Confessions of a Dolly Lover
Dolly reviews, news, stories, and other doll-related stuff, plus some random crap.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2025
I'm going to gripe about pink again
Last night I went browsing through American Girl's wiki because I haven't done that in a hot minute, and let me say that I was sorely disappointed in the current wardrobe and its glut of pink. Last year was an Olympic year so there were some cute patriotic offerings like the Team AG Sweater and Skirt Set (left). Another Janie and Jack collab brought with it the Rose Fair Isle Sweater. I could see Rita Cheryl or Gabby or Danica wearing either of these, and fair isle knitting? Yes, please!
But so far there's nothing like that in the lineup this year. The new clothing releases of 2025 have all been dominantly pink, with the exception of the Glam Shimmering Ocean Outfit and its accompanying accessories. I'd dress Marina in that outfit in a heartbeat. But the pajamas are pink...and the ballet outfit is pink...and all three of the new meet outfits are dominantly pink.
I actually like the Truly Me meet outfits, though I've yet to meet a little boy who likes wearing pink. Big boys, yes; I had guy friends in high school and college who wore pink, especially in October. But younger boys, the ones who might actually be the target age for these dolls? The ones I know are still solidly in the "Pink is for girls" rut. But the Long Hair Looks outfit goes overboard.
Honestly I don't care much for the Long Hair Looks dolls, period. They look cheap and gimmicky, like something one might get at Wal-Mart. But then some of my buddies on Failbook have 'em and like 'em a lot, so that last gripe is probably just me needing something to gripe about. But overall I can't say that I'm impressed with the clothes for AG dolls this year. Too much Barbiecore, not enuff originality. I do sort of like the Glam Sparkly Concert Outfit...
...but that's because it's modelled by one of my favorite current JLY dolls, #115, better known in my household as River Song Woodruff. And for the record, despite those blonde locks, River Song is not fond of wearing pink. The only doll I've got that's obsessed with pink is Doremi, and she's currently off gallivanting around somewhere in her own little world, so that's that. I like Etsy clothes anyway, so for the foreseeable future that's where I'll be going for American Girl threads. I hope they get out of the pink rut soon.
Blue love,
RagingMoon1987
Saturday, August 23, 2025
Under moonshine
Truth be told, the So Innocent dolls (Cynthia and Charlene) are not my favorite Baby Face dolls. They look like they should be named "So Freaked Out Cynthia" rather than "So Innocent."
Friday, August 22, 2025
All that glitters...
...is often made of vinyl and comes in a cardboard box! I got bitten by the glitzy toddler doll bug, LOL.
Yeah, glitzy toddler dolls, the ones that dominated the early part of the nineties and then vanished into thin air. I admit that I like these dolls a lot, though I might feel differently if I were a mama (just like with the Bratz). I'd say that the biggest beef I have with these dolls is that they're ALL. BLONDE. AND BLUE-EYED. And all in pink! Sort of, anyway; Alexis/Pretty Crazy Curls has lilac eyes that I love.
Granted, Tiffany and Mary did come in Afro-American versions, and Mary could be a cute little brunette as well, but...well, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit. Mary was a gift so I won't complain, and the black version of Tiffany is apparently hard to find (there weren't any when I looked on eBay the first time). As for Alexis and Susie...well, if I'd been a bit more patient I could've gotten a black Pretty Crazy Curls doll MIB instead of the beat-up doll that I swiped off of Etsy. Ghost of the Doll implies that the black variant is hard to find, so if you like her, better get her now. Sixty bucks is a fair price for a doll like that. Surprise Hat Susie (bottom right) also came as a black doll, so a little diversity can be had if one looks hard enuff. It all comes back to that patient thing, and as I've said and heard before, patience is for wimps.
In other news Alexis's glow-up is slow but steady. I don't know how to fix her mangled bangs without removing her head, but I did add a little piece of frippery to her dress.
That came as a freebie in an Etsy order, so I hooked it to the mesh part of Alexis's dress, kinda like Chloe Charms might've done. I haven't tried Alexis's curlers on her hair yet, but I did try Twist 'n' Style Tiffany's styling gun on her and it worked...pretty well. Alexis's hair isn't as slippery as Tiffany's is, but it worked okay.
The star of this post, though, is Flower Magic Mary's "sister," Surprise Hat Susie. I touched on this doll in this post, since she's one of so many that I know named "Susie." I wanted a doll that still had her hair concealed, so I got one MIB.
These dolls could have one of four different highlights in their hair, pink, blue, and two shades of purple, and I wanted that to be a surprise, thus why she's still in her box.
The box also shows the doll with twisted little braids like what Twist 'n' Style Tiffany has, but as far as I know Susie doesn't come with a tool that does that. She can use Tiffany's styling gun, but still...would that count as false advertising???
Since I have Tiffany and her accoutrements with me it's not such a big deal, but keep that in mind if you have Susie and NOT Tiffany. So here's how Susie looks fresh out of her box.
Again, I'd have taken what I'd got and been happy, but I'm VERY happy with the purple. Glitzy toddler dolls go WAAAAY too heavy on the pink, and pink was an option for this highlight so I'm pleased with purple. Al-right, hold tight, I'M-YOUR-HIGH-WAY-STARRRRR!!!!!! LOL, Deep Purple for the win! Ghost of the Doll implies that there should be two highlights (purple was always paired with a shade of pink), but so far all I see is purple.
It should be noted that while Susie's box shows her hair accessories spilling out of her hat like confetti, the initial box-opening is not that messy. The items are indeed tucked into Susie's hair, but they're wrapped in little baggies like so.
Susie came with a set of instructions, and they suggest that a mama or a daddy dump all that into Susie's hat, put it back on her head, and then let the child pull off the hat so everything goes scattering everywhere...no thanks, I appreciate the baggies. She's got beads, some flat sequins, bits of ribbon, and what the package calls a honeycomb headband (the pink sparkly thing). Oh yes, and hair extensions; those are in the longer package. Susie's tools include a hairbrush (which I will not be using), a large-eye needle, and a blade thing for curling the ribbon bits.
Like Tiffany's stuff, Susie's hair baubles can be shared among the other dolls, and...well, maybe I'll let 'em share. Mary doesn't need much more frippery and Tiffany has her own stuff, but Alexis might benefit from some of those beads.
I'm not gonna do a full review of Susie since she's a pretty simple little doll (and I don't like her dress much), but for the say-so of it here she is with fellow Tyco doll Flower Magic Mary.
Notice that their shoes are the same mold, further attesting that they are from the same company. Indeed, of my four glitzy toddler dolls, only Tiffany has separate shoes.
Other than molded shoes and the blonde hair/blue eyes thing, Mary and Susie don't have a lot in common. Their faces can be told apart with ease, and Mary has shorter hair that's cut in a winged style that I like.
During my Google searches I got results for both Surprise Hat Susie and So Surprised Suzie, so for the helluvit here my two are together. They have nothing in common except for...you guessed it! Blonde hair and blue eyes!
They're cute. I can get over a glut of platinum hair and blue eyes if they're cute. And sometimes that combo is the one I like the best. Case in point.
Camille is my favorite Wellie Wisher, hands down. All six of 'em are cute, but Camille's my favorite Wellie. Her short, straight, low-maintenance hairstyle trumped the color...oh, and she was wearing green and blue. My favorite colors.
Y'know, I think ALL the dolls I shared in this particular post were blonde and blue-eyed! LOL, thank goodness Dawn's friends weren't stuck in that rut. I'll have that post put together sometime next week.
Much love,
RagingMoon1987
Sunday, August 17, 2025
Time to gripe: two more days...
Friday, August 15, 2025
If it's not too early for Disney then it's not too early for me
Rita Cheryl is a little more understated than Silver Bird, but she too is ready for the oncoming fall, and the blazing weather that will inevitably come before Halloween gets here.
Of course no post of mine is complete without a Cabbage Patch Kid. Mama got this for my Kids, and I promptly assigned it to Idalia Gale.
This next doll is a new face to the blog. She's Lorifina, though I call her Lori.
Ahem...not all of my kids are getting ready for falling leaves, fun-size M&M's, and pumpkin spice lattes. Summer Daisy is ready to soak up some rays.
Lastly, here's two more of my Cabbage Patch Kids, Rowena Skylar and the beloved Candela Laura.
The jumble of colors and themes doesn't matter too much since fall is a mixed bag in the Bootheel anyway. Some years it stays hot until the middle of November, and another year it snowed in early October. Still other years have seen the temperatures see-saw wildly, with a wave of severe weather accompanying each swing. Last fall was very wet, thanks to Hurricanes Francine and Helene. Seriously, Helene didn't cause my area anywhere near as much trouble as she did Appalachia, and she was STILL a doozie! I hope it's a long time before the country has another terrible storm like that. I wouldn't mind a nice long soaking rain though, as the crops are starting to need it. Speaking of hurricanes...here's Erin's baby picture, taken on the 11th.
ALICE UPDATE: My resident black widow has had a third clutch of babies, and I've seen her oot and aboot a couple'a times, but no more pictures so far. Alice hides when I come around, and I can't say that I blame her. I'd hide too if something a trillion times my size looked at me. But Alice is alive and well, still spry, still beautiful, still nimble as a jackrabbit.
RagingMoon1987
Saturday, August 9, 2025
Regarding Sandra, my reborn doll
It's been almost exactly two years since I talked about Sandra, the little reborn doll that I got off Temu. She's still alive and well, and yesterday I grabbed her from Casa del Luna. Here she's sitting on my lap, waiting for the carhop to bring us our food (Mama and I ate at Sonic).
I have to admit that I like these iCradle babies. Had I the room and the money I'd have more of them, but I don't so I won't. These dolls are a good way to begin the reborn hobby though, kinda like Hujoo dolls make good starter ball-jointed dolls.
Ciao,
RagingMoon1987