A piece of Moomin winter

Let's take a quick look at some screenshots from the Moomin TV series episode 22  titled "Moomin and Little My's Adventure" (Mumintrollet upplever vintern / Muumipeikon ja Pikku Myyn talvinen seikkailu). This episode is one of the many, that I thought was too scary as a kid. Still to this day, I think it's creepy, but in a beautiful kind of way.... if that makes sense.

"Moomin and Little My's Adventure" is the one and only episode in the series where Lady of the Cold makes an appearance (I seriously thought that her English name was "the Ice Maiden", but I was wrong), and she is of course the source of all the creepiness in the episode. And then there's that snow horse that comes to life..... such a majestic creature! I'd seriously watch that all day while listening to Walking in the Air, instead of The Snowman (although it is a beautiful animation as well).

Anyway, why the mini nostalgia trip with the episode? Because, through a tip from a Facebook group, I found this selling in stores now:

 

The packaging looks very cheap and the paint job on the figures is far from great, but hey, it's intended for kids, they don't care! Or do they? The set contains 5 pieces; Lady of the Cold, Moomin, Little My, Snow Horse and switchable legs to the Lady. The most astonishing thing is that they got her name wrong in Finnish! The backside of the box claims that she is called "Jääkuningatar" (Ice Queen), while it should be "Jäärouva", unless of course they've changed the official translation of her name, which I doubt.

There's one thing that bothers the heck out of me on the Lady Cold figure, I don't mind the blueish dark purple on the torso, it's the awful flesh tone on her arms, legs and face that I think is ugly. So I played around in Photoshop and switched the colors around, now matching closer to her anime appearance.  Not sure if it improved anything, but at least  I find it easier to look at. Hmm..... and now I'm tempted to repaint the figure. Curses.

Someone might remember that I bought this loose Snow horse at the Old Toy Swap in October. Now I finally decided to fix its missing tail problem. On the butt of the figure was this small peg, where the tail used to go. I sawed it off, because I needed to make a hole there where the peg used to stand. I got the hole started simply with a nail and a hammer, after that I switched to a screw and  a screwdriver to make the hole deeper.  Once the hole was deep enough, I removed the screw and replaced it with a piece of a barbecue stick. After that, I tied together this small pile of oat straws (that I took from our stable) around the  new base of the tail which, amazingly was the hardest part of the whole process. Once I finally got the miniature knot tight enough that the straws wouldn't fall off, I sealed the knot and straws together with a glue and water mix.

Comparing the tails side by side.... the new tail is slightly too long, but considering the amount of frustration that went into making it, I'd still give it the thumbs up and call it a day.

Before I go, I'll leave you with this lovely image, which is easily the creepiest moment of the earlier mentioned episode. Enjoy!