and tap the tube side with a center punch the same way as was done on the feet.<br />
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11) Set the ball side of the elbow joint into the bottom part of the upper arm. With the two joints in place, glue the top half of the upper arm to the bottom half with modeling glue. Repeat the same process for the right arm.<br />
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12) If you are not rebuilding a talking GI Joe, you can skip this step. For those who are, this is when you return the talking mechanism to the chest cavity. In my case, the mechanism was not working, so I replaced the speaker with a new one from <a href="http://www.gijoeelite.com/f_itemPart.asp?strPart=GIEA-79S">Cotswold Collectibles</a>. Simply remove the old speaker and put in the new one, making sure that the indentation in the center of the speaker is facing out toward you. Set the talking mechanism back into the chest on top of the speaker. Thread the pull cord through the grommit in the shoulder and tie the cord to GI Joe's dog tags.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8unRiCDxUmjVRPGWQJtnF-lsoaSgZ0cupV15j_F89YYoBb6GBuhY5VSIUXGOpRmFFoKG7pJwI_JyHKMHGiEeRRxO2bFMnYXXktdX2uebCup2SI4P7WoB2t5ORSl55Vq02iVyA3A/s1600/joeupperbody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8unRiCDxUmjVRPGWQJtnF-lsoaSgZ0cupV15j_F89YYoBb6GBuhY5VSIUXGOpRmFFoKG7pJwI_JyHKMHGiEeRRxO2bFMnYXXktdX2uebCup2SI4P7WoB2t5ORSl55Vq02iVyA3A/s1600/joeupperbody.jpg" height="310" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Upper body with talking mechanism in place. The new speaker is underneath the mechanism. Note the shoulder pegs installed in the upper arms, the elbow pegs are in place and connected to the forearm, and the elastic cord is in place to receive the head plug.</td></tr>
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13) We now move on to the head. Take the head plug shock cord from the repair kit and slide the eyelet end over the retaining pin closest to the neck opening in the bottom body section. Set the arms in place with the disc part of the shoulder joint set in the arm socket hole. At this point, you can glue the top half of the body section to the bottom half. Be careful to keep the head plug cord, shoulder joints, and talking mechanism in their proper places as you seal up the body. You don't want to have to crack open the body again once its glued down.<br />
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14) Once the body is glued together and the glue has fully dried, you can reattach the head plug and head. You will likely need to heat the head with a hair dryer to remove the head plug. Once you have heated the head, use a pair of needle nosed pliers to grip the head plug and pull down until the plug is removed. Thread the head plug cord through the head plug and pull the cord through the top. While holding the elastic cord taut, slide on the brass piece of tubing provided in the repair kit and crimp it to the top of the plug with a wire crimper. Cut away the excess elastic. Reheat the head with the hair dryer and slide the head over the plug.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZTpyKT7VQRN8lHMsg_qAcJrXZSl8r6gNTi-RJxHWv3k0bCAr0UQj06eZ2auDWjQLIjTLpi8pQ0re2iYquXSxCZvCynS4sCM25lFWfaaDSS8De2erg6gK7jN2JYUbvWGMX4pTUKg/s1600/joeassembled.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZTpyKT7VQRN8lHMsg_qAcJrXZSl8r6gNTi-RJxHWv3k0bCAr0UQj06eZ2auDWjQLIjTLpi8pQ0re2iYquXSxCZvCynS4sCM25lFWfaaDSS8De2erg6gK7jN2JYUbvWGMX4pTUKg/s1600/joeassembled.jpg" height="221" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muscle Body Talking GI Joe Commander is fully assembled. </td></tr>
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At this point, you can breathe again: your muscle body Joe is fully assembled! While I can't guarantee that this repair will be strong enough to hold up to a full day on the playground with a 10-year-old, it should be sturdy enough so that a middle-aged man can dress him up in some vintage Joe duds and put him on display with the help of a doll stand.<br />
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<i>"C'mon, the Adventure Team is needed!"</i>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-56398697770358249772014-04-08T08:00:00.000-04:002014-04-08T08:00:04.671-04:00Rebuilding a Muscle Body GI Joe - Part One<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8kd1SQdzWti3ZbALrC7-tPU8IESNW4jAiXbdOt1RhWxvGMyGLQBQMi3xtmSrEpkAeIgzqD1xQ5Js8wIInBRqiqx2pOjDtRMjwS2oQx-p0ICebNCuOU2SuKIH2vABfLfIlF181g/s1600/origvsmusclebody.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO8kd1SQdzWti3ZbALrC7-tPU8IESNW4jAiXbdOt1RhWxvGMyGLQBQMi3xtmSrEpkAeIgzqD1xQ5Js8wIInBRqiqx2pOjDtRMjwS2oQx-p0ICebNCuOU2SuKIH2vABfLfIlF181g/s1600/origvsmusclebody.jpg" height="338" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Original body GI Joe compared to "Life Like" Muscle Body GI Joe</td></tr>
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When I started collecting action figures in the late 90s, my goal was to not only acquire all the figures I owned as a kid, but to find the ones I wanted but never had. The "life like" or muscle body GI Joes from 1976 were among those figures that I just missed owning. While I liked the beefier looking bodies, I wasn't crazy about the whole trend that Joe was taking at the time with Bullet Man and the Alien Intruders, so I decided to focus on <i>Star Trek</i> and <i>Space: 1999 </i>figures instead. By the time I was back into full collecting mode at the turn of the new century, most muscle body Joes could only be found as a pile of limbs and heads, thanks to the cost-saving measures Hasbro took in making these figures. It seems that, with the cost of plastic rising due to the oil embargo, Hasbro had to come up with a way to make the big 11 ½" Joes cheaper to produce. Their solution was to make his body and most of the limbs out of hard plastic shell pieces that could be glued together like a model airplane. To attach the various limbs to the body and one another, the inside of the figure had what I can only describe as a rubber skeleton that held the arms and legs to the body and allowed the limbs to twist and bend. Sadly, after a dozen years or so, the rubber skeleton would dry rot and the figure would simply fall apart.<br />
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Given the small number of muscle body Joes made in the US (only one year of production) and the scarcity of ones that were still intact, the prices were usually more than I wanted to pay. Then last year, while I was helping my brother-in-law clean out a storage locker, I found a G.I. Joe playset filled with muscle body Joes along with a Mike Powers, Atomic Man. Of course, the muscle body figures had fallen to pieces, but all the pieces were still in the playset. Since my brother-in-law had no interest in them anymore, I was glad to take them home and try to rebuild them. This storage locker find took some of the pressure off me. I didn't have to pay for the figures on top of whatever it would cost to rebuild them and, if I damaged them in the process, it was better than if they had been thrown away.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ9C66mzaz9cgfEzmex_WCF4eFsrB4VCnnQkiC6M1xth_sr-kkeagen1fk_fF7D9Zm8HFLrChHpZcwOuLLy56Mtg7Lr8ao19sK-vfkjykSq3YHtyatJATaY3QO4hP5bqq87aXd8w/s1600/storagefind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ9C66mzaz9cgfEzmex_WCF4eFsrB4VCnnQkiC6M1xth_sr-kkeagen1fk_fF7D9Zm8HFLrChHpZcwOuLLy56Mtg7Lr8ao19sK-vfkjykSq3YHtyatJATaY3QO4hP5bqq87aXd8w/s1600/storagefind.jpg" height="263" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The playset and GI Joes found in my brother-in-law's storage locker. Of course, this is after they were repaired and cleaned up.</td></tr>
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I started researching how to rebuild muscle body Joes and, to my surprise, there was not a whole lot of information available. There were people who would rebuild them for a fee, but no instructions on the web for do-it-yourselfers. I did find a repair kit from <a href="http://www.gijoeelite.com/f_itemPart.asp?strPart=GIEA-79R">Cotswold Collectibles</a> which was designed to rebuild the top half of the figure. Specifically, the kit provides a thick shock cord to reattach the head to the body, special shoulder joints to reattach the upper arms, and elbow joints to connect the upper and lower arm pieces. The kit is a variation on the pieces that were used for the old Talking GI Joe Commander figure. Since the talking Joes had the talking device inside the body cavity, the head and legs could not be attached to the body with shock cord and hook-in-eye hardware like the regular Joes, so a new system of joints were used. Why the muscle body Joes didn't use a similar arrangement as the old talking Joes is unclear, but it works for them all the same.<br />
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Since my African-American Joe still had legs attached, I decided to use the repair kit on him first. The instructions provided with the kit were well detailed and the repair was faster and simpler than I anticipated. About one hour of work and I could display the figure in my case. The muscle body talking Joe was another matter altogether. Since I could not find any repair solutions for the legs online, I had to come up with a solution on my own. That meant taking the body completely apart and assessing how the thing was put together originally.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXxqpROwfc0opKz_GuXP4gdjcswjSwYg5pKtxl3Viw_WIiQFXBZbJ4oFLYzl_AtAPyOj3h4k5nCbtAQ7lk2cA-8119v3_fywmiRNwu9RrQ4bI-msIky60uU7Hv3WXZkN75iSuTA/s1600/explodedjoe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsXxqpROwfc0opKz_GuXP4gdjcswjSwYg5pKtxl3Viw_WIiQFXBZbJ4oFLYzl_AtAPyOj3h4k5nCbtAQ7lk2cA-8119v3_fywmiRNwu9RrQ4bI-msIky60uU7Hv3WXZkN75iSuTA/s1600/explodedjoe.jpg" height="272" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My muscle body talking GI Joe with the detached arms, legs, and head. I opened the body section and the left thigh to figure out how the guy was put together. Note: the foam rubber in the left shoulder is a replacement piece since the original piece disintegrated.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The rubber skeleton which held the legs to the torso started with a loop around a post in the lower part of the body. Two lengths of rubber extended from the loop, each length running down to the legs. When I pulled apart the two plastic shells that were glued together to create the thigh, I discovered that the rubber line that extended into the thigh grew into a rubber half-ball. This half-ball was nestled in a plastic cap at the top of the thigh. This is what kept the thigh firmly attached against the hip socket. A length of rubber continued from the bottom of the half-ball to the knee. Here the rubber was formed into a small loop which was designed to receive a pin inside the plastic shell. The solid plastic calf piece also connected to this pin. Actually, the calf piece is not completely solid as it has a hole down the center to receive the rest of the rubber skeleton. The rubber finally terminated in a loop. This loop would hold a rivet joining the foot to the bottom of the calf piece.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnNl9ii1gYjHd90TqqbjzgTHtpzttKiu07WBDZ0PM9q2MWjw6SxhrYwxG1w2KqK0fl09LWZy4sWFQa2MGz1F6fKdy7HfGhE_sziFzTQ0SZReAWR2AziMVqfiSza1aa3WzMnaQ2fA/s1600/rubberthigh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnNl9ii1gYjHd90TqqbjzgTHtpzttKiu07WBDZ0PM9q2MWjw6SxhrYwxG1w2KqK0fl09LWZy4sWFQa2MGz1F6fKdy7HfGhE_sziFzTQ0SZReAWR2AziMVqfiSza1aa3WzMnaQ2fA/s1600/rubberthigh.jpg" height="117" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The semi-circular cap and rubber skeleton inside the thigh. The cap sat on top of the semi-circle of rubber, and the long piece (now dry rotted and broken) ran down the thigh to the knee joint.</td></tr>
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So, in effect, a single, custom-made rubber skeleton held the thighs, calves, and feet of the figure to the torso. My challenge was to find a way to replace that skeleton with parts I could buy or manufacture myself. I started with the easiest part first: attaching the feet, calves, and thighs together. On the original GI Joes, these parts were connected with metal rivets and vinyl pegs (in other words, parts that were actually designed to last for a long time). I decided to see if replacement Joe pegs could do the job, so I bought some pegs of different sizes from Cotswold Collectibles. I tried various combinations, but none of the pegs fit exactly right. I decided to let that problem simmer for awhile and moved onto the hip socket.<br />
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On the original Joes, the thighs were made of solid poly-vinyl plastic and were attached to the hip sockets using metal hook-in-eye hardware. The necessary tension was provided by a thick shock cord inside the body that also held the arms and head. Shock cord could be the answer here, but since the head and arms would be attached using the repair kit, the shock cord would only be used in the lower part of the body and had to be attached in a way that would create proper tension between the socket and the thigh. I went back to the rubber skeleton for inspiration.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCc6fu8CVwdxklp2Qtv3lyXejZW437xjV_n8zfECFaYdpSYE7qsnzgdh4u91LjJ7p7dLWeH5lbAfTjOKuEj3G8H1pbuKdHyeFbUV7JuthiG3mbfhxHqRGUGB0YNLJTp8-nzVTOlg/s1600/legjoint1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCc6fu8CVwdxklp2Qtv3lyXejZW437xjV_n8zfECFaYdpSYE7qsnzgdh4u91LjJ7p7dLWeH5lbAfTjOKuEj3G8H1pbuKdHyeFbUV7JuthiG3mbfhxHqRGUGB0YNLJTp8-nzVTOlg/s1600/legjoint1.jpg" height="216" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A view of the rubber loop that wrapped around the pin in the abdomen. The rubber skeleton (shown above) continued down into the thighs and legs. Unfortunately, I can only show you everything in pieces because the rubber dry rotted and crumbled apart.</td></tr>
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The top of the skeleton had a loop around a pin inside the body. The shock cord could be tied around the pin and the two lengths of cord extending from the knot would go into the thighs. The rubber skeleton had a half-ball shape formed in it to hold the thigh in the socket. Perhaps I could create a ball of the same size with a hole in the middle through which I could run the shock cord. I would pull the cord tight and clamp it to the underside of the ball with a crimped clasp. That sounded good in theory, but where would the parts come from?<br />
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For the ball, I started looking at beads in craft stores. Nothing seemed to be exactly the right size. Also, the holes in the beads were so small, I would have to find shock cord that might be too thin to do the job. My wife suggested that I could make the balls myself using <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Plastic-Polymorph-Modelling-Thermoplastic-Guarantee/dp/B00CAL4BRU">plastic modeling pellets</a>. I was not aware of the product, but she ordered me some. The stuff is exactly like it sounds: little plastic beads that become soft and pliable when dropped in warm water. Once they are soft, you can pull them from the water and mold them like modeling clay into whatever shape you like. You have to work fast though, since they harden in the cool air. If you don't get it right before the stuff hardens, however, you can drop the plastic back into warm water and start again.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_6FBqiKIz8iQgq8JiY_Q7uZ4_VP4bwdDFIxoiXc3yQLxoBVrQ6l7-7CnxyZNQL4KYc9ENSpUBK0BMfDkqMfauAQI18Ni_l9PMT5JI-nqGe-ikygMWIk5MwJz9t3cRjKk5O9l-w/s1600/legjoint2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgR_6FBqiKIz8iQgq8JiY_Q7uZ4_VP4bwdDFIxoiXc3yQLxoBVrQ6l7-7CnxyZNQL4KYc9ENSpUBK0BMfDkqMfauAQI18Ni_l9PMT5JI-nqGe-ikygMWIk5MwJz9t3cRjKk5O9l-w/s1600/legjoint2.jpg" height="233" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another view of the abdomen and thigh. I would custom make plastic balls to replace the semi-circle of rubber holding the cap in the hip socket and replace the rest of the rubber with shock cord.</td></tr>
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With a product to make the ball, I had to find the right shock cord. Shock cord comes in all sizes. I wanted cord that was thick enough to hold up to the tension I needed, but thin enough to tie in a knot inside the body and thread through a ball that would fit inside Joe's thigh. I settled on 3/32" thick shock cord that is sold for repairing camping tents. Once I had the shock cord, I molded my plastic balls and created holes in them that were just big enough to accept the cord. Now I needed clasps small enough to fit in the thigh but big and thick enough to hold the shock cord taut for many years to come. This proved to be the most time consuming search. I settled on some end crimps used for jewelry making that I picked up at a craft store. Not perfect, but they would do the job.<br />
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With all the pieces in place, I could now reassemble my muscle body GI Joe. In part two, I will go through the step-by-step process of rebuilding a muscle body talking GI Joe Commander.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-36720441230731221032011-04-22T08:00:00.001-04:002011-04-22T08:00:00.321-04:00Easter Weekend 40 Years AgoWith Easter approaching, I've become nostalgic over my favorite Easter weekend which occurred 40 years ago. In fact, Easter 1971 is the only Easter I can remember with any clarity. Many Christmases are emblazoned on my cranium, but for some reason, I don't remember much about Easters past except one.<br />
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The holiday break from school that year started on Good Friday. I was in first grade and not yet familiar with the predictable ebb and flow of school vacations, so this 10-day escape from reading and arithmetic was a real treat. I was also jazzed because this would be the day I got my new kitty cat. Our last cat, a ginger tabby named Sassy, had been hit by a car a couple months earlier and, since our dog Patty was not the most exciting pet in the world, I was eager to get a new cat. A lady around the corner had a female cat who had just delivered a litter, but we had to wait six weeks for the kittens to be weened. To a six-year-old, that's like a decade. Almost everyday, I nagged my mother about getting the new cat, but she patiently told me we had to wait. Well, Good Friday was the day!<br />
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When we got to the lady's house, she had her cat and the kittens out on the front lawn. Several kids and their mothers were already there to nab a kitten for themselves. They were all gray tabbies, which meant they all looked basically alike. I noticed, however, that one of the females had some orange running through its fur and an orange streak across her belly. She was special, so that was the one I chose.<br />
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She was such a tiny thing, I marveled at how dwarfed she was by the furniture as she scampered across the living room carpet. My mom was more concerned about how the cat and the dog would get along, but the little kitten walked right up to Patty who was snoozing in the kitchen and rubbed herself against the dog's muzzle. Patty looked up at us as if to say, "Do I have to put up with this?" Yes, she did.<br />
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Since the kitten was born in March, my mom said we should call her "Windy." Of course, that eventually evolved into Wendy, and she lived for over 18 years. I was well into adulthood before the old girl finally had had enough.<br />
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The weekend also stood out in my mind because it was the premiere weekend for the first independent television channel in Baltimore, WBFF-TV 45. It's hard to believe that there was once a time when you only had three or four TV channels to choose from. In 1971, Baltimore had the three network affiliates and a public television station. An independent channel opened up a whole new world of television options, mainly syndicated kid shows and old black-and-white movies, but that was pretty exciting in 1971.<br />
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The main attraction for me, of course, were the kid shows. Suddenly, I was exposed to all manner of Japanese fare (Astro Boy, Marine Boy, Ultra-Man, and Speed Racer), along with the Supermarionation fun from Gerry Anderson's Century 21 Productions (Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet). There was also a lot of old stuff I had never seen before like The Three Stooges, The Little Rascals, and Ruff and Reddy (I still have the theme song stuck in my head). All this juvenile goodness was brought to us courtesy of Channel 45's new kiddie show host, Captain Chesapeake. Here was his intro:<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bgO_GR7UtQ8" title="YouTube video player" width="480"></iframe><br />
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After running teaser shows Friday and Saturday, WBFF-TV officially began broadcasting on Easter morning. I remember turning the TV on first thing so I could watch the new (to me) programming while I dug into my Easter basket. And this year was really special because, in addition to the candy and eggs that we had dyed a few days earlier with Paas egg dyes, my mom included some small toys for my brother and I. The ones that stand out the most in my mind were the Wizzer tops from Mattel. Wizzer tops had been around for a couple of years by then, but these new tops were shaped like soda cans. I got the Seven-Up can version while my brother got the Coca-Cola can. Below is a picture of the box it came in:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0GgqBkDyg0ziSUuxzrlvMnrsFR4UAJV24ahGYJiGLe_zudxhl_b8cVEh0fq4jMaT_az1cSzsp9CsVl8w-SL0fm1pfcEH9c14MMibZp_uSvcGhTRP-AbDEEduXC3YZAKx2c9Z3w/s1600/cokewizzer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp0GgqBkDyg0ziSUuxzrlvMnrsFR4UAJV24ahGYJiGLe_zudxhl_b8cVEh0fq4jMaT_az1cSzsp9CsVl8w-SL0fm1pfcEH9c14MMibZp_uSvcGhTRP-AbDEEduXC3YZAKx2c9Z3w/s320/cokewizzer.jpg" width="241" /></a></div>As you can see by the picture on the box, what made Wizzer tops special was that, unlike a regular top where you had to wind a string around it and pull the string off really fast to get the top to spin, Wizzer tops had a rubber tip on the bottom that you rolled along the ground really fast to get the tip spinning. Then you set it on the floor and let it fly. Great stuff for a six-year-old.<br />
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Of course, all good things must come to an end (at least temporarily), and we had to go to church for Easter service. Mom crammed me into one of my brother's hand-me-down suits, snapped the clip-on tie to my collar, and off we went. Church was always dead boring for me, so I just studied everyone in the church, wondering how old they were or how much they weighed or if that sinister looking guy was a criminal. Fortunately, it was only an hour and I could get back home to my half-eaten bunny and my top.<br />
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The weather was unusually warm for Baltimore in April, and I recall us going to a nearby park in the afternoon. I enjoyed being in the warm sun and swinging on the swings, but I really wanted to get back home so I could watch Ultra-Man. The next day, I woke up and turned on WBFF-TV right away to see what they were showing. Unfortunately, it was a test pattern. They wouldn't start their weekday programming until three in the afternoon when Captain Chesapeake would begin. Oh well, can't all be gravy.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8ketIxZ4CzuCNh68ya66aJYF6fywBJeglk8jNEyDSED8fVdpcIFVKhHTSudYd2ssNjnrjKs1zKEp4PqE6gi-pb3DZUmcIsn7wBksQ2CvYJDNgHZKI0TBM9qO2ucd8Z_D_gnhrQ/s1600/frankencountchoc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk8ketIxZ4CzuCNh68ya66aJYF6fywBJeglk8jNEyDSED8fVdpcIFVKhHTSudYd2ssNjnrjKs1zKEp4PqE6gi-pb3DZUmcIsn7wBksQ2CvYJDNgHZKI0TBM9qO2ucd8Z_D_gnhrQ/s1600/frankencountchoc.jpg" /></a></div>At least my mom got us some new breakfast cereal we had seen on TV: Count Chocula and Frankenberry. The commercials were so much fun, the cereal had to taste great, right? Nope. Even to my underdeveloped palate, the fake chocolate flavoring on the Count Chocula was really horrible, like stale Nestle's Quik. The strawberry flavor on the Frankenberry was better, but there was just something crappy about it. I kinda regretted asking for it. Now I was stuck eating both boxes or risk the ire of my mom.<br />
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Despite the cereal fiasco, the rest of the week was so much fun. Easter break was a new experience for me, so I guess the newness of it made it so special. Once I was back in school, I could see light at the end of the tunnel. First grade would be over in about eight weeks. That wasn't much longer than the time it took to get a new kitty cat. If I could survive that wait, I could make it to summer. The rhythms of life were beginning to dawn on me.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-7928941547245045692011-04-20T10:31:00.000-04:002011-04-20T10:31:45.257-04:00Elisabeth Sladen Dies at 63<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdt7xYNb0ZHv6wqOAQS3vt82TBBxnQrtHpYW1z22GSGO7ugO6PJiJyFYBOx7sVheBHWVOBviD0iNt3QoH9awHQiX-1vsok2JXo8ib1dkpWrYvGLMdMU0gAseKlWCr8MfnFrOBbCw/s1600/Sarah+Jane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdt7xYNb0ZHv6wqOAQS3vt82TBBxnQrtHpYW1z22GSGO7ugO6PJiJyFYBOx7sVheBHWVOBviD0iNt3QoH9awHQiX-1vsok2JXo8ib1dkpWrYvGLMdMU0gAseKlWCr8MfnFrOBbCw/s1600/Sarah+Jane.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I was crushed to read the news this morning that<a href="http://www.hitfix.com/articles/doctor-who-star-elisabeth-sladen-dies-at-63"> Elisabeth Sladen, best known as Sarah Jane Smith from Doctor Who, has died at age 63</a>. Doctor Who became a favorite of mine even before the show was aired in the United States. In 1977, I found a copy of <i>The Making of Doctor Who</i> in my local comic book store and read about this remarkable show which was a pop culture fixture in the UK but barely known about in the states. Since Elisabeth Sladen was the Doctor's companion at the time the book was written, it was full of photographs and references to Sarah Jane Smith. My little 13-year-old heart was instantly captivated by the brunette with the the big smile.<br />
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Intrigued by this initial taste of Dr. Who, I told the comic store owner to be on the look out for any more Dr. Who material he might come across. I also scoured comic shows for the numerous novel adaptations of the show. Soon, I had a pile of Dr. Who novels, magazines, and annuals before I ever watched a single episode of the show, and I was particularly interested in anything related to Sarah Jane.<br />
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In the fall of 1979, the first four seasons of the Tom Baker era were broadcast in the United States and most of those episodes featured Elisabeth Sladen as his companion. Now I was really smitten. She had a certain playfulness which worked well with Tom Baker's naughty boy approach to the Doctor. It was as if she was the understanding elementary school teacher to her precocious student. Most of the other Dr. Who companions were simply there to follow orders and ask the questions that the audience might be thinking as the story unfolded. Sarah Jane seemed to have a more equal partnership with Tom Baker's Doctor, at least on an emotional level. She was the first companion, in my opinion, whom you actually thought could have a serious relationship with him.<br />
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I was sad to see her run on the show end. None of the companions after her measured up. I also found it interesting to see her first season on the show with Jon Pertwee when those older episodes were made available in the late 80s. The previous companion, Jo Grant (played by Katy Manning), was perfectly suited to Jon Pertwee's style while Sladen's Sarah Jane was far too independent and cheeky to mesh with the fatherly Pertwee. They didn't have any chemistry at all. It's a good thing Pertwee left after her first season or I suspect Sarah Jane would not have hung around the Tardis for quite as long.<br />
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My crush on Elisabeth Sladen was long forgotten when I saw her appear once again as Sarah Jane in the new Dr. Who. It didn't take long, however, for those fond feelings to return. I thought the new team did a wonderful job of fleshing out Sarah Jane's character and exploring all those emotional bonds she had with the Doctor which the original series never dared touch on. It was a great episode and I thought how fun it would be to see her come back in a new series. Apparently, the BBC felt the same way and introduced <i>The Sarah Jane Adventures</i> the following year. Aimed primarily at children, I was less than thrilled with the results, but it was nice to see her back on TV.<br />
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Just a few days ago, I watched <i>Genesis of the Daleks</i> on DVD and listened to the audio commentary featuring Tom Baker, director David Maloney, and Elisabeth Sladen. I couldn't help but laugh at her child-like enthusiasm for everything that was happening in the story. While Tom Baker said very little, only chiming in occasion to make a well-timed witticism, Sladen rattled off constant details about the production and seemed to be able to name everyone, including the extras. It was so much fun to have her in my home, so to speak. And now she's gone. I lament that I will never hear her cry out "Doctor! Doctor!" ever again.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-4190041948802588642011-02-02T11:03:00.000-05:002011-02-02T11:03:49.401-05:00The Space Race that Never WasThe other day, I was watching Gerry Anderson's 1969 movie <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064519/">Journey to the Far Side of the Sun</a></i>, and I found myself dozing off during the middle part of the film. It starts off well enough with some spy plot which is never fully explained, and the last third of the movie introduces an intriguing concept, but the middle is totally devoted to the development of a manned space flight to a planet on the other side of the sun. We see astronauts training, a giant rocket being built, and pudgy, sweating bureaucrats huffing about the cost and international politics. It's painfully slow and could never be done in a modern movie, but it illustrates how strong the fascination was with space exploration during the 1960s.<br />
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Having just missed space-mania (I turned 5 years old when Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon), I was always fascinated by the residual artifacts of this period which were still around during the 1970s. One of the names that surfaces fairly frequently was Willy Ley (1906-1969). Ley spent much of his adult life popularizing the idea of space exploration. He wrote several books on rocketry and outer space, first in Germany and later in the U.S. It was during the 50s and 60s, when he teamed with such people as Wernher Von Braun and artist Chesley Bonestell on books about space, that a popular public image of space travel was created.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgX9S1FT-TkdiMtqgfQF80xG6AwbnDiIPKhAX1FVajsLfTzyfEdL5lDuhp8YNpXFLhGUsZfc8jUUJYPmI7YmpKENdj4zoJI1O9SJWHnSXwlZ6NDZoj-giso_OkinctSyIFQl7jiw/s1600/moonship1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgX9S1FT-TkdiMtqgfQF80xG6AwbnDiIPKhAX1FVajsLfTzyfEdL5lDuhp8YNpXFLhGUsZfc8jUUJYPmI7YmpKENdj4zoJI1O9SJWHnSXwlZ6NDZoj-giso_OkinctSyIFQl7jiw/s320/moonship1.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The spaceships that these men envisioned were sometimes sleek and aerodynamic, other times clunky and utilitarian, but all were imaginative and fun. During the late 50s, Ley worked with the Monogram model company to create a series of conceptual space vehicle models. I was not aware of these models until they were re-released by Monogram in the late 1990s. Just getting back into model building after a long hiatus, the sight of these model kits on the hobby shop shelves took me back to those days of my childhood when I was teased by the images in Ley's books.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeijREofBJa2Va5BDZmfSRloIASR1EB6zSfVjx7vKQefNL1_46fBcpbAwJh8PDVh6o5hBQBqp9rp6sPyOmvN7QJaZNbfbWmmm1que2wUefAD7kxpGMkR1uEyXOGnH-RYn02dxz4g/s1600/moonship2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeijREofBJa2Va5BDZmfSRloIASR1EB6zSfVjx7vKQefNL1_46fBcpbAwJh8PDVh6o5hBQBqp9rp6sPyOmvN7QJaZNbfbWmmm1que2wUefAD7kxpGMkR1uEyXOGnH-RYn02dxz4g/s320/moonship2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The first of these models that I built was the Space Taxi. I assume the purpose of the vehicle was to shuttle people and provisions to space stations or even the moon. It's an awkward sort of thing, but it has a certain charm. My favorite part of the design was having the wire tethers for the astronauts so they appear to be hanging in freefall.<br />
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The second Willy Ley model I built was called the Passenger Rocket. I don't have it anymore because it was destroyed when I moved from my old house to my current home, but it was a chunky red ship similar to Thunderbird 2 from the show <i>Thunderbirds. </i>A smaller, streamlined ship looking like a 50s-style jet fighter rides piggyback on top of the larger craft. According to the illustration on the box, the larger ship was designed to carry the smaller ship out of Earth's atmosphere and launch it once it was in space.<br />
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The variety of designs showed that Willy Ley put a great deal of thought into what an extraterrestrial society would need to function, and the fantasy that such a thriving community could exist within our solar system is exciting to ponder. I'm sure in the 1950s, with the start of the space program, it also seemed within reach.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2aUpEC7XfD4wRLbdTCKZ80n8iwubg3J232C7bP8ESdlSgHUwm0KmQuEDJkAJT7U_vd2LqZA6ZkzRN49C27idWc3oOIRgSj4i_sap2Hf6QlkhFcIOF-z-cUM1Y711x0_O81HBCeA/s1600/marsprobe1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2aUpEC7XfD4wRLbdTCKZ80n8iwubg3J232C7bP8ESdlSgHUwm0KmQuEDJkAJT7U_vd2LqZA6ZkzRN49C27idWc3oOIRgSj4i_sap2Hf6QlkhFcIOF-z-cUM1Y711x0_O81HBCeA/s320/marsprobe1.jpg" width="189" /></a></div><br />
As a teenager, long before I even knew of the Willy Ley models, I stumbled onto a spaceship model called Mars Probe. It's origins are unclear to me. It certainly was not tied into any merchandising campaign for a movie or TV show. However, the look of the craft is reminiscent of the ships Willy Ley and Chesley Bonestell envisioned. Based on what we know about the requirements for a manned flight to Mars, this rocket looks completely impractical, but it looks way cooler than the Lunar Module or the Space Shuttle.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Fn1RMpkoLex8LiYyMZL4DkXUMHdS_ktwLPAQnscKDxjmA9HAlhwWBW_FHGHgmgOhJatWAHanhWeDWP6EnOYHw4O_iHP61smIwhDJOzkuB0NqlKqNiI_xnZ2rywSOJvzVSsXnSA/s1600/apollo271.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-Fn1RMpkoLex8LiYyMZL4DkXUMHdS_ktwLPAQnscKDxjmA9HAlhwWBW_FHGHgmgOhJatWAHanhWeDWP6EnOYHw4O_iHP61smIwhDJOzkuB0NqlKqNiI_xnZ2rywSOJvzVSsXnSA/s320/apollo271.jpg" width="192" /></a></div><br />
More recently, while browsing through a hobby shop, I came across a curiosity called Apollo 27. Put out by Pegasus Hobbies, the model appears to be a fantasy vision of where NASA could have gone had they not stopped with Apollo 17. The copy on the side of the model box conjures up the hyperbolic language of the early space race: <i>Blast off into the unknown and explore the furthest reaches of the Cosmos with the new Apollo 27 Rocket! Designed to safely transport its two man crew to wherever their mission takes them, it also provides then with an all around view was never been available to the other astronauts who traveled before them. Hyper-dynamo-tension rocket engines give the Apollo 27 an acceleration rate that staggers the mind, and yet completely protects the crew from the massive amount of G's that would normally crush them! This makes far journeys possible in just a few short months, not decades. Mars is just a hop away now!</i><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGPaahQ86Y_vK8F2mttjRZMQqEu4PR3HWZ1Avk3SCQ5k5fI5DwcgGe_ki8y64AJeNv6ZN71L-uSw_bYEpjys5jnJESRCGdLtxyFm5DEoWEHlPo1KscBvZWzVxvUykSfFTuCNxFw/s1600/a27%2526marsprobe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaGPaahQ86Y_vK8F2mttjRZMQqEu4PR3HWZ1Avk3SCQ5k5fI5DwcgGe_ki8y64AJeNv6ZN71L-uSw_bYEpjys5jnJESRCGdLtxyFm5DEoWEHlPo1KscBvZWzVxvUykSfFTuCNxFw/s320/a27%2526marsprobe.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>I get a chill from that sort of thing! It's the kind of "why not?" enthusiasm that faded away after the Apollo astronauts hit a couple of golf balls around the lunar surface. With the end of the Apollo program and the appearance of <i>Star Wars</i> a few years later, space adventure shifted from what could actually happen to pure fantasy in a galaxy far, far away. The general public doesn't cares about making it a reality anymore. In a way, space exploration seems just as distant to us now as it did to the early readers of science fiction pulps almost a century ago. It makes me sad.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWO-gcLAK448eHwWz40aNDZk0nrKafhKdz5wcsiBVLaajYL87I9IQlqUscgFhcIrYYtBfRfHZ8bdMGzlCmRv3-OCv_UXFMsAdx4c7GmBKEoesXTv_GMz5pLYomhhlZIIPoZK0Djw/s1600/a27%2526marsprobe2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWO-gcLAK448eHwWz40aNDZk0nrKafhKdz5wcsiBVLaajYL87I9IQlqUscgFhcIrYYtBfRfHZ8bdMGzlCmRv3-OCv_UXFMsAdx4c7GmBKEoesXTv_GMz5pLYomhhlZIIPoZK0Djw/s320/a27%2526marsprobe2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-14598779321590596932010-02-01T12:46:00.004-05:002010-02-05T13:22:03.746-05:00Sci-Fi Drought After Star WarsPop culture history implies that the popularity of the first <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars </span>movie opened the floodgates for all things science fiction during the late 70s and early 80s. While it's true that science fiction and fantasy became an economically viable genre after <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span>, the truth of the matter was that Hollywood was caught completely off guard by the wild success of the film. It took almost two years for the studios to pump out anything close to that level of production quality.<br /><br />I was a pre-teen kid who became a science fiction junkie long before <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span> ever arrived, so I was used to scrounging around for any movies, comics, or TV shows that might feed my sci-fi fix. Unfortunately, before <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span>, there was damn little and what there was around was of damn poor quality. Outside of <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek, Forbidden Planet</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">2001: A Space Odyssey</span>, the rest was pretty terrible. After <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span>, I was rubbing my hands together in anticipation, now certain that I would have more science fiction movies and TV shows to watch than I could handle. It was a frustrating wait, though, and I spent most of the time grasping at whatever rare bits of space fantasy I could find.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/timmytimecover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 378px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/timmytimecover.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>One early bit of science fiction that I found oddly intriguing came along in July 1977. While I was in a convenience store with my dad, I noticed a comic book on the spinner rack titled <span style="font-style: italic;">Richie Rich Meets Timmy Time</span>. I was not much of a Harvey Comics fan at the time, but because the comic had a science fiction theme, I had to have it. In those days, my dad was in real estate and I would often drive around with him as he ran various errands (e.g., dropping off a contract, picking up a contract, putting a "for sale" sign in a yard, etc.). Anyway, my dad stopped off at a house to do some business and I sat in the car reading my new comic. I can still remember sitting in my dad's 1973 Mazda RX-3 with the windows down. The sultry night air blew through the cabin and an ad played on the radio for the movie <span style="font-style: italic;">Kingdom of the Spiders </span>starring William Shatner.<br /><br />The comic starts out with Richie Rich and his friend Gloria playing on one of his private beaches when he thinks he discovers gold. Out of thin air, Timmy Time and his robot companion Traveler appear. Timmy wears a space suit and has prematurely white hair while Traveler looks like a vertically stretched green fedora with arms. The "gold" that Richie discovered is actually a mineral known as igneous tholerine and is used to power space ships in the far off year of 2019. Timmy goes on to explain that his robot can help him travel through time, which is how they came to end up in 1977. To illustrate his point, Traveler takes Timmy, Richie, and Gloria to 1883 just as Krakatoa is erupting. Fortunately, Traveler can also put a force field around them to protect the gang from the lava. Returning back to present day 1977, Timmy and Traveler relate their origin.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/timmytimeinside.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 351px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/timmytimeinside.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Here we meet Timmy's dad who is the captain of a space ship. The ship is about to be bombarded with meteors, so the crew gets into the escape pod, only to be struck directly by a meteor. Timmy decides the only way to protect the escape pod is to fly back to the main ship in a space suit and put the ship directly in the path of the meteors. As soon as he reaches the ship, another meteor tears through the hull (although it apparently does not suck out all the air). From the meteor emerges Traveler who almost immediately whisks Timmy away even before we can learn why he was trapped in a meteor to begin with. Traveler takes Timmy back to caveman days where we're treated to some friendly hi-jinks with some dim-witted cavemen. They then return to the space ship at the same time when they left so Timmy can do exactly what Timmy set out to do in the first place, which was block the meteors and save the escape pod. Although Traveler did nothing but get in the way and provide some feeble comic relief, Timmy befriends the robot and we are set up for what will undoubtedly be many more adventures to come.<br /><br />Although the story doesn't sound like much now, I was pretty impressed at the time with the adventure elements of the story, especially since it was essentially a Richie Rich comic. The artwork was done by Ernie Colon, who walked a fine line between cartoony and serious comic art styles. It reminded me of the Walt Disney comic adaptations made of their theatrical releases.<br /><br />Inside the comic was a survey form you could send in to tell Harvey Comics whether you thought Timmy Time was "great, okay, or not so hot." My guess is that no one even bothered to send in the forms because Timmy Time never appeared in another comic book again. I kept waiting, but it never happened.<br /><br />Another bit of science fiction fun I remember during this lean period was the TV show <span style="font-style: italic;">Quark </span>starring Richard Benjamin as the captain of an intergalactic garbage ship. Created by Buck Henry, the idea was to do to science fiction what <span style="font-style: italic;">Get Smart!</span> did to the spy genre. Besides Benjamin as Adam Quark, the ship was populated by a transmute (half-man, half-woman) named Gene/Jean (Tim Thomerson), a young blonde and her clone both named Betty (Cyb and Patricia Barnstable), a humanoid plant with no emotions named Ficus (Richard Kelton), and a clunky robot called Andy (Bobby Porter). Quark took his orders from a spineless bureaucrat named Palindrome (Conrad Janis) who in turn took his orders from a giant, disembodied head aptly called Head (Alan Caillou). Although Quark's primary responsibility was picking up meteor-sized Hefty bags of trash from spaceships in the galaxy, he was always angling for bigger missions, which usually led him into big trouble.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/quarkcast.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 340px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/quarkcast.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The ultimate problem for a show satirizing science fiction films and TV in 1978 was that, since there was so little science fiction out there that the general public would recognize, the story options were limited. The first episode, a one-hour special which premiered on February 24, 1978, was a <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span> parody called "May the Source be with You." The following week, the story was a parody of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span> episode "The Deadly Years." The week after that, another <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek </span>parody, this one based on the episode "Mirror, Mirror." Other episodes spoofed <span style="font-style: italic;">2001: A Space Odyssey, Flash Gordon</span>, and - oh yes - more <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span> episodes. Only seven episodes in and the limitations of the format were already beginning to show.<br /><br />Nevertheless, I loved the show, not only because it made clever references to the shows I loved, but the premise itself was quite amusing for a 13-year-old. During that long, cold winter, <span style="font-style: italic;">Quark</span> was a lone bright spot on a Friday night. In fact, I remember walking home from school with my friend Vince and he said that watching <span style="font-style: italic;">Quark</span> was the only thing he had to look forward to. He would soon have to find something new to sustain his existence.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Quark</span> finished its run on NBC with the airing of the pilot episode as its eighth and final installment. The night it aired, I was once again out with my dad going to someone's home. A small girl was in the living room watching the pilot episode and I was trying to catch some of it from my vantage point in the foyer. The show looked different somehow. The sets were darker. The girl's brother walked in and asked stupidly, "Are you watching <span style="font-style: italic;">Quark</span>?" She replied, "Yes, but it's different. Palindrome's office had changed and Ficus isn't in the show." Before I could learn more, my dad was finished with his business and led me out of the house. I was wondering about the changes in the show, but I figured I could catch up next week, or watch the reruns during the summer.<br /><br />Of course, none of this came to pass. The show had been canceled and never saw the light of day for decades to come. I only recently saw the pilot episode on DVD, where instead of Ficus there was a crotchety old scientist named Dr. O.B. Mudd (Douglas Fowley), another obvious <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span> reference. It's difficult to watch these episodes now. Although amiable enough, they aren't very funny and the humor is rather broad. All you have to do is look at <span style="font-style: italic;">Futurama</span> to see how far our awareness of science fiction pop culture as progressed along with the speed and snarkiness of our humor.<br /><br />The science fiction drought continued through the summer of 1978, and I contented myself with <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span> serials and reading old Edgar Rice Burroughs books. Hollywood finally got on the ball when <span style="font-style: italic;">Battlestar Galactica</span> hit the air waves. The stories were pretty bad, but the special effects and production values were on par with <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span>. By the spring, <span style="font-style: italic;">Alien</span> would arrive in theatres and the drought was officially over.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-72976815562271082452009-12-17T08:00:00.000-05:002009-12-17T08:00:02.577-05:00A Very MTV ChristmasAfter seeing some of MTV's newest train wreck <span style="font-style: italic;">Jersey Shore</span>, I couldn't help but lament the sad turn that cable television has taken. I recognize that showing music videos 24/7 was a novelty which lost its luster by the mid-80s, and there are still some all music channels if you are willing to buy into some of the premium packages, but the charm of the old MTV went beyond just music with pictures.<br /><br />The Video Jockeys, or VJs as they were called, provided a homey sort of connection between the viewer and the pop music world. Because they came into your home every day, and because they were talking directly to you like a radio personality, you felt as though they were a part of the family. As MTV became more popular and rock stars scurried to get air time, not only through their videos but in person, the VJs were the people who provided the conduit to our favorite musicians. Since the VJs felt like family, and they brought the musicians into our homes, I think the audience felt closer to the rock stars as well. And I don't mean in the sleazy paparazzi way of today where we see them stumbling out of clubs at 3 a.m., but in the way they wanted to be presented and the way we wanted to see them: as musicians.<br /><br />This homey connection to MTV was never more strongly felt than at Christmas time when MTV would put together a special Christmas video featuring a musical performer and the MTV VJs and crew. The first such video appeared in 1981 (their first year of operation) and featured Billy Squier. As you watch, you'll see Tim Kazurinsky who was a new member of SNL at the time. Nowadays, both Billy Squier and Tim Kazurinsky are probably not very well known to the general public, but they were hip stars at the time:<br /><br /><object width="560" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/QPf2snTB2wo&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/QPf2snTB2wo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="560" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br />The following Christmas, the MTV Christmas video featured Joe "King" Carrasco. Again, not well known today, but at the time he was a hot property thanks to his song <span style="font-style: italic;">Party Weekend</span>. The video is a Christmas variation of that song, incorporating his musical style with well known Christmas songs.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ML1dVrJP-6A&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ML1dVrJP-6A&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />In 1985, Pee Wee Herman and Bryan Adams did a little Reggae Christmas video.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lmfWgKMR04s&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lmfWgKMR04s&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />The one that sticks out in my mind the most was in 1986 when the Monkees provided a Christmas medley. There's a bit at the end that was a pretty big surprise at the time.<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/z1qUQb4mtkk&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/z1qUQb4mtkk&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />During 1986, the Monkees were having a huge comeback with a new single and a tour. Unfortunately, Michael Nesmith claimed that he was too busy to participate. I think it had more to do with the fact that he didn't want to participate if he didn't have complete control over the project, but whatever. His appearance in this Christmas video was quite a shock at the time and made it all the more special for us Monkees fans out there.<br /><br />You'll notice also that some of the VJs had changed by 1986. Nina Blackwood and J.J. Jackson had been replaced by Grace Slick's daughter China and the ever annoying Downtown Julie Brown. This was the beginning of the end for the old MTV. Soon they would be running compartmentalized segments like <span style="font-style: italic;">Yo! MTV Raps</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Headbanger's Ball</span> with specific hosts for each show. The original free-wheeling format gave way to a tighter, more network-like structure, forever killing the special charm of the channel.<br /><br />When I was young, I never wanted to be one of those old fogeys who always talked about how things were better in the olden days, and I don't believe I am since I don't subscribe to that notion...entirely. But around Christmas time, it's nice to look back at things that were so special in their time and can never happen again.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-27113429637339789152009-12-14T13:47:00.003-05:002009-12-14T14:04:45.675-05:00Vincent Price Narrates A Christmas CarolWhen cable television first hit Baltimore County in the early 80s, I was fascinated by all the old, obscure stuff the fledgling cable channels would dig up to fill air time. Each Christmas, The Christian Broadcasting Network (which later became The Family Channel) would air an extremely old television version of <span style="font-style: italic;">A Christmas Carol</span> narrated by Vincent Price. The production budget must have been under $10 and the story is hopelessly truncated, but the sheer cheesiness of the whole thing made me fall in love with it. I especially like how Vincent Price is pretending to read directly from Dickens' text, but much of what he is saying does not appear in the book. It's just exposition created to fill in the bits of the story they didn't have time for or couldn't afford to shoot. The whole thing feels like you're watching a local church group production.<br /><br />Each year, I would seek out this little treasure, but by the mid-80s, CBN had become too sophisticated to run such an old, rickety gem. I was certain I would never see it again, but thanks to the wonders of teh internets, here it is again. It certainly won't put Robert Zemeckis out of business, but it's kinda fun:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/jlY71mlqrq4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/jlY71mlqrq4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/P1Tduvm4rL4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/P1Tduvm4rL4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UEdauLinzLE&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UEdauLinzLE&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-11844021376520349722009-10-30T10:38:00.000-04:002009-11-02T12:53:33.071-05:001970's Batman<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZOWg9fPnXM24jNk9XAw4InW0QRTE0nvmKvjXzzK3Oc5Tgml0kSdV5dMGcjoOguzo1BlCtPWontdWFOdDCOXAfBQ5fE9RDLz-pXWu_8bAvxxvjyuzlYsRx2CJIEOOZ4n7fT8Bfw/s1600-h/batman220.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdZOWg9fPnXM24jNk9XAw4InW0QRTE0nvmKvjXzzK3Oc5Tgml0kSdV5dMGcjoOguzo1BlCtPWontdWFOdDCOXAfBQ5fE9RDLz-pXWu_8bAvxxvjyuzlYsRx2CJIEOOZ4n7fT8Bfw/s320/batman220.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398472975439835842" border="0" /></a>Recently, I was reading Michael Eury's terrific book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Batcave-Companion-Michael-Eury/dp/1893905780/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1254755837&sr=8-1"><i>The Batcave Companion</i></a>, which covers Batman's history from the beginning of the "New Look" era in 1964, through the Batmania of the TV series, and into the bronze age period when Batman returned to being a dark and mysterious avenger of the night. This is my favorite period of Batman history because I was born in 1964 and Batman was the first super hero I was aware of thanks to the TV show. By the time I was old enough to read comics (or at least look at the pictures), Batman was already morphing into a character 180 degrees different from the goofy guy on television.<div><br /></div><div>The first Batman comic I talked my father into buying for me was Batman #220 with a cover date of March 1970, which means it probably came out in January 1970. This was only three months after Dick Grayson had gone off to college to deal with war protesters, acid droppers, and hippies while Bruce Wayne ditched Wayne Manor for a penthouse at Wayne Enterprises and started chasing after drug dealers and corporate criminals rather than the Joker and the Penguin. The story for issue #220 dealt with a crusading journalist named Marla Manning whose series of articles under the title "Victims Anonymous" were not going down well with the corporate fat cats she was skewering. Someone was out to kill Ms. Manning and Batman scrambled to track down the guilty party before it was too late. Quite a long way from the silly capers I was used to seeing on the TV show and a more serious story than a five-year-old was used to, but I still loved it.</div><div><br /></div><div>I was always ambivalent about the bronze age because, by this time, the new generation of comic book writers and artists were baby boomers who had grown up reading comic books. The comic books they read as kids were written for their reading level and their understanding of the world. When they grew up and got the chance to write for comics, they were creating stories for people of their own age group (i.e., teenagers and young adults). That was fine for the baby boomers, but for those of us who were cutting their teeth on <i>Where the Wild Things Are</i> and <i>Encyclopedia Brown</i>, the comic book writers of the 1970s seemed to be thumbing their noses at the new generation of readers. On the other hand, perhaps these more complex stories challenged us to read at a higher level and absorb concepts us younger readers may not have encountered until later in life. Maybe I wouldn't have read <i>Jaws </i>at the age of 10 if I hadn't already been reading these nuanced, character-driven Batman stories in the early 70s.</div><div><br /></div><div>Anyway, as a kid, there were always two Batmans: the Adam West version on TV and the Denny O'Neil/Neal Adams version in the comics. Both were equally great in my mind, but for different reasons. The duality extended to the toy industry where all Batman-related merchandise in the 70s tended to reflect the Silver Age version of Batman rather than the one I was reading in the comics. For example, the <a href="http://www.megomuseum.com/wgsh/batman.html#box">Mego 8-inch Batman action figure sported stubby ears on the cowl and a friendly, smiling face even though the artwork on the box showed the grimacing, tall-eared version</a>. Also, Mego always presented the Batman figure with Robin despite the fact that, in the comics, both characters were solo acts at this point. I guess Mego figured that more kids were familiar with the TV show than the comic and the TV version created a friendlier tone. I didn't agree, and during my whole childhood, I longed for a Batman action figure that looked like the Batman in the comics.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSHaRcXbQaM35iMwj7TW5L1nUhxCaK_iSY-t-R546QlgDdf8E1CAfIqbi2RKTfEjgEHIPiKCph8gs43SK1LIyAxTTGbluwU2stSiq3B0oil2yvwPVW72Qa2U-F5mQLujefi0nNA/s1600-h/70sbatman2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 278px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaSHaRcXbQaM35iMwj7TW5L1nUhxCaK_iSY-t-R546QlgDdf8E1CAfIqbi2RKTfEjgEHIPiKCph8gs43SK1LIyAxTTGbluwU2stSiq3B0oil2yvwPVW72Qa2U-F5mQLujefi0nNA/s320/70sbatman2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398473690338465490" border="0" /></a>Last Christmas, my wife Kathy gave me a 1970s Batman costume made by <a href="http://www.rautystoyshop.com/">Rauty</a>, so that sort of put the pressure on me to create the figure I had been longing to have. The costume consisted of the unitard, the cape, and the bat symbol for his chest. That left the cowl, gloves, belt, and boots to create. The boots were relatively easy since Captain Action's boots are shaped in a similar way to Batman's, and I had plenty of those on hand. I just needed to paint them the right color. The belt could be made from yellow, foam-rubber sheeting with the tubes and buckle fabricated in some way. The big challenge was the gloves and the cowl. <a href="http://classicplastick.proboards.com/index.cgi?">Classic Plastick</a> makes Captain Action-style gloves which look basically like mittens. That wasn't the way I wanted to go. Most modern super hero figures have painted hands with cuffs on the wrists to simulate gloves. That seemed a better route, so I decided to fabricate finned cuffs out of polyvinyl clay.<br /><br />While I was at it, I made small tube shapes out of clay which could be painted and glued to the belt. I also made a buckle out of PVC, but I didn't like the result, so I opted for a plastic buckle I cut off another action figure belt. It didn't glue on exactly the way I wanted it to, but it worked okay.<br /><br />Next came the major issue: the cowl. I thought about making a cowl from PVC, but as with my <a href="http://polyvinylman.blogspot.com/2009/02/custom-figure-silver-age-iron-man.html">Iron Man custom</a>, I was afraid it would be too big and unwieldy. Then one day, while I was working on a different custom, I accidentally snapped the head off one of my figures. Kathy witnessed the event and said, "Now you have an excuse to try and fabricate an entire head out of PVC." If I was going to do that, I thought, why not make a head that had a mask on it so I wouldn't have to fill in all the facial details. At that moment, I committed myself to making a Batman headsculpt for my 1970s Batman custom.<br /><br />I started with a wadded up ball of aluminum foil over which I layered PVC to make an oval head shape roughly 1/6th scale. I later discovered that this was a mistake because, as I layered on more pieces of clay to build up the face and mask, I found the head was growing slightly larger than what I wanted. Still, I was surprised that the head actually looked pretty life-like.<br /><br /></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj80e1XKAGpRxJEGZUaHX-5qn0yFucuLkDnRPmYxBJ9Ggib3F2leDjrpqGr89-w1wDm6eeVqT2qE4m-3gM7S91MJ8hsNPrEzu0sG6Nawzz9sHhWIq1-_VNORt9P0ZC4oJszvM2mfA/s1600-h/70sbatman1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 293px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj80e1XKAGpRxJEGZUaHX-5qn0yFucuLkDnRPmYxBJ9Ggib3F2leDjrpqGr89-w1wDm6eeVqT2qE4m-3gM7S91MJ8hsNPrEzu0sG6Nawzz9sHhWIq1-_VNORt9P0ZC4oJszvM2mfA/s320/70sbatman1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5389138473428380482" border="0" /></a><br />After baking the finished headsculpt, I painted it, trying hard to match the color of the cowl with the cape. The gloves and boots I painted a slightly darker shade of blue since I figured, in reality, they would be made of leather and have a deeper shade.<br /><br />I think I'll take another shot at the headsculpt at a later date when I am feeling more confident. While it's far from perfect, it does bring to mind the caped crusader of my youth.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9x7m-DJ6KjeWTyx6rYbKJ_IMaYddvlhmL7jV9HawKJt7itaoyYtuzkawGnVbXisCK-8H0gILkXkL2Y0QF5u7KOfkEUpVXMqDWEd3px0N4v3LnGhYLTH29hhiTJZGEGdLH9s0EQ/s1600-h/70sbatman3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 254px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEif9x7m-DJ6KjeWTyx6rYbKJ_IMaYddvlhmL7jV9HawKJt7itaoyYtuzkawGnVbXisCK-8H0gILkXkL2Y0QF5u7KOfkEUpVXMqDWEd3px0N4v3LnGhYLTH29hhiTJZGEGdLH9s0EQ/s320/70sbatman3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5398477543147788098" border="0" /></a>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-52729183850628145692009-10-22T13:18:00.007-04:002009-10-22T14:29:01.900-04:00Rack Toys From Space<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/shipinspacefield.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 536px; height: 330px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/shipinspacefield.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I'm sure everyone has heard the story about the child who gets a big, fancy toy for Christmas and then spends the entire morning playing with the box it came in. Sometimes the simplest toys evoke the most excitement and playful activity. That's probably true because many simple toys are fairly generic, allowing the child to impose whatever storyline he or she wants and encouraging full use of the child's imagination. That's what I always loved about the much maligned rack toys. You know, the cheap items on metal hooks in that one row of the drug store or convenience store devoted to children. They're colorful enough to get a kid's attention and inexpensive enough that a parent will buy it if the kid whines enough. These are certainly not "wait until Christmas" items, but they can often be more loved and played with than any of the high ticket items at the Toys 'R Us.<br /><br />While digging through a box of old stuff the other day, I came across three tiny spaceships. I didn't even realize I had saved them, but given how much fun I had with them, I'm not surprised. One was a stubby red ship with a clear plastic top, exposing its engine room. The other two were long, slender ships somewhat akin to jet aircraft. One was blue with silver wings along the back; the other was yellow with silver turbine engines mounted on the rear.<br /><br />I first laid eyes on these little ships at my friend's house. He told me he got them as a "five-fingered discount" from the local department store. I think the fact that they were obtained through illicit means made them even more appealing to me. He had paint racing stripes on the ships with model paint and added the Roman numeral II to the red ship and the numeral III to the blue one. Although I never asked, my assumption was that he had been playing with the ships as if they were like the rescue ships from <span style="font-style: italic;">Thunderbirds</span>, each bearing a number designation.<br /><br />Every time I went over to my friend's house, I would dig out these little ships and fly them around the room. Finally, he told me I could have them. I guess he was bored with them and could see that I enjoyed them more than he did. There was no argument from me, and I quickly squirreled them away in my pocket.<br /><br />Originally, each ship had landing gear, but I thought that detracted from their sleek looks, so I broke off the tiny wheels. The more I looked at them, the more they reminded me of the ships in the old <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span> movie serials. In the old cliffhangers, Dr. Zarkov's ship was short and stubby while Ming the Merciless's ships were long and sleek. Soon, I found myself playing Flash Gordon with these ships.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/yellowship.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 380px; height: 235px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/yellowship.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Of course, in my imagination, it was never as simple as just playing. I had an imaginary television network, and the ships lead me to produce a <span style="font-style: italic;">Flash Gordon</span> summer replacement series during the summer of 1977 (what it was replacing, I have no idea). Every weeknight at 7 p.m., I went into the basement to act out a new episode. Playing the role of Flash and reacting to imaginary characters around me, I made use of whatever was available to perform the story, so a car antenna became my sword, my brother's grease gun became my ray gun, and an old floor-model radio from the 1920s served as the controls of my space ship. When it came to the point in the show where special effects shots of the space ships were needed, I would pick up my tiny plastic craft and zip them around the basement in epic dog fights.<br /><br />Influenced by the chapter structure of old serials, I planned for the series to end at a specific point, which I believe was around the end of July, if memory serves. I can still recall bouncing around on the day beds in our "club" basement area during the climatic sword fight between Flash and Ming. Just like in the serials, Ming met with some inconclusive fate (fell into a pit or something), thus leaving an opening for Ming to return for future battles with Flash. Unfortunately, the series was never renewed. I guess I lost interest in playing the blonde adventurer.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/blueshipsky.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 566px; height: 215px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/blueshipsky.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>A few months later, I started a new series called <span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora</span>, and used the blue spaceship as the eponymous interstellar craft. Since most of my TV show ideas were rip offs of other shows or movies that I liked, <span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora </span>was a variation on <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span>. More specifically, I was influenced by the early <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span> comic books produced by Gold Key where the gadgets and interior design of The Enterprise were much cruder in appearance than the show itself. My idea for <span style="font-style: italic;">Aurora </span>was to have a ship exploring the galaxy which was of an earlier era when the technology was less advanced and the characters more fallable. It actually bore a striking resemblance to the <span style="font-style: italic;">Enterprise </span>TV show which aired a few years ago.<br /><br />After acting out a full season of the series in that format, I decided it needed a radical change, so I brought on board an entirely new crew. At this time, I was really digging <span style="font-style: italic;">M*A*S*H</span>, so I based the characters vaguely on the personnel at the 4077th. The captain was a Frank Burns-type and the helmsman was a Hawkeye-type, so they were constantly clashing on how to best resolve that week's crisis. The yeoman was like Radar, the first officer was sort of like B.J. Hunnicutt, and on and on. I enjoyed this mash up (pardon the pun) so much that I wrote a novel based on this idea when I was 14 years old. I still have the hand-written story in a composition book somewhere, but I don't have the nerve to read it.<br /><br />Like most toys, the little spaceships eventually lost their appeal and they were shuffled from one storage box to another. I had lost track of them until the other day, when they brought back a flood of memories. Pretty amazing what a trio of shoplifted rack toys can do for a kid's imagination.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-39328172979522668062009-10-13T10:41:00.002-04:002009-10-13T10:45:24.869-04:00Captain Action Gets No Respect...but this is funny as hell!<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OH5NKUcPEeU&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OH5NKUcPEeU&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Catch more adventures with Joe, Hamish, and Cappy on <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/GovtIssueJoseph">YouTube</a>.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-35374221849927680472009-09-04T13:52:00.008-04:002009-09-07T12:05:06.328-04:00Lucky Buck is Back!<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/buckflight.jpg"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/buckbiglittle.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 469px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/buckbiglittle.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a>There seems to be a serious effort to revive the future man of the past, Buck Rogers, <a href="http://www.gohero.com/buck_rogers/buck_rogers_news.htm">judging by this Web site</a>. Just the name "Buck Rogers" remains a catchphrase for all things new and futuristic. Even those who never read the comic strips, watched the old movie serial, or saw the 80's TV show know that there is something bright and positive and forward-thinking in the concept. He lives, after all, in the 25th century and, even though its closer to us now than it was when he was originally conceived in 1928, his time is just far enough away to give us hope that by then we will get it right. Or maybe that's not even a concern anymore, and we just like to speculate about all the cool toys they will have in the far-flung future.<div><br /></div><div><div>For the uninitiated, Buck Rogers started out as Anthony Rogers in a novel called <i>Armageddon 2419 AD</i>. 20th century man Anthony Rogers becomes trapped in a cave, but a mysterious gas in the cave preserves him until he is reawakened in the year 2419. By this time, the Earth has been divided into general regions and the Mongols (i.e., Asian people) are trying to gain absolute rule over the other regions. Since Rogers is discovered by American resistance fighter Wilma Deering, he becomes a part of their cause and eventually the Mongol forces are defeated.</div><div><br /></div><div>The novel was quickly turned into a comic strip and it spun off in its own direction, replacing the world war scenario with an outer space battle between Earth and the interplanetary gangster Killer Kane. With a real world war looming in Europe, a futuristic Al Capone, using ray guns instead of machine guns, was probably more palatable to the American readers at the time. Once Rogers, now nicknamed "Buck," was plunged into outer space, the gadgetry of the series really took off. The art style of the strip evolved as well, becoming more cartoonish and providing a real "gee-whiz" quality to this view of the future. In the Depression-era world, no wondered the gleaming rockets and gizmos of Buck Rogers seemed so appealing.</div><div><br /></div><div>Buck Rogers continued to find an audience even as the world moved into the jet age. The storylines and overall look of the comic strip changed, reflecting the more realistic (but no less optimistic) mood of the 50s where atomic power and rockets pointed to a space age that was right around the corner.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/buckfullshot.jpg"><img src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/buckfullshot.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 576px; " /></a></div><div>When I was a pre-teen, Buck Rogers held a special place in my heart, although I'm not sure why. There were no comic strips, comic books, TV shows, or movies at the time that would thrust him into my consciousness. The only reference material I had was a coverless book which contained the early run of the comic strip from the 1930s, and a scratchy recording of the first radio show episode. This was enough, however, to trigger my interest in the man with the rocket pack on his back.</div><div><br /></div><div>In the winter of '79, I dragged my dad into the cold night air to see a new movie version of Buck Rogers. Just like he had done a year earlier with <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>, producer Glen A. Larson made a feature-length TV pilot so he could release the pilot as a theatrical film before people could see it for free on television. I knew it was a rip off, but I so wanted to see what he had done with Buck Rogers. It actually seemed pretty good from my 14-year-old perspective. Gil Gerard's Buck was a flippant, cocky astronaut who reminded me of a macho version of Hawkeye Pierce. There was humor and action and pretty women in revealing outfits: all the stuff a young boy wants in a movie. I was so stoked to see the show when it premiered in the fall. Unfortunately, the series didn't live up to the promise of the movie. The episodes became increasingly more campy and relied too much on the jiggling T&A so prevalent in late 70s/early 80s TV. I didn't even bother with the second season where they traveled in space like a poor man's <i>Star Trek</i>. They even had a poor man's Spock in the form of Hawk, a half-man/half-bird hybrid. That cured me of any Buck Rogers interest after that.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/buckheadshot.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 517px; height: 576px; " /></span></div><div>In fact, ol' Buck didn't enter my consciousness again until I started collected Captain Action stuff about 10 years ago. In the mid-60s, when Ideal Toys was licensing every pop culture hero for its Captain Action line, a Buck Rogers suit was created for the good Captain to sport. I assume the suit was based on the way Buck Rogers appeared in the comic strip at the time because he only bears a passing resemblance to the Buck Rogers of the 1930s. The main difference is the silver lame suit. I guess once the NASA Mercury astronauts trotted out their shiny duds, everyone assumed that all space men would wear silver lame. The ubiquitous jet pack is part of the outfit, but it too has an updated, jet-age flair. Buck's helmet in the 1930s looked like a football helmet, but the Captain Action outfit provided a more toned-down head cover. The most interesting part of the suit for me was the gloves and boots. They both sported angled ends that are quite different from anything I have seen before. The boots, especially, have points going up the outer calf rather than in the front. Very forward thinking.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/buckbackshot.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 289px; height: 432px; " /></span></div><div>I remember seeing the Buck Rogers costume advertised when Captain Action was in the stores, but I never saw the actual costume in the flesh until my lovely wife bought me a lot of CA odds and ends on eBay, one piece being the Buck Rogers suit and face mask. Thankfully, the chest logo was in good shape, but the silver lame had become dirty and tarnished looking. Some helpful soul on the <i>Yahoo! </i>Captain Action list recommended that I paint the suit with DecoArt metallic silver paint. I was skeptical, but it worked out quite well. Later on, I acquired a pair of boots, but the gloves eluded me, so I ordered a pair of repros from the great Wes McCue at <a href="http://classicplastick.proboards.com/index.cgi?">Classic Plastick</a>. The jet pack was gained years later through a heated eBay auction.</div><div><br /></div><div>I never did find a helmet at a price I wanted to pay, so I made my own version starting with a dark blue helmet from a G.I. Joe set. I removed the visor and covered the ear holes with wheels from a jet airplane model kit. Since the original helmet had little silver balls running up the center, I looked for something that would create the same effect. I never liked how the balls on the original helmet stopped midway up the back for no particular reason, so I had mine run all the way from back to front. They're actually a set of fake pearls from a Disney's <i>Aladdin</i> action figure set which I glued on. After painting over them with a silver stripe, Buck looked ready for action.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/bucksideshot.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 408px; height: 360px; " /></span></div><div>The accessories, such as the ray gun and the canteen (?) seldom surface on eBay, but I don't really care. They always seemed like throwaway pieces anyway. The jet pack really made the suit.</div><div><br /></div><div>I'm hoping that, with all this new interest in Buck Rogers, someone will put together a decent movie or TV series based on the character. Just as Superman is the prototype super hero, Buck Rogers is the prototype science fiction hero. We would never have had Captain Kirk without Buck Rogers, whether Mr. Roddenberry consciously realized it or not. Buck represents what Americans most want to be with a positive eye to the future and no challenge too great to overcome. We could use a revamped Buck Rogers right about now.</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(85, 26, 139); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/buckflight.jpg" border="0" alt="" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 414px; height: 576px; " /></span></div></div>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-30931427328236115972009-07-24T13:02:00.011-04:002009-07-24T14:27:16.209-04:00Vinyl Impressions Part IIIWhen I presented Jim Six with his custom action figure, one person who was around to witness it was my friend Kate Becker. It was Kate, in fact, who gave me the inspiration for doing the Jim Six figure in the first place when she talked about finding someone online who made custom action figures of people based on photographs. As Jim went into convulsions over his new figure, I could see a glint of envy in Kate's eyes. At that moment, I thought that if I made a figure for anyone else, it should be for Kate. Only thing was, I didn't have any ideas on how to do it.<div><br /></div><div><a href="http://polyvinylman.blogspot.com/2009/07/vinyl-impressions-part-ii.html">As I related in my last post</a>, I quickly went on to make a custom action figure for a young boy who was part of an Adopt-A-Family Christmas program. Then I kinda stopped making custom figures for awhile. I still hadn't forgotten about Kate, however, and I flogged my brain to figure out what the theme could be. I knew that she had been a life-long fan of the Baltimore Orioles, so that could be the starting point. Okay, how do I do that?</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><a href="http://polyvinylman.blogspot.com/2006/10/johnny-hero.html">The answer came to me when I thought back to one of my early customs: a Johnny Unitas figure.</a> The uniform for the legendary Baltimore Colt was found on eBay. Back in the 60s, there was an action figure named Johnny Hero, a rather ordinary 1/6th scale figure who wore a red track suit and matching sneakers. However, the toy line provided uniforms for the figure based on every professional baseball and football team around at the time. After buying the basic figure, you could dress him up as a member of your favorite football or baseball team. Johnny Hero was never as popular as G.I. Joe, but he did hang around for a couple of years during the mid-60s. Anyway, many of these football and baseball costumes were available on eBay, so I regularly scoped out the Johnny Hero uniforms until I found a Colts uniform at the right price. When it came time to make Kate's figure, I knew I should be able to find an Orioles uniform and quickly did.</div><div><br /></div><div>With the Orioles uniform in hand, I next had to find a female figure to put it on. Female custom figures are difficult to put together simply because there are just not that many female figures out there to choose from. Sure, there are plenty of Barbie dolls, but their bodies are not realistic and there headsculpts are exaggerated. At the other end of the scale, you have figures like the Cy Girls who are basically male fantasy figures best used for super hero customs. I needed a middle ground. Fortunately, <a href="http://www.oldjoeinfirmary.com/fem-home.htm#top">Old Joe Infirmary </a>carries a female figure line called Fem'Basix which features average sized figures with different hair and eye colors. I choose a figure which best matched Kate's features and, thankfully, the Orioles uniform fit the figure reasonably well.</div><div><br /></div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwY63NDKXVO65CxheoWQCD461uYOdCxjAkd4GkvEyIBRbojMl0qJly7P0-xmnopK34RK0ySSwr0nEq-RuCsog_TSO0ByGs_YLBz5XaBCyodqp1gKvw_JWT_8WEqqDlGKIZB1pQvQ/s320/1964ori.jpg" style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 152px; height: 134px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362090208898880562" /><div>Given the Orioles theme of the project, accessories were not a problem. The Johnny Hero costume already came with a batter's helmet, bat, baseball, and glove. The only trouble was, there was no bird emblem on the cap and the batter's helmet featured the emblem of a different team (must've been a mix-up at the factory in Hong Kong). I decided to do a little research on the Orioles costume and it turned out that this particular uniform was only worn during the 1964 season (the year Johnny Hero was introduced). In addition, the bird emblem on the cap and helmet was distinct to that uniform. I believe the following year, they introduced the cartoon bird which became so familiar to baseball fans for a couple decades. Anyway, after finding a decent graphic of the bird emblem, I shrunk it down to proper size in Photoshop and printed it out on sitcker paper. Once cut out and applied to the cap and helmet, the uniform was official.</div><div><br /></div><div><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi37wlRPSSV7SE6M7GDwJbrOW8OHRoGW28KaC1t8KHnYU5rqqSqRpodQ71Y_S5xNA9HmnyMtRtEx0-X3WCES0fOhjXsijS3u8cE3bWuzJKwWl5Lts315neX2K17Oc3HEjy0zsGZbg/s320/doll1.jpg" style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362090664420479730" /></div><div>Next came the box. This is always a daunting task, especially for my graphic designer wife Kathy who ends up creating the box graphics for me. My technique for mocking up an action figure box is to take an existing box and cover over it with new graphics printed on regular paper, but applied with decoupage glue so that it has a glossy finish. To make our lives as simple as possible, I tried to find an action figure box that was basically rectangular with clean, straight lines. While Kathy and I were outlet shopping on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, I came across a basic military action figure marked down for close-out. Not only did the figure look appealing for a different custom project, the box he came in was a simple rectangle with a rectangular cellophane window on the front. As a bonus, the backing board on which the figure was mounted featured a simple painting of grass and blue skies. Perfect for the baseball theme without the need for any alterations. Once we got it home, Kathy and I set to work.</div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDCJ_nLaUqPxCUWvd6FYp1FQ5062YSLsWLFjITRjv3i0MD7FSds9tQrsZLZRqg2RubbxfACaPHzdq2u7EVM3jX6-lwOkXyacMo5g84wiUeHGUudkVRy_QMhrK4paiyv-O7plJevA/s1600-h/baseballbabeback.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 168px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDCJ_nLaUqPxCUWvd6FYp1FQ5062YSLsWLFjITRjv3i0MD7FSds9tQrsZLZRqg2RubbxfACaPHzdq2u7EVM3jX6-lwOkXyacMo5g84wiUeHGUudkVRy_QMhrK4paiyv-O7plJevA/s320/baseballbabeback.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362092233741520194" /></a><br />I have to give Kathy most of the credit for the box design. Although I came up with the back story for the action figure (a fantasy about Kate being the Orioles first bat girl during the 1964 season), Kathy designed everything else. From the All-American colors and font styles to the crisp image of Memorial Stadium on the front, the box screamed baseball americana. After all the cutting and pasting, it looked great.</div><div><br /></div><div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmwFAxiTCeoWxBArY0HAir6r-AVyDJLOJiVhRiIixOo6VBwCXYXjkpP0lkk9AuUXMxI_g8Y6C6PKBbrNyC52bX0d1XrBMjAczQmc_1R1h_NsgLJ_-ajy4Z2fGYWLc4eREkY0eMNg/s1600-h/baseballbabefront.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 167px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmwFAxiTCeoWxBArY0HAir6r-AVyDJLOJiVhRiIixOo6VBwCXYXjkpP0lkk9AuUXMxI_g8Y6C6PKBbrNyC52bX0d1XrBMjAczQmc_1R1h_NsgLJ_-ajy4Z2fGYWLc4eREkY0eMNg/s320/baseballbabefront.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5362092530464603858" /></a></div><div>I presented the gift to Kate one evening after Kathy and Kate had spent the day out together. She was thrilled with the finished product, which gave me no small sense of pride and happiness. I was so glad to be able to pull off one last custom figure based on a person I knew. </div>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-85731395283418465142009-07-23T13:22:00.009-04:002009-07-23T15:01:14.689-04:00Vinyl Impressions Part IIAfter creating the custom action figure for Jim Six and seeing what a great reaction it got, I became hooked on the satisfaction of making something that made someone happy. Although I would've loved to make custom figures of all my friends and family, it just wasn't feasible to find figures, clothing, and accessories which would exactly suit everyone. I was a bit lost as to what I should make next.<br /><br />This was the fall of 2004, and Christmas was fast approaching. As in years past, my wife Kathy was participating in the Adopt a Family program at work where the people in her office buy gifts for one needy family. Kathy showed me the list of family members and the suggested gifts for each person. I noticed that there was a son named Tyrone who was about 6 or 7, I can't recall exactly anymore. Other people at Kathy's office were buying him the toys he requested, but I kept thinking about how I loved my action figures at that age and how I viewed them as adult versions of myself. I kept thinking that I would grow up to become part of G.I. Joe's Adventure Team, digging up mummies in Egypt or braving the jungles of Africa. Action Jackson was another figure through whom I lived vicariously. They could do all the things I couldn't then but maybe could do as an adult. If I had those feelings as a kid, I was sure Tyrone was looking for some kind of hope and inspiration for his future. What if I turned Tyrone into a superhero?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5b7DwfcPrkkG-LnU-qBraANtcWwteErAnKifCn5eAza2RjZAV3Zv6DvxrMpFKP0_8DSZSsT3CSTOPOotDLLCLY7i01ZtXC1vLfuBDQ501cS3zLiWprmUUFShgYzGsjeiIVHkerA/s1600-h/tyronemasthead.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 155px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5b7DwfcPrkkG-LnU-qBraANtcWwteErAnKifCn5eAza2RjZAV3Zv6DvxrMpFKP0_8DSZSsT3CSTOPOotDLLCLY7i01ZtXC1vLfuBDQ501cS3zLiWprmUUFShgYzGsjeiIVHkerA/s320/tyronemasthead.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361725294040379538" border="0" /></a><br />Immediately, the name Tyrone the Cyclone popped into my head. Of course, with "cyclone" in the name, he would have to have super speed. Okay, I had the basic concept, but I needed a costume. With only a few weeks to put the whole thing together, I couldn't afford to poke around on eBay. I had to rely on what I had in my boxes of action figure stuff. I settled on using a Captain Action leotard with the chest emblem removed. Kathy created a wonderful logo for the character using a "T" with a swirling cyclone pattern laid on top. From this logo, I printed a chest emblem on sticker paper and gave it extra gloss with decoupage glue. For boots, I used some flashy silver ones from a Flash Gordon costume, and the mask was made from blue electrical tape cut to shape and applied to his face.<br /><br />Finally, I needed accessories. One of the disappointments I had as a kid was that both my Batman action figures, whether it be the Batman costume for my Captain Action doll or the <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Mego</span> Batman doll, did not have functioning utility belts. The Batman costume for Captain Action came with accessories, but they had hooks on them which fit into holes on the belt, so the accessories hung from Batman's utility belt like he was a plumber. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Mego</span>, cheapskates that they were, didn't even include accessories with their Batman figure. There would be no half measures for Tyrone. His utility belt would have gadgets and <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">gizmos</span>.<br /><br />I started with a belt from one of my policeman figures which had numerous pockets on it. I then created various made-up gadgets by splicing together bits and pieces of plastic from my vast collection of action figure do-dads. As I glued these little devices together, I gave each one a specific name: the flying sensor probe, the multi-tasking cosmic wrench, the hi-speed digital camera, the time travel stop watch, and the inter-dimensional communicator. Each little gadget fit neatly into the pockets on the belt. Tyrone the Cyclone was now fully armed and ready for battle.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs31S-JSi6IokzinUYLK1ia83Im2Z8c6fcXJ1P-e3dqNJ6o_LO4AzOZTGdu3lZF8uFjSLp7dhssjVv1gezlla1H8SZmz_d0Ee1859q5ZRswTfeSx7XFf8Ukx-bpKlKCJU4x2rzxg/s1600-h/tc.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 201px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhs31S-JSi6IokzinUYLK1ia83Im2Z8c6fcXJ1P-e3dqNJ6o_LO4AzOZTGdu3lZF8uFjSLp7dhssjVv1gezlla1H8SZmz_d0Ee1859q5ZRswTfeSx7XFf8Ukx-bpKlKCJU4x2rzxg/s400/tc.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361725692587231314" border="0" /></a><br />Of course, that begged the question: Who was he to battle? I had to create an arch-enemy for Tyrone to fight. Since Tyrone the Cyclone's main power was super speed, his villain should be similarly equipped. Like Stan Lee on a deadline, I came up with the name Speed Demon and set about making a new figure.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKIxewJXdljY0e0v5g7ewVChoak3uvoLIAwfcrWGpwpC4SAPuEztTicc5zhtgFAOpXcXpkj9-Rgtv0lrtZslrDQ5kd5P4cK0VGRzL1AVzClQZqkIrnXcq6w-_Bx8LKkvOAvBN8w/s1600-h/sdmasthead+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 132px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaKIxewJXdljY0e0v5g7ewVChoak3uvoLIAwfcrWGpwpC4SAPuEztTicc5zhtgFAOpXcXpkj9-Rgtv0lrtZslrDQ5kd5P4cK0VGRzL1AVzClQZqkIrnXcq6w-_Bx8LKkvOAvBN8w/s320/sdmasthead+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361726872258158434" border="0" /></a><br />To start, I had purchased a villainous looking figure a couple years earlier who had just the right <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">mean look</span> to him, but his body was rather slight, so I popped his head off the skinny body and put it on my <span style="font-style: italic;">Van Helsing </span>figure. Not only was the <span style="font-style: italic;">Van Helsing</span> body beefier, but it came already fitted with black gloves. I then put together an all-black outfit for him using a black leotard, funky black boots, and a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">pleather</span> vest. His belt came from a G.I. Joe set, but I added little rocket jets to it and dubbed it his hover-belt. He also wielded an ornate scepter that I picked up somewhere along the way, and a spinning multi-bladed gizmo that I modified from my <span style="font-style: italic;">Van <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">Helsing</span></span> action figure. At any rate, he looked pretty bad-ass.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFbBeMoqTdJ_-j4A-KrfMjbBedEwOHB-4DXbKAf0wkxEpujNKYcm9pi1Gtgeww9j3V_3fBt3wBowO6sIcCZrY9_i7OAef1tzSZabbKqseAmpwtXURmz1cUSG2ZZPU0pfNH7HUrsQ/s1600-h/speeddemon.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 335px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFbBeMoqTdJ_-j4A-KrfMjbBedEwOHB-4DXbKAf0wkxEpujNKYcm9pi1Gtgeww9j3V_3fBt3wBowO6sIcCZrY9_i7OAef1tzSZabbKqseAmpwtXURmz1cUSG2ZZPU0pfNH7HUrsQ/s400/speeddemon.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361726172941281698" border="0" /></a><br />With the figures put together, I felt obligated to concoct a back story for these guys so that, when Tyrone opened the box on Christmas morning, he had some clue as to what the heck these goofy characters were. I wrote up the following story: <span style="font-style: italic;">Tyrone the Cyclone gained his powers when he encountered a sickly old man on a secluded street one night. The man said his name was <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">Galdorn</span> and he was the Supreme Guardian for his people who lived in another dimension. He had just completed his greatest achievement: banishing the worst super-criminal of his race to a nether-region between his dimension and Earth’s. Unfortunately, the super-criminal overpowered him and stole <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">Galdorn</span>’s magic scepter to escape to Earth. <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">Galdorn</span> expended all his energy to chase the super-criminal to Earth, but he was too old and weak to continue the pursuit. With all the energy left in him, <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">Galdorn</span> transferred his remaining powers to Tyrone. Instantly, Tyrone had the ability to travel through time and space at lightning speed. He also possessed the superior technological knowledge of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_10">Galdorn</span>, enabling him to create amazing gadgets to hunt down and capture the escaped super-criminal.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">Calling himself Tyrone the Cyclone, he fashioned himself a costume impervious to the heat and friction of traveling at high speed. He also created a utility belt that carried his useful crime-fighting tools: Flying sensor probe, Multi-tasking cosmic wrench, Hi-speed digital camera, Time travel stop watch, and Inter-dimensional communicator.</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">With his newly found powers, Tyrone the Cyclone scours the Earth to find the super-criminal - now known on Earth as Speed Demon – and return him to his prison beyond our world.<span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></span>With Kathy's help, the little back story was put on a laminated card with pictures of the figures and fancy graphics. I also needed a box to put the figures in. Because of the time crunch, I couldn't create a mock-up action figure box like I had done with the Jim Six figure. Instead, I found a plain cardboard box that could hold both figures and Kathy helped me create a graphics piece that could be glued onto the front flap. It had all the usual hyperbole that toy boxes usually have and Kathy's graphics were amazing, especially how she designed a cartoon image of the spinning blade weapon that Speed Demon carried.<br /><br />The whole thing was packaged and ready just in time for the people at Kathy's office to drop off the gifts to the family. I never got a chance to see Tyrone's reaction to his custom-made super hero. I'd like to think that he got a kick out of it, but he may have thought it was the lamest gift ever. I'll never know. I just think every kid should get a chance to feel like a super hero while they are still young enough to believe.<br /><br />A whole mess of personal changes occurred for me during that Christmas, and I set aside my custom action figures for awhile. Still, there was one idea that kept creeping back into my brain...Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-77301510116432559192009-07-22T10:53:00.000-04:002009-07-22T15:18:28.679-04:00Vinyl ImpressionsCreating custom action figures can be exhilarating or exasperating. Some come together quickly with relative ease; others can take months or years with many fits and starts. The biggest problem comes when you take on more of a challenge than you are prepared to face.<br /><br />By the winter of 2004, I had several customs under my belt and was eager to expand my horizons. For Christmas, I had made a custom figure of my brother wearing fisherman's gear. I even built a diorama of a wooded lakeside to showcase the figure. Although challenging, the whole project went relatively smoothly, so I convinced myself that I could make a figure of just about anyone. Around this time, my friend Jim Six had talked about how he thought it would be cool to have an action figure in his image. Our friend Kate even found someone online who made custom action figures from people's photographs, but the cost was pretty dear. Feeling rather expansive, I quietly set about to make a Jim Six action figure and spring it on everyone as a surprise once it was completed.<br /><br />One thing that gave me confidence in the project was that Jim has such a distinctive look. He has a shaved head, sports a graying beard or goatee, wears glasses, and is prone to wear Hawaiian shirts and those khaki vests with all the pockets on them. He also has very specific interests such as writing and playing music on guitar, collecting knifes, and taking photos both professionally and as a hobby. All these elements formed the direction for the project.<br /><br />Trouble was, where do I get a figure that looks like Jim? Facial hair can be painted on, but most action figures are not bald, and even if I found one that was, the facial features had to be correct. Many customizers make headsculpts from polyvinyl clay, but I was not that advanced. It was a quandary until one day, I was flipping through my <a href="http://www.gijoeelite.com/f_home.asp">Cotswold Collectibles</a> catalog and spotted these figures by <a href="http://onlinedid.com/">DiD</a>. They were edgy looking guys wearing hip-hop clothes and one was bald with a goatee. I thought, "If I put glasses on him and painted his beard gray, he would look just like Jim!" I was off to the races.<br /><br />Or at least, I was off. The figure came with blue jeans and sneakers, which were perfect for the custom, but I needed to clothe the upper part. I already had a khaki vest left over from my brother's fisherman custom, but I needed a Hawaiian shirt. Not just any Hawaiian shirt, but one that looked like something Jim would wear. Most of the shirts I found on eBay were made for Ken dolls and looked a bit...well, alternative lifestyle, let's say. Not anything I could see Jim wearing. After months of combing eBay, I found a huge lot of Ken clothes with three Hawaiian shirts which were truly exceptional. One in particular was perfect. I bid like crazy on that lot and thought I had it locked down when some woman sniped me at the last second. I was crestfallen, but I wasn't going to give up that easily. I e-mailed the winner and diplomatically asked her if she would be willing to part with those three shirts from the collection. I offered her half what she had paid for the entire lot, and she agreed, thankfully. It turned out, she was bidding on the lot to acquire just a few specific pieces from it herself. Within a couple of weeks, I had those Hawaiian shirts in hand.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_bITGs59XSNAJF6o0tfE2R_1YYjUN85JbBNVlQ1PNp_ROJ7eSVLEmi-BlxYoUA0FeM7WLg6iN6_zoQuIzU0SbIIm_4YXx8p3roP3n6eJXetEtO-p51jqdmHIguncU4139tuefw/s1600-h/jimboxbackcover2+copy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3_bITGs59XSNAJF6o0tfE2R_1YYjUN85JbBNVlQ1PNp_ROJ7eSVLEmi-BlxYoUA0FeM7WLg6iN6_zoQuIzU0SbIIm_4YXx8p3roP3n6eJXetEtO-p51jqdmHIguncU4139tuefw/s320/jimboxbackcover2+copy.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361352658882181762" border="0" /></a>Okay, with the figure clothed, the next step was developing the accessories. The eyeglasses were no problem since I had accumulated several different styles from my various action figure purchases. Since Jim was a newspaper man, I included a pencil and notepad that I already had in my stores along with various knives which I had gained from purchasing countless military figures. The guitar was a challenge. I wanted an acoustic guitar like the one Jim owned. While there were plenty of 1/6th scale electric guitars around, I couldn't for the life of me find an acoustic one. Then, just like with the shirts, an acoustic guitar surfaced on eBay amid another big lot of Barbie and Ken stuff. This time I would not be sniped, but I was beginning to wonder what I was going to do with all these pink high-heeled shoes and yellow make-up kits.<br /><br />The guitar was your standard looking acoustic with a tan wood face and dark brown sides and back. Jim's Johnson guitar was black with white piping, so some careful painting was involved to transform the thing. Once that was done, however, I knew the only accessory left was the digital camera. I assumed his camera was one of those basic silver squares that most people carry around, but my wife Kathy informed me that he had a fancy one. Under the guise of camera shopping, Kathy asked Jim what brand and model camera he had so we could find images of it online. When I finally saw what it looked like, my heart sank. This was a complicated looking piece of equipment which I would have to fabricate from scratch. Breaking the camera down to each physical element, I scoured my collection of toy accessories and model kit extras to find bits of plastic that looked like each piece of the camera. Once I was reasonably satisfied with the pieces, I assembled the camera with model glue. The finished product was basically a caricature of the actual camera, as if it had morphed into a beefier, more stylized version of itself. Anyway, it had to do.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixi4mr4qcYopjn2Ps9RVvSZ1K79viH1h8w_vOCxvYOSAHmInUnGk44iqObKTFblKhinZlGH1schpDFkc25uAKnDYNMkUKwDHZWB6srkFtNZNjz4G5DodQNlsQ2yzr5N0dP5kXQCQ/s1600-h/jiminboxfront2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 236px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixi4mr4qcYopjn2Ps9RVvSZ1K79viH1h8w_vOCxvYOSAHmInUnGk44iqObKTFblKhinZlGH1schpDFkc25uAKnDYNMkUKwDHZWB6srkFtNZNjz4G5DodQNlsQ2yzr5N0dP5kXQCQ/s320/jiminboxfront2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361352952524971058" border="0" /></a><br />The final element was the box to put it in. Some customizers can fabricate original boxes that look just like the real thing but, again, I don't have the talent or the resources. Instead, I decided to create the original panels for the box on the computer, print them out on paper, and then glue the paper over an existing action figure box like decoupage. To save time and effort, I had to find an action figure box which was big enough to nicely display the figure and the accessories, but simple enough so that I didn't have to create complicated shapes to cover the dye cut of the box. I settled on a box containing Hugh Jackman as Van Helsing. To create the panels, I enlisted the help of my graphic designer wife. After describing my concept for the design and the text I wanted on the box, she set about creating the images in Photoshop.<br /><br />I wanted the box to mimic the style of the G.I. Joe boxes of the time. Each member of the Joe team had some hokey origin on the back of the box, so I had to come up with a similar back story for Jim. <span>Jim's origin said that he was found as an infant on the doorstep of a Tibetan monastery and raised by a renegade sect of monks, Jim Six learned their discipline that practiced universal harmony through music and a rare form of martial arts built around knife skills. As a teenager, the monastery was destroyed by Red Chinese soldiers. Barely escaping with his guitar and his knife collection, he ventured west to start a new life. He adopted a name based on the tag found around his neck as a child that only read "SIX." Now, as a mild-mannered columnist for a great metropolitan newspaper, he waged a private war against evil.</span><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhy2MXpW1HygMHwYQRGLV02MZOFmtEuXMfVCydBsux42ZH7su3rOMwH8iag-xpSNHaXa8NREg4Zpd0JS81m9TbOKgpyeaOJQGx_Wm5Yc4Jypoy5-JigJS4k_JlrWzAXo2Gp4azw/s1600-h/jiminboxback1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqhy2MXpW1HygMHwYQRGLV02MZOFmtEuXMfVCydBsux42ZH7su3rOMwH8iag-xpSNHaXa8NREg4Zpd0JS81m9TbOKgpyeaOJQGx_Wm5Yc4Jypoy5-JigJS4k_JlrWzAXo2Gp4azw/s320/jiminboxback1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361353227088920578" border="0" /></a><br />We had to carefully scale the panels to fit precisely over the existing box. Once everything was designed and printed out, I had to cut out the pieces and glue them on the box with decoupage glue. To provide a gloss finish to the whole box, several more layers of decoupage glue had to be painted on. The box alone took weeks to put together.<br /><br />Once all the elements were finished, I had to secure the figure and the accessories in the box. I used twist ties to mount the figure to the backing board, but I wanted to create a retro feel as well by securing most of the accessories to the board with good old needle and thread. I knew, however, that the camera would never hold with just thread, so that was secured with velcro. My wife added an additional touch by creating a tiny CD case using the logo of Jim's old band.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuduepNohOa_mJRTO6cJ7E3eogjtz1JT1mDGSm-hoyczdTgXU1xhVoyzSdi6GJW_Aeb_NrVsPoGGcgvIOzLpIT2mcN9YW4j3Gy7Ktanv5CBQh0RAOevE6c31QxC0aece0IgliKoQ/s1600-h/jiminboxtop2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 312px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuduepNohOa_mJRTO6cJ7E3eogjtz1JT1mDGSm-hoyczdTgXU1xhVoyzSdi6GJW_Aeb_NrVsPoGGcgvIOzLpIT2mcN9YW4j3Gy7Ktanv5CBQh0RAOevE6c31QxC0aece0IgliKoQ/s320/jiminboxtop2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5361354000680530850" border="0" /></a><br />The project was so complicated, it took far longer than I had expected. I had planned to give the figure to Jim during one of his annual music parties, but the darn thing was just not finished in time. I knew we were going to visit Jim and his wife again the following weekend, so I took a day off during the week just to assemble the finished product. By the time I was ready to present it to him, I was worried that the odd project would be met with bewilderment. When he saw it, however, he exploded with laughter and joy. He became so excited, in fact, that he began to turn purple and I feared that I would be responsible for his premature death. When Jim started breathing again, so did I. All the time and effort had indeed paid off.<br /><br />Although the Jim Six action figure was a big success, I swore I never wanted to tackle another personalized action figure again. However, things changed...Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-82451501431593639412009-07-14T10:07:00.002-04:002009-07-14T10:09:37.906-04:00Captain StargoodI really like this! Kinda like if Gerry Anderson and Seth Green had a love child:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/8TSS9SwpSrA&hl=en&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8TSS9SwpSrA&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-43302497950420363172009-07-10T10:18:00.004-04:002009-07-10T11:39:13.718-04:00The Ghost Who Walks!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/phantom1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 513px; height: 500px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/phantom1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />"The Ghost Who Walks!" If that tag line doesn't capture the imagination of a six year old, I don't know what will. Just as I discovered Batman at a young age because he was conveniently beamed to the TV screen in my living room, I found the Phantom conveniently in the pages of our daily newspaper. As soon as I was able to read, I started reading the comic strips, and The Phantom was there along with Steve Canyon and Beetle Bailey. Since he wasn't as highly exposed as Batman or Superman, I wasn't hooked on him the same way, but he definitely caught my interest.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/phantomcomic.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 263px; height: 396px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/phantomcomic.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>In fact, one of the frustrations I had with comic strips in general was that you only got two or three panels per day. For a kid with a short attention span, having a story unfold at such a snail's pace was maddening. Fortunately, during the early 70s,<span style="font-style: italic;"> Charlton Comics</span> was publishing The Phantom in comic book form on a regular basis. I much preferred reading the comic books over the strip, even though I liked the artwork on the strip better. At least with the comic book, I got a complete story in one issue. If there had been a live-action or cartoon show based on The Phantom as well, I probably would have been a bigger fan, but alas, it was not to be back then.<br /><br />The Phantom's lack of media exposure has always remained a mystery to me. Making his debut in 1936, he is one of the most enduring super heroes in pop culture history, beating out Superman and Batman by two and three years, respectively. He was also the first hero to wear a brightly colored leotard with the briefs on the outside and to sport a mask with the eyes whited out for a spooky effect. He was, for all intents and purposes, the prototype for the modern super hero. The Phantom has never gone away, with <a href="http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/phantom/about.htm">the daily strip still running in newspapers </a>along with appearances in various comic books around the world. Currently, <span style="font-style: italic;">Moonstone Comics</span> publishes The Phantom in comic book and graphic novel form, and separate comics have been produced in places like Scandinavia, Australia, and India. Actually, he's more popular abroad than in the States, which has always baffled me. He is, after all, a wealthy American coming to a third world country to protect them. A rather unpopular sentiment in today's world, but somehow he is still appealing.<br /><br />In a nutshell, The Phantom is Kit Walker, who carries on the family business as the 21st Phantom to roam the jungles of Bengalla. Back in the 1500s, one of Kit's ancestors, Christopher Walker, was serving on his father's ship when it was attacked by pirates of the Singh Brotherhood off the coast of Bengalla. Christopher Walker saw his father murdered before he was swept off the boat. He washed ashore and was nursed back to health by a tribe of pygmies. When he sees the body of the pirate who killed his father on the shore, he swears to fight greed, cruelty, and injustice. From that point on, a Walker has defended the jungle tribes of Bengalla in the disguise of The Phantom. Since the job is past down through the generations, The Phantom never dies and is thus known as "The Ghost Who Walks." Kit assumes the mantle of the super hero when his father dies from a knife wound. Up to that point, Kit had been raised in the States and was set to marry his college sweetheart when he is called to the jungle to serve his duty.<br /><br />I never thought about it as a kid, but I think the reason why I liked The Phantom was because he was so much like Batman. He was a wealthy man without powers who is devoted to fighting crime and injustice because of a family trauma involving the death of a father. Without the benefit of gadgets, The Phantom was even more resourceful than Batman, using only a pair of .45 automatics and the help of his horse Hero and his wolf called Devil. Occasionally, he would also get an assist from the pygmy tribe who knows his true identity.<br /><br />The jungle setting of The Phantom was always a bit confusing to me. In the comic strip, he was surrounded by African tribes people, but in other comics and stories that I read, there were Indian references like the Singh Brotherhood. I later discovered that the location of Bengalla was moved from India to Africa in the strip during the 1960s. The movie serial made in the 1940s showed a really muddled picture of the jungle environment with people of all nationalities made up in tribe makeup that didn't indicate any particular race or nationality. I guess the producers figured the kids wouldn't know any difference.<br /><br />Another thing that confused me was why the strip continued to use Kit Walker as The Phantom over all those decades. Unlike other comic characters where they must remain the same age year after year, The Phantom had its own built in excuse for aging the character and having future generations take over. During the run of the strip, The Phantom did marry and have two children, but Kit remained roughly the same age and continued as the 21st Phantom right up to today. At some point, Lee Falk or the subsequent writers could have had Kit's son take over and aged him as well. I always thought that was a missed opportunity to bring a level of realism to the strip.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/phantom3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 434px; height: 506px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/phantom3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />When Captain Action came out in 1966, Ideal secured the license to make costumes based on many of the King Features properties, including The Phantom. I never had a Phantom costume for my Captain Action as a kid, but I definitely snapped one up when Playing Mantis came out with their reproduction versions in the late 90s. Later on, I managed to find some original costumes on eBay, but not all of the accessories. The version pictured in this blog is a mixed assortment of vintage and reproduction pieces. One of the main differences between the old and new costumes is that, on the vintage costume, the black stripes on The Phantom's briefs were created with sewn-on strips of vinyl. Playing Mantis wisely silk-screened the stripes on for the reproduction. Also, Ideal made the mask as a two-piece arrangement with the face part separate from the cowl. Playing Mantis came up with a one-piece mask that's easier to put on. The version pictured here has the vintage leotard and mask. The holster, boots, belt, and knuckle band are all reproductions, which mirror the original accessories almost exactly.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/phantom2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 432px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/phantom2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />After paying little attention to The Phantom for many years, I read a couple of the <span style="font-style: italic;">Moonstone </span>comics and was quite impressed. I also hear that a new movie is in the works (the Billy Zane film didn't do so well). While he doesn't get the same sort of press as Batman, it looks like The Phantom will continue to live on in pop culture like the character himself lives forever in the jungles of Bengalla.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-61529902781457867662009-07-06T12:45:00.003-04:002009-07-06T13:44:27.160-04:00Meet Doctor Doom!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/docdoom1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 475px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/docdoom1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Shortly after Playing Mantis released its reproductions of Captain Action and some of his old costumes, it seemed as though a mini-cottage industry (dollhouse industry?) popped up with enthusiasts creating reproductions of old Captain Action accessories and new masks and costumes for super hero outfits never before offered by Ideal or Playing Mantis. One such entity was 2GFX which made custom masks such as Red Skull, Nick Fury, Captain America's sidekick Bucky, and Doctor Doom. I managed to buy a Red Skull and Doctor Doom mask before 2GFX disappeared into the ether.<br /><br />The reason why I wanted to make a custom figure of Doctor Doom was because, unlike so many of the other Marvel villains, Doctor Doom seemed genuinely dangerous. I know I'm more of a DC guy and Marvel fans would probably wonder where I come off with a statement like that, but so many of the Marvel villains seemed more goofy than threatening, from my perspective. Mole Man and Green Goblin and The Lizard looked more cute than scary when I was a kid. On the other hand, Doctor Doom was a guy who wore armor and ruled a Balkan country and dabbled in the occult. He had brains like Lex Luthor, but he also had the power and influence of a national ruler. This was Saddam Hussein to the nth power. That was truly frightening to me.<br /><br />Although I didn't read many Marvel comics when I was young, I was a regular follower of The Fantastic Four, and I was always thrilled when Doc Doom came to ruin the FF's day. As comic fans know, Victor Von Doom had once been a college friend of Reed Richards (a.k.a. Mr. Fantastic) and, when a dangerous experiment permanently damages Von Doom's face, he forever blames Richards for the accident and launches a decades long crusade for revenge. His capers were ingenious, and his status as a dictator made him difficult to touch. Still, the Fantastic Four (and whatever other Marvel heroes he battled) always found a way to put him in check...until the next time.<br /><br />When I set out to make a custom figure of Doc Doom, I was of course first inspired by the mask 2GFX was offering. I was also working under the notion, at the time, that all my customs should be designed specifically for Captain Action or Dr. Evil figures. Since Dr. Doom was a villain, the costume had to be on a Dr. Evil figure, but I didn't want to use the standard blue Dr. Evil figure since he was...well, blue. Fortunately, Playing Mantis produced a tan colored Dr. Evil for its Ming the Merciless costume, so I managed to land a couple of the tan-colored figures on eBay. With a figure in hand, I first gave him a pair of black pants, black boots, and a black shirt to cover the bulk of his body. Over that, I created Doom's green tunic by making a rectangular piece of fabric with a hole in the center for his head and seamed it with fabric glue. When first put on the figure, it resembled a sandwich board, but by gathering the fabric at the waist with a belt I snagged from my <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars </span>Count Dooku figure, it created the illusion of a tunic.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/docevildoom.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 347px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/docevildoom.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />For the armor covering his arms and legs, I used the pieces from the Marx Toys Silver Knight character. At the time, <a href="http://actionheroes.homestead.com/reviewstwelve.html">a revised version of Marx Toys was putting out a reproduction Silver Knight figure</a>, so I bought it. I later realized that I probably could have purchased original Silver Knight accessories on eBay for the same amount of money or maybe less. I was living and learning the game of action figure customizing. Anyway, the armor pieces worked perfectly even if they were a struggle to put on. Of course, I already had to the mask, so the only piece missing was Doc Doom's iconic hooded cape.<br /><br />To make the cape, I used the same green fabric I used to make the tunic (most likely purchased from a scrap bin at <a href="http://www.joann.com/joann/">Jo-Ann Fabrics</a>). I found online a pattern for a Renaissance Fair type of costume which employed a hooded cape, so I scaled the measurements down to 1/6th scale. I didn't have a sewing machine at the time, so I feebly attempted to sew a black lining into the green fabric that I had cut to size. Taking pity on me, my wife took over the sewing chore and did a wonderful job with the finished cape. The finishing touch had to be the gold chain fastener that joins Dr. Doom's cape across his neck. In most of the later drawings of Doom, the chain is connected by two large, flat gold discs. After searching various fabric and craft stores for awhile, I finally found a chain that perfectly matched what I was looking for.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/docdoom&spidey.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 534px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/docdoom&spidey.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Even now, with all the other custom figures under my belt, I still think this early attempt is one of my best. Of course, the mask looks great, but the Silver Knight armor and that terrific cape by my wife really sets the whole thing off. He looks just as menacing as the guy in the comics.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-30491763043938108082009-07-01T10:20:00.004-04:002009-07-01T13:53:16.364-04:00Wonder Woman<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/wonderwomancomic.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 404px; height: 421px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/wonderwomancomic.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Since comic book readership has traditionally been predominantly male, female super heroes were often a tough sell. Not that there weren't several attempts made, but characters like Lady Luck are largely forgotten today. As the median age of comic book readers began to rise in the 1970s, it was easier for the comic book companies to cultivate popular female superheroes since adolescent boys were only too happy to see a curvy, buxom woman in spandex kicking butt. The one female who beat the odds and remained popular from the golden age to modern day was Wonder Woman.<br /><br />As a kid, I was aware of her name, but I didn't really know anything about Wonder Woman until I read her origin story reprinted in Jules Feiffer's wonderful book on comic history, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Great Comic Book Heroes</span>. In a sense, I was experiencing Wonder Woman for the first time the same way the rest of America experienced her for the first time in 1941. The origin takes place just before the beginning of World War II when Army Intelligence officer Steve Trevor uncovers the leaders of a spy ring and goes on a dangerous mission to capture them. Along the way, his plane runs out of fuel and crash lands on Paradise Island, home of the Amazons. While Trevor is nursed back to health, Princess Diana falls in love with the man and fights to win the honor of taking Trevor back to America so he can finish the job he started. Her mother, Queen Hippolyte, fashions a special costume for her that incorporates elements of the U.S. flag and the golden eagle. Thus, Princess Diana adopts the U.S. as her new home and fights to protect her.<br /><br />Plenty has been written about what Wonder Woman represents to young girls and to American society in general. I think her biggest contribution was to bring a female perspective and influence to the male dominated machismo of the super hero world. Shortly after her introduction, she was given membership into the all-boys club Justice Society of America. By the time the Justice League of America was formed in the Silver Age, Wonder Woman was part of DC's top three heroes (Superman and Batman being the other two, of course) who had run uninterrupted in comics up to that time. She also established the precedent of there being at least one female in every comic hero team.<br /><br />Other than that origin story, I have to say I never read a Wonder Woman comic. I only saw her as part of the Justice League, or in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Super Friends</span> cartoon show. There was also this bizarre TV movie from the early 70s:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/zMJrPUFZ2xQ&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/zMJrPUFZ2xQ&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Gotta love the <span style="font-style: italic;">wakka-cha wakka-cha </span>theme songs back then!<br /><br />I also watched the Lynda Carter version, at least for a season or so. As much as I liked Wonder Woman, I couldn't bring myself to read a comic featuring a woman. My guess is that most boys had the same reaction, which is why action figures based on female heroes were not as popular in those days. Ideal put out a line of female hero dolls in the 60s to compliment their Captain Action line, but they sold poorly and are quite rare today. Called the Super Queens, the four dolls were Batgirl, Supergirl, Aquaman's wife Mera, and Wonder Woman. I never tried to collect them because, in addition to being expensive, I didn't think they looked all that good. While Captain Action was muscled and articulated to look and pose like a hero, the Super Queens were slight and had limited articulation. They also possessed extremely girly faces not befitting of a super hero.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/oldwonderwoman.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 225px; height: 231px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/oldwonderwoman.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Still, I wanted a Wonder Woman doll to put amongst my other DC figures. Several years back, Mattel put out a series of Barbie dolls dressed like DC's female heroes. The costumes were great, but I've never been a fan of the Barbie doll in general. Again, it's too slight, the articulation is wonky, and the faces are way too soft and pretty. They are dolls for girls, after all. I bought a Wonder Woman Barbie and slipped it in with my Superman and Batman and Aquaman, but I wasn't happy about it.<br /><br />Then, last Christmas, my wonder woman wife bought me some Cy Girl action figures for customizing purposes. These female figures are articulated like male action figures and are more curvacious than Barbies, looking very much like the way women are drawn in comic books. They are also provided with two different chest pieces, one featuring smallish breasts and one with larger breasts, depending on what type of effect you want to create. Although my brunette Cy Girl had bigger hips than the Barbie, I figured she could probably slip into the Wonder Woman costume with some encouragement. Happily, I was correct. Of course, I had to use the smaller chest piece since the big boobs simply would not fit in the costume, but I think a smaller chest is better suited to an athletic woman anyhow.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/wonderwoman1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 361px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/wonderwoman1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />The finished product appears to me as a modern, realistic interpretation of Wonder Woman rather than her iconic image, but I like it. She's also much easier to pose.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/wonderwoman2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 392px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/wonderwoman2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-30741384885580347312009-06-28T08:00:00.001-04:002009-06-28T15:30:55.903-04:00Golden Age and Silver Age Green Lantern<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/greenlantern3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 501px; height: 328px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/greenlantern3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Just like the Silver Age Flash, I first discovered Silver Age Green Lantern not in comic books but on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Aquaman</span> cartoon show where he appeared in both his own solo back-up stories and as part of the Justice League of America. The thing that fascinated me about Green Lantern was that he belonged to a larger intergalactic organization designed to police all the planets in space. That imbued him with a greater calling than these other super heroes who simply got hit by radiation or fell into a pile of chemicals and gained super powers. Hal Jordan was blessed with his powers, or at least given a ring and lantern that contained powers, by a far superior group of aliens. If Superman was a veiled representation of Jesus Christ, the Green Lantern was something like a prophet.<br /><br />I first learned Green Lantern's origin in one of the cartoon installments. Test pilot Hal Jordan is suddenly transported to a desert area where a UFO has crash landed. The alien belongs to the Guardians of the Universe and, now that the alien is dying, he has chosen Jordan to pass on his membership to because he is a good man without fear. The alien gives Jordan a green ring and a green device that looks like a lantern. The lantern charges the ring every 24 hours and, whitgh the ring, he can create just about anything he wishes. Its only weakness is that the ring is powerless against the color yellow. This was one of those bullshit twists that I always hated in comic books, like Superman's kryptonite. These guardians are so powerful, but all you have to do is paint your gun yellow and they're screwed. Oh well...<br /><br />I discovered that there had been a Golden Age Green Lantern when DC Comics started publishing old reprints in the back pages of their comics in the early 70s. While Silver Age Green Lantern's origin was pure atomic age sci-fi, the Golden Age version had an origin borrowing more from magic, which was pretty common with those early super heroes. Alan Scott stumbles across a magic lantern made of green metal which has mysterious powers. Scott creates a ring that, when he touches it to the lantern every 24 hours, gives him great powers. While Hal Jordan's ring could not affect anything yellow, Scott's ring was defenseless against items made of wood. I think Hal Jordan had the better advantage here.<br /><br />Like The Flash, Green Lantern was one of the top five super heroes of DC's powerful stable who had his own magazine in addition to appearing regularly in an anthology title (<span style="font-style: italic;">All-American</span>) and as part of the Justice Society of America in <span style="font-style: italic;">All-Star Comics</span>. Also like The Flash, Green Lantern faded away in the early 50s as super hero comics fell out of favor. Once The Flash was successfully resurrected in a new form in 1956, Green Lantern got his aforementioned face lift in 1959 and the Silver Age was off and running.<br /><br />I wasn't a regular reader of the Green Lantern comics, but he was always a big part of my childhood through his appearances on the <span style="font-style: italic;">Aquaman </span>show and, of course, the <span style="font-style: italic;">Super Friends</span>. When I renewed my interest in the old Captain Action toy during the late 90s, I found there was a lot of fans online who wished Ideal had made a Silver Age Green Lantern costume for Captain Action. Indeed, had the toy line been more successful, I have no doubt that The Flash and Green Lantern would've been turned into costume sets for the trans-super hero. Of course, I had to make a costume for my own Captain Action.<br /><br />The elements for the costume came from the usual suspects. The gloves and boots were courtesy of Wes McCue at <a href="http://classicplastick.proboards.com/index.cgi?">Classic Plastick</a>. To simulate the green ring, I cut out a ring shape from green electrical tape and stuck it on the right glove hand. The costume was made by Rauty, which cleverly consists of a full black leotard over which you put on the green one-piece bathing suit type of garment. The chest emblem was made by finding a copy of the logo online, adjusting it to size in Photoshop, and then printing the logo on sitcker paper.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/firstglhead.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 364px; height: 327px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/firstglhead.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>The mask went through two versions. First, I used the mask that came with Playing Mantis's second generation Green Hornet costume over which I placed a green mask cut out of electrical tape. I had cut out the eye holes because Green Lantern was sometimes drawn with his eyes exposed. However, the Green Hornet face mask had bug eyes similar in look to Eagle Eye G.I Joe, and the hair style was all wrong. The finished mask didn't look anything like Hal Jordan.<br /><br />After awhile, it occurred to me that Hal Jordan had a pile of curly hair similar to Aquaman. Since Ideal had made an Aquaman costume set for Captain Action, maybe I could repaint an Aquaman mask. One finally came on eBay for a price I was willing to pay, and I repainted Aquaman's golden locks brown. I used the same electrical tape technique for the green mask, but decided to paint the eye holes plain white. With this new face mask, I was reasonably pleased with my Silver Age Green Lantern.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/greenlantern4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 375px; height: 576px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/greenlantern4.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />A few years later, when I was making custom figures of all the Justice Society of America characters, I took on the daunting task of recreating Golden Age Green Lantern. His was one of the more audacious costumes from the era, featuring a red shirt, green pants, red boots with yellow criss-cross striping, a purple mask, and a high-collared cape with purple on the outside and chartreuse on the inner lining. In today's vernacular, he was a hot tranny mess!<br /><br />Although I was no longer making costumes specifically for Captain Action figures, I decided to repaint a spare Lone Ranger face mask to use for Alan Scott's head because of the similarity. His hair went from black to yellow and his mask went from black to purple. To mitigate the extreme color pallate, I dyed a white shirt in a soft red tone and I used some olive drab pants instead of bright green tights. The chest emblem was created in the same process mentioned above. On the red boots, courtesy of Wes McCue, I created the striping pattern with yellow electrical tape. I wanted to make the cape, but I could never find the material in the right colors. For the sake of this post, I mocked up a cape with a little photoshoppery. This is a reasonable representation of what I want my finished Green Lantern to look like when I get the right cape material.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/gagreenlantern2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 446px; height: 608px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/gagreenlantern2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The Flash and Green Lantern survived through the 20th century by going through radical makeovers, but DC's other three big stars, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, remained relatively unchanged throughout their careers. I'll talk about my Wonder Woman action figure next time.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-69004943382161876682009-06-19T08:00:00.000-04:002009-06-19T11:46:31.288-04:00A Tale of Two Flashes<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/2flash%20cover.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 420px; height: 611px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/2flash%20cover.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Going through my old posts, I realized that I neglected to talk about some of my earliest custom action figures. Although they lack some of the attention to detail that I brought to my later customs, I'm still pretty happy with them and thought it might be fun to share them. The Flash seems to be the best place to start since he was the first super hero to cross over from the Golden Age of Comics to the Silver Age in a completely new incarnation. Also, I just so happen to have created custom versions of each character.<br /><br />Like many people born in the 60s, my first exposure to The Flash came not from the comics but from the Aquaman TV show where The Flash was featured in solo back-up stories as well as in The Justice League of America adventures. The Flash was the first "unitasker" hero I had ever seen. Unlike Superman who could do anything, or Batman who had no superpowers and relied mainly on his belt full of gadgets and gizmos, The Flash could do one thing well which was run like crazy. As a result, all his adventures were tailored to showcase his particular talent. The budding writer in me was fascinated by the contrived nature of these stories. I would think, "Boy, it's a good thing he doesn't have to lift up a train or set something on fire with laser vision. He just has to run across the country in time to defuse a bomb."<br /><br />A few years later, I was able to read about The Flash's origin in the reprint comic title <span style="font-style: italic;">Secret Origins #1</span>. In the story, police scientist Barry Allen leaves some jars of chemicals near an open window during a thunderstorm (why the window is open during a storm is not explained). Lightning jumps through the window, strikes the apparently conductive chemicals, and the resulting mixture splashes all over Barry Allen. Soon he discovers that he can move at super fast speed like a comic book character he remembered from his youth, the one we now refer to as Golden Age Flash. Since he already works for the police, Allen decides to become a new version of his comic book hero, fashioning a bright red costume for himself and fighting crime as The Flash.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/g&sflash.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer; width: 486px; height: 648px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/g&sflash.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>I loved that story, not only because of the great Carmine Infantino artwork, but because the origin referenced an earlier DC creation. Barry Allen was inspired by a comic character who actually existed years earlier. This was the first time I learned of Golden Age Flash, but I was soon able to read his early stories thanks to DC's habit at the time of filling the back pages of its comics with Golden Age stories. Of course, this Flash was a completely different character. In this version, college student Jay Garrick has a lab accident (like Barry Allen) and he inhales fumes that make him super fast. Immediately, he puts together a costume modeled after the Greek god Hermes and starts fighting crime. His motivation for fighting crime is less clear than Allen's, but the stories were still a lot of fun.<br /><br />As I grew older and became a full-fledged comic book geek, I learned that the creation of two versions of The Flash led to a major change in the DC universe. In 1961, <span style="font-style: italic;">The Flash #123</span> featured a story where the old and new Flash meet. It seems Golden Age Flash was not merely a comic book character, but a flesh and blood hero on an alternate world known as Earth 2. In fact, all the Golden Age super heroes lived there including older versions of Superman and Batman. This opened up a long series of cross over stories featuring the old and new characters.<br /><br />Jumping ahead to the 12st century, I found myself increasingly fascinated with the idea of creating 12" custom action figures based on the super heroes I loved as a kid. More specifically, I was inspired by the old Captain Action line where you could dress Captain Action up in various super hero costumes. Unfortunately, the short run of the toy line prevented Ideal from creating certain super hero costumes that were no brainers, like The Flash and Green Lantern. I decided to create a Flash costume when I found a great Flash mask on eBay, created by <a href="http://stores.shop.ebay.com/Diver4s-Treasure-Chest__W0QQ_armrsZ1">Dale Van Slyke</a>. I then purchased a red unitard from the <a href="http://drmego.fatcow.com/store/index.html">Dr. Mego</a> Web site. I have to admit that, although Dr. Mego makes great Mego parts, the unitard was of really poor quality. However, I liked that it was slightly baggy the way Carmine Infantino used to draw The Flash's costume, so I made some repairs and used it. I made the yellow lightning bolts around the elbows with electrical tape, and for the chest emblem, I took an emblem from the Internet, photoshopped it to size, and printed it on sticker paper. Once cut out and applied to the chest, the unitard was complete.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/silverflash1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 439px; height: 648px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/silverflash1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Since The Flash's boots had tread, I used a pair of army boots that I painted yellow. My original figure also wore red gloves which I bought from <a href="http://classicplastick.proboards.com/index.cgi?">Classic Plastick</a>, but I didn't like the way the mask fit on the figure, so I used a beefier action figure with a bigger head. Problem was, the gloves didn't fit his beefy hands, so I just painted his hands red. The yellow belt came from a uniform set sold by a Captain Action fan known as Rauty. His red unitard was better than the Dr. Mego one, but I used his for a different custom project.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/silverflash2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 576px; height: 562px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/silverflash2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />The Golden Age Flash figure was created later when I got it into my head to make my own version of the Justice Society of America. <a href="http://polyvinylman.blogspot.com/2007/05/jsa-series-golden-age-flash.html">I discussed the creation of this figure in an earlier post.</a> Unlike my Silver Age Flash, which was originally devised to be a costume I could put on a Captain Action figure, the Golden Age figure was devised as a stand alone custom. After awhile, I liked the idea of just having figures on display that were meant to be solely one thing rather than making costume sets that could work on different action figures. That's why I chose a figure from ERTL's Fisherman set. I thought the headsculpt closely resembled Golden Age Flash's face.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/goldenflash4.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 345px; height: 648px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/goldenflash4.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/goldenflash3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 576px; height: 547px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/goldenflash3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />After creating a Silver Age Flash action figure, my next logical project had to be the other super hero who got a Silver Age makeover: Green Lantern. A look at Silver Age and Golden Age Green Lantern next time!Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-7671309379676381492009-06-17T08:00:00.001-04:002009-06-17T19:11:41.578-04:00Saturday Afternoon MatineeIf my calculations are correct, it was on this day 31 years ago when the summer vacation between my 8th and 9th grade school years began. The summer of 1978 was an especially wondrous time for me when my imagination came into full blossom, and I cherished every mundane aspect of life as if it were priceless. I remember that first day especially well because my friend Vince and I went to a matinee double feature at the Northpoint Plaza Theatre (now a dreary Wall-Mart).<br /><br />In the time before home video, double features were a great way of coaxing people to see a not-so-great new release by pairing it with a slightly better film that had been released a couple years earlier. Movie-goers who liked the older film and wanted to see it again, or those who hadn't had a chance to see it when it was originally released, might be lured in to see the new film. In this case, the double bill was <span style="font-style: italic;">Warlords of Atlantis</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger</span>.<br /><br />It was a Saturday and, as with every Saturday from May to October, I had to mow my neighbor's lawn. The woman I knew as Miss Peggy was a widow with a house on the corner, so her lawn was much larger than the rest of the houses on the block, encompassing not only the front and back of her house, but also a large section on the side by the intersection and the long strips of grass between the sidewalk and the street. For the handsome sum of $7 per week, I would mow and trim that huge lawn with her Toro gas-powered mower and my father's cheesy Black & Decker weed whacker. To make matters worse, Miss Peggy had her lawn chemically treated, so it grew just as fast as I could cut it and those chemicals wreaked havoc with my sinuses. Still, in a day when comic books cost 30 cents and a matinee was only $2, making $7 a week in addition to my newspaper delivery boy salary was good money.<br /><br />I finished mowing the lawn around noon, took a quick shower, and then called Vince to make sure he was ready to go. My dad drove us to the theatre as he so often did. Looking back, I would've thought it a pain in the ass to drive us all over town, but he liked to drive. My mom said he should've been a bus driver.<br /><br />Anyway, the first film to be shown was <span style="font-style: italic;">Warlords of Atlantis</span>, the new release. This was the fourth Amicus release to feature Doug McClure as a turn-of-the-century explorer who stumbles into some forgotten world of monsters and lost tribes. The first three films were based on Edgar Rice Burroughs books, but this one was original. I guess the film-makers thought they could save some money by writing their own story but swiping the formula. In this movie, McClure takes a bathysphere down to the ocean's depths and is swept into a strange underwater world. I had never seen a bathysphere before, so I was completely captivated by the concept. Here's the segment of the film that fascinated me the most:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/XdKzKcYU6M4&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/XdKzKcYU6M4&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />Aw, up your bathysphere with an ancient golden statue!<br /><br />Did you catch Cliffie as one of the crew members? Someone has uploaded the entire film on YouTube if you care to watch it. Once they reach the underwater world, I think the story kinda bogs down. To a 13 year old, though, it was pretty exciting.<br /><br />Next up was the much better <span style="font-style: italic;">Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger</span>, featuring the incredible special effects of Ray Harryhausen. It star's John's son Patrick Wayne as Sinbad and Tyrone Power's daughter Taryn. A very young Jane Seymour and Doctor Who #2 Patrick Troughton are also in the movie. There was only one scene that stayed with me all these decades, and someone just so happened to put it on YouTube. You'll discover fairly quickly why it burned itself so vividly into my adolescent brain:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ud0FlDITv0s&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ud0FlDITv0s&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br />More than the stories themselves, I became completely lost in these depictions of fantasy worlds from a bygone era. Having already had my fill of space opera like <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Trek</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">Space:1999</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Star Wars</span>, I was ready for some new fantasy legends. In between the countless comic books I read that summer, I poured over books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the stories of Sinbad, and even tales from <span style="font-style: italic;">The Arabian Nights</span>. All that lawn and newspaper money went straight to the comic book/used book store in my neighborhood. So lost was I in these fantasy tales that I doubt my parents were even aware of my existence until I showed up for dinner.<br /><br />To this day, I remember that summer as a dream-like blend of fantasy and reality. While mowing the lawn, I was a giant slaughtering hordes of soldiers with my swirling blades of death. Wandering the sun-baked sidewalks of my neighborhood delivering newspapers, my mind was underground in the hidden world of Pellucidar helping David Innes defeat the evil Mahars. It was the last summer when I had no worries and could afford to completely block out the harsh realities that were looming on the horizon. During those sultry, hot days in 1978, I was purely a kid for the last time.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-64589733590776161502009-06-11T10:16:00.003-04:002009-06-11T11:05:47.718-04:00Men Into Spa-aaa-ace!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/menintospace.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 431px; height: 617px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/menintospace.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>Although I read comics from the time before I could read, I didn't seriously collect comics until I was about 12 years old. Among my early obsessions were the Dell/Gold Key comics from the 50s and 60s. Dell was the comic book arm of the Western Printing and Lithograph Co., which held the licensing rights to numerous pop culture properties from comic strips, movies, and television. Instead of having regular titles with monthly or bi-monthly publishing schedules, Dell primarily put out an anthology series known to collectors as <span style="font-style: italic;">Four Color Comics </span>featuring an array of properties including <span style="font-style: italic;">Buck Rogers, Mr. Ed, the Three Stooges</span>, and <span style="font-style: italic;">Leave it to Beaver</span>. The quirky line-up of pop culture icons, coupled with the unique covers using either paintings or photo-collages, really jumped out at me as a collector. Also, they were way cheaper for me to buy than old Marvel or DC comics. This was important on my newspaper delivery boy/lawn mower salary.<br /><br />One of my favorite <span style="font-style: italic;">Four Color Comics </span>was the issue featuring the <span style="font-style: italic;">Men Into Space</span> TV series. At the time, I had never heard of the show, but I was intrigued by the grim-faced astronaut on the cover with the cool helmet sitting next to the Chesley Bonestell painting. I later discovered that <span style="font-style: italic;">Men Into Space</span> was a half-hour, syndicated series about the United States Air Force's attempts to explore space. Led by Colonel Edward McCauley (played by William Lundigan), these space explorers dealt with the hazards of space travel as they built space stations, moon bases, and planned trips to Mars. Although the stories were supposed to take place in some vaguely defined near future, everything looked like 1959.<br /><br />Of course, I only had the comic to go by when I was 12, and it seemed pretty exciting to me. While I knew that the science presented in this 1960 comic bore no resemblance to the realities of the Apollo missions, I enjoyed experiencing this "what if" view of the future that seemed so much more elegant than the truth. The frustrating part about the comic book was that the story ended with a cliffhanger. During one of their moon missions, one of the crew is injured. Also, they do not have enough fuel to get back in their rocket ship, so the injured man and another astronaut are sent home in a makeshift rescue craft, leaving McCauley and another astronaut stranded on the moon waiting for help. I spent decades trying to find the second issue of this comic so I could read the conclusion of the story. It wasn't until a few years ago, with the help of the Internet, that I discovered Dell never published that second issue. I don't know whether the series' cancellation or poor comic sales were to blame, but Col. McCauley was never rescued from the moon.<br /><br />I always wanted to see some episodes of the show, but the only way I could see them was to buy the entire set of 38 episodes on DVD for about $40. I wasn't prepared to invest that much money on a show I had never seen before, so I never bought them. Now, some generous person has posted one of the episodes on YouTube, so I'd like to share it with you. As I suspected, it's kinda like "Sea Hunt in Outer Space." The budget is low, there's a heavy reliance on stock footage, and the story is rather uneventful. Still, I wish I could have seen it in syndication when I was a kid. I think I would've enjoyed it. This episode features a young Robert Vaughn as guest star, who is clearly the best actor in this episode. Anyway, here it is:<br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/g1JMA2qe3XE&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/g1JMA2qe3XE&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Nqi1AHgMEQw&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Nqi1AHgMEQw&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br /><br /><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0EnjMz3iTA0&hl=en&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0EnjMz3iTA0&hl=en&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-74635433066533834162009-03-23T13:30:00.003-04:002009-03-23T14:13:07.376-04:00Forty Winks: The Perils of Pandora<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/40winks.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 281px; height: 480px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/40winks.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a>In the waning years of the previous century, I found myself in the midst of a group of highly creative individuals who wished to take comic books beyond the worn out parameters of super heroes and the dreary pretensions of Frank Miller garbage to a universe where any type of story was possible and commercial considerations were not an issue. These people were part of an independent, small press movement. Brave souls who put their time, energy, and money into producing comic books for the sheer joy of creating something that had never existed before.<br /><br />The comic that I was involved with was called <span style="font-style: italic;">Forty Winks</span> (you can still find copies on eBay for cheap). It told the story of a 10-year-old girl named Pandora who lived with her widowed father. She was an ordinary girl except that she was an "active dreamer," that is, someone who didn't just float passively through her dreams, but could actually control her actions within the Dreamscape. When a mysterious monster begins attacking her in her dreams, she sets out to discover who this monster is and how he can be stopped. Along the way, she enlists the help of a scrappy gang of urchins known as the Smith Street Gang and a Dream Guide named Sam, who shows her how to navigate the tricky and treacherous world of dreams.<br /><br />The initial adventure of Pandora and the gang ran over four issues beginning in September 1997 and ending in June 1998. A Christmas special and a TV parody issue followed. Forty Winks proved so popular that she appeared in another company's comic book titled, <span style="font-style: italic;">Comics Library International</span>, where she appeared in five issues. The story, known as <span style="font-style: italic;">The Perils of Pandora</span>, followed on the events in FW #1-4 where Pandora is put on trial in the Dreamscape for breaking several dream laws during her previous adventure. As punishment, she is sent on a mission to explore various aspects of the dream world and gather knowledge about how it works. By the time this new storyline started, however, our little group splintered apart and the producers of <span style="font-style: italic;">Comics Library International</span> took over Pandora's story. The last two segments were written and drawn completely without the participation of her original creators. It was an unfortunate end to a promising story.<br /><br />Almost 10 years later, the world of indy comics is a very different place, thanks to the World Wide Web. Now comics can be produced and presented to a global audience without the expense of printing paper copies and distributing them to whomever will take notice. <span style="font-style: italic;">Forty Winks</span> artist John Peters has been a steady presence in this world of Internet comics for many years now, and he has returned to the story which ended prematurely. <span style="font-style: italic;">Forty Winks: The Perils of Pandora </span>is being serialized on Web Comics Nation. You can take a look at it <a href="http://www.webcomicsnation.com/john_peters/perils/series.php?view=archive&chapter=37097">here</a>.<br /><br />Since the storyline in CLI was not fully realized as it was originally intended, John is recreating much of the comic and constructing a new ending. John is an amazing artist with a wildly creative mind. Please check it out. I, for one, am certainly looking forward to seeing where he takes little Pandora on this new, old adventure.Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33505598.post-39243097558661601652009-03-09T11:03:00.005-04:002009-03-09T13:13:31.597-04:00Custom Action Figure - Daniel Craig as James Bond<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/dancraig1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 443px; height: 519px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/dancraig1.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />When it was announced that Daniel Craig was the new James Bond, I couldn't understand what all the fuss was about. It seemed like every time a new actor was assigned the role, there was always some kind of buzz in the media about how this person is not right for the part. As a fan of both the novels and the movies, I can't see how anyone can truly claim any expertise on knowing who is or isn't the right person to portray the character.<br /><br />Many think that Sean Connery is and always shall be the quintessential Bond, probably because he was the first to play the role on film and that's the first impression many have of who Bond was supposed to be. At the time, however, Ian Fleming was extremely disappointed in the choice, and anyone who's read the novels can understand why. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Casino Royale</span>, the first Bond story, Fleming described Bond's features this way:<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">His grey-blue eyes looked calmly back with a hint of ironical inquiry and the short lock of black hair which would never stay in place subsided to form a thick comma above his right eyebrow. With the thin vertical scar down his right cheek the general effect was faintly piratical.<br /><br /></span>In the same story, he writes that Bond had "a cruel mouth" and Vesper Lyn mentions that Bond looks a little like Hoagy Carmichael. That's an obscure reference for most of us today, so here's what the singer/songwriter looked like:<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/hoagy.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 229px; height: 300px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/hoagy.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Not exactly Sean Connery, I would say. After the first movie came out, Fleming grew to like Connery in the role and even gave Bond a Scottish background in the penultimate Fleming-penned Bond novel, <span style="font-style: italic;">You Only Live Twice</span>. When Roger Moore took over the role, some said that Moore embodied the proper British gentleman aspect of Bond's character, but Bond never struck me that way in the books. Although he could turn on the British charm when he had to, and he did have a certain code of fair play in his otherwise dirty line of work, he was generally a pretty coarse character. I think Timothy Dalton was also a bit too refined for the role, but I didn't really have a problem with the way he played the character.<br /><br />Of course, Pierce Brosnan was likely the most popular next to Connery. He had that combination of gentlemanly refinement and rugged strength that fan came to expect from the cinematic Bond, but again, not really the literary Bond. So when Daniel Craig took over, I really had no feelings about the choice one way or the other.<br /><br />"A blond Bond?" many scoffed.<br /><br />Well, why not. Hair color or eye color really shouldn't be a determining factor. Instead, what I was looking for was whether or not he might be able to bring back some of the coarse manliness of Bond, especially since his first outing as the MI-6 spy was in a movie adaptation of the first novel. Once <span style="font-style: italic;">Casino Royale</span> was in the theatres, all the fuss quickly blew away and the general public loved the new Bond.<br /><br />My wife and I have gone to see Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace on her respective birthdays, and have enjoyed each movie quite a bit. We're hoping that they keep releasing Bond movies in mid-November so we can keep the birthday tradition going. That's why it was such a kick when, this past Christmas, she presented me with a 1/6ht scale resin headsculpt of Daniel Craig, made by Dale Van Slyke who sells numerous celebrity headsculpts on eBay. I finally got around to creating my Daniel Craig custom figure this weekend.<br /><br />As per the usual process, I lopped off the head from one of my 12-inch action figures and glued the resin head onto the neck stalk using model glue. Once the glue was dry, I painted the head, occasionally glancing at a picture of Craig on the computer for reference. The sculpt is not a perfect likeness, but just as good as, if not better than, the other Daniel Craig action figures I've seen online. It's a lot cheaper to make your own as well.<br /><br />After painting the head, I dressed him in a blue pin-striped suit that I bought from <a href="http://www.oldjoeinfirmary.com/">Old Joe Infirmary </a>many moons ago. The light grey shirt is also from Old Joe Infirmary, and the black tie came from the old Playing Mantis Green Hornet set made for Captain Action. All my dress shoes were currently being used on other figures, so I found some G.I. Joe boots that, when tucked underneath the pant legs, could pass for black, lace-up shoes.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/dancraig2.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 443px; height: 648px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/dancraig2.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Without any armaments, my action figure just looks like Fred the insurance salesman, so I tried to find an assault rifle like the one Craig is holding in the poster for <span style="font-style: italic;">Quantum of Solace</span>. I didn't have one that was exactly the same, but I think the one in my photos is fairly close. I also took some shots of him holding a pistol. I could've gone with a Walther PPK, but I think that's so overdone. Frankly, I'm not sure what kind of automatic he's holding here, but it's chunky and cool looking.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/dancraig3.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 443px; height: 374px;" src="http://www.theminx.com/nealblog/dancraig3.jpg" alt="" border="0" /></a><br />Now I have to figure out what I'm going to do with the Christian Bale headsculpt my wife also got me for Christmas. Maybe I can stage a diorama where he's attacking a cinematographer!Neal Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17053148427058126745noreply@blogger.com0