Flea Market Finds #5

I got a chance to go out to the flea market this weekends, and I am happy with what I found. I picked up some 90's trading cards for dirt cheap, but what I'm excited about is...

the complete set of 2003 Masters of the Universe Happy Meal toys based on the 200x series. I had a few of these guys that I had picked up over the years, but I had been looking to complete the set for a while.
 

 

 He-Man with Power sword featuring punching action and some articulation. His power sword can also be attached to his back via a peg. Battle Cat is some-what articulated as well and features a spring-loaded armor piece that allows for He-Man to be knocked off in a fight.

 

Skeletor, like He-Man has some articulation and his Havoc Staff. Panthor has articulation in his legs and tail. He features a spring-loaded missile launcher that is meant to shoot the target on Battle Cat's armor to knock He-Man off.

 Ram Man has a head butt feature if you push down on him. Beastman (who is huge) comes with his whip and has a feature to make him swing it if you hit a button on his back.

 

I saved the weakest two figures for last. Orko is a whined-up toy who kind of walks around. He features one point of articulation in his wand arm. Man-At-Arms looks pretty good, but is missing articulation in his armored arm because it houses a mechanism to launch his spinning shield. (He's better than Orko, but not great)

 

I think this set actually came out of the store display unit because many of them have hot glue on their weapons, backs, or feet. It's possible someone collected them all and glued them together for some reason, but I have a feeling they were part of a display.

 One last shot of He-Man and Skeletor battling it out. I picked up this complete set for $3 and considering I paid a buck a piece for the three I already had... I'm pretty happy. (almost happy meal happy)

Action Figure Adventures Episode 2

I hope everyone enjoyed episode one, because today is the official release of Action Figure Adventures Episode 2. In the first episode the heroes were inspired by Robin to escape their prison. In that episode we saw Batman and Robin act on their plan to escape using gliders. We also saw Chuckles (GI Joe) decided to enter the drop ceiling to explore for a way out.

In episode two a new group of heroes, the GI Joe sub team Battle Force 2000, develop a new escape plan. This is the first time we see the heroes enter the hall outside the dorm room.

Did anyone ever have all their vehicles and build the future fortress?

The story line for the entire series really began to form as Derek wrote this episodes script. The first episode set up the problem, but we didn't have a full plan for each episode yet. By the time the second script was being written we knew that there would be eight episodes and how the heroes would try to escape in each one. This allowed us to start hinting at future escape plans. If you rewatch this episode once you have seen the entire series you will see some of the other plans begining to be developed and hinted at.

GI Joe: Code Name for America's highly trained special mission force

 As with the first episode, we again get to see the continuing adventures of Chuckles as he wanders the ceiling looking of an escape route while righting wrongs as he goes along.

The guys on Miami Vice never dealt with this kind of alien

 Okay... I know you want to get to the episode. It's embedded below or you can click on it to move over to youtube.

Action Figure Adventures Ep1 Eggs

This post is an attempt to get everyone who hasn't seen Action Figure Adventures Episode 1 yet to do so. If you have seen it, I'm listing some notes and Easter eggs to look for during a second or third viewing. (I hope you are excited for the official release of AFA Ep 2 tomorrow.)

_____________________________

That's a big pile of toys (in 2006), but nothing to what it would be like if I shot it now.

The opening changes slightly from episode to episode

3:45 That is actually the card back to BTAS Batman, I glued Robin onto the card using the bubble from a Star Wars toy and added some new (hand drawn) art

4:45 Doug Moench, known for his work as a writer on such comic books such as Master of Kung  Fu, Moon Knight, and Batman voices Batman.

6:20 Those are actually things I could see out my dorm window.

7:07 Scoop is wearing another GI Joe's backpack. It happens a couple of times during the show. I  love that back pack.

8:05 The Snapper is Millersville's campus newspaper.

8:32 I actually built K'Nex gliders for those Batman and Robin  figures when I was a kid. (That's were the idea for this escape plan came from)

K'Nex are manufactured in Pennsylvania not far from where Derek and I grew up.

9:56 Chuckles has been holding that gun for the entire scene, but it has been out of frame or behind barbeque. It cracks me up when he seems to pull it out of thin air.

10:56 Ceiling tiles aren't really white on both sides. I just felt that the white side was more recognizable to use as the side you see for the "inside the ceiling set"

11:17 The Cloner originally made a homeland security joke that was more timely when the show was written. Production took so long we changed the line.

This Spider-man movie toy was the newest figure used in the show

12:54 D'Lang watched GI Joe the movie several times to get his Cobra Commander
voice just right

12:50 One of the only times Scoop uses his real accessories (Helmet and Camera)

15:10 I paid $600.00 for that digital camera in 1998. It is a 1 megapixel camera and I was the only person I knew at the time that owned a digital camera. The high school I was attending at the time had one digital camera in the business department

15:52 Over the summer Millersville University riveted all the windows shut the year after we filmed this.

16:36 They Might be Giants kids album "No!" can be seen behind the mug

17:10 Magneto throws a Fisher's True Value pen from my job in high school

17:50 The script called for Robin to kneel down. In a phone conversation with Derek I said, "He can't... I'm dealing with limited articulation here." and that is how we got the production name Limited Articulation

This is the only episode that the Star Wars Episode 1 droid troopers appear.

You're a talk drink a water, but I still pity the fool!

18:34 Brian ad-libbed the line "Kiss my boots!" after seeing the animation of Mr. T. and Magneto fighting.

19:05 My roommate threw the gliders out the window for me.

20:00 We never get to see how they print out the pictures so small.

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.

1980's Poseable Care Bears

In 1982 the Car Bear craze started. Originally created as characters to put on greeting cards the Care Bears expanded into stuffed animals, cartoons, and plastic action figures. The Care Bears were one of the fun  80's properties that boys and girls could kind of share. They were definitely more girl oriented, but I liked watching the cartoon and playing with the toys with my sister. Kind of like once Mattel made She-Ra, boys and girls could play He-Man & She-Ra together. I recently came across these in my parents basement, so I grabbed them and photographed them for an update. Then I gave them to my sister for my niece.

 First up we have my sister's Care Bears. Funshine Bear and Baby Hugs Bear. I think Funshine was used in the cartoon a lot. I kind of remember thinking my sister had a main character. All the poseable bears had articulation at their head, arms, and legs. They also all features a little lock of rooted hair.

I don't remember having these two as a kid. The blue bear is Grumpy, and it is possible I had him as a kid, but I remember having Wish Bear who was kind of a mint green. (Maybe I had both bears) I think I bought the Cloud Keeper at a yard sale one time just because I thought I could use him as a janitor in an animation. As a kid I always wanted Tender Heart since he was kind of the leader of the Care Bears in the cartoon. He is a tan bear with a heart on his tummy.

My sister got the Cloud Mobile for her birthday one year. It was heavily features in the cartoon and we played with it a lot. It came with an umbrella, picnic basket, and blue blanket, which are probably packed in with my sisters Barbies. We used to play with the Care Bears a lot with a My Little Pony playset my sister had. It was a water toy and consisted of a cloud base, a rainbow, and a "floating cloud" that could "rain or shower" the ponies. It fit in well since the Care Bears spent so much time in the clouds in the cartoon.

 Here is a little group shot. The Cloud Keeper is holding Wish Bear's Star-A-Scope, proof that I'm not crazy and did have Wish Bear. In 1985 all the poseable bears started coming with an accessory.

Wizard World 2012 (Philly)

Greg and I went down the Wizard World this weekend. This was the third time I've been to the Philadelphia Comic Convention. It's the second time in my adult life. I will probably do a couple posts in the near future about some of the stuff I picked up at the show, but this post features a few pictures and videos I took on my camera. I checked out all the toy dealers. I didn't really look around at any comic books. I did look at a couple pieces of original comic book art, but it's so expensive.


  

Like all conventions there were plenty of celebs to get autographs from. Nick Gillard who was the stunt and sword coordinator for the Star Wars prequels was there. I shot a few seconds of video of him showing a kid how to fight. The guys who played Chewbacca and Bobs Fett were there also.

 

This Stay Puft suit looked so good. I think it's made of duct tape. It has a really good shape and nice details.  There were quite a few people dressed up as Ghostbusters, but I didn't see any other Marshmallow Men.

 

This Star Wars TaunTaun seems unfinished, but I still liked it. The "guy" looks kind of like a lego figure.

Micro Machines: Death Star Playset

Galoob's Micro Machines were huge in the late 80's and early 90's. By the late 90's they needed something to freshen up their products. They went after the Star Wars license and began cranking out sets of Micro Machine ships and then quickly moved on to making Playsets that were reminiscent of the Kenner Micro Collection for the vintage days. (This time the micro figures were not die cast metal)

The scale between the ships and the mini figures was so bad. It annoyed me as a kid. The scale from one ship to another is also really bad. The X-Wing is the same length as a Star Destroyer. This set came with an X-Wing, Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, and Han Solo.

 Check out my little stop motion animation and video review of this set.

Action Figure Adventures Episode 1

 

It's here! It's finally here! Action Figure Adventures is finally available for mass consumption online. This stop motion animated series was created by a group of college students. Their plan was to finish their first show (Animation Creation) and then move right into Action Figure Adventures. While Animation Creation was in editing Action Figure Adventures was being written and animated. 

The initial script for AFA 1 was written by Kevin in the summer of 2002. After some editing and slight story changes by Derek (and a little from Brian) the script was finished and animated at Millersville University once college started up again in the fall of 2002. Both Animation Creation and Action Figure Adventures took longer than the creative team would have ever expected. The final episode of Animation Creation was edited in the spring of 2004. At this time Derek had graduated from La Salle University and no longer had access to their editing facilities. Around a quarter of the fifty speaking parts had been recorded for AFA and progress seemed to stop.

Time moved on and Derek bought himself and editing computer and progress began to pick up a little. The guys ran into issues finding enough voice actors to play all the characters, side projects took priority from time to time, and in general the show got put on the back burner.

Eventually the final pesky voice roles were filled and Derek began to work on the show night and day. All eight episodes were edited at last! We could finally see the show. At a small screening Derek found some additional tweaks and problems to fix before mass release. Hopefully everything is now perfect. We hope to release a new Action Figure Adventures Episode each week for the next 8 weeks. (If you read this post you know we aren't great with timeliness... so no promises)

Overview of the show: Living toys in a college dorm room are inspired to try to escape to freedom after a new toy shows up and points out how dull their life is. The heroes attempt to escape the room over and over again while battling with the villains.  (above: Batman and Han Solo go over the plans for the first escape attempt. below: Cobra Commander prepares his troops to crush the heroes and their attempt to escape.)

I hope you enjoy it. Action Figure Adventures Episode 1

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.