#i just want the articulated dolls in general

[evilmagician430]

hey guys i found this weird discontinued doll line from 2014, seems like the gimmick is each doll comes with a pet, except the pet is just an entire dude? so theyre mostly sold in two-packs, technically. i cant find much information on these except a weird tie-in comic on neocities, but i cant tell if its official or fan-made. can anyone let me know if they find more pictures of these? thx

[st4rbe0m]

PAIRING ▸ Nishimura Riki x fem!reader

SUMMARY ▸"Am I dating Y/N L/N? No thanks, I'd rather choke." Or in which you're clearly using some sort of spell to entice Riki, because why on earth would he suddenly start feeling this way about you?

GENRE ▸one-sided enemies to lovers, highschool au, she fell first but he fell harder, angst (lots of it), slow-ish burn.

WARNINGS ▸ swearing, featuring Eunchae from LeSserafim as your best friend and some additional cameos by other idols, some of dickish behaviour from Riki at the start :(, kissing, mentions of curses, occults knowledge, spells and witchcraft.

WC ▸ 7.1K

A/N ▸ Thank you for the immense support for this on the teaser!! I hope this lives up to your expectations, and I hope you guys enjoy the rest of my work as well :)

PLAYLIST ▸ Voodoo Doll by 5 Seconds of Summer, Kiss Me Kiss Me by 5 Seconds of Summer, Brought the Heat Back by Enhypen, Stockholm Syndrome by One Direction

masterlist

The air is a sweet smelling summer type, the day you first meet Nishimura Riki. He's a scrawny little thing of twig arms and downcast, shy eyes. Having moved to Korea from Japan only barely a month back, the number of words he can say in this newfound land in the foreign language can be counted on one hand. And this poses a problem to him right now, considering how his older sister had already gone off on her own despite their mother's strict orders to stay together at all times. You spot the boy, a sprightly little thing yourself, and the first thing you notice is his eyes. The most gorgeous, mesmerizing eyes. They looked like the black beetles you saw in the spring - lazing on the dark brown tree trunks, absolutely fascinating and captivating.

Nishimura Riki is six years old and scared. He's at a playground with kids his age, but he feels like an alien in his own skin. They're all either playing in groups or duos - but no dice for singles. It's times like this that makes him want to clutch on to the fabric of his mother's dress and be whisked away to safety. A place where he doesn't feel so out of place. His soft, trembling body stills in a bit of surprise as a gentle tap knocks on his shoulder, ever so slightly. Turning around fearful of being picked on, he only comes face to face with a girl. You're looking straight at him with owlish, unblinking eyes that make Riki shiver in your gaze - feeling smaller and smaller than before. He doesn't like how you're looking at him, not in the slightest. "Hi there! I'm Y/N L/N. Are you new here?" You're quite articulate for a kid, he thinks, as if he's not one himself. He's barely managed to string together the meaning of what you said through his broken understanding of the language, but it's the general environment about you that makes him hesitate. His lack of a response doesn't deter you apparently, as suddenly you're latching on to his wrist, trying to pull him to the sand pit, babbling on and on about being his new friend and offering to show him around town. He doesn't know how to get out of your vice-like grip, but he doesn't mind your company either. But it's just all too much. There's too many things going on around him, and you're too loud.

Suddenly, he's wrenching his hand out of yours, a scowl on his youthful features. It's a frown directed right at you like a bullet, but it leaves you unscathed. You still look at him with a complete look of innocence, completely boring into his own eyes. There's something about the way you look at him, and he hates it. He notices the way you hold no precise expression on your face, only a peaceful and serene look coupled with the way one would gaze when they felt curious and fascinated. He decides at that moment, with all the iron resolve of a six year old boy, that he hated this girl. He hated you and he wanted absolutely nothing to do with you.

But this was in no way similar to the way you were feeling currently. With the way that inky void in his eyes were pulling you in like a siren song, you decided that you loved Nishimura Riki. 

11 years later

"Riki! Riki!". Your chants are loud even amongst the bustling crowd of attendees, all mingling about on the bleachers, eyes trained on the orange basketball as the squeaking sound of shoes against the polished wooden floor accentuated the tension of this cut-throat game. Jersey number 9, tallest on the team and jet black hair that had everyone reeling in his subtle aura, Riki's eyes are piercing as his focus solely stays on two things - the first being how to get past the rival team's defense, and the second being how annoying your cheering was to him.

Their opposing team is not letting them cut through this bottle neck tie easily, and the red timer with its robotic, digital numbers clocking down to the game's end was not really helping either. It was right now, or never. And Riki never let a game get to the tie-breaker, ever. He's quick and sharp witted, and he's got the athletic skill to get past the crowding defense team, and with a crisp swish of the white net hanging on the post, the ball is swiftly sent through the basket. The whistle is loud, but the rest of his teammates are louder, wasting no time in running on the court to aggressively smother their prodigal player in affection and sweat, with Riki glaring away at them in faux irritation, but clearly preening in their pride. This was an important game after all, because it would be the game that would help team captain, Lee Heesung, who was graduating this spring, to choose the next in line to his legacy. And anyone with two eyes, who wasn't even on the team could easily say it belonged to Riki.

Your voice is back, louder again this time, and it has Riki grimacing amongst the celebrations, and Sunoo and Taki, his friends who had descended from the stands themselves, gave each other a knowing look of what was about to occur.

You're singing praises and it has him glowing, regardless of the frown marrying his sharp features. "God, that was so cool! You're so, so tall, it must have been an advantage for sure, but wow I mean that basket? Crazy!"

He's still glaring at you and his teammates have wry smiles on their faces. Your praises quieten down when you, and Riki, notice Lee Heesung walking over to Riki with a championing grin that only means one thing. Ushering Riki away, you just gazed at him at raw adoration as the boy's face lit up with the news Heesung was breaking him.

"By the way dude, are you dating that girl there? Y/N L/N?"

The question has him coughing slightly from the water he was chugging down. Sunoo and Taki are cackling violently at his expression, like Heesung had performed the most blasphemous act in front of him. "Heesung, what the hell dude. I'm not dating her, at all. I'll only date Y/N when pigs start flying."

He looks back to where you stood before, now gone from that spot. You always waited a bit before you left, usually, trying to catch him and make conversation with him, so this was new. A different kind of feeling he wasn't sure he was used to. It was strange, how he felt a bit different from the absence of you.

"Look, oh my god!" Taki cries out, pointing vaguely at the air. "What?" "I just saw a pig fly." “Shut the fuck up man.”

You were a curse sent from hell to torment him, that much was sure. He wasn’t sure what penance he was due to pay in this life for his previous actions that caused you to appear in his life, considering how since that moment on the playground, you’ve done nothing to actually make his life any better. And while he was explaining this very situation to Heesung, who was now sporting an amused grin at the way the normally nonchalant Riki’s mouth seemed to fly a mile a minute, Sunoo interrupted with a gasp at a particularly harsh tease. “She isn’t even doing anything bad you prick! I’d kill to have someone crush on me that long!”

“Oh you can have her then, Sun. I do not want to see her in my life ever again once we’re out of here.” He huffs.

The various examples of the ways you’d managed to make things bad for him seemed to resurface to his mind almost immediately, souring his mood. Like when in middle school, when he bagged the hottest girl of their grade, Choi Ri-ah, to go out with him. It was magical to Riki, that eighth grade relationship - mainly because him being in it meant having you off his back. Your displeasure with his newfound relationship status was not a secret either, no your distaste was very clear, with the way you’d frown when they would walk in the hallways together holding hands, which in eighth grade, was a very big deal. It didn’t help that Ri-ah was also your quote unquote, sworn enemy. The two of you had hated each other's guts since almost preschool, and the sickening punch in the stomach was how she’d managed to be with the only guy you’d ever loved. But Riki didn’t know any of that. And frankly, he didn’t care much about his and Ri-ah’s conversations or dates, where he would nod along as she talked his ears off about getting new earrings or the summer holiday her father was planning, where she was going to get the most outrageous tan. Sure, he liked her. But he liked not hearing your voice constantly bugging him more. 

“Dude she didn’t end your relationship with Ri-ah! Ri-ah was already going after another guy from that prep school, she just needed an excuse to end the relationship and made Y/N the scapegoat.” Taki told him exasperatedly, which just fell on deaf ears, because Riki was still convinced that you were the reason for the demise of his juvenile dating plan. Ri-ah had broken up with him seemingly out of the blue, over text, claiming that she felt uncomfortable dating a boy who was so coveted by another girl. And when fourteen year old Riki read that heartbreaking message curled up in his duvet at 10PM on a Tuesday, he just felt a bitter pill of hatred for you. Nothing had changed in the six years since that fateful meeting at the playground, no. You still made Riki shudder.

“I hate Y/N L/N. I wish she just left my life, because she’s what makes it worse.”

“He’s absolutely phenomenal.” You breathe out in a sigh, full of awe as you watch Riki skirt across the court with lightning speed. The dreamy looks and the lovestruck sounds was like routine to Eunchae, who had honestly even given up on rolling her eyes at you, because with the way she’d spent the last 10 years doing the same, she was afraid her eyes would get stuck at the back of the skull due to routine. It was truly a wonder how you hadn’t given up immediately after the first few tries - when he was extremely stubborn in denouncing the “Y/N’s boyfriend” title he’d earned. But you had your justification ready to go - that he never outright rejected you. Sure, he politely declined some invitations, but never a word against your feelings as such. It still raised the question, as to how you could chase a guy around this long. Because to you, the reason was quite fundamental - his eyes were still beautiful, and most importantly, they held no hate. Not an ounce of it, no matter how hard he tried to emulate it, which gave you hope. 

Unfortunately hope was a wonderful thing for sure, but also dangerous. It was quite the cycle you’d found yourself stuck in, and you weren’t honestly sure how long you could afford to linger as nothing but a mandatory footnote to him. It was eating away at you. But hope, hope made you hold on.

Only Eunchae knew about the firm decision you’d taken last night. After all, she was your closest friend. And she even held you, as you solemnly promised to yourself, on the eve of the 11th anniversary of the day you first met Riki, to leave him behind forever, if there wasn’t any improvement in his behavior, or general perception of you. It was shocking, and honestly a huge decision. But firm in its promise, that last hook of hope would be gone soon by tomorrow. 

“You know he ignored you again, right?” Eunchae points out for the nth time, and like always that doesn’t deter you, as you gaze lovingly upon where the soon-to-be former captain Heesung was talking to Riki about leading the team, a position quite coveted which you were very proud of Riki for acquiring. The pride that swelled in your heart was immense, but the cold words you heard Riki utter were like a small pin-prick on your heart. He was tense from the game, and let’s be honest, you’d always managed to survive the weight of his brash words. But why did this one hurt so much? Were you reaching your breaking point, finally? No wonder you’d tipped and already decided to get over him last night.

Snapping yourself out of these negative emotions, you decided to busy yourself a bit away from the bleachers and Heesung and Riki, focusing on Eunchae as she tried to decide where to grab a snack before you both went off to your own houses. 

“I hate Y/N L/N. I wish she just left my life, because she’s what makes it worse.”

The sound of his voice has always been melodious to you. It had a deep timbre and was almost soothing. But right now, you felt anything far from soothed. Your throat was closing up into a lump, and you huffed slightly as you blinked away tears. Eunchae’s eyes were blown wide in shock, and were slowly beginning to narrow in anger. Your movements were almost automatic as your hand reached out to stop Eunchae from storming out from your hiding spots’, the fuming girl looking like she was ready to punch Nishimura across the face immediately. The tears were burning into your lower lash line like furious embarrassment, making you more and more smaller, wishing now more than ever that the ground swallowed you whole. You kept telling yourself over and over again, that this wasn’t the first time you’d heard words of this type uttered against you by him. But it was like a disenchanting spell on you, the way a veil lifted off your eyes. A crack in the rose tinted looking-glass you always stared at him through. 

“Y/N”, Eunchae’s voice is a careful whisper, sensing your vulnerability as your best friend. She knew you long enough to tell that those extremely cruel, mean words did more than just a regular rebound on your thick skin. She was cooling down in an attempt to comfort you, rubbing your arm in support. Your lower lip was wobbling, and you felt like someone had slapped you hard across the cheek. You weren’t that annoying to put up with, were you?

Your heart felt stomped on at that point, and you wanted nothing more than to get away. As shocking as it was, you couldn’t stomach being around Riki right now, and hastily grabbing Eunchae and making a beeline towards the exit, your downtrodden expression morphed to anger as your shoulder harshly bumped against Riki’s, who’s expression you couldn’t tell with the way you could only see red. Your decision was ironclad now, if it wasn’t firm already. This was the moment you’d decided to get over Nishimura Riki. 

The touch of your shoulder against his was like a static current being passed through his skin, in the most pleasant way possible. Like he craved it. Riki was baffled, and even more so when he realized it was you, and your usually ever-present adoration from him being blatantly missing, even in this short interaction, if it even be called that. He felt a twinge of concern for you, which he suppressed easily. This was the Y/N he was talking about. Any emotion for you rather than disgust? No thank you!

However, it was strange. For the first time in your life, you felt almost nothing for Nishimura Riki. And for the first time in his life, he felt something for you. 

It’s been a week since the fateful basketball game. You’ve been through the stages of grief quite quickly, storming through each of them with Eunchae helping you along, although your headstrong need to get better did worry her, that you weren’t actually processing your pain to heal. But to hell with all that. No, you wanted to eviscerate any remaining thought of Riki from your head immediately. The school day seems to be quite regular, with spring break just a mere two weeks away, that had people buzzing with low energy in the hallways, all in the state of deciding their spring break plans. Your spring break plans weren’t anything fancy, or anything at all rather - with the main idea being that you’d while away the time with your best friend, doing all the fun activities you could possibly do. And a break that you were sure would be the final nail in the coffin that contained the corpse of your feelings for Riki, the dark haired boy who up till now kept an iron grip on your heart.

The boy in question, like you, had also spent the previous week raging through some emotions. But in his case, rather he found them very confusing and very out of character. Of course, he wasn’t self actualised enough to work through them, and that led him to create a stubborn mindspace - that you, Y/N L/N were messing with his head by purposely ignoring him. He just couldn’t stop thinking about you, your presence and the recent lack of. Your voice wasn’t greeting him in the homeroom every morning anymore, and it was a change many had noticed, but not yet commented on. He found this pit in his stomach from the first week, the immediate day after the match, when he saw you sitting in class - head bent, hair falling over your face messily. And for a fleeting second, his hand had to fight off the urge to get up and brush them away. Your eyes looked slightly swollen, with a faint bloodshot look, like you’d spent the night crying rather than sleeping. It made his chest ache and his head spin slightly. What the hell? When the hell did he feel sorry for Y/N L/N? When the hell did he feel anything for Y/N L/N?

That was about three days ago, and that same pit in his stomach has been growing ever since. He, for whatever reason, missed you. Instead of coming face to face with this fact, he turned his back on it, and it was killing him. Pinpricks of pain would shoot through him whenever he noticed you deliberately changing your path on noticing him walk towards your way. God, it’s like he was a hostage to your feelings all these years, and automatically he felt guilty of thinking about you that way. You just liked him right? Why was he even so rude to you?

His behavior, and his demeanor didn’t go unnoticed by all of his friends, even the basketball team, who were more than aware of your absence at practice anymore. Whatever you were doing to remove Riki from your life might be working in your favor, but it was ruining him. 

His brain felt like someone was swirling its contents around with a spatula, making a mess of his thoughts and his emotions. He hadn’t wasted a moment in spilling his dilemma to Sunoo, and invariably the guys he was closest to on the basketball team - Jake, Sunghoon, Jay and Heesung. The team itself were all in all pretty much aware of how the youngest was going through quite the mind-boggling series of epiphanies (if it could even be called that. Jay liked to refer to it as just a dumbass waking up from his stupidity sleep). 

“Dude, I just don’t know anymore. Her not being there is very odd to me? I just can’t get used to it.” Riki sighs, shaking his head as he thumbs around his packet of Cheetos, slumping against the cafeteria wall, while the rest of his group gathered around him like a pack, eagerly listening in. “But isn’t that what you wanted? So there must be something else then? Maybe you didn’t mind her as much as you let on?” Jake inquired, his head tilting like a confused puppy. That had Riki scratching his head again. He saw you this morning by your locker. You were catching up with Eunchae, both of you laughing boldly to whatever Eunchae had just said, and there was a glow on your face as your eyes crinkled in amusement, which made a heartbeat skip in his chest. He was staring longingly at you, and it seemed like you noticed, because your eyes met his in scrutiny - your single glance making him feel like that six year old at the playground again. 

When you were in freshman year, you had developed a fascination with reading horror novels and mangas and watching horror movies very frequently. Something about spirits and the occult had interested you very much, and many people around you knew about this hobby of yours. If anyone had any doubts about the intricacies of rituals and possessions, spells and witchcraft, they’d just go to you. Right now, Riki thinks that’s exactly what’s happening to him - you’d used your occult knowledge to put a spell on him. Of course, he knew how ridiculous he sounded. But he felt like he was bound to you, and couldn’t shake off your spell no matter how much he tried. And it was purely on him. This was just all so,so confusing, which he decided not to voice out to his friends until he himself had gotten a grip on what was happening to him. How he kept thinking about your little habits. Day before yesterday, he found himself soaked in sweat and thirsty beyond comparison after practice. Parched and defeated, he stumbled along to the locker room to find his flavored water that one of his teammates usually kept in his locker for him, only to come up empty handed. 

“Jake, have you seen my flavored water? I figured you usually put one in my locker.” He asked nonchalantly, only to find Jake, and the rest of the team that entered the room in a state of sly smiles, stifled giggles and shock. 

“Dude, we never did any of that. Y/N did that, she’d purchase the fancy water for you and put it in your locker before we came for practice.” 

It made him feel different. He was blinking slow, and his brain was sluggish. You did that for him? God, you were so sweet, weren’t you. He already felt a bit sad about not seeing your bright grin that you directed to him in the morning (even though he always dismissed it with ignorance), but this was the cherry on top. You had loved him to death, and now he was a dead man walking without you. 

“He looked at you, you know.” Eunchae is careful in her observation, but she knows you noticed too. Your pupils seem narrowed, and your lips are drawn in a tight line as you contemplate that look he gave you. You still couldn’t fight off the feeling of butterflies in your stomach when you met his eyes - those gorgeous, beetle-black eyes that had a magnetic pull to them. But within the haze of your flusteredness, you’d managed to catch the slight look of misery in them. He was looking at you like he was an injured puppy, lost without you. But your resolve was stronger. With the utmost focus, you managed to drive away the maddening thoughts of the possibility of him missing you away, and walked away with Eunchae. 

Over the weekend, Riki had realized that being away from you was driving him insane. So on Monday, he was pulling his chair close to yours in the classroom, the metallic screech against the wooden flooring making everyone turn their heads to the scene, their eyes widening in shock at what was unfolding in front of their eyes. How on Earth was Nishimura Riki sitting next to Y/N L/N? Your thoughts were also very similar to the rest of your classmates, because what was happening right now? Riki, the boy you’d put your heart dangerously on the line for was right here, sitting next to you. His movements were awkward and he was fiddling with his fingers while casting shy glances towards you, reminding you of the scared six year old version of him you’d met at the playground. There is a faint red crawling up his pale ears, and he clears his throat roughly, before saying “Is it alright if I sit here?”

Your all consuming feelings seemed to come back like a crashing wave on the shore the moment he uttered those words to you, and you just nodded wordlessly, too shocked to say anything.

You look too pretty this morning, and it’s messing with his head. Riki’s beating himself up internally, because this wouldn’t be so difficult if you weren’t so goddamn beautiful for some reason. He nods when you do, and then gets to his work. His proximity feels dizzying to you, and the scent of his cologne makes it harder for you to focus on the work in front of you. He’s biting into his lip hard, to suppress the urge to just hold your hand. The smell of your shampoo, the warmth of your thigh being barely centimeters next to you. You’re both so horribly blind and it is just painful to you both, unbeknownst to each of you. 

Nishimura Riki liked you. He really, really liked you. And as he turned his head to see your face, accented by the golden sunlight and eyes sparkling like dewdrops in the early morning, he knew that even if he wanted to run, he couldn't. He was trapped under your spell, and the thought of it made him smile. 

The following days are filled with such odd interactions with Riki. He always found an excuse to find you first in classrooms, or walk you to the cafeteria. You suddenly found yourself back at basketball practices again, but this time forcefully dragged to the court by Riki, and an amused Eunchae in tow. He was there to offer you snacks and drinks from the vending machine. He helped you with homework and you helped him with his. Whatever diabolical game he was playing was working wonders on you, because suddenly all you could see behind your closed eyes was his gorgeous face. 

The rest of the student body isn’t blind to his newfound affection for you. It’s all they’ve been talking about the entire time. His teammates slap his back in teasing jests while he shoos them all away, all the while that smile never leaving his face. 

“There’s no way!” You’re laughing hard, and yours and Riki’s shared giggles are quite audible over the soccer field. You’re both sitting on the grass just after practice, where Riki’s cooling off in the gentle breeze blowing across the grass. He’s telling you about some antics he had put up in class to get away from not turning in assignments, which involved a fake rubber rat and a very scared Calculus teacher. You’re wiping tears from your eyes from the laughter while Riki shakes his head in amusement. The breeze blows a single leaf to land right on top of your head, and it makes you giggle harder. 

He shuffles a bit closer to you, arm raising up to remove the leaf from your head. His breath is warm as it fans across your warming cheeks, the narrowed distance between you both not being lost on either of you. His eyes meet yours, and you’re still a goner for them. He gulps, Adam’s apple bobbing in nervousness, yet he makes no attempt to move away. Instead, he feels a bold surge in him. His finger loops around the bow on your school uniform, tugging the ribbon and invariably, you, forward towards him, making the breath in your throat hitch, and your eyes becoming wide as saucers. His eyes dip to your cupid’s bow, and scan over your lips and how they’re parted. Riki spends not a second more pressing his lips to yours, and you’re in heaven. 

The walk back to your house is full of shy touches, and the warmth of your hand in his. Riki’s lips are still tingling where yours were just moments ago. He can’t even begin to fathom how he ended up here - from loathing you to wanting to kiss you again. He was addicted to you and wanted more of you. But these things needed to be paced, and Riki wanted it done right. Bidding you goodbye in front of your house, where you left him with another giggle-pressed kiss to his cheek and a warm buzz filling his body, he was absolutely enamored by Y/N L/N.

The next day, he wakes up and it’s a good day. It’s a good day because he’s going to ask you out finally. He wanted to pinch himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, just because of the implausibility of the situation. There was a brightness surrounding the boy all throughout, a contrast to his regular attitude. Sunoo and Taki had been updated already, and he was planning to tell the team, the rest of his friends during practice, after which he would ask you on a date during your regular after-practice hangouts. Except for the life of him he couldn’t find you, at all. It was unfortunate that today was the day of the announcement of the student council election results, for which classes were mostly halted, since the student council was quite a big deal 

He’s scanning around to find you amongst the crowd of the assembly where the results were to be announced - only to spot you a bit later. Also, he notices that you’re not alone. You’re grinning (a bit too much for his liking, if he's being honest) at Yang Jungwon, the boy who was the sure-shot winner of the President position. You’re too close to him, and it makes his heart clench. He’s biting his tongue until it almost bleeds. He doesn’t get an opportunity to speak to you, as the event commences. He just decides to wait till later, ignoring the pain in his chest he got from seeing you with another guy. 

“The President of this year’s student council is Yang Jungwon.” There’s a smattering of loud applause, and even Riki joins in half-heartedly, still wounded over what he was previously. “The position of Vice President goes to his running mate, Y/N L/N!”. 

He’s still in his place, though his heart bursts with pride and joy for you, his eyes drinking in your excited run up to the stage, shaking hands with the Principal of the school. Your face is broken into the biggest smile ever, and your eyes are shining from pure happiness. Why didn’t you tell him? Why didn’t he know you were going for it? Or that Jungwon was your running mate?”

But all in all he’s very, very happy and proud of you, so he squishes down that ugly feeling of jealousy in him, and focuses on how you somehow look directly right at him. Your smile drops a little when you notice he isn’t clapping, a fact Riki himself didn’t realize, too busy staring in awe at you. It takes Eunchae’s loud hollering in the crowd to break you out of your stupor and your return to your regular state. 

He’s changing out of his practice clothes, feeling a bit down from the events that actually happened today and how he’d expected it to go. He hadn’t been able to catch a moment alone with you after the ceremony, and four of the older members of the team were missing from practice today too, since Jay was the treasurer of the previous session, he had to oversee the handing over of the duties to the newer batch. Practice, because of that, ended up being him, and the benchwarmers and people he didn’t really know all that well. It was something he had to get used to as the new captain, so he figured this would serve as a good preview. He was talking to another benchwarmer of his grade, Junhee, while changing. Junhee wasn’t necessarily a good person, if Riki was honest. He always hung out with the rash crowd and got into fights because of his crass nature. He placed the small box of chocolates he’s managed to quickly buy for you from a store outside school, a sticky note with your name and a congratulation scrawled on it, down on the metallic bench as he gathered up the rest of his things. This doesn’t escape Junhee’s notice, who smirks lazily as he spots the name on the post-it. 

“No way, Nishimura. She did it, huh?”

Riki already doesn’t like the way he refers to you as just someone, and it sets his skin aflame. “Hmm?” he responds half-heartedly, not at all interested in maintaining a conversation with Junhee of all people. “Well, doesn’t it make sense, Nishimura? She’s into that horror shit right? Clearly she’s made a voodoo doll of you and forced you to love her. Manifestation shit, am I right?”

Riki’s blood is boiling as he hears what Junhee is saying, but for some reason he says nothing back. It’s like he’s trapped in this vortex in his mind fueled by the insecurity he felt from seeing you with Jungwon, or how he felt out of the loop about your co-curricular adventure. Staying mum, he just grabbed the chocolate box, and turned around, only to gasp in shock to see you standing right there. Your mouth is twisted downwards in disappointment, and you’re staring at him with absolute loathing in your eyes right now. He rushed forward towards you, ready to explain, and also wanting desperately to punch the snickering Junhee behind him, who was now slinking away from the scene. 

It feels like there is a knife in your back and twisting itself in your flesh all over again. There is a panic rising in your throat, suffocating you overwhelmingly. It’s jarring and mind-boggling. So before Riki gets to you, you run.

Eunchae is gathering you up in her arms as your inconsolable state renders you helpless, slumping on the floor of your bedroom, finding it harder to breathe as the sadness keeps washing over you in painful crashes, making you feel weaker and weaker as the time goes. 

“Why does he hate me, Eun? He kissed me, didn’t he? So why is he so cruel?”

The six boys in Riki’s room are trying their best with damage control, as they all had rushed over to his house when Riki had texted them in a panic and explained what had gone down. “But why didn’t you defend yourself in front of Junhee in the first place man?”, Taki asks frustratedly, tugging at his hair. Riki frowns, trying to ignore the flashes in his head of your heartbroken face while his chest aches. “I kept thinking about her and Jungwon. I treated her terribly before all this, didn’t I? I just kept thinking how she might like Jungwon now.” His eyes are downcast in sadness, and his voice is broken. Pulling up a chair right in front of Riki, Heesung plops down and holds Riki up by the shoulders, squaring him up. “Riki. Go. Go right now and apologize, before you lose her even more.” Riki is crying harder now, and wiping his tears, he breaks and finally tells them. “I don’t think I want to be without her, Heesung. I want her love, no matter if it drives me to my end.”

Riki sees how Eunchae slipped out of your house to walk towards the supermarket, no doubt to get you both some consolation food. He takes this moment to approach your front door, knocking furiously in nervousness and apprehension. It’s now or never. 

You open the door, assuming it’s Eunchae who left something behind before she left, so seeing Riki - messy hair, lips bitten to the extreme and bloodshot eyes standing on your front porch knocked the wind out of your lungs. Ready to slam the door on his face, his long hand stops you from doing so, pleading “Y/N please, please just listen to me. It wasn’t how it happened. I didn’t agree with Junhee at all. I like you, Y/N L/N, like it’s breathing. Being away from you makes me lose my mind, and I know I haven’t been the best to you in the past. But please, Y/N. I need you to give me a chance. I need you.”

There’s warm tears flowing down your face, and even in this state Riki thinks you’re beautiful. The porch light shines on your face and you look angelic. He hopes it showed in your mercy as well.

“Why didn’t you disagree?” you sniffle, sweater paws raising up to wipe away some of the tears on your face. The dejected tone with which you ask him makes him feel a deep tug in his heart, aching and sad. “I felt. Jealous. And angry, that Jungwon was so close to you, and that you hadn’t told me about being his running mate. And I know that doesn’t excuse my actions. I just felt, I don’t know. Out of the loop.”

“I wanted to surprise you with the vice president's news.” You mumbled, head down. Riki hesitantly moved toward you, and slowly patting your head, he said “I was surprised, baby, and so, so proud of you. I felt so proud of my girl up there.” He says hoarsely, hoping that his sincerity is as evident as much as he feels it. 

The breath gets knocked out as he groans through his mouth with the impact of your crushing hug. You have your face burrow into his chest, crying softly but also laughing slightly, wetting his shirt. He doesn’t spare a moment to wrap his arms around you tightly, fearing that letting go would mean that he’d lose you again. He sniffs in the soothing and familiar scent of your shampoo and mumbles into your hair, “I don’t know what spell you’ve casted on me, Y/N L/N. But I want to be under it forever.”

The sunlight, Riki thinks, just manages to make you so beautiful that it makes Riki speechless every single time. A lot has changed since the playground and the years after that. And a lot more changed within the last year too. You and Riki are midway through your senior year now. He was sad when he had to bid farewell to the older members of the basketball team, who were practically like brothers to him now. You continued your duties as vice president, though the shared activities you had with Jungwon, still a sore spot for Riki, made him pout adorably, which you always kissed away with a laugh. Riki was the basketball captain now, which added new responsibilities to his shoulder, which he carried excellently. The evidence of which was the recent basketball game that he’d just won with the team. The pep rally, and most of the team was still loitering around the court (Junhee was out. It was one of the first things Riki did as captain, in fact). Riki had sneaked you out to that fateful soccer field where you both had first kissed, and a beautiful sense of deja vu hit him as he looked at you in wonder - how you’d managed to put up with all of him was still a mystery to the boy. But, when you looked to meet his eyes - those dazzling, black eyes that glittered under the setting sun, you both realized - you were both enchanted by each other.

[honeytonedhottie]

hyper girliness⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🎀

this post is just my take on what girliness is to me and how i incorporate it into my life bcuz its a lifestyle for me. being super feminine and feeling happy and beautiful in that way is how i choose to live and this post is just talking about how i go about that. ofc with anything that u consume. take what resonates with you and leave the rest but i hope you'll enjoy…💬🎀

GIRLY MINDSET ;

i think of very highly of myself, like a princess. i did lots of self concept work to get my self concept to where it is now and i can confidently say that my self concept is just as flawless as i am. because i think so highly of myself, i treat myself accordingly. something that i reinforce in my thoughts is to treat myself like my favorite doll.

what does it mean to treat yourself like your favorite doll? PAMPER yourself, treat urself sweetly and preciously and your body and mind and soul will thank you tenfold. every investment that u put into urself whether its mental or physical will give you the highest ROI then anything else can because its YOU.

IN TOUCH WITH GIRLINESS ;

im rly in touch with my girliness when im practicing self care or doing something creative (like girlblogging for example) to me, femininity is expression and creativity and energy and beauty so anything that resonates with those four words is enriching my own girliness.

pampering and self care time every single day is a MUST

dancing or stretching

most tension for girls at least, is stored in ur hips, so whenever ur doing stretches or when u dance, i like to focus on my hips movements so that then i can release tension and let energy flow. doing so helps me to feel super in touch with my girliness and my femininity in general, so things like belly dancing and yoga.

PAMPERING ;

manis/pedis WEEKLY or every two weeks, u dont have to get them professionally done if u dont want to, but mainly focus on being well kept and well groomed and moisturized.

making sure my hair looks pretty and to my liking

being EXTRA during shower time ; using high quality and sweet smelling products, using body oils and body butters and lotions. taking bubble baths and using fancy bath milks and bubble bath.

GIRLY INCORPORATION ;

you can glamorize even the simplest of tasks by being super girly. here are some examples of incorporating girliness into mundane tasks. girliness is lots of ROMANTICIZATION

studying -> using cute stationary (mine are predominantly pink) decorated notes, cute study playlist (i listen to subliminals) keep an adorable space to study and wear a cute outfit

GIRLY CODE ;

being sweet and gentle with everyone (including urself) is SUCH a girly move and it makes u so pleasant and doll-like. theres no need to be nasty for no reason, cuz thats not hot. so mind ur p's and q's. say thank you, articulate ur feelings and ur thoughts. also, me saying making an effort to be nice is girly code does NOT mean that if someone is coming at u some kind of way that u shouldn't stand up for urself bcuz u absolutely should, but rly emphasize grace.

GIRLY ACCESSORIES ;

bracelets

anklets

purses

head bands

mini-skirts

on an ending note the main keys to girliness from my experience is all about how u treat urself, and that'll translate to how u treat others. and this post can serve as your reminder to pamper and spoil yourself bcuz u deserve it…💬🎀

[pocket-goat]

updated itties yayyy!!! i mainly wanted to fix suns' entire outfit, give moon and sig better shapes, and also make the difference between generations a bit more obvious! also, white eyed sig <3

extra rambles under the cut !!

-sig and pebbles are both technically 3rd generation iterators, but sig was one of the first of gen 3, while pebbles was one of the last

-moon and pebbles have matching cloaks, but pebbles' outfit was made for him while he was still being built and they misjudged the size of his puppet so his shit dont fit </3

-moon and suns, being from earlier generations, are built like ball jointed dolls, more specifically moon is! suns has a little more articulation than moon does

-pebbles and sig have much more articulation in their bodies, being from younger generations. pebbles especially has the widest range of movement in his puppet, and his hands are the most fine tuned and articulated

-moon was built with durability in mind, while pebbles was built with expression and looks in mind. because of this, moons outer shell doesnt crack, but she rusts easily, meanwhile pebbles cracked easily, but the metal of his puppet doesnt rust!

-the newer the model, the more common it is for them to have neon paint markings on their puppet, which was really just for aesthetics

-pebbles has the simplest cloak because his ancients kinda stopped caring at that point lmao. the strand of pearls around his waist was a gift from one of his maintenance workers who pitied him. he stores his most valuable info/memories on those pearls

[grumfield]

There’s a lot more to be said about this but when I was getting my master’s in media studies I focused a lot on children’s media and shit man, the state of older children’s/middle grade media is so abysmal right now it’s not even funny. There’s a lot of blame going to the Usual Suspects for why kids ages 9-12 don’t read as much but little actual attention as to how tonally transitional stories are a dying breed for the current generation of children so cut off interest in reading. The culture is essentially creating the media equivalent of not letting your kids outside to play because you’re afraid of strangers and getting mad when the kid spends all their time online.

Kids ���read up” by about 3 years, meaning that a 9 year old generally wants to read books about 12 year olds, and so on and so forth. It relates to aspirational maturity and personal freedom—a lot of books with 12 year old protagonists follow characters being independent, which a 9 year old is just starting to feel they want, and are interested in exploring the dangers and themes associated with that. Percy Jackson deals with the dangers of being on the road alone, Warrior Cats is all about interpersonal politics and violence that’s easily digestible because it’s wrapped in a nice talking-animal bow.

Basically right now, if we just went off the current releases, kids are expected to go from watching Toy Story to watching adult movies with very little in-between to ease them into either, leaving this gap for when parents think a PG-13 movie is too adult while the kids feel that Toy Story is too babyish…so kids stop interacting with the narrative media and find things where they feel they’re “reading up”, which is usually found in social media spaces. No one wants to be condescended to, and the state of contemporary media has the potential to feel that way.

Media powerhouses aren’t making Secret of Nimh or Watership Down anymore, and the MG fiction scene is generally focused on family narratives skewed towards younger audiences. The film and publishing industry both do suffer from adults demanding that the stories they grew up with as kids follow them into adulthood, just exacerbating this cavernous gap. Lots of YA books feature college age protagonists now because many YA readers are adults who want “more from YA” but don’t want to read adult books because they’re afraid they’ll be boring, and as a result the subcategory has been skewing up in age. If people demand that Star Wars “get serious about the realities of war”, for the adults who grew up with the franchise, the kids are left behind behind because the subject matter gets out of their scope.

I think this has something to do with the sanitization of fiction and general cultural preoccupation with “protecting kids” from dark themes. Anyways. There’s more to be said about this I can’t articulate but people really are surprised pikachu face about kids not reading when there’s nothing they want to read.

Kids playing with Barbie dolls are often not paying Barbie goes to the mall.

[dravikso]

Iterator puppet design trends headcanons

[Image ID: A drawing with Looks to the Moon standing on the left and Five Pebbles on the right; LTTM is labelled as an early generation iterator and Five Pebbles as a late generation iterator. Neither are wearing clothes. The text to the left of LTTM describing early generation iterators reads: "More realistically proportioned, but still doll-like. Tend to be taller. Often have static (or limited motion), single antennae pairs. Feet privileges." The text to the right of FP describing late generation iterators reads: "Exaggarated, unrealistic proportions, usually with proportionally longer lower arms and legs when compared to their upper counterparts. Tend to be shorter; about the height of an adult slugcat (not including antennae). Often have articulated, double antennae pairs. Tend to have exposed mechanical parts, particularly at the neck. Feet privileges: revoked." End Description.]

I finally got around to finishing that headcanon sketch of what I imagine the differences between Early and Late gen iterators are.

This is obviously not a set rule for every iterator even within the headcanon, there's a lot of variability intra-generationally and it just happens to be more noticeable inter-generationally given the sheer amount of gradual change over a long time involved. A bit like fashion, a lot of iterator puppets were built in line with the stylistic trends at the time but didn't always stick to them.

I like to imagine that mid-generation iterators in particular tended to have a huge amount of variability; late gen iterators I feel came at the point where there was growing disillusionment with the whole iterator concept and tend to be more uniform in design, and early gen iterators came a bit too early for pushing the envelope on designs.

Anyways I'll probably clean these up and whack some clothing on them and put them into my general canon iterator design work at some point, especially now that I have a better grip on how I want to draw iterators from different generations. Speaking of, Is there in game dialogue suggesting around when SRS, NSH, and GW are from? Because I don't. Remember.

[quirkwizard]

What do you think Class 1-A's action figures would look like in universe?

Non-quirk related question haha. What do you think class 1A's barbie-ken taglines would be? Not sure how to frame the question but for example for Tokoyami it could be, "This Ken is gothic" or for Ochako it could be, "This Barbie is on cloud nine" (due to her quirk)

I mean, I'm not sure if there is much to say on that. I feel like any taglines for actions figures would just be pretty generic, but I can talk about action figures.

Sato: Comes with a series of small snacks that you can feed him to cause him to bulk up and you pop open the stomach to get them back.

Koda: Just a simple figurine of him with a bunch of small animal models that you can play with as well. Comes with a button to play animal sounds.

Mineta: Orbs on the head are removable and the toy comes with arms that catapult the orbs forward. Possibly with a pointless target pad that no kid will use.

Sero: His tape dispensers can be pulled out like a rip cord, letting the action figure pull itself to whatever you put the doll on. Filling them with regular tape did not work well with test audiences.

Aoyama: Armor is made of a super reflective material that shimmers and has a flashlight in the belt to replicate his beam. Also comes with a lot of costume variants and accessories at Aoyama's instance.

Hakagure: Like Aoyama, her toy is very reflective, almost like a giant prism that gives off colorful lights when put up to any light. A stocking issue made it a hard to find collector's item for a time.

Ojiro: The tail can be curled up and then released, causing the action figure to fling forward. This curling can be used to make it hang on stuff as well. His tail also comes with "kung fu action grip", because of course it does.

Denki: Comes with a bunch of flashing lights and sounds for his electrical attacks. Has a swithcable head for his regular face and his low power face, much to Denki's chagrin. Batteries are not included for some reason.

Jiro: Definitely has some music aspect for it's main gimmick, like being able to use her jacks to plug your MP3 player into it to play music on it or having recordings of her songs on it when you press a button on it.

Kirsihima: Either has a bunch of plates on it that you can put on him to harden him up or you push a button to pop them out of the toy. Had issues in production because of how dangerous the hair spike was for kids.

Mina: Has an action figure with a lot articulation. It's main feature is a goo that comes with it that kids are suppose to put in and fire out of the toy. They fill it up by removing head and pouring the goo in, much to Mina's horror.

Shoji: The main feature would obviously be his arms. They'd either work like super stretchy arms or have a much of attachments that a kid could connect and stack on top of each other to add on whatever organs they want.

Iida: This figure with a set up buttons that can kick the legs forward, able to demolish any stack of cups that you happen to set up. He happens to be bundled a lot with overly complex, Ingeium themed cars, much to Iida's confusion.

Tsuyu: Has a lot of suckers on the hands and feet so you can stick it to surfaces. The tongue can be shoot out as well to grab onto stuff, kind of like those sticky hand toys. Yes, it is water proof and a popular bath toy for young children.

Tokoyami: Probabley has a standard figure with Dark Shadow with larger versions of it being sold separately. The parts of Dark Shadow can be removed and put onto Tokoyami for his armored form. It has a glow in the dark feature, without a doubt.

Shoto: Comes with fire and ice attachment to simulate shooting it out of his hands and feet. The scar was on the wrong side of a better part of it's run and it's occasionally bundled with Endeavor toys to help increase Enji's poor sales.

Momo: Her costume had to be changed on the figurine in order to be sold in stores. She comes with a massive amount of accessories to have her wield, along with little facts and tidbits about them. Momo demanded that her toy had some educational merits.

Katsuki: Probably has some spring power launcher in his arms that you can use to fire out plastic darts. Definitely has something that screams out catchphrases like "Die!" and "I'll kill you!" that would have to be rewrite and recorded several times to get them published.

Uraraka: Has a button that makes her hands glow like she does when she uses her powers along with has wench systems like Sero for her grapple hooks. Probably has a weird spin off line based around it, like Uraravity's Space Adventures featuring the Alien Queen Pinky.

Izuku: The most popular and with the most variations, though the standard ones glows with a button press, has spring shoots for the boots, and an spring in the hand to fire plastic air blasts. Sometimes comes out with special versions that come with other Quirks he had.

[dolljunk]

I honestly have grown to feel indifferent to Barbie lately because of so many issues I personally have with the brand. Between the aesthetics being stuck in the mid 2010s, not a lot of options that fall between ultra juvenile or collector fare that isn't my taste, quality issues, or distribution in general, stewing in the negativity can weigh pretty heavily. I'm not the kind of audience Barbie is aimed at and there's only so many times you can say something isn't your taste when the range of dolls is so varied and wonderful outside of a singular brand. My heart will always have a place for Barbie, but even the flames of passion for disliking her has cooled to a relative indifference.

So I was honestly surprised when I saw the Dreamtopia mermaids in person, that sport the Odile sculpt, how much I really liked them. Not only due to the head sculpt, but it really feels like the first time in a long while where a mermaid doll can just be a mermaid. I always hated mermaid dolls that don't have organic looking fish tails, or have sculpted on details that break the concept of a mermaid, like sculpted on candy or stars.

 I also found it super appealing the mermaid body is posed in a neutral position, rather than having a tail jut to the side and being warped, as I find those kind of dolls to look really bad outside of the box.

And even though I am not a fan of sculpted clothing, I really love that this leans into the medium with all of the detail and greebly stuff isolated to just the top. I also love the fact that it isn't a weird abstracted top that's just covered randomly in crap, it's rooted in fashionable inspiration. This collection of Dreamtopia mermaids really reminds me of the 2021 Versace fashion collection, which is a really recent fashion collection for Barbie to reference since I feel like the hard limit for her inspirations stops around 2018 at best. I love the use of oceanic pieces that make her feel like a mermaid rather than some shopping cart filler.

And I am usually not a fan of UV printed faces, but I feel like the choices made actually make use of the medium rather than actively fighting against it, like the soft gradient lips that reference Asian beauty trends, the blush having a shine to it makes it feel much more intentional than other executions of UV print.

I also do appreciate how dark this Asian doll's eyes are since Mattel leans to unnaturally pale brown eyes for a lot of their dolls. For all the fantasy, I think this doll feels so rooted in reality and modern culture.

The only thing I ended up doing is slicing off the lower arms and drilling in holes to plug in arms from a jointed Barbie as I wanted some articulation.

I genuinely am surprised how a budget doll like this can remind me why I love Barbie so much.

[heartshapedcreaturefromcriptoon]

Jesus fucking Christ I fucking hate "The Doll Community" especially Monster High and g3 monster high, I really do...

I was just watching a video of this big name doll youtuber reporting on doll news, as they do, and they were covering the new Beetlejuice Skullector Two Pack, but what got me is they how said some pretty Anti leaning shit that was just unnecessary?

Like they literally said: "Obviously NO ONE ships Beetlejuice and Lydia so NO ONE would promote this as a romantic thing.. But if it's a wedding set that's set to release Valentines day then la de dah blah blah!"

And like? I honestly didn't know if this person was just saying this to just like, cover their own ass so THEY didn't get harassed by other tenderqueers because they were young, or if *they* genuinely believed what they were saying? Because from what I've watched from their channel, they're young and don't seem to know or care a lot about horror as genre in general? Like I don't mean to gate keep, but they're one one those obnoxious Monster High fans I made of fun of in my one post where it's like, "knows nothing about horror, just learned who Elvira is, only got into mh as a kid as the 'alternative' to their conservative ass parents who already believe pokemon is The Devil letting them experience Actual Horror and just never stopped consuming the dolls and Skullectors regardless if they're even familiar with the source material" kinda people? And yeah, that gets really annoying?

But I obviously didn't want this to be my cutting off point for watching their channel because ... Doll news?

So, I just wrote up the most, civil. neutral comment I could possibly articulate explaining how the Beetlejuice fandom's been practically built off of nothing but shipping for 36 years and how people can think whatever they want but Winona Ryder does ship it and it was quite frankly unprofessional of them to alienate Beetlebabes who might want to grab the two pack by implying there's a right way and a wrong way of interpreting the movie and the relationship between these iconic characters and they should respect the older fanbase and all the history that came before the musical?

And I was about to post it, but then I got nervous when I remembered, that I once purchased a doll from this person, which meant that they had my address at one point, which meant if they didn't like what I was saying, they could like, maybe dig it up and dox me? Or at least threaten to and I'd have cause to panic over it being like, legit or not? And I tried to brush it from my mind like nuh nuh they're cool they're cool... They're not on *that* level of Anti...

So then I just tried to check and refresh the comments to see any more overt ship bashing was taking place and of course, I just immediately find this:

So then I do this little blackout thingy for the usernames so that none of this can get back to youtube, and I go to screencap my comment so I can at least post it here in a vent, but I lost my comment trying to get the screen cap thingy to work and accidently clicking the youtube refresh button... 😔

... I just...I hate having such a lil' ghost face moment right now, but just like... I hate you legit fake horror fan Monster High collectors who can't appreciate horror having romantic subtext when that's the entire point yet you keep hoarding all the dolls anyway, I hate you little faggity boys with broccoli haircuts and split dyes who pressure girls into sending you nudes and the retired Mommy Vloggers who enable you, I find you extremely annoying XCanadensis, I hate you for your extremely annoying editing and intros zombiexcorn, I like you Lookin' Bratz but I hate your bratzline podcast cohost for fully admitting to doing a binge watch of all the Harry Potter movies in the franchise for "the first time ever" in fuckin' 2024 with absolutely no disclaimers or acknowledgment of the elephant in the room there and thinking that was a good idea to disclose something as quite frankly as disgusting as that and ruining what could've been a nice gothic doll chat for me and putting sour taste in my mouth about listening to the rest of your podcast...

And I especially hate that one dude with the ugly live action beauty and the beast dolls with the pink hair and the bowl cut and the glasses who for some reason keeps insisting every time she's brought up that Ghoulia Yelps can't be disabled/autistic because she's supposed to have some type of racial coding...

They're HEADCANONS!

They're PIECES OF PLASTIC!

GROW UP! 💀

(I love you weirdo OOAK Doll Artists, you're the only Real Ones left! ❤🫶)

[caliburn-not-calculator]

Hey! Just wanted to say I think your art looks amazing and the way you write is really compelling, I love the fanfics!

And, if you don't mind, could you give a few tips on how you draw vr-la and the other mechanites? I was trying to draw them myself, but robots aren't my forte

!! Thank you, I’m glad you enjoy them :D

Hmm, as for advice… My first attempts at drawing VR-LA and other robots were… rough, but a lot of that also just came down to my skill level at the time. The biggest thing that helped me was just practicing, but beyond that, a good way to get a handle on drawing robots is use ball jointed dolls or other similarly articulated forms for reference. It helps you get an understanding on where there should be joints and how those joints should work. From that you can create the segments of plates and points where the articulation would be open.

For example, I use exposed ball joints for most of the articulation points on the limbs, but for areas like the wait and neck I create segments of overlapping plates unlike the shiny stiff outer layer to show a wider range of movement, and a more openly mechanical section.

Also, don’t be afraid to discard regular anatomy. You’re working with a mechanical being, you can get weird with it! You can mess with proportions, and be unrealistic. In fact I’d recommend experimenting in such ways. As for rwd mechanites, if the canon design of them isn’t working for you or your art style, just… well, change it! Experiment, find different forms and shapes that better work for how you draw.

The hardest thing I find is probably faces, with all the different sections and shapes and how geometric they are. This is where the other big thing comes in. Practice with 3D objects. Learning how to orient 3D shapes and portray perspective really helps the very blocky structure of a mechanical being (also just for construction in general, all around a good way to improve you’re art).

I hope that helps! I’m not the greatest with putting my processes into words and followable actions but that’s the best I could think of <3

[magpiemagica]

-Guide to Rainbow High G1.5-

Differences Between G1 and G1.5 dolls:

- There seems to be less of a focus on designer fashion. In leaks, multiple accessories are recolored and reused from other dolls. Not unheard of for fashion dolls but something Rainbow High is not known for doing.

- As far as we know (right now December 2023), Poppy Rowan seems to be cut from the main lineup. This kinda stung. I’m not a big Rainbow High fan (more of a ironic enjoyer) but Poppy was my favorite while watching the webseries. She was the only neurodivergent character (synesthesia) and was overall very cute 🦋💔

- All the main dolls being released in this new gen have forehead glitter. I think it is supposed to make them look more cohesive next to their new pets. I can see this giving ooak customizers some trouble. Along with the forehead glitter, the dolls also have tinsel in their hair (another inconvenience for many collectors and ooaks)

- The elephant in the room, the unicorn/hybrid pets. Based off of the latest webisode and YouTube shorts, these little shits (/j) seem to be a big part of the new series and are going to bring some fantasy elements to the brand (portals, magic eggs, etc.) Whether you find these creatures cute or not is really up to your personal taste and patience lol.

- The slime. The first line of new toys really focuses on slime play and creation. As someone who worked with kids a lot at the peak of the slime trend, I could easily see this going south for sales. Slime is messy, gets in the doll’s hair, is hard to clean up, and very frustrating for parents to deal with. Also collectors of what I’ve seen have little to no interest in the slime too. It could be a hit but I see it affecting the brand more negatively than positively.

- Change of setting. As of the day of posting this, Rainbow high has posted an YouTube short of Sunny jumping through a rainbow portal. Sounds like we might be leaving Rainbow High as a setting. I honestly have no clue where the new series will take place; I’m not too familiar with the “Poopsie Surprise universe”.

- Main character design changes. Amaya (based off of the leaks) has changed the most in fashion and appearance. She now has reverted back to her white and rainbow hair (emphasis on the rainbow). Her clothing is also much more in your face with the rainbow theming. If you are a fan of Amaya in Moschino, don’t worry, she still has a brand inspired bag.

- New webseries. On leaked dolls, there is a sticker “as seen on Rainbow World”. I guess Rainbow World is the name of the new series that will be dropped. It is unsure whether Netflix will pick it up this series like they did with Rainbow High. The webisodes will most likely be posted on the YouTube channel.

- No wrist articulation. Is exactly what it sounds like. The new dolls will not have wrist articulation like the Rainbow Junior High.

——————-——————-——————-——————-

Personal Questions and Concerns For the Series:

- What happens to Shadow High? Will any of characters we know come through the portal with the Rainbow High students? Or will they just disappear from the series as a whole?

- Will members of the main cast missing from the leaked line up be included in this new series like Poppy or Bella?

- How much will the doll prices differ?

- What new characters will be introduced in this portal world?

- What will the plot be and how will the show runners keep the world engaging?

- I am concerned about the characterization of the main cast. Rainbow High was relatively grounded before and now with all of these magic elements getting introduced, I’m worried some of the characters might all blend together in order to focus on the pets. Also just general character butchering.

——————-——————-——————-——————-

Overall, I just wanted to make this post as a general summary of what is going on with Rainbow High right now as a doll brand. There is a lot of different information and I wanted to throw it all in one place for people who aren’t super up to date on this kinda stuff. This is a kind of doll rebranding you don’t really see everyday and I want to document it.

Posted December 12, 2023

[the-martyrfication-of-the-matron]

ahem ahem Nana lore? :3 (or Dante idrc any lore from you is cool)

nana lore :3

'of course, below the cut, because i don't like taking up too much space.

tw, forced labour

Nana is, of course, canonically an immigrant from Tu'La, which has a lot of political tension with Ru'Aun. She's made pretty good for herself, however, using the magicks that originally inspired her to flee in order to make a living.

in early LR, Tu'La is in a bit of a civl dispute, with the new King trying to impose a kind of rule, and religion, upon the region that the people are often opposed to. There's the monarchists, and the rebels. Most monarchists, of course, are in the good graces of the Tu'Lan king, and thus live in the lusher areas, the rainforests and the planes, by rivers and lakes. They have access to good, fertile land. But the rebels are often exhiled into the deserts, where the sun, dehydration or starvation would kill them.

Nana's family was never particularly well-off, but since she had a lot of siblings, they all worked hard in order to earn enough to keep afloat. As one of the middle children, Nana didn't often get much attention, too young to work and too old to coddle, and so she took the company of dolls instead. At a teen age, she realised her ability to manifest a form of animation in forms built to resemble living things, which got her attention from her parents, and meant her family would only need to pay the money for materials in order to have workers in their shop, and they wouldn't have to pay actual workers. Still, it only saved so much money. Nana began working at a local tavern as a waitress in order to get more money, and would cook for her younger siblings often as she tended to have the most free time of the older kids.

When the king's missionaries came to her village, which was up in the mountains, they came with the news that all magicks users were invited to the capital with the promise of a hefty compensation for their families. Of course, being the only magicks user of her siblings, nana agreed to go. She left without really knowing what was going to happen to her family, and she never really finds out if they did get the money promised, but she went down to the capital just in case it might be true. It was there that she learned that magicks users were being put to labour, forced into performing 'miracles' that were attributed to the king, or the religion he was imposing, and generally performing tasks that wouldn't be otherwise possible.

of course, the ability to animate life is one that was heavily desirable, as it could create a near-immortal army. However, Nana was not very fond of the idea of being used to force a religion onto people, much less at the idea of her dolls being used to harm anyone, and so she ended up befriending a rebel who managed to smuggle her out of the capital. She ended up travelling into the desert, where she had to adapt to an entirely different style of living, but she managed to make food from the few resources that they had, which earned her some appreciation among her fellow escapees.

Eventually, she wound up along the Bridge, the piece of land that Tu'La and Ru'Aun were initially fighting over, which lead to the later war, where she was taken over to Ru'Aun. Her and the other refugees all travelled in a caravan for a while, until they decided to split ways. The refugees wanted to stay in Scaleswind, and Nana wanted to continue onto O'Khasis, and it's about then that Nana encounters Avra, when she's set up her wagon just some ways outside of Scaleswind.

No maid cafe, but she eventually does run the tavern in PD. Also, no rivalry with Lucinda, bc i just don't know when they'd have had the time to meet up, with Luci in Pikoro (in the east), and Nana around Scaleswind (in the south).

but alas.

Her magicks apply to anything that resembles a living form, and has articulated joints. If it cannot move, she cannot make it move. It also takes a lot of energy out of her, and if anything happens to the dolls, she can feel it. (not in the same way she might if it happened to her, but it's like a discomfort, and she's able to distinguish what happened based off of how uncomfortable she is.)

[hsslilly-blog]

been thinking about my bratz doll post. im going to start sharing my doll customising journey here so i get motivated enough to get back into it lol. the last time i posted about it was back in february i think? anyway

my plan is to make three custom dolls. claire (hwu mc), blair (hss mc) and addison (hwu). i also hope to make a bianca custom doll as i’ve found the perfect base doll for her, but she wasn’t in my original plans.

here’s my progress so far. all the pictures are going to be terrible btw:

blair stewart

outfit: their outfit is pretty much complete. the only thing missing is their sweater and their hairband. and i really really want to find/make a tie for them. i dislike the fact the skirt is a VERY grayish dark blue (in the picture it looks straight up gray) and i’ve thought about dyeing it blue but i’m afraid to ruin it and end up with nothing. so i’m keeping it as is for the time being. the boots are a perfect match. i plan on painting the gray details on the purse and making it completely white. but it’s very cute, it looks a lot like the one from this post.

the doll: this is a 2015 fashionista barbie doll that was WAY overpriced when i got her. i really like her hair colour though… it’s not exactly copper, it’s a very nice shade of pinkish orange. the picture does it no justice, but it looks a lot like the shade of orange i used to use for blair’s hair in my early 2021 drawings of them. the only issue with this doll: she has flat feet. which sucks. but she’s plastic so we just need to throw her in boiling water and mold it to my liking. medieval torture style.

my plan: i plan on repainting her face. i like this screening, but it looks… weird. im going to give her blair’s heterochromia + their scar and i plan on giving her less eyebrows. blair doesn’t have much of those. as for the hair, it still has some remains of box glue so i need to get rid of that before anything else. i plan on cutting it shoulder length and flipping the ends. i don’t know how i’m doing blair’s hairstyle though (the hair part/bangs) because this doll’s rooting is really weird. but we’ll see.

what do we think. hairstyle ofc not 100% blair compliant but gives me a general idea of what to do. there’s a really cool way of doing the bump/beehive-like/teased crown i sometimes draw them in, so i might try it if the doll has enough hair. also i realized just now how the eyes in this sculpt are very far apart. lol. i think it fits blair.

addison sinclair

outfit: and nothing for her!! i have her jacket and her boots (which have not been painted yet) and that’s it. addison has been the reason of my restless nights. i just can’t find a cropped top that looks like hers!!!! i didn’t think it would be so hard to find a blue/grayish/jeans-like cropped top but my god!! and the worst part of it all: i found a dress online that is a perfect match to hers but it’s been OUT OF STOCK since february!! here it is:

it’s not a Perfect Match, but i can work around it. it’s more than close enough to me. i’ve been checking the website every week but they haven’t restocked it yet and i fear they aren’t going to do so anytime soon. atp i think i’ll just sew it myself. i just need to find a similiar fabric to her dress. as for the socks… i have some white doll socks and i’m going to dye them purple. no bracelets yet.

the doll: i cannot for the life of me tell you which doll this is. she looks like a ~2012 barbie doll but i can’t figure out which one. and i don’t think these are the original clothes. the ad said she’s a fashionista but i don’t believe this. she does have articulated legs, but she doesn’t Look Like a fashionista. i think she’s from the early i can be line before they started using rubber legs. anyway. i fell in love with her hair. it’s perfect for addi.

my plan: i plan on repainting her eyes. here’s the thing guys. i’m a brown eyed addison truther. sorry that’s just who i am. i also want to close her mouth LOL. give her addison’s red lipstick and thin the eyebrows. as for the hair i think it’s perfect as is. i’m probably just going to style it better.

i plan on closing her mouth w/ apoxie paste or like. makeup clay (is that what it’s called?). her lips are going to be smaller too but i got lazy with the drawing.

claire swanson

outfit: isn’t she pretty!!!! i’m still having issues with her casual outfit but her formal outfit/the red dress i always draw her in is done. besides the shoes. i don’t like these open toed heels with this dress. for her Signature Look i have this cute red top which is a great match but i can’t find any shorts that match hers/the top. so far i have a miniskirt and these.. jean shorts. not my favourite. i have to paint the heels white but i found these gold hoops!!! w for me. no bracelets yet.

the doll: this is a 2011 glitz barbie doll and she’s been my holy grail for years now. the blue variant is so so so pretty. i never thought i’d find her since 1. it’s an old barbie doll and 2. i live in brazil. and then…. i found a listing online IN BOX!!! i got the purple variant but the screening is basically the same. i think her makeup is stronger though? but maybe it’s just a stock image thing. anyway i’m obsessed with the hair colour. this was such a great period for barbie if you were into almost-white-platinum-blonde hair. barbie bleach era.

my plan: i didn’t want to touch this doll but she is missing… claire-ness. i plan on repainting the eyes, giving her claire’s beauty mark and her red lipstick. the hair is perfect and honestly. such great box hair. like 13 year old box hair.

it’s not visible on the first picture and i edited out here, but she two black spots in her nose. otherwise she’s fine.

alright. my main issue at the moment is that i can’t seem to find any 100% acetone nail polish remover so i can get started on the repaints. they don’t sell these here anymore. so i’ve been looking for SOMETHING that can clean off the screening of the dolls. so far, no luck. which is why i got demotivated back in february. also something i probably should have mentioned: i have terrible motor skills so repainting these dolls is going to be so much fun!

setting some goals for the time being: 1. paint the accessories that need to be painted and 2. style blair’s hair. okay! that’s it!

[honeytonedhottie]

hyper girliness⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🎀

this post is just my take on what girliness is to me and how i incorporate it into my life bcuz its a lifestyle for me. being super feminine and feeling happy and beautiful in that way is how i choose to live and this post is just talking about how i go about that. ofc with anything that u consume. take what resonates with you and leave the rest but i hope you'll enjoy.

GIRLY MINDSET ;

i think of very highly of myself, like a princess. i did lots of self concept work to get my self concept to where it is now and i can confidently say that my self concept is just as flawless as i am. because i think so highly of myself, i treat myself accordingly. something that i reinforce in my thoughts is to treat myself like my favorite doll.

what does it mean to treat yourself like your favorite doll? PAMPER yourself, treat urself sweetly and preciously and your body and mind and soul will thank you tenfold. every investment that u put into urself whether its mental or physical will give you the highest ROI then anything else can because its YOU.

IN TOUCH WITH GIRLINESS ;

im rly in touch with my girliness when im practicing self care or doing something creative (like girlblogging for example) to me, femininity is expression and creativity and energy and beauty so anything that resonates with those four words is enriching my own girliness.

pampering and self care time every single day is a MUST

dancing or stretching

most tension for girls at least, is stored in ur hips, so whenever ur doing stretches or when u dance, i like to focus on my hips movements so that then i can release tension and let energy flow. doing so helps me to feel super in touch with my girliness and my femininity in general, so things like belly dancing and yoga.

PAMPERING ;

manis/pedis WEEKLY or every two weeks, u dont have to get them professionally done if u dont want to, but mainly focus on being well kept and well groomed and moisturized.

making sure my hair looks pretty and to my liking

being EXTRA during shower time ; using high quality and sweet smelling products, using body oils and body butters and lotions. taking bubble baths and using fancy bath milks and bubble bath.

GIRLY INCORPORATION ;

you can glamorize even the simplest of tasks by being super girly. here are some examples of incorporating girliness into mundane tasks. girliness is lots of ROMANTICIZATION

studying -> using cute stationary (mine are predominantly pink) decorated notes, cute study playlist (i listen to subliminals) keep an adorable space to study and wear a cute outfit

GIRLY CODE ;

being sweet and gentle with everyone (including urself) is SUCH a girly move and it makes u so pleasant and doll-like. theres no need to be nasty for no reason, cuz thats not hot. so mind ur p's and q's. say thank you, articulate ur feelings and ur thoughts. also, me saying making an effort to be nice is girly code does NOT mean that if someone is coming at u some kind of way that u shouldn't stand up for urself bcuz u absolutely should, but rly emphasize grace.

GIRLY ACCESSORIES ;

bracelets

anklets

purses

head bands

mini-skirts

on an ending note the main keys to girliness from my experience is all about how u treat urself, and that'll translate to how u treat others. and this post can serve as your reminder to pamper and spoil yourself bcuz u deserve it ✨

[littleeyesofpallas]

Not to be a weirdo and go all anime tiddy detective(again...) but I've been seeing my awkwardly salvaged Gigi/Senjumaru post getting notes, and among other issues i have with how that post wound up I do feel like I didn't actually articulate my characterization of Senjumaru's design very clearly.

Kubo's got certain sensibilities about his character design. Usually i get fixated on his love of dramatic "crazy face" and the fandom at large fixates on that one big breasted body type he knows the fans love, but he also has a pretty robust cast of modestly proportioned girls. That being said, he walks a line on that, and is very deliberate in making sure to always remind everyone that his small breasted characters do still have a noticeable chest. It's a little weird but it's pretty specific because you'd think it would be easy enough to let their silhouette flatten out for the sake of simplicity, or speed, or just because sometimes a camera angle won't naturally emphasize the bust, yet time and again he stays consistent on it in a way that predicates intent.

Also worth noting in the context of things here, Isane sort of implicitly binds on account of otherwise conflicting omake details vs her strict canon appearances. Unohana implicitly binds due to her traditional style of dress that fundamentally includes flattening out the chest silhouette. AND YET in the face of those facts they're still drawn to show distinct curvature to the chest line. Rukia, Hinamori, and Shino are all generally infantilized as a part of their design aesthetic, Rukia passing as a 15yo, Hinamori being demure and doll-like(ala her name), and Shino being part of an expressly younger generation than the heroes when she's introduced. They're still drawn with noticeable breasts: moreover there is every opportunity to just entirely lose their silhouettes to the featureless blackness of the shinigami uniform, and Kubo goes back in with the white ink anyway. SuiFeng and Hiyori actually both nearly dodge this by wearing clothes that do actually obscure their body shape, but then Kubo seemingly compensates for that modesty by giving Sui Feng her sideboob outfit when she throws off her haori(and its apparent attached sleeves?), and giving Hiyori almost out of place cleavage(well, that and almost constant midriff shots)

Point again being that these are characters with distinctly small breasts, for whom one should imagine no one would be up in arms about being drawn without some subtle bumps in theri chest line, and yet Kubo still does not miss the detail...

So with that intentionality in mind, the fact that he then went out of his way to... I don't want to call it "cleverly"... but eh... """cleverly""" avoid drawing attention to Giselle's chest by putting her in an oversized top, and even changing its design around the sleeves, and subsequently part of her silhouette(she was slightly curvier, and her outfit was less fluffy in her early appearances?), as her "reveal" chapter got closer, becomes a noticeably meaningful choice. In particular in proximity to the "reveal."

And you know who else he seemed to have taken similar care in how he drew? Shutara Senjumaru. And granted, as i prefaced this whole post with facetiousness, not as insulation but as disclaimer, this is a ridiculous angle of approach. it's a ridiculous premise. the evidence and logic underpinning every step of it is dumb, but in spite of any of that, Shurata's silhouette jumped out and grabbed me from her very first appearance. The line from her neck/shoulder down to her waist is unlike how he's drawn any other flat chested/small breasted shinigami. And that comes in conjunction with the rest of her aesthetic:

She is dressed like something between a Geisha: high class personal entertainer, a Tayu or Oiran: a high class prostitute, or a Kabuki actor who could likely be playing a character styled after or explicitly in the role of either.

Obviously her most striking feature is the bizarre headdress, which appears to be made of kanzashi[簪]: a rather broad category of hair accessories typical of geisha and oiran.

She appears to be wearing two exaugurated pins to create the shape of a crescent moon with what look like they would be the sort of hanging elements of a bira-bira kanzashi; meaning that each of those vertical bars hanging from the underside of the moon would be free to swing back and forth from a connecting link or chain(s).

The radiating golden bars from the top I assume would be a kind of hanagushi hair comb, again with obvious exaguration given its size.

And the under hanging radiance being something like miokuri.

It also gives off super distinct vibes of an art movement that I hate that I cannot for the life of pinpoint right now... I want to say it was Spanish colonial(???) that used to specifically carve halos in this style, not as a round solid disc, but as a series of geometric rays... I hate to say that the thing I always think of is how Death Note borrowed it for its pseudo religious imagery. (although I guess the French did it too a bit during the reign of King Louis the XIV, but i always associate it with the mexican art of catholic saints, but I'm not even sure if I'm thinking of the right thing.)

In any case those are motifs or themes that we never get to see explored. boo...

Shutara is however kind of unexpectedly underdressed for a super powered clothier. Her one exterior cloak thing is as bas I can tell not anything real, even ignoring its defiance of gravity. If she were an oiran you would expect more layers, and the distinctive thing i don't know the name for that they hold in front of them and conceals their hands... She does however have the unmistakable oiran raised shoes.

And finally her makeup is a little vague but with relative consistency she's been depicted as extremely pale, which strongly suggests white makeup, typical of unfortunately all three aesthetic culprits, thus not actually narrowing the reference down at all.

Taken then with her theme of clothes and costuming in proximity of theater, the power of clothes/costume and thus presentation and roleplay, Kubo's super distasteful conflation of Giselle's transgender identity as some kind of "disguise" or "deception," kabuki using onnagata --male actors specifically trained in female role performance and upheld and even coveted at times throughout history as an apex of femininity, even above and beyond that of ciswomen-- the fact that Senjumaru is just straight up a masculine name, etc...

Like i said in the other post about all this, which i'm reluctant to even link back to, without any further elaboration it's impossible to say what this actually means for shutara as a character, and any inworld logic that applies. I don't think she is supposed to be a literal actress, like she has some personal history of professional theater training and performance.

That feels like it should be obvious. But understand that while all of this was a pain in the ass to try and lay out explicitly, it's something that, knowing all these disparate factoids already, I didn't actually have to think about at all when I first saw Shutara. I just clocked her as a queer woman immediately. It felt super obvious.

But now for my due diligence.(i actually totally thought there woudl be more of it at first...) Because as confident as I am in my theory, even I can recognize that it is not without holes. For one, entirely outside this pattern is Liltotto, who is actually very consistently drawn without the otherwise ubiquitous indication of AFAB breasts I point out otherwise. And she is certainly given no particular trans coding the way I associate with Gigi and Shutara.

i was going somewhere with this and i forgot... i think i though there dbe a bigger string of tangents to go off and when there werent my brain just kinda fizzled out without drawing a conclusion...

[thermometerjuice]

Unnecessary barbie collector rant

I would like to preface this with I know that this is messy and long and slightly unhinged but I am bored and feel like complaining. I would also like to say that I know everyone is free to do what they want with their own possessions and I know this comes off as mean but I don't care this is me being irrational and upset because I can be.

For many Barbie collectors, the made-to-move body is the most incredible thing in the world. So much so, that every doll in their collections must be systematically decapitated and given a new head. This is, in my opinion, one of the most annoying and pervasive issues in the collector community. Many people claim "It's for Photography" or "I just like to pose my dolls". Literally, shut the fuck up I hate that so much. I can understand re-bodying a damaged doll or only doing it to a couple dolls, but not every single doll needs to be able to touch its face. Like most of you, bitches are super shitty at photography anyways and I know for a fact there are only so many poses that you can make the doll do. Is it just me? Like I get it they're mass produced play things and it's not that serious but like also it is.

Do you remember tree change dolls and how everyone was pissed at that lady? That's the same way I feel about the people who make every doll made to move. Like first off, the made-to-move bodies that exist are all modern body sculpts so it is so weird when people re-body vintage and older dolls because like the clothes made for that body won't fit properly or at all anymore. Like I'm not even a die-hard preservationist when it comes to restyling and playing with dolls, in fact, I'm usually all for it but the head-swapping is just so ridiculous. Like the current fashion selections for modern body sculpts are objectively the worst in all of Barbie's history and the vintage fashions that do fit look terrible on the modern body. (Not to say that dolls have to be limited to whatever era they originated in but like generally, stylistically they tend to look a little better? like a '60s doll can look pretty goofy in a '90s outfit and vice versa but whatever i digress) (I also am not a big fan of what is now considered the "original" proportioned body in general and much prefer the bellybutton body. (Not that I don't like the other new body types, I do It's just that the current iteration of the standard body type is not my favorite since it does not lend itself well to backward compatibility and is generally poorly engineered.))

Furthermore, we all know the second-hand market has been becoming more and more of a nightmare for a multitude of reasons, one being that half of it is being taken up by the heads of dolls that were made to move on the unarticulated bodies that they were swapped with. This is already a hobby that encourages overconsumption, why are we also acting like turning two nice dolls into one slightly (subjectively) nicer doll and one slightly less nice (again subjective) but still perfectly fine doll that will rot in a bin for years is an acceptable thing to do. A pretty doll who realistically will spend the majority of its time with you on a shelf does not need to be fully articulated. People waste time, money, and plastic buying twice the amount of dolls they actually display/use and create one entire collection's worth of (Subjectively) bad dolls.

For the better part of the 65 years that Barbie has existed, most dolls never had anything more articulation than a twist waist, elbows, knees, hips, and shoulders, and guess what! That was good enough for everyone! Articulation does not automatically make a doll better. There are plenty of static dolls that are arguably better that way. I'd also argue that each doll's specific body adds charm to it that is stripped away when you homogenize a collection in this way. A major appeal of 80's/90's Barbie is the extreme proportion that makes her look like a cartoon character, and so many dolls of the 2000s and early 2010s have really cool gimmicks and special body molds that make them unique to collect. That is without even mentioning how many contemporary dolls lose their body diversity because there just aren't that many skin tone matches for every body type.

Thank you and shut up I hate you