Around COVID time, I decided to have my first character made into an animatronic. I’d seen a guy online who specialised in animatronics and reached out.
Turned out he was a student. I also checked with Larry to make sure he was happy for me to have another head made. He was fine — even enthusiastic about the project.
The student agreed to do the work for an extremely reasonable price, as long as he could showcase it for his uni work. I sent him a copy of the head. He worked his magic. The character could blink, move its eyes, and turn its head. He sent weekly updates. It was brilliant.
Then he asked if Larry could install the mouth movement. I reached out to Larry. He said sure. I organised the postage and got it picked up. Once a week, I’d check in. Like before, he would say he was working on it.
Seven months passed. Each week i would ring and ask how it's coming along.
Then, while walking around Greenwich Park, I rang him. His answer: “Sorry, I’m too depressed. I can’t work on it. I’ll ship it back.”
I couldn’t believe it. He had led me on. The super talented and reliable student stopped replying. After all that work,time, money I had spent on a half-finished project which currently sits in a box.
After this, I stopped reaching out. Occasionally, he would call to check in — curious about the projects I was working on, or just to catch up. He’d tell me about his ailments, his morning coffee and sausage roll from the local bakery, his three pints at the local pub each night.