New Arrival: Volks Yo-SD Tinatsu/Chinatsu v. 2

I was browsing Mandarake (the Japanese second-hand chain) looking at doll outfits the a few weeks ago when I came across a listing for a YoSD Tinatsu (also called Chinatsu, but I'll be using the former since it's what appears on her paperwork). While I debated buying her, she sold.  But a few short days later another Tinatsu was listed, this one at 3000¥ less because her eyes had been swapped and were no longer the default brown.  Since I can't resist a good deal, I decided to add her to my cart.

Unlike some of their larger dolls, there are no standard dolls in the Yo-SD size (26.5cm), so all of the releases have been limited run for the various Dolpas ("doll parties") and other events.

2018 in Review - Doll and Figure Entrances and Exits

2018 was quite a dramatic year for me personally and included relocating back to Canada.  As a result, I ended up selling and donating more dolls and figures than I have in years.  But let's start with the dolls and figures that joined us!

In February, I was joined by  Disney's Couture De Force 20th Anniversary Esmerelda from Hunchback Notre Dame. When I first posted about her I hadn't planned to keep her, but in the end she stuck around.

A Good-Bye to a House (with Lumedoll Atik)

If you ever scroll far enough back to my first few posts on this blog, most of the photos in those posts are of BJDs in the garden in my house in Burlington, Ontario.  It's been five years since I've lived there (it was rented out while I was living in the US), but this past summer we decided to sell the house.  As of yesterday, the house is now in the hands of its new owners. 

The week before closing I took my Lumedoll Atik along and shot a few final doll photos. I wish I could have photographed him from a few other angles, but unfortunately his faceup was damaged during our relocation up from Houston. The weather is too damp to redo his faceup right now, so he'll have a "good side" until the summer.

These photos aren't as good as the older ones as I was using my phone (if you'd like to see some of the older photos, check out Dolls in the Snow or Dolls in Springtime) but I wanted to commemorate the event regardless.


As I was outside, snow started to fall, which added to the mood.

Better Late Than Never: Made To Move Barbie

The soccer player waves hello.

Before I get to the dolls, I thought I'd let you know that my house stayed dry during Hurricane Harvey. I was out of the country (my five day trip to visit family in Belgium ended up doubly extended), but my husband and the dog were in town - one of our cars was flooded, but other than that we were lucky.

And now on to the dolls!

It's been almost two years since people started reviewing the then-new Made to Move multi-jointed Barbies. At the time I'd been planning to pick one up at some point, but I'd never thought it would take quite as long as this!

But last week I found the "Soccer Player" edition on clearance, and since I can't resist a bargain I decided to bring the doll home.

A quick look at Granado's Vinyl VINDOLL Udell

Granado's Udell

It's been a while since my last post: we've moved house, gone on a family holiday to the UK and Ireland, and I'm off to another family event in Belgium next week. And in between I've been organizing and selling off some of my doll collection.

But in between all of that there was one new arrival: Granado's Udell, the first doll in their new vinyl VINDOLL line. Granado has been putting out lovely large resin dolls for a number of years now, and this new line is an vinyl interpretation of one of their existing resin lines (the 70cm line).  Being vinyl, they're a third of the weight and half the price, which is nice.

I'll be attempting to do a more thorough look at the posing of the line (once I have some extra free time - and once I figure out where the best light is in this new house), but until I get to that I thought I'd share the unboxing of this guy.

Not for the sensitive: there's one photo of an unclothed anatomically correct doll beneath the cut.

Attack of the Giant Barbies: Can SD-range BJDs wear Barbie BFF outfits?

Mattel has been putting out extra tall Barbies at regular intervals for years, but yesterday was the first time I realized that they actually sell extra outfits for their 28"/71cm BFF line.  And since that's roughly the same size as a number of SD+ (65cm+) sized BJDs, I naturally wondered if this meant we now have a mass marketed supply of giant doll clothes, and so brought one of the outfits home

The tag that caught my attention.

Today's photos aren't the best, but I thought this was too interesting of a find not to share.

Happy Father's Day!

This is Father's Day weekend in the US and Canada, so I thought I'd post a quick on-theme photo for the occasion. And for all the fathers, grandfathers, step-fathers, and father-equivalents out there, enjoy your day!

The dad here is an Iplehouse EID Arvid in light brown
and the son is an Island Doll Kevin in tan.

And for all the non-Dads, hope you've had a great weekend as well!

Time for a new outfit!

Just two quick photos to share today: I've had Angela (SD16 Amethyst) in the same t-shirt since she arrived in January, so I thought it was time to see how she looked in a fancier outfit (she's pictured with SDGou Claude, who is still in his default clothes, minus the coat).

Dolls in Springtime

We may be just out of February, but flowers are already blooming here in Houston.  While I haven't been able to do any major outdoor photoshoots with them yet, it did inspire me to go through my photo archives and dig up some photos from my old Burlington garden to share.

In addition to the garden, featured in these photos are "Shep" (Illusion Spirit ZhuQing), "Roland" (Soom ID51 London), and "Zed" (Angel Street Zazaen).

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Out of the Box: Volks SD16 ebony Amethyst

I've mentioned that this doll was incoming a few times since the October FCS, but now she's finally made her grand entrance.

There was a little drama getting her back from the post office: I'd been out of town over the holidays, and when returned home I found a parcel pick-up slip from the post office. On the 30th I went over to pick her up and found that the location listed on the slip had been closed permanently as of the 29th. They listed a replacement address, so I went over there.  And that place  turned out to have a sign on its door saying it was closed until the new year for renovation, and listed the original, now permanently closed location, as its replacement. Luckily for me the new year was only a few days away, but still!

In any case, let's get on with the de-boxing!

Tagged! Liebster Award 2016

The Liebster Award question tag is making the rounds, and thanks to Musume of My Dolly Adventures, the tag has come my way. I always have fun reading other people's answers to these, so let's get on with it!

RULES:

1. Thank the person who presented you the award and link back to their blog (Thanks, Musume!)
2. Post the award image on your blog. 
3. Answer 11 questions posted by the presenter. 
4. Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers. 
5. Create 11 questions for the nominees to answer. 
6. List these rules in your post. Inform the people you chose of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog and link them your post.

A Quick Comparison: Illusion Spirit mini and Volks SDC Hands

Since Volks has yet to release option hands for the SDC boys, a question that pops up fairly often is about the alternatives that might be out there. Illusion Spirit's jointed hands are one option that comes up fairly frequently, and while I don't have those, I do have an Illusion Spirit mini with their standard hands, which have the same wrist joint, so if you're curious about the fit, this is for you!

Top row: IS hand on SDC arm front & back.
Bottom row: SDC Miko and IS Zhu Qing, each wearing the other's right hand.

The wrist joint on the IS hand is slight smaller than the SDC one, but still fits reasonably well. I can't speak to the colour match since my IS sample is tan, but it looks like fit wouldn't be an issue at least.

Body Comparison: Soom ID51 vs. Souldoll Vito

Soom ID51 London, Souldoll Vito Rouse

One of the most common photo requests I've gotten on doll boards is regarding the in-between (at 52cm, bigger than MSD, smaller than SD) sized Vito from Souldoll and Idealian 51 from Soom.  I have one of each  - Soom ID51 London and Souldoll Vito Rouse, so let's take a look at them side-by-side.

A note to the sensitive, unclothed dolls below the cut (although they're posed for modesty, since I originally took these to share on a board where that's a requirement for anatomically correct dolls).

Not on scale, but at least it's in-theme.

A few years ago my sister passed along a miniature copy of Sebastian Faulks' Birdsong, both because she figured it would make a good doll prop and because I'm a First World War buff, and would appreciate the theme.

The book is actually just a touch too big, even for the big dolls like my Dollmore Mettaa from their Glamour Model line, which they list as 75cm (although he's really only 73cm).  Still, since I did have a uniform in his size (although not quite of the right vintage), I thought it was worth using in an anachronistic and not quite in-scale photo shoot.

I was going to try to make him a miniature poppy as well, but my attempts were even more off-scale than the book, so that will have to be a project for another year.  And in a way, that works for where we're living. Although it's not Remembrance Day here in the US, Americans do mark a military-themed holiday today (Veteran's Day), but they don't wear poppies. I suppose because their involvement in the First World War was so short (when I was living in DC, during one of my mother's visits we walked through Arlington National Cemetery - she pointed to a First World War grave with a birth date of 1899 and wondered if he'd lied about his age to enlist. I had to remind her that by the time the US joined the war he'd have been 18.), so it seems to be less of a cultural touchstone that it is in so many other countries.

In any case, on with the photos!

Then and Now

I'm about to head out of town for a week, I just realized that my oldest BJD (Volks SD13 Heath) turned ten earlier this year, so I thought it would be fun to celebrate by sharing some photos before I go offline.

His current look.

Climbing the Escarpment, 2010

The Texas heat has been putting me off of taking new outdoor photos, so in a moment of weather-nostalgia I starting sorting through some old photos and came across one particular set that I thought I'd share.

These were taken in Kerncliff Park in Burlington, Ontario.  Kerncliff is a trail-head on The Bruce Trail. The Bruce trail is an 800+km trail that runs along the Niagara Escarpment from Niagara Falls in the south to Tobermory in the north, and this particular trail head was less than a kilometre from my house during the 3.5 years that I lived in the area.

Back in the later summer of 2010, I packed up my Iplehouse YID Aaron and took him for a hike  (it's all photos from here):

Dolls and Dogs

After the impression my German Shorthair (Gunterdog) made after his guest appearance in my Dolls in the Snow post, I thought I'd post a few more photos of him with various members of the doll posse (it's all photos after the break).

"Don't look now, but I believe there's a giant dog behind us."
The dolls are Soom London & Souldoll Rouse

Dolls in the Snow

I've been sorting through my photo archives, and I've found myself feeling nostalgic about the doll photos I used to take in my garden in Burlington during the winters (if you're not familiar with Southern Ontario, that's along Lake Ontario, halfway between Niagara falls and Toronto).  Having left the snowbelt, it's probably just that I'm just forgetting how much I hate shovelling, but the photos made me smile, so I thought I'd share a few of them.

Volks SD13 Heath, January 2011 

Season's Greetings! And Planning for 2015

Double Dutch Sascha (in a Carpatina oufit),
Volks SDGou Claude the Beast,
Carpatina Veronika

I missed posting on Christmas, so just wanted to make a quick post to send a Holiday greeting!

Coming up in the first few weeks of 2015,  I should be posting about the Carpatina doll and clothes line (I received a doll and three outfits as part of a gift exchange), and about my end-of-year splurge gift to myself, a Volks SDGou Claude the Beast, who I lucked into finding on Mandarake two weeks ago.  Also in the queue are Monster High's Vandala Doubloons, and some vintage Star Wars figures and vehicles.

I also seem to be hitting a storage and display limit, which means it may be time to thin the herd, so it's likely that I'll be talking myself through the process of elimination some time in the next couple of months.

And finally, my husband is expecting a new work assignment some time in the next 5 months, so since we'll be moving house some time this year there may be a series on packing-up dolls and figures in the works.  And depending on our next location, we may be unpacking out storage items as well, which will open up a whole host of new/old "Out of the Box" posts as I sort through those items.


I hope 2014 is wrapping up as well for you as it is for me, and best wishes for 2015!  Cheers!

Out of the bag: Mirodoll Lele

Mirodoll Lele.  Forgive the dress, I had nothing
else that fit him on hand.

I was away on a work trip last week, and - much to my surprise - when I arrived there was a new BJD on my doorstop.  Having only ordered the doll (a Mirodoll Lele) three weeks prior, I hadn't been expecting to see him so quickly, but I was also surprised because I hadn't received a shipping notice from Mirodoll.  The shipping surprise turned out to be reflective of my overall experience with this company: some positives, but a fair number of negatives as well.

Mirodoll is one of the lowest-cost BJD producers out there and, having not heard much about them, I was curious to see how they would stack up against other dolls.  Normally, their 1/4th scale dolls retail for just over $100 USD, but they had a sale recently and as a result the doll was offered for $90.  I think it's important to mention that up front because I do have a fair number of complaints, but it's worth noting that the doll's price was a fraction of some of the ones I'll be comparing him to.

The first surprise was discovering how little packing protection was used: inside the shipping box was a simple draw-string padded bag - and almost nothing else!

The shipping bag.

 the hands were wrapped in a little foam, but that was it.  Luckily, the doll survived his journey and still made it to me intact (and that's despite the box being slightly crushed in shipping).

The second surprise was that they cast my doll in the wrong colour.  I  had requested their "dark chocolate" resin, but the doll I received is in "dark grey".  The colour isn't terrible (and if you wanted to create a drow/dark elf character it might be perfect), and while I can understand shipping errors for off-the-shelf items, for a custom-cast item, I was surprised to see this kind of mix-up happen.

Dark grey Lele, unclothed.

Unfortunately, the dark grey shows sanding marks even more so than tan colours do, and as a result the doll is covered in lighter patches.  The faceup is also a bit on the odd side in terms of colour choices, but for something that was included with the price of the doll, I can't really complain.

Still, there are some positives:  the weight of the body is surprisingly hefty. While he can't compare with the weighty (and much higher-priced) dolls from Volks or Iplehouse, he easily outweighs even larger-scale dolls from Bobbie/ResinSoul and Angel Street/Fdoll.

The body and head also have much more detailed sculpts than any other doll I've seen at this price point.  The body in particular surprised me with its level of detail and also with the solid engineering.  In fact, while my overall impression is less than stellar, I would whole-heartedly recommend this body for hybrids.

One other thing of note:  although this doll is sold as a 1/4th scale doll, he's actually significantly shorter than any other MSD-range doll that I own.  That's not an issue if you're using him as a customization project and intend to make your own clothes, of course - but it does mean that he can't share clothes with many other dolls (and it's why he's wearing a dress here - it's the only thing I had on hand that fit him).

In any case, I think he'll make a great project doll - but if I order from Mirodoll in the future, I'll certainly be tempering my expectations.

Height Comparison: Volks SDC Miko

Height Comparison: Island Doll Kevin

Height Comparison: Withdoll Aiden

Battle of the Grey Dolls: with Monster High
Neighthan Rot.