Stop Motion Fun

Playing with Cinderella and a Stop Motion app on my iPhone.

Disney Star Wars Elite Forces Premium Action Figures

I got these 10” action figures (on sale) from disneystore.com, after checking out several reviews on YouTube.  

Of course, our local customs had to put their own (higher) value and ignore the invoice that was included in the box.

I have not seen any of the newer Star Wars movies, so I’m not familiar with these characters.

Here are: Director Krennic, Jyn Eros and Rey.

I like that their clothes are not molded on and some of their accessories look really cool.  

Look at this bag!

I’m anxious to see their articulation.  I’ll open them up and share my findings.

1997 Barbie Rapunzel

I've have had my blonde Barbie Rapunzel since the '90s and have kept her because of her lovely face.  

A few years ago, I swapped her head to a Twirling Ballerina Teresa body and imagined her as a ballet dancer/teacher. 

Earlier this year, I swapped her to a Made To Move body and put Teresa back on her ballerina body.

Last month, I ordered a secondhand AA version of Rapunzel on Amazon.com. 

She is as beautiful as I thought she would be.

I had a little fun playing 'Franken-Rapunzel' with her crown.  It was secured to her head with pegs that I had to cut off to remove the crown.

The colour difference between her head and her body is noticeable in this photo.

Now that I had her, it was time to search for a matching articulated body.

Comparing her body to the dolls that I had, yellow MTM and Lt. Uhura were too light.  My curvy  Barbie The Look, just looking at her face, also looked too light.  My other options that were a close match to Rapunzel's body were:

From left to right - MH Clawdia (with another doll's head), 
Disney Classic Princess Tiana (with EAH Justine Dancer head), 
DC Super Hero Bumble Bee and So In Style Baby Phat Kara.

I found that I didn't like Clawdia's and Bumble Bee's body proportions for Rapunzel and Clawdia seemed too dark anyway; Tiana's knees and ankles are not stable; Kara is currently too elusive/expensive.

I really didn't want to use Bumble Bee's body, so I took another look at my curvy The Look girl.  I took a photo with flash to show the differences in the skin tones of Bumble Bee, Rapunzel and The Look. 

Bumble Bee looked too dark, so I definitely wasn't going to use her.  The Look's head appeared to be lighter than her body, but her body matched perfectly with Rapunzel's head. 

So here she is. My curvy Rapunzel.

I wouldn't have thought that the same body would look so good with different heads.

Ken Body Swap

When Princess Power Reporter Ken first came out in 2014, I ordered him right away.  He is the only Ken I've purchased, I think, since 1997.  I liked his look (the spectacles and shirt and tie outfit) but not his stiff body.

I've swapped heads on lots of barbies but never tried it with Ken, because of his neck.   I already had the Divergent and Hunger Games guys, so I knew I could use their articulated bodies,  but I wasn't ready to take the chance until two months ago.   After confirming that Finnick's skin tone matched Ken's, I got another Finnick.  I didn't build up the courage to do the swap until last week, though.

Finnick is now wearing Ken's body.  His head is loose, but Ken's head sits firmly and doesn't move up and down.  He is taller.

"Hello!"

I'm happy with him. I wish more articulated bodies were available in other skin tones.

Importation frustration.

I understand that Customs have to check items to ensure that they are what the invoice says they are, but why oh why, can't they be more CAREful with small delicate items?

I opened my EMS package from Japan in the same position that our local Customs officials did - at the bottom of the box, where they re-sealed it with boxing tape and an 'inspected' label.

I was flabbergasted when I lifted the box flaps to see one of the three bagged figures, cut open and the figure nearly half-way out of the bag.

I became even more distressed after noticing that the left foot was missing. I realised that I to be careful about moving around the contents of the box because of the tiny size of the foot. I scanned the plastic bag and was happy to see it wedged between the figure's right hand and thigh.

After inspection, why didn't they just tape the bag closed?

Get Real Girls Reboot!

I came across this project on kickstarter.com:
 
Get Real Girl: Sport action figure/dolls empowering girls