DMO Customs - DMO's Droids

With the closure of Trampt.com, I no longer have an easily accessible way to

view my Android mini customs. I've been searching through my current files

picking out a picture or two here and there, but it's a slow process for content

from over 16 years ago, not to mention 2 or 3 computers ago. I'm also

relying on info from the file's properties for year of release.

As long as I'm digging up photos I thought I might add some narrative

about the customs. From idea or inspiration to completed project for instance.

Since Halloween is coming up, I thought that would be a fun place to begin.

"BATTY" 2014

This was probably my first Halloween custom. Fairly simple idea, or it

started out that way. A witch with a Jack o'Lantern and a broom. Then I

thought adding some bats would be fun. Then, how 'bout making the bats

fly around. So, a hollow broom stick and a small electric motor later and

we're almost done. Added a light inside the pumpkin. This was before the

days of 3D printing so everything except the android figure was made with

Sculpey polymer clay. I use Tamiya acrylic paints. The "Autumn" droid is

from 2015 and the Scarecrow is 2019.

This was a prototype Jack o'lantern with a led inside. I really liked the way it turned out. I didn't want a switch to show. I wired it so that when the feet made contact with any conductive surface the light came on. The flickering of the light added a nice look. I knew there was little chance of shipping any of these without the Sculpey arms breaking, so the result can be seen in the next photo.

I made more than a dozen of these and included a DMO Customs card with a brass pumpkin attached for lighting the led. The original was made in 2017 with the less fragile pieces coming out in 2018. The Ouija Droid was produced in 2018.

Next up is my absolute favorite Halloween custom. It's pretty simple as customs go. I used an orange Android for the base, then hand painted the haunted house scene. Each one, while similar, was a one of a kind. I believe I made close to 30 of these. I know I used almost 2 boxes with each box containing 16 figures. The Halloween androids that Dead Zebra had issued at the time were all made with orange, and black & white colors. Later figures were more colorful. I stuck with the 3 color combination secretly hoping Andrew Bell would notice and ask to borrow the idea for a production run. Don't know the release date. As a side note, I included the little black cat shown in the photos. This was found on bottles of a Black Cat wine I enjoyed at the time. I knew I'd find a use for them some day. My original had the cat affixed to the top of the head of the android, but I couldn't come up with a good way to do that. So instead the cat was included as a separate piece and I ended up painting a spiderweb on the head. A little more work for me, but the result looked great. Sadly, I don't have a picture of the finished figure.

Over the course of my customizing I've produced several versions of Frankenstein's monster. The first example is a commissioned request. I wasn't able to pin down a year of release. Sculpey clay was used for the wardrobe & some parts of the awesome electrical thingamajig. Invisible man from 2014 and a fun use of a clear Android head.

Now let's jump to 2021 my most recent version. By turning the bat on his head 4 different images come into view. The Headless Horseman was a companion piece. 3D printing provided coats, cloaks, the bat and the inside parts for the image changes.

Next characters who, while not "monsters", (those guys are coming up next), do have the Halloween spirit.

Svengoolie, for those who don't know him, is a sci fi/horror show host. For whatever reason rubber chickens seem to have it in for him. When I stumbled across the miniature rubber chickens, I had to Androidize him. 2020

Beetlejuice! Sculpey hair. Need I say more? At some point in time I made him with faux fur hair, colored appropriately of course. This one is from 2014.

And now, the Monster category... emphasis on GORY!

A grizzley group with Leather face,

Freddy, Jason & Michael. 2019

I stumbled upon the Android Mini Collectibles of Andrew Bell sometime in 2010. They'd been around since 2008.

As usual for me, I was late to the party. After obtaining the series one set I was, like many of you reading this, hooked.

Couldn't wait for the next edition. The variety of characters and designs was like water to a thirsty man. And don't

get me started on those "chase" figures. I had to have every one. As time went on I began noticing mentions of

"custom" figures. Artists were painting over the standard green figures and adding their own creative touches to

create brand new designs and characters. Here was a way to get characters that weren't already available. At the

time I never considered myself an artist, but since I only intended to make these for myself I thought I'd give it a try.

I could not bring myself to paint over any production androids, so my first customs were Sculpey clay augmented. Sherlock 2013.

Droidini was next. Kind of finding my way with the Sculpey. I did like being able to add detail to the straight jacket. Straps and locks.

2013

As time passed I got better with Sculpey, but it had it's limitations. Luckily about this time Andrew Bell

released blank android figures. The perfect platform to fire up my creativity. This was around 2013.

I was involved in steampunk creations and decided to apply the genre to the little guys. I have to say

I made a huge number of these. Enjoyed making every one, but sad to see them go to new homes.

The Steampunk droids came in many colors, and no two were alike. Many had LEDs that glowed with the flip of a switch. While I liked them all my favorite was the one I used on my business card. You can see Copperbot in the center. Certainly an inspiration. I later began to hear about another artist who was also steampunking various figure platforms, Doktor A. He was in England and doing amazing original and customized creations.

I hope you enjoyed the Steampunk droids. Especially the Steampunk Santa,

because Christmas characters are coming up next!

The Christmas holiday provided a plethora of subjects just begging for the Android mini treatment. So, I obliged.

Traditional, modern, some from literature, some from movies, but all celebrating the season.

Winter Android from 2015.

Blue ugly Christmas sweater -2018 Snow Angel - 2017 Red ugly Christmas sweater 2018

Christmas Carolers with light up Street Lamp. 2018

I had to remove, move and reattach their arms to accommodate the props.

The mega "You Are Here" droid led to minis at the request of a collector. The mega was paint only.

The minis had sculpted maps. I included a warning tag so no one would get lost.

This mega, along with the mini versions he inspired, will serve as a bridge to our next chapter. Assorted Android Minis.

I'll take a moment here to reflect on my journey in the process of making my Android creations. As I mentioned earlier

in passing, I hadn't considered my work as "artistic". I did however fully embrace the title of "Toy Customizer".

In preparing the site, as I waded through the upcoming flood of eclectic characters we'll be viewing, my resistance

to the "Artist" label suddenly seemed unnecessary. So, Artist, Toy Customizer, whichever you might gravitate toward,

I've enjoyed making these customs over the years and who knows, perhaps there are more to come? Several ideas

came to mind as I sorted photos.

In any case, I want to give a huge thank you to the Android Collectibles Community. DMO