So it’s Marie Antoinette’s birthday 2nd November. I have never celebrated her birthday before, only Oscar and Andre (which, unfortunately I also seem to stop doing already). Let’s make a difference then!
You might have known what I feel about the cute big head Pullip doll Marie Antoinette, ever since then I always wanted a doll that actually resemble the Marie Antoinette that Riyoko Ikeda sensei created. And when I was doing research on those Takara dolls, I found their faces very manga styles and their eyes are those of 80s manga characters. Well, the artist who first created them was the wife of a famous 80s mangaka, so that explained a lot. More over, there’s one girl that is very, and I mean very, similar to Marie Antoinette
Even her name is similar: Marine. I read somewhere that Japanese was influenced by/interested in France and its culture at the time so these dolls have very French names (more like Western names in general), and one of them has a family that contains a French father and Japanese mother.
The French things kind of also explains why Rose of Versailles was created in the first place.
Anyways, I decided to buy a Marine doll and change her into Marie Antoinette. I mean the faces already look alike, what could go wrong? Apparently, a lot!
First things is, there’re the play-line supposedly cheap dolls. They’re toys, for little girls to play with. Though recently they have gotten popular with grown up women who still haven’t grown out of dolls (like me :p ), they’re still created to be played with and not put in a glass cabinet. We’re talking about Japanese and children, so certainly no “cheap” material, dangerous sharp parts or toxic face painting. But again, they’re toys, just like the ROV toy dolls Takara once made.
These are also made by Takara, and sure, they’re “toys”. On onlyshojo.com.
And then there’re the Licca Castle, also belong to Takara but supposedly produce premium dolls. And more expensive, of course. I purchased one of these dolls, without actually own any Takara play doll before, and that leaded to the second thing.
Just like the first time I really have a Pullip doll in my hands and be disappointed, this time I also have a very strong emotion but on the opposite side, the bright side: I was thrilled with the quality of the dolls. The face paint is beautiful, the plastic give a high quality feeling and the hair, even though she’re supposed to have messy hair, is somehow very neat! Many dolls collector says Pullip dolls look so much better in person, and that is why I was disappointed, because they’re not that impressive. No one says anything like that (or I just haven’t read) about Takara dolls, and when I opened her box, I must say the pictures, including those promotions picture on the official website, don’t do her justice. She’s much more beautiful.In short, I was very happy with her.
But that doesn’t stir me away from my original purpose: to modify her. And this’s where things went wrong. 
See her beautiful little curls? I wanted to change those into ringlets! And I also thought it was easy! If I have ever owned a playline doll before, and know how much smoother and softer her hair is in comparison, I wouldn’t dare. If I have ever modified doll before and know that the hair on her head needed to be rooted in different pattens for different hairstyles, and this patten is certainly not for pulling the hair up above her head, I wouldn’t dare.
But I haven’t had those experiences, so I dared. And around the fifth time, I kind of archived the result I wanted, and I also kind of ruined her hair T~T. The current hairstyle isn’t very Marie Antoinette yet, she’s missing the bigger rolls on top of her head. I know how to do it, but it require her front hair to be long enough to roll up, and here she has short bang. At least I know how to style her hair now. Lesson learned: practices make perfect, just don’t practices on expensive dolls.
That’s my fault, no doubt. But the Takara dolls, just like I predict in my Pullip dolls review, beside having a beautiful face can’t do anything more than dressing up pretty and standing on a shelve. Even though her arms and legs are flexible, it’s super hard to pose her, her movements are too limited. The best resolution should be to put her in a realistic surrounding: a doll house/doll room with miniature stuffs, bring her outside where there’re flowers and trees…and snap some photos.
That would lead to another problem, though. That her face, lovely as it is, is painted on, she can’t glance her eyes, look directly into the camera, look up to the sun…she can’t be as expressive as a Pullip doll. Now I understand why Pullip dolls are so photogenic and Takara dolls aren’t. It’s all about the eyes.
Maybe I should buy the Takara Oscar doll to pose with my OOAK Antoinette, or buy her another body that is easier to pose. I do need to reroot and fix her hair before that, though. But that’s future plan, in the meantime, enjoy some photos.
The thorns of the roses 