... and we'll call them dolls, OK? They are Barbies or patterned after Barbies, after all! Special thanks to Martin, who is kind enough to share with us his collection of customized Wonder Women. And how lovely they are.
First up here is his custom of the 13-inch Tonner Wonder Woman doll. Then we have customs of the 2004 Wonder Woman Barbie, followed by customs of the 1999 Wonder Woman Barbie (which you can also see in her original form in this episode of the Terrific TV Toys series).
"Wonder Woman is my favorite comic character," Martin says, "but I'm also into DC Heroes in general. I started doing Wonder Woman custom dolls probably about 10 years ago. I started doing them because nobody was doing Wonder Woman the way I wanted to see her presented. The Barbies are beautiful but their bodies didn't look muscular enough for an Amazon warrior."
Indeed, in these customs you see a more realistic look. "The action figure companies like DC Direct, Sideshow and Hot Toys made Wonder Woman look strong," Martin says, "but the action figures lacked beauty. The faces looked harsh and unattractive in my opinion. I kept thinking - why is it so hard to make a large, somewhat muscular female figure with a drop-dead gorgeous face and hair? So, I took the Barbie world and the action figure world and merged them together to make my idea of what a Wonder Woman doll or figure SHOULD look like. Strong and beautiful at the same time."
"I also do other characters, and I'm in the process now of doing several of the really popular DC figures, both male and female," he continues. "I mostly like the classic versions."
Martin also shares photos of his Power Girl, Zatanna, and Black Canary. "I'm really good at styling the hair (tooting my own horn, lol). All doll collectors have seen promotional photos of dolls where the hair looks so beautiful but then after you get the doll, the hair looks nothing like that. It gets all tangled and flat from being in the box. I would love to work with actual toy companies with styling doll hair."
Photos courtesy of Martin; please do not copy.
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