Welcome to 2010, everyone. I'm already hard at work trying to finish Minimates that I started in 2009.

Here's a look at a custom I've been messing with for a while now - yellow Ghostbuster ghost body with some sculpting and assorted pieces. He's finally at the point where I should be able to primer, paint and finish him. At the rate I'm going, that will probably be sometime in April.

Hey, who feels like looking at a new custom? Then you should check out The Watcher, an alien who's sole purpose in life to watch and record everything that he sees. And he sees everything, like that time you picked your nose in church, or parked in the handicap spot. While the Watcher has sworn never to interfere with the actions of mortals, you can be sure that he thinks less of you because of what you did. Just like your father. Go check him out already.

A quick shot of the next three Minimates up for customization. I'm starting work on their modifications - a proton pack removed here, a cape and collar added there. Stay tuned.

Fun with depth of field! And a look at the two customs currently in pieces on my workbench. With any luck, you should see these two completed in my next big theme month.

Recent page of notes Minimate sketches and plans done during a meeting. Worked out a few things for future customs.

Occasionally I do a custom that's not just another super-hero. This is one of those times.

Presenting the Comics Collage Minimate - an experiment in cutting and gluing. Go check him out.

And coming in February - another theme month! Who hates the Flash? His villains. Get to know them a little better next month.

What did you do this weekend? I messed around with Magic Sculpt and ended up with the three mates pictured above.

You all know the Flash - he's the guy in the red suit that runs really fast. At his speed, Flash can battle a lot of villains in a day. Which may be why the Flash has one of the best collections of villains in comics. So today I begin a salute in custom Minimate form to the bad guys of the Flash.

First up is the Golden Glider, villainous figure skater and sister to Captain Cold. She was an evil figure skater long before the world knew of Tonya Harding. Next is the long-time villain Weather Wizard, the man who can control the weather but can't stop the Flash. Or the US Postal Service.

So go check them out, and come back next week for more Flash villains.

It's hard to come up with a good super-villain for the Flash - just having super-strength isn't useful when you're fighting someone you can't touch. A good villain for the Flash would have to be someone who had the same power of super-speed, but was evil instead of good - kind of like a reverse-Flash. It's an idea so good it's been used twice.

This week for our Flash villain customs, we take a look at the men who wore the yellow suit of the Reverse-Flash. First up is Eobard Thawne, the original Reverse-Flash. Eobard is a Flash fan/stalker from the future who gave himself super-speed and ended up becoming one of the biggest foes of the Barry Allen Flash. Then he died. But now he's alive again. I think.

When Wally West took over the mantle of the Flash, he also ended up feuding with the Reverse-Flash a few times. But then he got his very own reverse-Flash named Zoom, who was even more of a crazy stalker than the Reverse-Flash. Zoom's motivation for fighting the Flash was to make him a better hero, which makes him a horrible personal trainer.

More Flash villains next week - be there or wear yellow.

Quick shot of one of my recent sculpting projects getting its first coat of primer. I love it when the original and new parts become the same color and start looking like they belong together.

With the amount of sculpting that this guy has received, he's a long ways away from the simple blocky Minimate form. Can he really be considered a true Minimate any more? Sure, he's got a base of Minimate parts, but does he uphold the Minimate spirit? Something to consider as I'm painting...

The thing you have to remember about Flash villains is that they don't tend to be mad killers like the Joker or power-mad megalomaniacs like Lex Luthor. The traditional Flash foe is a simple criminal - out for enough cash to live comfortably for the short term. They're just like any other bank robber or jewel thief, except they use fantastic weapons instead of a gun. Robbers who love the idea of getting dressed up and breaking into a bank wielding a flame thrower. Maybe the term "flashy gimmick robber" fits best.

A great example of "flashy gimmick robber" - emphasis on flashy - is the Rainbow Raider, a color-blind painter turned art thief with his color-blasting goggles. He could shoot any color of the rainbow, and each color could create a different effect, and he rode a giant rainbow to escape and man, is there any wonder why he was killed off?

A better villain (but still flashy and gimmick-based) is the Mirror Master, a simple crook using mirrors to bend and break light in ways that defy physics. He's a much more competent villain than someone armed with a rainbow.

More villains next week.

While he can move near the speed of light, the Flash is powerless against a few things - like death and taxes. And while the IRS hasn't unleashed their jet-propelled auditors yet, the Flash does have death as a villain.

This week's custom is the Black Flash, a mysterious being that acts as the Grim Reaper for super-speedsters. Able to move as fast as the Flash, the Black Flash is known by many names - the slow lightning, the last dash, the blur of death, the Racing Black Shadow, the Running Reaper, the Dashing Deceased, the Jogging Jaws of Death, the Galloping Gravedigger, the Mortal Marathoner, Oblivion's Sprinter, the Final Finish Line, Death's Delivery Service, the Haunted Half-Miler, Runny McDeathPants, and the High Price of Fitness.

Yet another Flash villain next week, time and paint willing.

Let's wrap up our celebration of Flash villains with another villain custom. This week we look at one of the newer Flash foes - he's not classic, but he's just as goofy as the Rainbow Raider or the Golden Glider.

This week I present Tar Pit, the villain who's made of burning asphalt. He's useful for bank robberies, slowing down the Flash, and making street repairs. Go check him out, and thanks for visiting during the Fiendish Foes of the Flash Month (Which Was Really Five Weeks).

Somebody got a new cape to go with their hat and suit this weekend. Which makes me wonder - when were capes in fashion for men to wear?

Quick shot of my workbench, now covered with assorted parts and bodies with a fresh coat of primer.

The Charitymates event will be held again this year, taking Minimate customs and putting them on eBay to raise money for charity. This year the theme for the customs is robots.

Above is a page of designs for a robot idea I had - a Japanese-style robot like Mazinger Z or Jet Jaguar. He'd be a humanoid robot with aquatic characteristics named something like "Atomic Mariner G" or "HydroRobo". Like the sketches - not sure it's what I want to make, though.

Want to know more about Charitymates and where this year's donations are going? Then check out the all-new Charitymates web site.

Another page of designs for my Charitymates robot Minimate. This time I was thinking about old-school robots like in wind-up toys and 1930's movies, where the robots all looked like water heaters and moved painfully slow like there was a man inside them trying to keep their balance.

Some of the earliest Minimate customs I made were AIM soldiers because I love the concept - wacky scientists trying to conquer the world in yellow beekeeper outfits. So I was really happy when Diamond released official AIM solider Minimates, and bought a bunch of them. They're great - except for their accessories. To me, AIM soldiers are the guys who would rather use freeze guns instead of machine guns, and would give up freeze guns to get a lightsaber. So what did the AIM soldier come with? A hand gun and a small gatling gun. How boring.

So with a little bit of customizing, I've put together the AIM Heavy Assault soldier, with the kind of weapons that I think an AIM soldier should have. Go check him out before he blows up your house with a heat ray.

Yet another page of designs for my Charitymates robot Minimate. The name "DeathBot" popped into my head, so I began thinking about what a robotic version of Death would look like. Judging from my sketches, it would look like a cross between the Grim Reaper and Skeletor. Going to have to start actually building something soon.

Started construction on my robot for the Charitymates auction this weekend. I decided to go with the 1930's movie robot design, so here's a shot of my work on creating a round tube body for a Minimate. I'm using the plastic cover from Minimate 2-packs as my construction material, cutting pieces to size and gluing it together in the back. With a few more attempts, I think I'll have something that I'm happy with.

I don't work on Minimate robots all the time. This is a quick shot of my workbench, current home to a couple new customs getting painted. Don't worry - I'm sure I'll have more robot updates soon.

Shot of the unfortunate Minimate torso being used as my "robot test" Minimate. If you look close, you can see rows of dots made with Elmer's glue on his transparent plastic surface. It looks goofy now, but with a coat of paint, it should produce what I hope will be a cool detail for my robot.

An actual Minimate custom will be posted tomorrow night.

Sometimes customizing is just a matter of having parts and not knowing what to do with them. I've had Playboy Tony Stark sitting in my Parts Box for a while, just mocking me with his sculpted open shirt and jacket combo. What was I supposed to do with such a unique piece - make Playboy Bruce Wayne? John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever?

The answer came to me when I was reading an "Avengers: Initiative" trade paperback - Trauma, the emo teen with mystic shapeshifting powers! Sure he's obscure, but I like him well enough to justify making a custom of him. And most importantly, he uses my spare Playboy Tony Stark parts. So go check out Trauma as I try to figure out what to do with the 30 or so Wolverine hair pieces in my Parts Box.

Remember the "robot test" Minimate from the photo on Tuesday? Here he is again with a coat of primer and sliver paint. My Elmer glue dots are now looking a lot more like rivets in the metal skin of a robot. Next up - adding rivets to the real robot Minimate.

Here he is in all his 2-inch glory - my custom Minimate robot. Now complete with rivets, face details and "duck" feet to give him extra height. Now I just need to attach his hands and he's ready for primer and painting.

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted something new to the site. But I was on vacation last week, and before that I was trying to arrange things so I could go on that vacation. But now I'm back, tan and rested, and ready to give you the update that you should have seen on April 9th:

This is another rough design I made one day. Even though I'm close to having my Charitymates robot done, I've still got robots on the brain. They're fun to make with extra parts, and since I've got some time before customs are due for the auction, I find myself still making robots. So check back a lot this week as I provide a bunch of updates as I go robot-crazy.

I'm not sure where this work-in-progress came from. Too much time thinking about what's in my Parts Box, I guess.

Same barrel-chested robot that you saw yesterday - but now with a hat!

Remember the sketch of the bird-robot that I posted earlier this week? Well, I didn't forget about it.

The robots are just hanging out on the workbench, trying to be all cool and impress the guy in the cape...

Quick shot from this weekend when the robots all went for a gentle shower of primer, to be followed with the gentle caress of brushes applying new paint.

Painting on the 1930's movie robot proceeds quickly. At this rate, he should be finished and ready for final pictures this weekend assuming I can find some gloss sealant. And a name for him, too.

After several weeks of work and a trip to the store to by gloss sealant, I'm proud to announce that my first robot Minimate custom for this year's Charitymates auction is done. His name is Otto Tobor, and he was a star of black & white movie serials like "Robot on the Range", "Robot From Planet X" and "Jungle Robot!". So go check him out.

And coming soon - my second robot for Charitymates (the one with the big cannon in his chest).

Painting on my barrel-chested robot has begun. I need to hurry up and get him finished if I'm going to get my bird robot done in time for the auctions (starting June 1st! Mark your calendars!).

Barrel-chested robot update - still being painted in nifty shades of green. With any luck, he should be finished this weekend.

The green paint is dry, the sealant has been applied, and there's nothing left to do but the introduction. And so, I present my second robot Minimate custom for Charitymates - Art.U.238. He's got a big cannon sticking out of his chest. You should go check him out.

Two down, and one to go. Check back to see how my final robot - the bird robot - turns out.

Painting on the humanoid bird robot has begun. I have no idea how this one is going to turn out.

It's late, but I want to get this posted while I'm thinking about it. I'm happy to present the third and final robot custom for Charitymates this year, my humanoid bird robot that I call Fe@ther. He's all robot-y and bird-like and I think he turned out really well. But you should go judge for yourself because I'm pretty biased.

And now to get all the robot customs in the mail for the auction, followed by a break from making robot customs. For a while.

I spent the last week or so trying to figure out what to do now that my Charitymates robots are done. Thankfully I have these four sitting in "The In-Progress Box", waiting to be primered and painted.

Painting has started on the latest batch of customs. This group is wearing a lot of black.

There's a lot of things you can do in comics that you can't do in real life - let bullets bounce off your chest, pick a minivan up over your head, or live forever. Many immortal characters have appeared in comics, so for the next month or so, let's see how some of those immortals from DC Comics look in Minimate form.

Why DC Comics? Because if I threw the immortal Marvel characters in with this, I'd be doing this all summer. Also DC Comics has quite a few big-name immortal characters, as well as some smaller ones. And Reason #83 of my list of "Why I'm Still Angry They Stopped Making DC Minimates" is they stopped before they got to any immortal characters.

Let's start our look at the long-lived with the classic villain Vandal Savage. He's a caveman who became immortal thanks to a meteorite and wants to conquer the world. Vandal is proof of the little-known fact that cavemen were very industrious people with big goals. Go check him out, and come back next week for another immortal from the DC Universe.

Usually when I have a custom theme month, I give it a catchy title so I don't have to keep explaining what I'm doing. I have totally failed to do that this time, so you're stuck with me explaining that I'm still making customs of the immortal characters from the DC Universe. If you've got any suggestions on how to make "Immortal Characters of the DC Universe" a catchy title, feel free to send them to me. I'll give you credit if I use them.

This week our featured long-lived character is a scoundrel called General Immortus, long-time foe of the Doom Patrol. He's really, really old, wants to conquer the world with his private army and dresses kinda like Cap'n Crunch. Go check him out, and be sure to check back next week for another immortal from the DC Universe.

It's not just bad guys who live forever in the DC Universe - there are a few immortal good guys as well. Like our custom choice for this week - the Phantom Stranger. He is a true mystery - his origin, age, even his real name are all unknown. What is known is that in times of trouble the Stranger will fight for good while rocking a fedora and medallion fashion combo. Go check him out, and come back next week to see what immortals I dig up to present.

He's an immortal from the fall of Camelot, created by Jack Kirby and black magic! He's a southern lawyer who's constantly getting killed but lives again! Together, they're cops! And tonight, they'll bring Mendoza to justice - once and for all.

Well, not really.

But this week we're looking at two different immortals from the DC Universe. The first is Jason Blood, the human host for the Demon. Whenever they appear, the Demon usually gets top billing, which isn't really fair because Jason can be a fascinating character as well. So today, he gets his due as a Minimate.

The second custom is the Resurrection Man, an average man turned reluctant super hero because of the microscopic machines injected into his body. These tiny little bots rebuild him every time he dies - each time with a different super-power. The Resurrection Man starred in his own offbeat comic in that 1990's, and didn't last long in that turbulent market. But today, he also gets his due as a custom Minimate.

Check them out, and come back next week to see who else gets their Minimate glory.

Hey, remember those robot customs I made for Charitymates this year? Well, the auctions have started and the first of my three customs (Fe@ther - the bird-bot on the right) is up for grabs. You can check out the auctions here, but hurry - this round of auctions is over on Friday.

Yep, I've run out of immortal characters to present. Oh sure, there are a few more I could do, like the Immortal Man, or Morgaine Le Fay, but those will have to wait for another time. Another time when I'm once again contemplating my own mortality and turn to the pages of a comic book to find the answers.

But in the meantime, here's the last immortal character I have ready to go - longtime Batman foe Ra's Al Ghul. I've also done a second Ra's al Ghul - Desert Duel Ra's al Ghul - to commemorate the classic duel he had with Batman. And what good is Ra's al Ghul without his loyal bodyguard Ubu? Go check them all out.

What's next? I have no idea. Come back later and be just as surprised as I am.

Hey, let's take a look at what's happening on my workbench right now:

That's right - nothing. Between summer activities, extra work and assorted other things, the workbench is kinda vacant right now. I am finishing a few customs, but they're for the next Custom Con and I don't want to ruin the surprise. So you'll just have to wait a little bit until I have new customs to show, and in the meantime I'll see what content I can put together.

The final round of Charitymates auctions is now live, including some great robot Minimates along with my other two robot contributions. Go check them out, but hurry - these are only three-day auctions. Unless you're reading this and the auction is already over, in which case you really missed out on some great customs.

This is an old picture I took back when I was making my Tom Servo Minimate. I never posted it at the time because I didn't want to ruin the surprise of my MST3K Minimates, but knew someday I'd post to to share the horror of Servo with a face on his belly.

Teaser Photo #1 for Top Secret Custom Con Project.

Since Minimate production is kinda slow right now, I've been taking the opportunity to reorganize my Minimate display. I'm not done yet - you can tell because you can still see some blank space on some of the shelves.

Ah, August. As you finish, so does the summer, and so does my hectic summer schedule. Summer has been very brutal on my free time, and things are beginning to slow down, letting me catch up on my Minimate customs, and yes, even update my site. I apologize for the recent lack of content (assuming anyone still visits).

Hopefully, I'm going to have more free time in the future to make and post more customs. But for now, all you're going to get is this:

The Minimates above are standing on 1" square blocks I made from cardstock, then decorated them with squares cut from comic books. I made them years ago when my Minimate collection was small, and I had the free time to make 1" square stands for them to stand on. I really liked how they turned out, so I made of bunch of them. As my collection grew and I started using spice racks to display my Minimates, I used the blocks to create a riser on the very top row, so the Minimates in the back could be seen.

This year, my collection has grown and I had to add more spice racks to my collection. But I ran out of my 1" blocks, and I don't have that kind of time to make dozens of new ones. So I compromised.

Instead of making dozens of blocks, I made eight 7" long risers instead. I get the same effect and can still decorate them with comic book art, but had them done in an afternoon, not weeks.

Here's a shot of my new risers in action. They worked out great, and were exactly what I needed to finish setting up my Minimate display. Which I'm going to show pictures of this week - stay tuned.

Behold! Feast your eyes on the 2" glory of my Minimate collection:

Huh. Kinda missing the glory at that size. Maybe if I present my collection in a bunch of close-up photos?:

Top Shelf, First Rack - the Spider-Man section, with Spidey on the front row and his villains on the second. The third row is a mix of his villains, allies, and Luke Cage and Iron Fist who are there because I don't have a better spot for them.

Top Shelf, Second Rack - On the front tier, it's the Avengers (most of them). On the second row, it's Captain America and his friends and foes (and a few more Avengers). And the third row is the Fantastic Four and their enemies, with plenty of room for the upcoming TRU Fantastic Four Minimates (gotta plan for the future).

Top Shelf, Third Rack - Up front, it's the many armors of Iron Man (with room left for more). On the second row, it's all things Hulk or purple pants related (and a few more Avengers). And the third row is the gritty, macho urban characters like Ghost Rider, Daredevil and Brother Voodoo.

Second Shelf, First Rack - This one is full of Marvel characters that have no better place to go. The front tier has the Champions, Invaders, Defenders and some leftover Avengers. Second row is all Marvel villains. Third row is assorted characters and the Marvel Zombies.

Second Shelf, Second Rack - We move into the DC Minimates, with the front row made up of assorted characters like the Doom Patrol and my various Starman customs. The second row is made up of Justice League characters. And the third row is made up of Justice Society & related characters.

Second Shelf, Third Rack - More DC. The front row is all Superman and SuperFriends. The second row is Batman villains (with room for more), and the third row is for the many looks of Batman and his friends.

Third Shelf, First Rack - Still more DC. The front row is full of assorted villains The second row is for Green Lanterns (with room for more). And the third row is for characters that didn't fit in anywhere else, like Sgt. Rock and Ambush Bug. Off to the left is my Suicide Squad customs and my army of OMACs.

Third Shelf, Second Rack - it's the Mighty Marvel Movie Minimates! X-Men & Spider-Man are up front, Iron Man is in the middle, and in the back are more Iron Man characters with Punisher, Hulk and Wolverine. You may notice that I didn't put any blocks on the top rack for the Minimates to stand on because I forgot and didn't even notice until I took this picture. Oh well.

Third Shelf, Third Rack - It's the Ghostbusters, taking up the first and second rows of this spice rack. In the back on the third row is my Star Trek Minimates. I admit, this rack is way too crowded, but until I can find another place to display my Star Trek Minimates, the Ghostbusters are just going to have to stand pretty close together.

Fourth Shelf, First Rack - We're back to Marvel characters, who should be grouped with the other Marvel characters two shelves up, but I would have to move my DC Minimates and I wasn't going to do that but now my display doesn't make any sense and I'm thinking about this way too much. Anyway, the front row is devoted to army builder and related characters like M.O.D.O.K. Second row is Ultimate characters, Dark Avengers and Thunderbolts, and third row is the Cosmic section with space-related characters. Oh, and my Watcher custom is off to the side because I ran out of room on my cosmic shelf before I could add him.

Fourth Row, Second Rack - it's mostly mutants! Front row are some mutant-related army builders, plus the X-Statix and Excalibur. Second row is X-Men villains, and room for the upcoming X-Men box sets (always gotta be thinking ahead). And third row right now has my non-comic related customs, and the Steel Spider, whose mechanical arms make him too big to fit anywhere else right now.

And finally, Fourth Row, Third Rack - All X-Men, starting with the early X-Men in the front row working towards the 80's and 90's X-Men on the second row. In the third row are the modern X-Men, X-Factor, and every Wolverine Minimate ever made. I admit, I wouldn't have a space problem if I didn't insist on displaying every Minimate, but I can't help it - I bought Patch and Civilian Logan, and I'm gonna display him, no matter how ridiculous 20-some Wolverines look together.

Guess who actually had time to work on new Minimate customs this weekend?

It's Batmonth! Nothing but Batman related customs! Villains! Heroes! Dead parents lying facedown in an alley! Anything's possible in Batmonth!

The first custom for Batmonth was inspired by the only good piece in the Silence of the Lambs Minimate set - the straightjacket. And if there's a comic book character that's going to wear a straightjacket, it's going to be the most insane villain with green hair ever. And so I present Asylum Joker - all the crazy of a regular Joker, but with 50% less mobility. Please enjoy.

It's Batmonth, with nothing but Batman related customs! Some people might try to tell you it's September, but you should hit them with your batarang until they agree with you.

This week we take a look at the best sidekick a Caped Crusader ever had with some Robin customs. First up, it's Earth 2 Robin - the Robin from another dimension (called Earth 2) that grew up and took over for Batman and took his costume, sort of.

I also present another Earth 2 Robin, the Super Squad Robin, where Robin joined the Justice Society of America and got a much better costume, to boot. Go check them out, and enjoy.

It's Batmonth, with nothing but Batman related customs! This week, let's take a look at the greatest villain/love interest that Batman has ever had - Catwoman. At one time Catwoman was one of Batman's top foes, with her own henchmen and Cat-illac getaway car (Get it?!?!). Lately she's been more heroic, becoming a trusted ally and occasional lover of Batman. As she's changed roles, Catwoman's also changed her costume. Let's review a couple of her looks, shall we?

First up is the Silver Age Catwoman, wearing a sleek little number that shows off a lot of leg, but I have to imagine that the long cape would hinder your cat burglar abilities. After that, we've got the 90's Catwoman, best remembered for a simple costume accented with really big boobs. Go enjoy, and think

It's Batmonth, where we work through a heaping pile of Batman related customs! On the pile this week is the Riddler, Batman's tricky and vain foe. Sure he's smart, but that's not good enough for him. Riddler wants you to know he's smart. He wants to rub his high IQ in your face. He would totally do a victory dance after a really good chess move.

So for my new Riddler custom, I made a Formal Wear Riddler, with his iconic question mark-covered suit. In fact, I almost called him Question Mark Suit Riddler, but that just reminded me of the other question mark suit guy who had the infomercials and tried to sell you a grant money guide. And no one wants to be associated with him. So please, go enjoy my grant money free Riddler.

A bonus custom this week, because the new Fantastic Four Minimates are now hitting Toys 'R Us stores. So in honor of the first family of Marvel Comics, I present the most unexpected Fantastic Four related custom ever - Willie Lumpkin, official postman for the Fantastic Four. Created by Stan Lee, Willie is an often forgotten part of the Fantastic Four family. So go check him out and understand the magic of this humble postman, before email and postal rate hikes destroy the Postal Service.

It's the end of Batmonth, the holiday I made up as an excuse to post a lot of Batman-related customs. And we finish it up with customs of the man himself (Batman, not Shaft). This week we feature the Rainbow Batman, or that time when Batman revealed he had a Batman costume for every color of the rainbow.

But it doesn't stop there for the multi-colored Batman customs. You can also check out a recreation I made of the Detective Comics cover that introduced the world to Rainbow Batman. I made it for a Minimate poster contest, so I replaced the characters on the cover with Minimates. Which hopefully explains why I would make five differently-colored Batman customs. Go check them out, and stand by for the next time I declare Batmonth.

Finishing up work on another couple customs, which is good. But I should be working on some Halloween-themed customs in order to have them ready for Halloween. Should figure out which characters would be appropriate first.

Teaser Photo #2 for Top Secret Custom Con Project.

I shared this during a customizers chat this week, and thought I should post it here as well. It's a screen shot from Illustrator, full of a bunch of artwork for some Halloween-themed characters. We'll see if I can get them done it time, or if I'll have them ready for Christmas.

Here's a forgotten custom from the back of my display - the Spider-Man ally The Prowler. He's a former window-washer who uses the pneumatic safety equipment he developed to fight crime and leave deep claw marks in building. Originally created in the 70's by Stan Lee & John Buscema, the Prowler was rarely seen until he surged back to popularity during the 90's, when artists loved drawing characters with big flowing capes and claws for fingers. So go check him out.

Results from sculpting last week. Halloween-themed Minimates take a lot of unique accessories.

A look at the how my Halloween Minimates spent part of the weekend, relaxing the the comfort of the In-Progress Box before their date with a can of primer.

Halloween Minimates - now with primer. We'll see how many of them are fully painted by Halloween.

Painting has started on the first of the Halloween Minimates. He's going quickly - should be done long before Halloween.

At least one of my Halloween-themed Minimates is now done! And you don't have to wait until Halloween to see him! But you do have to wear a costume. Go ahead and go put one one - I'll wait here.

Got your costume on? Then you can check out my new custom - The Son of Satan! His father is Satan* - how can he be anymore Halloweeny? Maybe if he was a walking skeleton made of candy corn...

*Not really - he was just a lying, but powerful demon.

Quick shot of my "parts easel" Minimate modeling the hat of my next Halloween Minimate. I use this poor Minimate to hold parts that I'm painting, like hands or hats.

Whoo-hoo! One more Halloween-themed Minimate done! And it's obscure Marvel horror comics star The Straw Man - the mystic champion of hay fields everywhere.

I'm not kidding when I call him obscure - The Straw Man originally made only three appearances in the 1970's, under the name the Scarecrow. After two stories, the Straw Man failed to make any sort of impact and drifted into obscurity after teaming up with the Thing in Marvel Two-In-One. Which is too bad, because there's something appealing to the Straw Man. A silent, unstoppable monster who shows up, causes chaos and leaves - he's like Michael Myers or Jason, but for good.

The Straw Man was brought back in the 90's by Roy Thomas, who renamed the Straw Man to avoid copyright conflicts, which was good. But then he gave the Straw Man a background, a purpose and had him talk, which was not good. After the story ended, the Straw Man again drifted into obscurity. Well, except for this custom Minimate. Go check it out.

I'm buzzing on Halloween candy right now, so I'll keep this introduction short - it's Lilith, the daughter of Dracula. Before you can say "Who?", let me explain: she's another obscure character from Marvel's 70's horror comics. Cursed by gypsies to be an eternal foe to her father, Lilith fought her father a couple of times and then drifted away, forgotten. It might have helped if she had tried to develop her own identity instead of going around introducing herself as Dracula's daughter. Maybe Vampwoman, the crimefighter vampire? I dunno...

Anyway, I have more peanut butter cups to eat, so go check her out and have a Happy Halloween!

Halloween is over, but my string of Marvel horror customs isn't done yet. I've got a few more left to finish that I'll be posting soon, like this one on my workbench that I'm currently painting.

The jack o' lanterns and candy are gone, but I've still some Halloween spirit left in the form of two more Marvel horror character customs. The first is Satana, the devil's daughter and sister to the Son of Satan. While her brother struggled to contain his demonic side, Satana was straight-up evil who struggled with her humanity. It didn't matter, though - their father thought they were both a disappointment.

Next up is Gabriel, Devil-Hunter, the character inspired by the movie "The Exorcist" (true fact). Sadly, he did not get pea soup or head-twisting powers. Go check them out, and Happy (late) Halloween!

Teaser Photo #3 for Top Secret Custom Con Project. You'd think that since I'd been working on these for most of the year, I'd have them ready to go by now. Yet here I am, less than a week from the entry deadline and I'm still working on the final details for my submission.

Custom work tends to slow down for me around the holidays, and this year is no exception. I do have a couple of customs in the works, but updates to my custom site will be infrequent at best for the next month or so.

In the meantime, please enjoy a special sneak peek at a custom I'm making for my Secret Santa gift this year. I edited it a little to make sure it's still a surprise.

Quick update to announce that my entry for CustomCon 27 went live today! It's an original group of Minimates called the Eyes of M.A.R.C.H., and I could explain them, but it's better if you actually see them. So go check them out right now, and some of the other great entries in CustomCon as well.

With Christmas just days away as I write this, it's a good time to show off the Minimate I made for a Secret Santa gift - the Christmas Dynamo! He's the perfect representation of high-tech holiday cheer.

And in case you missed them, I've added my latest CustomCon entry the Eyes of M.A.R.C.H. to the site. So go check out the customs, and have a great holiday season.

After 37 waves, classic Spider-Man villain the Lizard is getting his very own Minimate (going on sale this week!). And it has all the classic Lizard features, like his scaly green skin, toothy grin, long tail and lab coat. Why would a savage lizard-man wear something as human as a lab coat? Because the Lizard has a human side, too.

Presenting Dr. Curt Conners, the Dr. Jekyll to the Lizard's Mr. Hyde. When the Lizard was first announced, I hoped we would get extra pieces to make a Dr. Conners from the Lizard. Sadly, we are not, so I had to put my own together. And I think he's the best one-armed lab coat wearing scientist I've ever made. But don't take my word for it - go check him out yourself.

Happy New Year, everyone. Here's a quick look ahead at one of my projects for 2011 - painting this figure.