Secret Project: Tiny Dragons!

Well, yes. I did a thing. Actually, back in October 2017, Fantasywoods told me about the little PlaPico dragons from AileenDoll, and my first reaction was wanting to grab my wallet and throw it at the screen!

For those of you who do not know, these PlaPico dragons are the same versions of the tiny 8cm dragons, but they are built from plastic, as model kits! Like those models kits of Gundams, planes, ships, and so on. And their price is amazing: USD12 each! When I saw them, hubby became a little Picidae bird (those that continuously hammer the tree) and offered me once and again to gift me the dragons. He is an enabler, I love him. I ended up accepting, but I decided to wait until AileenDoll released Ashes.

So here is what I got! Ashes and Violet (in violet plastic). Here are some photos of the dragons, and after the cut, there is the list of all my plans!

Story Plans

You know I have a tendency to window-shop and buy nothing, but I think this may not be the case. AileenDoll has anounced they plan to do all of their Pico dragons into PlaPicos (store section here), and my mind started to run!

They already anounced Rot for January/February, but I only ordered Violet and Ashes for now. They appear to have them in stock, but since I chose the registered airmail shipping instead of EMS, customs is making me wait, as always. I paid the fee a week ago, and it still has not been approved! Dang it!

So, the question was... where do this potential horde of tiny dragons fit? They will be part of Merry and Cookie's story! In their Fairy Settlement, Dragons are born from the different energies of the world, and each of them represents also an element. Their main task is to be vault keepers: of treasures, dangeours glitters/magics, teeth, coins, books... whatever the fairies need them to keep safe.

So! For the two I got (now) my plans are:

• Violet: she is gonna be named Nyx, and be painted as a galaxy. She'll represent the primal energy of life, the creation, the energy that ties all magical beings together.
• Ashes: he will be named Aion, and be painted as a mossed stone, with two runes "engraved" on his head: Jera (harvest) and Eihwaz (growth/life/death). I had some help from a friend to come up with those runes, as I know nothing about them. He will represent time, and how one growths, transition and transform throughout time.

For the other dragons... err, I already planned them. They willbe the four seasons, matched with the four elements. I plan for them to have a little tattoo on their foreheads of the elements symbols (these are some triangle things with additional lines). For now, I know that Rot could be summer/fire... I don't know which other sculpt or color would be the other seasons, as they have not announced it. I'll probably go for light blue, while, green, pink... will see.

All of their names come from Greek mythology. Aion was the god of cyclical and unbounded time (opposed to Chronos, the most commonly known), Nyx the goddess of night, Theros is Summer, Eiar is Spring, Poron is a short thing I came up with for Pthinoporon of Autumn, and Chei is the shortened of Cheimon of Winter.

I also went ahead and got some customs urethane eyes for Nyx and Aion, from TalesFromTheShrike (see interview here). I plan on making a video about this eyes, but you know... the package is MIA and the tracking isn't working. Customs told me it is a "simple" shipping, so I need to sit tight and wait. Le sigh.

Project Plans

I think it is no secret that for a very, very long time I have wanted to learn to do faceups. But the original investment is expensive, and most of the quality products are not available in my country... and paying 50% in taxes makes it too expensive.

But! This dragons are made of plastic, and not resin. I asked AileenDoll, and they told me I could use any product used to paint "gunpla models". Low and behold, after an extensive Google search I found out that the spray varnish I can get here (the RustOleum) can be successfully be used on this plastic! And then, even better, a store in my country restocked the Testors Dullcote, which hubby got me as an xmas gift, along with other painting stuff. Therefore: I'm learning to paint them myself!

Since I am a very cheep person, I've been collecting materials from everywhere. I found the isopropyl alcohol on a computer store, since it is used to clean the cards and so on. I purchased a proper 3M mask from eBay, since my dad was getting one as well... it barely took 3 months to arrive! Also, my mom and dad gave me some cool Fabercastell pencils and the soft pastels. I'll refrain from calling this vintage -they are not that old, hahahaah! Pun intended!

The Project

So, my project will not only be painting them, but I want to make a lot of reviews and references about these dragons, as they are really new. I also think they are an amazing idea, honestly! So affordable! These are the videos I am planning to make:

• Assembling/dissasembling of the dragons.
• Eyes fitting and requirements.
• Poseability and movement limitations.
• Faceup materials test. Mostly how they react to sanding, the varnish and removal.

I will see if I can do another interview with AileenDoll (you can see the original one here), but exclusively focused in these dragons. I'll see if I can make it on video, or written, as a regular interview. What are your thoughts on this?

I do hope to be able to paint them decently. I think it is easier because they do not have brows or eyelashes, which terrify me... and I've been practicing the eyeliner on paper, in order to not mess it up too badly. Will see!!

Then, as part of their story, I also plan to make little bios for them, and start sharing small stories and lore like I do with Cookie and Merry. I hope you will find this interesting!

And this was all! I'm so sorry for throwing all this wall of text! I do hope the packages get to be released from customs soon... I can't wait to have them, and I always manage to get all the packages shipped together and end up tracking five of them at the same time D: Anyways, thank you for bearing me, and enjoy the weekend! Do you have any new dolly plans for this year?