UPDATE My 12” Padmé (Arena Escape) is now on a new body, and now sports that ripped look! I replaced the ToyBiz Arwen body with the even more fabulously poseable Soldier Story S1 female body (available exclusively from the fabulous Triad Toys), which I thought was in much better proportion with the Beautiful Braids Padmé head and gave the clothes a more flattering fit. The original Hasbro white shirt did not fit the new body, but I took care of that by cutting it off to give her the bare-midriff, post-arena-battle look. I took the opportunity to redo her hair a bit, in particular applying some hairspray and deep-sixing the 1:1 bobby pin that had been holding things in place.
More photos to come soon (including of her scratches in back)! Meanwhile, here are the photos of her on the old body, along with my original copy:
Like a number of other Star Wars collectors and customizers, I was not too happy with the Saga 12” Padmé Amidala (the one in the white arena outfit). The head was too big, the body wasn’t poseable enough, the skin was too pale, the mole on her face was too big, and that plastic “serpent’s nest” hairdo -- yuck. And they had the gall to leave out the white shawl, which (in my humble opinion) was the only worthwhile part of that darned white outfit. So what did I do? I bought her, of course -- so I could fix her up. This custom was largely inspired by a 12” Padmé kitbashed by Czahr, which may be seen here.
I had originally made this doll using an Obitsu body, but I switched her to the body from 12” Arwen from Lord of the Rings. Among other things, I was disappointed that the Obitsu body, while adding tons more articulation, still didn’t allow her to hold her li’l Naboo pistol properly. But with the Arwen body, she can. I had to pull Arwen’s feet off in order to get the boots to fit properly, but that’s no big deal, as we know (cough cough Hasbro’s 12” Shaak Ti and Barriss Offee cough cough).
I did her hair myself. The head came from Beautiful Braids Padmé in the 12” Queen Amidala Collection series, with some alterations to the hair. I pulled out the long, wiry braids, did a little trimming, and braided up the remaining hair to approximate Padmé’s hairstyle in the Factory and Arena scenes. It is secured by some little tiny rubber bands (the sort that the orthodontist gives you for braces), and a 1:1-scale bobby pin. I know it’s not completely movie-accurate, but it was the best I could do with the materials I had -- and, in my opinion, it is an improvement over Hasbro’s original head.
Last of all, I added the signature white shawl, which is just a swath of stretchy white cotton fabric draped over her shoulders. Since I have a rather larger than expected quantity of that fabric, I’m toying with the idea of making her a whole new outfit, perhaps with a ripped shirt as well. That should please the lustful fanboys out there!
A simple but satisfying refit. We’ve already gotten Padmé Amidala in this outfit with the Hidden Majesty Queen Amidala doll, and that’s exactly where I got the dress from. The gimmick with that doll was this: you put the hood -- which had a plastic face sewn inside -- over the doll to disguise Queen Amidala as her handmaiden Padmé, and then pull it off again to reveal the Queen in her unmistakable ceremonial makeup. But what about all the Queen’s faithful handmaidens who don’t transform?
I removed the face from the hood that came with the Hidden Majesty doll. (Since it is sewn into the hood, all one needs to do is rip out the stitches with small scissors or a seam ripper.) Then I put the orange dress and shoes from Hidden Majesty Amidala onto the body left over from my refit of 12” Padmé (Arena), pulled off her “serpent’s nest” ’do, and put the hood on over her face. That’s all there is to it.
The dress and hood disguise some of the figure’s strange proportions, and the hood disguises that big ol’ mole.
And what of the poor, denuded Hidden Majesty Queen Amidala? I didn’t have the heart to consign this beauty to the fodder bin, so I reclothed her. She now wears the dress and sash that came with Arwen. Finally, just for kicks and thrills, I coiffed her hair in a sort of “elf-queen” style appropriate to the outfit. (The hairstyle is more visible in the second photo.) I’m pretty happy with the result -- I think this outfit and hairstyle suit Queen Amidala quite well. In fact, I would even go so far as to say that she looks even better in the outfit than the original Arwen doll!
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EVCdeL 3.VIII.05
