Champagne taste, Pepsi budget

Mama would say "beer budget," but I'll take a good cold Pepsi over beer any day.  The wrong beer gives me a wheel-buster of a headache and then makes me throw up.  Anyway, I belong to a Failbook group that goes heavy on the reborn dolls and other large, somewhat-realistic child dolls, and...well, they're pretty!  Since I'm a "monkey see, monkey do" type of collector I look for a doll like theirs, more to get an idea about pricing than anything, and that's where I ran into a pattern.  Recently all of the dolls I've taken a shine to are worth at least two hundred bucks, and usually more than that.  We start on April 12th, give or take.  One of the women in the group is all excited about a new Ping Lau-sculpted reborn she's getting, and since I like Ping Lau's work I went browsing for a reborn.  I found one similar to this one...

...and because she's a reborn, she's freaking EXPENSIVE!!!  The one above is Smitten Kitten, by the way, and she was kinda high, but nowhere near as high as the reborns on eBay.  Indeed, I could afford Kitten if I wanted her, but while I like her I don't really want her.  Paradise Gallaries says she's sold out, but oh, Paradise Galleries has lots of cute Ping Lau dolls.  They're just not quite what I'm looking for.  The one I really fell for is this one, and she's three hundred fifty bucks.  No biggie, I have some nice Ping Lau dolls (here and here), but I still love to look.

Then (I forget what day, exactly) I decided to browse eBay for A Girl For All Time, since I'm not giving up hope on owning one of those.  Remember that the company shuttered itself, sad face, and at the time of my last AGFAT post eBay had nothing.  It was kinda disorienting, like the Marchmont family had just fallen off a cliff into dolly oblivion, like the Extra Special Dolls did.  This past week I was a hair more successful, finding both Clementine (left) and her daughter, Sam.  Bex, my favorite of them all, remains nowhere in sight.

BUT...butbutbut, Sam is going for two-thirty and some change and Clementine is even more pricey.  Of the two of them I prefer Sam since she's from the mod era, but two-thirty and some change is kinda steep.

Alrighty, so Sam's out of the question for now.  Next doll I saw was a Kidz 'n' Cats doll, I forget which one, but I've been giving those an admiring eye ever since Miss Emily had Henriette on her blog.  Now Henriette's saga was something of a hot mess, but boy, did I love her face!  I like the Kidz' joints too, since not many dolls their size have legit joints, just hollow limbs with an armature inside.  Jana (left) and Julika are my favorites, for obvious reasons.

Guess what?  These kids are out of my range too.  Like the Ping Lau bunch, I have two Gotz dolls and they're nice dolls, but they're not as poseable as the Kidz 'n' Cats are.  Oh, affordable Kidz 'n' Cats can be found on eBay, but a lot of 'em are missing some or all of their clothes, and they're STILL expensive!  Part of the allure to these dolls is their eclectic outfits, and I don't want mine to be missing anything.  So part of that failure is on me being picky.

Back to the Failbook group we go now, and to Masterpiece Dolls.  I like these because they've got such charismatic faces and because a lot of 'em are vinyl.  They also have nice arm and knee joints, though I think their hip joints may leave a lot to be desired.  This one is my favorite.

Not only are prices for these dolls out of sight, but they're large and heavy, and Miss Emily's doll showed some troubling signs of aging (plus those ridiculous hip joints).  Still, I love these dolls' faces!

If we were playing baseball then I'd have already struck out long ago, but Sekiguchi's Printemps popped up again and I remembered how unusual they are.  For a refresher, this is a Printemps doll; I last discussed these last June, complete with her two friends behind her.  

Those eyes.  They're black until the light hits them just right, and then they glow a ghostly blue.  Freaky, unique, and I love it.  Unfortunately for me these are...I think these kids may be the priciest ones on the list today.  

I could also discuss Zwergnase and Annette Himstedt dolls, but we'd be here all day (I freaking love those).  Now I admit that I did spend my tax return on a very expensive doll last spring, The Doll That Shall Not Be Named, who will make her debut on May 5th.  Why?  Because I wasn't facing two surgeries last spring, and because Special Dolly was on a bit of a sale, and because my desire for her wasn't some fleeting fancy like a lot of these above are.  Indeed, the only doll on today's list that I see in my dreams is the Printemps doll, due to her unique eyes and otherwise mild face.  Patience is a virtue, a virtue that I don't have.  Patience is for wimps!  But how 'bout y'all?  Do any of y'all have expensive tastes and a grocery budget?  Discuss.

Love,

RagingMoon1987