How Sorceress wings/arms could have been fixed

[Emiliano]

Maybe I'm gonna do a complete fool of myself, but the latest pics of Sorceress, confirming fans' nightmares abourt her wings/arms, convinced me I had to explore what could have been a better solution for her arms.
Just to be clear, this is not fan art, but I'm using my original fan design to explain how the engeneering of her arms could have been exectuted to preserv full range of arms movement and no awkyard positions for the wings.

The original idea (see my albums in the signature) was to have a small hinge (those with a tiny metal bar inside) connecting the top portion of the wings to the upper arm piece. Those kind of hinges you see on many transfomers panels. But while this is a joke for Takara and Hasbro, I can't remeber seeing much of these on Mattel toys (I may be wrong though). Plus, the 4H made me notice that has to be ABS plastic to work, and usually upper arms are molder plastic.

The 4H had just glued the wing to the upper arm with a almost 45° angle, but stuck in that position, still better than what we got, but maybe there was a even better solution

Okay, so the point was to replace that tiny hinge with some sort of rotating articulation that could allow all positioning of the wings while preserving the same "fan" contruction that opens thanks to gravity when the arms are rised.
The solution could have been making the upper arm a rotating drum that house two pegs from the shoulder piece (this time with a flat cut) and from a separated ellbow piece
The upper part of the wing and dis middle-arm piece are one solid piece. The wing is not coming straight from the center axis of the arm, but is more on a tangent (as shown in the section below).
I think there might be some size issue since the arm is so tiny, but I don't think this is impossible. And it would have allowed full range of movement for the arm, whileallowing fans to keep the wings in a much better pose all the time by simply adjusting the rotating middle arm portion.

[Beastmaster]

Ah... The road not taken...

[markatisu]

I will have to get an extra Sorceress and bring out my dremel and warhammer tools, this looks easy enough to do for a customizer

[MldMnrdReporter]

That actually might be doable. I might have to get an extra Sorceress to see if I can fix it myself.

[Havoc]

I'm definitely going to have a go at it.

[MldMnrdReporter]

We should start a thread over in the Customs Section where we can all figure it out together how to do it.

[DO4M]

It's like a combination of the Normal female shoulder with the "Teela Elbow". This would have been way better.

Now I have one question on the wing design:
Could it be possible to make the "Drum" on the wing to be more like Vikor's Ankle joints?

I just had a crazy Idea on the Sorceress Arm and wing dilemma. Will edit post to add a crude drawing later!

Could something like this work?
Basically it's kinda like the way the wings on Stratos are attached to his wrist.
and it could have reused the Teela elbow (part of the reason why a crude drawing of Teela's arm is there as a reference)

[oulala]

I'm glad Emiliano posted this. All it really shows is that, design wise, this was not a piece of cake to begin with.

I think the route Mattel took is not as bad as people say it is. They could have gone for the lazy, Swift wind wings for all we know (two wings, no articulation, except two ball joints) but they at least tried to make something different.
There's an angle that will look atrocious but whichever solution in engineering you opt for, there will always be that odd angle when it looks phoney.

I still think Emiliano's latest design would have worked better... But before I cancel my subscription and vow never to buy anything from Matty, I'm gonna give that MOTUC sorceress a chance because I think the wings will give some nice poses. Again, might be wrong, but hey, let's at least wait till we get her in our hands!

peace,

[MldMnrdReporter]

While I'm not a Toy designer I can see the way this works and I like it... It's like a combination of the Normal female shoulder with the "Teela Elbow". This would have been way better.
Now I have one question on the wing design:
Could it be possible to make the "Drum" on the wing to be more like Vikor's Ankle joints?

That might be harder. I'm thinking a silicon insert that would fit into the upper bicep, sort of like Strato's wings that would be turnable. I'll have to really think about this.

[markatisu]

I still think Emiliano's latest design would have worked better... But before I cancel my subscription and vow never to buy anything from Matty, I'm gonna give that MOTUC sorceress a chance because I think the wings will give some nice poses. Again, might be wrong, but hey, let's at least wait till we get her in our hands!

peace,

I totally agree with this, I am going to cherish and love the Sorceress we get with her arms spread out. But I really think I am going to get a 2nd to satisfy my "it could have been done better" gene lol

[Darkspecter]

Hell, I think I might buy a second, cut/sand the drums off and just try a very detailed fabric "cape" that looks like feathers. That way, I wouldn't have to drill (just attach it to her back and up to her wrists) and it would work from all angles. I will have to wait until I see other people's customs because I'm way too scared to try anything to fix the wings until I see how it works out for others.

Emil's design (out of the ones we've seen), makes the most sense so far.

[Jon-O]

This makes absolute sense.

[Mamblo]

That's why TG in his sorceress review was looking strange and not excited as usual.

Was really necessary attaching the arms to the wings? The vintage version wasn't that bad.

[danielsan52]

Anything in the world "could have been made better." Why not just take what we've got? I don't think there is one single figure released that someone didn't find fault with.


Maybe it's because I compare MOTUC to awful Marvel toys, or awful 200X figures. Some are awful by comparison.

Is Emiliano's design great? Of course it is, but he wasn't the toy designer and is not a Mattel employee.

Would I have like to see it implemented? Sure, I like all of his designs.

But, at the end of the day, Would Mattel use a design by a non-emplyee and get sued? I think not.

[Emiliano]

Is Emiliano's design great? Of course it is, but he wasn't the toy designer and is not a Mattel employee.

Would I have like to see it implemented? Sure, I like all of his designs.

But, at the end of the day, Would Mattel use a design by a non-emplyee and get sued? I think not.

But Mattel used a non-employee designs for Soreceress wings...
(but I'm not sueing them, of course)
To make sure there is no misunderstanding: I made this in 2007, and showed it to Mattel.
Even Eric said they took inspiration from my designs, which is totally cool by me.

[Darkspecter]

But, at the end of the day, Would Mattel use a design by a non-emplyee and get sued? I think not.

The Sorceress was made based on Emil's design/drawing. They also did Shadow Weaver, Adora, Orko and Bubble Power She-Ra based on Emil's designs. They don't have a problem with it. Seriously, check Emiliano's albums for his designs.

[MldMnrdReporter]

Inspiration? Orko and Adora were part for part reproductions of your designs! You're being modest!

[SCB]

So that's why they screwed up the wing design. They were scared Emiliano would take Mattel to court.

[Emiliano]

So that's why they screwed up the wing design. They were scared Emiliano would take Mattel to court.

LOL, I wish that was the case!
Mattel has nothing to worry about me. If the 4H takes inspiration from some of my designs, that is totally cool with me. We get great toys, that's all that matter.
Of course, if Mattel would pay me to do this job, like Hasbro does, that would make it even better, but that isn't gonna happen

[Darkspecter]

What's kind of ironic, is that Mattel basically made Shadow Weaver like Emiliano's bicep idea. Check it out:

[Eternian Poet]

****sake, I'm so bummed they screwed the Sorceress up so badly.

[Baena]

Only issue I could see with this Emiliano, is that the drums then move out to the side, so they're sticking out sideways off her shoulders.

I really like your design, and feel they should've explored the tricep piece like you've got, and as pointed out, like they already did on Shadow Weaver. I just am not clear on how thick or thin those other wing pieces are that would come out of the shoulders?

That make sense?

[JimPansen]

I don´t get why Mattel didn´t do it like you illustrate here. How could they think, their half-baked design would be good enough?
Only thing i can do now is ramming my head against a wall.....

[Penny Dreadful]

I really wish they would have done it this way. The figure would have been perfect with this arm/wing design. I saw the pic of the serving tray wings on the Fwoosh - yikes. Such a shame.

But, at the end of the day, Would Mattel use a design by a non-emplyee and get sued? I think not.

As others have said, you don't have to look far to know that isn't the case.

[Berserker79]

Anything in the world "could have been made better." Why not just take what we've got? I don't think there is one single figure released that someone didn't find fault with.


Maybe it's because I compare MOTUC to awful Marvel toys, or awful 200X figures. Some are awful by comparison.

Is Emiliano's design great? Of course it is, but he wasn't the toy designer and is not a Mattel employee.

Would I have like to see it implemented? Sure, I like all of his designs.

But, at the end of the day, Would Mattel use a design by a non-emplyee and get sued? I think not.

Easy...Because improvement is always a good thing. Always!