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.
