Friday, March 29, 2013

More Female Figure Comparisons

There are some figures that blur the line between fashion doll and action figure.  What happens when you have a fashion doll that appeals to action figure collectors because of her articulation?  Or when you have an action figure that is adorably cute and looks good in most fashion doll outfits?  Or when you have an action figure with a fashion doll head (is it an action figure, a fashion doll, or some bizarre hybrid)?  Or what about action figures that are marketed towards girls?

Here's my next group of dolls for comparison.  I have posed them similarly to my previous comparisons.  They are from left to right:  Momoko, Dragon Linh, Martha Jones, Mixis Opal head on an action figure body, a 1988 Fun to Dress Barbie head on a Dragon Amy body, and Get Real Girl Basketball Nakia.

They can all stand on their own.  Martha Jones, Opal, and Barbie all have double-jointed elbows for extra flexibility.

Most of them can fold their arms to some degree, but Momoko and Nakia can not.  Their feet vary in size, but they all have friends with similarly sized feet that they can share shoes with.  Martha Jones has no feet.  Her boots pop off, similar to Bratz dolls.  She can share shoes with Hottiez Kiara.  I have a future project in mind that will give Martha the feet that she deserves.

Here they are doing side stretches.  It looks like Opal has the best range of motion here.

Here they are walking "like an Egyptian" to show off their arm, wrist, and knee articulation.  Who do you think does it the best?

Here they are doing kneeling back stretches.  I think that Opal has the best arch.

Here they are showing off their hands.  They can all hold onto items somewhat.  Nakia has a magnet in one of her hands to help her hold onto her basketball.  Out of these, Martha Jones' hands are my favorite.

Here they are sitting cross-legged on the floor.  Momoko and Nakia can not do this at all.






Here they are doing middle splits.  Again, Momoko and Nakia have challenges.


Here they are doing front splits.  They all do this well, with the exception of Nakia.

Here they are doing a leg lift.  Nakia does this the best.

And here they are seated.  I think that they all look good in a seated position, even though some cannot cross their legs.

So are any of your favorites among these dolls?  Would you characterize these as dolls or action figures?  Which ones have the best articulation?  Which ones are the most attractive?  Which ones are the most realistic?

15 comments:

  1. Hi Roxanne,

    This is another great, informative body comparison.

    I like the way Dragon Lihn is able to fully cross one leg over the other. She seems to be the most flexible.

    Which action figure bodies were used for Opal and Barbie?

    dbg

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  2. Hi Debbie, thanks! Yes, Linh is my best leg crosser of them all. Her upper body is not as flexible, though. The Opal head uses a Takara knock-off body purchased on eBay. The Barbie head uses a DML Amy body.

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  3. Hello from Spain: Happy Easter. Nice pictures. I like to look at your photos the various bodies of our dolls. Very informative. We keep in touch.

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    1. Hello and Happy Easter Marta! Thank you for your comments.

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  4. I think that it is sometimes hard to distinguish (and so our distinctions are arbitrary) between different types of articulated dolls as they all use similar types of jointing. Once you start rebodying, it gets even more complicated. So I just enjoy looking at everyone's dolls and discovering dolls I didn't know existed - which is why I'm enjoying your posts so much

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    1. Thank you, Carrickters! I agree with you. All I know is that the articulated dolls are more fun to pose, so I'm enjoying them and I'm enjoying taking the photos and sharing them with everyone.

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  5. I really like the action figure body. I did not realize Nakia, the sports figure was not able to do all the poses. Thanks.

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    1. Thank you, MDW! Nakia was a little disappointing. I expected her to have better lower body movement, I guess because of her double-jointed knees. And her torso has 2 points of articulation, but not much flexibility. She sure looks good playing basketball, though.

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  6. I never realized Martha Jones' bottom before ... it looks flat ;-(

    I do look forward to your plans for giving Martha feet. Much as I like boots, I think they'll be too much in the coming summer months ;-P

    Technically, I know that Martha and Linh are "action figures," but I consider them dolls. Then again, I think of them all as "glorified by gender owner" dolls, lol.

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    1. Martha Jones does lack a little in the back end department. I consider Martha and Linh "action figures" also, but they are so adorable that I think they appeal to "doll" collectors as well, and with their small proportions they can easily wear fashion doll clothes.

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  7. I just bought the Texas A & M University African-American Ken doll. He has realistic looking hair and he's super flexible. I couldn't have been more pleased when he arrived in the mail. I love super flexible dolls, but it's especially hard to find flexible Kens and ten times harder to find flexible African-American Kens. There are still 3 left in stock on Amazon if you want to add one of these guys to your collection. I'm super glad I did!

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    1. Thank you Chelly Wood! I already have a Texas A&M cheerleading Ken AA in my collection, and I see why you're so excited. He's great, and I had waited a long time for an articulated AA Ken without the Jamal face. Here's a link to my post about him: click here.

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  8. Replies
    1. Hi LPS Musicgal, these dolls are in my personal collection and are not for sale.

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