Dolly Ramble: Shelling Rhys
I've considering shelling Rhys for a very long time. She was one of my character's in a "mini campaign" (of our much larger D&D campaign) where she served as a shadar-kai (shadow elf) private investigator, investigating a cult that was up to no-good. She also drove the squad's car into a "god's" newly-born avatar.
This is my long-standing, multi-year D&D online campaign, and this was the art I used for represent her. I found out afterwards it was a fan edit of Pillars of Eternity's Ydwen, but I was really happy how closely it matched my mental image of Rhys! Finding a BJD sculpt for her has been kind of elusive, though.
I've long considering a Minifee Nanuri 17 head for her. However, something about it has always felt a little... off for me, and I don't love the sculpt - which is always the goal for my dolls. I've also considered a minifee juri 2020 and a minifee klaus, both of which I really like, but the stars just haven't really aligned on it. I guess I'm a little hesitant because, while I do love my minifees, I don't love how bobbleheaded they are compared to my other msds, whose heads tend to be at least half an inch smaller.
I do think both of them have quite a bit of potential to be Rhys still. I've also considered Klaus for my elven rogue who lost something quite dear to her in a horrific ritual, but the consideration for Rhys still stands.
For some of the less melon-headed options (lol), I do really love Withdolls. I have considered a few different ones, namely Angela and Kyle.
I really like both, but I am hesitant to use Kyle for Rhys because there's so few male sculpts I like that are msds that fit with the majority of my crew and I would like to eventually get a Kyle and Aiden for additional boys to... make a futile attempt to slightly "balance" out my crew.
I love Angela but I would have to modify her mouth since something about it has always bothered me - I think it's the lack of a sculpted cupid's bow, which is probably one of my favorite parts of lip anatomy.
Withdoll Nana has been up for heavy consideration, though - I think she's sculpted from the same base as Angela (which is probably the same as Luna, Rachel, and Cynthia), but she has a really nicely sculpted mouth and I really like her more defined nose shape around the nostrils, compared to Angela's.
While her head is up to debate, though, I'm fairly certain I know what body I'd like for her: the "no gender" body from Fatemoons.
Most female BJD bodies are quite... well-endowed in certain assets, as either wasp-waited hourglasses or bottom-heavy pears, and my mental image of Rhys' body was tall, lanky, and athletic but not particularly muscular - long muscles, rather than bulky and show-y. My mental image would probably put her as a "rectangle/banana" body type which, while underrepresented in most doll lines, is actually the body type of the majority of women! I don't care about my dolls being anatomically correct (and sometimes I really wish they weren't), so the body being "no gender" is a benefit too, if anything.
Unfortunately it seems like Fate Moon's dolls are almost always only available in "milk/white" resin so I am waiting to see if a very pale pinkish color becomes an option. I know I can always dye a body and white is technically closer to how Shadar-kai are typically depicted (as white or grey), but white resin is my least favorite fantasy skin color... I kind of hate how it photographs outside - pale flesh resins can reflect in the sun really badly as it is, sometimes making their noses barely visible, and since Rhys is alive, I prefer something that implies some blood circulation. I've already asked Denverdoll about it, so I am just waiting to hear back. If I do with a Withdoll head for Rhys, I would probably get it in rose white or cream white resin - pale but not paper/snow white.
I am probably going to be shelling some other characters before Rhys regardless, but shelling her always comes back into mind. Her and her companion's mini campaign was fun (and very Call of Cthulhu inspired...), though unfortunately we "failed" the mission lol. We solved the bigger crisis at hand with the "main party" at least, though! Rhys and her companions/coworkers survived the destruction of the city and aided as much as they could in the recovery effort, and I like to wonder what else they might have gotten up to.
