I hope this belongs here

[MegoMark71]

So i have heard this name mentioned before and now i just found this auction. Can some of you fine members clue me in on this person please.

Charlee Flatt Custom FLASH Mint with box, stand, & COA! - eBay (item 150336191296 end time Apr-07-09 18:41:06 PDT)

[Random Axe]

Charlie FLatt is pretty much the founder of modern Mego-scale customizing. Sure, people have made customs before him, but his artistry and craft raised the bar for everyone and showed what's possible. I'm not sure what happened to him as he kind of disapperared, but his figures live on and are highly sought after. That price is pretty much the going rate. I don't think any one of us could be doing what we do here without his pioneering of the hobby.

Scott

[Meule]

I think there's also a Flatt Batman on eBay right now.
And tho I agree he's a talented customizer I still think the prices for his work are over the top. He once was the King of Mego Customs, but he has since been surpassed by dozens of guys, most of which are members here. And their work doesn't cost half as much as Flatt's. But that's just my opinion.

[thunderbolt]

^^ I think at this point people are collecting them for the name.

[Tothiro]

I think there's also a Flatt Batman on eBay right now.
And tho I agree he's a talented customizer I still think the prices for his work are over the top. He once was the King of Mego Customs, but he has since been surpassed by dozens of guys, most of which are members here. And their work doesn't cost half as much as Flatt's. But that's just my opinion.

I've never met or talked to Charlee, he had already been established as a known customizer for a couple of years before I started getting contract work (with real signatures!!) in 1999 (that arbitrary thing that customizers get to point to and pretend they're in some way legitimate crafts people no matter what their boyfriends/girlfriends/fiances say).

I know he had always been sort of removed - kind of just out doing his thing. As was explained to me he answered most of his contract work by phone or snail mail (I think even when Flatt World was starting up someone mentioned he might not have (or at least give) an email address) so I have an image of him in a lone Montana shack somewhere working on a doll through the night by gas lamp. I do know that when he was actively producing he only would put out maybe one or two dolls a year (though I don't know if that included many multiples of said doll type as short runs, or if in fact he literally only finished one or two dolls). Either way he didn't make a whole lot of them - which I think helped the pricing.

He also didn't sell heads, only complete dolls (many times with cast metal elements or hand carved wooden bows like the teak Green Arrow bow he did) so he was working with lost wax casting (for the gold and silver) and time consuming processes. I was never a big fan of that sort of stuff - like metal parts - but even I bowed to pressure doing my Hellboy because I couldn't figure out how to get around it. Anyway I believe the heads you see for sale (like the batman auction up right now) are the result of people getting dolls second hand after resales and then popping molds, because the initial buyers often treated them like Alter Ego dolls.

Flatt made great outfits, and as hobbyists go his sculpts were good, but there aren't many customs that I look at and don't think "ooh, I'd have done that differently" about something (Cap's wolvie was a rare exception, though here are several here that also do some awesome stuff) - and usually Flatt's faces weren't my thing - but at that point I was no great shakes either. He was one of the first to scratch sculpt new body types. He did innovate a number of things, and I think given the material advances in recent years and the level of sophistication that's been brought to a lot of customizing things have changed a lot since the day he started (like a merging of cultures between Hollywood Prop makers and toy customizers, industrial sculpting techniques, new plastic options, etc... heck even DVD screen grab capacity and google image searches).

So yeah, I think his stuff shows a bit of age because it was like a first prototype run. On the other hand - with regard to pricing, I've never understood how people (outside of company contract work) figure out how to make customs profitable. I mean the material (molds, plastics, colorants, paints, fabric, tools, etc) and time cost is massive, and the price can only be so high, and you can't play the numbers because there are really only so many customers... It'd be like a glass of orange juice taking an acre of orange grove to produce. A $2,000 dollar glass has to taste pretty damn tasty and even then how many people are that thirsty?

But yeah. His stuff was/is more than I'd have been able (or really want) to pay.

[Megospidey]

I'm in therapy to deal with my OFWD (Obsessive Flatt Worship Disorder). I'm making good progress.

[BlackKnight]

I'm in therapy to deal with my OFWD (Obsessive Flatt Worship Disorder). I'm making good progress.

... & Here I thought that Stood for Obsessive Farley Worship DisOrder ,.. all this time.

[Tothiro]

I'm in therapy to deal with my OFWD (Obsessive Flatt Worship Disorder). I'm making good progress.

Nothing wrong (or un orderly) with that disorder actually.
Do you know if he's still producing? Is he held up on an island somewhere constructing remote control Pterrasaurs and waiting for Mathew Broderick to come find him?

I know Gareb Shamus Inc started not paying their writing staff at ToyFare (instead relying heavily on free intern staff in exchange for writing credits) and round about then kind of not paying their customizers (or at least not putting contracts out or very low level when they did) so I figured that must have slowed some people down... Seinrich started up SMF with Seth Green, and I know they use some people for Robot Chicken who I don't know but I'm familiar with friend-of-a-friend. I can't imagine he's doing that, but I also find it hard to imagine he just decided to stop. I'm curious what he might be up to.

[Megospidey]

From what I understand, he is still making figures for a select few customers when he can fit it in his schedule.

[darklord1967]

I've always sort of had a fantasy that I one day get into trouble out in the desert, when a group of Sand People attack me.

A old man in shabby clothes and hooded robe scares them off and approaches my unconscious body.

The man revives me and it turns out that he's an old hermit by the name of "Chuck" When I tell him that I'm out in the desert looking for Charlee Flatt, the old man gets a far away look in his eyes. He repeats the name wistfully, "Charlee Flatt? Hmm. Charlee Flatt. Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time. A long time.", he says.

I tell him that conventional wisdom holds that Charlee Flatt is dead. The old man frowns, "Oh he's not dead. Not... Not yet."

"Oh, so you know him, then?" I ask dumbly.

He smiles a gentle smile. "Well of course I know him. He's me. But I haven't gone by the name of Charlee Flatt since... oh, the early 1990's."

The old man then invites me back to his desert home, and proceeds to tell me all about the glorious early days of action figure customizing "... before the dark times...". He even compliments me by saying, "I understand you've become quite a good customizer yourself."

I smile like an idiot and shrug my shoulders.

He then reaches into an old storage chest in the corner claiming to have a gift for me. He brings forth a small black cylindrically-shaped device of some sort.

"What is it?", I ask intrugued.

"It's an old DREMEL rotary tool. This is the weapon of an action figure customizer. Not as clumsy or random as X-Acto knives."

I plug the tool in and activate the power switch, feeling the magical power of the spinning rotary head.

Old Flatt continued with his hypnotic discourse, "It's an elegant tool... for a more civilized age."


May the Force be with you, Charlee, wherever you are. From your old buddy Roberto.

[fallensaviour]

^^^LOL...I can see that vividly...LOL^^^

[mishu2nite]

Sorry I didn't see this sooner. I was one of the "Worshipers", still have a pretty good collection although nothing has changed in about 8+ years. Charlee lives right around the corner, I still see him time to time. He pretty much is done with customs, atleast for now, for everyone. He's a heck of a nice person, many can vouge for that, but not a good bussiness man. Here is some of my collection enjoy!!

[ScottA]

That is a really nice collection. I love to get some back. I always wanted him to make Nightwing and Harley Quinn. I really hope I see him this weekend.

[mishu2nite]

He is probably going sunday, Jim is bringing your shark, I did pester charlee a couple of times.

[starsky]

very beautiful collection!! i love checking out charlees figures especially the ones i didnt get a chance to own!