by Elizabeth A. Allen
Fairyland recently blogged a preview of its new FairyLine 60 line. The preview includes shots of a 60cm mermaid with an articulated tail in lovely translucent yellowish-brown resin. The number of tail joints seems to be greater than that of Soom’s mermaids, but less than that of Asleep Eidolon’s. I’m indifferent to the generically pretty head, so I’d definitely swap it out for something cooler, like an AOD Hui Xiang.
So there’s a 1:3 scale mermaid in my near future….
Well, that’s adorable. 5StarDoll [whence the resin 1:3 scale toddler bodies for Isabel and Carter to make them 1:6 scale fat adults] has recently released Jadeite, a preying mantis therianthrope.
A minor character in a Monster High ep, Finnegan Wake [har!], is a mer dude who speeds everywhere, mowing people down, and behaves with a mixture of insouciance and recklessness. [He’s referred to as Rider in this wiki, but it’s clearly the same character.] He also uses a manual wheelchair.
Mattel had a chance to create a really cool character who had a visible disability, but was not defined thereby. Instead, what did they do? They defined him by his disability. As the ep Ready, Wheeling and Able shows, the main monsters recognize that he uses a wheelchair and assume that he’s into sedate, sedentary activities. After some platitudes about not jumping to conclusions and letting people do what they want, the main characters realize that Finnegan is much more at home on the track [?]. He assures everyone that, if he needs help with anything, he’ll let people know, and then he asks someone to light his wheels on fire so he can do a trick.
In summary, Finnegan may appear at first glance to be some sort of super awesome stereotype-busting character. However, his adrenaline junkie behavior just acts as a blatant, sweating insistence that he’s INDEPENDENT and AUTONOMOUS and ATHLETIC and FULLY CAPABLE DAMMIT EVEN THOUGH HE’S IN A WHEELCHAIR. As an implicit contrast to wheelchair users as silent, passive, objectified characters, Finnegan hits the other extreme and, because he tries so hard not to end up like the stereotype, he ends up referring all the more pointedly to the stereotype itself. An anti-stereotype, made with the intention of compensating for the failures in the original stereotype, still reinforces the stereotype. We can see this in the description for his episode: "When Rider rolls into Monster High, the ghouls learn there’s more to this wheelchair-bound new student body than meets the eye." Yup, even though Mattel has strained mightily to progressively depict a character in a wheelchair, they still think he’s bound to his chair, forever immobilized.
Finnegan also drives me up the wall because he’s an inconsiderate, dangerous jerk. His ep introduces his character with a Finnegan-cam view of people diving out of his way as swerving and squealing noises occur. In other words, Finnegan barrels down the halls of Monster High at high speed, forcing people to yield the right of way. He seems to forget that he’s not the only one in the universe with a mobility impairment. For just one example, zombies like Ghoulia and Slo-Mo walk with much more difficulty than most people, but apparently Finnegan doesn’t care; he’ll just run them over because going fast is cool! Nah, he’s just an ass…
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1676110.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Check out Loongsoul’s Gong Gong! This marvelous dude comes in light grey resin and has a loooooong tail that puts him at 166cm from top of head to tip of tail fin. He also has optional hip fins, sculpted scales and fins on his arms and torso and clawed hands. He has the option of a pointy-eared head without long fangs and one with. He comes with wigs, eyes, faceup [optional], armor, spear and resin stand that looks like a spray of water. He is amazing, and he is also unfortunately a limited edition whose preorder has already closed. Whhhhhhaaaaa!
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1583842.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Souldoll puts out some amazing stuff these days. Their Souloid line, a series BJDs with robotic elements in their design, is especially cool. It started off about two years ago with Iraki, a 43cm male doll with robotic lower torso, pelvis, legs and feet. All Souloid releases have been in this scale until now, with the introduction of Kowalski and Billian, 70cm males.
The larger Souloids’ design represents an imaginative departure from the usual. These dudes have full robo-bodies [except their human heads], as well as tails, vespertilian wings and three sets of arms apiece with articulated fingers. With all that weight up top, I’m surprised that they can stand alone, but their tails are probably acting as struts. :p Given the extra resin in the multiple arms, it’s no wonder that they cost $1,200.00 naked and unpainted. [With all options and s/h to the US, you could be paying ~$2,100.00!]
Kowalski and Billian amaze me. Their concepts take two popular design elements — therianthropes and cyborgs — and merge them successfully. Their detailed body sculpting accurately suggests mechanical components, while their unusual bodies are feats of successful engineering. Their angular headsculpts effectively combine an angular, robotic look with the expressive humanity shown in so much of Souldoll’s work.
I used to think that Soom innovated the most in BJD concepts and design, but, of the major companies, I now see that the title of most creative must be given to Souldoll. I love Soom. However, their Monthly Dolls now contain a dull, repetitive succession of therianthropic features. Even the Faery Legend line, which, I think, hit a peak around Azur, Aenigma, Kremer, Cylin and possibly Metato, has been really uneven lately. By contrast, Souldoll continues to add [and then retire] a variety of sculpts, as well as a variety of androgynous, frilly, over-the-top outfits. Their Tarot line, though uneven, deserves credit for an original concept and some truly cool executions, and their Souloids are just plain awesome! Go Souldoll!
I really wish they’d bring back their 1:6 scale Soul Littles, though. :'(
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1576141.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
The latest Soom Faery Legend’s pale green resin sparked the idea that such a color should belong to a vegetation sprite. I thus invented the following dryad concept, growing from greenish-brownish bark [possibly sculpted?] on calves and forearms, through general green across most of the body, crowned with a little forest for hair.
The tree hair would be either sculpted the way that my friend Erica does her 1:6 scale bonsai trees, or it would make use of moss, crinkle paper and plastic leaves, like my forest set. Knowing me, it would probably be the latter, as that is easier and more my style.
Clothing would ideally be a brown, lightweight, crinkly cotton, preferably ombre, like broomstick skirt material.
Bright green eyes [I like Flower’s green/green ones], faceup in green and brown, eyebrows and miscellaneous shading brown, lips and eyelashes green.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1511498.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
The Monster High character Arachne’s Daughter appeared as an option in a popularity contest during the 2011 San Diego Comic Con. Mattel showed prototypes of several MH dolls and asked voters to choose their favorite, which would then be commercially produced. Sadly, Arachne’s Daughter lost…but Elizabeth Jr. just sent me word that Arachne’s Daughter will be an exclusive at this year’s Comic Con! Nifty! She is the only MH doll I would consider getting, although she would definitely need a repaint…and possibly a rehair.
This entry was originally posted at http://modernwizard.dreamwidth.org/1505871.html. You can comment here, but I’d prefer it if you’d comment on my DW using OpenID.
Daisy Dayes just came out with Elise, a 17cm high centaur BJD available for preorder at jpopdolls.net. She’s thin and delicate, with oversized hooves and remarkable stability. Oh, I really want her; I’ve wanted one of Daisy Dayes’ little centaur creations ever since she started making them individually. The only thing keeping me from dropping $350.00 on her is that I just spent more than that on Lola Paprika and her stuff.
But Lola Paprika needs a doll, right? Right…?Continue reading A 1:12 centaur BJD!!!!!!
Soom has been doing a series of unusual dolls with elaborate costumes, therianthropic body parts and accessories — all inspired by signs of the zodiac. For August and the sign of Leo, they issued Io Windwalker, a hunter with a spear and lion-related accessories: a skirt trimmed with lion fur, a claw necklace and a maned headdress representing a lion's head. As you can see on the product page, Io lives up to Soom's usual standards of high quality. He's both a lithely sculpted, attractive doll and an original concept with an expert execution.
Continue reading Constipated werewolf demands to know the location of his pants!!!
I’ve had a long-term, back-burner love affair with therianthropic — human/non-human animal creatures — from my earliest days.
Mermaids also figured largely in my childhood interests. I thought they were glamorous, fascinating and magical even before Disney’s animated Little Mermaid appeared in 1989 and popularized such creatures. After the mermaid’s infiltration of mass culture, I still persisted in finding them eminently awesome, though I was more interested in Andersen’s Little Mermaid [and the rest of his sick, twisted fairy tales], mermaid lore in general and, again, a realistic schematic for merpeople. [My sister and I pondered the realistic biology of merpeople extensively. We spent much time wondering exactly how a fish part and a human part could fit together into a cooperative body. If merpeople had piscene nether regions, did they then lay eggs? Did they have gills? Could they breathe underwater? Would they really have all the hair that they are traditionally depicted with? Eventually we decided that realistic merpeople would be more like human-dolphin hybrids, air-breathing, viviparous, mostly hairless, very streamlined and entirely mammalian.]
Before the Age of the Internet, my interest in therianthropes existed in an enjoyable vacuum, far away from others who shared my interest [except for Jill]. Therianthropophilia was a harmless, offbeat interest based in mythology and fairy tales. About 5 to 7 years ago, though, with the democratization of the Intertubes, therianthropophilia’s frame of reference changed. Furry subculture — in which people enjoy a broad spectrum of identifying with, dressing up as, discussing, producing artwork about and getting turned on by non-human animals or therianthropes — became much more visible. [Witness Creature Creator for Victoria 4.1, a set of horns, hooves, tails and paws to make the 3-D model Victoria 4.1 into a deer girl, a cat girl, a devil, etc.] As furry subculture became more visible, the mainstream made fun of it as a collection of sex perverts in mascot costumes. The general derisive attitude toward furry subculture spread outward and tainted the general view of anything remotely related to therianthropes.
So, anyway, now I feel really odd and self-conscious about my therianthropophilia [which explains why you haven’t seen any therianthropes I’ve been making in Daz — also because they are really BAYUD]. I feel like I can’t just rave about how cool mermaids and centaurs and sphinxes and such are; I have to justify myself by explaining that I’m not sexually attracted to them. Stupid stereotypes aren’t even true, and they tar everyone with the same brush.