Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Winter Solstice (*a bit late*), Yule, etc. I hope that the winter is good to everyone and that the new year will be filled with good times and great friends!
Our gift giving this year was very laid back. I gave Mark a set of Technical Pens (hard not to keep them for myself), a new keyboard (he’s very rough on his….think of the Samsonite Gorilla commercial and you’ve got a good idea) and last was a customized volks dollfie for him. I’ve noted for the last couple of years how Mark is always happy to comment on my dolls and figures but that the one he always seems to include (and kind of covet) most is Merrit.
Of course, there was no way I was going to make him a Merrit (like the Highlander, there can be only one!) but I did want him to have a figure that he’d be able to really invest his time and energy into….I’ve given him various action figures and dolls in the past and they’ve all been swallowed up into some storage box somewhere. So I was understandably worried that I’d make him this one and it’d also go MIA. I knew he’d want a Merrit–which meant a volkd eb-N body & head….which 1:6 volks N bodies are pretty rare on the ground these days!
Which meant that I had to ask Mark what he wanted…. If I was going to do it I wanted to do it right. I wanted it to be something that would appeal and that he’d want to have around.
He thought about it.
Mark: I want a Merrit!
Me: No. That’s not an option! You have to have someone else! Someone different!
Mark: Hmmm.
Me: Hmm?
Mark: I want an Anti-Merrit! I’ll have a Tirrem. That’s Merrit spelled backwards! Tirrem Mesu!
Me: Err…like the dessert?
Mark: Yes, but spelled differently!
An Anti-Merrit? Like an Anti-christ? Hmm. This was a hard one for me to take onboard. I mean, Merrit is the coolest character. I love him even though I’m always working on new ideas and things to cause him trouble!
So I picked Mark’s brain about how he at least wanted Tirrem, the Anti-Merrit to look. I figured Mark will have to develop his personality & backstory. So far he’s told me that Tirrem is from Massachusetts or New Jersey and is rich and is pretty crap at Mechanical stuff (Mark told me this morning that Tirrem has a number of motorcycles and a Jeep and keeps mechanics well employed)
Ok, so what was Tirrem supposed to look like then? (I vetoed the blue hair & mohawk). We sat down and looked at what the options were for hair, and Mark decided he wanted some bright orange hair. I don’t know if that was because orange is the complimentary color to Blue (which Merrit has) or what. Got the hair and Mark decided that he wanted Tirrem to have hair like Sideshow Bob from The Simpsons.
So….Here’s Tirrem! (I was not allowed to give him the Quirky eyebrows I was inclined to since Mark said he wanted “regular” and not to make Tirrem “squinty”.) LOL
I did my best but the hair isn’t really as sideshow bob-ish as I’d have liked.
Mark also said that Tirrem only wears Black and Orange. So I had to make him a black long sleeve T shirt (and a sweater too), as well as a pair of black jeans with orange stitching.
Of course there were a few rules that came with Tirrem. They were:
1) Tirrem has to be kept on display at all times (out of Electra’s reach). He can’t be stored in a box somewhere.
2) Mark must take one new photo of Tirrem each week and either post it on his (alomst empty flickr account) or on his Blog.
Mark agreed to those terms so that’s that! Merry xmas ! 
I might as well show at least some of it–otherwise there won’t be any posts at all until Friday!
