Doll of the Week is a weekly published collection of articles interviewing owners of the mold of the week. These articles are intended for introducing people to the versatility of the weekly doll molds and helping people be more knowledgeable about a possible future purchase. Created and distributed by Iplehouse, Akando is the featured doll of this week.

Photos by: JennyNemesis

Where did you buy your Akando? How long did it take? Why did you choose this purchase method?

I bought him directly from Iplehouse. Bijan is one of the ‘Pierrot’ LE sets, so I had to jump quick to buy him as soon as he went on sale. But even if I were buying a Basic model, I’d still purchase directly from Iplehouse. I like to give my money & business directly to them, and they are wonderful to deal with.

It took about 3 months for him to arrive. (If you’ve ever bought one of their tan limiteds before, this figure comes as no surprise; they don’t mess around with the quality of their tans.)

Why did you choose Akando?(What factored in your decision to choose it? Like was it it’s skintone, body, posing, and so on?)

Face, skintone, body, posing, all-of-the-above.

It’s the face that’s the most important factor, though. I didn’t think I’d like his face much at first, when all we knew of him were his Pierrot-mask teaser pictures. But as soon as I saw multiple angles of that lovely face, I suddenly knew that, “hey, he is one of my boys after all”. The combination of a heavy manly jawline, high cheekbones, and big soft doe-eyes is a real knockout… it gets me every time.

I also have a weakness for tan-skinned Iplehouse men; their male sculpts always seem to look twice as stunning in tan as they do in NS/WS resin. I don’t know why I’m only capable of resisting normalskin & whiteskin Iplehouse men. But by now, the tans are almost a habit. Bijan is a beautiful new pale-caramel-macchiato shade of resin that they call “Realskin”. (I don’t know how they come up with these names either.)

Also, how about that body.
….
Yeah.

What parts of your Akando do you find different from the company’s photo’s/information on Akando’s?(For example, do it’s eyes seem bigger in real life than the photos, is it’s sculpt more dimensional in real life than the photos, is it taller than the height stated by the company, and so on.)

Nothing… He’s pretty much exactly what they said he’d be. Only more beautiful in real life.

Who did the face up? If custom, why did you choose this face up?

I ordered default faceups on both of his heads. His “Gentle Smile” head (half-dreaming eyes & a smirk) is the one that comes with the dramatic Pierrot clown-makeup. His Basic head (open eyes & no smile) comes with a magnificent, subtle, perfectly-brunette faceup. I adore Iplehouse’s faceup style, so I never even considered painting this one myself.

Where do you get your Akando’s clothes? If bought, are you happy with the selection available for your Akando? If not, what do you wish more for? If you make your Akando’s clothes yourself, is it easy to find material to make clothes for your Akando? Is it difficult or easy to make clothes for a doll this size?

Any source I can get them! I haven’t shopped around much yet, but already I’ve got some from Iplehouse, some I’ve made myself, and some made by a more-talented friend of mine. I can only sew simple things (a tanktop, some pajama pants), and Iplehouse’s clothes are expensive, so I’m happy to hire out the sewing.

I didn’t have a preexisting character set for Bijan when he got here– so it’s OK that he hasn’t got many clothes yet, and is still finding his own style by trial & error. There hasn’t been too much available that suits my tastes yet, but there’s enough to work with for now. I’m sure Iplehouse (and AnotherSpace 2) are working hard to make enough clothes for him to keep up with their own releases. There’ll be more available later; I’m mostly hoping for a plain black leather biker-jacket, a ribbed tank-top, and a plain V-neck sweater or pullover.

Are you happy with the posing/body/sculpt?(For example, do you wish the doll was taller, more range in joint movements, a smile, and so on.)

Yes, I’m really impressed with the engineering on this new body type! They’ve outdone themselves. He has a remarkable range of motion that you’d never expect from a musclebound guy– would you believe he can do the splits? Practically yoga.

The only reason I don’t take more standing-pose pictures of Bijan is because I live by myself, & don’t have a spotter to catch him in time if he starts to fall. So I work mostly on the couch. But so far, nobody in the audience has complained about having to look at too many pictures of Bijan lying languidly about on sumptuous cushions, quite often naked.

Visit JennyNemesis at her Den of Angel’s Profile here.

A small gallery of JennyNemesis’s Bijan:

[View with PicLens]

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