you may be wondering "so what is your name then is it mark or marley" and it is technically mark -- "marley" was meant to be only an internet screen name; i can't use it in real life since it's androgynous so people would assume i'm a woman with no further question and wouldn't ask me "why the fuck are you named mark" and yes i'm salty about it, though most people online call me mark anyway so either works really i don't mind :)
neither of those are my real names though -- my legal name is also not my real name! they just help me get by in life! most people do not know what my real name is.
i'm just going to start off by saying that i'm awful at tying pretty knots. minor grievance, i know, but i've had to tie knots with ribbons like 4 times with this series already. please stop. my hands are not skilled. otherwise, physical quality wise they're near identical to the first series, so i'll just go right into design discussion. one notable difference, however, is that the tails come already snapped in.
they definitely took a step up in design complexity from series 1-- along with their dresses (which sometimes have an extra piece), they've got headbands and large back bows as well. there's also more variance in the outfits; each dress has a style of its own. i feel like that's about all the variation that you get in this series, though; i know the general theme is supposed to be dreamy and ethereal, and it captures that idea well, but for me it wears itself out much faster than i'd like it to, honestly. (another thing i wasn't a fan of was how the series removed the slight variations in eye shape that the first series had! i thought those did a lot to add identity and character.)
i grabbed a few open boxes from this series and i've had them sitting on my desk for a while and in all honesty they've more-or-less just become decoration. i know that's probably what a few people use their dolls for, but i do prefer to see them as characters-- this series just doesn't feel quite as alive. the simplicity of series 1 just charmed me in a way that isn't present here.
i know i sound quite harsh here, but like with the limited editions i talked about in series 1, they aren't bad! the designs are gorgeous for sure; there's a reasonable amount of detail to add visual interest but not too much to be overwhelming. the bows, of course, are also super cute. my problem is that "super cute" is about all i can say about them, though; they feel more like ornaments than uh, living things. (if you prefer your dolls that way though, i can see how it'd be a plus for you; my word is not law) the liroro dolls sort of have that same quality, but they have an endearing antiquated feel that just makes it work for me. (as a genuine piece of design criticism, though, i do wish they kept the unique facial features for each centaur. it really went a long way to giving the designs more soul.)
they! have! kneecaps!
something that sets this series apart from the other dolls i have is their (somewhat) unique anatomy. their joint pieces look quite different from the standard "peanut" shape and their limbs were made chunkier. they've even got little bunny paws! there's also a satisfying crunching sound every time you move the legs around. they've also got inset eye pieces, which is always nice to see; apparently you can remove them but i haven't figured out how.
other than that... they do pose well, though with a few limitations; it's hard to get them to sit down, can't really get them to stand, both likely owing to their weight being concentrated at the head (though it is worth noting that they have holes on the bottom of their feet, presumably for putting them on stands). the ears are connected to the head through magnets, but the magnets are pretty damn weak so i'm worried about losing pieces here and there.
i had a bit of a hard time dressing the dolls as well-- their chunky hands made it a little tough to put through the little sleeves. furthermore, matcha fufu gave me an extra bit of trouble with her hair getting in the way (she also happened to be the only one of the three i got that had a two-piece outfit, oh well), and not to mention that removing her hair piece was pretty darn hard as well due to the hairstyle (i've also noticed that in general, getting the hair pieces off was harder on these dolls than my other ones).
she looks like a piece of modern art with her face removed. how lovely.
there was also a small paint error near the mouth of sisi, but given the licking expression and the food theme i guess i can just reimagine it as the aftermath of her having a nice meal. would've been nice if it wasn't there, though.
all that aside, the designs definitely do a lot to sell the theme of a colourful maid cafe. they have different expressions, which is always a delight to see! their theming of course doesn't vary a whole lot but damn if they aren't all absol-fucking-lutely adorable. i'm a sucker for ridiculous anime hair and goddamn if it doesn't hit the mark for having those shapes and colours (even if it is admittedly fairly tame by anime standards). personality-wise they seem far more like archetypal caricatures than fleshed-out characters since the design's pushing the theme to such an obvious degree, but that certainly isn't a bad thing because the designs are just so fun. sure, conversations between them are probably nothing like how actual people talk, but that's part of the charm. it's all ridiculous cartoony fun; even if the designs are fairly conservative by those standards (but they went hard enough to get the point across, i think).
i actually had to order this product twice since the first time i bought it, the clothes ended up being missing from the package so i had to send it back and get a refund-- not all too fun. set came whole the next time i ordered, though!
this doll was a little harder to work with than the nature wonderland ones. she's got a lot more joints to deal with and you had to take off her head to dress her (and even after removing the head, putting her shirt on was incredibly annoying). since most of her weight's on her head she doesn't pose too well, either; she can't stand on her own and it can get a little tricky trying to get her to sit down (in fact, she only sits comfortably without any support if i tilt her head forward like she's fucking ashamed of herself, poor fella).
the design's certainly adorable, though! i only have one of the dolls from this series so i can't make a lot of comparisons between the models and assess similarity, but with the one i do have, the little details such as her earrings and the chain on her skirt are certainly lovely. there's even little paw-prints on her shoe soles! aw :) personally i've always been a fan of this sort of fashion so i suppose they got the right target audience here; the design doesn't challenge any archetypes or innovate on anything, but then again, it's not really meant to and it's already doing its job at being cute. some personality's being conveyed, especially through the outfit designs, but there's plenty of blank space to work with (which i do find nice!).
like most of the blind-box dolls i've seen, her face is painted on and her hair pieces are removable and interchangeable with others in the series. this one in particular has flocked textures on her ears and tail, but it's... a bit too good at gathering fluff from the rest of the atmosphere. ah well.
i actually ended up getting another doll from the series: yoyo the deer! apparently she's one of the more sought-after designs since she's almost always sold out in confirmed box purchases, i managed to luck out and pick up the last one that this one vendor had in stock.
she's adorable and very teal, though she suffers from a lot of the problems bai mo has except i'd say to an even more severe degree due to her horns! even using her tail to kind of "prop" her up she doesn't sit nicely :( there's pretty much no choice other than to lay her down or have her lean against something. she skips leg day oh my goodness
all that aside of course her design relies on a lot of the same tropes as every other design in the series for appeal (which i should mention yet again isn't bad! it's just an observation) though she's the only one with a separate accessory, those being her glasses. i will say though despite the conceptual similarity between her and bai mo they do look like their own distinct characters! the glasses are a small detail but pull a lot of weight in the design in my opinion
that aside though generally the dolls are well made and high-quality, but this one in particular had some issues with her bow :( the sitching pretty much immediately came loose so i had to re-bow her bow. otherwise, though, good stuff.
The funny thing about love is that as wonderful as we all like to think it is-- to the extent that we've almost framed it as the end goal of life itself-- it forms a backbone for so many of our tragedies. How many stories have we all heard about ill-fated protagonists becoming enamoured with the wrong person, or losses of once-cherished memories or objects that would've been no more than a slap on the wrist had said thing not've been so treasured?
I suppose you could make the claim that love itself is married with our way of life. For the most part, we don't consider it enough to be merely kept alive should you feel no desire, passion, interest, or comfort towards anyone or anything. From that perspective, it makes sense that if you wanted to undo a man, you'd make him love the wrong thing. That was the basic premise behind project Tabula Rasa.
To put the project in a fairly uplifting light, we disagreed with Mark Smith's behaviour and offered him a fresh start into a new life where he himself can choose a path he's happy with. In other words, he was leaking information that would've almost certainly been harmful to SCYPH.CO's image so we wiped his memory. It's a little more nuanced than that, of course.
We had a brief period of about a week of observation before we began with the project. From there, we learned that we had successfully removed all of Mark's memories, and for the most part, his identity as well. The subsequent name he chose for himself did happen to be fairly similar to his old one (which did bother me a little-- I was personally a little disappointed that it wasn't something like Stephen), but for all effective purposes he was a completely blank slate. Furthermore, his "dark" and "lucid" selves do seem to recognize each other as the same person and share the same memories, and whatever happens to him while he's dark will affect the way he acts when he's lucid, and vice versa. There was much less of a "split" between the two selves. Knowing this, we planned accordingly.
The goal wasn't to turn a bugged machine off and on again-- it was to reprogram it and remove the bug completely. I worked together with my colleagues in the Undertow to replace Mark's eyes with cameras where we can alter what he sees, and I've also developed another device that embeds into his brain that affects his other senses, too. Typically the changes aren't too drastic. It was a deliberate choice to keep it on the down-low to make the illusion more manageable for us and harder for Mark himself to detect. My colleagues and I would monitor what he sees, how he reacts to it, and adjust his senses accordingly to give him more positive experiences.
We wanted to give Mark another life he loved so much that he wouldn't even bother with rediscovering what he lost.
Tabula Rasa itself was carried out over the course of a month. We began with some fairly simple tests only meant to establish the effectiveness of Mark's sense-altering devices, then we moved onto seeing how he reacted to certain stimuli to try and test out what he might've been interested in. Eventually, we figured, he'd learn to be unsatisfied with the little world we gave him and would try and seek out a better future for himself. Of course, we encouraged him every step of the way. After the entire procedure, we ended up with a sunny, charismatic pop star-- the Marley that everyone in Clearweather loves so much.
I will say, though, that naming the operation after a theory that ended up being proven to be a bunch of bullshit might've been a bad omen. For all our purposes our plan worked-- but far from perfectly.
It turns out that we didn't erase everything. For example, he still responds to the name of Mark. He only sees it as a nickname of course, but somewhere in there, "Mark" is still alive. I should also note that much of his personality and values remain unchanged, though of course, the way he spends his time and who he spends it with did change a fair bit.
Also, as you read in the document above, I'm pretty sure that Marley is some degree of self-aware-- all that "questioning reality" does lead me to think that he knows there was supposed to be something else in his current life's place. I'm curious about what he makes of the situation, though that's something impossible to ask him about without giving the entire truth away. Somewhere in his mind, I'm sure that he's debating with himself on whether his "real" life is worth returning to or not.
I myself have gotten rather close with Marley, and I've grown quite fond of him (though admittedly, I still see him as a fascinating subject above all else). Part of me wishes he'll stay in his illusion just because it seems to make him happy. In any case, though, I also wonder what kind of outcome would really be best for him.
Before I end this note, there's a certain detail I want to make very clear: Mark himself is not the problem. We have no gripes with who he is so much as what-- or who-- he knows. Remember my opening statement? It wouldn't have been such a big deal if Mark wasn't in love with the man that he lost.
Tragedies aren't so sad when they happen to strangers, though. Now that we've washed him clean, I don't think he cares anymore.
backstory (WARNING: potentially upsetting content will be blacked out.) MASSIVE TW: CSA/SA
born to a wealthy, powerful family, dante seems to have a totally radical life— he was well-liked, smart, kindhearted, and good looking, and by all means what most parents would call a “perfect son.” his parents were close friends with a woman named priscilla klein, who was the head of a massive corporation (which focused on biology research)-- the biggest company in ioxidia! and offered their son an opportunity to continue his post-secondary education in her lab instead of a traditional college. graduating early at the age of 14, dan took up her offer and began work very early. his parents couldn’t have been prouder! his best friend was definitely very jealous though, hehe.
it started off fantastic! he couldn't wait to get his hands on all that cool science stuff and fulfill his lifelong dream of being a biologist. he was so excited!! but gradually he felt himself feeling strange and almost unhappy in the lab, especially when klein was around-- dante found it bothersome how close she would stand next him while he worked, and despite him asking her to give him some space, she persisted. he could tell that something was amiss-- but found it hard to really explain why, though over time he became less and less sensitive to these intrusions and would eventually stop pointing it out altogether.
time went on and things only got worse from there. klein would grow to be both verbal and physical with her behaviour. at this point, dante realized something was definitely very wrong, but found it difficult to speak up; for one, it was an extremely difficult topic to bring up in the first place. not to mention, this was a close family friend who was the perpetrator, one he had known and trusted for so long, and also one with so much power and pretty much his future in her hands. so he kept his silence, sometimes even feeling ashamed of himself for dreading his studies.
(i should also mention that in ioxidian society it is usually extremely difficult for a man to speak out against a female abuser, especially against one with so much reputation and power.)
the abuse continued on for years, without anyone else ever knowing. it escalated beyond just horribly offensive gestures though-- eventually klein would begin coercing dante to have intercourse with her, often using her authority as means. she would exploit various facets in dante's life to maintain control over him-- most notably, she would make threats of telling others he had assaulted her instead should he ever get his parents or law enforcement involved, threats of destroying his career (which she was in every position to end, not only with that specific company but from science as a whole), and even exploited his emotions by making claims that she loved him and he simply did not understand. scared and confused, the young man decided he couldn't tell anyone and that the only option was to endure. not only was the abuse of authority power utterly stressful for the boy, but he felt like he couldn't let his parents down or give up a career he had devoted so much of his time to.
as he grew to an adult and landed a more legitimate position as a researcher, rather than just a student, he met another man-- a coworker named virgil who was 4 years his senior. the two became fast friends-- partially due to the little coincidence with their names, but virgil soon proved to be a good listener and a fun guy to be around. for once in his life, dante felt like he had some sort of security, and had thoughts of eventually confiding in him the forewoman's actions. his friend became the only person that he was comfortable staying in a room with without other people around.
his world was torn in two-- the science-loving, intellectual side adored the work he was able to do, while his everything-else hated his job. at around age 23, a lab accident left him with some strange infection that disfigured his face-- he managed to get rid of the parasite responsible however it left him with a strange, lasting condition where patches of his skin would turn red and dry, and eyes would grow across those patches. this was another thing klein had exploited-- with claims like "nobody else would ever love you like i do, you're a hideous monster" or something along those lines.
fear and loneliness turned into anger. one night when he was 24, he rejected one of the forewoman's advances, and this led to her making her threats against him. he became completely enraged-- having endured a whole decade of her abuse, he shoved her with such force; she hit her head on a table corner and was killed on impact.
…
this was never meant to happen. he wasn’t a violent guy at all in the first place— but to have ended someone’s life— even on accident— was completely unthinkable for the young man. he hid the evidence by dissolving the corpse in chemical stew and washing it away, while panicking and frightened out of his mind— how could he have done such a thing?
the forewoman's disappearance raised a few questions within the company, and dante's parents were devastated over the news of their friend going missing. wanting to turn over a new leaf (and no longer having anyone to stop him), the young man left his job at the larger corporation (which was temporarily under management of the queen), and went to work at a much smaller group-- though it didn't pay as much, he felt himself enjoying his job a lot more and feeling much safer.
but he wasn't completely free. he often had intrusive thoughts (and sometimes even vivid nightmares) about his trauma, and sometimes hesitated at his new workplace. he also felt immense guilt over accidentally killing the forewoman, and found it hard to form new relationships with people. he tried his best to have fun and pick up the pieces in his life, but it wasn't coming easy, especially not since resources to support him were so scarce where he lived.
there was no forensic evidence available to link him back to klein's death (she did not have security cameras installed in his lab, to help herself get away with her own crimes-- hoist by her own petard? sort of...), but his best friends, virgil and beatrice, felt his sudden change in workplace was odd and suspected something might've been up. questions were being asked, rumours were being spread... and dante knew that he eventually had to come clean, not only about what happened that one night, but everything else that led up to it.
"life's a joke! it's just not funny anymore when you're the punchline!"
a few years ago i would've most definitely made fun of myself if i saw how much random anime shit i've been putting in my room, hahaha. i mean, it makes for good decor, and it hasn't been hurting anything but my pride... so.
i also probably won't have that much to say compared to the dolls since there's only so much you can do with a figure that's just supposed to sit on your desk, just fyi.
jan 23 2024: i'm waiting on the rest of the series to ship over to me but as of today i'll just talk a lil bit about the ones i already have
food themes are always an ol-reliable when it comes to making cute designs. i mean, it works-- i happened to quite a few entries in the line - excluding the colour variants and such. only 2 are here with me at the moment-- coincidentally they happen to be the first and the latest installations (correction jan 25 - it's actually the second), so it's fun to make comparisons, i suppose.
i picked up choco mint at a collectible store, the second of the series to be released (and my first miku figure). quality-wise she's nothing to write home about, being a cheaper prize figure, but her design genuinely makes me very happy-- she's uncharacteristically simple for one of these figurines (which i prefer, personally-- it makes her far less tedious to look at than some other ones i've seen), but the "motions" (this is the best way i can describe it?? i mean like, where the figure wants you to pay attention to through posing and movement?) are concentrated around her flowing skirt and bouncy hair. i don't know-- i just feel a very childlike joy looking at her. not to mention the bowties on her huge hair buns... i've got my weaknesses. the colour composition works for me as well; teal and beige is a tried-and-true classic and the brown tones around the "base" parts of the figure (her cupcake's wrapper, the lower layer of her skirt, her shoes, and the base of the figure itself) help "ground" the design. i don't know how to explain it... it just makes me feel peaceful.
quality-wise i mentioned it wasn't the best and you can definitely feel it in comparison to some other figures i have around similar price-points. my biggest issue regarding the actual product is that her pose has her standing on one leg with no support given for the other; the weight distribution isn't that bad but i've noticed she wobbles a little sometimes (not to mention her base also feels quite light). (it also just looks like a lot of pressure on her ankle! poor miku.) the paint job isn't the smoothest, either; it's pretty prominent around the ends of her hair. the finer details on the figure also feel fairly chunky. still, though. it does its job and it does it damn well, so i don't really care.
i got the noel one at a bargain price of like 20 USD shipping included-- gotta love ebay. truth be told there's not a lot i feel i can say about the design-- it's fairly complex in terms of shapes (i tend to like "grouping" things together into certain forms to "interpret" them if that makes any sense; there's not a whole lot of "shape hierarchy" i can really work off of here) and the all-white colour palette does give me a little bit of trouble-- i tend to "understand" palettes with more contrast easier. it's certainly a very pretty design, though, and while i'm not sure what dessert she's supposed to be based off of, the fluffy textures and red accents do suggest a cake of some sort. i DEFINITELY have to give a shoutout to the base for being shaped like a plate (other entries in the line have this too but they only started doing it like two figures in)-- it's such a simple change but it adds so much charm. not to mention, the patterns on the plate go well with the design on the figure itself. you'd even hold it and pick it up the same way you would with a plate. so cute.
i was actually blown away by how much the quality improved between this one and the choco mint one (the release dates differed by like two years, i think). it's well-sculpted with no awkward bits of plastic, and the hair doesn't have that "string cheese" kind of visual texture i've seen on some lower-quality figures. it isn't flawless, of course-- it doesn't have the best handfeel and there's some bits and bumps here and there-- but for what it is it's damn well-made. i'd also like to mention that even though she's also posing on one leg here, the figure feels much sturdier and less wobbly than choco mint.
only real criticism? i really don't like that they gave her a bunny tail but no ears. i've been trying my best to ignore it.
mar 27 2024 update: i got the macaron one too. it's just fucking adorable. i love how readable the design is; i love the bright, cheerful pastels. quality wise, it's the same as the noel one. otherwise i don't have a whole lot to say? i just really dig the little guy.
okay i will be completely honest with you: this is probably one of the few times i can pretty confidently say that i don't think this stuff is worth your money. it's just... really not. it's not bad or anything any more than it's just... exceedingly mediocre. for like 200-300 USD a pop, you'd probably agree.
good things first: they're well made. they are indeed high quality scale figures. they're also very big. i haven't had any quality issues with any of the two i have, but the hand on the one with the weird-ass name snapped off when i shoved her into my suitcase to fly back home, but that is 100% on me because i'm one of those guys who tosses out the original packaging so i just wrapped her in some pants. they also have real fishnets, which is pretty fun! quality wise i really do wish they weren't so wobbly, though. for that price you'd expect them to feel pretty stable, but they don't. i swear, i get nervous every time i lean onto the desk a little too hard and bounce my leg up and down. don't bump into them or wiggle your leg too much though, and you'll be fine.
...alright. now. no, the problem i have with these guys is they just feel so sterile. compared to the original illustrations they're based on, it feels like they did everything in their power to "standardize" it... which removes lots of quirks in the art, such as the shading, linework (i know this is hard to translate into 3d, but even around the eyes, they just don't feel very interesting). the design of the figure itself is usually pretty simple with little to no surrounding props or decor, but that's not even the problem - simple things can be charming too, but i'm just... not feeling the life, for some reason. the colours are flat, the execution isn't exciting, THE BASE IS AN UNGODLY BORING FUCKING CIRCLE... hell, half the personality they have comes from the rosaries my brother put around their necks (which i will admit is pretty funny tho lmao). i guess the upside is that they do have a sort of... minimalist feel? if you're into that? but yeah, they just feel really plain...
now don't get me wrong - i love the two i have and i am definitely not thinking of getting rid of them anytime soon (though that's also partially because i didn't keep the packaging LMAO), i just won't be getting any more - the two i have are definiely carried by the original design and concept, which the company kind of... didn't do too much justice, but i'll take it... i guess. it's like a really solid bowl of oatmeal. it's good and inoffensive, but i would not spend 200 dollars on good oatmeal. i do not care how good it is... i do not care how much i love oatmeal... it's 200 dollars........