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Monday, December 29, 2008

Minions #143 - How do you spell Xmas?



Stand by, following some new commercial jibber-jabber for a body-shot from your Minion Master!

Your visit is important to us. Please give all your government bail-outs to the nearest Minion and we'll continue doing things as we always have because, hey, that's been working for us so far, right?


NEW! SUPPORT "MINIONS AT WORK" BY BUYING STUFF YOU WERE GOING TO BUY ANYWAY!

We're now Amazon.com affiliates, which means that if you click on the Amazon link in our sidebar and make purchases from Amazon, a tiny little sliver of what you spend goes to support these fine (maybe even near-mint!) cartoons!

Later, we'll be adding a selection of Minion-recommended merchandise, but until then, use your imagination. Books, videos, electronics, games, maybe even ACTION FIGURES!
Minions at work is inadequately supported during this financial crisis by your purchases from our web stores and our advertisers. Feed the economy and help us bleed green just a little more slowly by purchasing tee-shirts, buttons, calendars, hats, undies (we kid not!), and other fine Minions at Work items at one of the following stores.

While waiting for your impending doom, pick up a Minions at Work tee-shirt or other great souvenir of your visit to the Lair:
THE MINION'S LAIR OF MERCHANDISE
"Satisfaction guaranteed or we'll make make you buy something else!"

and

NUMBER TWO'S HOUSE OF NAUGHTY
(Naughty is as naughty does!)

Join the Minions Reminder Email List. It's free, it's easy, and you'll never miss a Minions at Work cartoon (or if you do, it won't be our fault!)

Greetings, New Years Deresolutions!

Yes, one more swipe at Christmas before we move on to the new year. I finally got a half-way decent Santa, sort-of-in-scale, so I had to make use of him while I could.

You know, sometimes when you're doing a strip like this, you just don't know if what you're doing is funny, or terrible, or in horrid taste, or what. This is one of those occasions. Well, what I've learned is, go with it. Usually somebody will really like it, and the rest will usually forget it soon enough.

Go ahead. Start forgetting!

Other Reports from the Lair

Over the holidays, Mrs. Minion Master and I have been on a James Bond marathon. We now own all the Bond movies on DVD, except for Quantum of Solace (which will be added soon enough), the comedy version of Casino Royale from the 60s (which hardly counts to my mind) and the "unauthorized" Never Say Never Again (the non-Eon remake of Thunderball starring Sean Connery, released about the same time as the Roger Moore "Octopussy.")

A liquidator-type store near us got on a bunch of what were apparently anniversary releases from 7-8 years back. While the current Bond DVD releases are stripped down, these have tons of excellent documentaries, supporting material, and other extras, and they were priced at a too-good-to-pass-up $4.99 each. I got a couple, and before long, a couple more, and before we knew what we were doing, we had the whole danged set.

From a Minions at Work standpoint, it's been great to see all the villains, gadgets, and lairs again. I'm thinking about reviewing some of the films from a lair/overlord/minion-centric perspective. The best lair to my mind is still the volcano from "You Only Live Twice," but there are plenty of other great ones.

It's also interesting to check out the minions and their uniforms. Best dressed have got to be the painted-on red jumpsuits with black belts (on all-female minions) in "Octopussy," but there are other good ones, like the color-coded minions from "You Only Live Twice." Then there are a few that are terrible to behold. Yeah, I've got to blog about that here at some point.

Anyway, we're off to Florida in a couple weeks, but while watching Bond films, I built some interesting new set pieces, and there should be plenty of new cartoons to see us through the traveling.

Keep sharing the link with your friends! We've got a world to take over here!

- Goldblogger Steve

- Your Mastersaurus Rex, Steve

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Holiday Bonus Minions #142 - Making the List



Hey, folks, a holiday bonus Minions at Work!

I know times are hard, and the weather's not much better for a lot of you, but chin up! Better times are ahead!

All of us here at the Lair: your Minion Master, Steve, Mrs. Minion Master, Chris, the Cats-O-Evil Oz and Sydney, as well as all the Minions and Overlords, wish you and yours a happy holiday (of whatever flavor or flavors you choose to celebrate), and a safe and prosperous New Year!

- Steve

Monday, December 22, 2008

Minions #141 - The Gift that Keeps on Giving



Stand by, following some new commercial jibber-jabber for a body-shot from your Minion Master!

Your visit is important to us. Please give all your government bail-outs to the nearest Minion and we'll continue doing things as we always have because, hey, that's been working for us so far, right?


NEW! SUPPORT "MINIONS AT WORK" BY BUYING STUFF YOU WERE GOING TO BUY ANYWAY!

We're now Amazon.com affiliates, which means that if you click on the Amazon link in our sidebar and make purchases from Amazon, a tiny little sliver of what you spend goes to support these fine (maybe even near-mint!) cartoons!

Later, we'll be adding a selection of Minion-recommended merchandise, but until then, use your imagination. Books, videos, electronics, games, maybe even ACTION FIGURES!
Minions at work is inadequately supported during this financial crisis by your purchases from our web stores and our advertisers. Feed the economy and help us bleed green just a little more slowly by purchasing tee-shirts, buttons, calendars, hats, undies (we kid not!), and other fine Minions at Work items at one of the following stores.

While waiting for your impending doom, pick up a Minions at Work tee-shirt or other great gift:
THE MINION'S LAIR OF MERCHANDISE
"Where the beatings will continue until all customers are satisfied!"

and

NUMBER TWO'S HOUSE OF NAUGHTY
(Oh, come on. You know you want to be naughty!)

Join the Minions Reminder Email List. It's free, it's easy, and you'll never miss a Minions at Work cartoon (or if you do, it won't be our fault!)

Greetings, Gift Rappers!

If you haven't been here since last week's cartoons, check the couple of posts in-between now and then for some fun and news you missed. I've been doing some work here, making some changes, and getting ready for some travel next month.

As mentioned above, if you click on our link before making purchases at Amazon.com, it will do a lot (well, a little, but every bit helps) towards supporting Minions at Work. It costs a lot to keep the lights on here, what with buying new figures and props, lighting, domain registration, and just time. My goal this year is to more actively promote the site, increase our traffic, and make it self-supporting, and that's going to be a challenge with the economy as it is.

But hey, I know that many of you, my loyal followers, are suffering too. That's why we'll be here each week trying to bring a smile into your tortured, minion-like existence. We're all Minions on this bus, and we'll get through these hard times together.
Of course, if it comes down to you or me, I'm going right over the top of you. That's just the way it is.

Anyway, that's it for this week, but keep your eyes open for new changes and updates.

- Your Mastersaurus Rex, Steve

Saturday, December 20, 2008

More Housekeeping and a Heroes List!

Another housekeeping post. Blogger has been making some improvements that allowed me to cut some clutter out of the Mighty Sidebar. Same content, just now you can click on pictures and banners as links, rather than my having to put a separate text link below them.

I've been neglecting the sidebar lately. Haven't had a new rock-band name in a while, and the Incomplete Evil Overlord list had been getting stale. Still no new band names. I'll get on that. But lots of new entries in the Evil Overlord list.

And speaking of lists, I discovered the other day that someone has done a Heroes List to be a companion to the infamous Overlord list. You can click to them from here, but I've put permanent links in the sidebar as well.

Oh, also in the sidebar is a new book cover, the cover for "Swordplay," a fantasy anthology that will be out in June. It features 17 new stories about swords, including yet another new short story by your humble host, me.

I'm hoping to get things set up soon so that we'll be part of the Amazon affiliate program, so's you can help support Minion at Work by buying our books (and your other Amazon purchases) using our links. I'll let you know how that works out.

Okay, that's about it. Chris and I are going to Florida next month to speak at the Space Coast Writer's Conference, so I'm busy building up an inventory of cartoons to use while we're busy traveling. There shouldn't be any interruptions in your Minions schedule. But it's tricky. I'm shooting a whole series of cartoons on a bar set, but I have to finish and tear that set down before I can set up and shoot the cartoon that should appear Monday.

Logistics. It's all part of the Evil Plan.

- Steve, Your Minion Master

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Merry Fringemas

I don't usually do this sort of thing here, but if you've been missing the new series Fringe, you're missing a literal mad-science treat. This isn't a perfect show, but I don't miss an episode, especially to see what character Walter Scott (who narrates this video) will do next. Be warned, this video (and the show) are about as gruesome as TV standards will allow. In fact, this whole thing would be far too grim and gross for my taste without the ongoing dark-comic relief provided by Walter's character. Just when it's all too much to take, Walter will say something like:

"The only thing better than a cow, is a human. Unless you want milk. Then you need a cow."

or


"There is nothing I enjoy more than taking drugs...perhaps administering them."

Anyway, if you're tuning in late, this gives you a quick (and amusing) recap.

Monday, December 15, 2008

Overlords #140 - Bar Joke



CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LARGER VERSIONS

Stand by, following the usually commercial jibber-jabber for a body-shot from your Minion Master!

Your visit is important to us. Please give all your precious metals to the nearest Minion and stare mindlessly at the screen for a message of real change from your Maverick Minion Master, following the usual commercial interruptions.

Minions at work is inadequately supported during this financial crisis by your purchases from our web stores and our advertisers. Feed the economy and help us bleed green just a little more slowly by purchasing tee-shirts, buttons, calendars, hats, undies (we kid not!), and other fine Minions at Work items at one of the following stores.

While waiting for your impending doom, pick up a Minions at Work tee-shirt or other great gift:
THE MINION'S LAIR OF MERCHANDISE
"Where the beatings will continue until all customers are satisfied!"

and

NUMBER TWO'S HOUSE OF NAUGHTY
(Oh, come on. You know you want to be naughty!)

Join the Minions Reminder Email List. It's free, it's easy, and you'll never miss a Minions at Work cartoon (or if you do, it won't be our fault!)

Greetings, Minion Bar-flies!

This week, in honor of -- I dunno, a round number maybe -- I decided to bring the Overlords back, though in a completely different way. In fact, pretty much everything is different this week. Minions at Work sets tend to be bright and monotone. This one is dark and colorful. And of course, no Minions in sight.

Frankly, I just love bar sets, though I must confess that your Minion Master doesn't spend much time in the real thing. I rarely pollute my magnificent brain with alcohol, and never have. Not a big moral choice or anything. It's just the way I am.

But as I get older, I find I enjoy going with friends to a bar just to watch people. Same with going to Las Vegas, something I never figured I'd enjoy. Going to Las Vegas is like going to the giant mother-of-all-bars, one with no walls, one that never closes.

People do things in those surroundings that they'd never do in their real life. And while you might think it's the alcohol or the lack or restrictions, I think it's something different entirely. It's just that, in this one situation, they have an excuse to let a little of their real self show through.

Which is why it's fun to put the Minions, or the Overlords, in that situation. You find out who they really are behind the facade.

It amuses me that Doctor Coldblood and Doctor Head-in-a-jar go to bars together, even though they apparently don't like each other. I think it's just because nobody else wants to party with them. The unpopular people have to stick together. They don't get to pick and choose. The decision's been made for them.

But do these two really dislike each other as much as they let on? I've got to wonder. Maybe we'll learn more in future cartoons.

Save me a place at the bar. Seen you next time.

- Your Minion Mixologist, Steve

Monday, December 08, 2008

Minions #139 - Hunger Strike



CLICK ON IMAGES FOR LARGER VERSIONS

Stand by, following the usually commercial jibber-jabber for a heart-shot from your Minion Master!

Man, am I getting morbid lately, or what? Actually, I was more going for silly. Laughing at the reaper, that's me.

Actually, this is one of those cases where I put the set together first, and came up with the joke later. Actually, it isn't much different that a lot of sets you've seen lately, except for one important thing: the door.

Oh, sure, you've seen this set before. But I've been on a binge of building some new modular set pieces, and I decided to make a wall module with a doorway cut into it.

See, you've seen the door lots of times, but you've never seen it open, and you've never seen anything behind it, for an important reason. In the past, it's always just been stuck up against a blank wall, with some black foam behind the window to make it look dark back there. Actually, once or twice, you've seen a hand reaching out from between the bars, but in those cases, that's all there was. A hand.

eeeeww!

So this time, there was actually a space behind the door to put an actual prisoner. I kind of like how you can just see his eyes lit behind the bars.

And, oh yeah, I just built that silver ventilator unit in the foreground. Stuck that in there too.

Like you care. I slave away, building new stuff for the Lair, and do I get a "thank-you," maybe some flowers, or a box of candy. No.

For that, I will destroy your puny world!

But not for a while. It's where I keep my stuff.

(Apologies to the Tick)

See you next time...if you're lucky!

- Your Minion Target-master, Steve