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Monday, June 29, 2009

Minions #175 - Just when you think you have it figured out...


ACTIVATE THE ENLARGE-O-BEAM! -- by clicking on images for the HD version!

Stand by, following the usual double-dealing for a bitter betrayal by your Minion Master!

Your interminable wait is important to us. To serve you better, a supervisor may feed the representative assigned to serve you to the crab parasites just before they can answer your call. It's just one more way of saying, "we care, just not about you."

SUPPORT THE FORCES OF EVIL, WITHOUT WHOM YOU'D HAVE TO LIVE IN SOME BORING UTOPIA OR SOMETHING! HELP FINANCE "MINIONS AT WORK" BY BUYING STUFF YOU WERE GOING TO BUY ANYWAY! IT'S LIKE STEALING, ONLY LEGAL!
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!

Or visit our Amazon Lair Gift Shop for Minions-recommended merchandise featuring villainy from across pop-culture!

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
(For very small values of naughty.)

Or just click on our "Donate" button and send us cash add to our "Buy the Minions a Camera Fund!" 100% of your contribution goes to allow starving orphans to buy blankets for kittens.

Nah, not really, it all goes to ME, in order to further the cause of EVIL, and the photography thereof.

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!) Or become one of our followers. See the follower box in our Mighty Sidebar!

Or join our "Minions at Work" group on Facebook.

And yes, I'm finally on Twitter. Follow me. I'm JSteveYork there. Eventually I'm getting No. 1 his own account for Minions-related-business, but one thing at a time.

Still: We're everywhere! We're everywhere!


Greetings, Twits and Tweets!


Sorry we're late this week. Thanks to the Evil Minions at Charter Communications, my access to Google and Blogger has been down since yesterday and just came back. If you'd been following me on Twitter, you'd know that.

Trying to get a little ahead on my Minions inventory this week, and put several carefully planned cartoons in the can, so to speak. But this is my favorite, and it's just an accident. For a long time I've thought it would be nice to be able to do some kind of corridor set, and this was my first quick and dirty attempt. I just started setting figures up in hopes I'd come up with captions for later (and possibly I will, I shot lots of random "walk and talk"), but this just started coming together in my head as I did it.

You know, after looking at this for the 43rd time, I see that I have misspelled "Penguin" in the caption. Well, until I get around to fixing it, just assume it's another aspect of Doctor Coldblood's colorful speech patterns.

This is the first appearance of the "bionic" penguin. See, I (shudder) cut the Penguin's head off a couple weeks ago and installed a joint so he can turn his head. Yes, the Penguin actually now has ONE point of articulation. Some day I'll figure out how to make a flipper move, and the world will end.

And remember to support our "Buy the Minions a Camera" campaign by buying through our Amazon story, by buying our tee-shirts and cool stuff, and by buying our books, starting with my story in the new DAW anthology "Swordplay," and in these other fine anthologies, still available...





And if you order them through Amazon, we get a cut AND potential royalties down the road.

As I said, it's like stealing, only legal, and how can you not like that?

- Your Pledge Drive Master, Steve






Monday, June 22, 2009

Double Feature: Minions #172/173 - Unsocial Networking 1 and 2




ACTIVATE THE ENLARGE-O-BEAM! -- by clicking on images for the HD version!

Stand by, following the usual indigestion for a soothing antacid from your Minion Master!

Your interminable wait is important to us. To serve you better, a supervisor may feed the representative assigned to serve you to the crab parasites just before they can answer your call. It's just one more way of saying, "we care, just not about you."

HELP BAIL-OUT THE FORCES OF EVIL! 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!

Or visit our Amazon Lair Gift Shop for Minions-recommended merchandise featuring villainy from across pop-culture!

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
(For very small values of naughty.)

Or just click on our "Donate" button and send us cash add to our "Buy the Minions a Camera Fund!" 100% of your contribution goes to allow starving orphans to buy blankets for kittens.

Nah, not really, it all goes to ME, in order to further the cause of EVIL, and the photography thereof.

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!) Or become one of our followers. See the follower box in our Mighty Sidebar!

Or join our "Minions at Work" group on Facebook. We're everywhere! We're everywhere!

Greetings, Tweets and Twits!


Yes, it's our little tribute to the social networking phenomenon. Minions at Work is already on Facebook. Twitter may be coming. I'm still trying to steel myself for the jump. Who knows? If I do go to Twitter, we might catch on in Iran or something...

And remember to support our "Buy the Minions a Camera" campaign by buying through our Amazon story, by buying our tee-shirts and cool stuff, and by buying our books, starting with my story in the new DAW anthology "Swordplay," and in these other fine anthologies, still available...





And if you order them through Amazon, we get a cut AND potential royalties down the road.

I'm back, and I'm STILL a whiny mooch!

- Your Pledge Drive Master, Steve






Sunday, June 14, 2009

Minions #171 - Heavy Labor


ACTIVATE THE ENLARGE-O-BEAM! -- by clicking on images for the HD version!

Stand by, following the usual commercial RF radiation for some remote controls from your Minion Master!

Your interminable wait is important to us. To serve you better, a supervisor may feed the representative assigned to serve you to the crab parasites just before they can answer your call. It's just one more way of saying, "we care, just not about you."

HELP BAIL-OUT THE FORCES OF EVIL! 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!

Or visit our Amazon Lair Gift Shop for Minions-recommended merchandise featuring villainy from across pop-culture!

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
(For very small values of naughty.)

Or just click on our "Donate" button and send us cash to support our future evil activities! We like cash! Small, unmarked, Paypal payments only, please!

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!) Or become one of our followers. See the follower box in our Mighty Sidebar!

Or join our "Minions at Work" group on Facebook. We're everywhere! We're everywhere!
Greetings, Bad Robots!

Yes, the machines are doing all the work this week. My Happy Robot Butler is posting this, as I'm currently in Las Vegas for the weekend! Actually, I should be home Sunday night, but by then, the robot should have a lot more brains than I do.

Anyway, that means this is your chance to post lots of rude/clever comments that I won't get around to seeing until Monday. Have at it!


Minions Need a New Pair of Shoes

Actually, they've got plenty of shoes. Boots is more like it. But they could use a new camera.

It's by no means urgent, but the trusty Canon Powershot A530 I've been using to shoot the cartoon for the past few years is getting a little long in the tooth. It's still working more or less fine, but every once in a while the "eyelid" shutter that protects the lens when it's turned off sticks, and I know that one of these days something is going to break on it in a way that isn't worth fixing.

For some time I've had my eye on the Canon Powershot SX101S:

Actually, I've had my eye on the two previous similar models. Yes, I've been wanting this for that long.

The improved resolution, image stabilization, and expanded zoom range would really help me take advantage of our new, larger "stage," and it has a great movie mode for doing our occasional Minion web-videos.

Trouble is, I just can't justify the expense right now. I don't know if you folks realize, but I put quite a bit of money into Minions at Work already; building and buying props, buying lighting equipment, buying new action figures, etc. Some of this is stuff I might have added to my collection anyway (and a lot of things come out of my existing collection) but a lot of it is stuff that exists for Minions, and nothing else. And heck, I've literally got to keep the lights on here, and devote a huge lot of my work-space to storing all the props and sets I'm not using.

So I limp along, hoping nothing critical goes wrong with the camera that forces me to replace it with something not worthy of the task.

So, I'm starting a little fund-drive here. You see the price up there. I'm not seriously expecting the Minion-verse will come up with the whole ticket (though it would be nice), and I'm hoping that with careful shopping, I can pick it up closer to $300 than $350. But it would be nice, if you enjoy Minions at Work, that you chip in a little in whatever way you can.

Multiple ways you can do that. The most direct is just to click on one of our donation buttons and send a little cash our way. Doesn't have to be much. Skip one of those stupid, over-priced coffees and send it to the forces of evil.

Or you can clip through one of our Amazon banners and buy something from them, a new book, a video, a graphic novel, an action figure, a 50" plasma TV, whatever. If you buy it direction from Amazon U.S., we get a little sliver of the action. (You could just buy us the damned camera. That would really cut out the middle man.)

Or you can buy something from our Lair of Merchandise or House of Naughty stores, a shirt, a button, a lovely thong. Again, I've done my best to keep these items priced low, so we don't make a lot off most of them, but every little bit helps.

Failing that, you can help us build traffic on the site, so that OTHER people will do the clicking and buying for you. As Dennis Leary says on this Hulu ads, post our link on your "bliggidy-blogs, and your facey-spaces, and your tweetie-pages." Help make us the kinds of social media by linking the latest (or your favorite) cartoons to your friends and buddies. Share us with your friends and family.

Heck, even if they don't make us any money, we just like to have them here. They'll never know unless you tell them.

And hey, one other very indirect way you can support us. Buy our danged books, starting with my story in the new DAW anthology "Swordplay," and in these other fine anthologies, still available...





And if you order them through Amazon, we get a cut AND potential royalties down the road.

Boy, it's amazing how much of a whining mooch I can be when I'm not even here! Dang, I am evil!

- Your Pledge Drive Master, Steve







Sunday, June 07, 2009

Minions #170 - Even Worse than it Sounds



ACTIVATE THE ENLARGE-O-BEAM! -- by clicking on images for the HD version!

Stand by, following the usual ream of commercialism for some hot-copy from your Minion Master!

Your interminable wait is important to us. To serve you better, a supervisor may feed the representative assigned to serve you to the crab parasites just before they can answer your call. It's just one more way of saying, "we care, just not about you."

HELP BAIL-OUT THE FORCES OF EVIL! 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!

Or visit our Amazon Lair Gift Shop for Minions-recommended merchandise featuring villainy from across pop-culture!

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
(For very small values of naughty.)

Or just click on our "Donate" button and send us cash to support our future evil activities! We like cash! Small, unmarked, Paypal payments only, please!

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!) Or become one of our followers. See the follower box in our Mighty Sidebar!

Or join our "Minions at Work" group on Facebook. We're everywhere! We're everywhere!
Greetings, Lower Trays!

First, a quick reminder: I've got a new anthology story out in the great new fantasy anthology Swordplay! Click the link to check it on Amazon, or look for it in our sidebar to the right. Once again, in an anthology of magic sword stories, I suspect mine is about as atypical as you could imagine. But not all heroes wear armor, and not all damsels need rescuing in exactly the same way. I'm pleased with it.



Just to let you know, Minions at Work will be on autopilot next week. Why? Because, I'll be spending the weekend in VEGAS BABY! Yes, your Minion Master is going to spend a little quality time in his natural environment: SIN CITY, USA!

Maybe I'll get an IN N' OUT BURGER and see UP! while I'm there. Living the live of evil, baby! It's just how we roll!

Anyway, won't see you next week, but the Minions will be here without me.

- Your Overlord of the Strip (wait, that sounds bad, doesn't it?), Steve






Monday, June 01, 2009

Minions #168/169 - Overlord Double Feature







Stand by, following the usual Master Plan of Evil for a stern rebuke from your Minion Master!

Your interminable wait is important to us. To serve you better, a supervisor may drop the representative assigned to serve you into a lava-pit just before they can answer your call. It's just one more way of saying, "we care, just not about you."

HELP BAIL-OUT THE FORCES OF EVIL! 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!

Or visit our Amazon Lair Gift Shop for Minions-recommended merchandise featuring villainy from across pop-culture!

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
(For very small values of naughty.)

Or just click on our "Donate" button and send us cash to support our future evil activities! We like cash! Small, unmarked, Paypal payments only, please!

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!) Or become one of our followers. See the follower box in our Mighty Sidebar!


Greetings, Overlord Compartments!

First, a quick announcement: I've got a new anthology story out this week in the great new fantasy anthology Swordplay! Click the link to check it on Amazon, or look for it in our sidebar to the right. Once again, in an anthology of magic sword stories, I suspect mine is about as atypical as you could imagine. But not all heroes wear armor, and not all damsels need rescuing in exactly the same way. I'm pleased with it.




Moving on, once again, I'm waiting till the workday starts to announce this posting. We'll see how that goes.

Slipping in some more Overlords at Work this week, and a double-feature as well, just to keep you on your toes. I feel like I'm starting to get a handle on Doctor Coldbood as a character now, and that's always a dangerous thing. I'm starting to appreciate his lecherous side, and it's fun. It makes him one conflicted lizard. Could be you'll be seeing him take a more active role in some of the regular cartoons down the road.

Been busy this week building a Moon-rocket. A Saturn V, to be specific. No, this isn't for Minions at Work, though it's plenty big enough. It's a party decoration (long story) and it will be about 8 feet tall when finished.

I've also been trying myself into (or out of) signing up for Twitter. I'm skeptical, but I'm told it might be a good way to draw traffic here to the site. What do you guys think? It's just hard for me to get behind an evil plan that involves "tweeting." But it could work...

See you next week.

- Your Overlord of Overlords, Steve