Dollmation, Filmmaking and Custom Barbie Worlds

This transcript was generated from the episode captions and lightly edited for readability. Names and product terms may occasionally be imperfect. Quoted dollar amounts retain the wording of the interview; the currency is not always specified.

0:00Hello dolls and accessories. I'm your host Kelly and this is Barbie Talk. [music] Barbie Talk with Kelly in Pink. Today we have a truly one-of-a-kind guest joining us. If you spent any time in the Barbie community on Instagram, chances are you've come across his stopotion films and incredible doll stories. He's a filmmaker, animator, photographer, and longtime Barbie and Ken collector who has created his own style of storytelling that he calls Dalmatian. Please welcome Warren, also known as Warren Sito. Hi Warren, welcome to Barbie Talk. Hey, thanks for having me. Absolutely. It's an absolute honor to have you on. I'm so excited. I cannot wait to get into everything Barbie, everything stopotion, and your stuff is just so amazing, so incredible. So, let's get right to it. Awesome. Thank you. I can't figure out if I'm a doll or an accessory in this, you know. [laughter] That's good. No one's ever said that. I like that. I like that. You know what? Maybe we'll let people in the chat comment and then give their opinion on whether you're a dollar accessory. [laughter] So, tell us a little bit about yourself, where you're from, and how your relationship with Barbie started.

1:16I'm originally from Los Angeles, California, Glendale to be specific. My relationship with Barbie probably didn't start till like the '9s. And basically, it was um growing up in Southern California, you love mid-century, you love classic cars, classic movies. And my whole apartment was lounge themed. And uh I had a solo and spotlight Barbie hanging up on one of my shelves. This gal, but she was out of box. And I think I also had a bubble cut that I dressed up as Betty Paige and they just kind of sat on my bookcase and that was pretty much about it for the time. You know, my family was a Madam Alexander family. My mom and my sister collected them. I got dragged to antique stores all the time so I knew like a this composition and porcelain and all that. So I grew up around dolls, but it was like eh, you know, it was just something that was always in my family. But like Barbie never really was. Love mid-century. Love the wing eye makeup. Uh love the side glass and we just went from there. Was your first Barbie the solo in the spotlight? Is that the one? Yeah. Well, it's not that particular one, but I probably have it amongst my things. Maybe she's been disassembled, but um I had these like really cute shelves that were like showgirl faces and then the feathers went up and made a shelf and I had the Barbie on it. Yeah. And I just, you know, I just love the whole like lounge singer theme to it for sure. Even though that's solo in the spotlights in box. Can we see her again? I know she's a repro, but the repros are beautiful.

2:35Oh, she's a classic. No, totally. Wow. And so, do you have any of like your first dolls or have they kind of been played with and disassembled like you said and they've um played with and disassembled for sure. I mean, they're still here. I think I might have had the Disney Aladdin one that came out because growing up I wanted to be an animated for Disney and when Aladdin came out I was probably like 19 and I was like I'm Aladdin for Halloween. That was a whole another story, whole other show. We can leave that for a future episode. We can absolutely. [laughter] So, what's your oldest doll that you have then in your collection? Well, the oldest is Yeah, she's kind of probably one of my top three that I have. I'm going to show her in how I have her displayed at home, but she is a 1960 number three. And the great thing with her was there's a flea market by my job on my lunch. Walked by and I saw her and this guy's just like blah blah blah blah.

3:28she's a number seven, blah blah blah blah. And I'm like, "No, she's not. No, she's not. She's a number three." And he was just like, "Oh, you know what? Like, you know, I want 184, but if you give me cash, 150." And I had just made friends with Joe Whitman through the Barbie convention connection. And uh I sent him some pictures and I was just like, "This is a number three, right?" Cuz he didn't have the crayon smell. And he was like, "That's a number three." And for that price, it's really good. Take my money. Take my money. I got my burrito. I got my Barbie. And I Ita burrito. And I, you know, when I went home, I had Maria Michelle clean her up and restore her and everything. But yeah, she's my oldest one. Tell us a little bit how you put her in this little capsule thing. Like she's got the curtain behind her. She's got a vacuum. So this was um from West Elm. And I just love the whole concept. Part of my I hope this doesn't sound bad. Love of 60s Barbie is just the misogyny of everything, you know, and how people just thought it was okay.

4:25Like I love the bananas of it all and like the way you see these ads. It's glamorous to be vacuuming in a you know sheath dress and the whole thing. Like obviously trust me I'm like I'm a total feminist but it was just like it's just bananas to me and heels too and 5 in heels. Absolutely. So like I found this vacuum on Etsy and I just thought it would just be the totally hysterical version of like 60s ideal life. So it makes sense like seeing that piece there. It kind of comes back to some of the content you create and how you tell stories and this is very much like a story even though it's like freeze frame. It's just very interesting seeing your content and seeing the way you kind of tell stories. Well, that's beautiful. Do you have any favorite items in your collection that you could show us? I do. So, I love camp. I love camp. I think it's hysterical. You know, drag queens, whatever. I had told my sister about this particular doll that was my holy grail and she surprised me with it and I just like lost it. totally out of my price range. I even have like a budget version that I I made of her because I never thought I'd get her, but it's the Bob Mackey going bananas. Let's see. I mean, she's great. She is just Oh my goodness. Speaking of bananas. Yeah, she's beautiful. And she's got the fruit basket on her head. She's got even like a parrot. Oh, totally. Yeah. And these shoes. And I just love the blue background. Close look on those

5:47shoes. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, sorry for the light glare. No, there's it is what it is. So, wow, she's absolutely stunning. Yeah, I have a pretty cool sister that she listened. So, I was totally excited to get her. So, based on your collecting style, would you say that you are an inbox and out of box collector? Do you focus mostly on vintage? Do you have a few mod? Like, how would you describe your collecting style? Um, mostly out of box because I use most of my stuff for storytelling purposes. But if the box tells a story, then I'll absolutely keep it in. But another one that my amazing sister got for me was the Mark Ryden when he did a pop-up shop. He's a surreal artist, so he did this one of this bee, and I just I love it. That's the back of the top. But Oh, wow. Look at the makeup on her face. Oh, and I do see Ken's face on the little snail there. That's hilarious. Ken's little Totally. [laughter] That's awesome. They had done a pop-up shop in Beverly Hills through the collaboration with Mark Ryden and Barbie. And my sister had told me when she was in line, she was talking about my work. And this guy turned around, he's like, "Is he the one that did Madonna Vogue?" And she's like, "Yeah." And he's like, "Oh my god, I follow on Instagram." And so that was really cool for my sister to get to hear that someone recognized my work since she's been huge support. You know, it meant a lot. And that Madonna Vogue,

7:07if you don't follow Warrenito on Instagram, you have to. It's really, really well done. So here she is. One of my favorite stories about this particular piece was it was during the pandemic. So everything was closed and where I was living in Bushwick at the time, there was this one store that was open. It was kind of like a Timu Target, if you will. And they had a bin of dollar curtains and I was just buying these curtains and I was literally like making the dresses and everything out of them. And this girl in my neighborhood was like, "If you need trim, you know, I have trim." So I met her up 6 feet apart, the whole thing. And I got you. She helped me out with the trim. So that's made from curtains. Yeah, this is made from curtains. And how long did it take you to make that? Maybe about a couple days. Mostly was doing the hair. There's Hex Tongue. I think that's his name. How to pronounce it. I was watching his videos and he does this thing where he takes yarn, you thread it through the hair, you comb it out, you take a pet brush and you brush it out and a flattening iron and you just, you know, flatten iron it. And yeah, so I do hair now. Well, I was going to say you kind of seem to be the jack of all trades. You're making dresses, you're making films, you're doing hair. So, what Barbie is this? It's a reproduction head. I got a made to move body. Got it. Okay. It's just a reproduction head. I hoard them. When you're buying a doll, do you buy it because you envision it being in one of your films or because you genuinely want it in your collection? A little bit of both. I think sometimes I can look at the doll and

8:28just get inspired. You know, I have this one character. I haven't used her yet, but she was a swirled ponytail that was a little messed up. And I um found new life for her. I was just like, I made this gal. One of her eyes was messed up. So, I thought it'd be really kind of funny. Kind of like a spy gal, you know? So, hence she's got the eye patch in the whole thing. I just love taking something that's a little damaged, kind of using it as character point. Threaded her hair, the whole thing, and she's an all leather outfit. It kind of just depends on the mood I'm in, too. Yeah, fair enough. And I think that's wonderful that you like save these dolls that like I've had a lot of guests on the show who like take a doll that was like balding and you know they see a potential in it and it feel like we're saving them in a way which is really really nice. And I think it bonds you to the doll too. Yes, definitely. And it's unique right now. You've created a one-of-a-kind something unique that no one else has seen before. Right. So when would you say your love for animation began? Oh gosh. When I was a kid I uh grew up on Disney, grew up on the Rudolph the Reds reindeer, those shorts and everything. Love those. My um mom had a job where she would drive by the Disney Studios and you'd see the big water tower with the Mickey Mouse and the Sorcerers Apprentice outfit and say Walt Disney Studio and that was just always like a dream of mine. You look through like my high school yearbooks, everyone signs, you know, hope to see you at Disney Studios kind of thing. So yeah, it' been there for a while. Did you ever make it to Disney Studios? I did not. Well, I did a my school did some type of ugly mural project

9:48that's hanging like Glendel Presbyterian Hospital over there. That's about as close as I got. But, you know, this coming about and the way it's come about, it's kind of been full circle for me in a lot of ways. I think people's reactions to it has been really just amazing. For sure. And I mean, we'll talk about it soon, but like I know there's probably a ton of work that goes into it and it looks fantastic. When I watched it, I'm like, my goodness, this must take him so much time. So, at what point did you start to combine dolls into your love for film making? So, there was this documentary on Netflix about the toys that made us. And it was about Barbie and it went to the kind of dark side of Barbie and I was like, "Oh my god." Like this is amazing. Like I love a good Oops. So I kind of started collecting like some of the Barbies that were messed up or the sets like the slumber party one that came with a little book that said how to lose weight. The back of said don't eat. I have a diarama of that that I made. This was one of my girls that I just recently found. Growing up Skipper. Oh yes. Very controversial. This very controversial. You know, it's one of those like what were they thinking moments that I just absolutely love. And so there was this YouTube series called The Most Popular Girls in School. and it's stop motion and you know it's by these guys and they do the voices and it's all about like kind of high school hierarchy and stuff like that and it's hysterical but it really kind of got the wheels turning on think of Barbie in stopotion like all right I had these Barbies but what am I going to do with them and so a couple of the characters that they had you know I started looking things up I think I just

11:12got a tax return so I kind of like what Barbie did they use for that so one of the ones is this one the character is Britney and she just cusses all the time it's hysterical So her archeneemy is this girl named Stan Margarite. And with Stan, she's like, "How do you say?" And then she says the word and Britney's always like, "Why do you say how do you say it when you know how to say it?" So it was like really big in like 2011. So for my 50th, I actually went to Paris and I brought this doll with me and I have a picture with me and the doll in front of the Eiffel Tower. Yeah, that's that's hilarious. And I'm sure now I got to look up the show. I'm sure everyone's going to look it up because it sounds it sounds hilarious. Yeah, it was really big and popular and like you kind of have to wonder how did Mattel let this fly and I think they were pretty particular about it. But I also think before the Barbie movie it gave like a different perspective of Barbie. I remember like having a date over to my place and he's like you have a lot of Barbies cuz I have a whole collection of the cast and I was like well let me show you why I have them. And after three episodes he was like can we watch another one? Yeah. So then got to check it out. Yeah. And so I'm, you know, I'm collecting. I start messing around a little bit here and there with animating some of them. And then, you know, there's a point where I got sober and I had all this extra time. So I really kind of started diving into it. And then the pandemic hit and so many people when they commented my stuff, they're like, "You had the best pandemic ever. I got furoughed from work. I had all the time in the world." And I'm like, "What am I going to do with it?" So I

12:34started creating longer videos. And I saw this one animation of a Marilyn Monroe number that I was like, I can do better than that. which I probably shouldn't say. I mean, but one of my first big animations was a couple scenes from Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend, and I did the opening number of Two Girls from Little Rock. And the thing was, I didn't use the Barbies from the '9s. I used the ones with the uh fashion queen heads cuz I was like, you know what, that's at the time. I think that'd be really cool. And so then then I did the brunette or that's a little messed up because I had barter wig for something and I did the opening number from that and it was like only probably about like 45 seconds of it but like I'm really about choreography. I think it's just gay man in me you know since I don't go clubbing anymore. This is how I go dancing and I just came back from a trip to Los Angeles where they had the Marilyn Monroe exhibit and it was amazing to see these dresses in real life. So that, you know, was the opening number. And then I almost actually cried when I was in the room, but you know, they had the Diamonds are a girl's best friend dress, which is like burgundy, which is super interesting. You know, for this one, I had my friend Kell's Custom Toys is an amazing doll artist. I sent him this head and I had him re-root the head and we do the hairstyle of it. And this was like really my first like big number cuz it's just Marilyn moving and all the guys kind of moving around her. And uh it did pretty well. And I was like, "Okay,

13:55what's the next challenge?" Cuz I'm furoughed. I got nothing to do. I'm trying to stay sober. So, I don't know if you're familiar with Rich Man's Fruit, which I was calling Rich Man's Frugal when it first came out. Um, I am not. So, it's going to be called Sweet Charity. And basically, the number starts off like on a blue background and it has this girl. She's just very aloof and it's by Bob FSY. And it's all these like dancers, how to put it. I mean, just the coro is so like precise and just, you know, everyone's just really aloof about it. It's more like a commentary on on luxury. And this thing took off. It just blew up on Facebook. I had a captive audience. People were reposting it. And then I get a message and, you know, it's from this woman. She's like, "Hi, you don't know me. I'm Susan Charnie. I'm the ponytail girl from the Bob FY movie." And I was like, you know, it was a complete gag. She's like, "You captured the choreography beautifully. You know, it was so great to see it." And then I had people from the dance community like, "Oh my god, I was in that production and they were, you know, reaching out to it." And then I got a phone call from Dance magazine and they uh did one of the first stories on me, which was crazy cuz I had this whole thing about like imposter syndrome, you know, I didn't go to school for this. I was selftaught and uh you know, I was just really worried like, "Oh my god, you know, are they going to find out whatever?"

15:08And it was such a great interview. It was um you know, it just meant a lot to where I was in life and everything at that point. Absolutely. What an honor, first of all. And second of all, so you didn't go to school for this. This is just solely your hobby. I grew up drawing. I mean, I took art classes, you know, I did a year of fashion school, but yeah, this is pretty much just all selftaught. Like I studied animation and all the books and everything that like I had growing up. I had like all the Disney books, all these like how to draw books, but yeah, that's pretty much it. Self taught, so I didn't really go to school for this. Very, very impressive. That's awesome. So, you referred to your films and your stopotion as Dalmatian. Did you coin that? That's yours. You're on the younger side. So, I don't know if you're familiar with Gumby and Pokey and all that. Gumb. Yes. So, that, you know, was known as claymation. So, for me, I was like, "Okay, well, that's clayation. I'm going to use dollmation because I think there's a certain limitation with the dolls that kind of like makes it funny but makes it its own craft." And some of those Christmas movies they did with like clay. Like that's how they did some of those. Absolutely. So, yeah, that's how they came up with it. You have a ton of stopotion videos on your Instagram. I would love if you could walk us through your creative process from like the idea to like the actual finished video and is there any behind thescenes stuff that you could share as you kind of walk us through that process? Well, depending on what it is, like if it's a song, I uh will listen to the song probably like a thousand times, but I'm storyboarding it in my head. I'll be storyboarding

16:30in my head and then thinking of the ways I want to shoot it, costumes. I don't really use Photoshop and I don't have a rig. So basically it's the base with a wooden dowel and then I tie the dowels to the wooden dowel but I hide the dowel in the shots so you can't see it. You know it's a lot of like the planning stuff like that. It's a lot of camera angles. It's a lot of like bait and switch a lot of perspective. And then if I'm doing choreography I'll have like my laptop or iPad and then I'll watch a couple seconds of choreography and then shoot it with the dolls. And then, you know, the bottom of my phone, I'll uh you can review the pictures. So, I'll like swing it back and forth to see how it looks and then go view another three, four seconds of choreography and then do it with the dolls. I did this one Broadway number that's pretty famous for the Camp Factor, Turkey Lurky. This particular piece was from the Tony performance and I don't know why I thought, hey, why not take that on? And I had like $9 at the end doing Michael Bennett choreography and I'm like, I don't know. And but the lead woman for that, Don Mckne, I sent it to her and you know, I didn't I mean, she's really famous. I don't know. She came back to me and she's like, "Everyone's been sending me this. I'm so honored to be your muse. This is like the best thing I've seen." It was huge. It was really great. Yes. Fantastic. And how long has it taken you to just make one stop motion video? Um, depending. Turkey Lurky, I think, was probably about 2 and 1/2 months. But, you know, it's also making the costume, making the sets, and then just shooting the choreography. I'm

17:53a man of a certain age, so I'm downing my energy during, you know, full-time job, going home, and then just like committing to this and shooting this. I'd probably say average for like a 3minute video, about 3 months. Wow. A month per minute, [laughter] right? Exactly. So, which video would you say you're most proud of? And you've got a lot of great stuff, but which one would you say you're most proud of? That's a great question. Copa Cabana is definitely up there. That's where this girl's from. Are you familiar with the song? Her name was Lola Baralo. Copa. Copa. But a lot of people don't know the story that there's an actual story in Copa Cabana and it's like sad, you know, her love gets shot. It's just a whole crazy story. But the song is so like, "Hey, everybody dance, you know." So Copa Cabana is really great. A lot of people love the part after her boyfriend gets shot, the grim reaper comes to like take him away. She does this whole dance where she tries to distract them and it's this kind of story that I made up um part of the instrumental and people just they love it, you know, and it's one of those things where like you never know what's going to hit or when it's going to hit like Copa Cabana I had on my YouTube and it probably sat I don't know maybe like 600 views and then all of a sudden some guy in a Tik Tok video is throwing pizza in the air with Copa Cabana playing in the background and everybody starts researching this song and then I'm up by 150,000 views. That's all it takes. It's all it takes for the audio to trend and that's it, you know. Yeah, absolutely. [laughter] Wow. Wow. So, Warren, you don't actually have like

19:16um studio area that like you shoot all this. It's kind of just all over your apartment sort of thing. I have an area. Yeah, you do. You do? I Yeah, this is where the magic happens. So, usually I'd have my tripod right here and then I have all different kinds of lights. So, you know, I have a couple lights here. I'd have another light here and then up here sometimes I have to hang a light from there. Oh. Um, there's some of the cast characters I have. Wow. [sighs] There's the gang. There's everybody. Yeah, that's awesome. And you're in a small apartment in Brooklyn and you make do with your space. Yeah. This is another thing that I'm kind of known for is my shadow boxes. So, that was like the first one I was telling you about when I got the book on the diet book one. Oh, yes. Yes. Yes. Don't eat. [laughter] So, there's that one. There's like my Red Riding Hood one where I thought was really funny because the Ken is basically in shorts and just Yeah. So I have my Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I love how you like associate them with movies in film. Like I just love that. Barbie in our space with the Mars Attacks guy behind her. There's this one based off the Strangers with those really scary masquerade costumes that I think are hysterical. Oh my god, so scary. Those ones from the ' 60s. They're super scary. And then back 10 was the first kit I bought when I started collecting. This was based off of a friend's engagement photos. We're

20:37at this beautiful carnival and there's this scary clown in the background and I just thought it was so funny. That's not a real scene from it cuz the second I saw the red. Well, that's I mean that's Penny Wise but you know I just Yeah. Um and then I have this one with two military guys and a lady of the night. My Betty Page one pulp fiction. Oh wow. These are cool. Very unique. Yeah. And then scream. Scream. Yeah. Um, so there's Scream and then Mommy Dearest. This one was hysterical to me because people are just like, you know, don't you can't show them like, you know, the violence or whatever. I'm like, they're dolls, you know. There's a screen that I'm working on. This is a Margot Robbie that I turned into a pinup version. Yeah. So, I kind of redid her makeup and everything. The Shining. Oh, The Shining. The Skipper. Yeah. And then let's go hunting Ken, which I thought was a real hoot. Um, he has a little lumberjacked Ken. Yeah. Then he's got like animals and stuff like that. And then some heads in progress. Oh, I recognize that that statue. So, basically it's George Washington statue in um in Union Square that I recreated. And then these were the backup singers from Copa Cabana. Uh I see a dark-haired Allen. He's very handsome. Yeah, I just repainted him. Oh wow. [sighs] I did a video of the education of Prince Charming. So

21:58he's from that. I have Glenda from uh Kristen Shenna was singing a different version of Popular. And then I got a cop. And then I have the Batman series. Oh yes. Um girls from Clueless, the tie that I made. Oh, that's a tie. Oh my god. So precious. And then Dracular one that I done. And then I have a friend of mine also Kel's Custom Toys. He does these amazing Archie ones. Uh Yeah. And then I had done these of Veronica and Betty. [clears throat] And I made an Archie. Yeah. And my other characters. Fant. How many dolls would you say you have to? Oh gosh. Full dolls. Yeah. Not parts of them. I don't Maybe about 200. I think we need a recount, right? This uh Repa got from Roly Dolls at Sherry's doll show. Oh yes, Roly. Yeah. And then my horror section. Oh, we got to have you back for Halloween. This is fantastic with Jason and Yeah, this is awesome. Yeah. And then these are just kind of I have a bunch of my dolls over there that I did for show and tell. So that's uh why it's a this one's a little bit emptier. Is there anything you're working on now that we can preview? Like I saw this 57 Chevy there. What's going on there? So, this one is going to be my boyfriend's back. And, you know, growing up in Southern California, you have your cholas where

23:20I grew up. So, I thought it'd be really funny to make these uh Barbies into cholas singing about, you know, he went away, you know, when you hung around and bothered me every night. So, I love it. Yeah. So, a different take on it. I personally love Luigi in this like old school bike and Oh, I love it. And that's a grail car of mine. Absolutely stunning. Thanks. What would be some tips that you have for anyone who's maybe starting film making or wants to do stopotion? What advice or tips would you provide? Really just practice. Practice and just give the results up to the universe because you never know what's going to happen and what's going to take. And uh yeah, just go for it. But just really just practice. Play with the different speeds on things. You know, sometimes you just might need to run the speed faster for the movement to be more fluid. And you, you know, it's a learn as you go process. I think for me when I was doing Turkey Lurky, I kind of changed the way that I had the dolls tied to the dowels and stuff like that and made it a little bit more streamlined and also a more believable movement and just research. Probably patience too. Patience, trial and error. I redid the antenna version of the birds that Hitchcock movie and it was one of those things where like to kind of have the birds move and the dolls move at the same time. I had to come up with this contraption up top with wood dowels, paper clips, fishing wire. It was a lot, but it was trial error. But, you know, once I got it, it was pretty great. I can't even imagine. And in your small space, like kudos to you for having the

24:41creativity and the patience cuz I think if you don't have those two things, I don't go I can I don't think I could do stopotion. I just can't. It's not for me. But I love seeing it. And I just have a lot of respect for the work because there's a lot that goes into it. Thank you. Do you happen to have a mini like a mini version of yourself? I do. He actually first premiered when I did uh at work retail. So, I'm bombarded with Christmas songs all the time. And when you hear a song over and over again, you start making up your own lyrics. So I rewrote a gay version of my favorite things. So I had a friend of mine record it stuff like that and it starts off with me walking down a street in New York and then you know you say a couple lines I turn around and then my mini pops up. I turn into my mini me and the whole against the background and everything. And he's also the lead singer in Copa Cabana. So I didn't have a Barry Manalo doll. I'm like you know what that guy sang for 40 years. Let me have a crack at it. the eagle-eyed people will see them in some of my other videos. Like when I did Think Pink, the one with Animator, I make a cameo in there where I'm like giving animator a new pair of sunglasses. The come a little bit closer one set in like South Mexico. I'm the guitar player in it. So yeah, I have fun with it. And then my Christmas videos, I'll do like a little intro, you know, introducing the video and he's in it. So your Mini has met Marilyn Monroe and has met all the celebrities and Oh yeah. Yeah, he's he's done it all. The question is, do you have that matching outfit so that you guys can be twinning? Not yet. Get it. You got

26:04it. Randall on it. [laughter] You got to make it or you got to find it somewhere. Absolutely. He's awesome. Very good. Mini. Do you happen to have a doll there that has maybe a memorable story attached to it? When I had done the one dance video, this woman reached out to me and she was a dancer. Her name was Kimberly. And she gifted me three of her dolls from her childhood. This Ken being one of them. She's like, "I know that you'll give them a new life." And uh it was really great. And the Skipper doll that I used in the birds where she falls down and her glasses fall off is her doll. And I I done a couple film festivals and I was doing one in San Francisco and they were showing the birds and Kimberly lives out San Francisco and she came to the event and she got to be a proud stage mom and see her doll act and like get hit by bird and glasses fall off and yeah. So this Ken is from the set from that and then I had also made her postcards from the dolls, you know, which I sent to her saying, you know, giving them updates on their life and stuff with me. So it was really sweet. That is very sweet. And this Ken is this is the original Ken from original Ken. Perfect hair. Like he's amazing. I have him, but I've got a repro of some sort, but he's porcelain. I know he's a repro. But I just love the outfit. Love the shirt. Love the pants. Yeah. Very handsome. And he's his flocking still looks Yeah, his flocking is amazing. You know, I love the shoes on. Yeah, the shoes are great. They're fantastic. That's awesome. So,

27:30if Mattel were to approach you and ask you for your recommendation on a doll to reproduce, which one would you suggest and why? Oh my god, the Brad doll. Brad. Brad. Absolutely. He needs some representation. Like, I'm looking for one right now. I need I want to diversify the guys that I have and like it would be great to have a Brad doll. He's just got such a a great look. Wait, for sure. Yeah, brown. Yeah, it's a good answer. I like that answer. So, if there's anything else there you want to show, we could do that some rapid fire and show some dolls if you So, um, being half Peruvian and Port Dutch German, you know, I have a collection of bull fighters. So, I am working on a bull fighter dollation right now. Sometimes I'll work on or domations at a time. So, I have this one just for like background. So, got the bull. Let me just say as someone who's Portuguese and grew up watching bull fights with my father, I like this. So, I'm very interested in this. Yeah. So, there's a song called The Lonely Bull. It's from the 50s or 60s. And I just had this whole storyline in my head. So, I made this bull fighter. I took a a Malibu Ken, gave him dark features, closed his mouth. He had this big smile and so I closed his mouth on it. And uh I worked at his tie and stuff like that. But yeah, so the tie will be, you know, better. But that's like the back of his outfit, stuff like that. Oh my goodness. You made this outfit. detail on this jacket. Thanks. So, yeah, there's that. And then he's got to have

28:54the senorita. Oh, he does. So, this is the gal. I was like obsessed with like silk stones. So, I was really trying to capture, you know, make sure that she looked like the silk stone. So, I have a picture of my mother in a dress similar [clears throat] to this. So, that was definitely, you know, the inspiration for it. I one of my favorite stories about when my mom first came to this country, she used to dance flamingco, you know, back in Peru. So when she saw an ad for an exotic dancer, she signed up not knowing what she signed up for. So I always kind of love that story. This doll is gorgeous with the brown hair and the necklace and the earrings. She's stunning. So the hair I um you know having Madam Alexander dolls growing up like their wigs are removable if you peel them off. So that was actually from Madam Alexander doll. Got it. You know, with that, you know, we had my sister had collected these growing up. So, I like to, you know, take these when I find them at flea markets and stuff like that and do [ __ ] versions on Barbie. Can we slier version on Barbie Talk? [laughter] I love this Barbie though. Yeah, she's great. She's um one of the reproductions, but she's not like the cuz I feel like there was Solo and Spotlight and um the bubble cup one, I forgot, Silken Flame. Like those two I think were just super reproduced or whatever and they weren't like elevated like the next ones that came out like after that when

30:16they did the the career Barbies. So I love this face. I think when I got her she was kind of damaged though. I rrooed the hair and stuff like that. But yeah, she's great. And of course, can we get Can we get a spin a spin for this one to see her back and everything? Oh wow. Look at that headpiece. Right. This is just stuff I found at flea markets that I've just held on to. Yeah. Oh, cute. Yeah. And then, of course, she needed a partner. Stop. Who's this handsome guy? He's got a flocked head, too. He's a painted. He is actually a fashionista. I saw him on Dawson's uh Instagram page. Y and he was a blonde. So, I got him and I painted him brown. And I also used him for Copa Cabana as Lola's boyfriend. But this outfit's inspired from um one time I had a friend of mine that was doing a drag show like probably in the '9s and he wanted me to be, you know, the hot guy piece in the thing. Of course, this is my younger days. So I was visiting from New York, go to, you know, he picks me up to the airport and next thing I know we're at the Kel Bernett Studios and like the Bob Mackey costume section and I literally I'll try to find the picture and wearing this like Bob Mackey like ruffled outfit from like Carol Bernette show for this drag number. So that's uh where he comes from. Can we see those two together? Just maybe her shoes. See a little bit more of like And then I have a video of them dancing. Cute. Yeah. Her shoes. Can I see her shoes? Yeah. Where did she get these? You know, I don't know. I had these for the Oh my god,

31:42look at the little like books. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. So unique. So unique. So, another thing about make [ __ ] versions of uh Barbie outfits for Madam Alexander dolls. One that I have in progress is the Little Red Riding Hood. I have a friend of mine that's a jazz singer that she does this really great rendition of um a Tiscuit Tasket, my yellow basket that I want to do with Big Bad Wolf and stuff like that. So, I just, you know, I have her in these little Mary Jane knee socks and this like Yeah. So, I think it's super cute. You know, these V Alexander outfits were pretty they were done pretty great. So, if you're like hating on Barbie outfits, it reminds me of like when girls would buy the uh kid versions of Halloween costumes like the Cinderella, they would, you know, buy small beexy on them. And that's what this reminds me of. And then seeing in the storyland theme, this one is from my Hansel and Gretle where it's uh she's singing my Sugar Walls by Sheen East. So, uh yeah. So, I have her. She um it's Hansel and Gretle. They she starts off as like a ugly witch and then uh when she hears the kids outside she turns herself into this glamorous witch and does this whole like musical number into this ' 80s song called Sugar Walls which isn't about gingerbread we'll just say that [laughter] there's some hidden messages in that. There's some hidden messages. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I just find

33:06it hysterical. So was this doll was her skin tone this color? No. I um sprayed Mr. Super Clear on her and then did pastels and then sprayed more Mr. super clear on her and just really layered her, you know, in it. So, she like the back is a little Yeah, I've seen some Halloween dolls that kind of have this tint to their skin, but I wasn't, you know, move over Bob Mackey, we've got Warren STO here creating these one of a kind custom dolls, [laughter] you know. And then speaking of like for Halloween, since you know, The Shining, I think you got appreciation for it's amazing what they make dolls out of. Like that's that's a Jack Nicholson doll. Yeah. Okay. That's his face 100%. Where did you find that? So I was at a flea market once and there was a Sean Connory doll that I really wanted and the guy was like looking it up and he raised the price on me after he quoted me and I was just pissed. So I wound up going on eBay and uh looking for stuff and then I found like there's this company called I think it might be called Sideshow. Anyway, sometimes they'll just sell the heads if there's a defect or something wrong with the head. So, you can actually just get the head for like maybe $30, $40 when the whole figure can go for like 240. So, yeah, I found the head and, you know, reworked the body and recreated the outfit, but you know, he needed, you know, Shel Dval. So, and I wanted to get like the Barbie from that era, so you know,

34:28I made it with outfit with little boots. Yeah, this is very impressive. You have this like eye for just classic film. Thanks. You know. Yeah. And people want to see Barbie dying. I always get asked for it. You know, we want to see her stabbed. That's horrible. Yeah. But also Barbie in combat. Like I mean I I think that's like what the great thing is about also why I like to use vintage dolls is taking classic Americana and just kind of turning it on his head, you know? Yeah. Yeah. And you're you definitely have that skill. Definitely. You really [clears throat] do. I don't know if you're familiar with the movie Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. It's about two sisters. So Bett Davis is in it. Like I think you watch Joan. Yeah, she's a story. Betty Davis is in it. Yeah, it's like when Betty Davis and Joe Crawford. Okay. So this is on my to-do list, but yeah, it's uh kind of bananas. This is stuff that you're still working on. Yeah, that's nice. It's kind of a Barbie talk preview, right? Yeah. Um, another one that I'm working on is I want to do a teenage tragedy series. Uh, there's like these songs from the 50s and 60s and basically it's about like a lover dies and this whole thing and there's one song called Tell Laura I love her. My sister amazing. She uh found you know Ken's Hot Rod. So obviously I have to do you know tell Laura I love

35:49her. So I don't know if you heard of the artist Tiny Ribbon Studio. I got inspired by one of her dolls. He took this old Ken doll and completely redid the hair on it to make him look like a greaser. So, I um tried one in my style. And uh so the hair is flocked on the side. He needs a little help in the back, but I love [clears throat] it. From a distance, he looked like an Elvis doll because of that. Oh, because of the hair. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But that's fantastic. Yeah. I mean, and this hot rod is just amazing. I found it and I was able to repaint the um all the chrome on it, so I was really happy for that um to have that work. It's in very good condition. It's not easy to find that car in pristine. You have Oh, yeah. And then from Halloween, I have I did um a version of Greece called You're the One That I Haunt instead of You're the One That I Want. Oh, I like that. So, yeah. So, you got Sandy, you got Frankenstein on there. She actually had the original bride of Frankenstein hair, but then a lightning bolt hits her and she um gets this hair and turns into Sandy. She's like in this ghost white thing. So, I got those.

36:53And also with Halloween, you had to have Alvara in it. So, I like her. Yeah. Oh, yes. Okay. What body is this? Uh, made to move, but I um I took epoxy sculpt and I I enhanced her. Yeah, you did. Yes, she got plastic surgery. Yes. Yeah. I had this guy reach out to me on um on YouTube. He was a composer and he wanted me to do a video to one of his original songs. The song's called Black Magic and it's about this guy who's entranced by this like witchy woman. So, I created this character. Yeah, I love this detail. I found this at a flea market. It's like one piece. All the skulls are together. So, I used it to kind of like, you know, as a tie around. So, I love the little details.

37:44You have an eye at the details. And you've got a lot of vintage repro heads. Oh yeah, you've got a lot. And I mean, this is the uh basically this is the doll that it was made from, so you can see him in black and white. Yeah. Yeah. Oh my god. Adorable. I was also contemplating just a regular version of Summer Loving, but I redid the doll. I redid the face on the doll, so it wasn't like the Mattel version and did the vintage face. So, I have a standard unit of that. Yeah. And as much as I might not know some of these films because they weren't my era, I'm sure there's a lot of viewers who do. There's a lot of viewers who do. And then I don't know if you are familiar with Dita Bontes. She's a burlesque performer. So she does this number where she uh basically is like a script tease and it ends in martini glass. So I actually redid that. And so this is the martini glass that I had made. And then this is like the final outfit that she's in. So, and this one, the video was a little controversial. You know, this woman kind of lost it on um Facebook saying that how I needed Jesus because, you know, I was doing gross things with Barbie. So, it was uh it was really funny. Like, I I didn't really respond back to her. Everybody else did, which was really great to get that outpouring. So, you've got the Barbie army to support you, that's for sure. Oh my gosh. And then this one's from Leader of the Pack. That 50 song. There's something about

39:07Allen in black that I like. Yeah. Okay. Bad boy Allen on this, you know, amazing bike I got found on eBay. Yeah. And this video is done in black and white. What bike is that? Cuz that's not a It's not a Mattel. I don't know the maker of it. I know it's just a Indian model bike. It works because it works. The scale is great. Oh, yeah. I looked out on that one. Yeah. Wow. You have such a beautiful collection. Is there anything there that you have that may be a grail you always wanted or a one of a kind or maybe something that no one's ever seen before? I don't know about no one's seen before, but it was a moment for me definitely on the Grail era. I wasn't expecting it and I wasn't expecting it for $15, but you got to end it with Sher. Oh my goodness. Warren. Warren, I love this doll. I love this doll. What's she called again? Um, it's a half breed, right? Half breed. Thank you. And she is stunning. This Bob Mackey is beautiful. Let's get a closeup of her beautiful makeup and her outfit from head to toe. Look at this. Even the headpiece and the details. Oh my goodness. I found a love for these share dolls. I even have a YouTube video just on share dolls. Starting from the Migo dolls all the way to the um ring master, the really rare ring one. Beautiful. Yeah,

40:31that's definitely a grail. Yeah. And then Yeah, I have the mega one that I had redone. I don't know if you've seen my video of Dark Lady. No, I don't think I have. So, I'm share. Yes, I do. And like Migo did a good job on her face, too. Over time, those dolls just didn't stand, unfortunately. Oh, I have her made to move body now. So, yeah, this is very smart. But yeah, she was uh definitely definitely a grail. For 15 bucks. How did you score her for $15? So there's a flea market I go to and there's like the official part of the flea market and then there's like the stragglers on the sidewalk and so it was one of the stragglers on the sidewalk and I was just like how much? And she's like 15 and I was like I'm done. Yeah. Oh my goodness. She had no clue. The poor woman. She had no clue. No clue. Beautiful. What a beautiful doll to end off the show. Thank you. I kind of wrote a little custom outro for every guest. Kelly outro. Kelly outro. [laughter] I wrote like a little custom outro for every guest. So, I apologize. I wash. Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Go. No, I watch. I'm waiting for my outro. Are you ready for your outro? I got to look at my notes, but you know, I'm going to have to glance at my notes cuz I possibly I can't possibly. But so, Warren, thank you so much for being on the show with me today. It was so fascinating seeing your collection, getting a behind-the-scenes look at how you do all your film making and your animation. You have

41:51incredible creativity and patience that goes into all of your Dalmatian projects. I'm sure viewers now have a newfound appreciation for stopmotion because I know I sure have. Thank you for sharing your collection, your creative process, and your passion with us. Thank you so much for having me. This was a blast. Thank you so much, Warren. Take care. Bye guys. Bye. It's amazing how one doll can become the star of [music] a film with enough imagination. Make sure to like, subscribe, and hit that notification bell if you love [music] all things Barbie. And if you enjoyed this episode, click here to see one of my other episodes. Thanks [music] for watching.