All-New MEGO Female Body

[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.
I think all short men find tall women freakish.

[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:





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.







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.






.

[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.
I think all short men find tall women freakish.

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.

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

[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".

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







.

[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.

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).




.

[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]

Possible Female head sources for ya.

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.





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!

[PNGwynne]

*bump*