Chubby BJDs?

Hey everyone!

I feel like I open posts with "full disclosure" a lot, but full disclosure, I was going to have the title of this post be "Summerbird Viola" but I'm hoping to save that entry title for getting one.

Hopefully. 

Someday.

But I do want to talk about something I find a little frustrating in the hobby-- lack of body diversity! The main place we tend to see anything even close to it is female busts and in level of muscle on male bodies, but what I want is fat bodies. I want to see chubby bodies, in all sizes, from the little 12-17 cm tinies all the way up to 70+ cm behemoths. And I'm not talking about the Big Baby/Holiday's Child size-- they're cute, but they're proportioned like young children, not like typical MSDs. I'm talking about dolls who are typical for their scale but aren't your typical "slim and pretty" or "absolutely r i p p e d" but instead are on the chubby side!

For tinies, I know DollChateau has the "Sleepy Body" aka B-10, which I couldn't find on their site but DDE lists as its own option. It is the body their Sleepy is on, so if you've got a hunger for a tiny with a cute little tummy and are looking for something to hybrid onto, maybe that's a place to go!

YoSDs tend to have the most possibilities for chubby little bodies. My personal theory is that it's because they tend to be styled as children, so it's more socially acceptable for them to have some baby fat. They're also bigger than tinies, which leaves more room to make them chubby, especially in their arms and legs. I've seen several cute, chubby YoSD bodies, and honestly I love all of them.

I actually have yet to see a genuinely fat SD. I have, however, seen people use the terrifying delightful pregnant Angel of Dream as an SD with a little belly. I've seen people sand the bust flat to shell male characters. I definitely wouldn't call her a fat SD by any stretch of the imagination, but I suppose she's a start?

Fun fact: I tried to upload the very cursed image of the AoD pregnant doll and couldn't. There were "problems uploading the image." If you haven't already seen it, you can check it out for yourself here.

Alright, and now the doll I'm really here to talk about, the gorgeous Summerbird Viola. Like a lot of people, I missed the first preorder for her. I was in the land without internet at my summer camp job, plus she sold out in two hours. She's 40 centimeters of pleasant plumpness, and Summerbird even provided a sizing guide for finding clothes for her, as she tends to fit better into cropped SD clothes, or looser MSD clothes. I'm hoping to get one in the next preorder-- which, according to the Summerbird FAQ, should be in the first few months of 2018, shortly after the first preorder's dolls go out. I'm really excited to start seeing owner pics of her, as well as to potentially get my mitts on one of my own.

LOOK AT HER

And, perhaps more relevantly, the success she's been met with so far delights and excites me. I'm hopeful that her success will lead to more body diversity in the hobby, and I am especially hoping to see more fat dolls in the future.

Can you think of fat dolls I missed? Do you have a particular body type you'd like to see more of in the future? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Until next time!

Character Chat: Jonah

Hello everyone!

I want to do little things about my doll's characters, and I'm aiming to do them around once a month. I'm most excited to do one about my character Gil, but I also figured I should start with a character I actually have at least partially shelled, so I'm doing Jonah's character chat today! Fair warning, I'm really bad at staying on track when I get going, so this is a bit ramble-y and all over the place.

My dolls' universe has four kingdoms, each associated with one of the four elements. Jonah is the prince of earth, and the middle of three children. His older sibling is his sister, Hannah, and his young sibling is his brother, Lawrence, who was initially the crown prince. Jonah is trans, because who would I be if the first male character I shelled wasn't trans, and came out when he was around fifteen. This isn't an issue for the Earth Kingdom, who embraced their new crown prince with open arms. It's a job he was somewhat under-prepared for, but he's been learning quickly, and he's pleased with himself and how far he's come.

In general, Jonah's a pretty happy, confident guy. His family is supportive, including the brother he replaced as crown prince. Lawrence strikes me as infinitely more anxious than Jonah, so there wasn't really that same drive to be king someday, and there was definitely a sense of relief when Jonah became the crown prince. He'll be ready to be king when the time comes, Lawrence wouldn't have been.

I've also been getting hints of a romantic relationship between Jonah and Gil, the prince of air. I tend to categorically refuse to make straight characters, and once I actually had Jonah's head, I started to get the immediate "Okay, your other dolls have friends and significant others, I want a boyfriend" from him. I didn't have one planned for him initially, but as I got a little deeper into his character and he decided he wanted to be 110% Prince Charming, Gil started to pop up a bit and say he might be interested. And now that I have a potential sculpt for Gil in mind for 2018, that's starting to potentially be quite feasible. Jonah's definitely a sweet charmer, and I think Gil's definitely a guy who can appreciate being romanced. I have hints of story for them, and honestly even I'm excited to see how that's going to develop.

Jonah's also very dapper. I've been working on developing his fashion sense, and I know he definitely loves suits and ties, and his definition of 'dressed down' is still pretty fancy. His color palette takes cues from mori kei, with browns and off-whites, along with greens, being the majority of his wardrobe. I'm leaning towards mori-inspired fabric choices as well, I'll be needing lots of white and off-white lace to make his clothes. He's taller than most of my squad-- he'll be my tallest MSD when his body gets here, and should come out about 5 centimeters taller than my girls-- and I'm hoping to be able to accentuate that with his clothing choices.

So yeah, tldr, Jonah's the happy and confident prince of earth, he's at the very least crushed on by the prince of air, and he's definitely a pretty stable character within the story I have going for my dolls. He's defined much less by who he is on his own than by who he is with others, and I'm excited to write about him going forward!

Until next time!

Theo

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello!

With Thanksgiving coming up, I figured it'd be a good time to do a "hobby gratitude" kind of post. So, here's five little hobby things I'm thankful for, in no particular order:

1. My local community

Doll table at a recent meet... 💖💖💖

I'm very fortunate to have a local doll community. We meet up once a month, usually on the second Saturday, and it's been awesome getting to know other collectors in person. Not everyone makes it every month, but we have a solid core group of people who geek out over dolls once a month, and it's always wonderful to see everyone again. It's also great for people like me who are newer to the hobby to have a group of more experienced collectors to turn to with my questions, as well as just to get insight on different companies from.

2. Sculptors

This almost feels too obvious, but I'm so thankful for the incredible sculptors this community is full of. I love seeing your WIP photos and getting to know your styles, from well-known folks to people just getting started. I admire the hell out of your skills, and a lot of you bring diverse faces and body types we likely otherwise wouldn't be seeing, and that's awesome.

3. Jewelers

Holy shit, guys. Words can't describe how blown away I am by the incredible jewelers in this hobby. Whether it's necklaces, bracelets, or the astoundingly ornate rings and crowns I've seen some people make, there's just so much absolutely amazing skill poured into each tiny piece. Metal work is probably not a skill I'm likely to ever be able to pick up, for a variety of reasons, and I'm so so thankful for those who have it and are willing to share it with the rest of us.

4. Craft Stores

I hate having to order everything online. I need to look at colors in person, and I like to be able to feel fabrics. One of the things I kind of hate about living in Boston is my lack of access to craft stores, I have a Michael's and a JoAnn's at home, both easily accessible, but not here. Either way, though, I appreciate their existence when I'm home, and it's nice to be able to stock up with a quarter of a yard of flannel rather than three yards, the online minimum for JoAnn's.

5. Doll YouTubers

I really appreciate the fact that so many people with more time, energy, and presentability (and less awkwardness in front of a camera) are willing to make videos about the hobby and their experiences in it. I love hearing everyone's stories, and video tutorials are great. I have plans to try making wigs soon, and I'm definitely only going to be able to potentially pull it off because video tutorials are a thing.

And that's all for today! Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Yu! (Box Opening/Review)

Hello hello!

I did something kind of dumb in late September-- I not-not impulse bought a doll. It could've been worse than it was-- god only knows how many more expensive dolls exist-- but it was still far from my smartest retail therapy move. She would've happened anyways, as she's here to be besties with the tiny I'll be getting with my DollZone order, but my timing definitely could've been better.

Regardless.

She's a green ResinSoul Yu, and I got her with a face up! She was, as I expect with ResinSoul by now, packaged very nicely in this little bag.

I. Kinda dig the old lady fabic

She was wrapped safely and arrived undamaged. One thing I really appreciate is that ResinSoul consistently under-declares the value of their dolls on customs forms. I live in the US, but I know how much import fees hurt some of my EU friends, so like. That's nice.

Just ResinSoul things: "Yep. $7" (Her shipping was more than that!)

She also shipped quite quickly! Once I finished my short little layaway, she shipped right out. I got my notice on November 12th, and received her yesterday (November 17th). She got stuck in customs for a bit both on her way out of China and on her way into the US, but that's tended to be the way it goes with doll stuff for me, and Black Friday (shudder) is soon. I actually did a panel on BJDs for a school org last night, but unfortunately our mail room hadn't processed her yet and refused to be helpful about it, so I actually picked her up right after my panel ended. But I did still get her quickly, and that's what counts!

And look what a cutie she is! I don't have clothes finished for her yet, but I have plans to throw together a quick little dress out of some brown faux suede I have on hand. I meant to use it for a swap project that wound up being too ambitious for me, so now it's just around, and I'll have it for future projects! And it's gonna be so cute on her. For now, though, she gets one of Amelia's tee shirts.

It is. Pretty huge on her.

She seems to pose okay! She can stand, as you can see, and she can sit as well. She seems to have the same trick knee as my other single-jointed ResinSoul, Bridget, but she seems to be alright so far! I may try to restring her a little tighter, but that's a project for another day, I think.

She's so cute

Her resin seems pretty typical of ResinSoul. It's certainly not the best resin ever, but she's just fine. I adore the color, though, it's a nice green that I think my camera actually did a pretty decent job capturing.

I don't presently have any issues with her. She's a little patoot-- those ears-- and I am sooooo looking forward to getting her dressed up and "finished," which for me means that a doll has the right eyes, face up, wig, and at least one outfit, including shoes and, if applicable, accessories. That doesn't mean I'm done working on their wardrobe, just that the doll itself is "done."

I have some of a background planned out for her, but not all that much of a character character? Girlie needs a name, I've been calling her The Goblette while I've been waiting for her. I kinda wanna call her Gretchen, but I get the feeling that isn't going to stick for long, so I suppose we'll see! Her tag is gonna stay "The Goblette" for now, but I'm sure that will change eventually.

Because of how things lined up with doll plans and purchases, my next big post of note will actually also be a box-opening (depending on shipping speed, that could change). See you then!

Wol! (Box Opening/Review)

Hello!

Back in July, the preorders went up for a round of professionally casted SeedArts Wol heads. I'm slowly becoming a junkie for faces with odd features-- especially noses and ears-- so she went straight onto my "oooooh, yes, that one. Soon" list (as opposed to my "ugh, someday" and "maybe?" lists). I was away and without internet for most of the preorder, which wound up being sort of a good thing, because it prevented me from potentially impulse buying. I did wind up purchasing her, but I'm still glad I waited.

Wol is a female sculpt, but the character I'm shelling is male, so I'll be referring to the head with he/him/his pronouns from here!

The original Etsy listing said the heads would most likely be shipped out in October, but unfortunately they did wind up being later than this. I received my shipping notice on November 6th, and my head arrived the 8th. This is by no means the fault of SeedArts-- she wrote that the expected working time was 4-6 weeks, and notified buyers when she received the shipping notice from Haru on October 23rd. The heads shipped extremely quickly once they reached her, and mine only took two days to arrive.

I cannot explain how hard it was to wait until I had time to shoot video and take photos to rip into this box

Pictured: sooooooo much bubble wrap

Without futher ado...

Full disclosure: my original thought was to do this as a video, so crappy still is the best we're getting here

The head came wrapped in a little plastic bag to protect it in transit, which I appreciated. It also came with this gorgeous little neck donut, which SeedArts later told me on instagram is to help keep the body on the neck.

It's so pretty that I thought it was just like. A cute little desk thing

I popped the head out of the bag and snapped a couple pictures:

I had a weird moment of "Hey, does this match ResinSoul dark tan?" It super doesn't, and I don't own their light tan to see if it matches that any better. Here's the comparison shot:

I am. Real bad at color guessing

Speaking of color comparisons, let's check out the original photo of the resin colors vs. the color of the head I got:

Source: armeleia's etsy

These were the three colors available, officially called tan, peach, and off-white. I ordered tan, which was said to be similar to DollZone tan. Honestly, I didn't check what DollZone tan is ahead of time, but I assumed that the tan in the photo would be the tan I got. As you can see, it's considerably lighter. But let's take a look at DollZone tan.

Source: Dollzone

That looks a lot closer! It still looks a little dark to me, and I'll admit it, I am a bit nervous about resin match with his body, but we'll have to wait and see. I'm getting him a Dollzone B45-018 through DDE, so we'll see what that turns up. Based on what I've heard recently, it'll probably be heading my way in February or March.

Excuse me while I die.

The resin is absolutely lovely, as you'd expect from a caster as well-loved as Haru, but of course there is one more but.

The way the faceplate fits.

The gap tho

There's some pretty noticeable gapping along the jaw and the bottom of the head. I'm hoping this will be reduced once he's on his body, or else that the neck donut will be of use. I can't currently check, as the S hooks in my girls' heads are too big to fit in his head, but we'll see in the spring. I haven't had a doll with a faceplate before, just headcaps, so if this is normal let me know.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the head! I think he'll be perfect for Jonah, the character I'm shelling, and he's super cute with the eyes he stole. They're not for him, but he can certainly keep them for now.

I'll leave you with some last photos, until next time!

A Blog Re-Vamped!

Hello!

This blog has previously been about alternative fashion (kinda. I've been bad about posting), but as I've been looking for more outlets for all the feelings about dolls, I've been leaning towards "written blog" as the way to go about it. So! All of my old posts have been removed, and this blog now stands empty. From here on, this is going to be a BJD blog, so stay tuned for updates! I'm hoping to create a collection page soon, and to post a review/package opening for my SeedArts Wol by Thanksgiving.

Until next post!

~Theo