It's a Tropical Island, Get Some Damned Sun!

One of the problems I've had with the BifBangPow Lost figures is the very light skin tone they chose to use. It seems to be a trend across the board with these ReMegos that they are all several shades lighter than their 70s forebearers, but the BBP figures are especially light. I asked about this in our Mego Museum interview with Jason Lenzi and he said it wasn't a conscious choice to make them lighter than old school Megos, this is what they went with. I think for some of the figures its fine. Ben Linus was always a pasty little creep, but John Locke was a fairly well tanned outdoorsman. The BBP head is very pale and a lot of the great facial detail doesn't show up at all. So this week I finally took some time to experiment with fixing it.

Introducing John Locke: Tanned and Ready for Action!

Review: BifBangPow! John Locke (The Beach)

John Locke comes in a 2-pack with Hurley, and is in stock now atEntertainment Earth.

John Locke (The Beach) comes on a card featuring posterized art of survivors on the beach with some plane wreckage in the foreground. He's dressed in a brown t-shirt with a velcro closure in the back. The shirt comes tucked in, but is fairly long and can be untucked easily. His tan cargo pants are really good, with pocket flaps, but no actual outer pockets. It has belt loops and the belt is thin leather-textured vinyl with a removable knife scabbard sewn from the same material.

The knife is the same knife BBP made for the Brock Sampson figure for Venture Brothers. It seems like the original prototype pictures showed a different knife, one that was more detailed, but this is an acceptable knife to me. I will offer suggestions for other knives on the market if you are so inclined. The shoes appear to be grey versions of the standard Mego dress shoe as reproduced by EMCE toys, the toy maker contracted with BBP to make these figures.

The head turned out so great. The prototype was attacked because it looked too large (as is standard practice because the heads shrink when cast in vinyl). No one wants a pumpkin headed Locke. This is in perfect proportion. I think it's a remarkable head sculpt. It's simplified in detail as befits a figure of this scale and style, yet it retains a lot of the spirit of the character. From certain angles it really communicates the warmth and personality of John Locke. My only quibble is the decision to go without the eye scar.

I think this will the real crowd pleaser, he's a favorite character for a lot of people and the figure is worthy of John Locke.

I've been looking forward to making several variations of this figure as I detailed in another post. It's not a figure that needs to be redressed, but it's neat to see it in other outfits as seen below. Megos are versatile and fun, and it's awesome they are making them for Lost.

Kitbash #3, 4, and 5: John Locke

I'm a Locke guy, all the way. He made a lot of mistakes and there was some disappointment in the character's story and the way he ended up, but he's still one of my favorite characters in fiction. I've been eager to expand on the BifBangPow! figure as soon as I can get my hands on it.

These Locke kitbashes take a little bit more work than Ben Linus, but it's still not bad. The toughest part is the knife case, I will save that project for another day in it's own post. After that, it's the white button down short sleeved shirt that takes a bit of work. Here's my recipe for "Walkabout" Locke.

1 Playing Mantis WWII Ranger Vest: I thought I was going to cry when I found this thing. It's so perfect for Locke's Walkabout hunting vest. I plan to add a knife and compass to it. of course.

2-3 ClassicTvToys "Richie" shirts. $2.00 each. Why 2-3 shirts? Because this shirt comes sleeveless and you'll have to add sleeves using the same fabric.

I made mine with one extra shirt, cutting the back panel in half to make two strips of cloth, one is pre-hemmed, the other I had to hem myself. Then I sewed them into tubes and attached to the shirt. I'm a bit of a hack, but I managed pretty well.

If enough people ask I can just get a bunch made by a professional. Email me if you'd like to be on the list to have one made.

This shirt isn't a perfect match for the Walkabout costume, but getting any kind of decent pattern in this scale is pretty hard. These stripes are in the same general color scheme and weight, and I think it's just about as good as can be.

1 pair CTVT Tan Khaki Pants: CTVT sells a pair of khakis that have beltloops-this was my first choice but they were too tight to fit on the EMCE?BifBangPow body. This pair of pants is less detailed, but does the trick. $2.00.

1 CTVT white sleeveless shirt: $2.00. CTVT also sells a white t-shirt, but you'd want to get rid of the sleeves. For mine I actually cut up a white super hero jumpsuit I had lying around. It's got a very thin seam on the neckline, but that's a little pricier option.

Brown Shoes: The shoes on mine are standard Mego brown dress shoes. CTVT sells them as does Dr. Mego.

Socks are optional. You can't get those shoes on over socks very easily, but I wanted to be able to have him posed without shoes, like he just stood up after the crash. I took a black superhero female bodysuit from Dr. Mego and cut the feet off to make socks ($7.00, those are expensive socks). CTVT does make white socks for $2.00, you could dye them if you like.

The Wheelchair is a Jakks Pacific WWE wrestling accessory (see previous post). You can find them all the time on eBay in wrestling parts lots. CTVT's wrestling Super STore doesn't carry them yet, but they tell me they are working on it!

Lastly, the Corpse of Jeremy Bentham: The pictures above are photoshop comps using the BBP official picture, so we;ll have to see how this works in real life, but my plan is to remove the paint on Locke's eyes and paint them to look closed. Then put him in a Doc Mego black business suit and start working on a coffin.

Don't tell me what I can't do!

Wrestling With Props....Don't Tell Me What I Can't DO!

Here we have Dharma Dave trying out the latest arrival in the supply drop for the Mego Station.





I found a thread at the Mego Museum that mentioned a Jakks Pacific Wrestling figure that for some reason has a wheelchair. Wrestling figures are great because they are pretty much in the same scale as Megos and have a number of interesting props. They are the single greatest source for all Mego scale folding chairs, for instance.

I don't have to tell you how fast I hunted one of these down. I got it loose on eBay for $20. It's a pretty much perfect fit. I can't wait to get the John Locke from BifBangPow! and outfit him in some sensible traveling clothes. He's got a plane to catch.....