Hestia was a 1/6 fashion doll line produced by Jun Planning from 2006-2007,  Jun Planning was the company that originally produced Pullip in addition to J-dolls and Ai Dolls before the lines were taken over by Groove Inc.  Hestia dolls are kind of unique because they are designed as twin dolls Ribon and Isora, each cycle or wave would release both dolls simultaneously they would have the same theme but they would each express it in their own way.  Isora is the older twin and her style was gothic with a bit of a punk edge, the younger twin Ribon’s style tended more towards sweet lolita type of fashion. Ten dolls or five sets of twin releases were released before the line was discontinued. The last Hestia pairing to be released had a Little Red Riding Hood theme, Isora Kagen No Tsuki no Ribet (Parting of the Moon in last phase) and Ribon Jyougen No Tsuki No Saikai (Reunion at first Quarter Moon).I recently had the opportunity to take some pictures of Hestia Ribon Jyougen No Tsuki No Saikai who will henceforth be referred to as Ribon for simplicity’s sake. This is the first time I have photographed a Hestia doll in at least a couple of years, so I decided to take this opportunity do a write up of her especially since Hestia just aren’t seen very often anymore which is a pity because they are really nice dolls. Ribon was released in July of 2007 alongside her Isora counterpart Kagen No Tsuki no Ribet, they had a MSRP of 12000 yen each.

Ribon in the box

Since Hestia dolls are somewhat of a rare sight these days I decided to share some pictures of her box for anyone curious. Ribon has a peak-a-boo window in the shape of a tied ribbon (or maybe a butterfly?) you can see her face through.

The pink box is attached via two straps with snaps to a gold box, once the snaps are detached the pink box can be slid off to a reveal the gold box underneath. Her box also comes with a handle which makes the box easier to carry around with you.

Finally on to the sweet, sweet innards of the box Hestia Ribon! Hestia Ribon is tied secured in the box with various twist ties. Ribon comes with some fun accessories to complete her Little Red Riding Hood look a small wicker basket as well as a loaf of bread and a bottle of “Hestia” brand wine to hold her in basket. Ribon also comes with a metal stand with her name printed on it.

In general for a doll that is almost nine years old I was pretty impressed by her condition, she had only developed two issues while trapped in her box over the years. Her socks had become slightly discolored and she had somehow developed a bit of red staining on one of her hands which I honestly mistook for red polish at first glance until I realized it was only on the one hand ^^; . Close up of Ribon’s face up, she has a nicely detailed face up. I love the pop of the silver in her eye make up as well as the shimmery silver effect on her pale lips. Her eye make up features eyelashes alternating in color from brown to black. I wish her eyebrows matched her hair color a bit better but I think the color does kind of balance her face out nicely as it would have likely been too pale and washed out without if they were lighter in color.
Ribon’s stock outfit consists of a red hood, green corset, white blouse, skirt, a petticoat, panties, socks and shoes as well as a small wicker basket, a bottle of wine and a plastic loaf of bread. The quality of her stock outfit is really nice and considering the doll itself is over nine years old it has held up really well with age, the socks had become slightly discolored with time but everything else still looked great.
Ribon has a pink tattoo of a ribbon on her upper thigh.
                           Pullip Papin – Hestia Tachimachizukinoyoru – J-doll Joseph Splatz

I’m going to use this opportunity to reuse an old photo of mine as I am going to assume that at least a few people reading this may not have heard of Hestia before or may not really be familiar with her. Hestia comes on what was commonly referred to as the Type 3 Pullip body, the Type 3 body was used for Pullips from mid-2005  until the introduction of the Type 4 body in 2009 and was also used for J-dolls from their introduction in 2006 until 2009. The only difference between the bodies is a slightly different internal neck joint depending on the doll style as a much smaller neck joint was required for J-doll and Hestia than Pullip. Except for a few obvious items like hoods clothing items are shareable between J-doll and Pullip. After collecting Pullips for years and getting used to their large for their scale heads, J-dolls always look like they have small heads to me even though are perfectly in scale with their bodies it never bothered me as much on Hestia. Proportions-wise, Hestia dolls remind me of Liv Dolls versus J-dolls which are more similar to a traditional Barbie doll in terms of scale.
I do hope that Ribon doesn’t get lost in the woods on the way to Grandmother’s house. Ribon looks very at home in the natural setting of my yard which is in the middle of the woods.
Little Red Riding Hood has been a popular theme for dolls from Jun Planning/Groove, although nowhere near as popular a theme as Alice in Wonderland it has been revisited a few times. Over the years in addition to the Hestia pair, a Pullip Little Red Riding Hood, Namu Wolf, Dal Rot-chan and Pullip Bloody Red Hood have all been released.
Ribon’s red hood has a little bunny fastener which is a nice little touch coupled with the floppy bunny ears that are a part of her hood.
I love the mixture of textures in Ribon’s stock, her corset is made out of like a thick woven material and at that size it almost feels like a piece of armor and it contrasts nicely with the ribbon and lace trim on it. I love the floral pattern used on her skirt and I think the green corset complements it nicely, there is just a fantastic balance of colors which is hard to achieve when coupling green with red without it clashing or looking overly Christmas-y.
As a note Hestia dolls have wigs (size 5-6 inches if you care to rewig), not rooted hair. Ribon’s wig is so full and thick, it was a bit difficult to her hood on. The wig quality was nice and I love the silvery blond color.
More photos of Ribon as always can be seen on my flickr. JPGroove currently has a great selection of Hestia dolls available on their website which can be browsed here, I’m now very tempted to order Isora Kagen No Tsuki no Ribet to match my Ribon!