My first Obitsu 50 - Kanna

Last week I received my first Obitsu 50, Kanna, from Mandarake. She was unused, I stared a little time at her nice purple box, and then spent some some unwrapping everything.

Unfortunately, before I can post pictures (1) my account will need to be a little older, and (2) Kanna will need to be out of surgery. You see, the listing showed her shoulders were cracked (like almost all Azone/Obitsu 48/50 dolls on Mandarake), resulting in a loose arm. It also turned out her hips were cracked. So I took her body apart, collected the pieces (the hips were broken into four parts), and set around to fix them. Currently, they are drying after a liberal application of 2-part epoxy glue.

Looking at the joints, the breakage issues are wholly to blame on the joint designs for the parts that go inside the body. They will break, given a little time. The shoulders rely on tension provided by thickenings, but the material is just too thin to properly handle the forces involved. The hips only allow movement along a single axis, yet it's possible to rotate the legs along another axis a little bit. Furthermore, if the legs are inserted too far into the hip socket, rotating the legs normally will crack the outer ring on the hip joint piece inside the body because Obitsu chamfered the outer ring instead of keeping it straight. I've also ordered replacement joints. Once I receive those, I might look into copying the design into a CAD program and fixing the design errors, so I can have replacements machined out of something better than ABS.

Anyway, Kanna will be kept mostly stock. I'll be taking some inspiration from some Obitsu blogs where she is shown with a sword by giving her a katana (once my pre-order for that sword actually gets filled, Hobby Link Japan still has issues with release dates by the looks of it...). 

Edited April 6 by Kemonomimicry

On 4/6/2024 at 7:07 PM, Kemonomimicry said:

Once I receive those, I might look into copying the design into a CAD program and fixing the design errors, so I can have replacements machined out of something better than ABS.

If you do end up doing this, could you share the files here? It would be nice to be able to 3D print better parts when they inevitably crack.

I wonder how she got her skeleton broken if she was unused? 

1 hour ago, Giallo_Gatta said:

I wonder how she got her skeleton broken if she was unused? 

Unused doesn't mean never opened. It's a lightly used item that could pass for new. While the joints could look new upon inspection, they could already have been compromised by what the prior owner did. The plastic might also become more brittle over time in storage.

I found that the shoulder joints from both Obitsu dolls cracked within weeks, but the replacements have been good for 2 years even though I'd dress mine up in a new outfit every few days. A lot comes down to knowing not to bend the arms without supporting the shoulder and adjusting along one axis at a time. If it's not a movement you'd do to your own shoulder, it's probably unsafe for your girl too. 

5 hours ago, Giallo_Gatta said:

I wonder how she got her skeleton broken if she was unused? 

In addition to the above, the hard plastic likely expands and contracts with the temperature, which is more extreme in Japan because they only heat/cool rooms in active use, so if the doll was stored in a guest room or warehouse or somewhere that doesn’t get used much, it will be subject to extreme fluctuations in temperature over the course of a year. I’m convinced this is why you see unopened dolls with cracks (and not just Azone/Obitsu either).

Edited April 10 by ragnamuffin

23 hours ago, Giallo_Gatta said:

I wonder how she got her skeleton broken if she was unused? 

Mandarake inspected her when they got her in, and noted the shoulders were cracked. They took off the arms for shipping, so her body went out of the bag and into the bag at least twice. Also, it's quite clear she was not stored in ideal conditions, as the limbs are yellowed a bit. All of her clothes, her wig, and her instructions were unopened and unused.

Anyway, the joints have been fixed and she has been reassembled and dressed. Getting her wig on was really difficult.

 

@Kemonomimicry @ragnamuffin @chef_maiAh, ok. That makes more sense.

Edited April 11 by Giallo_Gatta

Some pictures:

I really love this fancy box:

...and was quite impressed with the presentation:

The clothes are really nice quality and quite heavy (don't know whether they stain):

Frame damage (all glued now):

 

Edited June 10 by Kemonomimicry

I gave Kanna a katana and sword harness:

The katana is Obitsu's new almost all black katana (a bit boring compared to earlier ones), the harness comes from Sinq on Booth.

Some observations on Kanna as I am busy replacing her hips and shoulders with new parts:

• Obitsu could have done a better job cleaning up her lower body because I had to cut off almost 3 mm around the joint before I was able to get the legs fully seated in the new hip joints without any vinyl getting caught between the leg and the hip joint.
• Her panties and leggings don't seem to stain much despite being black. OTOH, her kimono jacket stains, both the black and the red.
• Her boots disintegrate from the inside; the black inside of her boots is p-leather.

After replacing her shoulders, she now has the stiffest shoulders of all my Obitsu-bodied dolls.

Edited August 19 by Kemonomimicry