Posts not connected to a comic… sometimes information, sometimes just ranting, it’s a bit of a gamble when you read these.
Good Grief- as a cartoonist where do I start with this one? As a kid I was raised on Charles Schulz. I remember seeing an interview on TV growing up and saw how his characters could just pour from his pencil- that became my goal to be able to draw that fast… If you’ve seen me draw- I’m still too slow.
One of the highlights of MINI Takes The States 2014 was a visit to the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. I was amazed and in awe of everything I saw and what a great person Schulz was.
OK, I’m a comic book guy… while working on designs I figured for a Coast to Coast trip I needed Cap to be the sentinel of liberty that he is. As you may have seen some MINIons do not wear fezzes but I really liked hiding the MINIon logo in the costume. No this is not that horrible pocket universe where the “A” was replaced with an eagle, nor is it the horrible alternate reality where all the Marvel heroes are actually apes.
When you aren’t active on Facebook, it’s hard to get on board with stuff like badges. Especially when all the planning happens online. So MINIon #1945 was one of the extra MINIon badges given out to a MINIon who missed the boat, or was frozen in ice, until MINI Takes The States. I think everyone realized that Being an American Icon, did come with an abundant knowledge of trivia.
One of the most unique MINI owners I know is MINIon #1942. His Clubman is known around the country due to his vagabond ways. I wish I could tell you more about him, but I can neither confirm nor deny that his story is still classified and my requests under the Freedom of Information Act are still pending.
“It’s alive! It’s alive!” Sadly, this poor MINIon hasn’t gotten much love. This MINIon was called “sickly” and was originally MINIon #1313 (the Munsters lived at 1313 Mockingbird Lane). The MINIon # was altered to 1931 (the year Boris Karloff’s film was made.) Maybe if I added a daisy with a few missing petals he would seem more appealing.
I really have nothing to say about MINIon #1923.
Those people who know me, know how I really like Science Fiction, it has been my preferred way to escape the real world since I was a kid. I remember watching old serials with Buster Crabbe, and the classic B-movies of the 50’s. I watch Star Trek, even have scars from watching a Labor Day Weekend Marathon having moved a TV outside so I could get some sun (2nd degree sunburn). Then came Star Wars… Like most kids in the late 70’s that shaped my life, until George Lucas ruined it for me. I had my view of the world, I had nostalgia for Star Wars, Empire, and Jedi. Then George Lucas decided to “thrill us again” with the prequels- shedding light on how Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader… those films don’t exist for me, after waiting in line for the first showings of each film I decided that I liked what I saw as a kid. I know some people liked those films, and I’m fine with that. I’m entitled to my opinion, just as they are entitled to theirs. I had walked away from Star Wars and had embraced the Roddenberry side of the Force. So when I was asked to create a “Padawan Jedi” MINIon I had to smile and bite my tongue. 🙂
While working on some ideas for some new recruits, some people were joking (because that’s what we do) about what kind of MINIon a particular person should get, and the idea of the Invisible Man came up. I remember watching the original film version as a child and the scene in which “Griffin” unwraps his bandages amazed me. Now I know about chromakey and have actually had students play an invisible man part, or put themselves in different places as “on the scene reporters” chromakeying out the background. H.G. Wells published “The Invisible Man” in 1897, hence MINIon #1897.
So a steampunk MINIon… Victorian dress, with a jet pack and a cup of tea (Earl Grey, Hot). I’ve always drawn MINIons with jet packs… something about the flying monkey thing from The Wizard of Oz. I’ve played around with this is various forms including some artwork for the Circle City Aerodrome in 2014 including a drawing of “Sir Cecil Ookington-Smythe” and another of Cecil’s Aerial Monkey Squadron after taking down a large robot. I think this design actually started in 2013 as a MINIon of MINIons on the Mack – the world record attempt to cross the Mackinac Bridge (which will happen again August 1st).
Considering that Jules Verne published Around the World in 80 Days in 1873 it seemed logical to give this to the gentlemen from Germany who were driving a MINI around the world and ended up as a part of MTTS 2014. This was actually given to them on the “Loneliest Road in America” which, at least for when we were their, wasn’t that lonely.
To boldly go where no MINIon has go before… I mentioned that there were two MINIon numbers that I wanted, one was MINIon #1138 which found a much more appropriate home, and the other was MINIon #1701. NCC-1701 being the registry number for the starship Enterprise. For those who do not know the significance of wearing a red shirt on the original Star Trek let’s just put it this way- it meant you weren’t going to be around for the next episode. Years ago ANOVOS started making their screen accurate uniform tunics from Star Trek, while I really couldn’t afford one, I bought one- the style was an “Ensign Ricky” or the guy who won’t be beaming back to the ship. As a public school teacher I have always felt that I was “expendable” so it fit. I’ve even been known to wear my red Star Trek tie to meetings at our district’s admin building. It did not end up on my Roadster for MTTS, it actually ended up on the bus, because sadly, the people putting on the show deserved a badge, and they put their lives on the line for us every day- #1701 seemed appropriate.
Sometimes the best laid plans of mice, go terribly wrong. While making MINIon badges I ended up with two people requesting 0013, so, being a good MINIon one changed their number to 1313 which worked out great. So I designed what I thought was a wonderful FrankenMINIon (you’ll see it later) and thought I was done. Not quite, sometimes you hit it out of the ballpark and other times you get a 7 -10 split. This was one of those times. While many would marvel in the fourth Doctor’s scarf, some MINI fans would say “Wow! that’s a great Paul Smith design, kinda like the classic Mini he did” Either way, MINIon 1313 was happy with the end results.