This Material Mattel use snags on your Fingers as it is. Or like my Lex Luthor...comes "pre-snagged" in the Package.
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Yes, Velcro BAD! This Material Mattel use snags on your Fingers as it is. Or like my Lex Luthor...comes "pre-snagged" in the Package.
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Granted the Max Steel pelvis is ugly, but it works. They could resculpt it to work like Max's but look less ugly.
If the Velcro doesn't work with the material then I agree its a bad idea. In which case metal snaps might be nicer then the clear plastic ones.Leave a comment:
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re: max steel. I HATE the aesthetics of the max steel pelvis. I would not like to see it on an 8" figure. It looks terrible. You be the judge.Leave a comment:
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I'm with astronutz on the 'no velcro' policy. The RAH fabric would not like it at all.Leave a comment:
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How about Velcro instead of snaps? I know the original Mego's had snaps but the new ones that are used are a lot thicker and look very awkward. Velcro would be smoother to the body.Leave a comment:
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I wonder if it would make sense to have them all wear pants that ride low enough to show 6" of butt crack as well?Leave a comment:
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all good stuff, keep it coming.
i can say this about the chest: seems today's esthetics point toward more emhasis on the abs versus the heavy pecs and biceps of the 70s and 80s ( i don't get it...makes people look like insects as far as i'm concerned....but that said, i'm not a 17 year old girl). that was something that was discussed during the design phase.Leave a comment:
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As someone who's pulled apart and re-done some Mego bodies over the years, I can point to several major problems with the bodies:
Proportions: the thunder thighs are the most obvious problem, but the chest is also a bit scrawny for the rest of the body. I put Supes on a Mego body and the difference in the torso became very apparent. THe arms are comparable, and the legs minus the thighs are about the same, but the Mego chest fits the proportions better.
Weakness: cheap plastic leads to problems, especially the terrible bow legged stance soem of the figures have. My Batman can't even stand on his own because his legs almost form an "O". A big part of it is the softness of the plastic comprising the knee joint.
The much maligned hip: this piece is the biggest design flaw of all. It is simply too small to be usable, mainly because it doesn't provide enough surface area where the parts meet to allow the parts to hold a pose well. The loose rubber band is a culprit here, as well, but even with that fixed, I can see the legs having a problem. You need some good old fashioned friction for such joints to work, and there doesn't seem to be enough contact area to the job.
If they are ready to go back to formula, I'd second the suggestion of scaling down the Max Steel body to 8". The bodies were solid, posable, and very well proportioned, with a good athletic build that would work perfectly for the 70's era heroes the line tries to re-create.Leave a comment:
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I recently picked up some Max Steel figures at Value Village. The stamp on the back says Mattel 1998. The bodies are excellent. They pose, they stand up, they look good. Maybe the Retro guys should look at down scaling those bodies or perhaps just using Max Steel as a template?Leave a comment:
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retooling is not out of the question, hence the request for feedback while we had the window open.Hello and thank you for this opportunity,
I would like to first state that I like the Mattel retro body. I feel the anatomy and muscles look great in and out of costume. There have been complaints about bow-legs and thunder thighs, however I have no problem with that. The addition of a bicep swivel would be the icing on the cake in my opinion. Not necessary, but very cool.
The problem with the body is due to 1 (and sort of 2) part: The pelvis.
Here is the top view of both an original pelvis (or in this case a Doc Mego one) and a Mattel pelvis, which is the one on the right. Notice the opening at the top. The Mego one is perfectly round as well as deep. It provides a perfect seat for the torso and because of it's completely round shape, the tension of the elastic doesn't pull it in any direction but down. This type of ball joint construction is very common with 70's figures such as GIJoe, Big Jim, and of course Mego.
Notice the shape of the Mattel pelvis:
I've drawn a circle around both parts to show the difference. The Mattel pelvis is oval shaped and shallow. The bottom of the torso isn't able to seat in it properly and the results are either the figure being pulled backwards or slumped forward. This is because the narrower sections of the oval shape have the least resistance to the elastic.
Here are two images of the bottom of the torso:
I've drawn circles again. The Mego torso is perfectly round, as well as textured, and the Mattel torso is oval shaped, despite the opening at the bottom being round. A change to the top of the pelvis and the bottom of the torso to make a good connection is what is needed to keep the waist from slipping around.
On to the hip connections: Again, the pelvis is the problem here. The sockets are too shallow allowing for the hips to slip around easily.
Here is a shot of the Mattel pelvis, the pelvis with legs, and the Mego pelvis with Mattel legs.
The Mattel legs have nice ball joints on top. Notice how well they seat into the Mego pelvis. With elastic pressure, they pose well, hold position well, and I feel they even look better. So, just like with the waist, the seat for the hip joints need to be deep enough to hold the hips in place.
I did string this together to see how it would work:
The legs worked great, however the oval nature of the torso made it unable to seat in the pelvis.
Speaking of elastic pressure, i have a suggestion for how they should be strung:
The elastic goes down into the hip, over the peg in the pelvis, down into the other hip, over the peg in the torso, and tied at the waist. The upward pulling on the legs makes them sit better.
If retooling is out of the question, I have had a fair amount of success adding gaskets to the joints. It's still not perfect, but they at least stand up straight.
In the end, I'd like to see retro figures have a nice long life. Thank you again.
a lot of time was spent on this post, which i truly appreciate. our first focus was on the pelvis when we got the bodies in the first time, and it seems that's gonna be the first place to start, of anywhere.
thanx for this as well as all the other thoughtful posts on this thread.Leave a comment:
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