Mirrors

Dolls in mirrors is also one of my favorite photo things. xD

Jin-ho Painted

Ahhhh back when Jin-ho got back from getting painted. Such a big soft boy. T w T Was actually pretty amazed Komorebi Dolls managed to make him look so soft because the Zest sculpt’s browline definitely don’t usually allow for that. xD

Taobao Haul

Got this haul from Taobao in last week. Absolutely in love with Shuu’s new outfit, but it all is definitely just slightly too small for him. The shirt fits fine, but the buttons on the cuffs are holding on for dear life (I actually had to take his hands off to fasten them before shoving them over his wrists). The pants are definitely on the tight side; he’s fine as long as he’s standing. xD; Also still need to get him shoes for his huge honkin’ feet. D;

Speaking of shoes, Olimpia now has a new pair of boots! Her feet just barely fit in them, but yeah, glad to have something that suits her finally (all I owned in her size were cutesy YoSD things bahaha). Still want to get her a pair of leather pants. She needs a coat too. P;

The crocs were what I was most hype about with this order, buuuuut unfortunately they’re too big for the doll I intended them for. xD; They fit great on Riyo though, so she’s taken them over. Tempted to just commission someone to 3D print me some crocs for my slim minis bahaha. Nori needs a gold pair to go with that loud-ass outfit!

Annnnd a rare look at my custom Blythe. xD I don’t have a name for her yet, but at least now she has shoes. Didn’t really have anything that suited her style for a long time ahaha…

I also got a few props for the dolls too. The food is perf scale for my minis. The only thing that bugs me about them is that they have magnets glued to the bottom of them, so I gotta figure out a way to try and detach those without damaging the props. :B There’s also some bracelet/bangles I got for the minis, a pair of shoes that I originally got for my Asleep Eidolon Abyss before I decided to order him a head stand body… xD;; I guess Jonathan will take over the shoes bahaha. The final pair of boots are for Hiei that I’m hoping will work for whenever I get around to having his character outfit made. Finding a pair of simple (no frills or buckles or anything) black boots that aren’t heels for Minifee feet is impossible, I swear. D;

Shin Snapshots

A whole pile of Shin snapshots for y’alls viewing pleasure.

Kyrie Side-Eye

Kyrie always looking done with everything.

Naoko Fits

A few photos of Naoko in some of my favorite outfits for her that I put together for a reel on Instagram a while back.

Sokai Fam

The whole Sokai family all together and just being terribly good looking. P;

Rites of Passage Boys Ready!

yeeeeeeeeeeeeee

got an email earlier tonight from helene (rugged realism/dkeats888.03 on instagram) letting me know my boys are ready to go! :D just gotta wait for my invoice from her for shipping.

i ordered a full aquilo doll + a geneo head (both in peach skin) back in may. originally i planned to just get aquilo, but the more i saw geneo, the more i wanted him too bahahaha. i couldn’t afford 2 full dolls though, so yeah. i actually had wanted to get aquilo in cinnamon skin, but ended up going with peach so that if i end up hybriding one of the boys, matching the head to a body won’t be as big an issue (easier for faceup artists that do color matching to go to a darker color rather than lighter).

ended up working out though because i ended up deciding that geneo is gonna be vergil from the devil may cry game series, and he’s a pale boy. xD i’m still at a loss for what to do with aquilo though. i don’t have any characters (either my own or ones from series i love) that I have any drive to shell into a doll. hopefully once i have the doll in hand, i’ll have a better idea of what to do with him. dolls don’t always last in my collection if i don’t have a set idea for them bahaha.

but yeah, super excited! the emotional rollercoaster for these dolls have been nuts these last few years bahahaha. iykyk

Peak YYH Fashion

Sachi really channeling ol’ uncle Yusuke’s fashion sense in this outfit. xD

Don't Do Business with JPopDolls

I’ve been meaning to write up a shareable post for some time now regarding the fiasco with Layla Szczepaniec and her company JpopDolls. I’ve been putting it off for months now because the whole situation just makes me so unbelievably angry that it is hard to calmly and succinctly explain all the bullshit Layla has put not only myself through, but also dozens of other customers and doll artists through.

I’m writing up this post because I do not want anyone else to be in the same position as I am now where they’re out of luck getting back their money and have nothing to show for it other than a few Facebook messages and emails full of nothing but excuses and lies. If this post prevents even one person from doing business with JpopDolls, I’ll consider that a win. If it causes Layla to shut down the business for good, I certainly wouldn’t shed any tears over it.

The short of it is that I preordered an Asella Raspberry doll in coffee skin back in October 2020. I never received the doll nor have I received a refund. Layla has not posted to the JpopDolls Facebook page (the only active source of information) since June 2022. Comments are also limited on the FB page (or at least I know that I am personally blocked from making comments on it). I am not the only one in this position either. There are people that preordered dolls from early 2020 that never received them, and there’s people that purchased in stock goods that either never received them, or it took months to receive them.

The long story is that back in February of 2022, Asella herself posted on her Facebook page that she had recently been in contact with Fdoll and Island Doll (2 companies that JpopDolls had used in the past for casting Asella’s dolls) since she was planning to run some preorders herself, and found out that neither of them had received orders from JpopDolls in the last 1-2 years, despite the fact that Layla had been regularly running preorders since 2020. Prior to this news, I’d spent a little over a year emailing and messaging Layla asking for when dolls would be arriving, and always given something along the lines of “soon”, and once given an actual month for when the dolls should get delivered to her.

When contacted about this news, Layla stated that Asella was misinformed and that the dolls were delayed due to the 2020 COVID shutdown and casting problems. She then stated that the dolls would be delivered by spring, and if they weren’t, customers would be refunded. Spring came and went and no dolls materialized and no refunds were sent.

In summer of 2022, a public Facebook group was created called People and Businesses who lost money to JPOP dolls. It currently has 79 members. It was a group that aimed to try and organize all of the JpopDolls customers that had been having issues with the company. Together, dozens of us filed formal complaints to the Washington state Attorney General’s Consumer Resource Center, as well as the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center. Unfortunately, nothing came of these complaints. I believe some individuals also filed police reports and knew of at least one person that was thinking of trying to go to small claims court since they lived in the same state as Layla. I haven’t heard any updates regarding that though.

From what I read in the group, JpopDolls has been ripping off artists that worked with them for years, at least since 2017 (when Grace was still alive, so this isn’t a new problem with a new owner). This has led those artists to stop working with them in the past. A post from October 2022 also stated that they received an email from JpopDolls about a sale on doll clothing and accessories as well as in-stock dolls, so Layla is clearly still actively trying to do business and the website is still up and running. I have not personally heard anything from her since emailing her in March.

I have personally come to accept that I will not be getting my money back, and even if I did receive the doll by some act of God, I wouldn’t want it anyway. The entire situation soured me on a doll that was my grail for a majority of my time involved with this hobby. At this point all I want is to make sure that nobody else does business with JpopDolls (or Layla Szczepaniec) ever again.

Do not buy anything that’s in stock or on preorder. Do not give your hard-earned money to someone that is more than happy to take it and then never send you what you paid for. If you have an order with JpopDolls that is still within the timeframe your bank or PayPal give to file a claim, get your money back now.

Please do share this information with your fellow doll collectors, new and old alike. I don’t want anyone else put through this nonsense.

You can find my old posts about this issue on my Instagram story highlights under “jpopdolls” as well as my feed here and here.

White Hair

I can’t remember if I ever posted my Zaoll Muse on this blog before, but this wig switch-up really saved the doll for me. Since I got her she had black hair and I named her Murphy back then and over time I just got really bored with the doll and didn’t know what to do with her (and wasn’t willing to sell her because I’ve always loved the Zaoll sculpts for ages).

Then one day I plopped my Angel Philia’s wig on my Muse and her character revived itself and she became Amelia. Her character has found a home within the Arcane and Mononoke series since then.

No Cape! Vibes

Rie absolutely killing it in this outfit. Also looking very…Edna.

Audrey

Every once in a blue moon I pulled down my Angel Philia girl and take pictures and whatnot. Doesn’t happen often because I just don’t like handling internal frame dolls. xD; They feel too rigid to me and are so light-weight. Which like…is usually a pro, but for me it’s a con for some reason. XD; At least she looks cute on display.

Ria is Gorg

Ria looking glorious as usual. She’s still in this outfit a little over a year later bahahaha.

Softboi Nori

The new and current version of Nori looking fabulous and quickly becoming my favorite boy to dress. He’s like Naoko and looks great in just about anything.

Giant Sweaters

Amaya in giant sweaters. Her only consistent fashion choice. xD

Riyo x Hiei

I don’t think anything is ever gonna stop me from loving these two together.

Amaya

Amelia

Loud Fit

I mentioned before, but I was serious about Nori looking good in everything. Even this loud-ass sweats set. xD I really want him to have like…gold crocs to match with his gold headphones. xD

Jealous!

i’m so jealous of the peeps that bought a rites of passage boy that are in australia. T A T their boys have already arrived, and mine is currently going through customs in california. OTL

Comfort Doll

This here is the character doll I am most proud of and so beyond happy to have slowly cobbled together over the year. The Mononoke series was something I clung onto after finally watching it last year when I was at a real low point in my life, and I opted to put together a doll of Medicine Seller to give myself more to look forward to each day, and now that the doll is just about finished, I’m always happy to see him on my shelf with the rest of the doll crew.

Komorebi Dolls did an absolutely amazing job on all his modifications and faceup, and Beyond Wonderland Dollhouse Fashion did fantastic work on his clothes. Hopefully I’ll have him 100% finished next year. All I need is to put his medicine box together, and I’m currently waiting on some 3D sculpted pieces to be printed (and then I’ll have to paint them or commission someone to do that).

Witch Vibes

Qianna looking her best witchy self!

Olimpia

Another doll painted by Komorebi Dolls (Kira has essentially become my main bitch when it comes to faceups lmao). This is Olimpia, my Dust of Dolls Cham Namu. She needs moar clothes. Curse my want of dolls that are weird sizes. D;

Anyway, this girl has made herself a home in The Witcher universe. I opted to make her a higher vampire. Her doll version is definitely more cutesy looking than what I envision her in my head, but whatever. Dolls be dolls.

Corgi Doll

Oh yeah, I am an owner of a corgi doll lmao. Bought him from sofia_ermilova on Instagram in late 2021. None of my dolls have claimed him just yet ffffs.