Moonspell Magic Vs Mirrormi

Two, count em, TWO new doll lines by rival companies. Both magical themed (kinda) and both released at a similar time? Of course I had to take a look at both. 

Let's just dive into this.  

Monster High - Ultimate Skulltimate Draculaura

I didn't have the energy to set up my photo box, but I wanted to open her despite my exhaustion so i'm afraid you just have to deal with lesser photos. Ho hum. 

I don't have much preamble here, I wanted her, I bought her. That's about all there is to it. lol. 

Chabel by Feber - Spain's own Licca Chan

 

 

One thing I really love about doll collecting is learning about other country's BIG doll lines, the ones that had a large impact on people's childhoods and yet never broke any other markets. 

 Chabel is one such doll. 

If you're a Spanish Millennial then you probably know her, otherwise, let me tell you a little from what i've managed to glean from my research. 

Chabel was a doll line released in 1983 by a company called Feber (who still exist as a subsidiary of Famosa now). Inspired by Japanese anime and manga which was becoming popular in the country at the time, the story goes that a deal was struck with Takara to use Licca Chan's likeness. However I can't find any confirmation that this is for sure what happened. But there's definite heavy inspiration from Licca if nothing else. 

 Chabel was by the sounds of it, a very successful brand. She had fashion packs, accessories and playsets and even stationary and shoes for kids. But her reign was short lived. In 1993 Feber stopped producing dolls completely, and Chabel was retired. It's unclear what happened, as their 1991 turnover was great, but soon after financial issues arose and the company pivoted to what they still produce today, outdoor toys and playhouses. They were acquired by Famosa in 2006 and exist now rather like MGA's Little Tykes or Mattel's Fischer Price. They in fact seem to make very similar products to Little Tykes, lots of little ride on car things and playhouses and slides. 

 Anyway, in the 8 years of her existence, Chabel stood her ground against foreign dolls like Barbie and was well remembered enough to get a reproduction doll produced by Famosa and Giochi Preziosi in 2024. 

Today i'm going to be looking at a vintage 1989-90 Chabel, and the 2024 reproduction doll. And let's see how she compares with Japan's own Licca Chan. 

While it's still Pride month - Monster High Valentine and Spelldon

 I've had these guys for a few weeks now, i've just been too exhausted to debox anything and then a massive heatwave hit which further killed my energy. 

But I wanted to get this out before the end of the month so here we go! 

if i'm a bit erratic please understand it's like 35C right now in the UK and we're struggling. 

Let's goooo

 

Dress to Impress - another roblox doll

 I reviewed the last Roblox fashion doll a while back and found her marshmallow head very amusing, and I have to admit, I didn't really think they'd try again with that but here we are. 

Another company, another roblox doll. 

and just like the previous ones this one is from a very popular game on the platform and comes with digital codes for wearable stuff. 

I don't play roblox, I don't know much about it beyond what my kids have told me and these dress up games aren't their thing so they aren't much help there. 

But Dress to Impress seems to be some sort of fashion game where you earn coins or something to dress up your avatar. I don't really know but whatever, we're here for the dolls not the video game.

I grabbed this pack half price secondhand because the person only wanted the code and I don't want the code, so it worked out great. 

if you don't care about the code, you can get a lot of these dolls pretty cheap on vinted and ebay. 

Let's get into this

Monster High g3 Robecca Steam

 A little interlude to finally review this doll that i've had sitting here for months. 

I just haven't had the energy.

and the photos reflect that. I'm sorry they're a bit shit, I was and still am in the middle of a fatigue episode and getting up to do stuff is difficult, but I wanted to debox her to cheer myself up and still wanted to review her. 

 so here we go

The Haul - part 2 - oh so many clothes.... tlc bundles and assorted dolls

 I have been trying not to buy too many dolls lately (which is in itself extremely difficult and i'm not doing great, at all. You could in fact say that i'm failing miserably.) but I have been scratching that itch by buying doll clothes. 

You see, I have a goal. I am trying to obtain an example of every Sindy outfit made during the Pedigree years (1963-1986) and it's an interesting project. 

what I have found the most surprising, is how common some outfits are vs others and which eras are so much more represented. The very early 60s stuff is quite easy to find while the late 60s stuff tends to be a lot rarer and I can't quite figure out why that is. 

Anyway, this means buying big bundles for a handful of pieces to complete sets or get new bits I didn't already have. It means buying tlc lots to repair. it means a lot of doll clothes to identify and enjoy.

And inevitably, I end up with non Sindy stuff that I like enough to keep for other dolls. 

So let's get into this!

The haul part 1 - Bratz, Wild Hearts Crew and Monster High

So, flush with Christmas money and kinda in that post holiday season come down, what better way to get a little shot of happiness than by splurging on some small plastic people?

Also, sales. There's a lot of sales.... January sales, Easter sales.... all the damn sales. And some pretty nice ones for once. 

So, I did a thing. Well... several things. From multiple places. 

Amazon US

Amazon JP

Amazon UK

Very

Ebay

Vinted

Aliexpress

I.... might have gone a little mad. 

but in my defense, SALES! 

so let's take a look at all the things I splurged on and feel kinda a little bit like I need to justify shall we?

This won't be quite as in depth as some of my individual reviews but i'll try to be detailed without this ending up too long. I intend to split this into a few posts too. Just for you know... my sanity. 

So here's part one! 

Barbie You Create kits 2026

 I can't think of much preamble here. 

Last year (?) Mattel released their "You Create" kits and dolls, the idea being that they came with a new neck knob that made it easier to take the head off and swap things around. 

the first set came with three heads, three bodies and three wigs for ultimate customisability, however while the wigs were "okay", wigs at Barbie scale always suffer from looking a little bulky on those tiny heads and the price point was pretty steep (£92 + postage). Couple that with no apparently mainstream store release and being only available via Mattel's own online shopfront, they weren't exactly easily obtainable. 

So 2026 brings us their second wave, where they've changed things up quite a bit.

Gone are the wigs, we have fully rooted heads now. But sadly also gone are the extra bodies. Each kit comes with three heads but only one body, which is I suppose a brilliant way for Mattel to sell more bodies... but of course they don't just sell bodies, you gotta buy a whole extra doll because of course you do.

This time not only are these cheaper (still a rather steep £64.99) they're also available via mainstream retailers like Amazon. 

And as I was flush with amazon vouchers from christmas... and the kits briefly dropped to a little over £50 each... I splurged and bought a couple to check out. 

L.U.V by Far Out Toys

Been thinking about flash in the pan failed doll lines.... 

And so, I give you... 

L.U.V!

A doll line produced by Far Out Toys, the company who also made the Glow Up Girls, a line that had a thoroughly bizarre release here in the UK and was cancelled before we could even get the second half of the first wave. 

L.U.V was, like the Wild Hearts Crew, a line doomed to failure by being sold ONLY at Walmart. Walmart, where dolls go to die.  They also shot themselves in the foot by pricing them far far too high. At $30usd, that made them more expensive than a lot of  Barbie, a lot of Monster High, most Bratz and several other doll brands. 

now yes, I get it. Smaller companies can't get such good wholesale deals so their overheads are more expensive, meaning the final product needs to be more expensive. but when you're launching a new doll line against the big boys, you need to either bring something completely NEW to the scene to justify that price point, or you need to cut a lot of corners to get the price down to undercut the big guys and provide a "budget" alternative. on top of that, a lot of stores won't take a chance on the new guy, so getting your product INTO stores in the first place is hard. Which is why so many new lines end up as exclusives. 
The problem is that Mattel and MGA have such a stranglehold on the doll market that anyone new coming in has a seriously rough struggle to even be noticed. A high price point and a restricted distribution is not doing you any favors. Even if it all makes sense as to why it happens, it's just extra hurdles to overcome when the deck is already massively stacked against you.

what can new toy makers do? I don't know the answer to that sadly. but I do know that many have tried and almost all of them sink without a trace. 

Anyway, let's take a look

Monster High Eekend Getaway Clawdeen and Draculaura

 New year, same ol' inconsistent posting schedule. 

 Which I know, I know, isn't ideal for farming engagement or whatever the hell the social media term is but let's be real here, this is a tiny blog where I just get to ramble on about my special interest, if I wanted fame and fortune i'd be doing literally anything else. 

 But I still feel kinda bad that I don't keep up with this as regularly as I should because I DO want to share stuff, I just don't always have the energy to take photos or even, sadly, actually debox the things I purchase which is really bad. 

This is another reason i've taken to buying preowned dolls by preference. I mean there's the added bonus of it being cheaper but also, I don't have to fight the executive dysfunction to actually sit down and debox.

Anyway, i'm babbling. 

let's get to what we're actually looking at today. The Monster High Eekend Getaway playset. 

well.. i say playset. Car, it's a car. 

This set released in the USA like.. a year ago? And I had resigned myself to it being yet another mattel line we just weren't going to see here in the UK. But it bummed me out because I really did like the Clawdeen a lot.

well, surprise! Smyths got the set in just before christmas. they seem to be getting a lot of g3 Monster High as exclusives and i'm not sure if all the exclusives should concern me or not. I mean we got exclusives back in g1 too and they were a pain in the arse, but with Smyths at least it means one massive toy retailer is taking the chance. 

I  ummed and ahhed about getting this set because I didn't want the damn car and Draculaura didn't WOW me since they changed her hair from the original prototype. *sigh* but I figured for £25 per doll it was a pretty decent deal, especially as they each came with an extra little dress and shoes. 

Let's get into this.

Monster High g3 Skelita Calaveras

 I continue to find it strange not only the distribution of g3 monster high (some stuff never hits the UK, other stuff gets to us earlier than the US. Why?) but also the rather arbitrary choices of characters they bring in. 

Catty Noir, Cupid, Heath but no Rochelle or Howleen and Mouscedes who both have g3 designs already present in the animation.  

What the heck Mattel? Do they just pick names out of a hat you think? 

anyway, the newest character now is Skelita which actually isn't at all surprising as she got TWO holiday dolls. One last year and another this year. And hopefully this means we'll be seeing more new characters because I have to admit, i'm getting really tired of seeing the same dolls over and over again. How many Frankie and Draculauras do we actually NEED Mattel? 

 so, new character is always exciting to see. How did they redesign them, what changes have they made and what features have they kept. I always find it fun. 

so let's take a look at g3 Skelita who it turns out is already controversial. 

Monster High Skullector Alien xenomorph (A patreon review)

 I don't really tend to pay that much attention to the skullector monster high dolls because I generally prefer my dolls to be core franchise rather than licensed movie monsters. Now that said, some of the Skullector dolls have been very damn cool. ESPECIALLY this one which is quite something else. 

still, I intentionally didn't order her when she was available because I didn't NEED her in my life. I figured I could admire her from afar. 

But when one of my readers offered me the opportunity to actually debox one and review her, how could I say no? An up close look at one of the coolest things Mattel has ever released? Heck yeah.  

HUGE thanks to Muinn for letting me get my grubby mitts all over this girl. 

So let's just get into this shall we? 

Toni by Creata

 Now there's a story behind this particular acquisition. 

you see, back in February I purchased this exact doll on Vinted, but the seller then ghosted me and never sent my parcel. I got a full refund of course, but ever since it's pissed me off and i've pined for this doll. I assumed they'd either misplaced her (they're a clearance company or something, so likely have a big warehouse) or gotten a better offer elsewhere but I stalked both their ebay and vinted pages for weeks hoping they'd relist her. 

they never did.

until this week (October) 

A full 8 months later, who should appear on Ebay from the exact same seller? 

you got it, the same doll i'd bought back in February. 

For twice the price i'd paid originally.

typical. 

but I looked at her, I felt all those emotions again and I thought "you know what? Fuck it. I want her, I still want her 8 months later and i'm gonna try again."

so I bought her. 

and yeah, i probably shouldn't be supporting this seller's shitty customer service but eh, I really really wanted the doll okay?

and then I waited, wondering if THIS time they'd actually bloody post her. 

and they did! Which kinda surprised me, but then again, Ebay is a little more stroppy about sellers not sending items people purchase than Vinted who don't appear to have a strike system.

So, who is this doll who I have thought about for the past 8 bloody months? 

She's Creata Toni.

Let's take a look!

Hot damn, i'm alive I swear! - Susi by Plaggona

Okay I know, I haven't posted since JUNE! 

 In my defense, school holidays happened... family visited from overseas and I had surgery so i've had a busy few months and been rather distracted. 

I've also been trying really hard to maintain my "sell more than you buy" resolution. I'm not sure how that's going because while i've sold quite a few things, i've also bought various small bundles of things... oops. 

Anyway, that's not what today is about. today, I want to talk about a very strange clone doll I found.A Greek clone of a Brazillian doll who in herself is kinda a sort of copy too. It's uh... it's complicated. let's dive into this

Monster High Nefera de Nile g3

 Well, it happened. Rarely does the UK get something earlier than the US but sometimes we get lucky. 

Nefera came into stock on amazon via a third party seller in Belfast of all places, and she was retail price so I figured "yeah, let's go for it." 

Amazon's own listing has an uncertain shipping date of "any time within the next 3 months" which I just can't with. I don't like uncertainty like that. ESPECIALLY as several times i've had Amazon forget about my preorders and not send stuff for weeks after they've gotten stock in regularly. 

anyway, 

she took about 4 days to get here but she's here safe and sound so let's take a look!

 

Adventures in restoration - giving tlc old dolls a new lease of life

 I've been trying to buy fewer dolls this year, mostly because i've got absolutely no space left at all. 

So my rule for this year was to sell more than I purchased, which is fine and dandy but the other thing I have been trying to do is stick to mostly buying secondhand dolls too. 

And ultimately I do find I get more enjoyment from dolls that need some tlc than I do from a perfect new doll. 

So today i'm going to share some of my recent (and not so recent) projects! Because why not? 

Holly Hobbie fashion packs from 2006

 Old dead stock fascinates me, where'd it come from? How did it end up here? What even IS it in the first place? 

And for the past year or so i've been seeing these Holly Hobbie fashion packs on Ebay and Vinted etc selling for very very little. 

So I got curious, because I mean, I wasn't even aware Holly Hobbie HAD been rebooted at some point. 

But let's start from the beginning shall we? 

Bundles galore, and trying to be good.

 I've been trying to buy fewer dolls this year but of course, that's always easier said than done when you're a doll collector. 

Still, I think i've been doing fairly well in that I haven't been buying much brand new at least. 

But bundles of tlc dolls are my weakness, and the joy I get from bringing wrecked dolls back to some degree of respectability is worth the money. 

So today i'm going to tell you about the last few bundles i've bought, what I kept, what I rehomed and all that jazz. 

 

New year, new dolls.

 So I was trying to be good for January, I was all "i'm going to try not to buy dolls this month and i'm going to try to sell more than I buy for the year ahead"

well the selling is going pretty decently... 

but the "don't buy any dolls" thing kinda flew out the window.... 

To be fair, I DID manage 20 days of no doll purchases which for me is quite a drought (I have a problem, I know this) 

But what made me break that streak? 

well let me show you.