Mighty Mouse Maquette
Heroes come in all shapes and sizes. Most of them look like you or me and lead humble lives right under out noses. In the world of comics and cartoons, the heroes usually are a bit more colorful and they stand out. Also, the people are usually a bit different, shown in the variety of talking cartoon animals ranging from Moose and Squirrel to even mice. And the strongest among the small rodents (and not the computer kind you may be lovingly stroking right now), is none other than Mighty Mouse. Or, to paraphrase the Bible, the squeak shall inherit the earth.
At first glance Mighty Mouse looks to our litigious society as a lawsuit in the making. He's Superman in Mouse form, or basically a Supermouse that seems ready made for a courtroom battle. Oddly enough, the original name for Mighty Mouse (after making the transition from insectoid form) was Supermouse, but this was changed early on to the more alliterative form he maintains today. He was also the first super powered animal character to make the scene when he debuted in 1942.
Mighty Mouse got his start at Terrytoons, the eponymous company run by Paul Terry. The original concept of the small creature taking on enormous powers is attributed to Isadore Klein, though it was tweaked into the final product by Terry. It just goes to show that even in the 40's, the boss still wanted to be the one who got the credit! Obviously, the collaboration of the two was what made Mighty Mouse possible, so let's leave the wrangling over it to the lawyers!
Since his introduction over 60 years ago, Mighty Mouse has starred in comics, animated shows and features. He's part of the American Popular Culture and his operatic rally cry of 'Here I come to save the day!!' brings instant recognition to people across the country. It also brings unwanted attention if you just yell it out at random intervals when you have Tourette's Syndrome.
The Mighty Mouse Maquette shows the Mouse of Steel in his signature 'about to save the day' pose atop a retro-futuristic base. Let's break that down - retro meaning and older version, and futuristic meaning in the future. Together they mean he looks like what they used to think the future would kind of look like, though since we now live in that future we know it really doesn't look like that at all, even if we used to think it might. And thinking we knew what it was supposed to look like you might assume we'd just make it turn out that way because we thought it should turn out that way, but of course we didn't. Ahem, and a mighty fine base it is!
And lest you forget, there is the maquette of Mighty Mouse himself atop the base. He is poised to leap to someone's rescue with bulging muscles and that trademark grin�. He's surely on the lookout to ensure the safety of his steady girl Pearl Pureheart. Or maybe he's just staring at nothingness, who can tell with these super heroes?
Mighty Mouse is considered a 'Teeny-Weeny Mini-Maquette' but the truth of the matter is that this is a life-size maquette. Yes, the maquette is just under five inches tall and nearly seven with the base, but this is how big Mighty Mouse should be! He is a mouse after all, and you know that no man (or male figure) likes to be described as either mini, or teeny-weeny. So let's call it the 'Mighty Mouse Mighty-Righty Sized Maquette' because it's more descriptive and it'll make him feel better!
 Electric Tiki has been making maquettes their stock in trade and this is no surprise when you look at the head and founder of the company Tracy Mark Lee. Yes, at first the three names are suspicious (ever heard of Lee Harvey Oswald?), but his roots are deep in the animation field, where he worked for some animation company called Disney. Tracy designed the Mighty Mouse maquette and relied on the talents of Rub�n Procopio to sculpt the actual figure. They had some help in making 750 copies of the original and went to the trouble of getting them painted just so you wouldn't have to! As if that weren't enough, they numbered each figure on the base and put a certificate of authenticity inside just to make it extra special. Now that is thoughtful!
 The last thing that bears mentioning about this figure is the box it is packed in. The imagery on the box is of Mighty Mouse, but it subtly shows simple line drawings of Mighty Mouse in various poses, a nod to the character's design.
And since you may be confused but simply playing along to avoid embarrassment, the term maquette has been used judiciously here with the understanding that you understand what it means, even if you may not. Hey, we didn't know either until our friends at Webster's let us in on the secret. A Maquette is a small model used for conceptualizing something in three dimensions, and they are used in architecture as well as film and animation. They have special uses in animation because they can be created to make a style guide (basically, the official word on how a character should be animated and look) and to help animators create a consistent look. It gives the animators a 3-D object they can look at, move around and study to get the right look. Maquettes are also used to show off new designs, and are used extensively in film today to create computer-animated creatures for films like Star Wars Episode 2.
Now how do you get your own Mighty Mouse Maquette? It's simple - use some money!
More Pictures of Mighty Mouse
| Where to buy the Mighty Mouse Maquette: This piece is limited to a run of 750, and you can find it at Electric Tiki's web store and various online retailers for around $49 USD. |
|
