Recast DC Alberta Identifiers

Here is a comparison post between recast and legit DC Albertas. I hope this comparison is useful and helps ease some worries.

Recast Albertas have a different stringing system. S/L drilled these two big holes here so they didn't have to go through the pain in the ass process of using the tiny holes in the legit body. These two big holes are clear indicators of recast status.

Aileen Doll Ashes Recast Identifiers [revised]

New information about recent Ashes dragons at the end of this post. (As of Jan 2014).

On Scammers, and why it's not your crusade

Here's the thing- for as long as there have been replica dolls there have been a few assholes selling them as legitimate dolls.

Recasters often provide fake paperwork and fake headplates. Scammers may have used these to sell recasts as legit.

Why this isn't your crusade: A scammer can use a legitimate set of papers or plates to sell a recast as legitimate. Are you going to tell a company to stop producing these things? In my opinion, the reason FL is one of the top recast companies is because they have no papers, no plates, no logos on the dolls.

Some recasters are now offering boxes. Scammers will use these to sell recasts as legits…because scammers are scammers and that's why they will do.

Restringing a Feeple 60

This tutorial is to show you how to string a Feeple 60 the way Fairyland does it. You could probably string them the normal way, but I prefer the FL way. I'm going to rehash some stuff from the F60/SDgr hybrid tutorial post, so if you read that don't be surprised to see some of the same stuff here. On we go!

Ok first of all, this is a pain in the ass. Probably a bigger pain in the ass than restringing a pukifee, no joke. You WILL want help for this, or else you be looking like a dork like I was doing this.

You will need two lengths of elastic for the body, both about 2ft 4 inches.

Each piece should be around 2 ft 4in.

Unstringing the body:

This was a surprise. F60s need two lengths of elastic, one for each side of the body. To remove the neckpiece, first remove the feet.

Feeple 60/Volks Lorina Hybrid

Ok first of all, this is a pain in the ass. You WILL want help for this, or else you'll be looking like a dork like I was doing this.

This first tutorial is to show how to remove the neckpiece on the F60 body and restring it so you can use it with another head.

Note the First: You will want help for this.

Note the Second: Also, I kinda messed up on this leg. You will actually want to tie the knot and leave it towards the torso. DO NOT untie it like I did or hold the knot at the bottom. It makes things seriously difficult.

Photostory thingy: mature content

Alora's Dream

Alora has long dreamt of seducing the famous hero, Jack. She slept one hundred years in a castle surrounded by roses, cursed, dreaming of him.

He awoke her from her slumber, but he had another love: his childhood sweetheart, Jill. So Alora weeps, waits, plots, and often dreams...

 

The Big Mnf vs JID Comparison

I see this question happen so often, I decided to do a post on it. This is just my opinion, so feel free to take it for what it's worth. Some people won't be bothered by the proportions, so I'll leave it to you to make up your own mind!

The cast:

Poe, a Legit JID Girl (based on my JID legit/recast comparison thread there is little shrinkage between legits and recasts). She has a pretty bad tattoo from when I first got into the hobby as well as a broken elbow. Poor neglected thing really needs some love. She also has the old style large bust, not the new glamour bust (the body S/L have). She desperately wants that new body….

Snow, a recast mnf Rheia: she is a bit smaller than a legit body but not by much. The size comparisons should still be accurate. She has her heeled feet on, so I had to support her in a few pics.

Conclusion:

• The Mnf is obviously the better poser for the dancer-ish poses, but the JID is more sturdy.
• The JID has a more useful mobility joint, and she can almost hug her knees.
• The Mnf body is better sculpted. The new JID body, the one L/S have, is much better, imo. This body is supposed to have additional posing modifications, but JID still can't compare to Mnf.
• If you're going with this hybrid, you will need to mod the mnf neck shorter to accommodate the JID.

I had some serious formatting issues, and I don't know why. Something was up with Blogger I think, so I could not rearrange pictures, nor could I add text between them. Weird!  In any case, I hope this post is useful. Let me know if you need more pictures.

Thank you for reading, and happy collecting!

On Doll Eyes and Eye Positioning

Hi there everyone! It's been a little while, so I thought I'd post up a tutorial on how to position eyes. I, quite frankly, am terrible at it, so I set off to learn what I could about positioning eyes. Follow along with my adventure!

I wanted to avoid this….

Which looks suspiciously like this….

And if that's what you're going for, great! (I think.) If not, read on!

Feeple 60 Head Comparisons: Nanuri A, Chloe, Mirwen

This comparison post is just to show and F60 Chloe and Mirwen. Their heads are pretty different in size and shape. I am including the Nanuri A head as well, since she's a dreaming elf Chloe.

Above is the Nanuri A (left) and Mirwen (right) side views.

Face Up Removal: Windsor and Newton vs Isopropyl Alcohol vs Nail Polish Remover

I've removed a lot of face ups in my short time in the hobby (I've been around for about 4 years). I've used nail polish remover, Winsor and Newton (referred to for the rest of the post as W&N), and various strengths of rubbing alcohol to remove face ups.

I have a few dolls I've been meaning to redo, and I thought while I was at it I might as well take some pictures and do a few comparison/tutorial posts. The next post will be my face up tutorial. I may film it, but I haven't decided yet.

I've decided to do a comparison/how-to feature for these so you can decide which is best for you.

I'm not getting into the acetone/no-acetone debate thing though. I don't know enough about acetone to say either way. I've heard horror stores, but then I've used products with acetone and had no issues myself. So, it's best for me just to avoid that subject for now.

 

Feeple 60 vs Minifee Boy Comparison: Nudity/Peen Warning

Hey there, sexy.

Time for another comparison post! (Or as I came to call it, "Anything you can do I can do better" in honor of their apparent rivalry.) This is a comparison/review of the two bodies, minifee and Feeple 60. Both are legit boys. They are not sueded or wired. The recast minifee boy I sold recently could pose nearly as good as the legit boy once he was strung tight and sueded. It is possible to get recasts to pose well; they just take a little effort.

Give up Jack. I'm prettier.

When posing dolls, the trick is to find the doll's center of gravity. Then you slowly start adjusting the arms and legs until you get them into position, maintaining the doll's balance at all times. As with the girls, the boys were a bit unstable in some poses. I would not leave the doll unattended or in one of these poses for a long time, as they will most likely fall. Super duper crazy poses coming when I have a doll catcher.
 

Feeple 60 vs Minifee Comparison

Here is the promised Feeple 60 vs Minifee Review!

As always, please pardon the crap lighting and the pile of games/doll clothes in the background. Someday I'll take nice pictures. I have to reuse some of the photos from my minifee posing thread here, since both my girls need to be restrung, and I don't know when I'm going to have time to do that.

At first, I was really bummed out by the Feeple 60 body. It seemed unfinished, less refined than the boy body. It still kind of does, but I underestimated it's posing abilities. All of these pictures are taken without sueding, but I will be doing a posing post with both the F60 and girl and the F60 boy after I've sueded them. I didn't have a doll catcher, so I couldn't do a lot of really crazy poses with them, so I hope this works for now. (My designated doll helper is MIA for awhile, and my husband, bless his heart, is terrible at it.)

My helpers are a recast/legit hybrid minifee Chloe Sp mod named Zoey and a legitimate F60 Chloe.

Zoey on the left, Jill on the right.

Feeple 60 vs Feeple 65 Comparison!

Hi all! I had a request via Flikr to do a Feeple 65 vs Feeple 60 vs Minifee comparison! I didn't have a Feeple 65, so the 10thsdirtylittlesecret and Cpmasse helped me out. I have put some comments on the pictures themselves. I have tried to match up the dolls pose for pose, and if I have left any out or you'd like to see more, leave a comment and I'll see what I can do. Due to space issues, I've put the Feeple 60 vs Minifee comparison into it's own post, and I will link to that as soon as it's up.

Please pardon my crappy photos. I have a baby, and while that's no excuse, I do have to take advantage of any quiet moments I have to take pictures. In this case, it's midnight. With crap lighting.

Dolls in the photos not to scale- Since I could not put the F60 right next to the F65, pictures where they are next to each other are not accurate for height. 

Recast girl belongs to the10thsdirtylittlesecret: http://the10thsdirtylittlesecret.tumblr.com/ and http://instagram.com/desu_kirakishou

I'm legit! I'm a Soom Topaz on an F65 body.

Legit girl belongs to Cpmasse. Check out her photos here !

I'm a recast, and I'm adorable.

The recast F65 girl belongs to the10thdirtylittlesecret.

This F60 girl is legit, and belongs to me.

SDgr vs Feeple 60 Comparison Part 2

I was able to do this sooner than I expected, since I had someone to help with the baby. I've got another pose-off in mind for later (Part 3, I guess) with trickier poses once I can find someone to be my dollie-catcher. For some of the poses the girls are standing on game boxes. This is just because I was having issues on the carpet for some poses and not for others. If you are posing your dolls and they seem finicky, try either switching to carpet or to something solid, like linoleum. When posing your dolls make sure they won't fall and break or have someone nearby to catch them.

Lorina has a really useful double-jointed knee that, when used right, makes her able to do a lot. Her mobility jint isn't useful in the way the Iplehouse mobility joint is; all Lorina's is good for is to twist the leg. You can't pop it out to make her hug her knees like with an Iple.

Note on standing with one leg: Both bodies can do this, but I couldn't snap a picture and play doll catcher at the same time. I'll try to get pics soon.

Note on crazy pics on the FL site: Obviously, Lorina couldn't pull all of these off, but neither could Chloe on some of them. With some sueding I'm sure Chloe could do all or most of the ones on the site.

Without further ado-

Let's begin!

Fluff: Concept for my Future Doll Chateau Alberta (legit)

Did a rough sketch while feedin' the baby last night. I was trying to decide between two dolls on my wishlist, either a recast Soom Zinc centaur or a Doll Chateau Alberta. I've sold enough crap to put either one on layaway.

It was a tough call. There are many dolls on my wishlist, but I'm sort of burnt out with my minifees. I am into the bigger and more unique dolls right now, so I defnitely wanted something weird or with fantasy parts.

I thought about a little Ada...she's just so weird and cute. Then I decided to just try to get the Alberta. I missed out on the body I wanted that was such a good deal, due to a buyer backing out (future post coming on flakiness in the bjd hobby).

So here's my concept sketch for my Alberta.

I will definitely need a floofy wig by Natrume. I have one on my F60 Chloe. Just need to pick a color. (must. resist. pink. I have too many pink dolls.) No idea about eyes or a face up or anything. I only know she'll need a corset, bloomers, and little boots or ballet flats.

I'm thinking she'll be a little neo-Victorian fairy thing. She will probably not be a specific fairy tale character like most of my other dolls (she'll be like Zoey, who is just Zoey and doesn't fit the theme).

Possible name ideas: Fortuna, Fable, Whimsy, Sidhe, or something like that.

Recasts and Fake Certificates or Headplates

Recasts sometimes come with fake certificates or headplates. The recasts that do, that I know of offhand, are Iplehouse, Soom, and Volks dolls. This is not a legal discussion, but just a helpful guide.

*new info added at the bottom of the post*

Volks are probably the number one recast doll, perhaps possibly tied with Soom. The recasters often include fake plates with Volks dolls. The metal plates can be determined as forgeries fairly easily (though I don't have access to a legit Volks for further detail this should help):

Plate reads: 1012/DP24

• Plate is ill-fitting
• Plate is of low quality
• Plate lists a Dollpa that never happened or won't happen until a future date
• Plate lists a Dollpa that does not correlate with the Volks doll (a year when the doll wasn't produced)

Here is a pic of my fake Volks' plate (I did not make this plate, nor do I even know how to find them).

Jack and Jill, Double Box Opening: Legitimate Fairyland Feeple 60 Mirwen and Chloe plus other stuffs

(The lighting is really bad in my house despite the sunlight, so apologies for the weird lighting in the pics. I decided against doing a video, since I figured I'd have to cut and pause every five seconds for the baby.)

So I ordered these guys around tax time this year. With no pressing obligations, I was able to do a dream order without feeling guilty. I got two Feeple 60s and all the Valentine items to go with them. After nearly three months waiting, they arrived this morning!

I woke up early to wait for the postman. I figured he'd show up with the slip in hand, ready to just leave it and take off without having to carry the package (I don't blame him, the box is heavy!). He was surprised when I opened the door. He had the form already all filled out and everything and was a bit annoyed he had to go back to the truck for the box.

The box, by the way, was huge.

How Choose a Doll

Really, no one can tell you exactly how or what doll to choose. Yet, people still ask all the time. So I've decided to put together a small guide to help those of you who want some help.

There are a few places you can go for handy links. DoA has a list of dolls under $300 as well as a database full of sculpts and companies. Be sure to check these out.

FAQ: Ordering a Doll From a Company or Dealer

How do I buy a doll?

Buying your first doll can be really intimidating. It's a lot of money to shell out at once, plus a long wait…it can be scary! The following post should help you feel better about purchasing a doll.I'm including some screenshot of the process for Fairyland, but it's the same basic process no matter where you shop. All screen shots are of FL's page. I've merely used them to illustrate the points.

Thoughst on two recent bjd confessions...plus, NO MORE HATE

There is a confession about pro-recast hypocrisy here .This confession is worth discussing.

Firstly, as Resinmuse noted, simply wishing for the existence of a certain recast is NOT the same as buying it for the intention of recast. No one in the thread discussed buying the doll to send it to be recast.

Secondly, as Resinmuse also noted, not all people who buy recasts have the same code of ethics. People have different morals and ethics no matter what groups they are a part of. Just because you disagree with those ethics doesn't necessarily make them wrong.

Things will always be at risk for bootlegging, theft, piracy, and copying when they are subject to limited availability and high prices. It's just the way things are. We are allowed to voice sadness at this and get excited about the possibility of attaining things, even if there is no way we could or even would (I think the Kinoko Juice doll is just darling, but I would not personally purchase a recast of one).

Then there is this confession.

To compare recast buying with such hot button issues shows a lack of common sense and is nothing but extremism, no matter what side of the debate you are on. Do not bully people for their views and beliefs or else you become exactly the things you hate. (I believe Nietzsche said something to that effect….and I apparently can't spell his name sooo...)

There are pro-recast people who are pro-life, just like there are anti-recast people that are racists. Having one belief does not preclude another. This is like the antiquated atheist vs Christian debate, as in just because you don't believe in a god all the sudden you're a child-sacrificing cannibal who kicks puppies and wants to murder everyone. Or alternatively… being a Christian automatically makes you an uneducated moron who wants to return to the Dark Ages and burn people at the stake. Or you're all Westborough Baptist Church. Seriously? Assuming does make an ass out of U and ME, so let's avoid it, okay?

I'm a pagan, I'm privately pro-life, politically pro-choice. I don't steal (even though some of you might disagree), but I have done so to survive. I don't lie. I don't cheat; I cheated once in 3rd grade, got caught, and had to go to confession so I never did it again. I did, and still do, stack the Candyland deck to make sure I make it to the Lollipop Princess first just because I think she's cute. I also happen to be very anal about Scrabble rules. I'm not racist. I have no opinion on the sex trade (when it is choice not forced). I've never attempted to summon the devil by sacrificing a black cat (though I had a black cat who recently died due to coyote attack), though I do tell fortunes via tarot cards and use Ouija boards. I try to be the best person I can be, though I know I have flaws. I've had a parking ticket, but I never speed. I also purchased bootleg dolls once upon a time. Yeah. I'm a real monster.While I no longer own the bootlegs and have since ceased buying them, the point of this remains the same:

Everyone has a story, a reason for their morals, a reason they are who they are. The fact that they are pro-recast or anti-recast doesn't mean a fucking thing. Both sides need to grow up and remember this.

Please, let's just stop the hate. 

I apologize for the rant.

Thanks for reading, and happy collecting!