Turtle Power
Somewhere deep within the “my old stuff” box was this super squished Michelangelo, made from folded graph paper and colored with some kind of cheap thin-tip markers like these. Even though it’s beat-up pretty badly (and he lost part of it’s head at some point) it still looks pretty good!
Mikey’s got a sweet 8-pack and rocks the orange elbow/knee pads. At one point his eyes were drawn on a headband that sat on top of his square jaw, but that’s long gone. I remember building big rectangle feet, but the graph paper wasn’t strong enough to hold his body, and suprisingly the thinner tubes that make his legs were sturdier than big feet as long as you propped him up against something.
I remember planning this guy out while i sat on my bed with the 1990 Macy’s Day Parade on in the background. I drew him up and put him together over thanksgiving break in my 5th grade year, mostly at the kitchen counter.
Like many things, I started with big plans but never saw it through. I wanted to build all 4 turtles, and it’s a shame too cuz it would have been way easier once I had a finished one to use as a template.
That’s how it goes though - not every wild idea gets to be called “finished”, but it’s the process and experience that matters in the long run. Some might call a half-finished turtle with no feet or shell a failure, but it no doubt was practice for bigger and better 3d projects later in life.
Go Ninja GO!