This is not the one

As I get older each year, I find myself walking down the halls of memory - flicking through the photo albums of dolls, past and present. I started thinking of the dolls that took the top spot on my wishlist - finally acquiring said doll only to move them on a few years later. What was it about those dolls that made me want them so much only to finally have them and decide, "This is not the one."

Sometimes, as doll collectors, I feel we can be swayed by a photo of said doll done so well by other owners, it makes us fall in love and it's not until we get the doll we realize, it's not the doll sculpt we liked but the way that particular owner styled that doll. It's an expensive lesson to learn but one I have now thankfully learned after many trials. I am happy to admire the dolls of other owners and be content with that, no longer feeling the urge to "have that doll".

So the dolls in question? Let's look back through the sands of time ...

We start with some of the wishlist grails. Some people only have one grail. I have a few - dolls that I doubt I will ever be able to own because of their price point being beyond my budget.

From top left to right: Iplehouse JID Asa | Fairyland Minifee Shushu | Withdoll Fenrir | Limwha Mono | Lumedoll Saiph | Fairyland Minifee Rheia

Queen Amidala - Red Senate Gown Portrait Edition 1999

Well this was a super fast arrival. The seller only posted this two days ago and usually parcels would take five days to arrive from that state. Either I got really really lucky or Australia Post are working overtime. It also happened to arrive super early this morning, before 8am. Again, I'm in shock.

This is my Queen Amidala - Portrait Edition in the Red Senate Gown released in 1999. As I mentioned in a previous post, there were only a total of three dolls in the series; Queen Amidala - Red Senate Gown 1999, Queen Amidala -  Black Travel Gown 1999 and Queen Amidala Return to Naboo 2000. 

She came loose in her box but I believe this was the same for my other Portrait Edition doll. No stands were made for these dolls. She did sadly have some marks under her nose and on her chin which I managed to get off with some elbow grease. Thankfully. There is also a weird stain under her chin that I couldn't get off. When she came, she had a weird white cardboard collar around her neck which I've since removed. So the stain could be from this but I think it's more likely from the neckline of her gown judging by the colour. But you can't see it anyway so I'm not too worried.

The first thing I did was remove her clothing and shake it out good and proper and gave her an overall clean. She had a lot of dust on her face and head pieces which I cleaned. I inspected her body for any melting and her clothes for any flaws. Everything was in pretty good nick given her age. Of course, this doll was NRFB so she hadn't been played with, just displayed. There was some small damage to the box but that isn't a big deal to me.

Tyler Wentworth Box Opening

I've had this doll for a few weeks and am just now getting around to posting it up here. She was a second-hand purchase  and is the Tyler Wentworth Signature Style BA doll from 2001. She arrived to me on the 24th January 2019 so technically she is the first doll to arrive this year and an unplanned purchase.

From what I managed to find out, not all Tyler Wentworth dolls had the bendable arms, the original didn't but they released her later with this feature. I'm guessing that's what the BA stands for. There is another Signature Style series of her without the bending arms. Obviously I wanted to make sure the one I was buying did have the BA feature. Sadly, she does not have articulated wrists or feet but that's not a huge deal breaker for me.

I really find her face quite sweet and I wouldn't mind a few more but recent issues make me hesitate quite a great deal. If you remember from previous posts, I have two other Tonner dolls, Galadriel and a Precarious. Whilst rearranging my doll cabinets a week ago, I noticed that both Galadriel and Precarious heads had a slight green look to them that wasn't there when they first arrived. Now, I don't know if this was because they were previously kept in boxes (although Galadriel was kept in a doll cabinet much like mine) and now they are exposed to the air, there might some sort of reaction like resin, except happening at a much faster rate. I am careful with my more expensive dolls to keep them stored in a cabinet on the darkest shelf so they don't get a lot of light shining on them. Heck, my BJD cabinet only houses BJDs as I cover the cabinet with a big white sheet to protect it from light.

I asked about the issue on a Tonner Group I joined but no one else had experienced this issue with their dolls so ...either, the light when it's on downstairs has reacted with the vinyl (although the same light has been there since I started collecting BJDs and my resin dolls are fine, save for the natural yellowing that occurs with resin (but at a much much slower rate - we're talking over years) or they both happened to be a bad batch when it was first made several years ago. Obviously I can always fix the colour in photos in my editing program but ... it has made me a bit hesitate to get further Tonner dolls at this stage.

Anyway, on to the photos ...

Here We Go Again : Wishlist Surprise

Happy Sunday! Today's post is about my Wishlist. I like having them because it keeps me on track to what I am saving for. So after a bit of refinement, I decided to present mine.

** Photos are courtesy of the following companies: Argonatuica Doll , MYOU, Dollzone

There's not much on there as I've already ordered the Akagidoll 66cm body so I didn't bother including that on this Wishlist. My hope is that the body will share both DZ Cosmo and Argo Zet heads. We'll see how it goes. And the Myou Delia girl is one I've been interested in for a while now but I was always going back and forth between the 30cm version and the 45cm version (I do like the outfit on the 45cm version though a lot!). From everything I've read, their bodies are really nice and their face ups are gorgeous but I think the smaller version of her was more childlike and adorable which appealed to me but who knows, maybe I'll end up getting both sometime down the line. Also when they do have their sales, they have damn good ones so I'm gonna hang and wait for one of those.

The outfits from Dollzone are just gorgeous. I have one already (the one my DZ Hid wears) and I know they're really good quality and well made. Truthfully, if it wasn't for Dollzone's ridiculously long wait times, I'd really be tempted by Ivan. Having said that though, at least they aren't as bad as the Dollshe wait times. I am tempted to swap out my Hid's old body for one of their newer ones except he's tan skin and Dollzone's tan resin is all over the place and never matches so the chance of getting a good resin match is probably about a 10%. 

Over to you? Do you have a current wishlist and do you often get everything on your wishlist?

It's out of my hands

In an earlier post, I talked about finding some jointed hands for my Dollshe Saint as his current ones, one of the ball sockets has broken straight through in two places and is being held in place at the moment because it's pushed up against the wrist and the hand part.

I put in an order last weekend for some Universe Doll B.J. hands as they were having a 15% off sale on them until August. I ordered through LegendDoll.

Photos courtesy of Universe Doll

I love how very slender they are and I think they will fit my Dollshe boy perfectly. I ended up getting them in pink as my Dollshe resin seems to have a pink undertone to it. I initially ordered them in yellow but then realised it was too yellow against the DS resin and the dealer kindly let me change it. I like that they give you 24hrs to make any changes before they send your order to the doll company.

I think they'll most likely take 2-3 months as Universe Doll is a single artist company.

Of Challenges, Queens and Grails

Over at IG, I decided to do the black and white challenge. The idea is that you take a photo a day over 7 days and post the photos without any explanation. It was a neat concept and I enjoyed the challenge of taking and posting up a photo a day. It wouldn't be something I would do all the time though as free time has been in short supply over this way recently.

The Fantasy Factor

I've mentioned previously on the blog that I had originally started collecting resin dolls for the sole purpose of turning them into characters from my fantasy inspired stories. Of course, I got a little frustrated with this as finding fantasy clothing for dolls can be a bit like looking for a needle in a hay stack, especially if you have very specific ideas of what the outfits should look like so I eventually gave up on the idea.

Last night, I came across Rinmaru Games Mega Fantasy Avatar Creator. Okay, I totally love these things. It's basically digital dress up dolls and I've always had a weakness for those! I spent way too many hours playing around on it but I did come away feeling inspired to try and create the characters as I originally saw them again.

I've always been a big fan of the fantasy genre so it'd be neat if that could be reflected in my dolls.

 Click image for larger version

 This mostly pertains to my MSD collection. I'll start from top left, row one.

Arianna {MNF Halloween} - Rogue/Thief Character Class; Raised by the Black Crow gang.
Aron {DZ Hid} - Fighter Class; Mercenary for hire, rumoured to be a fallen knight.
Illyana {MNF Shushu} - Cleric Class; Priestess of Celestris, Patron Guardian of Avaria.
Jamal {MNF El} - Ranger Class; A hunter of the nomadic people of the steppes.
Silvano {KDF Maska} - Bard Class; Storyteller/Singer with an idealised vision of heroism.
Yuki Onna {MYD Hee-ah} - Ghost/Spirit - Inspired by Japanese folk lore and 'Shirahime Syo' manga by CLAMP -  the only doll to actually resemble the character of the Yuki Onna in doll form.

All of the characters (except for the Yuki Onna) are part of 'The Companions' who set out across Avaria to find and destroy the Seven Seals that if found and brought together would bring about darkness and destruction to all the kingdoms.

The One That Got Away

...Or should I say the ones that got away.

When I first started collecting, there were a lot of dolls that I wanted, dolls that called to me, dolls that at that time were beyond my (then) budget. Sadly, a lot of these companies (and dolls) no longer exist.

Photos taken and belong to respective companies: Angelheim, Dream of Doll, Impldoll, Integrity Toys and Souldoll

Had I known what was to come, I might have tried a lot harder to save up and purchase at least a few of them. But I wrongly assumed the companies and dolls would be around for a long time to come.

Now if you've followed my collecting habits since the beginning, you might already know that rarely do I like more than one or two dolls from the one company so when a company comes along that I like almost all the dolls they release ... well, that should tell you something as it rarely happens (at least with resin dolls anyway).

A Year in Review 2016 and Christmas Aftermath

Hope everyone had a lovely Christmas Day!

The New Year is just around the corner and like last year, I thought it'd be neat to see what happened this year. I didn't really make any goals for this year mostly because I have a bad habit of ignoring them!

Crafty things I did;
+ I made some workable diorama sets for the 1/6 scale dolls that I'm really happy about.
+ I bought a make up air-brush set and actually started to paint 1/6 scale faces.
+ I made some things; diorama props and a yo-sd dress.

Most Notable Arrivals:
+ Bluefairy SF May
+ IT Airways Poppy
+ J'Adore La Fete Elyse Jolie
+ Obitsu Mafuuyu
+ Momokodoll Tartan Syndrome
+ Momokodoll Platform Departure
+ Momokodoll Orion's Sonata

There were other doll arrivals as well (some Pureneemo dolls and one Pullip) that I didn't add to the list and of course a few figures.

Overall, not too bad. The biggest thing for 2016 was finally getting a big vinyl doll (my Obitsu Mafuuyu). I've wanted one for a while so it's nice to finally check that off the list. And of course, I finally jumped into the Momokodoll waters after procrastinating for so long. I don't really foresee this collection being too big in the future. 

I project that in 2017 my acquiring will drastically slow down to a trickle. I'm currently saving for the big SD girl who will be my last bjd acquisition so any and all available funds are being pumped into that. I have no plans on acquiring further dolls from any of the other lines (not counting ones that are on pre-order of which there is only one Pureneemo and the Phoenix doll).

I would like to concentrate on customisation in 2017 and improve my skills in that area and of course, build more dioramas and make more props and sew more clothes. That's the plan anyway.

What about you? What has your 2016 been like and do you have plans for the coming year?

The Wheel of Change

First, I want to start off with some photos I took of Geraint, my DZ Cosmo who spends most of his time in the floating head box except for the rare occasions I drag him out for a spin on the Soom SG body. I rather like that Epidos and Cosmo share the same body and I'm working that into their backstory currently.

As the title of this post suggests, I'm gearing up to make a few changes. Yes, I know I like to change things up a lot but it keeps my muse juiced up and active.

I'm fascinated by the idea of reincarnation (as illustrated in Deirdre and Josef's relationship) so when it comes to Cedric and Geraint, I thought I might go down that path with a slight twist. Cedric has been experiencing dreams and feelings he can't explain. So when he travels to the Misty Mountains to seek help from a Mystic, he inadvertently fully awakens his 'Old Soul', Geraint. Now Geraint wants control of the current body and a battle begins between Cedric and Geraint for sole ownership.Their story explores the idea that there is always a little bit of darkness in even the most gentle souls. And for Cedric, Geraint is his darkness manifest. After all, his old soul was an assassin and a very good one at that.

Geraint's Theme Song: License to Kill ~ 95TurboSol

2017 Grail Dolls

I saw this tag going around on instagram and thought it'd be neat to figure out what my grail dolls were for 2017. The word 'grail' can mean different things to different people. For me, a grail doll is one that I actively save for. This  can take quite a long time but eventually, I know I will save enough to purchase the doll.

 **Photos courtesy of Daydream Doll and Nine9Style**

My grails (in no particular order) are Daydream Doll Coco and Nine9Style Bunny Nine Maple C. These will most likely be the last bjds I will purchase due to space constraints. It's interesting they are both girls. I always thought I would be more of a male doll collector and I was initially but somehow, I've been purchasing a lot more girls in the past two years. I don't know when I will get these two dolls. My doll fund is going up but rather slowly so it will take a while.

Late to the party

I seem to be late to the party when it comes to doll releases and often than not, I discover dolls after they've sold out or were released years ago and are no longer available. This seems to be the norm when it comes to finding dolls I like.

I have been lucky in one instance though. I fell in love with Luts Maska when I saw the elf version of him. By then it'd been a while since that release and he was a limited. I never thought further on it until they released Ghost Maska. I had been keeping an eye on Luts releases and managed to get him. He doesn't have the elf ears but that wasn't a deal breaker for me. Plus I really liked the ghostly face up on him. That however has been the one and only time.

So I thought today, I'd do a post on the ones that got away.

**Photo courtesy of Integrity Toys**

First up (and I think I have mentioned her on the blog before) is Day Tripper Poppy Parker with the pale blonde hair, freckles and yellow eyeshadow. I adore this version of Poppy. It's my favourite of all the Poppies released. She came out in 2012 (I didn't get into these dolls until 2015). I have seen her come up about three times on the second hand market, all for around the $400-500USD mark which is beyond my budget for this doll line. I am still waiting and hoping she will come up one day at the right price.

Spring in May

As most of you who visit the blog know, I've been looking for a while for a friend for Rune, my Bimong Chuu. It's been a hard choice given the amount of beautiful sculpts currently out there and Rune is pretty much perfection and it's been a tough road to find someone who can hold a candle to her ... I mean just look at that gorgeous face ...

I've been flip flopping for a while between a few contenders but finally, a decision was made tonight and I took the plunge.

Dolly Wishlist - Blog Tag #2

Another of Irene's Blog Tags that I picked randomly. This one is called "Dolly Wishlist".

1. Post your regular random wishlist!
By regular, I am assuming non-doll related so I've made up this kind of wishlist. There isn't really a lot on it.

• Dr. Who Fabric from an Etsy seller that I want to get so I can commission my next door neighbour to make a tote bag for me.
• A Food Photography book from Amazon. This would be my third food photography book.
• Another Murano Glass bead from Pandora.

2. Post your dolly-related items list!
There isn't a lot on this one either but just a few things I need at some stage.

• Wigs and anime style acrylic eyes from Luts.
• Owl eyes from Makoeyes.

3. If you could afford to buy any one doll right now, which one would you purchase?
If money wasn't a problem, I would get Iplehouse Stella styled exactly as she appears on her promotional photos.

I think she would make a perfect Goddess character. I've always wanted to shell my Galathea character who I've never really found a suitable candidate for until I came across Stella. But this is just one of those dreams that won't be a reality.

I do love window shopping though even if I will never buy.

June 2016 Wishlist

Happy first day of the month! 1st June marks the mid-year point. 2016 has flown by at super speed!

To celebrate, I have a wishlist finally! This has me pretty happy. I haven't been able to have one for the longest time (okay so it's really only been about a year and a half roughly) but it felt like forever! By wishlist, I mean the one that I can actually bring home someday in the future (I'm thinking within the next three years at least!)

But first, some of you may remember, last year I was a member of the W Club for Integrity Toys. Their last club exclusive doll to be unveiled in December of last year was the stunning J'Adore La Fete Elise Jolie which I reserved.

** Promotional Photo by Integrity Toys

Her release date is set to Late Spring/Early Summer of this year which I believe is quite soon? Or at least within the next few months. I'm quite excited about this stunning girl as she'll be my first gift set doll (she comes with an additional outfit, a lingerie set and a carry case). I've wanted an Elise Jolie since I saw the Midnight Star version but she's one of the more popular faces for the doll line thus her second hand market prices were through the roof.

Christmas Dolls and A Hunt Begins...

An overdue photo batch from Christmas of the dollies that made it to the Wayward Inn, mostly unscathed. I've already posted about the Misaki doll so I won't cover her today.

I'll start with the new Koron girl that I got from my friend who I have named Rina.

She's either a bear or co-ordinate Koron. She has the brown eyes and hair, very different from my blue eyed, blonde hair Koron. I love her to bits. I really think Koron and Chiika may be my favourite face molds from the Pureneemo line.

Two Little Adventurers

I have a few posts lined up over the next few weeks (another unexpected, random purchase and the mystery Pureneemo has shipped). But this post is about my two little adventurers.

I'm not sure if I ever mentioned that Rune is actually my game character from Fantasy Life (for the Nintendo 3DS). In the game she is primarily a combat class Mage (but I also have her learning the Paladin class at the moment).

In my game, she has light blue hair. So I decided to try Isabelle's wig on her just to see what it would look like. And I love it on her. She finally looks like the Rune from my game. The fringe needs a trim but other than that, I think the colour is perfect for her. Lucky, I had ordered a pink wig which Isabelle can wear when the order comes in from Luts. I still need to make her a dress befitting a mage at some stage.

It's a Pullip World

Since caving in to the Pullip temptation, it's been a bit of a learning curve. Being used to posing Pureneemo bodies and BJD bodies, the lack of posing ability of Pullip default bodies is quite glaring. The body itself is really stiff to move in any sort of position. And sometimes, they make this noise that sounds like a crack (moving from sitting to standing). The first time this happened, I thought I had broke the body but no, it is just how it sounds.

For the Pullips I bought to be mostly display dolls (Mad Hatter and Alice), this is fine as I won't tend to want to pose them an awful lot but for the two I want to actually pose with, I will have to look at getting a different body.

Luckily, my Mad Hatter's hair is not too bad and there isn't too much frizz and I managed to comb and tame Alice's hair back to her curls so it's a lot less frizzy. Nanachan's hair however is a nightmare and I will end up changing it out for something else in a similar colour.

I've decided Clara will be the first experiment and I'm trying to source a Pureneemo L body (which is really hard to find). If anyone happens to know where there are some in stock, feel free to mention in the comments.

The Goddess of Goddesses

Every now and then, a doll comes along that is everything you've ever wanted in a doll but have never been able to achieve for whatever reason. This doll for me is the newly released Iplehouse Carved Heritage Isis. 

Photo by Iplehouse

From the moment I visited the sales page for this doll, I was in love. Iplehouse have outdone themselves. Everything and I mean everything about this doll is perfect. And her promo photos are just gorgeous. Her features speak of strength and confidence.

She'll just have to stay on the "Will Never Own Wishlist" (alongside Iplehouse EID Asa and Elfdoll Soah). I do not have the funds to get this lovely girl (especially with the current AUD being so miserable but even so, she's beyond my doll budget). I hope people get her and post owner photos for me to admire.

The Story of Chuu

I knew there was a reason I had been procrastinating over the 27cm size for such a long time. I got an email tonight from Art Bimong that Chuu was being re-released and within thirty minutes of that email, she was ordered.

Photo by Art Bimong

I had all but given up hope that this sculpt was coming back even though the artist had confirmed this about a year ago. I am really glad it took me so long to procrastinate because the stars were aligned and it looked like Chuu was meant to come home to me. Especially as I missed out on her when D-Storic was selling the Bimong dolls.

Oh my gosh, I haven't waited for a doll in a year! I had forgotten the euphoria of ordering something you have wanted for a while. I got her with the softer face up (No. 2). This will also be my very first full single body so should be interesting.

She was also available in the tan but I'm not a fan of the Tan Skin B. It's very orange toned and I prefer their Tan Skin A although I have never really seen any of the recent dolls released in that tone so far. So that means Miss Rune has reverted to her original lighter skin tone.

And damn, the exchange rate is horrible at the moment. Oh well, she's worth it.