This post is for Giggles

Literally, I do these posts just for sh!ts and giggles.  The one and only Ideal made this charismatic little doll.  I found this image on Pinterest, so if it's yours let me know and I'll give you the proper credit...or take the image down, one or the other.  Sadly Giggles does not have ties to any musicians of the era, not that I know of.  But she sure is cute!

So stinkin' cute!  Giggles hails from the same era as Saucy and Swingy, and her gaily striped dress reflects that.  She is eighteen inches tall and sports long, straight hair with bangs.  The Caucasian doll has...you guessed it!  Dishwater blonde hair and blue eyes!  Giggles also came in an adorable African American form, which is more than I can say for Swingy!  Miss Deb notes that Giggles's black form is rare, which sadly is often the case with dolls of color.  In her post about Baby Heather she explains that the white doll would be featured in the commercial, while the black doll only got attention when she popped up in stores.  Even as recently as the late nineties I've noticed that, with Cabbage Patch Kid commercials like Pretty Crimp 'n' Curl, Teeny Tiny Preemies, Baby's First Haircut, the notorious Snacktime Kids, and that's not all of 'em!  I know for a fact that all the above lines had African American options because I've seen 'em, and because they appeared at the very tail end of some of the commercials.  Cabbage Patch Kids have always been good about representing the various races with their products...and yet the dolls and children in their commercials were usually white.  Shame, because dolls are supposed to be for everyone.

Racial discussion aside, since Giggles is an Ideal doll her mechanism behaves in a similar manner to Kissy's:  bring out the doll's arms, then gently pull them together.  Giggles's head will shift, her eyes will move, and she'll...well, she'll giggle!  She apparently did not require batteries, which again is more than I can say for Swingy, OR Baby Heather!  As I've said before, I tend to be leery of battery-operated toys.  Sooner or later you get bored with the toy, and if you forget to take the batteries out (as a bubblehead like me can do) they sometimes leak and do a number on your toy.  When I bother with batteries at all I'm extra-diligent about taking them out when I'm done with the toy.  Giggles avoids that problem, which is more than I can say for Swingy and Baby Heather.

I have to admit that if I had infinite room and infinite money I'd have both Giggles and Swingy in a New York second.  Their smiling faces and Mod-colored clothes make my retro-style heart sing.  I'm not betting on ever being independently wealthy, but one day I'll have enuff room.  Unfortunately that'll likely mean that I'll be alone in the house...so let's not think about that!  I'll admire Giggles from afar instead.

Love,
RagingMoon1987

Two blue-eyed blondes

I've been futzing around with my My Twinns lately since they're all gonna need some work done before I get ready to move them.  During one futzing session I noticed that my boy Twinn has something in common with one of my other favorite dolls, Real Baby. 

Both Justin and Geneva are blue-eyed blondes!  This makes me giggle because I sometimes get tired of that combo.  I don't HATE it, mind y'all.  It's just that when I was little ALL the Barbies and almost ALL the baby dolls I had were blonde and blue-eyed.  Thus when I had a doll with dark hair or no hair or particularly red hair I was pretty pleased.  Justin and Geneva help break up the monotony a bit, though.  Geneva's eyes are darker than usual...

...and Justin's eyes are lighter. 

I keep thinking that Justin's left eye is wonky, but I'm wondering now if that eyelash is just set too low?  I need to reglue Rael's lashes AGAIN, so I may try that with Justin too to see if it'll help him focus.

I should probably note that at one time I was blonde and blue-eyed myself, LOL.  I was born with dark hair, said hair lightened up for a spell, and by the time I hit second grade it was dark again.  My eyes have been blue from the get-go.  They're not as dark as Geneva's nor as light as Justin's, and they didn't change color like my mother's eyes did.  Mama was born with blue eyes, and they didn't turn brown until she was about a year and a half old!  Humans are so weird!

Speaking of My Twinn, keep an eye out for a new girl.  I said no more big dolls, but this one's hair was just too beautiful to pass up.  She'll make her debut soon.

Love, 

RagingMoon1987 

Swingy, and her ties to Paul Revere

Today I want to discuss another vintage doll that I've spoken of in the past and have been tempted by.  This young lady is another Mattel doll, and her name is Swingy.  Likely if she belonged to me she'd end up with a pet name like my Saucy has.  Anyway, this is her; photo is courtesy of RubyGunner on Etsy.  This particular doll sold long ago, but other examples can be found on eBay and Etsy for relatively cheap.  Miss Ruby says that her little brother was about the same height as her childhood Swingy, and it was fun to watch them dance together.

Yes, child and doll danced.  The best way I can describe Swingy is that she's a little go-go dancer.  She dates back to 1968 and was your classic Mattel combo:  platinum blonde and blue-eyed.  Nope, never saw a picture of a black variant, which surprised me since Mattel was not opposed to producing black dolls by 1968.  I've seen her size listed as anywhere from eighteen to twenty-one inches, so...maybe she varied in size like Kissy did.  According to Mattel's archives she could apparently walk and dance.  I've seen pictures of this doll in two hairstyles (short and long with curled ends) and two dress variants (pink with polka dots and a pink and orange bodice with a white skirt).  Swingy ran on batteries and...I think it was a switch that you flipped in her back to get her to dance.  She'd swing her arms and move her feet, not unlike Ray Thomas did when he wasn't playing his flute.  Like other older dolls, Swingy sometimes lost her ability to dance as the years went by, but she wasn't as prone to breaking as poor Baby Heather was.  I've also heard that there are good dolly doctors who can get Swingy to dance again if she's on the blink.

Now...since Swingy was a dancer she came with her own record.  Back in those days it was not unheard-of to get a noteworthy musician to do advertisements for things like toys, cars, soda pop, the like.  I sadly could only find audio for the Who's Coca-Cola jingle; for all I know it was a radio ad and there was no accompanying video.  Anyway, musicians do the same thing today; wave enuff money at Jennifer Hopez and she'll shake her rear for your product.  Back in 1968 musicians relied on honest-to-God musical skill rather than looks, though being a hunkasaurus rex didn't hurt.  Thus was the case with Paul Revere and the Raiders (the band that did that GTO commercial linked above); they were cute and could also string together a decent tune.  This is them, minus the tricorn hats.

Paul Revere and the Raiders were a fairly diverse band when it came to music.  "Indian Reservation" is dark, dramatic, and political, "Kicks" is a bouncy anti-drug anthem, and "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon" made Mama cry out "Ewwww!!!  That's too bubblegum for me!"  Keep in mind that she was the one who taught me about Paul Revere and the Raiders!  Bubblegum or not, "Mr. Sun, Mr. Moon" was the song that got retooling for Swingy.  The key got bumped up a bit, the lyrics got a complete overhaul, and "Song For Swingy" was born.  Pretty cool, eh?  I wonder how much Mattel had to pay those guys?  A snippet of the song can be heard in Swingy's commercial, and the full song can be found here.  As I noted twice above, this band was not allergic to doing commercials for other products.  I freaking love that GTO commercial.

Of course if Paul Revere and the Raiders wasn't your preference any record would do.  My choice would've been...hmmm, 1968...likely one of the Big Four: the Beatles, the Who, the Rolling Stones, and/or the Kinks.  Mama likely would've selected Aretha Franklin or Stevie Wonder; she's a live-strong, die-hard Motown fan.  I admit that even a gimpy fatso like me can get her hips rocking to "Uptight (Everything's Alright)".  Fifteen years old...when I was fifteen I was throwing up before school every morning because the bullying was so bad.  When he was fifteen Stevie Wonder was recording that gem of a song.  An amazing performer, that guy!  I'm so glad he's still alive and kickin' (Miss Aretha is sadly not).  

As with last week, share your memories if you've got any!  I always love reading your stories.

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

Return of the black hole sun

The year's big event is over and done.  While some of the meteorologists were concerned about the weather getting rough (it IS April, after all) conditions were pretty good, with only some scattered clouds to interfere with photography.  Indeed, this is going to be the only decent day of the week for skygazing; it rained yesterday, and rain is forecast off and on for the rest of the week.  In true RagingMoon1987-fashion I dragged Idalia Gale along with me, and we shared my goofy-looking specs.

By the way, I find it interesting that I've experienced two major solar eclipses now, and they both occurred on a Monday.  In 2017 Malden was out of the path of totality, so I snapped a few pictures of shadows and took a nap.  This time...oh, it was wild.  KAIT announced at one o'clock that the eclipse was starting, so out the south door I went...to be greeted by people.  Five in all.  They'd spent the morning in and out of the library and were very nice.

The gentleman in orange is getting his doctorate in astronomy or some related field, and he is attending school in Utah.  The woman in the hat, leaning against the light pole, is from Athens, Georgia.  In the red chair is another woman; she is the mother of Orange Shirt and came all the way from Wisconsin.  She had some beautiful aurora borealis pictures on her cell phone.  Upon being invited to look through a telescope, I joined them, introducing myself as "the town eccentric."  I had Idalia Gale in my arms, so I'm pretty sure they believed me.

Orange Shirt's father brought a colander with him, and we were able to see how the shadows changed.  This is how they looked at 1:14...

...and at 1:23...

...at 1:30...

...at 1:38...

...and at 1:43.

Here's the group from Wisconsin, colander and all.  They were a lovely bunch.

Here the man from Wisconsin is looking through the other family's telescope.

Yes, the telescope.  It had a special filter and was safe to look through.  This couple from Georgia brought it.  I was able to get their names, Rhett and Diana.  They too were lovely folks.

One more picture of the colander's shadows.  They were getting teeny-weeny at this point (time check was 1:49).  I regrettably could not get any pictures of the sun, even through my glasses or through Mr. Wisconsin's welder's shield (he'd brought one).  The sun was glorious to behold.

Here we see Mr. Wisconsin and his son goggling at the shadows, which were wavering like heat radiating off a hot surface on a summer's day.  That admittedly was pretty darn awesome.  However, my attention was drawn to the western horizon, which was beginning to look ominous.  A cool breeze was also beginning to blow, and since it had been quite warm the breeze felt great.

1:56.  Gettin' dark! 

Here it's possible to see how the sun still shines, but the moon's shadow is fast approaching from the west.

Totality occurred at 1:57, give or take, and it came down like a tidal wave.  I regrettably could not photograph the fabled diamond ring, but it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.  It was surreal, how the horizon was light, the sky immediately above us was dark, and the sun gleamed like a luminous ring around the moon.  Here's what the horizon looked like.

I was able to get one picture of the whole shebang through Rhett's telescope.  The pink blur at the bottom is a huge solar flare, which was drop-dead gorgeous when viewed with naked eyes.

I also was able to get...well, a passable picture without help from the telescope.  Venus and a few other planets were visible during totality.

And then it was over.  Totality lasted...oh, three minutes, tops, but what a glorious three minutes it was.  We all whooped and clapped and cheered like a bunch of fools as the sky went dark, and...gosh, I can't describe how much fun it was!  I think Idalia had fun too.  Or I can pretend she did, LOL.

This truly was a once-in-a-lifetime event and I had a mile-wide smile on my face (and a full bladder) at the end of it all.  The next total eclipse in the U.S. won't be until 2033, and Alaska will be the only ones in the States to see it.  Fine by me; Alaska deserves to see neat stuff like that too.  There will be two more in 2044 and 2045, but the 2044 event will be for northeastern Montana and extreme western North Dakota.  The eclipse in 2045 will go well south of Missouri; I doubt my sister will still be living in Fayetteville by then, but if she is she and Brother-in-Law will have a ringside seat.  So unless I fancy a road trip this was my last chance to see a total solar eclipse, and I'm so glad I took the opportunity to do it!  Hmmm...now what to look forward to?  Oh well, as buddy Xanadu once said, I'll find something fun to do!  The last time I griped about things getting dull around here, Sandy McCall materialized on my front porch!  So we'll see.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Rhett and Diana for letting me use their telescope, and to the folks from Wisconsin for just being all-around fun.  I regrettably did not get their names.  But this was a helluva lot of fun for me, and it ranks high on my "Coolest things I've ever seen" list, along with Comet Hale-Bopp, Lake Norfolk, and Night of the Butterflies.

And to those of y'all who fancy a listen, here's "Black Hole Sun."  A deceased friend of mine really liked that song, and I think of him whenever I hear it.  Or if you want something older, here's Pink Floyd and "Eclipse."  Ah, Dark Side of the Moon was about as close to perfect as an album can get, and "Eclipse" was a humdinger of a finisher!

Love and sunshine,
RagingMoon1987

Baby Heather

I don't want to add yet another large doll to my collection when I have a move coming up, so this post will contain a lot of grainy screenshots.  That said, I've only learned about Baby Heather in the past couple'a weeks.  I found this cute video shot in the 1980s of a little kid receiving a Baby Heather doll for Christmas, and that piqued my interest (note that the child says "thank you" for the gift, by the way).  The caption of the video states simply that "Baby Heather was all the rage in the Christmas season '87."  Meaning that examples of this doll are roughly my age, LOL.  Forty's just a few years away!

Needless to say I was intrigued by this Baby Heather, a more traditional-looking baby doll who was able to capture hearts during the Cabbage Patch days.  I think Coleco was on life support by 1987, but kids still loved Cabbies!  Anyway, THIS is Baby Heather.  She could be either a blue-eyed blonde, or a doll of color.  Both were and still are quite cute.

Heather was a large baby, at a little over twenty-one inches.  That would put her at a comparable size to my Real Baby, the one and only Geneva.

See, I don't hate blue-eyed blondes!  I need to do a post about that, since not all of my dolls are blonde and blue-eyed like I thought.  LOL, as I said last summer Geneva's eyes are more storm cloud blue than ice blue, but oh well.  Anywho, Baby Heather could talk, turn her head, and respond to some verbal stimuli, meaning that she would've fit in nicely with my post on talking dolls.  She ran on TWO sizes of batteries and thankfully could be turned on and off (take THAT, Furby!).  Miss Deb also notes that the doll could respond as a newborn or as a one-year-old, which I think is pretty darn cool.  She did NOT load her pants, to the relief of the dad in the YouTube video.  Unfortunately since Heather has some moving parts she also was a bit fragile.  Miss Deb reported that her doll had a bum leg, and several comments (on YouTube and elsewhere) discussed broken necks and technical glitches.  This discussion board even notes that the doll would indeed go psycho and you couldn't shut her off (my apologies, Furby).  You had to let her do her own thing until she shut off on her own!  Maybe Mattel was having quality control issues around then, just as they did in 1975.  Either way Baby Heather was popular, but she was only around for the 1987 Christmas season, possibly because she was fragile and glitchy.  That's too bad, because the concept is pretty wicked.

I know some of my viewers are old enuff to remember Baby Heather, so do any of you have your own memories of her, good or bad?  Kindly share your stories if you have any.  I must say that this baby is a tantalizing one, even thirty-six years after the fact...no, Moon Girl.  You have Adam and Mei and Sandra and Geneva to handle.  And Tommy, Sally, and Lili Marlene too; they're staying with me.  They're ALL big babies, and Tommy and Sally need repairs of their own.  Anywho, y'all share your thoughts if you have them.

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987 

Random post about Pixlings...and some brief musings on Capsule Chix

I've been paying casual attention to the Pixlings ever since Miss Emily reviewed them last August.  They're colorful and cute, but I balked (and am still balking) at the thought of that big plastic bottle they live in.  Cumbersome, single-use hovels made me regret purchasing a Capsule Chix set, made me regret purchasing a Blume doll, and has kept my L.O.L. Surprise collection on the small side.  But...some new images dropped on Reddit, and I have to admit that my arm is being twisted a little.  These pictures are screenshots, so apologies for quality.  This is Faye the Fairy Pixling; I've got a friend named Faye!

This one is Amber the Dragon Pixling.

Faye and Amber have actually apparently been waiting in the wings since December, but they're still pretty new to me.  Bearlinda, on the other hand...I don't know how long she's been a thing.  I presume that she's a Bear Pixling.

Then there's Catlyn, who must be a Cat Pixling.  I like her because cats, that's why.

Looks like Marena got a rehash too; she's got snowflakes on her skirt, where she didn't before.

Even though Catlyn is a cat, I like Amber the best.  Dragon-themed dolls always tend to be aesthetically pleasing.  Just ask Jinafire Long.

Well, my arm is twisted some, but with a house switch now a probability rather than a possibility I'm going to see if I can't find one loose on eBay.  I need a big plastic bottle with a one-time gimmick like I need a second rear end.  Still, these new girls are pretty cute.  They remind me of the Capsule Chix (who indeed are their cousins), but they add in the bright colors and cutesy themes that were found in Enchantimals and Zelfs.  

Speaking of Capsule Chix, I like the little figure I got (I named her Nixie), but as I said before you paid a lot of money to get a teeny-weeny doll in a huge package.  

Oh, why did I name her Nixie, no one asked?  Because she's got two peace sign hands like Richard Nixon.

Nixie has a lot of charisma and a lot of joints, and I've liked her enuff to keep her around, but her whole body could've fit into a single pod (I think her set included five vending machine-style pods, but I don't remember).  I think that if Moose Toys had sold these Capsule Chix like that, a whole little doll inside a single pod, then they could've potentially made a killing, kinda like MGA Entertainment has done with the L.O.L. Surprises.  And maybe not.  There's no way of knowing for sure.

Over and out,
RagingMoon1987

Happy Easter!

Ah yes, it is Easter and Resurrection Day.  This day and Christmas are the reason followers of Christ have hope even after we're off this mortal coil.  And if you're not religious, Easter egg hunts are still a heckuva lotta fun.  I love watching the children prowl the grass for brightly-colored plastic eggs and have some innocent fun, and when I was young I always liked watching my friends at church dress up.  We almost always had something nice and new to wear if the weather wasn't too rough.  That said, I never have liked it when Easter comes early.  When I was little an early Easter usually meant a rainy and/or cold Easter.  That will not be the case today; it's cloudy, but the high is predicted to be around eighty.  Not that a little rain would've stopped Idalia Gale and Kory Aryan from having fun.  The muddy front yard kept them inside, but they still managed to have an Easter egg hunt.

Both dolls are wearing new clothes, of course.  Idalia's outfit came from crawford176 (an Etsy shop) and Kory's came from 77CabbagePatchLane (another Etsy shop).  LOL, I learned very quickly after discovering Etsy that Barbie and American Girls could be fun to dress, but I didn't really learn until last fall that Cabbage Patch Kids could be fun to dress too.  Since there are quite a few boy Cabbies out there it's a little easier to find nice options for boys.

This getup would've been good for St. Pat's, but I ordered it the day before St. Pat's so that's that.  It's got Oscar the Grouch on it!

Oscar the Grouch is my fellow!  He's delightfully blunt like I can be, and he's green like I like, AND he's a slob like I am.  I've always loved Oscar the Grouch.

Kory's getup is good for just about any part of the year except the dead of winter, but Idalia's clothes are strictly Easter.

The getup came with two little bows, but Idalia only has one thick ponytail so I...crammed both the bows over said ponytail.  I dread getting them out again.

As usual, Idalia is ready to stuff her face.  Cabbies with #11 heads are always ready to eat.

Idalia and I are two of a kind in that respect; I freaking love Easter candy.  Heck, I like candy, period.  The carrot contains one of my favorite candies, Reese's Pieces.

The plastic eggs are not candy, but rather poppers.

They're full of those little white things that you throw down and they make snapping sounds.  I loved those growing up.  One Independence Day I even threw them at my sister!  Interestingly, the backs of the eggs have...this.

Mmkay...I guess they mean that the egg can't be sold if it's opened?  Seems like a goofy thing for any label to say.  Maybe "DO NOT EAT" would've been better, since these little snappers can look like tiny, wrapped candies...at least to a dumb kid.  Smart kids know better, LOL.

Happy Easter,
RagingMoon1987

A look back

I had a Flickr page before I was active with this blog, and I was finally able to access my old page earlier today.  Most of the pictures are crap and need deleting, but I did find some oldies of Daniela, my neglected but loved LIV doll.  These are old pictures, taken before I'd had a lot of experience photographing dolls or anything, so some of 'em are of questionable quality.  That said, the fall of 2011 was a magical time.  The weather had finally stabilized after a year of near-constant rain and waves of violent tornadoes.  My family had successfully transitioned to our new house (the one we will ironically be leaving soon), and I learned to love cocker spaniels.  I'd always heard that cocker spaniels were dumber than dirt, and indeed Maggie was dumb, but she was also affectionate and mellow.  We had Maggie three months before she died in sudden, frightening fashion, but that was the only dark part of that autumn.  Since we DID move my expertise was called upon to store and move my already large doll collection, and I fell back into the hobby.  LIV doll Daniela was the first one I bought, and I never looked back.

Truth be told, Katie was aesthetically my favorite LIV doll, because she had dark hair and green eyes.  However, Daniela's music-loving persona led me to choose her over Katie (the prerequisite athlete of the bunch).  Here's the first halfway decent picture I got of her, in a red wig and a pink dress with a fuchsia bolero.  One can see Daniela's painted hair peeping out from under the wig, but Daniela didn't let that bother her.

Next pic...I freaking love this dress, but maybe not with the wig.

I thought maybe the purple accents in the dress would jive with the wig, but it ended up being a little too much for my sensibilities.  As we'll soon see, the dress worked out better with a simpler wig.

The next picture was taken during a rainy day in...anywhere from late fall of 2011 to late spring of 2012.  I know because the pool was covered, as seen in the background.  Daniela's little raincoat came with a working umbrella, so I took her outside to see how she looked with it.  This wig unfortunately shows more of her painted hair than the red one did.

Unfortunately the umbrella proved too small for Daniela to get honest-to-God under it, but I could make her look like she was putting it up.  Overall I wasn't impressed with that rain set; the coat felt stiff and cheap.

Here Daniela is almost all-original, except for yet another new wig, and a chunky necklace that I threw on her.

I called these unnatural wigs "Crayola wigs," because the colors were nice and bright like crayons.  I am not a strict Crayola snob, by the way.  Any crayon will do me, LOL.  Anyway, this next Crayola wig became a favorite of mine, both for its bright red color and for the way it jived with Daniela's new beach getup.

My sister was rocking a red 'do around that time, so that shade is kinda special to me.  My brother-in-law says that the first time he saw Sister her hair was red.  In reality my sister's hair was and still is dark brown (like Daniela's, LOL).

I called this next wig the Hannah Sluttana wig, because it looked like something Miley Cyrus would've worn...and because I thought and still think Miley Cyrus is a cheap little trollop.  Daniela looks okay, though.

That coat was one of the themed coats, by the way.  There were five of 'em, one for each of the LIV girls.  The camo one is...I think that one belonged to blonde, blue-eyed Sophie.  I liked it because it reminded me of a jacket I had and lost during college.  This next coat was usually modelled on Hayden.

It ended up looking nice with the pink purse from the last jacket.  I also have Alexis's coat, and it was my favorite because it had a functioning hood, but for some weird reason I never took a picture of Daniela wearing it.  Go me.  I never found the coats meant for Daniela herself, or for Katie.  Katie's coat was the most like what I myself owned at the time (red and water-repellant).

The last decent picture I got of Daniela was this one, and admittedly it's not great.

Her hair fades into the background, and the business end of my computer cable is visible by her left leg, but at the time I didn't think about crap like that.  All I cared about was whether her face was in focus and whether or not she stood up.  But it's possible to see that a plainer wig looks best with this dress.

I also have Jake and another Daniela in my LIV box, and I got some good pictures of Jake, but those pictures didn't make it onto my Flickr post for some reason.  One picture from that session did make it here, though.

These two are NOT romantically involved, by the way.  Both dolls were from the Making Waves line, and I pretended that Jake and Daniela were good friends who swim and hang out together.  Spin Masters kinda did Jake dirty, I think; I can only name one outfit that they did for him.  Usually my Jake ended up in Fashionistas Ken clothes, which fit him like a glove.  It was early fall of 2012 when I put that picture together, by the way.  I think the LIV dolls had been discontinued by then.  I freaking loved these dolls though, and I still have them carefully stored away, waiting for daylight to come again.  It WILL come again.  Some day daylight will come again for my bunch.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987