Even with their long legacy of defeat, the Skrulls are still very active today, recently appearing in Marvel's big event comic "Secret Invasion". (SPOILER: The Skrulls lost) And so, as tribute, I present a set of Skrulls from their first appearance. And from a more recent Skrull appearance, here's the X-Men Super Skrull.

For this week's update I present a couple of Captain America villains who have felt the sting of Cap's shield. First up is Crossbones in his current, more military look. And then there's the the fourth Sleeper, an evil WWII robot that was used by the Red Skull for evil things that only robots could do. Check them out because it's the patriotic thing to do.

So instead of the usual super-hero custom I make and present here, today I bring the variety. I present my custom of the the classic Universal monster, the Bride of Frankenstein. I've thought about making her for a while, and when an opportunity came up in a recent customizing contest, I took that opportunity. Please enjoy.

I'm still alive. I'm still making customs. I may post new customs next week. Check back Wednesday or so.

In the 80's, DC Comics published a comic called "Suicide Squad". The premise was simple - arrested super-villains would be given a choice - go on a near-impossible top secret mission for the government in exchange time off their jail sentences. Sure, it's the same idea as "The Dirty Dozen", but "The Dirty Dozen" doesn't have super powers. And the comic features some strong characterization, great plot twists and rampant killing of team members. I enjoy the hell out of this comic, and would suggest that you'd pick up the trade paperback reprints of it if DC Comics would ever release them.

And so out of love of the Suicide Squad, I present the first two of four customs from the 80's run of the Suicide Squad. We'll start with the field leader of the Squad, Rick Flag Jr., who would break badly under the weight of command. And there's long-time team member the Bronze Tiger, one of the top martial artists in the DC Universe. Check them out, won't you?

With a team name like the Suicide Squad, you would imagine that they would go through a lot of members. And while bunches of members were violently killed, the Squad did develop a returning core membership. Whether it was through superior skill or just plain luck, many Squad members survived their "suicide missions", and kept coming back for more.

This week we take a look at another two of the Squad's core members. First up is Count Vertigo, the manic depressive villain who's also a member of European royalty. And there's Nightshade, tragic princess from another dimension with powers of shadow and darkness. Please enjoy.

And if you're ever looking for comics to read, you could do much worse than old "Suicide Squad" issues.

A bunch of early new customs, three villains and one hero. The Rhino Minimate has a bad knee, so he'll be taken out back and shot and used for parts.

Early design sketches for my Aladdin Minimate for the Charitymates auction this year. Want more details on the Charitymates auction? Check out this here thread.

Diamond Select (the fine makers of Minimates) announced last year that they would begin making army builders in each future wave of Marvel Minimates. Which is great, but it means today's customs are a shoo-in for a future release. So before the official ones are announced, I present the Hellfire Club guards, private army of the Hellfire Club and frequent foes of the X-Men. Please check them out before they amass against you.

Two more customs waiting patiently for me to get back to finishing their painting and putting them back together.

These two Minimates will be my Aladdin customs for the Charitymates auction. Eventually.

A look inside what I call "The In-Progress Box". In the last few months it's become the default storage space for the customs that are in the process of being made, as well as tools and sculpting supplies.

Someday these will all be finished. Someday.

An update on my Aladdin customs for the Charitymates auction. Aladdin is now sporting a nifty turban and shirt tails, made from Magic Sculpt and a modified Dr. Doom skirt. The base for his magical buddy is now finished and cured, and's he's got some ears courtesy of Magic Sculpt.

I've got a few more details to sculpt on both of them, then I need to see if I can make the genie's stand more stable. And then I can finish up the accessories. And then I can worry about the decals and painting...

Here's a comic recommendation for you - go read "The Immortal Iron Fist" by Marvel Comics. Under co-writers Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction, the first 14 issues have the right balance of slam-bang martial arts action with intrigue, history, and mystical immortal cities full of kung-fu masters. In fact, all those issues are collected in three nifty trade paperbacks, and are probably available right now on Amazon or your local comic book retailer. Go check them out right now - this site isn't going anywhere.

But when you come back, make sure to check out these two new customs made in honor "The Immortal Iron Fist". The first is the current Iron Fist Danny Rand, is his new, modern costume that thankfully has done away with his old disco collar. The second is the previous Iron Fist Orson Randall, who was able to shoot kung-fu bullets of energy at you. And if that doesn't sound awesome to you, you probably shouldn't read "The Immortal Iron Fist".

Want to win a Free Comic Book Day Minimate just by sending an email? Then you're totally at the right web site. I'm giving away five Free Comic Book Minimates to five lucky winners.

TO ENTER:
To enter, all you have to do is send me an email with your name and the answers the following three questions:

1) What character am I making in the following picture?

2) What characters would you like to see customs of in the future?

3) Which would be cooler - a MODOK Minimate, or a Howard the Duck Minimate?

Send your entries to boyd(at)boydstep(dot)com with "Contest" in the subject line. I'll pick five winners at random from all the entries. In addition, I will give a bonus Free Comic Book Day Minimate to the first person who correctly guesses the character from Question 1.

RULES:
Entries will be accepted between now and Sunday May 10st at 11:59 PM CST. Winners will be announced on May 12th.

Good luck! Have fun! Wear glasses if you need them!

The Three Questions Contest is officially over. Thanks to everyone who entered. Winners will be announced tomorrow, including the identity of the mystery custom (Hint: It's not Squirrel Girl).

In this case - not so much. Only five people could be the winners of the Three Question Contest and a recipient of a Free Comic Book Day Minimate, and those people are Ethan W., Tony S., Chad O., Ryan A. and Joshua H.! And the winner of the bonus Minimate for being the first to correctly identifying the custom is Sergio G.! Big congratulations to all the winners!

So who is the custom in the photo? That was Red She-Hulk. And I will be the first to admit that she has never appeared in a comic book (and therefore isn't a "real" character) and that would make it a lot harder to guess who it was. So I made guessing her identity a bonus and not dependent on winning the drawing. Honestly, I didn't expect anyone to guess Red She-Hulk, but I wanted to see what you guys would guess (I'm kind of a jerk like that). So I was happily surprised when Sergio nailed it two days into the contest, but then I was shocked when the next two entries also guessed Red She-Hulk. My compliments to everyone who guessed correctly - I underestimated you and your abilities to spot a She-Hulk.

So check out my custom of the Red She-Hulk to find out why I made a Minimate for a character that doesn't exist - yet. And check back later this week as I take a deeper look at the results of the contest and find out who's more popular - MODOK or Howard the Duck?

Since the Three Questions Contest was really just a random drawing, there was no reason to have you answer questions when you entered. But sometimes, this web site feels so lonely. So I wanted to know what you, the audience, were thinking. Let's see what you guys had to say for the last two questions of the contest:

Question 2 - What characters would you like to see customs of in the future?

I got a wide variety of responses for this one - everything from James Bond to Killer Moth to Eric the Red to Abraham Lincoln. But there were two things that the majority of suggestions had in common:

Question 3 - Which would be cooler - a MODOK Minimate, or a Howard the Duck Minimate?

I feel the best way to present the results to this epic question is with a pie chart.

As you can see, out of the ten people who voted, six chose MODOK, while three people chose a duck without pants. And one person split the difference with a write-in vote for MODUCK, which was against the rules, but I'm allowing it because the idea of a giant mobile robotic waterfoul head is brilliant. Start publishing that immediately, Marvel.

What does all that mean? Based on this very small sample, Minimate fans prefer a MODOK Minimate to Howard the Duck 2 to 1. Which means MODOK would sell, but a 2-pack of MODOK and Howard the Duck would sell to at least 90% of Minimate fans. Diamond Select - think about the MODOK / Howard the Duck 2-pack! That would be like printing money! Numbers don't lie!

So that's what I learned from this contest. Thanks to everyone who participated - I'm always happy to hear from people. And come back soon because I might post some more customs. Or pie charts.

If you're making a genie, you're going to have to make a magic lamp to accompany him. I just finished making my Charitymates genie a lamp out of Magic Sculpt. With the last of the sculpting done, I can move on to painting these Minimates this weekend.

Lots of work done on painting Aladdin and his genie this weekend. It's just hard to tell when they're all in pieces across my workbench like that.

Just about done with the painting - the only thing left is the genie's goatee. And with that, I can call these two done. Unless something goes horribly wrong, expect to see these two complete next week.

You've seen the work-in-progress photos - now you can check out the finished customs. My Aladdin and the genie customs for this year's Charitymates auction are now finished, so I wish you would go check them out (Did you see that? I made a funny in that last sentence).

And come back next week when I kick off another theme customs month called the V List. It's a look at villains who may not have accomplished as much as Dr. Doom, but their hearts are still chock-full of evil and bad intentions.

Anyone can be a super-villain. It's easy - just commit some thefts or murders, and you too can be wanted by the police and super-heroes. With those kind of low requirements, there's a lot of super-villains out there.

But not every villain is as infamous as Dr. Doom or Lex Luthor. Some don't have the power or abilities, or don't get the lucky breaks, or are just really bad at being evil. But no matter how obscure or lame, they're still villains, and therefore they make the V List.

So join me as we celebrate some of the forgotten or lame super-villains in Minimate form. First up is Chemistro, master of the alchemy gun and obscure foe of Power Man, Iron Fist and Iron Man. Please go browse and find out what the heck an alchemy gun is.

Not all villains are dumb. Smart people can be evil just as easily as stupid people - they just use bigger words while committing crimes.

So this week we're presenting an evil scientist - Egghead, the arch-foe of Henry Pym (aka Antman, aka Giant Man, aka Goliath, aka Yellowjacket, aka the Wasp). Go check him out in all his super-smart glory, won't you?

It takes conviction to become a really good super-villain. It takes the inner strength and confidence to rob a bank, threaten the innocent or wear a seriously ridiculous outfit in public.

Our villain this week has that confidence and the ridiculous outfit - it's 8-Ball, the billiards-themed super-villain. I invite you to go check out the villain who's committed to his gimmick.

Quick shot from my "primer box", where I prep Minimates with a coat of primer before I start repainting them.

See the samurai-looking Minimate on the right? While I was putting him together, he looked like a mess - glued-on bands attached to different colored parts. But now with a coat of primer, all the detailing starts to pull together and it looks like a complete figure. I can't wait to start painting him now. You should see him in his completed glory when I start my next theme month.

Successful super-villains tend to develop a unique style - a gimmick or modus operandi that identifies their crimes and builds a distinct reputation. In some cases, villains use their style as part of a multifaceted approach to crime. In other cases, villains take a single gimmick and beat it into the ground, dig it up and beat it some more.

Our villain this week takes that single gimmick - time - and combines it with a ridiculous outfit. I present Clock King, the timing-obsessed super-villain. And not the Tempus Fugate version that showed up in the Batman cartoons - this is the Clock King straight from Green Arrow's rogues gallery and Justice League Antarctica, clock-covered costume and all. Go check him out.

Sometimes a villain is just a villain - they commit crimes, then fight the bag guy to fill 22 pages. Such is the case with our custom this week - I present the first Doctor Spectrum, a member of the original Squadron Sinister and punching bag for the Avengers and Iron Man. The power gem that he used for his powers had more character than this guy. But he's got a great costume, so go check him out anyway.

This week on the V List it's a custom just for me. I present one of my favorite villains, Swarm, the Nazi doctor who's now a big pile of bees who tries to take over the world. Which is one of those great, ridiculous ideas that you can only get in comic books.

You might remember Swarm from his appearances in any of a dozen different Marvel comics. Or if you're like me, you remember Swarm from his appearance on the "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" cartoon from the 80's. Oh, the memories - the meteorite that changed ordinary bees into Swarm, his mutated bee-people drones, Spider-Man driving a car to escape from his mind-controlled friends Iceman and Firestar - good stuff. Especially if you're eight years old.

To sum up: Swarm- cool villain, cool concept, and appeared on a cool 80's cartoon. So go check him out.

Current Status: Sick of painting yellow. Slightly depressed that I have more yellow characters to paint. Considering a ban on doing any more customs with yellow in them...

This week on the V List it's obscure villain Equinox, the Thermodynamic Man. Star of a couple of issues of Marvel Team-Up, Equinox went on to become a villainous footnote in comic book history. So why does he rate a custom?

• Because he uses clear parts. I'm a sucker for any figure that uses clear or translucent parts.
• I'm a big fan of any character that's two things smooshed together (check out Composite Hulk-Thing).
• Because I really wanted to use the words "the Thermodynamic Man".

So that's why. Now go check him out.

In May I posted a custom for Red She-Hulk, a concept that I was sure Marvel was going to use sooner or later.

This past weekend Marvel Comics announced at the San Diego Comic Con that they will soon be introducing Red She-Hulk (check out the picture on the right). And while I guessed right that Red She-Hulk would someday exist, I was way off on her appearance - I didn't guess that Marvel would make her a violent cross between Coop's Devil Girl and a contestant from "Rock of Love". Well done, Marvel. But you can bet I'll be producing a new, accurate custom soon.

But while my plot-guessing record is still perfect, here are some more predictions for future Marvel plots:

• Steve Rogers will become Captain America again.
• Wolverine will be overexposed.
• Cap, Iron Man and Thor will team up as the Avengers to defeat a tremendous threat.
• Deadpool will be overexposed.
• Spider-Man will stay unmarried.
• The Red She-Hulk story won't make a lick of sense.

Red She-Hulk update over. Please come back later this week when I get back to Minimate customs, show off the last villain custom for my V List celebration, and announce what the next custom theme month will be.

We're finishing our never-ending look at villains with one of the recent premiere villains from the DC Universe - Black Adam, mystic and temperamental powerhouse. While considered an anti-hero and sometimes acting selflessly, the fact that he killed a small country in the name of revenge label him as "villain" in my book. Feel free to go forth and enjoy.

Come back next week when I kick off another theme customs month - IronMania, featuring the many fantastic armors of the Invincible Iron Man - some from the comics, and some original armors of my own creation.

Tony Stark - he's the cool exec with a heart of steel! But when he dons his fantastic transistorized armor he becomes the Invincible Iron Man! He's been in comics! Cartoons! Toys! Even that blockbuster movie last year! And now he's getting Minimate customs! Welcome to IronMania, a month-long (or so) look at new customs for the various armors of Iron Man - some from the comics, and some original creations.

We start the IronMania celebration with an armor from the comics - Space Armor Iron Man. It's perfect for repairing satellites, fighting aliens, or visiting the Starbucks in the International Space Station. Check it out, won't you?

Not really on my workbench this time - more like on my screen. Here's a quick look at some upcoming decal artwork I'm working on in Illustrator.

As IronMania enters its second week, we continue our look at Tony Stark and his Iron Man suits of many colors. This week's featured color - black. I present Carbon Armor Iron Man - my original creation and excuse to paint a darker colored Iron Man.

Please enjoy and come back next week for another selection from the computerized closet of Iron Man.

Part of the reason why it feels like I'm never getting any Minimates done is that I get distracted so easily. Like when I have an idea about combining parts, and so I try it out, and then I do some alterations, and add some pieces, and that leads us to what you see here.

This guy is a combination of Terminator robot parts and movie Iron Man parts, with shoulder fins made from cut plastic and Super Glue. You'll see him in all his completed glory in another theme month coming later this year - assuming I don't get distracted again.

It's the event that comes well after the buzz from the first Iron Man movie has ended, and the excitement for the second Iron Man movie has yet to begin! It's IronMania, the worst-timed custom Iron Man Minimate celebration ever!

This week our custom comes from the comics - it's Stealth Armor Iron Man, but with a twist - a translucent blue body. It was never in the comics and it's not to help him turn invisible - I just think translucent figures are cool. Please check him out and see if you agree.

One of the most appealing aspects of Iron Man is that he built his super-powers. When he needed to fly, Iron Man invented boot jets. When he needed to fly in space, Iron Man invented his space armor. And when he need to blow a lot of stuff up, Iron Man strapped a bunch of guns to his armor and called it "War Machine".

This week's custom is another from my imagination- it's Magnetic Armor Iron Man. I figure that Iron Man would take a look at Magneto and his powers of magnetism and think, "I could do that". Then he'd jet off to his workshop and create a suit of armor that gives him the awesome power of magnetism! This armor can attract metals! It can repel metals! And it can wipe clean computer hard drives and video tapes! Go check it out!

Long-time visitors to this site might remember my Aladdin and Genie customs that I made for this year's Charitymates auction, with money raised for Books for Kids. Well, the auction has now started, so if you're interested in checking out the rest of the custom Minimates and maybe making a bid or two, check out the eBay auction page.

Auctions end Sept. 6th, so bid early and bid often.

Three different Minimates - three different head pieces. All for future customs, including my Top Secret Custom Con sets.

After several weeks of custom Iron Man Minimates, we find ourselves at the end of IronMania. No tears, please, you'll only rust the armors. Let's finish this off with not one, but two Iron Man customs!

The first is Samurai Armor Iron Man. Yup, guy with a jet-equipped suit of armor with a sword. Don't laugh - it would be huge in Japan.

And speaking of the Japanese, that brings us to our second custom made by my wife Sarah - Japanese Schoolgirl Armor Iron Man. She made it as a companion piece for the ridiculousness awesomeness of Samurai Armor Iron Man. Both customs are on the same page for your convenience, so go forth and check them out.

And don't forget - Aladdin and Genie are up on eBay until Sept. 6th!

Thanks to the last few weeks, I've got a lot of Iron Man customs who have nothing to do. No cities in peril, no Avengers meetings to attend, not even a kitten stuck in a tree to rescue. Good thing I've got some Iron Man villain customs for them to fight.

And so I present Blacklash, the man with the mechanical whip, and Blizzard, the cold-hearted ice-making villains. While both have fought Iron Man repeatedly over the years, neither one has ever been a major threat. So while they're good villains, they make better punching bags. Go check them out, won't you?

Back to painting after a several week break. Too bad I have to return with painting with yellow paint. I'm really beginning to hate yellow paint.

Blurry shot of a head I just finished. I have got to get a new camera with a better zoom. Or I could just stop trying to take extreme close-up shots of a little tiny Minimate head...

Quick screen shot of what I'm currently working on in Photoshop. It's Minimate-related - you'll see how next week.

Big stuff still coming this week. In the meantime, enjoy these future customs, fresh from the "primer box".

Five years ago, I started this site to showcase my Minimate customs. And every year for the anniversary, I update the design of the site to keep things fresh and to confuse visitors. So I hope you like the new design and/or are confused right now.

I've also made a few small changes to the site here and there. The biggest is there's now an archive of all my posts available from the home page in my nifty new column on the right of this page. So if you want to see what posts I made in September 2006, you can find out. (Answer: I made no posts)

And since this is a customs site, how about I actually post a Minimate custom? This week, I present the Steel Spider, former nerd and super-villain fan turned Spider-Man fan and wannabe super-hero turned obsessive third-rate super-hero. Please, go check him out.

Working on a custom for Halloween, and to get in the appropriate mood I've ripped the Minimate apart and impaled his body parts on pikes to strike fear into my enemies and to make it easier to paint.

I'm kicking off another themed celebration with the focus on mutants. Not good mutants, just the evil mutants. Evil mutants who are European, preferably Irish. And it would be best if they had a cousin who was also a mutant and a member of the X-Men. So welcome to Evil Irish Mutant Cousins Week!

Oddly enough, there's at least one character that fits those ridiculous specific requirements - Black Tom Cassidy. Gifted with one of the worst Irish accents to ever be written in comics, Black Tom is the cousin of the X-Man Banshee. And he's a mutant, with the power to fire power blasts through his wooden staff. And he's evil - he and his criminal partner the Juggernaut have feuded with the X-Men and Spider-Man.

To sum up, Black Tom Cassidy is the perfect character to celebrate during Evil Irish Mutant Cousins Week. Go check him out, won't you?

It's the assorted limbs and parts from two members of my Top Secret Custom Con set, getting nice new coats of paint.

So yeah, it's been a while since an update. Last week was pretty much a sick week for me.

To make up for the lack of content, I present a new custom - the Mimic, the mutant with the power to duplicate any super power he comes near. And he used to come near the original X-Men a lot, so that's why he has the wings of the Angel, and the oversized hands and feet of the Beast.

Now, I like my Mimic. I used the best parts available at the time. But with a new First Appearance Beast with proper oversized hands and feet on the way, and new wings that don't come attached to a bulky chest piece, I kinda feel like my Mimic is already outdated. It's the perils of being a customizer, I guess.

Eh, enough complaining. Come back next week for some new custom Minimates to help celebrate Halloween.

The signs are there - bags of candy the size of pillows, stores full of ill-fitting kids costumes, and the ritualistic torture of pumpkins through carving. It must be time for Halloween, and therefore time for the annual Halloween update. To celebrate this year, I present two new ghoulish customs from Marvel's 1970's monster comics.

Our first Halloween custom is Simon Garth, the Zombie, who was a very mellow zombie - he never once said, "Brainsss....". The second custom is Jack Russell, the Werewolf by Night, who was also very mellow - he never jumped up on the couch, and he loved to be scratched behind the ears.

So check out the new customs and remember to go out this weekend get your haunted Halloween freak on. But come back and visit in November, when I start my next theme custom month celebrating the Green Lantern Corps and their many, many members.

Welcome to Lots of Lanterns month, celebrating the members of Green Lantern Corps and their enemies. For those who aren't up on their comics - the Green Lanterns Corps is basically an intergalactic police force with 7200 members from all across the universe. But instead of using guns, they use power rings that respond to their will power, letting them manipulate green plasma energy to create shapes or blast the bad guys. Think of it as part cop drama, part science-fiction adventure.

To kick off Lots of Lanterns Month, let's take a look at a few past members of the Corps. First up is Arkkis Chummuck, the beastly yet honorable warrior of the Corps. Our second custom is Tomar-Re, long-time friend to Hal Jordan, one of the Green Lanterns from Earth. Go check them out, won't you?

If you were a bird and flying above my work table, this is what it would currently look like.

More Green Lantern customs on Wednesday.

Hold your lantern high because we're still in Lots of Lanterns month, the celebration of the Green Lantern Corps and their enemies. This week we take a closer look at one of the overlooked aspects of the Corps - their dress code.

For many years, the Corps had all their members wear the same uniform - green boots, white gloves, black and green leotard. There were exceptions - some members had to wear something different because of extra appendages or a gem-shaped body or having no solid form. From a customizer's viewpoint, having a dress code is a great thing. It means that if you have a Green Lantern body - like the Hal Jordan Minimate body - then you can make dozens of Lanterns just by changing the heads (see last week's Green Lantern customs for an example). It's easy, and yet DC Direct never took advantage of this when they were still making Minimates. That's #29 of my list of "Why I'm Still Angry They Stopped Making DC Minimates", by the way.

So this week for Lots of Lanterns Month I present a couple more customs using the head swap trick. First up is Abin Sur, who's best known for giving his ring to Hal Jordan and making him a Green Lantern. The second custom is Ti'kee Eyd'll, an original creation of mine, because a Green Lantern with a head that looks like an Easter Island statue is cool, dammit. Finally, I present a member who's one of the exceptions to the dress code rule - Stel, the robot Green Lantern who's just not going to fit his transistorized body into a leotard. So go check them out, and come back next week for more Lantern-related customs.

An early look at two members of my Top Secret Custom Con set. They'll look better for Custom Con.

More Green Lantern customs next Wednesday. Not Green Lanterns, but Green Lantern villains.

With our lamps still burning strong, we continue on with Lots of Lanterns month, the celebration of the Green Lantern Corps and their enemies. And when you think of Green Lantern enemies, there's one name that stands above the rest - Sinestro, the renegade Green Lantern.

Sinestro recently upped the stakes in his war against the Green Lantern Corps by creating the Sinestro Corps - an army of being that inspire great terror. Each member of the Sinestro Corps has a yellow power ring, which works like the Green Lantern ring, except it uses yellow energy. This ties into a much larger story that's currently going in Green Lantern that I'm not going to try and summarize this week. Maybe next week.

So this week I present Sinestro, in his spiffy new Sinestro Corps outfit. And I'm throwing in one of his Sinestro Corps members, Murr the Melting Man, because a mindless acid zombie with a power ring is a pretty cool concept. So go check these dastardly villains out, and come back next week when we wrap up Lots of Lanterns Month.

Welcome to the last entry for Lots of Lanterns month, the celebration of the Green Lantern Corps and their enemies. And what look at Green Lanterns would be complete with taking a look at the most famous Green Lantern - Hal Jordan. He's done it all - saved the universe, been possessed by a yellow space bug, destroyed the Green Lantern Corps, recreated the Big Bang, died, came back as the Spectre, and was finally resurrected good as new.

So this week let's take a look at this leading Lantern in some of his different looks. The first is Green Lantern as a Sinestro Corps member which I'm not sure actually appeared in the comics, but it got an action figure and that's good enough for me.

Next up is Green Lantern as a Red Lantern which did appear in the comics and get an action figure.

And finally, I present powered Green Lantern, who is based on an action figure and is all translucenty and cool.

And with those three customs, we end the current Lots of Lanterns month. But rest assured - with 7200 Green Lantern members, there will be more Green Lantern customs coming.

Dipping back into "The In-Progress Box" and working on finishing a few of the customs that I have sitting in there. With any luck and concentration they should be ready by the end of the year. Hopefully.

Some of my best ideas happen in meetings at work. And sometimes those ideas are actually for work. The page above is from a recent meeting where I came up with an idea for a new holiday-themed Minimate custom.

A quick note that today is the first day of CustomCon 24, and the first of two sets of customs I submitted was posted today. My first set is a tribute to the classic Hanna-Barbera cartoon Jonny Quest. Go check them out, and take a look at the other entries for CustomCon - there's some good stuff up there today.

CustomCon 24 continues today with my second set of custom Minimates - the characters from Mystery Science Theater 3000. Go check them out, and take a look at the other entries of CustomCon, including a really great set of zombie Minimates.

Quick shot from my primer box, as I begin work on making the holiday-themed Minimate plan from earlier this week into a real Minimate custom. Will I have it ready by Christmas? Stay tuned...

Currently decking my workbench with boughs of Minimate customs - fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la.

Christmas is inevitable, so work must continue on the holiday Minimates. Stupid non-negotiable deadlines...

Ah, December - it feels like you've passed by at lightning speed in a mix of snowstorms, present shopping, colds and the occasional burst of holiday cheer. And now, with Christmas only a few days away, now is the perfect time to reveal one of the holiday-themed customs I've been working on all month - Peppermint Armor Iron Man. He's a festive blend of holiday cheer and high-tech firepower.

And as a little bit of housekeeping, I've added my entries for the latest CustomCon to the site. So if you haven't taken a look at my Jonny Quest Minimates or Mystery Science Theater 3000 Minimates yet, now's the perfect time to do so. And have a safe and joyous holiday season this year.

Before we kick 2009 to the curb and replace it with a bright shiny new 2010, there's time to add one more Minimate to the ol' web site. It's another holiday-themed custom, so posting it on the pseudo-holiday week between Christmas and New Years is appropriate. It's the Santa Silver Surfer, a special All-Christmas version of the Marvel character made to be part of a Secret Santa gift. Go check him out.

And Happy New Year everyone. May 2010 be brighter and better for us all.