webbox100
New Member
Hi everyone! I'm pretty new here and just floored (and a bit overwhelmed) by how much cool stuff everyone's sharing/crafting on the RPF.
For any kids of the 80s (or anybody who loves Johnny Five), I thought I'd share this little guy who lives in my apartment: one of the toy robot props from the Short Circuit sequel. I made a video about these props and how we repaired this one:
For those who like a back story...
I grew up watching the Short Circuit films way too much. We didn't even have legit copies of the movies (remember how VHS copy protection made the colours all weird?) and I still wore out the VHS tapes. There was something about this robot and his performance that just grabbed me. And seeing little toy versions of him rolling around made me crazy for one.
Year after year at Christmas, I would ask Santa for a Number Five toy, thinking elves in his workshop would make one just like in the film. Kid brains think anything is possible, right? As I got older, I used any excuse to make one myself. Tons of Lego versions that I kept refining. For my fourth grade 'structures' unit, where all my classmates were making models of the CN Tower or a famous bridge...I made a toy-sized wooden Number Five. Yeah, I was obsessed.
Fast-forward to adulthood, when I understood these were cheesy 80s movies but still had a soft spot for them. One day, work sent me to a film set for a commercial shoot. Here's where my years of obsessing over these films 'paid off': I recognized one of the crew members there from behind-the-scenes photos of "Short Circuit 2". Yeah, I know. It's almost sad how obsessive I was. Anyway, we became friends, and one day I told him about how kid-me was obsessed with those Number Five toys, and he said...
"Oh yeah, I have one."
...
"WHAT?!"
So of course I asked if he'd bring it to our next hang-out so I could see it. And given that it was well over 30 years old, it was in pretty good condition. Some bits were broken, some parts of its head were missing, but here it was. That toy I'd been dreaming about my entire childhood. And of course, it's really not a toy. It's a crazy-fragile prop that would've been pretty crazy-fragile while they were filming in 1987. Seeing the effect this thing is having on me, he offered to let me hang onto it for a while (I rode the subway home with this thing in a file folder box, which was pretty nerve-wracking).
When my friend asked if I'd repair the broken/missing bits, I of course agreed to — by this time, my wife and I were doing a lot of film prop and puppet building. With the help of the Johnny Five builder's group called Input-Inc., I repaired the prop's missing/broken bits (a combination of 3D printing and some moulding and casting) and painted the new bits to match. And when the thing was more or less looking as it did in the movie, I stared at it. And stared at it.
And then, of course, I asked my friend, "Hey, how badly do you want this thing back?" And he, being the wonderful human that he is, offered to sell it to me. And now Number Five hangs out in our apartment, looking for more input.
I guess I never got over my obsession.
For any kids of the 80s (or anybody who loves Johnny Five), I thought I'd share this little guy who lives in my apartment: one of the toy robot props from the Short Circuit sequel. I made a video about these props and how we repaired this one:
For those who like a back story...
I grew up watching the Short Circuit films way too much. We didn't even have legit copies of the movies (remember how VHS copy protection made the colours all weird?) and I still wore out the VHS tapes. There was something about this robot and his performance that just grabbed me. And seeing little toy versions of him rolling around made me crazy for one.
Year after year at Christmas, I would ask Santa for a Number Five toy, thinking elves in his workshop would make one just like in the film. Kid brains think anything is possible, right? As I got older, I used any excuse to make one myself. Tons of Lego versions that I kept refining. For my fourth grade 'structures' unit, where all my classmates were making models of the CN Tower or a famous bridge...I made a toy-sized wooden Number Five. Yeah, I was obsessed.
Fast-forward to adulthood, when I understood these were cheesy 80s movies but still had a soft spot for them. One day, work sent me to a film set for a commercial shoot. Here's where my years of obsessing over these films 'paid off': I recognized one of the crew members there from behind-the-scenes photos of "Short Circuit 2". Yeah, I know. It's almost sad how obsessive I was. Anyway, we became friends, and one day I told him about how kid-me was obsessed with those Number Five toys, and he said...
"Oh yeah, I have one."
...
"WHAT?!"
So of course I asked if he'd bring it to our next hang-out so I could see it. And given that it was well over 30 years old, it was in pretty good condition. Some bits were broken, some parts of its head were missing, but here it was. That toy I'd been dreaming about my entire childhood. And of course, it's really not a toy. It's a crazy-fragile prop that would've been pretty crazy-fragile while they were filming in 1987. Seeing the effect this thing is having on me, he offered to let me hang onto it for a while (I rode the subway home with this thing in a file folder box, which was pretty nerve-wracking).
When my friend asked if I'd repair the broken/missing bits, I of course agreed to — by this time, my wife and I were doing a lot of film prop and puppet building. With the help of the Johnny Five builder's group called Input-Inc., I repaired the prop's missing/broken bits (a combination of 3D printing and some moulding and casting) and painted the new bits to match. And when the thing was more or less looking as it did in the movie, I stared at it. And stared at it.
And then, of course, I asked my friend, "Hey, how badly do you want this thing back?" And he, being the wonderful human that he is, offered to sell it to me. And now Number Five hangs out in our apartment, looking for more input.
I guess I never got over my obsession.