An Overdue Tribute, and an Overdue Hint

I know we promised you a hint for our contest last week, but two passings had our minds elsewhere. The first was Tim's father, whom I unfortunately never got the chance to meet, but my sympathy goes out to Tim for his loss. The second was Eddie Wires, a prototype painter of the highest caliber and a heck of a nice guy, one I had the pleasure of getting to know during my tenure as editor of ToyFare.

I remember having breakfast with him one morning at the New York Toy Fair, along with the Palisades Toys crew -- Eddie painted most if not all of their Muppets prototypes, not to mention Ren & Stimpy, Invader Zim, Adult Swim, Alien, Predator and Transformers. He also painted hundreds of prototypes for Toy Biz, including many of the Marvel Legends, as well as work for DC Direct, Diamond Select and Hasbro. While I didn't know him as well as I would have liked, I know that he is truly missed by his colleagues and friends. And, having photographed and written about pretty much every prototype he ever painted, I think I can say with a fair degree of confidence that the man had a great talent. After all, if you just count the Muppets and Legends alone, his paint apps acted as guides for most of the action figures in my permanent collection. Here are just a few of his prototype paint jobs.

If any of you would still like a hint in order to complete your entry in the contest, here's one last picture for you. It wasn't painted by Eddie, but it is a full-body shot of the one piece that is probably giving you guys so much trouble. No name, no sculptor, but at least you've got a face. Or lack thereof.