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Choosing your doll base... So you've decided that you wanna make a Who custom, so now you need to decide which kind of doll body you want to use as a base. You could cruise E-bay for the original 9" Denys Fisher/Mego Who dolls, and maybe get an incomplete original doll cheaper that a complete one, but that's going to be expensive, and the plastic on those original bodies isn't getting any younger. It actually gets a little brittle as it gets older. What are your other choices then? Do you have any? |
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You have lots of choices! You're in luck! We've just gone through a huge resurgance of 9" doll toys in the toy scene lately, so you have several different doll bodies to choose from. We have the Hasbro "DC Superhero" and "Nascar" dolls, three body types from Toy Biz's Marvel "Famous Covers", Playmates "Star Trek", Trendmasters "Austin Powers" and "Lost in Space" dolls, a ton of entries from the Exclusive Premier range, and from the 80's there are even the Matchbox FX Freddy Krueger dolls as well. But even though many of these claim to be 9", their sizes actually vary a little, and not all of them have the kind of great articulation you're going to want for your Who dolls. Some are much better than others. |
| Thinning the weak from the herd... Of all the choices, the most articulated figures are the Hasbro "Secret ID" DC super heroes, Toybiz's "Famous Covers", and the "Real Heroes" toy lines. Of those first two, Hasbro and Famous Covers, only the Hasbro bodies come close in height. Of the three different sculpted Famous Covers bodies, only their standard body type- type one(Hawkeye) could be used as an average human, and they unfortunately look like 12 year olds standing next to a Mego Who. Both Playmates Star Trek male dolls and Trendmasters Austin Powers dolls could work height wise as well, but all are very limited in articulation compared to the other three I've mentioned. Their main annoyance for me is their lack of wrist and foot articulation. Personally, the foot articulation is negligable, but I really like the wrist articulation in my customs. |
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Real Heroes The third choice of base body I had mentioned, and currently the easiest to find as it is still available in stores is the newly released "Real Heroes" dolls, exclusive to Toys R Us and they only cost around ten bucks. Their necks seem a little long, but they still provide a more than adequate base for Cyberman, Autons, Silurians, or whatever. |
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The female companions For female bodies, you have less of a selection, but still some good choices. There are only two recent and inexpensive choices to choose from here: The "Famous Covers" female hero body, (with way-to- big gorilla hands but better articulation than the other choice), or the bullet breasted female Star Trek doll, with no wrist, waist, or foot articulation. Both work well in scale with a Mego Who and other 9" lines. The "Nyssa" custom was made using a Famous Covers "Spider girl" Figure. |
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Custom Doctor Who Short cuts A few shortcuts I would like to mention here. A)The Trendmaster "Lost in Space" 10 1/2 inch "CYCLOPS" makes a great start for a custom "YETI". b) The Hasbro "Secret ID" Batman "Bruce Wayne" tuxedo gives you a pretty good base for an Eighth Doctor costume if you use it as a pattern, as well as an Ainley "Master" outfit. c)The Trendmasters "Doctor Evil" 9" doll comes in an outfit that is dead-on for the Roger Delgado "Masters'" outfit. Die it or use it as a pattern! Great head-start! |
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