Who ordered the tuna... ?

Hermm... I seem to be getting on slightly wrong footing with my newer additions to the collection, and Luka was not really an exception..

 

 

I had mixed feelings about luka, considering the way she was sold, having paid the full amount nine months ago, which I guess was good in a way, since you didnt have to worry about that any more, but I had some other stuff going on that made the sensation not that great for me.

 

I still had the import duties to go, which added a 31% insult to injury, and while opening the box, I wasnt too impressed... to be honest I was more interested in progressing in Hollow Knight, and after four hours of that, I finally took another look at the pink box.

 

The devil's in the details, and I feel like Volks is starting to lose the plot a bit. I really dont like the way they've done the arm accessories with just pleather strips, especially since in the original Kei drawings from way back when, the control panel on on her arm and the arm things were supposed to have wood grain on them... and now their just... brown.

 

the wig isnt as pink as I would have expected, and that also needed a rework that took awhile to sort out, by chopping almost a centimeter of excess from the front of it.

 

the lacing on the boots has ended up a bit wonky for some reason, though I guess that could be sorted with effort...

 

and the skirt has my favorite gripe... the wires in the vertical seams...

 

So It didnt start off too well, but... after a bit of wrestling...

 

Hope you like...

 

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I went through the trumpet ornament with a Gundam panel marker to give a little more effect.

 

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But one thing was perfect, and its the tako-luka plush...

 

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Thanks for looking...

These pictures are absolutely stunning!! This might've inspired me to cosplay Luka again haha

I love the effect of the curtain and the wooden ‘stage’.

I’m also not really a fan of the wig, but my other main gripe is how the piping accessory and the jewel attaches. They’re always falling off. I wish they buttoned on, or were magnetic.

She looks awesome.

 

I agree about the skirt, I didn't like the wires either.

 

I don't follow vocaloids, so it's hard for me to really speak to how well she compares to the Vocaloid Luka concept. I do think that her slightly open mouth makes her face look quite sweet.

 

Unlike Miku, who looks like her cute expression masks a not very well hidden desire to take over the world, Luka looks genuinely innocent.

I mean if you ever came across World Is Mine.. I agree though, and as a long time vocaloid fan i have to say that I love her design and think it's super accurate

Thank you very many

 

@Torino.

 

The stage setup is amusing, since half way the set I realized I had made my usual mistake of having backgrounds where the model would blend into... luckily the grey-card pre-setup trick apparently saved the day so the boots and wig got some extra pop to be noticed.

 

I didnt have too much hastle with the pipe-doo-hikey, it was trying to come off, but never fully. But what I dont like is you can see the band it attaches to quite clearly, which I don't like at all.

But yes, this could have been done a lot better, since its not like volks hasnt sown pieces like this to outfits before... I mean they sowed the control panel to the sleeve for pete's sake..

 

@Wolf

 

Well, personally I always first compared the vocaloid series dolls to the original Kei illustrations from ten years ago. It was actually nice that the package art for Luka was also done by Kei, which I think is the first artwork by them of luka since the release. Then secondly to the Project Diva games since that's the other closest thing to official artwork.

 

The open mouth was debated in the luka release thread.. personally I think its done with lots of detail, the teeth for instance which you wont see unless you tilt the head back a lot. It makes for a posing challenge that you need to double check with the camera that you are getting the angle that you want.

 

In general sense in my opinion DD-Luka is very much true to form, the design concept for Miku was high tempo pop, and Rin and Len were more pop/rock oriented, and Luka was slow latino inspired beats.

 

So she's supposed to be the slightly more mature one which in the original illustration was emphasized by the wood grain and brass details, of which the doll unfortunately only has the metallic stuff left.

 

Generally I dont know did they actually consider any of the song baggage in the doll versions in terms of styling choices for the expressions... but Luka hasnt really been used for anything edgy that was popular enough to actually make into the Diva games at least, where as Miku has stuff like "Secret Police" "The happiness and Piece of mind committee" of the latter is where the Siren outfit came from, and that is really not a happy song once you get into the lyrics... Especially the original, and not the cut down Project Diva version.

 

So yes, Luka has the luxury to look a bit more innocent in that sense.. heh.

Congratulations on getting Luka! She is so fabulous in that setting you created for her! Nice photoshoot as always! 

I love that she comes with the Tako Luka plush. Hehe! 

I think that she is very beautiful! She does seem to be more of a "Display" item in my opinion. I think it would be really interesting if they released her V4 style outfit, I think the doll would look very lovely in that. In your photos the pink is a very "bright" color. I would have expected her to have more of a salmon pink shade.  

Again thank you very many.

well, I'd guess most of the big accessory releases are cabinet queen material, and I do have a few permanent setups, where I'll just borrow the head on a separate body if I want to do a photo set with a specific model.

I personally haven't really liked any of the V4X redesigns... and in Luka's case, even though its one of the better concepts in that generation -- but a wooden bra? ... really?

Over all it is a much more lighter design than the original, which isn't a bad thing, but that little detail has me a bit perplexed.

The wig ended up looking a "luscious" pink in this lighting, to describe it best. In reality its a bit of a dirty pink shade, nothing like the light-pink that you are used with Luka, But its what came with her, but there are after market solutions to that I guess if it starts to bug me too much.

Edited April 4, 2019 by finnleo

Hahaha! The "wooden bra" thing is pretty wild but I really like the fact that both her old and her new outfits have been brass & wood instrument themed. It's just a very cool concept. I personally find her a lot cuter in the photos that I've seen after her release than the original images and the stock photos.