Minimate Labs

First Custom

June 8, 2009

- Project Date:September 1, 2003

I'm dropping the "Distant Past" descriptor from here on out. All this stuff is still six years old but typing all that useless text is getting tiring. Besides, this post is different from its predecessors so it's a good cut off point. So, what makes this entry so different?

It's a custom. (Although you might have gathered that from the title.) Yep my first Minimate custom, one of the security guards from the movie Spaceballs to be precise. I wasn't one for permanently altering my 'mates so read on to find out the recipe.

<Geezer mode>Back in the day<Geezer mode off> the Minimate Customizing Scene was nowhere near what it is today. There were a just a few people posting their creations on the AA boards. Most of the customs were headswaps or simply repaints of Art Asylum's 7" Star Trek figures. Most of the Minimate customs were also Star Trek related given the large fanbase compared to the other licenses. The most memorable to me was a Borg drone with an eyepiece made out of sculpey.

For my custom I didn't want to stray too far from the crowd, but we really didn't need to see another "Red Shirt" custom. The following is my original post on the boards showing off the custom.

Spaceballs Security Guard

This is a custom Minimate I've wanted to do for a long time. Thankfully the extended Labor Day weekend finally gave me the opportunity.

He is a combination of several different minimate parts, electrical tape, and a custom helmet. Parts Breakdown:
Mugato: Torso, arms, and legs
Rob Zombie: Shoulder/Breast Plate, Hands
Jen Yu: Boots
Khan: Head
Bruce Lee (Immortal): Gauntlets
Any Black Hip/Crotch piece
All the black patches and wraps are black electrical tape to ease removal. I'm not one for permanent modification.

The helmet took the most work, but it is relatively simple. It is a one inch wooden ball from any craft store. I drilled a Minimate-head-width hole and estimated the depth. I sanded out an opening so that our security guard can see. After a little sanding and gloss black paint, he was finished.

You have no idea the effort it took me to find a comb like that. Apparently you can't buy a single comb, it's either a two-pack, three-pack, or multi-pack with several different sizes of combs. But I endured it all to make a simple joke.

He was turned back into the contributing Minimates long ago, but I still have the piece of paper with the used electrical tape. Not for sentimental reasons of course, you just never know when you'll have to wrap two tiny wires together.