Project: Obitsu January 2015

Here's the first entry in my monthly Project: Obitsu feature. I want to focus on a different Obitsu or Obitsu-based doll in my collection each month. All of these dolls are 1/6 scale and are either entirely Obitsu or based on Obitsu bodies with other heads. Some of these will include dolls from Azone's era of 1/6 scale hybrids and possibly other manufactures as well.

January's subject is a girl I purchased a year or so back exactly as you see her here. I'm not entirely sure of her background, although she looks a bit like one of the early Mama Chapp Usami-chan dolls. She could also be a custom doll although she looks factory made to me. Who knows? I think she's rather attractive so I don't really care either way!

When I did this photo set, I realized this poor girl didn't have a name or any sort of background. While I still need to come up with a biography, I decided to name her Rainy Mourning. Her last name is a bit of a hat tip to goth model and reality TV personality Wednesday Mourning. Rainy is based on a standard Obitsu 27 cm body with the "hard shell" torso. Her head looks somewhat like an early production Volks vinyl head but I can't be absolutely sure about that. I love here outfit although I think she might need some more elaborate shoes to really pull off this look. Meh...the flats will do for now.

Favorite Photos of 2014

Inspired by a recent post at iHime's Den, I decided to dig through my photo archive and find my three favorites of 2014.

Meg's snow day-

While there are other photos in this shoot that actually show Meg walking in the snow, I really like this close-up of her face. Just wish I'd gotten her face more in focus instead of her jacket. Snow days don't come around here very often so I always try to get some photos when they do. Meg is an Obitsu 27 cm doll, BTW.

In Memorium-

 

A bit of sad serendipity with this image as it was taken during the US Memorial Day weekend but was also posted to honor Don Levine, the man credited as the father of GI Joe for his efforts leading the design and development team at Hasbro in 1963. Mr. Levine had passed away shortly before this was taken and I thought it made a nice tribute to have two vintage style Joes in the photo. They aren't actual 1960s Joes but 40th Anniversary reproductions, since that's what I have.

Mio in the yard-

It's a bit hard to pick a favorite Pure Neemo girl but for me, Mio may have to be the one. I had wanted a Mia for several years and was thrilled when I finally bought one last year. Then older sister Mio was introduced and I was immediately charmed! This is from the first photo shoot I did with her and I like it because everything just seems "in balance" somehow. It really shows her to good advantage and my camera karma was working that day, in spite of high heat and humidity so bad, it fogged the lens. My favorite shot of my favorite PN girl? I think maybe so!

Let's Joe! January 2015

Hi and welcome to inaugural Let's Joe! post for 2015. As I've said previously, the plan is to post this feature once a month and focus on some of the GI Joes in my crew. While there will be some military figures, I also want to do some "slice of life" stuff and humor as well. In fact, I've been actively searching for civilian clothes and accessories so that the whole series isn't just camouflage and rifles.

January's entry doesn't entirely fit either category but leans closer to the military side. Our subject is Col. James D. Wallace, known as J.D. and commander of my GI Joe forces. J.D. started life some years ago as a figure of the GI Joe character "Roadblock". I transplanted his head to a Super Articulated body and he's been the man in charge for the last ~10 years. Originally, he lead a chapter of the Adventure Team (1970s era US GI Joe concept) and later the team morphed into a military unit. The back story of this unit has changed a bit over the last ten years (otherwise it would get boring, right?) but in every case, J.D. and his loyal troops defend whatever nation they serve against forces that seek to destroy them. Usually, they either serve the real world based "imagi-nation" of Aventine or the post-apocalypse/ post-collaspe "Alliance". I can never decide which story I should ultimately present.

At any rate, here are a few photos of J.D. sort of taking the day off. I couldn't find his blue jeans in time for the shoot, so he's wearing camo pants and jungle combat boots. The jacket is actually a WW2 tanker's jacket, although it's very similar to items I've seen sold in modern times as civilian men's wear. The t-shirt is a "Dri-T" but I forgot to take any photos of it. My original idea was to feature J.D. driving some sort of vehicle but I couldn't smuggle one past my kids to take any outdoor shots. Maybe I can do that some time in the future. Who knows? On with the photos.....

2015- The Plan

So, a new year and a new post! First of all, I wish all of you a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. Second, as I've stated previously, I plan to post features twice monthly that focus on my crew of GI Joes and Obitsu dolls. The first post should be up soon and the next should follow roughly mid-month. For now, my plan is to post the GI Joe stuff around the first of each month and the Obitsu entries around mid-month. I haven't yet decided whether to post on say, the 1st and 15th or pick a day of the week, like every other Saturday. I would love to have some clever banners to use for these posts but that's not in the cards for now.

 In order to make all this possible, I'm trying to work a bit ahead of schedule to build up a cache of ready to post photos. Of course, this takes some of the spontaneity out of the process but since I have to plan ahead and work when I can get a bit of rare free time to myself, I don't miss being spontaneous. OK, I do miss it but the point of this whole exercise was to use discipline and regularity to carve a bit of "me time" out of a life that is otherwise devoted to family and external obligations.

At any rate, look for (the somewhat cleverly named) Let's Joe! and (the not at all cleverly named) Project: Obitsu to appear shortly and run through 2015.