| CASEY
JONES
PROJECT# 487 "If I don't get to smash something soon, I'm gonna go nuts!" Preamble: Casey Jones is one of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles characters from Mirage Comics who was, eventually, given a cartoon counterpart (at the request of Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird) and introduced during the third season of the cartoon series. Where the comic book Casey was a staunch friend to the Turtles, easily as important to them as April O'Neil, the cartoon version was more like a guest star who occasionally dropped in to remind kids that he had an action figure on the market. The cartoon version was also significantly toned down; Fred Wolf once said that they deliberately made him a "klutz" to distinguish him from the violent, comic book version of the character.1 The Casey Jones of the cartoon series was more delusional than anything else, like Dirty Harry in a straitjacket— complete with voice actor Pat Fraley portraying him with a pretty decent Clint Eastwood voice characterization. The action figure by Playmates Toys wasn't an altogether bad representation of Casey Jones, especially considering how far off the mark they were when it came to certain other toys (Baxter Stockman, Usagi Yojimbo, etc.) There were a handful of color differences between the toy and his cartoon portrayal, though (I simply do not understand why they felt the need to give him fluorescent green shoes and electric blue highlights in his hair), as well as some minor stylistic choices I disagree with (did they really need to sculpt him with armpit hair, seriously?). Casey Jones wasn't on the top of my list of toys that needed to be redone, but this year marks the 25th anniversary of the original TMNT cartoon series, and the writers did frequently revisit the character (he appeared in five episodes, which was about four more episodes than most characters-introduced-to-sell-a-toy tended to get) so I figured he deserved a more accurate figure in his likeness. Construction: I think Casey Jones was sculpted by the same person who designed the original Shredder toy; they both have the same oddly-shaped musculature and almost emasculated proportions. I didn't do a lot to the toy as far as physical modifications, though I did add a glove to his right hand, get rid of the hood on his sweatshirt, modify the way the strap to his golf bag attaches, and do some minor tweaks to his hockey mask. His outfit was sculpted to be ripped open (he's so muscular that no normal clothing can contain him, one supposes) but the differentation between his clothing and his body was rather vague (which may account for why it was painted so poorly) so I carved away at the seams to try to add a more three-dimensional aspect to the toy's design. And, yeah, I got rid of his armpit hair, too. Casey Jones originally came with a couple of broken baseball bats and a golf club, but Casey uses other sporting equipment (read: weapons) like a hockey stick, so I built one of those as well. (I also replaced the baseball bat because the one that came with the toy was sculpted to look like it had been broken apart, and I wanted him to have an intact one.) This wasn't a particularly elaborate project; his color scheme was what I really focused on. In painting the toy, I went with a color scheme inspired by his animated appearance, which includes more realistic colors for his sporting equipment (all his original accessories, including his golf bag, were cast in unpainted green plastic). Comments: I think that, generally, I'm less fond of the "normal" human characters than I am of the various robots, aliens, and mutant animals in this show, which might account for why it took me so long to getting around to doing this project. To me, Casey Jones is kind of boring. (In the spirit of the toy's original prototype, I had considered giving him a removable mask, perhaps tracking down a Whit action figure from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III movie toy line and using the head, but Casey Jones never actually takes his hockey mask off at any point in the cartoon. He even leaves it on after he puts on a three-piece suit and goes undercover as a business recruit during the events of "Corporate Raiders From Dimension X," if you can figure that one out. I think perhaps it's because he has no face. Look at him. His hair covers literally his entire head. Take off the mask and you'd have Cousin It.) 1Teenage Mutant Ninja Television: Who's Winning the Battle Over Kids' TV?, April 7 1991, The Washington Post Writers Group. |
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This Page Created: 2/19/2012
Last Updated: 2/24/2012
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