Chatting with

Below is a transcript of that event. RTM has edited the transcript for clarity and brevity. No questions or answers were altered except for correcting typos and minor grammar changes made to improve readability. Moderator comments are in red type, participant questions are in green type and Digger's answers are in yellow type.

Look for future chats with the Art Asylum in the months to come! Enjoy!

Digger: Hi. Sorry I'm late. I'm fresh off the plane from LA. I'd just like to say that I'm in a vehicle right now and we're moving 160 miles per hour. *laughs*

GhostRider: Digger, what are you working now ?

Digger: Presently we are working on the Alpha Flight line. We did all the control art and the design work in house. And as far as sculpture, we're doing Northstar, Aurora, and Snowbird. Phil Ramirez in LA is doing Sasquatch and Puck. It should prove to be a very good line with Phil and Asylum tackling it.

Chip: Hey Digger...thanks for taking the time to chat with us. Do you keep the sculpts you do of characters that were not produced/optioned for whatever reason? Have there been any?

Digger: Yeah. We've done a few things that wind up on our shelf for various reasons on the company's end. A few properties we worked on like Soldiers of Fortune from Playmates were cancelled for reasons of adult subject matter and so forth. We did weapons and accessory designs.

Phillybeef: Are you doing an Animated Cap [Captain America] series if it ever gets on the air?

Digger: I've seen the animation for it. Preliminary animation and it looks really good. But it hasn't been put out as a project to us or anyone else. But we'd love to do it. It looks fantastic!

Toydork: What was your favorite toy or toy line when you were a kid?

Digger: My favorite toy line? I guess the Planet of the Apes dolls. Star Wars, of course, because that was the main thing we had on the market back in the 70's. One thing I really liked was ROM the Spaceknight. I always wanted to see a large scale campaign for ROM. I wish there was a way to reactivate that character today. Where there's a will there's a way.

hulkomega: Can you give us a clue to some Toy Biz in 1999 other than what is already known?

Digger: Absolutely not. I'm sorry. *laughs* That's sort of a breach of trust. But you do get the information relatively quickly these days.

AlphaTrion: The collector's lines are larger, which upsets [some collectors]. That is, many collectors want the collector's figures to fit in with their other figures; is a different scale really a good idea?

Digger: I think that they've established that they are going to stay in scale. Toy Biz has made every attempt to get the scale issue under control. And I think it's finally where people need it to be. I personally prefer larger figures. I wish we could wipe the slate clean and begin again with 6 inches as the standard and 7-8 inches the standard for figures like the Hulk. But that's not going to happen. *laughs*

toymanz: In your opinion what is the coolest and most far out company and action figure the Asylum has worked on in the past year or two?

Digger: Toy Biz is still and will probably remain one of our major clients. I still, to this day , have a great fondness for the Venom : Along Came a Spider line. I have a great feeling about that coming out of our studio. I especially like the Venom Symbiote. We had so much creative power with that. We did all the control art. And as far as sculpture, we got to do probably about 60% of the sculpting on the whole line It was our first chance to really cut loose with Toy Biz. Little known fact about the Venom Symbiote: I used a real rattlesnake spine in the prototype. I think that's a first. *laughs*

ScottG: Have you done any Star Trek figures for Playmates besides the Species 8472 figures?

Digger: Yeah. Joe Devito, Tom Hogan and Ulysses Wong worked on Kang at the Asylum. We have done an enormous amount of design work for them. But as far as sculpture, the Worf Rightful Heir statue, Species 8472, the Gorn 13-inch, and Kang are all the sculpts we've done for them to date. I also had assistance on the arms and legs of Species 8472 from Eric Nocella and Rick Vanvelser. By the way Eric Nocella also sculpted the A.D.A.M. figure. It was not sculpted by me at the Art Asylum. That was publicized incorrectly to someone at ToyFare.

GhostRider: Digger, did you do the Hero's Reborn Ironman? And why did smart Hulk and Apocalypse: Onslaught have the same sculpt?

Digger: No, we did the control art for the Avengers line and I sculpted Thor. As far as the Hulk and the Apocalypse, the Apocalypse came into the line at the last minute due to deadlines and scheduling problems, they needed him in one week. I was instructed to use the Hulk as a foundation for Apocalypse in order to meet the deadline. In addition to that, I can honestly say, there was an entire sculpture's worth of work in merely transforming the Hulk casting into Apocalypse. It was very involved.

GhostRider: Digger, I liked how you did it too :)

Phillybeef: Will the Avengers line continue? If so, will you sculpt them?

Digger: I don't know what the plans are for additional Avengers as far as new stuff goes, but the classic line was designed at the Asylum in a Kirby-esque fashion. Sculpts at the Asylum are Giant Man and the Wasp. I saw the sculpts on the rest of the Avengers line and the sculpts look fantastic. The only disappointment was that we had designed the Hulk with three toes and it was decided later to give him five. It was my intention to really capture the fact that Kirby was working on so many books at lightning speed that the majority of panels that contain the Hulk did show him with three toes more often than five.

toymanz: In your opinion what is the coolest and most far out companys' action figure the Asylum has worked on in the past year or two?

Digger: I believe I already answered the question about the company. There is no coolest toy company. Everybody's cool as long as they are putting out good product. That's really up to the people to decide, not me.

hulkomega: Please tell us what 5 Marvel action figures you/Art Asylum would like to do that have not been done or planned to be done?

Digger: Top five: Power Man and Iron Fist twin pack. I think another thing I've always wanted to do is Dark Phoenix the way she should look....Shang Chi Master of Kung-Fu with a dead-on Bruce Lee likeness. And we'd love to see a Defenders assortment.

TinTin: What would be your ultimate license to do... if you had the choice?

Digger: We would love to do "From Dusk Till Dawn" because of its endless assorment of characters which would of course include a Quentin Tarantino action figure. And even more important, a Salma Hayek. *laughs* Battle Chasers and Danger Girl are other properties I find interesting.

Toydork: What kind of music are you into? You look like a Misfits kinda guy...

Digger: I listen to everything from classical to industrial death. But seriously, the music I most listen to when I work is score or soundtrack-oriented for inspiration. I really dig the Hoffa soundtrack. Jimmy Hoffa's my hero. *laughs*

Changa: What movie property would you love to do, something like Evil Dead, or a sci-fi like 5th Element? Besides "From Dusk till Dawn" which would rule!

Digger: I love both those properties. Evil Dead especially. We would love to tackle properties like that with the intensity they deserve. I would love to do Blade Runner as a playset. An entire playset with LA in the future and all that incredible Sid Mead design.

GhostRider: Digger, what do you think of your status as the "Bad Boy of the Toy World?"

Digger: I really wasn't aware of it, but it sounds cool to me. *laughs* I've had people say to me that the Asylum is like the bad boys of toys.

hulkomega: Have you ever told Toy Biz that you wouldn't do a figure because of your personal opinion... like the 1,000,000th Wolverine for example?

Digger: Absolutely not. I prefer, personally, to take on characters that are considered to be the dog characters in the line. For instance, Lasher from the first Venom assortment and even Spider-Man from Web Traps. To my knowledge, everyone was burnt out on Spider-Man and many of the other artists really didn't want to work on him. When Jesse Falcon asked me if I wanted to do Spider-Man as an action figure, I jumped on it.

Toydork: Any chance of doing a Dark Knight Returns line for DC? That would be nice...

Digger: We really don't have a working relationship with Kenner. But I love Batman. It would be nice to try our hand at giving him the Asylum edge.

Chip: What's your favorite comic book? Any chance of you pushing to sculpt a line from it?

Digger: My favorite character is Spider-Man. I'm sorry to say that it's not my favorite comic any more after the whole Clone Wars...though I have really liked some of the art that has been done like by Mike Wieringo and Steve Skroce. I guess my favorite comic right now would be anything Alex Ross touches and I'm pretty steady on Gen13.

Changa: If given the opportunity would you like to work on "Ghost in the Shell", "Turok", or some 007 figs?

Digger: Ghost in the Shell would kick ass. Everyone here loves Ghost in the Shell. When the video game came out, we had trouble getting people into work. *laughs*

ScottG: How long have you been in the sculpting businness? What are some of your earliest works?

Digger: I guess I've been sculpting steadily since 1992. Before that I just dabbled a bit. Comic art and illustration were really my goals. As far as my early work, most of the work I did to break into the toy industry were endless Creepy Crawler sets. If I had to sculpt one more relief, my head was going to explode. Varied products like nightlights for Biker Mice from Mars and banks for Skeleton Warriors. This was the work that I did to pay my dues. Lasher was my first Toy Biz project. It seemed to get good reactions. Again, I assumed he was the dog of the line when he was assigned to us.

GhostRider: Digger, how did you become a toy sculptor? When you did Vemon: Along Came a Spider, did you like doing it and do you like Venom the comic?

Digger: I became a toy sculptor in 1993 even though Art Asylum was only formed two years ago as a collective. I'm not huge on the way Venom the comic has been treated. I think it could be better. I do love Venom as a character. Most especially the bizarre relationship he has with Spider-Man.

hulkomega: Spider-Man has so many great and visually appealing second stringers (Cardiac, Demogoblin) any chance of these making the cut like Swarm and Black Tarantula?

Digger: Well, Toy Biz has done probably one of the best jobs of introducing more obscure characters from the comics into their toy lines than any other company to date in my opinion. What you should really be asking is how long will it be before we see a Mon-el figure from Legion of Superheroes or a classic Hal Jordan Green Lantern without a Batman logo on it.

hulkomega: Thank you for your time Digger! You're the man!!

TinTin: What other Anime properties would you like to do?

Digger: Still to date, my all time favorite Anime film is Akira which is also my dog's name. You have great characters with great vehicles. There are so many properties that could really be popular if they were only handled properly.

Roondog: Has Art Asylum considered entering manufacturing, or would you rather stay 'guns for hire' and just sculpt?

Digger: Art Asylum has been developing its own original properties for entertainment for the past year. I really would like to make it clear to most people out there that Art Asylum is not only a sculpting house. We handle most of the projects we work on in every level from the original line art, to the sculpting to the mechanisms, articulations, molding and casting, and final paint work. I have incredibly talented people here that do all types of work. A lot of the control art being done here is being done by Nelson Ascencio who really understands the look that we're going for.

Toydork: Do you think the toy industry can survive the way it's going or will it implode like comics?...(BTW AKIRA toys are my biggest dream toy line of all time!!)

Digger: Well first of all, let me ask you, do you feel like comics have completely imploded?

Toydork: Not completely, but in a way.

Digger: And I think everyone should really ask themselves why the comic book industry has had the problems it has had. If everyone really does love the toy industry as much as they say they do, they should start asking the right questions from the companies they buy product from. A great many of us in this industry such as Phil Ramirez, myself and other do not receive credit for many of the commercial works that we do. This is very much an art form to me. Every time a project leaves our hands, I feel as though it's a part of us.

Changa: That can only be good sir.

DMan: Some Indy companies have started to put sculptors names on the packaging, hopefully it will spread to the bigger companies, at least for 'collector series'

Digger: I don't expect the big boys to change their policies overnight but I would be insistent, as a buyer, to boycott any independent projects that do not carry artistic credit on the packaging. If you want to change and improve what you seem to love so much you have to take some sort of responsibility.

Moderator: We'd like to thank Digger for being here tonight.

Changa: Thanks sir.

Moderator: This has been a wonderful chat.

TinTin: Thank you!

DMan: Thank you

Toydork: Thanks man!

Changa: Try and get those Ghost in the Shell figures out here!!!!

Swift: Curses. Missed most of it. I'll have to catch the transcript. Thanks, Digger!

Moderator: Look for an in depth article on Digger and Art Asylum to appear soon on RTM.

GhostRider: Nice chating Digger nice to meet you

Starscream: Yeah

Chip: Thanks Digger!

GhostRider: Thanks Digger for coming to our Chat Room .

Digger: I guess I'd just like to say thanks a lot for having me. It's important that there are platforms like this one that RTM has set up for the public to interact with the creative people in this industry. I've been told by people for the past 5 years that the day would never come that we would be acknoweldged for our efforts. I'm glad to see that things are changing. If the spotlight is put on the people behind the scenes, they will increase their efforts to produce quality.

Digger: Thanks again. Bye