40–49cm Dolls Coral Reef Opal Mantis Box Opening

I was rather taken by Coral Reef's mantis girls and ended up ordering the Opal version. I have kept Preying Mantis as pets, my favourite species being Spiny Flower Mantises. I used them as inspiration for a D&D roleplaying character who was one of the Thri-Kreen species (which is based on Preying Mantises). I really enjoyed the character, who was a dancer/assassin and acted like a bimbo, and when I saw the Coral Reef doll, I thought it might be a fun project to shell one as the character!

So after a 6 month wait, the doll arrived. I order blank and in white. My character, Moxy, is white with pink and green stripes so the white resin should work fine. The box had been wrapped in tissue paper and plastic wrap by Legend Doll. I'm glad of the plastic wrap as had a few doll boxes get wet/mouldy during shipping the in past. The box was also very square rather than the usual long boxes i'm used to.

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Box unwrapped! It's a nice black box with some pretty girl love art on the lid.

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First peek inside the box

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Doll parts! The doll defaults with ballet feet but I like my dolls to be able to stand so added some flat feet. There is also the wings which are pretty. My main niggle with the doll is the strange decision to puts the wings on the abdomen instead of the upper body part. My plan is to remove the wing bases from the abdomen and replace them with little spikes (to match both my character and Spiny Mantises). I had planned to drill and add magnets to the back of the chest part so the wings are in the correct place. However, CR released an angel wing set. It just so happens that my character Moxy gained a pair of white dove wings in her adventure so i've ordered them and may end up using those.
I also ordered a moth mask which was available at the time, I'd like to use the mask and antenna with Moxy (but will leave off the hands).

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So anyway, after that long ramble, onwards to the doll!

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The doll revealed! The body has a very emaciated starved look which isn't my cup of tea but once the clothes/armour is on, it won't be that noticeable. The character is slender and graceful so the slim limbs are good for the character's look.

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A close up of the face. There wasn't any pictures of the blank sculpt so wasn't 100% sure what it looked like. The ear and eye shape is interesting but I may use different head as my character is more cheerful looking.

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Coral Reef's badge is on the inside of the head cap and is an interesting cat head design.

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Testing out the posing. There is not much movement on the thorax and the chest piece is limited (there's no locks on the chest piece so doesn't hold forward/backward pose). But the arms and legs have a good range of movement and the doll excels at sitting with the knees drawn up.

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I wasn't sure how much movement the mantis arms would have but they had a good range and can turn to the side so quite impressed with thier design. I'm thinking of picking up a pair of Doll Chateau jointed hands so I can change her to be able to hold the two blades my character used if I fancied a change to the doll.

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So a very interesting doll and hopefully a fun future project! I think it'll take me a while to finish this doll but i'm in no rush

 

Thanks! It's always interesting to see owner dolls from new makers as you don't know what the quality of the dolls will be like. I'm pleased with how good the limbs pose, particularly as they could have potentially been quite limited with thier movement. The resin is nice and thick and good quality so feels like a solid doll. I think if I had to nitpick I think the chest joint could be improved but other than that, i'm quite impressed with the doll!
I don't think i'll start this doll project until next year as have a few other projects to finish over the winter. I hadn't thought about doing a project journal here but it might be fun to do!

 

Thank you! It certainly is an interesting sculpt and I hope it'll be a fun project shelling the character!

 

Thank you!

Yes, i was just looking at your box opening as it's so interesting to see the other version of the doll. I was also surprised that the wings were solid red rather than transparent. I think it might be because the doll's blushing was black themed so maybe the intention is for the wings to be painted black with a gradient to red to match the theme?
I'll be keeping my eye out on your doll as curious about how others are going to do up thier dolls Do you have any plans for yours?