Roundup - Bratz Bundle, Pelham Puppets, bjds and more

The big problem when you're supposed to be saving is that when you look at your bank balance you see all this lovely delicious money and temptation sets in.

It's very bad.

and my impulse control is especially bad because we're coming into "tear my hair out, scream, cry, angst and stress" season.
I make no secret of the fact I really HATE Christmas, but on top of that festive pile of stressful shit there's also 3 birthdays to plan and buy for all within a few weeks of the big day.
So that means that about now I
1: finish my christmas shopping
and
2: Stress starts to set in as I have to arrange 2 birthday parties close to christmas that most people are too fucking rude to RSVP to and like 1 person comes to in the end, organise transport for christmas itself and arrange to do something nice with husband for HIS birthday too.

This year I haven't been that organised. I dunno why, the year has just evaporated.

I'm starting to lose my damn mind.

so when I start spiralling like this you know what happens? Oh heck yeah, I BUY STUFF. To give me a momentary "feel better" feeling.

It's a terrible habit.



I mean on the plus side, I managed to find new homes for all the MH stuff I didn't keep, which was awesome. I sent 44 dolls and playsets to ONE person! Like... whaaaaa? I think I was a bit nuts agreeing to parcel 10kg of dolls into 5 boxes to post overseas lol.

The stack of boxes was almost as tall as me!

But almost as quickly as I had that big bundle sorted I bought another.

this time it's MGA's fault.

Disappointed by their collector line Bratz that they've been hyping for the past month or two and even more disappointed by how massively overpriced they are (£50 EACH? fuck you MGA, just.. fuck you) I decided the money was better spent getting older Bratz and enjoying them again.
It's been a while since i've bought any Bratz dolls.

My reasoning was for £250 (to buy all 5 collector dolls) you could get MIB originals plus several more dolls, heck, for £250 you could probably buy all the rare ones, together, in one big bundle and still have fucking change.

And it just so happened that I stumbled upon a huge bundle of dolls on Ebay, sold by someone who, as it was, I actually kinda KNOW (hahah what are the odds?)
I didn't notice at the time I won the auction, she recognised my name and was all "HI!" lol.
Oops?

But yeah so that was cool.

I think I got a pretty good deal because there was no picture of the whole bundle, it was just pictures of each group of like 5 dolls but multiple images so scrolling through the ebay listings it wasn't overly clear the bundle was more than those 5 dolls.
As a result I had no contest and won it for the maiden bid. Whoo.

And yes, it was more than just 5 dolls, which anyone who'd clicked the listing and read it would have known.

it was in fact nearly 30 dolls.

 And heeeere they are!

Most of them are 2010-1012 era which I actually like. Much as the 10/10/10 launch was a bit of a massive borked up mess I always preferred the 2010 era bodies (chunkier waists look way better in the clothing okay?) and the sultry smokey eyes they used for a lot of the dolls.

ALL of these dolls are nude and footless, but I was all "it's fiiine, I totally have bratz shoes"

it turns out I didn't really. Oops? Or rather, I have bratz clothes and can't remember where I put them, and I have over the years given a lot of the bratz shoes I had to other people. Oops?
ahh well.

 Here's the whole pile.

7 boyz and 17 girls.

Of the ones I could ID, we have what's probably Nu-cool Dylan (one i've always wanted because he has his curls, something they stopped doing after only a few dolls!), Motercycle Cade, a Cameron that could be race car driver or several others, Toky a gogo Dylan with very damaged flock (it's mostly all gone, poor guy), probably Funk Out Cade, 2011 Cameron and Thad.

The girls are Pretty N Punk Cloe and Meygan (such a great line), Pink Winter Dream Cloe (She has grey legs and sparkle lips which always make me think the doll has been sucking off Edward Cullan or something), Strut it Cloe, Strut it Meygan, I think Desert Jewelz Jade, Masquerade Geneva, Quite probably 10.10.10 Cloe, Strut it Jade, Girls Night Out Dana (Sparkle lips again!) Lydia (one of the 10/10/10 new girls), several Yasmin's one of which is Crystalicious and one of which looks to be 10/10/10 but not sure on the other two, Pajama Party Jade and finally Strut it Fianna.

Now a lot of these are dolls I don't already have.

I already have a Thad, but he's still in his box since buying him years and years ago. I  have a lot of boyz still in boxes just because I feel like they're safer in their boxes till I have space to display them.

I also already have tokyo a go go dylan and motercycle cade. Cameron is just a generic Cameron so nothing overly interesting (seriously so many of his dolls look SO similar) but I never bothered getting a 2011 Cam and I have always wanted a 2003 curly haired Dylan eheheh.

He's the highlight of the boyz section.

I also think Geneva and Lydia are gorgeous but at launch I didn't bother to get either because they have wretched awful frizz hair that the 2010 Bratz were so universally slated for.

Lydia's hair has already been trimmed by her previous owner, so it's mostly fluff free...

Geneva though? THIS is what all the 2010 Bratz hair was like, a frizzy puff ball MESS.
Geneva was actually released in 2011/12 and her hair is exactly the same colour as Yasmina Clairvoya, the Bratzilla, who also had a bad frizz problem. also the same colour as Monster High Ghoul's Rule Clawdeen, who again, had a real frizz problem. I wonder if it's all the same shit nylon?

Anyway, these four all needed boiling.

Dana's hair was in fact breaking off as I tried to brush it, just snapping half way down the hair and I was like "wtf?"

Thankfully a nice boil wash and savage trim helped Geneva a lot. (pics soon) But whoo eee. I remember why I didn't buy more 2010 Bratz. Pretty faces, wretched hair.

Dana's hair stopped splitting once she was washed, which was a relief.

And in my search for some Bratz clothing I found a Yasmin i'd misplaced ages ago (doh).
I also picked up Meygan fully dressed from the charity shop for a couple of quid PURELY to steal her clothing. (i'm terrible right?)

I also bought some fashion packs from Germany because omg, I couldn't find any Bratz stuff! or monster high! or anything!

The name of these packs is a bit wierd to me. Punk n prep sure, it's a preppy punky ensemble but casual cool? Kinda boring... At the Mall though, that one baffles me as the outfit is more retro flower child than mall rat.

Go figure.

Anyway they all came with shoes which was a god send as I have like.. SO FEW Bratz shoes.

I knew this outfit would be Lydia's, so opened it first. The purple boots are nice, really detailed sculpt on them.

These boxes are a pain in the arse to open. SO MUCH TAPE and so many tabs omg. It was a chore.

the clothes and then sewn and tabbed onto a paper doll so you have to undress the damn doll and snip threads and it's really fiddly.

the front of the box states there's a "paper doll for you!" which i think is a bit misleading as she doesn't even have any damn feet! What are you supposed to do with her? Ram her stumps into actual Bratz shoes?

wiiiierd.

It's a pretty simple outfit featuring a pair of thin denim jeans with white stitched detail, purple high boots with buckles and a poncho with a turtleneck sewn into it. The top is all one piece and velcros up the back but does actually have sleeves.

Lydia completed the outfit with Party Yasmin's beret.

I love this look on her.

Preppy punk outfit is three pieces with some gorgeous super hot buckle boots in dark purple.
The purple jacket has little fake pockets but it's made from really strange fabric. It's sort of thing and plasticky feeling, I don't much like the texture of it.
the pants are stretch soft cotton and the t is super simple but a nice effective piece to have.

the paper doll is... useless. thanks for nothing there mga. What was the point?
I don't get it.

Geneva got to try some outfits on. You can see I hacked a LOT of her hair off, I had no choice, it was just a ruined frazzled mess even after boiling it. It's still gross and dry but at least it looks okay from a distance lol.

poor doll.

I love her face and the colour of her hair but damnit MGA, why the shit nylon? surely there was better nylon you could buy?

I like this outfit, though maybe not on Geneva. 

And finally the uh... Mall outfit. Or "flower child" as i'm calling it.
It's a very Yasmin outfit.

The jeans are REALLY long, I wasn't sure they'd actually not be too long.

I also kinda forgot which way aroaund her bolero went lol. It seems to go on either way *shrug*

the high pink boots are pretty simple but that works given they're almost completely covered by the jeans.
The funky top is cool but sits a little lopsided.

Also not great on this doll I don't think.

ahh much better.

Lydia rocks her autumn look, Cloe gets to embrace her inner hippy chick and Punk Cloe works surprisingly well in this. I didn't really notice before I put this on her that her lips are kinda plum coloured. The purple brings out that colour a lot more in person than in photos. I like it.

So these are the dolls I ended up keeping.

At the front 4 boyz, 1 of whom wasn't in this bundle at all, I bought him the same week though so he ended up sneaking in, as did a few other girls.

So Tokyo Eitan was an ebay purchase and isn't complete but damnit he's a hard to find doll and I love the Tokyo boyz. I'll get his jacket at some point. There's one on ebay for a few quid. 

Cade is cute so he gets to stay.

2011 Cameron needs feet (lol) and better clothes but I ran out of those too. Most of my bratz boy clothing has been stolen by Makies!

And Dylan with his lovely curls. Ooo I love his curls and his adorable hazel eyes. Oh Dylan...
Ahem.. sorry... maybe a bit obsessed with this Dylan.

The girls at the front, Jade got the Meygan from the charity shop's outfit, with some other bits I found.
She's really damn pretty.

Yasmin surprised me by actually fitting into a Bratzilla dress. I didn't expect that at all.

Wildlife Safari Nevra is another "bought off ebay" gal who snuck in here. Her skin tone is really hard to match, I don't have any shoes that work for her. Hmm.

and Lydia of course, who I adore.

The back row, Geneva I decided actually looked best in black. It makes her pale hair stand out a bit better so I put her into some EAH clothes.

Fiana got a combination of monster high and 2015 Bratz pieces. I love this Fiana, she's absolutely gorgeous.

Meygan got a sort of cowgirl thing going on because I had this skirt and I loved it so much someone HAD to wear it.

Totally Tattooed Meygan I got off Facebook Marketplace, I saw her and i was like "OMGWTFBBQ GIMMIE" lol.
God she's beautiful.

Pretty N Punk Meygan husband stole hahaha, she kinda got a random assortment of anything I had that fit and it ended up working okay.

Pretty N Punk Cloe is awesome.

And I actually really like the other Cloe too. She has a rather unusual face, with smaller features than usual and I like that.

so excluding the 3 ebay purchases, from the bundle I kept 12 dolls. Not bad.

There were several others I liked but not enough to struggle with clothes for.

Here's the girls who didn't make the cut.

Yes, there's a duplicate Strut it Fiana. I bought one on ebay before I got this bundle, whoops.

And the boyz.

Dylan was cut off this photo because someone bought him already.
Someone then bought Thad lol.

So yay?

Also this came.

Okay so.. to explain.

Remember a while back I was really upset with Mezco? Well, one of the things I did, as well as emailing Mezco to voice my displeasure was harrass the poor bastard who runs their official facebook page.
Who then kindly offered to post me a set of the 20th anniversary varients at cost.
I ummed and ahhed about it, calmed down a bit and decided that yes, I did really want them actually, and would like to go ahead with that as not doing so really was just biting off my nose to spite my face you know?
So I took this guy up on his kind offer and he sent me his paypal deets and I realised I wasn't talking to some Mezco intern mook but actually Damien Glonek, one of the cocreators of the fucking doll line!
I was all "WTF!??? "

He seemed to find it all quite amusing and was very nice to chat to. He's a lovely guy. Restored my faith in LDDs. I'm still pissed at Mezco but it's hard to stay mad at Damien, he's a sweetie.

Anyway, after several weeks this came.

this box is fricken HUGE like seriously.

I was quite relieved that my customs fee was not the £70 odd I was expecting and budgeting for but a far more tolerable £38. Why? because customs misread the form. It states "dolls x6, value $30" which means 6 dolls that are 30 EACH but hey, thanks for misreading customs peeps! hahah.

This right here is a box of awesomeness.

6 gorgeous varient dollies!

Well, not really varients. They're the mystery dolls from series 35 with nice clear lids.

I really wanted Sin and Posey and given the mystery sets were and still are selling for STUPID money, it was actually about the same price to just buy all bloody six. How nuts is that?

Of course it means a duplicate Damien who had a home waiting for him hahah, and Candy who I didn't really care about.

Those two were quickly snatched up by another collector who swapped me those 2 for 4 dolls.

Who for some reason I haven't taken photos of. Huh.. go figure?

I got ressurection Cuddle's varient, who scares my middle son ahahahaha hilarious, The Lost in Oz wizard, Scarecrow and Tin Man.
Sweet!

and Damien and Candy went to someone who is gonna cherish them which is super nice.

Meanwhile I haven't quite gotten around to opening these because i'm a bum. Also I haven't got much space on my shelf so I kinda want to do a bit of a shuffle before I open the four I kept and figure out where to display them. (and i'll do that as a review when I do)

But this DID rekindle my passion for LDDs.

I'm a fickle person aren't I?

So while browsing bootsale apps I got an alert for some LDDs near(ish) to me (okay other side of london) which were insanely cheap and collection only.

I chatted to the lady and we agreed to meet in Waterloo. 

Frozen Charlotte is a doll I was never entirely sure about. She's beautiful, like absolutely stunning, but she's also very simple and her price to collectors is just flat out terrifying.
So I kinda just ignored her and put her into my "overpriced and probably overrated" grump file haha.

in person, she is a VERY pretty doll.

Sort of haunting in her simplicity.

She wears a felt feeling coat with fur trimmed sleeves, matching gloves, ear muffs and ice skates with very delicate pompoms on them.
The skates make it very hard for her to stand up though.

Curiously, her death certificate is inside a sealed bag.

I've never seen this before. It's about the Mezco club, ClubMez (is that even still a thing? lol)

Charlotte's hair is in a high ponytail and white with a very slight blonde tinge to it.

She has a crack on the back of her leg to match the one on her head and blue blushing on her knees.

Poor wee girl, she makes me cold just looking at her.

The other doll I got was another i'd put into my "too expensive, pass" file. Rain.

To be perfectly honest, the collector obsession with Rain and her price tag meant I kinda ignored her rather actively. A sort of self preservation I suppose, not wanting to fall in love with something i'd never be able to justify buying.

Seeing her in person just.. holy crap. I understand WHY she's such a loved doll.

Her face is done in this really painterly way, a bit watercolourish really. Her dress has these artistic stains all down it as do her wings.

She's stunning.

She has large feathered wings which velcro to her back.

This one didn't come with her chipboard or her death certificate but what do I care? I have a Rain!

and omg she's amazing.

Her crown of thorns is very very fragile looking, i'm a bit scared to touch it.

The lady I got these from said she used to collect LDDs and Little Apple Dolls but they'd been in storage for years as she had no space to display them. So they were being rehomed.
I'm glad I got to give these two a new home.

Also this uh... THING. It was in the 50p charity box in town and... just what the ever loving hell is it?
It's a cow... ostrich... what?

the pained look on its face... the udders... it's all kinds of fucked up. We had to bring it home.

I also came across this girl in a charity shop. There were actually 2 of them, the other one was blonde, a lot more blotchily painted and wearing a black and white sari.

They appear to be repurposed Pelham Puppets. It looks like they even painted AROUND the factory face paint to make her brown and she may have her original gypsy top under the sari.
She's carrying a "baby" which is just a kinda rough stuffed shape swaddled up in fabric.

She has holes for the strings she should have had, but instead of strings she has a large hook screwed into her scalp that allows her to hang like this.

it's all very weird.

there were, as I said, 2 of them, amongst a big pile of tourist tat. I wonder if, rather than some ambitious art project, maybe they were actually ex factory stock sold to a foreign market and repuposed as souvineers?

Whatever her history, I think she's kinda fun in a bizarre sort of way.

And finally this month I got this gal.

I've named her Kismet.

I didn't intend to buy her, but she was obscenely cheap on ebay so I couldn't resist a cheeky low bid and uh.. yeah.. somehow won her with that.
Oops?

She's a Resinsoul Mei, a very popular sculpt actually as it's quite a gentle sweet face with elf ears.
Kismet is in their "coffee" or "light tan" skin which is a sort of pale, slightly stoney looking beige.
(it's paler than it looks in photos, curiously enough)

She was listed as being quite yellowed but I can't see it myself, then again the lighting of late has been SHIT so.. what do I know.
Either way, indoors she looks fine so it can't be that obvious or major.

She came nude, I just put random stuff on her to keep her dignity lol.
She did however come with these eyes... they are... weird eyes.

They have stars in them and no pupils and honestly are a bit creepy and weird.

She has a default company faceup which while pretty well done I feel is a bit...lacking personality. I dunno, I don't like company faceups. Sure they're well executed but they're so generic I just feel it kinda defeats the point of that expensive doll you know?

Also Resinsoul use waaaaaay too much grey in their faceups, it makes the doll look a bit dull to my eye.

More colour!

Because she was bloody cheap, I didn't feel so bad about trying my hand at a few additive mods. I've always wanted to do a tunnel piecing like this so on with the milliput!

Also in with some different eyes. These are Resinsoul factory eyes but they're a really pretty purpleish blue colour. It contrasts gorgeously with her skin tone.

What I found was tricky about additive mods was hiding the seam and matching the skin tone nicely.

Once she has a wig a lot of the errors should just be ignorable of course.

the red tube is a piece of the straw from a can of compressed air lol.

Now, OFF WITH HER FACE!

Say bye to the bland grey resinsoul factory faceup!

And hello to my "slap shit on her face, all the shit, it's not me unless it's crazy and fantasy!" faceup lol.

I'm actually pretty insanely proud of the mask and the way it blends.

She didn't get proper eyebrows because they defied me, and once I got her mask done they felt like overkill anyway.

I've ordered her a wig now, but I still haven't decided on her style. I know she's not medieval, i'm pretty much done with medieval dolls now, but I dunno anything beyond that.
Hmmm.

So impulse buy crazy cheap bjd! lol. (seriously with postage she was £60.)

and so that is what I did this month... and some of last month heh.

Oops?

On the plus side, I have a 50% deposit for this Magic Mirror doll squirrelled away and so long as I keep that and only spend OTHER money, it should be fine.
I have one last payment on my Souldoll heads and then i'm gonna work on saving up for their bodies while hopefully paying off a magic mirror layaway too.
so yeah, that's probably gonna consume rather a lot of my funds for the forseeable future.
Unless I get a sweet wad of cash for christmas but i'm not sure how likely that is.

drat.

Ahh well.