Who is Aaron Goldman? Which episode did he appear in? Why is Matt doing Simpsons customs? All these are good questions and will sure to be answered in good time… So, anyway, for the 2001 holiday season, my coworkers and I decided to do a “Secret Santa” for a fellow coworker. I drew my coworker Aaron’s name out of a hat and after much deliberation it dawned on me to make an action figure of him. I had such a good time with the J. J. Walker figure (you’ve seen Josh promoting IBM’s computers in several recent tv spots) that I figured I’d love to give it another go. I’d never attempted a Simpsons custom before, and felt that was a more appropriate base choice for Aaron (as opposed to a DC Direct styled figure).
Aaron uses the Carl figure from the Simpsons line. They both have similar body proportions and frankly Carl was on the pegs. I was on a tight deadline and needed the figure pronto. I sliced off Carl’s hair and reworked it with Kneadatite. Kneadatite was also used to fill in the jacket and give him short sleeves. A handy Dremel sanded down the cuffs of the jacket to simulate bare arms. A few applications of Aluminize smoothed out any rough surface details. To make the figure seem more believable, I created the packaging for it as well. The characters across the back feature myself and my fellow coworkers, all rendered in the Simpsons style.
The graphics department just happened to be attending the opening night of Lord of the Rings, and I gave the figure to Aaron right before the movie. As with the Agent J.J. figure, Aaron assumed it was something bought off the shelf, until he saw his name on the package. Then this look of utter realization swept across his face as he saw that it was him. The look on his face was totally worth all the effort. I had such a fun time working on it, and hopefully he is thrilled to be immortalized in plastic.
You’ll note he was bought from the clearance bins.
Created Spring 2002
