Must See... Action Figures?
     If you've got a sharp eye, you might have caught a familiar-looking prop in the background of NBC's "The Naked Truth" on September 29. Perched atop a lamp on the desk of actor/comedian Chris Elliott's character, Bradley, is a custom Carnage Mego doll made by ace customizer Charlee Flatt, whose work you may remember from the covers of the first two ToyFare specials, ToyFare #1's "Twisted Mego Theatre" and other odd appearances to date.
    For Flatt, seeing his work on national television was a unique thrill. "It felt pretty weird," he said "I've been a huge Chris Elliott fan from way back when he was on 'Letterman.' It was cool to have pictures of someone I really like holding something that I made.
    Micheal Saltzman, executive producer of "Truth," has been a longtime admirer and purchaser of Flatt's custom-made Megos. "I was really impressed by his stuff and contacted him to buy some figures," he recalled. "When I got this job as executive producer, Charlee and I always joked about getting one of his figures on the set. Since Chris' character is sort of the classic fanboy, I thought it would be a perfect oppurtunity."
    But how did Flatt and Slatz,am settle on a character like Carnage instead of a more recognizable icon? "Everybody knows about the Superman statue in the background on 'Seinfeld,' " Flatt explained. "There hasn't been much Marvel representation on TV, so I thought I'd send [Michael] Carnage. And I also happened to have a Carnage figure that someone backed out on.
     If you missed on catching Carnage, don't worry—the figure will be there every week. "I'm honored to be able to display Charlee's work as a part of our set," Saltzman said. "He's absolutely brilliant. He makes all the figures I fantasized about owning as a kid. Anything else that we can do to further expose his work we'll be happy to do.
© Tom Palmer Jr.