Saturday, March 26, 2011

Loot Haul: C2E2

Haven't made much progress on the horse yet. Neck's a big issue. I did however get a chance to examine a wooden artist's reference model at this year's C2E2. Figured out what I needed to be able to replicate. Those wooden horses cost $99, which surprised me.

I did browse the stalls for some 1:6 scale loot to haul back with me. I didn't find a cache of guns like I did at Wizard World '07, but I did find something unexpected...

Why, it's a 2004 Donald Trump talking doll from The Apprentice! After about seven years, the battery works still. You can probably pick this up on purpose for under $5 at the right places, but I found this for $10. I didn't care much about picking him up for comedic purposes, but more for a $10 suit.

The Man
Donald Trump's a solid guy. He's actually designed with hard stops in his neck to prevent you from spinning his head 360°, Exorcist style. That was unexpected. His hands are massively rigid and can't do anything short of karate poses and breakdances.

He has no waist articulation due to the electronics, but that's fine. You won't be buying this for poseability. In fact, you won't be buying this at all because it's pretty useless outside of the suit. Last week, his joints were still stiff, but now, his left leg is loose and swings around by gravity. The doll has the same hip strength as the real one. Their party days are all over.

His feet are painted on, and the shoes are integral to his legs. Not bad shoes either. Just a shame I can't move them around. The paint comes off after a few poses, but in most cases, he'll have pants on to hide that problem. The shoes do scuff off the paint easily, so you'll end up with flesh colored  shoes after a while. Definitely not something that was meant to be played with roughly. Guess we'll leave the manhandling to Ivana. 

The Suit
I did find some issues with the suit, but that's to be expected for a $10 suit. I had a suit for $10 once and it was terrible, but acceptable considering the cost. You don't complain when you spent less than the cost of lunch on a suit.

 Wet Willy be dammed, your suit is coming off!

The suit itself was nice. Had a inner lining, which was surprising. I was expecting just the outer side being done neatly. However, the pockets are rubbish and non functional, which is acceptable. They were sewn on with less skill than the rest of the suit though, with loose threads coming out. Makes it look like Trump is on hard times in 1:1 scale and 1:6 scale.

The shirt was flawless for what it was. I had to separate the collar from the shirt, as it was sewn down to hold the tie in place. It did have cuffs that could be buttoned (or snapped together), which was a nice touch, considering most people won't be stripping Donald naked routinely (unless that's your thing).

The tie was very low quality. It's held in place by an elastic string. The string's conveniently short enough just to not fit around Donald's fat, solid, unyielding head that you need to cut off the string to liberate him from his clothes. I made the mistake of trying to untie the tie and now it needs some help to get back to operational status. It'll make a good modified clip on tie...perfect for a budget Trump.

The pants have no belt loops, but that's fine. They do have leg cuffs, and the legs also are WIDE. They were sewn with a generous allowance for even the fattest of Elvis impersonators. Actually, all his clothes are done with rather wide arm and leg openings. The pants do fit other figures fine without any problems. Just need to make sure nothing snags on the seams while you put them on.

Overall
Make no mistake, I did buy the Trump doll just for one person, and one person only. Perhaps the silliest $10 spent. Considering what I spent for Golgo 13's other suit, this is fairly acceptable.


As for what to do with a naked Donald Trump...