Bjd Unboxing: Surprise Again, Clover Doll Echo

Continuing on from the previous post, Anna bought not just one, but two new ball jointed dolls from the Junky Spot Black Friday sale.

We have already unboxed the first darling doll, now let’s see what we have here.

Inside the shipping box is the doll box with an unfamiliar logo.

It’s for Clover Doll, a company that I’ve frankly never heard of before today.  But I’m sure their dolls are lovely just the same.

Upon opening the doll box, the first sight we see is a martial arts DVD?

“Cool, let’s watch it now!  Can we please, Miss Ghost Lady?”

No Sakura, it is too violent for children.  And we are in the middle of something important.

Anyway, let us see what other surprises await.

As we have learned from previous unboxings (see New Arrival: A Mystic Kids Doll Review), Junky Spot is known for including strange novelties in their packages.

This time, in addition to the DVD we received a card game, a couple of pieces of chocolate, an animal eraser, and…

…a fortune teller fish?

It’s a thin plastic fish that tells one’s fortune based on how it lays.

Simply lay it on the palm of your hand and observe.

Sorry Yuki, it doesn’t seem to work for dolls.

Here is the doll’s card, showing her sculpt name and the date she was cast by her doll company.  So she is a Clover Doll Echo.

Now that we’ve gotten her cushion out, let us see our new companion.

Here she is all bandaged up.

And now all unwrapped.  She is a lovely doll, but a bit of a mystery, so I will allow Anna to explain further.

I first saw this doll over a year ago I think at the Junky Spot, but I overlooked for one particular reason.  The product photos.

The photos were mostly beautiful, but the way her mouth looked in them bugged me.  It looked a little too pouty.  And I couldn’t find any owner photos, so no way of knowing what she would look like in real life.

Over time I realized a couple of things. 

First, the over-poutiness was mostly due to her face up.  And second, every single doll I have every gotten with the default company face up has arrived looking very different compared to the company photos.

I thought that odds were more likely than not that this new doll would not look like the company photo as well, and most likely not have the same problem with her mouth.

So when I saw her at the Black Friday sale, at half price, I took a leap of faith.

And here you can see she looks just fine.  Not at all over pouty.  She is a beautiful doll. 

And the freebie eyes are wonderful, I don’t even mind that I ended up with blue eyes, again.  So far, every bjd I ever gotten has come with either blue or pink eyes.  So much for being random colors. 

Anyway, these eyes look fantastic.  They are so shiny and realistic in person, but not in a creepy way.

She poses pretty well too.  Obviously she can touch her face, but also her legs can do things the others can’t do.  She actually reminds me of a ballet dancer.  She has a beautiful body.

Well now, her body may be beautiful to behold, but she still needs to get dressed.

Now to present the “new doll” dress to our newest doll.

Now doesn’t she look wonderful in the dress, and in natural lighting.

Anna is right about her face up, it is gorgeous.

Such a beautiful doll, however she is a very quiet doll.  And she seems fairly out of it.  I do hope the trip wasn’t too tiring for her.

“Where are you from?  Do you have a name?  Why do you look so sleepy?  Want to play now?”

“Go easy on her Sakura.  Our new friend is overwhelmed and needs to rest.”

Momoko is absolutely right.  Even the cat doll is concerned.

Speaking of which, our little feline has shown to be quite obedient and learns things rather quickly.  Anna taught it to sit nicely for us.

Anyway, we have noticed that although our newest doll is a msd sized or 1/4 scale doll like myself and Usagi, she is noticeably smaller in stature.

That’s not an unusual thing.  There are many different doll companies out there making loads of different dolls.  As such, ball jointed dolls tend to vary in height and proportions among other things.  It’s why one common complaint upon their owners is being unable to buy clothes to fit their dolls. 

And that is precisely why I am taller than the two of you.

“Don’t be silly, Hikaru.  It’s your shoes that make you so much taller. :)”

Well, these shoes add a negligible amount of height.  I am still taller!

No you’re not, you and Usagi are the same height.

Humph!

Anyway, our little doll family is becoming much larger than anticipated.  I suppose a large family is a blessing.  This means there will be much more to look forward in the future.

But for now, be at peace my dear readers.

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Bjd Unboxing: Surprise! Hujoo Nano Freya

Anna came home with a surprise for us.

A new doll!

Anna says she took advantage of the Black Friday Sale at the Junky Spot and bought a brand new ball jointed doll.  All without breathing one word to me.

Still, what’s done is done.  Let us see who we have inside this rather small package.

“…Um, what kind of doll is it, Miss Hikaru?”

I’m afraid I don’t know, Yuna dear.  Anna has yet to mention any details.

“Could it be an Alien, Miss Ghost Lady? Or a bunny or a kitty…”

Enough Sakura.  And my name is not Miss Ghost Lady.

Shiro seems to have taken a particular interest in this package.  I wonder why.

Inside the box, we find more packaging, documents….

…Chocolate…

…And a tail?

“Yay! It is a kitty and it’s purple!”

Settle down Sakura!

Well, I shall allow Anna to explain this strange occurrence.

This is the Hujoo Nano Freya, a very tiny cat doll.  It’s only about 12 cm. and normally available in white or grey, but I got the special edition purple version. 

It’s a doll I’ve been eyeing for awhile.  There were only two reasons why I didn’t get one sooner.  First, it’s been out of stock at the Junkyspot for a while.  And second, I couldn’t decide between white or grey. 

So imagine my surprise when I got an email about the Junky Spot Black Friday Sale with this lovely little kitty in purple or “grape”.  Since I couldn’t decide between the other colors, why not get this one?  And on sale to boot.

It is a little different compared to the other dolls, and not just because it’s a cat.  It’s made from ABS plastic instead of resin, making it much cheaper to buy and possibly a little less fragile.  But the way it poses it a little tricky at least for me. 

I found the one foot seems to constantly want to point downward.  And I’ve been having trouble getting the poor thing to stand on its own.

But with a doll this cute, why would you want to do anything but hold it.

Anyway, the name of the company is proudly printed on the back of the head.

And trying to open the head is a little bit of a struggle. 

I found out it takes 12 mm. eyes that aren’t included.  Yep, no freebie random eyes so the poor kitty will have to have be blind until I can buy a pair.

So that is how this purple feline ended up at our doorstep.  Getting past the shock, I suppose it is something of a novelty to have such a doll.

Shiro seems quite taken by this new doll.  They do seem to see eye to eye, in more ways than one.

“…It’s so tiny, but its still cute..”

Here let me take a good look at our new little friend.

“…Um, I think you’re scaring the kitty, Miss Hikaru…”

Quite a skittish cat, why in the world would it find me frightening?

“Here little kitty, kitty.  Want to be friends? :)”

Well, it looks like Usagi isn’t as scary as Hikaru, right little kitty?

(I am not scary!)

(You are first thing in the morning.)

Anyway, the little cat seems to have settled down, but it still needs to be dressed.

So I will now present the “new doll dress”.  Given to every new ball jointed doll to wear until something more befitting is sewn for them.

“But Miss Ghost Lady, that is waaaay too big for the kitty.”

But it’s a tradition.  And besides that, the cat needs something to wear.  What else is there?

Yuna has saved the day, by lending the kitty her new blouse (see Of Bjd Fashion: Birthday Surprise Outfits Part 1 with Raglan Sleeve Top Tutorial).  It’s short enough to make a cat sized night gown.

I suppose that will do for now, even if it breaks our little tradition.

Don’t worry Hikaru, that dress will get worn very soon.

…Dare I ask why?

Because I bought another doll from the sale.

Oh dear me, another one!

To be continued tomorrow….

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Doll Owner’s Corner: Resin Colors

First of the month, time for another Doll Owner’s Corner.  When I, the doll owner, talk about anything at all.

This month’s topic:

Resin Colors

As mentioned several times before on this blog (see Doll Owner's Corner: What is a Bjd?), ball jointed dolls are made from resin, a beautiful porcelain-like plastic. 

Resin can be made into wide variety of colors by adding pigments to it.  This means that companies can and do produce dolls in several different skin tones.

The more common ones you see are white (like our deer friend, Shiro), “normal” and tan.  The “normal” is frequently split into “normal yellow” and “normal pink”, where the yellow is a sort of beige color and the pink is a pinkish color.

There are also the more fantasy colors like grey, blue, red, etc. sadly produced only by some companies.  And the companies that make dolls in those colors typically charge you more for them.  The same goes for tan dolls.  It’s because of the extra pigments needed to produce resin in those colors as well as extra time and effort.  You get what you pay for. :/

What I think is the beautiful thing about resin colors is the variety you get, and I don’t just mean the choice between pink or tan skin, etc.

Colors tend to vary from company to company due to differences in their resin, so a “normal skin” doll from one will usually look different from a “normal skin” doll from another company.  And differences can occur in dolls from the same company due to the age of the doll (since resin turns yellow as it ages) or variation in the batch of resin produced.

I have several examples of these in my own dolly household.

All my ball jointed dolls (except for Shiro) are “normal pink” or pink skin or whatever wording you prefer.  It’s my favorite resin color because it is so cute and it’s fun to see how different it looks in each company.

Or within the same company as with Sakura and Hikaru here, both are from Mystic Kids and bought about a year apart.

You can see here that Sakura looks pinker than Hikaru does.  In fact, Hikaru is so light in color that there have been days where I wondered if they sent me a white skin doll by mistake.

Here is Yuki and Usagi, both made by Doll Family A and purchased from the same event.  Yuki is lighter than Usagi, who seems slightly more beige to me for a pink skin doll. 

Yuki’s body came separately from Doll Family H, which from what I’ve read is the sister company for Doll Family A.  I had assumed that the resin would match fairly well because of this, but you can see by Yuki’s arm on the left that it is definitely pinker and slightly darker.

Now here’s a fun little twist.  On the left is Yuna made by Doll Love, and on the right is Momoko made by Kids Sky.  Two different doll companies and the resin looks almost identical.

I mean if you look really closely, you might see a slight difference.  It is so slight though that if you were looking to match bodies to make a hybrid doll I would recommend these two companies.

And that’s just what you see in my collection. 

How about your dolls?  How do they compare to each other?  Let me know in the comments, and look forward to more fun with dolls in the future.

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