In the past, I had an Elfdoll 14cm tiny Dodo and an Elfdoll 14cm Kai. Dodo, called Dorothy, was the BJD of one of my previous 1:3 scale BJDs, Sarah. Kai, called Waverley, was a minor character in LHF. I sold both of them in summer, 2012, then spent the next three years regretting it. Jujube, my remaining 1:12 scale BJD, had no friends and hung out in her Operation Rainbow Barf house all by herself, much to my dismay.
My regret increased when I discovered that the artist behind Elfdoll, Rainman, has apparently abandoned the realm of BJDs for the more lucrative pursuit of unlicensed 1:6 scale portrait sculpts for action figures. Elfdollshop.com is down, while the site for Artmaze, the parent business, features the 1:6 scale work prominently, with the BJDs relegated to a small photo at the bottom. Former Elfdoll dealers have been telling customers that, once stock is sold out, it will not be replaced. These indications, plus the chatter on DOA, leads me to conclude that Elfdoll has departed the BJD business for good.
I know from personal experience that, when a dollmaker quits making dolls, the difficulty of procuring a doll from a defunct maker increases dramatically as time passes. Dolls are most available in the six or eight months following a company’s disappearance. After that, people who own dolls by the defunct company tend not to part with them. Therefore, upon learning of Elfdoll’s closure, I knew that, if I wanted to bring some Elfdoll 14cm tinies back into my small populations, I would have to act promptly.
Anyway, I am trading two BJDs I don’t want [Soom Mini Gem body and Soom Mini Gem Garam] for two Elfdoll tinies, Dodo and Kai! My previous Dodo, Dorothy 1.0, who was from the second issue of the doll, had a sleeping head that I preferred over the awake head. But this Dodo, Dorothy 2.0, is from the original issue of the doll, and she only comes with an awake head. No matter — I like her unusually shaped eyes. More importantly, she also comes with the adorable outfit [shirt and overalls] that 1.0 had. While I redid the eyebrows on 1.0, I like actually like 2.0’s default faceup, so I think I’ll keep it. I will remove her default brown mohair hair and give her a smaller ‘do that doesn’t make her so top-heavy.
As for Kai, my first one, Waverley, hung out with my 1:6 scale LHFers as a minor character with dwarfism. She was from the second issue of the doll, and she came with exaggeratedly long elf ears. Kai 2.0, who named herself Jeff this afternoon, is from the first issue of the doll with shorter ears. She needs some hair and better clothes. Many people use the Efldoll 14cm tinies as little fairies, but all of mine are human beings. Maybe my 1:6 scale fairies can get away scantily clad in improvised, shredded, floaty skirts, but my 1:12ers need realistic clothes. I’m not sure how to accomplish that yet.
