Elphaba my Wicked Witch Barbie gets a Fashionista
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2013 4:26 amI’ve finally did it. I finally got my Wicked Witch a proper articulated body after 7 years of owning her. When I was 14 I had a mega crazy Wicked/Wizard of Oz/Wiz/etcetc phrase and I really dug Elphaba in both her book and musical form, and her character really resonated with my teen self, so I had to have the Mattel Wicked Witch that came out then. However I was really unhappy with her because she had that awful gummy leg giant bust body with karate chop hands and arms that clearly wasn’t meant for her torso, as well as frizzy hair and a scaaaaaaaaaaaary bad face up that I wiped and have been repainting for 7 years on and off.
I held onto her even though she eventually got neglected because, hey, it was a green doll and the idea of more fantasy coloured dolls seemed ridiculous to even exist (outside of airbrushing and dyeing dolls), plus I still wanted an Elphaba desperately even if she was nothing that I liked in a doll.
Searching for a replacement body was the hardest thing to do because I was severely inexperienced in either painting or dyeing a doll body, as well as the fact there was simply NO well articulated body in the doll market that wasn’t a high end Integrity Toys body or a kitbashed Action Figure body, outside of volks and Obitsu.
Things got cooking though in 2009 cuz Fashionistas were being released, Livs were on the horizon and there was whisperings of a new Monster doll line with fantasy coloured skin, so I was hopeful that I could get a better articulated body for my fashion dolls.
Of course I didn’t know how to make a durable paint job and I’ve never found a matching spraypaint so I shelved that and got into My Little Pony customs.
Finaaaaaaaaaally though I had the skills to paint a plastic toy to the colour I wanted as well the skills to match paint to colours, as well as a cheap playline articulated body and the 1/6th knowledge to make the body I always wanted to match my Wicked Witch doll and I’m really happy.
I also came to terms with her hair and managed to style it into something I really like, as well as giving her a new face up I *hope* will stay with her.
As a side note, it’s pretty interesting that after I unglued the fur hat and cleaned up his face, my Winkie Guard Ken doll has remain untouched despite being the same age as my Wicked Witch doll.
I held onto her even though she eventually got neglected because, hey, it was a green doll and the idea of more fantasy coloured dolls seemed ridiculous to even exist (outside of airbrushing and dyeing dolls), plus I still wanted an Elphaba desperately even if she was nothing that I liked in a doll.
Searching for a replacement body was the hardest thing to do because I was severely inexperienced in either painting or dyeing a doll body, as well as the fact there was simply NO well articulated body in the doll market that wasn’t a high end Integrity Toys body or a kitbashed Action Figure body, outside of volks and Obitsu.
Things got cooking though in 2009 cuz Fashionistas were being released, Livs were on the horizon and there was whisperings of a new Monster doll line with fantasy coloured skin, so I was hopeful that I could get a better articulated body for my fashion dolls.
Of course I didn’t know how to make a durable paint job and I’ve never found a matching spraypaint so I shelved that and got into My Little Pony customs.
Finaaaaaaaaaally though I had the skills to paint a plastic toy to the colour I wanted as well the skills to match paint to colours, as well as a cheap playline articulated body and the 1/6th knowledge to make the body I always wanted to match my Wicked Witch doll and I’m really happy.
I also came to terms with her hair and managed to style it into something I really like, as well as giving her a new face up I *hope* will stay with her.
As a side note, it’s pretty interesting that after I unglued the fur hat and cleaned up his face, my Winkie Guard Ken doll has remain untouched despite being the same age as my Wicked Witch doll.
Impressively Awesome!! Well done KD!!!
May I ask just how many dolls you actually have?