Loongsoul 1/3 doll discussion Part 5

@IzabethS (Piiiiiiiiiiiic? plz?)

And oh yes! I forgot about Chlose. Could have had her, but was like 'Nah, you didn't actually want to a big SD collection...' ... How I lie to myself. XD

 

I want to see some fantasy feetsies too

 

@AlisonVonderland (well said, those too )

 

Lol that's my huge regret if I have to have one. That I have nearly 30 human dolls and not a single one with wonderful fantasy feet.

 

@Snowy & @AlisonVonderland :: She's long overdue for new picutres. I will try to get some of her this weekend!

I love my fantasy footed dolls. I have two from Loongsoul, Lily, my ShenLuo, and Skuld, my Black Dragon. They are hilariously siblings-in-law, as Lily is Skuld's lovers half-sister, but Lily is also the half sister of Skuld's half sister, so I guess they also count as step-siblings? It's kinda complicated, but no one who is a couple is related to each other in any shape or form.

Bit of backstory on how this happened. Feel free to skip:
Mort is Skuld father's new partner after Arnau's (Skuld's father) wife dies, but he and Mort don't get together for a long time after her death. In that time, Mort has a drunken one-nightstand, which unbeknownst to him fathered Lily with the queen of a neighboring kingdom of lion people.
Lily gets stolen as a baby, and isn't found until she is an adult. In that time, Polaris, the mother of Lily, has a second child with a different father who is Liam. Liam and Skuld just about grow up together because the kingdoms are allied and Arnau is the general of the dragon people kingdom's army. Eventually Liam and Skuld do become a couple.
Mort and Arnau eventually have a child with each other, Talulah.
Mort finally finds out about Lily being his daughter after she is found and recovered. Lily meets her mother and half brother first before she meets Mort.
TL;DR: Mort is connected to everyone in some shape or way, and is kept in the dark about it for a long time

 

@AlisonVonderland My fantasy crew is meant to stay MSD sized XD I'm making exceptions for horns and ears with the SD crew, but yes, proper fantasy parts that can pose on top are

@IzabethS yesssssssss pics
Well.. wow XD Yes, that is complicated/complex. And kinda funny.

 

The thing that kills me is that I'd gotten the idea of recreating Lady Death and finally just about scraped together enough funds to get one of the big girls when they were all suddenly discontinued I have a personal rule against buying dolls on layaway since they are a luxury purchase and not something I actually need - I don't get to order until I have the full amount set aside (in addition to what stays in my emergency reserve fund) I like being fiscally responsible and all, but I've gotten burned a few times by it in this hobby

 

That's the kind of thing that has happened to me a fair bit as well @Girrl for basically the same reasons. It can be really disheartening.

 

Adulting is really lame sometimes

 

I just wanted to add that I recently was wondering about the same thing and Loong Soul informed me that they are compatible now.
I quote: 'The jointed hands HB-73-21 are suitable for the body B-B73-03'
Maybe they changed the jointed hands?

 

@Girrl I buy on layaway when I have the funds when there is no difference in price, because it helps feeling like the waiting time is shorter ^^°

But I know how you feel. It just recently happend to me to a 'perfect' outfit for a character of mine and I wanted to wait a bit since it existed in 3 colors and I think 4 sizes so I figured it wouldn't be sold out right away and I could wait a bit and see if there wouldn't be something else that I could add to the purchase so I wouldn't pay the shipping for just one item. Well... I was wrong. Outfit sold out within a week ^^°

2nd hand marketplace has given you nothing to work with? Cause Lady Death looks damn amazing. I sure hope you'll pull her off regardless.


EDIT:
Forgot.
I put my 3 Jiao Mu Jiao together today for a quick shot. One of these days I can set them up with a stylish and fitting backdrop, but apparently that was not today

Wildcard Dragon on Instagram: "My three Loongsoul Jiao Mu Jiao in three colors Phoenix lady, half-moon bunny/half-dragon boy and half-dragon lady :3 #bjd #balljointeddoll #bjdsd #bjdfantasy #loongsouldoll #loongsouljiaomujiao"

 

Oh, god.
Ever since I fell down the rabbit hole that is Loong Soul, it's been so hard to resist their dolls! They're just so mesmerising...
The new ones seem be almost always sold out instantly.
Which might actually be a good thing, because I have been struggling to convince myself: 'No, you don't need this doll. Not this one either; you're already waiting for one!'
So, it only hurts my greedy, greedy heart and not my wallet. Otherwise it'd be in perpetual pain...
I never expected this hobby to be so excruciating.
The pain of the long wait times, high prices, limited time availability of dolls...
I applaud the people who can keep being invested in this hobby for so long.

 

@Snowy - I check the MP periodically, but it seems like the discontinued big lady sculpts were never super popular in general, and the people who do have them love them enough to hang on to them (which tracks, they'll have to pry my discontinued big boys from my cold dead hands, lol)
@Phoenix-Aeterna - LoongSoul makes gorgeous dolls that pose phenomenally well, especially the bigger ones, given their size and weight. I'm more into cool fantasy parts than gorgeous outfits on limiteds, probably because I can sew and am reasonably proficient at pattern drafting (ugh, math! !@#$%^&) and LS's golden age of limited fantasy dolls was probably before the discontinuation. What really gets me to shell out is when they offer any of their previously always available resin colors (Tan or Wheat) or super uncommon fantasy colors (most recently Black Dragon's super dark tan and black(!!) resin). I used to limit myself to 1 new LS a year, but now if it's in a resin color I want, I pounce (which fortunately for my wallet isn't super often)

 

Aagh! I only got into the BJD hobby not too long ago so that's another pretty doll I missed. Why are they all discontinued so recently. That makes it hurt more...

But, I also recently discovered the Black Dragon sculpt and his tail looks so pretty! But he's discontinued and a little too expensive for me (over 2k...).

Fantasy part are really cool but they don't seem to be very common for bigger dolls. I am a little disappointed they have stopped offering fantasy dolls. They are really amazing.

I can't sew at all. And my crafts have a, uh, tendency to fall apart.

Oh, pattern drafting. Uh, haven't thought about that yet. Yeah, I'm definitely leaving sewing for a later date.

Wow, they used to commonly offer darker skin tones? I never knew that. Nowadays, the darkest they'll go is yellow skin, right?

I do find it a little stressful to know just how fast new dolls sell out. It's like, by the time I've become aware of the sculpt, they already seem to be sold out. And the preorder period seems to be very tight.

I guess I'll just have to get used to it and be more vigilant.

 

@Girrl Crossing my fingers for you regardless

@Phoenix-Aeterna I have been able to resist for about 10 years before I carved and bought the first one last year. I had some boy bodies for hybrids before and let me tell you: once you have you first one... down the rabbit hole you fall. I now have four full dolls (granted, 3 are the same in different colors and two gender), one head (the one doll came with two and I hybrided that head) and I think 3 bodies with different heads.
I only buy during events with discounts or in one case where the special color was avaible to save money, but I totally get where you are coming from.

Most of the special ones (like Black Dragon) are limited sculpts. You might be lucky 2nd hand or find one still in stock.

They have an event about 1-2 times a year where for a short period they offer tan. They used to offer it all year round. Some dolls come in special colors (like Black Dragon) that will be avaible as long as the doll is (usually 1-3 months).

Regulary checking the news or having a retailer that's working with them and updating new dolls helps.
I admit I also stalk their weibo and work with google translate if it looks interesting.
It's why I got my doll in tan in the first place, because I read there that they had a 3-day new year event for tan and reached out to the retailer I usually go by to get most of my dolls.

 

Thanks for sharing your experiences! It's great to know they do offer events. Their global social media do not seem to be very active.

I'm currently mainly keeping an eye on BJDivas and Denver Doll Emporium to see if anything interesting comes up. They seem to have a lot more in stock than other sites.

As for new releases, I'm definitely checking Legenddoll and New Clover Singing. They seem to be the fastest about notifying people of new sculpts. Although, I'm a little hesitant about Legenddoll. Their selection is huge, but apparently their customer service is not that great. (I've heard they lose packages???)

That's where I found out about their latest dolls! But they don't seem to release them for oversea's dealers...
Their pictures are top notch, but their global official shop (I cannot get into the Taobao store so I can't say anything about that) has such high quality ones that my devices cannot handle them and take forever to load...

 

@Phoenix-Aeterna If you find dolls that are not for 'oversea' release, you can always hit up newclover-singing and ask - if you are serious about buying it.
She's located in China and able to get them regardless of where you are located.

Stock is genreally not usual seeing how they are pre-order based in most companies.

The issue I have with Legenddoll is that that they have a lot of items that might already be sold out. I once wanted to cancel an order (no doll) because over half of what I wanted was no longer avaible and while they refunded that they were not willing to cancel, but willing to add (when I pointed out the shipping).
Nothing to lost for me, but I dunno about other people's experience.

微博 <= this is their weibo :3
but yes, their homepage is generally slow. Even on my PC it's super slow.

That said the posability and quality is just

 

Oh! She also provides proxy services?! That's great to know! I'll make a note of that. I'm trying to soak up as much information as I can.

Sorry, I was not clear in my wording. I meant that I look at what they have in stock of dolls who's preorder period has already ended. I've heard there is a possibility of finding some stuff that is no longer available from the official company.

Could you please explain what you mean by 'I once wanted to cancel an order (no doll) because over half of what I wanted was no longer avaible and while they refunded that they were not willing to cancel, but willing to add'? I can't really follow here.

I'm definitely saving that link, thanks!

Oh, so it's not just my device that has trouble with it. I though my pc just couldn't handle the site for some reason.

 

I've only had the out-of-stock issue with Legend once and did find something else I wanted. I usually don't order other items with dolls. I've never had a lost package.

Alice's Collections is also a good dealer. I frequently check multiple dealers to see who has the lowest total price!

I think some of the larger dealers are allocated a certain number of dolls. So if a doll you want is sold out, it is worth checking the other dealers. I think BJDivas, Denver Doll and Clover-Singing may actually order dolls before they have an order to be sure they get some. These dolls may be listed later when they arrive.

Many companies have short order periods for dolls. This lets them produce the dolls more efficiently. Sometimes the sculpt is limited. Sometimes it is the full set options of outfit and face up. Min Yan was offered in at least three versions and two sizes.

 

@Phoenix-Aeterna

Yes, she's a retailer and willing to work with you if you want something else than listed in her shop.

Aaah, I see. Yes, some retailers buy more dolls than their customers ordered. Or a buyer drops out but the retailers still buy the doll and put it up for sale

I purchased 10 items. They got back to me that 6 were no longer avaible (produced). I wanted to cancel, because the 4 items were not important. They said no. They were ok if I wanted to add new items to the order.

Nah, bad programming of the homepage.