Forgotten Pictures of Toys

I just bought a hard drive case that allows me to use an old internal hard drive as a USB external hard drive. I was going through files from three computers ago. Long before the Action Figure Adventures blog existed. I found some fun photos that I figured I'd share here. I forgot to blog on AFA's third anniversary... so this little look back on some older projects will have to serve as a history lesson as to how AFA came to be.

In high school and college a couple of my buddies and I were into stop motion animation. We were also really into making websites... by hand. We literally typed out html code in notepad. During my senior year of high school and freshman year of college we actively pursued both hobbies. We were making animated shorts that would get edited into episodes of a show called Animation Creation.

 Each episode consisted of several short animations as well as a longer feature piece. Then the episodes were wrapped up with a little commentary about how the show was made. This was delivered by custom action figures that were supposed to represent myself and buddy Derek. The figures they selves were actually based on characters we played in a live action movie we made. Towards the end of this series we began planning the next animated show Action Figure Adventures.

At the same time we started a new website that we could post funny articles and links to our videos on YouTube. The site was called Obscene Newg (if you've ever noticed my YouTube channel name). My buddy Brian did the graphics work. I posted about toys and comics. Other friends supplied poems and narratives. It was a pretty goofy website, but it was basically if my four best friends all ran a blog together... before there were blogs. I've re-posted some of my work from Newg here on AFA a couple of times.

As we worked on Obscene Newg my buddy Brian told me that I should consider doing my own site. I would send him articles more often than he was willing to post them because he liked to have an author rotation on the updates, but some of our friends didn't submit items very often. Many of my articles were lost to the ages waiting to be uploaded. Eventually blogging became a thing, Brian said I should do a blog were I show off my toys and explain how I got them and goofy stories about what I thought of them as a kid. My other buddy Derek told me to make a blog that we could use as a platform to announce the animated Action Figure Adventures show from, since it was finally getting edited. I started this blog and it's grown from there.

I've met lots of other cool collectors online and at shows and conventions since that time. I got asked to consult on a project for FYE because of my blog. On top of all that I got asked to be a part of SEO Toy Review where I get to go and basically play with kids toys.

The last three photos in today's post were taken for a goofy thing I was going to write for Obscene Newg about a fight that broke out in the galactic senate between the two most hated species in the universe. Ewoks vs Gungans

Riddler - Toy Biz

In the early 90's the Batman movie toy line morphed into DC Super Heroes. This expanded line saw many rehashes of Super Powers figures as well as some new characters. Riddler was a new character in the USA, put out by Toy Biz. He's dressed in his green question mark covered footie pajamas. The outfit is tied together with light purple gloves and belt. This was the outfit the Riddler had worn for many years at the time, and was also featured as a figure in the DCUC line.

The Riddler has no action features, but did come with an accessory. He came with a little piece of paper that had riddles printed on it. The paper could be separated into six clues. I thought he was kind of a lame action figure as a kid and passed on him. I bought him at an indoor flea market in college when we need him to appear in an episode of our stop motion series, Animation Creation.

Movie Rouge - Custom Figure

After the first X-Men movie was out of theaters I picked up Rouge real cheap at Toys R Us. At the time my buddies and I were in the middle of creating our first stop motion animated series for our college cable stations. There were many occasions where we needed generic civilian action figures for the video segments. This young lady in a sweater and jeans seemed perfect. Now, straight out of the package she had long maroon gloves that went up almost to her elbows and a white streak in her hair. Both of these details are important for a Rouge figure, but not so great for your average teenage girl. I used my Dremel to sand down the ridge where here gloves ended and painted her arms flesh tone. If you look close you can see I should have sanded a little more, but in the videos you can't really tell. I also repainted her hair brown and gave it a nice dark brown wash.

Originally Rouge came with a long green coat and a scarf like she wears in a couple of scenes in the movie. They are laying around somewhere in a bin of accessories that could be useful as props for animating projects. I had planned to use this figure with her coat in a video called "Teenage Runaway" that never got past the brainstorming phase. The video would have used the song by the same name preformed by the Donnas. One of the things that kept that from happening was her poor articulation. Her hip articulation is terrible and her shoulders are her only joint in her arms.

 

We were probably already half way through production of the series, Animation Creation, when I picked up and customized this figure. She ended up making appearances in the last two episodes. In Animation Creation Episode 9 she is one of two customers at the bank that is being robbed by some Crooks in a musical bit about the adventures of the Millersville University Police Department. Rouge also apears as an interviewer in the "Public Relations" section of  Animation Creation Episode 10. It's funny that the customized movie Professor X figures shows up in the same two segments as the Banker and the Main Interviewer.

Sabertooth - Toy Biz

I picked up this Sabertooth figure on clearance at Toys R Us back in the days after the first X-Men movie was out of theaters. He's got some very nicely sculpted details. I love his snarl. Sabbertooth also came with a Police Officer figure for an accessory. The cop's entire body was made of segments held together by a string. The string could be tightend to make him stand up. Then when Sabertooth "hit" him the string would untension and he would flop over. (sorry no picture of the cop).

 

Sabertooth was the villain in a segment of our show Animation Creation called O Cruel Master! 

The Cop gets punched out at the beginning of a segment of AC called Millersville University Police Department Part II.

Norman Osborne - ToyBiz

Norman Osborne with Talking Green Goblin Mask was released with the figures for the first Spider-man movie. He is an excellent likeness to actor Willem Dafoe. The figure came with a large wing chair and Green Goblin mask that can attach to the chair. He has decent articulation, but is slightly pre-posed. He can't  quite stand in a casual stance because his one arm always sticks out a little. He has swivel shoulders so his arms can't move closer or farther from his body.

 I actually bought this figure while my friends and I were working on our stop motion animated show Animation Creation. We were constantly in need of generic and normal looking people. This figure was used during the interview portion of the 10th episode.

J. Jonah Jameson - Spider-Man Movie

I was in college when Spider-Man came out, and it blew me away. I loved every minute of the movie. Spider-Man has always been my favorite Marvel Super Hero. I picked up a number of figures for the film.  JJJ's figure has a great head sculpt and articulation that isn't ruined by his action feature. Jameson comes with a desk and chair. When you activate his action feature his fist pound his desk and the items on it wobble. They paid so much attention to detail on this figure. Check out his pin stripes.

Around the time of this figures release, my buddies and I were working hard on our first stop motion animated series, Animation Creation. I was buying a lot of toys at the time specifically for their accessories. We needed lot of props for the show. J. Jonah Jameson's chair was used by my character in the commentary portion of every episode. JJJ being a normal looking civilian was an added bonus because he could then be used in the show as such. Along with props we also needed characters for the segments of the show. Most of the time the bits didn't call for Super Heroes and Soldiers. In Episode 3 "Fly Me to the Moon", Brian was looking for some more characters to add to his on going shoot 'em up bit "Brian's Reservoir Dogs" that featured his set of McFarland Reservoir Dogs toys. Bringing a pointing finger to a gun fight isn't the best idea.

Brian's Reservoir Dogs  - Part II

Animation Creation 3 "Fly Me to the Moon"

Updated Custom Toys for Animation Creation

If you've read much of this blog you probably know that my friends and I are into making stop motion animation videos using action figures. The first series we did was called Animation Creation. Each episode consisted of a series of short animated stories or music videos. At the end of each episode custom action figures delivered a commentary about how we made the show. These commentaries took on a "universe" of there own and the final episode of the series took place in the "Animation Creation Universe" were we are famous animators with thousands of screaming fans.

After that show was over we moved on to a second series called Action Figure Adventures about living toys trying to escape the room they live in. While this was going on we often bounced around ideas of doing a second season of Animation Creation. One of the features of the new season was going to be all new action figures of us. This time they were going to look more like we do, and less like characters we played in a live action video project we did. Just like the earlier figures these are made by mixing and matching parts from GI Joe figures and repainting them.

Derek is one of the two main animators and hosts of the commentary portions of Animation Creation. Derek often comments on the music used in the animations. His updated figure features him wearing bell bottom jeans and a green t-shirt. I was going to add a Green Lantern symbol in glow-in-the-dark paint to the shirt. His hair is sculpted from scratch and this time I made it long enough to actually cover the screw hole in his back. Lets hope he rubber band inside him holds up.

 Parts used for Derek...

Head: Duke v3 ( same head was used for his other figure)
Torso & Arms: Bazooka v1
Waist: Big Brawler v1
Thighs: Frostbite v1
Shins/Feet: Shipwreck v1

Derek comes with his dog Macie. She is made from an Order figure. The hears were removed and re-sculpted down instead of standing up.






Brian was one of the first guest animators to appear on the show. His character was often troublesome to the rest of the characters. In one episodes he labels one of the animations as"scraping the bottom of the barrel". Brian was going to take an an even more villainous roll in the second season. There is a good taste of his trouble making way in the 10th episode of Animation Creation.  His new figure is wearing jeans and an orange "dump" t-shirt. Brian's appearance changed the most from when we made "Wanderlust" until we were working on AFA. He had gotten rid of the deadlocks and grown a beard. I custom sculpted on the hair and beard. I changed the action figure head used for Brian between the two versions of his figure because his appearance had changed a lot, and I wanted a "later" GI Joe figure that used the ball joint neck that works with the chest I has chosen. The torso for both Brian and Derek needed to be sanded down to remove the #14 detail.

 Parts used for Brian...

Head: Footloose v1 
Torso: Bazooka v1
Arms: Chuckles v1
Waist: Spirit v1
Legs: Thunder v1


 Kevin (myself) is the second main animator and commentary host for Animation Creation. I often make comments during the commentary about the toys and action figures used to make the show. Boy, I wonder why? This time around I feature darker hair and glasses which is more how I look on a regular basis. I also used sculpty to try to make my torso look more pudgy and less muscular. I am wearing jeans and a Saw t-shirt. Greg (another contributer to AC) made and gave me a shirt that looks like this for my birthday one year because I teach high school Woodworking.

 Parts used for Kevin...

Head: Ripcord v1
Torso: Big Brawler v1
Arms: Chuckles v1
Waist: Big Brawler v1
Legs: Pathfinder v1

Kevin's hat comes from a Rebel Fleet Trooper from the Star Wars Vintage Collection Line.

The next figure to be made was going to be Greg (another frequent guest animator) but the 2nd season project wasn't going anywhere because of how long AFA took and so I never made the figure.

The Kevin figure was used in a safety video I made with the help of Derek, Brian, and Greg for use in my Technology Education classroom. It starts out a little slow as I explain the safety testing procdure, but it gets to the safety rule around 2:44. As I get into the rules it gets funny.



By now, these toys don't really look like us anymore. Derek and I both have facial hair and Derek never wears t-shirts anymore. I can't remember the last time Brian wore his Dump t-shirt.

TMNT Snow globe without the globe

One year for my birthday I got a Teenage Mutant Ninja Tutles pencil taped to the outside of a wrapped present. The art on the pencil was pretty standard looking cartoon art, but all the turtles has red masks. At the time I didn't really understand this, later I learned of their comic origins. Instead of an eraser the pencil has a little snow globe that contained Michelangelo and glitter.

I had it for years and eventually the water all evaporated. So in middle school or high school I decided to crack it open and take a better look at the miniature TMNT inside. I've had him ever since in a box of miniature toys that could be used as "action figures" for toys in stop motion animations.

You can see him is the promo shot here for our animated series Animation Creation along with many other small toys.

Action Figure Advetures 100th Post!

Wow, this is the 100th post on AFA. We've had over 2,000 views already and our average number of hits per day seems to be crawling up slowly. If you've recently stumbled upon this blog feel free to check out some of the older posts. If you are a regular reader, thanks!

This is a promotional image I created for one of our stop motion animated series(Animation Creation). It features custom figures of myself and Derek that were used in the show. The opening sequence to the show also features the magnetic alphabet letters. Derek and I are playing with all our toys. The toys are mostly Micro Machine Star Wars toys. There a some army men in there to represent GI Joes along with a robot, Godzilla, and the Batmobile.

If you haven't watched any of the episodes of Animation Creation or Action Figure Adventure, you really should. They are both fun and feature lot of toys. Based on the names you can tell that AFA more heavily features toys.

Since I have off tomorrow I'm going to try to work on another Animation/Review. Perhaps I should come up with a name for my style of toy reviews that include animation in the title. Maybe "Action Figure Adventures Animated Review" is a more descriptive name.

Animation Creation Custom Figures

I have finally posted all ten episodes of Animation Creation to the blog. I hope you check them out and enjoy them. (Quick Links to a couple of my favorite Episodes 3, 6, & 10) There is something in there for everybody. I also previously did a post about some of the custom action figures used in the show to represent the different animators. Today's post focuses more on the "extras". People that served as supporting characters, they contributed less to the show or were not seen as much. Some of these figures are sneak peaks at characters that would have been used in future episodes of the series if we had made a second season.

Keith - Camera Man and Production Assistant

When we were making the Pencil Animation in Episode 3, Derek's roommate did a section of the animation. We has a toy of everyone else from the Wanderlust figures I had made so we need a quick Keith for the commentary. I had only met Keith one time before when we ran into him on South Street in Philly. So, his figure is probably not a very good likeness, but in the end it doesn't really matter. Once the figure was made I started using in for odds and end shots in the commentary and he got a small part in the Behind-the-Scenes of Episode 10. Brian and I came up with an idea for a funny way to write Keith out of the show if we moved on to a second season because after Derek graduated from La Salle, he wouldn't be around to voice the character.

Head: Thrasher v1 with the green stripes painted black
Torso: Shipwreck v1
Arms: Skidmark v1
Legs: Bazooka v1
His headset is made out of a small piece of wire.

 

Harrison Ford (Han Solo) - Production Assistant (Not a Custom Toy)

The first time we has a quest animator on the show (Brian) there needed to be a way for his head to be handed to Kevin so they could "share" the body. I tried to think of a toy that looked like a production assistant, and instantly though of this Han Solo figure because he had the headset. He's from a 90's Millennium Falcon Playset. I actually think I first used a different version of the "Pilot" Han and then switched to this one because he has knee joints. When they came out with a newer 2000's  version that was super articulated I picked him up in case we ever continued on to the second season.

We acknowledged that Harrison Ford was our production assistant and in Episode 6 he got to speak and factor into the plot. We pulled a similar gag in the 10th episode as well.

Female Alien - Crazed Fan

After making the Priestess figure from Wanderlust I had a Slave Leia body laying around and a vintage Bib Fortuna Head. I had ticky-tacked them together and just had in sitting on my work table. When we wrote Episode 10 and needed a huge crowd of attractive fan girls and well as a bunch of  unattractive fan girls i decided it was time to finish off this creation. I painted up the flesh on the body to match the head (a tricky color to match) and then painted on some make-up to try to give the face a more feminine appearance. This figure is kind of disturbing, but was funny in the context of the show.

Padawan Kevin


I wanted to do either a Clone Wars series of animations or a web comic at one point. I planned to use the Star Wars characters (Obi-wan and Anakin) but also have them run into the Animation creation guys as Jedi. Derek was going to be a Jedi Master, I would be his Padawan  and Brian was going to be a Sith Lord. I was trying to decide what to do with Greg. I made the Padawan and never finished the rest. As usual I used a Rip Cord v1 head (GI Joe) and put it on a super articulated Obi-Wan body from RotS. I painted the under tunic a different color to help change my appearance a little. I clipped the Padawan braid off an AotC Anakin I picked up at a yard sale. I debated about putting glasses on my figure since I wear glasses... but who ever head of a Jedi with glasses. I still has an extra Obi-Wan body and Count Dooku body on my work table if I ever made Derek and Brian. While talking with Brian about plot ideas for the second season I also considered just using this as my Halloween costume in a themed episode.

Wanderlust Custom Figures

I previously posted about custom action figures I made based on a video project my friends and I made called Wanderlust in the Realm of the Dawg. Since they were based on my group of friends (the actors in Wanderlust) they were used to portray us in our stop motion show, Animation Creation. We all look so buff and fit in the show because they are mostly based on GI Joe figures.

Here we see the Wanderer (Derek - gray shirt) defending the Horned Girl (Becky - purple) from the evil Thug (Brian - green). All the toys has odd double names because they were made to be the characters from Wanderlust, but then were used as characters in Animation Creation and were referred to by the actor/animator's names. (The Thug and Wander were covered in a previous post.)

The Horned Girl is an interesting character because she walks the line between good and bad. Is she in love with the Wanderer or is she trying to play him? The Horned Girl was played by Becky who was dating Derek (the writer, director, and The Wanderer) and worked at the local comic shop. Becky was in Animation Creation briefly. She contributed to a couple episodes of the show and made it into the commentary, but didn't say much because during the school year (We were in college) Becky was always out of State (She went to school in Boston).

The Horned Girl figure is probably my favorite figure I made based on the movie. She looks a fair amount like Becky and she isn't overly bulky like some of the figures.

Parts used...
Head and Torso: Baroness v1 modified to remove glasses and other details
Arms: Leatherneck v1
Legs: Torpedo v1 modified to remove details from one leg and added sandals
Skirt: Purple Felt that has black details painted on to make it look "tie-dyed"

The one detail on Torpedo that I didn't remove was his sheathed knife. In the movie, the Horned Girl has a knife in the one scene. We never see where she carries it, but I took some artistic license since it was going to be more work to sand it off.

The Horned Girl is pretty much the only character that has a costume change in Wanderlust. We first see her when she attempts to stop the Thug from visiting the Oracle under the bridge. In this scene she is dressed in an all black robe that completely covers her. A little while later she removes the hood to spy on the Thug.

This figure was made by modifying a vintage Emperor figure from Star Wars. In Wanderlust the robe completely covers the Girl's hands and face. I added to the hood to make it cover her face. I couldn't think of a good way to cover the hands and still have them look okay. I ended up cutting off the hands and reattaching just the fingertips to give the illusion of longer sleeves. The entire figure was painted black and her feet were painted to look like she is wearing the same sandals as the other Horned Girl figure. This figure did not appear in Animation Creation.







The Oracle figure is very similar to the Horned Girl in robe figure. The Thug goes to the Oracle for a clue to help track down the Wanderer. The Oracle, dressed in a back robe with some necklaces, uses her urn to show the Thug (and the Horned Girl, who is spying) where the Wanderer is located.

Again this figure was made by modifying a vintage Star Wars Emperor figure. the Necklaces were sculpted on and the magical urn was also made as an accessory for the figure. From a low angle you can see the Emperor's wrinkly face under the extended hood. This figure was not used in Animation Creation at all.

The events of Wanderlust in the Realm of the Dawg were all started by the Priestess when she created a small stone in the middle of a giant boulder field at day break.

The Priestess figure was made from a vintage Star Wars Bib Fortuna figure that was modified with the head from a 90's Slave Leia figure that was also modified.  I wished the Priestess figure had  better articulation so she could sit like in the movie, but the vintage Star Wars figures made good bases for characters that wear robes and don't have much articulation. Megan, the girl who played the Priestess worked on one of the animations in Animation Creation, so this figure was also used in the commentary. Like Becky, because of school Megan could not bring a voice to her action figure, so we put in a joke about her still playing a character in our "silent movie".

We have already talked about the Wanderer (who has wanderlust), so we need to talk about the Dawg. Well... the Dawg is a dog... and an evil overlord of the land. I'm telling you Derek started using the word Dawg before it was cool and long before American Idol. The Dawg was played by Megan's dog and she wore a few necklaces and sat on top a large rock and "barked" commands at his minions (The Thug and Horned Girl) who were both jockeying for favor in the eyes of the Dawg.

The Dawg figure is made by adding necklaces to Max the bobcat of Spearhead and Max fame from GI Joe. Of course Max was also painted white.

Here is a group shot along with a screen shot of the Wanderer warning the Horned Girl. As an added bonus I also included a picture of Derek (The Wanderer) playing his theremin, a funky electronic instrument which he demonstrates in one of the episodes of Animation Creation.