Strawberry Milk Tea

I have always adored the Volks SD17 boys. And of all the Volks story arcs, the Oath of the Silver Coin has always been my favorite. After all, its about PIRATES! And I have seen and ridden Pirates of the Carribean countless times that dolls based on a pirate story instantly appealed to me. But alas, I missed out on the original releases and could only enjoy redrosin 's beautiful crew consisting of Cecile and both Reisners.

But after Dolpa 20s epic re-release of Kurumi and the High Mode design competition, I was beginning to feel hopeful.It was not until Dolpa 21s release of two Tokyo Boys dolls that my suspicions really began to rise. I knew there had to be another Oath of the Sliver Coin release. I was ever so surprised when Volks dropped another one of its bombs-an SD17 Williams!

However,to get him one had to attend the Volks Kobe Cruise. I had alreadytravelled to Japan for the Tokyo Disney event so I would not be able toescape from work to attend this event no matter how tempting another trip to Japan would be (not to mention the place where Kobe beef comes from, but I digress!) And competition for one of those spaces would be tight. Fortunately, I knew who would be attending and immediately contacted everyone I knew in Japan. I was ever so surprised and shocked when I got the email that my friend had gotten onto the cruise.

Since then, I have tried not to think of his arrival-it just seemed so faraway ! But this week a boy of the sea, the ensign of the royal navy Williams, arrived on my doorstep and I am simply in awe, both by his stunning beauty and his presence. From the moment I opened the box, I was impressed with the packaging and work to create Williams. The sword and gun came packaged in wooden boxes, Cecile's blind eye is packaged in a cute little box, and the limited outfit in a box instead of theusual plastic bag we get from Volks.

The body is tall and lithe, not gigantic. And capable of a variety of articulated poses muchlike the articulated body of my Super Dollfie Cute Toki, Raphael. But unlike Raphael, he has a higher center of gravity so initially getting him to pose the way I wanted to has been a bit tricky. And he is strung a bit tightly but I am very, very impressed with him. I have so many ideas for him, whom I have named Sebastian (after a very famous manga character!)

Mai (Toppi) admires the gun and the box it came in (Yes, she is wearingthe Alice and the Pirates shirt that is a bit too big for her!)

A close up of the epic gun and the gun hand. I have so many ideas for this gun. Steampunk anyone?

Reisner's sword and sword hand even came in an elegant box.