Doll Maker's Diary, Part 35: Good Dolls in Worlds Gone Bad

Doll Maker's Diary, Part 35: Good Dolls in Worlds Gone Bad

In light of all the doom and gloom that's blighted the world over the past few months, I figured that I would dedicate this post mostly to artworks showing multiple dolls instead of one (or in the case of games that only allow you to make one per artwork, several from that particular game), with an overarching theme of cooperation and resilience in the face of a major threat. So here they are, in no particular order.

X-Girl: In this scene, my first four original X-Girl characters from CRASH Chronicles (Ellie, Claire, Kayla and Alexa) are joined by a quartet of newcomers in a dense, dark forest. All of them are shown having banded together to defeat whatever evil lurks behind the trees, and are shown in their armored CRASH Suits, with their weapons drawn, and their special powers ready for use.

A squad of X-Girls in a forest, about to take on a challenging mission some time in the near future. What threats are they going to face this time? And how will they be dealt with?

As a prequel to this, I made another artwork with these same dolls earlier, but in their training outfits, with the premise that they would undertake some basic training exercises to determine whether or not they are actually eligible for duty. Given that all eight were also present in the picture above, it's obvious that they all passed with flying colors.

The same eight dolls as above, but in their training outfits and about to do some basic training exercises to determine whether any of them are ready for the dangerous job of being a CRASH Agent.

Goddess Dress Up Game: The next artwork depicts six goddesses, each with a unique set of special powers, gathered at a hillside to discuss their plan for dealing with any potential threats to their realm. Each goddess carries a long sword, color-coded to match their outfit and adorned with a precious crystal on its hilt.

A sextet of goddesses on a hillside, armed with crystal-encrusted long swords, discussing how best to deal with any threats to their world.

And just for good measure, I decided to depict them clad in armor, ready for battle.

The same six goddesses as in the previous picture, but fully clad in armor, ready for battle.

Fairytale Scene Maker: If the scene I made in X-Girl had been set in the Fairytale Scene Maker, and thrown back several centuries, this is one suggestion as to how it could look like. The main difference here is that firearms have not been invented in this setting, and each heroine carries a long sword instead. Also, the eight heroines have been sorted into four teams of two, with the first, second, third and fourth teams having primarily red, blue, purple and yellow outfits respectively.

Four teams of two heroines each gathered in a forest, about to embark on an adventure the likes of which they may not return from... unless they defeat all of their foes.

Tudors Scene Maker: If the eight women of CRASH Chronicles were warped back in time several centuries, they might look like this:

It is rare to see eight women of royal blood gathered together all at once, but here they are, discussing their plans for the future.

In this scene, all eight women are pictured in the throne room of a vast castle, explaining their plans in a time of crisis, where the fate of their world hinges mainly on their actions, and the consequences of failure will be catastrophic.

Heroine Fan Art Creator: I decided to go with something approximating a Greco-Roman mythological theme for this one. Obviously, due to limitations in the designer, I had to take a few liberties with the designs for each doll. 

Above, from top: Updated versions of Greco-Roman-inspired designs for my original four dolls made in the Heroine Fan Art Creator, with new color schemes.

Most notably, I revised their color schemes to include an accent color, while gold now served as the foreground colors for each one. I couldn't give each of them a sword either, since no such item is present in this game. Even so, I am pleased with how well this one turned out.

And as an addendum to this segment, I gave each of my original four characters from CRASH Chronicles the same treatment.

Another set of Heroine Fan Art Creator cards, but this time depicting the four women introduced in CRASH Chronicles.

Sci Fi Warrior: I extrapolated the designs of all four original CRASH Agents from CRASH Chronicles into the Sci Fi Warrior dress up game, and ended up with the following artworks shown below.

Above, from top: The four original CRASH Agents (Ellie Watts, Kayla Brooks, Claire Hayes and Alexa Low) from CRASH Chronicles extrapolated into the Sci Fi Warrior Dress Up Game.

Here, Ellie is armed with a large laser rifle, Kayla carries a pair of smaller blasters, Claire wields a long sword (most likely a katana) and Alexa is shown activating her decloaking field.

I could go on and post many more possibilities with this theme, but this post would be much longer if I did. 

Doll Maker's Diary, Part 33: Down The Rabbit Hole

Doll Maker's Diary, Part 33: Down The Rabbit Hole

Recently, I discovered yet another one of Azalea's Dolls' Flash games. This one, called the Alice in Wonderland Dress Up Game, is inspired by (or unofficially based on) the Alice in Wonderland animated film (and by extension, Lewis Carroll's book Alice's Adventures In Wonderland, on which the film was based). It is notable for giving players the opportunity to create artworks reminiscent of various scenes from the film, with several backdrops available. To start things off, here are a few examples of artworks I made in this game.

Above: A fair-haired young girl in the hallway, about to explore a variety of weird and wonderful worlds. Below: Another young girl, this one raven-haired, being invited to take part in a royal parade with an equally beautiful queen.

It's obvious from the moment you start playing it that this game perfectly captures the bizarre surrealism that characterized the source material. The way you change backgrounds is a case in point: from the introduction, you have to click on the White Rabbit in the bottom right-hand corner to go to the Rabbit Hole. This is where you'll find the dress-up menu, where you can select from a wide variety of tops, skirts, shoes, and even hand-held items such as books and knives, among other things. And at each screen, you can go back to the previous one by clicking on Dinah, the cat.

Abov: The title screen of the Alice in Wonderland Dress Up Game. Below: The rabbit hole is where you can design your doll. You can open the designer by clicking on the desk lamp in the center of the scene.

From the "dress-up" screen you can click on the rabbit again to go to the next scene, which shows three doors. The first door from the left opens to reveal a sign that reads "KEEP OUT"; clicking it again will close that door and allow you to click on the door in the center of the scene. This reveals a message that initially reads: "Her Majesty has not invited you. You may keep your head." (If you have already visited the scene depicting the Queen of Hearts, the message changes to "Come at once, our dear guest! Or we shall schedule your execution.") Clicking on that door will close it again and cause a glass table to appear with a potion labeled "Drink Me". Now click on the potion, and a key will appear alongside it; click on it to allow yourself to venture into the next scene by clicking on the rightmost passageway.

The scene depicting your doll in a garden filled with talking flowers (above) is as bizarre as it gets - even more so than the one depicting the Mad Hatter at the tea party (below), where you have the option (not shown here) of giving him a hat from which tea comes out.

Speaking of the next scene, this one is where the source material's surrealism becomes readily apparent for the first time. It depicts the talking caterpillar sitting lazily atop a mushroom in a garden filled with talking flowers. There's nothing to do here, however, except save the current scene as a JPG file, click on the cat to go back, or click on the rabbit to go to the next scene - which depicts a tea party with the Mad Hatter. You can customize his appearance and attire here, and when you're done, you may go to the next scene after this one, which depicts your doll standing somewhere in the dark forest that is Tulgey Wood.

In Tulgey Wood, the Cheshire Cat will appear and disappear a few times, before the White Rabbit appears. You can either click on the sign marked "Rabbit Hole" to return to the dress-up menu, or click on the Rabbit to make the Queen of Hearts' castle appear. Once it shows up, you can click on the castle to go to the penultimate scene, where you can customize the Queen's appearance. From here, click on the White Rabbit again to go to the final scene, which shows the Queen quivering with fear as an oversized White Rabbit makes his way along a floating path with a checkerboard pattern on it. Click anywhere in this final scene to return to the title screen.

Above: It's easy to get lost in Tulgey Wood... but it's easier to find a way out, as the White Rabbit proves. Below: The escape from Alice's adventure (which in the source material is revealed to be a dream) is every bit as surreal as the worlds she just visited.

Thus ends our brief tour of the Alice in Wonderland Dress Up Game. In the next post in this series, I shall take a look at yet another one of the many games offered by Azalea's Dolls - one that is simply out of this world.