Two more new dorklets [representing dolls of kids living right now] are joining Libby: Jake and Nevaeh.

I’m mentioning Jake first because I only have only one picture of him. He is a fat kid with darkly, extremely boingy hair pulled away from his face and partly in a topknot. He has very thick, low, dark eyebrows. He is very fat, and I haven’t yet figured out how to make his fats articulated.

The other is Nevaeh. She is more stocky and stout overall, so I am using an Obitsu slender male body to articulate her because it’s appropriately stocky when I cut it down to kid size. It’s also readily available, not that expensive, tight and solid in construction, and easy to pull apart. I am using a Dieter Mueller American Teen 10″ doll from 2001 [Tara, I think] for head and breastplate. I just love her round features and her long, dumpy torso. The mismatch in skin tone will be hidden with long sleeves and pants.

The default American Teen doll is at left. She has elbow and knee joints, even ankle joints, but they’re encased in the rubbery plastic of her lower arms and lower legs, making them useless. It’s a shame because I love the broad, barrel-chested proportions and relatively short limbs.

I cracked the American Teen torso, removed limbs and head, and pulled out the front. I cut out the breasts because the dorklets are prepubescent. I then took the upper chest casing off the Obitsu body. I will be using the American Teen upper chest casing instead. The second photo shows how this might look. I still have to modify the interior of the American Teen front and back casing.

Next I worked on shortening the Obitsu legs while retaining full thigh swivel and full double-ganged knee functionality. To do this, I opened up the rear thigh casings, cut out part of the center strut, moved the socket for the upper knee joint up, then put the rear casing back on, cutting it to match the front’s length. Results in last picture below. Holes in thighs are just mistakes. More to come!!