Super Dollfie

Super Dollfie (スーパードルフィー), often abbreviated SD, is a brand of ball-jointed doll, or BJD, made by the Japanese company Volks. They are made to be easy to customize and are primarily marketed to adult doll collectors and customizers. They are cast in polyurethane resin, a porcelain-like, hard, dense plastic.[1] The most common standard models are about 60 cm, or 24 inches, tall, taller and heavier than most comparable Western dolls. They are designed in a style which is both realistic and influenced by anime,[2] and most models are anatomically correct. The various body parts have ball joints for articulation, and are strung together with a thick elastic cord.

The term "dollfie" is a portmanteau formed from the words "doll" and "figure".[3] The original Dollfie dolls are Barbie sized vinyl figures, and the term "Super Dollfie" was introduced to distinguish the larger resin dolls. Super Dollfie, or even just Dollfie, are sometimes used as generic terms to refer to BJDs made by other companies. However, both Super Dollfie and Dollfie are registered trademarks.

Overview

Super Dollfie dolls are made to be easy to customize. The hair is a wig that can easily be changed. The head can be opened to change the eyes and adjust the stringing. The face paint can be removed and the head repainted. Optional hands and feet are available, and heads and other body parts are removable and interchangeable. The resin parts themselves can be carved or sanded to reshape them.

Super Dollfie are not widely distributed, and, with a few exceptions,[4] new dolls are only available directly through Volks own events or stores, either online,[5][6] or through their brick and mortar stores called Tenshi no Sumika (angel's nest), located throughout Japan,[7] in South Korea[8] and until March 2014 in Los Angeles, California.[9]

History

In the late 1990s Volks produced a line of 1:6 scale articulated vinyl figures for hobbyist customers to finish to their own taste. Volks named these figures Dollfie, a portmanteau of doll and figure.

The first Super Dollfie was designed in 1999 by the sculptor Akihiro Enku. Enku sculpted a one-off doll for his wife, 57 cm tall, in what would become the Super Dollfie size and style. An executive director at Volks noticed the doll and wondered if they would be made in larger numbers.

The first Super Dollfie release was four different models, Kira, Nana, Sara and Megu, which all shared the same head mold, the standard SD Four Sisters head.[19][20]

At this time Volks was a producer of resin figure kits, and the early Super Dollfie were made and sold similarly to resin kits, in very small quantities (almost build to order), and in parts, for the customer to assemble. Volks has stated that they were trying to create a female market for resin kits, which were male dominated up to that point.

The first generation SD bodies were highly detailed, but had some difficulty remaining standing, and their ball joints were very prominent.

All Super Dollfie dolls were female, until 2001 when the first boy doll, Licht, was released.

Culture

There is a sizeable community dedicated to Super Dollfie and other ball-jointed dolls. The largest English BJD forum has over 30,000 members as of March 2011.[28] Doll owners customize their dolls and share photos and photo stories online.[15] The dolls are usually named by their owner, and sometimes assigned individual characteristics and personality traits. In the West, enthusiasts organize offline doll meetups and conventions, which include other BJDs along with Super Dollfie. In Japan, Volks hold Dolpa conventions and Tenshi no Sumika store meetups. These are exclusively Super Dollfie events, and other BJD brands are not allowed.

Super Dollfie is associated with the Gothic Lolita and Lolita fashion subcultures in Japan, as well as the Cosplay subculture, with some dressing their Super Dollfie up as famous characters. Volks have a history of collaborating with Lolita fashion designers going back to 2002, when they released limited edition Super Dollfie with clothes designed by Baby, The Stars Shine Bright, Black Peace Now and Atelier-Pierrot.[22][29]

Super Dollfie models

Super Dollfie, or SD, was the first model, introduced in 1999.[22] The current pure skin models are about 55 cm (22 inches) tall, while the original version was slightly taller at 57 cm (23 inches).[33] Among fans they are sometimes referred to as Super Dollfie 10 or SD10 to specifically refer to the size versus the whole line of dolls.

Super Dollfie 13, or SD13, are more mature and slightly taller than the plain Super Dollfie, SD13 boys are 60 cm (24 inches), and girls 57 cm. When they were released in December 2001[22] they were an improvement on the original SD body, with less prominent ball joints.[33]

Mini Super Dollfie, or MSD, are more childlike and shorter, about 42 cm (17 inches) tall. They were introduced in September 2001.[22][33]

See also

• Ball-jointed doll
• Dollfie

Bibliography

External links

• Volks Japan official site
• Volks USA official site
• SuperDollfie.net official information site
• Where Angels Lie A Volks Super Dollfie Database.