Most of the way there getting it to work with loading thang types dynamically throughout the play view.

app/lib/surface/CocoSprite.coffee

@@ -70,7 +70,7 @@ module.exports = CocoSprite = class CocoSprite extends CocoClass
     @age = 0
     @scaleFactor = @targetScaleFactor = 1
     @displayObject = new createjs.Container()
-    if @thangType.get('actions') or @thangType.get('raster')
+    if @thangType.isFullyLoaded()
       @setupSprite()
     else
       @stillLoading = true
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ module.exports = CocoSprite = class CocoSprite extends CocoClass
 
   queueAction: (action) ->
     # The normal way to have an action play
+    return unless @thangType.isFullyLoaded()
     action = @actions[action] if _.isString(action)
     action ?= @actions.idle
     @actionQueue = []
@@ -266,6 +267,7 @@ module.exports = CocoSprite = class CocoSprite extends CocoClass
     @hasMoved = true
 
   updateScale: ->
+    return unless @imageObject
     if @thangType.get('matchWorldDimensions') and @thang
       if @thang.width isnt @lastThangWidth or @thang.height isnt @lastThangHeight
         bounds = @imageObject.getBounds()

app/lib/surface/Layer.coffee

@@ -101,4 +101,5 @@ module.exports = class Layer extends createjs.Container
   cache: ->
     return unless @children.length
     bounds = @getBounds()
+    return unless bounds
     super bounds.x, bounds.y, bounds.width, bounds.height, 2

app/lib/surface/Mark.coffee

@@ -200,7 +200,7 @@ module.exports = class Mark extends CocoClass
     Backbone.Mediator.publish 'sprite:loaded'
 
   update: (pos=null) ->
-    return false unless @on and @mark
+    return false unless @on and @mark and @sprite?.thangType.isFullyLoaded()
     @mark.visible = not @hidden
     @updatePosition pos
     @updateRotation()
@@ -242,7 +242,7 @@ module.exports = class Mark extends CocoClass
       oldMark.parent.removeChild oldMark
     return unless @name in ["selection", "target", "repair", "highlight"]
     scale = 0.5
-    if @sprite
+    if @sprite?.imageObject
       size = @sprite.getAverageDimension()
       size += 60 if @name is 'selection'
       size += 60 if @name is 'repair'

app/lib/surface/SpriteBoss.coffee

@@ -201,6 +201,8 @@ module.exports = class SpriteBoss extends CocoClass
   cache: (update=false) ->
     return if @cached and not update
     wallSprites = (sprite for sprite in @spriteArray when sprite.thangType?.get('name').search(/(dungeon|indoor).wall/i) isnt -1)
+    unless _.all (s.thangType.isFullyLoaded() for s in wallSprites)
+      return 
     walls = (sprite.thang for sprite in wallSprites)
     @world.calculateBounds()
     wallGrid = new Grid walls, @world.size()...

app/models/SuperModel.coffee

@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ module.exports = class SuperModel extends Backbone.Model
   loadModel: (model, name, fetchOptions, value=1) ->
     cachedModel = @getModelByURL(model.getURL())
     if cachedModel
-      console.debug 'Model cache hit', cachedModel.getURL(), 'already loaded', cachedModel.loaded
+      console.debug 'Model cache hit', cachedModel.get('name') or cachedModel.getURL()
       if cachedModel.loaded
         res = @addModelResource(cachedModel, name, fetchOptions, 0)
         res.markLoaded()

app/models/ThangType.coffee

@@ -26,12 +26,18 @@ module.exports = class ThangType extends CocoModel
     @buildActions()
     @spriteSheets = {}
     @building = {}
+    
+  isFullyLoaded: ->
+    # TODO: Come up with a better way to identify when the model doesn't have everything needed to build the sprite. ie when it's a projection without all the required data.
+    return @get('actions') or @get('raster') # needs one of these two things
 
   getActions: ->
+    return {} unless @isFullyLoaded()
     return @actions or @buildActions()
 
   buildActions: ->
-    @actions = $.extend(true, {}, @get('actions') or {})
+    return null unless @isFullyLoaded()
+    @actions = $.extend(true, {}, @get('actions'))
     for name, action of @actions
       action.name = name
       for relatedName, relatedAction of action.relatedActions ? {}
@@ -52,6 +58,7 @@ module.exports = class ThangType extends CocoModel
     options
 
   buildSpriteSheet: (options) ->
+    return false unless @isFullyLoaded()
     @options = @fillOptions options
     key = @spriteSheetKey(@options)
     return if @building[key]
@@ -146,7 +153,7 @@ module.exports = class ThangType extends CocoModel
       return true
     t0 = new Date()
     spriteSheet = @builder.build()
-    console.warn "Built #{@get('name')} in #{new Date() - t0}ms on main thread."
+    console.debug "Built #{@get('name')} in #{new Date() - t0}ms."
     @spriteSheets[key] = spriteSheet
     delete @building[key]
     spriteSheet
@@ -180,6 +187,7 @@ module.exports = class ThangType extends CocoModel
     stage?.toDataURL()
 
   getPortraitStage: (spriteOptionsOrKey, size=100) ->
+    return unless @isFullyLoaded()
     key = spriteOptionsOrKey
     key = if _.isString(key) then key else @spriteSheetKey(@fillOptions(key))
     spriteSheet = @spriteSheets[key]

app/views/play/level/hud_view.coffee

@@ -109,6 +109,13 @@ module.exports = class HUDView extends View
     @update()
 
   createAvatar: (thangType, thang, colorConfig) ->
+    unless thangType.isFullyLoaded()
+      args = arguments
+      unless @listeningToCreateAvatar
+        @listenToOnce thangType, 'sync', -> @createAvatar(args...)
+        @listeningToCreateAvatar = true
+      return
+    @listeningToCreateAvatar = false
     options = thang.getSpriteOptions() or {}
     options.async = false
     options.colorConfig = colorConfig if colorConfig

app/views/play/level/thang_avatar_view.coffee

@@ -14,16 +14,28 @@ module.exports = class ThangAvatarView extends View
     super options
     @thang = options.thang
     @includeName = options.includeName
+    @thangType = @getSpriteThangType()
+    if not @thangType
+      console.error 'Thang avatar view expected a thang type to be provided.'
+      return
+      
+    unless @thangType.isFullyLoaded() or @thangType.loading
+      @thangType.fetch()
+    
+    @supermodel.loadModel @thangType, 'thang'
+
+  getSpriteThangType: ->
+    thangs = @supermodel.getModels(ThangType)
+    thangs = (t for t in thangs when t.get('name') is @thang.spriteName)
+    loadedThangs = (t for t in thangs when t.isFullyLoaded())
+    return loadedThangs[0] or thangs[0] # try to return one with all the goods, otherwise a projection
 
   getRenderData: (context={}) ->
     context = super context
     context.thang = @thang
-    thangs = @supermodel.getModels(ThangType)
-    thangs = (t for t in thangs when t.get('name') is @thang.spriteName)
-    thang = thangs[0]
     options = @thang?.getSpriteOptions() or {}
     options.async = false
-    context.avatarURL = thang.getPortraitSource(options)
+    context.avatarURL = @thangType.getPortraitSource(options)
     context.includeName = @includeName
     context