Velociraptor, Chris Pratt and Rocket Raccoon

"Guardians of the Jurassic World"

Type Chris Pratt's name into a search engine and invariably images of him posing with an animal will come up. My kids agree, he is clearly a cool guy...but he's even cooler when cuddling with a raccoon or baby dinosaurs.

After yesterday's napkin image of a raptor on a motorcycle, adding Mr. Pratt was the next logical step. And once I had added him, it seemed a shame not to include Rocket Raccoon.

No doubt Rocket would have something to say about the folly of genetically modified dinosaurs...they can't even speak English or pilot a space ship, after all. Although he would probably appreciate the capitalist motives of the builders of Jurassic World.

This image was definitely too complicated for me to pull off comfortably. I often feel like a lazy draftsman when I look over the past napkins images.  I tend to avoid drawing full bodies and usually just chose an easy close up of a head or two. In this case, I didn't even deal with the whole motorcycle and raptor, but I still struggled with the orchestration of limbs and bike parts and ran poor Rocket's arm right out of the image. I will happily set my aspirations lower for the moment.

Guardians of the Galaxy Selfie

I had to put Rocket in the front as  I've lately had much more practice drawing raccoons than people, (green skinned or otherwise) and I think it shows.

Ansel had requested that I include all members of the Guardians on this one, which really exceeded my powers of plausible character arrangement. Apparently Ansel wanted to ask a classmate whether she liked the movie or not, and wanted a visual aid to help prompt the conversation. This was a slightly unusual request as he is most often only interested in the Rocket or Star Lord characters.

When I asked Ansel what was so cool about Star Lord, he told me that he really liked the way that Star Lord's long coat flapped when he jumped. I certainly like that quality in a role model for my 7 year old son more than I like his unrealistic physique or his way with women.

I don't have to ask what he likes about the raccoon.

Star Lord with Light Saber

"Guardians of the Galaxy" Meets "Star Wars,"
Or, Disney Corporate Synergy Motivates Halloween Shopping:

It is not yet October, but I feel the hot breath of Halloween on the back of my neck.
My kids start planning their Halloween costumes yearly on November 1st, but the situation does not usually become dire until the following October. It becomes more dire the last week of October, and then often completely leaves the realm of the possible on the evening of the 30th.

I made the grievous mistake many years ago of cludging together a homemade Captain Rex costume the night before Halloween. Archer had changed his mind at the last minute and could not possibly wear whatever costume it was that we already had.  I don't remember the original costume plan.  I'm sure it was one in a long line of shifting costume choices...And I should also note that I don't get enough sleep to actually form long term memories.

I created the false impression that a complete costume can be created overnight out of nothing but cardboard, masking tape, American Apparel pants and a lost night of sleep. A couple of years later, I further screwed myself by making Archer an Assassin's Creed III jacket (that time it was an American Apparel turtleneck dress).

This year's "but they don't sell costumes for kids" franchise problem is Skyrim,  Archer is presently working to convince me of the absolute necessity of making a Skyrim "Dovahkiin" or "Dragonborn" helmet. Last night, we watched a youtube video of a teenager fabricating one out of cereal boxes, toilet paper and glue in his bedroom. While I do theoretically make three dimensional objects for a living, this thing has horns, and eye holes and goes down the back of the neck to the collar, and will have to fit and be comfortable enough to wear for an evening......and the client will not be paying me for my time....and I try to avoid working in toilet paper.

As a result of the aforementioned helmet threat, I was grateful that Ansel thought that the components of his costume could actually be purchased.  Unfortunately, he "needed" to be two characters at once: Ezra Bridger from the new Star Wars TV show "Rebels" and Star Lord from "Guardians of the Galaxy."  I don't think Disney will be offering discounts on crossover-driven double costume purchases.

Ansel had already talked me into buying an Ezra Bridger helmet despite my well founded fears of last minute costume changes. Last night, Ansel decided that the Ezra/Jedi part of the character did not need the already purchased helmet and would instead wear a knit skull hat and sunglasses. 

And of course he told me that in order to complete the costume, he will need a "real" lightsaber.  I don't think toilet paper with white glue is going to help us there.


Ansel's concept for the costume is below.  (Can you believe that I messed up the color of the lightsaber and gave him a Sith style red one)
And following are the previous costume  indulgences

 

Ezra Bridger and Peter Quill

Guys from "Star Wars Rebels" and "Guardians of the Galaxy" show off their headgear: It is so cool that they don't need peripheral vision.

Late August brings the first fall costume catalogs and the feverish planning of Halloween begins.  Not that we haven't been discussing the Halloween costumes since last November 1st... But now I cannot get away with shrugging noncommittally and pointing out that the deadline is months away.

Ansel decided yesterday that he NEEDS both a Star Lord costume and an Ezra Bridger costume in order to combine them into one costume of "Absolute Awesomeness."  My standard response to this sort of news is, "Start saving now," but again, time is growing short.

Ansel's interest in the Ezra character from the latest Star Wars TV show is the first break in a years long dislike of the entire franchise.  His older brother experienced an intense obsession with everything in the "expanded universe" several years ago and Ansel had been holding a grudge ever since.  But "Rebels" is a new show and has not been spoiled by being liked by his elder sibling. 

While no one is our house has really focused on the Star Lord character, all acknowledged that he is cool and has some nice gear.  Ansel is still particularly taken with his coat.  There was also great interest in the Walkman that he carries in the movie.  Amusingly enough to an elderly person like myself, our kids were not entirely clear on what this device was.  They are surrounded by an appalling number of electronic devices, including an Ipod nano, but Ansel had the sense that the device he saw on screen was somehow much more cool.  After seeing the movie, he spent an afternoon carrying around a Walkman sized block of wood and some outdated headphones.