Coming Soon: New Dolls from Alchemic Lab

I decided not to do too many posts here about new BJD releases. There are so many dolls and companies that I can’t cover everything fairly. Instead, I’ll post when something particularly noteworthy presents itself. Case in point: the recent announcement of new “chibi” Unoas from Gentaro Araki’s Alchemic Lab.

Manga artist Araki first became a favorite with BJD collectors when he collaborated with Volks to create the Unoss doll. Later, rather than continuing to produce dolls in conjunction with Volks, Araki began his own BJD company, Alchemic Lab. Alchemic Lab makes the hugely popular Unoa dolls. Unoas bring the customization aspect of BJDs to a new level, with multiple interchangeable face-plates, allowing one doll to have several expressions without changing the whole head. Unoas also sport the ability to switch the angle of their eyes with the push of a button.

Details are limited about the new pint-size offerings from AL, but here is what we know thus far: The new dolls are called Roron and Ririn. They are 35cm tall. The first batch to be released will be special, fullset, prototypes, hand-painted by Araki himself. These test dolls will be available for purchase by lottery, only to those who have bought dolls from Alchemic Lab in the past. The price will be 63000 yen. This special pre-sale will most likely take place toward the end of summer, after the next Lusis and Sist pre-order period. Roron and Ririn will later be offered for general sale as kits (like regular Unoa dolls) for 39990 yen.

A teaser photo of Roron and Ririn can be seen on Alchemic Lab’s site. They’re the pair with their backs to the camera (d’oh! f’course!). I have seen more extensive photos of the girls, but unfortunately those images are not mine to repost. I will say that in addition to the new smaller girls, AL is releasing at least eighteen new face-plates. These smaller dolls and the original Unoa will have the same size head, so face-plates can be shared!