Has anybody (everybody?) had experience with DIM celeb or loved one heads?

I remember reading your work back in the day. You wrote a two parter for Haute Doll, am I correct? You were curious how your Samantha heads would look with faceups from different artists.

Though I remember the DiM Minime group orders, I never participated in them. The closest I got was the happy coincidence of Narae circa 2007 resembling a video character I enjoy.

 

SKYWHYS, I also read the article and liked it. If you can dig out pictures of the heads, I would like to see them again.

 

I didn't deal with DiM directly, but bought my heads secondhand. I did not use them for the characters/people they were meant to be, but I owned Final Fantasy VII Advent Children Yazoo and Zack Fair, as well as Tokio Hotel Bill Kaulitz. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos, as they were all lost between a dead laptop and the Photobucket mess a few years back. I felt Zack and Yazoo were pretty close to source materials and didn't have much trouble finding bodies, but Bill Kaulitz was a totally different story. The head was huge, but the neck hole wasn't, so it mostly fit on necks that looked way too skinny for realism. We don't notice it because of the aesthetic, but the human neck is much thicker in proportion to the head than it is on most dolls. I always felt that was something that was often "off" of the DiM Minime heads. So many of the jawlines were wider than typical BJD jaws, and they just really needed a thicker neck to not look like bobbleheads.

 

SKYWHYS, I think that your project shows in a nutshell why we loved DiM Minimees so much and why we love the BJDs in general.

I used to love the Minimee orders and stalking the Marketplace for past orders that I loved and missed.

 

I had no idea DIM closed down. Then again, I guess I can understand why, the rise of realistic sculpts kind of killed the need for the Minimee service. Why waste time with a mass order of heads that just aren't accurate enough for the price or hassle when a well-done faceup on the right sculpt will get you a lot closer?

 

I highly doubt DiM closed down for this reason! They were making their original sculpts frequently until very recently, and sculpts like Benetia, Larina, Laia, etc, are still coveted now. I would even wager that most folk buying DiM in the mid to late 2010’s weren’t even aware of the earlier minimee sculpts, they were interested in DiM’s Happy line (the original MSD sculpts).

@SKYWHYS That sculpt is amazing! DiM did an awesome job!

 

SKYWHYS, echoing natterat: They really came out awesome! Your daughter makes a fabulous doll.

 

@SKYWHYS thanks for posting these! I do remember your article from back in the day, it's nice to see the pictures again.

I remember Denny at DIM saying that they were closing the service because it was too expensive on their end, and I suspect they were tired of the hassle of trying to meet people's sometimes unrealistic expectations.

 

I also remember Denny saying that they were closing the minimee service because it was too expensive to run. I had two heads I wanted to have made, but Denny said they couldn't accept more orders as they were owerworked as it was. By that time there were several other companies trying to offer similar services and some independent artists starting to release heads based on celebrities.

 

I comissioned when the service first opended two heads based on my own drawings. I was happy with the result from the pictures but on receiving the heads found they were unusable , as they were far too big compared to standard heads and bodies made to fit them. They were very similar in proportions to my sister eid Kamau maybe slightly bigger (these are big old heads made for 70+ muscular body). EID (oppose to skinny hound) size 70cm dolls did not exist at the time when my order was placed. When Iplhouse EID Akando (first of it's kind really) I purchased an Eid body for them, it was a huge undertaking as they needed to be modded to fit the eid neck hole (as others have said big heads but small neck holes) even with everything coming to togeather it didn't look right has the head was too young/femme looking for that big body!



Still stings a little now knowing how much I spent on them but we live and learn!

As an aside these early heads sculpted in chinese studio were a different resin recipe on the normal DIM heads amde in korea and the whire resin I found yellowed much faster!

 

I got a Michael Jackson minimee from Denny/DIM before Michael passed away in 2009 ..I love DIM sculpts

mj by crybabymommie, on Flickr

 

I was one of those who jumped on many the mnm GOs, it was definitely a time of plenty for them, some filled too quickly so missed out. As mentioned before some heads were poorly sculpted, lacked due care when cast/finished. I have a couple heads where I need to sand and refine wonky and/rough eyes. I remember one GO (which I wasn't in thankfully) the head was miscast and one side drooped. I felt so sorry for that GO. And one GO I was in we paid 3 times to get the sculpt tweaked as the sculptor just wasn't attempting to follow the source photos.

Looking back I think I was enamoured with sculpts which had more realistical proportioned features as I was getting tired of tiny noses or super thin nose bridges which were prevalent everywhere. Unfortunately I didn't have the faceup skills for these heads and there weren't any suitable bodies (or a choice of at least) for the heads.

Think the only sculpt I got due to the source material was Adam Ant tbh. The rest was pure aesthetics as you couldn't find them anywhere else (at the time).

Some of photos of mine to hand.

Kamijo, a massive head which (just fits) the Grand Senior Delf body v1.


My Hyde who is on a 68cm Loongsoul body.


And Miyavi and Kyo on the old V1 Dollstown 15 yo body... these bodies at the time were bought specifically for my minimee heads which worked for a few of them (just).


And finally, I bought a practice head which turned out to be a heavily modded Kristen Stewart mnm head which was unrecognisable at the time of purchase, this is with majority of the mods removed. It no longer looks like this as I have added mods of my own haha

 

Wow. I never had a problem working with Denny with my GOs. I would regularly order from him like very month or three for a GO. Or hop into a GO. Then I had to take a long break from the hobby due to family drama. UGH.
I think the only GO I had a problem with was the Resident Evil 4 Leon. The eyes man, the eyes. Everyone had a different expectations of his eyes and at the end it was tiny and you had to mod his eyes open. Other than that I think the best GOs I was in and/or had hosted was the Alucard from Hellsing and FFVII Reno with his tongue out. The artist I swear placed more time and energy for those Minimees, but I think because both of the characters were different with their smiles.
Once I came back into the hobby after the drama, DiM was closing it's doors for good and they didn't have their Minimee service anymore. I was sad to see them go but I swear that's the nature of the BJD hobby nowadays, companies come and go.

 

There's a website selling old Haute Doll issues, and i'd like to get the ones with the DiM Minimee articles. Does anyone remember what issues those were in?