Waver Velvet (Fate/Zero)

Anyone who knows me from elsewhere may know that Waver Velvet is actually my favourite anime character ever. He (and his character growth) means a good deal to me, and even though F/Z is my favourite anime I've actually only watched the whole thing once. But I had been rewatching randomly clips out of the blue the other day and it made me remember how much I love this kid and how cute he'd be as a DD. Ages back I actually did make him as a pure neemo, but I wasn't completely satisfied with the result and I really think a DD of him would be adorable if it was pulled off right.

 

To be honest, I really wish Volks would make an official one because they have the Fate license and the DDS boy body...but I know it's not likely, because they haven't even made the /Zero version of Saber yet :c (and while Waver definitely has a dedicated legion of fans, he's far from the most popular male character in the Fate franchise)

 

It'll probably be a while before I do this so I'm just spitballing and also curious how many people would also want to see a doll of him, and also to share any advice. Most likely I'd only make his head so he can share Mel's DDS Boy body, since there's no reason for them to be in the same photo.

 

Here's the guy in question, the most mature 19 year old you ever did see:

Head sculpt: I'd like to know your opinions, especially if you've seen the show. I'm considering DDH09 or Youmu at the moment but I'm sure there's a lot of options. Another Len would work pretty well too.

Eyes: I'd get them custom-made or find ones that resemble the F/Z anime style (I see ones like that from time to time)

Wig: Could be difficult because his haircut is so stupid, or it could be surprisingly simple - the main thing is the bangs would need to be able to part in the middle without showing the wig cap which not all wigs can do. If you have suggestions of a wig that would suit let me know. It's mostly the colour that troubles me. My pure neemo version of him had solid black hair and it just didnt look right because he's usually always coloured with more of a greenish dark grey than outright black. I might even have to commission that, who knows.

Faceup: Would probably commission. As for his expression, if you havent seen the show Waver is incredibly tsundere so I'd probably go with his tsun face. (as cute as his dere face would be, which makes it tempting to make him two heads like the Alter figure of him so you get the option of tsun and dere:

Outfit: Would probably commission eventually.

 

Thoughts and suggestions are all welcome.

Edited July 20, 2019 by Monty

The 09 would definitely be a good option. Another idea is the 07, which is proportioned similarly, and it's very able to give pouty, tsundere faces.

I did consider 7, and I think it could work, but I'm mostly not going for that because I think he might look a little too mature. The 9 is good for a 'not as mature as 9' head though. One of the Sabers could work, too.

I love his eye shape in that first picture, it would be fun experimenting with a faceup to get that exact look! The sculpt will have to have a lot of space between the open eye and the brow bone to get that look.

 

As for the wig, it looks like a plain blunt cut, but obviously it has to have a center part and the bangs will have to be long enough to tuck behind. Like you mentioned, that's the difficult part. I wonder if I can imitate that with a no-bangs wig I have?

 

This wig is a Monique Gold Hannah. It is a blunt cut with bangs, but it has enough body so that I can sweep the bangs over to the sides. I can even tuck the bangs under the sides, I just tried it. Sorry I can't show an updated picture right now, but my old camera died.

 

 

Can't wait to see your progress on your favorite. Have you shown pics of your PureNeemo version here?

 

Linda S.

galatia9

I agree that the 09 head would work well. Rin Tohsaka might also work, as her eye shape looks good, though her default expression is a little more smirky than pouty, and her chin looks too short.

Personally I'm going to vote for the 07 over the 09; the length of the face seems closer to Waver. You could also sand the jawline a little to make it a wee bit more angular, and it wouldn't take much. (I guess that depends on how anal you're feeling about it.)

 

Wigs, there are several options out there:

http://crobidolls.com/shop/step1.php?number=3771&b_code=B20080525084138&c_code=C20080525084214

http://crobidolls.com/shop/step1.php?number=3675&b_code=B20080525084138&c_code=C20080525084214

http://crobidolls.com/shop/step1.php?number=3670&b_code=B20080525084138&c_code=C20080525084214 (long for if you wanted more trim control/options)

http://www.tatabjd.com/en/goods.php?id=3274

http://www.tatabjd.com/en/goods.php?id=2088

http://legenddoll.net/goods-11644.html (technically dark blue instead of black)

http://legenddoll.net/goods-11111.html (another long-for-trimming)

http://legenddoll.net/goods-5528.html (yet another long-to-trim. . .or maybe you would like the option for him to be a metalhead now and again, we won't judge. =P)

It's been two years, but this project finally started going further recently! 

I finally managed to find a wig in the colour I wanted - this black-green one from Dollce.

https://dollce.stores.jp/items/5c9f014053053d1f075ea497
I would have preferred a lighter colour, but it will do. (I didnt want to use solid black)

I was able to shape the wig after cutting it by treating it with hot water a few times to get it very straight. To force the bangs apart, I clip them and did the hot water treatment, which bent the fibers so that they stay in that shape. Then it was just a matter of using a whole load of volks styling spray and wig wax on it. I was able to solve the issue of the wig cap showing by pulling part of the hair from one side down into the center - Waver actually has this piece of hair there in a lot of the recent art, so it works.
And, mostly importantly, I was able to commission doll-mage here to make his outfit and Iskandar's cloak, as he appears in his third ascension in FGO. So, here is the result:

He still needs shoes (oxford-style shoes in DD size are proving impossible to find, and unless I want him to look like hes wearing clown shoes I'm just gonna wait and hope Volks makes those eventually), as well as custom eyes, but also....in case you didn't realize, this is actually just Mel in cosplay, because I still havent 100% decided the sculpt. I am leaning towards ddh09 at the moment though, although I was actually surprised what a good Waver Mel (ie Len) makes. As fun as it is to have Waver on my desk at the moment I'm actually starting to miss Mel.
Luckily, boys getting added to Dream Choice does make this easier because I originally planned to put whatever head he would be on a SS bust f3 DDS body and then use that to upgrade Rin if boy bodies ever became standard. The problem is a Dream Choice boy is pretty pricey (as much as a fullset doll) and much more expensive than just buying a head and a body, so it will be a while before I save up enough for him, especially with all the other things I have to pay for this year (namely 9S) But on the plus size the boys in dream choice also means an increase in photos of custom DD boys in the wild, so I will get a much better idea of which other sculpts could possibly work. 

Edited July 20, 2019 by Monty

He's adorable!

@Monty I got you fam!

https://paraboxshop.jp/goods_en_jpy_1801.html

Parabox has these Vinyl loafers that might work? They come in black, too and with/without magnet for your preference! If they're not suitable I have a pair of SmD shoes coming in that could work, I'll let you know. ^^

Edited July 27, 2019 by Mothiraffe
forgot a thing

On 7/28/2019 at 2:56 AM, Mothiraffe said:

@Monty I got you fam!

https://paraboxshop.jp/goods_en_jpy_1801.html

Parabox has these Vinyl loafers that might work? They come in black, too and with/without magnet for your preference! If they're not suitable I have a pair of SmD shoes coming in that could work, I'll let you know. ^^

Unfortunately what I’m looking for aren’t loafers - loafers have never been difficult for me to find from almost any doll company. What I am looking for are brown oxford style shoes that lace up. I’ve looked all over Taobao and every doll manufacturer I can think of but have never found them in DD size - they are always made for much bigger dolls like 70cm and up. Shoes like that look ridiculous on a DD as they’re really really big ._.

At the moment I’m just waiting for Volks to do it, they release shoes a few times a year. At some point they might finally do it, or they might release a DD character with similar enough shoes that I can buy off someone who doesn’t want to keep them. 

In case anyone else is interested in those Obitsu shoes, there are two things to be aware of: first, they are very cheap-looking, worse IMO than the hard vinyl Volks pumps, second and more importantly, they will not fit DD feet, they are far too small as the Obitsu feet are a lot narrower and somewhat shorter than DD feet (as that page shows, but doesn't tell you the shoes won't fit).

As far as the fit goes, I speak from experience here.

@Monty I have a similar annoyance as you, and I'm not even trying to oufit DD guys. Volks doesn't make any "guy style" shoes in DD or regular SD sizes; they're all sized for the apparently much larger SD men sized feet. I just want something like work boots or combat boots to use, for instance, with those military outifts coming out this month, but other than the patent leather style ones that are part of one of Natsuki's outfits, they have never made anything like that.

Because even the girls' shoe styles are all really sized for SDs, I find a number of them to have that clown shoe look especially if they aren't worn with pants. I bought the SB-SD-212 black athletic shoes from a year or so ago and on bare legs they look ridiculous they are so large. The SD16 pump style shoes are the only ones really that I've been truly happy with how they look and fit.

I know the sizes are wrong, but just in terms of styles, looking at the voting page for guys' shoes:

https://www.superdollfie.net/dollfie20th/en/pj02_bs/06dress_sb03/

I think you're looking for something like SB-SD13B-052 or SB-SD16B-049?

Edited August 1, 2019 by cfx

Keep a watch on Rrabit. Here's some things that are similar but not exact.

http://rrabit.com/rrabitstore/rrabitshop/index.php/shoes/3-bls005-black.html

http://rrabit.com/rrabitstore/rrabitshop/index.php/shoes/jan-pre-iple-hid-eid-sid-size-paul-jonhson-oxford-rhl005-black.html these are great, but too big. Maybe contact them and ask them to do them in a smaller size.

http://rrabit.com/rrabitstore/rrabitshop/index.php/shoes/3-rsh001-dusty-brown.html

 

If you can find a local shoe maker, they might be interested in doing some for you. ; ) or someone who takes commissions for other types of shoes (cosplayers perhaps).

It’s been a while, but Waver is finished!

I can thank a very kind friend for giving me the chance to take home another Len, and sent his head to Subaru for both eyes and custom faceup. Anyone following Subaru’s work might have seen the blog posts about Waver here.

https://pleiadesroom.com/2020/10/24/waver/

https://pleiadesroom.com/2020/12/16/waver-final/

Now that the head is finally with me, I got to put him together at last.

I got emotional, because Waver means a lot to me, and so do DDs, I’m sure anyone can relate to that kind of feeling when it’s a doll of your fave.
Anyway, it’s tolerable for photos, but some parts of his wig I’m not satisfied with. It does need to be trimmed to be a bit more even at the bottom and the bangs like to come undone. I do have a backup on the way - Dollce unfortunately seems to have discontinued the colour and style (it was a long black kuromidori/black green originally) but I was lucky and found one new and unopened on Mercari jp. I might try some different styling techniques on the backup and see if I can make it look better, I was too scared to do too much with this one in case I messed it up because it’s a very difficult colour to replace.

The hunt for perfect shoes continues, but tbh I’m usually taking waist and up shots anyway.

I’ll post a pic of him with Mel in my photo thread sometime. Even though they’re both grumpy Lens, I’m impressed how different they do look. 

Edited January 8, 2021 by Monty