It's Batmonth! Nothing but Batman related customs! Villains! Heroes! Dead parents lying facedown in an alley! Anything's possible in Batmonth!

The first custom for Batmonth was inspired by the only good piece in the Silence of the Lambs Minimate set - the straightjacket. And if there's a comic book character that's going to wear a straightjacket, it's going to be the most insane villain with green hair ever. And so I present Asylum Joker - all the crazy of a regular Joker, but with 50% less mobility. Please enjoy.

Guess who actually had time to work on new Minimate customs this weekend?

Behold! Feast your eyes on the 2" glory of my Minimate collection:

Huh. Kinda missing the glory at that size. Maybe if I present my collection in a bunch of close-up photos?:

Top Shelf, First Rack - the Spider-Man section, with Spidey on the front row and his villains on the second. The third row is a mix of his villains, allies, and Luke Cage and Iron Fist who are there because I don't have a better spot for them.

Top Shelf, Second Rack - On the front tier, it's the Avengers (most of them). On the second row, it's Captain America and his friends and foes (and a few more Avengers). And the third row is the Fantastic Four and their enemies, with plenty of room for the upcoming TRU Fantastic Four Minimates (gotta plan for the future).

Top Shelf, Third Rack - Up front, it's the many armors of Iron Man (with room left for more). On the second row, it's all things Hulk or purple pants related (and a few more Avengers). And the third row is the gritty, macho urban characters like Ghost Rider, Daredevil and Brother Voodoo.

Second Shelf, First Rack - This one is full of Marvel characters that have no better place to go. The front tier has the Champions, Invaders, Defenders and some leftover Avengers. Second row is all Marvel villains. Third row is assorted characters and the Marvel Zombies.

Second Shelf, Second Rack - We move into the DC Minimates, with the front row made up of assorted characters like the Doom Patrol and my various Starman customs. The second row is made up of Justice League characters. And the third row is made up of Justice Society & related characters.

Second Shelf, Third Rack - More DC. The front row is all Superman and SuperFriends. The second row is Batman villains (with room for more), and the third row is for the many looks of Batman and his friends.

Third Shelf, First Rack - Still more DC. The front row is full of assorted villains The second row is for Green Lanterns (with room for more). And the third row is for characters that didn't fit in anywhere else, like Sgt. Rock and Ambush Bug. Off to the left is my Suicide Squad customs and my army of OMACs.

Third Shelf, Second Rack - it's the Mighty Marvel Movie Minimates! X-Men & Spider-Man are up front, Iron Man is in the middle, and in the back are more Iron Man characters with Punisher, Hulk and Wolverine. You may notice that I didn't put any blocks on the top rack for the Minimates to stand on because I forgot and didn't even notice until I took this picture. Oh well.

Third Shelf, Third Rack - It's the Ghostbusters, taking up the first and second rows of this spice rack. In the back on the third row is my Star Trek Minimates. I admit, this rack is way too crowded, but until I can find another place to display my Star Trek Minimates, the Ghostbusters are just going to have to stand pretty close together.

Fourth Shelf, First Rack - We're back to Marvel characters, who should be grouped with the other Marvel characters two shelves up, but I would have to move my DC Minimates and I wasn't going to do that but now my display doesn't make any sense and I'm thinking about this way too much. Anyway, the front row is devoted to army builder and related characters like M.O.D.O.K. Second row is Ultimate characters, Dark Avengers and Thunderbolts, and third row is the Cosmic section with space-related characters. Oh, and my Watcher custom is off to the side because I ran out of room on my cosmic shelf before I could add him.

Fourth Row, Second Rack - it's mostly mutants! Front row are some mutant-related army builders, plus the X-Statix and Excalibur. Second row is X-Men villains, and room for the upcoming X-Men box sets (always gotta be thinking ahead). And third row right now has my non-comic related customs, and the Steel Spider, whose mechanical arms make him too big to fit anywhere else right now.

And finally, Fourth Row, Third Rack - All X-Men, starting with the early X-Men in the front row working towards the 80's and 90's X-Men on the second row. In the third row are the modern X-Men, X-Factor, and every Wolverine Minimate ever made. I admit, I wouldn't have a space problem if I didn't insist on displaying every Minimate, but I can't help it - I bought Patch and Civilian Logan, and I'm gonna display him, no matter how ridiculous 20-some Wolverines look together.

Ah, August. As you finish, so does the summer, and so does my hectic summer schedule. Summer has been very brutal on my free time, and things are beginning to slow down, letting me catch up on my Minimate customs, and yes, even update my site. I apologize for the recent lack of content (assuming anyone still visits).

Hopefully, I'm going to have more free time in the future to make and post more customs. But for now, all you're going to get is this:

The Minimates above are standing on 1" square blocks I made from cardstock, then decorated them with squares cut from comic books. I made them years ago when my Minimate collection was small, and I had the free time to make 1" square stands for them to stand on. I really liked how they turned out, so I made of bunch of them. As my collection grew and I started using spice racks to display my Minimates, I used the blocks to create a riser on the very top row, so the Minimates in the back could be seen.

This year, my collection has grown and I had to add more spice racks to my collection. But I ran out of my 1" blocks, and I don't have that kind of time to make dozens of new ones. So I compromised.

Instead of making dozens of blocks, I made eight 7" long risers instead. I get the same effect and can still decorate them with comic book art, but had them done in an afternoon, not weeks.

Here's a shot of my new risers in action. They worked out great, and were exactly what I needed to finish setting up my Minimate display. Which I'm going to show pictures of this week - stay tuned.

Since Minimate production is kinda slow right now, I've been taking the opportunity to reorganize my Minimate display. I'm not done yet - you can tell because you can still see some blank space on some of the shelves.

Teaser Photo #1 for Top Secret Custom Con Project.

This is an old picture I took back when I was making my Tom Servo Minimate. I never posted it at the time because I didn't want to ruin the surprise of my MST3K Minimates, but knew someday I'd post to to share the horror of Servo with a face on his belly.

The final round of Charitymates auctions is now live, including some great robot Minimates along with my other two robot contributions. Go check them out, but hurry - these are only three-day auctions. Unless you're reading this and the auction is already over, in which case you really missed out on some great customs.

Hey, let's take a look at what's happening on my workbench right now:

That's right - nothing. Between summer activities, extra work and assorted other things, the workbench is kinda vacant right now. I am finishing a few customs, but they're for the next Custom Con and I don't want to ruin the surprise. So you'll just have to wait a little bit until I have new customs to show, and in the meantime I'll see what content I can put together.

Yep, I've run out of immortal characters to present. Oh sure, there are a few more I could do, like the Immortal Man, or Morgaine Le Fay, but those will have to wait for another time. Another time when I'm once again contemplating my own mortality and turn to the pages of a comic book to find the answers.

But in the meantime, here's the last immortal character I have ready to go - longtime Batman foe Ra's Al Ghul. I've also done a second Ra's al Ghul - Desert Duel Ra's al Ghul - to commemorate the classic duel he had with Batman. And what good is Ra's al Ghul without his loyal bodyguard Ubu? Go check them all out.

What's next? I have no idea. Come back later and be just as surprised as I am.

Hey, remember those robot customs I made for Charitymates this year? Well, the auctions have started and the first of my three customs (Fe@ther - the bird-bot on the right) is up for grabs. You can check out the auctions here, but hurry - this round of auctions is over on Friday.

He's an immortal from the fall of Camelot, created by Jack Kirby and black magic! He's a southern lawyer who's constantly getting killed but lives again! Together, they're cops! And tonight, they'll bring Mendoza to justice - once and for all.

Well, not really.

But this week we're looking at two different immortals from the DC Universe. The first is Jason Blood, the human host for the Demon. Whenever they appear, the Demon usually gets top billing, which isn't really fair because Jason can be a fascinating character as well. So today, he gets his due as a Minimate.

The second custom is the Resurrection Man, an average man turned reluctant super hero because of the microscopic machines injected into his body. These tiny little bots rebuild him every time he dies - each time with a different super-power. The Resurrection Man starred in his own offbeat comic in that 1990's, and didn't last long in that turbulent market. But today, he also gets his due as a custom Minimate.

Check them out, and come back next week to see who else gets their Minimate glory.

It's not just bad guys who live forever in the DC Universe - there are a few immortal good guys as well. Like our custom choice for this week - the Phantom Stranger. He is a true mystery - his origin, age, even his real name are all unknown. What is known is that in times of trouble the Stranger will fight for good while rocking a fedora and medallion fashion combo. Go check him out, and come back next week to see what immortals I dig up to present.

Usually when I have a custom theme month, I give it a catchy title so I don't have to keep explaining what I'm doing. I have totally failed to do that this time, so you're stuck with me explaining that I'm still making customs of the immortal characters from the DC Universe. If you've got any suggestions on how to make "Immortal Characters of the DC Universe" a catchy title, feel free to send them to me. I'll give you credit if I use them.

This week our featured long-lived character is a scoundrel called General Immortus, long-time foe of the Doom Patrol. He's really, really old, wants to conquer the world with his private army and dresses kinda like Cap'n Crunch. Go check him out, and be sure to check back next week for another immortal from the DC Universe.

There's a lot of things you can do in comics that you can't do in real life - let bullets bounce off your chest, pick a minivan up over your head, or live forever. Many immortal characters have appeared in comics, so for the next month or so, let's see how some of those immortals from DC Comics look in Minimate form.

Why DC Comics? Because if I threw the immortal Marvel characters in with this, I'd be doing this all summer. Also DC Comics has quite a few big-name immortal characters, as well as some smaller ones. And Reason #83 of my list of "Why I'm Still Angry They Stopped Making DC Minimates" is they stopped before they got to any immortal characters.

Let's start our look at the long-lived with the classic villain Vandal Savage. He's a caveman who became immortal thanks to a meteorite and wants to conquer the world. Vandal is proof of the little-known fact that cavemen were very industrious people with big goals. Go check him out, and come back next week for another immortal from the DC Universe.

Painting has started on the latest batch of customs. This group is wearing a lot of black.

I spent the last week or so trying to figure out what to do now that my Charitymates robots are done. Thankfully I have these four sitting in "The In-Progress Box", waiting to be primered and painted.

It's late, but I want to get this posted while I'm thinking about it. I'm happy to present the third and final robot custom for Charitymates this year, my humanoid bird robot that I call Fe@ther. He's all robot-y and bird-like and I think he turned out really well. But you should go judge for yourself because I'm pretty biased.

And now to get all the robot customs in the mail for the auction, followed by a break from making robot customs. For a while.

Painting on the humanoid bird robot has begun. I have no idea how this one is going to turn out.

The green paint is dry, the sealant has been applied, and there's nothing left to do but the introduction. And so, I present my second robot Minimate custom for Charitymates - Art.U.238. He's got a big cannon sticking out of his chest. You should go check him out.

Two down, and one to go. Check back to see how my final robot - the bird robot - turns out.

Barrel-chested robot update - still being painted in nifty shades of green. With any luck, he should be finished this weekend.

Painting on my barrel-chested robot has begun. I need to hurry up and get him finished if I'm going to get my bird robot done in time for the auctions (starting June 1st! Mark your calendars!).

After several weeks of work and a trip to the store to by gloss sealant, I'm proud to announce that my first robot Minimate custom for this year's Charitymates auction is done. His name is Otto Tobor, and he was a star of black & white movie serials like "Robot on the Range", "Robot From Planet X" and "Jungle Robot!". So go check him out.

And coming soon - my second robot for Charitymates (the one with the big cannon in his chest).

Painting on the 1930's movie robot proceeds quickly. At this rate, he should be finished and ready for final pictures this weekend assuming I can find some gloss sealant. And a name for him, too.

Quick shot from this weekend when the robots all went for a gentle shower of primer, to be followed with the gentle caress of brushes applying new paint.

The robots are just hanging out on the workbench, trying to be all cool and impress the guy in the cape...

Remember the sketch of the bird-robot that I posted earlier this week? Well, I didn't forget about it.

Same barrel-chested robot that you saw yesterday - but now with a hat!

I'm not sure where this work-in-progress came from. Too much time thinking about what's in my Parts Box, I guess.

Yeah, it's been a while since I posted something new to the site. But I was on vacation last week, and before that I was trying to arrange things so I could go on that vacation. But now I'm back, tan and rested, and ready to give you the update that you should have seen on April 9th:

This is another rough design I made one day. Even though I'm close to having my Charitymates robot done, I've still got robots on the brain. They're fun to make with extra parts, and since I've got some time before customs are due for the auction, I find myself still making robots. So check back a lot this week as I provide a bunch of updates as I go robot-crazy.

Here he is in all his 2-inch glory - my custom Minimate robot. Now complete with rivets, face details and "duck" feet to give him extra height. Now I just need to attach his hands and he's ready for primer and painting.

Remember the "robot test" Minimate from the photo on Tuesday? Here he is again with a coat of primer and sliver paint. My Elmer glue dots are now looking a lot more like rivets in the metal skin of a robot. Next up - adding rivets to the real robot Minimate.

Sometimes customizing is just a matter of having parts and not knowing what to do with them. I've had Playboy Tony Stark sitting in my Parts Box for a while, just mocking me with his sculpted open shirt and jacket combo. What was I supposed to do with such a unique piece - make Playboy Bruce Wayne? John Travolta from Saturday Night Fever?

The answer came to me when I was reading an "Avengers: Initiative" trade paperback - Trauma, the emo teen with mystic shapeshifting powers! Sure he's obscure, but I like him well enough to justify making a custom of him. And most importantly, he uses my spare Playboy Tony Stark parts. So go check out Trauma as I try to figure out what to do with the 30 or so Wolverine hair pieces in my Parts Box.

Shot of the unfortunate Minimate torso being used as my "robot test" Minimate. If you look close, you can see rows of dots made with Elmer's glue on his transparent plastic surface. It looks goofy now, but with a coat of paint, it should produce what I hope will be a cool detail for my robot.

An actual Minimate custom will be posted tomorrow night.

I don't work on Minimate robots all the time. This is a quick shot of my workbench, current home to a couple new customs getting painted. Don't worry - I'm sure I'll have more robot updates soon.

Started construction on my robot for the Charitymates auction this weekend. I decided to go with the 1930's movie robot design, so here's a shot of my work on creating a round tube body for a Minimate. I'm using the plastic cover from Minimate 2-packs as my construction material, cutting pieces to size and gluing it together in the back. With a few more attempts, I think I'll have something that I'm happy with.

Yet another page of designs for my Charitymates robot Minimate. The name "DeathBot" popped into my head, so I began thinking about what a robotic version of Death would look like. Judging from my sketches, it would look like a cross between the Grim Reaper and Skeletor. Going to have to stark actually building something soon.

Some of the earliest Minimate customs I made were AIM soldiers because I love the concept - wacky scientists trying to conquer the world in yellow beekeeper outfits. So I was really happy when Diamond released official AIM solider Minimates, and bought a bunch of them. They're great - except for their accessories. To me, AIM soldiers are the guys who would rather use freeze guns instead of machine guns, and would give up freeze guns to get a lightsaber. So what did the AIM soldier come with? A hand gun and a small gatling gun. How boring.

So with a little bit of customizing, I've put together the AIM Heavy Assault soldier, with the kind of weapons that I think an AIM soldier should have. Go check him out before he blows up your house with a heat ray.

Another page of designs for my Charitymates robot Minimate. This time I was thinking about old-school robots like in wind-up toys and 1930's movies, where the robots all looked like water heaters and moved painfully slow like there was a man inside them trying to keep their balance.

The Charitymates event will be held again this year, taking Minimate customs and putting them on eBay to raise money for charity. This year the theme for the customs is robots.

Above is a page of designs for a robot idea I had - a Japanese-style robot like Mazinger Z or Jet Jaguar. He'd be a humanoid robot with aquatic characteristics named something like "Atomic Mariner G" or "HydroRobo". Like the sketches - not sure it's what I want to make, though.

Want to know more about Charitymates and where this year's donations are going? Then check out the all-new Charitymates web site.

Quick shot of my workbench, now covered with assorted parts and bodies with a fresh coat of primer.

Somebody got a new cape to go with their hat and suit this weekend. Which makes me wonder - when were capes in fashion for men to wear?

Let's wrap up our celebration of Flash villains with another villain custom. This week we look at one of the newer Flash foes - he's not classic, but he's just as goofy as the Rainbow Raider or the Golden Glider.

This week I present Tar Pit, the villain who's made of burning asphalt. He's useful for bank robberies, slowing down the Flash, and making street repairs. Go check him out, and thanks for visiting during the Fiendish Foes of the Flash Month (Which Was Really Five Weeks).