Once the idea of expanding from a single custom of Harley as slave Leia turned into “Gotham Wars,” it didn’t take long to figure out that someone was going to end up frozen in Carbonite. Robin was my first choice, because the idea struck me as funny.

I also knew this meant dabbling with molding and casting, something I hadn’t done in a long time. Challenge accepted!

The first question was, which Robin? Given the wacky nature of the mash-up, it didn’t really matter. So I opted to build up from a Mattel Damian Robin, as he was readily and cheaply available. Initially, I wanted to use Damian’s face, as he’s sculpted with a grimace. But I didn’t want to use the hood, and there’s no “head” behind the face. The effort of removing the face from the hood, keep the face intact, and then give it new hair was more than I wanted to do. Instead I used a DC Direct Silver Age Robin noggin from fodder. I found some perfect hands in fodder. (Seriously, aren’t those perfect?) I sculpted the cape, collar, and chest decor. Finally, I “broke” the arms and sculpted them to be in the proper position.

Ultimately, this Robin has elements from Dick/Jason, Tim, and Damian. It’s a non-denominational Robin.

The Carbonite block started with styrene for the “box.” The controls on the sides are just bits from fodder. Once the box was complete, I sealed the interior seams with hot glue. Robin was placed inside, followed by a bath of resin. He was now a solid chunk! I added modeling paste to the surface to create the rough-hewn texture.

Driven by a desire to make this a true “block,” and knowing I wanted to share a few copies, I decided to try molding and casting some copies myself. I hadn’t tried this process myself for years. Though the experience was not without hiccups, I managed to craft a few copies. I am looking forward to trying some similar projects again.

I painted each copy with a dark grey metallic spray paint, then added some color to the control buttons. Oh, and it seems Joh’Ker added some highlight of his own to Robin’s head.

Created February 2018

Don’t forget! For a limited time I am offering a chance to win a Frozen Robin in Carbonite absolutely free!