Mythdoll Mini discussion

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Mythdoll Leroi: An in-depth review

First off, let me say that I am completely impressed by the customer service at Mythdoll. Big Leroi, who is the spokesperson for Mythdoll, has been amazingly nice to everyone. The only problem is a little language barrier and even that doesn't get in the way too much. If you like ANY of the Mythdolls, and want to know more, I suggest e-mailing him. He will answer any questions you have to the best of his ability.

I ordered my Mythdoll Leroi on Jan 17th, and he was sent out on Feb 15th. One month isn't at all long to wait for a doll, imho, and we were informed when Mythdoll had a vacation at the beginning of February and it delayed our orders. My guestimate is that most Mythdoll orders will be sent anywhere from two weeks to one month from the time of their order, for anyone wondering what the waiting time is like.

Leroi arrived in a box inside a box, as most dolls do, but his inside box is rather unique as it can be used like a carrier if you're tactful and don't rip it open the way I did. ^^;; The (inside) cardboard box was tied with a ribbon (this is the handle, if you choose to use it as a carrier in the future) and Leroi himself was wrapped up in a pink pillow.

He came fully assembled, with a pink outfit and wig. The wig and clothes are high-quality, much better than the free gift or included wigs that I've seen other companies include. Originally the price for Leroi was $100, but it has since been raised to $150. I think that this is because of the quality of the clothes and wig--they really are as good as anything you'd buy from any other company for $50 or more.

When I pulled Leroi out and stood him up, he stood perfectly even on the fluffy carpet of my living room. He also stood on the couch, on the table, on one foot, etc--his sturdiness in posing is even better than any other doll I've played with so far. The main thing I like is how his joints have more than one or two natural positions. As long as he isn't strung too tightly, he will hold many different positions "naturally"--just about any position you put him in becomes natural until you change it.

After checking his poseability, the next thing I had to do was get a look at the joints. I'm such a techie, I love looking at the way things go together. Leroi seems like some sort of hybrid of original and Volks construction.

There are nubs on the upper arms and lower legs, which make "locking" joints. Most everyone knows what the locking leg joints look like, from Volks (the design is exactly the same) but the arm joints were something I had not seen before.

So that he may hold his arms straight out without them falling down, even with the extra weight of carrying things.

Keeping on the design topic, the design of the headcap isn't completely unique but the design of the inside of the head is unique.

There is no s-hook in Leroi. There is a piece of resin that goes across the neck, which is attached to the head! Yes, this means that in order to take his head off he must be completely unstrung. On the other hand, I don't think it would be too difficult to cut out that piece and put in an S-hook if that was what you prefered to do.

The headcap itself is supposed to be held on by the nub at the top and the three on the sides and bottom resting together correctly, but mine is a bit wobbly and falls off easily so I put tacky in the side and bottom slots in order to help it stay on better. Works like a charm



This is the waist piece, and the small piece is also meant to be held in by a nub but mine kept popping out so I super-glued it in. No big deal ^_^

Something for someone who's smarter than me (the one who uses super glue instead of white glue or something! I really regret that...) to experiment with: Before I glued the nub in, it kept popping up when I'd make Leroi lean forward or backward. Now he cannot lean forward or backward and hold the position. If the piece is taken out, does he hold leaning forward and leaning backward positions? I think he will, but I don't want to say he will until I get word from someone for sure.

Speaking of leaning forward or backward... Similar to old SD10 and MSD bodies, Leroi leans back a fair bit when he sits. It's fixable, and fairly simply fixable too. Just pull the legs out (or do this while he's unstrung--really, that's the best time!) and shave off some of the material on the insides of his legs so that he will lean up more by default. Don't shave too much, or he won't stand as well, but there is a happy medium that's fairly easily reached. If you cannot fathom the area I'm talking about, here's an image:



Riight there. So he'll sit up more. It works quite well.

Ah.. moving on, Leroi has the sitting legs--the type that allow him to sprawl without superextending or going out of joint. They work very, VERY cutely and make me want to mod my other boys to have the same. Also, the insides of Leroi's legs and arms allow him to bend more than usual. He can actually touch his face and cross his arms (and hold the position/look natural) without superextending, which makes me happy as a duck in water. There are indents on his chest as well, that allow his arms to sit at his sides more naturally than they would otherwise. Little things come together and make his design more and more unique, which is something I like a lot ^^

However, there are some downfalls. He comes assembled, but disassembly is required to remove his head or his hands. The hands are done the way most hands are, but they lack S-hooks or anything like that to hold them on. Instead, the elastic is held directly in the hole on the hand (and the feet). This adds to stability (oh, how he lost stability when I added string instead of using the elastic ) but it's a bit of a hassle for anyone who wants to change hands/feet often. Also, it makes restringing a bit more difficult since you don't take off the hand or the feet first and that is the way tuorials start.

The default hands are a bit...odd looking. The thumb, mostly. It's a sculpt issue, and probably a lot better than I could do at sculpting hands, but something to be pointed out all the same.



Bird of Hermes has taken much better pictures of all four hands, the collage can be seen here.

If you can't see what I mean, that's fine. If you can and are bothered by it...not to worry, the non-default hands are much better and lack this problem.





And the picture of the fist hand brings me to my last issue: bubbly hand It's a problem with the resin itself, so it cannot be fixed, sadly. all of the tips of his fingers are bubbly and odd-looking, hole-y. I haven't contacted Mythdoll about this issue yet, and I don't know that I will because they mentioned mentioned in their e-mail that there may be pieces with bubbles and they were sorry about that. ^^;;

It seems that air bubbles were a problem present only in dolls from the very first run, like mine, so there is no need to worry about this for anyone else.

The plusses and the minuses are for each doll owner to work out, but I will say that while he is a lot of value for the money, hes not a good doll for someone who wants a cheapo doll. Don't get him if you don't like the mold, because I fear that the problems that pale in comparison to his positive attributes for me will tower over the same positive attributes for someone who bought him for the purpose of buying a cheap doll.

It's not very in-depth, and just barely there, but here's a photo comparison of Mythdoll Leroi and Dollzone dolls Xi and Megi. As you can see in the images, Leroi is much smaller than the Dollzone dolls. My Leroi looks shiny becuase I hadn't gotten down to scrubbing the shiny mold release off of him yet, but he's now as matte as they are.

Thank you for reading the review, and feel free to ask any questions you might have. I'll answer them to the best of my ability.

EDIT:
I've made a few edits throughout the review to update with new and better information.


Leroi measurements as done by me:

This is an illustration of the measurement areas I used, since my camera battery mysteriously died when I went to take a pic of Gum naked for this shot: http://denofangels.com/measurements/dod/dodboy.jpg
Height: 42 cm :: 16 1/2 in
Head: 17.1 cm :: 6 3/4 in
Neck: 7 cm :: 2 3/4 in
Shoulders: 10 cm :: 3 7/8 in
Chest: 17.7 cm :: 7 in
Waist: 15 cm :: 5 7/8 in
Hips: 18.5 cm :: 7 1/4 in
Waist to crotch: 7 cm :: 2 3/4 in
Shoulders to waist: 7.5 cm :: 3 in
Arm length: 12 cm :: 4 3/4 in
Arm girth: 5.8 cm :: 2 1/4 in
Wrist: 5.8 cm :: 2 1/4 in
Leg Length: 19 cm :: 7 1/2 in
Thigh: 10.5 cm :: 4 1/8 in
Ankle: 6.5 cm :: 2 5/8 in
Foot Length: 5.5 cm :: 2 1/8 in
If you need a measurement and it is not here, or you would like to correct my measurements (oops, my first time measuring ._. I thought he was 45cm? But he isn't!) feel free to ask or correct.

 

juumou: I did try sanding/going at them with my exacto-knife, and unfortunately the bubbles go pretty deep. I think a better way to describe them is as holes, maybe? The fingers would look pretty nubby if I sanded them enough to remove the bubbles/holes, I think.

opal: I maintain that I've been spoiled by Ash's CP hands... they're the most gorgeous, detailed sculpt It's all personal taste in the end--the hand will actually work well once I start hurting Gum (she says with GLEE) but it might be an issue for someone else, so I dunno.

Will you let me know how the paperclip S-hooks work for you? I'd much prefer that to string, if it is something that works!

One more thing to mention about Leroi: He's so light~! I'm used to carrying around heavyheavy Ash and somewhatheavy Sy, and he's like carrying nothing at all ops: Unfortunately, he doesn't fit in the crook of my arm quite the same way that the bigger boys do. An obvious point, but something I hadn't thought about before! Silly MSD size..l.

 

Opal: So far as hurting Gum goes, the idea behind the character is that he's a little boy who's constantly falling down, getting hurt, always in bandages/etc. I don't have the time or the stuff for it at the moment, but I'm planning on changing that this weekend. Thus, when I start hurting him >D

Zettaichan: Yes, the extra hands were a complete suprise MOST of what we got was a complete surprise, I think, because as darkmoth said, we were expecting an unassembled kit and got so, so much more.

I will try the modeling paste thing, I think, when I start hurting Gum this weekend ^^;

darkmothflame: Thank you ^_^ It's good to hear that not all of the hands have airbubbles, at least. What was your number, again? Mine was 1005.... I wonder if it's only Lerois before/after a certain point (or in a certain batch) that have the bubble? Hmm~

I can't wait until they come out with more molds--I'm looking forward to see what more Mythdoll has to offer.

 

Oh yes, Leroi's problems are no more than any other company's problems. I will whole-heartedly agree with that ^^;

I wish more people would post honest reviews of what they like and don't like about their doll/company, so that people buying can be more informed.

...and I wish more people would take pics of the joints on their dolls. maybe I should do a request in the BJD-opedia >D

 

When I restrung Leroi, I put the other knot in the chest, yes. I felt about how you described with having it in the head--and it wasn't necessary to have it there, so I don't. He poses just fine with the knot in the chest instead, but I can imagine that if you don't use string for the hands it would make hand-changing a bit harder.

I guess the waist piece is just hit or miss--too difficult to make it stay exactly for every doll ^^;