30 Dec 2019

Catrinas Underworld by Cife and Maya Studio

So, a few months ago in my usual "browse Amazon's latest releases to see if anything new/interesting has actually hit yet" thing, I stumbled upon a new brand of dolls that looked well... certainly interesting in a post Monster High world.

Cife's Catrinas Underworld.


A line of mexican day of the dead Catrina/calavara (whatever they're actually called) skeleton dolls distributed by a Spanish company called Cife who make "Who's your Llama" and a few other lines of cheap disappointing products.

(salty? Look, those llama things are LAME. I never bothered to review the one I had, it was too shit, it wasn't even cute.)

Anyway,

at £30 each the price tag was eye watering and far too much for an unknown. A new brand from a company most people have never heard of? Mmmm good luck guys.

But I got curious because new doll lines always make me curious so I did some digging.


21 Dec 2019

BJDs - a little ramble about community, the issues and positivity.

Okay disclaimer here, this is gonna get a bit rambly and be long. If you want to skip the DRAMA (tm) scroll down for dolly stuff and pics and all that nice fun stuff.

Otherwise, strap in.


20 Dec 2019

Barbie Black Label BMR1959 GHT91

BMR1959 ght91 is quite a mouthful isn't it?

Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, or the fingers typing it.

Was giving them names too hard?

Anyway,

Barbie signature line, whoop.



8 Dec 2019

LOL OMG series 2 - Miss Independent by MGA

I was surprised to see these come into stock on Smyths, as it doesn't look like the US has even got these yet and Winter Disco only hit like last month!
MGA really is churning these out huh?

Anyway, series 2 of the OMG dolls is out in the UK so of course I had to pounce and get the one I liked best.

So far that's how i've managed OMG. Tried only to get the one from each wave I LOVE and left the ones I like but not as much for clearance.

IF clearance happens.


Series 2 is quite fun. We have a grunge girl, a pastel chick, the fabulous Miss independent and a Rosie the Riveter chick.


2 Dec 2019

November roundup

I was supposed to be being good... I really was!

But i'm weak! I'm SO WEAK!


14 Nov 2019

LOL Amazing Surprise by MGA

Okay, before we start, two disclaimers.

first, my camera broke. By which I mean it works but the view screen is busted so I can't actually SEE what i'm photographing is in frame or not blurry or washed out till I get the photos up on my computer and by that point it's kinda too late to go back and do it again.

So, be aware some of these photos won't be up to my usual crappy standard but will actually be crappier. Some pics that would usually end up on the cutting room floor will need to be used and i'm SORRY!

secondly, this set is fricken HUGE and as a result there's gonna be a bajillion pictures and a lot to say.
this will be a long review so go pee now, grab a drink and come back.

you good?

we all settled?

strap in guys and girls, this is gonna be .. long.

4 Nov 2019

LOL OMG winter disco 24k DJ


MAN this order took a while to get here.

I preordered this girl on Oct12th via Amazon.

Now this was a gamble as last time I preordered with them they "forgot" to dispatch for like a week after stock appeared for next day delivery on the site so I was pretty pissed.

But the release date was SUPPOSED to be the 26th.

So the 26th came and went, still no stock.

I kept checking. Smyths came into stock briefly then went out of stock again.
Amazon still had no stock.

the 28th came and I finally got an email "your amazon order will be delivered today before 8pm!"
awesome, I thought. I'll wait in for it.

Oh I should have known. I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN.

at 5pm after no courier showing up I got another email from Amazon. "we have been unable to obtain your order and don't know when more will be in stock."

so... what happened to "will be delivered today"?

So I got them on private chat to complain about this bullshittery. For bullshittery it certainly IS.
Waiting in for a parcel that never bloody existed because Amazon are a bunch of lying twits unable to manage their own damn preorder process. -_-

this is the third time they've fucked up a preorder for me. Yes, third.
I often wonder why I bother preordering with them when they seem to be utterly incompetent at it.

So Amazon gave me a £5 "sorry we lied to you and made you waste a day" voucher (BAH) and I cancelled the order as they had no idea when they'd get more stock (they still haven't) and Smyths DID have stock.

So I ordered via Smyths and it dispatched next day and arrived promptly the day after via Hermes (not my ideal choice of courier but oh well)

But FINALLY this meant my damn doll was here!

So after that damn rigmorale, let's see if she was worth the wait.

11 Oct 2019

More Charity and Ebay funtimes.

Some of this is actually stuff I was supposed to add to the last lot but I sort of forgot and it went live before I could edit.

Whoops.

I'm a bum okay?

Anyway,

i've been TRYING to be good with spending, I still have one more downpayment on this bjd layaway but man, poor mental health combined with interesting things hitting shelves after a looooong drought, it just.... it makes it really difficult not to spend money.

And charity shops are my biggest weakness.

Maybe thankfully our local charity shop doesn't get dolls in that often anymore and those they DO get in are often massively overpriced (£4 for a barbie doll? Are you crazy?) so that does rather ease the burden on my wallet.

Still,

let's delve into this


5 Oct 2019

Another stuff I bought this month post!

The real problem with buying something on preorder is the wait. You're waiting months for something you had to pay for up front, so not only do you not have the thing, you also have like... no money either.

It's frustrating and kinda stressful.

then Mattel barges in with new stuff you want and it's like "WHY!???"

it's made worse when fate decides that this is the point all those things you've been lusting after for ages should pop up on Ebay as well.

I swear the universe loves it when i'm broke. It loves to MOCK ME.

Anyway, here's the stuff I bought this month that I probably couldn't afford but whatever:

30 Sept 2019

Creatable World by Mattel


Well Mattel dropped this on the world suddenly and out of nowhere huh?

All "SURPRISE!"

I like to imagine jazz hands.

In case you haven't seen the bajillion bloody news articles already talking about this, or the several paid reviews mattel flooded Youtube with, Creatable World is a new Mattel line of 10-11 inch scale dolls designed for everyone.
Boys, girls, whatever, dolls are for "KIDS" they say (nah bro, dolls are for everyone!)

Anyway, they're being marketed as gender neutral dolls who can be whatever you want them to be, which is nice.

They sold out on Amazon pretty fast so I had to trek out to Argos to pick up my first one. I wanted two but I only had enough for one so yeah.

For some reason Mattel are shipping these in individual shippers, one doll per box which feels a little wasteful but I suppose it allows them to very precisely distribute exactly which ones are most popular to the right areas or something.

Anyway, let's get down to this!


26 Sept 2019

Wild hearts Crew by Mattel



Mattel annouced these a few months back to a lot of excitement, rapidly quashed when we all found out they were store exclusives and worse, US ONLY exclusives.

BOoo hisssss.

But I really do love me some alternative dolls with interesting hair so I sort of put a cheeky bid in on a couple on ebay and sort of... accidentally... ended up winning.
Oops?

Import fees were a bit painful but considering this line is fairly unlikely to get a global rollout (haha watch, that'll happen now!) i'm glad at least to have my hands on two of the set.


18 Sept 2019

Stuff I bought

I'm not supposed to be buying stuff, i'm kinda stressing about money and I have a big layaway i'm slowly paying off but you know me, i'm weak and when i'm feeling a bit down well... stuff happens.

Also when I am trying to be good all the great deals hit. ARGH...

So here's the things I bought this month/stuff I fixed up:

20 Aug 2019

LOL OMG Neonlicious


I preorders finally came in. Hairdorables boys which I reviewed last time and my LOL OMG doll.


17 Aug 2019

Hairdorables HairDUDEables BFF pack - boy dolls!


Amazon kinda messed up my preorder a bit. See, my tracking claimed "arriving today before 8pm" on Monday and then at about 11:30 that morning changed its mind and I was emailed all "oops, we ran out of stock, now arriving end september!"

Suffice to say I was pretty annoyed because they LIED about it being delivered that day and i was waiting in.
So I moaned at them over live chat and they gave me a small voucher to say sorry for dicking me around.

As it turned out, their stock wasn't delayed by a whole 6 weesks though, they came back into stock last night and arrived today.

PHEW!

So, my boy set is here!



14 Aug 2019

A belated "stuff I bought this month" post

Man i've gotten myself a bit behind with blogs.

It's the school holidays right now so that's a big distraction, plus i'm dealing with fairly regularly headaches so that also kinda kills my motivation.

Still, i'm gonna try to catch up, and the best way to do that is to do a big ol' "stuff" post.

So let's get to it!

4 Aug 2019

Capsule Chix by Moose Toys


Restock is HERE!

mostly.

We popped out to the big shopping area to see what was on shelves. No LOL OMG (argos had ONE in stock but it wasn't one I wanted) and no new Hairdorables, but the Entertainer had Capsule Chix.

At £15 each I only picked up one. Just to see what I thought of Garret Sanders' (who designed Monster High) new toy line.


2 Aug 2019

Island Doll Monster Pumpkin Head

I admit it, i'm a lazy bum when it comes to writing these reviews.
I'm sorry!

I still have bits to write up and photos to take nghh.

But while we wait for that, my "I NEED THIS" doll purchase from earlier in the year finally arrived a few weeks ago.


22 Jul 2019

Basaak and Jecci Five - Blythe clones and face carving FUN

This title makes me sound like a psychopath bwhaha.

A local lady was selling some Blythe clones/knockoffs for stupidly cheap.
I've been considering trying my hand at customising those big headed freaky things for years but was always put off by how expensive they were and how much WORK making them NOT look terrifying actually takes (sanding, carving, the whole shebang)
but for the price I figured if I messed up, no biggy you know? I could practice some fairly difficult skills (carving a doll's face) without worrying about destroying something worth £££

So I got 2.


9 Jul 2019

Sales!

So okay, this is another clearout. Only this time the end goal is slightly more worthy than "I want dolls"

Plus I really desperately need to do another clearout because I really do accumulate too much stuff. So this is a kinda two birds with one sale situation heh.


6 Jul 2019

Patreon Review - Disney Attractionistas Gracey

My first ever Patreon review guys!
OMG

So first let's get thanks outta the way. THANK YOU Muinn for your generous support. I appreciate it so hard.

The request for this review was Attractionistas Gracey, a doll released a few years ago (2015) exclusively to Disney parks (And the US only ones at that I believe)

There were a few in the collection released in two or three waves, each themed after a different iconic Disney ride. They were very much Monster High meets Disneyland.

random combo.

Muinn picked Gracey, my personal favourite of the bunch as well. The Haunted Mansion themed girl.


24 Jun 2019

Snapstars

Man I have a bunch of things to review, so i'm gonna be queing them so I don't just spam my readers with reviews and then go back to silence okay? lol.

Anyway, first up Snapstars by Yulu.

Because they just hit the UK market and I know people were curious. I mean I know I was.


22 Jun 2019

Curvy Girls (signal boosting)

I don't usually do this, but desperate measures and all that.

there aren't many days left for this project and it's in desperate need of funding.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/curvygirls/curvy-girls-dolls-plus-size-fashion-dolls

So, Curvy Girls are a pretty cool idea. A range of ethnically diverse characters on plus sized bodies to encourage body positivity, all the characters have personalities that aren't just "she likes sports" or "animal lover" (one is autistic, one's transgender even and in law school! Awesome), the company is run by women who are also parents and the dolls will be fully articulated!

COME ON!

You know I love me some toy box diversity.

The only problem is international shipping is uh.. rather painful.

Still, if you can, support them!

With the doll selection so devoid of anything interesting in stores right now we gotta support these small companies trying to bring something new and interesting to the table right?

Let's do this thing!

Good luck Curvy Girls!

18 Jun 2019

More tlc dolls (I need an intervention, seriously, send help)

I need to like.. block Ebay...

seriously.

see, I had such fun with my last tlc bundle and even though I was still working on a few of them I was itching for MORE and this is a dangerous thing.

So when I stumbled upon another random bundle including a Debbie Glitter doll that i've wanted for a while ... well... I couldn't resist.


2 Jun 2019

TLC bundle


I have a weakness. Okay I have several. But a big one is "dolls in need". Especially vintage dolls.

This bundle caught my eye on the dreaded Ebay, a lot of broken bits and pieces but some interesting parts in there. I thought for sure someone else would notice it and outbid me but luck was apparently on my side, the bundle flew under the radar and I won it for the maiden bid.
SCORE.

They arrived a few days later and I eagerly got to sorting.

24 May 2019

Paola Reina Amigas and Resinsoul Shi

Me and spending is a little like pringles, once I pop I cannot stop.

Amazon certainly didn't help matters.

I was randomly searching "latest" in the doll section to see what if anything new had hit UK shores and stumbled upon a line of Paola Reina dolls that I had very vuage memories of having seen before. But for a fraction of the price they used to be.


Paola Reina Amigas Liu



Paola Reina Amigas Carolina

these two in particular caught my eye.

The first because ethnic dolls in this style are astoundingly rare and finding non black minorities is especially rare in dolls full stop.

The second because I can't resist giant curls or red hair <_<

They were both only about £15 at the time of ordering though I don't know who the heck is actually selling them because Amazon's listings are really vuage.
and a lot of the listings are extremely misleading.

There's a few listings that don't make it clear they are JUST for clothing for example, and in the case of my Liu, the seller actually changed the picture of the doll after I ordered from the same face mold but with a sort of dirty blonde hair to the black haired version.

Now in my case that was a good thing because I had preferred the black hair but the only other one with such a combination was £20+ and i'm way too stingy to pay that lol.
But it was a bit iffy of whoever's actually selling them (I don't think it's Amazon themselves, the listings are too vuage)

What's also strange is that despite me KNOWING this line is called Amigas, they are NOT listed as Amigas... at all. Anywhere.
They're listed as "queen" and I don't really understand why.

The ever lovely Toybox Philospher actually reviewed one several years ago here. Which is likely why I sort of vuagely recognised them.


12 May 2019

May Roundup... sorta

I've been on a bit of a dolly diet lately, but as everyone knows, diets are seldom sustainable and inevitably I was going to fall of the wagon in a big way.

Thing is, it HAD been relatively easy to stick to my diet because stores had nothing that tempted me, the local charity shop hasn't had any interesting dolls in for months and there's just flat out nothing NEW on the market that really screams "buy me".

unfortunately, bootsale apps still exist...
and i'm weak...


25 Mar 2019

SALES!

So i've gone through loads of boxes, not all of them, but LOADS.

it's time to start clearing out the things I put aside!

Are you ready for this?

Let us begin with.. the PURGINING!


The Collection - pt 6 - oh so much stuff


The plastic tubs really are quite a random assortment of dolls. A lot of which were shoved into the boxes purely because I couldn't be bothered getting the cardboard boxes down from the shelves.

I've returned them to their correct boxes now at last... mostly.

This picture is a good example of how broad my doll collection IS lol.


I have these modern Sindy dolls. I didn't like the bigger ones but the small ones are okay. I mean they aren't really Sindy dolls but they have at least captured SOME of her features in the face mold, even if they're now squat little goblin babies.

I'm not really sure I NEED all four of these but I can't decide which one of each I like better so... yeah.

They're only about 7 inches tall so hanging onto them doesn't take up much space.


The Adventures of Vicky was a partworks that ran during the 90s. The first magazine came with the doll in a safari sort of outfit and each magazine afterwards had an outfit.

She's Barbie/Sindy sized and pretty cheaply made.

She has bendy rubber legs and absolutely dire hair.

Her face is a bit Sindy-like


I only have a few of her outfits, they're pretty varied in quality. Some are okay, some are not that well made and all of them are a little costumey and very very 90s.

So she's stolen Barbie's Beneton outfit.

I think she's cute, but she could do with better hair for sure.


Speaking of hair... I also dug this head out.

She's a Moxie Girlz Avery who I started to reroot. This was before MGA released their redheaded girl.
Sadly, Moxie Girlz have HUGE very hard heads so I didn't get very far


My fingers hurt and I eventually just gave up. Buying the hair was expensive and rerooting the whole damn head was looking at a pretty pricey prospective. Then MGA released Kellan so doing this became pointless anyway and it was cheaper to just buy a Kellan.

I feel kinda bad because I have this half done head and I don't know what to do with her. I can't justify buying hair to finish it because it's not worth that investment of time and money. So she just sits in the box, a testimant to my failed early OOAK attempts.


La Dee Da were Spinmaster's doll line after Liv. They were interesting but also... super bloody wierd.

They have spindly noodle bodies with next to no articulation, quite a shock after their very articulated Liv and GIANT rather featureless heads that are 90% eyeball.

I like the bright coloured hair though.

and the quirky outfits.


This girl has some sort of purple pox lol.

and rainbowy hair.


She's wearing a fashion pack outfit because these ants man, these ants are SO CUTE


Beelicious Has funky glasses and it's unusual to get a lot of yellow in dolls so yay yellow!


I can't remember what these are, they came from TK Maxx and I thought they were interesting. Husband actually bought them for me.


They come completely apart so you can interchange almost every piece.

They're pretty cheaply made but they're cute enough. It's a fun gimmick.


My Tonner City Girl Houston.

I only ever ordered from Tonner once and I wasn't overly impressed. Their customer service is pretty good but both the dolls I ordered arrived damaged which was rather upsetting after a long wait for international postage and the cost of the damn things.

Houston came STINKING of god knows what with some sort of oil spilled on her. I had to air her out for a few days and remove her costume because it was giving me a headache.

Also her shoe broke the first time I tried to take it off. *sigh*

She's pretty, but she's a super awkward size so really hard to find clothes for. She came in a pink bathrobe and Tonner DID do fashion packs but they were really expensive and by the time I ordered her, not available anymore.

She's wearing a really random assortment of things. I don't know where the pants are from but the skirt is from a Groovy Girl, the top is My Scene Boy and the jacket is vintage Action Man. lol.


She has a very stylised face.

But the awkardness of finding clothes and how awkwardly jointed she actually is made her a rather disappointing purchase.

Sometimes I think about selling her but inevitably she always ends up back in my box. Something about her reminds me why I bought her in the first place still.


MGA's Project MC2 dolls, a line which seems to have died now. They were very overpriced and cheaply constructed. Nice outfits though, and beautiful faces.

I only have a few of them, they were just too expensive to justify getting more.


This washed out bad...

She has a plastic hat, it's lame and im honestly surprised it's survived being in storage.


I love her crimped hair. She's actually one of the "budget" ones on an unarticulated body which I have to say is actually BETTER than the jointed one. It's made of heavier plastic and feels substantially less crappy.


I love the colour of this girl's hair. But oh god.. the plastic of the bodies is SO BAD.

Their articulation is crap too, their arms like to fall off rather than pose.


Uh.. this is a Shrek Kung Fu Princess. I thought she had a fairly pretty face.

She's heavy as shit.


They all have a Shrek tattoo, it's ridiculous.

And painted on underwear.

And "kung fu" action lol. She kicks one leg. I've never found shoes big enough from those enormous feet.


Fulla is like.. I dunno, Islamic Barbie or something?
I wanted one for ages and stumbled upon this bedtime one in a charity shop.

She has a plush body like the bedtime barbies from the 90s.

It means she can't stand the hell up which is really annoying.


She didn't come with her hijab, most of them do but I suppose being a bedtime one she didn't need it? So she has some fabric I added. It seems inappropriate to have a Fulla without her Hijab, she's supposed to be a Hijabi doll after all.


Her hair is thick and very shiny, I think it's nylon. It has auburn streaks which is really quite pretty. It hasn't really been rooted with a hijab considered and I believe ALL the Fulla dolls are like this. Rooted like all fashion dolls without thinking "oh wait, we need to be able to put a scarf over this"
I suppose the only real solution would be to root it quite thin otherwise, so it could be pinned up under the scarf but maybe they wanted to retain hair play for kids? Or just didn't think about how really thick hair at this scale would be awkward to do much with. Doll hair doesn't sit flat like human hair does, so squishing it neatly isn't really possible. It's always gonna bulge oddly under the scarf. (the pain or trying to tie any doll hair into a ponytail arghhh)

Her face reminds me honestly of Hasbro or Vivid Sindy dolls and friends. I wonder if she's using one of those molds.

Her head LOOKS like it should pop off like a normal doll head so i'm tempted to find a new body for her, one that isn't plush and shit. She's not that dark skinned, I suspect she's actually pretty much the same skin tone as a regular Barbie doll. I just haven't worked up the courage to attempt to pry her head off and see if rebodying her is actually possible.

Given how rare Fulla IS in this country, i'm scared i'll damage her attempting it.

But she could do with a proper body and outfit. Her default clothes are really really bad. I mean they're okay made but they're so... "child's toy" rather than at all realistic.

I believe the majority of these dolls DO have better clothes, quite a few seem to actually come with two outfits, a house outfit and a covering for going out.
But i'd be inclined to do her up like a modern British Hijabi.I think she has the potential to be really quite cool and i'm all ABOUT dolly diversity omg.


I own TWO Mary Quant Daisy dolls.

Pink hair is on her original body and I don't know what the hell was done to her prior to owning her but she has these horrible scars on both arms.
it's so weird.

Her hair was fried so I rerooted her in pink with a blue streak. I think it suits her.

the other one I put onto a Bratz body because I COULD (and I dunno what I did with her actual body, I think it was broken). Her hair is original but has been cut quite short. I might reroot her one day, when I have the energy. But I hate rerooting nghh.

The skin tone match is actually way better irl than in photos.


Daisy is a really small doll. Yes, she fits Bratz clothing.

My two have different faces. Pink hair has a narrower face. Her outfit is from some shitty £1 clone lol.


Cutie Pops were a wiiiierd doll line.

Their EYES pop off, wtf?

and their hair.

it's bizarre.


And their heads are GINORMOUS. Like Blythe proportions going on here.

I love the colour of her hair extentions though. it's so cool.


These are Bratz dogs. They're flocked and have jointed legs. They belong to my Pretty N Punk dolls who I still haven't located ARGHHH.


Lollypop Girl. I don't know a lot about these, they were made by some artist who then made smaller plastic ones for uh.. playline or.. collectors... I don't know.


She has a proper baby face and amazing vividly green hair. I LOVE her hair colour omg.

she stands a good head above all my other fashion scale dolls so she's like.. 13 inches tall or something? And she has actual fabric boots. Nice.


My Lottie dolls.

My newest one was a charity find and for some reason has no shoes (but still socks, what?)

sadly Arklu don't sell shoe packs. They need to sell shoe packs damnit! I don't want to buy a whole fashion pack here. I just want SHOES.


Applejack...

I bought this girl for like 50p in a charity shop around the same time I started collecting dolls. I had MLPs as a child so it was a flash of nostelgia.
I was never hugely into them beyond just "yay new toy" and never got into modern MLP but I do find the original molds quite endearing. She looks so sad!

This Applejack is why my husband buys me random Applejack things and why when I come to review MLP stuff I tend to get Applejack by preference. She's the first MLP I bought as an adult and one of the very small number I still own.


Puffi Ami Yumi on a Bratzilla body (I think). Puffi Ami Yumi is a show/band I know like nothing about, but I stumbled upon the dolls and liked their faces. Also, you know, dolly diversity.

I sold the other one a while back but I always liked this girl's face and short hair.

Their original bodies SUUUCKED. they were very static and had a gimmick where you made them hold hands and they'd sing.
Which was... kinda.. pointless.


It really interfered with their posability because they had to have a hand outstretched for this gimmick and I just found it all very irksome. They couldn't sit or anything.
So she got a new body once I finally found one pale enough for her.
She even got to keep her original clothes which was nice.

They have really detailed and interesting outfits. She's skipper sized.. ish.


Action Man and Action Girl

Marion, as I named the Action Man, is a Hasbro Action man I think. He's uh.. crossbow action or... sharp shoot.. I don't know, he had a bow. He has a gimmick where one hand has a trigger mechanism to allow him to let go of the bow and fire.
His face is a lot more like the older style Action Man heads than the typical Hasbro head, I don't know if they used this head for any other doll actually. I thought he was quite handsome and a bit different. Vintage Action Men are a bit goofy looking and most Hasbro ones are a bit kinda... generic.
He actually has flocked hair.


Action Girl is a much older doll from the 70s. Yes, made by the same company as Action Man back then. Palitoy.

She isn't on her original body. The original Action Girl bodies are fully elastic strung so they come apart very easily. They also have wiiiierd proportions.
She's actually on a Liv body and was rerooted with Poly hair which I decided i really don't like. It kinda works for a vintage doll because it's coarse and crunchy feeling (it has a horrible texture) but it's just so unpleasant to work with and touch.
It's very stiff.


This particular Action Girl I don't think even HAD a body when she came to me. She was a loose head I found in a box in the charity shop they let me have for free.

Who knows what the hell happened to her body.

Getting her onto a modern doll body involves putting a washer or something into her head because her original body has a ball socket.
A lego tyre works a treat ahahahah.


Ever After High Raven was in the box too.

We have a few EAH dolls. Husband collected them more than I did. I think she's actually his doll.

I didn't buy the first release ones becuase at £20 i thought Mattel was taking the piss.


I knew I had the robot Novi!


Licca Chan is so teensy. She's about 7 or 8 inches tall at most.
I got her for 25p in a charity shop. They were closing down and she was in a bin with a load of other "small toys"


She came nude and I shoved her into some Blythe clothing I had, it's a bit big but eh.

I can't remember who's the shoes are. I think they're Barbie of some sort...

Sindy dolls just keep cropping up huh?

This is a very rare brunette Smirky.

They didn't do many dark haired Smirky Sindy dolls.

Her hair is very short but from all i've been able to establish, probably came like this rather than being cut.
It's very evenly styled and slightly wavy.


I gave her freckles to make her a bit more special.

She was a charity shop find but curiously, most of the dark haired Smirky Sindy dolls i've seen since have had this exact hair style. Short and wavy.
But I dunno who the hell she is as there don't seem to be any comprehensive catalogues for 1986 Pedigree.
They did a couple of brunettes but yeah, they're crazy rare.


 This is Freaky and a baby tea bunny.

Freaky is a littlest Pet Shop dog head on a Cassie doll body.


I glued yarn to her head lol.

I love this bizarre thing. She's ridiculous.


Steffie Love from the 80s probably, and an unknown clone/knockoff doll who's actually pretty well made.


 I kinda like Steffie Love's old face mold, it's very uniquely HER. Her more modern dolls just look like knockoff Barbie and I find it disappointing. Her older dolls have a more distinctive look to them.

Her head is on a small ball knob giving her quite a good range of head motion and her body is very very barbie-like.
She even fits Barbie shoes.


I bought this girl because of her hair, because come ON! it's freaking COOL!

it's blonde and purple and green.

She has stars next to her eyes.

She has a pretty goofy 80s barbie-like face which isn't really to my taste at all.

I dunno who she is thought because she hasn't got any useful markings. She's decently made though, sturdy. She has pretty obvious seam lines though.


Some repaints.


this is an Ever After High head I kinda just doodled on in paint and pencil lol.
She's kinda cool.
She's on the Barbie cat burgler skipper body which is mostly molded on clothing.
Her hair sucks because it's Mattel so gloop grossness. I just don't wanna reroot her.

I don't love her face enough to be bothered. I was using her body for something so these were just spare parts I put together for the hell of it.



This was a boring psst i'm taller Cloe that came in a bundle. Her paintwork is a bit thick but she was kinda fun. I think sometimes it's fun to try something a bit different with a faceup so she has a much more "painted" face. And oh so many freckles.

I kinda dig her, I think she has personality which is something I demand of my dolls. I think the reason I don't like 80s Barbies is because their face sculpts and screening as so often kinda bland and vapid, I prefer a bit of quirkiness or expression.

Much as I actually enjoyed painting Bratz though, removing their original paint was SO MUCH WORK I haven't bothered since. Finding pure acetone here is really difficult and acetone nail polish remover doesn't work well enough. You get smearing and staining and it takes like an hour to scrub the damn head even with a magic eraser.
I hate it.

So yeah..

Which is a shame because they've got quite a fun blank canvas sort of head for playing with that I prefer to the Ever After High moon face.


this is a Cherry Merry Muffin doll. (Apple Amy?)

I got her cheap years ago in a fit of nosteglia.

I collected CMM dolls when I was a very young child. First doll thing I ever really gave a damn about actually. I was gifted Merry as a birthday gift or something when I was about 4 and over the next 2 years slowly bought everything I could. Sadly, the darker skinned ones (Amy and Greta) weren't easy to find (I'm not even certain NZ got them!) so by the time i'd purchased all the others who were readily available and saved up enough for the last one on the back of the packaging, she was nowhere to be found. Shortly after the whole line stopped appearing on shelves.
I remember being so disappointed I couldn't complete the collection.

So when I spotted a nude Amy on ebay I bought her.

I no longer own my original dolls, they were lost years ago in the great "my parents are fucking idiots storing all our stuff under the house instead of in a secure locker while we emigrate" incident.
(Am I still resentful? Hell yeah)

Sadly Cherry Merry Muffin dolls are really expensive to buy secondhand so it's unlikely i'll ever recollect them, which kinda pisses me off. I had most of the second wave and several of the playsets, looking at Ebay prices, they'd have been worth a bloody fortune now.
*sigh*
And because they're like £20+ for a sodding doll with her clothes, muffins and silly cake hat, I just can't justify it.

Amy remains my only Cherry Merry Muffin doll and in a way there's a certain irony to that.


And another Bratz. Yasmin.

I need to find the Bratz boxes and get her back into them.


Twilight Teenz by Simba.


They use the same molds as the "Super Models" also by Simba but are all Monster Themed because you know.. Monster High lol.

They're fairly flimsy.

This one is Snakey (hahahah). She has fabulous pink hair.


Zombina... or something...

I like her hair, it's very Venus. No flocking because these things are crazy cheap but still fun.


I can't remember what this girl is called but I kinda repainted her a bit. Part of me is tempted to wipe her face completely and start again with a proper sugar skull look but i'm very very lazy.


this one is cat themed, she has a tail but no cat ears. Go figure.


And the ghost one. She's actually very pretty.


Bratzillaz!

So many Bratzillaz.

Oh they were a shameless cash in on the "monstery supernatural things are hot right now" bandwagon but I really liked them. They have a certain bizarre charm to them.


Sashabella always got rather ridiculous outfits lol. These are her two tame outfits rather than the 70s hooker outfits of her other dolls hahahah.

I would genuinely wear the green outfit, hell yeah.


I wish more companies would give their darker skinned dolls dark lips like this, it looks nice. Way nicer than the insipid pale pinks Mattel always opts for.


She's a mermaid and she glowssss!

She had glitter lips too but I removed the glitter because I HATE glitter lips. They look gross.

these girls glow SO BRIGHT omg.


2 Yasminas. The short haired one has a dumb dancing gimmick so she flails her limbs around randomly when you try to pose her. It's irritating.


But I love her hair colour.


Hahaha she has a lazy eye! the problem with inset eyes I suppose.

It doesn't look this wonked irl.


I only own one of the "witchy princesses", they all had birdcages on their heads and I don't know why.


Vampire! There was a point where MGA decided "screw it, witches aren't spooky enough, let's make actual monsters too!" and so we got a vampire and a mermaid.


She's delightfully psychotic looking.


Victoria has a snake theme going on which confuses me a lot. Why is she called Victoria Antique but has a snake theme?

Chinese, snakes, victoria antique.. whu?


She is really pretty though.


There IS another Meyganna somewhere, but she wasn't in this box. This is another dance gimmick one.


Meyganna's pretty.


Iliana has a sort of Indian theme going on and i'm totally for it.

She's GORGEOUS.


The side hat is a bit weird though.


Cloetta (Ugly ugly name) got a fashion pack because her original outfit sucked


She's a wierd doll. I dig the heterochromia though.


1st wave Jade in wave 3's outfit with some fashion pack additions hah.


Wave 1 jade has SHIT hair but she has such striking eyes.


I love the Switch a Witch packs for a couple of reasons. 1; they had body diversity! (long and short limbs and torsos!) but 2: they were such a dig at Mattel's Create a Monster with their packaging proclaiming "makes two FULL dolls" ahahaha

The Create a Monster sets for Monster High only came with ONE torso so you could only make up ONE of the two dolls in the box. The Switch a Witch sets however came with all the pieces you needed to make BOTH.

I adore this girl. She's wearing a Liv wig but otherwise this is all her default stuff.


She's awesome.


The CLOWN! The CLOWN!


I just.. this doll makes me smile so much because she's so insane.

She's shorter than the black and white girl too.

ALL the switch a witch dolls had this multicoloured crazy shit going on, presumably to make them more patchwork for mixing and matching.

the main problem I have with "kit" dolls like this is that honestly, 98% of the time you just aren't going to mix things up because they don't look right mixed.
So it feels kinda pointless making them kit dolls in the first place you know?

but at least we got two freaking torsos.

Still several dolls missing though. Hmmmm.

I have only a few more boxes to go through, im not sure what to do if I can't locate them. it's frustrating.