Dominika Reynard by Budsies.
It was sorta inevitable.

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Dominika arrived yesterday, but I just now got around to taking some pics of her, 24 hours later. I'm breaking my silence/"let automated posting handle everything while I continue to isolate myself from everyone and everything" specifically for this occasion.

A few more photos, including the full-res versions of the photos in this collection, can be found here.

Toward the end of March I was in a mood, and I conveniently got an email about a sale Budsies was running, so I decided it was time to reunite the twins. It took a bit longer than I would have liked, and that over one month without any sort of updates was way more stressful than I would have liked, but she's finally here...

Review time. I'm going to be honest, this review is overall positive, but I do have some criticisms this time around.

A Cautionary Tale?
Putting Dominika next to Nico makes it very obvious that two different designers worked on these--while that's not a bad thing by any means, with them being twins, I would have liked them to match a bit more closely. Later on, I found out that had I mentioned the order number for Nico in my message when commissioning Dominika, they would have likely tried to have the same designer work on her. So, heads up for anyone that may be considering ordering multiple characters, to get them looking consistent, including the order number of previous Budsies in your request may be helpful. Wish I would have known that going in, but Coulda Shoulda Woulda doesn't help anybody.

There may also be unexpected delays, as I was expecting Dominika to arrive in time for my birthday, based on the average turnaround time and the estimated arrival date in my order confirmation.

It's also not fair to compare two different artists' interpretations of two characters, though, so I will try to keep any further comparisons as less of "I wish they looked more like twins" and more related to quality, detailing, etc. as one might compare any two similar products for purpose of review.

What I like!
Right off the bat, the most obvious difference between Dominika and Nico, aside from their size (I will be discussing that), is the shape of their heads--I actually prefer how they did Dominika's head to how they did Nico's, but I gotta say I prefer Nico's nose being raised up from his snout and very "honkable", while Dominika's nose is flat on her snout. The shape of her head also means her ears stay nice and perky, where Nico's tend to flop a bit. Overall I think her face is very on-model, and her hair and eyes pretty closely match the reference I provided (I point this out because the only real "complaint" I had about Nico was that his Budsies form is sorta blonde and his eyes are sorta yellowish, coincidentally making him look a little bit like Topher borrowed Nico's clothes). Her ears are shorter and rounder than Nico's, which actually helps them hold their shape and posture a bit better, and I like the warmer pink color chosen for the inside of her ears quite a bit.

This time around, the whisker dots were also included, and her hands even have paw pads! The designer also took the liberty of interpreting the studs on her collar as little hearts instead of the same sort of circular studs as Nico's, which is a touch I really like. I imagine that in character/in canon, Dominika probably does have a small collection of collars, and I will probably have to start including heart-shaped studs on her usual collar instead of the circular ones from now on.

Her shoes also have the tongues on them, which is a nice touch (although on Nico, his shoes have some simple detailing embroidered/stitched in while hers are flat, making them almost look like slippers more than shoes, and they are the same grey as her shirt rather than the black in the reference), and her vest is removable, leaving her with her dark grey tank top. The flower is made from a firmer, stiffer material, so it stays in shape even if it isn't as soft and cuddly as the rest of her, and her eyes definitely came out looking very cute. Her facial expression is definitely on point--warm, friendly, and inviting, ready to listen to Nico and I complain about our problems. I immediately recognize her as Dominika, which makes the next parts hit so hard for me...

What wasn't so great...
In "comparison is the thief of joy" news, having such a fine specimen as Nico to compare Dominika to really makes some things stand out a bit. I mentioned the nose being different, but in actual objective quality complaints, her wrist bands and collar are weirdly loose--Nico's fit perfectly, nice and snug, but her's have what feels like nearly a centimeter of extra fabric to them, making them weird and floppy. I ended up having to sew her collar in the back so it would fit a bit more snugly, but I'm not sure I can do the same for the wristbands, which are also stitched to her wrist so I'm not sure removing them is an option either.

Oddly, her shirt sleeves are sewn to her vest, not her torso, making her vest a bit more like a shirt in its own right--while worth a low-grade facepalm, it actually means if I remove her vest, she's just wearing a crop top/tank top, which is surprisingly fitting for her. "It's not a bug, it's a feature"?
Either way, it means I could probably dress her up myself if I ever, say, came across a Ghost t-shirt in whatever infant size would fit a plush like this!

Speaking of clothing... while held in place with a couple stitches, Nico's clothes all seem like they could be removed with a couple quick snips of said stitches, and his jeans even have an elastic waistband! In contrast, Dominika's shorts and tank top are actually part of the plush itself. Not a huge deal, of course, but it does mean she lacks that bit of "visual layering" if that makes sense.

And, while I understand that she probably has to have the torso/body style she has so she can have her boobs, I am sorta sad she doesn't have the same massive dump-truck ass as the Nico plush, since "massive dump-truck ass" is sorta her defining trait... it's also sorta Nico's defining trait too, though...

Some actual quality issues...
I noticed a few stray strings, most obvious were on her shoulder, which I know are sorta inevitable with sewing and easily snipped and not at all relevant to her structural integrity, but in my very anxious state upon freeing her from her box (I will be discussing THAT too), I noticed immediately.

However, the biggest quality issue I noticed is that the way her hair was done seems very lazy and rushed--in Nico's case, there's a bit of stuffing and stitching to give it a little bit of shape and style, and it's stitched behind his cheeks to hold it in place. In Dominika's case, her hair is just a flat piece of plush fabric, no stuffing or stitching to give any sort of shape or texture, and not secured to the back of her head in any way aside from up top so it flops around like a cape. I was able to sorta address this with a quick stitch of her hair to the back of her neck while I was adjusting her collar, but I'll need to figure out how to secure her hair behind her cheeks or something too.

I also mentioned the size earlier--this "30-inch" plush measures in at 26" at the top of her head, and 28" counting her ears.

A Rough Trip?
One thing that immediately set off alarm bells upon seeing the box on my doorstep was how small it was--Nico came in a big, white box that gave him enough room to lay flat, but it seems Dominika was shipped in one of the boxes meant for one of the 16" plushes, and had to be folded slightly to fit. This had no lasting effect on her of course, but it was cause for worry at first glance.

However, every Budsies plush comes with a print-out of the artwork or refsheet provided, and in Dominika's case, well, check the Google Photos album linked at the beginning. Not only does it seem like someone in the packing department was having a bad day and shoved it into the box, crumpling it, it also seems like they either set the image to print landscape but loaded the paper in portrait orientation, or they interpreted my description of wanting them to work from the fully-clothed image on the refsheet as that being the part to print out, cropped a bit weirdly.
To be fair, Nico's included refhseet is also printed in portrait orientation while being better suited to landscape, leading to one-third of the sheet of paper being a super scaled-down full refsheet. I'm gonna assume they're all a little weird like that, and it's just a print-out on a piece of printer paper and not some integral aspect of the order--but I did get an email from them featuring tips for photographing to share on Facebook and Instragram and the like, where the printout of the artwork is mentioned specifically, meaning there's probably meant to be some care put into this, at least...

Additional Things to Get Off My Chest...
I'm not happy to admit this, but upon first seeing her and the state of everything, I did briefly consider trying to get a refund or replacement. It turns out they don't really do refunds or replacements but I *could* order a redo at a discounted rate... but like I said, I immediately recognize her as Dominika and my feelings for her work both ways here--the idea of her winding up being shipped back just to be tossed in a dumpster or something doesn't sit right with me, and the couple issues I have are fairly minor in the grand scheme of things. I'd rather do my best to help her than turn my back on her after everything she's been through.

If there's anything I've learned from developing Nico as a character, it's that anger is valid and something normal to feel, and something to be experienced and worked through, but not something to let blind me or cause me to lash out even if I need to vent about it a bit and evaluate all possible options. Two different artists interpreted two of my character designs in different ways, and both came out with things I really like but also things I think could have been done better. I am also left wondering some things, like if the long delay may have been the result of something happening to an original version and requiring a replacement be made in a bit of a hurry.

Expecting them to match perfectly was a bit of a long shot, and had I known to actually mention the order number of my previous order for Nico when placing this order to maybe get the same designer to work on it, I would have. I'm not sure I'll be ordering anything else, but not so much because of this experience, but because I can't be spending all this money on custom plush versions of my characters when I have other expenses to worry about, but this definitely pushes me in the favor of not going back... but if I did I'd probably go for a character that doesn't have as much emotional baggage associated with them so any quirks are less upsetting.

I am sorta curious how they'd interpret a weirdo like Ivaylo Boscov and his robot arm or a lab rat like Rommel Rattrey or even the Android Antelope Sable since I like her quite a bit even if I rarely actually draw her; if I could get the same designer as Nico I'm sure they'd do a fabulous job with the space caracal pirate Djamil; a few years back I saw their take on a FNAF fan character that makes me sorta curious how Penny Possum would turn out if they took a shot at her; and if I wanted to go for the standard 16" Budsies that would be the perfect size for little Dommy Duncan to be to scale with the Reynards..
(I've seen some of their humanoid characters though and I wasn't really a fan of how those turned out, so no Dominic Mephitto or Nick Domnall, even if the former would make for an interesting plush with the big skunk tail but is surprisingly challenging for artists to understand that his skunk nose is a cheap costume snout from Spirit Halloween and not an actual part of his face, while the latter seriously needs a hug.)

I also probably need to actually draw Dominika slightly shorter than Nico anyways, since Nico's canon height is about 5'10 or so depending on what convenience store he's running out of...

Final thoughts:
I honestly can't give the same sort of glowing endorsement this time around like I did when Nico arrived, but I also admit that a big part of that is having Nico here as a sort of gold standard for comparison. Previously I said "would definitely recommend", this time it's more of a "would probably recommend, but maybe keep an eye out for a sale or promo code".

Overall, setting aside any comparisons to Nico, I (unfortunately) have to give Dominika 3.5 fox emojis 🦊 out of 5, owing to those quality concerns I mentioned before, and how this order both seemed to be delayed yet also feels rushed. She does, however get a bonus 🍗 fried chicken emoji (since there isn't a chicken nuggets emoji) for how cute she looks otherwise, the artistic liberty taken to give her collar heart studs instead of circular ones, her face being just so *perfect*, and her colors being very close to being on model despite the somewhat limited color palette available, which probably brings her up to something more like 4 fox emojis out of 5.

She will still be loved and still gets to rest at the head of my bed with Nico and will still get cuddles, and I will probably still randomly take her to work sometime to show her off like I've done with Nico a few times in the past (I work with a few moms with young kids, who are actually Budsies' target audience), but there are some things I think could have come out better.

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