All clean*, and a history lesson: Rasendo (also romanized Rasen-dou) was one of the first bjd houses to emerge after Volks launched the Super Dollies in 1998/9. By the time I got into the hobby, Rasendo had been defunct for nearly 2 years, closing up shop in 2005 with a message promising a return which never came. In all, Rasendo released 9 different head sculpts + one variant sculpt. Their sculpts were distinct in that they had very stylized features and separately cast ears, which allowed for dramatic fantasy features such as large, curling elf ears, clear resin mermaid-fin ears, and cat ears. The dolls were offered kit style, and customers could match any head to either gender body, although from the promotional images I have seen, certain heads were intended as male or as female. The Aria elf head sculpt was promoted on the female body, as was their ELF head. My Aria elf is on the Rasendo boy body. His granddaughter, who is the ELF sculpt, is on an original Volks Nono SD10G body. Rasendo didn't last long enough to fully refine the engineering of their bodies, and so Tamsin is a challenge to pose, as well as looking somewhat awkward when undressed. Essentially every joint had to be modified to allow him to sit, stand, anything other than holding a single position. He came to me with most.of these mods already done, and I finished the work to my satisfaction. Given the character's history, the oddity of the body was perfect to me, and actually endearing. Tamsin was my first doll. He was and is wondrous to me. He also received the harshest backhanded insult I've ever gotten in the hobby, at my first ever meet up - "Is that a Rasendo? I had one of those, I got rid of it real quick." The comment only made me love him more. He's a cranky, uncooperative wing nut head, but he's MY cranky, uncooperative wing nut head, and a piece of BJD history. *at least, as clean as I can get him without an ultrasonic cleaner - there's a lot of pinholes in his resin and his sealant was 10+ years old.
