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.

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.

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).

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.

Preorders and Thinning the Herd

The Volks USA online full choice system was only live for 10 days this month, and while I managed to hold out until the final day, I did surrender and place an order for the new sculpt (Amethyst) in  ebony, with the "vibrant" faceup.  They're not expected to be ready until early January, so plenty of time to decide what I'm going to do with her.

The FCS (Photo credit).

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.

Adventures in Humidity (or Dolls in the New Garden)

This shouldn't have been as much as a surprise at is was, but I've discovered a new challenge when it comes to outdoor doll photography: the humidity.  It was over 83% here today, and my camera lens kept fogging up - even after being outside for a good 20 minutes!

Still, I did get manage to get a few pictures snapped, so I thought I'd share them (even if a few of them do have a bit of a natural filter to them!).

SD13 Irvin (I'd just wiped off the lens)

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 

Out of the Box: Volks SDGou Claude the Beast

Back in December I was browsing the Mandarake (the site of a chain of Japanese consignment/second-hand shops) for wigs and came across a listing for this guy - I wasn't planning on bringing another large doll home in 2014, but that listing was an opportunity that I wasn't going to pass up.

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).

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!

Height Comparisons Across Doll and Figure Lines

Earlier this morning a co-worker asked me about the relative sizes of BJDs with American Girl dolls, and at almost the same time I read Vanessa's question about the size of MA's International Travel Friends relative to playline dolls over on Black Doll Collecting.  And since a couple of weeks ago I also received a PM on Den of Angels asking about Teen Trends to MSD comparisons, I decided that I've amassed enough comparison photos to warrant it's own post.

First up is the Travel Friends/Playline line-up:

Back Row (L-R): Disney Classics (Li Sheng), Barbie (Princess of South Africa), Monster High (Clawd Wolf)
Front Row: Bratz (Cameron), International Travel Friends (Namaste), American Girl Mini (Ivy)

 The AG comparison:

 

 

L-R: Iplehouse EID model body (Chase), American Girl Cécile,
Illusion Spirit mini (ZhuQing), Monster High (Jane Boolittle)

The Teen Trends comparison:

L-R: Volks SD13 Long-leg body (Irvin), Soom ID51 (London),
Illusion Spirit Mini (ZhuQing), Teen Trends (Deondra)

And finally, a larger one:

Back Row: Angelheim Elderheim Angelo, Volks SD13 Irvin, Souldoll Vito Rouse, American Girl Cécile
Row 2: Iplehouse JID Boris, Ellowyne Wilde Lizette, Monster High Clawd, Girls of Many Lands Neela, AG mini Samantha
Row 3: Sideshow Toys Krycek, Hot Toys Wolverine, PlayArts Commander Shepard, DC Direct Tali, Figma Yukiko Amagi
Front Row: Hasbro/Marvel's Greatest Battles Captain Britain, Star Wars Black Series Mace Windu, Heroclix Pete Wisdom

Shopping for Dolls: The Volks USA Clearance Sale

Earlier this year, Volks USA closed their California showroom and relaunched their online shop.  During that process, they had a weekend clearance event that saw their stock offered at some impressive discounts.

I tried to grab a number of outfits, wigs and dolls (the Dollfies in particular were steeply discounted), but the competition was fierce, so in the end what came home was two outfits, a random pair of wigs and some paintbrushes.  The wigs turned out to not be to my taste, but the outfits were both ones I'd been wanting, and turned out to fit larger-than-standard dolls, so that's what I'll be sharing.

Outfit number one, called "Hoodie set" is a navy blue track suit with white an lighter blue piping and strips.  It's designed for the Volks SD17 model which is a 65cm, narrow-bodied dolls, so I wouldn't have expected it to fit a broad-bodied 70cm Iplehouse EID, and yet it does.  I've been looking for a track suit for Murad (EID Chase) for years, so I was thrilled to find that it fit.

EID Chase in the SD17 Hoodie Set

The school uniform set - under layers.

The second outfit is called "School Boy Set" and includes a grey tank top, a white uniform shirt, a tie, a camouflage  jacket and black cargo pants.  It's designed for the Volks SD13 doll, which is a 60cm doll.  Being made of less flexible fabrics than the track suit, it can't fit quite as wide a range of sizes, but parts of it do work on André, my Dollzone Alpha which has a 68cm body.

The pants fit this doll perfectly at the waist but are a good 1.5cm too short.  Luckily, this is easy enough to hide with tall boots (this particular doll is quite narrow for his height, so often ready-made 70cm pants are too loose on him).  The tank top is perfect though.

The shirt and jacket are really too tight around the shoulders, so they'll be moving on to a different doll, but André did get to try them on.  All of the pieces in this outfit are of really fantastic quality, so I'm quite pleased with this outfit (and with the number of pieces included in it).

The camouflage jacket.

The shirt and tie.

.

Works in Progress: The Unfinished Dolls

SDC Miko in his default look

Some people never buy a doll without a plan for what to do with it.  I am not one of those people.  Naturally, that means that my collection is sometimes a little less cohesive than some, but it also means that it's full of unfinished projects, and I thought it might be fun to share a few of them.

WIP #1 is my Volks SDC Miko.  I'd been eyeing the SDC line for years, but had never had the opportunity to pick one up (at least at a price I was comfortable with) until coming across this guy whilst browsing Mandarake late last year.  I was surprised to find him at all, but to have found him with his complete fullset was even better, so of course he landed in my cart.

But when he arrived, I realized that while he's a fabulous doll, I don't actually like his default look.  So the first thing I did was put his head in the freezer and take out those big blue eyes (if you've never taken the eyes out of an older Volks doll, tossing the head in the freezer will make it easier - although the newer ones seem to use a freeze-proof glue, so the newer your doll, the less likely it is to work). 

SDC Miko and Fdoll Charlotte
in their most recent styles

I replaced the eyes with some brown glass ones, but felt like that wasn't enough of a difference - unfortunately I didn't have any flashes of inspiration, so the poor guy ended up in cast-off wigs and clothes.  I'm thinking that a faceup with darker colours may be in his future now, but we shall see!

In his most recent photo (there on the right), you will also see WIP #2, a Fantasy Doll Charlotte.  I ordered her last year, when rumours that Fdoll was discontinuing their dark tan started circulating.  I didn't have a plan for her, but I'd been thinking about picking up one of their tinies for years, and had a good experience with sister company Angel Street, and had always wished that I'd picked up my Angel Street doll in dark tan.

So as with the Miko, this girl came home without a plan.  She also (unexpectedly, since I didn't do much research) came with a free faceup, which I believe may be one of the barriers to knowing what to do with her.  I should wipe it, because it's not to my taste, but it's just cute enough that I haven't done it yet.

Fdoll Charlotte in looks that just didn't quite work.

I will say that one great benefit of not knowing what do with with a doll of this size is that it's so much easier to find clothing for them since they can share with standard size fashion dolls.  In these photos she's wearing a Liv and Barbie outfits (and even a Liv doll wig in the pool photo), and another taken from an anthro doll.

Li Shang's default look

Lest anyone think that it's only BJDs that end up in the unfinished pile, WIP #3 is a customization project built around a Disney Classic dolls - Li Shang from Mulan. 

Years ago, I had a plan to turn the old McDonald's Li Shang (more an action figure than a doll) into Sky from Jade Empire.  I never got around to it. In part that was because I lost the base figure during a move (although he would have been easy enough to replace), but primarily because I was getting away from working on smaller action figures in general.

Jade Empire's Sky

But then I was wandering through a Disney Store last week (looking for a t-shirt for a nephew), and the "Sale! $10!" sign caught my eye.  And remembering my old plans for the figure, I thought I'd give that project another go, doll scale this time.  We'll see if I actually get around to it this time! ;)

Cross-Company Comparison: Tan Resins

One of the big challenges that I hear about from people who want to hybrid tan dolls is the near-impossibility of finding matching colours without having to resort to custom batches or blushing an entire body to match a head.  With that in mind, here are a couple of references based on my own collection:

1. Illusion Spirit tan (ZhuQing, 2011)
2. Secretdoll tan (Binu, 2008)
3. Dollmore Suntan (Mettaa, 2010)
4. Iplehouse Ebony (Chase, 2009)
5. Iplehouse old Dark tan (Aaron, 2007)
6. Soom Dark Brown (London, 2011)
7. Iplehouse Light Brown (Arvid, 2011)
8. Limhwa tan (Half-Elf, 2011)
9. Dollzone tan (Alpha, 2011)
10. Volks ebony (Irvin, 2008)
11. Island Doll tan (Kevin, 2011)
12. Iplehouse old light tan (Cocori, 2008)
13. ResinSoul coffee/light tan (2010)

Clockwise, starting with the feet:

1. FantasyDoll Dark tan (Charlotte, 2013)
2. Iplehouse ebony (Boris, 2013)
3. Soom dark brown (London, 2011)
4. Dollmore suntan (Mettaa ),
5. Island doll tan (Kevin, 2011)
6. Illusion Spirit tan (ZhuQing, 2011)
7. Souldoll tan (Rouse, 2010), 
8. Iplehouse light brown (Arvid, 2011)
9. Limhwa tan (Half-eld, 2011)
10. Dollzone tan (Alpha, 2011)

Personally, I thought the biggest find was the similarity between Iplehouse's light brown and Island
Doll's tan (although the IS tan does have slightly more red to it).

That's EID Arvid in light brown holding Island doll Kevin in tan on the left.

Out of the box: Imran (Volks SD13 Irvin)

Current look.

A unique doll - one of only two (the other being SD16 Ruby) do be released in the ebony, and with a distinct fantasy outfit (and ears) - I was fascinated by this guy from the moment I saw him.   For a couple of years this doll was, as they say, my grail doll - a limited Dolpa release with high prices on the secondary market.  I admired him, but always assumed it would always be a long-distance admiration.

But then 2011 rolled around, and with both the global economy taking a hit and the BJD market shifting to include many more options (and perhaps more importantly, more lower-cost options), the prices of these older Volks limiteds started to drop a bit.  And finally over the summer (when I was on my honeymoon actually) I saw one seller drop her price to a point that I felt I couldn't pass up (I won't lie though, he's still the doll I paid the most for).

Default look (with elf ears)

He has the same standard SD13 long-leg body that my Heath has, but came with removable ears - two sets actually, one elf-style and one human.   And his colour has aged well: none of the greening that some companies' tans have been prone to.  He also has an interesting face sculpt - depending on the angle (and to a certain extent, choice of wig) he can look very child-like or quite a bit more mature.

 That's him looking young on the left, and in his default gear on the right.


 


Amusingly, given that I fell in love with him because of his elaborate fullset outfit, I've not had him displayed in that style since the first time I photographed him.

Out of the box: Sarah (Volks SD16 Daria)

Her default outfit and hair.

This is another doll where having slightly off-trend tastes made the acquisition so much easier:  Your average Volks Dolpa exclusive involves luck and lotteries to purchase, but Daria wasn't the most popular offering, and as a result she was available for preorder.  No lottery or second-hand searching necessary!

I don't know why she didn't sell-out; She's a lovely doll - fabulous face and a fantastically detailed fullset outfit (just the shoes are a work of art!) - but hey, there's no accounting for tastes.

Lovely though her default outfit is, I ultimately ended up keeping her primarily in very casual, very modern clothing.  Until the move, I generally kept her displayed with Grant (my Dollmore Glamor Model Suntan Mettaa - that's them up there in my site header), but since he's still boxed up, she's currently on display solo.

Modern style, with an Angell-Studio wig

For whatever reason, she's the doll that gets the most comments from friends and relatives who check out the doll collection, and the feature that gets the bulk of it are her eyes - her "big, sad eyes" as a friend of my husband's said.   I don't think she's particularly sad-looking myself (wistful, maybe) so I find the fact that so many people comment on it a little amusing.

Third out of the box: Karel (Volks SD13 Heath)

Ah, here he is - my introduction to BJDs, the oldest of my dolls (released 2005) and the first member of my doll posse.  I found him on ebay with his complete fullset (which he never wears, because regency finery is not my thing), and the rest was history.


His original faceup was notoriously unpopular, but I actually like it - something about the way it works with the sculpt makes his expression seem to shift depending on how light hits the face, and that's always a plus to me.

As is standard for Volks, his resin is heavy, and while the colour has shifted over the years, it's mellowed more than discoloured.  He also has the unsanded seams, which I often hear complaints about, but I find that it just adds character (there's a particularly high one on one of his hands that's almost ridiculously sharp).

I always say that I'm glad that this doll was my introduction to the hobby, because I'm not sure anything else would have convinced me that these absurdly large playthings were actually worth the cost (in terms of buying them and in terms of storage space!