IxTEE is doing it again..! Mui-chan has so many cons; she’s off-topic at DoA (scratch that: seems as they’ve recently changed their minds about her!), her resin is thin, her poseability is limited, her magnet hands and feet fall off easily – yet, she is a BJD every lover of tinies yearns for. From today’s newsletter:

This time, Mui-chan becomes the characters of the famous fairy tale – Little Red Riding Hood.
She will be shipped to you at the end of November. For Mui-chan version 4, we have three different sets available for you to choose:

1) Little Red Riding Hood Set (1 x body, 2 x faceplate) HKD 2,200
2) Big Wolf Set (1 x body, 2 x faceplate) HKD 2,200
3) Deluxe Set ( 2 x body, 2 x faceplate) HKD 3,200

The doll will be available for pre-order on October 18 midnight New York time (GMT -5), at the official website – www.ixdoll.com – only. The riding hood version has the closed eyes faceplate as the second option, the wolf version has the grumpy FP. Anyone getting her? Which version? I am not getting any this time, waiting for the boy version to be released. I will however try to get an extra smiling faceplate, since having discovered that one of my two Mui-chan’s faces doesn’t fit too well on the headback (customizing – as in sanding – seems to be a possible cause). I contacted IxTEE earlier this summer about this, and they told me they would keep me in mind. Fingers crossed!

My favourite Blythe clone has turned out to be the coin bank head, the hair of that one is pretty decent and she’s got ok default eyechips (of course it helps that I put her on a PureNeemo body and found an outfit which is just perfect for her). Anyhow, the same seller is now offering cheapo plastic BJDs for sale…

Blythe’s newest family member is “Middie”, size wise (20cm) in between the original Blythe and the Petite Blythe. Pics of the first girl, Ada I believe she’s called, was posted yesterday:

Middie Blythe is not too big, not too small.
She’s “Just Right”!
She is a new concept doll which has very special charm.
She is called “Middie” because her size is in between Neo and Petite, but it spells “Middie” instead of “Midi” so it sounds like a cute girl’s name.
Her features are more childish than Neo but more mature than Petite.
Her head is table to tilt to the left or the right with eye move technology enhancing her charming gaze!

From what I’ve understood, she doesn’t have the traditional color changing eyes, but one set of eyes which can move from side to side (like we’re familiar with from Pullips). Seems as her head can tilt too – again, something anyone who’s obitsued a Pullip not to mention Dal is familiar with; intended or not.. ;)

I am frankly not smitten at all. She’s way too plain and cute – Blythe are about quirkiness, not cuteness. We’ve got Pullips for that!

Official website

Anyone with a slight interest for Pullips and lucky enough to be in Tokyo this weekend, hopefully went to the 29th Dollshow today. No such luck for me, but there are pics being published at several blogs, like the two linked below (thank you, Priere, for the pointers!). A trend lately seems to be painting the upper eyelashes as well as the lower, I am not sure if I like it. It looks awesome when the Pullip has her eyes open, and just plain silly when she blinks or closes both her eyes… The below dolls are two “twin” prototypes; kitten and bunny, the Gothic & Lolita Psycho movie star Yuki, and the Ninja Pullip – all four have eyelashes like that:

I quite like the green twin, btw! I am not sure about their estimated release date, couldn’t read the note next to them properly, but from the blog text they may be the Doll Carnival dolls (the bunny has been displayed before, btw). Not overly enthusiastic about Yuki, seems as her faceup is quite yellowish and that’s not really my cup of tea. The previous pics didn’t reveal this to the same extent. The Ninja Pullip looks fierce, but again with the upper eyelashes.. hm.

See lots and lots of pics:
http://pu-rog.jugem.jp/ (click the small stars in the top entries, they’re links)
http://kei526.blog28.fc2.com/ (several pics of the Seikima II series)

Seeing all these pics just confirmed that I still have a weak spot for Ddalgi, I really like her bold yet “plain” eyes and nude-ish lips, and the overall colour scheme of her faceup.

A VERY interesting Pullip release is scheduled for May 2011, pre-ordering period starting October 1st. Limited to 300 pieces, a Pullip based on glamour model (“gravure idol”) Rina Akiyama. Akiyama is – wiki blurb following – known from an appearance in two “Kamen Rider” series as well as a cameo appearance in “Metal Gear Solid 3″ in which she is featured in a poster on one of the levels. She has also been named to have the “Best Buttocks in Japan” in 2007, which earned her the nickname “Oshirina”, a portmanteau of the words “oshiri” (buttocks) and “Rina”. ;) The Pullip – a JAP x Rina Akiyama collab – will be a copy of Akiyama’s character in the brand new movie “Gothic & Lolita Psycho” (released in Jap theaters last weekend), and she is looking to become pretty fierce!

I just love the new Google Image search! Did you notice how all text is gone from the result page, until you hover a specific image? And how the image is in a lightbox when you go to the site it’s on? Snazzy..!

In addition to my three Blythe, I also have a CCE (color changing eyes) doll and a Basaak doll. Here are some comparison pictures for those of you who consider getting a clone. I definitely recommend the Basaak over a CCE doll..!