Throwback Thursday review: Ghetto Kids

Back in July Treesa asked me if I'd heard of this line (it was featured on this YouTube video), and by sheer coincidence I had.  I ran into today's doll on Reddit earlier in the month, was shocked by the name and the concept, and...well, y'all can see what I did!  I've seen some freaky ideas for dolls before, and in theory the one I have today is no worse than other homeless dolls like Poor Pitiful Pearl, or Little Miss No-Name, or Gwen Thompson.  But the name...look at the name of this line!

GHETTO KIDS.  The Ghetto Kids are exactly what they sound like, dolls based on children that are homeless or otherwise down on their luck.  San Juan Carmen here looks happy enuff...

...but her bio says that she was abandoned in a crack house by her parents, who barely deserve the title of "parents" (her father is a drug dealer and her mother is both a smack addict and a prostitute).  San Juan Carmen's full name is Carmen Lydia Julia Gonzalez, and I will probably just call her Carmen.  According to an old L.A. Times article none of these dolls sold well, but Windy City Mary and New York Sammy were the most popular, San Juan Carmen and East L.A. Lupe resonated with the Latin community, and Beantown Cynthia was the least popular.  All of them had horrific backstories, backstories that are sadly a reality for some children of the world, backstories that drew so much backlash that the dolls' entrepreneur eventually pulled those out of the dolls' packaging.  Indeed, my doll did come with paperwork, but an extensive backstory is nowhere in sight.  I was able to find the gist of Carmen's story online, thus why I know how she "came to be."

The box itself drives the needs of these dolls even further into the wood.  They need care!

And love!

And a home!  And YOU!!!

The on-box messages remind me a little of my Sew Able doll's box.  Kristiana's problems are far different from Carmen's, but just the same her box asked her prospective owner "Can I come live with you?"  Kristiana had a home in her backstory, and she STILL wanted to live with her owner.

Before I step too high up onto my own soapbox I'm gonna power through this review, because this is...well, it's a Throwback Thursday review!  Carmen is sixteen inches tall, between Billie and Rita Cheryl in size (they are fourteen and eighteen inches, respectively).  Her head is significantly bigger than either of theirs. 

Hair first, as usual.  Carmen's hair is black and wavy and is of two different lengths. 

Here y'all can see the differing lengths.  Carmen's rocking a bit of a mullet, kinda like Aimee and Whimzee do.  I doubt that's the intention for ANY of those dolls, but it's what it looks like.

The hair looks like it would be a mass of tangles, and indeed the fibers are a little coarse, kinda like the fibers that American Girl uses for their dolls with textured hair.  But in truth Carmen's hair is tangle-free and...well, not too nasty to touch.  It's soft and wooly, and so far it's been easy to maintain.  It's certainly better hair than that of Meritus's Girls on the Go or (spoilers) B.F.C. Ink.  When it comes to doll hair looks can be extremely deceiving; B.F.C. Kaitlin's hair looks lovely but is a nightmare to maintain, while Carmen's hair looks a fright but is easy to care for.

Roots, on the other hand, are about what I expected.  The hairline is nice and tight...

...but the back is gappy enuff that pigtails are out of the question.  Otherwise Carmen's hair is thick enuff to hide the roots.

I would chalk the appearance of Carmen's hair up to her life on the streets, but her fellow Ghetto Kids don't have hair that stands up.  Some real-life children just have unmanageable hair right from the start, and that's the excuse I'm giving for Carmen.  Overall the hair is average-good, not as nice as American Girl hair, but way better than that of Girls on the Go or...dare I say it...polypropelene hair.  

Regarding the face, the Ghetto Kids have faces that only a mother could love.

And I thought the Cabbage Patch Kids were homely!  These remind me...forgive me for the racist comparison, but these goofy smiles remind me of Chief Wahoo.  I grow tired of political correctness in this country, but in the case of Chief Wahoo I'll make an exception because he made Native Americans look dumb.  But then again, aren't ALL mascots supposed to look dumb???  That's the case for a lot of 'em.  As for the Ghetto Kids, all the dolls have this same ridiculous expression so no particular race is being singled out, but I still don't like their expressions.  I'd have preferred a more serious expression for a homeless doll, something like Sasha or the Gotz dolls use.  Not heartbroken, mind you, but more pensive and thoughtful.  Heck, even a face like Poor Pitiful Pearl's would've sufficed; Pearl is smiling, but it's not an enormous, toothy smile.  But that's not what the Ghetto Kids got, so let's move on to eyes and incidentally, that huge schnozz.

The eyes look like something one might see in the funny papers.  I'm a big fan of the funnies, but I can't name the comic strip that these look like.  Certainly not Garfield or Peanuts or Calvin and Hobbes, but...somewhere I've seen these eyes.  Hmmm...maybe it was KaBlam!...no, Henry and June didn't have a lot of detail in their eyes.  But these look familiar, and kinda dumb.  They are in a smiling shape, though; not all dolls have smiling eyes.

You'd think that since Carmen's eyes look drawn her mouth would be too, but it's got a lot more realism than the eyes.  The color is natural and it's not lined in black pencil-like lines.  Carmen has a big ol' lower lip, though!

That's a nice set of choppers for someone who lives on the streets!  In school I had friends who were poor (not homeless that I know of, but poor), and all of them had had at least one tooth fall out due to decay.  It was a horrible thing to see, so maybe that's why Carmen and her ghetto buddies had full sets of teeth.  

Carmen's profile is also kinda crazy, so let's look at that for a second.

That's one crazy profile.  She's got a chin that Matt Smith and Jay Leno would approve of, a nose that's almost equally prominent, and flat, concave eye sockets.  Poor Carmen.  I respect the line's attempt to make the Ghetto Kids look unique, but in doing so they made their dolls look homely as sin and kinda dumb.  The overly cheerful expressions also detract from the message these dolls are trying to send.  I do like Carmen's vinyl though, cheap as it is; she's got a nice glow.

As to the body, Carmen is unique among my soft-bodied dolls in that she's soft enuff to lean, like so.

Unfortunately that means that Carmen won't be able to stand on her own, not without a lot of bamboozling.  Here's how she looks unclad.

When Rita Cheryl and Carmen are wearing their clothes they look like they're close in size, but when they're out of their clothes their bodies are very different.  

I doubt that Carmen can wear AG clothes...

...and I turned out to be mostly wrong!  The jacket is too long for Carmen's stubby little arms, but this outfit fits well enuff that I'd put her in it again.  Even the hat fits, and I REALLY wasn't expecting that.

As for specs, Carmen's body is lightweight, with a plain white torso and vinyl limbs that have a little give when they're squeezed.  Her limbs rotate in their sockets but do not pivot, meaning that Carmen's motion is pretty stilted.  Her neck joint is too tight for her to turn her head, which surprised me since nearly all my dolls above Barbie's height can turn their heads.  Carmen can sit, however, and if propped up she can stand...

...and she can reach out for a hug.  I think that's a fitting position for a doll like this.

Oh yes, and front-to-back splits.  Those are small potatoes for a lot of my dolls.

This vinyl feels cheap, and it's picked up a few stains here and there, but it's a pretty color, and it took to the mold...fairly well.  Carmen's hand has all the details that an American Girl hand would have; the palms are flat, but she's got obvious fingernails and creases where her fingers would bend.

Legs are about the same, short with squat, flat feet, boxy toes, and cute little knees.  Carmen's stance is a smidge pigeon-toed due to the way she's put together.

When I reviewed the Girls on the Go I commented on how being lightweight can work against a doll, and that rings true for Carmen, just as it did for Madge.  Dolls like this need a little heft to stand up, and they need to be able to reposition their feet a bit.  Neither Madge nor Carmen have the heft or the proper hip joints, so standing them up is a nightmare.  But Carmen does look cute when she sits.  Her legs don't splay apart, and her clothes are loose enuff to allow her to sit comfortably.

Right, clothes.  Here's where Carmen reminds me a lot of Poor Pitiful Pearl and Little Miss No-Name.  She's got patches and "holes" in her dress, just like they do.  First things first, though.  Of all the Ghetto Kids, I think Carmen's clothes are the most drab, though again that fits in with the concept of a homeless kid.  She wears a blue and orange long-sleeved shirt under an olive drab jumper, and she wears fuchsia sandals on her feet.

The shirt is very fallish with its orange and blue stripes.  Perfect for the time of year...sort of.  We're headed into winter now, with the temperatures to match.

Despite the bold stripes this shirt is pretty basic.  The material feels thin, and the hems are raggy in places. 

The back closes with your basic Velcro, which in this case is an alright choice.  Neither Carmen's clothes nor her body snag easily. 

Inside the shirt is a sticker (yep, a sticker and not a tag) that says those famous three words.

Carmen's dress is a pinafore-type dress, and it's got a few more details than the shirt.

The buttons don't function, but they ARE present.  Not printed or drawn like today's doll clothes might have.

The skirt is lightly gathered, and that looks nice.

On her skirt Carmen has a patch...

...and a "hole" that's been sewn up.  These are also legit items and not painted designs. 

I figure Carmen is sewing up her own clothes since her parents aren't worth diddley squat.  Anyway, aside from those little details the dress is a basic item.  It closes in the back with Velcro, and the hems are ragged here and there.

Since Carmen is homeless I can tolerate her clothes being pretty basic, but as with her body the whole thing seems kinda rushed.  Oops, I forgot the shoes!  They too are simple, being fuchsia strappy sandals that slip on.  The construction of these is actually pretty decent.

Since these dolls are homeless they don't have much in the way of accessories, just a plastic trash can.  Shucks, would a child like Carmen have the upper body strength to carry a trash can?

It's a well-made trash can, though.  Y'all know right away what it's supposed to be.  The lid locks in place if you turn it just right, and when you turn it in the opposite direction it lifts off.  Small items can be stored in here.

I was wondering if Carmen's full backstory was stored in here, but it's not.  There's just a card, with a more somber Carmen sharing a watered down version of her plight.

Without the flash it's possible to see that Carmen is holding a rag doll.  

Nuts, I kinda wish they'd included that.  Even homeless kids often have one little thing, something they can tuck into a pocket or a trash bag.

I guess that covers it.  

BAD

*I'm gonna be cruel:  these dolls are homely as sin, and their goofy expressions negate the seriousness of the overall message the dolls are trying to send. 

*Carmen's body poses poorly, and the materials used feel cheap.

*The clothes also feel cheaply made.

*My particular doll didn't come with her story, though in hindsight that may have been a good thing. 

*The name of the line is off-putting and in poor taste.

GOOD

*Hair is surprisingly nice.  I was expecting absolute crap, but this stuff is alright.

*I also like the look and feel of Carmen's vinyl.  She's got soft "skin" with a peachy glow, though in retrospect she looks a bit too healthy to be homeless. 

*While basic, the clothes cover Carmen's rear end, and they have some clever little details showing her street life.

*Can wear some American Girl clothes, albeit imperfectly. 

Overall I think this line is tragic, eye-opening, and interesting, and I can see why it's an obscure doll line now.  The name "Ghetto Kids" is in poor taste, but that's just part of the problem.  The dolls are about as homely as can be, their goofy faces don't send the message that the doll line should send, and they feel cheaply made.  I also saw one redditor comment that the dolls cost thirty bucks when they were released, putting them soundly out of reach of any children who might relate to the dolls' backstories.  Kids who COULD afford these were probably clamoring for the Bratz dolls instead.  As a final blow, I don't know what the marketing for the Ghetto Kids was like, but since I'm only now learning of them I bet it wasn't good.  Marketing is everything nowadays.  So yeah, I can see why these flopped and why they're obscure.  That said, I still recommend grabbing one of these if you can find one for a reasonable price, as they're fairly rare.  

And now, only now, am I remembering that today is Thanksgiving.  What a way to celebrate being thankful for what I've got, by showing a doll that has nothing!  Hey, I guess Carmen is a reminder to all of us that we've got it pretty good as long as we've got the basics.  Plenty of people in this world don't even have that.  So in that respect I got my money's worth out of Carmen, because she made me think.  And to my American friends, happy Thanksgiving.  We're having ham steak and the traditional Thanksgiving sides (stuffing, cranberry stuff, the works).  It's just me, Mama, and that man-child...and six cats and two dogs begging, LOL.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987

The two faces of Dawn

I kinda exaggerate, since Dawn's two faces aren't terribly different.  I've been wanting to compare Dawn's Topper self to her Checkerboard self ever since Treesa sent Shannon to me (one year and eight months ago), and now I've got the opportunity since I have a Checkerboard girl that matches Angie, my favorite Dawn doll.  Macy is the Checkerboard doll's name, and she's on the left.  Angie is on the right, clad in Glori's stock dress, but oh well.

Angie was sold in a hot pink getup with a short skirt and polka dot balloon sleeves, but I like Glori's coral on her better.  Why did Angie become my favorite Dawn doll, when I have Glori and Shannon (both redheads)?  Because Angie is kinda a scene stealer.  I took this picture back in February, for example.  Shannon is in the foreground and Angie is peeking over Shannon's shoulder, but my eye is drawn to Angie.

Plus I just love Angie.  Her brown eyes are softer than Glori's and Shannon's and Longlocks's eyes.  I'm not the only one who likes Angie best; I found another blogger that lost her little kid mind when her Angie went missing.  With a face like this, who wouldn't miss her???

Okay, back up, Moon.  I discussed Topper's Dawn dolls...gosh, I was still working at Holcomb, so it's been a minute.  At the time I had two, Glori and Longlocks, who are currently out of reach in storage.  Rock Flowers Heather is with them, or I'd include her too.

Regarding stuff I DO have on hand, I've got Angie within arm's length, and two of Dawn herself, the pale one and a bubblecut that I piecemealed together.  The bubble is a spare head popped onto the spare body that Treesa sent; she has a dress now, but I've had this post in the making since before she had a dress.

See?  Here's her dress.  Please ignore my book in the background; that would be yet another of my tornado books, concerning the 1979 Wichita Falls event that soundly taught us that cars and tornadoes DO. NOT. MIX.  Anywho, here's Dawn in her new dress.

I also have the Lesney clone (pale Dawn's best friend), and she'll help with comparison too.

The Lesney doll's identity eludes me.  She is the same size as Miss Matchbox and Suky, and she has the same body as Suky, but the faces don't match.

Now...Topper produced Dawn and her friends from 1970 to 1973, and the dolls were ridiculously popular, to the point that they threatened to outsell Barbie.  Indeed, the dolls probably would've enjoyed a longer run if Topper hadn't gone bankrupt.  Checkerboard took up the slack for Dawn's 30th anniversary in 2000, but as far as I know they weren't around for long, and I know for sure that I never saw them in the local Wal-Mart.  Too bad too, because I'd have been all over their retro style (at thirteen I was already a flower child).  As it stands right now, I have five dolls from the Topper era, (Dawn, Dawn, Angie, Glori, and Longlocks, but only Angie, Dawn, and Dawn are with me right now), and two from the Checkerboard era, Shannon and Macy.  Shannon is from the Fab Fashions Fun wave, and Macy is from the Tee-Time wave.

That's a good place to dive in.  As I said above, Macy and Angie will be doing the bulk of this comparison since they're both brown-eyed brunettes, but the other dolls will step in as I see fit.

NAMES

Dawn and her circle of friends didn't change much from line to line.  Both Topper and Checkerboard have Dawn herself (blonde and blue-eyed), plus a friend with dark hair and dark eyes, a friend with red hair and green eyes, and an Afro-American friend.  But the names changed when Checkerboard took over.  I don't know why, since the Checkerboard dolls were supposed to be 30th anniversary dolls, but...take that back, there were dolls that duplicated the original Topper bunch, but there were also these new characters.  The names went as follows:

BLONDE HAIR, BLUE EYES:  This one was Dawn, hands down.  She underwent no name changes.
BRUNETTE HAIR, BROWN EYES:  Topper doll was Angie, Checkerboard doll was Macy.
RED HAIR, GREEN EYES:  Topper doll was Glori, Checkerboard dolls were Maura and Shannon.  I love the name Shannon!
AFRO-AMERICAN:  Topper doll was Dale, Checkerboard doll was Denise.

Topper did have a doll named Denise, as part of the Model Agencies wave, but that Denise was blonde and blue-eyed, not terribly different from Dawn.  Oh, as an aside, none of Dawn's friends were blonde and brown-eyed or red-haired and brown-eyed, and only Longlocks had dark hair and brown eyes.  By comparison, the Glamour Gals had two characters with blonde hair and brown eyes (Jessie and Brett), but no brown-eyed redheads (sorry, Tam) or blue-eyed brunettes.  It should also be noted that one single time Macy had silver-white hair, in her Seriously Silver incarnation.

HAIR

Topper hair is smooth and sleek, but tends to have a mind of its own.  Glori's hair has individual strands that want to fly in her face and catch in her eyelashes...

...while the left side of Angie's hair wants to stick up.

Rooting can vary a lot too, though I suspect that Longlocks' thin roots came from hardcore playtime (she's in rough shape).

It took me forever to find a sufficient bare patch on Angie's head...

...and Pale Dawn's head is similarly rooted.

Ironically, the one with the thickest hair is the one with the shortest hair, Bubble Dawn.  I did find bare patches, but they were few and small.

All of my Topper girls have sleek, soft locks, though.  Either they weren't played with much or their hair could take the punishment.  I'm thinking the latter since Longlocks was indeed heavily played with.  I had to Super Glue her foot together, she was so chewed, but her hair remains smooth, shiny, and tangle-free, if a smidge thin in places.

Regarding the Checkerboard duo, Macy's hair is fresh out of the box, but it doesn't feel as nice as the hair of the Topper bunch.  It's smooth, shiny, and a pretty color like Angie's, but it's also stiff.

As for Shannon, well...like Longlocks, Shannon has been well-loved, but her hair is managable.  Thank goodness Treesa didn't chew on Shannon's feet!  

I can't remember, Treesa:  did you or did you not trim Shannon's hair?  Either way Shannon's hair has a mind of its own, but it's a beautiful color.  I see Shannon as my wild child of the Dawn bunch anyway, so shaggy hair suits her.

Lastly...I'm calling the Lesney doll "Gilda."  Gilda has a shoulder-length bob with no bangs.  The color is strawberry blonde.  Not light like Dawn's hair, but not flaming red like Shannon's or Glori's either.  It looks kinda gilded, hence her pet name.

The root job is poopy, with just two rows of hair.

Y'all would never know it, though!  

FACES

Topper dolls were hand painted, meaning that gaffes were not unheard of.  My Glori has a wonky eye, for example.  Angie and Longlocks dodged that bullet.

Bubble Dawn and Pale Dawn also have clear eyes with no smudges, meaning that of my five Topper girls Glori is the only unlucky one.  Bubble Dawn is a little walleyed, though.  That can be a problem with side-glancing dolls.

For that matter, Angie is too!

I have my doubts that Checkerboard hand painted their dolls, though Shannon does have hand painted freckles; Treesa did those. 

I don't know of any Dawn dolls that did have factory freckles, so Shannon's spots are appreciated.  Anyway, there's a lot going on with these eyes, a lot of nitpicky little differences that most folks wouldn't notice.  The most obvious one is that Topper dolls always looked either left or right (my current Topper bunch all looks left)...

...while the Checkerboard dolls I've seen all have eyes facing front.  Notice that Shannon has a wonky eyebrow like a Revlon doll, by the way.  I'm only now seeing that.

The Topper dolls also have blue eyeshadow with a hazy, natural-looking edge, while the Checkerboard dolls have white eyeshadow with sharp edges.  Both lines have dark rooted eyelashes, which were kinda a Dawn hallmark, and Macy has a ton of light clusters that make her eyes look lighter.  Angie has no light clusters at all, which surprises me since my other Topper dolls have light clusters.  Here's Angie...

...and here's Macy.

I'm not gonna lie, those eyelashes freak me out just a bit, especially on the dolls with blue and green eyes.  There's something ever so sinister about them.  Angie's dark eyes soften the effect quite a bit, but Pale Dawn looks like she's up to something. 

Regarding mouths, Dawn dolls from both companies have closed smiles, but as with the eyes the paint can vary a bit, especially on the Topper dolls.  For example, Angie has full lips in sort of a watermelon shade, while Bubble Dawn's lips are a little thinner and subtly lighter.

Faded Dawn has thinner lips and a slight smirk, adding to her somewhat devious expression.  Seriously, this gal looks like she's up to some sort of mischief.  Maybe she's plotting a way to kill me if I don't clean her eyes.

I wonder what it is about Pale Dawn that made her vinyl fade like it did?  I know this is par for the course with some dolls (Mego's Candi and Brandi are prime examples), so maybe she just had a bad batch of vinyl.  No biggie, this Dawn...well, she gives Angie a run for her money as my favorite.  I like 'em both a lot.

I only have two Checkerboard dolls so I don't know how much their paint varies, but I will note that Macy and Shannon appear to be wearing different lip colors.  Maybe Macy's lips are a little fuller too.

Now that I think about it, Shannon and Macy have different vinyl colors too!  Macy is a little darker and Shannon is a little yellow.

Breaking it down a little, as I said before I don't think these Checkerboard dolls were hand painted like Dawn was, and this eyeshadow adds credence to my theory.  That edge looks pretty crisp.

Shannon has amazing eyelashes, by the way.  I'd say that hers are the thickest in my bunch.

Maybe she's born with it, maybe it's Maybelline.  LOL, not to be a brand snob, but I wear Maybelline mascara myself!  It's what the local Wal-Mart carries, it's affordable, I like the pink bottle it comes in, and it looks nice so...there, I guess.  Moving on, Macy looks like she's got fuller lips than Shannon does, and again I'll make note that the shades of pink look different.  Nothing significant, but I thought I'd note it.

Quickly, here's Gilda.  She's got the Dawn aesthetic down pat, but her eyes are centered like the Checkerboard crowd.  Her eyeshadow also has a hard edge like that of the Checkerboard bunch, but it's blue like the Topper bunch so it's kinda a happy medium.  

The lip and eyebrow paint aren't as precise, and Gilda's lips are much paler than Dawn's.  Her eyes are centered and are pretty straight.  I gotta admit that I'm impressed by that, since a lot of my Dawn dolls have eye wonk.  Overall Gilda's paint isn't as nice as the real thing, but it's obvious who she's emulating, especially with those thick eyelashes.

BODY

Dawn doll bodies are interesting, because the Topper bodies came with teeny-weeny little variations.  Some bodies have navels or collarbones or nipples, some bodies have wider hips and slightly thicker legs, some bodies might be a smidge taller or shorter, or what-have-you.  None of this affected how Dawn looked in her clothes, but it's something to look for.  When I compared Glori and Longlocks, Glori had slightly bigger hands and slightly wider hips than Longlocks.  Neither of them had navels or collarbones, and both were the same height.  That's more than I can say for my bunch now...I guess.  Angie looks like she might be a millimeter taller than Pale Dawn and Bubble Dawn. 

None of them appear to have navels or collarbones, but Pale Dawn does have nipples.  I apologize for this next picture, but look below the two flash marks and her nipples are visible.  For the record, a handful of the earliest Barbie dolls also had these.

Oh, the things I do for this blog!  I think it's important to know that some Dawn dolls had features like this, though why some did and some didn't is beyond me.  Moving on, y'all also might be able to tell that Pale Dawn's hips are loose.  See the space in the joints?  Angie's hips are loose too, but they're not as gappy as Pale Dawn's.

Bubble Dawn has a different problem, one that I've run into in the past with Sindy and with Star-Spangled Dolls.  Her hips like to melt together and freeze up.

All three dolls have some extent of greening at their knees, and Pale Dawn and Angie have green spots on their hips as well.  The green knees are very common for Dawn dolls, but I had no idea that their hips could also turn.

Doll Reader noted that the Topper dolls had copper in their knee joints, and thus this green is pretty much unavoidable.  It doesn't bother me much; it's not like these girls have green ears or faces.  That sometimes happens to Barbie and other vintage dolls.

As far as I know the Checkerboard crew didn't have copper in their knees.  I likely won't know for another ten years or so, but so far Macy and Shannon do not have green knees or hips.  I'm unaware of any torso variations among Checkerboard dolls.

Both Checkerboard and Topper dolls move the same way, so I'm gonna move on to the body comparison.  The sizes are the same, but Checkerboard's plastic looks more robust and the molding is crisper.  Both dolls have angle-cut waists, something I used to associate with cheap Dollar General dolls.

Measurements are the same.  Angie and Macy will have no trouble sharing clothes.

Lastly, Gilda.  Her body is interesting.

Gilda has this odd combination of a Rock Flowers body and a Dawn body.  Her arms and neck move in the traditional way, but her hips have internal wires.  Gilda's wires are intact, so she can sit and do splits, but her arms are too short for her to hold herself up.

The two halves of Gilda's body are held together with a hook and eye, not something I often see on dolls.

Gilda's body should hold up if I treat it right, but in the off-chance that it breaks Gilda's head will fit (loosely) onto a Dawn body, like so.

I might have to modify the neck knob if I ever rebody Gilda, but right now that's not a huge issue.

CLOTHES

If there is any significant difference between Dawn's Topper and Checkerboard selves, it would be in the clothes.  Topper clothes are, of course, products of the seventies and look the part.

Checkerboard clothes are products of the late nineties and early oughts, but have a retro flair to them like so.  Note Macy's flare-legged jeans, and the sparkly stars that decorate them...

...or used to decorate them.  The glitter mostly flaked off when I lifted the cuffs to pull off Macy's boots.

Darn it, I liked those stars.  Compare that to Shannon's jumpsuit, which has seen some years and some playtime.  Nevertheless it shines on, that crazy diamond.

I was hitting the prog rock pretty hard when I threw this post together.  LOL, Shannon looks like she'd like Pink Floyd, especially the mellow stuff from The Dark Side of the Moon era.

Shiny fabric just gets dull with time, especially if it gets played with.  The bodice of Pale Dawn's dress is showing its age too.

This little dress was part of a playset called Dawn's Fashion Show.  Vintage Dawn clothes aren't super-duper pricey or hard to find, but it still pleases me to have that dress in my lineup.  Yes, back in the sixties and seventies toy companies actually gave a crap about their dolls being well-dressed, and Topper was no exception.  They had all sorts of delightful little ensembles for Dawn and company, outfits that came with names, hangers, dressmaker's dummies to display the ensembles, and sometimes a poodle or an old-timey telephone.  I'm fortunate enuff to own Bell Bottom Bounce, City Slicker, and part of Sock it to Me, though I had to replace the shoes on that last one.  Bell Bottom Bounce is made of lace and probably could snag in the wrong hands, but City Slicker and Sock it to Me feel like they were constructed to last.  I have...I think one picture of Glori modelling Bell Bottom Bounce, from Jessa Jellyfish's review.  In that same post and same image Longlocks is wearing Sock it to Me and the replacement shoes.

Bell Bottom Bounce could do with a lining; otherwise one can see all Glori's "charms."

City Slicker highlights the main beef that I have with Topper clothes.  The fasteners are kinda fiddly, as I learned when Longlocks modelled City Slicker for the first time.

It's impossible to see in the picture, but under those buttons are loops of elastic, and we all know what elastic does as it ages.  It loses its ability to stretch and either breaks or stays stretched out, the latter of which happened to Longlocks's raincoat.  I was able to jerry-rig the fasteners shut, but my Lordy, was it a headache to do!  If any of y'all have Dawn clothes with stretched-out elastic then I recommend keeping a steel crochet hook on hand.  It'll save your fingertips, your eyes, and your religion if you have it.

The collar of Angie's dress shows another way that these clothes fastened.  I remember Doll Reader discussing this method.

Unobtrusive, right?  Here's how it looks unfastened.

Angie's collar has a 6-shaped metal hook that latches onto the other end of the fabric.  Obviously not all Dawn outfits closed this way, but it's less fiddly than the elastics.  The bodice of Angie's dress once fastened that way, by the way.

Obviously this elastic is broken.  See it, hanging out on the right?  Easy fix, but my point stands:  the metal fasteners are stronger and easier to use, though they do still come undun from time to time.  Undun...the Guess Who are going on tour!!!  I think they may be sticking to their native Canada, but they're touring.  Sigh, I'm very fond of the Guess Who, but sometimes I forget just how fond.  Star Baby.

Ahem, where was I???  Oh yeah, the only pair of Topper shoes I've currently got are Angie's white bow pumps.  They're made of white vinyl.

I also have some green pumps that go with Bell Bottom Bounce, and City Slicker came with knee-high boots.  All three pairs, and indeed, all Topper shoes, have holes that accommodate a doll stand.

They're...well, they're shoes.  Angie's shoes fit tightly and I don't worry about losing them.  Glori's green shoes are another story entirely.  Very typical of doll shoes, in other words, as Barbie shoes do the same thing.  Some shoes fit better than others.

Checkerboard clothes are more in tune with mid-2000s style, but as I noted above they go hard on the retro factor.  Shannon is wearing a jumpsuit with flared legs, plus high boots like some Topper dolls wore.

Macy also wears flare-legged jeans (they used to have those cute little stars), and a bandanna on her head that looks kinda boho/hippie-ish, but her T-shirt looks pretty modern.  She too wears high-top boots.

Since Macy is from the Tee Time line she comes with three extra shirts, and one of 'em is tie-dyed.

Or it's printed to look tie-dyed.  The tie-dyed shirt and the pink and red shirt are both about as retro as they come...

...while the pink star shirt is pretty timeless.  I'd have worn something like that in high school, and I still would.

Checkerboard clothes fasten with the usual Velcro, and in the case of Shannon and Macy I can live with that, because neither of their ensembles snag.  It's also a lot less likely to wear out over time than the elastic loops on Topper clothes.

The things I like the least about the Checkerboard dolls are their boots (which both Shannon and Macy are wearing).  They fit very, VERY tightly and are a pain in the posterior to pull off.

Checkerboard also made extra clothes for the girls, under the tagline "Fab Fashions."  I can't tell if the individual styles had names, but oh, do those little outfits look like fun!  I'd have worn some of those in a heartbeat as a teenager.  Indeed, I still would, except that some of those styles are a mite too youthful for a woman fast approaching middle age.  Anyway, I don't know if the extra outfits came with dressmaker's dummies like the Topper clothes did, but Macy's T-shirts came on these functional little blue hangers.

As for Gilda, both Checkerboard and Topper clothes are the tiniest bit big on her, but they look fine.  Interestingly, Gilda's feet slide into the Checkerboard boots with no problems, but they're too wide for Topper flats.

Here's the whole bunch, except for Heather, Glori, and Longlocks.  I WILL find them!  I'd like to add Dale too, because she's cute.

I gotta admit, Dawn dolls are addictive, just like Cabbage Patch Kids, but on a much smaller scale. 

I don't really know what my point here is, but comparing the two brands was a fun little experience.  I wish I hadn't missed out on the Checkerboard bunch, as they were something I'd have been all over like white on rice, but hey, my frame of mind wasn't great in 2006.  Basically I'll say that there's not a lot of difference in Dawn's Topper and Checkerboard selves, but since I'm old school I like the older ones just a smidge better.  Not that I don't like Macy and Shannon, of course!  Shannon in particular is fun to have around; she's something of a goofball.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987