Specific Doll Thunderbolt Fantasy BJDs: Sculpts for the Characters

Oh my gosh I love Thunderbolt Fantasy. The opening theme song is a banger!

 

Oh I love this show!! I found a couple 75cm options, I understand if that's too tall for you.
For Sha Wu Sheng, I think this is a good choice: https://www.acbjd.com/rabbit-ears-butler-buroy-p-20128.html?cPath=525_1151
For Lin Xue Ya, I struggled a little bit more finding something perfect, but I hope this works: Gong - Chun Shi, 75cm Telesthesia Boy - BJD, BJD Doll, Ball Jointed Dolls - Alice's Collections

 

I saw a puppet or a puppet replica of the s1 main villain before I even watched the series almost ten years ago now in Japan on display and I took a photo of him because he looked gorgeous. As I recall he was quite tall on me, and I'm 5'3".
I'm so glad you asked because I really liked Juan, my silly guy. I think he's around the same height as everyone else too, so I stuck with 75cm.
https://www.acbjd.com/huai-an-p-19852.html?cPath=525_1151
https://www.acbjd.com/son-of-the-forest-a-mu-p-21151.html?cPath=525_1151
Dark Guard - Night Shadow, 75cm Telesthesia Boy - BJD, BJD Doll, Ball Jointed Dolls - Alice's Collections (my image was too big so take this imgur link instead) imgur.com
I also could probably find some of the s1 female characters, but honestly I have no idea past s1 as I kinda forgot about it. I did watch part of s2 and enjoyed it, but also man the anime art in the opening scared me that they would stop the puppet art style which is so so good.
I would love to finish it and if you know of a way to watch Pili with English subs if anyone has any recs, just message me

 

I love that show!
I was able to see the puppets up close when Pili was here at my local con!

For Sha Wu Sheng, you might want to consider the AoLingShi Bei Chen: BJD Doll Bei Chen 70cm 75cm Boy Ball Jointed Doll - Legenddoll


Or Dragon Doll's Yun MingLing: BJD Yun Minglin Boy 75cm Ball-jointed doll - Legenddoll


For Lin Xue Ya, you might want to try Spirit Doll's Black Wattle: BJD Black Wattle 75cm Boy Ball-jointed Doll - Legenddoll


I am hoping to build a Lin Xue Ya, too.
This is the head I have on hand (Doll Family A Susu). I am really hoping he'll do OK.

 

The Pili people came to our local con last year and this year (Anime North, in Toronto, Canada). And they brought the puppets! I was so lucky to see them up close and I took a ton of photos! When the singer NIshikawa came to Montreal, Canada for Otakuthon in 2019, we made the trip to go out to see him perform live, too! He sang His/Story live!

My favourite is actually Shang Bu Huan. He's been my favourite since S1 (My brother and I have been calling him "the Unluckiest Oyaji" between ourselves) I figured that it would've been easier to build Lin because I already have a white long straight wig and a floating practice head that looks somewhat like him. So he's my first to tackle. I'd love to make a Shang next!

By the way, if you do build your own Lin and Sha, I'd love to see them, too!

 

Here's a little bit more information about the con! Anime North - Home
(The Pili guys are listed under "Industry guests") They had an autograph session this year, and we were able to get a few things signed. Apparently they were quite happy about the turn out in the last two cons and said they will most likely be back. I definitely hope that's the case. If they come back, you should definitely consider visiting!

Yeah, the hardest part about Oyaji is his stubbles. A friend mentioned that we can probably use flocking to achieve that effect instead of drawing them on. It would definitely look more natural, but I have no idea how to accomplish it. But boy, I would love to have the Unluckiest Oyaji with me!

Best of luck with shelling Sha or Lin! We can always use more TBF dolls!

 

Best show ever! Someone from Dollclans would work well for Lin Setsua, like Python? They have broader faces and lips.
SPK is one of my favorite characters in the series, but I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would fit the character.

Also it's great to read about the cons, the puppets must look incredible up close. I know that Goodsmile was making replicas of the show's puppets at the end of each season. I've read a Japanese blog post of someone who got a Tenmei. They indeed look like large, old-school BJDs.

 

I didn't know about this show before seeing this post, but after looking into it, I'm gonna have to watch this (I assume there's an English sub somewhere?). So, thanks y'all for showing me a new show to check out!

Since I'm not familiar with the show, I can't really help with sculpt choices, but I saw mention of wide lips/mouth and the 75cm guy with the widest mouth I know of is Soom Garion. I don't know if the rest of his facial features would work for that character, but I didn't want to leave (to go hunt down where to watch this) without at least one suggestion.

 

There is an English subbed version on Crunchyroll! All of the seasons (4) and all of the stand-alone movies are there! Basically, there's one season, followed by one movie, then S2, movie 2, S3, S4 and the finale movie. If you watch it in that order, you're not going to miss much! There is also a light novel that is split into two parts. The first part is summarized in the first half of the first movie. The second part is about Lin's past exploit and his history with one of the other characters you meet in S1. It is, however, somewhat X-rated so it may not be something you'd like to read. There are also 2 stand-alone mangas as well as a Japan-exclusive pair of short stories that were given out when you bought tickets to the Japanese premiere of the final movie earlier this year.

There's a subreddit for the show, too! Folks talk about everything TBF as well as the parent company Pili International. I think they have English translations of some of the Asian-exclusive stuff (or links to them, at least).

I hope you'll find the show as exciting as we do!

 

It's a bit hard to express all the details because of the language barrier. The short novel was written in Japanese and had to be translated into both Hokkien/Min-nan and Mandarin for the Chinese release. It was also difficult for the puppets to have too much internal dialogue (or dialogue-heavy scenes) because they are mostly defined by their motions. It will be difficult to capture people's attention to have puppets standing in one place deep in thought. So there's a real translational divide when it came to translating the novel's content into the movie. They did pretty good, but as you've said, it's not quite the same.

As for the second half of the novel... well, there's absolutely no way to put that into a puppetry show. It's also so drastically different in tone to the rest of the show that it's not something I would recommend lightly. I did read through the whole thing, though. And it really gives a lot more depth to Xing Hai and her motivations, even all the way through the rest of the story. It's perfectly fine to watch the show without ever reading this part, however. So don't make yourself uncomfortable for completion's sake.

 

Yeah, it's one of those things where one medium doesn't always translate to another one. I think they did as good as they can.

As for the other half... let's just say, imaging falling for a flirty guy that you know is 120% bad news but you fall for him anyway. But since you are a total tsundere you won't even admit to yourself that you've fallen for the guy. So when everything is said and done and the guy caused your one friend to hate you and made people burn down your house and your hard work over the last 100-odd years, you say: "Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to travel the world with you after all."

... and the guy said: "Well, it is as you've said, just a joke. You said it, nobody would travel with someone like you, right?"

And there... is the totally cleaned-up, family-friendly version of the Xing Hai story. No wonder she wanted to strangle him the first thing when she met him again. And if you keep that in mind, the rest of her story (especially towards the end) would made even more sense.

 

You're more than welcome!
We're all family friendly here! In fact, we're so family-friendly that when we blow people up they turn into confetti!

 

The Lacrimosa used to be IOS's Class 90 sculpts. The Dopple Maiden team had shrunken him down for 75. If you go look at the "Doll profiles" here on DOA or search IOS Lacrimosa, you're going to see more photos of him. I think he's going to be a great choice!

 

The original version is no longer being made.
The IOS Class 90 has been "retired" so unless you can find one second-hand, you can't really find the classic 90-cm Lacrimosa anymore. Similarly, you can't find a Class 90 body unless you get it second hand, too.

However, I do have to add something. I have 72cm dolls and I have a Class 90 body. I will say this first: It's really hard to find clothing and space for the Class 90 body. He now lies in his box in my closet while my 72cm doll sits on my dresser in his own chair with other furniture. If you like the face sculpt, definitely get the 75 version because it's way too difficult to work with the Class 90.

 

Glad to be of help! Good luck!

 

Just for clarification, it's Class80, not 90.

 

Thanks for the correction! I don't even know why I said 90 instead of 80!
(I think it's because that's the amount of space he's taking up in my closest! )

 

I mean, they look like 90 lol! They're HUGE