#the bjds in the second photo… love

[teenbiology]

nothing calms me down more than a teenage girl’s messy and dysfunctional room

[the-bjd-community-confess]

TW: Abusive friendships, mental health, emergency services, divorce, crime, substances

Toxic bjd friend anon update.

About 24 hours after my confession, I got fed up and picked a fight. She took the carefully crafted bait and ended up disowning me. Which was great, because idk what I would have done if she hadn't. I'm free! She still thinks it's her idea that she's out of my life, so she's left me alone. Turns out I have screenshots of her admitting to a felony. And a misdemeanor. Sadly the really good felony confession was an in person only event and the government already decided not to deal with that circus. (Felony under civilian law where we live, but military caught her. Victim didn't press charges and she claimed someone else did it.) If she tries to blackmail me, I can complicate things for her both crimally and civily. A few screenshots to the exhusband in progress (who's a disgrace of a human being, but legally the victim this time and trying to divorce her) and a report to a certain state agency, and her career is over. I didn't believe it then due to circumstances, but it lines up too well now. IDK if it's totally true, but the idiot did put in writing herself. If needed, I get along great with my local PD, in particular an officer who's dealt with similar idiocy before. My only regret is not lobbing a few insults back before we blocked each other. Sadly all the good responses occured to me the next morning and it helped the illusion. I did leave her a note thanking her for the trauma when I dropped off some stuff she'd left with me and kept a photo of it in case she tried anything. She's out of town so there's an enforced chill out period before we have to be near each other again. She's blocked so no more suicide attempts for dramatics. We called 911 on her the last time and even the cops didn't believe her- cancelled the ambulance and no involuntary holds, or even a warning for the self confessed drug DUI. Points for not traumating her farther, I guess? As long as I stay unreachable, it's not going to happen due to me or not my problem anymore. She has other friends now to traumatize. Notably, the only ones left are enablers/in love with her and us disowned folks stood up to her. 

I've got the energy to play with my dolls again and I'm making up for lost time. A doll clothing preorder happened to arrive a few days after this all went down, so there's been a lot of dressup. I'm customizing a playline doll into a character I've dreamed of for ages. Another bjd is finally getting some photography practice and I'm figuring out what I'm planning for the design of another. I'm starting to be able to focus long enough to do longer projects again, so hopefully I can get some clothes done. There's a backlog of things I really want to do but just couldn't. Not laziness- I would forget mid-stitch what I was doing or lose track of goals the second I tried to cut my fabric, even with a reference. Literally couldn't picture the next step or remember how to get there. I finally got my disaster of a bedroom cleaned for the first time in months, so the dolls have a nice place to be displayed. Physical health issues that defied blood test results resolved literally overnight after this, so I'm finally capable of doing more than survival/school/work now. Mental issues are uphill slowly, but in progress. I'm easing back into things with smaller projects, but hopefully I'll be able to do some bigger stuff soon too! Taking it slow though. I don't need burnout. I just need to get my life together and heal. 

I thought doing the hobby on my own would be lonely, but turns out it's just peaceful. I'm still trying to process the last three years, but I think things are going to be okay. The last week and few days has been the happiest, most peaceful week of my life since I was a child.  Ironically, due to the bait argument and what it would reveal, she can't even trash talk me too specifically without looking terrible.  I'm still being careful, but I think we're a lot more evenly matched than she had me believing. I'd love to make some less insane friends but I think I need some time to learn to be a healthy person. I don't want to accidentally continue this cycle. For now, I'm looking forward to a LOT of doll play time, catching up on sleep next to my kitty, and trying to build a future.

~Anonymous

Mod: Glad to hear such a happy update Anon! 💜

[euphorbic]

Off the back of my photo dump post, here’s the detailed bit.

First, anyone that follows me should likely know that one of my Special Interests ™️ is motorcycles. Second, others follow me for ball-jointed dolls (BJD) stuff. BJD are just big action figures for me.

Concept

Motored Cyborg Runner (AKA 少女発動機) is a line of 17.5cm action figures, which are a mashup of “girl” and motorcycles. These designs are based on AF Kuro’s work.

I am n o t a fan of his barely-pubescent t¡ts and aśś and pυbis mons work. (Someone call the Hawkeye Initiative on this weird and gratuitous twät shot.) BUT I DIGRESS!

Here’s a pallet cleanser:

As you can see: basically sportbike gajinka. My (very gross) hero!

The details

Sen-ti-nel and Goodsmile teamed up to create action figures based on these designs. I’m assuming that this design is Tsujigiri. (I use Hepburn spelling, despite all packaging and marketing materials using Kunrei-shiki: Tsu-zi-giri. Why? Because there is no “zi” sound in Japanese and because I love you, of course!)

Onward! Have a recap photo:

Here’s where the motorcycle enthusiast in me gets consumed with glee. The motorcycle details. Starting with the removable fuel tank backpack. The tank shape isn’t motorcycleish, but from this angle? Yes, yes it is. It’s like looking down at your fuel cap from sitting on the seat.

Then there’s the torque wrench settings. On race bikes and cars, torque settings are painted next to bolts so nobody has to remember how many newton meters (N/M) is needed for each one.

Sorry, this shot sucks because I just used my phone all these. The warning label on this one reads: Caution, hot surface. The black arrow points up to the engine, but more specifically the engine’s header. Caution is appropriate: I don’t know a single motorcycle tech that hasn’t been burned on a header.

The single cylinder engine is very accurate to a motorcycle. Even the silver cover combined with the darker case is iconic. It’s so accurate that I can’t help but question why anyone would go with this single cylinder 4-stroke model when they could go with a 2-stroke? Better choice in my opinion… on a completely made up future that has internal combustion still in existence.

And, of course, we have the 4-stroke style collector/silencer/muffler. If I had some Akrapovic, Arrow, or Yoshimura decals in the right size, I’d slap that sucker on. The figure comes with two silencers, but the other one is very short.

Not a motorcycle thing, but look at this tiny QR code on the arm pocket! Adorable.

So there’s my word vomit on motorcycle things that make me half the target audience for these figures. Just one more thing, to mention, I guess. Scale.

Scale

Have a super crappy, backlit photo:

Pictured with:

Masterpiece (MP) scale Starscream

Classified scale Cobra Viper

Figma Utena Tenjou

The figure is the same sort of scale as Classified G.I. Joes if you compare them knee-to-knee. Tsujigiri has a lot of height in those wheels.

If you don’t mind that her height obliterates the illusion of “massive machine” she scales very well with MP scale Transformers.

Go to the photo dump post

[havraniko]

New arrivals of old dolls Migidoll Ryu arrived a week ago. He was my first BJD love back in 2012. The price was nice, and I thought he would be gone in a second. But he was still there the next day, and two days later, and even after a week had passed. I realized then that I was doomed to buy him. Sigh. He wasn’t even in my plans.

When I looked at his photos after the purchase, I started to worry he was too sweet and sunny—not sad enough for me.

But when he finally arrived, my first thought was, 'Sketchy bastard'.

He was as wobbly as jelly, so I had to restring him. For now I only changed his eyes and the wig. He arrived with a short mohair wig that I immediately swapped for a spare synthetic one. Natural hair wigs, even when they’re made from animal hair, just make me go ew. And besides the mohair, short hair make him look stupid (to my taste).

I expected him to be smaller than Dollshe, but he is even bigger. And incredibly heavy. At least he fits in his shirt.

He’s still a bit too much, but I think we’ll get along. Maybe I’ll name him Cheshire.

Unoa akubi faceplate arrived on Saturday. My Unoa faceplates collection is growing! Though, mouth parts are missing and that's frustrating, because they're more complex than regular Lusis' part.

It's the forth faceplate that I have and the only one which fit perfectly (a had to work on the others a bit). And the color match with the body is almost perfect.

[fairykukla]

Deerlee, my new Magic Mixies Pixlings was fun to conjure using the potion ingredients included. (See my other post on the topic.)

Here she is with her skirt turned around. (The "right" way, IMHO) I found it weird that she arrived with the tail on the front of her skirt.

Also, special note; this is the second one of these that I brewed the magic potion for, and the second one to wind up with blue potion in the bottom of the doll's inner container. I want to point out that the little collectors guide for the toy line sits at the bottom of that tube. So be prepared to rinse that off gently and lay it out to dry.

She's got human feet, but her shoes have widdke hoofikins, and I love them.

However. Girl... Why is your tail in front. Whut.

I love her color. She's a metallic gold, lighter in shade than Gilda Goldstag, seen here.

(Are you my mom? My Dad?)

(We're your sisters, silly!)

Here's Unia, her sister. This was the first doll I opened, and I followed the directions over the sink. For Deerlee, I set up on the table. If I put a waterproof tablecloth on, I think it will be totally fine.

So naturally, I had to do some photo shoots.

Here's Ming, my BJD tiny reindeer, all dressed up for Christmas. One day I will finish her face up and hooves.

I really like these dolls. I have the mermaid, also. She might stay in my collection, or go to my Grandbaby. She's certainly getting the Unia, but if she gets totally excited about it, I'll whip out the Merina Mermaid so her Unia can have a friend. They're better in pairs or groups, I think.

I'm told that the Special Edition Bunny has a completely removable dress, unlike the molded-on top and removable skirt on these two, but I'm not going to let that stop me from making them custom outfits. The bunny isn't that great.

There is apparently a butterfly (Flitta) as well; she may be another exclusive, and she's marvelous. I might see if I can snag one in the post-Christmas sales.

They're not as possible as a BJD or MH, but they do have joints at the elbow, shoulder, hip and neck. I want shoes for these girls; their feet are darling. Moose! Make accessory packs!!!

Oh, and the stand doesn't help much. I'm going to have to dig out my small BJD stands.

[firespirited]

Mermaze Mermaids factory rejects: $8 each at aliexpress.com/item/1005004823831727.html I was curious about these but waiting for them to hit second hand. $8 felt fair enough even if they end up as hair donors.

I love a glitter shaker doll like Novi Starz but $50 (45€) for a top and a jacket, a body that looks too skinny, glare-y eyes and light eyes on all the dark skinned dolls rubs me the wrong way. They’re cool but for $50 I expect swappable legs and a second outfit.

Ok where to start? Nera with the dark blue hair: she barely shed so that’s great, it’s kiwi with some bobble tinsel. She tried MC2 Camryn’s eyes which are the same eyes used on Mermaze but the eye sockets are too shallow and wide: they’ve reused their eye stock but didn’t redo the doll molds properly so that the eyes don’t bulge and glare. These eyes look fantastic on Project MC2 dolls (see review by ToyBox philosopher) and just wrong on Mermaze, I’ve ranted about inset eyes before but basically if you mess that up, you kneecap your doll line.

So I put milliput into the sockets and placed an acrylic iris in there which was actually a ton of work to get right and clean and smooth. It’s not as detailed an iris as i’d like but still SO much better than fish eyes. I removed her under eye glitter, reblushed, acetoned the sides of her brows too close to the hairline and the bottom of her lips painted too low.

Harmonique lilac got Adrienne’s eyes and I’m not sure i’ll keep them, it’s better than her pale turquoise eyes but still unfocused: the eyes need to be the main attraction. Her hair was trashed, I’m pretty sure the original has 3 lengths: 11cm twirls, 23cm main bulk and 30cm ponytails so buyer beware if you plan to restyle her. I cut mine down to 23cm.

Beyond that original photo, after i’d carefully sectioned out hair to salvage, I ended up just discovering more and more damage: hair sliced at 7mm-3cm along all three of her partings along with a bunch of rooting error knots.

That’s the risk of factory rejects. A risk I probably shouldn’t be taking with hard heads, I added ten or so knot method extra plugs to replace missing hair in front... shoulders still too fragile to do any more. She has a scar on her forehead and is light brown toned. Both should be easy to find bodies for (Nera is fakie pale pink or Cloe toned) but that neck hole will need modifying.

I’m not annoyed at paint or rooting errors, that comes with buying factory rejects. It’s part of the fun, the puzzle of repairing. ^__^

I am really put off by the decision to not invest in a better eye design and the way they’ve made rebodying these dolls a serious breakage risk between the tiny neck and very hard plastic. It seems they’re launching a spin-off line with better designed faces called Siren sisters so maybe save your money for that?

If you do want to get these dolls I recommend slicing into the back of the head above the second line of plugs and slicing out the eye sockets so you can place BJD 10mm eyes.

[golvio]

There’s a box set of 1/6 scale blind box ball-jointed dolls I ordered a while back that I’m really looking forward to getting in the mail once they release. They’re plastic instead of vinyl, so their knee joints are chunkier than non-blind box bjds like the YoSD series, but they have a good range of motion and a surprisingly good paint job for a solid plastic BJD. Their inset eyes seem to be higher quality than the more expensive TinyFox brand the website also sells. They’re decent enough quality that you could probably swap out their sculpted plastic hair pieces with an actual wig cap you’d see on a higher-end BJD and it wouldn’t look too out of place.

What I’m most excited about, though, is that based on a video I saw demoing the prototype’s range of motion, the body itself seems so sturdy and well-balanced that they’re really good at freestanding even if you cross their legs in a very loose approximation of a ballet style plié pose. Of course, the hair pieces and the clothes might shift their actual center of gravity a bit, but they seem bottom-heavy enough that I don’t think a little extra weight on their heads would make them tip over like some of the Penny’s Box dolls. They seem like they’d be lots of fun to pose for photo shoots. If I was more ambitious as an animator, I’d take advantage of their ability to stand in order to do some stop motion photography with them!

I only have two complaints. First, in the motion demo video, there’s a gap that appeared where the upper thigh connected to the pelvis when the demonstrator extended the doll’s leg all the way out in front of her. Not sure if that’ll be there in the final product and it doesn’t necessarily interfere with the overall range of motion, but it looked awkward. Second, I don’t like how short the skirts on the outfits they come with are. I wouldn’t have had as much of a problem with the skirt length if these blind box dolls didn’t have a tendency to not include underwear with their default outfits. 😬 I wish the skirts were either closer to knee length or their traditional/historical-themed outfits were cheongsams instead of a two-piece shirt and miniskirt set. I ended up buying some color-coordinated Curvy Barbie yoga pants in advance to give them some (hopefully) matching leggings to cover up with.

Someday I’d like to get practiced enough at hand sewing that I could take these gals’ measurements and make them some simple bike shorts or even some frilly bloomers. I’d love to design some cute layered casual outfits for them if I can ever work my way up to drawing my own patterns for miniature shirts, jackets, pants, and hats. Maybe if I get confident enough and learned how to embroider or glue embroidery onto the hems and collars, I could buy some small squares of really nice patterned silk and make them some proper dresses?

[namikala]

Got a Kinoko Juice Shizuku a while back. Bought her from the artist's Etsy store with faceup, eyes and wig. She was shipped very quickly. I think the next day or two, can't remember exactly. (I took unboxing photos but haven't posted them yet...)

Anyway, been looking for clothes for her. Thinking of getting Kikipop clothes as those are supposed to fit her. (Kikipop is the ABS plastic version of the Kinoko Juice dolls. Shizuku is a resin BJD.) But they are rather pricey (says me who spends way too much on clothes for my bigger dolls... orz) and the styles I want seem to be sold out, so trying to find some second-hand.

Anyway, I was at Daiso the other day and wondered if Shizuku would fit in the doll clothes they have, so I bought two as I couldn't decide between them... And they do fit!! 

The short-sleeved pink and purple dress is absolutely perfect and so adorable on her! I love it on her and it matches the style I have in mind for her! And I can get it on without having to remove her hands. (Her hands are magnetic, so it’s not too much of a hassle to remove them.)

Meanwhile, the hakama is a bit small, especially the sleeves and it's very tight around her arms, but still it sort of works? I had to remove her hands to get it on. But I think I'll avoid getting any more long-sleeved Daiso doll clothes for her.

The hakama fits a lot better on my Obitsu Uniform Project Yu Sekiya (Angel version) that I’ve named Seira!

I'm tempted to go back to Daiso to pick up a few more outfits for the two of them! XD And I think Shizuku might fit into Licca-chan doll clothes? I see lots of cute second-hand ones on Dollyteria and Mandarake... :3c Even if they don’t fit her, they will probably fit Seira? Much temptation!!

[dolliesanddelights]

1/24/2021 - Reverie’s Story

I guess maybe it’s a silly thing to be interested in where a doll comes from, but Reverie’s prior owner actually linked me to two of her prior owners so I could see owner photos of her from the past and when I found a third, I decided to go on the hunt to see if I could track her history.

I tracked her first owner down (we will call them “Kitty”) to the date she arrived from Darak Doll which is October 15th, 2016. I’m sad because the unboxing post absolutely had pictures once upon a time but it looks like the host deleted them so unfortunately they have been lost in space~ but that’s technically her original birthday and it made me stupidly happy to find out! She apparently came with bubbles in her resin on her hands and discolored arms - I don’t see that problem now so it’s possible this was fixed down the line!

Anyways, so it looks like she was with Kitty from October 15th, 2016 to at least  August 28th, 2018, where her second owner (Bear), I noticed commented on a picture of Reva and they inform Kitty that they messaged about ownership over Reva.

Bear has no pics of Reva at all so there wasn’t much to be found out about Reva there and she wasn’t with her long! On the third owner’s account (Dollie), Reva was tagged as being bought from Bear and arrived with Dollie on December 17th, 2018! Dollie had never owned a BJD before, she was more into fashion dolls. She had several really cute pictures of Reva though and it made me happu to see! I don’t have tagged confirmations or anything, but I suspect she was the one who sold Reva to 4th owner at that time (Mama) because Mama is who I bought her from and Mama about how Reva’s box was thrashed during shipping and she came with a bunch of Barbie clothes which makes sense?? And I see some of the clothes I got with Reva in Dollie’s old pictures.

Anyways, Mama held onto her a while and she actually relisted her a few times because the owner mentioned that she had reposted the sale because the first post got zero traction.

Anyways! That makes me Reva’s 5th owner. 5th and final owner if I have anything to say about it.

She makes me so happy. She’s so lovely, she’s beautiful and sweet and her facial expression is darling and her body is darling... I just... I adore her. I’m so happy. I get a little sad when I see dolls go up for sale all the time and I feel so happy that her little trail stops with me. My precious girl is gonna get a beautiful faceup at some point and an amazing wardrobe and new eyes and another handful of wigs... I am so happy! Welcome to the family, little girl!

[story7days]

I started putting faceup on Horus, I should have finished updating his pose first, but there was something wrong with my picture! 😖So tomorrow. I try to make him look mature and serious, it's too hard... Because he has a lovely face! 😂The second photo shows my decision, his Faceup won't be too special, but the eyes are the focus, and you can already see some Egyptian styles. + #bjd #bjddoll #doll #bjdartist #bjdhandmade #characterdesign #horus #egyptianmythology #ennead #bjdfaceup #bjdmakeup #soomdoll #faceup #makeup #soombjd #soom #soomidealian #sculpture #idealian #bjdeyes #bjdeye #dolleyes #dolleye #eyes #eye #bjdphotography https://www.instagram.com/p/CC1XxUJJgXi/?igshid=vswusm4a55go

[the-bjd-community-confess]

Long-ass confession about thinking through changing up my collection

I have 3 various V0lks SD dolls and I think my hobby will be turning more towards this direction in the future as I think of selling off my collection of smaller non-V0lks sized dolls. I started in the hobby some years ago with much less room for dolls - so I decided to get a number of less expensive smaller dolls with non-standard measurements and although I have enjoyed sewing and making some items for them, I always enjoy sewing for the SD size more, and now I also have room to comfortably display more SD size dolls. The biggest problem though has been that I really don’t have much fun at all hunting the right size and style of shoes, eyes and wigs and other props and things for the smaller dolls to complete any new looks or the dioramas I had wanted to make, and often these things also take forever to ship, don’t look right or or fit right and so now I also have a drawer full of things that just weren’t quite suitable so that’s really just money wasted. I actually put those smaller dolls away in their boxes last year and so far I have not missed them in 9 months so I’m thinking it’s time to sell them. 

By contrast, I have my V0lks dolls out all the time and it is always exciting to anticipate the Volks releases via photos and announcements in V0lks News. I look forward to to making a seasonal order for one or more beautiful new V0lks outfits, some shoes, maybe a wig or other accessories several times per year and it is so nice to have everything arrive quickly, packaged beautifully, fitting perfectly and the items always looking lovely on my dolls so much that I usually want to set up a photo shoot right away so my photography has also progressed a lot. That adds a lot of fun to my hobby enjoyment overall and I’m finding out that for me, it’s worth the extra expense now that I have really thought about it. It even makes me want to sew more for them to add to their wardrobes and to photograph them more in casual everyday snapshots.

A few of my doll friends aren’t as interested in my almost-all V0lks focus now but I have also met some new people who also really love these dolls the most, and that’s fun because they also get excited for the news and releases.So I’ll get ready to sell the other dolls at reasonable cost and in enough time for people to hopefully be able to use layaway to buy them for Christmas, and also list everything that doesn’t fit one of my V0lks dolls - just have a big clean-out sale, then trade or give away smaller things if they do not sell and save that money towards eventually buying at least 2 more Vplks dolls in new sizes, either searching second hand or buying them one at a time as they become available via online FCS or by lottery. I know the dolls and items that I sell will probably not raise such a good amount of cash even compared to what I spent but honestly, I feel like I am better served to cut the losses and have a fewer amount of dolls that I really enjoy a lot to make a nicer collection right now and then only buying those types of dolls in the future that I know I can enjoy more easily to buy things for from now on. 

Why this long confession here? Well, I do get tired of reading mean confession posts about others. But mostly because I know a lot of bjd hobbyists consider people who mostly have V0lks dolls to sometimes be some kind of elitist brand snob (and to be fair some really are, that’s true) but for me, I guess confessing my process about how I arrived at my current decisions might help someone else also think on their own collection in a way that may allow them to let go of less-loved dolls without guilt about the sunk cost and also to help give themselves permission to change their ideas about how they want to approach the hobby according to what makes them happy - even if it means considering very different dolls right in the middle of their doll journey, regardless of what anyone else might think. 

~Anonymous

[irrealdoll]

Just one day for the second Nia preorder! ⏰ ✨🍁 Are you ready? ❤️ I made a Halloween themed photo session and I think they turned out beatifully! 🥰 I love autumn colors! This one is the peanut Nia, with a very long sleeve sweater. And can you see the cats' ears and eyes? I will share more pictures of it throughout this week 💕. Have a nice day and see you tomorrow! #irrealdollnia #bjdpreorder #bjdsales #bjdhalloween #autumnsession #doll #bjd https://www.instagram.com/p/B4ArKNYo-5M/?igshid=7spg2v6u5kgq

[fairykukla]

The Goodreau Crew

This is not all of them, either...

I'm missing Helen and Arianna. Helen is apparently having an adventure of her own, and Adrianna is up in the front room from the last photo shoot. Oops.

But here's my family of Goodreau dolls!

Trixie was one of my first dolls, and she's also an ambassador; I carry her around at events and let people hold her. She's vinyl, but many people are surprised when they see her in person. She's sitting next to Lucy, one of my first resin dolls. I picked her up on eBay for a song because of her broken hand. She's wearing the custom Pirate ensemble from Mary West; I paid more for the outfit than I did for many of my dolls.

Towanna is in the corner, showing off her X-Men outfit. I have a rig that lights up her eyes! She also has her own wardrobe of awesome clothes.

Alexis is in the wicker chair. She's fun to dress all girlie, but I'm considering a more Kristen Stewart look for her.

In the more populated picture, we have Zeke sandwiched in on the couch. He's Scatter from the Upside down Oz series, and he has special needs. There was a run of the Oz dolls that have joint problems. Paulette didn't want to sell them, but she offered them for free to anyone who asked on her yahoogroup. I'm so pleased with him, even though he has posing problems. He has a Harry potter outfit but has quietly told me he'd rather be Ron.

The little critters are Icky the Bat (he's BATMAN) and Apple Pucker (we just call him Puck or Pucker.) They were also gifts from Goodreau! Icky was a prize from a photo contest, and Pucker was accidentally shipped when I ordered his sister. Scotti the dog is actually a Toto, and she was a Goodreau gift, too! She was my doll from the first annual St. Louis BJD convention! Paulette was supposed to be our guest but a family crisis prevented her from going... So she sent some 5"critters to give away to everyone who attended!

Chartreuse is Pucker's twin sister, and she's sharing the wicker chair with Alexis.

I love these dolls so much.

I have owned Secret in Resin, but I wasn't thrilled with her. I found that the face that was sweet and expressive in vinyl was... Unpleasant in resin. Severe. Judgey. So I sold her to another local collector.

I had a Rumor in resin, because I adore my Trixie, and while I loved her face, there's a peculiarity to the sculpt that has her tipping her head up all the time. I needed cash fast so I sold my Stargazer Lily to a dear friend, and she has taken lovely care of her and given her awesome adventures.

I had a second Privera, but got strapped for cash almost immediately and sold her. Broke my heart; she had a set of high heel feet. Sigh.

I clearly have a twin problem. I also had a second Icky the Bat, who I called Stellaluna, but wound up selling her, too.

And finally, I had a tiny elf, and an Ashlyn head to swap with her. Sold her in a moment of financial difficulty, too.

So... Yeah. That's the whole Goodreau collection. This doesn't count dolls I've bought on behalf of the convention or dolls I bought as gifts; that's a whole other conversation.

[firespirited]

Top photo is the dolls with hard to find skintones who got bodies from the lovely @musicalmeowsandcandiedlemons, second is the dolls who got bodies (some already custom, some futher customized) thanks to @cosmomoore! 

Then there’s the moment I fell hard for Licca-chan and friends and decided to go for it even though I couldn’t find perfect bodies: Maria, Orie-san, Sakura Brunette and Licca teal (not pictured: Sakura blonde from 2019). I blame you all for that.

Then there was the foray into larger dolls with a potential BJD in mind but i’ve decided to stick with playline. Gayle is a mishmash of a doll (yeluoli 1/3 body shrunk and bootlegged, Shibajuku head sans hair or eyes) who somehow lucked into having tons of character, her middle finger is permanently up and she’s pure chaos. She barely holds together. Azul is a dream hinge jointed doll made from wonderwoman 18″ and a Rainbow surprise head that was super backrooted. I don’t have the space or clothes for her but I love her anyway.

Lucking into Star Darlings factory rejects about a year after falling for @dollsahoy‘s Sage led to a rainbow: 3 full reroots, 2 partial, 2 more reroots to go with help and inspiration from @jupiternames. They are from left to right Scarlet, Lavender, Sage, Juniper, Vega, Anisette, Mint, Leona, Libby and not ready yet: Cinnamon in blood red and Annatto in peachy orange.

I paid for most of my doll stuff this year by konmari-ing my Bratz and Monster Highs and working on those I really wanted to keep (expanding my space angelz, creating the punk Sasha I would have loved Bratz to make and rerooting glue headed monsters).

New and not so new dolls that sparked joy were Novi Stars and Rainbow High even as I muddled through figuring out eyes for those odd shaped sockets.

Every single large toy company manged to show their racist arse spectacularly in some form or other this year and distribution to france remains bottom of the barrel or double price. If i’ve managed to convince anyone to fix up a factory reject straight from the workers or pirate shows from behind the monopoly paywalls I’d be well proud (No i’m not over “the vault”). So here’s hoping Freshdolls make it to europe, we get non smirky Moana and Raya dolls and Kida finally gets into the princess line. As for Barbie, there are multiple dolls I would have bought this year if they weren’t grainy: make better choices mattel. As it is I have a dozen more projects on my list to work through on mostly older models so i’m set for a while.

I had to learn that instagram makes me feel like a “have not” when it comes to both the new shinies and the skills so avoid that explore button and tag following. And expand my energies locally and personally when it comes to activism and donation. Same with the news: it’s so out of my league, out of my control: just gotta check in with friends when news that affects them comes up and do whatever little I can to keep my loved ones as safe as possible. I’d love for USA postal customs to start functioning normally but M4A first because as much as I miss trading, I’d love to know my ‘ricain friends are safe more.

Here’s to plastic rainbows and you folks giving me too many cool ideas =p

[escapetoyourdolls]

HAIRDORABLES/LOL Comparison

I picked up a “Hairdorables” surprise doll at my local Target in order to compare the unboxing experience and the dolls themselves to the L.O.L. Dolls I have recently become obsesssed with.

The “Hairdorables” have only 1 series so far. I love this because it feels like I didn’t miss out on the beginning of the collecting curve, and like I don’t have a bunch to catch up on. There are 12 different characters, and each girl has a standard, exclusive, and ultra exclusive version that is available. It’s, of course, a surprise which one you’ll open, which I also love.

I will say, so far, that I love her more by the minute, whereas the L.O.L. Dolls usually immediately make my heart swell, for some reason.

First, a few photos of the unboxing process and my initial comments:

I think the box that she comes in is really neat. It folds out into a play area setting with a little cardboard stage on the bottom and a colorful background that I’m gonna love to use for doll photos. Each surprise came in like, a ketchup looking peel-open container. I can’t say I like this more or less than the blind bags that are in the L.O.L. Packaging. They’re both really fun to open! Everything in this package is just a hint larger than the accessories for L.O.L. Most noteably, those bulky plastic boots. For reference, check out the short post featuring Countess; there is a photo of the shoes I unboxed for her there as well as some other tiny adorable shit.

Now, some photos of Harmony! This purple sparkly cloth dress, black and purple high-top boots, bow-tie, and guitar accessory are all included in in her signature/most common look: “Harmony Rocks”.

The smaller, plastic dress black and pink dress that she’s in at the end is one of the L.O.L. Fashion Crush series items. It’s really short on her, but it definitely fits her shoulders quite nicely! I think she looks really good in it.

Post Unboxing

Pricing difference- at my local Target, an L.O.L. Eye Spy Series capsule is about 14 dollars and the HAIRDORABLES is near 12. Granted, the L.O.L. markets as having 15 total surprises, and the HAIRDORABLES box says it has 11 surprises. That being said, after the stickers and paper products that don’t really do much for me except for labeling the dolls I have already acquired; in the end both dolls come with one pair of shoes, a complete outfit, and 1/2 accessories. I would say the number of products inside each of the packages is very similar.

Amount of waste- this is all just estimation because I didn’t do any real measuring at all but it does seem that the amount of trash after opening the HAIRDORABLES box seems to be less than with the L.O.L.’s. When I was finished opening each doll, I found it was easier to organize and throw away the plastic for the HAIRDORABLES than for the L.OL.

The cardboard fold-out box for the HAIRDORABLES versus the capsule that the L.O.L. dolls come in seems to be of an obvious lesser quality than the hard, plastic colorful capsules that the L.O.L. dolls are safely snuggled in latex inside of. Opening an L.O.L. is almost like a birthing process to me; having to pull off the rubbery, placenta-like encasing that she lie nude in, piece by piece. There is a certain way that I take it off every time, too. Eyes first.

But the cardboard HAIRDORABLES box is very artistic looking, and photogenic I think. I’ll use it in my comic strips probably in upcoming posts, haha.

Unboxing Experience- oh I think I went in on this in the above answer. I think, now you know I’m weird as fuck. 💁🏼‍♀️

Quality of Accessories- I like that the HAIRDORABLES clothing is actual cloth instead of plastic, but it's not as cute to me as the L.O.L. clothes. I guess it’s because the little plastic outfits are more unique to me than all of the Barbie clothes I have seen my whole life. The L.O.L. accessories are so cute and well-themed, and I absolutely love to find a teeny tiny facial mark or tattoo on one of their chubby little bodies. I am definitely going to play with getting some wigs for my L.O.L. dolls and knit clothing as well. That, I think, will really make me prefer them after-all. It will really make them perfect. Anyone know of any artists who make L.O.L. wigs?! 😋 The HAIRDORABLES don’t (that I know of) have any outfits and accessories available separately, I’m not sure that there is much available online yet. Also, the HAIRDORABLES doll comes dressed in her clothes, with the shoes wrapped as a surprise, whereas the L.O.L. doll comes either nudey or with little (sometimes color changing) undies and bra, making the outfit itself one of the surprises before you’re able to see the doll. I like that there is more to do with the L.O.L. wardrobe. I can go to Target or something if I’m bored, or only want to spend 5 bucks on toys that day (yeah, right) and pick up a couple L.O.L. “Fashion Crush” pods to re-dress my existing dolls in. I am growing to like the rubber clothing more and more, too. So far, I have so many more L.O.L.’s than HAIRDORABLES accessories. I am learning how to put on and take the clothes off easier. I used to be like, pulling frustratingly on sleeves and arms and shit haha. I also like how the entire doll (rubber hair, clothes, and all) remains pretty resilient in my backpack or pocket all day. The L.O.L. dolls come with baby bottles and pacifiers, and the HAIRDORABLES come with things like a skateboard and a guitar. I also love the cute little cardboard I.D. card that each HAIRDORABLES came with. Good for collecting.

Quality/cuteness of Dolls- Both of these dolls are really well made for their prices. Both have a nice weight to them for their size, and both have 5 points of articulation: neck, both shoulders, and the pelvis at each leg. I would fucking LOVE if the next wave of either of these dolls had knee joints, but that’s a cheapskate’s BJD fantasy. 

ANYWAY. Each L.O.L. doll is able to perform one water action: spit, pee, squirt out of her ears, cry, or color change. In order to figure out which one of these actions your doll performs once unboxing, you fill her head with water (either via her water bottle or by dunking her under water) and then bring her back up, squeeeeeeeeeze, and see what happens. The color change ability is exposed with both hot and ice cold water. It’s by far the coolest ability. This makes playing with these dolls, as well as watching the unboxing and now “testing” videos on Youtube super fun. The fact that they are not only completely water proof, but are made to play in the water is genius to me. And, another reason for rubber hair and remove-able wigs! aha! These dolls remind me definitely more of a baby doll than a Barbie or any other kind of action figure doll. They have cute little bulging bellies, and big, doe-y, innocent eyes. The HAIRDORABLES do not have any play options like this, but they are still super cute and do each have a story to tell. They remind me of a BRATZ doll, and have more of a teenage girl feel to their personality. They have longer, lean legs and a thinner torso than the L.O.L. My Favorite part about the HAIRDORABLES dolls is their large head and sweet painted faces. Oh, and obviously their HAIR! It is so silky soft, and super do-able. I sat on the living room floor and french braided my second doll, Skylar’s purple hair last night. 

Size of Dolls- HAIRDORABLES stand approx. 5.5 inches tall, and are essentially the same size as the Shopkins SHOPPIES. L.O.L. dolls stand approx. 3.5 inches tall, quite a bit smaller. and boxier. and cuter. I think I definitely have a preference hahaha. 

In conclusion, I am pretty happy with both dolls. I do prefer the L.O.L. doll because of it’s unique shape and tiny size, but I am happy to have both types of doll in my collection. 

[theugliestwife]

Hello everyone, I have some news and updates I want to share with you! 💕 First of all I am pretty absent these days (and months...), so it looks that I am dead to the hobby. Nothing like that, ha! I work hard on commissions, finishing slots every day. Eventually I started getting so many commission requests that I’ll be busy in many many months. It’s okay and I’d be happy about it of course, but it means I’ll be constantly busy and tired and very long waiting time for my clients for their dolls to be done. I cannot be happy with hobby, when I am so tired painting dolls, lol! So I decided to start putting slots every month. Pros? I’ll be posting wip photos from my desk of my recent work. As my client, you’ll get your finished doll by the next opening, so in a month max. Isn’t it the perfect idea? Now all slots for August and September are filled, so I’ll be opening for October. Big thank you for your kindly understanding and even bigger apologies for clients I had to refuse! I’d love to share my work with you again, so that’s the point of whole operation! Because I have up to 60 finished commissions I haven’t posted yet, I’ll start a challenge called „Let’s post all of them, shall we?” ❤️ The second news is that in 3 weeks I am getting married 👰🏼 So hurray, I’ll be officially a wife, like the name says! I’ll try to be the ugliest wife in the neighborhood, but I can’t promise! Thank you for reading and let’s be in touch 💋 #bjd #balljointeddoll #doll #artdoll #bjdcommission #makeupcommission #faceup #faceupcommission #custom #ooak #customfaceup #theugliestwife #dollstagram #dollsofinstagram https://www.instagram.com/p/Bm35kPEF3jq/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1otfrbw2ek6ch