Yamato’s vmf50 line continues apace, with the company having recently released Image Girl #5 Ami and having shown off a couple of concept dolls at Doll Show 31. And Super Sonico’s popularity continues apace, with both Orchid Seed and Yamato having released PVC figures of her this week and with her game SoniComi scheduled for release this August. And even before all of that, Yamato revealed a vmf50 version of Sonico. I hadn’t planned to get her since she was really expensive. The first round of preorders opened up late last summer and closed down almost instantly, prompting Yamato to do a second run, which is when I changed my mind and placed my preorder. I received Sonico back in February and she’s been quietly lying in her box since then, but with her PVC figures having hit the market, I figure now is a fine time to take her out and put her in front of the camera.
Sonico is the third vmf50 doll based off of an established character, joining Kanu Unchou and Lynn Minmay. “Established” may perhaps not be the right word as those two characters have starred in anime and manga while Sonico is simply eroge maker Nitroplus’s mascot, but she’s been depicted on a variety of products and has been around for a while.
Like all of the vmf50 dolls, Sonico’s body is built off of Obitsu’s 50 centimeter body with an exterior shell developed by Yamato. Sonico uses Yamato’s Type-A body, which is noticeably fuller-figured than the Type-D body and lacks the musculature of the Type-B body.
Despite carrying an impressive price tag of 55,000 yen, Sonico doesn’t come with many accessories. She comes with a pink wig, a skimpy swimsuit, a hooded jacket, headphones, a battery pack, a metal base plate, and some extra hands. Compared to other doll brands, she may appear to be a poorer value.
I’m told that the Obitsu 50cm and vmf50 dolls feature impressive articulation and since my only other dolls are 1/6 scale, I’m in no position to assess the veracity of that assertion. Sonico does seem to be able to assume most poses without too much trouble, though.
Here’s a gimmick that Yamato has included: there’s a two AAA cell battery pack with a couple of leads with blue LEDs attached. They’re supposed to light up her headphones, but they don’t actually seem to plug into the earcups. I might be doing something wrong, or I guess I could just tape them down. Regardless, this isn’t something I’d use that often, since I’d probably just tear the wire or damage the headphones.
Speaking of Sonico’s headphones, they are regrettably made of plastic and while they’ve absorbed a number of hard falls and abuse without damage, for the doll’s price tag, I think they ought to have been made of metal. They also don’t stay on her head very well, since being plastic, they aren’t very elastic.
Nor does her wig; it has the peculiar property of being seemingly oversized – it slips off her head far too easily – and undersized – it’s difficult to slide it back on her head – all at once. Placing a velcro patch on her head is probably a good idea; Parabox sells thin velcro that can keep a wig in place. I ordered a set a while back but I couldn’t find it, so I had to resort to an expedient and temporary alternative.
I PITY DA FOOL WHO MAKES FUN OF MY NIGHT ELF WIGSTOPPER!
Sonico also has another peculiar property, though one that is more understandable; her broad hips and enormous chest means most doll clothes won’t fit her, even ones designed for vmf50 bodies. It can take a bit of resourcefulness to find clothes for her compared to shopping for the Type-D and E body dolls. Most of the clothes here are from Dollmore; a lot of the stuff in the SD and MSD sections will fit vmf50 dolls. The SD stuff is intended for larger dolls and looks a bit baggier; for example, these jeans and the black jacket are SD-sized:
It fits pretty well, even over Sonico’s full-figured body. I find that the MSD size works better for things like socks and stockings, though.
This skirt is by BlackDahlia, who sells stuff on Yahoo Japan Auctions under the name doll_banks.
I should make a longer guitar strap; everyone knows the pro way to play is with the instrument banging on your knees.
vmf50 Sonico is quite a cool doll and I’m happy to have her. She’s got a pleasant face and like all my dolls, she’s fun to play with. Oddly, even though she comes from a company that makes porn games, I don’t really feel the urge to dress her in revealing clothes. I must be getting old or something.
Here’s the lineup of vmf50 dolls that I own. Left to right, I have Sonico with the Type-A body, Miu with the Type-B body, Simone (nee Risa) with the Type-D body, and Yumi with the Type-E body. I do not own Ami, but she uses the Type-F body, which appears similar to the Type-D, other than its smaller bust size. I don’t know if there is a Type-C body in use; presumably Yamato is waiting to assign it in the future. Or maybe that’s what Minmay uses, but I don’t think her body has a type designator.
The profile view shows the much larger bust and buttock sizes of the Type-A and B bodies compared to the D and E bodies. It also shows the very defined muscles of the Type-B body – not something you see on girly dolls all that often. Yamato is definitely going for a particular demographic here.
Rear view.
A clothed group shot. I hate doing group shots.
I’ve got this feeling I’m forgetting something …
Ah, now I remember! Sonico, it’s your turn to take a ride with the tentacle stand!
I don’t think we’re going to see anything like this in her upcoming game.
Improving on those doll shooting skills nicely Tier! 02 especially has a nice feeling with the loose kimono and the pose. Couple other enjoyable ones in there too.
Shame they could put some more effort into her headphones though…You’d think it wouldn’t be that hard.
As much as the bondage harness gear is fun to look at I gotta say I really dig Sonico’s casual look especially with those Chuck’s she’s rocking (Or well as close as I’ll probably see on an anime girl hah)! Need more pvcs with casual wear…
Thanks! I still need lots more practice … dolls have all the problems of Figmas and actstas in that I have to figure out some interesting poses, and then they have the greater problem of being so big that most of my standard shooting setups don’t work. And then they have the further problems of having to comb their wigs all the time and having to undress them and dress them … ugh. A major pain this shooting session was.
I wish I had had time to do a few more shots with her in casual wear, you can’t really see her miniskirt too well and I thought a leggings-under-miniskirt shot might be cute. Though then again, the leggings stained the hell out of her lower body after just fifteen minutes so I don’t think i am going to be putting them on any of my dolls in the future.
Tier putting tasteful clothes on his dolls? OH GOD, THE RAPTURE MUST BE REAL. This review must be the herald signaling the end to all things.
Sonico is a very cool doll, and it’s a bloody shame that most doll clothes won’t fit her. Still, I really, really like the kimono and the skirt/hoodie/guitar combo. Have you considered investing in some sandals to kimono getup (can these doll even wear sandals?)? Alternatively, you can get her some shades and some miniature bling to complete the baggy pants rapper look. SONICO KEEPIN’ IT STREET.
Of course, the tentacle stand never fails to deliver. The mid-rape state of the Kimono is absolutely sublime. You really ought to incorporate the tentacle stand into the new header, and I’d say that Sonico shot comes pretty close to capturing the horrible yet wonderful essence of this den of depravity.
THE END TIMES HAVE COME. IT IS TOO LATE TO REPENT, JEEBUS IS COMING FOR YOUR SOULS.
I wish I’d taken a second job as a rapture insurance salesman, like some of the enterprising businessmen I read about in the news.
Yeah, I should get some sandals for her. Actually, what I wanted to do was to dress her up in some hooker boots; Yamato did that before and I liked how it looked. But it was getting late so I didn’t bother. In retrospect I really should have split this shoot into two sessions.
I bought one of those 1/3 scale Glock 17s that all the Dollfie people have. Unfortunately, it’s way too big for a 50 centimeter body. I was really disappointed by that, I wanted a shot of Sonico holding her gat gangsta style. I do like the bling idea though, Sonico needs some ice. Maybe a bandana too.
Haha, I should totally do that. It would be most appropriate and maybe it’d get random people to stick around a bit longer, too.
Ohh the price made me nearly faint XD
It’s cool that they made her slighty plumper in comparison with other vmf50’s.
So she has the girl next door look instead of a well trained model type, even though it’s a shame that she can’t wear many clothes from Yamatos line with her body like this.
Anyway these shoes and the Kinomo look really good on her, haha I love the shoes.
Oh and I also like her with the bikini in this picture vmf50-sonico-04.jpg ^^
Have you also ordered Orchid Seeds Sonico? Mine has already arrived thx to the expensive and fast EMS. She looks quite nice ^-^
Yeah, dolls of this size are pretty pricey XD It’s a difficult hobby to get into, no doubt.
That’s also one of the things I like about Sonico, she looks like a sweet and fun-loving girl. I wish I had a better setup for photographing dolls because most of my backgrounds are pretty dark, and that makes the pictures look more somber than I’d like.
Yeah, I’ve ordered that Sonico and Yamato’s PVC one, although not the version with all the accessories. They’re still in a Hobby Search warehouse though, since I’m going to combine them with Maxima and actsta Fate to save a bit on shipping expenses; I’ve got so much other stuff in my review queue that I don’t mind waiting a few days for them.
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Thank you for the kind words. I do not actually do link exchanges – I like to keep the design of this site as basic as I can – but thank you for letting me know.
haha gotta love those tentacles. The kimono is really cool and the LED headphones are a nice touch. I don’t think it looks that much like Sonico, though I suppose the bust size is about right.
Yeah, that’s one thing about dolls based off of existing characters, they tend to not resemble their subjects. Except for Obama, that is, and the other Hot Toys products. I’m still trying to find a decent 1/6 scale Fate Testarossa to serve as the president’s enforcer but I’m not having any luck.
She doesn’t look as good as your other dolls IMO. I think it’s the pink hair/red eyes combo that I find to look a little strange on a doll. The look completely changes when her headphones are on (in a good way) so if I owned her she’ll have it on 24/7 as I quite like that.
She looks great in the hoodie only. Adding the jeans just seemed too…gansta for her persona IMO.
Lastly, I think it would look much better if the scarf was a little more loose in that last picture. it kinda makes her neck look too long.
PIC 19 is a brilliant shot! Good work!
The gangsta look cracked me up. She looks like the sweetest thug on the west coast. I had hoped to find a blue scarf and sneakers to give her more of a Crips vibe. I also bought one of those 1/3 scale Glock pistols that all the Dollfie Dream owners seem to have, but unfortunately it’s far too large for her.
Yeah, I think I should’ve loosened the scarf. It’s sized for a much larger doll so I kept it tight to hide how big it is, but it looks kinda like it’s choking her.
Needs more tentacle stand.
I completely agree. I’m thinking I’m gonna have to break it out for a bunch of figure reviews pretty soon, it’s been a while since it’s made a strong appearance here.
Sonico’s nice. The only thing that bugs me about her is that she appears to have painted on/decal eyes. I definitely prefer my dolls with glass eyes. Then again I don’t really plan on buying a lot of dolls. I only got Dollfie Dream Nia because I’m so nuts for the character…though if they did make a doll of Stocking from Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt, I’d buy that too. (I love her character design)
This also reminds me that I really need to buy some new clothes for Nia.
Yeah, her eyes are painted rather than artificial. That doesn’t bother me much, though it seems to bother every Dollfie Dream owner I’ve ever communicated with. Me, I like both styles; I don’t dislike artificial eyes in a general sense but I’ve seen a lot of Dollfies that look freaky as hell to me because of their eyes.
She looks so sweet.
Hi Tier,
Nice little blog/thingee you’ve got going here.
i’ve also got quite a few VMF50’s and waiting for
the Dollcore version coming up soon….. yay and lol
at the same time.
Anyhoo i’ve got a question, do the Miu and Kanu or
early VMF50’s come with painted bodies eg. nipples
and body shading ??
Cheers,
TomoTomo
That Dollcore head is hilarious. I’m not sure if it’s my thing but I have to give them props for making a head in that style.
I don’t know about Kanu, but Miu does indeed have nipples and body shading. I’d guess Kanu does too since I think they use the same body.
Thanks Tier,
Yeah that Dollcore head is something different but when I
saw her on the RAP site I thought that this is something
that there wont be many of in the future so…….. yeah 0_o’
but maybe she’ll sell well and we’ll get to see another
version…….whatever that will be.
The Kanu and Miu versions are a year apart so i’m really
hoping they do have the same body painting.
I guess i’ll see as I just found and bought a Kanu……….
That’d be pretty neat XD I’m not sure if I’d spring for one of those heads but then again, I’ve been looking for a good head that can accept a ballgag, and I bet that Dollcore head can.
Ah, neat, that is a good find, since I haven’t seen Kanu up on YJA for a while. I’m kinda looking forward to Angel Blade, though that’ll depend on the price. I’m sure she’s going to be too expensive for me. But wow, what a strange license to make a doll from … Ikkitousen and Macross make sense, but a hardcore hentai OVA?
……. so the Kanu version does come with a
painted body (huge sigh of relief) but scince I don’t like
the type B body i’ve transfered all the costume on to a
type E/B body and am much happier with this.
To tell you the truth I’m not so happy with the Dollcore
head it’s really hard to match with approiate eyes and
wig.
Angel Blade and DollCore kind of go hand in hand at this
point but i’ve only seen a prototype at this time but who knows
what the next Dollcore body/head will be.
The type G body looks good aye??
Yeah, I think the type D and E bodies are my favorite bodies. I do like the Type B body but I don’t think I’d want every one of my dolls to look like that. That reminds me that I should probably photograph Miu one of these days – I think she’s the only vmf50 doll that I own I haven’t reviewed here (besides the blank body that I’ve got, anyway).
Ah, yeah, I imagine a specialty head like that is a bit tough to use. Does it not come with eyes? I’ve kinda found it’s hard to find artificial eyes that work well with the standard vmf50 head; I opened up the eyes in the blank type D body I got a while back but the 12mm eyes I bought for it look way too big.
I do dig the Type G body a lot. I wonder how much Angel Blade is going to cost, though – I’m guessing she’s going to be over 75k yen and that would probably be too much for me.