Claude the Beast was a limited release from Dolpa Osaka 7 and IDEX 2013. A one-off was also offered by Volks USA is late 2014. I had I entered the lottery for the opportunity to buy that one, but didn't win, so finding this listing so soon afterwards (and at a lower price as well) was brilliant.
Luckily for me, the listing included almost the complete fullset - the original owner had kept the original red eyes (and replaced them with cat eyes), but everything else was intact (and as far as I could tell, they'd never even opened the outfit, boots or wig).
The doll did have a tiny bit of damage in the form of a small scratch above his right eye. I suspect that it may have happened when they were removing the original eyes (Volks glues in the eyes on their dolls, and there was still residue from the glue inside his head, so they obviously weren't able to remove the old eyes easily).
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| The box. |
Claude the Beast is on the SDGou body, which is a 66cm body with more defined musculature than the the other Volks bodies in this size range. He was cast in their (relatively new) "shadow" colour, which is darker than their suntan and lighter than their ebony.
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| A first peek out of the box. |
After de-boxing the doll, next up was the outfit, which is a work of art in its own right: the number of pieces (and layers!) were epic.
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| The full outfit |
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| A closer view |
At some point I'm going to do a thorough set of comparison photos with this guy and my other dolls in the same size range, as he has some interesting differences and similarities. That will need to be part of another post though, since now that he's dressed, it's going to be a while before I'm going to want to take it all off again!
But I do have one quick comparison: here he is between SD13 Heath (in 2005 "normal" skin) and SD13 Irvin (in 2009 "ebony" skin) that gives an idea of the high difference between the two body types, and the colour difference between the three resin colours (I'll have to repeat this photo with them undressed at some point):
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| SD13 Heath, SDGou Claude-Beast, SD13 Irvin |
Ooooh what a great find, well done you!! I love Volks dolls and have three, which is good for me because at one point I had ermmm lots more ;) I gradually adopted them out and now have my three favourites. I have only once had a full set and love all the pieces.
ReplyDeleteThis is one handsome fellow though and I look forward to seeing your comparison review when you do it :)
Hugs Sharon in Spain x
Thanks! :) I was thrilled to find this guy; I may have even bounced a little when I came across him.
DeleteAnd I admire your ability to pare down - that's something I need to learn to do!
Great find! I love how things always have a way of working themselves out when we really want something :). He has such beautifully shaped lips!
ReplyDeleteThanks! :) The lips are great, aren't they? So different from some of the other sculpts!
DeleteI was really looking forward to this :-D! Congratulations with this pearl of a doll!!! He's stunning and the outfit is just fabulous. I love his skin tone too!
ReplyDeleteThank you! :)
DeleteI wish I'd thought to take more photos before I dressed him - it's such an interesting body in terms of both engineering and sculpt! Soon, I hope - that's the trouble with these detailed outfits, it's such an ordeal putting them together that there's a temptation to never change them at all! ;)
Oh well done JS! Sounds like a case of being in the right place at the right time. :) He must have been meant to be yours and a very handsome chap he is too!
ReplyDeleteHugs,
X
Thanks! I like that - it was meant to be! :)
DeleteWow, he sure is smexy! Love his clothing.
ReplyDeleteHeh, isn't he? I'm so pleased with both him and the outfit! :)
DeleteStunning fellows, your Volks guys.
ReplyDeleteI can enjoy bigger figures without buying. I can look.
Thanks!
DeleteThat is totally the safer way to enjoy them - I originally planned to buy two largers BJDs total - famous last words, right? ;)