There’s a new doll in town–a very small new doll clad in white!

For a while it felt like the release date of the Pure Neemo that I preordered would never come! The site listed it as “Late August,” but when the final week of August came and went I started to feel worried. Luckily the invoice arrived on the 1st of September, and she shipped the next day! ♥

When she arrived at my office yesterday, I was so excited that I couldn’t wait until I got home to open her up~ I’ve never purchased a Pure Neemo before, so it was very thrilling to open the parcel! The box is made of a very thick plastic, and entirely clear–all the patterned cardboard is on the inside packaging. This is much different from the toy dolls sold in US stores, which are generally more cardboard on the outer package with a thin plastic window. (This is similar for Pullip boxes.) The Pure Neemo box is pretty sturdy!

The doll was sandwiched between several layers of plastic, so she couldn’t move in the box but wasn’t tied down to anything. After having spent a lot of time cutting dolls out of packaging in the past, trying not to tear or break anything, this was QUITE a relief! I wish it were a more widespread method of packaging for dolls. Her hair wasn’t sewn into anything or wrapped up in anything, although she had a little plastic headband keeping her bangs in place. It gave her some serious “hat hair,” haha!

She was already dressed in her underthings, dress, socks, and shoes, with her other accessories in individual packages taped under the plastic behind the doll. I thought it was a cute touch that the flaps of the plastic envelopes mention (in English) that they are resealable. Her kitty-eared cape, hairbow, necklace, and bunny were each packaged separately, along with some paperwork and what seems to be a postcard-type photo of the doll. (I didn’t open the papers, so I’m not sure.) It wasn’t hard to get everything out and dress her in her full attire. She looks so cute!

This pose of “kitten paws” uses two different hands–the right hand has a wrist that is curled forward, and the right hand has a wrist that is straight. The posing for the fingers is very similar.

One of the things that intrigued me the most is her collection of extra hands! She has so many pairs! Each pose has a lot of variety–it isn’t just the position of the fingers that changes, but also the wrist. The peg system makes it very easy to change the hands, and they’re made from a plastic that is sturdy but slightly flexible, so I don’t worry too much about breaking off or bending fingers. My favourites so far are the “punch!” hands and the “I love you!” hands. I’m trying to think of interesting ways to use the hands–so far my favourite is to combine two different poses of hands; it adds a layer of subtlety of expression that I prefer to having the same style for both.

My ball-jointed dolls have removable hands, and I own a few different pairs, but the cost and availability makes it slightly prohibitive to own a large variety. Each set of standard hands is $30+ per pair, and some of the more unusual hand positions are only available with the Volks Full Choice System. It’s not easy to find those hands on the aftermarket. Dollfie Dreams have more easily-available hands, as there is no Full Choice System, and the price is lower, but they’re still more than $20 per pair. Building up a collection is something I’d like to do over time, but it isn’t within my budget to buy all of the hands in one fell swoop. The Pullips that I’ve owned haven’t had interchangeable hands at all. Some Obitsu bodies have extra hands, but only a few additional pose options. I’ve never had the same range as the Pure Neemo hands offer, and it’s lots of fun! Hands play an important role in the way a body is posed–they’re a very expressive part of the body. Even something slight–like the thumb position of a tightly-clenched fist versus as a looser closed hand–conveys a different emotion. The Pure Neemo hands give so many options~

I haven’t quite gotten the hang of posing the Pure Neemo body–it’s not what I’m used to. In particular, her knees seem rather loose, so she bends them at the slightest provocation. It’s made it somewhat more difficult than I’m used to for her to stand unassisted. My other dolls have knees that “lock” in one way or another, but if hers are capable of doing so I haven’t figured it out yet. When I try to balance her on her own weight, her knees buckle; it’s quite difficult. Even propping her up against something else doesn’t seem to stop it. I need to get more practice.

I left the settings on my camera much too underexposed when I took these pictures, but I didn’t realize until after I had already put everything away. I managed to salvage them, but now they’re grainy.

I haven’t yet decided what her name should be. When I see her white outfit and white hair she make me think of the moon, but even that has only been slightly inspiring. “Luna” would be easy, but not all that interesting, and I’d immediately associate her with the black cat from Sailor Moon, so then I thought of naming her “Artemis,” but I’d want a cuter nickname than “Art” or “Arty.” I have considered “Serenity,” after Sailor Moon‘s princess and queen of the Silver Millennium, but I’m not 100% satisfied with it right now. Some other ideas were “Moonbeam” or “Moonstone.” I never have an easy time naming dolls!

It was a lot of fun to have her on my desk at work, even though she just sat there and looked cute. Maybe she’ll come back to visit again sometime. I’m slightly worried about that, though, because leaving with her box yesterday was not easy! I regularly get parcels delivered to my office, to avoid theft, so I’ve walked out my building many times carrying a box–but this time a security guard stopped me, insisted on inspecting the box, and told me I had to have a form to prove that the box was mine. It was not fun! I have never heard of such a form, and neither have any of my coworkers. I was very flustered to be stopped in the lobby when there were so many other people coming and going and I knew I would miss my bus because of the delay. If it happens again I’m going to have to be firm but reasonable. Everyone needs to do their job, but I don’t intend to have my personal belongings searched again.

I’m looking forward to dressing her up in some other clothing~ I purchased a cute “St. Potre Dame” junior high school uniform for her, but I think she needs some school-okayed shoes before she can wear it. Her pointy-toed boots would look very funny with a uniform!