Pinoy college student's custom Margot Robbie doll goes viral

A visual communication student based in Santa Rosa, Laguna has gone viral for his doll that he customized to look like Margot Robbie.

Twenty-two year old Johann Alcantara Taborlupa, who goes by @yooohanseum on social media, posted the doll on Twitter and got a lot of love from netizens. The post has garnered more than 11,900 retweets and 137,000 reactions as of posting time.

In an exclusive interview with GMA Integrated News, Taborlupa said he used a basic Barbie face mold as his base.

"I got it secondhand [online]," he said. "Since the official Margot Barbie dolls are very expensive here sa atin, I thought it would be nice to try if I can use an alternative face sculpt to get her face."

Having built a following for his expressive gouache and watercolor paintings in the past few years, Taborlupa has also steadily carved an audience for his doll customs.

Even though most of his recent doll customs feature Disney Princesses like Ariel and Belle, Taborlupa shared that his first custom featured Bo Peep from “Toy Story”.

“I started back in 2019. I think it was June, after seeing Toy Story 4. I didn’t even know repainting dolls and figures was a thing back then, so kung anu-anong available materials lang ‘yung ginamit ko that time. All I know is that I want my Bo Peep figure to look more movie accurate,” he said.

Taborlupa said that it's "a little overwhelming" knowing that many people saw his work.

"Almost all of them are positive feedback naman," he said.

"Also, considering it wasn’t easy rin for me to find an audience for my repaint works kasi usually they follow me [online] for my gouache and watercolor paintings,” he added.

 

 

 

 

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—JCB, GMA Integrated News