some months with Mirai Smartdoll

posted in: Doll | 10

Mirai header

As some of you might know I bought myself a Mirai SmartDoll some months ago, in September 2014. I unintentionally was holding back this post a little for different reasons, this post holds not much artistic value and is not supposed to be a review. In this post I feature the pictures I’ve taken with Mirai so far and talk a bit about my experiences with her.

A few years ago I wouldn’t have imagined to buy something like this, when I started collecting figures, I didn’t feel too excited about so called fashion dolls from Japan, as I once saw them, they seemed like a plaything for rich Otaku. I actually labeled them as creepy, I partially still do that today and emo dolls honestly scare me to death, but to each their own.

Over the years I developed a less critical opinion towards Dollfies, since you can take stunning pictures with them and make them look beautiful with new clothes and exchanging body parts. I already played with the idea of getting a Dollfie Dynamite, but I decided against it.

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fast forward – I noticed that Danny Choo was working on his own fashion Doll line, starting with the Mirai Suenaga mascot. There was all talk about this robotic version which is under development. At the moment there is this manual version which I have bought, for me it’s the kind of a fully fledged fashion doll I imagined, even without electronics.

On the page is an elaborate description about everything concerning the progress of making the Mirai Doll. I liked the presentation of the product and Mirai herself, standing there dressed in casual clothes, like the cute girl from next door. The ‘s face looks really enchanting already with the out of factory make up (Dollfies sometimes don’t do look that lively before receiving a custom “faceup”). Her entry price also appeared rather affordable, to me.

So, with sweaty hands and a heart rate of 180 I ordered my Mirai from the second batch, I ordered her together with an optional M bust part, obviously I wanted my Doll to have some nice boobs. An L bust was also available,ย  but I feared it would have been too big ๐Ÿ˜€ .

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Mirai comes with a t-shirt, tight fit jeans, a beanie hat, panties, short socks and shoes. All things have a nice quality, especially her jeans are impressive. There also was a telescope stand that supports the doll when standing, though Mirai is also able to stand on her own.

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In the Mirai “shop” you can buy clothes exclusively made for her, but you can use nearly everything that would fit a Dollfie Dream or other 1/3 fashion dolls.

Before Mirai arrived I ordered some more clothes, rainbow striped panties, a long sweater skirt, a pink checkered skirt and several thigh highs, I already have a whole lot of these.
I also got 8000 Yen boots from an auction, Mirai is a rather spoiled lady *lol*

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On 24th September I was a bit playing around with the Mirai Doll, to see what she can do. With the skeleton frame inside and a whole lot of joints she is very movable and flexible.
She can do many natural poses, if the user knows what to do ^^ Yes, the relatively soft shell of Mirai’s body looks really good with some details. With wide hips and strong thighs the doll actually has some surprisingly nice curves, a few pictures turned a little ecchi ahaha.

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This Mirai s really cute, I’m really in love with those shiny eyes, it’s something I like about these dolls a general, such eyes just have a lot more depth than printed on eyes we know from figures . Also the artificial hair is amazing to see, these fine strands, I can’t really imagine how they are made. The caramel gold color has a pretty shine, as pretty as long hair is it demands a lot of care and comb maintenance during a shoot. Last month I shortened it by a quarter ;D

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One day later on On 25th September I changed outfits again combiningย  her standard clothes (jeans and socks) with the lovely sweater, she’s really adorable with her white socks ^^ As you may imagine a 60 cm doll has a “shocking” height, I was debating if a 1/4 scale doll would have been more reasonable, but I already got used to it, Mirai has her special place next to the TV.

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On one of the last days of September I took Mirai to a calm park, simply carrying her around. These fashion dolls look really nice outdoor, therefore I wanted to try that. So I was running around trying to find a place and producing poses where she won’t fall. I was somewhat clumsy, but with some more practice it should be smoother someday.

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some weeks later I wanted to take pictures again, I tried the sweater dress without jeans and put the floral stockings on her together with very high heeled shoes. The next few weeks the nice autumn days ended and the weather turned ugly, so it’s indoor photography time.

ssh

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I sometimes got a little annoyed with maintaining Mirai’s super long hair, never forget to comb your Dolls hair thoroughly before taking pictures! I started to display her with ponytail.
I ordered another set of stockings, The Azone shorts came together with very cool suspenders, since it are clothes designed for 50 cm AZO2 the pants are really tight, but fit Mirai. Chun from Puppy52dolls was so kind to make me this blouse below.

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Yes, it is still Mirai ^^ Here I did another indoor shooting. I ordered the grey shirt together with a white one from Dolline on Etzy. The grey makes her boobs appear quite prominent, how would this look with an L bust XD Unfortunately, I really struggled with the lighting this evening and some other things as well. Doll Photography is no piece of cake, even with my experience from figure photography I am having a hard time, it’s like starting from square 1.

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It’s really not that I dislike Mirai’s look, but I enjoy to modify things a lot, therefore I also ordered three pairs of different eyes 22mm fit (blue, blue, green), finding a wig took me a while, in the end I ordered a shorter, dark one with some curls. Mirai looks a little hotter and dangerous with them. At the moment she has the brighter blue eyes, I’ll change it again soon.

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I was quite depressed after this shooting, even though I had so many light source equipment it didn’t work to create a decent setup and I felt totally untalented in taking pictures of Mirai
๐Ÿ™

 

10 days later I tried a simple light tent (that I’ve purchased in the meantime) setup, without caring about a background, I just put a box, covered with white cloth, to create some depth. Previously I searched the web for possible poses and printed them out as reference, it’s a lot easier that way. This turned out better than the previous “disaster” and posing was really fun.

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The last shooting in 2014 was on the 23th of December, obviously a little christmas related, I used a tripod and long exposure times. Doll Photography is more about getting “this certain shot” than havingย  around 30 pictures from different angles.

Even though I don’t see fashion dolls as girlfriend substitute, it’s actually more like a cute pet, it’s important to supply her with new clothes regularly. I made several accounts at doll clothes supply shops and most important auction sites. Fancier clothes can be quite expensive, but when luck is on your side, you can get something like a fancy china dress for 2500 Yen. With such tight outfits there is a certain risk it won’t fit, but it does in Mirai’s case.

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Mirai again with her normal hair, but this time green eyes. I think they suit her a little better, than arctic blue, I have to try the darker blue ones one day…

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STYLE CHANGE! The Mirai “shop” had some new things ready and I got the cargo pants, I love such pants. The hat is from TATA’S PARADISE, I ordered it together with a red top and a frilly skirt. this order took a little to reach me, but the friendly seller, gave me doll diving goggles for free ^^. It should go well with her “dangerous” micro bikini, which I will show soon…

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Within the time I had her, Mirai has been a sturdy doll without real negative points, her joints are still sturdy enough to hold their position. I accidently derailed her elbow joints once in the early days, it was rather my fault, nothing was broken, I just had to use some force to fix it.

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So that was it for now, I will obviously take more pictures this year, there are still some clothes I haven’t put on her and the spring season finally starts. I like my Mirai a lot, she’s super adorable and I’m happy whenever I look at her beautiful appearance. Dressing her up in new clothes or bending her joints to create pretty poses is a lot of fun. I’m actually on the fence of getting the L bust for her, but a more pretty dress has priority for me at the moment.

If you have any question considering Mirai or the clothes, feel free to ask ^^

I have a lot to learn about Doll photography, it should hopefully improve with more practice.

 

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10 Responses

  1. Kai

    Danny Choo’s gonna be proud xD I’m certainly not planning to step into the dolls territory anytime soon (too expensive for me) but with the ability to change clothes and parts at any time, they are definitely great for both indoors and outdoors photography.

    • wieselhead

      lol XD Yeah it’s a lot they are asking for, but when you got a liking for them, it’s hard to resist.
      I actually mainly got it for photography practice, after I’ve seen so many nice pictures on flickr, but such a anime related doll also looks nice in the room.

  2. Aya

    Hmm kinda unexpected since it took a while, I imagine you would customised her a little bit let’s say a pink wig,headphone and set of gravure bikini and fabian will play around as cameraman-san lol

    Ok serious side ๐Ÿ˜€ mirai such a lucky girl she got a lot of clothes already ๐Ÿ˜€ I have seen and touch mirai in person earlier this year during a local doll meet up and she looks better than I thought especially the articulation side and you have a lot of nice clothes for her ๐Ÿ˜€

    And silly question no 2 : are you already spend money for accessories and clothes that might enough to
    get another doll ?

    • wieselhead

      Haha, that is actually a great idea, but the Mirai body has not the chubby features of Sonico, but I have the right bikini at least ^^. But I definitely play cameran san with Mirai.

      Ah cool that you could already see her in person. Ahaha she is probably happy about a going wardrobe.
      No, it’s not silly. I guess it’s not that much yet, maybe around the half, since I bought no full, fancy outfit.
      I probably won’t buy another doll so far, I’m actually more interested in a custom head or a “peach pay” like here

      • Aya

        Do looks forward for Mirai Bikini gravure session with cameraman-san :3 , and one thing that I feel ridiculous about smart doll is,I take a peek on the culture japan shop last month and their official designed (and official) outfit are very very expensive.. even more than volks… maybe they not mass produced yet …
        actually that’s a question that I asked myself beginning last year lol when I almost purchase an expensive set of doll clothes ^^, and i say let’s buy another one first XD.
        a custom head and a body after ๐Ÿ˜› and you got a new girl ๐Ÿ˜€ ahaha, is that the custom silicone squishy2 bust parts ? ^^ indeed it gave natural effect instead of the vinyl one,I also see the one on the hip one, these 3rd party parts always sold out and very expensive on auction …. I wanting one too, but with that price, I still rather save up for a new doll, want a Busty one or a Loli one if I buy another doll.

        • wieselhead

          oh, me too XD I’m already working on the setup.
          Yes, the clothes are ultra expensive, the L bust part is so much cheaper in comparison.
          Maybe this will improve over time…

          These fancy sets outfits cost half of a doll, it’s scary sometimes.
          Yeah that is true, but I could just swap it. Yes, it’s the soft boobie part, no idea if it would fit Mirai or just Dollfie.
          It reminds me of these busty anime characters, it is quite charming, it could be smaller by a little XD.
          I also saw a full soft body, it looked quite impressive, but it’s all so expensive and I don’t know how durable it is.
          Oh funny coincidence I would also go for either one of these MMD can look super cute, but I also would like a busty beauty ๐Ÿ˜‰

  3. Hoshiko

    Haha, brunette mirai in suspenders looks like a sexy bombshell.

    I suppose it’s a bit hard to pose a doll and make it look natural, but you’re photos are still great!

    • wieselhead

      Yeah, right! I was a bit surprised myself that it was such a striking combination ;D
      I should take pictures like this again, when I can get outdoor.
      Oh thank you, I’m happy to hear that, it’s rather difficult, but I will do my best this year.

  4. Bryan

    Sorry quick question, would wigs from azone 1/3 hybitrd action figures fit?

    • wieselhead

      At least it’s worth a try, Mirai can wear wigs starting from 8,5 inch to 9, though I have no idea what size Azone use, sorry.

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