So, you’ll probably remember that I recently bought a Triad Toys Alpha Female action figure and reviewed it. As I wasn’t overly thrilled with the face paint application, or the hair I decided to customize her and see how she turned out.
Some customs are easier than others….Some are better than others. This one is not one of “the others” IMO. The Alpha was a little more labor intensive than I’m used to. The hard vinyl head (on par with Fashion Royalty doll heads) was difficult when it came to removing the hair plugs and re-rooting it was a bitch. Like with the FR dolls I found using a heating pad made it a lot easier. Still a bit of a hassle, but ok.I decided to re-root her with dark hair (using a mix from Restoredoll). I gave her a boil perm with the intention of giving her curly, wavy hair–anything had to be better than what she started with IMO.
I want to say also, that without any hair, and with no face paint the Alpha head (hispanic version) could pass for a gender neutral sculpt or yes, as a man. It’s not a soft sculpt and despite my best efforts I’ve ended up with a manly-female. 
Before:
She’s Been Face Wiped. I ended up being so dissatisfied with her that was the only option. The remainder of this post is here for my archive purposes only.
After:
Personally, I am so disappointed by how she turned out that I really don’t even want to look at her. I think I made the mistake of building up how I wanted her to come out in my mind–and it just didn’t match up with what I hoped would shine through. Definitely not loving her even with all the effort I put in to make her better than her stock origins.
Am I being too hard on her? 
Should I even bother to name her? Make a character slot for her in the photostories?
Would she look better if I chopped her hair short to the shoulders?
Notes: the overhanging / deep set eye ridges were really annoying/ a pain to work with. If I’d had more patience I might have tried sanding them down some so they were less prominent. (I hated them mostly because they dictated how/where I could place the brows) and the tiny eyewells = urgh. Although that is also due to the fact all my paint brushes are completely knackered and really need to be tossed….
14 Responses to “*FACE WIPED* Ex-Customized Triad alpha female”
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Strange, I would have expected her to look gorgeous with curly hair, planned to do it to my girl too. Not that your reroot looks bad, it doesn’t. Just not overwhelmingly gorgeous.
I get what you wrote about the eyes (and the ridges)… I wanted to repaint mine as well, but haven’t found the courage yet. I’m getting used to her looks, so maybe I won’t.
Looking forward to your AA reroot, my test run with short hair has been… not so satisfying.
No. I understand Ursula. She just isn’t all that great to look at. Mark’s opinion on it was “You need some plain, manly, and ugly girls don’t you?” LOL. He doesn’t get why it isn’t good enough IMO. Oh well. I’m probably going to let her sit until the weekend and decide then if it’s worth trying to repaint her or just do as Mark suggested.
The AA re-root came out really good in my own humble (ha ha) opinion. She’s definitely a keeper and although even more labor intensive than the hispanic alpha’s re-root it’s so much more ….appealing? Better? I don’t know. But she’s already got a spot in the photostories and a name. So I figure that’s a sign of success?
I don’t agree with Mark, I neither think she’s ugly nor that she’s plain. Manly maybe.
2 points I found work for my Alpha – she imo looks better with her hair out of her face and I like photos of her better in three-quarter portrait than in full face portrait (also imo true for your pictures, I like the last one best).
If you decide to repaint her again, why don’t you try to give her lower lid a light colour instead of the black? Maybe that’ll make her eyes look bigger.
I’ll try that — thanks for the suggestion!
I think that her hair came out great and as usual your repaint work is top notch. However, I think that due to the sculpt itself, the change of hair color and how her new reroot frames her face makes her look a lot more masculine over the somewhat androgynous look of the sculpt as she is stock.
Overall I don’t feel it was any of the work on your part that didn’t make this turn out the pay you planned as it just not being the perfect canvas for you to start with
I really love your reroot job, the curly hair is fantastic, but you’re right, there’s something off about her, and I think it’s the sculpt issues you mentioned.
Will you redo her?
Yea. I wiped her face this morning….so hopefully the next time I have a couple hours to spare I’ll give her another go. I’ve got to be able to pull something good out of that sculpt. I must!
‘… and with no face paint the Alpha head (hispanic version) could pass for a gender neutral sculpt or yes, as a man.’
Yep, I think so, too.
Yep! And you know, I have been wondering if I got a small chest alpha if it would be possible to modify it into a “young man” / “youth” figure–since there are very few of those on the market…the headsculpt would be spot on for that, I think, with the slight roundness in the jawline to denote the younger age.
*chuckling* It seems everyone liked her hair but like me y’all think there’s something lacking in the face. I’ll give it another go soon. Keep an eye out and I’ll update when I do. Thanks everyone for taking the time to comment!
Did you see ‘him’?
Erica, you’re right, I love her hair and individually all the features are gorgeous, but put together…. somehow it doesn’t work like you’d expect it to! I think it’s the strength of the jawline and the brow – they’re overwhelming to the features in general.
As it happens I don’t like the hair.
For there is way too much IMO, it looks kinda Barbie. I’m no expert but my thoughts is that yeah shorten and thin.
I think you done a fabulous ( as usual) job on the face. Before it looked plain – I wouldn’t say manly – which is normal. After she looks self confident and assertive …. well to me she does.
I find you’re deliberations kinda curious though since you photoshop your figures anyway?
I suppose that’s the great thing with dolls though, you can emphasise on different aspects as takes your imagination
The hair is the hair is the hair. It, like everything else on the figure for now is a moot point since I wiped the head clean the day after I posted the blog entry. I Just didn’t think it was good enough to keep. My bad was in not updating the post to reflect the fact that this figure no longer exists. D’oh!
As it happens the only things I do to my dolls & action figures in photoshop is make the images clearer and brighter. So If you’re trying to say something else please clarify your statement.