Photography Exercise – vmf50 Dolls (NSFW)

vmf50 Simone in a red dress with a guitar

This site is mainly about pictures of figures, and it’s also about pictures of pillowcases. However, it’s also about pictures of dolls and it’s been too long since I’ve posted anything about my doll collection. That absence is not for lack of new material – on the contrary, I’ve steadily acquired more doll things, and today is the day I choose to share them. It’s also the start of what will hopefully be a continuous – though probably occasional – series of posts in which I take pictures centered on a theme, with the idea that the post will be more about photography rather than about an individual doll or figure. This inaugural post is somewhat nebulous in range but future posts will be more narrowly confined, and I’ve got a bunch of ideas planned out.

While I’m being introspective … you know, this site is also supposed to be about eroge reviews but I’ve only ever posted one, and I don’t know if I’ll do any more. Most of the eroge I play are visual novels and it’s pretty tough to write anything meaningful about a game that you just click through all the way to the conclusion. But anyway, on to the dollie stuff.

vmf50 Simone in a red dress

This little red dress comes from Addams Town. I’d been wanting it for a while, but as far as I know it’s been out of stock for the last couple of years. However, they recently made some more and I put in an order. It’s not exactly a complicated design but I really like its simplicity, and the red color is very eye-catching.

vmf50 Yumi in a bondage harness

I got this bondage harness from the Real Art Project. They’ve become one of the most enthusiastic makers of vmf50 goods and accordingly, I’ve bought a lot of their stuff. They even sell their own customized dolls, presumably with Yamato’s support, being that I don’t know where else they could be getting the bodies.

I recently spent a couple of sessions photographing my dolls to practice some techniques and setups for shooting large figures. I’m terrible at photographing dolls and I’ve never been pleased with my earlier doll pictures. Those shots are plagued by boring or unattractive setups and harsh lighting and I wanted to fix those problems. I painted up some wood panels and foamboard sheets with a mottled paint pattern, which I think works reasonably well. It’s not particularly evocative but I think for objects this large, simplicity works better than complicated backgrounds. I simply don’t have enough room to build a set for a 1/3 scale doll, and that means any backdrops I use need to be reusable and unobtrusive. This backdrop is, obviously, composed of a mottled blue and black pattern, which is not very beautiful but also doesn’t draw much attention to itself. I like how it looks, and given that my dolls – in accordance with the direction Yamato is taking with their vmf50 lineup – generally adhere to a bondage theme, it seems appropriate … though perhaps it would be moreso if my dolls didn’t have such affable smiles on their faces.

vmf50 Simone in red underwear

This outfit also comes from the Real Art Project. It’s sort of an easy-access set, I suppose, given the way the panty has this plunging cut in front. I’m kinda thinking of seeing how Saber looks in this outfit.

Speaking of whom, 50-centimeter tall Azone Saber is supposed to be released at the end of this month and I’m really looking forward to getting her. Much of the photography practice shown here will be applied to Saber’s shoot, since I’d like to do her justice. I do own one of Azone’s earlier 50-centimeter dolls – Fate Testarossa – but it’s not one of my favorites. I don’t want to say that she looks like she ran a 100 meter dash in a 90 meter gym, but her face is excessively flattened out. The newer Azone Hybrid Action Figure dolls look pretty good, though. I was surprised at their future lineup, which is eclectic indeed. It includes Sigui, the inquisitor for Queen’s Blade Rebellion; a rather unusual choice for a large-sized doll in my opinion, since her character design stands out from the type that usually gets a doll adaptation (which is to say, she’s not moe). She looks very neat but I don’t think I’ll be getting her (I’d get Irma if they made one, though).

I was also quite surprised that they’re doing a 50-centimeter doll of Inori Yuzuriha from that really bad anime Guilty Crown. Okay, I shouldn’t be that surprised – she is the very essence of moe (or at least, a character whose producers tried really, really hard to make her moe, with equivocal results). However, I really expected Volks to be the first ones to roll out a doll of her. Unfortunately, the image shown off at Azone’s Wonder Festival booth shows Inori in a rather boring dress rather than her Funeral Parlor strip club outfit. I’d really rather prefer the strip club outfit. Then again, if I were to get her, I guess I’d have a large variety of bondage outfits that she could wear.

Man, that reminds me I still need to get that Guilty Crown review done. It’d surely be superfluous by now, being that anyone who cares at all about the show has already made up his or her mind about it, but at I ought to at least get a post out of it.

vmf50 Simone wrapped in a bondage mask

Speaking of bondage stuff, let’s move on to naughtier things. This somewhat-peculiar looking blindfold and facemask ensemble also comes from the Real Art Project. It’s pretty neat; it just attaches to the doll’s face with velcro straps. Perhaps I should’ve attached it under Simone’s wig rather than over it, though.

vmf50 Simone and Miu

It looks pretty neat, though it does get tangled up in the hair, particularly when removing it. Trying to keep Simone’s hair neat is one of the most time-consuming parts of any session where I photograph my dolls. My other dolls wear standard Yamato wigs and generally don’t have as many issues with tangled or ragged hair as Simone does, who wears (if I remember right) a Monique Trading Corp wig.

vmf50 Simone and Miu

For this shoot, I took Miu out of her box for the first time in probably at least a year. She really looks great and I ought to do a full post for her already. Unfortunately, her wig seems a bit damaged; she’s now got a protruding lock of hair that sprouts right out of the top of her head, like some bizarre mutated waist-length ahoge. I think I’ve got a spare black wig for her, so I might just replace it.

Going back to Azone dolls, I really dig the way Girlfriend looks. She looks amazing, and even her name is pretty cool; her anonymity can carry a kind of sinister connotation. I was thinking of ordering her, and then I read part of Houkago Play (the four-panel manga that she comes from), and well … my interest waned. Houkago Play is a pretty straightforward comic strip about Girlfriend and her boyfriend (whom I think is just named Boyfriend), who both like to play video games. There didn’t seem to be much more to it than that.

vmf50 in a white bondage harness

I replaced Yumi’s wig with a shorter version; previously, she had a waist-length wig.

Looking back at that older post, I think I also figured out how to get rid of the glare on her skin; I just used a bigger diffuser. I usually use small on-flash softboxes like the LumiQuest Softbox III and UltraSoft, but they are not ideal for 1/3 and 1/4 scale dolls. I built a 19 x 24″ scrim using some white fabric and a wood frame, and it works a lot better. It’s a bit cumbersome, since I haven’t yet devised a good way of supporting it while shooting (my current method involves attaching it to my Magic Arm with A-clamps and a lot of tape), but the light it produces is far softer than what I’ve gotten in the past.

vmf50 Simone in a black bondage harness

However, I did use an on-flash modifier for this shot; it’s lit by a Softbox LTP, which is a larger version of the Softbox III. It’s about 10 x 14″, so it doesn’t work too well for full-body shots as it’s smaller than a vmf50 doll, but it works okay for upper-body shots. The background here is just black foamboard.

vmf50 Yumi portrait

Going back to Yumi, her new wig gives her a rather younger appearance. In truth, I’m not entirely certain I like the shorter hairstyle rather than her longer hair, but the long wig was just too long. I could cut it, but I’ve got this very strange compunction against modifying stuff like that. I probably should just get over myself.

vmf50 Yumi rear view

However, the wig’s short length does make rear view shots more interesting.

vmf50 Shiho

I also got a new vmf50 doll recently – this one is named Shiho. She uses the Type-G body and has somewhat tanned skin. Notably, she has artificial eyes, and a rather interesting expression compared to the sunny smiles that the earlier vmf50 dolls have. She’ll be getting a review soon but unfortunately, she might only be wearing one outfit throughout the whole post – her hips are so broad and her breasts are so large that I don’t really have anything that fits her. I probably ought to have looked at Dollfie Dream-sized clothing for her.

Yamato has been using a smaller body for their most recent vmf50 dolls – Sayo, Mako, and Kana all appear to be based off of Obitsu’s 48-centimeter tall body rather than the 50-centimeter body. However, perhaps the most curious development in the vmf50 product line was the doll they showed off at – of all places – San Diego Comic Con. There, they showed off a vmf50 doll of Catwoman from The Dark Knight Rises. How … odd. I think she might have Eri’s face, but I’m not sure about that. Also odd is that the product announcement came from Yamato USA rather than the Japanese site. Speaking of which, Yamato USA is selling the earlier vmf50 dolls on their website, though they ain’t cheap. I did see a picture of the later dolls – including Ami, Eri, Miho, and Nao – at SDCC, so presumably they’ll be sold on the US site in the future as well.

vmf50 tentacles

I own a tentacle stand, and it’s one of my favorite accessories. And for obvious reasons; after all, what could be cooler than a tentacle stand?

vmf50 tentacles

Well, how about … two tentacle stands?

Yes, I bought a second tentacle stand. I actually got it about a year back; I only got the basic set with three tentacles, rather than kitting it out with the full six. I figure nine tentacles is enough for a doll; there’s only so many places you can put a tentacle before they start getting in the way.

vmf50 tentacles

I was surprised at how long it took me to shoot these pictures. Swapping doll clothes is a tedious task and that’s one reason why I generally just keep my dolls in bondage harnesses all the time, rather than changing their clothes. However, I do have more outfits, including a couple of fairly tame ones by TcDoLL (there’s a somewhat unusual story there in how my favorite proxy service might now be persona non grata in TcDoLL’s eyes). I also bought some stuff from Azone’s FAR collection, which is the name they give to their 50-centimeter doll clothing line. Unfortunately, not all of it fits; vmf50 dolls are a bit more muscular and shapely than their Obitsu analogues, and I had a really tough time trying to get these shorts onto Yumi’s hips. I think it can be done – I’ve seen pictures – but it’ll require someone of greater fortitude than I to do it. At any rate, I should do more doll posts.

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28 Responses to Photography Exercise – vmf50 Dolls (NSFW)

  1. Asa says:

    I like the backdrop you made. I should consider trying to hodge together something like it, as I really want a marbly/cloudy sort of abstract backdrop instead of plain black or white card.

    I don’t, however like the dolls. Or rather, I do like dolls and have been interested in picking up a 1/3rd doll of a beloved character for some time, however I really, really dislike joints. I just can’t get over how horrible they are. A reason I also loathe figmas and revos, but it’s far more pronounced on large scale dolls than small action figures.

    I would be fine with it if I had an outfit that fully covered arms and legs, but those seem relatively rare for “character” dolls. Also I’m not confident in dressing dolls since I’m a cripple and have very little sensation in my figures. Makes things like tying laces and such incredibly frustrating and time consuming. But I want one all the same. ;.;

    Probably best not to get in to them, though. I’ve run out of room for figures as is, a giant doll would be even more cumbersome. Though I am considering selling off some of the figures I don’t know the character of and bought simply on appearance. I stopped buying figures from sources I don’t know months ago, but still have some in my collection all the same. Selling stuff is such a bother, though, since the domestic market in AU is so minuscule and nobody overseas wants to pay AusPost shipping costs. Uguu, as it were.

    Anyway, I do like the shoot. The lighting looks good throughout, so whatever you’ve done with your softboxes is good. And as I said, the backdrop is lovely. You always find ways to make things look great. ;.;

    • Tier says:

      I’m pretty pleased with how it looks, both the blue/gray one and the red one. I know a lot of people dislike the mottled muslin fabric backdrops that you can buy at camera store, but I think these two look pretty good (it might help that I’m not trying to light these pictures like one would light a three-point executive portrait with one of those mottled backgrounds).

      Don’t like the dolls 🙁 Heh, yeah, I usually don’t like doll joints much. There are a few artists whose work I’ve seen on Pixiv and Danbooru who specialize in drawing doll characters and whenever I see the ball joints, it always bothers me, kinda like when I see a female anime character drawn with armpit hair. Or whenever I look at some pictures of a doujinshi containing my favorite female characters and then I see that they all have penises. It really sucks when that happens. I don’t mind ball joints on actual dolls, though; I guess it kinda bothered me when I first started collecting dolls but that was ten years ago and I’ve gotten used to them. Personally, I’m fairly amazed that there is so much 50 centimeter doll-sized bondage wear available.

      Yeah, I would imagine that having limited use of one’s hands and fingers would make it pretty difficult to dress and pose dolls. To be honest, I don’t really like removing or adding clothes to my dolls just because it can get so fidgety. I think that’s also one of the reasons why I’ve mainly stuck with scale figures rather than ever getting into Figmas or any other sort of action figure (though those Yamato Neuromancer toys look kinda cool). It’s also a reason why my dolls never really look fully dressed.

      Still need to do that backdrop post one of these days …

      • Asa says:

        I love futa. Would really like to see more quality futa anything around. Anime, figures, manga, anything is fine. Futanari is the best of both worlds. 😀

        I’ve looked at some dolls with “skin” that covers joints, but they’re quite expensive. I’ve also considered dolls with heavier gothloli type Victorian dresses and such that will cover legs, and sleeves that cover arms, and usually even gloves. And I do like the look of them, but again, it seems like it would be far too fidgety to dress them. Even though I’d only do it once then display it, just the idea of having to do it once puts me off.

        Kind of like repairing one of my figures, which I broke in a stupid accident last week. Two of her huge hair pieces snapped off, and I did buy some glue the next day, but I haven’t got around to trying to fix her yet because it is really tedious/fiddly work. I may just get a crafty friend to do it.

        And yes, you need to do more posts dedicated to photography and staging. More backdrop and scene production would be excellent. 😀

        • Tier says:

          I recently got a bunch of doujinshi and I am pleased that there are no penises where penises are not supposed to be.

          Yeah, I looked at Tokyo Doll’s stuff, which I do like a lot, but they run about 100k yen for a 50-centimeter tall doll and that is way more than I am able to pay. I think it’d be pretty perverse to own a doll that is more valuable than my car. Plus, while they look pretty cool, I think they are made of the same silicone material as the tentacle stands and thus I am pretty sure they have the same greasy surface which makes them unpleasant to touch (I got some disposable gloves for this shoot which made it much quicker, since I didn’t have to go wash my hands after handling them each time).

          I liked the Black Raven II doll that Azone sold a while back; the Victorian or goth loli look isn’t necessarily one of my favorite things, but every now and then I do like it a lot (I still have that Raquel figure – the Vispo one with the big battle axe – that I need to review someday). It was a bit expensive, though, and I’ve had this idea for a custom doll that I’d like to build from a base Obitsu body, anyway.

          Ouch, that is crappy; I live in fear that one of my favorite figures will suffer irreparable damage during some calamity (like during the Great Virginia Earthquake last year, though none of my figures got broken). Hope you can get it fixed okay.

          I do! It’s in the plans. Of course, I’ve been saying this for at least a year, and I’ve actually been planning these posts for closer to two years. It does not help that I am playing Fallout 3 again, and that I still need to get New Vegas and Skyrim.

  2. Aaron says:

    I am not really into dolls. The joints don’t bother me terribly, but I just don’t like the faces normally. I do like Yumi’s and Simone’s faces and hair, but very few of the others I have seen. I do like your Sonico, but she didn’t appear in this shoot.

    I love the outfit in the first two pictures, but all of the other ones aren’t my thing. I also like how well the tentacle stand works so well with your dolls. The tentacles are the right size and your pictures remind me of many images I have seen throughout the years.

    For the record, how big are Shiho’s breasts? They look like they may be enormous in these pictures.

    Last question…Are the outfits real leather or fake leather?

    • Tier says:

      I forgot to mention the painted eyes. Everyone seems to dislike painted eyes on dolls. Personally, I like both painted eyes and artificial eyes but if I had to choose, I’d probably pick painted most of the time. I’ve seen a lot of dolls with artificial eyes that look really freaky. Back when I was thinking about getting a Dollfie Dream, I showed some pictures to some friends and they said that the faces on some of those dolls terrified them. (I still kinda wonder if I should’ve gotten that Mai Shiranui Dollfie, though. I liked it a lot and you don’t really see it all that often.)

      Shiho’s breasts are titanic. Gargantuan. So big you can see them from the back. I’m looking forward to getting her review post done.

      They are fake leather; I think that real leather would probably be too thick for doll clothing, unless it were used for something like a trenchcoat, maybe. I’m guessing they mostly use vinyl or something; I’ve shopped for fabric at fabric stores and it seems like matte vinyl is a common leather substitute.

      • Aya says:

        Nice that you mentioned the topic of painted Eyes.I also like both variants, but sometimes the Eye-decals from figures are too equal and that makes the figure looking lifeless or strange. Because of that little inequalities within hand painted eyes, a figure looks much more alive and fresh.

        Currently I’m working on a GarageKit from Murata Collection and I painted her Eyes with a little marker and fineliners. Think it looks very attractive. Humans also have no symmetric faces, when you take a mirror and reflecting a half of your face on a photo, its a totally strange effect.

        Allow me one question, which of your figures have the nicest eyes in your opionion?

        • Tier says:

          Whenever I shoot a figure, I always pay attention to the eyes. Unless I’m trying to direct attention to something else, I always focus on the closest eye. They are that important.

          I’ve wanted to learn how to build and paint model kits, but I have almost no talent or experience with it. I did try to perform a face-up for that Fate Testarossa doll linked up above; I got a spare head and tried to paint the eyelashes and eyebrows in. It went quite poorly; I’m going to need to get all of that paint off and try it again from the beginning.

          Ah, that is an interesting question. Velvet’s eyes have to be amongst the prettiest; it is a shame that more of Bubba’s sculpts haven’t gotten PVC adaptations. Rosanna is not a great figure in technical terms, but I always loved the look of her eyes. They look better from a normal viewing distance than up close, though. I really like Buddy’s eyes; she might have my favorite face amongst Alter figures. The nicest eyes in my collection, though, belong to my favorite figure in my collection, which is Uesugi Kenshin. Okay, technically that figure in the picture is now my second favorite figure in my collection, but she still has very pretty eyes.

  3. Vuk says:

    This is the first time for me to post, but I visit your site regularly to check up on your collection.
    Anyway…. Have you considered using fabric instead of building and painting wood panels and foam board?
    Not to mean any disrespect, your shots look great.
    I do not mean to troll if it does seem so, I am merely giving you an idea here.
    The thing about fabric is that you can easily maneuver it to take certain shapes for shadows, or throw different angles from illumination and whatever else you may think of.
    In addition it is easier to store and takes less space.

    • Tier says:

      No disrespect taken at all, I am glad to hear any and all suggestions and advice. I did use fabric in the past, though I do not use it too often now. The main problem I had with fabric was wrinkling and patterns in the fabric; you could always see the woven texture of the fabric and it was obvious that it was a fabric background. I like the painted backdrops I use now since it’s a little bit less obvious as to what it really is. However, I’ve seen some cases where fabric backgrounds were used discreetly and effectively and I might take another look at them again in the future, now that I think that I am a better photographer than I was a few years ago.

  4. Wieselhead says:

    I could see myself with a nicely dressed dolls, but figures eat most of my wallet. The new faces of Yamato’s dolls are very interesting, I like Sayo Mako and Kana more detailed expressions.

    You really like these fetish suits, don’t ya? I like the red dress at the beginning of this post a lot. I guess your girls would like to wear more girly outfits from time to time ^o^.

    I like the look of your new Shihi Im looking forward to your review of her. Too bad that most clothes won’t fit her. Anyway I like her tight swimsuit and actually would like to put it on my Bath Time Sonico, even though it won’t hardly fit 🙁

    • Tier says:

      I do! More figures should wear these sorts of suits. And anime characters in general. I wasn’t interested at all in that C3 anime until I learned that Kirika Ueno wears this super-spiffy suit. And likes to get bent in half. Great stuff.

      Shiho is a great-looking doll indeed. Since I don’t think I am going to change her clothes too much (and in truth, I’d rather not, because it was a colossal pain in the ass to get her leotard on her body), I think she’s going to get a lot more pictures with the tentacle stands.

  5. Aya says:

    so this how vmf50 doll looks like hmm looks better than I thought 😀
    Honestly I also have interest in this bondage fetish stuff those mash looks awesome I like it ^^
    I like your tentacle stand ^^ wish the girl have proper expression when being raped by those I imagining a face with tears, mouth open flooded fluids from mouth

    • Tier says:

      Thanks! Yeah, they look like they might be too happy about getting wrapped up by tentacles. Shiho seems to have the proper expression, though, and the Real Art Project has some really wacky and awesome heads that are completely appropriate for this type of thing. It is great that they make such products, since I kinda doubt any of the major doll makers would sell a doll with that kind of orgasming face.

      • Aya says:

        yeah seems shiho fit the most hope can see review of her soon,
        wow that’s an awesome face expression

        • Tier says:

          Hopefully I’ll review her soon; she should not be too difficult to review. Costume changes always take me a really long time when I photograph dolls, but since Shiho doesn’t fit most of my doll clothes, that should make her shoot simpler than usual.

  6. Silvery says:

    First off, while I can appreciate a big doll, I wouldn’t want to have anything bigger than, say, 25 cm. That, and they are so out of my financial range that it’s funny. Not to mention I wouldn’t be interested in the more anatomically correct dolls anyway… it’s not even because I’m a girl, or something, I just find them a bit too weird for my taste (actually, I would be more partial to own a non-action saucy figure than a doll – and I’m not even a fan of non-action figures).

    As to painted vs. artificial eyes – I prefer the latter, but it depends. If it were a dollfie, I’d say artificial are better and more pretty (and they match their a bit more, um, realistic faces better, too). With Yamato dolls I think both types look equally good.

    Now, the joints issue… Personally, I rather like the overall jointed doll appearance – probably because of my fondness for all cyborg- and droid-like aesthetics. Of course, there are better (i.e. Dollfies, figmas) and worse (i.e. Play Arts Kai) looking joints, so, again, it depends.

    By the way, Tier, did you think about sewing some outfits on your own? I mean, you are at least a bit crafty, and I’m sure there are lots of templates over the web.

    • Tier says:

      Collecting big-ass dolls is a relatively new thing for me; I actually was a doll collector before I really got into anime figures. I’ve got a bunch of 1/6 scale dolls (mostly of Takara’s Cool Girls/CyGirls line and Aoshima’s Lady Mission series) stashed away in drawers and boxes.

      I kinda had an idea for a cyborg-like doll, though I’m not quite sure how to pull it off. My thought was to buy some replacement Obitsu parts and mod them to look mechanical. I’m not really certain how feasible it is, though.

      I do also have some plans to learn how to sew. I’m pretty terrible at it, though I’ve had some experience with it (I took a home economics course in high school, almost entirely because I needed an elective and I had no idea what “home economics” was). I actually had planned to sew something like the red dress at the very top of the post; I figured it couldn’t be too difficult and the red latex was easy to buy. I guess I don’t need to sew that exact sort of dress now, but I would still like to learn how to sew dresses and such for my dolls, since I think it’d be fun.

  7. Flowermilk says:

    I discovered the Yamato dolls on Tentacle Armada and after a long while I finally decided to jump the fence and got not one, but two! I recently received Nao, who kinda looks like Yumi, with a nice tan and a similar face, except that she has beautiful glass eyes. I haven’t seen the painted eye for myself on a Yamato Doll but so far I’m really happy with the glass eyes. I do agree though that they can easily come out as creepy. But on Nao they look great IMO.
    I also bought a lot of clothes, and even though it’s a pain to dress Nao sometimes, I guess it’s still part of the fun. I’ve read somewhere that leaving the clothes on for a long period of time can stain de doll, so I undress her regularly. Have you noticed that on your dolls, Tier?
    I’m also waiting on a preorder for Sayaka (http://vmf.yamato-toys.com/articles/release_sayaka/index.php). Sayaka has the ginormous boobs of Shiho but her hips are not as wide, so she could be potentially a little easier to dress. She also has a cute orgasmic face. Her skin tone seems paler. I think she’s supposed to ship sometime in september.
    Thanks Tier for keeping that doll fetish alive. It’s really tough to find someone who likes these dolls in America. 🙂

    • Tier says:

      When I first saw Ami, I thought her eyes were pretty scary, but I’ve since come to like them (and Nao’s) a lot. In fact, I recently got a blank Ami head that I plan to put some acrylic eyes into, if I ever learn how to paint up a doll head (my first attempt at doing a doll face-up turned out quite poorly).

      Oh yeah, my Simone (nee Risa) doll is stained up like a mofo around her upper thighs, where her boots came in contact with her vinyl skin. I wrapped her legs with Saran Wrap to try to protect them, but the wrapping must’ve slid down. My Sonico doll also has some stains on her legs (visible in one of the shots in my post), and that was more disconcerting because I had put a pair of black tights on her for only about ten minutes to shoot some pictures, but even that short duration was enough to stain her skin. It’s tremendously aggravating but you get used to it (though it takes a while to do so; I absolutely freaked out the first time I saw my doll get stained). The stains are generally also removable with pimple cream (any kind of cream that contains benzoyl peroxide) or a product called Remove-Zit. I do not know whether those products work well on or damage dolls with tanned or dark skin, though.

      You are welcome! Yeah, I’ve noticed that vmf50 dolls are not super popular, particularly compared to Dollfies. It’s all good, though; I must admit that one of the reasons I like this series is because of their niche status (though the main reason is because Yamato is emphasizing all the things that I like about dolls).

      • Flowermilk says:

        Yes I’m the same. I really love the look of these dolls, but the line of slutty clothes made by Real Art Project and TC Doll are a big part of what makes them so attractive! I mean it’s pretty obvious that they are targeted at a very specific audience. The underground, niche market is also probably why people are willing to pay that much money for them.

        • Tier says:

          Indeed! I was really, really surprised when people started making bondage clothes for the vmf50 dolls, but that pleased me greatly, since I had even been contemplating trying to sew my own (I still might, since I can’t find much that fits Shiho … I mean, it can’t be that hard to sew up a fake leather harness). Yeah, they seem to be going for an audience entirely of their own, though that Catwoman doll still strikes me as being extremely curious. I hope it’s successful though, and that it leads to Yamato USA selling more clothing through their store so that it’ll be cheaper and easier to get stuff.

          • Flowermilk says:

            I’m sure I’ll end up in the same boat with Sayaka when she arrives. She has the super busty body type of Shiho and it seems like nothing is going to fit her either. We may end up teaching each other how to sew bondage gear 🙂 I have to say I’m tempted with The Yamato Catwoman. I’m surprised that they got the licence but then again things more weird have happened. Still, she’s a curiosity and I will probably buy her. But I agree, having to go through a proxy each time you want new clothes is a pain. Somebody should maybe start a clothing store for vmf50 in the US 🙂

  8. Tier says:

    Indeed! I’ve been looking up tutorials for setting eyelets in leather; it doesn’t look too hard but I do not have the tools necessary to do it. I need to check whether my sewing machine still works, too.

    Yeah, I think I’m going to have to look for clothes one size larger for Shiho; I’m guessing Dollfie Dream-sized clothes might fit her, although right now, I’m pretty happy with the way her leotard looks so maybe I won’t expand her wardrobe. Plus it was an astonishing pain to get it on her and I’m not looking forward to taking it off of her.

    That Catwoman license is curious indeed, and I’ve heard that they might be doing additional DC Comics characters, too. I’m less of a fan of DC’s lineup than Marvel’s so I don’t know if that affects me too much, but it’s an interesting thing to see – particularly since Hot Toys is making their own 1/4 scale poseable Batman doll. Unfortunately, their Batman is only 48 centimeters tall, I think, so he’s gonna be a bit out of scale with vmf50 Catwoman, but it’s still an odd coincidence that two characters from a highly popular movie would get large-sized dolls from two different manufacturers at about the same time.

    • Flowermilk says:

      Wow if they do more DC characters I’m really curious to know who they will be. I sure wouldn’t mind a Wonder Woman or Poison Ivy. I can see how painful it was to get Shiho in her leotard. It was tight for Nao already and her boobs are not nearly as big! What I love too about the VMF is the cute orgasmic faces they do in their Dollcore line. I mean look at Sayaka, which will be available soon! I can’t wait to get her and I don’t see which other companies would make dolls with such explicit expressions. Perfect for the tentacle stand!
      http://realartproject.x.fc2.com/_src/sc817/DSC034111.jpg

      As far as sewing slutty clothes, I have a crazy project of my own. Still on the sculpting phase but I’ll e-mail pictures to you soon of my Nova Star bust prototype. I am thinking of creating some bondage and various other naughty outfits for her. I already found the perfect wig and I want to see how she’ll look like with different outfits and wigs. The challenge will be to get studs, shackles and collars at the proper scale, and also work with materials that look like leather and latex. 😉
      I’ll share my progress with you offline if you’re interested and I don’t know where you are located bu I would LOOOVE to arrange for you to take pictures of my Nova Star once she’s final. Your talent with photography could really bring her to the next level.
      http://www.vanilladoll.xxx/nstar_bust.html

      • Tier says:

        I’d guess Wonder Woman would be most likely, since she seems to be DC’s leading lady – though she seems to have no luck getting her own TV series or movie despite many attempts. Now with that in mind, I’m kinda wondering how hard it would be to sew up a leotard and dress up a doll like Psylocke. It can’t be that tough …

        Haha, yeah, the Dollcore heads are amazing. The new one they showed – Romina-chan, I guess – looks pretty cool, too. Interesting that she’s also using the 48-centimeter body; Yamato and Dollcore are making a lot of new dolls with that body frame.

        That sounds like cool stuff; I’ve gone through the jewelry-making section of the local crafts store looking around for materials. As luck as I like the RAP’s stuff, I have to admit that paying like 5k yen + shipping and proxy fees for a pair of doll-sized shackles is kinda exorbitant. As far where I live, I live in Virginia, near D.C.

        • Flowermilk says:

          Yes Romina-chan looks very promising. Her face is hilarious, and she seems to have really big boobs but more natural looking, unlike the boob job look of Type-G on Shiho et Sayaka, still my favorite type though.
          I got the shackles but it was a pretty crazy purchase. It is for research purposes though, because I hope that my friend JL and myself we can figure out how they do accessories for our Nova bust. We play with the idea of “kits” for our bust, that would allow people to customize their bust in many different ways, like different wigs, clothes and accessories. We even purchased some glass eyes in the hope of getting her beautiful, realistic eyes.
          I’m in CA so I guess no luck to meet for a photo shoot, but I don’t rule out the possibility of sending you one of our protos, who knows?

          • Tier says:

            I thought it was hilarious that Yamato used Romina-chan in their promo pictures for their M16 accessories. The combination of that facial expression and an assault rifle is priceless.

            Those are all cool ideas, and quite ambitious as well. I hope they work out well; I’m certain they will work out much better than my own first attempt at doll customization, which went very poorly indeed (I’ve yet to strip the paint and pastels off of that doll’s face, although I will have to if I want to try it again).

            Ah, yeah, I am all the way on the other side of the country. Used to live in Cali when I was a little kid but now I am on the right side coast.

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