Bratz Selfie Snaps Photobooth

About time I got around to this one.

So the Bratz relaunch happened a few months ago and amongst the relaunched products were a few playsets. A rerelease of the snow lodge they've done several times already (is anything even recoloured? it looks exactly the same as the moxie girlz lodge and the bratz one before that) and a photo booth.

Anyway, because "selfie" seems to be the buzz word of the year, we have the "selfie snaps" line, a photobooth playset and even selfie sticks with giant lips on. Uh... ok? I admit it, i'm old and don't understand selfie culture. It just baffles me. But kids have been pulling stupid poses in photobooths for decades. I never did, I mean those things are expensive! Who's got like £8 just sitting about for stupid photos? Rich kids, that's who.

Belated montly roundup

Ok I admit it, i've been seriously unmotivated recently. I have a huge amount of dolls to debox, but zero want to do so. I'm tired after a long day so all I want to do is sit down and play games or watch telly. But then I feel guilty because i've got dolls languishing in boxes nghhh.

Anyway, it's time for my late monthly roundup. I was going to do this on the 1st but got distracted by shiny things. Or rather, got distracted by being able to finally play video games again with my new pc. Ahem.

I didn't buy a lot in October/November mostly because Christmas is coming and it's a stupidly expensive time of year for me. I have three birthdays in the weeks around Christmas itself too, so its hugely stressful and involves a lot of organization. Boo.
However, just because i didn't buy a lot doesn't mean i didn't overspend, because being near Christmas stores have started putting their sales on. *gulp* It's a dangerous time to have money burning a hole in your pocket isn't it?

So, Oct came and with it came news from Makie labs. They were removing their boy dolls to do some much needed tinkering with their designs, and they wouldn't be back till Feb next year. NOOOOoooo.
Now, you all know i'm OBSESSED with boy dolls, so when I was told "you have until the 9th of November to order"  I kinda panicked.
I was good though, or rather, i only had enough money to order the one Makie I had intended to make anyway. He's still at the printer, supposed to be here some time this week but we'll see. The lab is moving really slow since the switch to IM bodies and i'm not totally sure I understand why.

Then Asda finally put the Boo York Boo York Monster High 3 pack on sale. I'd been waiting for the price to drop for weeks. Lowest i'd seen was £40, down from 50 and still felt that was more than I wanted to pay. So when the price dropped to £25 you better believe I pounced.

That wiped me out for the month money wise, oops?

But that doesn't mean I don't have STUFF to write about. So here's my text heavy reviews of stuff I totally took photos of and then failed to write up at the time, and stuff I didn't have enough to say about to justify a full review.
It's the monthly roundup! And yes, it's 2 months late, i'm aware of this. I'm a slacker ok?

Monster High - Brand Boo Students

I couldn't resist, I needed these three.

Weirdly this bunch aren't listed as Monster Exchange, they're "Brand Boo students"  I wonder why, especially as their diaries etc specifically mention the monster exchange program.

Anyway, here's Isi Dawndancer, Batsy Claro and Kjersti Trollson

Big changes over at Makie Labs!

Its been a short while since my last Makie ramble right? heheh.
Anyway, since then I now have 20 of the little nylon people, and husband has aquired a few of his own as well.

His latest one arrived today, but she's different so that's why i'm blogging.

Bratz Metallic Madness Cloe and Cameron

Metallic Madness hit the UK! It's a Smyths exclusive but since it was annouced i've been eagerly awaiting the release of Cameron specifically. I've said it before, but I freaking LOVE the Bratz Boyz. They were the first doll line I ever collected and I always get excited when I hear they're getting some MGA attention once more.

Of course, thus far only Cameron has been announced. He has a Hello My Name is doll and this two pack doll. Both look pretty similar if not identical but hey, 2 clone boyz is better than no boyz.

So here it is, Metallic Madness - Trash wedding... I mean... Dance Duo Cameron and Cloe.

Disney Descendants

Descendants! Which only hit the UK a week or two ago and has done so in really random drabbles. 

For those who don't know, Descendants is a Disney made for tv movie. Basic premise, the kids of various Disney villains get a chance to go to school with the kids of Disney heroes, shenanagins happen... it's as you'd expect, cheesy harmless fluff with musical numbers of the campy variety.

Anyway, there's dolls, the first of the Disney licensed dolls made by  Hasbro. 
Hasbro won the Disney franchise off Mattel last year and come 2016 are set to be doing ALL the Disney princess dolls, so Descendants is a good first look at how Hasbro might handle this lucrative string to their bow.

Suffice to say, many have noticed the parallel between Descendant's premise and Ever After High and I refuse to believe a few of the design choices were simple coincidence from either side.
Both for instance, have ambiguously brown skinned daughters of Sleeping Beauty. Hmm... 

Anyway, a new doll franchise is always exciting, particularly from a company who's been mostly absent from fashion dolls for such a long time (No, i'm not counting those crappy Equestria girls dolls, those things are just... suffice to say, i was very unimpressed with the one Husband bought for himself.  ahem) 

I've missed there being proper competition for Mattel, they've been playing with themselves way too long (and yes, I DO know how that reads bwhahaha) 

So let's take a look at these new dolls shall we?

Monster High - Finnegan Wake

I've been obsessively stalking the Smyths website ever since I noticed they had Finnegan listed, and when the Sep 4th "expected stock" date came and went, I admit I was pretty bummed out.
I was even more upset when a few days later the site changed their expected stock date to "sep 18th", it didn't bode well to me.

Thankfully, others in the UK started to report seeing the doll in stock in stores, but i'm in London and thus nowhere near any Smyths stores (yeah, what?). Nearest one to me is a good hour away, a trip totally not worth taking imo for ONE toy.

But then good fortune intervened. Husband rang me from work yesterday to tell me "Toys R Us have Finn!"
He pops into tru most lunch breaks as it's right next to his office lol, so I told him to get me a good one and eagerly waited for him to get home that evening.

I'll admit it, I haven't giggled so excitedly about a MH doll in a long time. I don't quite know why but I was super excited about Finnegan Wake, probably because he's quite an unusual product. We just don't get many disabled dolls, Mattel hasn't produced a doll in a wheelchair since Barbie's friend Becky in the 90s.

Also, I totally voted for Finn. Why? Because BOY doll. I love boy dolls, and the more boy dolls the better as far as i'm concerned.