She.... is unveiled! Tamaki photos!

Yep, it took me some time but I finally got some photos together of my unicorn/grail doll that I have been pursuing on and off for the past 6 to 7 years.  She arrived home a week or so ago and I did an intro story for her if you missed it:

 

But I didn't actually show her face. Most people who have known me a while knew who she was already but for those who don't, here she is.

 

I introduce you to Tamaki! 

 

First up, box opening pics from my cell phone because I was too excited to break out lights and my big camera.  😉

 

20191029_164420 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

This lovely lady has evaded me for soooo long.

 

20191029_164428 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

But with the help of my friend @Keijogirl, I managed to nab her from Mandarake for about HALF of what she normally sells for there.

 

20191029_164545 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

She had a few small stains here and there, her box was bent in a few spots and her default stockings had some bad stains on them from the shoes.  But for half her normal cost, I didn't care.  She was a full set and looked great!

 

20191029_165407 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

I love the 2 Heart school uniforms, they look so cute!  But I'm sure she was stuck in this outfit for ages so she didn't stay in it.

 

20191029_165417 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

I decided to put her in one of the new Volks outfits I recently got.  I think she looks amazing in it.  😉

 

DSC_0682 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0683 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0684 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0687 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0688 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0691 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0692 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0693 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0695 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

Needless to say, I am overwhelmed by her being here in my hands.  She was the last grail girl that I wanted so my big search/hunt is over.  It looks like it's time to focus on other things.....  😄

 

DSC_0697 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

DSC_0698 by Billy  Bennett, on Flickr

 

 

 

Billy

When I saw the previous photos, I went to your profile and guessed she could be Aoko or Tamaki. Congrats for your queen! Btw, your journey is not over. There are other girls you still need. 

22 hours ago, Pit said:

When I saw the previous photos, I went to your profile and guessed she could be Aoko or Tamaki. Congrats for your queen! Btw, your journey is not over. There are other girls you still need. 

Yep, Tamaki it is!  Thank you very much, she certainly thinks she's royalty.  😉  As far as other girls I *need*, I'm not sure there are any.  But as for girls I *want*… well that's a completely different thing.  LOL  I'm not saying Tamaki is my last girl.  She's just the last girl I had on my list of what I thought were very hard to get dolls. 

 

 

Billy

Congratulation!!! She is so beautiful. I knew who she was right away as soon as I saw the last picture where she only show her lips. Those lips are very recognizable they remind me a lot of Akira lips. 

 

I love the intro you made. It remind me of the end of the season of a TV show where they reveal a important character for the next season.

congrats on finally getting your unicorn. I hope you share more pictures of her. Especially along side Manami. We waited almost the same number of years to get our grail dolls. 

Edited December 2, 2019 by MrFjmg03

Congratulations! She is very pretty! I love the color of her eyes, and the outfit look great on her.

Congratulations! Knowing how long you've wanted her, I'm very happy for you. 

The outfit looks great on her, and I look forward to see more pictures of her in the future. 😊

Congratulations!! I don't know you so I was really curious about who could that special girl be and I was not disappointed. Your girl is adorable with her little '':3'' face! it reminds me of a neko girl and I absolutely love it!

Congrats! She is so lovely!

On 12/2/2019 at 6:58 PM, MrFjmg03 said:

Congratulation!!! She is so beautiful. I knew who she was right away as soon as I saw the last picture where she only show her lips. Those lips are very recognizable they remind me a lot of Akira lips. 

 

I love the intro you made. It remind me of the end of the season of a TV show where they reveal a important character for the next season.

congrats on finally getting your unicorn. I hope you share more pictures of her. Especially along side Manami. We waited almost the same number of years to get our grail dolls. 

Thank you very much my friend!  I love her little kitty mouth!    Don't worry, I plan to take photos of her with Manami over my vacation at the end of the year.  And that's really cool about our unicorn times!  

 

On 12/2/2019 at 7:12 PM, Meow said:

Congratulations! She is very pretty! I love the color of her eyes, and the outfit look great on her.

Thank you very much!  I think she will wind up liking denim a lot.  😉 

 

On 12/4/2019 at 4:54 PM, childepaladin said:

Congratulations! Knowing how long you've wanted her, I'm very happy for you. 

The outfit looks great on her, and I look forward to see more pictures of her in the future. 😊

Awww, thank you so much!  I appreciate it.  I do think she looks good in denim so she will probably keep wearing similar things in the future.    I'll be sure to take lots more photos of her soon!

 

On 12/4/2019 at 6:23 PM, Zerkala said:

Congratulations!! I don't know you so I was really curious about who could that special girl be and I was not disappointed. Your girl is adorable with her little '':3'' face! it reminds me of a neko girl and I absolutely love it!

Thank you!  I'm glad you like Tamaki.  She was actually the first kitty mouth girl made by Volks!  I guess that's one of many reasons I like her so much.   

 

On 12/4/2019 at 7:05 PM, katnaper said:

Congrats! She is so lovely!

Thank you!   

 

 

 

Billy

I see! I need to learn more from the 'Volks culture' haha. Hopefully we can see new photos from your girl soon! My only MDD is a neko but she's a custom 01 so nothing special ^^

Congratulations on finally bringing home your grail. She really is a lovely girl, no doubt she with fit in with your other girls just perfect. 

That dress looks lovely on her. 

Awwww, I'm so happy for you . She is gorgeous ! We really don't see her around really often .  The Volks outfit looks great on her , I bet she was really happy to finally have new clothes ❤️ She is really pretty , I love her lips  :3 

Once again , congratulations ! I know the feeling of getting a grail one , it is a happy place

On 12/6/2019 at 7:10 PM, Zerkala said:

I see! I need to learn more from the 'Volks culture' haha. Hopefully we can see new photos from your girl soon! My only MDD is a neko but she's a custom 01 so nothing special ^^

I'll be taking more soon so no worries there.  As for your neko MDD, NO 01 head is nothing special!  The 01 is hands down my favorite head Volks makes and I have lots of them.  I love seeing other people's too, they can be made in so many different and cool ways.  So don't talk down about her, share her here on the forums and be proud of her! 

 

On 12/6/2019 at 7:12 PM, TheWhiteRabbit said:

Congratulations on finally bringing home your grail. She really is a lovely girl, no doubt she with fit in with your other girls just perfect. 

That dress looks lovely on her. 

Thanks so much!  I'm also loving how well that new outfit works for her.  I have a thing for denim so I had to get it.  And she had to get it first since she's special.  😉

 

2 hours ago, salica said:

Awwww, I'm so happy for you . She is gorgeous ! We really don't see her around really often .  The Volks outfit looks great on her , I bet she was really happy to finally have new clothes ❤️ She is really pretty , I love her lips  :3 

Once again , congratulations ! I know the feeling of getting a grail one , it is a happy place

Thank you my dear!  She seems to be quite rare and when she does come up for sale, she's damn expensive.  But I got lucky this time with her!  And yes, she was happy to not have to wear her school uniform anymore.  I think she was stuck in that for a very long time.  

Thanks again, it does feel so nice to finally find a grail doll.   

 

 

Billy

Huge congrats on the grail. Tamaki is a wonderful character and a gorgeous doll. That outfit you chose looks spectacular on her as well. What’s more catstyle wigs are super cute. She’s a pretty deadly combo  

I know you will likely continue adopting dolls but do you feel a sense of completion now she’s finally home?

 

3 hours ago, Beani said:

 

I know you will likely continue adopting dolls but do you feel a sense of completion now she’s finally home?

 

This is exactly what I was referring to. about the journey. Couldn't say it better. As you, I just need my last Dollfie to feel my colecction is complete (she hasn't arrived yet). But that could change in the future, depending on the new products volks releases.

Edited December 9, 2019 by Pit

12 hours ago, Beani said:

Huge congrats on the grail. Tamaki is a wonderful character and a gorgeous doll. That outfit you chose looks spectacular on her as well. What’s more catstyle wigs are super cute. She’s a pretty deadly combo  

I know you will likely continue adopting dolls but do you feel a sense of completion now she’s finally home?

 

Thanks so very much!  I'm really glad people like the outfit I chose to put her in, that makes me really happy.   

 

As for feeling completion, I can't say that's what I felt when I got her.  I felt all sorts of things but now that I have had her for a few weeks, all I can say is that I smile whenever I see her.  I feel like a weight was lifted from me, like a pressure that used to sit in my head is gone. 

I've always had dolls that I liked or wanted but I have only ever had 3 grail dolls.  My first was Saber Blue, the original.  She was just *IT*.    The second girl was Ryomou Shimei.  She was and still is my favorite anime character ever.  And then there was Tamaki. 

Blue Saber was really never a girl I thought I'd own due to her crazy aftermarket prices.  But once she got re-released, I jumped on her.  Ryomou was also expensive and hard to find but a really great friend of mine helped me find one.  And then Tamaki arrived.  Yet again, a friend in the hobby helped me get her.  

I suppose you can say I do feel a sort of complete feeling now that I own her.  But that's a bit different from how I feel overall.  I'm in this hobby for lots of reasons.  I've made lots of wonderful friends in this hobby.  And there are just too many cute DD girls out there to call it quits yet.  I used to try and tell myself I would stop at number so and so but that was a lie.  I enjoy saving unwanted girls.  I enjoy helping out friends who are making their collections smaller.  I like repairing broken bodies and getting badly done face ups redone to make a doll whole and new and give them another chance at a good life.  Until those feelings wane, I won't stop adopting new dolls.  😄   

 

 

Billy

 

Congrats again! Wow she really is stunning, that's not a face I've seen too often.

16 hours ago, foo said:

Congrats again! Wow she really is stunning, that's not a face I've seen too often.

Thank you!  I agree with you on both points.  😄  She's gorgeous for sure and also pretty rare.  She doesn't come up too often and she sure isn't cheap when she does.  Thankfully the stars aligned this time around and I scooped her up at last!  Funny thing is, a local friend of mine, the one who helped me get her, actually has a Tamaki of her own.  She's had her for a couple of years now so every once in a while, she comes to a meet.  So that made it REALLY hard to not have one of my own.  LOL  At least I got to see one in all her glory beforehand tho, it cemented the fact that I wanted her badly.

 

 

Billy

There's that face!!!! She is beautiful! Congrats on her again and I'm super excited to see her tomorrow! 😁

@baldylox Thanks for sharing! I love reading your thoughts on dolls. You make it sound like a calling rather than a hobby. 

While you may never “complete” the collection being able to look at Tamaki and smile sounds like a great gift in itself. I feel that we as doll owners are so lucky to be able to treasure these girls. They are such a joy!

I hope you’ll consider cycling through photos of all your girls again one day, I know that’s heaps of work but I always looked forward to the next update on your last one 

I feel a lot of us live vicariously through you and your family haha. 

40 minutes ago, Beani said:

@baldylox Thanks for sharing! I love reading your thoughts on dolls. You make it sound like a calling rather than a hobby. 

While you may never “complete” the collection being able to look at Tamaki and smile sounds like a great gift in itself. I feel that we as doll owners are so lucky to be able to treasure these girls. They are such a joy!

I hope you’ll consider cycling through photos of all your girls again one day, I know that’s heaps of work but I always looked forward to the next update on your last one 

I feel a lot of us live vicariously through you and your family haha. 

You are very welcome!  And I guess it is kind of a calling for me.  I really am into "saving" the broken and unwanted girls I find.  I'm not sure where that comes from but I do have strong feelings about it for sure.  You're right, we ARE lucky to own and be able to adore these little ladies like we do.  It might sound silly to non doll people but to me, these girls have their own little lives that they live and allow me to photograph. 

You know, I kind of felt bad about not updating that thread.  I just got overwhelmed with work for a bit and then I just got really behind with it.  It felt like there was no way to catch up again.  I enjoyed doing the updates and I guess others did too.  So as a New Years Resolution, I vow to restart that thread and update it MORE often than just once a month.  Whenever I get time to do it, I'll add to it.  And I'll restart it where I left the other one at so as not to rehash what has already been posted.  That way people see girls they haven't yet or get updates on older ones.  Thank you for reminding me of that thread!   

 

On 12/13/2019 at 5:57 PM, SomniKei said:

There's that face!!!! She is beautiful! Congrats on her again and I'm super excited to see her tomorrow! 😁

Thank you!  I appreciate the help you gave me on getting her, I just love her to bits!  And thanks for bringing yours to the meet today, Manami is going to freak out when I do pics of her and the twins!  😄 

 

 

 

Billy

1 hour ago, baldylox said:

I really am into "saving" the broken and unwanted girls I find.  I'm not sure where that comes from but I do have strong feelings about it for sure.

I kind of think it's normal. I know there are folks who find dolls creepy and wouldn't understand this, but a doll at it's core is a model of a human being. I think it's totally normal for people to want to help broken human beings, so it's not really odd that when some people see a broken doll they feel a tug pulling them to fix it.

Congrats, baldylox! I’ve never seen this release before, and she’s gorgeous! 😍 Her underwear is super well made. Did older DDs usually come with bras?

On 12/14/2019 at 10:17 PM, BeyondTime said:

I kind of think it's normal. I know there are folks who find dolls creepy and wouldn't understand this, but a doll at it's core is a model of a human being. I think it's totally normal for people to want to help broken human beings, so it's not really odd that when some people see a broken doll they feel a tug pulling them to fix it.

That makes sense, good point.

 

On 12/21/2019 at 8:53 PM, Arara said:

Congrats, baldylox! I’ve never seen this release before, and she’s gorgeous! 😍 Her underwear is super well made. Did older DDs usually come with bras?

Thank you!  She's an older girl for sure so most newer people in the hobby may not know about her and others that were released around the same time.  And yes, the undies are very nice and fit her well.  Not all DD's come with a bra and panty set but all do have at least panties.  I find most character releases DO have a set but not every one.  Like Ryomou Shimei from Ikki Tousen…. she has a bra and panty set but her rival Kanu Unchou only comes with panties.  But I think that's because Kanu is the underboob queen on her show and doesn't wear a bra.  Mou-chan however always gets her tops ripped up and you can see her bra often.  😉

 

Billy 

3 hours ago, baldylox said:

Not all DD's come with a bra and panty set but all do have at least panties.

Think the only ones of mine that came with a bra are Asuna, and M.O.M.O. Some of the others like Makoto have a bra like top in their outfit, but it's not really a bra. Saber Lily came with Lingerie.

I think around eight of mine came without panties, including all the Sailor Moon girls. It may be a bit less than 8, but I don't think of black panties as coming with panties, because they can never wear them.

Edited December 25, 2019 by BeyondTime