#and most of the joints hold a pose really well!

[paradoxical-machine]

I got them :3

[otterloreart]

What's in the Box?

PONY PONIES IN THE BOX

If you've been following along you may have seen that @queenofsquids printed the Takara-inspired BJD last week, both in a "mini" test form and a full-sized one. The full-sized one was supposed to be in yellow, but the pure yellow resin turned out to be a more orangey tone. She incredibly generously offered to send me the orange pony BJD

And then

She incredibly incredibly again generously sent not only the little test takara-bjd in grey BUT ALSO printed my original takara 3D model and sent that?! This is so unbelievably kind and generous. I was so surprised when I opened them all!

I'm not sure if you were all aware but I actually dont have a print of the original "Takara duplicate" doll. I did get the seapony PLA printed at the library (and it was my first ever 3D print!).

For my second print, I got the Dollightful bunny doll printed because I wanted to have experience with jointed dolls made by other people before I put more complex models out. So I figured it would be a while before I got the chance to see my newer models printed.

So like its actually so kind of @queenofsquids to send these but also it's really meaningful to me because I started the takara project where I became obsessed with them over a year ago. It's so amazing to see this thing that frankly I spent so much time fiddling with (even if there are some imperfections; more about that later) and hold it in my hands 🥹 I just keep looking at them and smiling

Also I immediately stole the clothes off my NaNaNa dolls and put them on mini-takara-bjd. They're a little short but fit pretty well!

Some design notes/planned adjustments under cut

-The neck and arm balls are definitely too blocky, this doesn't impact the movement but it is very visually obvious

-Queenofsquids mentioned this but the arm bean is too big and gets stuck in the arm sockets.

^^ These two issues are the most obvious upon brief inspection but are also easy to fix so I'm gonna put out a version ASAP adjusting the file. Call it the version Version 1 Hotfix. Both of these should be fixed in the existing models with a bit of sanding.

-The legs are like just a touch too blocky and I think you can also see lines in the head and chest areas ;-; I think this would depend on the printer, like it might be fine in PLA due to the lower resolution. This can also be buffed out but I can adjust it with some effort

-> I think the blockiness issues come down to the fact I was trying to make the models not too high resolution because then the file size is massive, can't import into cura properly, and even slows down *my* beefy computer. that's why it might take a bit for me to adjust all of these pieces, especially the legs because they have a lot of booleans that lag blender. basically i leaned in the other direction and went a bit too far with some pieces.

-legs are very thin at the bottom (ran into this issue with the dollightful bunny doll too and had to redo quite a bit actually to make it neat)

-The bottom of the heart on the knee in particular is an imperfect fit. I was getting errors in Cura because of some issues related to the knee so I had to remesh it, if you'll remember, so I will need to maybe go in and redo that one :/

-The line around the eyes could be a touch more pronounced, its supposed to be somewhat stylized eyelashes

-I need to play with the arms/legs more to figure out potential issues with the existing joints. But they do at least work and hold poses. I'm not sure if people would prefer anything more complicated like locking joints or if this level of poseability is acceptable

Other things I want to experiment with

-hand pose variation

-nose/mouth variations? it is actually kind of funny to imagine you could switch the expression out to a little :o face or a c: or :3 type of thing

-pegasus/unicorn/fluffy hoof variants like i had planned before

so much stuff :0 and I haven't even finished bunny doll, although at least her paint job is basically done. Once I string the big BJD I can also test posing.

[billythesimp]

Can you do romantic headcanons for a Billy Kid x Android!Reader that is doll-like, lives in Tin Master's cafe, works alongside Victoria's Housekeeping, and fights with a fencing sword please?

Billy, my starlight. My king of robotics and weaponry. Yes, I can do so for you.

Coffee Cup Love

⋘ 𝑙𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑎𝑡𝑎…

I love Tin Master's shop. Imma always complain that you can't get another cup of coffee from either locations after having one. Like how do you know I had a cup on sixth street? let me talk to management if y'all are stalking me.

Billy x Android!reader

𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡…⋙

tw: none

✦ It’s a surprise to the proxies when they are introduced to Billy’s significant other who worked at their local coffee shop. The Victorian servant outfit they wear stands out as they greet them before offering them a cup of their newest brew. Billy is standing on the side, fawning over how gracefully they turn and bend, all their movements coordinated smoothly like that of a perfectly poured expresso.

✦He mentioned how they first met in a hollow, during on of his missions for the Cunning Hares, he ended up trapped and lost for what felt like hours. Then, like a beacon of hope the ethereals that were on his tail were sliced to bits, his heroin standing before him with a long-pointed blade aimed at his face. He only stared in awe before stumbling over his words to thank them properly.

✦ At first, they were standoffish, confused as to why this android male was guessing over them like so, proclaiming as glamorous as a starlight knight, rushing towards battle with nothing but their fences in hand, their uniform clean and prestige Lycaon would have their head should they return dirtied like last time. No long after then, he finally left the hollow and the mystery android-servant disappeared. 

✦ Shortly after, he spotted them in Tin Master’s shop and rushed in spouting how he recognized them. Staying for a cup and chatting with them. This became a regular thing before long, the maidroid looking forward to his visits until he popped the question and asked them out. They said yes, warmed at the thought of going out with this handsome droid and now to the present, they are one of the cutest couples to date.

✦ Since they are part-time at the coffee shop, the rest of their time is spent at the Victorian Housekeeping warehouse nearby, often texting Billy about their day or making plans for another movie date. Their own co-workers grow surprised by this revelation as in the past, they showed no interest in making connections or even taking a person as their parent. But they only shrug and state that their AI is simply more advanced and adapts to change faster. Really it’s that Billy had brought down a wall and revealed a side of them they hadn’t realized they loved. 

✦ At this point, they remember all his favorite scenes from his most watched films, his favorite brand of lubricant for his guns and joints, and all the places he frequents often whenever he mentions his days. While yes, they are a perfect machine made for scalping and slicing down their targets with grace and pose, when they are with Billy they are nothing more than his perfect doll, pretty and patient with his antics and laughing at all his jokes. Every moment spend with each other is once they hold dearly to their circuit boards, hoping to recover these memories in the future to look back on.

✦ They are unique and complement Billy well, while he’s sometimes seen as intimidating and mysterious to the outsiders eyes, they’re beautiful and polite that anyone can stare with no fear but rather admiration. When in reality, he is easygoing and a little careless while they are known as a monster with their thin-piercing blades, a threat to anyone who dares come between them and their Billy. Together they are fierce in battle, having each others back when the going gets rough. And even outside of battle, they are a power couple, a force to be reckoned with.

[a-s-levynn]

How i draw hands

under the cut, sorry for the wait, love you all

OKAY so it has been a while i did one of these. I have a vague memory of @ghost-raven-7 you asking for hands.

I also have a foggy memory of @takemetoasgard you mentioning mouths, so if you want, i could do one for that as well? I'm kinda enjoying doing these. In all fairness, these also help me to figure out how i do stuff actually.

So HANDS

Mind you, i am still neither a proper artist not particularly good at what i'm doing. It is just what i'm using or looking out for currently.

Also there is a lot of text, sorry about that.

As always references references references. With hands it is nice, because you have ready made reference package a ttached to your body. But you still gotta find what helps you understand how it works in 3D.

As always i have to preface, that if you know anatomically how your hand works and looks will help. I mean if you know where are the larger muscle groups or the tendons, etc. We all love cool lines on a back of a hand drawing, but it is more satisfying to look at if the line indicating the tendon is actually at the correct place. So i can only recommend to look at at least some anatomy illustrations.

But beyond that, what helped me a lot, was to simplify the hand to 2D shapes and figure it out from there. But how i do that?

Take pictures. It makes it so much easier, than just simply holding my hand in a certain position. I can do that as well, but if i take a picture it usully helps more with the "understand it in 2D" thing.

I segment it roughly like this, but others do it differently. It doesn't really matter as long as you are consistent with it, and you understand why you put a segment where you did.

Usually the segment edges are at joint lines of your hand. For one, because the natural lines of the hand can guide it. Secondly, joints are the movement points. It is where the parts of the hand will bend.

And simplifying a pose and trying to make it work on paper, at least for me, is much easier when i moving 2D panes around the space, instead of a complex 3D object. At least this is how i understand it. But how that works in practicality?

Let's have an other picture of my hand. Excuse the quality. Also the lack of ST bracelets, but i need you to kinda see the lines of my otherwise amorph upper appendage.

So using the same blocking, this is roughly how the segments go. This is a tricky one, because of the the bending pinky and the general angle of the hand. But most prominently, the yellow pane folds in on itself, as if you are curling one corner of a piece of paper in front of itself.

You may notice that the blocking's edges are not as straight anymore, more curved. It is because of the perspective. If you want, you can think of your hand as a series of cylinders or tubes attached to each other. If you are not looking at it dead on, but from an angle, it is going to look curved.

Imagine a roll of toilet paper with a straight line running across it horizontally. From a very specific angle, it looks like a rectangle with a line. From any other perspective, you see that it is actually curved, amd the line won't be straight anymore. Also the top or bottom of it going to have a circe and all that. No more 90° angles. Same goes for the hand.

But with your hand, it is helped by the fact that your hand comes with build in lines, to guide you, and help you sell the 3D feel.

So have the above photo as a reference and do a step by step. Excuse me for not scanning or making a video, i am not on top of my game right now, but i'm trying.

Also watch me throw on my cord bracelet on there, to sell the illusion of curviture even further. I am not above cheap tricks to make it more believeable.

Of course if you throw some shading at it, it is going to further the illusion of the curves and 3D nature of a hand. It helps if you pick a proper lightsource not like me, but still. In general, if you shade the recesses and creases darker, then you can't miss too hard.

These are just the basics, you can refine or stylize it from here as much as you feel like it really.

Also, nails. I don't really like them, for me it messes up my anatomy more than i'd like to admit it, because i am way too lazy with them, but i know people who actually find adding them super helpful. So experiment!

And i think that's it for hands? If there is anything i should add, or needs more clrification on, please let me know and i'll either edit this, or add it in a reblog. And again, i apologize for taking this long.

[crookedkryptonitebeliever]

Hi! I just want to say I really love your work especially Yves bro- I don’t careee bro is my number one ☝️

I can’t stop re reading every work about him it’s getting insane I love it

But- like you can Ignore this completely if you don’t take requests anymore

I was thinking about you said that’s Yves knows the readers body down to the T- and also how he can pick up on everything well..

How would he be when him and reader first meet and reader is getting comfortable with platonic affection with Yves, but readers body constantly cracks and make popping noise every time they bend any joints- like their knees, elbow and back cracking every single time. It doesn’t hurt the reader bros body is just stiff very stiffy

I can just imagine Yves cringing a small bit every time he hears the pop or crack, and trying to hold himself back from being your own chiropractor because you two just started to talk. Bro probably has an arsenal of herbs and (drugs) that will help loosen your body tbh

ANYWAYS- I love Yves please keep posing about him 🫶

Who's to say he wouldn't spike your meals with the much needed supplements and drugs? Even before your official meeting with him? Yves is as quiet as a mouse when sneaking around and he is unbelievably proficient in trespassing private spaces undetected.

It could even be years before you two officially met, perhaps on the day where you locked eyes with him, your joints would be well-lubricated and silent.

But then, he could have just let the clacks fester as a part of some grand plan of his to win you over.

Yves has a knack for making people cower before his presence, yet they desperately try to get his approval. Perhaps, on day one, he would have commented on the stiffness and sounds. Expressing his concern over that as a decent person, wanting to know the parameters around it so he could do everything in his power to help.

You would be embarrassed, yes. But upon hearing that he has a strong background in orthopedics, you might think his input is valuable. Or maybe not, you could be offended over it and begin clamming up around him.

It doesn't matter, the end is always the same: somehow you would consent to him feeling you up as your personal chiropractor, it could be sooner or later in the relationship. Regardless of whether you're as pliant as a piece of clay, or as stubborn as a mule, Yves will successfully feed you whatever drugs he thinks is good for you.

And you will be grateful, because you would have noticed a dramatic improvement compared to the state before you met him. You can move, you can bend and you can stretch without feeling like a wooden plank. This will subconsciously associate Yves with this healer figure, just like how he wants you to see him.

You wouldn't realize it if no one is actively pointing it out, but you will automatically seek him out if anything bothers you in your life.

Every step he takes is a deliberate one with a role to play. Never brush the smallest touch or the most inconsequential of words as "just something that he does" or underestimate Yves simply because he appears human.

Everything has a purpose. You are lucky that you are the love of his life, his light and his reason for his clandestine data vault.

'Hell' would be a gross understatement when it comes to describing your life if you were Yves's enemy.

[invertebrates]

bug toys!

alright, here’s my mini-guide to getting into the world of Weirdly Articulated, almost entirely Japanese bug toys.

some caveats:

1) most of these toys aren’t great for kids. they have a lot of small lose-able, breakable, poke-able parts and can fall apart pretty easily. 2) i’m in the US, so i’m not quite sure how to acquire these things if ebay and Buyee don’t work for you 3) ‘bugs’ for the purpose of this guide (and entire blog tbh) is any invertebrate why would i want fake bugs when i can get real bugs? 1) fake bugs don’t die and can be neglected forever. they will never bite, sting, poop on you, or be stinky (unless you make them stinky) 2) fake bugs can be handled constantly, they will not get stressed out or pick up any germs from you 3) fake bugs can be much larger than real bugs, or be species that would be impossible or unethical to own or breed. they can even be fun made up creatures 4) fake bugs don’t require any kind of tank, substrate or food, and they will not breed uncontrollably (or at all) 5) they cannot escape and become an invasive species 6) buying them doesn’t support shady or unethical ‘breeders’ who just take bugs from the wild (not saying all bug breeders do this, but it’s definitely a problem with certain kinds of bugs)

this is not to discourage any responsible bug-culturing you might want to get into, but for me, as a pretty depressed person without a lot of space, these are all big plusses!

onto the fake bugs

ikimono encyclopedia

unfortunately these photos will be some dark toys against dark backgrounds because i am a goth bastard and everything i own is black. sorry.

so, these being Japanese toys, I’m not entirely sure of the correct terms for them. these are pretty much just the search terms I’ve discovered over time that work to find them. as far as I can tell, Japan LOVES bugs and has a very enviable appreciation for them, they don’t seem to be considered nearly as gross or weird or bad as they are in the west.

these are a series gachapon or capsule toys. you can get all kinds of awesome little toys, which are often strangely detailed and often high quality, from vending machines in Japan.

here are some current listings from ebay to give you an idea of the variety and prices:

they also have a lot of cool fish and reptiles in this series. prices can be a bit steep, but you’re usually buying the whole set of toys pictured, not just a one-off. they’re usually a few inches, pretty well painted and articulated, and come as individually wrapped kits you have to put together. i will say, sometimes it is hard to snap the legs into place, so if you have hand/joint issues you might need some help putting them together. usually, a lot of these toys might be the same model but repainted, and sometimes there’s duplicates. the two mantises in my photo are from a set of 6, and there were 3 sets of 2 identical boys, so I could display one with the wings out and another one folded. they’ll also sometimes come with a little piece of clear plastic and a stand you can pose them on top of.

just from the sheer variety they offer, and relative affordability, this would probably be my first recommendation for getting into bug toys. they have beetles, mantids, caterpillars, wasps, ispods, crabs... i’d love some myriapod sets but we’ll see!

i usually grab these guys off ebay. they’re also available on Buyee and there may be more, cheaper options over there, but I’ve noticed with the import/holding fees, buyee and ebay come out to be about the same most of the time. (for anyone confused, Buyee is an English import service that lets you buy stuff off Japanese sites and auctions, since a lot of Japanese sites only want to ship inside Japan)

these are also just the gachapon bug toys from one specific company. there’s OTHER companies making other sets of really good bugs but I’ve had so much luck with just this one term I haven’t branched out much yet.

Fujimi Living Thing Arc

these are slightly bigger models made out of slightly harder plastic (well, the mantis is bigger; beetles are about the same as the ikimono guys) that are a bit more intricate to put together. they come with assembly instructions, but of course they’re in Japanese. you can pretty much follow along with the pictures though. the painting details aren’t quite as nice, but they have a bit more articulation. not as many choices with this set, though they do have a crawfish I wanna snag. they also have some goofy JP style monster dinos.

i bought these guys off hlj.com but it looks like they’re on ebay(and buyee as well I’m sure)

Revoltech RevoGeo

you’ll probably recognize this name if you’re into transformers or other toy collecting. these guys are gonna be by far the most expensive ($90-$120+) but they are extremely large and high quality. this one is super articulated, the individual leg joints and mandibles move, wings move, about the only thing that isn’t articulated are the individual little tarsomeres/feet segments or the abdomen segments. not as much choice here either, I think they have a beetle, ants, crab and a scorpion plus this wasp. these also come mostly assembled, you can usually just snap the wings on or maybe swap out a few parts (iirc this gal’s stinger can be removed)

i got her off bigbadtoystore.com, though they may be available cheaper elsewhere. BBTS is infamously a bit pricier than other toy stores but they’ve always been very reliable and quick for me.

this BIG isopod

this one won’t be as helpful. these may be part of the same series as the ikimono (they were just labeled bandai gachapon) but they are much larger, this guy’s like 5″, came fully assembled and is pretty articulated. they can even roll into a ball! all their little legs move! i’m pretty sure they’re meant to be one of the large deep sea isopods and man, a 1:1 revoltech model of one of those would be a dream.

completely fake bugs!

had to share my little starship trooper warrior bug collection :^) the big one and the one directly under it are 90s kenner toys I believe, the bottom-right one is a funko, the red one is from a tabletop set, and the guy on the left is a figma model that is unfortunately ridiculously expensive nowadays.

one nice thing about fake real bugs: there is not a crazy collectors market for this so this stuff should stay pretty affordable. unless real normal bugs somehow become a huge pop sensation i think it’s just us weird nerds that are into them.

other search terms to try: bandai insect insect gachapon (or gashapon) nature gachapon

that way you may be able to track down listings for individual toys that should be a bit cheaper! here’s a sample what bandai insect got me on ebay:

happy fake bug collecting!

you may noticed I haven’t mentioned one form of bug that has a lot of the same advantages as plastic bugs: dead pinned insects in shadowboxes. i do have some of these, but i am reluctant to support places selling them nowadays because few are ethically or responsibly sourced, and the same sellers often kill and sell endangered bats and other vertebrates for display. plus mites got into half the ones i had and turned them into dead bug dust. if mites ever develop a taste for plastic i will be sad about my collection but the world will be saved from a lot of nasty garbage so it would ultimately be a Plus.

so unless you personally know the person that pinned the insect, i would be very cautious about buying dead things from random online stores or dealers at ‘curiosity’ or ‘oddity’ shows and things like that, since it’s all sourced from alibaba and whatnot anyway. i swear i saw like 5 different people selling the same dead octopuses in orbs at the last curiosity show i went to. they are cool, but i have no idea where those octopuses came from and i doubt the people selling them did either.

[kittenpower05]

Wait hold on I need to share my friend's based take on Helen tma

So yknow- most people, you know the fandom Helen design: Spiral Edition

It's the long boi stature with the wide smile, too tall for her own good, seems to have too many edges and corners for a person, yknow

My friend, who does not consume much tma fan content and only recently listened to tma was sharing his Helen design and headcannons and honestly I vibe with it so hard so I'm putting his brain fluids on the site for peer review knowing full well that most people will probably disagree but that's ok

He doesn't draw Helen with any of the spiral!micheal characteristics! And at first I was like "bold move but ok" because the Twink Horror Hands are kind of a staple for spiral shenanigans esp since Helen had taken Micheal's place

But he was explaining how he wanted her to go more down the uncanny person path where she looked like the type of person to be sickeningly sweet, and looked like a Good Friend who is actually manipulative on levels that are incomprehensible to those who grew close

And honestly I hadn't really considered how the difference in manipulation tactics between spiral avatars would impact their design and tbh I'm all for it

Micheal was a very aggressive and sinister type of manipulative, where his whole thing was to run things behind the scenes, everything always leading back to him type

Helen on the other hand, was nice and friendly and got to know you and supported you- until you weren't of use to her anymore. Until you posed a threat. Her whole thing was to get you to trust her and then use that trust to her own benefit

And I could absolutely see how Micheal's incomprehensible body shape with pointy ends and bulging joints that hurt to look at would fit his character

While my friend's design of someone who is your good pal and friend but Slightly Off though you can't put your finger on why would fit her personally

And having that variety in depictions of spiral avatars? Honestly? Good shit. I eat that up. I feel like there's an underrepreentation of spiral avatars that aren't just Long, and having that physical distinction actually goes hard imo

[desertdollranch]

Frederika is my new 18 inch doll from Zapf Creations brand. I'm so happy to have her. Zapf is an old German brand of dolls that I only learned about this year, and I bought this "Friends of Babycakes" doll not knowing much about them. They're very inexpensive secondhand, and so I felt like it wasn't too much of a risk to see how well this girl worked as a modern character and a friend to my other dolls. I always like being pleasantly surprised by new or unfamiliar brands, and it was definitely a surprise to see how high quality she is. Her skin is a very soft, velvety, and lifelike vinyl that none of my other dolls have. Her eyes open and close. Her joints at the neck, shoulders, and legs are so smooth and hold poses really well. She truly is beautifully made.

Her face mold vaguely reminds me of Gotz dolls, but of course they're not affiliated with each other. It could just be that both brands are based in Germany, and take their inspiration from dolls made there in the 19th and early 20th century.

Frederika's original name was Elisabeth but since I already have an Elizabeth, I picked out a new name for her that would reflect her German heritage.

In her original outfit, minus her little neckerchief. As you can see, Frederika has an all-vinyl body. Her proportions are a bit different than American Girl and other cloth-bodied dolls, but for the most part they can share each others' clothes.

Some of the lovely little details. Her dainty shoes and stockings are my favorite part of her outfit.

[wyn0rrific]

Well, which type of dolly lifestyle fits Vitus the most? Princess? Bimbo barbie like style? Maybe even the monster high student?

Second, does anyone outside knows of second side of Vitus and Fulgrim relationship...how do they think of it?

hmm *hasn't really thought of that before*

vitus is definitely fulgrim's little prince, he enjoys being cared for and having fulgrim dress him up and pose him as you would with, persay, a ball jointed doll.

fulgrim definitely creates paintings of his dolly, his little muse *sighs dreamily*

to answer the second question i've been wanting to add other characters into this au (a certain man with iron hands perhaps?) but during school they try to keep their relationship hidden due to vitus' fear of judgement (it doesn't bother fulgrim at all as he understands both of them have separate reputations to hold).

they also dont really do dolly time outside of their home (but occasionally vitus will slip into a halfway point where fulgrim can dress him up a little bit to go run errands/etc). i thought about writing a short lil thing where they try to attend a club of some sort or involve another person (cough ferrus cough) but im unsure as to how I'd write it

[walli3darl1ng]

Part four?? (Final?)

For context, reader is a local doll maker given the task to make Wally Darling look presentable for an upcoming episode but Wally has plans to keep you around.

You’re finishing up the box that would carry Wally with him sitting on your lap, his hands resting on your forearms as you paint his name on the wood. Over the course of the week you’ve gone pale, skinnier and well looking exhausted. The change was so rapid that you didn’t even have time to stop and think about what could cause it.

Wally has been taking your energy, now knowing if it’s intended or not we’ll never know. The small puppet can’t see that it’s affecting you dramatically. You’ll pass out the second you stop working, when you're up you barely have time to eat since you’re eager to get back to work. It’s like a high you didn’t know you needed, you craved it. It was odd to be addicted to a project but to you it makes the most sense. You’re a doll maker! You live to make this for kids or adults.

You didn’t want to think about what you’ll do when it’s done and you’ll have to give Wally back to those awful people. Will he miss you? Will he remember you? Probably not.

You’re wrong.

Wally has gone…obsessed, to say the least. Celine told him about this ‘shifting’ that humans do to escape this reality into their own desired reality. Does yours have him in it? Have you two together?

Humans can also shift into already existing realities, like a favorite show or movie, even books and comics! So he’s been thinking; why not shift to his reality?! Would that be fun! You guys could finally be together.

Sure you guys have never spoken to each other to the point of the other response verbally but you guys spend all day together! He’ll have you.

No matter what stands in his way.

Celine watches nervously when you lay your head on the desk after finishing the box, you’ve fallen asleep. They see Wally wiggle out of your hold and caressing your face. They’ve noticed a darker aura to Wally but he’s their friend, they will help anyway they can.

Moving from their frozen position, they make it over while dragging a bag behind then and setting it next to Wally’s box. “Here you go! All my extra parts.”

“Oh! Thank you, Celine, you’re a big help!” Wally smiles at them, getting a nervous one back, he takes a look at the bag. “So they made extra parts for you?”

“Originally it was for different poses but then they thought it could serve as replacement parts. If they really wanted to, they could make a second one of me.” They shrug and pick up an arm from inside the bag and twist the ball joint on the wrist. “Everything moves smoothly so you’ll have no trouble making a shell.”

“Perfect!” Wally then looks at your sleeping form and nuzzles his cheek on yours with a content sigh. “You hear that, my Doll? You’ll be safe with me.”

The next day you travel back to the studio and hand over Wally. Reluctantly that is, you didn’t even let them carry him when they told you to follow them to the set.

That’s strange, was there always a workshop house in the neighborhood? You could’ve sworn there were only eight including the main puppet in your arms. There’s Poppy, Sally, Julie, Frank, Eddie, Howdy, Barnaby and your Wally. Who’s the new addition?

Leaving Wally was hard. You didn’t know what to do after getting in the car and staring into the void. Are you going home now? Without him by your side? Do you start a new project? He never likes you touching another doll. Do you wait for him? To need repairs? You’re lost.

Finally getting home you decided to just cuddle up with your ferret name Noodle but you can’t ignore the empty feeling. Does he feel empty too? How can he, he’s a puppet. A plush with stuffing and stitches, he can’t feel. Right?

Back with Wally he’s now in his reality and he’s happy to see all his friends and share the wonderful time he had with you. But the details can wait, he’s got work to do! Going home and to his bedroom he takes the bag and empties it onto the floor. He takes one part at a time and assembles it on the bed. They’re gonna be a little shorter than him but he doesn’t mind!

“Now for how to get you here..?” He mumbles to himself before hearing thuds and tapping from Home. He perks up and rushes to an open window. If he stares hard enough at the edge of the neighborhood he can see the artificial stage lights slowly dimming off and the night lights turning on. In the small glimpse he sees you! Why are you here? Did you realize what he’s doing?

“Y/n! Look Home, it's them! They’re here!”

Home taps in response as he rushes over to the complete doll and holds its face in his hands, bringing his forehead to the doll’s. “Come back to me, Doll.”

Once again to you, you came back because you forgot your phone. How? You have no idea but when you wanted to see the show's release times you went mad trying to find it. So you decided just to retrace your steps.

Looking around you see the staff change the bright lights to some dimmer night lights and you see your phone resting next to a big bright red house. Upon getting your phone you see Wally laying on the other side of the house and you didn’t waste time in reaching over to hold him. “Hi Wally…”

You smile at the puppet, happy to see him smiling back at you. But you start to feel your eyes get heavy and your vision starts to spin. Everyone goes black.

“Hey! Are you okay!? Help! Someone call the ambulance!”

Your eyes flutter open and you slowly sit up with a groan. Did you faint? Your head is slightly pounding, you reach up to hold your head but you stop dead in your tracks. Was this your hand? It has ball joints and is made of glass! Your breath starts picking up and there is a lump in your throat. What’s happening!?

“You’re awake, my doll.”

You turn your head to the voice and you see Wally walking up to you with a cup. “I hope your head’s okay, it was a fast shift.”

“Wally…? Where am I? Why-“ you were getting overwhelmed, this is a lot to take in and most of it didn’t make sense!

“See for yourself.” Wally takes your hand and helps you up while guiding you to the window that’s open. There you see you! But you’re surrounded by staff and the ambulance, what happened to you?

“Since the body doesn’t have a spirit in it, it’s practically a rag doll. Nothing takes control of the brain.” You hear Wally practically all around you but he’s right behind you, wrapping his arms around you. “You don’t need that body, do you? Look you’re here with me, isn’t that wonderful, doll?”

(I didn’t Intended on making it slight obsessed Wally but here we are ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ)

[patchworksoda]

hello :) i think your doll Wisteria is so wonderful! im excited to see how she turns out according to your customisation plans. i love it when she shows up on my dash.

i might be interested in buying a cfdoll Dai of my own, but im having troubles finding any place to buy one online. do you happen to remember where you bought yours from?

and i'm wondering if you think her range of motion is good compared to other dolls, too. but you don't really have to answer that one, i'm just curious :)

have a nice day!

Hi! Thank you so much! ;v;

I purchased mine through mydollection - be warned that while they stock legitimate items, they really don't have the best communication or customer service, I generally don't recommend them except for items that can't be found elsewhere as it can be difficult to get information about your order.

I find she poses pretty well! She comes with a metal plate and has magnets in her legs, and those + the chunky proportions of the legs allow her to stand pretty well. Her hips have a great range of movement and her knees are double jointed which is always really nice. Her elbows unfortunately aren't, and the single-jointed elbows + the chunky lower arm means she can't bend her arm all the way over, but she can strike quite a few poses regardless.

There are a couple of tricks to posing her, such as holding the ball-hinge at the shoulder, elbow or wrist still, and rotating the arm and hand pieces in order to change the angle the arm bends at. This also applies for the neck joint, so for example, if you want the head to tilt backwards and to the right, you can just rotate the hinge around so the axis of movement is angled right.

The arms can also pop apart for easier dressing (it's difficult to fit most sleeves over her arms), but they aren't loose or anything - it's actually very difficult to pull them off without hot water.

Here are some pictures of the angles limbs can reach (Hands unattached because she's due for another dye appointment). The second last one has the viewer's left lower arm rotated on the hinge to allow it to bend out instead of in.

I hope this helps!

[epicocat]

High Grade Gaplant TR-5 Hrairoo with Gigantic Arm Unit (AOZ Reboot Version)

Hoo man what a title. This was a really fun kit, and surprisingly the gaplant itself took most of the build time. The Gaplant itself, as far as I can tell, is a recolor of the original 2006 Gaplant TR-5 Hrairoo kit, complete with the almost intact transformation gimmick (which I did not do because I just like the big arms), and all the many many polycaps; probably my second least favorite part about this kit. Thanks to its age, the Gaplant itself cannot pose that well, but once you do get a pose it will be striking!

The arms themselves are plastic-on-plastic recreations of the Psycho Gundam arms, emphasis on “recreation.” These arm units were completely redesigned from the original Psycho Gundam High Grade and look and pose really damn well! There’s a double bend at the elbow, and each finger can bend at the base and the first digit. Unfortunately the finger joints at the base aren’t particularly strong, so getting them to *hold* anything is a chore at the best and impossible at the worst. I also just really like the shield binders off the shoulders, I just like shoulder connected armor :3c

My absolute biggest gripe with the kit (and is evident in a lot of Advance of Zeta kits so I’m told) is all the left over plastic

There is straight up two entire, nearly untouched Gundam Hazel B runners, A runners, a ton of left over Gaplant parts, etc. I’m not entirely sure what they were thinking with that, but it is a good source of parts for people who make customs. Maybe I’ll take advantage of that and try to make a Hazel Custom or something, or maybe I’ll see if there’s enough parts for a straight Hazel build

[reversemoon255]

RG Goldymarg

Man, this thing just makes me want more units from GaoGaiGar. I've had my eyes on the Brave Gokin versions of Star GaoGaiGar, GaiGo, and GaoFighGar for a while, but still haven't pulled the trigger because of a mix of overall expense, not being in a single location, and Mandarake's shipping being more expensive than other sites. I'd love it if they just did model kit versions of them all since there'd be a lot of shared engineering, but it's been a while since GaoGaiGar and Goldymarg released with no word, so only time will tell if we'll see any other members of GGG.

The Good: Goldymarg is a solid multi-form robot with a very fun build. All the weird accordioning the hammer does, all the added joints for transformation, the little tricks it uses to pull off its on-screen details. Goldymarg has a good range of motion in most of its joints, the MargTank has a neat transformation, and the MargHand is heavy but has a better range of finger posability than GaoGaiGar's included hands. It also includes a left hand if you wanted to build a second one, though it doesn't include the palm piece.

The Bad: There are two major downsides to Goldymarg. The first is the pegs that hold the arms in place as MargTank and MargHand are always extended and get in the way of its shoulders. The second is the legs have so many transformation joints that don't really lock into place, which makes them weird to pose. It doesn't help that the ankles come off for the MargTank, and they fall off sometimes.

The Details: For paint, I just applied panel lining. Its colors are very well distributed and replicated, so there isn't much else to do. I used a few of the stickers, including a few of the GGG stickers, all the reflective stickers (excluding the ones other the eyes, which I just panel lined), and the raised plastic stickers.

Overall, it's a great upgrade for GaoGaiGar, and a decent kit on its own. I don't know why you'd want to own it without GaiGaiGar, but if you do manage to get it first, it's a fun time and a decent kit.

[trashgoblin-ooak]

Do not put the legs on backwards.

Do not put the legs on backwards.

Do not put the legs on backwa-

Are you kidding me!? 😤

It's fine, everything's fine. My heat gun tried to set it's self on fire and died, but it's fine.

But like, it actually is fine. I don't know what happened, maybe it overheated but it works again now so 🤷‍♀️ 😂

All jokes aside, I was really stressed about reassembling the body cause I didn't want to scratch the paint. The only real damage was a bit to the knees (which I evidently didn't photograph) that id anticipated and that one largeish scratch on the butt. I ended up just using my hairdryer to heat the plastic when reattaching the limbs, which works fine, it just takes longer.

Before I popped the legs back in I did take my craft knife to the inside of the hips to take off the paint a bit. I've noticed that the most egregious scraping happens when paint rubs against paint, so in areas that you won't even see I preemptively scraped it off.

If I were to do it again, I'd take a little more off and make sure to hit it with the alcohol marker before attaching the legs. I ended up spending a good couple hours very carefully shaving off more of the plastic inside the hip joint after the legs were back on, just to prevent as much contact from happening as I could. Only downside is I can't get the tip of the marker in there now to really color it without hitting the painted legs. Which obviously leaves a dot of marker on the exposed skin (shh it's a freckle now.) but to be honest I don't think I'm going to be looking at or photographing the doll from that low of an angle with nothing covering her that it's going to be seen.

I don't have anything to show for the couple hours of work I did scraping away ~wafer-thin bits of plastic to ensure no paint scraping, so you'll just have to take my word for it for now. I really should have recorded a video or something, but every time I do that I never end up doing anything with the videos. Damn me and my desire to be helpful but also my inability to actually be helpful.

I also realized the other day that to some this might seem like an excessive amount of extra caution being put into what are typically a set-it-and-forget-it piece of art. For me what I really enjoyed about having my first goblin-self doll was that I could take her off the shelf and pose her with things and take mini photoshoots. I made a couple Christmas outfits, the Halloween one I shared as well, and 2 different dollscale versions of my own hoodies. (Well technically one is the hubs, but you know.)

The last thing I want is to go and pose my doll for something and have an obvious gash in the paint take your eye away from the scene. Sure I could probably cleverly pose around it, or even edit the mark away in the photos. But I'd much rather it just not happen in the first place, and if it takes a few extra hours and some clever thinking in the beginning stages to not have to worry about it in the end, I think that's worth it. By no means do I think these little tricks would hold up to like, playing with her as a doll, but I think they should at the very least stand up to multiple movements and outfit changes over the years!

That's all I've got for you folks today! Might be a bit before the next update as I'm trying to put together a Victorian-era elf dressed in 16th century plague doctor garb for a Renaissance Faire in uhh... 24 days 😂

Wish me luck!

And as always, much love 💚

[earthstellar]

Figure Review: Earthspark Elita-1

Packaging

I like Hasbro's move away from plastic packaging; I've noticed they're using a wrapping tissue paper type material twisted tightly into strands as their replacement for plastic ties to secure figures to the cardboard, and I really like that as it's far easier to open and makes all of the packaging fully recyclable! :)

I also want to point out that they seem to have done a nice subtle touch of using specific colours for the non-plastic ties to match each individual figure; On Elita-1's packaging, the twist ties are the same magenta/pink colour as her paint. It's a good little detail!

Root Mode

I think it looks great-- So far, the Earthspark figures seem to really try hard to match their on-screen look as much as possible, which is super nice!

The head sculpt is really good, and very faithful to her appearance in the show. There's very little paint on this figure aside from her head crest and eyes, with most of her body being magenta/soft lavender pink.

She doesn't have too much flexibility, as she doesn't turn at the waist, her head is fixed, and her joints (aside from her arms) are pretty limited.

That having been said, her legs are movable enough to compensate for this, and her proportions in root mode look great.

Her guns are permanently fixed to her arm, but any issues that might be caused by posing her with the larger gun underneath (as it collides a bit with her back kibble) can instantly be fixed by simply rotating that larger gun to the topside of her forearm, so it's clearly a problem they considered when working on the design and it can be worked around.

The non-removable guns do make her a little tricky to pose if you want her to be holding her smaller gun, but she's pretty stable on her feet, and lacks the backpack-heavy issues that a lot of other Elita-1 and Arcee figures tend to have.

The absence of the GHOST logo on her chest is pretty glaring, but it's possibly because it would have been too tricky to add as part of the plastic mold, and it might have been difficult to get a painted logo on there in a way where any detail would actually still be visible.

(Plus, if things change in the show, who knows if GHOST will still be around... So it could be a future-proofing thing as well.)

Alt Mode and Transformation

Her alt-mode is her all-terrain SUV mode from the show.

That having been said, there are a couple things that are a little funky here:

She has her guns built into her arm, which might come across as a bit weird looking in certain poses in root mode, and does make it slightly difficult to figure out where her arm fits into her alt-mode.

And also, holy fuck, this is such a complicated transformation process.

Keeping in mind that transformation complexity is always on a sliding scale for most figures based on various design challenges etc. and difficulty is somewhat subjective, but I think I've seen enough people talking about how tricky this figure is to transform to feel comfortable saying it's a fairly non-intuitive transformation.

This is a figure rated for ages 6+, and I have no idea how a six year old would possibly do this-- I feel like it might lead to a lot of frustration for the intended age range.

I fully admit I have cognitive problems which make figuring out the more complicated transformations pretty difficult for me, but it took me about an hour with the assistance of another person via Skype, the instruction pamphlet that came with the figure, a tutorial video, and a forum post for me to be able to transform her even half way.

I'm not sure it was entirely necessary for her to require this much of a difficult transformation process, but I'm by no means a toy designer, so it might be the case that this was actually needed for some practical reasons that I'm not aware of.

The plastic is pretty light weight, but doesn't feel flimsy, although I'm wary that her over the shoulder wheels and the hinges on her door wing panels might warrant a little caution-- I tried to be a little careful when transforming her. That having been said, they don't feel weak at all, just possibly more delicate when compared to the rest of the figure.

Final Feelings

I'm definitely keeping this figure in root mode, but that's fine, because the root mode looks excellent.

I do think the transformation sequence on this one is notably difficult, which might make it a better figure for teens/adults rather than younger kids.

Overall, I'd say this gets pretty high marks for screen accuracy in root mode (absence of GHOST logo aside), but takes a hit in my personal rankings purely for how fucking impossible the transformation process is, lmao

But if you like having a more challenging transformation sequence to figure out, this is a solid choice!

[joompheart]

My Voya Nui Velociraptors! The 2006 Bionicles are my favorite. It feels like they have the best of everything.

Tons of personal thoughts below.

The Toa Inikia strike the best balance between homogeneity (so that each set is as functional as the others) (and fun to have to full lineup of) and heterogeneity so that each set is unique and not just like the next (different ways of holding weapons, different feet, different forearms, different zamor and light up weapon colors, different gimmicks between multi-color armor pieces, translucent joints, and bonus claws or chains, not to mention slight differences in thigh and shoulder armor placement or even which slot the axle joint holding the head uses). They're incredibly dynamic and easy to pose in a lot of ways. Plus I think they have the best looking masks out of all the bionicles, period. Kongu and Hahli are personal favorites.

Brutaka is my favorite set out of all Bionicles, forever. That's partially nostalgia, he was the first one I ever got, but he would probably be my favorite on his own anyway. He's got a super cool personality and story in the lore (Seriously how badass is it that after exposure to pure liquid antidermis he gets so much stronger that his armor starts to crack from the increased size of his muscles!!), and his set strikes me as being the most functional of all the really good looking titans (though I've yet to get many of the titans).

The Matoran Resistance members are also my favorite of all the smaller set series. They have a bunch of unique construction techniques, cool tools, and badass lore. Plus they're about as mobile and articulate as any set their size, putting the Av-Matoran to shame. The Metru matoran might be contenders for their unique masks and disk launcher toys, but these will probably always be the matoran for my heart.

I actually put a lot of thought and effort into setting up this display, Trying to show off my favorites in the best light. There's a window to the right of these shelves, so as I think is clear from the pictures that Kongu and Brutaka get shown off really well. I tried to put Matoro and Jaller in the light as well to show off the translucent joints but it only half worked out I think. Hewkii can stand to be in the back because of his yellow, and Nuparu is in the middle distance because he's not my favorite but any further back and you can barely see him at all because of all the black. Hahli is kinda unlucky and in shadow most of the time which is unfortunate but still fine because of how up front she is I think. The contrast with Velika works well. In the future I'll try to get her more light to show off the blue, she's definitely one of the most muted blue characters in all of the original run I think. But its sooo cool with the white and blue wash!

I would put the Piraka up there too but because of their spines they don't fit. In the end it's fine because this way they get a shelf to themselves which they fill really well. Probably better this way.

I really want to get Vezon and Fenrakk is the last set I really want from this chapter, I used to not like him because I thought the cape looked out of place and I didn't really like the idea of a "discount piraka" riding some random beast technically counting as much as Brutaka or Axonn. But now I really like him a lot from the lore and want to get as much as I can stand from 2006. More Skakdi is more good, after all!