DollZone mini Discussion Part 15

Ahhh it's always so lovely to see older sculpts kicking around in people's collections! They're fantastic.

 

I'm hoping to get my Hanged Man girl next month, and I'm trying to find a wig for her. She has a smaller head than most MSDs, a 5/6. So far the most promising wigs I found are the LeekeWorld Margie or Jill in Blackberry or black from DDE. Anyone know what they look like in person at this size or have any suggestions of anything similar?

 

If you can find old Monique Trading wigs (there's a store that sells them, but I can't remember - U.S.-based), Monique Trading had a lot of size 5-6 wigs that were nice and thin (more natural-looking). Alice's Collections (ACBJD) has started selling 1/8-scale wigs, which are size 5-6.

 

Was the U.S. shop you were thinking of Facets Boutique?

 

Actually, it was Factory Direct Crafts. But I love Facets Boutique too!

 

My problem is that Facets Boutique has styles that I like, but they are unavailable in the right color. What I'm looking for is a long straight wig in black, bangs optional. Geneva or Paris would be perfect if they were available in the right color.

 

Just popping in with some Shoyo spam - it's really interesting how Dollzone's sculpting style has changed. I was away from the hobby for a long time and am curious of anyone knows when and why a switch happened (or was it just a gradual thing?)

 

@cobaltconduct I think the change was gradual, but happened for two reasons. One, Dollzone appears to be run more like a traditional company where the people who run the company are not the same as the people who sculpt the dolls. As such when a sculptor leaves their style kind of goes with them, because even if you're given a reference and instructions each sculptor is still going to interpret things a little differently.

A recent example of this would be with Impldoll. Their previous sculptor left during the pandemic to be with family, and with their new sculptor they've shifted their style drastically. But, this also leans into what I think is the second reason. The changing aesthetic wants of buyers. DZ's biggest market is China, it's also there home market, so they're going to be way more in tuned to what the Chinese market wants then any other market.

As an example DZ recently debuted a dragon head on their Weibo as part of Chinese New Years and year of the dragon, and 99% of the replies were about his head being to small for the body it was on. Honestly, the replies which I read using Google translate were hilarious, and not wrong. Within a week they put up new pictures of the head after they enlarged it. So, yeah they're very in tuned to their home market. And the style of dolls many people like today is very different from 15 years ago.

 

So - like this? You could probably steam the bottom of the hair to straighten out the curl.
Denver Doll also has Remy size 5/6 in "soft black" (looks kinda brown tho), and Leekeworld Jill size 5/6 in Real Black (that's proper black). I have a couple Leekeworld wigs, and I like them.

 

I was looking at Remy and Jill as possibilities, but they both look like they might be too short for the look I want, and Jill looks like it might not be straight. Facets Boutique has Aliya available in black, and that might be easier to straighten than the one from Alice's collections.

Edit: I ordered Aliya, hope it works for my incoming angry ghost lady!

 

Thank you so much for the explanation @Cloudedmind ! Very interesting, and also hilarious how it went with the dragon head. It all makes perfect sense, of course. In a way, their newer sculpts still have something that ties them to the older ones (the M-shaped lips and the dainty girls' hands, for instance) so I've been wondering how much of it is the individual sculptor's touch and how much of it is just company aesthetic - I guess I have my answer now!

 

I also think there was a change in Dollzone's early style when Doll Chateau became their sister company in 2011. You could see the influence of the Doll Chateau sculptural style on Dollzone's original aesthetic pretty clearly.

 

Just saw that Mist Strayer and Venus Halo are available again for a limited time. I never got one before they were discontinued, but I really like them.

 

Regarding the change in DollZone's style, I definitely agree that Doll-Chateau seems to have had a big influence. I still adore most of their older minis, and I'm a fan of their more recent ones too- (I hope this is ok to say since I'm not actively shopping) I do like to keep an eye out on the MP just to see when their older sculpts go up for sale, even though I am mostly happy with my doll collection and most of my plans are pretty set in stone. I always end up thinking that if I have the excess funds at the right time I might adopt more, but so far I've been able to keep myself sticking to wish list stuff- which skews mostly 1/3 scale these days.

I did, however, cave and buy a DZ Jake head to use as a practice head for mods before realizing he might actually be a good fit for the character I'd been considering shelling as a 1/3 doll. So I may have more to post about in the future- that and I also have two of their newer-ish dolls, Rory and Penny, who I think I talked about in the waiting room but not in here yet? Rory is going to be modded slightly (I need to fix her nose, it's too pointy for the character, otherwise the sculpt is close to perfect for my vision) and will be shelling a version of Jinx from Arcane, and Penny is now Adalia, I got her as a fullset when she was being discontinued, and even though she's been mostly staying displayed looking pretty at the moment, I am still glad I have her. Someone on another site mentioned she has "Barbarella vibes" and I had to look that up- yeah, she totally does XD but I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing... I defs need to get some outdoor pics with her soon.

NGL, my BJD hobby stuff has been on hold a bit, but with wanting to learn to do faceups (finally, after 12 years in the hobby or so--) and mod stuff, both Jinx and that DZ Jake head might be seeing a bit of progress soon. I miss being active on DoA and other hobby spaces so we'll see how that goes!

I did notice that ACBJD at least doesn't seem to be displaying a huge selection of 1/4 DollZone dolls... they had that big discontinuation last year (when I got Penny/Adalia) and don't seem to have a lot of options anymore? Unless they're mostly limited... I haven't really been looking at the limited section.... hmm.

 

I find a lot of DZ's newer mini offerings look very spooky and mature compared to a few years back. I like mostly all of them, but the only dolls I personally own are Mannikin who was discontinued years ago, and Anson from the re-release.

It's nice that DZ has rereleased so many dolls, but I'm kinda bummed how closely together some of them were. I could do Anson, but not Snow Fulai

Speaking of Anson...I felt all those petals really required an airbrush, so I borrowed one. But I put off using it because I've never done it before. Now I started and it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Results aren't perfect, but all things considered I think it went relatively well.

I want some kind of pattern on it, maybe spots, I'm not sure. Hopefully I'll be able to make the leftside petals look similar. And the head petals...they're probably going to be the most difficult.
I will do her faceup the way I'm used to though, with canned sealant and pastels

 

Oh wow, I adore those colours! She's going to look gorgeous once she's all finished.

 

Hello, newbie here!

I only have one doll that I got second hand that is a tiny bean (19 cm) and have been looking for a bigger one as my next one.
I love love love Doll Zone Antheia and thought about getting her with the b45-012 body cause I read it has the best poseability? Can anyone tell me if minifee clothes would fit because I found a seller on Ebay that has some amazing clothes that I would want but they're all minifee size and the minifee body is a tad smaller I guess?

And also does anyone have Antheia? I can't seem to find any info or pictures outside the promo ones anywhere and was wondering why that is..

 

I'm not sure if I'll get a chance before my vacation but I have a doll on the B45-012 body and might be able to at least compare her to my older DollZone mini who absolutely does not fit in Minifee clothes, unfortunately. So it doesn't seem likely the newer ones can either, but I will try to check sometime before I leave.

 

A few days ago Dollzone released a new 1/4 uncle-style male body.

As soon as I saw it, I decided that it was what I was looking for and yesterday I placed the order. I am sharing the information with you because I think it is fantastic and I think there are several people who were looking for a body like this.

It measures 45 cm without the head, about 51 cm with the 1/4 head, and has a mature look, like the uncle-sized bodies. In fact, it is the reduced version of the 73 cm Dollzone male body. Another thing I like is that it has an "anime" style, with very long legs and a narrow body at the waist and hips, but with broad shoulders and without being too muscular.

It is just what I needed for my floating head and I am very happy to have found it.

Also, it is now on sale at a discount at both Legenddoll and Alice's Collections.

I hope this information is useful to someone.

 

Saw a new Dollzone boy, Xiao Chu, via BJDivas. I'm loving the body for its mature look but don't like the head. Am wondering what size of head would fit him? Measurements say the neck is 7cm. I guess another concern would be matching skin tone.