Scroll to the bottom to see NEW pics of the subject and his doppelgangers as well as a very nice and appreciated video shout out from the main man!
Custom Secret Squirrel: You know the “Bleh, Bleh, Bleh” Guy!
Introduction – Greetings gang! In this entry I get the distinct pleasure in introducing you to two separate but equally cool things. The first is my pal Secret Squirrel. SS is the host of “Horrible Horror” on blogTV and has been for the past five years. Each week SS brings you a complete line up of fun and merriment consisting of music, fun and funny banter, lots of “bleh,bleh,bleh’s” and of course a horrible movie. Add to all of that blogTV’s platform allows you to chat directly with SS and other members of the audience in real time. 
To those who haven’t tried it out yet the best way I can describe the experience is like, it’s like being able to talk in the movie theater but no pimply-faced usher is going to try and kick you out for disruptive behavior. Or better yet, its like a movie with subtitles that actually salvage an otherwise crappy movie. Check it out for yourselves Saturday nights at 8PM Eastern / 7PM Central (the rest of you can figure out your own time zones, I’ve got an article to right)..
The second really cool thing that I am introducing to you today is the art of custom figure making known as ‘kit-bashing’. This my friends is an ancient Chinese secret that very few are tuned into. Okay that’s not really true. Kit-bash customizing is actually a fun and realitively easy way to create action figures of characters that have never been produced, using existing parts and pieces in a configuration that captures your heroes in 3 Dimensional form. And the best part is that for this particular 3D art form you don’t need stupid glasses that cost you an extra two bucks and that they expect you to give back at the end of the feature. Sorry about that. But that really does get on my nerves. Back o the fun stuff.
What it is
Now that I have introduced you to our subject I’d like to share with you some of the insider tips I used to create this custom “Secret Squirrel” 8 inch, classic Mego style action figure that may inspire you to have your own arts and crafts fun day.
First, the character that Secret Squirrel ‘is’ really lends itself easily to the custom Mego treatment. To me Horror Hosts (the name is a proper noun, show some respect) are cool on so many levels. A few of those being that 1.) They’re great entertainers, 2.) There’s not a terrible amount of money in it (if any really) so these guys and gals are doing it for the love and for the artistry and 3.) The characters created are like real life cartoon characters, super heroes, movie monsters come to life etc… It’s those reasons that make toys of the characters a natural fit.
*editors note – for more on Horror Hosts from today and days gone by check out the fantastic archive created by Corpse S. Chris at 
Three others that I would like to also recommend (I could go on but for the sake of time I’ll narrow it down to just three)… Ormon Grimsby…Dr. Gangrine and coming soon to TKO 8 Television, Chicago’s very own Svenghoulie, thanks to our new affiliation with the ME-TV Network!
Ormon Grimsby
Dr. Gangrene
Back to the custom…
The Secret Squirrel custom consists of two parts – the; packaging and the figure itself. I list the packaging first in this case because honestly my customizing skills ain’t what they used to be so the packaging is crucial to the final products effectiveness.
The packaging
Card Front
Card Back
If the old saying “imitation is the greatest form of flattery” is true than you folks at Bif Bang Pow should be blushing brighter than a red, ripe tomato. For the packaging I used Adobe Photoshop, stills captured from the Horrible Horror show and the layout is a direct copy of the one used on the later issued Venture Bros action figures. The outer shell was recycled from a EMCE Toys/ Diamond Select Star Trek action figure.
The figure
The figure is actually really simple. The base used is the Companion character from the Space 1999 series of figures released by Classic TV Toys. The only thing I really had to do was slap a little black and white paint on and “WAH LAH!” instant Secret Squi
rrel. The nose of the base figure was the real deal maker actually. It looked just similar enough to help add to the overall likeness needs.
However those who want something much more (read dead on) likeness wise, contact my pal Dawn. She can make you a Secret Squirrel so lifelike you’ll never get him to stop “bleh,bleh,blehing” all night long. Which I guess is okay if your into that sort o thing. Freaks. However if you just want to make one of these for yourself may I steer you in the direction of my pal Vinny with Toy-ko. I’ve bought just about all of the Classic TV Toys I’ve ever owned from his ebay store. And while the figures themselves are lacking in the quality department (not Vinny’s fault), Vinny’s prices are the best out there and his customer service and ship time is incredible!
I only made three of these (1 for SS, 1 for him to use as a giveaway and 1 for my own personal collection.) but more are always possible thanks to the ability to kit bash.
Now the bigger question some of you may be asking;
“Why do I care?”
The main one being that the art of kit bashing is a great way to make some really neat gifts for those you love. The creations could also be used for unique marketing promotions or simply just for fun!. And while you can customize and kit bash pretty much any toy line out there, something about the Mego style just seems to mesh better with the final products “fun factor”. So what are you waiting for? Pick a subject, gather your supplies and get to creating! You can even work on it while watching “Horrible Horror with Secret Squirrel”, Saturday nights at 8PM EST / 7 PM CST on blogTV!
Now, Go Play! – Jim 6/30/2012
“So, it’s Bleh, Bleh,”?
“No, Bleh, Bleh, BLEH”. Without the 3rd one it falls kinda flat.
June 30, 2012
Jim
