My First Vinyl Doll - SmD Gemini

Exactly what it says on the tin. I managed to snag a "He Pebble" Simplicity kit from the Only the Brave drop this past Wednesday and he arrived Friday afternoon. A+ shipping from DHL, hot damn.

Disclaimer: Only the Brave is only available to those who have a Smart Doll purchase registered to the email used to buy it. Gemini here is my first vinyl doll, but I bought my roomie a Challenge in cinnamon a couple of weeks ago so as far as the website knows, I'm already an owner.

Smaller box than in the past, but it makes sense because he's a Simplicity kit. Still astonished that it arrived in 2 days. DHL really is something else.

There's a lot of extra things in here because I also ordered some headcaps for the Chaos vinyl heads I bought last week as well as a bust piece for the aforementioned Challenge. Danny had to email me to confirm I bought a male doll along with larger boobies and I got a laugh out of that.

And here's the kit himself! A standard cinnamon Gemini, exactly what I was hoping for. He even came with his little olive green boxers which was surprising considering the Simplicity page says that the kits don't come with anything extra. I preemptively bought him a pair of underwear in anticipation of that so uh... I guess now he has two for the moment. I hesitated on buying him proper clothing because I wasn't even sure I'd be able to get my hands on him--as it was, I was up from 8pm to 10am my time for days waiting to see if there would be a second Only the Brave drop because I'd missed the first one by minutes. The second one was interesting because it was only the He Pebble option, so only a male doll, rather than it being both the first go around. I suspect that Gemini himself may never see a proper release, at least not this year, so I'm glad I managed to grab him when I did.

I've had this little silver wig floating around my doll stash for months, part of a fullset from my very first 60+cm doll, and I like it better on him than his default sooo there he is. My roomie may have commandeered the default wig for her Summer.

Welcome home, Jun.

Congrats! I love his face, and that wig suits him well.

What a handsome fellow! Congrats!!!

He's adorable! Love that wig on him!

Aww he's such a cutie! Congrats on getting him! 

Gemini is such a sweet looking fellow. It's almost a shame that I can't see myself buying any Smart Doll girls beforehand in order to get a pebble—I really would've like Gemini in my collection. So congrats for you for having him as your first doll!

There's a lot of extra things in here because I also ordered some headcaps for the Chaos vinyl heads I bought last week as well as a bust piece for the aforementioned Challenge. Danny had to email me to confirm I bought a male doll along with larger boobies and I got a laugh out of that.

 

Zippercore, What do you plan on doing with the Chaos vinal heads?  I just bought some too.  I am looking for some ideas of how to paint them.  Do you know if you use the same materials as with resin dolls?

@daydreammoment

The original plan was to paint them as character heads because I was lucky enough to get the F4 and F6 in Cinnamon which are both perfect for a couple of guys I'd planned on swapping around (specifically Kurama/Minamino Shuuichi from Yu Yu Hakusho and Oogami Koga from Ensemble Stars lol), but uh... I didn't account for how big the macho body actually was, so said plans kinda fell through as soon as I popped them on to see. It was p hilarious actually. My roomie wound up with the F6 head to be a spare for her Challenge and I'm holding onto the F4 for now in case I can still do something eventually. 

As for materials, it seems about the same to a degree? I'm p new to the vinyl thing too and haven't actually started in on anything yet. Roomie and I have a set of paints from Volks that come with a specific thinner, and I went and bought a tiny brush in hopes of it helping some, but it seems the same overall. Mr. Super Clear Matte UV Cut for a base and to seal, watercolor pencils to sketch eyelash and eyebrow shapes, pastels for blushing because I don't have an air brush, and then thinned out acrylics for everything else. I've seen people have luck with the Liquitex brand and their Flow Aid thinner, too.

I actually usually use Liquitex Soluvar Matte Varnish for my resin crew but wasn't sure if it would be alright on vinyl. It shouldn't be an issue tbh but I don't know lol ;;

Congrats on getting a he-pebble! It doesn't seem like SMD will be doing any direct Gemini purchases and watching the pebbles is so stressful. You must be glad to have gotten one, he looks amazing!

His face is so charming and comforting, congrats! That eye colour is beautiful.

3 hours ago, Zippercore said:

@daydreammoment

The original plan was to paint them as character heads because I was lucky enough to get the F4 and F6 in Cinnamon which are both perfect for a couple of guys I'd planned on swapping around (specifically Kurama/Minamino Shuuichi from Yu Yu Hakusho and Oogami Koga from Ensemble Stars lol), but uh... I didn't account for how big the macho body actually was, so said plans kinda fell through as soon as I popped them on to see. It was p hilarious actually. My roomie wound up with the F6 head to be a spare for her Challenge and I'm holding onto the F4 for now in case I can still do something eventually. 

As for materials, it seems about the same to a degree? I'm p new to the vinyl thing too and haven't actually started in on anything yet. Roomie and I have a set of paints from Volks that come with a specific thinner, and I went and bought a tiny brush in hopes of it helping some, but it seems the same overall. Mr. Super Clear Matte UV Cut for a base and to seal, watercolor pencils to sketch eyelash and eyebrow shapes, pastels for blushing because I don't have an air brush, and then thinned out acrylics for everything else. I've seen people have luck with the Liquitex brand and their Flow Aid thinner, too.

I actually usually use Liquitex Soluvar Matte Varnish for my resin crew but wasn't sure if it would be alright on vinyl. It shouldn't be an issue tbh but I don't know lol ;;

You mention F4 and F6 - How do you know about the head types?  Is there a place they are listed along with characters they are made into at the factory.

@daydreammoment

I was mostly rolling off of this post here: 

 

I personally recognize the sculpts as Infinity (F4) and Serenity (F6), but the charts here are helpful. There's only a handful of sculpts overall as most of the differences between the dolls is all about the faceup.

oh gosh this face looks handsome ^///^

I was not a fan of the other sculpts but this one takes the cake! Very nice color too, congrats on getting him!