INTERVIEW WEEK DAY 1
A few weeks ago I was forwarded a link from a fellow collector that blew my mind. I’m sure many of you have seen it as well, as it really started making the rounds even ending up on Fark.com and Digg.com. The link showed what looked to be a super-human feat of creating a custom playset. But not just any playset – the Muppet’s Theater. On the off chance you have not seen this 8th wonder of the world, go here, be amazed and then come back and finish reading this.
OK, are you back now?
I’ve always said that while I love Super Hero action figures, one of my favorite toy lines of all time was Palisades’ Muppets line. The figures were all on model, they were in a relative scale (some things were cheated to add value) and they had a ton of cool, fun, well thought out accessories. It’s still in my top 3 lines-to-beat for shear awesomeness. Of course with any mass retail line there are some things that a company just can’t produce or make at an affordable price point.
Enter customizer Lance Cardinal. Lance is the perfect storm of design, theatrical background and love of the Muppets. And the result of that trifecta is one amazing custom playset. It would be one thing if it was just a cool custom facade, but Lance went a dozen steps farther and included things like working curtains and fly system, working footlights, a trap door, AND made it in scale with the other Palisades Muppet’s playsets, so that they can sit inside it like "sets." He also built it to be compatible and connectable to the Palisades’ Muppets’ backstage playset. There is so much TLC in this playset, no detail was omitted. I’ve never seen it equal, and neither has the former staff at Palisades or at the Henson studios. Both of which have now seen the playset and commented on it at Lance’s blog.
We thought it would be fun to reach out to Lance and find out what it took to make this custom marvel and what’s up his sleeve next. Lance was also kind enough to let us show you some of his work in progress shots of the making of the custom Muppet’s Theater playset.
Let’s take a peek inside the mind of Lance Cardinal and find out where all of that talent and creativity came from, and how he is using his powers for good:
(Click on the title to read the full interview.)
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