40–49cm Dolls Evantasy Lan Wu Mermaid Box Opening

Ever since starting the ABJD hobby, i've had a goldfish mermaid on my wishlist. I used to keep fancy goldfish so have a big soft spot for them But I'm super picky about how the tail looks so it's been a long time finding something that works. When it comes to mermaid-tails I greatly dislike obvious human anatomy such as human 'knees' and butts or the tail looking like spandex pulled over human legs.

So when Evantasy released a mermaid with a silicon tail which came in orange, it seemed perfect! I managed to nab one from Legend Doll in a flash sale, I ordered it in white skin, small bust with the orange tail. The studio said the tail is possible with a 'structure' inside but wouldn't say/show more about what it actually was. I didn't like the head it came with so plan to use a different head. I'd heard that Evantasy's resin was quite dark so ordered it in white in the hopes it might match an existing anime style head I have.

After a 6 month wait, it was shipped at the beginning of December, just in time to get caught up in the Christmas rush, so took almost a month to arrive. I had no idea how it would be packed due to size of the tail. I thought it might be sent in two boxes but turns out it was sent in one huge (and heavy) box!
(Sorry for the poor pictures, it was night so bad light)


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Opening the box, there's lots of wrapped parts.

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The doll and the enormous tail! Sadly there wasn't an option to just buy the mermaid and not have to pay for the legs which I won't be using.

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The extra parts. They sent both size 'bras', I assume so they didn't have to worry about sending the wrong one. It looks like the waist piece ties on but there is nothing to keep the bra or ear pieces on, I assume I have to use putty. The orange parts are hard resin, not soft silicone like the tail.
There was some yellow 22mm eyes but they are too big for the head. I like that it came with an extra pair of hands I like to be able to change that up occasionally.

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The legs/tail is designed to be easy to swap out with a hook built in. The top of the tail is glued to the resin part so can't see what the structure is inside the tail.

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The body and tail together! The tail is interesting, it's very heavy and the silicone is surface squishy but feels soild underneath, it's almost like holding an actual Koi fish! The silicone has a very sticky feel which i'm not so keen on, I'll need to wash the tail frequently as it easy for dirt to stick to it.
The tail can freely bend in all directions. I'm still not certain what's inside it, I would assume wire so i'm being very careful with it as I know from doing puppet stop animation that wire breaks if you keep bending it over and over.

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I tried the doll with my Xaga crepes head that I thought might work. The head is in Xaga normal and looks an okay match for Evantasy's white. The head is Xaga's slightly older colour which is a little more yellow, Xaga's new colour is a bit pinker and the closest match out of all my other resin colours to Evantasy's white.
I had ordered a wig from Legend Doll at the same time. I was sent the wrong one but the colour still works (I just need to restyle the fringe so it sits better.

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It's hard to get an idea of how large the tail is in a photo (and how hard it is to fit all of it in the photo!). I think it makes the doll over 70cm long (the upper body is 1/4 size)!

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With the weight and the wide range posing on the tail it's possible to get her to sit if she's leaning against something. I will use a stand for her for safety when I do display her (and somehow find a space to display her...). For now she's back in the box until I can buy the bits I need to make some clothes & a head-dress.

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It's a very interesting doll. I had no idea what the silicone would be like but the tail really hits up 'goldfish' and no human anatomy so it's exactly what I was after

 

Oooh, thanks for the tip! I'll have to give that a go as the stickyness is rather unappealing to me

It is a novel way of doing the tail! It certainly allows for a lot of flexibility with no visible jointing. How durable it will be is something i'll have to find out over time, though other silicone stuff I have like my eye patches seem to have a good shelf life if looked after

Aww thanks!

It was a bit of an anxious purchase as it feels like quite a new material to combine with a resin BJD and it was more expensive than I would have liked! I thought I'd do a box opening as I guessed there might be a few people who would be interested in seeing one in the wild

Haha, it's such an irrational pet peeve of mine! I couldn't be happier with how the tail looks and that it does have quite a good range of movement too (though it's a little tricky to judge how much I can push it without knowing what the construction is). I was also glad the resin ended up being a good match with a head I already had. I might end up using a different head down the line but for now I can have it as a full doll so she's not stuck being headless

 

Haha, glad i'm not the only one who's picky about how the fantasy parts look! I'm glad she finally arrived safe and sound, I have to confess I did start feeling a little impatient when she got stuck in shipping