Thanks to @natalunasans, I scored this hard-to-find doll for my birthday. No pictures of the doll as it came, but the head went to a smallerverse character, Max, one of Frankie’s parents.
The details on this headsculpt are amazing. The asymmetrical nose, nasolabial folds, and mouth give a convincing sense of age and character. I love the sagging chin as well. The large sunken eyes and long eyebrows give the head a friendly, welcoming air. I also really like how the headsculpt’s neutral expression make it suitable for a wide variety of characters, but overall it seems peaceful and happy. As far as I know, this is the only time Mattel ever used this sculpt. WHY? It’s beautiful.Max on a Spin Master Liv body with cut down legs. Torso and abdomen are long. Legs are lumpy, but overall the proportions work. Most of this will be covered by their clothes anyway.
At first I didn’t know what to do with the body. It’s 14cm high without head, an unusual size, with slender arms and short, slender neck that make most heads appear oversize.
The Hatter body is the same used with Mattel Gymnast Stacie in the 1980s, though the forearms and hands are cast in white plastic.The body has decent articulation, though its lack of ball-jointed wrists pisses me off. So does the fact that it can’t sit with thighs side by side like a normal person. I tried to rectify this by gouging out the inner thighs, and I just ended up with a very floppy doll.
Then I realized what to do with the Hatter body and clothes. @andersonsdollpurpose sent me two heads from a Swedish Pippi Longstocking play doll because I wanted to make a kid version of this character. I decided that the Swedish Pippi head could go on the Hatter body to be a fancy Pippi doll, all dressed up for an important event.
Being very red, the Pippi head doesn’t match the body, but that’s okay, since most of it is covered up. I don’t mind the bobble-headed proportions, since Pippi is a cartoony character. I do want to replace the minuscule hands with larger ones, though.Though the headsculpt has some staining, I love it. The crinkled eyes, the snub nose, the dimpled smile, and the buck teeth are the Pippiest Pippi that I’ve ever seen. Sadly, this headsculpt has a weirdly flat profile, so I’ll only be looking at it from front on. She needs an eye repaint and some rehairing, but I’ll leave most of her paint, even [especially!] the uneven eyebrows, as is.
