amazingcube.com

One day I hear about this blog called Daddy Types which is sort of daddy/designer oriented blog filled with content that I find interesting. That is almost worth my own blog post but let’s get to the issue. So Daddy Types mentions this contest over at Kid Robot (a site that I already knew about) involving the customization of the Mini Munny Mobile. So I headed over to Kid Robot to check out the contest details, became smitten with the idea of entering, and did something I rarely do with situations like these. I whipped out my credit card, made a personal vow that I would enter this contest and then made my very first purchase from Kid Robot; the blank, white Mini Munny Mobile which would be my foundation for my contest entry in the Mini Munny Mobile Custom Car Show.

Several idead popped into my head about what my customized Munny would look like including turning him into a sweet version of “Ocho”, a.k.a. Herbie the Love Bug. Good thing I didn’t go that route because someone entered a Herbie-inspired entry ahead of me. Then I thought what would be the first thing I customize on my own car? Duh, the wheels! I thought 22″ spinners might do the trick, but then thought probably lots of others would share this idea. Then I thought, instead of going lower, why not higher? Yes, I knew I had found my idea.

So as I got to the task of cannibalizing a toddler’s Tonka toy for a chassis and wheels for my Munny Mobile, I started to think of colors. That is when it occurred to me that I had been seeing a lot of black-on-black trucks lately and they always manage to turn my head and put envy into my heart. I figured it would be a gamble to have everything on the truck painted solid black, but I figured if any of the contest judges caught my vision, it would be well worth it. I added contrast by using both flat and gloss black appropriately (flat on the tires and chassis, gloss for the body, etc.).

Next I had to think about my Munny character. My first idea was mullet, cowboy hat and a Def Leppard t-shirt. I almost went that route until I envisioned hand painting Old English text across his back in the form of a tattoo. I ditched the mullet and cowboy hat idea but not before purchasing fake hair and a miniature black cowboy hat from the local crafts store. While painting the eyes, I decided that pupils are totally overrated. It’s all about the whites of the eyes, and I do mean ALL.

One interesting situation came up with one of my sons when he saw that I had painted the previously stark white Munny with a coat of glossy beige. “Dad, why did you paint Munny brown?” he asked. I told him that some people have brown skin. His reply was “Oh, we have brown skin dad!” We are as caucasian as caucasians can be, but we have been swimming quite a bit this summer and the Arizona sun has baked us to a golden tan. Looking at mine and my son’s arm, I said, “why yes, yes indeed.” I decided to skip the lesson on society’s labels, political correctness and diversity. To my kids, skin color is like hair or eye color. Some people just look different, end of story.

Back to Munny, check out the pictures and leave a comment or two. Win or lose, it was still such a nice change to work on something tangible and totally non-digital for once. I will admit that I wished for an ‘undo’ button on more that occasion while I was doing all of the hand-painting. Licking your finger and trying to rub out your mistake is much less effective.

To the right are some of the very first pictures of the newly redesigned Scion xB and the new model, the xD. My feelings on these two vehicles have ranged from severe disappointed to mild enthusiasm over the time that I have had to reflect upon them. Overall I feel a little let down and at this point I am still not sure if it is because I expected too much or if Scion is just morphing down to plain old re-badged Toyotas. Don’t get me wrong, Toyotas are awesome cars, but the company’s previous attempts to target a younger male market were just horrible. I am speaking specifically about cars like the Echo and the Corolla S. Not bad cars, just a little girly and nothing that would make rush out to buy one.

With the introduction of Scion, they hit the nail on the head. The xB was incredibly unique in the U.S. market, the xA was a superbly affordable hatchback with some pretty cool features for its pricerange and the later addition of the tC brought a budget sports coupe with a killer sunroof into the mix. I had hoped that any addtions or redesigns to the Scion line would be more along the lines of the impact of the xB and the tC on the U.S. market and less like the xA. The first time I had every laid eyes on the xB I said “whoa!” Seeing these first pictures of the new Scions made me say to something to the tune of “inspired by Corolla.”

I think to give proper perspective on my relationship with Scion, I had better give a little background on my interest in the company and their cars. To start, I do not currently own a Scion but this has not always been the case. I saw the Scions in San Jose, CA by chance when they were on a nationwide tour to promote the company. They were letting the public test drive them and I knew after seeing and driving an xB that I wanted one. In a move quite uncharacteristic for me, I went to the dealership about two weeks after they came out and bought an ‘04 xB. The ‘04 Scions were only available in California which is where I lived at the time so I was quite the early adopter.

The rest of the story goes something like xB was fun for a while and fit our family of four quite nicely except on extended trips where the shortage of cargo space meant for some creative packing of baggage (thank goodness the twins did not need any legroom at that time!). Well, our family of four became a family of five and long story short, the xB got traded in for a minivan. I was sad and still am to a certain degree.

I liked the uniqueness of the design in the xB and did not care when I was told it looked like a shoebox, toaster, it was the ugliest car one had ever seen, etc. I know that asthetics and looks are subjective (who in their right mind would ever buy a Pontiac Aztec???) so the negativity just bounced right off of my ears. For every negative comment I had on the car, I had four positive comments. When I moved to AZ, the cars had yet to come out there so they were even more rare. I had folks old and young approach me in parking lots asking about the car. At one point, I had a basic spiel I had memorized including brief background on the Toyota-Scion relationship (like a Lexus, only cheaper!), approximate gas mileage, and MSRP.

I do not get any of those same feelings or emotions welling up inside of me from looking at the new xB and that is why I am disappointed. Sorry Scion, maybe your next round will get back to your roots.