As I mentioned in the last post, I recently picked out a permapanty-free #64 from Toys”R”Us to turn into a custom that I’ve been wanting to make forever – Yuna from a game called Final Fantasy X! She’s my absolute favorite video game character and I feel like we have a lot of the same traits.
What makes this custom so special is she’s actually a 5 year wedding anniversary present from my husband! He gave me carte blanche to get everything I needed to make her a possibility – from the base doll to (eventually) her costume. And what really, really makes her special is she’s the character I was dressed as when my husband and I first met!
For those who don’t know, I met my husband at a local anime and video game convention about twelve years ago. One of the most popular things to do at this convention was to come in costume and get together with other people representing the same series to take group photos. My husband and I both came to the meet-up for people dressed as Final Fantasy characters – I was dressed as Yuna and he came dressed as Seifer Almasy from Final Fantasy VIII. Seifer is one of my favorite Final Fantasy guys, but he’s never been a popular choice for people to dress up as (people usually choose the main protagonist or a different game altogether). I was SO excited to see someone actually dressed as Seifer, I quickly asked to take a photo with him…
And here we are twelve years later, ready to celebrate five years of marriage. You never know where you’re going to meet the love of your life haha!
Anyway, getting back to Yuna – as you can see, her character design is pretty unique!
Yuna’s overall appearance changes from game to game – sometimes she’s got longer hair and a long skirt, other times she has short hair and short shorts, and in one game she even appears as a fairy! The only thing that stays the same is her heterochromia – she has one green eye and one blue eye. It’s a pretty combination, but it did make creating her custom doll that much more complicated.
When I first thought about what I wanted a Yuna custom to look like, I couldn’t find a combination of American Girl eyes that I liked. Felicity’s laser green eyes wouldn’t really go with any of the blue pinwheel eyes, and #61’s green eyes were a little too dark. Then Beautifully Custom introduced their replacement eyes and “Emerald Green” and “Midnight Blue” were just what I was looking for!
I thought about attempting the eyeswap myself, but a few tutorials later, I quickly discovered that the Jess mold is one of the most difficult to swap and shouldn’t really be attempted by a complete novice. Thankfully, the super-talented Cyn was able to do the swap for me, and it came out beautifully!
Next, Yuna needed a wig. I started with the Grace wig that once belonged to Marinette. I moved the part to the same side as Yuna’s and cut layers into the hair, but… it didn’t work out as well as I’d hoped. It wasn’t terrible, but it looked a little too choppy and uneven for my taste. I don’t think I’d ever attempt such a massive cut job again – it made a huge mess and I even somehow managed to get a splinter of hair stuck in my finger!
I kept searching online for a wig that would be short and easy to part on the same side as Yuna’s, but didn’t end up finding anything that I thought would work really well. I eventually settled on a Beautifully Custom Deluxe Glow wig in “chocolate chip.” It’s parted on the opposite side, but the color’s pretty spot on! Even better, the section of hair that eventually became her bangs was already hanging down in front, so I didn’t have to heat set it myself!
I slowly and very carefully trimmed her bangs, and now she’s basically got a slightly longer, reversed version of Yuna’s hairstyle.
Overall, I’m pretty happy with her! Now she just needs her costume and she’ll be all set!
It’s amazing to see how different Yuna looks now from her original form, isn’t it? 🙂