Or rather... I didn't decide this. I was browsing DoA and saw a thread asking people what they thought about the more muscular trend with dolls these days, and for the most part that doesn't bug me at all, but there are definitely certain characters I wish I could get less muscular bodies for. For example, I always felt that even the relatively slender Domuya bodies were too well-defined for Lyric. If I was sure it would not make him bobble-headed, I would get him a Doll Chateau body, but I'm a little concerned the 60cm body would be too small for his Soom head. More research may be in order.
But I'm getting off topic. Aura, Andael, Statik, Esyrlon, and Doppelganger also have more slender builds (of the non-muscular variety). Doppel works just fine as the 60cm Dollmore body is tiny and works perfectly for him. I'm content with the Domuya flexi-perennial body I have for Esyrlon. It's a little more well-defined than I imagine him in my head, but the overall size is very good. Statik has a modded Thaasa body which leaves him with almost no muscle mass, so I'm happy there.
Andael and Aura have proved more problematic. Neither of them is supposed to be more slender-emaciated like Doll Chateau's bodies and both of their heads are too big for some of the other options out there. I still haven't figured out what to do with Andael, so for now he has to deal with improper body types, but I got an idea a while back for Aura.
I wasn't sure if it would work or if it was too stupid, so I never really mentioned it. But I saw some pictures of the Dollstown 18yr girl bodies and thought the overall shape looked really good. So I did some research for a while and tried to see how it would compare to other dolls in that height range (trying to keep his height relatively close to Cailath's and they're both supposed to be in the 70cm-ish area)
Anyway, I dug up almost every spare doll part I had lying around (as well as some things like lego sets that I hadn't opened) and managed to scrounge up enough money to buy one second hand. It's freshskin so it doesn't really match aura's head, but then I'm not sure what would since Har is an odd sort of pinkish color? I might eventually dye it to match better but for now since you can really only see the very tips of his fingers (need to get him bigger hands at some point) it's not a big deal.
The body arrived RIGHT before I left for A-kon. I was kind of hoping to get the mods done in time to bring him with me, but I didn't have enough time so I just really roughly sanded down the chest and had to call it good enough for the time being.
I did a little more work on it today since I don't have to go back to work until Tuesday. It's still not quite in a state where it's worth showing off, but I tested his clothes on it. I kind of hated it at first since they were made for a body with wider shoulders, so I sat around lamenting the waste of money and decided to try to find someone else the body might work for. I considered giving it to Avelarion and had his robe and head on and everything, and then for some reason I decided to try Aura's head on it again.
I think I like it better this time? I can't decide if the clothing combo looks good or completely ridiculous.
Hopefully this will also give me some motivation to update Avelarion's outfit. Aura's gloves need re-designing I think. And I may go back in and line his hood to help hide how badly brocades fray. Possibly assault it with fray-check? It was meant to be a prototype. I didn't expect to actually like it as much as I do. I would re-make it but it turned out completely different from the pattern I drafted, thanks to my failure at sewing. But I ended up liking the messed up design better than what I had planned so I'd have to figure out how to make the same mistake again on purpose. XD
Anyway... I'm really happy with it aside from the clothing fitting difficulties. If money was not an issue, I'd buy like three more of these bodies to do the same mod to (and maybe even some to not mod and actually use as girls). It definitely has a lot of the issues mentioned in the Dollstown 18yr thread like the difficulty sitting up un-aided, but it's so elegant looking that I just really don't care.
Got distracted and it randomly occurred to me that the Spiritdoll Elegance body might work well for Andael. Will have to look into some head size comparisons between that and Migidoll and possibly save up for that next. That is of course assuming that Batchix and Donn Kinney don't steal all of my money this summer with their impending doll releases... Maybe I should shoot to start saving for a new body for Andael this winter. XD
I know I've already written like an entire novel for this entry, but one more thing occurred to me. Iyrilaeth's new wig (which I should get some pics of real quick) --okay back-- has blonde and white like Aura's does. Anyway, I think this is kind of a cool coincidence because it's sort of my headcanon that in my story's universe, those two are related somehow. Aura only has one kid, Elaria, and having Iyrilaeth be older than them would ruin the timeline, but I never planned out Cailath's children so it's possible Iyrilaeth could be descended from his line. Just random thoughts. XD
Lol that stupid thread on DOA *shakefist* I especially love when people say they like the muscle bodies because of the variation...which is the problem - ALL the bodies are huge and muscly now, they killed all the variation!! *endrant*
ReplyDeleteI would love to see one of those DT bodies in person. For girls I've heard they're just too big, no clothes fit them, but I never thought to use it as a boy body...I think Aura looks good, not bobble at all. And I LOVE the clothes. I was thinking that before I read that you weren't totally sold on them...another reason I wish I could sew, Metatron could use something along those lines, but no one sells stuff like that. And he's such an odd size (thanks again Dollmore!!) that nothing fits him anyway. And Dollmore doesn't make what I would like him to wear....so I ignore him. The last time I pulled him off the shelf I had to dust him off >.<
Iyrilaeth's hair turned out great! did you have to boil it or anything? It looks like it was made that way....
I agree. At first when it was relatively uncommon I was all excited like "now my more muscular characters can have bodies!" and then it became pretty normal and I stopped paying as much attention. And then even skinny bodies started having washboard abs and my head exploded.
DeleteI didn't even really pay attention to how big the body is until I was posing Aura next to some of my other guys. The body is more slender than my male 70cm bodies but it's bigger than a lot of mine in the 60cm range. I am not actually sure what would fit if one wanted female clothes for it. But male clothes fit fine! Bit tight on the hips but that's not a big deal for me since Aura doesn't need to wear traditional clothes!
Also thank you! The clothing combination has since managed to settle into the "I like it" category so it will likely be staying unless I get some 'brilliant' idea that will inevitably make me want to rip my hair out!
If I was better at sewing I would absolutely offer to help you with clothes for Metatron! Pretty much the only reason I sew is because certain things just aren't readily available, and between cosplay and dolls I have a certain degree of need for custom clothing. And because neither hobby is particularly cheap, making stuff myself tends to be a little more cost-effective most of the time.
Is he on the Alex sized body? That would be hard to shop for as is. When I was getting Doppelganger clothes, I tried to do my research and see what was the closest to the right size for Dollmore guys but when stuff arrived it was almost always too big. I had to trim about five inches off the ends of his pants and they're still too long, but his boots cover them so it's not really a huge deal.
And thanks on the hair! I didn't really end up having to do anything with it to get it to work! Since most of the curl was lower in the wig, once I had it trimmed down it was pretty easy to get it to cooperate. I already had water boiling, prepared to need it, and then I got to that point and realized it wasn't necessary.