Snake Clowns

Snake Clowns: More frightening even than family.

It was of course inevitable that we would see the Batman LEGO movie. I was surprised that we were able to wait a couple weeks to do so. My younger son and I did have an opportunity to see it earlier, but his older brother forbade us to see it without him. (So the younger brother and I had to go see "The Great Wall" instead. More on that later...if I have the fortitude)

Lego Batman is definitely worth seeing if you have had excessive exposure to all things Batman and Lego. It has a fine sense of humar about the Venn diagram intersection between the two fandoms: Adult Fans of LEGO meets Underage Fans of The Dark Knight. The movie is full of jokes both for people young enough to play with plastic bricks and people old enough to remember that "The Condiment King" was a real DC villain. That said, my kids, DC connoisseurs that they are, were already aware of Condiment King, but they seem to have aged out of actually playing with their collection of 10,000 Legos.

One of their favorite moments in the movie was the scene where Alfred tells Bat/Bruce that he has to overcome his worst fear. Bruce shoots back, "Snakes??!!" Then, "Clowns??!!" And finally, "Snake Clowns!!!" Alfred is talking about the fear of being part of a family again, but Batman retorts, "No, it's Snake clowns! And it's your fault for putting that idea in my mind!"

My rendition of snake clowns was not particularly successful, probably overly influenced by my uncomfortable childhood relationship with Bozo the Clown on TV...but perhaps they are a little bit more frightening than the LEGO version?

If you haven't seen the movie yet, you can watch the video clip where Batman reveals that his greatest fear is snake clowns, and that it is all Alfred's fault

Blobhead Guy

Don't let your head get so big that you can't stand up...

Our kids have an extensive collection of little plasticine characters that they have made for various stop-motion video projects.  These guys are in a pile in our living room, ready at any moment to make oil stains on that lovely bookcase that their father built.  Frequently, our younger son repurposes some of the clay for a new creation, and this pink blobheaded LEGO guy was last night's effort.

I am always pleased to have the opportunity to draw something that actually exists in our apartment and does not require extensive use of Google image search. Looking at the snapshot of the thing below, however, I still feel like I did not do it justice.  I prefer the proportion of giant head to body, the feeling of imbalance (even though it is really standing up) and the fact that you can see the whole "unicorn horn."

And I cannot explain why I thought it was a good idea to put him on a small island. I liked the idea of a big blob of pink oil clay, endangered in a pretty environment, sweating in the sun....but that doesn't really justify the situation.

Our son explained to me last night that this guy is, of course, yet another character for the web comic.  But he doesn't really do or say anything. He just appears in the background frequently.  And then, after the web comic has been running for a long time, we can ask readers to count all of his appearances and give a prize to those who get the right number. 

I am glad that the kid is planning so far ahead with his social media campaign. I guess we had better get started on this comic....

Card Game Inside Jurassic World's Mosasaurus

Zara says, "Go Fish."

One of the  napkin ideas I proposed to the kids while we were biking to camp yesterday was to draw the Indominus Rex, the Pteradactyl and the ill fated assistant/babysitter Zara sitting around a camp fire toasting marshmallows inside the Mosasaurus ala Gepetto and Pinocchio in the whale.  (Belated Spoiler Alert!)

The kids' responded, "Oh, that's what happens at the end of the LEGO Jurassic World game!...Except they are playing cards and using a flare for light."  I decided to follow the LEGO logic and draw the characters playing cards and using the flare also because... firewood would be wet... and where would they have gotten the marshmallows anyway? (We need to keep these napkin images plausible after all)

 I always appreciate LEGO games' humorous lack of fatalities. As I mentioned in a previous Jurassic World themed post, Zara's death in the movie by Pteradactyl and Mosasaur seemed unnecessarily nasty and it feels nice to provide her with an afterlife.  I discovered last night, while trying to find an image of her, that interestingly, she is also the first female death in the history of the Jurassic Park/ World franchise. Gender politics aside, unlike all the other deaths, her demise was particularly memorable in its awfulness and  has been an ongoing topic of conversation for my sons long after the movie.

I did not find any images online of the LEGO game card game scene until I sat down to post this today.  It appears at the very end of the game.

The kids said I did an ok job anyway.

Rock Monster with Baby from LEGO's "Clutch Powers"

Ansel is quite fond of the first feature length LEGO movie from long ago in 2010, but viewing it again does make the more recent "LEGO Movie" look much better by comparison.

The strawberry does not appear in the movie.

Here's a link to a really old Clutch Powers' image featuring the destruction of broccoli.

LEGO Hulk with Kids

Tourist trapped: The kids in the Toy R Us in Times Square.

Who goes to Times Square in August? 

Apparently we do.  There were extenuating circumstances that brought us to the Toys R Us two days in a row, but I can't say that they really constituted a valid excuse.

Since I knew we were going to return the next day, I thought why not do a couple of portraits overnight so I could torture the kids on the second visit?...And that way I could be extra sleep deprived while navigating the seething masses of tourists.

I completely failed to match the green of the Hulk's LEGOs. I should have posed them in front of the animatronic dinosaur instead. 

They were much more enthusiastic about posing for this one.  If only I had known ahead of time that there would be a Predator among the bedraggled Elmos and Spider-men...

Attack on Colossal Titan by LEGO Survey Corp

"Attack on Titan" is a licensing opportunity as of yet untapped by the LEGO corporation. 

My sons were displeased to hear that this drawing was not based on a presently available product.

LEGO minifigures and their constituent parts are constantly underfoot in our house, causing me significant physical pain, no doubt akin to that which the survey corps cause to the colossal titan. At least they cannot reach the nape of my neck yet.

Archer told me this drawing would have been cooler if only I had included the clouds of exhaust coming out of the back of the "3D maneuver gear," but there are no revisions on napkins.

Zak the LEGO Minifigure

I've never been very good with perspective.  Despite being the occasionally proud recipient of a couple of degrees in visual art, I missed some basic lessons in that area. 

For this reason, I am rather uncomfortable drawing LEGO minifigures.  The fact that they are very small and made of plastic may be contributing factors also.

The makers of "The LEGO Movie" solved the problem of how to render minifigures in an appealing way by lighting them beautifully and making their surfaces more textural and idiosyncratic than they actually are.

I tried to emulate "The LEGO Movie" style here in this drawing of Ansel's latest "custom" minifigure.  (In this case, "custom" means he put it together himself from dismembered characters)
But I was too busy trying to keep my lousy perspective from making the legs pop out of line to really do too much with the light or texture.  

The Amazing Spider-Man with LEGO Spider-Man

The kids are not absolutely certain that they would like to see the latest Spider-Man movie in a theater.  They are concerned that it might not be good enough to merit their undivided attention.  (Viewing movies at home where you can recline in your underpants and demand snack service is another thing entirely) 

Of course, this exacting cinematic standard is being applied by the kids who told me as we exited the theater from the second Captain America movie that it was the best movie of all time....

But they have yet to meet a superhero franchise that they would not like to have in LEGO form. 

I am pretty sure that we do not actually own a Spider-Man LEGO minifigure.  This is a major oversight that I expect I will be hearing more about.

They used to like Spider-Man quite  a lot, but it has been a while.

Abe and George on Rockets for Presidents Day

Abraham Lincoln's "rocket chair" was  definitely one of the many high points of the LEGO Movie according to our kids.

I thought perhaps in honor of the holiday, another cliche art-historical representation of a president could benefit from a rocket powered addition.

(For the original Daniel Chester French Lincoln Memorial, the precursor  of the LEGO chair, click this link.  For  Emanuel Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" click this link.)

The kids are out of school thanks to Presidents Day, so we are enjoying our extra day at home, bickering about the doing and the not doing of homework. This napkin is for the stack of "back-up" napkins that sit on top of the microwave, ready to be rejected again some morning when the most recent napkin proves to be too disappointing to be taken to school.  

"Nut Job"s Raccoon With "Lego Movie"s Bad Cop

Liam Neeson voices the bad guys:

Today's lunch has another "Nut Job"/"Lego Movie" pair based on the voice talent and character similarity. 

It was late and I was tired from struggling with the weather and children temporarily driven insane by their hatred for snow pants, hats, gloves and all things outerwear, so I didn't really have a clear plan for what these two evil doers are up to.

Perhaps they are discussing world domination....or how best to dispose of characters voiced by Will Arnett.

"The Nut Job"s Surly with "Lego Movie"s Batman

Snarky characters voiced by Will Arnett bicker over a cashew:

We saw "The Nut Job" over the weekend, because...it was an animated movie for kids and it had a dog in it, and it was in theaters.  It certainly lived up to its promise of being an animated movie for kids with a dog in it. 

The highlight of the outing for Ansel and his friend might have been playing in the theater lobby with a revolving display for the LEGO Movie where one could swap the head, torso and legs of the minifigure characters. 

I am hoping that The LEGO Movie will be a bit more than just an animated movie for kids playing in a theater (but maybe no dogs!)...but we will have to see it no matter the quality.

And,  Surly the fairly unlikeable main character of "The Nut Job" and the latest LEGO incarnation of the Dark Knight share a sort of sarcastic, cooler-than-thou quality that made it seem necessary to me that they appear on the same napkin.

Cardboard LEGO Batman

LEGO Batman, complete with batarang, gets the Doug TenNapel magic cardboard treatment today.

My sons were very much looking forward to the release of the latest LEGO dvd: "LEGO Batman: The Movie- DC Super Heroes Unite" is the complete title I believe.  Multiple reviews explaining that it is not much more than the cut scenes from the video game did not deter them from insisting that I should buy it.

New Rocka (Hero Factory Brain Attack)

LEGO Hero Factory's new Rocka from the perhaps infelicitously named "Brain Attack" series: Ansel is so looking forward to receiving this one for his birthday that he could overlook the pink background.  I am running low on markers that are suitable for use in a background... and the pink does contrast nicely with the green accessories.

LEGO Hero Factory Rocka and Double Pincher

Mercifully, it has been a while since I've had to tangle with the drafting challenge of miscellaneous Hero Factory figures.  I don't think I rose to the challenge on this one.  

Some version of Rocka faces off against Ansel's creation: the "Double Pincher" bad guy.  I was not sure if there was a head, or even how many appendages were in play, and as a result, things are pretty unclear on the napkin.

LEGO Ben 10 Omniverse

Our sons would love to have a LEGO version of Ben 10.  

A couple moments of online research revealed that there were some Ben 10 Alien Force sets back in 2010.  There were a few aliens that looked like precursors to the Hero Factory line.

(Tragically:  "The Ben 10 theme is considered by some as the most unpopular LEGO theme of all time.  The reason for this is that people thought that the designs, parts, or price were bad." according to Brickipedia. )

At any rate, we tried to imagine a more current Omniverse version of LEGO Ben 10.  Ansel pointed out that Ben wears a short-sleeved shirt in that series, but Archer quickly chimed in that there are no short sleeves in LEGO minifigures.  Well, there are no Omnitrixes either, so my claims for verisimilitude in this particular napkin are very limited.  Perhaps it should have been more of a mash-up of the three shows?... Ansel's second question was why did I leave Gwen and Kevin off the napkin?... They don't really appear that often in the present series, I countered.  "Gwen does!" he said.  (She did appear in the episode he watched yesterday)

Below is his version of the napkin (based on a tracing) which features Gwen and Vilgax and a much more innovative reverse color scheme on Ben's shirt.

Ninjago's Kai Shakes Hands with Chima's Laval

Ninjago's Kai hands off the Wednesday night LEGO TV show timeslot to Legends of Chima's Laval: The kids are up for a new series, but I must admit that I am daunted by the idea of bonding with a new program (and the demands for new toys)

Ninjago Season Finale Kai with Fire Sword on a Shirt

He's been wearing the same shirt every day since September, so I did my best to come up with an alternative....or something new for him to wear constantly until the cuffs literally start to erode off of the sleeves. 

Both of the kids were just ridiculously excited about the Ninjago season finale and the new costumes and weapons...(Buy more LEGOs mom!!!)

His brother promptly requested that I paint a shirt for him with 5 Ninjago characters on it. 

Ninjago Kai and the Red Ranger from Power Rangers Samurai

 

Just how large are those Ninjago people?  Somehow it seemed more plausible to imagine Kai as small enough to bounce off the knee of the Red Ranger.  (Plausible used in a relative sense, of course)  A LEGO minifigure who is as tall as a human adult would be rather massive in width.  Ansel seemed happy enough to see two of his favorites together and did not question my scale choices.  

I did slip up last night, neglecting to passify the weapons.  Hope the swords will not be an issue at school today.

Ninjago Kai with New Weapon

The latest episode of Ninjago during which the 5 guys receive new outfits and weapons created an immediate and intense need in both of my sons for updated LEGO minifigures, Kai in particular.   

Lego Racer X for Ansel

Whenever possible, I try to satisfy the urge for rare and expensive lego minifigures by drawing them on a napkin.  (Good luck with that, Mom)  Ansel asked for this one, Racer X from "Speed Racer" in 2008, probably thinking that it looked like a ninja crossed with a Power Ranger.