You know how some people really bug you? Okay- not really…  This one goes to a MINIon who I met when I was first starting out and was going to almost every event possible.  I really can’t remember exactly which was our first event, but I know I’ve chatted with them at numerous events including Mickey & MINI and a couple Mini Meets…  “What is a Mini Meet?” you ask.  Before the “new MINI” or “BMW MINI” had come out Mini owners gathered annually to have fun.  Mini Meet East and Mini Meet West, once every 5 years they got together for Mini Meet East Meets West.  These still happen and after a rocky start, I think the “new MINI” owners have been accepted by most.  My first Mini Meet was in Alcoa, Tennessee and I had just bought my classic.  I was such a newbie, to the point where I had driven the Classic all the way and then (after asking “What’s that sound?”) realized that there was something broken and needed to be repaired.  I then made it to Mini Meet East Meets West in Winona, Minnesota.  Had a great time except for needing to scrounge for tools to do a quick repair, so Tink, my classic Mini, didn’t sound like it was going to rattle apart!  So besides repairing Minis, there are a bunch of other things that happen- a car show, an autocross, r/c car competition, classes on repairing your Mini, some drives, and the Funkana.  Yes, a “Funkana”-  imagine a race in which you have to do silly things along the way.  In the case of Winona, it was based on the Italian Job, and it had to do with liberating some gold bars, driving a course and depositing the gold bars.  Basically a silly bit of fun.  I lurked and took pictures.  After a few more long trips (and the purchase of a Roadster) I decided that Tink would be more of a local car for a while.  

If you haven’t figured out I’m a comic book guy this far into this process, you might want to go back and reread a few posts…  When I was growing up my favorite character was “The Flash”  – no relation to Flash Gordon.  The character that started the Silver Age of comics, so who’s the guy in the funny helmet?  You see the Silver Age for DC was mostly known for reinventing their old characters in “modern” ways.  The Flash (now on TV, again… but where is Mark Hamill as the Trickster?) started off in 1940.  Origin: Jay Garrick was a college student who fell asleep while taking a cigarette break and knocking over a “heavy water” experiment… instead of dying a grisly and horrible death he woke up and was able to go really fast.  This was before the “Super Friends” in which one voice actor used a sped up voice, and the next time the character spoke v…e…r…y   s…l…o…w…l…y, also before a red headed third grader was running around in a red sweatsuit wishing his mom would sew a lightning bolt on it.

Even MINIons can be crazy cat ladies (uh, monkeys).  The number was chosen because millions, and billions, and trillions would not fit and cats have nine lives.  No, Hemi is not part of the pile since he is part of MINIon #0037’s badge and it just would be embarrassing if two people had the same cat on their badge.

Brave and pure of heart MINIon #1066 was one of my designs that came out of a doodle and realizing that while I have drawn a few sword wielding MINIons I hadn’t done a proper knight.  While this one isn’t an historically accurate knight, it’s good enough for Hollywood.  

MINI has come out with numerous “Limited Edition” models over the years.  In fact it seemed like that was their only market before BMW acquired them.  Slap a weird sticker on a Mini and call it a Basingstoke Roundabout special edition and someone was bound to buy one!  This tradition has continued over the years to a lesser degree.  I’ve mention the John Cooper Works GP, which has been the one most people have heard about.  Around 2012 MINI released a slightly different limited edition the Goodwood.  This had an interior done by Rolls Royce.  They only made 1000 and only 140 were sent to the U.S. I’m not going to go into details but let’s say it was a little pricey, but after a while I heard that deals could be made when Dealerships had a few on the lot.  I had the chance to see one up close in 2012 at MINI Takes The States… very posh. So this badge goes to a MINIon with a Goodwood.  Just remember not to eat in your MINI on your way to work!

Like many of these new MINIons tied to real people, I’m not sure what to say or even if the the number is accurate… All I can say is that I have survived a hug given by MINIon #1978 which is something, but as they like to say what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas… wait, the hug didn’t happen in Vegas.

I’m a little leery of these new MINIon badges.  Basically because of the timetable I have given myself I’m not able to get the feedback with each badge as I sometimes like.  Some of these are ones that I’ve sketched out ideas, and gotten a basic OK on, and others, like this one- nope.  So understand that in 2016 you might run into MINIon #0247 and their badge may look entirely different.  For now, this is what I have.  The posts will also come later unless I can build up a buffer and go back to 5:00 posts. As for MINIon #0247, I recall first seeing them in Detroit as they were having stripes put on their solid black Coupe (no the roof doesn’t come off) during White Roof Radio’s celebration of the 400th episode.  In 2012 as we drove across country we had the chance for a detour to a little track for some “parade laps” missed meeting the Kool-Aid Guy, but had a great time on the track.

A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, etc… some of you might not know I’m a Boy Scout (therefore not Jim Kirk). I come from a long line of Scouts, my Dad was an Eagle, my brother was an Eagle, and yes, I am an Eagle Scout.  I became an Eagle Scout a few days after my 13th birthday… Don’t ask, it’s weird.  For those who know about Scouts this might make some sense or might make me seem overly sentimental.  When I became a Tenderfoot Scout, my Dad gave me a coin with the Scout Oath and Law on it… I have carried that coin since.  As a teacher, I remember the push for “Character Education” years ago and all I could think about was instead of “Life Skills” why not just run with the Scout Law?  I have followed it as best I can since I was in elementary school- why should everyone kid consider it… oh, I forgot that the twelfth scout law is “reverent” and someone will be upset about that. Who knows in the next 300 days, I might have something to say about my misadventures as a Scout… for now, let;s just say I have been and ever shall be a Boy Scout.  including being able to sing Tom Lehrer’s anthem by heart 🙂  

This one is actually the last of the original MINIons I have from MINI Takes the States 2014.  While some new ones have made it into the previous posts from this point on all MINIons will be brand new, never before seen in their final form by anyone.  I have challenged myself to draw a MINIon a day for the entire year and now the buffer is basically gone. I only have about more 300 to go, maybe this wasn’t such a great idea (hopefully I’ll get an orange headband when I’m done- or a nice burgundy fez). I learned a long time ago to never question the client.  There was a time when my principal specifically asked me to “correct” the spelling of a word on our school website- without argument I change the spelling.  It was the wrong spelling of the word, but I liked being employed.  When I moved on to another school a parent finally noticed and complained about the misspelling and I was blamed for it.  I sent the original email requesting the change to them as my reply.  I say this because all the MINIons have been drawn from the waist up. I was asked to draw a MINIon with a walker… so you can kinda see the walker, but it was a stretch.  When I’m not really sure about how the end result will look, I tend to procrastinate on the project, it’s my way of politely, hoping that the person will change their mind, or maybe just give up (these were free after all).  As the original project was drawing to an end and I was dealing with the people wanting this change or that (understandable, they are putting these on their car after all) I started posting things like “No good deed goes unpunished” as the pressure grew, it stopped being fun for me, for a while, but when I saw how happy almost everyone was with the end result it made up for all the sleepless  nights.  Only a few out of the original 50+ badges were work, and now I’ve only got 300 more to do… eight are drawn and inked just waiting for color.  Other ideas are bouncing around my head, so we’ll see how they turn out.  One day at a time.

When trying to take iconic figures and make monkeys out of them some work, some don’t.  I did try a “BatMINIon” but I really didn’t like the way it turned out.  MINIons tend to have their ears sticking out, and the cowl hid that so someone could get confused and think that instead of a monkey it was a wombat, or something like that.  Then it dawned on me that there was a solution… and this is what I came up with.  The number comes from 2014 being the 75th anniversary of the publication of Detective Comics #27 (first appearance of Batman).  Robin didn’t make it into the comics for a while after that.  The badge was one of my “on the road extras” that found a good home. As for the actual MINIon it is for a faithful sidekick who helped along the road with lots of “trivial” things throughout the journey.