Black Manta Body Swap

[jacoblb]

Okay, this evening I've switched just about every Mattel RA head (wave 1 and 2 only) onto a Castaway body except for Sinestro (working on that particular figure as I type this) and Black Manta. Has anyone popped the head off of Black Manta successfully without a torso crush? I'm concerned I may break the head as the dome is glued onto the neck. Any tips are greatly appreciated! I'm trying to save the bodies as best I can so if anyone has done this without a torso crush do tell, please.

Jacob

[pmwasson]

I did it recently with no problems. I stuck it in some hot water for a bit and pulled. I was careful to only pull the neck and not the dome. The neck seems to be of a harder plastic, so it was actually easier to get a hold of and seem to come off easier (maybe no glue? I don't remember exactly)

[jacoblb]

Thanks! I'm gonna try it soon.

[Type Two]

I read too many horror stories about swapping Retro Hero heads, so I came up with a somewhat...invasive method. Nonetheless, it works.

I drill a hole on one side of the Retro body, between the head and the arm. Then I insert a screwdriver and pull, making a gap large enough to pull the head out. I then cut off the weird, hard plastic disc, leaving only the flexible rubber, and keeping the neck swivel slot. THEN I'm ready to fit it into another body's neck hole.

I have never had a problem following this system.

[jacoblb]

Luckily I've no neck post rips or tears to report. What worked for me every time was a nail file. It took a lot of patience and I saved the last two I mentioned above for last. Sinestro was the most difficult, I wonder if that's due to the dyed nature of the head and body. BM wasn't too bad, it was just gaining the courage to tug onto his neck alone that swayed me. Paul's feedback really helped. IIRC my Black Manta, unlike all the other figures in this line, didn't have the glued post for holding down the head. Maybe Mattel figured any child pulling on BM's head was more likely to pull the dome off first.

I'm really glad this worked out this way and I was able to save all the bodies (except for the first one I ever did a couple months back, wave 2 RC Batman.) Before I resorted to the nail file I had entertained the idea of using a circular drill bit and make a hole in the chest, I'm glad I didn't need to do that. But it's great there are so many methods that work.