#bjd review

[milkshakemybeloved]

Penny's box Luluya Symphonic Poem review? or something. Just a lot of notes and observations about the doll.

Naked dolls included.

Got mine on 25 of June so its been a little bit.

I got mine from aliexpress pre-opened cuz I wanted to make sure I will get an angel not a demon (I NEEDED one of the angel wings. not bat. Feathers). The box came a bit bend up even tho it been secured in another bigger box that wasn't damaged so that wasn't a delivery issue. But the inside of the box was undisturbed so like. Not a big deal to me. The box looks like the typical blind box bjd stuff. Cute front, all the options on the side, all that text on the back. Forgot to take a photo of the bottom and top but it just had Penny's Box and Symphonic poem written there respectively.

The box also includes a nice and shiny card of the doll (they seem common in blind box bjds) and also a brochure? or whatever you call those in english. It has instructions for how to assemble the doll which I find really nice. Not all dolls have those. It also contains list of all the things the box should contain and shows some of the other dolls they have. That's cool.

Some of those photos are screenshots from a video I recorded when opening the package. The doll came as you would expect. The plastic covering had a bottom and top part. They kinda click together so no worries about them opening accidentally. inside there's a doll with a plastic bag over its head and also the pigtails, wings, clothes and other accessories as shoes, ribbons, hair accessory (here donut halo) and the 2 pairs of additional hands. The pigtails were each packaged into a separate plastic bag. The wings shared a bag with the piece they connect to. The shoes, hair accessory and hands are packaged into one bag but in separate pockets kinda.

The doll itself came with a few minor... blemishes? She was dirty in a few spots. Dark one (first photo under this text) on the leg that came out no issue with a water and rubbing. A pink one also on the leg that while trying to clean it up helped a bit it is still slightly visible(second photo. its more pink irl). And one more on the hair that also came off easily. Generally I still keep finding random stains from time to time on her especially on the hair but they come off pretty easily. So she seems to very easily get stained by I dont even know what. Something to keep in mind. But I'm guessing dolls that don't have white hair would have a slightly easier time with this.

The doll itself is pretty nice. The seams aren't too visible and the plastic the doll is made out of has a very slightly sandpapery texture which makes things like her stockings hold on the leg a bit better. the body mold is cute even tho the tummy is a bit... muscular? Flat? Idk how to call it. The head is very big but it holds quite well and doesn't flop much (I'm looking at you milkshake). The hip joint likes to kinda... pop out (look middle photo). Tho calling it popping out is too strong of a word. It just isn't held there by anything but the string so it has places to move when bend. Not an issue. just a thing it does.

The knee and elbow joints are double joints with the joints completely hidden when straight and looked from outside(as you can see on the above photos). They also have the issue that the arm and legs part don't always hug the joint all the way(first photo). Tbh all of my blind box bjds have this issue on some level. some are worse then others (my first star has it BAD on one leg). It's not too annoying here but it probably depends from doll to doll. The arm joints also have the issue that one side of the joint is a bit squished so the string has an issue getting in there on its own(second photo). You can force them quite easily so the pose is held but it is mildly annoying to have to do it every time. I found that stabbing something in there to make them unbend a bit helps for a short time tho.

A thing you can pop out yourself tho is the line under the hip joint. Thanks to that you can make the leg bend upwards which i am a Big fan of. It itself doesn't seem very intentional in the terms of design but poses with it were included in official photos of the dolls so I'm understanding that they are meant to also be posed this way. The string doesn't seem to be unhappy about it either.

The chest joint is interesting cuz it has those studs to keep the pose. The back one holds very well since you kinda pop it out for it. the front one is pretty nice too.

Hands. You get 3 pairs of hands with this dolls. And it literally took me until taking this very photo to realize i have 2 right hands of finger guns. Wow. I am blind. But I really like the default and the heart pose. they are quite universal(which i didn't expect from the heart pose but you can pull it off) and feel quite natural. And they are very cute too <3<3<3

The hair is spray painted in its entirety (both pink and white) and has this slightly bubbly texture? Not a biggest fan but again not a big issue. The sculpt is very cute tho. The pigtails are removable leaving 2 big holes(look at previews photos of the whole body from the back). The holes are a bit deeper then you need to stab the pigtails in. I think this may be part of the reason why the pigtails hold so well. none of the pigtails have popped off on their own on me yet. You can also kinda pose them too. It seems to be very useful for some posing. It's very cool. Also ofc this doll specifically has the donut halo and the ahoge (the sticking out hair piece). They have a long stud that you have to stab into the hole. they hold quite well while not being super hard to put in or out. And both the ahoge and the donut dont feel too much out of place when inserted. I think they are a very cool aspect of this doll even tho I'm curious for how long they will hold securelly (forgot to take a photo of those but they are both showing in other photos).

I read somewhere that the head fits with other penny box heads or something. Can't remember where unfortunetelly. The head itself holds very well and at first I almost thought you can't take it apart cuz it just held so well. That's really nice cuz i have 2 dolls (Bonnie season 3 milkshake and weird cute girls first star) that have a bad case of falling off head parts that are only saved by pink blu tack holding them together. The eyes are removable and you could put some other eyes either joined ones if they are made to fit(like from other symphonic poem dolls) or any of those separate flattish ones that you secure with plasticine or whatever you call it in english. Putty? Idk. The eyes the doll comes with are connected and i read somebody on kikagoods having their misprinted so their doll is forever destined for uneven eyes since they can't correct it themself cuz eyes merged. Ouch. The print on the eyes gives slight printer vibes (not a fan). But the print on the face is <3<3<3 very sharp and lovely. The hearts underneath the eyes are very VERY cute. And I just LOVE the feathery ears. Am a big fan of feathers and birds in general. Oh also. While I didn't measure how big the eyes are that they come from but i did try to put in 10mm eyes into them and they seem to fit alright (the original eyes seem to be a bit bigger tho). But you will need ones that don't have the iris taking most of the eye if you want a similar vibe to what the original eyes have.

The clothes. The shirt and skirt are separate pieces here. that was a surprise to me. They are made out of pretty thin fabric. Gives slight plastic foil vibes. Its not terrible but it give a bit of a cheap vibe when touching. some edges are not hemmed but it seems like they are slightly burned to keep them from unraveling. If you like the outfit design itself you should be alright tho cuz it does look pretty nice (I personally don't really care for this dolls outfit So i do plan to make her some clothes myself). I like the socks tho. You can't really go wrong with white stockings can you.

The shoes. Gog I Love the shoes. The paint job could be done better but they are. Adorable<3. The ribbon that you are given is a pretty standard ribbon. Works well. The shoes have hearts on their sides (visible on the photo above) and also cat skeletons on the bottoms. Very cute. I really like them. Lacing the shoes and putting them on or off a bit time consuming but the effect is really nice so I don't mind.

The wings. Oh the wings. The reason i bought this doll and tbh also the biggest disappointment. They look very cute. As advertised. I love the design. They are made out of clear plastic with white and pink paint on the base and ends respectivelly. The piece that holds them on their waist is made out of pink clear plastic and is very cute too. The back looks like a broken heart with horns, sewed together. Fits the skeleton kitties from the shoes. BUT OH MY GOSZ do they pop off easily. If the doll was to just stand in one place and not be touched they would be probably ok. But I do like holding my dolls. I do like carrying them around. And the wing can pop out from just laying it on the desk! I tried securing them a bit with blu tack inside but didn't help (that's also where the tiny pink dot in the hole on the waist part comes from. it wasn't there originally). Maybe even made it worse so I took it out. SO yea kinda disappointing in that. Maybe I can try securing them with a thread? Something to try I guess.

So that's most of it i think. I hope this was informative? Generally am quite happy with the doll. Except of the wings which kinda pains me ;^;. If you want the doll mostly for the wings (like I did) then it may be a disappointing purchase(I still really like her but aaaa). Have 2 more photos I took not for this post. On the first one you can see the poseable pigtails quite nicely. The second photo shows the heart hands in action. Also the doll can stand in the shoes. Quite well too for such a big head!

If you have any other questions about the doll or the post, feel free to ask me ^^. Either under the post or in dms. I will gladly answer in any way I can <3

[smallwonderdolls]

Review: 2D Doll 1/6-scale new body (normal yellow)

Above: Not a very graceful-looking pose, but a memorable one that shows off the poseability of the 2D Doll 1/6-scale body!

Summary: 9/10 would recommend.

Pros: Good poseability; two-piece torso; option hands are available; hefty, solid quality resin; reasonable wait time.  If you’re looking for variety, this is also the shortest Yo-SD-scale body I know of.

Cons: No easy hand-changing mechanism; back of elbows have that sculpted nub which I find rather ugly; more expensive than other Chinese-made 1/6-scale bodies.

Note: I want to add that my 2D body came strung with extremely thick 3.5mm elastic (I usually use this thickness for MSD’s!), and with an over-sized S-hook in the head which I had to switch out for a smaller one in order to fit the kindergarten Kun-kun head pictured above.  It was also strung so tightly that there was barely any give when I pulled on the S-hook.  I wanted to keep it as it was for this review, but I couldn’t bear the tight stringing and ended up restringing the body the very same day, with slightly thinner elastic (about 2.5-3mm, which is still thicker than I usually use for Yo-SD’s).  2D Doll have mentioned on their Weibo that they are looking into this issue after receiving complaints, so this will hopefully change in future.

More detailed comments and photos:

Wait time:  It took about 2 months to arrive, even though I ordered in February 2020, during the Covid-19 situation (to take advantage of a sale).  Not bad at all.  It came securely packed in an unbranded box (probably because I didn’t order a full doll?)

Sculpting: This is a child-like body with somewhat cartoon-y shaping.  For ease of comparison, the body is pictured below beside the fairly well-known Volks body (also one of my favourites).  Without the head, there is a height difference of almost a centimetre.  There aren’t many other good bodies which are both in the same scale as Yo-SD and are significantly shorter, so this pleases me greatly.  

Below: back view.  Note the elbow joints which have a floating nub on the back.  Visually, I find this type of elbow extremely unappealing... but I’m willing to put up with it in this case because the body checks all my other boxes -- and at least those armoured nubs are not on the knee caps (shudder).  

The other sculpting point that irks me slightly is the swollen-looking ankles, with ball joints larger than the base of the calf - but I suppose they help promote sturdy posing.  I should mention that the soles of the feet are not flat but are cutely sculpted with an arch.

Posing: As shown right at the top, this body crouches solidly and with little effort, which is no mean feat.  The double joints in the elbows work perfectly and are not difficult to engage, so the doll can touch the back of its head and its face with ease.  Wrist and ankle mobility is quite good.

The thighs are on the tubby side and are in all one piece with just a basic slot at the top.  As a result, thigh mobility is slightly limited, though not as much as one might think.  The doll can only sit with its legs spread, compare below:

Below: Kneeling is possible, both upright and on the doll’s haunches (”seiza” position), but again, the legs have to be spread.  The double joints in the knees engage quite smoothly.

Below: The spread-eagled “suwarikko” pose is one of my favourites.  This body can do it, but not as smoothly as Volks, Pettimal or Miyadoll.  It can also sit with both legs bent to one side!

Below: Body can also stand with one leg in front of the other, or slightly raised.

Resin: The resin is heavy and feels very solid.  I don’t see any traces of seams, discoloration or dust.  It is totally opaque with a very slight plasticky look to it.  I have no complaints, resin-wise.

Hybridizing notes:  The body is a good match size-wise for my Mia Soo Smile head and kindergarten Kun-kun, which are both on the slightly smaller side of this size range.  A silicone “KIPS” disc is needed for maximum head mobility.  The neck is on the long side and could stand to be shaved down about 3-5mm (which I intend to do subsequently).  I have since discovered that 2D Doll sells a “short-necked” version of their 1/6-scale body, probably intended specifically for hybrids, whilst the original version which I purchased has the standard longer neck (I surmise that the 2D Doll heads have a deeper neck socket than average).  Be sure to purchase this version for your hybrid, if you wish to save time and effort.   Edit: The standard body is about 235mm at the highest point of the neck.

Below: Colour-wise, 2D Doll normal yellow is an excellent match for slightly yellowed Volks fair - I’d rate it a 95% match.  It is less peachy/ more yellow-toned than Mia’s new normal - about an 85% match.  I will likely order a short-necked normal pink body to compare, and will update this review if so.

Option hands: A small range of option hands is available.  Closed hands are usually some of my favourites, as far as hand poses go, but these ones are strangely bland and look like they were made out of plasticine.   The standard open hands are quite chubby and cute, though, with detailed nails and finger joint creases on the underside.  The main problem as far as the hands go is the lack of an easy-change mechanism.  Combined with the super-tight stringing, I needed the aid of hemostats to be able to change hand parts.

Overall: You know how you can kinda tell, just by looking, that some bodies draw inspiration rather heavily from other well-known or market-leading bodies?  This body doesn’t give me that feeling.  I feel like it was sculpted from scratch, with a specific vision in mind.  The end result is more individual than most 1/6-scale bodies now on the market, whilst also being functional and charming.   And of course, there is that irresistible height difference, which was the main reason I originally purchased this body.  

Purchasing tip: 2D Doll often has sales where bodies are up to 15% off.  I’ve also noticed that a couple of multi-brand Taobao retailers list in-stock dolls at discounted prices, so you may want to take a look if you’re in a hurry.

[struungout]

[mintyliciousbjd]

Received my order from @yovankablack today and oh my gosh these eyes are so detailed! 😍 My photos can't do them justice! Pictured here is a "mixed lot" of B-Grade urethane eyes, and if these beauties are considered B-Grade, I can't begin to imagine how breathtaking their A-Grade eyes are to own. These are up there with urethanes by Dollshe and Mystics, IMO. So much texture with vivid colors! I simply love the iris threading! Anyway, the mixed lot I bought for four B-Grade eyes (single, not pairs) was $20 plus shipping from Greece, and the maker was kind enough to send me two surprise eyes, too! Thank you so much! A mixed lot like this would be perfect for dolls with heterochroma. I’ve listed the size and color names in the second/third photos. Those marked with (*) are the surprise eyes and I'm guessing their color based on the preorder etsy chart. I'll be mixing and matching the 14mm eyes in my MYOU Delia. I'm not sure who will get the 10mm, but one thing is for sure, they are the most detailed 10mm eyes I've ever seen despite their tiny size! Please check out this artist if you are in the market for lovely urethane doll eyes! So many colors to choose from! More photos in doll coming soon! :D

[damasquerade]

Yuhao BJD 1/3 body box opening and review

I’m pretty sanguine about this body’s arrival but it’s a bit of a mess lol. Please keep in mind this is a legit doll. It was quite inexpensive, about $95 USD, and as it was in stock it arrived with my buying agent less than 24 hours after I ordered! I’m annoyed with myself that I didn’t take a full body photo before unstringing him. 

He was sent in a plain box, plenty of bubble wrap, and bonus eyes. The site describes their resin as normal pink skin, but he’s basically Volks NS/common NS-Y. He may have been pinker when first cast but I can tell he’s been in stock a while and has yellowed a bit. Resin matches would be easy though.

His weird jointed hands are adorable. Impractical, fingers swing around, can’t really hold anything, but I love the aesthetic lol. Unfortunately one had come apart in shipping, and upon trying to reassemble it, the very thin resin snapped. Ugh, oops... Epoxy time.

He’s double jointed, but the way the joints are constructed, it’s not a huge improvement on single joints. They should have cut a channel into both sides of the peanut joints so he can actually utilise them properly. The photos show the range of movement in knees and elbows. You can bend it further of course but it doesn’t hold the position ^^ Ankles are rudimentary and limited in movement as shown. The neck joint is oddly square - I’m not sure what neck movement will be like because I’m yet to try on any heads.

I feel like this body has been kicking around for a while... There’s chips in the joints at the back of his knees and wrists. And he was absolutely filthy. Check out the before and after photo of the shins, left one has been scrubbed with soapy water and magic eraser. Finally, one of the knee peanuts has extremely thin resin, as thin as rice paper, to the point where if you press on it it’d definitely break. I’ll have to shore that up from the inside with epoxy.

Price: 10/10 Value for money: 5/10 Speed: 10/10 Posing: 6/10 Verdict: I’d rather have spent $30 extra and gotten a nice sparkling new Fantasydoll body rather than what’s essentially a second-hand body lol. Still, it was an experiment and I’m happy enough with him. Once I fix him up a little he’ll be a nice body for a floating head!

[smallwonderdolls]

Review: Pettimal 1/6 scale (Yo-SD) body

Summary: 9/10 would recommend.

Pros: Shapely sculpting especially on the legs, elegant jointing, good poseability, colour-matching available, variety of option hands, easy to change hands, two available heights, solid quality resin, single-piece torso looks good unclothed or in swimwear. 

Cons: Longggg wait time, single-piece torso limits poses, creaks like crazy at the beginning, non-gendered (if you like having different male/ female bodies), arms slightly on the short side if you’re looking for child-like proportions, elastic in elbow joints is rather visible (I’m grasping at straws here...)

More detailed comments and posing photos:

Wait time: My longest doll-related wait ever, as this body is wildly popular with Chinese collectors.  It took about 7 months from ordering to receiving the body.   Whilst it was finally being shipped to me, I had decided that I was never going to order a Pettimal body again, due to the wait, but after actually receiving the body and playing with it, I changed my mind. XD  

Posing: First off, it’s worth noting that this is the short version (~25.8cm) of the original Pettimal body (~27cm).  Despite the stumpier legs, I still feel like this body was designed for a ballerina, as it poses very elegantly and steadily with one foot directly in front of the other, which isn’t easy to achieve with any of my other bodies in this size range.

It can also do an aesthetically pleasing split, no doubt due in large part to the very mobile upper thigh joint.  The legs are strung to each other through the pelvis and separate from the torso/head - my first doll with this type of system.

Kneeling upright is no problem.  The double joints in the elbows engage effortlessly as you pose the arms.  (I cannot over-emphasise how much of a nice change this is from Miyadoll and Asai’s elbows.)  There are minor indentations and grooves sculpted in which aid the process along.  Along with the visually appealing and easy-to-use upper thigh joints, this is what I call elegant joint sculpting~~

It can kneel on its haunches (seiza position).  (By the by, I deliberately chose to take these posing pictures with a head on, because the head adds a~lot of extra weight on one particular end of the body and it does affect how it poses.)

There is a slightly shelf at the pelvis/ upper thigh that enables the body to lean forward whilst kneeling.

One of my favourite poses, the “side lounge” (sitting with both legs tucked to one side).

And again, without engaging either double joint, this time.  Needless to say, the body can also sit suwarikko (spreadeagled, which is another favourite pose).  There is a good range of motion in the ankle joint, too.

My only issue with this body on the posing front is that it creaks like mad when I move it about!  I’ve never had a doll that creaked before, I don’t think... even my ASAI/ The Lunarlake Murphy, who arrived super tightly strung, and is also Chinese-made.  I think it will wear off, otherwise I will have to downgrade my rating, this noisy of a doll is not acceptable to me. D=

Sculpting: I don’t think I need to say much.  If your taste is like mine, those shapely legs and cute torso speak for themselves.  The single-piece torso, of course, carries its inherent disadvantage of limiting posing.  I would also prefer to have gendered bodies, but the sculptor has declared that no split-torso or gendered Pettimal body will be made available.

Resin: The resin feels good quality - very solid and dense.  I don’t see any traces of seams, discoloration or dust.  There is a small area of roughness along the lip of one of the pelvis sockets, but I think it could be due to unevenness in the mold itself.

This particular body was colour-matched to “2018 Volks normal”, and it’s a pretty close match to my November 2018 Volks SDM body and this ASAI Mira head (which itself is supposedly colour-matched to Volks) - it is just very slightly less peachy/pink than actual Volks resin.  It also doesn’t look translucent at all (unlike Volks, which has a very faint “glow”).

Heads: It will depend on the particular head, of course, but my ASAI Mira head has very good mobility on the neck without the addition of a “KIPS” disc.  Due to its petite proportions, I think this body will match well with smaller heads like Mia’s Soo, or ASAI Mira, Murphy or Aya.

Option hands: 9 pairs available, in sets of 3 pairs each, plus bonus “prayer hands” only available if you buy all 3 sets.  Hands are easy to change as the S-hook rests inside the ball joint after removing the hand.

Price: 800RMB, and option hands are sold in sets of 3 pairs for 270RMB a set.

The 7th Pettimal pre-order is now open (ends 30th November 2019), and the sculptor has also newly released a 1/4-scale body targeted for Volks Mini Dollfie Dream heads.  Please look it up yourself on Taobao (search “Pettimal”), or feel free to let me know if you need help finding it.  

[smallwonderdolls]

LAKE (The Lunarlake) Asai Mira head

My LAKE Mira head has arrived!  I ordered it in “normal skin”, which was described as being close to Volks normal (now known as “fair”), and it does seem very, very close to the pale peach colour of a new-ish Yo-SD option hand I have, although less pink than my late 2018 SDM body.  (I think the visual difference in pinkness is partly due to the slight translucency of Volks resin, causing smaller, thinner parts to read as less pigmented and thicker parts to appear deeper in colour.)

Besides the colour, the resin appears to be very nice quality!  It is my first doll part from China, and I am frankly impressed.  I started collecting dolls in an era when anything and everything BJD which was available internationally out of China was a poor quality rip-off, so I naturally have some bias, but this is a very pleasant surprise.  Granted, I suppose not all China-made dolls are like this, but Mira’s resin at least feels very, very similar to brand-new Volks pureskin - smooth and dense but not plasticky.  I like this resin much better than 2015 Alchemic Labo, 2018 Bluefairy or 2018 Fairyland.

The head came wrapped in bubble wrap and in a branded clear plastic box, with a hand-written photo certificate (I am slightly confused by the certificate, which describes the model (型号) as “Mira” and the doll (人形) as “Asai”).  There are no identifying marks on the head itself, and the head-cap fits rather loosely, with just one small magnet.  

My smartphone pictures do not do it justice, but this is the first head I’ve owned where I felt I could almost see the finger-marks of the artist, and the depressions her fingers left behind!  There are gentle curves on the sculpt that hint at underlying bone structure.  I think this sets it apart from all the other sculpts I own, which I obviously enjoy and are beautiful in their own right but don’t have the same... sensitivity? imperfection? to their planes.  

I am ordering a short-legged Pettimal body for this head. :-)  The body only comes in genderless form, and it will be shipped between August and October, so that gives me some time to decide on this little one’s gender.  I was expecting a girl, since all the Mira photos I like are of adorable little girls, but it looks surprisingly boyish in real life, so who knows...  

There are 2 more Mira heads in-stock at LAKE as of the time of writing.  I hope this post is useful to anyone considering a LAKE sculpt!

[Eyes in the photo are Kanis Augen 14mm and the body is a Miyadoll Baby Mocha in cream white (not a good match). The head fits on both BM (~5.8cm neck) and Volks Yo-SD (~6cm neck) (Bluefairy Junior, too), but poses better with a KIPS disc.]

[resinriever]

Dream Valley Chimera arrived yesterday, after about... 6 months? Production time. This is their Tan resin, I was genuinely surprised she arrived so quickly.

She has the easy-to-remove legs, and the magnets aren't like, super strong, and her feet are fucking massive (I LOVE IT!!) so I do think she comes apart a bit too easily, but I've also heard horror stories about people having the opposite problem with Moth and the like... So I'll take it lol. At least pants will be easier in the long run.