And a Little More Catching Up

ARWEN

There was a day back in November when all sorts of little things seemed to go wrong. Nothing major--just things like I had forgotten to put the basket in the coffee pot before putting in the filter so there were coffee grounds all over; I almost ran over a bicyclist on the way to work and even though I tried to tell myself it was his fault, I knew it wasn't (he knew it wasn't too but just looked resigned); and I spilled my coke all over my lap as I got out to go into work. "I must be very careful today," I told myself. "No sudden moves." So I worked away cautiously and as I was checking on the Collectibles (to make sure nothing was out of place, of course, not to look at dollies) I saw HER:

I knew at once she was Special

Who could she be? Not a Barbie, obviously. I looked under her skirt and saw she was made by the same company that made Spideyman! I do have an eye for the best, don't I? Now my dilemma: should I attempt to buy her now and hope Mark the new supervisor didn't notice that she had just come out that day or should I wait until she'd been out for 48 hours? Remember, I had been having a Bad Day and I didn't want to jinx anything. I decided to go ahead and try to buy her. It occurred to me that my Bad Day had actually started the night before when I set the coffee maker up, so maybe the curse was over. And what was the worst that could happen? Mark would just say no, I couldn't buy her. So seizing the day, or something, I took her up to the cash register on my break and good ol' Mark never even looked at the date. And I would like to add that the curse ended then and there.

Once I got her home I had to undress her, where I discovered that she and Spideyman/Nigel have the same problem--detached, duct-taped leg syndrome.

Arwen wishes to put her dress back on

A little googling revealed her to be Arwen from Lord of the Rings. When I first got Spidey and was looking him up, I found mostly LOTR dolls made by that company and I remember thinking, "Oh, I'd never want one of them!" I really think the best dolls are the totally unexpected ones that just come to us.

I was inspired by her to reattach Nigel's head to his original body and duct tape his leg on. Girly Man was happy to have his body back.

Spidey doesn't mind too much that he can't sit down now.

"How careless of the human to lose my tiara!"

Yes, somehow I lost her tiara while I was redressing her. I am hoping it will turn up but I may have to get her a new one.

MULAN

"I'm not even going to look at the doll wall," I told myself, "because a very special girl is coming to live with us next week." But somehow one caught my eye.

Mulan

The poor girl had no shirt but her pants are original. I think she is the cutest Mulan I've seen. Her hair's a bit wild so I put a headband on it.

"Ahoy, matey"

 She has told me she wants to be a pirate girl so I'm trying to think of a piratey name for her.

And Coming Up:

Amelia, a Girl For All Time, is coming to live with us, thanks to Biggie Sis!! She is expected to arrive on Thursday. I hope they wrapped her in a blanket since she's coming from the heart of the Polar Vortex. She will be glad to get to civilization and semi-warmth.

Wonder Woman

Last Saturday Mrs. Smith and I went to the Doll & Teddy Bear Show. It is nothing like it was in its former glory but is fun to go to just to see what's there. As we passed one booth, a doll fell to the floor beside me. I picked her up. It was a Barbie sized Wonder Woman!

The Torano Guy and Wondie

On the back of her head was DC Comics Inc 1976. Mrs. Smith pointed out that she had fallen off a $1 shelf. While we were waiting for the owner of the booth to finish with another customer, I examined her more closely and saw that rather than being Mattel, like Lois Lane, she was a Mego doll! Just like Red Nicky! Then I noticed that her legs looked like they were glued on. I asked the booth lady if that's why she was only $1 and she said probably. She appeared to have no interest in Wondie whatsoever but eagerly took my dollar.

That's the only purchase we made at the Doll Show. When I got to work, I started looking at Barbies with the idea of doing a head transplant for Wonder Woman. I bought a $1.49 Barbie as a donor, although I had my doubts. I also bought what I call The Torano Guy, mainly because I liked his face and he wasn't Ken. The back of his head says 1991 Torano. Or that's what I thought. I just discovered it says Torand, not Torano. That's why I couldn't find any information about him. He is Brandon Walsh of Beverly Hills 90210. I knew he looked familiar. (Yes, I have to admit that I used to watch Beverly Hills 90210. My boyfriend-at-the-time's daughter lived with us and that's my excuse.)

Anyway, back to Wondie.

Time for another picture

I began researching Mego Wonder Woman and discovered many of their celebrity dolls developed a condition called Mego Melt, which has to do with the chemical reaction between the hard plastic torso and the softer vinyl limbs, especially if they were stored in hot places. I thought at first my Wondie's neck wouldn't turn but I wiggled it gently and it moved. Encouraged, I began trying to move her legs and sure enough, they moved. She has this gluey, melted plastic stuff between her legs but I will get some Goo Gone or something similar and see if it comes off. Her undies have it stuck on them and I'm hoping that will come out too.

There is a Wonder Woman Costume site that has a history of Wonder Woman's outfits through the years. There are 16 pages of info there and I didn't make it to the end, I was so overwhelmed. I must make her some silver bracelets and a golden lasso and a tiara. I put a sock dress on her just to see what she'd look like in "normal" clothes. I couldn't bring myself to put her in a princess dress.

Very mod

Wondie is 12 1/2 inches tall (because she's an Amazon, you know). She has real eyelashes and her hair keeps catching on them. She has articulated wrists. Some models I saw on eBay have articulated ankles. She and Red Nicky seem to get along well. Red Nicky knows that she is still my favorite.

"We Megos are the best!"

And now for some exciting Nigel news. Nigel has a new body!

There were no action figure booths at the doll show. I finally decided I just had to do something, anything for the poor boy. So I used a blow dryer on his neck and popped his head off.

Inside Nigel's head

The picture doesn't show that there was black paint inside his head. I had suspected that someone repainted his hair. It is brown underneath.

As I looked around for inspiration, I saw a cork. Auntie Berman had given me several corks to try to make doll shoes from. I whittled--or tried to. Cork doesn't whittle well. It crumbles a lot. I finally came up with a plug that fit down inside Girly Man's neck.

The cork neck plug

The only workable glue I could find on hand was some called Kids Choice Glue, similar to Elmer's or school glue, so I used it.

I kept twisting his head around until I found a good position

Then I let him rest overnight.

The Mini Deads were fascinated. If his head fell off, they could play with it.

The remains of Spidey Man and Girly Man's head

I am keeping the body parts because you never know when you might need a leg or a head or whatever. And I returned the donor Barbie, much to her relief.

I think Anakin likes Wondie

And now it's time to sew some guy clothes.

New Guys for Red Nicky

First, this is an experiment because I'm trying to identify a Hasbro guy that I found. I emailed Hasbro and they've been very helpful but my picture attachments don't come through for them. So I am going to post his picture here and then I think I can copy it directly into into the email.

Red Nicky is not sure about that braid.

What's with that tuft of hair?

My big find this week, though, was a Spideyman!

Red Nicky hasn't made any decisions yet.

He has a black smudge on his nose that I haven't been able to remove. I will probably have to paint over it. I tried alcohol, nail polish remover with acetone, peanut butter, eraser sponge--nothing worked. But his big problem (besides his Spidey hands) is that when I undressed him, I discovered his left leg was not attached! The plastic pivot was broken off.

Then I had the brilliant idea of re-bodying him! That would solve the problem of his hands and his leg. Also, I don't really want such a bulky body. In fact, he's not going to be Spideyman any more. His name is Nigel and he is a Gentleman.

I checked out the Kens at work. There were only two. One had what looked like a very blotchy sunburn or else radiation poisoning, so I rejected him at once. The other one--well, you be the judge. They had him priced at only $1.49.

"Are you a guy or a girl?"

Is it my imagination or does Nigel look really depressed?

We refer to him as Girly Man. I'm not sure if a haircut would help. His head says Disney and his body says Mattel. I think he's a Prince Charming type.

After I popped Girly Man's head off, I realized Nigel has a totally different neck/head setup.

"Let this be a bad dream," prayed Nigel.

Nigel's neck goes up into his head and GM's head fits down into his neck. I think I will look around for a different donor body. I can't be too picky about skin tones but I am carrying Nigel's leg around in my purse so I can try to find a good match. But you'll notice in the pictures his head doesn't really match his body anyway. It must be from all those years of wearing a spidey mask.

Hang in there, Nigel. I will find you a nice body and decent clothes. And Hasbro man, I will uncover your identity. And Girly Man, I'll think of something to do with you.