Sunrise x smart doll

 

I like him but I think I am safe from needing him sooner than later.

Something still bothers me, so I think I'm safe. I think this is a case of "I just don't think I'll ever like him in 3D form." Just like previous figures it doesn't feel...right.

 

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Thank you for posting the pic, as the place I saw him post he didn't post it....-___-;; Was gonna edit it in, but ya got it covered haha.

here's a quick flip to see him ish fully XD just blurred it a bit to seem less fake XD

Thanks for that Error-Chan. I like how Danny did the eyes but I do hope he has him in a 'happier' face up. Spike with this one looks too unhappy but I guess it wouldn't be too hard (I hope) to fix it. I'd love to see that slight smile instead of this uber serious face. Can't wait to see more photos of him.

According to Danny's Facebook page, Spike will have more than one expression.

 

Smart Doll Spike Spiegel Prototype on display first at Dollism 10 in Hong Kong this Sunday.

Spike has so many looks that we are preparing for the first time a Smart Doll to have multiple expressions.

 

スマートドールスパイク・スピーゲル試作の初展示は香港のドリズム10で。©SUNRISE

He's looking great so far IMO! It's so difficult to translate 2D to 3D and I think Danny has done a good job trying to achieve this. Spike's hair alone was going to be tricky and he pulled it off. Yeah sure maybe in the anime he had "green" hair, but brown looks just as nice. His Spike doll will definitely be on my to-buy list along with Faye if he ever releases her.

Speaking of Faye I was actually gonna make a DD cosplay of her character, but now I won't have to!

I think he looks pretty awesome. I'm very curious to see what other expressions he'll have.

Seems a bit odd to me that they are painting in details of the nose bridge/brow - isn't that what having a 3D sculpt is for? But it wouldn't be a deal-breaker if I was into the character, it does look like a pretty good likeness on a tricky design.

With the 3D sculpt I thin those brow/nose details would be a bit to subtle. While the marks are subtle in the anime I've been sitting here imagining the sculpt without those little details and it looks very, very young in my head. I don't mind, or actually really like those marks, kinda like seeing Borderlands cosplays. Those marks they paint on really identify the style they are going on.

 

I can't want to see a 3/4 and profile shot. The nose currently is annoying me a bit on how 'subtle' it is but again it might just be how I imagined him. In my head he's got the straighted, most harsh, sharp masculine nose. This is a little to delicate and feminine for who was my highschool crush those many years ago.

 

Also the eyes seem to be the same colour. I can't see any shade difference. :/

Danny finally posed some full images of him:

 

Spike at Dollism HK. The first #Smartdoll to have different expression faceups. スパイク・スピーゲル表情差分も製作中。©SUNRISE by Danny Choo, on Flickr

Ew. I knew he looked weird but this looks worse.... I need to like a doll from all angles, and from what I can tell he already failed on probably one of the most important ones. >>;

 

Is his nose even really defined? I feel like Spike would have a defined nose. It looks just....wide, not really defined from this angle.

I'm probably nitpicking but something about his face sculpt seems... off... I mean, I think it could just be the angle, or the expression. We just need a full front view.

Another angle:

 

I was hopeful that when they change his expression I'd be happier, but uh....if that's the base I'm not gonna ever like him. Just looks weird to me. oTL;

 

I really want to like him, cause I love Cowboy Bebop, and Spike but, I just, I can't. He looks similarly deformed like a lot of older figures.

I think one of the main problems is it looks like the wrong head on the wrong body. Is it just me or are the proportions off...? Never got this impression from Eiji, maybe Spike should have been taller?

I can't put my finger on it either but the full body effect looks far weirder than the closeup. It's disappointing for sure, and if Lelouche doesn't turn out well enough it really doesn't look good for the licensed character line (frame arms girl wasn't too bad at least). Maybe the other faces will give a different impression.

In all honesty I think Spike would have worked a lot better as a semi-realistic resin sculpt.

 

He doesn't look happy either lol.

 

Edit: geez it really throws me off seeing Spike almost the same height as Miho, too. There should be cohesive consistency with character heights with licensed dolls. I know this is because he still only has one male body and one female body, but it just further heightens how weird a choice Miho even was.

What I think that looks off is the depth on the eyes, I think they are too far in his head. But again it could simply be the shadows causing this illusion. Another thing I noticed the cheeks are a little too thin.

 

Proportion can be a thing too. He does have an exaggerated manly chest in the anime as well as a thicker neck than what the SmD has.(which has less exaggerated features and a thinner neck)

 

This is the first vinyl doll to ever officially freak me out... And I was hoping his sculpt would be a good candidate (if not the only one) for one of my OC's... So much for that. I really had hope for at least the male sculpts all turning out nice and now I can't even count on that! At this rate I'll have to design and 3d print the heads for my dudes or hope volks makes some non shota guys (Which is completely in the air.)

 

Danny has a lot of great ideas but he doesn't seem have the eye for detail needed to do these things correctly. In his shoes I wouldn't have considered this acceptable even for a prototype. The face is far too narrow and long for the body, the eyes look too high up and the way the eye holes are seems to cast a shadow over the eyes which is just... No. I get he tried to match the art style and the face alone did achieve that, but especially without the broader body it doesn't translate well to 3D. Some liberty to make it fit into the smartdoll "artstyle" if you could call it that would have made it work much better... I seriously hope people voice their concerns to him and he maybe revises certain things, but I'm afraid his general crowd is just gonna say it looks great, which it doesn't. Also the severe grouchy expression accentuates the things that are off with that head which exacerbates the problem.

 

I probably sound horribly mean and critical here but I honestly can't keep my mouth shut and just say something good about it, because the only good stuff I can find is seemingly accurate details and that doesn't matter much when it doesn't look good.

Yeah, he's too strangely proportioned to look like a believable anime human, but not exaggerated *enough* to read as stylized/cartoony (ie, like Laika's character designs.) I was kind of hoping he'd be okay bait for either the 10th Doctor or for Toska from Prague Race, but nope nope nope.

 

I kind of feel like Danny needs a dedicated art director, because even after supposedly changing sculptors there's STILL bizarre proportions in these heads, and frankly they may be getting worse. It really does look more and more likely that it's Danny's taste/direction that's causing it, and I just. . . don't like it.

He seems to have .. weak shoulders? Is weak shoulders even a thing? It is now.

Oh, no, I don't like him at all. The first preview with just the eyes looked promising, but the chin is just...sooooo long.

He seems to have .. weak shoulders? Is weak shoulders even a thing? It is now.

Ahhahahahaha! You killed me there!

 

Yes, he really needs to have much more masculine exaggerated shoulders and of course chest as well..

 

It could explain why the body is so disproportionate and awkward. Spike as a SmD looks like he just deflated his chest and called it a day.

 

Although for the head I am still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it. I still say it's the eyes too far in his head.

Although for the head I am still trying to figure out what exactly is wrong with it. I still say it's the eyes too far in his head.

 

I feel its ALL the things about the head - the eyes are too inside the head, the face-up is too grumpy, the scale of head-size to body is weirdly off.... For the tallness of head, his face should be a bit wider...

 

Ya know what it's reminding me off? The old boxing nuns puppets!

I kind of feel like Danny needs a dedicated art director, because even after supposedly changing sculptors there's STILL bizarre proportions in these heads, and frankly they may be getting worse. It really does look more and more likely that it's Danny's taste/direction that's causing it, and I just. . . don't like it.

 

It really seems that way unfortunately... I also said something to him on twitter, explaining that it looks off, and going into depth as to why, I mentioned the body being too narrow in the shoulders and chest, combined with the fact that the head is disproportionate, and actually, it seems like the head is longer and narrower than spike actually looks! Compare the frontal shot of the doll, and a pic of spike facing front too. Spikes face looks more rounded on the sides, a little wider and shorter, with a more profound jaw leading into his chin. Plus look at the broad shoulders and chest and the thick neck.

 

 

 

And Mario, while you're right that there appears to be a shadow on the eyes from the eye holes being too thick on their edges to let the eye blend in, I've seen dim top down lighting like this do some weird crap even to my volks girls, so it's hard to say for sure on that. I'll wait to see better lit photos to properly assess this.

 

Sorry for all the rambling, when I get into details like this my mind just goes nuts noticing thing after thing. If only I could actually make art, I'd have a good eye for it.

 

And Mario, while you're right that there appears to be a shadow on the eyes from the eye holes being too thick on their edges to let the eye blend in, I've seen dim top down lighting like this do some weird crap even to my volks girls, so it's hard to say for sure on that. I'll wait to see better lit photos to properly assess this.

 

Yeah, we totally need like an actual frontal view with proper lighting. Or I wish I could just see it in person.

 

On the plus side his smiling face is a huge improvement and has more resemblance to Spike. Not sure why he didn't show that one first, more people think of Spike smiling than...whatever the first expression is meant to be. Looks more constipated than angry lol.

Although the head/body problem is still there.

 

On the plus side his smiling face is a huge improvement and has more resemblance to Spike. Not sure why he didn't show that one first, more people think of Spike smiling than...whatever the first expression is meant to be. Looks more constipated than angry lol.

Although the head/body problem is still there.

 

The different expression does improve it. He looked like he was either horribly constipated, or like he was gonna kill someone. Still. Unless the sculpt gets revised into something better I'm not gonna be buying him. It especially won't work because the character I would want to turn him into has a rather serious face and clearly the sculpt doesn't pull that off at all.

 

I just hope he doesn't screw up Lelouche so I at least have a chance at making Markus, as much of a pain as that's gonna be....