Shoutout to @pastelgothlapis for suggesting Lonnie from Disney Descendants as a sturdy body replacement for Rida. It just so happened that I knew i’d seen one on ebay (9€ shipped), it went un-re-listed for three weeks but I put in a bid the moment it reappeared. It’s the perfect colour to match her current and ongoing mild yellowing and very solid.
Of course, there’s work to do: She needs her neck thinning a little at the bulbous top, coating with teflon tape and a washer, I need to epoxy repair Rida’s neck prongs which must have cracked during the time I put them away because Pullip plastic from 2006 + pressure from a wedged on obitsu at an angle = crack city. I think I might also add to her bust as that’s part of her character.
Her hands are a teensy bit sticky, I’m going to carefully wash them and really hope it’s not degrading vinyl... I have zero trust in disney to make products that can withstand play let alone time. For starters, Disney Descendants have one of the worst head anchors in modern history. Then they gave them some of the naffest nylon since Bratzillaz wave1 which is absurd given the thought put into the clothing and faces, gorgeous hand sculpts but then plop some straw on their heads that turns into frazzle when brushed? [[Not that disney collectors don’t keep rerooters in business replacing their cheap wig level hair with the same colour but actually to-scale and brushable. mind you.]]
So what about Lonnie’s head? I boiled and superglued the big rooting holes closed, she’s not wall-eyed and has good alignment (unless the cocked eyebrow is a mistake) so my mind went straight ot this recent licca hair design (slightly shorter, minus the bangs and with a pink front streak on a diagonal parting - but I have other reroot projects to do first so i’ll put a note next to her on the spreadsheet.)
She can’t exactly nick Rida’s old body because:
smaller heads can’t quite carry off the animu tiddies and noodle limbs!
In other news I got out the spare eyechips and managed to salvage a few to paint over and some others to use as bases and finished my Clawdia commission (better photos once the glue has fully set).