Sailor Moon, as a series, has meant quite a lot to me over the years, so when Volks announced their Sailor Moon Dollfie Dream in late 2017, I was pretty excited. I was lucky to have a successful lottery entry, but after the doll arrived… there was a lot of other stuff going on, and I didn’t even open her. As time passed, I felt guilty when I saw the sealed box, and I started to think that I ought to sell her… and then Volks announced Mars and Mercury. I decided to try for them both, and I was lucky enough to be successful once again! Now that they’re here, after the somewhat muddled Volks International invoicing and shipping delays, I took some time to do a box opening for all 3.
Three large boxes! I had quite a time hauling Mars & Mercury home… they arrived at my office on the same day, and the boxes barely fit in the IKEA bag I brought! Toting them home on the train was definitely an experience… XD
Who’s in the first box? It’s Sailor Moon! (It seemed only appropriate that she be opened first, since she arrived first.
Here’s the box! It’s the drawer-style.
Unfortunately, my box suffered some rough handling during its voyage, and one corner is pretty crumpled. (This was visible on the outside shipping carton as well.) Nothing inside the box was damaged.
And the first look inside! She’s packed like a Dollfie Dream, ribbon belts holding the plastic-bagged doll to an insert, not cushioned or bubble-wrapped like other dolls.
I know that her face hasn’t been the most popular, but I think she’s very cute!
Underneath the doll are her papers, accessories, wig, and outfit pieces!
And this is everything she came with! Uniform, extra hands, boots, wig, papers, and a box with her plastic accessories!
Another view of the uniform, boots, and the accessories tray removed from the white box.
She came with a lot of gloves, several of them custom designed for the extra hands, so that she can do some poses fitting for the character.
And here are the hands! I love the variety of extra hands, but I must say I’m terrible at the process of actually replacing them on the wrist structures.
This is the accessories tray, with the top removed for a better look. The tiara is just set on top; it was in a plastic baggie and taped to the back. This tray would fit a much shallower tiara, but they went with a different design than they originally intended, it seems.
And here’s her wig! The odango are rather odd-looking from any angle other than straight-on. I’m hoping I can eventually get her another wig for more general use… I don’t want to risk damaging this one!
And here she is, removed from the plastic bag! She has the Dollfie Dream Sister standard body, not to the new f3 that Mars and Mercury have, as she was released before it was introduced. It’s normal skin and medium bust, which does match Mars and Mercury.
Another picture of her face, this time without the plastic bag in the way! I like her eyes a lot more than I expected to…
Here she is, dressed in the uniform! (I got lazy and put the mitten glove on one hand…)
She doesn’t have one of the crescent moon charms on her boot, because the hook snapped off when I tried to affix it! Thankfully it was an easy repair with a dab of nail glue, which I keep on hand precisely for this kind of thing. It was drying when I took this picture. Usagi is watching while the other box openings continue.
And now, on to Sailor Mars!
Another picture of the box; this one didn’t suffer any major bumps on its journey.
On the inside it’s basically identical to Sailor Moon’s packaging.
I like the makeup and face of Sailor Mars a lot more than I expected to, given the promotional photos. Her eyes seemed much more angular; I’m happy with how they look on her.
All of her goodies are tucked below the insert that holds the doll!
Here’s everything from inside the box—uniform, high heels, wig, white box of accessories, and booklet!
I really like the fabric and colour chosen for her uniform. It has such a lovely sheen! I had a hard time capturing it well for this picture.
Her wig is very dark, so I couldn’t get too much detail when it’s flat like this. It has a nice violet sheen, just like Rei’s hair is usually illustrated.
Sailor Mars is on the Dollfie Dream Sister f3 body, normal skin and medium bust. I can’t really tell much of a difference from this and the previous body on Sailor Moon, but maybe that’s just because I’m not an expert.
I’m really happy with her face! She’s darling!
Obviously she needed to be dressed into her uniform! (A warning, though… there are some stains on her forehead and above her ears from wearing her tiara for these box-opening pictures! This did not happen to Usagi or Ami… I think putting tape on the back of the tiara would be a good idea to avoid this fate for anyone else.)
Now Sailors Mars and Moon are ready to welcome their next teammate, Sailor Mercury! (Although canonically, Moon and Mercury would welcome Mars… ;D)
It’s another box very similar to the others!
No damage here!
She’s in her box exactly the same way that Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars were packed. Honestly, it’s pretty efficient.
Underneath the insert with the doll is a sea of blue! She’s somewhat monochromatic compared to Sailors Moon and Mars.
Sailor Mercury comes with her uniform, boots, wig, a box with accessories, and booklet.
Her uniform is the same style and fabric as Sailor Mars, but in Mercury’s signature blues.
I wasn’t sure about her wig, at first glance, but when it’s worn by the doll it’s a very nice representation of her character’s hairstyle. I do wish it didn’t have a black wig cap, however.
Sailor Mercury has the exact same body as Sailor Mars—Dollfie Dream Sister f3, normal skin, medium bust.
I think Ami is my favourite out of all three! I feel that she really looks like the character [b” target=”_blank”>and[/b” target=”_blank”> she looks adorable to boot! She seems like she could be really versatile, even with the blue eyebrows.
Here’s the third sailor soldier of today’s box opening in her uniform and wig! I think she looks wonderful.
Here’s a quick side-by-side of all three dolls. I can’t really see much difference between Sailors Mars and Mercury vs Sailor Moon, even though they share one body type and she has the other. I know that the internal frame is slightly different, but it isn’t outwardly visible.
Here’s all three! Now that this happened, I have to say that I’m happy that I didn’t sell Sailor Moon… I hope I can find a place to keep them displayed together. It brings a smile to my face to see the trio. If Volks releases Jupiter and Venus I am definitely doomed! XD
What’s this? Oh right, their school uniforms! I entered for these in the same lottery as Mars and Mercury, and they arrived on the same day as the dolls!
When they’re not fighting crime as pretty soldiers, they’re ready for the trials of teenage life as schoolgirls.
I really failed at getting around to making resolutions this year! It’s halfway over already!
I guess that’s okay–because I haven’t made any progress on the things I initially thought I would aim towards, and I’ve changed my mind several times. Whoops. It’s been an interesting doll year so far! I’ve got quite a few things that I need to write about!
In the meantime, here are my current doll resolutions. I’m not going to bother yet with the things I might have considered and abandoned already. XD Continue reading »
The original Pure Neemo Advance D Type body, posed for sitting Japanese-style, but with no joints!
Lily has a penpal–Pidge, another Dollfie Dream Ms. Mariko. Pidge’s household originally sent my household some lovely presents for Valentine’s Day when I participated in a gift swap on the Dollfie Dreams forums. (You can view the photo story here!) Pidge didn’t yet live in that household when the Valentine’s Day event happened, but neither did Lily live in mine~ Still, Littlebearries‘ Alna was such a wonderful secret Valentine that I couldn’t help but feel excited to reciprocate for White Day. (You can view her side of the story here!)
From reading Alna’s blog entry about her receipt of the White Day present, I was reminded of the existence of a certain type of 1/6-scale dolls–Pure Neemo! ♥ This wasn’t the first time I knew of or have seen these adorable dolls made by Azone, but I hadn’t thought of them in a little while. At some point during my earlier Pullip-collecting days I was tipped off to Pure Neemo. If I recall correctly, it started off with my looking at Blythes and reading about Blythe restoration, which moved to the types of bodies that Blythe collectors and enthusiasts like to choose–and the Pure Neemo body was one of those options. It’s an interesting little 1/6 body–originally the body (called “Pure Neemo Advance”) was non-jointed, put together with a peg system. The goal was to avoid unsightly joints for display or photography. They released these bodies in all sorts of poses, including a kneeling body for posing dolls sitting properly at Japanese low tables. Continue reading »
Lily and Mimi can generally share most wigs, even though Lily’s head is quite a bit smaller than Mimi’s, but I prefer it when Lily wears the black wig that I bought for her. I really like the contrast of the dark hair and her pale white skin. I do worry about staining from her wearing such a dark wig, however, so I don’t keep it on her all the time. For a while I kept her in a blonde wig (Mimi’s Nono default wig), but the bangs really need to be trimmed so it isn’t very flattering. As a result, she’s often wig-less. I think she looks adorable even bald, so it doesn’t bother me–but she doesn’t feel the same way.
It took me a very long time to name my poor Dollfie Dream girl! I’ve been agonizing over her name for weeks now. Nothing seemed right, and I kept flip-flopping. Did I want a floral name? A Victorian name? A Japanese name? I had a whole list of suggestions, but just couldn’t make up my mind. I like to wait to name my dolls until I’ve settled on a name that I’m satisfied with, but I also don’t like leaving them unnamed. Continue reading »
I am so very excited about Ms. Mariko~ I thought I wouldn’t hear any more news about her until mid-April, but last week I learned that the Dolpa 26 dolls were ready to ship to Kerbey Lane! I paid her remaining balance immediately, and I’ve been anxiously awaiting more information since then~ I am so thrilled to finally have her almost here. Continue reading »
In late December I was idly browsing the Volks USA website and happened to take a peek at the Doll’s Party 26 limited items. I’m not a very close follower of new doll releases, particularly because I’m so satisfied with my current dolls, but I do like to see what’s new every once in a while. I scrolled down the page idly, admiring the two new Nonos but not terribly interested in trying for one myself, and then I hit the section of the page with the Dollfie Dream releases. Continue reading »
The original Pure Neemo Advance D Type body, posed for sitting Japanese-style, but with no joints!