See Darcy Before and After

Darcy is the first actual villian in the world of Strangers in Paradise. Even though she stopped being a part of the story several years ago, she'll always be a central figure in the lives of all of the characters.

This figure took me an incredibly long time to make. I kept finding source figures that were so close, but didn't quite work. A WWF figure, Debra, had a really great pose, but her legs were way too long. The DC Direct Tulip figure had a good stance, but held her arms in a way that Darcy never would. Eventually, I accepted the fact that I was going to have to make a hybrid figure, like I did with David. I used Debra's torso and Tulip's legs. Finding the right head was the next challenge. I thought I would use the head from a Harem Xena, but it was so much smaller than the rest of her.

Then one day I was in a comic store and I saw the Black Canary figure. I had already bought this one, thinking that it would make a good base figure someday, with the Dinah head. So far it has proven to be too aggressive a pose to be useful for anything, and the Black Canary head had just been sitting around on the TV, creeping out my roommate. This head was perfect - the right size, a great facial expression, and I used the leg joint from some other disassembled figure to attach the removable head in such a way that it still turns from side to side. My main disappointment with Darcy is that she is too thin. Darcy is a little more...fleshy, but it's difficult to find base figures that aren't impossibly slim and buxom. I tried to round our her face a bit, but I should probably have made a greater effort overall. When I was finished I felt like she captured the spirit of Darcy, but missed the mark slightly.

Detail of the tattoo on Darcy's ankle.