All-New MEGO Female Body

[darklord1967]

Due to my urgent desires for creating a handful of sexy female MEGO Bat-characters, (Batgirl, Barbara Gordon, Catwoman, and Harley Quinn) I have decided that the time is LONG overdue for the development of a new body for MEGO-scaled females.

I've always thought that the 8 inch scaled MEGO female body was very strangely shaped and proportioned. To my eyes, it looked lanky, and awkward and not at all “sexy” (by the classical definition of an athletic female).

Also, in terms of scale, the existing MEGO female body is far too big when compared to the MEGO male countertparts:

The average MEGO female character is 8 inches tall (when dressed), Exactly like the male characters. They feature heads that appear even larger than the men… particularly when you take into account their big hair!

Scale-wise, this equates to a real life woman standing over 6 feet tall, with a large head, colossal hair, and a long, awkward body that is built like a lanky BOY with breasts!

For 3 years now, I have tried to develop a nicer, sexier female body for the MEGO scale using the body parts from existing toy lines kit-bashed with MEGO body parts.

I investigated the excellent Volks female bodies only to find that while they are really beautifully sculpted and sexy, they are still TOO TALL. A volks “mini” female stands 22 cm tall. That’s over 8 and a half inches tall… NUDE! Way too tall next to the MEGO men.

Yes, the Volks female legs can be shortened so that the figure stands at an even 8 inches, but that is pushing things a bit, anatomically speaking. Plus the resulting figure still ends up standing too tall for a MEGO woman/ girl scaled next to an 8 inch MEGO male... in my view.

Like many of you, I discovered that Jakks Paciffic’s “Ruthless Agression” Wrestling characters provided excellent fodder for male custom MEGO-scaled characters.

I decided to experiment to see if the JP wrestling female characters were suitably appropriate in terms of body parts for the development of a custom MEGO female body.

Unfortunately, I quickly rejected the idea of using a JP female wrestling torso for the MEGO scale, because I felt that it was ultimately too small to be anatomically appropriate.

Boy was I was wrong.

The mistake I made during my early initial experiments was that I kept placing a MEGO female head (Invisible Woman, Mary Ellen, etc.) on JP female wrestler torso neck post. Naturally, it looked all wrong. The MEGO head was simply too large for a torso that small.

But I quickly came to a realization that changed my entire outlook. The average adult female cranium is considerably SMALLER than the average adult male cranium. That means that a properly-proportioned MEGO female cranium should be considerably smaller than what MEGO originally provided if the ladies are to be in correct scale with the men!

I saw that I needed to be planning my new custom Female MEGO body around a doll head that was much closer to the smaller size of a Breyer head or even a MEGO “Our Gang” boy’s head.

A Female doll head in that smaller size allowed once again for the application of a JP female wrestling torso.

The anatomical proportion between torso and head was now acceptable AND the resulting figure would still be MEGO scaled!!

Back in business!!!

Now for some proportional math:

At 1:9.5 MEGO scale, the 8 inch tall “heroic” MEGO male translates to a real-life man with a 6 foot 4 inch height. (Like Superman or The Batman).

The "athletically-built" young woman body type I’ve created stands exactly 7 inches tall (nude). At MEGO scale that translates to a real-life woman with a roughly 5 foot 6 inch height.

According to DC comics character stats Batgirl/ Barbara Gordon was 5 feet 6 inches tall (when she first became Batgirl at the age of 17). Selena Kyle/ Catwoman stands 5 feet 7 inches tall. And Supergirl is 5 feet 5 inches tall.

So the custom body I’ve created is a just about a perfect proportionate height for an “average” female next to 8 inch MEGO adult males.

[darklord1967]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/darklord1967/MEGO%20Bat-Toys/femalebodstage1.jpg




In PHOTO ONE, much of the preliminary anatomical work on this custom MEGO-Scaled female was being completed:

A Breyer female head was placed on the neck post of a Jakk’s Paciffic “Ruthless Agression” female torso.

Much of the bikini top sculpt detail has been sanded off.

Temporary Breyer arms replaced the (overly muscular and too short) arms of the Wrestling figure.

The ball-pivot from a Breyer doll’s waist articulation has been adapted to the underside of the JP female wrestling torso. There is a reason for this:

MEGO female bodies typically had their waist articulation located at the tummy (a ball sandwiched in between torso and pelvis). This style of waist articulation caused a slight bulge to the figure’s mid section that virtually ELIMINIATED the sexy profile of an athletic female’s flat stomach and her arched lower back.

By placing the waist articulation point on the female torso’s underside (below the tummy) the natural pivot / swivel point for the figure’s mid section now becomes her pelvis (NOT her tummy). This allows for the preservation of the natural curves of the beautiful athletic female body form.

This new style of female waist articulation is also totally consistent with traditional MEGO male waist articulation.

Using the Jakk’s Paciffic Wrestling figure PELVIS, I began adding sculpey and re-built the pelvis into a larger (MEGO-scaled) size.

The Wrestling figure’s legs has had MEGO hip sockets adapted to them so that they can string up through the pelvis and up inside the torso (MEGO-style). These legs have a MUCH sexier, much more attractive (athletic sculpt) than MEGO or Breyer’s “stick figure” skinny legs. These ARE the legs of a super heroic woman!

[darklord1967]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/darklord1967/MEGO%20Bat-Toys/FemaleBodStageII.jpg



In PHOTO TWO, The custom MEGO-scaled female has now been given sexy new arms (kit bashed from off a Final Fantasy VII Action Figure). These arms feature an upper bicep swivel. The figure’s shoulder ball-joint have been shaved down a bit to give them a less severe and more feminine contour. The new arms, combined with these ball-jointed shoulders make for ENDLESS possibilities for arm posing. These arms also come with interchangeable hands (open hands and fists). The hands are currently swivel wrist articulation only, but they will soon be adapted into ball-joint articulation.

At this stage, the custom pelvis sculpt has been cleaned up smooth, and the pelvis' top opening has been widened a bit so that the torso ball-pivot is a bit more concealed. The waist articulation still functions beautifully with a full range of motion. She is still capable of performing "hula-hoop" hip shimmys!

Also, the filler work between the MEGO hip sockets and the Jakk’s Paciffic Wrestling legs is finished.

Custom correctly-scaled MEGO female is seen here posing next to (freakishly tall, lanky, big- headed) original MEGO female.



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[darklord1967]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/darklord1967/MEGO%20Bat-Toys/FemaleBodStage3.jpg




In PHOTO THREE, MEGO female ankles and feet have been adapted onto the Jakks Paciffic female lower legs. The knee pins had been pulled out of both legs when this photo was taken so they are held together with scotch tape. At this stage my custom MEGO-scaled Athletic Female Body was about 95% complete.

This basic custom MEGO female body that I have developed will be the basis for the four custom MEGO Gotham City ladies that I’ll be unveiling here shortly.

She is standing next to an 8 inch tall super-articulate “heroic male” body that I am developing for my re-visit of The Batman in a few weeks. By the way, this male figure is a TRUE 8 inches tall when nude (versus MEGO’s 7.75 inches).






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[Tothiro]

That's fantastic! I've been wanting to do a scratch-build along these lines for a while but it looks like you've already done most of the heavy lifting. Do you mind telling me which Breyer head that is? She's perfect for a custom I want to do (Joe from Madman).

Do you plan on casting some base bodies up and selling them or are these just for private stock?

[darklord1967]

That's fantastic! I've been wanting to do a scratch-build along these lines for a while but it looks like you've already done most of the heavy lifting. Do you mind telling me which Breyer head that is? She's perfect for a custom I want to do (Joe from Madman).

Do you plan on casting some base bodies up and selling them or are these just for private stock?


The (temporary) Breyer head used here is the Dressage Rider Doll. She is relatively plentiful on E-bay:

Breyer's Dressage Rider Doll...NIB - eBay (item 380111144518 end time Apr-15-09 13:34:30 PDT) (http://cgi.ebay.com/Breyers-Dressage-Rider-Doll-NIB_W0QQitemZ380111144518QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_Def aultDomain_0?hash=item380111144518&_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116#ht_529wt_909)

I will probably be offering resin castings of the custom female legs and pelvis that I have developed.

I cannot offer the torso since I did not bother to mold/ cast it. I wanted to preserve the moving parts of the ball jointed shoulders.

To duplicate this custom MEGO female body, a customizer would only need to get their hands on a Jakk's Paciffic Ruthless Agression Female character (Vickie Guerrero, Katie Lea Burchill, etc.), a Final Fantasy VII figure (for the arms), and a Breyer female for the waist ball articulation. Add the legs and pelvis castings that I'll provide and you're in business.

[BlackKnight]

Very nice work So far Roberto !!! :grin:
I have been working on one myself...

[livnxxxl]

She looks to be much better scale than the original. I would not mind picking up some of these as well when and if should the opportunity become available to do so. Looking good so far. Keep up the great work!

[Meule]

That's one helluva difference compared to a Mego female, great job

[jessica]

Wow. I was going to tackle this project after finishing all of my apes customs! I really hate the existing Mego female body...and I especially hate the bobble heads of the females particularly with the mongo gynormous foreheads. I'm glad you started it. I was going to sculpt the whole thing completely from scratch. I have been thinking about ball joints, etc. and was going to reverse engineer something.

[Tothiro]

I will probably be offering resin castings of the custom female legs and pelvis that I have developed.

I cannot offer the torso since I did not bother to mold/ cast it. I wanted to preserve the moving parts of the ball jointed shoulders.

Aaah - ok, I understand the shoulder articulation now. That's perfect - half the fun is doing some of the modification yourself, right? :)

I'm on the "interested" list when you offer those leg/hip parts. Thanks again for the 'bay link!

-Robert

[thunderbolt]

I've been looking at the Jakks figures for exacly the same thing, have you looked at the Marvel Legends She Hulk from the Fin Fang Foom Build a Figure line? She's got the ball jointed hips you need.

[The Bat]

That's PERFECT Roberto!! I think you've got it!!:yes:

[D!n0-M@n]

WOW! That is coming along very sweetly Roberto! My god you've got it spot on in the proportions department and I really dig the proper scale height! FANTASTIC!!!

P.S. Mr. "J" is getting close to completion... :grin:

[Megospidey]

That body is looking great Roberto...So far the best female body I've seen (and I'm a fan of the Volks body, but you're right...it's too tall).

My only concern is this: If all the Mego-scale heads (men and women) that are currently available are meant to fit on 8" bodies, won't they all look too big on this 7" body?

You put that Supergirl head on your body and she's going to be out of scale/proprotion. The Breyer girl head is smaller and looks perfect.

SO...anyone who uses this body will need to shrink their female heads down a bit to get the right scale if they use existing Mego-scale female heads.

I would also be in favor of two female anatomically correct bodies - one that is 7" and one that is 8" (some female superheroes are taller).

At any rate...this is exciting! Can't wait to see what BK is doing too.

[rche]

Nice job on a scale female. Anticipating the final customs.

Why did you decide to go with the ff arms over the Bryer ones?

[darklord1967]

That body is looking great Roberto...So far the best female body I've seen (and I'm a fan of the Volks body, but you're right...it's too tall).

My only concern is this: If all the Mego-scale heads (men and women) that are currently available are meant to fit on 8" bodies, won't they all look too big on this 7" body?

You put that Supergirl head on your body and she's going to be out of scale/proprotion. The Breyer girl head is smaller and looks perfect.

SO...anyone who uses this body will need to shrink their female heads down a bit to get the right scale if they use existing Mego-scale female heads.

I would also be in favor of two female anatomically correct bodies - one that is 7" and one that is 8" (some female superheroes are taller).

At any rate...this is exciting! Can't wait to see what BK is doing too.



You raise some interesting questions there, Derek. Let me try to address each of them:

1) Yes original MEGO-Scaled female heads will DEFINITELY look too large on this newly developed custom female body.

Ultimately, that was the point. The original MEGO female heads (just like the rest of their bodies) were always far too large to begin with, especially when compared to the men. We're talking excessively large foreheads compounded by HUGE hair. Some MEGO females actually appear to represent a slightly larger scale (maybe 1:9) when standing next to the men.

The development of this custom female body is in response to MEGO's far too large female proportions.

So YES, the use of this body will necessitate the creation of a smaller custom female head based roughly around the size of a Breyer female which is virtually PERFECT next to a MEGO male. OR, if possible, an existing MEGO female head will have to be shrunken... no easy task considering the rooted hair one would have to deal with.

Don't forget: in real-life an average adult female cranium is (generally) smaller than an adult male cranium. This is where MEGO made their mistake all those years ago.

You mentioned MEGO SUPERGIRL. She is the perfect example of why the new female body needed to be developed. Supergirl is a teen-aged girl... late teens. She should NOT have been given a cranium that was as large as what MEGO gave her. An "average" adult-sized female cranium would have been okay, but NOT the cranium (and large hair) of an exceptionally tall and big woman. Scale-wise and proportionately speaking, that was what she got... and it was incorrect... just as incorrect as ROBIN: The Boy Wonder having been designed on the same 8 inch tall muscular body as the heroic men.

In my view, MEGO should have produced female heads closer to the Breyer size for their adult female characters to keep everything in proper scale next to the men, teens (Teen Titans), and kids (Our Gang).




2) You mention the viability of developing an anatomically correct 8 inch female body (in addition to the 7 inch body I've created), to represent taller hero women.

Well, even for really tall women characters (say about 5' 10" tall), the final figure should really NOT exceed a height of about 7.5 inches to stay in scale next to the 8 inch tall men.

At 1:9.5 scale a 7.5 inch tall female figure represents a real life woman who stands 71.25 inches (5 feet 11 inches) tall. That's pretty tall, even for an "average" tall woman.

I don't think "tall" women of that height are at all common. Even less common are women who are 6' 4" tall, which is the scale height of an 8 inch tall MEGO female next to an 8 inch tall MEGO male (Superman, The Batman, etc.)

A woman that tall in real life begins to appear just a little bit... freakish.

By the way, the 7.5 inch tall height I'm suggesting to represent a "tall" hero woman only gets taller when she is dressed wearing her costume and boots.

Making a taller version of the body that I've developed really wouldn't be difficult at all for anyone with moderate modeling skills. All that would be required is that the customizer use TWO sets of the custom legs to extend their length by 1/2 inch. That's a 1/4" extension on the upper legs, and a 1/4" extension on the lower legs. And correct, attractive, athletic female anatomy would still be preserved... so too would the comparative scale with the MEGO men.

[Fuzzysnail]

"I don't think "tall" women of that height are at all common. Even less common are women who are 6' 4" tall, which is the scale height of an 8 inch tall MEGO female next to an 8 inch tall MEGO male (Superman, The Batman, etc.)

A woman that tall in real life begins to appear just a little bit... freakish."


I hope my wife doesn't read this or your gonna get an earfull about it. :grin:
I think all short men find tall women freakish.:silly:

[darklord1967]

Nice job on a scale female. Anticipating the final customs.

Why did you decide to go with the ff arms over the Bryer ones?


Good question. The reasons were aesthetic AND mechanical:


MECHANICS:

The Breyer arms are made of brittle ABS plastic. The main problem with that is that eventually, with repeated use, the elbow and wrist joints become loose, floppy, and limp. This is especially true of the Breyer arms which feature an additional point of articulation in the form of swivel elbows.

Loosened limb articulation points are a virtual non-issue when the movable limbs are created in softer PVC plastic (like the Final Fantasy VII arms).

I do not mind torsos being made of ABS (since there are no moving parts)... just not moveable arms and legs. There, I insist upon PVC plastic... or at the very least, a soft plastic / rubbery barrier between moving parts to keep them tight. This is a technique I use on the movable parts of resin-cast limbs.



AESTHETICS:

Aesthetically, I found the Breyer arms to have the traditional lanky "doll arms" look that I just don't care for. This is almost always the case due to the awkward sculpt of the elbow articulation.

On Breyer arms, the elbow articulation is about as clumsy-looking as you can get (due to the additional swivel feature) , and I was concerned that it might translate right through skin-tight spandex.

On MEGO female arms, the sculpt of the elbow articulation is even worse, looking like like a virtual kick hinge!

By contrast, the Final Fantasy VII arms are attractively female in their proportion, the elbow articulation is a much nicer, tighter, less conspicuous sculpt, AND the need for additional elbow swivel articulation is ELIMINATED since a much more subtle upper bicep swivel is used instead.



HANDS

Despite the fact that MEGO made their female bodies far too large to be in correct scale for their male counter parts, they somehow made the hands for the women ridiculously small. Furthermore there was no grace... no female elegance... no finesse to the sculpt of these hands. They were stiff and decidedly un-attractive.

Breyer hands didn't fare much better. With a basic "c" sculpt designed primarily for holding horse reins, these hands were overly simplistic and basic, with very little in the way of feminine attributes. Furthermore, they are overly large in their proportions for the arms they are designed for.

The Final Fantasy VII hands are very exciting to me because they feature what I consider to be a BEAUTIFUL depiction of feminine hands... delicate, graceful, elegant.

They are in correct anatomical proportion to the arms they are designed for (unlike MEGO and Breyer). And they come is several varieties for varying hand positions. Final Fantasy VII Figures typically come with two sets of hands: Open hands and Fist hands. However, there ARE variations even within those parameters:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/darklord1967/femalefists.jpg


Pictured here are the fist hands (currently being used on the custom female body I've developed) The level of crisp detail is phenomenal. I will add ball wrists soon to MEGO-ize their articulation and improve them from their current "swivel-only" status.



http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/darklord1967/FemaleopenhandsI.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/darklord1967/FemaleOpenhandsII.jpg

Pictured here are two styles of the open hands available on the Final Fantasy VII figures. The hand on the right is a beautiful example of a female "gesture" hand. Perfect for walking poses etc. The hand on the left is a "not quite fist" hand that is perfect for holding guns, bullwhips, Bat-a-Rangs, etc. Once again, the crisp detail is impeccable.

Now, the only drawback that is inherent with using Final Fantasy VII figures for female arm and hands fodder is the cost. These are imported Japanese figures. They typically retail for $25.99 each at your local comic or specialty shop. Prices are pretty much the same on e-bay.\

However, I'm of the humble opinion that these beautiful arms and (2 pairs of) hands are worth every penny of $26 to add exquisite detail to an all-new exciting, sexy, and properly-scaled Female MEGO.






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[darklord1967]

"I don't think "tall" women of that height are at all common. Even less common are women who are 6' 4" tall, which is the scale height of an 8 inch tall MEGO female next to an 8 inch tall MEGO male (Superman, The Batman, etc.)

A woman that tall in real life begins to appear just a little bit... freakish."


I hope my wife doesn't read this or your gonna get an earfull about it. :grin:
I think all short men find tall women freakish.:silly:



Well I certainly do not mean to offend. But ya gotta admit, a 6 foot 4 inch tall woman is a little... out of the norm... let's just say.:smiley1:

At least I think so... and I'm 6 foot 2 inches tall.:grin:

[darklord1967]

Ya know... I wonder how long it will be before torch-carrying MEGO purists storm my home, take me prisoner, and sentence me to death by hanging for creating this figure and daring to call it "MEGO female".:terror:

After all, the only MEGO parts on this entire figure are the upper leg hip sockets, the ankles, and the feet.:grin:







.

[rche]

I wouldn't worry too much about any pitchforks or torches.
It isn't a mego figure.
It is a kitbash. Custom. 1/9 scale. Whatever you want to call it, but it is not Mego.
You have denounced all of the things that would make it Mego.
Mego scale perhaps, but not Mego.

Those FF figs are certainly a bit pricey. For a one off, this body would be over 60 bucks plus all the labor. Pretty high if you want to build one each time, but if parts ever do get mass produced, it could be a viable armature.

btw: no negativism here. I like what you have done. It looks very nice and I am looking forward to seeing the results of your customs.:yes:

rche

[darklord1967]

Thanks for the compliment, pal.

And you're right. This technically can't be called a MEGO figure. It's more like a custom kit-bash, as you pointed out.

But you'd be surprised at some of the hostility that some of us MEGO customizers get when we deviate from the MEGO norm when creating 1:9.5 scale bodies. In fact, in many circles, I've been labeled as a heretic for my open criticism of MEGO's poor sense of scale and human anatomy.

I really don't take it personally, of course. My goal is only to create characters that are as accurate and detailed as possible. Equally important to me is that they exist in correct scale with one another.

In my zeal to realize that goal, things can get awfully expensive.

This custom female body actually cost upwards of about $140 to develop (not counting developmental trial and error, the commission of a custom female character head sculpt, and final assembly labor).




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[Tothiro]

My goal is only to create characters that are as accurate and detailed as possible.

It's just one color in the customego rainbow (sorry - Fabio Spock is still stuck in my skulll...)

If I could get all my customs to look like Star Raiders knock-offs I think I would be equally happy (and dissatisfied) as I am with how mine turn out now, there's just something within me that usually stops me and pushes it less toyetic. I actually count that as a fault in my own stuff, because I want to play with that style too.

Everyone has their own barometer I guess.

[JediJaida]

I think she's pretty sweet looking. You've done a good job out of your kitbash.

As to the Mego female hands, you are absolutely right. They are puny looking.

The hands on DocMego's new female body are better when it comes to proportions, I find. They aren't as stiff and unyielding as the vintage ones.

The only problem I have is that there is only one set of hands.

The FF hands are very nicely done, but waaaaayyy overpriced.

Do you think that you could sculpt hands that are similar, but more reasonably priced?

[ddgaff1132]

Hey D-Lord! Love the progress so far on the custom re-scale figure. I think you hit on something that MEGO overlooked. Though I'd say it leans toward the Wonder girl issue of a poor equal for the Male teen titan figures. Most Superheros were drawn to be 8 heads tall. Rather statuesque by comparison to normal humans(IE 6 heads tall). But reguardless. Here I have some sources for alternative female heads.

http://megomuseum.com/mmgallery/files/1/1/7/0/S_femme-group.JPG

http://megomuseum.com/mmgallery/files/1/1/7/0/doll-heads.JPG

The bottom 2 heads are available from Micheals (The crafts store) I found one in the doll craft section and the other in the cake decorating section. They come in packs of 6 and are cheaply priced. So no guilt if you feel like giving them a re-paint. Hope this helps ya and good luck in your progress.

[darklord1967]

Wow, dude!

Thanks so much for posting these photos of some GREAT Source material for MEGO ladies!

Once again, you prove that you are the KING of useful dollar-store finds in the custom world of MEGO!

[Cosmicman]

ddgaff1132 that is so cool! I am always trying to find ways to keep my daughter's super hero gals from looking like they are related to each other. I am going to look into this. I really need to find a head to make her Wasp figure. Nothing stands out. I like the one Bobbait posted but she wants it to have hair to brush

[livnxxxl]

Yeah, That is cool info. I have been using the Bratz heads when I can find them. They fit well and look good for what I am using them for. I did not know about the Michael's doll heads. I will be checking them out to. Thanks! :smile: