Neon's A Doll A Day Challenge 2018

[Lejays17]

They weren't as edgy as the MH line, for sure, but there was lots of fun jokes especially in the early releases.

I'll see what ones I have that neon hasn't photographed & do them for my next weekly shots. I've shamefully neglected them this year

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Apple & Blondie are the least appealing to me if all the EAH line. I find them to be a bit blah and boring in their stock clothes.
Blondie does look pretty good in Elissabat's outfit though.

Your portraits are all very lovely, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you are going to do creatively in the next few days

[neon_jellyfish]

davidd - thank you very much! As for edginess, EAH is definitely not edgy (although, Raven kinda is), the line catered to different audience (at least at the beginning) and as Lejays said, the line had its own thing going on. But you had to follow books and webisodes, otherwise you didn't have many chances to find out, it wasn't as obvious as with MHs.

Lejays - I hear you on neglecting some dolls, ever since I've started collecting Pullips, my older dolls aren't as exciting to take pics of and such. I still love them dearly, but I'm definitely shifting towards collector dolls now. To me, the least appealing EAH dolls are the reboot ones with smaller heads, but Apple is probably my least favorite character.

Day 234



Meeshell Mermaid (Core Royals & Rebels - Wave 7). She doesn't have much of a backstory, she's one of the last characters and she was added right before webisodes stopped. She's a great singer and she's shy about it. I want to like this doll, but I can't seem to get over the new smaller heads. I'm seriously considering selling this one and my spare reboot Melody.

And those are all my EAH dolls (save for that reboot Melody). I've found them a little more limited in posing ability compared to MH - their joints are fine, but their heads don't work from as many angles as MH ones, also MH's curved backs make for more dynamic poses.

As I've said, taking portraits has become a little boring, so I'd like to take a break, but it depends on the weather. Some weather forecasts say we'll continue to have heat waves, the rest predict heavy rains and drop in temperatures. As our weather forecasts are usually wrong, I'm eecting a little less heat with a little more rain, we'll see. It's quite possible that I'll start another portrait series while I'm waiting for better weather.
My upcoming project mostly involves outside Pullip photos and a little self-doxxing

[Alliecat]

My upcoming project mostly involves outside Pullip photos and a little self-doxxing

Had to look that up...
Looking forward to seeing your outdoor projects!
The Czech stories sound like a rich combination of many other fables. I've definitely never heard the Dancing Princesses story. Thanks for posting that
Apple is pretty, and I don't think her hair looks too bad. Frizzy hair is sometimes improved by a photo. Re-rooting's not hard, just time-consuming. I like Meeshell's pink hair too.

[davidd]

My upcoming project mostly involves outside Pullip photos and a little self-doxxing

Had to look that up...

I, too, had to look up doxxing. I've never heard that term before.

I like the way Meeshell's sea-green eyes match her sea-green mermaid-ish skirt.

The character is a great singer? That's pretty funny! Apparently she's a siren, from Greek mythology, one of the "dangerous creatures who lured sailors with their enchanting music and singing voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast."

[Cornflower Blue]

She seems a little off to me. Maybe it's the smaller head or maybe I don't like all the colors going on with her.

[neon_jellyfish]

Alliecat - yup, Czech stories are a mix of various other stories. Since prehistory, a lot of various European tribes traveled through Europe trying to find better home, and the land Czechia now sits on was one of few that were quite easy to travel through - our mountains are relatively low, there used to be dense forests, but there were paths and the weather was mild, there are a lot of rivers that serve as source of water but aren't difficult to cross, etc etc. So a lot of those migrating tribes passed through this land, and those who were tired settled here, then another tribe came, and left some people behind... Two important trade routes ran through here, the Salt Road and the Amber Road, and those, too, added to the mix we are now. And as various tribes blended, so did their stories. The earliest tribes to settle here were Celtic, then some Germanic tribes, Slavs came last, so our fairy tales have a bit of each of those cultures.
Ugh, sorry, that's a huge rant...

davidd - I don't think Meeshell would ever do such a thing, but I agree, her singing talent must be coming from her siren origin.

Cornflower Blue - she seems off to me, too. I love everything mermaid related so I want to like her, but she doesn't really click with me...


Day 235

Today's weather is... passable, I guess, so I went ahead and started the 'Neon's self-doxxing project'. I love the place I live in, and I want to share it with you guys, so I want to do a little series of photos in which my dolls show you some of my favorite spots. Hence the 'self-doxxing' - a little joke about sharing where exactly I live.

Right across the street on which I live, there is entrance to Prague's oldest protected nature reserve, Šárka. It's a beautiful place with a little bit of history, but we'll get to that later. I'll start with the youngest part - water reservoir called Džbán (=jug, pitcher). It was built in late 60's / early 70's, mostly for recreational purposes. It covers area of 18 hectares, and when I was little, it was The Ocean for me.



The lighting was crazy this mornings, clouds were moving rather quickly, so it was a bit of a disco, which produced this dark, moody photo, which doesn't really show the reservoir at all. Or the doll, for that matter. Eteri is on the left side, sitting on the railing of the dam. Tomorrow, I'll move to another spot that shows the whole 'lake' beautifully. Big pic, but Eteri is blurred - my phone has an annoying habit of deciding that I actually didn't want it to focus where I told it to exactly when I tap the damn button (can you even call it shutter release on cellphone?).


Yay, there's a doll on this one!


Moody one without the doll. Bigger pic here.

I don't know if I want to do the whole series with Eteri or if I should alter between dolls, what do you guys think?

[davidd]

It will be interesting to see the sights around Prague. I know that Prague is extremely popular, or perhaps "trendy" is a more accurate term, with American tourists right now. My understanding is that Prague is often used by Hollywood film productions because much of the older architecture has been preserved and the city serves as a "stand-in" for many other cities in movies because of that.

You have such an interesting and varied assortment of wonderful dolls that it would be fun to see a variety of them out and about. Then again, I will never object to seeing tons of photos of Pullip Eos... other than on the grounds that I will be further tempted to acquire one... and the elaborately costumed Eos is not the first figure I would eect to be "a travelling doll," so it would be unusual if she were the subject of your local travelogue.

Does your camera phone have a flash function? Using a fill flash often helps when the background is lighter than the foreground.

[Alliecat]

Ooo, yay! I'm looking forward to seeing the sights. Being right across the street from a nature reserve sounds great. Can't wait to hear more about it. And I think you should take whichever dolls feel right for the shot!

[neon_jellyfish]

davidd - the foremost reason why Prague is so popular shooting spot is that it is rather cheap to film here.
This mini-series is going to be about Šárka, but I'm planning to do another series in downtown later in autumn, when the streets aren't so hot anymore.
My phone does have a flash, but I don't like using it (and I like moody photos). But thanks!

Alliecat - being right across the street from a nature reserve (albeit a small one) is great! Can't wait to show you guys more!

Day 236

So... No self-doxxing today, it was rainy all day, and while I love taking walks in the rain, my models don't seem to be so keen on posing in wet grass, mud and slippery stones... So I'll continue when the weather decides to cooperate. However, it was a good day, because Pluto wasn't stuck at Customs! My post office just messed up the announcement about package they left in my mailbox. So I din't have to pay anything and go through the gruesome paper-wasting ritual that is necessary in order to free one's package from Customs' claws. Mike is genius!



This is Steampunk Eclipse Pluto, my firts Taeyang! He's so handsome!!!

His new name is Elazar Morgenstern and I have a hard time deciding if he's Rebecca's husband or brother. Before I got him, I planned to make him Rebecca's brother and pair him up with Eteri, but now that I have them all displayed together, I'm leaning towards the husband option...

[Lejays17]

He is stunning! I don't have any Taeyang yet, but a couple on my Wishlist. I probably should look a bit more at them, if there's more like this one.

And I'm looking forward to seeing more of the sights of Prague. I think you should use whichever doll model appeals on the day, and not be caught in the "have to use this one" because that was what you originally devided

[Cornflower Blue]

I have this guy myself and I love everything about him except for that wig.

[davidd]

What an amazing steampunk costume! That eye tube thing is totally bizarre!

[neon_jellyfish]

Lejays - I sure fell in love with Taeyangs because of this guy!

Cornflower Blue - his wig is absolutely terrible (feels like wires) and he keeps loosing bits of his costume, and I have to glue them back... But other than that, he's perfect!

davidd - I know, right? I have no idea what purpose could that thing serve (aside from looking weirdly amazing).

Thanks for your advice on the Prague dolls, everybody! I think I'll try various ones, and those I'll find most portable will then make regular appearances. Currently, I'm thinking of breaking the project into smaller parts - this 'park', then the city - I'm not sure if I want to go district by district, or cover places by period and not proximity, I'll see.

Day 237

And still no Šárka photos, but I have a good reason today. We went to the Steamlovers' Club event in nearby town, it's not really a steampunk themed event, the club is for people who build working steam-powered contraptions, without dressing in costumes or having personas. Just the machines. And the Morgensterns went with me, naturally. Elazar lost a trinket, so his hat looks weird, but I have it, I just didn't have glue with me to repair it on the spot.

[davidd]

A steam lovers club? That looks like so much fun! I had one of those small steam engines when I was a child, but these look far more elaborate! Apparently "customizing" is not limited to the doll hobby!


Did any of the steam engine people ask you about your steam-era miniature people? They certainly look right at home among these marvelous machines!

[Lejays17]

What a fun idea for the photo. They look right at home with the contraptions - I particularly like the one with the train (?)