Friendship is SCIENCE!
As Animagic4U posted, she, Cryx, and I all brought our girls to the local Japanese Friendship Garden, which I'll admit I hadn't realized we even had until Animagic sent out the doll meet invites.
We were immediately greeted by the sight of vicious fish swarming their landbound prey.
Agatha and Rei revel in the fact that they are not the fish's victims--Agatha because this way she gets to observe their behavior, Rei purely because it's not her getting eaten.
Here we observe Cryx performing the ritualistic scalp replacement on his Sasara. This is a common practice between dolls and their owners.
The group poses in front of the pond after the fish carnage and the scalp swapping. Agatha and Rei have elected to use a buddy system to avoid becoming future reverse sushi.
I used to write off the Sasara mold as being kind of passive, but here she's positively seething! I think she didn't like being caught bald on camera.
Animagic bestows some photographic attention on her bite-size daughter, Sayuri.
Buddy system: Effective!
We then wandered away from the pond and hung out on a little bench.
We were however beckoned back by the sound of running water, and the calls of ducks in the midst of schadenfreude. Don't believe me? They were laughing at us. Really.
Only one hint that this garden is smack dab in the middle of the city.
Rei takes a moment to meditate in the sun.
Agatha: "Hey look, it's the fish!"
Fish: "FEED ME! Blurble burble.
This is what happens when you cross a koi with a coelocanth.
. . . and of course, the second her back is turned the fish come swarming. Devious predators!
Luckily the moment Agatha put her hat back on to shield herself from the sun, they became intimidated by the evil enchantress and scarpered off.
Sisters Yukino and Sasara also employed the buddy system to good effect.
The fish didn't stay away forever though. Gawd, just look how huge they are! Dinosaurs.
Sayuri can't be bothered with safety and climbs to an unsafe height.
Sasara: "Hey, look, they're oblivious. You think they're gonna get eaten?"
Yukino: "Huh? Oh, yeah, maybe."
You can never resist a path when you find one.
Animagic helps Rei prepare for her debut with a new sport. . .
. . .Bucking Shachi riding!
After this, I happened to wonder aloud how many girls would fit on that fish. Well, Agatha leapt onboard with a call of "FOR SCIENCE!"
Yukino piled on soon after, I suppose unable to resist a free ride.
. . . Hey, where'd Sasara go?
Sasara: "HEEEEEEY HEEEEEEELP!"
Sasara: "You guys, THIS ISN'T FUNNY! LET ME GO!"
Sasara: "Why do I put up with these people!?"
. . . Duuh---DUN.
Agatha: "Rawr!"
Rei: ". . . um. . . . . . . KAY."
A large mysterious tower looms. . .
. . . with access forbidden with the cunning use of land mines.
Yukino
Sasara
Sayuri, and Rei.
Thanks so much for inviting me, you guys. It was a blast! Hope we get to do it again.
hehe! Mid-photoshoot wig change fun! Been there! XD Many times!
Yeah! She may be *just a lil* agree with you!
err angry! XD
Is that one spitting??? O_o
I'm not sure, actually. It may just be a piece of debris, but considering how they swarmed and flapped their fishy lips whenever they saw a person I wouldn't put spitting past them.
Evil fishes! T^T
Cute shoes! Do they come in Dollfie size? XD
Looks like y'all had fun! Great pictures! I had fun looking at them all!
Loved the commentary (and the pictures)!
Though, I think Agatha was plotting to turn Rei into a mermaid or some other type of dollfie/fish hybrid. The "buddy system" was more of a "favorite lab rat" system ;)
LOL! I think that was a backup plan if Rei blew off the scientific method too much; she was more focusing on assessing minion potential. Hence the sneak-up-and-scare tactic: a minion who startles easily just won't do.
"Sorcerous hat of SCIENCE"!!
Heheh, yup! When I found out my mom had actual gears floating around, I had to put them on the hat. XD
Well you know what old Arthur C. Clarke once said..."any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." And of course, there's Aleister Crowley, who summed up his whole oevre of Magick in the turn of phrase, "The method of Science, the aim of Religion." I could see Agatha's technomancy circling round to a marriage of magick and technology. And let us not forget the more modern "chaos magicians" who tap the energy of the cyber-world. Yes, an Agatha Heterodyne who practices steampunk techno-magick is wildly appropriate.
Awesome quote. It's probably the one the Foglios were poking fun at when, in the Cinderella bonus story, they had her say, "Any magic sufficiently analyzed is indistinguishable from science!" XD I sometimes find myself thinking of her death rays as the steampunk precursor to Nanoha-style intelligent devices. If it seems weird. . . just imagine if she managed to stick Der Kestle's personality in a death ray. Yeah.
It's amazing what you can find squirreled away in the city, especially when most people think of Arizona as nothing but tumbleweeds, cactus and fumbling coyotes with ACME credit cards! I need to get out into town more and find places like this.. Awesome shots, both of you!
^.^
I know, right? I guess it's fitting that I show an urban Arizona oasis when I've shown two natural ones in prior shoots. Though the desert can be pretty in its own right, too; I just haven't gotten out there yet. Maybe closer to Christmas, when it's not only not beastly hot but also closer to the solstice to give more fudge room regarding the 10 to 2 rule.
Couldn't have been more than 6-7 weeks ago we had some Prickly Pear and Barrel cactus blooming out at the Saguaro national Park. Gorgeous large blooms, but beastly hot!! Early after sunrise or just before sunset would've been awesome...
Ooh, that would have been gorgeous! Ah well, no use crying over missed photos. There'll be other ops at other points. . . Especially in your future! *grin*
Perhaps we can have the girls dress up cowboyish and have a desert photoshoot! :D
. . .but then I'd have to make something cowboyish! =P I guess her brown outfit from the circus could do double duty, once I get around to making it.
Haha me too...=.=;;
I have a decent shorts pattern for DDdy (needs a tad bit of altering) but making a cowboy hat might be difficult for a n00bie like me.
Perfect form if I do say so myself! :D
I like this angle! I'm stealing this picture right away!
If you want it, I can email you the high res version. It's a big file, I'll warn you, but should make a good wallpaper or something.
Lovely shots of the meet! <3
I especially love that one of Sayuri in the tree. I think that's my new favorite picture of her! :D
It was tons of fun and I hope we can get together again soon!~ :D
Oh, thank you! I'm pretty happy with how that shot turned out too--not only did the foreground pine needles work out well, it was one of the few shots that didn't end up overexposed in places. (I guess that's what we get for violating the 10 to 2 rule.) I hope we can meet up again too! Too much fun not to repeat. :)
"Rei! It's rude to climb on statues!"
"Umm...I'm scared. Someone please help me. >< "
oooh noooeess!
Treasure?
Land mines are treasure? =P
LOL I wrote that before seeing what the second photo said.
Heheh, I guessed that, but couldn't resist the urge to poke a little fun. ^^;
(ToT)
Hey! look at the cleavage! ^_^
(she's gonna kill me for that)
Pretty outfit, BTW...
"When you look deep in her eyes, she will put you in trances. . ." *SHOT*
Thank you! I think it's my best so far. Hopefully I can repeat the form-fitting feat when I make her more outfits in the future.
I need to get around to finishing the second "dress dummy" before the weather turns cold....
My sister has the first one, working on Glenda's "default" dress... (I hope) As my Niece is getting married at the end of the month in Sydney, I don't think she's focused on the dress at the moment...
Leaving a week from Wed. to go there myself.. ^_^
Well, congratulations to your niece, and have fun at the wedding! :) Guess no one can blame your sister for being distracted right around now. Still looking forward to seeing how the dress turns out when it is done though!
Instead of using a dress dummy, I just use Agatha. XD I end up sticking her arms out in weird positions and taking her wig off, so she looks pretty silly when I'm sewing something for her. But hey, it works!
Just looked at the calendar.. It's a week from next Wed (26th) is when I go... Doh!
Was working on it yesterday afternoon. Drilled out the hole for the stand a bit too big, but as the casting is fiberglass resin, I'll just fill the hole with epoxy and re-drill with a smaller bit..
Ah, okay. Well, at least you have more time for other projects before you depart.
Sounds like a good solution. So you cast with a different material than the first squishy dress form?
Squishy? The first casting was with clear resin ($45.00 a can) as you can see in my post I did on it. This one was made with Fiberglass resin $18.00 a can (32oz) Main diff other than cost, is the dress dummy is opaque brown, rather than clear..
Oh! For some bizarre reason I thought you'd used the silicone-caulking casting trick, probably because I'd been reading about it earlier. (It's sometimes used in computer case modding as a cheap way to make soft, transparent buttons.) Dang, huge cost difference though. It makes much more sense for the dress dummy to have it opaque and save the transparent stuff for things where you really want transparency for a special effect--I've seen some resin doll companies use transparent resin in horns and wings, for instance.
Originally, I was going to make it out of layers of foam board, but it was too difficult to make it look right.. As I had made lead castings (micro-armor, Battle Mech figures) I figured casting was the way to go..If you mix bathtub caulk with cornstarch, it sets up in reasonable depth overnight... I was thinking I might make small batches of dress dummies to sell. After the body mold, the resin is the only expensive part.
Got it. Yeah, that would take a lot of layers of foam board, way time consuming. Hm. Is there any way you can put something inside the mold so the cast comes out hollow? That would save a fair chunk on casting.
Technically, it's possible, but how to center it correctly?
It would almost be simpler to make casts of the chest,abdomen, and backside, then assemble the pieces.. and I'd still have to figure out how to mount it afterwards...
Great photo/story! Looks like they all had a great time :)
Thanks! Yeah, it was quite fun. Especially the Shachi riding--Neither Animagic nor I were expecting Cryx to shove Sasara into the mouth. XD
"Hurry up! This rock is HOT!" XD
I like seeing doll owners in pics. It's really nice to see what others go thru to get shots and such. =3
I just have this weird fascination with taking pictures of other people taking pictures. XD When I went on a class trip to Italy, I got a great one of all the teachers lined up, with several cameras each, taking a group shot of the rest of us in front of the Colosseum. XD
Ha ha! That sounds fun. =3 I don't normally take too many pics of others taking pics but whenever I go to meets with Ed, he ALWAYS takes pics of ME in stupid poses and positions! It's maddening and also hilarious. XD
Fishies were hungry <3
Fishies were piggies!
This is a nice photo of Rei.
"Can we haz food nao?" :3
It looks like she's trying to analyze the fish or the situation... or both. XD
Good grief! It's bigger than Agatha! O_o
You know why they keep swarming? BEWBS! That's why!! XD
Puts a whole new spin on "look deep into her eyes, she'll put you in trances", doesn't it? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TkOfhCK4Zo
Do I sense a glomping coming on? XD
Uh oh. Does she have a boo boo?
Yes. :( Stupid weird-ass fabric stained her. Quick, too, just a couple days. Thank god the interfacing I lined it with is white; who knows what the inside could have done!
Awww. That's too bad. I hope some Oxy10 pulls that out quickly as it doesn't look too dark. And thats good that you lined it!
What's funny is that I lined it because I wanted to make sure it kept its shape despite me not boning it, but it's saved her anyway. XD Yeah, some zit cream should do the trick on that stain. I may try washing the corset too, see if that does anything.
If you had a closed fist hand here it wold have been the perfect noogie! =3
I know! But I never got around to getting closed fist hands--closest I have is the sword-holding hands, which I don't think would have helped.
This is a great shot of Agatha. She looks ery sexy and mature here. Plus, I love those bright green eyes of hers. Altho.... her other eyes are nice too. XD
You know, I actually have two more pairs of green eyes in that size. They're not *quite* the same (different color of Pearl-Ex), but they're quite similar and pretty damn bright.
Great pics! That place is really nice! I wsh we had something similar around here. All we have are those darned plantations from the Civil War era.... HA HA!
I really liked the costume you made for Agatha. I know she wasn't happy about it "exposing" her like that but she made it look so good! Nice work. =3
Thank you! Yeah, this is kind of a weird place for a Japanese garden--in the middle of a city in the middle of the desert--but apparently Phoenix's sister city is some town in Japan. Still, some of those plantations and gardens you've taken your girls to are gorgeous! And the botanical gardens are so different from ours. . . Maybe I can get Agatha to ours sometime so you can see what the Desert Botanical Gardens are like.
Oh, thank you! I still need to make the cape for it; I think it'll really unify the whole thing when it's done. Heh, and thanks for "encouraging" her. =P Maybe she'll be a bit more willing to loosen up when it comes to her fashion sense, though I suspect there will always be an undertone of practicality to her non-costume dress code. No flip-flops for this girl!
I'm surprised those Koi are thriving so in such hot weather, although goldfish are pretty adaptable as is evidenced with my Kintaro and Hokusai. This summer was the hottest one in the Valley for a while. But they are happy in 80 degree water, imagine that. Those really are huge Koi. HUGE.
Yeah, those are pretty massive fish. Though these ponds do have a lot of running water, which does help keep it on the cooler side than still water would be, so maybe that's a factor.
Yeah, keeping water moving and aerated is a big part of keeping domesticated carp, of which Koi and Goldfish are subspecies, happy. My Kintaro-kun has taken up body surfing. No lie. He will actually ride the wake created by the filter system. He used to hate the turbulence but he has learned to enjoy it and swim under it when he doesn't want to deal with it. Hokusai still doesn't like it but he knows the trick of swimming lower in the tank to stay away from the wake.
So maybe it's not just aeration but temperature that makes the moving water so good? I know moving water in oceans evens out temperatures in places so it makes sense to me it'd help fresh water bodies too.
Lol, that's adorable! Bet that's fun to watch. XD Man, I haven't kept fish in ages. Somehow this instead has me remembering the big freshwater tank my dad used to have, with the biggest plecostomus you've ever seen.
It may be an odd place but it's really cool to see. And I would LOVE to see the desert gardens! I bet that place is awesome. ^_^ And I'm glad to help encourage Agatha! She needs to know she's pretty!
Yeah, I'd like to go to the desert gardens again, especially since I'll probably be moving out of state after graduation. (Animation jobs are pretty much nonexistant here.) I'll have to see what admission is. It's been a while since I went, but as I recall these gardens are a bit more "formal" and on the educational side so it's almost certainly higher than the $5 friendship garden admission. XD
Or rather, she needs to know that being pretty is not offensive in this culture. =P Silly Victorian sensibilities. Though knowing she is pretty I'm sure will help too.
Cool photos and looks like a good time. Until seeing these posts I had no idea Phoenix had such locations, but I do always hear that people in Phoenix love to water stuff so it fits in with that.
I think Sayuri wasn't abandoning safety by climbing the tree, but rather getting a safer distance away from the fish. She's single gulp size to them.
Thanks! Heh, yeah, some parts of Phoenix (Scottsdale *cough cough*) are singular examples of what NOT to do to conserve water. XD Which is even funnier because there's plenty of other places with gorgeous desert zero-scaping not too far away.
Hm, you may have a point. Lesser of two dangers!
"Feed me, Seymour!"
"My name's not Seymour, my name is Agatha, and there is a 98% possibility you might take my hand off if I tried to feed you."
"DOES this look inanimate to you PUNK? If I can talk, and I can MOVE, WHO'S to say I can't do anything I WANT?"
*ahem* Sorry, did a kinetic type on that song, and still have whole chunks of it memorized as a result. XD And of course Agatha knows to refuse any call of "Feed Me!" for the same reason. Things'll take over the planet if you do!
They're OMG beautiful dinosaurs, however. I now has fish. However, my goldies are much smaller.
I hope so. Imagine how much it would cost to keep fish that size fed! I think the only reason they have so many is because they don't have to pay--visitors keep feeding the little monsters; we caught at least one guy at it, and they're so used to it that if you lean over the water a little and flail they swarm in.
Actually Koi food is pretty inexpensive. Some people even bake Koi kibble. And they get big quick. And they are fruitful, and multiply. I have seen ponds where the Koi have so thoroughly taken over that the pond looks like it's boiling for all the Koi in the water. And when they think they're going to be fed...it's like crabs in a bucket. Koi will get atop fellow Koi if they think they'll get a better chance at the food. However, this is an example of a poorly managed pond, however. You have to be selective about the fry you keep, and the fry you adopt out. And the ones that come out looking like wild carp are usually culled and given to people who need feeder fish. When you don't, every generation the pond reverts more and more to brown wild type carp.
So, keeping koi alive isn't the high maintenance part, but keeping their numbers down is? I had no idea! You learn something new every day. I guess at this pond their adopting out probably favors keeping the biggest for themselves. I bet the staff gets a kick out of hearing people come in and say, "Holy crap those are big koi."
The One True Yukino Faceup. Sorry, don't like the new one, too melancholy for my tastes. Note the slight hint of a Mona Lisa smile there.
Yeah, the new Yukino is just okay. The new Aoi I think is better than the original though--less constantly tsun, just a bit more of a hint of dere. Funny how that works out.
The new Aoi looks more like she has a supermodel pout going.
That looks like a nice Japanese garden to indulge in some DD photography.
Shame the sunlight was a bit harsh making the DD skin look washed out.
It is a quite pretty garden. I'd never been before, but for a place with only $5 that many locals don't even know exists it's certainly nice!
Yeah, we were stupid and violated the 10 to 2 rule, which is extra dumb here in AZ. At least it wasn't summer so we were still able to use the pictures, but it was still really difficult to keep things from getting overexposed.
What a beautiful place! <3 Looks like you guys had a really fun time. And you managed to get some really great pictures. I really love the outfit your Agatha has on. She was looking very lovely in her pictures. :)
Thank you very much!
Haha. This was a blast to read. I love to see into the mind of Agatha. Well, I'll qualify that there are times I likely do not want to know what is going through her mind; but on the whole, life shall certainly never be boring.
Thanks! I'm definitely glad to amuse. It is kind of my job. XD And you're right, sometimes you don't want to see into her head, though those times are often due to the sheer flood of esoteric technical information. (Like "10-segment vacuum quenched series static gap". All I know is it has something to do with electricity.) But yeah, boring is hard with a Spark around!
Sorry I didn't make it. It looks like you guys had lots of fun. :)
It definitely was fun! Hopefully we can see you at a future meetup. :)
The Halloween meet is at my place if you want to drop by for that one. :P
I'm still not sure if I'm going to be spending Halloween with my parents up in Prescott or not. ^^; If I'm staying down here though then I'll try to get to the meet!
Some awesome shots :D I've only seen 1 dollfie dream in real life and that was at a convention - I was so tempted to steal her off of this man D:
Thanks! I just wish so many hadn't ended up overexposed. Curse you, searing Arizona sun!
I hadn't seen any DDs in person before I bought Agatha--only photos. And Sasara was the first limited mold I've seen in person; when I went to the meet at Phoenix Comicon in May, the other two DDs present were both custom-painted standard heads, the 04 Rei you see here and an 02 a girl from Colorado brought with her.
Awesome :D I'd take my Dollfie to Conventions - I'd take her almost everywhere I could XD
Yeah, compared to when I went to AX a couple years before I adopted Agatha, I ended up talking to a LOT more people when I brought her to Phx Comicon. Some people knew a little about dolls and asked for specifics, some had never seen one in person, and a few even recognized which web comic character she was based on! And DDs are much lighter than resin dolls too, so it was easier to carry her around all day than the 4 pound boy one girl at the doll meet had. The only soreness I had from Agatha was from twisting my arm around to keep her secure.
Still, if you bring your girl around often, I'd recommend looking into getting/making a carrier. (The Sewing subforum on DoA has several carrier tutorials that you could use.) That way when your arm gets tired you have someplace to put her.
Ah a carrier sounds like an awesome idea :D It's annoying cuz I want one soon yet I know it'll take me like 2 years to save up ;A;
Making one will be cheaper, as will modifying an existing bag. I've just been using a duffle bag even though I have to bend Agatha's legs to get her in, but other people have used yoga mat bags and tripod bags. Definitely less expensive than getting a regular doll carrier!
I know what you mean. Took me a year to save up for Agatha, even with having family give me money for Christmas and birthday instead of physical items.
I'm really bad at saving XD But I'll try me best :T
Is this an 04 head?
Yes, Rei there is an 04. :)
It's a much nicer head than I thought it would be ^-^ the paint job is really pretty
I find it funny how Yukino is the odd one out when it comes to bust sizes XD (Sayuri not included)
WIG CAP!!! I've been holding that in for weeks XD
what a modest girl, covering up so much