Dollieh Sanctuary

hi there, everyone.

as some of you more familiar with me probably already know, i am among the seemingly tiny number
of western fans of the little known late-1990's Anime and Manga series "Mamotte Shugogetten"
by the little known Manga-ka Sakurano Minene.

this series was something of a short-lived phenomenon in Japan for about five years or so,
and, during the series height, a great number of merchandise was produced, and,
among the most expensive and difficult to obtain, -at least outside Japan-
is a pair of character dolls, made by two different manufacturers, -and in two wildly different scales no less-
of the series principal female character, the moon goddess "Shaorin"

both dolls are exceptionally difficult for westerners to obtain, but the smaller one of the two,
while arguably inferior, has special significance outside her fanbase as one of VOLKS earliest character doll products,
and even more significantly, as a member of VOLKS own "Dollfie" line, the immediate ancestors
of their beloved and fantastically successful "Super Dollfie" line of 1/3 scale BJDs.

being in the rare position to be able to actually do so, i thought i'd share this rare piece of history
specifically with today's western Dollfie enthusiasts, -to give those who may not already be well aware-
a good idea of just exactly where their beloved BJD line began, and just how far it has come in 15+ years...

even though the box proclaims this as the Ultimate Figure Series, a small holographic-effect label in the corner of the window, -perhaps a last-minute addition- seems to be billing this as part of VOLKS' evidently freshly coined "Dollfie" line;

she is an incredibly tiny doll, all the more so when contrasted against her big TSUKUDA HOBBY sister;

a sophisticated, highly poseable, plastic model-like body for it's time.
certainly no competition for the vastly superior (IMHO) 1/6 OBITSU BODY.
unsightly exposed screws were painted over by me. speaking of OBITSU BODYs,
VOLKS had evidently marketed this body at one time to hobbyists/customizers
as an "Excellent Base Model Mini"

Where Volks is concern. My Neo Goh Yamato is the only full Volks doll. The rest are either hybrid heads (Type C, Neo Goh2 and 3) or bodies (Neo Goh and Neo Guy) For some bizzare reason the males are sturdier than the Neo EB who keep falling apart(Miss Hyperactive Neko Type C switched to an Obitsu body and is now looking to assimulate a Momoko).

HAd the chance to visit Doll point Akiba earlier this month but I don't see a Neo Goh or Guy to pick up as replacement bodies. There wasn't much 1/6 in store since the upsized Dollfie Dreams took over(Granted I spent more time at the Azone shop in hope of getting another Neemo..).

Had not not chance to visit other Volks branches though.

She's super adorable! All the more so for being so tiny. I don't think you mentioned, how tall is she exactly? Around 21cm?

about that. the body is kind of crude compared to the OBITSUs i'm used to,
but dismantling the body, refitting everything, dogging all the screws down firm,
and making sure all the plug-in body components are inserted firmly in all the way
goes far in making this old VOLKS body shine as much as it possibly can.

it's got idiosyncrasies a plenty, but it ain't a half-bad first attempt
from a company that has obviously come a long way indeed in the 15+ years since...

at one time, it seemed like i was just about the only one in the entirety
of the english-speaking segment of the internet that openly discussed upon either of these dolls.

well, it would now seem that that is definitely no longer the case;

http://shoujodolls.com/index.php/en/blo ... tten-dolls