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Building a better body for THE PENGUIN!!!

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  • darklord1967
    Persistent Member
    • Mar 27, 2008
    • 1550

    Building a better body for THE PENGUIN!!!

    I’ve been quietly hard at work, re-visiting the custom MEGO bat-character action figures that I made several years ago.

    I decided to give them all improved bodies with better anatomy and greatly improved articulation (ball-jointed shoulders, mid-bicep swivel, etc.)

    Here is my second approach to the body of Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot aka The Batman’s dastardly nemesis… THE PENGUIN !



    HEAD SCULPT

    I wanted my custom action figure to feature a removable top hat accessory and a separate monocle accessory (with lens), both of which MEGO only represented as a molded/painted parts of the original Penguin head sculpt. They also never bothered to include the signature cigarette and holder that the character was always seen puffing on, so I would have to fabricate that as well.

    I wanted the head sculpt for my custom figure to resemble the character as he appeared in the comic books, and I had an idea for the perfect starting point:

    While growing up in the 1980’s, I watched The Dukes of Hazzard television series, and I always thought that Sorrel Brooke , (the actor who portrayed Boss Hogg) was a PERFECT choice to portray The Penguin… if they had ever decided to make a Batman film that was faithful to the comic book. He had the perfect face and stature for the role.









    It is only fitting, then, that when “casting” a likeness for my custom MEGO Penguin action figure, my natural choice for the starting point was MEGO’s excellent Boss Hogg head sculpt.



    I carefully added arched “evil” eyebrows taken from a Star Trek MEGO Klingon sculpt, and then made a wax casting of my altered MEGO vinyl head.

    Next, I added a longer “ski nose” and a widow’s peak hairstyle to the wax casting, and then re-cast the whole thing into a (slightly flexible) polyurethane head.

    Here is a comparison photo showing MEGO’s original Boss Hogg head versus my final painted custom head sculpt.











    TAKIN’ IT TO THE BODY

    Alright… can someone please explain to me how is it that MEGO could design an articulated thin male, heroic male, and even male child bodies (all of which looked reasonably anatomically correct) and yet they still came up with this… this bizzare TROLL to represent the body of an over-weight man?






    My question is obviously a rhetorical one, but… HONESTLY! Just what were they thinking? Absolutely no pelvis or waist articulation to speak of… and (inappropriate) slender arms and legs (re-cycled from the thin or heroic bodies)!! Sheesh!!

    The MEGO fat man body was specifically developed for The Penguin back in 1974. In the comics, this villain was typically portrayed to be an obese character… relatively short and squat in stature (just over 5 feet tall in height)

    Instead, MEGO designed this character to stand nearly as tall as his adversary The Batman. His pysique is downright lanky , and he resembles something that is not quite human!

    In fact, he kinda looks like a cross between Planter’s Mr. Peanut character and that mid-1970’s PSA character “Timer” (as in “Time for Timer!” “I hanker for a hunk o’ cheese!!”)…









    I don’t know, but to me, this is WORLD’S away from the vicious fat little Gotham City gangster that The Penguin is supposed to be. Not good. Not good at all !

    In order for me to create an updated, nicely articulated, anatomically correct action figure of The Penguin, I saw that I was going to have to completely re-invent his body and push my modeling / customizing skills to the max.

    Well, after a LOT of kit-bashing, re-sculpting, sanding, and glueing. This is the new super-articulated MEGO-scaled fat-man body I’ve created for my custom Penguin.

    All he awaits is final paint.








    This new MEGO-scaled Penguin body features:

    Standard swivel head
    Ball-jointed shoulders
    Mid-bicep swivel
    Waist / Pelvis articulation
    MEGO-styled ball-hips (with MEGO elastic band)

    He stands 6.75 inches tall (head to toe measurement). Only slightly taller than a MEGO “Our Gang” character. At 1:9 scale that’s a man who stands 5 feet 1 inch tall. PERFECT for The Penguin!

    Now, I should point out that a LOT of brave and generous action figure characters donated body parts to give custom Penguin his impressive new physique. They should be acknowledged:

    MEGO Boss Hogg -Head (extensively re-sculpted)
    MEGO Fat Man Body- top shoulder neck hole, shoulder arm sockets
    Jakks Pacific Umaga- Torso
    Jakks Pacific Colin Delaney- Arms (extensively re-sculpted)
    MEGO “Our Gang” Spanky- Hands
    MEGO Fat Man body- Used to fabricate articulated pelvis section.
    MEGO HULK- Ball- Hip joints
    Jakks Pacific Tony Atlas- Upper Legs
    Fred Goodspeed- “Heroic Man” custom lower legs (cut down shorter)
    MEGO type II- Feet










    When I finished The Penguin's new body, he was SO happy with his anatomy and greater range of motion that he actually started to dance. It was quite embarassing, really, because he insisted that I sing him a waltz as accompaniment. And then my wife walked in and caught us...


    Last edited by darklord1967; Feb 13, '11, 3:25 AM.
    I... am an action figure customizer
  • Cosmicman
    Permanent Member
    • Jul 12, 2005
    • 4794

    #2
    Impressed.
    More custom Mego madness on Facebook right here...

    Comment

    • The Toyroom
      The Packaging King
      • Dec 31, 2004
      • 16653

      #3
      That's looking great so far!
      Think OUTSIDE the Box! For the BEST in Repro & Custom Packaging!

      Comment

      • JediJaida
        Talkative Member
        • Jun 14, 2008
        • 5671

        #4
        That is a neat take on the character! I love the monocle!

        I can't wait to see how this develops further.
        JediJaida

        Comment

        • Jerry68
          Persistent Member
          • Feb 12, 2008
          • 1039

          #5
          Very well thought out and executed!
          sigpic

          Comment

          • Megospidey
            Museum Webslinger
            • Jul 26, 2006
            • 5305

            #6
            Very nice Roberto - I am very much looking forward to the completion of this figure.

            Comment

            • stuart
              Hi-Yo Silver Away!
              • Jun 18, 2007
              • 517

              #7
              That is fantastic!

              Comment

              • supes
                For the love of Mego's!
                • Jan 19, 2004
                • 2070

                #8
                Nice!! Can't wait to see him complete standing next to Batman!

                For the love of Mego's

                Comment

                • 60'schild
                  Silver Haired Silver Ager
                  • Mar 27, 2009
                  • 0

                  #9
                  WOW! Great work so far !

                  Comment

                  • StrangeVisitor
                    Career Member
                    • May 13, 2007
                    • 598

                    #10
                    Wow, a well-explained & reasoned thought process and procedure in your re-design of the fat body. Can't wait to see your Penguin finished.
                    .

                    Comment

                    • Captain
                      Fighting the good fight!
                      • Jun 17, 2001
                      • 6031

                      #11
                      WOW!

                      Cant wait to see him finished Darklord. he looks great. The face sculpt especially, which has a touch of Bob Hope to it,an actor I felt had the facial attributes for the Penquin..if not the physical build.

                      Hope the Mego/EMCE/Mattel crew are watching...this is the way a new Penquin should be done.
                      "Crayons taste like purple!"

                      Comment

                      • yokaijohn
                        Keep it coolin', baby
                        • Oct 1, 2008
                        • 1439

                        #12
                        Awsome!!! That Looks Fantastic So FAR!!!
                        Monsters and much more by YokaiJohn on Etsy

                        Comment

                        • pmwasson
                          Maker
                          • Sep 12, 2007
                          • 4864

                          #13
                          I love this behind-the-scene look! Thanks for sharing. And the Penguin body look awesome! Can't wait to see the final result.
                          sigpic LaserMego

                          Comment

                          • sauce
                            Removed
                            • Jun 24, 2007
                            • 3491

                            #14
                            Oh my goodness! That is so amazing!
                            I could never do that. I am most impressed. I really enjoyed the play-by-play, too. :-)
                            Bryan

                            Comment

                            • Next2lastmohican
                              Banned
                              • Apr 26, 2009
                              • 25

                              #15
                              FANTASTIC!!! I love the headsculpt...and the body is awsome... You're like MacGyver! ...You took a bunch of parts that have nothing to do with each other and skillfully assembled them in order to create something highly explosive!!!

                              Comment

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