Working on Frank...

[modernwizard]

Because Frank's head [SD 16 Yukinojo] came on Saturday, I've been thinking about him recently. I wiped his paint last night [hideous under-the-lip blushing!] and drafted a face-up on a print-out of the unpainted head. Then I harvested bits and pieces from various photos to create a mock-up of Frank on an Afghan body.

Boy...did he look pathetic. Afghan's body has the right height and flexibility, but she's so scrawny. She looks like a 12-year-old girl that hit her growth spurt before puberty. She's painfully thin. As I looked at the mock-up, I realized that I couldn't use her as a base.

My latest idea for Frank's body is the Iplehouse long-legged masc body, shown here in tan skin. Great things about the Iplehouse body include: a) idealized, muscular physique; b) double-jointed elbows and knees; c) neat handsculpts; d) cheaper compared to getting a whole Afghan; e) no microcephalic Afghan head to get rid of!

The only cons are a) it's a masc body and b) it's shorter than Haund. Some creative shirt-stuffing should take care of a), and platform boots should take care of b). I should make Frank wear all the platforms and Jareth wear all the flats.

I wish that the new Dollfie Dream body with the porn star hooters was scaled up to Afghan's height. No, better yet, I wish one of the doll companies would make a body like that of a female comic-book character: tall, muscular and well-endowed, with exaggerated curves. But Haund will never have a sex change and lift weights, so...sigh...

Oh yeah...and if anyone wonders what kind of doll I'm trying to make here with all this different parts, I refer you to the concept of the [anatomically impossible and endlessly fascinating] mythological hermaphrodite.

Comments

[jengagne.livejournal.com]

It's not really anatomically impossible. I know somebody who somehow managed to get all the genes needed to have all the equipment (and it all reportedly works)... but I digress.

Maybe you can get Armeleia to do some alterna-sculpting to the bod in the same way you had her do for Jareth's face?

[blogofstench.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should clarify here. I know that various human types of hermaphrodites [actually known as "intersex"] exist. It is anatomically impossible to have all fully developed and functional masc sexual characteristics on the same body with all fully developed and functional fem sexual characteristics. This type of hermaphrodite does not exist, except in the fevered imaginations of certain weird people.

I'm thinking about getting Armeleia to do some augmentation, yeah... Not sure, though.

--MW

[jengagne.livejournal.com]

I met her through my anti-castration activist interest in the ISNA (www.isna.org/), so yeah, it's very different from the various commonly-described sorts of intersex indeterminism.

She's had a lot of docs interested in her case, considering the girlquipment has a regular period and the boyquipment works fine without any hormonal supplementation. I'd call that functional above and beyond the call of duty. ;)

Anyway, my main point for you was that although it's REALLY rare and virtually implausible, it's not entirely *impossible*. One of her previous docs joked that she's the next step of evolution for our species.

[blogofstench.livejournal.com]

Yes, indeed, that is vastly different than the majority of intersex cases. And yes, that is certainly a high level of functionality for everything. I'm very impressed. I bet all those doctors are a big annoyance for her. :/

--MW

[jengagne.livejournal.com]

She said they paid her for the studies through most of college, which is how she covered a variety of bills for a while there. Plus, you know, free medical care! So it worked out well on that front, all told.

She's just lucky she won the genetic lottery and came out alive, I think. o_o She's also lucky nobody realized what was going on when she was a baby, considering how most doctors reportedly handle cases like that.

Chatting with her has definitely been an interesting learning experience for me, in addition to our friendship.

[blogofstench.livejournal.com]

So she existed; they studied her, and she got money for...existing. That could be a bonus.

Lucky to be alive, yeah. Your point about her successfully growing up intact is a good one. I've read so many horror stories of uninformed, well-intentioned and/or non-consensual operations to "correct" young children's bodies that I just shudder to think... @_<

My curiosity about this person is thoroughly piqued! :D I'd like to talk to her, but the intros could be really awkward...

--MW

[ashbet]

*shudders at the thought of some of the 'interventions' performed by butche-- er, doctors, all in the interest of trying to pigeonhole sex/gender*

This is really interesting to me, too -- I have a friend who's pretty active in UK intersex politics and communities, and another dear friend who just went through the final stage of GRS.

jengagne, I'm glad that your friend got so lucky in terms of avoiding unnecessary surgery and in getting the necessary help in college :)

*watching Frank's progress with avid interest*

-- Andi :)

[sailorzeo.livejournal.com]

Hey, semi-OT, but, how'd you fare in the Great and Terrible Blizzard of '06?

[blogofstench.livejournal.com]

It wasn't that bad, really. We took the worst of the snow Saturday night and Sunday morning, perhaps a foot and a half in the Boston area, but we had plenty of time to clear out for work on Monday. The only problem is that some people don't shovel their front walks, making passage treacherous for pedestrians. :(

--MW