This new one is for Isabelle. It's called Unique Baby. It isn't as curly as in the promo photos but I don't really mind. I kind of like it not as curly. Everything else was pretty similar to the promo. I added in the plait myself so that's why it looks different. The hair colour itself, both tones appear more vibrant in the promo but I think that's due to lighting. It is actually grey-white and the brown is more subdued but I like it because it's more subtle this way.
I'm actually really pleased with it for her. It fits like a glove on her head and is finally "Isabelle" as I imagined her to be. I will talk more about the significance of the two tone colour a bit later in this post.
Now this wig is the one I was really looking forward to seeing in person. It is LR130_D in natural black and goldenrod. Again I really think the colour difference is lighting. The strands are more mixed in than in the promo but that's something a bit of styling can fix.
I adore this on Arianna. It's exactly the type of style that I was looking for her. I had initially thought of this wig from Luts but it was out of stock which turned out to be a blessing because I much prefer the dark/light colour of this one. It was great to put it on her and see her as I wanted her to be from day one when I saw the potential of that blank sculpt. Plus the wig fits her like a glove. This is the first wig to do so because her head is a lot smaller than my Shushu head.
Photoshop brush by TreehouseCharms
In my story, or rather, "The Author's" story (more on that later), when someone with Talent comes into their power, there will be some sort of permanent physical manifestation. For both Arianna and Isabelle, it shows in their hair. For Isabelle, parts of her hair turned a white-grey and for Arianna, half of her hair turned blonde.
Back in the "old era", this was an easy way to tell the Mageborn (people with Talent) apart from regular people; back before dyes were invented and the younger and older generation decided dying one's hair was fashionable. So in the current story timeline, a Mageborn can get away with going undetected by claiming their hair change is something they did to themselves rather than a natural manifestation of their powers awakening. Which only works if they don't show any outward displays of Talent.
Cedric also got a new wig. This one is LR159_E. It's supposed to be an 8-9inch wig but it is a tad roomy. I'm sure a wig cap will fix the extra space. This one doesn't really look too much like the promo photo but that could be due to styling. I prefer it like this anyway. The longer style is more what I wanted and it was awesome that this is how things worked out. I ordered the Sandy Brown colour and it's what I thought it would be so all good.
I've mentioned before and if you've read his profile, you'll already be aware that Cedric Kane is an Author. In fact, he writes Cloud 9, the comic represented by the FR dolls as well as a few other things. One of these other things is "Mageborn", a story that is represented by the characters of the MSD line.
When I wrote up his profile, I thought, why not. Make him The Author and the other doll lines and sizes his puppets. The only dolls not subject to his torture, ahem, creativity are the other SD dolls (lucky for them!) They represent the people in his life who he of course draws some of his stories from and inspires some of his characters. Not that he would tell them! Don't be fooled by his sweet look.
The story of Mageborn the Author writes is based on my own story, Trinity X, a story that was written for and illustrated using the Sims 2 game engine back in the day. It had a very magic vs science feel to it and a Shadow government hellbent on brainwashing Talented people into assets for their own nefarious schemes ...in short. I've tweaked it for a more YA audience given that all my MSD crew are teenagers. I've also been debating since I re-read Trinity X, maybe Mageborn is how it starts, maybe it's how Trinity X eventually came to pass. Because after the Trinity X story, Mageborn were extinct, wiped out completely. Hmm, food for thought. Maybe I'll start writing the Trinity X sequel and Mageborn can be a Prequel. Incidentally, the older Jamal features in Trinity X and is where all his nightmares come from.
I love how you use an overarching story to tie all your other dolly collections / stories together! That's so creative and awesome! I've been thinking on how to tie my stories in the same world together too and you've got such great ideas, it's very inspiring!
ReplyDeleteThe idea about hair colors changing with different powers is also interesting!
Thanks Irene for such kind words. When I changed Cedric's name from Xavier (because the name reminded me too much of Professor X from X-Men!) to Cedric, I had the idea of him writing a book to process the death of his wife, Deirdre (because she lost her body to Eve and is now just a floating head!). From there, I kinda of thought, what if he also penned the Cloud 9 story and a whole bunch of other stand alone novels and it kind of went from there.
DeleteWith Tobias (AOD Gu), I decided to change him from a rock idol to a comic artist because I always thought my Pureneemo dolls would exist in a manga-esque world so making Tobias both the storywriter and illustrator for that story was a natural progression.
I had always wanted some sort of physical manifestation of powers, something permanent. The hair colour was actually inspired by Sebastian (my PD Bomu) who had the two toned colour hair and I thought, what if Cedric, as The Author was inspired by Sebastian's hairstyle and used that in his Mageborn story.
You got some nice wigs!! I'm glad you didn't have trouble with Leeke, I'm very deisappointed at them since last time I bought 3 wigs and 2 were wrong size, one of those 2 was also wrong color and the only one that was correct was so so in quality. I had to return 2 of the wigs to get a refund but I'm still waiting for the wigs to get to them to make a review about it.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to know more about the author, I love how it all ties together!
I'm sorry to hear you had such issues with Leeke. I think I got lucky in the end although I am beginning to wonder if the 8-9inch wig for Cedric might actually be a 9-10inch because it is a lot bigger in size to my other 8-9inch wig in comparison. I also noticed on some wigs, the creator is listed as Dollga. I like the Dollga wigs. I wish they had their own website to buy their wigs from. I'm assuming they sell through Leekeworld?
DeleteI'd be interested to read that review of the wigs when you are able to write one up. I try not to buy from Leekeworld if I can help it because of the issues other people have had with them but they seem to have the most variety in style and colours and with a sale, well ... at least I'm not paying full price for the wigs. But I do wish there was a wig company that rivalled them in variety, style and colours. FMD comes close but I've had issues with their wigs too although that was quite a few years ago now. I might give FMD a go again though as they have some newer styles that look like they might work for some of the smaller girls.
Thank you for the kind words! The Author is a bit of a loner, at least since he lost his wife. It was actually the novel he wrote just after his wife passed away that got him into writing. He found he was able to really express all the things he couldn't through stories and it kind of went from there.
I was thinking at some stage, I might do an interview post with Cedric that delves more into his past and his motivations for writing and maybe reveal some more about Deirdre, his wife.
Good to hear that you were happy with the wigs you got! I've ordered multiple times from Leeke through the years and also organized some group orders with around 10-20 wigs in one order, and there have been only a few problems. They've sometimes sent a wrong size or color, but have offered to pay for the return shipping and either ship the correct wig separately or return the money. I've always found the quality of the fiber to be great, but sometimes the wig cap/net shows through from some points. Usually it can be fixed though by moving some hair to cover the problem spot and it doesn't really bother me :)
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy finding out more about your characters and their story, everything sounds so interesting!
It's good to read some positive experiences with Leekeworld. In this past year particularly, I have heard of a lot of negative experiences which often makes me a little nervous but I have had positive experiences with them so far and have been happy with the wigs I have. I guess it's like any company and it's one of the biggest reason I never ordered from Elfdoll even though I really like their dolls. Their feedback from buyers have not been very good in recent years. The only thin wig I've had to date is that pink one from Luts where you can see the wig cap but I've managed to get around the problem by trying to brush more hair over it and avoid really bright lights directly on the wig.
DeleteThank you. My characters are always evolving and I'm glad I was able to bring them together this way. I've always wanted to tie my collections in with each other somehow so this was a good way to do it.