A Little Angel Nests Here

Every once in a while, it’s hard to really articulate what I like about a doll. I felt this way with YoTenshi Una when she was released in 2011. I took to her immediately–the first glimpse I saw, I thought, “Oh! That’s cute! Usually I don’t like YoSDs!” I don’t understand even now why I like Una when I’m not interested in Megu, Nana, Sara, or Kira–and she has the same “4 Sisters” face sculpt. I see them and I don’t really care much, but then I see Una–the exact same doll in white skin instead of normal skin–and my heart leaps.

Una is a YoTenshi and has stayed close to her origin of Tenshi no Sato. Her first few releases were incredibly popular and incredibly limited. A few times I saw this doll listed for sale, and the price was always well over what I was willing to save up for. Una wasn’t on my wishlist or part of my plan. She was fun to admire in other people’s photos, but that was the end of it.

Earlier this year it was announced that Una would be re-released in her YoTenshi size at the Tenshi no Sato 11th Anniversary event. Someone I know was attending that event, hoping to acquire an Una, and I expressed my combination of hope and envy towards her. She was lucky enough to get a ticket for Una and come home with one, and seeing her pictures renewed my feelings of appreciation for that cute little face. My friend mentioned that there had been enough Una to go around at the event, saying that there were even a flood of them on Yahoo!Japan Auctions.

When I logged on and searched, I sealed my doom. She was not exaggerating at the number of auctions and the variety of prices. After tormenting myself for a week, I bid and won a YoTenshi Una of my very own! ♥ Waiting for the tracking and delivery to update was so hard… but before I knew it, I had a parcel to bring home and unwrap!

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A Tale of F-12: The Arrival

I was absolutely thrilled when my shopping service informed me that my Full-Choice System (FCS) order had shipped! I don’t really have trouble with being patient, and for dolls I try to be very open about how long it might take for the order to be processed. I didn’t expect my FCS order to be ready until late August, potentially being shipped to me in early September, so this was quite a lovely surprise!

I ordered my FCS via Enya on Den of Angels. She was offering a Tenshi no Sato shopping service, and the limited reintroduction of the F-12 MSD head was only available at the Tenshi no Sato location.

I was very pleased with Enya’s shopping service. She communicated well during all aspects of my order–when I had questions before placing the order, when I placed the order, when she traveled to Sato, when she placed the order at Sato, when my doll arrived to her when the order was complete, and when my doll was shipped to me. At no point did I feel that I was “in the dark” or unaware of what was going on. I feel that she communicated my wishes well, as there were no complications with my order. My new F-12 is absolutely perfect in every way. I’ve read about people being less-than-satisfied with the faceup results for custom faceups requested through FCS, but my doll’s faceup is absolutely everything I want it to be. If I were going to order another FCS I would consider Enya as my first choice to order via.

And now, on to the package! Continue reading »

A Tale of F-12: The Beginning

Miisha

The placement of those eyes makes them seem to stare right into your trembling soul.

Just like so many other things in life, sometimes you know right away that you adore a doll…but sometimes, a doll grows on you.

When I first saw pictures of Volks Mini Super Dollfie “Shinshiya” and “Miisha,” I thought they were hideous. Their eyes seemed too big. Their facial expressions struck me as creepy and vacant. I didn’t like that they had “weird” ears instead of normal human ears.

Then I saw pictures of Greeniebone’s Patridge. When I saw her in this picture, I thought she was adorable! At first glance I couldn’t figure out what mold she was, and then I read the details and saw that she was a Miisha. My opinion began to change. Suddenly the big eyes didn’t seem so bad. The little smile was endearing, not unsettling.

A little while later I read Machiko’s fantastic blog post detailing the assembly of a Miisha kit.  Not only was it very neat to see the assembly so detailed with step-by-step images and commentary, the faceup that Machiko painted was just so cute! It really brought out the sweetness and innocence of those huge eyes. Continue reading »