Hello Hujoo Janus Gato

This is a Janus cat.

 

This is the Hujoo Janus Gato. He arrived from the Junky Spot, and so quickly too! I picked him up today at the post office and deboxed him. I was really surprised by how big he is! He’s about 12 inches tall, which makes him about as tall as a Blythe, but because of his proportional body, he seems so much more substantial than my other dolls. He has two faces, one cat face, and one human face, and this doll was one of the very first strung bjd-style dolls I had wanted a little less than a year ago.

Straight off the bat, I noticed some quality issues with the doll. He had a nick on the top of his head where his face plates meet and another one on the side of his chest. Now… I was upset when I saw it, but not so much anymore. Let me explain – it took an hour for me to pry his damn head open. I have to say, between this Hujoo Janus and my Hujoo Nano, Hujoo dolls have got to be the worst in terms of opening up the head. I even googled “how to open Hujoo Janus head” to see if I was doing something wrong. I guess this sculpt is either rare or unpopular, because there aren’t many references to it outside of the Hujoo official company website and maybe one or two blogs.

My hands are killing me right now, between yesterday’s arm transplants and today’s head opening. Like the Nano Rabi, the Janus Gato’s head is also held together by these plastic pegs. To open the head up, I had to pry the head open little by little with a tiny flat screwdriver (covered in layers of tape), and slowly work it open. I did a lot of pulling at first (to no avail) to try to avoid using the screwdriver, but I didn’t think I had much of a choice after a certain point. When I was able to get the head open, I found I didn’t care so much about the little chip at the top of the head, seeing as how I made a couple of my own pry marks at the bottom of the head. I sanded off the small nicks with very fine sand paper, and I’m relieved they aren’t noticeable.

I have also come to terms with the fact that once I install the eyes, do the faceups, and push the head plates together again, I may never ever open up this guy’s head ever again. Ever.

For his eyes, I am purchasing these two eyes:

The seller is KOK Doll Collection on eBay, and I’m undecided what size eyes to get (waiting for the seller to send me a new invoice with combined shipping). The Janus Gato calls for 14mm eyes, so I might ghet the purple/grey eyes in 14mm, and the green/gold eyes in 16mm for his cat face plate. I want there to be more color than white part (woo science words I don’t know) for his cat form eyes, so please correct me if I’m wrong to size up >_<.

He doesn’t have a name, but I’m leaning toward Felix or Mamoru.

don’t judge my drawings NooOOOoo…

XD Here are my doodles done in my Hobonichi Techo. My inspiration for this doll is the maneki neko. He will be a maneki neko spirit. Kind of in the same family as the nekomata and bakeneko, his character will be a spirit in the form of a cat, but unlike those two, he’s a benevolent being. I’m not sure that Japanese folklore views the maneki neko as a spirit, but rather a symbol of good luck with an origin story. He comes into existence because the energy and hope for the statue of the cat to bring luck and good fortune and its use as a symbol has brought about the birth of spirits associated with that symbol and all it stands for (not a naturally existing spirit, but one born by necessity of the people). I may still get him red eyes, but I’m undecided. A white maneki neko symbolizes purity, happiness, and good luck. He needs a red or green bandana for his neck, and either a collar with a bell or a necklace with a bell. I might dress him in a raglan style white top with grey sweatpants, and also attempt to make him a kimono.

Funny enough, his cat face is the face that inspires me more! I’m excited to start his faceup, but I might do some more sketches to get a better idea of what I’m going to attempt.