Spoonriders

pinshape

One of my fondest childhood memories is that of Nabisco's "Spoon Man" cereal box premiums, invented in the 1950s by John "Wally" Walworth, creator of Casper the Friendly Ghost and numerous cereal and Cracker Jack(TM) premiums. Known variously as "Spoon Men" or "Spoon Sitters," these characters slide onto your spoon handle and keep you company while you eat. The original I remember so well was a Nabisco spaceman with a little antenna on top of his head; they pop up occasionally on eBay but are not cheap. All my favorite heroes are here, or at least most of them, anyway. Chow down with Cthulu, slurp soup with Gorn, gorge with Ganesh! Instructions for removal from the spoon slot can be tricky; take your time and don't use too much force or you might separate the layers at the sides of the slot. Once you get to know the geometry, it's not too bad. You could print with the slot vertical to avoid the need for support, but I don't like that orientation for figurines. Or if you're a whiz at support-less printing, go for it! I designed the hole using 3 or 4 spoons I had around the house. After going to the thrift shop and picking up another dozen for the photo shoot, I found some that are incompatible or marginally so, so you might have to tweak the hole for a particular spoon. The slot is narrower at the front of the figure than at the rear; make sure it's facing the correct way. Slide the slot over the spoon handle near the bowl, where it's narrow enough to go into the vertical channel in the figure. Then slide the figure gently rearward until it's reasonably secure. Don't pull back really hard because the force of the widening spoon handle may split the plastic. All of my source files are editable on Tinkercad; search for "Spoonrider."