Succumiss

...I couldn't come up with a 'suck' pun that didn't accidentally double as NSFW. 😅

 

Her ears are in transit, her eyes and horns and wardrobe all need to be purchased, but she's here. I try not to document every doll I buy in a thread, as that would crowd the subforum. But for her I make an exception.

 

Meet Ventyri.

Anyone who's familiar with Smart Doll knows that a lot of interesting projects can get left on the cutting room floor. They're typically reduced to one-off prototypes that are then resold in the Chaos section and seldom seen again. But the M01 sculpt was one of the lucky ones- whether by social media buzz, or Danny / Team whim, she got a full production run in 2022 to the delight of many.

 

She might have been my first purchase from Culture Japan. But she sold out fast, as is the tradition with everything Smart Doll I pursue. (RIP Eiji/Crimson)  I chalk that up less as a fault with the team and their production and more with my inability to keep up with drop times. Still. It's frustrating. I tried to get ahold of this girl's head secondhand for months, but she sold out just as fast every time. Especially in the colour I wanted. On a whim one November night, I perused Fabric and Friends looking for something else, and there she was.

 

...Not her.

 

Her. She. In the flesh. Iris kindly allowed me to do a layaway, and five months later, she arrived. Often I prefer secondhand dolls due to their pre-loved history, but this is one of those rare times where a brand-new doll feels special. She was the only one, almost as though she were made specifically for me. Outside of Angel Philia there aren't many vinyl dolls with a shoujo aesthetic. While shoujo isn't a genre I pursue, the art itself is one of my favorite manga styles. It's unique unto itself, and elicits a sense of dreaminess and surrealism. Having a DD-scale girl in that style, and a tan girl no less, was an impossible dream.

 

So here she is. My dream girl. She doesn't have the right anything except for her wig, but she still looks incredible. First impressions: Her hips, knees, and ankles are all crazy-tight out of the box, while her elbows are perfect, which is the inverse of my pre-loved SMDs. Interesting. Her face is flawless, her grace sublime. I regret that I still haven't figured out a good way to photograph them well; many of my best doll photos are outside, or with sets I no longer have the space to build. But once I get her relatively complete, she will need many pictures. She makes me want to sell a couple of faces by sheer volume of presence.

 

Unfortunately I had no way to tame the wig frizz. But look at that face! The eyebrows are a little less fierce in person, but this isn't a bad thing, as her expression flexes depending on the angle.

 

Ventyri is a mercenary and part-time pitfighter who happens to be a succubus. But she is less likely to seduce you and drink your blood than to use her superhuman speed to jump you from behind with a blade to your back. Known as 'The Iron Scorpion' in the ring, she's a force to be reckoned with, and the strong, stoic type... until you annoy her.

...I did mention that I don't read shoujo. Fluffy love dramas with minimal action aren't for me. But the idea of that idyllic, ethereal girl smashing faces and kicking in combat boots was amusing. Like a more mature version of the chibi gremlin.

 

However, she won't be doing any smashing just yet...

 

...Because as soon as I popped his head on, I noticed hairline cracks in the neckhole. That older, hard vinyl doesn't hold up as well. It's nothing that can't be dabbed over with superglue, but it makes me nervous. So Llewyr will be borrowing the body while I find Ventyri some clothes.

 

It's not a perfect solution, but with the XS bust you can kill two birds with one stone and make a passable guy if a male body is out of reach. Having Llewyr in one piece at last is like the cherry on top, even if he is unfinished. It feels good to finally be able to post pictures of some of these dolls.

 

And with that I only have one more body to go before every floating head will be able to share. Yes; the work is almost done.

 

...Who am I kidding. Vinyl multiplies like rabbits.

 

 

Oh! Ventyri is a SmD North, right? 

What an excellent choice! I feel like there aren't many SmDs that catch my attention, (and most of them seem to end up as one-off prototypes ..) but North is definitely one of them! I always thought she looked stunning. I think her face really stands out among the other girls? And she definitely has a certain air of intensity and coolness that makes her very well suited for badass backstories!
 

Although.. your comment about shoujo-looking dolls confused me a little bit. There's plenty of shoujo-looking girls in the Dollfie line-up. Heck, there's even Sailor Moon Dollfies! That's one of the most famous/popular shoujo series right there. On the other hand, I wouldn't exactly call Angel Philia 'shoujo' - Ell(i)e works, but I'm honestly not very familiar with AP. My impression was that they focus on more mature looking dolls.

In any case! Congratulations to your new girl! I can't wait to see her once she's fully assembled! 

Oh hey Llewyr was originally my Crimson Kai, I'm really happy to see he ended up with someone on the forum! I really love how you styled him he looks very handsome, his eyes are my favorite detail!

A shame about the small cracks in his head, though he is older doll as I originally got him back in 2017 at the smart doll store.

I apologize for the late replies! I had an answer all typed up days ago, then hit one wrong key and banished it to the Phantom Zone. Let's try again.

 

@RetroKanojo  Yes, that's correct. I feel your pain- so many good ideas never see the light of day. Seeing North get a full release surprised me, and clearly we weren't alone. I spent months trying to get her head in tea off of Facebook before Ventyri came along, but she would sell almost as soon as she was posted, in every colour. She did just get restocked and sold out again on CJ, but the hype around her is calming down a bit, so if you want to try your luck secondhand, she's slowly getting easier to obtain.

 

You are correct- there's probably a specific term for the aesthetic I'm thinking of. Shoujo is, of course, manga targeted at girls, not an art style persay. I just don't have another term for it. When I was first introduced to a book shop with a proper manga section, this was considered 'shoujo'. They didn't have well-known Eastern-Western favorites like Sailor Moon. In my first draft, I scoured the net for comparable images, but I had difficulty in tracking down any examples of the style that weren't by Ryoko Ikeda. Since Roses of Versailles is still a favorite for many, she's probably a strong taste of what I mean.

 

 

 

Long noses and faces, pointier jawlines, narrow, detailed eyes, often with stars or other shapes in the reflections, mirrored by elongated body proportions. The only problem with Ryoko Ikeda's work as an example is that her women are often deliberately androgynous, taking on male roles, or in the case of Claudine, transgender. (Claudine identifies and lives as a man, rather than simply presenting as one)  Whereas the women and men by other artists were all this way with no deeper explanation. From what I've gathered, it was more common in the 70s and 80s, transitioning away all together by the 90s into what we're more familiar with.

 

(These two are men, but they're close to the art I'm thinking of)

 

Angel Philia doesn't quite hit the mark, but it's consistently closer than anything else. Possibly inspired by this era. I love the glamorous fierceness its ladies have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

They still have the soft faces, but the proportions are more elongated, with those narrower eyes. If only they weren't so hard to clothe. It's getting easier, but I'm still glad to have a girl at regular Dollfie/SMD size and proportions.

 

Speaking of, thank you very much, and I'm sorry for the long-winded explanation. I look forward to posting more pictures of her. (And subtly twisting arms to add another North or two to our company, perhaps.) It is wonderful knowing that she can make someone else as happy as she makes me. We're honored.

 

@Geck_O  Wow! Really?  Do you mind if I ask who did his faceup? I have a guess, but his second(?) owner couldn't tell me. He's actually the third head I've adopted over the years meant to be DA2's Fenris... but none of them were intended to be Fenris. His features happen to work well for my projects. Perhaps I shall have to buy a doll one day and make him, in exchange for all the Fenrises I've sacrificed.  

Thank you for letting him go. A cocoa or tea Eiji was my dream SMD- I'd been saving up for one when they were discontinued. At some point I'm hoping to get him green hair and magenta eyes, but for now, he's rocking the pseudo-Fenris wig. I'm glad you like it. I appreciate the quality of his faceup so much that I'm not changing it- he'll stay as-is unless something happens.

Happily, the cracks in his neckhole are truly 'micro'. I'm not sure if I could even fill them with glue. I'll heat him up to take him off, I think, and try and mend them then. But 2017? He must have been one of the last! He's a special lad, and one of my favorites. It is my pleasure to be his landlord.

 

Ohhh! Thank you so much for the explanation! Honestly, I appreciate it! You're right, I think we were both just thinking in different eras of shoujo? I've mainly been exposed to the round, wide-eyed variety - think Sailor Moon, Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne, Pretty Cure, Mermaid Melody. Funny how that goes! 

In that case, I'd have to agree! 

I wonder what an AP with a custom face-up to (even) better reflect the style would look like? I think North herself works really well in that regard already though! 

Ah sorry for my own late reply, @PolitelyNefarious The faceup was done by someone named itsumoyumebjd on instagram. I'm glad he's finding new life as one of your projects, I always like to see how people customize their dolls!