Yo dear readers!

Apparently I really have too much fun with the fashion doll hobby, it’s just too exciting ;D
I actually did not consider to buy another BJD after Mirai, but one thing lead to another… Everything started some months ago, when I found a post at Orchid Dolls about of a face up commission. I always liked custom Dollfie Dream heads, it’s nice to have a personalized Doll.

After several months of deciding what I actually wanted Mirai’s “little sister” to look like,
I asked Clockwork_Angel from Flickr, if she would have time and interest for my idea…

Mirai already was given a name in the factory, but of course a custom Doll needs a proper name, too. I decided to name her Satosakura, Rio 里桜川 千  (village cherry blossom), it’s a name often used in animes of the 90’s, I always liked that name, it’s short and has a very nice ring to it.

She was very friendly, gave me some advice and took me by the hand, since I was very new to this. I gave her my requirements and also some artistic freedom, since I like her style a lot, for example the use of eyelashes. I decided to have a cute head with some dramatic make up, in the end I chose a little open mouth with upper front teeth line, I know it’s a bit brave with using a less neutral expression, but I really wanted something cheerful and hyper for Riō.

I know the face looks similar to Sonico, but please refer to her as Riō ^^ Actually I wanted her head to look very similar to the Super Sonico design. I’m very happy with how this commission turned out, Clockwork_Angel did a wonderful job. Riō is  a DDH – 06 with 24 mm eyes, the big eyes give her a young and very cute appearance, like I had in mind with this commission. The eyes were made by KK WORKSHOP coincidentially are based on a Super Sonico illustration.

At first I thought I could just put the head on Mirai’s SmartDoll body, but after I gave it some more thought, I scrapped this idea as too cruel torwards Mirai, to me it’s more than a “pretty clothes rack”. So the new head gets an own body, I ordered it in parts from Volks.jp to my surprise everything was in Stock to assemble a Dollfie Dream Sister in semi white skincolor.

Semi white skin is just beautiful （*´▽｀*）

I decided for DDS size, since I like shorter legs in general and although not “blood related” I wanted Riō to be a kind of younger sister for Mirai. Here a list of the parts, except head.

DDS-A-01-SW / Arms / Semi-White
DDS-BW-L-SW / One-Piece Torso L Bust / Semi-White
DDS-HL-01-SW / Thighs / Semi-White
DDS-LL-01-SW / Shins / Semi-White
DDS-FO-01-SW / Feet / Semi-White

DDII-H-05-SW / Rock/Fisted Hands / Semi-White
DDII-H-01-SW / Basic Hands / Semi-White

I actually waited for Volks to release their One-Piece Torso, to complete my DDS project. It’s a very pretty part without upper body gap at the Doll it creates a more aesthetic look. It’s also quite flexible and the outer skin is surprisingly soft. I fortunately could acquire one piece, there was a high demand for it, actually I had to wake up at 05:00 in the morning to place my order *orz*.

To reinforce her arm and leg sockets, I also equipped the body with a DD Fortified Aluminium Alloy Sheath Set.

The wig I intended to use turned out as too small, some time ago Miette gave me a pink wig, I cutted it in a desired shape. In the future, I consider to give her blond hair or a crazier pink.

So far Mirai has been a spoiled only child, I guess she won’t be happy to share her clothes with another Doll, but hopefully they will get along. I wanted to create a little picture story with Mirai meeting Riō. Don’t mind certain plotholes or awkward moments ;D!

“Oh indeed she’s very cute, apparently she’s quite exited… can I play with her?”

“Wahhh! … so close…. who are you, anyway?”

And so this chaotic introduction finally ended

“Ehh Fabian please don’t dress Rio in such questionable clothes, she feels embarassed”

“Go Fabian, take a picture of your two beautiful ladies…fufu”

Nevertheless posing with two Dolls is a lot of fun. I really like Mirai and the new girl Rio is super cute. I’m very happy about the face up and also the Dollfie Dream Sister body is very pretty and flexible. I’m looking forward to take more pictures of them in the future…

Hi there I hope you all also enjoy the summer, I like it around 28°C – 32°C

None of my July figure orders have arrived yet, but I just wanted to take pictures of something pretty, so today we have a Mirai centered post, since it was a nice day, we went outdoor.

I recently received some pretty clothes for my lady, I purchased them on impulse, after I got angry, when I noticed that a outfit that I really, really wanted was sold out. Later I found the desired outfit on auction at Buyee, but this is not part of the post.

I bought this nice set from sendoll2007, jacket, shirt, skirt and socks were included. Additional to that Mirai received the Culture Japan products: Mirai Suenaga Short Wig and Long Boots .

Another new thing I used in this post is the new camera lens, Sony 85 mm SAL-85F28.
Back then when I had still a Canon camera I had a wonderful 100 mm lens. The lens I bought  is only close to 100 mm, but it was so cheap and lightweight I could not resist.

Well, lady Mirai is bold at heart, but apparently the shirt is too tight for her L size bust as well.
I have all of her sizes at home, but nah I didn’t want to change, I really like her this way ♡.

“Am I doing this pose right? this skirt is pretty short, I hope noone will see my butt fufufu.”

For pose reference I always take a look at Dollfie Dream pictures, it’s really helpful. Although sometimes I notice that Mirai can’t do everything like I imagine, like bending her knees at sharper angles or bending her lower spine. I rather don’t want to break something while trying something too impossible. Anyway Mirai is able to pose at a large variety.

Hi there,

Mirai and I went on our first Honeymoon ♡＾▽＾♡ … Ok, I’m just kidding the reason why I brought Mirai along during my vacation was much more unromantic, I simply wanted to use this opportunity to get more experience with Doll Photography with focus on Outdoor.

2 weeks ago I took my yearly main vacation and traveled to France, in the Dordogne region. Taking a trip to Paris is something I want to do another time, I was just driving through it and the traffic appeared crazy with a lot of bumped cars, I was happy to leave this scenery behind.

For the travel I put Mirai in a bag, dressed in the most durable clothes she had and her Beanie to protect her hair. I have the impression that wearing the cap made it prettier ^^

Instead of dressing her as revealing as in previous posts, I really tried to make her look girly.

I always worry about making  standing Doll pictures, a secure stand and expressive poses are sometimes hard to combine. I bought the SmartDoll Airstand before vacation, it really helps with creating more free poses. I really like how she looks beautiful in the nature.

I found a nice place shortly before evening, there was a natural looking stone wall before a forest where Mirai could sit down.

I also tried to bring Mirai along during sightseeing, but my idea was wasted by the merciless heat that day, whenever I spotted a fitting area it was in full sunlight and I was drenched in sweat *icky*. I chose locations to something more nearby for most pictures.

At my vacation home base also was a pool, I thought it could be a nice location. Mirai appears quie excited all of a sudden. I put my tripod inside the pool where it wasn’t to deep. Days later I noticed that the tripod was still full of water D’Oh!

 It’s the pool!!!

I admit I didn’t want to drown Mirai, so it’s only the first pool step, hopefully Mirai won’t rust.

As Mirai’s bikini was already in need for changing  after her “bath”, I took a few skin revealing pictures. I felt a little proud of myself for making her stand freely without toppling over :D.

“And where are my other clothes”

*Damn!* (⺣◡⺣)♡* The next day the bikini was already dry and I had fun with some more complex posing, she can be so attractive. Below Mirai makes some teasing Twister poses.

*Nom Nom” Even though I only have her basic hands, they are quite useul for a variety of poses. I love these Azone AZO2 pants with suspenders, the button barely closes, but it looks so cool. After the snack a little workout is a good idea.

“Hurry! I can barely stand here”

I did other things during vacation, like visiting an aquarium, eating many Crêpe, hunting lizzards and general sightseeing without Mirai. Asde from that I tried my best to take nice pictures of my pretty doll. There happened no damage with Mirai  during traveling, but next time I want to have a bag made for 1/3 dolls where I have to worry less about her safety.

The vacation with my Mirai SmartDoll was a lot of fun, I learned one or two things about Doll Photography during this vacation  and maybe I could improve a little as well ;).

Hi, I recently went on my very much deserved vacation, the time I’ve spent online was low, sorry for not posting anything in a while. Todays subject is my cute Mirai SmartDoll.

Before I show my vacation pictures with Mirai, I’ll post pictures from a previous shooting.

Since I have Mirai I regulary browse through Buyee, an auction platform that also features Dolfie clothes. I bid on the follwing item, because I imagined that it would suit my Doll. I bid without actually expecting to win. Gladly it fits, also when Mirai has her front heavy L bust.

Obviously it is a daring piece of wardrobe, nevertheless she also would pass as super heroine, but I’m lacking white boots and a cape, so I created a slightly sexy shooting, as follows.

I recently  bought Mirai’s larger L bust and I’m super happy with her wearing it ♡.

The pictures are a little naughty, I like this kind of playful ecchi. Mirai is still my adorable doll, so don’t take it too seriously, when she shows some skin.

Hello, cameraman – san ;D

I tried some heavier postprocessing for the desired effect, as you can see, I went for a softer image without losing too much sharpness in the focus field, tell me if it’s too much or if you are curious how I did that ^^

Still a little clumsy with the posing

— –

Zipper Malfunction!

So that is the end of this post, I hope you had fun with the pictures of Mirai.

Next Time I will show you what Mirai did in the countryside of France…

I recently did a new shooting with Mirai, I once wanted to put her in a bikini cause she has a supe nice body. In preparation I’ve bought a 50×80 cm board, wallpaper, drapings and some iron film, to connect the background(s) with the wooden board via magnets, I already have.

Next time I will dress her in something more modest I promise you that

As I was browsing through flickr, I got the idea of buying Mirai a bikini, a skimpy one. I looked at HobbySearch offers and ordered two, unfortunately the more interesting model was out of stock in the end and I only received the 1/4 scale bikini, keep in mind that Mirai is an 1/3 scaled fashion Doll. A first test showed that it was mostly compatible at least with her M bust.

I tried a few different poses in this shooting refering to certain anime art illustrations. Such things can be extremely helpful when you don’t know what to do for poses, lol.

Of course thigh high socks go very well with swimsuits and bikini’s, ALWAYS!

When dressing your Doll with skin revealing clothes, you have to accept joints and gaps at certain areas. I already got used to it, but since it was a convenient spot in the picture above, I covered the gap at her hips with a little Photoshop magic. You can also get soft and flexible body’s where most joints are hidden, but these third party products are quite expensive.

While the top covered the important parts, the lower bikini part could not handle Mirai’s hips and butt that well, she felt very embarassed with it, it looked also so weird at the back, I could not take pictures XD I exchanged it with something from a sporty swimsuit, I bought earlier.

Now, that is a really cute butt on Mirai, Danny did a great job with her body overall.

What!? Who invited the kraken? Sorry, I thought it was funny I found two tentacles on ebay, you can do silly stuff like me with them. I did not went overboard here, Mirai is a good girl.

I really like the pose here, should also look nice with a full outfit ^. The background is not that optimal, it always irritates the white balance which irritated me. Haha so few text in this post,
I was rather satisfied with the outcome of this shooting, Mirai looks always pretty and cute.

The shooting went smoothly in terms of lighting and posing, one thing I learned once again is, that I should comb her more often after changing poses. In the next few weeks I should receive some new clothes for her, so be prepared for other Posts like this, but with less skin.

see you

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.

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,  but I feared it would have been too big .

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.

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*

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.

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

One day later on On 25th September I changed outfits again combining  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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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 having  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.

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…

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…

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.

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.

The new summer Wonder Festival figure & GK fair is close, before a new figure avalanche begins, I want to take a look at the figures that caught my interest in the last few months.

I didn’t place any figure preorder lately, not that there wasn’t any appealing stuff for me, but somehow I feel quite conservative about preorders at the moment. I can’t really put my finger on it, but it might have something to do with rising prices, 10.000 Yen have became common for regular 1/8 scaled figures. Also the sheer amount of figures make it difficult to decide for one figure out of a bunch of really pretty figures. I thought just with waiting would sort out things by itself and I could see my priorities more clear. It worked a bit actually, but not as efficient as I imagined it to be. Hey selling some things might end my misery at once.

Don’t worry this won’t end with too much text, I just put a few words under the pictures.

In the final Game of the Worldcup I made a silly announcement about buying a GSC in case Germany would win. Well, I don’t know if I should follow my lame tweet from this evening, so just for fun I let you, the readers decide which one I should choose Ciel Alencon or Wo Class.

God Eater 2 – Ciel Alencon

company: GSC scale: 1/8 release: 12/2014 price: 15.556 Y

Ciel Alencon looks great in her steam punk related clothes and I really like her scowl expression, this is such a pretty face. The figure appears to be very detailed and her weapon has two display options. I would like to get her, but the lady is unfortunately quite expensive.

Kantai Collection – Aircraft Carrier Wo-class

company: GSC scale: 1/8 release: 02/2015 price: 12.778 Y

In the Kancolle Game the enemies do not often appear in full view and the japenese ships are cuter in general, but when taking a look at this Wo Class figure which is based partially on the character art, I have to say that I’m surprised by her appealing presentation. The pale girl is actually an aircraft carrier, she comes with a big detachable, fashionable hat and three flying objects. The organic design and rough textures with a “grunge” like  shading make her stand out from other figures, also her big blue eyes give her something beautiful and appealing.

    Taimanin Asagi – Igawa Asagi

company: Milestone scale: 1/8 release: 09/2014 price: 9.000 Y

This big woman also has a strong facial expression and beautiful facial features. Her proud presentation is contrary to her “special interest” origin, but I like her more like that. The ninja outfit is really cool with the shiny colors and fishnet inlets. Yeah her curves are also something. I have not much experience with Milestone, but the prototype looks great actually.

 Full Metal Daemon Muramasa – Chachamaru Ashikaga

company: Wing scale: 1/7 release: 11/2014 price: 10000 Y

This gorgeus lady went up for preorder today. I always liked the character designs by Nitro+ with strong eyelashes and expressive eyes. Overall, I like everything about Chachamura,
her pose, the samurai themed outfit and expression. She is also availabe as DX version with muramasa the mechniced spider, as normal version she is more affordable, though.

iDOLM@STER Cinderella Girls – Koshimizu Sachiko

company: Phat Company scale: 1/8 release: -/2014 price: –

I’ve already written about her in my previous preorder post, but she wasn’t up for preorders so far, recently her base was shown, a quite big thing. Some people made fun about her face, but I think that she is quite cute. Also her outfit is distinctive and cool, I guess I would order her with the speed of light, this little imp is so adorable ^^

Suenaga Mirai – Smart Doll

company: Danny Choo scale: 1/3 release: now available  price: 58.000 Y

I’m fully aware that  adult men playing with dolls, must be super weird to people who know nothing about anime culture, but who cares when it is something I really enjoy. Months ago I got myself the 1/6 Nakano Azusa Doll from Azone, a small post about her adventures might follow soon. As cute as she is, she’s not really my type anymore and I thought alternatives.

I found this rather affordable Doll, coincidentially it’s the project of Danny Choo, he turned his Mirai mascot into a 1/3 scaled Doll. While I don’t consider myself as Mirai fan, I find this one quite enchanting. My problem with Volks standard Dollfies is that they often has rather stiff expressions, Mirai has a more friendly expression and more accentuated blush marks.

Mirai comes with a set of casual (the ones in the picture) and a telescope stand, other bust parts can be ordered seperately. Well, ok to afford her I would have to pass on any figure purchases for at least two months, difficult but not impossible.

IS: Infinite Stratos 2 – Laura Bodewig

company: FREEing scale: 1/4  release: 12/2014 price: 18.333 Y

From the IS figures made by FREEing I like Laaura the best, the bunny suit suits her very well and this shy expression is truly adorable. The pose of Laura also looks very well done.

Gatchaman Crowds – Utsutsu

company: Amakuni  scale: 1/8 release: 01/2015 price: 10.000 Y

This green Utsutsu came out of nowhere, her design is really interesting with her hairstyle and arrogant face expression, I find her quite attractive. She’s a bit at the anorexic border, but she shows it without concern. On full view it is a beautiful appearance with her slender body.

Kantai Collection ~Kan Colle~ – I-8

company: Taishiyoudou scale: 1/5 release: 27/07/2014 price: 60.000 Y

Haha I’m really crazy about the submarines in Kancolle, they are so lovely in their school swimsuits. The circle Taishiyoudou is selling an 1/5 scaled adaption of I-8 they did a great job with everything and also gave her a good looking base. Unfortunately,  I’m pretty sure that I won’t get this super nice figure, she can only be bought at the coming Wonder Festival and I-8 costs 60.000 Y. Well, Max Factory and FREEing also have some submarine figures planned.

So this were the figures I’m interested in at the moment it probably will be very difficult to decide which one I should get in the end. Haha the concerns of a passionate figure collector.