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All-New MEGO Female Body

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  • darklord1967
    Persistent Member
    • Mar 27, 2008
    • 1550

    All-New MEGO Female Body

    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.
    Last edited by darklord1967; Apr 7, '09, 12:03 PM.
    I... am an action figure customizer
  • darklord1967
    Persistent Member
    • Mar 27, 2008
    • 1550

    #2





    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!
    I... am an action figure customizer

    Comment

    • darklord1967
      Persistent Member
      • Mar 27, 2008
      • 1550

      #3




      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.



      .
      Last edited by darklord1967; Apr 2, '09, 9:46 AM.
      I... am an action figure customizer

      Comment

      • darklord1967
        Persistent Member
        • Mar 27, 2008
        • 1550

        #4





        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).






        .
        Last edited by darklord1967; Apr 4, '09, 3:38 AM.
        I... am an action figure customizer

        Comment

        • Tothiro
          Kitten Mittens
          • Aug 28, 2008
          • 1342

          #5
          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?

          Comment

          • darklord1967
            Persistent Member
            • Mar 27, 2008
            • 1550

            #6
            Originally posted by 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?

            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)

            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.
            I... am an action figure customizer

            Comment

            • BlackKnight
              The DarkSide Customizer
              • Apr 16, 2005
              • 14622

              #7
              Very nice work So far Roberto !!!
              I have been working on one myself...
              ... The Original Knight ..., Often Imitated, However Never Duplicated. The 1st Knight in Customs.


              always trading for Hot Toys Figures .

              Comment

              • livnxxxl
                Megoholic RocketScientist
                • Oct 23, 2007
                • 3903

                #8
                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!
                Enjoy what you like, and let others enjoy what they like. (C) Azrak 2009

                Too much space. Need more toys!



                Check out the ever growing Mego like sized vehicles data base.

                Comment

                • Meule
                  Verbose Member
                  • Nov 14, 2004
                  • 28720

                  #9
                  That's one helluva difference compared to a Mego female, great job
                  "...The agony of my soul found vent in one loud, long and final scream of despair..." - Edgar Allan Poe

                  Comment

                  • jessica
                    fortune favors the bold
                    • Nov 5, 2007
                    • 4587

                    #10
                    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.
                    Last edited by jessica; Apr 2, '09, 2:24 AM.
                    Those who look outside dream. Those who look within awake.
                    Samples of my work are found here: Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness

                    To do list:
                    1:6 boots for Mathilda, 1:1 Romulan Commander outfit, Ursus helmet; Cornelius appliance
                    1:9 scale ape's new suit for Cornelius;

                    Comment

                    • Tothiro
                      Kitten Mittens
                      • Aug 28, 2008
                      • 1342

                      #11
                      Originally posted by darklord1967
                      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

                      Comment

                      • thunderbolt
                        Hi Ernie!!!
                        • Feb 15, 2004
                        • 34211

                        #12
                        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.
                        You must try to generate happiness within yourself. If you aren't happy in one place, chances are you won't be happy anyplace. -Ernie Banks

                        Comment

                        • The Bat
                          Batman Fanatic
                          • Jul 14, 2002
                          • 13412

                          #13
                          That's PERFECT Roberto!! I think you've got it!!
                          sigpic

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                          • D!n0-M@n
                            w/ Life-Like Hair & Beard
                            • Sep 17, 2008
                            • 404

                            #14
                            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...
                            MY GODS ARE SMALL...... AND PLASTIC!

                            Comment

                            • Megospidey
                              Museum Webslinger
                              • Jul 26, 2006
                              • 5305

                              #15
                              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.

                              Comment

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