finnleo's brief doll historique (picspam, wall of text)

Edit: And as a typical forum newbie (well, new forum for me atleast), I might have put this in the wrong section, but hopefully the moderators can move it into the correct spot with minimal problems?

 

So a brief photographic history of my dolls from the past four years.

 

Initial pardon for the possible it/she variation throughout the texts.

 

So, as I already said in the introduction post, it all started with Feena.

 

Why this came to be, im a little stumped myself, since the initial plan was to try and make a Suiseiseki lookalike. But after seeing the images of the superdetailed (I think the azone version is more truithfull to the original art) dress, I just had to get it ... or hammer my hand so I wouldnt be able to use a mouse to click the auction.

 

I got Feena literally as a christmass preasent in 2007, and she arrived on just before christmass eve on the 21'st of december.

 

What made her feel like a special gift, was that she came duty-free, however the customs people have yet to make the same mistake twice.

 

On a personal note, I did know that the dolls arrive nude, but it was still an amusing moment being presented with 1/3 scale knickers ... ho hum, and oh well -- nothing like a good challenge and the moonlight lady was dressed in an appropreate manner:

 

 

Naturaly initial enthusiasm was rather high, and a variety of cosplay outfits, if you wish came into posession, and even a new wig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, I have to point out, that very expensive outfits were slightly out of the question at the time, since I did not want to have to deal with the customs people any more than needed, so instead of just buying everything I saw, I had to settle for stuff I found for under the 7000 yen level.

 

 

About six uneventfull months went by, and then in the spring of 2008 Volks decided to come with the Saber dollfie dream.

 

Now, im not what you would call a Type moon fan, but I've always liked the idea of a female Arthur. And despite initially twitching at the 100k base price, I did pay somebody's lunches for a few days for it off yahoo-jp.

 

To date, arttuuria is the most expensive doll i've baught, and probably will remain so, but she does have a certain aura whenever you look at it.

 

 

 

 

Because she is a bit of a fiddle to dress into her outfit, not to mention it just looks great in it, I did not play around too much dressing her into different outfits. One purchase besides the obligatory maid outfit, was a wig, that came off a parted Shino, which I thaught looked fab on Arttuuria.

 

 

However when Arttuuria came, I also found the base for my initial plan of a Suiseiseki look a like doll.

 

Naturally Arttuuria wasnt too pleased, so I had to get a bespoke body for it.

 

 

Enter Yukino and what I would later start to call Yonkko

 

Now, because I already knew I was making a look a like doll, I did not want to pay much for a base for it, since I would be changing everything apart from the body. Yonkko came along at a surprisingly low price, and I guess the word Junk in the ad had something to do with it. The look was that of a fashion victim, but as I said, everything would be changed so I wasnt too bothered.

 

Yukino was my initial choise for a base, and came about by not abiding the golden rule, of not going back to look at auctions after you've just baught something, so you dont see something similar go for less money and be dissapointed.

 

 

Yukino, and Yonkko about as I had gotten them.

 

So in the end I had my two candidates for "Suiseiseki". and eventually the choise turned into Yonkko's favour due to the nature of what had been done to it.

 

It had a very crude attempt at making a more flexible head joint, and as a result the head was not interchangable anymore.

 

 

As a result I actually considered, and tried to sell Yukino off, I wasnt too greedy in my asking price if I recall correct (between 200-300 euros, or roughly what I had paid for her off auction + taxes), but probably due to a lack of proper venue, she was not sold. No sale, meant more dolls for me -- However Yukino would eventually fullfill her original planned role.

 

Unsuccessfull sales picture

 

At this point I did consider starting to put doll related stuff on the internet, and even came up with the concept of finnleo's dollpound, but the idea just never caught enough momentum to try. Probably because I was trying to do it all wrong in basic html script, and not be a cool kid and use a automated blog base.

 

 

So, another few peacefull months went by, and I developed the need to get a Suigintou look a like doll. Again I had been looking through Volks'es character models for a suitable base, and immediately Shino was a nice candidate, partially for the rather rare onee-san look.

 

Initially I was going to settle for the Purple puppet dress that was readily available at the time on yahoo, and did end up buying one.

 

Now, unfortunately I broke the golden rule yet again. And after seeing an official Volks SD13 Suigintou getting parted on auction, I had to have a go at the dress and boots, which despite the lackluster front lacing on the dress , was in a league of its own -- and won.

 

So, now that I had broken the golden rule twice, a third time came about almost naturally.

 

For some reason at the time Shino's were quite common to see on auction, and for not too high sums either. since again I was going to change everything I did not want to pay too much for one, and a wigless example changed owners. However after seeing another one without the original wig on auction with an abundance of other wigs, outfits, and whatnots I could not resist the initial bargain price.

 

 

 

So now basicly I had two suigintous, one I would keep, and a slightly more shabby example, I actually tried to sell again.

 

The dress got sold, but the doll remained. As you can probably remember I had a Shino wig laying around, and decided to keep the twins together.

 

 

Since I did not really like to go to the customs office too many times a year to get my stuff, I added a Nagato to the box of goodies. Out of the characters in Haurhi Suzumiya's melancholy Yuki is my most favorite one. And again by chance, one example that had lost its shoes came into posession.

 

 

What I really like about Yuki's face is that at first it always looks like a marshmallow, without much form, but suddenly the features pop out, out of nowhere.

 

Another box stuffing was a spare body, that came from a parted Erika Sendou, but more of that later.

 

 

Seifuku tryouts during this time

 

 

Now at this time I need to point out, that I had gone from two dolls to seven in a matter of months, and since I also diddle in anime collectibles. All of this scrounging did not go too well with the landlords at the time, and I was more or less forced to get my own house as a result.

 

Last group shot in the loft room

 

First group shot in the new house

 

All of this naturally resulted in a minor pause in purchases, I mean you just dont go from a roughly 20 square meter loft into a 140 square meter house without any new needs... like furniture.

 

But after five months adjusting, I decided that Yonkko looked lonely in her Suiseiseki getup, and around march 2009 decided to scrounge up parts for a "Boku"

 

I already had that spare DD2 body, so it was only a matter of getting a suitable DDH03 head. At this point I wasnt too tempted to use Yukino for a base for some reason, so the hunt was on.

 

I had also been tempted by the MDD body at this point, and by dumb luck, another "junked" doll, this time fitting the requirements DDH03+MDD came around the auctions (I seem to have a thing about collecting junk, as a certain someone has mentioned to me off board).

 

Yes, my couch sucks, but atleast I can pin fabric down onto it for cutting without any worries in the world

 

But the potential was there in my oppinnion.

 

So with the body I had laying around, and again a sourced official Volks SD13 Souseiseki outfit, the two looked a bit more happy.

 

 

 

 

 

The remaining MDD body became a bit of a bit-betty, as I tried on various heads I had gotten that were very basic make-up jobs off yahoo auctions... You never know, you might come up with the perfect character to build some day.

 

 

 

What stuck on the body for the most time, was a elf eared DDH02, which I got in an effort to make a Hom look a like from Atelier Rorona... although I think now after playing Atelier Totori, I might be making a Chim instead out of it.

 

 

How did it go, about once you had one, another wouldnt be far behind. And about a month later Illya came about.

 

 

 

Illya was a refreshing first in a way, that It was the first one I had gotten through Volks'es lottery, and actually it was the first try at it also.

 

But as far as good things went, that was the last purchase of the year.

 

2010 naturally kicked off with Mashiro. Whom which I got rather lucky with. As I only had money for the optional hakama outfit during the lottery, but A few of the dolls came up for purchase in the general sales and I just made it.

 

 

 

Then another long thaughtfull purchase came about, as a character id oddly started to like came around for a reasonable price, namely Haruhi. Haruhi's makeup was mildly touched up around the lips, but otherwise was a complete set without much fault.

 

I use this picture and a few others whenever a certain aqaintance has words about me collecting mostly 1/8 sized figures

 

Haruhi would again be the last purchase of the year, however with the new DD2 S-bust I had decided to get one for Yuki, for more original appearance reasons, so I wound up getting a new body #13 as a result.

 

Number 13, Jyuu-San-chan, with the resurfaced prefix gag from anonatsu.

 

Other moments during that summer, Yonkko's neck snapped for the last time, and so my Suiseiseki look a like needed replacement. Yukino had tried out for shinku earlier in the year, but I decided now was the time to give her the job I had originally thaught for her.

 

Yukinoshinkku

 

Yukinodesu

 

And again by weird luck, I was able to find a inner frame torso on yahoo to replace yonkko's original mangled one, along with one of the heads I had gotten earlier.

 

 

Well, last year started off equally slow.

 

I had dissapointingly missed out on getting a Maria MDD the year before, and decided that there would probably not be any interesting models coming out any time soon, and decided to finally get her at a affordable premium.

 

 

Now surely Volks wouldnt have the cheek to release Beatrice, after a whole year's wait after maria? Oh yes they did, indeed.

 

I do think everybody who got Beatrice direct do think about the doll perhaps in a different way than usual.

 

Despite the sad events during her release, she is non the less quite a splendid piece of kit.

 

 

 

I think Snazzy is the correct word to describe her. Something about that smile that makes you think she's up to no good.

 

After that, the rest of last year was rather uneventfull.

 

The bit-betty MDD I had became a base for my first non volks head (a custom Parabox nemurihime), which probably will be set like this for a long time.

 

 

Yonkko became a literal yonkko with finally getting a DDH04 head for it. Although, I still need to get slightly bigger eyes for her to balance the look.

 

 

But thank you for reading my long winded doll history, I tried to stay away from pictures already on the blog side, but naturally occasionally I had no other shots available.

 

But in true omake spirit, here's some random fun shots I also found:

 

kookie thief:

 

kookie break:

 

Miki Hoshii, and Patricia cosplays

 

 

A former valentines day card -- non effective

 

A former white day card -- non effective

Wow, it was a great read. Your dolls are all lovely, and you have an impressive collection!

Seeing your collection is always impressive! And this time with English text!

Your girls are beautiful. That is really impressive collection

You have quite a story with your dolls!

Your story is an amazing saga! Thank you for sharing. Your girls are all so adorable. They seem to get along so well. The Cookie Break photos are awesome!

That was quite the read! But I enjoyed seeing your progression along with all the pics. You certainly have some beautiful girls and outfits for them.

 

Welcome to the boards and I hope you have a good time here!

 

 

Billy

I always enjoy a good read, which that certainly was. I liked all the photos as well. You have a great group of girls there

Thank you all, again.

 

Their a nice little bunch, but they do become a bit of a handfull whenever I try to co-ordinate a full house shot with everybody.

 

Setting up the christmass photo for last year for instance took a few days to accomplish in all, and eventhough I cheated a little for the makeoverday shoot last year, my livingroom was littered with doll clothes and wigs for a week afterwards.. heh.

 

Too much to do, and not enough organizing skills I guess.

wow so many girls!! hehe

Love Beatrice!! and MDD Maria is sooo cute!

Really awesome to read about how you acquired all of your dolls! They are all wonderful DDs to own

Thanks again, I might try taking a stab at a picture story next when something arrives in the mail hopefully in the near future (not a new lady, but something... white.. and fluffy.)

 

And I hope a certain somebody takes a peek here,

just a reminder I still have the probation period going, so I cant answer PM's as is.

 

So im not trying to be a dork by not answering this way.. heh.

Your girls are so lovely! I love all the Rozen Maiden cosplay!!! They're such cuties... and I love that your girls really seem to have a sense of play. It looks like they're always having a good time!