A Little BJD Love

Pippin was feeling a little poorly today, so Jazz insisted she take it easy. Pippin sat in the chair and put her feet up on the stool, then Jazz tucked her in with a blanket.

"Thank you" said Pippin.

Jazz replied with a smile, "You're welcome".

-oOo-

It's been quite a while since I took any BJD photos, so I quickly took these while I was in the mood. :)

Hope you are all having a happy dolly week!

Big hugs,

X

Cu-poche Hibiki Ganaha - A New Addition

I don't think I have ever spoken about any Anime Chibi figures on my blog before. I'm not a gamer, nor am I really into watching Japanese TV programes. Though I have always been a keen admirer of the Japanese street fashion and Anime art.

I also like the tiny Chibi figures which I have been tempted to purchase from time to time. I've even designed and made some Chibi teddy bears (many moons ago).

But oddly enough, I have only ever owned one cute and lonely Nendoroid Petit. I guess this is mainly due to the fact he constantly looses his head and is a real bugger to stand. Frustration and loss of patience is a rather large reason for me to never purchase another of anything! Perhaps the larger ones maybe better, I really don't know.

Secret Character: Lion Magnus (Also known as Leon Magnus) is a Nendoroid Petit, and an extremely popular character in the Tales of Destiny series and its sequel ToD2.

A cold-hearted, brooding young prodigy of a swordsman from Seinegald, Lion is the youngest master swordsman to become a captain of the Kingdom of Seinegald.

He is closely associated with Hugo Gilchrist and lives in his manor located in the city of Darilsheid. Although he shows a cold exterior to his associates, he opens up to a maid in Hugo's house named Marian. He is also the master of the Swordian of Earth, Chaltier.

I also have one Figma girl . . . #112 Figma, Ayase Aragaki, she's quite old now, but I still enjoy looking at her each day.

Series: Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai

Manufacturer: Max Factory

Price: ¥2,667 (Before Tax)

Release Date: 2011/10

Specifications: Painted ABS&PVC non-scale posable figure, stand included, approximately 135mm in height

Sculptor: Max Factory - Masaki Asai

Released by: Max Factory

Distributed by: Good Smile Company

From the anime 'Ore no Imouto ga Konna ni Kawaii Wake ga Nai' comes a figma of Kirino's classmate, fellow model and close friend who cannot stand otaku - Ayase Aragaki!

She comes with a normal face, a disgusted face for when sees an otaku, as well as the yandere face she showed once in awhile. She also has her school bag and cellphone, so you can recreate her school life.

The handcuffs that featured in the 7th volume of the original novel are also included, as well as a poseable figma stand. Flexible plastic is used for specific areas of her body, which allows proportions to be kept without compromising posability.

Until recently, I was unaware of Cu-poche Chibis, but thanks to a recent post on Rachael's blog, I've had my curiosity aroused. I decided to see for myself if they were as good in real life, as they looked on her blog. So after a little browsing, I found this little one in Oz, for a really good price (AU$40 shipped, probably because it was old stock) and I allowed myself to indulge my curosity. :) 

Name: Hibiki Ganaha (我那覇 響 Ganaha Hibiki)

Voiced by: Manami Numakura
Manufacturer : Kotobukiya

Scale : Non
Material : PVC
Producer : Kento Ogawasara , Hidemasa Kiyohara
Series : Cu-poche
Original : The Idolm@ster
Release Date : Late June, 2015
List Price :4,536 yen about US$42.86
JAN code : 4934054183289
Item code : AD020

Hibiki looks great in her new deformed Cu-Poche Style, perfect for display at home or play on the go!

The Hibiki Cu-Poche may be small, but features fifteen points of articulation for a lot of posing options in a portable style toy. She even has magnets in the feet for extra stability! (This is something I would love to see Integrity Toys introduce with their dolls, so we could do away with those crazy doll stands.)

Hibiki's interchangeable face parts, hand parts and accessories, simply add to the fun of playing with her! Just between you and me, I can see myself adding one or two more of these cuties (afterall, they don't take up much space).

INTRODUCING HER STORY:

Introduced in The Idolmaster SP as a member of "Project Fairy", Hibiki is a highly energetic and cheerful girl hailing from Okinawa. Despite rivalries with the other idols, she remains friendly and happy, without becoming overly competitive.

Hibiki has an outstanding number of pets, which she happens to lose quite frequently; her pets include a mouse, a hamster (named Hamuzō in the anime), a gerbil, a parrot, a rabbit, a cat, a dog (named Inumi in the anime), a pig, a flying squirrel, and oddly enough, a crocodile. She also has a pet chicken (named Kokemaro), but apparently it is kept at her parents home in Okinawa.

Hibiki has tanned skin, long black hair tied in a wild ponytail and blue eyes. She usually wears hoop earrings, a white shirt with flannel sleeves and a blue-green in-shirt, as well as black shorts and brown sandals.

In The Idolmaster Dearly Stars, Hibiki is part of "765 Pro". Her three sizes also shrank, since she is the only character that happens to, some fans theorize that President Kuroi was lying about her measurements.

In Puchimas, Hibiki's Puchidol is called "Chibiki", who is very energetic and can summon strange animals to do her bidding, a power that goes haywire when she cries, bringing forth dangerous monsters.

The accessories Hibiki came with, her hamster Hamuzō and microphone with stand. Well that's me for today, hope you are all having a lovely dolly week!

Big hugs, X

Sir Cecil Beaton 1904-1980

Cecil Beaton is one of the most celebrated and distinguished British portrait photographers of the twentieth century and someone who's creativity and drive I have admired throughout my life.

An accomplished illustrator, painter, writer, costume and set designer, he is renowned for his portraits of well known faces from the worlds of fashion, literature, film and royalty. His long and varied career and his ability to attune himself to changing fashions enabled him to capture a diverse range of subjects on camera.

Marlene Dietrich - Cecil Beaton 1935

Beaton had a lifelong passion for the theatre, inspired by the plays he attended and the actresses he met in his childhood. He directed sets and costumes for 12 films and numerous plays, and his own play The Gainsborough Girls was performed at the Theatre Royal in Brighton in 1951. He first visited Hollywood in 1929 and returned many times over the years to capture the glamour of the big screen stars.

Audrey Hepburn, My Fair Lady - Cecil Beaton 1963

Amongst the celebrities captured by his camera, are fashion designers Coco Chanel, Elsa Schiaparelli and , artists Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dali, screen beauties Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and Ingrid Bergman, ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev and rock star Mick Jagger.

Cristóbal Balenciaga, Paris - Cecil Beaton 1962

Beaton’s career as a fashion photographer grew naturally out of his work as a society portraitist and flourished under the patronage of Vogue, first in London and Paris and by 1929, New York.

Vogue - Cecil Beaton 1954

The success he achieved in the 1930s reached its height when he was summoned to Buckingham Palace in 1939 to photograph Princess Elizabeth. The event was a great success in itself, with praise in the press for the photographs, but also the starting point for Beaton to become the Royal photographer of choice. It was he who photographed Princess Elizabeth in her uniform of Honorary Colonel of the Grenadier Guards in 1942, he who was chosen to record her coronation in 1953 and later the wedding of Princess Margaret and Anthony Armstrong-Jones.

Princess Elizabeth - Cecil Beaton March1945

In 1940 Beaton was appointed as an official photographer for the Ministry of Information. The portraits that he took at the time in themselves extended his range, beyond the glamorous and the grand to children and old men whom Beaton portrayed with clarity and sensitivity. In September 1940, Life carried Beaton’s portrait of three-year-old Blitz victim Eileen Dunne on its front cover.

Eileen Dunne in The Hospital for Sick Children - Cecil Beaton1940

Beaton remained in high demand as a photographer, but was keen to expand his practice beyond, and began to work as a costume and set designer on projects such as The Grass Harp (1952). A year later, he enrolled in a course at the Slade School of Fine Art, which allowed him to improve his painting and drawing. By the mid-1950s Beaton had firmly established himself within the field.

Artwork by Cecil Beaton, fashion designs and figure studies for - Jemma; The Divine

In 1963 Beaton met Kin (Kinmoit Hoitsma), a former Olympic fencer and a man thirty years his junior with whom he became romantically involved. His personal story is long and complicated, in some areas coloured by other people's judgment of him and he often found himself experiencing a sense of shame for his feelings.

Nevertheless, he was a talented man who left behind a wonderful legacy that influenced fashion photographers, portrait photographers and photojournalists alike. Beaton was not only influential to his contemporaries, but to his successors. Many of his photographs exude a timeless quality that could still grace a magazine cover today.

British Vogue September 1950, London-Paris Collection, cover by Cecil Beaton

Between 1955 to 1972 he earned many honours, awards and medals for his work. He published six volumes of his diaries while he was alive and was knighted in 1972. However, by the end of the 1970s, Beaton's health had faded and he passed away 18th January, 1980 just four days after his 76th birthday.

-oOo-

Now if you know of a movie with more glamerous costumes than these, please let me know! Anyone who has ever sewn a stitch, should be able to appreciate the amount of work that went into producing each one of them, and hopefully you might find some inspiration.

Ascot Scene from My Fair Lady by Cecil Beaton

SEE IT COME TO LIFE

in perfect monotone with gowns and millinery to die for!

-oOo-

I hope you have enjoyed this post as much as I did putting it together.

Big hugs,

X