#dolls in general

[ihaventcomeupwthanameforaheroyet]

Alright. Finished repainting another doll. Not perfect, not anywhere near perfect but finally marginally acceptable after too many attempts which were... argh. How can I be that bad at something I've been doing for so long? I'm such a loser it's unbelievable. Anyway, in a few days, I'll hopefully reroot her, and then I am taking a big big break. No new VC dolls on my shelf until next winter. I should not waste the warm season sitting in my room and trying to repaint a doll's face for umpteenth time (and failing miserably).

Well, of course I still have maintenance work for my existing team (and that's a lot), and I also have personal doll projects I've been putting aside for too long (due to VC doll madness), but no more new characters until winter. I said "no more"!!!

Things I can do instead:

tidy my place (quite about time)

walk in the park (it's finally spring, folks!)

focus on my reading (still have a lot of VC books to catch up)

try to do something to fix my life (bcs really my life is a misery)

probably something else but I can't figure it out yet.

Sounds like a plan. So. No more VC dolls. My life won't live itself!

No more VC dolls. No more. No more!!!

[ariespetal]

I just think we need to be exploring the yaoi opportunities that Towa city provides more often

[hoard-of-plushes]

Pokemon Dratini Edo Kimekomi doll (2024)

[amyai]

You love being pink at the club 🩷

[lokischocolatefountain]

Pedro Pascal choosing roles

[outofcontextdanandphil]

Help 😭

[meiko333]

I love her dolls so much lol

[pizzat-i]

deep in kylux brainrot hell

[macbethz]

sometimes when you wonder why your alien clone boy(?)friend is acting like that you have to remember that he is also part middle aged woman and has like 10 gender and identity crises a week

[ihaventcomeupwthanameforaheroyet]

OK. I promised a head modification tutorial to @rijinks, but maybe other people can benefit from this lifehack, too. Please excuse my English – it's not my first language, and I struggled a lot while writing this. Also, it's my first doll-related tutorial ever, so please forgive me if it's lame.

First things first. If you ever decide to do this modification, please keep in mind that things may go wrong and you may destroy the head. I ruined a few heads while trying to make it work. I explained how to avoid this the best I can, however, it's better to have some spare heads for learning, just in case. Also, things can go wrong in a way I can't predict. If in doubt, please don't do it.

If you still feel like proceeding, you need a curved modeling stack with a ball-shaped tip (as on the photo below) and a pot of boiling water. You might need reuseable tea bags – I don't know if this is strictly necessary, but they help to avoid direct contact between the pot and the head (and I have a feeling this should be avoided), also this way you can retrieve the head from the pot without trouble. You might also need something to protect your hands while dealing with a head recently taken out from boiling water. On the photos I am doing everything with my bare hands, but different people have different resistance to high temperatures. I recently learned some people's hands have less resistance to heat than mine.

For demonstration, I am using a head which was already modified previously. This mold is called Sean, that's the mold I used for my Lestat doll, and I have a few spare heads left. So, I'll start with returning the head to its original shape (yes, this is possible), and then I'll remodify it again.

Step 1. The head should go into the boiling water and be there for a while. I can't define the time period, it differs from head to head. Maybe 5 minutes would be fine? It's not sufficient to put the head inside and remove it at once. The head should remain in the boiling water for awhile, it should warm up sufficiently to become less rigid and more flexible. Once you make it with a few heads, you'll learn to recognise this state. If in doubt, keep the head there for a longer period – in my experience, keeping the head in boiling water for a longer time didn't do any damage.

Also, if you put an already modified head into boiling water, it will regain the original shape. This way you can undo your modification if you don't like the results. You can even do it after a few months, as I just did – it will work anyway. Once again, the head should be in the boiling water for some time to regain the original shape. If you use boiling water to style a doll's head after rerooting (as I sometimes do), a modified head is likely to maintain its shape through a very short exposion to high temperature which is sufficient to fix the hairstyle. (But still, anytime I do it I am ready to lose the result of modification altogether. Maybe I am just lucky it never happened.)

So, we can see the head regained its original shape.

Step 2. Now, it's time to put the round tip of the stack into the head and press at the nose from the inside. You can apply pressure to any part of the nose, I chose the middle, but it's possible to apply pressure to the bridge of the nose and try to give your doll one of these beautiful Greek profiles. (I tried it several times, sometimes it doesn't work with a specific mold because the head material has limited flexibility, but sometimes it does.) This is THE DANGEROUS PART where things may go wrong. To achieve a noticeable result, you need to apply a lot of pressure, like, to make the face super deformed. (It won't remain this way, the actual level of deformation will be, like, a half or a third part of it.) But to ensure the modification persists, you should apply significant pressure for some time. That's the part where you may ruin a head altogether.

My advice on this:

1. Keep your eyes on the spot where you put the pressure. (I got distracted once, this was a mistake.) If you see that the layer of vinyl in the part of the head where you press is becoming too thin or is changing colour (in my case, it changed colour to white), STOP IMMEDIATELY, because you may tear the head. If the head wasn't torn but there's a spot that is badly deformed or changed colour – put the head back into boiling water, let it boil for a while, this may fix the damage.

2. Please try this method on a spare head before applying it to any doll head which is precious to you. I spoiled a few doll heads until I realized what amount of pressure is relatively safe. It also differs from head to head, even if they are from the same manufacturer. Be careful anytime you do it, I'm serious. And once again – do it at your own risk or don't, if in doubt.

Step 3. At this point, you just need some patience. As you continue to apply the pressure, the head cools down, and that's where the magic begins. I can't say how long it will take because it differs, my strategy is to remove the stack from time to time and see if the nose maintains its new shape. If it changes back to the original shape, the temperature of the head isn't low enough, and I proceed.

So, that's the result:

I more or less went back to where I was with this head (which was my intention all along).

Now let's put the photos together and take a closer look. We can see that the change affected more than just the nose. The shape of the whole head is different now: the face became longer, the eyes' shape also changed (in my experience, original makeup survives this transformation, but sometimes it really looks wrong with the new head shape), and the eyes are not as deep-set as they used to be. So, I am not sure if this face changed for the better or otherwise, but it's certainly different now. (Hopefully, one day I'll find the time to reroot this head and give him a body.)

Finishing notes. I can say the modification is more or less stable under room temperature – I started this in the beginning of 2023, so, my first modified heads maintained their new shape for almost a year. In my experience, everything can be undone if you put the head into boiling water even after a few months (I can't say “years” because I don't know it yet). I don't know whether it affects the head's longevity – it's too early to say anything. I can say that modified heads can be rerooted and repainted like any other heads, there's no need to handle these with extra care or something, and the hair can be styled with boiling water if it's brief. I don't advise to use the same pots for cooking and boiling doll heads, but I don't know if it's really dangerous. It's just... I'd rather not.

There's one more thing I can't say. As far as now, I only practiced this modification with the heads which can be disassembled from the body and placed back without any temperature impact, and it worked well. However, neck anchors of some dolls won't allow to remove the head or put it back if you don't warm the head up this way or other. If that's the case for your doll, I can't say whether the head will maintain its modified shape through the process. Again, if in doubt, don't do it.

Good luck and I hope it helps.

[saint-guillotine]

more images of the Porcelain Doll Tarot im working on !

[leelahsophia]

Source: kxoktty on twitter

[amyai]

Don't you love being empty 🩷 no thoughts allowed

[otterloreart]

MLP-Takara generations: a design experiment

Takara MLPs are considered generation 1 My Little Pony; the original ponies look like little horses and the takaras are obviously very different.

But the standard MLP toyline underwent a lot of changes throughout the years... so, if the takaras had been successful, what would their changes look like?

Generation 1 year 2+ takaras.

Year one MLP was only a few ponies with a single color of body + matching hair... just like the takaras. It was year 2 that they introduced unicorns. pegasus, and seaponies.

You all know I've already been concepting these so it's not surprising at all. As MLP g1 went on, they ended up doing more and more gimmicks throughout the 80s which would also be kind of fun to see the takaras do... (hint hint if you want me to draw those lmk which gimmicks are your favorites)

I also think they should bring in markings like the normal ponies but that could be part of the gimmicks. Maybe on their cheeks, or on their bellies like care bears?

In the later years og MLP also had a lot of variations on the normal pony body type, so maybe you could also see the takaras with that kind of variant, so that might be cute:

Moving on!

Generation 2

If you aren't big into early gen My Little Pony you might not know that generation 2 didn't do very well; it was a reboot of a beloved franchise, it was new, and different, and all that jazz:

Main differences between them and g1: first, you can see they have a very late G1-type body, which is why I pointed out the thinner pony in g1. Their face is less detailed and rounder, but they have a little more expression, very smiley.

Their ears have a more horse-y curled in shape, they have fur around their hooves (in g1 only the boy ponies had hoof floof), and they have a gem in their eye.

Also they had a lot more moving-leg gimmicks where you could push one part of their body and another would move (eg push tail -> bobs head)

So you may ask, how am I could to g2-ify the takaras? After all, they are already much rounder than the g1 ponies. Well, I'm not going to make them just *look like* the g2 ponies, although I'll borrow more elements.

Instead: I am going to take and exaggerate all of the differences that I listed above and see what we come up with.

So! Here is my idea for g2 takara pony. I feel like its the exact balance of very cute and something that would upset collectors familiar with the original takaras, just as g2 upset the g1 fans.

First off, she's thinner, the iconic takara nose is removed in favor of a sculpt with a smiling mouth, the legs are more horse shaped with fluff and human fingers to match the additional foot detail. a lot of people find the g2s a little "uncanny" so I feel like this works.

The sparkley eye gem and ear shape are just straight off the original g2s, just to have extra gimmick to it (also the og takaras basically had the g1 ears)

g2 came out in the late 90s so I like to imagine the pony eyes would be extra shoujo too

Finally, a ball jointed head for more flexibility. (yes the arm would be posed like that in the doll, because its a more dynamic pose, and we can also assume that the larger size allows the doll to have a joint with more flexibility)

g2 had pretty similar gimmicks to g1 but also had some light up ponies, so maybe the takaras could have some with that gimmick too

fun fact, g2 MLP was sold for a longer time in Europe and performed better there.

Generation 3

Generation 3 ponies are a pretty clear return to g1 MLP style, kinda scrapping most of the changes g2 made, other than proportionally thinning out the ponies a bit.

g3 ponies have very similar face sculpts with bigger eyes, nearly the same legs, and their heads just a bit bigger in proportion to their body

They do remind me a lot of the g1 Petite ponies, which were 1 inch sculptures that also had those proportionally bigger eyes and chunkier legs.

I have here included the g1 so you can see the slight changes better! I think the main difference would be the g3 takara would be a lot rounder, smoother, and cutesy-er. While the original has the hello-kitty simple cute look, the g3 version would definitely have like eyelashes and big eyes.

The only other thing to note about the body is some bigger ears, a generally rounder face, and round feet.

There weren't many gimmicks super /unique/ to g3 but one I wanted to highlight was the Breezies. G1 did have the flutter ponys, which were ponies with butterfly/dragonfly type wings, but the breezies are like their own little species AND they have antennae. While the flutter ponies were sort of graceful and thinner than the other ponies, the breezies are like little chibi-er ponies.

A little bit Littlest Pet Shop-core, since its the early 2000s too.

SPEAKING OF

Generation 4 Generation 3.5

Before there was gen4 there was a subset of Gen3 ponies with a different and unique style. They were basically an exaggerated version of the Breezies with even bigger feet and tinier snouts. They are also VERY littlest-pet-shop-core.

So, pretty straightforward changes

Just an even more chibi, kid-ish style pony. I think the g3.5 ponies were even meant to be kids. So this is just an even more child-friendly, littlest pet shop type horsey.

Generation 4

So, obviously generation 4 ushered in a whole new era of My Little Pony with its unique and bright artstyle, which did need to transfer over to the ponies

Personally, while I love g4 in a lot of ways im not a fan of the toys in the same way I am the other generations, their little noses have shrunk to specks, they're skinnier and more big-eyed than ever. Well, g3.5 was pretty big-eyed but at least those ones were like little kids.

This is such a drastic shift from g1/g3 and even g4, I would be unsure about the takaras.

So: eyes, bigger. Snout, so tiny and so smooth. Ears, bigger. Hooves are flatter and parts of the legs are just kinda featureless. a longer neck. They released a decent amount of ponies with plastic hair this gen, too.

I was struggling to come up with a doll for this one, but I finally realized I was doing it backwards. The thing that makes g4 stand out, I think, is the fact it was fundamentally designed opposite from g1. Lauren Faust, an animator, designed the ponies and the toys had to be designed around her art.

So the primary difference was considering what a tv show- a tv show concieved in the 2000s and airing in 2010s- and I did look into some kids properties from that time period as I was designing

I think these Strawberry shortcake dolls are really close to the concept I'd want for a early 2010s mirror of MLP g4. So basically these toys but more anthro.

I ended up making a 3D mockup so I'd be able to plan the different angles and keep them consistent.

The eyes are kind of far apart but I think thats true of the g4 pony toys as well. Again, because of the way the g4 show was stylized as animation, there was sort of cheating with the anatomy, especially on the face.

Generation 4.5

Gen 4.5 was a spinoff of gen4, just like gen3 had 3.5 where the ponies are more chibi. More big eyes with even bigger ears and a face like... a cats? instead of a horse. Hoof fluff again.

I think this nailed the style without being as much of an outright copy. The bendy arms with fingers seem so silly but also I think that matches the vibe/artstyle.

G4.5 don't look like horses to me really at all though, they're like cats with hooves. Out of all of them we've seen so far they're suffering the most from "predator eyes" where they've gone so far as to make their eyes just face forward.

Generation 5

Generation 5 premiered with a CGI movie, so the toys that would be released are fairly on model with their movie selves except for the fact their heads are smack dab in the middle of their neck which i find extremely unsettling and dislike

We've gone full "predator eyes" (no the predator eyes thing doesnt 100% biologically hold up but I find them freaky and I get to say it) AND full human eyebrows stenciled in like a makeup vlogger in the same color as the hair.

The ears are back to cup shaped (more horselike) but again the face is round with a little muzzle (more catlike). The hooves have really detailed feathering on the legs. Otherwise the body is mostly just structured like the g4 body (except a bit longer) just with more specific horse details.

These continued the trend of having a lot more articulated versions with moving legs as well. I think given that most dolls these days have articulated elbows and knees, it is reasonable to expect the takara g5 dolls would too.

Again, I made a 3D model so I could keep it consistent from various angles.

ta-daaaa heres my takara pony generations 1-5 lineup! Tell me which youuuuur favorite are. if you want.

[mint-8]

Platonic Yandere Doll Monster

Trigger/Content warning: Mentions of blood and dismemberment.

You received a little rag doll as a gift for your birthday when you were a child. A little toy that looks oddly like one of those voodoo dolls, for some reason. They have no clothes, nor hair and their body is littered with cuts and holes, with their old stuffing barely holding within the stitches. Only 2 button eyes, a little smile and stitched rosy cheeks.

- Yandere Doll who has always been somewhat sentient. Ever since their creator made them to curse their boss, or when they were gifted to that kid who wished for their parent to die, and when they were found by and elder that wanted to kill their spouse, to finally finding it’s way to your tiny hands. They have only known dead and suffering, with painful needles and cuts in their soft body, they assumed you would throw them away for being a creepy doll and would eventually have a new owner.

- Yandere Doll who is shocked that, instead of seeing them with disgust, a certain shine is in your eyes. You wish to fix this doll, and make them the most adorable companion ever! Or perhaps you want them to look badass? Perhaps making them even creepier? Either way, they love that you are seeing them with such warmth!

- Yandere Doll who loves you even more with each passing day. You always work so hard to fix their scars with needle and thread, making them outfits on the side and filling them with new stuffing. You take them anywhere you go, as a little companion on your backpack or bag, cuddling them at night and during naps, and keeping them close while you are relaxing, eating or working.

- Yandere Doll who, one night, hears something weird coming from outside your room. They aren’t sure what it is, but they don’t like it. They don’t even realize their tiny body is slowly moving towards the door, careful in not waking you up, and notice someone in the hallway, seemingly trying to not make their presence known. A burglar, perhaps? Or could it be a stalker or a vengeful ex? Either way, your doll isn’t happy with this intruder.

- Yandere Doll who stealthily avoids the stranger in your house, finds the kitchen and takes out the biggest and sharpest knife you own.

- Yandere Doll who charges in blind rage when they notice the intruder getting closer to your room. Forgetting to be silent, their steps become louder and heavier, their tiny body grows rapidly as to one of a small child and, when the stranger looks behind them, your doll has already tackled them to the ground and start to violently stab them in the neck. They don’t stop until their head has been chopped from their shoulder and only the horrified, yet lifeless face is left.

- Yandere Doll who doesn’t question how they grew in size or where their sudden strength came from, they only know that they must clean this mess before sunrise.

- Yandere Doll who searches all around your apartment for cleaning products and trash bags to get rid of the corpse and blood. They are so glad you took the medication that makes you extra sleepy.

- Yandere Doll who has successfully cleaned everything and use tons of air fresheners to hide the smell, and all that it was left was the bloodied remains of the stranger they just maimed. They can’t just leave it outside, your neighbors might find it and call the police! Then you could be sent to prison! And it’s not like they could just drag it all the way to the outskirts of the city, it would be morning soon and people will notice! Pondering on the best course of action, your doll looks at the knife they’ve just cleaned and their enlarged body. If they have changed so much outwardly, what about the inside?

- Yandere Doll who cuts open their stitched mouth with the knife, and discover rows of sharp teeth among the stuffing. They look at the cold corpse and start to enjoy their night snack.

You wake up. It’s the best sleep you have gotten in ages! As you start to move around your bed and stretch, you notice that your doll isn’t by your side. Perhaps you dropped it? You check under your bed, but it wasn’t there. Strange.

Once you leave your room, you notice how there are some of your cleaning supplies and trash bags in the middle of the hallway, for some reason. Perhaps you forgot to put them back when you were done with cleaning yesterday.

As you go on with your day, you keep searching for your favorite doll. Not in the shelves, or in the cupboards, nor in the closets. Were could it be? You don’t notice how the hydrogen peroxide bottle is almost close to empty, or how your knives aren’t arranged as you left them, or how the aire smells oddly like flowers, you simply keep going as usual, thinking that you will eventually find your dolly.

Night comes and who do you find under your desk? Your little doll! You can’t believe you missed it when you searched for it earlier in the day! You do notice that it smells somewhat different and that their mouth was somehow open wide, letting some of their stuffing escape from it’s insides. You chuckle to yourself, you must have thrown or kicked it in your sleep and it got torn open when it slammed against the wall. How silly of you!

You give your little doll a kiss as a sorry and start sewing their mouth back together while listening to the late night news. Apparently there has been an increase on crime lately, so you decide to shop for some new locks tomorrow. You’ll bring your little dolly with you, of course. Your little luck charm!

- Yandere Doll is so happy that you didn’t notice anything. They weren’t sure when their body was going to shrink back to it’s original size, so they hid from you until they got back to normal. The stranger was surprisingly tasty and they couldn’t wait for the next idiot who tries to enter your home! No matter their size, no matter their kind, your little doll will make sure to deal with any pesky flies that dare to hurt their precious owner. They won’t let anyone hurt you.