Hey, everyone! This is Lomi, and today I'm opening up a doll package I ordered all the
way back in June of 2021. This is a Doll Legend 61cm body, and it will be for Tahl,
whose head is a work in progress I hope to finish sculpting this spring.
The box said this side ways up but it looks like the bottom to me, since the labels were on
the other side, and it's also weirdly hard to open? That's probably because it's apparently
not actually a box, and appears to just be some cardboard bent to shape and taped around the doll
box. It's also definitely the bottom, so I'm gonna have to flip that over to get this out of here.
Ordering this doll body was kind of a weird and stressful experience, because I ordered during
an event and was super excited, but shortly afterward, the company discontinued literally
all of their dolls with only three days notice. When that happened, people started
mentioning orders being canceled, so I wasn't positive this doll would actually come home.
I had ordered through Alice's Collections, so I knew I would get a refund if there were problems,
but they assured me my order had been accepted. It just took more than five months for it to
finally come in, and after the doll shipped, it spent about a month stuck in Shanghai because of
shipping being so backed up. But he made it! And I'm relieved to finally have him here.
When I ordered him, I also got him a pair of shoes because one of my goals for this year is to make
sure every doll is fully dressed. I got a pair of boots for Vahn, too, because Vahn has never
had his own shoes. I'll open those up a little later, but they look great and I got them on sale.
So then we're on to the doll body. He came with S hooks for the hands I got as part of the event,
and he came with an S-hook puller, which is pretty useful because I've never actually
had one of those. The doll's COA is a really neat little laser cut and engraved metal card.
And the doll himself was... not wrapped at all? Just had some bubble wrap laid on top
of him and some plastic wrap around his body, which was a little weird, but it is what it is.
Since we try to keep things family friendly around here and this guy is like most ball-jointed dolls
in that he is anatomically correct, we'll be adding a sticker for censorship before the posing
review starts. Conveniently, I have these stickers of my book covers I make for use in my planner,
so I'm just going to take the cover of his first book and... yeah, that'll take care of that.
So, first off, this guy is incredibly smooth.
Like, there is not a single hint of seam lines anywhere on this doll.
No sign he has ever been in a mold, no sanding marks, nothing. The finishing work is top notch.
I originally wanted this doll to be tan but the Doll Legend tan was way too dark for the
character. I ordered him in normal resin instead, figuring I can probably blush or
dye him to give him an appropriate skin tone, but I didn't expect the normal resin would be
this pale. This is tied with Impldoll for being the palest normal resin I have ever
seen. And on that note, Impldoll and Doll Legend are a great color match.
The number of joints and the sculpting on the torso are really what sold me on
this particular doll body. Tahl is a master thief who enjoys acrobatics,
so I wanted him to have a lean but very muscular physique, without sacrificing
mobility, and hopefully this will meet my expectations and work well for the character.
Since mobility is key for him, I placed my order when I did because the company was offering a free
pair of jointed hands, which can easily cost a hundred dollars on their own. I've never had
jointed hands for any of my dolls before, but I figured they'd be perfect for Tahl. Unfortunately,
I also never expected the hooks in the hands would be so tiny. I don't know why. As a result, I'm
really afraid the hypermobility in my own hands means I won't be able to put these back together,
so I think dyeing the doll to get the skin tone I wanted is going to be out of the question.
Kind of disappointing, but maybe I can try a full body blush, or find someone else who can
help me put them back together after a dye job. I absolutely love the hands, though,
and they're a lot easier to pose and manipulate than I expected they would be. The hands are the
only thing out of their product lineup Doll Legend still sells, and these are beautiful.
The hands seem to be a shade larger than the ones that come with the doll's body,
but I don't think that'll be a problem, because Tahl's in his late teens and it's not unusual for
teenagers to have hands and heads that are a shade large compared to the rest of their everything.
So then it was time for a mobility check, which unfortunately did not get off to a great start.
The body is double jointed, so he can bend his arm really nicely and reach up behind his neck without
issue. But the shape of the elbow joint prevents any kind of side to side movement. At all.
There's no rotation without completely dislodging the elbow from the arms,
and that's just not going to be acceptable for this character.
I'm going to have to do something about that issue because Tahl needs to be able to rotate his arms.
The feet point farther than I expected, given that the ankle doesn't look like it has a lot of space,
so that's good, and I have no complaints about the knees because the leg has a mobility joint
in the thigh. The thigh joint is actually really interesting, because it has notches
that hold the leg straight, but it's also got notches that let you rotate the leg
and have it lock at an angle, which is something I haven't seen before,
and I think that's very nice. His legs and arms hold poses nicely straight out of the box.
I'm just so disappointed with those elbows, though! The shoulder, too, is shaped in a way
that restricts side to side movement for the arm, and doesn't hold a raised pose very well,
so he'll need some work to bring his arms up to a level that competes with the rest of the body.
His hands don't move a whole lot, I think the ankles actually have more motion in them.
But that may change with sueding and the addition of his jointed hands.
He stands well and balances easily, though.
The three part torso promises a lot of mobility, but I found it didn't move very easily,
so that's going to be hard to use. He's not strung super tight,
so I can only assume it's that the torso locks are very strong.
I managed to get his chest to push back, but when I tried to pull it forward, it would not
budge and I ended up losing my grip wile pulling forward and his S hook bit my hand pretty good.
So I pushed from the back instead and that got him moving. He does have very deep locks in the chest,
which means he'll hold several degrees of slouching,
and he's got big locks in the waist joint, too, so when he does bend he is very stable.
I spend some time wrangling him into a more appropriately thiefy pose,
and overall it looks pretty promising, especially if I'll
be able to make some modifications to his elbows to get more mobility there.
However, I had to stop to get a bandage because it turned out that bite he gave me was
actually pretty bad, which means that after more than four years,
this is officially the first time I have bled during the making of a video.
At least now I know what the S hook puller is for.
Using the puller to manipulate the very stiff torso locks makes it easier, and also safer.
He sits nicely, but trying to get him to UN-sit ended up just looking like
he was a child having a temper tantrum on the floor. Like when toddlers do that
noodle thing and their spine just turns to jelly and they slither out of your arms?
That's not acceptable, sir, and considering you bit me, I should be the one having a fit.
However, even with the limited range of motion in the elbows,
I feel like this body has an excellent range of motion and should be easy to
improve. He's definitely flexible enough to be the character he's meant to be,
though the locks in the torso aren't the most attractive when put into extreme poses. I just
hope I'll be able to fix his arms and figure out something for making him just a little more tan.
Before I finish, I took some time to open up the boots I ordered. The ones for Vahn are
a lot nicer than I thought they would be and I can already tell they'll fit the SIDs perfectly.
And while Tahl wears split-toed shoes to help him climb, he doesn't wear them all the time,
so I thought these boots with the buckles would be a good start for him.
Since this doll was discontinued after I ordered, I wasn't sure it would still be
useful for me to review the body, but there will always be some on the secondhand market,
so hopefully it benefits someone else someday. And if you've got any ideas
for how I can go about giving this boy a tan without unstringing his hands, I'm all ears.
That's all for today, though. Thanks for watching!
Bye.