I've only known two guys named Ben. One is Mego Ben, and the other is a guy I worked with when I was working as a night manager at a Kroger grocery store. I have two things I remember about about him ( non-Mego Ben).
The first one is that he played the bassline from
take it away( the Paul McCartney song, second track on
Tug of War) on the hood of my car. I was driving a pumpkin orange 1954 Chevrolet Belair at the time ( totally restored, but it was a pain in the ass to get parts...everyone has parts for '55-'57 and this was pre-internet boom), and he used the hood as an amp. I mean he held the bass against the hood and the vibration shot through the whole car. It was really cool, and that is a great bassline.
The other thing is that we went to see a Doors cover band ( called The Back Doors). The lead singers name was Jim Hakim, and he was all slinky and Morrison-like ( but really horrible). We showed up with our ladies, and we were the ONLY FOUR PEOPLE TO SHOW UP. Okay, so Ben walks right up to the very front of the stage ( I mean like touch-Jim-Hakim-distance) and stares. Then he starts to yell out lines from the crowds featured in the Oliver Stone
Doors movie. "Hey Jim, are you high on weed?". I stole the picture off the wall of Jim Hakim.
Okay, above picture of Cap is of one of application of the final glazes of color on his head. I work in a kind of labor and reward style of painting. The head is reward! This photo is at an angle so don't think he's been in an accident ( he has the whole Karen Black eye thing in this one). My Dad would ALWAYS say, " Karen Black...strabismus!", anytime she would pop up.
In the Mego that Ben sent me ( a type 2 Captain America...See I'm a learnin', Paw!) the ear doesn't have as thick of a paint job as the face, and I had to adjust the opacity of the flesh tone to make it right.In this pic, I'm touching up the ear. I haven't layed on the mask color yet ( that shadow is awesome...), messed with the details on the costume or layed in any backround. I should have these things done by the end of the week.
Mego Ben has told me that this particular figure is one of the quirkiest ( or worst) interpretations of Captain America. I have to say that people have side-stepped the '79 Reb Brown version. You know why! It's totally cool. I also have to say that the Reb version of Cap is MY Captain America. Actually, the Mego one is mine too. I remember looking ( examining/ holding it) in the Ben Franklin's discount store the night we were going home to watch the Captain America pilot. I had a little plan the get the figure, and WE would watch it together. Never happened ( They wouldn't buy it...).
You know you got chills when he shot out of the back of that van! On a side note, if you ever see this pilot, look for the scene in which Simon ( Reb's Oscar Goldman...less tan,but effective) tells him they've injected him with the super serum. Reb's so totally perfect line is, " I guess now I'll never really know how long I have to live!".
Check back by the end of the week, and I should have this guy almost done...
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I love these. I've only chipped a tooth twice in my lifetime. Once was hanging on the roll bar of my Mom and Dad's International Scout II in the parking lot of a Big Star grocery store ( in Atlanta, GA), and I pulled up and chipped my front tooth. I was like 7 or 8 years old, The other was on one of these jawbreakers ( not these particular ones, but...). They should call them toothbreakers. Seriously, who is gonna work one of these things until their jaw actually breaks?
