Sion's new body | Volks SD17 Hijikata Toshizou 1st box opening

If you saw my previous post detailing my sudden rush of feelings about Sion and ordering him a Volks SD17 body on Mandarake on Monday, you won't be surprised at what this is -

A box opening!

Yes, Mandarake is really fast, and it definitely satisfies the urge to buy and get (almost immediately) rewarded. I'm typing this on a Saturday, but I ordered and paid for the doll on Monday, and the package came on Thursday. 4 days from order to arrival. :0

Anyway, I say I got Sion a SD17 body, but what I actually bought was a full doll - Volks SD17 Hijikata Toshizou (1st). I'll probably put the head on the marketplace after I'm done sorting things out. Along with Sion's old body. But let's move on to the box opening first, shall we?

This is how the box came! The yellow paper is for the GST (goods and service tax) I had to pay because I didn't dare ask Mandarake to underdeclare. ;-; Oh well, it's better to be safe right?

I opened the box from the bottom so that's why this is actually the back of the Hijikata box.

Took it out. Mandarake's shipping and packing is always secure and I'm always really happy when I get their stuff (plus the quick turnover between order to arrival helps).

Without the bubblewrap. The box is actually really nice. A pearly white, which is much nicer than my SDGr Tae Lovely Dress box. And for something from 2010, this is in pretty good condition!

I forgot what exactly was inside and was pleasantly surprised to find a wig! There's also the certificate, and the costume (minus shoes, belt and pocketwatch but that was written in the sales page so I was prepared for it). The bag is a zippered cushioned case which is convenient. I never realised Volks did this type of cushion so early? I got similar cushions from Switch for the Attractive Body. Anyway.

Hello~

He's such a cute doll even though I didn't buy him for the head but just for the body.

His default faceup is quite cute actually. And in like 80-90% good condition? The eyes are still hot-glued in lol. At this point I realise he's pretty unyellowed as well and so out came some other dolls for comparison.

Volks NS 2010 (Hijikata 1st) and 2008 (Olivia 2nd). My Olivia's definitely alot more yellow.

More resin comparisons. Sion (Migidoll Miho) is actually the yellowest here... yes, even compared to Freddie (Volks Olivia)... And I know Elly (Volks Tae) has yellowed slightly because her leg parts are a different colour. But the new SD17 body matches her which means it's pretty unyellowed for its age.

See? Sion is actually yellower lol. Also yea I drew sideburns for him for his wig and it looks dumb like this oops.

Sion's twin, Hew, on the left, is actually less yellow than Sion and would probably match the Volks SD17 body better but I feel weird snatching his brother's head to use for him so... I'll probably leave it as it is. 

Hew (left) on the Little Monica Harmony body vs Sion (right) on the new Volks SD17 body! I love the new proportions Sion has. He used to have a similar body to his twin (type A while Hew uses type B) but eh, the upgrade is wayyyyy better. I don't know what I'll do about Hew but he's staying on his current body for now because I spent too much on Sion...

Ah, so I've mostly been singing praises about the body (super happy with this purchase), but there's some minor flaws, of course. You can't really see it here but his finger tips are kind of dirty/grey. And his forearm is super smooth almost like he's been handled there alot? Which is weird because his forearm is still about the same colour as the rest of his body so I'm not sure why/how that happened but it's not a super big deal. There's also some minor scratches and stuff from handling I guess, which is normal and doesn't bother me now.

And here's Sion :D So cute. I want to redo his faceup so he can be the best version of himself possible but I'll do it when I have more feeling/energy.

Sion feels better now, and damn do I like the Volks SD17 body. Not just because it looks nice and gives Sion better proportions, but also because of it's heft. Like it's heavy, and that's something I like in my dolls like they feel more solid? I feel like I like bodies that are more heavy, and consequently all the dolls high on my list of favourite at home are those with solid feeling bodies... lol.

Lastly, here's a quick height comparison of Alfie (Switch Waseon on Attractive 65 body), Sion (Migidoll Miho on Volks SD17 body) and Gabby (CP dreaming lishe boy on Delf type 3 body).

Unoa Chibi Roron box opening

I actually got the Unoa Chibi Roron on Thursday late afternoon, when I was going out, so I could only open her at night. I didn't have time to edit the photos and resize them until just now, but here's the box opening for the Unoa Chibi Roron I bought off Mandarake :)

First of all, she arrived really quickly, I used EMS, but I'm still surprised by how fast it is. She pretty much came to me 5 days after I paid (4 days for shipping), and the only thing weird about the shipping was how Speedpost (the Singapore website) didn't update the tracking, so the parcel was recorded as "processing" when she was already on her way to my house. But anyway, that's a small error, and I did get her before I went out, so that's all good.

This is the box she came in, which is a Mandarake shipping box. Mandarake always ships their stuff in their shipping boxes, I think they have different sizes for lots of different things, because I got different boxes for the wigs and faceplate I've bought from them last time.


Flipped the box over to open from the other side so I won't have to peel the EMS plastic off, since it's always really sticky. So you can see this is actually the bottom of the Unoa box, because I did open the outer box from the bottom. There's a bunch of bubblewrap and paper to cushion the box, nothing fancy but well packed.


And once I took out the box, the Unoa box itself had a layer of bubblewrap.


They even have this plastic thing to hold the box so it won't open, which is nice.


Then the main part, the doll! I wasn't completely sure what I would get exactly, because even though Mandarake takes photos of everything that would go in the item, the photos are kind of small, so I was waiting until box opening to know what I got exactly. There's the Unoa Roron with faceup (slightly chipped on one eyebrow), and she's wearing some green glass eyes. There's also a blank Roron default face. So you know the default Roron comes with 3 types of teeth/mouth parts. I got all three (in that little package on the right), but it basically means I only have the fullset of teeth for one of the Rorons, and the Roron with the faceup only has one set (which she's already wearing inside). Basically,. I have 4 teeth parts to share between 2 Rorons, when I think usually I should have 6, but anyway I don't know why I have two default Rorons faceplates to begin with so...

Ah yeah, there were also Glastic 12mm eyes (default Unoa ones) and a furwig (also default Unoa ones I presume), the eye mechanism, and a little solid rod of resin that's supposed to be a tester for faceup and solvents. There's also the certificate/instructions, and some wires (probaby for restringing?)

I didn't really look at all the items super closely to be honest, because I was already kind of overwhelmed since there's more little items than I expected, lol.

Anyway, a closer photo of the doll. She has body blushing, and I think she also has MSC sprayed all over the body, which is chipping at the joints. I don't know if I'll remove it but for now I'm definitely just going to leave it because I don't have the time to clean her up properly. The body blushing isn't fantastic, but it isn't super bad either, so it'll be okay until I have time to go clean her body up.


And since I actually bought this Roron for the body, and not the doll, I took out the two Unoa faceplates I already have (they're the ones with eyes in the photo below). The Rorons are on the top, and the ones I already own are below. Mandarake wasn't sure what skintone the Roron is, and to be honest, I don't know either. Both my Unoa Lilin default and Unoa Lilin Roar are supposed to be fresh skin, but they are slightly different shades. They kind of match the body, and they also kind of match the two Rorons, but since the kind people on UnoaFreaks already told me that Fresh and Normal skin are pretty similar... I don't really know what skintone the Roron and the body are. But anyway, they all match, mostly, so it's not an issue. (Also, I did sand the Roar faceplate to get rid of the shininess, so that might affect colour as well).

Ah, and I just realize you can see the shiny rubs of the MSC on the hip/thigh joint in the photo above. Yeah, the MSC is chipping in her joints. But ah well. It's not very obvious.

Then I tried the faceplates onto the body. I didn't really take a lot of photos because I got distracted, but here's a photo of the Lilin default, with the Unoa wig:


And one of the Roar face, with her proper wig and eyes. I don't know what to name her yet, but this little girl is the official owner of the chibi body. :) She's really cute. I haven't really decided on what I want to do for her faceup, and I'm thinking I might just wing it as I go... we'll see. If the weather is okay, I might spray MSC on her tomorrow, since I have to do a commissioned faceup as well.


Also I don't have photos, but the Chibi body is chubbier than the Unoa 1.5 body. Chubbier fingers and chubbier calves. It's so cute. :D :D

And oh yeah, the Lilin default will probably be a body snatcher until I decide what to do with it, so she (he?) is still a floating faceplate. The 2 Rorons I'm probably going to sell, once I take proper photos in natural lighting. They're not as cute as the Lilins I already have, which is lucky, because I don't think I can take having so many faceplates around. I also need to take photos of the green glass eyes to sell. I don't even know what size they are though. Anyway, sorry if I don't sound too enthusiastic, I'm typing this at 2am, and I'm sleepy. Plus, the actual logistics of selling the extras and getting the faceplates I do want faceupped is a to-do on the back of my mind, so it dampens my excitement about the new doll, lol. Either way, I'm going to go and sleep now. Goodnight!

Jelly's box opening [ 5Stardoll Jadeite Human ]

After about 2 months since I ordered her, my little girl has finally arrived! She came this morning, and I found her box sitting on my table when I woke up. : D (Mum signed for her from the postman).

I really like the Jadeite sculpt when I saw the face from Dybbuk's box opening, and I went on to email 5Stardoll to see if I could get her on a normal human body. I like the praying mantis, but I wanted a girl, haha. 5Stardoll is actually really nice and replies really fast, and I found out I could get her on a Star10 body.

I actually took a while to decide to get her, mainly because I was trying to save enough paypal funds by selling things. I ordered her after I managed to save enough, which is quite fast, given how 5Stardolls are actually quite affordable! She's the price of the normal Star10 doll (150USD). If I had managed to order her 2 weeks earlier, she would have been 20USD cheaper, but seeing how she is already such a good price, I don't really think it's that big a difference. :)

So, here's the box opening of my lovely girl~

The box she came in.


Flipped it over. I noticed the dent, which was a bit deep...


And the box. The inner doll box got dented/cut too. Ah well. It's a pity but nothing serious.


A closeup of the dent/cut. That aside, the box is quite nice and simple :>


And you probably can't see it while it's in the box, but the box is shrink-wrapped.


Removed the shrink wrap.


She got a card. And a wig, as a gift (:


Haven't open this wig yet, but it looks like a long wig, with bangs, I think?


She came with eyes and putty too. I presume what's in the blue envelope is her certificate, but because it was wax sealed, I didn't open it. Haha.


She doesn't have pillows, just a sort of carrier with a zip.


And here she is! The carrier kept her protected well, and the doll itself was also shrink-wrapped. Haha. First box opening with shrink wrap and not bubblewrap. And her little top is really pretty as well. :>


5Stardoll even bothered to tie a ribbon for ease of removing her head. Which I did use, to put in some eyes.


I took off her top, so I can check for damages. Her lower torso is slightly darker than the upper one. I used a magic eraser on it but it seems to still be there, so I left it. You can see her (: The proportions are much better than I imagined, because I didn't have any photos to base it on, just what the company told me. Haha.


And a closer look. She's actually wearing Nat's eyes, because Nat is now using the spare Mako eyes I ordered from long ago. (I ordered it for him, but didn't think the colour was right. But I went to change his eyes yesterday, so he'll be a bit different for a change.)


Got her standing. She's not the most stable poser, and she's a bit floppy, but fiddle a bit and I got her to stand well enough. I think she might need kips in her shoulders, or a tighter elastic. Haha.


And in pants. I don't have a shirt for her yet.






Here she's with my LTF, who is clearly shorter than she is. 5Stardoll's Star10 line is about 30cm, while the LTF is about 26cm. Also, at this point, I noticed that even though I got her in NS, she looks a lot paler than my LTF...


Grabbed my WS Unoa faceplate to check, and you can see how Jelly (my Jadeite) is closer to the WS than the NS...she is a tad pinker than the Unoa, but overall, mostly white. Apparently, from the replies I got on DoA, this is pretty normal.
5Stardoll has Yellow skin (or NS-Y?) and Pink skin (or NS-P), and I think this is the NS that is the pink one. Someone said the yellow skin might be a closer colour to Fairyland's NS. But you know what this means? It means that once I get the Unoa faceplate a headback, I NEED to try her out on Jelly's body for proportions. The slight difference in colour can probably be easily hidden with more blushing. (Aka if it works out maybe the Unoa faceplate can have a relatively cheap body, haha.)


Oh, and the Jadeite sculpt has a bit of a weird edge in the middle of her face, which you can see as a pronounced bump in her forehead from this angle. Doesn't really show up when she's in a wig, but just something I noticed.


And Jelly says bye, thank you for looking!

Box opening: Unoa Chibi Lilin Sleeping faceplate

First things first, I ordered this from Mandarake last week, and it arrived today, so around a week or so. Really fast, and oh so bad for impulse buying tendencies! Since this is my first time ordering from Mandarake, I wasn't sure what to expect, but the whole process was quite simple. I signed up for an account on Mandarake, place the item I wanted into my cart, then check which type of shipping I wanted (I chose EMS, but there is Small Package as well). And since Mandarake has storefront and warehouse items, and my Unoa faceplate is a storefront item, they took 2 days to check if my item was still available, then gave me the total price including shipping and handling charges. And another day or so later, I got my tracking number :D

So the box. Even though it was just a single Unoa Chibi faceplate, they shipped it in a pretty big box. You'll see what I mean if you watch my box opening video. Haha.





To be honest, I wasn't sure what skintone she would be, because I can't find it in the description, and the packaging didn't write. One look at her once she's out of the box showed that she was white skin, or fairy skin, as Unoa calls it.


She has those sculpted eyebrows, that don't really show up on camera. And her lips has lip lines sculpted too. Really fine work.


And the back of her faceplate has two carved dots? I know that B-grade Unoas have 2 dots to show that they are B-grade and not standard grade, but the only photo I've seen doesn't have the dots at the eyewells like mine does. So I'm not too sure. She does have a bit of obvious seamlines, that are more protruding than usual.


And her with the packaging and a wig stopper that came with her.


I bought this faceplate thinking to modify it, but I'm not sure what I want to do with it yet. Took a photo of her against the light to show where her resin is thinner. That's probably where I'll start her eye modification, after I decide whether I want dreaming eyes, small but fully open eyes, or just open eyes. And whether I want to mod her lip to a bit more of a smile or smirk too...


And I also compared her with my Cypher, my LTF Pong Pong for size.


They seem relatively similar enough in size, though the Unoa is a bit bigger.


But on the body the neck is clearly too short. It could be because of the mouth part on the headback for the Pong Pong head, because I have seen Unoa Chibi Roar on a LTF body. Hmm...well, I don't really like the proportions, I think she's a bit too bobbleheaded.


But you know, if you wrap the body up, you can still take some photos. Haha.


Now it's time to think about how I want to modify her. And then who she might be, as a character. I've also been looking at hybrids, trying to get her as close to a YoSD size as possible, for ease of sharing clothes, but I'm leaning towards the hybrids that are a bit taller in terms of how they look. Either way, since I got her as a project to do, I'm only going to worry about that once I get her faceplate modded properly first. It'll be my first eye opening mod, and my second mod so far (the first was Caillen's nose). Excited and nervous at the same time. :0

I'm not as fond of this faceplate as I am of the default Lilin faceplate, but it was a good price, and I figured modifying it would be fun. At the same time, I think I can grow to like the sculpt, especially after modifications, but I'm trying to not let myself be too attached to it first, because I don't want to start getting ahead of my intent and skip the process of modifying her and slowly letting her take shape, and just hurriedly buying her a body and headback etc, just to see her more "complete".