Never fear, Chuck is here... (Rena Ryuguu)

So, even though the contents of this post arent really NSFW, i've put it in a spoiler tag, just in case someone has intimidating feelings from Childs play, or the Chucky movies that followed, you have been warned:

Spoiler

So the latest little munchkin that was purchased arrived at my doorstep earlier this day, but preparations for her arrival started already on sunday when I finally decided that I was going to do a tounge in cheek photoset with her, because of what she had reminded me of since the first promo shots from Volks with her carroty mess of hair and blue eyes.

The overalls I made during my little sunday session are ugly, but for something that I started out with no patterns in the morning and had something semi resemblance of overalls by evening, I was relatively happy for a one and done item.

I also got to break out an old prop, and gave it a quick polish for those nice mirroring shots... no photoshop here except the logo and resizing.

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So I did manage to get the default and optional outfit pictures done, and also wrestled with the wig a bit for the following items, and thoughts:

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As luck would have it, my Rena's wig was a bit of a monday lunch-break special, and despite putting some effort into it, the main bit at the front didnt want to turn the right way, and remains a bit of an annoyance.

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The wig is also interesting since it does have the parting line offset so that was something to look out for before starting to chop at it... Volks did include a manual on how to style the wig, but it was a bit in the lines of, "Here are the ingredients, and heres one we have prepeared earlier" as the guide photos end result wasnt really anything like the promo photos.

The wig is sort of co-opreative at the sides where you can just pick the bits you want to lift towards the sides and they sort of stick there.. unless you disturb the doll for posing.

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I wasnt still happy about the body size, and as its turned out by viewing other peoples photo's the head is a bit too small for a DDS body, which is a bummer...

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I guess the head is close to being a DDH-04 derivative with its chunky cheeks, but one charm point is the upper lip which sort of divided people in the promo shots, it does provide a slightly delicious twist on the mouth line when viewed from slightly below, but this also shows a bit of an awkward feature of the faceup, and thats the eyelash black that is a bit too much, because of the depth between the forehead and eyes.

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Head on its not a big deal, but leaves the mouth in the same situation as with Luka's faceup, that one nice charmpoint is there, but you cant really use it...

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I dont usually do side profiles, but in Rena's case she does give an opportunity for this

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The optional sailor uniform is ok, but not great. The splitline at the back is a bit gaudy with visible stiches for the snaps, though the sailor collar is a separate one piece snap-on deal which makes up a little for it.

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If judged as just a doll, she's cute... not Arle levels of cute, but sort of there. As a Rena .. well .. the Jury is still out, despite knowing they were going after the chibi cutesey look of the original VN's.

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The cleaver on the other hand ... Im left asking the question "Why?" again... yes its plastic, but it doesent need to look plastic, especially with metallic effect paint on the handle thats supposed to be wood. Mine also had a bit of overspray from the silver edge being applied, so a bit of a minus there again... a coat of clear would have made the blade a lot more tolerable in my opinion, and the handle with matte clear instead of the metallic flake.

the handle is also a bit too big for a MDD hand to wield properly ... oh well, business as usual it seems.

And then we come to the main event...

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The default outfit is very nice in feel, but volks just had to include the one feature that I also loathe... wires in the side seams, rear middle, and also the purple ribbon.

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its a bit of a awkward solution, now that the hem is wireless that despite being able to give the sides some lift, the front just flops down... and also causes the ribbon to be a bit awkward to form.

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The beret cap is also a bit funky, as its a very tight fit, which messes up the wig that you spent a good while fine tuning, and it also wants to eject itself off the head after awhile of posing ... so it might need to be pinned in place as a drastic measure.

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I do adore that it does have a mild purple hue to it in some places though...

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But after a moment of posing Rena is a weird one, that can express a range of emotions, while technically being emotionless...

From yandere...

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to cleaverly cute...

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And here's some merch for scale:

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Thats it for now ... will have to see about stuffing the dresses on a DDP later, as I sort of ran out of time today...

 

Edited September 3, 2021 by finnleo

I love the photos!  Especially the ones with her reflections in the blade, those are so cool!  Great work on them!   

 

 

Billy

thanks.

mmm, the reflection shots are quite successfull, even though A) its a direct repeat of what I did five years ago and B) was a bit of a pain in the butt, since its just polished aluminium and has loads of microscratches, that if the light wasnt just right it would just show up all hazy... amusing prop since I still havent made the Madness returns alice outfit for it as originally intented.

anyhoo.. still need to sort out the wig (yay, another dud one) before the default shots, but before that need to clean out the stage from the six other outfits, and random body parts that are scattered across it.

first post edited with Rena's default, and optional sailor uniform shots ...

So after the mildly dissapointing outing into the big room ... it was back into the familiar dungeon for the DDP body shots with Rena with some thoughts:

(And yes, an unassuming Iori was decapitated for the following photos:)

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And on a DDP the default outfit fits quite well... Although the overall look takes a bit of a hit with the hemline now at mid-thigh instead of the knea as it should be by all accounts. but I guess you get more "zone" action when the thigh-high line also drop down a bit.

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Putting the dress on comfortably meant splitting the DDP in half (Which isnt a big deal given the construction) because the hips are already a bit too wide for it to slip through, but one thing worthy of note I guess is that I've seen people on MFC stuff the dress onto a DDS body. And Id recommend that if you find a rena second hand to check has the dress been stretched at the seams since the cuffs were a bit tight on the DDP arms already.

Personally I think the DDS is way too big, and if you did put the dress on one, the cut at the front would be awkwardly up to the unmentionables, since even here they are peeking a bit.

The optional outfit ends up a bit in the same direction:

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the overall look sort of works with the character, since because of the story it is her old school unform from the previous year, and I think there's been some official art where her belly does show a bit. The skirt hem ended up a bit lower than I thought, which I suppose is a good thing...

And naturally had to have some cheeky pose practice:

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The one thing the DDP does have going for it is the best balance of the bunch.

And finally the proof in the pudding, the 07th family shot with Rena on the DDP:

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Works rather well as a display setup, so in my opinion the DDP is quite a good choise ... if I didnt have floating heads I might consider a Coron for a body swap, but given funds are nill at the moment, shall have to see if that ever happens.

The DDP body really works well. Seeing this photoshoot wonders why Volks released Rena on a MDD body instead of the DDP body. Your photo’s are amazing 😁👍

Thanks.

mmm.. as discussed in the release thread Rena has lots of weird contradicting things going on, that I dont know do I want to repeat here ... other than Volks sort of dropped the ball either way.

the DDP would have worked as a representation for the current anime petite look ... and the MDD should have been at least a M-bust to be accurate for the original half-chibi VN art.

but both are things that can be swapped after the fact... and rena's are still available.

I just put my Rena together finally and apparently the wig “crease” isn’t just you… mine is like that too. I haven’t received my styling cream yet so I just did as best I could. But you can definitely tell. I’ll look into low heat straightener if it doesn’t correct with cream or spray.

Sorry if the picture isn’t perfect. I’m in bed atm and don’t want to get up (sick and putting her and Snow Miku together took about 2 hours and I’m exhausted).

i got her alt outfit too, but I’m just going to use it on my custom Shiro from No Game No Life. Not similar at all to her real one but oh well. It’ll look good I’m positive. 
 

Here:

Have to set up my dolls I packed after moving still, and my Emilia v2. I was just toooool tired to do it today. This pic you can see on the side close to Miku that her bangs kinda “pop” up. I’ll take a close up tomorrow. It’s literally a straight crease. Sort of upset but it turned out ok. I love her. I was so happy to get her. 
 

btw LOVED the picture with all three. I need Beatrice so badly it’s not even funny. I not only need but want. She’s so beautiful (and Umeneko is so good. Beatrice is ridiculous lol. Such a cool character).

Wow all of your pics look amazing! I'm so happy to see Rena getting love still, she was one of my favorite characters growing up!