Springtime for dollies

I've said in the past that seasons begin when they begin and they end when they end, but for me it's not spring until 

A)  I see a butterfly, and 

B)  the television commercials shift their focus from colds to allergies. 

For me, March 18th has to come and go as well.  March 18th is kinda notorious for tornado buffs, so it's an easy date for me to remember.  This year was the centennial of the Tri-State Tornado, and the affected towns held remembrance ceremonies all week, which I thought was nice.  Heckuva coincidence, considering the weather last week.  As for me, I've yet to see a butterfly, but my jonquils have bloomed and faded, the trees have little green buds, the weather is growing warmer and stormier, and thus it's time to start putting my dolls in springtime gear.  Straight outta Etsy (and from my mama) comes another Cabbie outfit, modelled by Allie Kathleen.

West Virginia colors!  When I saw the blue in that skirt I knew it would make Allie's eyes pop, and it does!  I don't know how Mama keeps finding these cute little outfits for Cabbage Patch Kids, by the way...unless she gets stuff that I just glanced at before bouncing on to something else.

I have an outfit for Gillian Ida too!  I actually had another different outfit, but my disorganized rear end misplaced it so poor Gilly was stuck in her Christmas wear until this new dress came in. 

As is often the case with me, I love how nineties this getup is with its loud, clashing colors and layers.

But this isn't a post just for Cabbage Patch Kids, not today.  Whaaaaaat, did y'all think I was gonna leave the Queen of the Dolls out of springtime wear?  These Barbie dresses are simple little dresses that came in two batches from MelsOzarkCreations, and they're perfect for spring...maybe a little later on in spring, but still, spring.  The models are Theta and Iota.  Dress pair one.

Spoilers, all of the dresses from this shop follow the same basic pattern.  Hey, you gotta start somewhere, and the fabrics are nice.  In this case Theta is wearing a dress with spots that compliment her skin, while Iota has a dress that brings out the gray tones in her eyes (her eyes look both blue and gray).

Dress pair two.  I don't know if I picked the right dolls for these two dresses.

Okay, Theta looks fine, or she will after I add some blue accessories to make her lips pop.  Iota, though...I dunno, I like the dark color and the subtle print on that dress, but maybe it's a smidge dark for Iota.  A doll with a gothic or punk edge would probably wear it better.

Now these last dresses are my favorites, largely for their quirky, goofy prints.

Avocados for Theta, fun-size Butterfinger bars for Iota.  Again, I thought the avocado dress was too dark for Iota, but dang, I wanna put that Butterfinger dress on Theta!  The logo matches her lipstick.  While the dresses from MelsOzarkCreations are pretty simple, they're also easy to dress up or dress down.  Those solid and print dresses can be worn with almost any shoes and accessories. 

But I'm not done yet.  I like finding things that are specially designed for curvy Barbies, and this outrageous little number is just that.  Etsy shop is fashondollMX001, and Andra is my model.

I'm a moderately big fan of Andy Warhol's art, so when I saw this...well, y'know.  <elaborate>  By the way, this shop also has a Piet Mondrian-themed dress.  I'm very fond of Piet Mondrian paintings.

For a change of pace, Lagoona Blue also has something new to wear this spring.  Mama thought it was cute, and now one of my dolls has it.  Etsy shop is RabbitinthemoonThai, and I'm only now noticing that Andra and Lagoona are in the same pose.

Lagoona may be sticky and yellow, but she was my first and I'll always love her.  It's been a minute since she got something new, and this matches her stock shoes.

Zooey Electric also has an outfit, one supplied by Mama.

toocuteclub offers clothes for Rainbow High and for Smart Dolls (spoilers, I'm sizing up a Smart Doll).  The clothes are pricey, but I love the pastel outfits that the shop offers.  In this particular case Zooey seemed like the perfect choice for this outfit, but looking at the trim...there's some purple in there so Monique Verbena could've pulled it off too.  Indeed, the only one I have that would clash is Ruby Anderson (she's red).  Sunny Madison would've looked adorable.

Camille, my little Wellie Wisher, has something new to wear too.

New to her, anyway.  I've had this in storage since the end of last summer.

Rounding out the spring wear is River Song, who is uncharacteristically girly.  Y'all have gotten a peep at this getup, but now Riv has her shoes.

Justine-Marie and Zoe are my girly girls, but River Song is the one who got the dress, and she loves getting new things so she didn't make a peep of complaint.

Bright, splashy clothes for a...decidedly dreary beginning to March.  In the first few days after the tornadoes last weekend the weather was beautiful, and then on Tuesday the clouds moved in and the wind picked up a lot.  Normally I'd have taken Camille and River Song outside, but it was too windy and too dusty.  Yeah, it's nothing but sand here in the Bootheel.  I think it's a miracle that our crops grow as well as they do, but so far they do, thank God.

Veronal love,
RagingMoon1987

Love is blue

At the beginning of the year an Etsy ad declared that the color of the year was going to be lime green.  I love lime green and all green in general, but my heart was pulled in a different direction.  Whovians and Moody Blues fans are kinda obligated to at least tolerate the color blue, and...well, I actually happen to love blue, and I loved blue before I knew John Lodge from John Pertwee.  So when I saw a series of deep blue Barbie dresses on Etsy I was all over those like ugly on an ape.  Interestingly, this first one is not handmade like I initially thought, but rather a Best Buy outfit, #2217 from 1978.  It's also not a dress, LOL.

I love Best Buy outfits!  Some of them are dated by today's sensibilities (pantsuits, though I happen to love pantsuits), but they're also colorful and relatively easy to find, and they cover Barbie's naked butt, dated or not.  I don't have a big collection of Best Buy clothes yet (#2217, #1359 and four copies of #1354), but when I want something that will fit the old twist 'n' turn body, Best Buy is usually what I look for.  Unfortunately, like a great many Barbie outfits of today, most Best Buy getups didn't come with shoes.

Mama told me that barefoot dancing was the best kind of dancing, and Midge apparently agrees.  Anyway, one of the things that I like about Best Buy clothes is that they can have variants.  I've counted at least four of #1354 (including one sized for Skipper) and three of #1359, and it appears that #2217 has three variants as well.  Mine is light blue on a dark blue field, but there is also white on the same dark blue field, and a different shade of blue with polka dots and roses.  The top elastic is unfortunately pretty loose, and Midge has thus had her fair share of Tara Reid moments.

Oops!  I'll have to see what I can do about that.  Shouldn't be too hard to fix.  Despite the fact that Midge's eyes are green, and her earrings are light blue and yellow, I like this getup on her.  I think the blue looks nice with her red hair.

Next outfit...shucks, I wish I'd had a redhead for this one too, since it was modelled by a redhead on Etsy, but Theta's blue lips match.  Etsy shop is Mall4Doll.

This fits Theta like it was specially tailored for her, and the fabric is both stretchy and drapey so it will fit quite a few of my dolls.  It needs a necklace though, something to make Theta sparkle.  Oh, and for the record, nip slips are not out of the question for this dress either, so I have to be careful about how I pose Theta.

These next two dresses are for curvy dolls, and they came from PrymaDonnaDolls.  This shop is based in Sri Lanka and has a long shipping time, so if you buy something from here, be prepared to wait.  So here's Chardonnay in a simple tube dress with detached sleeves.

I love a good tube dress for Barbie, because they're easy to put on and they can be worn by all the body types.  Usually.  This dress was specifically tailored for Curvy dolls so it would probably be too big for a petite doll.  At the same time it's pretty tight on Chardonnay, tight enuff that I can't pose her legs apart and help her stand better.  I love this shade of blue, though!

Andra's new threads aren't really a dress, but a jumpsuit like Midge's.

It looks good, but the seams are uneven in places.  This isn't such a big deal, but the fit is pretty tight in the chest, almost so that I couldn't pull the whole thing up.  I dread taking this off Andra.  She rocks it, though.  Andra rocks just about everything she wears.

One of the benefits of being a modern doll collector is the originality of the clothes.  Granted, at the beginning of Barbie's reign a crafty child or a crafty mama could whip up something that couldn't be bought in stores, but one couldn't find fabric sprinkled with avocados or with the Butterfinger logo.  Spoilers, I've got those too, LOL.  Tacky?  Maybe, but then I happen to like tacky, and my dolls give no effs whether they look tacky or not, because they're...well, they're dolls!  That said, Lovable Louise is...well, not as tacky.

I love finding new duds for old dollies!  Clothes for Lovable Louise are about as easy to find as hen's teeth, but BonDebproductions did have this dress, and by luck of the draw it's blue.  Next step is to find some shoes (I've already found a source that will provide undergarments) and unfog her eyes.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Beth in WV (and probably a few other folks) who told me that a warm hair dryer and an index card will do the trick.  Louise and Sunflower will be my guinea pigs, and I'll let y'all know the results.

For those of y'all that might fancy the more traditional look, here's Ashley and Lena, two of my Magic Nursery kids.  They wear hearts, and Lena ties the whole post together with touches of blue.  Worked out pretty well, actually!

Happy Valentine's Day,

RagingMoon1987 

Your local shelfwarmers

Y'all are probably familiar with 'em, items that linger on a shelf for months or even years.  Doesn't have to be dolls, it can be anything from a box of paperclips that was forgotten to a TV that's not the latest big shot model.  Now...on the Barbie subreddit I stumbled across a discussion of dolls as shelfwarmers, particularly Barbie.  In my neck of the woods Barbie tends to sell well, but some of the comments were eye-openers.  One person from the Phillipines noted that Fashionista #30 (named White and Pink Pizazz) was still on store shelves, a full nine years after her release!  #30 was one of my first tall Fashionistas.  The same person added that #84 and #102 are still hanging around as well.  This is what these three dolls look like; of course I'm including my own commentary, LOL.  Here's #30.

I own #30, but I only got her because she was the only tall Fashionista I could find at the time, and I thought that the new bodies would be sort of a flash-in-the-pan thing.  Yep, I truly thought that.  I never said it here that I know of, but I thought it.  Compared to some of the other tall dolls on shelves around then, #30 kinda faded into the background, and...well, she's kinda boring so I can understand why she'd be lingering.  Still, nine years is a long time to linger on store shelves.

#84 came with an extra outfit.  Remember that once upon a time Fashionistas had that perk.

Now this one is more visually stimulating.  I like this doll's hair, I like her clothes, I like her skin tone, which is a little oranger than white but not quite tan either.  Maybe the horizontal stripes doomed this doll to linger.  Not everyone looks good in horizontal stripes, and not everyone likes horizontal stripes.

Fashionista #102.

I'm not in love with that striped skirt, but I don't think that's why this doll doesn't sell, at least in the stores mentioned on Reddit.  The poor doll kinda gets lost against her packaging.

Or her second outfit does.  This one's kinda like #30, just...there.  Shame too, because she's got a pretty face.

Other Redditors chimed in with dolls from the movies Wish and Raya and the Last Dragon lingering in their locales, and I...I guess Malden is full of weirdos because our Wal-Mart doesn't have any of those dolls anymore.  I bought Sisu myself, mainly because I like her hair and her saucy expression.

Another redditor spoke of black dolls lingering, especially the very, very dark ones (the ones I like).  I sadly saw evidence of this when the basics were a thing, and the two darkest dolls were Models #4 and #10.  Both of them were on shelves for a looooong time.  I was on the fence about #10 (right), but #4 was and still is a favorite of mine. 

Ironically, #10 is now the one I own; she eventually got moved to the clearance wrack and I felt sorry for her.  Her name is Vivian.

That picture doesn't do her justice, but IRL she's really pretty.  Then when the jeans Basics arrived, Model #8 lingered.  Thus why I have her too...somewhere.

ALL of my Basics are somewhere, likely in my old room at Mama's old place.  But anyway Dani and Vivian were there at Dexter's Wal-Mart forever, and I thought they were pretty and felt sorry for them so I own them now.

Another user didn't give their location, and they mentioned Fashionistas #128 and #150.

I'm not in love with #128 either (her outfit isn't flattering) but I love #150.  Never once did I see her locally.

Here in Malden most of the fashion dolls available appear to be selling well.  The last time I saw shelfwarmers was last April, when the last of the Fidgie Friends were arriving...and staying...and staying!  Pizza Princess and Ramen Dream were the ones sticking around, for some reason, but the others were long gone.  Ramen Dream is my favorite of my three Fidgie Friends, though none of 'em are worth much in terms of play value...yeah, I can understand why no one wanted those dolls.  Kylie Jenner also stuck around, and come to think of it, the last time I crippled back to the toy area there were still some of those dolls hanging out, particularly the one that comes with the dog.  I guess the Jenners and the Kardashians are finally starting to falter in their relevance, or they never were relevant here in the Bootheel to begin with.  Most of us are working to middle class and don't have a lot of time for socialites and their nonsense.  I own Kylie, the one in the short black dress, but again it was because I thought she'd become hard to find...and her arms are jointed.  I love that.

So how about y'all?  Who are your local shelfwarmers?  Discuss.

Shelfwarming love,
RagingMoon1987

Mining for dollies

When one starts cleaning out in preparation for a move, one finds some nice stuff that one forgot one had.  Such was the case yesterday morning, when I grabbed a small cardboard box out of my doll room at Casa del Luna.  I apparently tossed all these dolls together to get them out of the way, because they were chucked in the box willy-nilly, kinda like my mishmash box turned out.  Malibu P.J. was teetering on top; she last appeared on the blog a little over a year ago, when I started putting together monthly random posts.

Ever since Barbie Bazaar ran an article on P.J., I've been a big fan of her pigtailed wholesomeness.  I mean, P.J. can be every bit as glamorous as Barbie, but since she wasn't afraid to sport a hairstyle normally worn by children, she had a bit more innocence.  Not that I hate Barbie, of course, but I'm a P.J. fan.  I was a young teenager when Barbie Bazaar ran that article (the Mystery Squad was in stores, it was that long ago), so I didn't think I'd ever own a P.J. of my own, and now I've got two.  New 'n' Groovy Talking P.J. is somewhere in my doll room, and then of course here's my Malibu girl.

Oh yeah, I also love the Malibu line.  In addition to P.J. I've got two Barbies somewhere, one with the Stacey head and a younger one with the Superstar head, and I want a Malibu Skipper.  Early Skipper dolls didn't seem like the type that would want a suntan, but...well, Skip had it!

Okay, okay, next doll...oh, no one else but first wave Ghoulia Yelps, clad in an Inner Monster ensemble.

Ghoulia was always the quote-unquote nerd of the G1 Monster High gang, so I liked glamming her up whenever I could.  My doll's netted sleeves have never been removed, though I know it can be done with ease.

Since she's an old doll Ghoulia's head is filled with glue and she's showing symptoms, but not as badly as Lagoona was/is.  And spoiler alert, I found a crate of Monster High stuff underneath this cardboard box, so hopefully Ghoulia's original outfit will be in there.  I don't plan on photographing the contents of that; a post like that would be drier than this one is.

Also teetering on the top of the pile was Teen Talk Barbie, minus her shoes.

Her batteries are dead, but those are easily replaced. 

Sisu's cotton candy head was sticking up out of the box, so she's who I pulled out next.

I've never seen Raya and the Last Dragon.  Indeed, I don't think I've seen a Disney or Pixar movie since Finding Nemo was a thing (I love Finding Nemo, by the way).  Sisu's face was what drew me in; she's a character!

In the Moon House Sisu's best friend is a budget Moana doll, but I haven't seen Moana yet.  Maybe she's in here...I just need to dig deeper.

THIS gal is certainly no Moana!  Good ol' Benetton Kira!

Again, I have her shoes somewhere.  Kira is wearing thick socks, so her shoes slipped off easily.  I love the United Colors of Benetton line, by the way; Teresa is my favorite of them all, because Teresa and because Steffie.  But I also love Kira.  If I was choosing a Barbie at all during my childhood it would be either Kira or Teresa (Midge didn't make a lot of appearances after she married).

Alrighty...oh, it's a Chelsea!

Chelsea with the heart dress!  I remember picking her up because that red looked so good with her skin.  I haven't changed too much from my early teens; back then Kelly dolls were so cheap that Daddy picked me up one whenever we went into Wal-Mart.  I had and still have quite a collection of Kelly Club dolls (Biker Baby Belinda is my favorite), and even now it's hard to resist a cute Chelsea!

In tune with both Chelsea and Kira is Fashionista #81/"Wear Your Heart," whom I recently mentioned in passing.  My pet name for her is "Corazon."

If you're gonna do a Kira doll, paint her boldly!  The first Fashionista I saw with the Kira head had that matte pink lipstick that I hate, but not Corazon here!  She's got beautiful bold lips...and for that matter, Benetton Kira does too.

I haven't forgotten Theta, my Kira-faced Fashionista with the huge Afro and BLUE lips.  Eventually I'll unearth her and she'll join my party here.  Sigh...I remember that time frame well.  Hurricanes were so thick that the National Hurricane Center had to resort to naming hurricanes after the Greek alphabet, hence why I have both a Theta and an Iota in my doll collection.  

Speaking of Iota, the linked picture is from this review, of my Barbie Extra Minis doll.  Pet name is "Hyacinth."

Hyacinth will fit in well with my Army of Tinies.  As for Iota, I locked eyes with her when I moved the box out of my doll room.  She'll soon join the group, and I think it's likely that she and Sisu will get along since they both have wild blue hair.

Another non-Barbie, this is Maxie's friend Ashley. 

I love the whole Maxie line, but Ashley is my favorite of them.  She's a redhead, and she looks like Steffie. 

I saw a pair of dark feet in yellow shoes sticking up, so I pulled this gal out next.  It's Theta!  Theta with her big Afro and her blue lips!

Three Kiras in that box, and spoilers, I got another one yesterday!  You'll get to see all of that tomorrow. 

I found Bopsy towards the bottom of the box.  My birth year doll.

Both Bopsy and Kira's shoes are within my reach, but I wasn't in the mood to deal with them.  When the time comes to display them, then they'll get their shoes back...maybe.  They might choose to have a sock hop instead.  And because I love Bopsy's venomous eyes...

...you're poison running through my veins!

Happy, sparkly Moana made her appearance.  Note that her bodice is a big fake jewel.

Rounding out the lot is one of my Teeny Tiny Tumbles Surprise dolls.

Not a bad haul, right?  And this is all old stuff, stuff I owned beforehand.  Tomorrow y'all get to see what a friend recently gave me.

Happy Poinsettia Day,
RagingMoon1987

Further discussion on the 65th anniversary Fashionistas...sort of

This is gonna be one of those weird "The opinions of RagingMoon1987" posts, one that I piecemeal together in about an hour's time, and fair warning:  I'm fixin' to do a few of those because they're easy to do and I enjoy bloviating.  The posts that I did over the past two days were...well, the LULU POP dolls were a spur-of-the-moment post, but the one about the Christmas box was semi-planned out.  In the last post I talked about the new Fashionistas that were, for better or worse, inspired by older dolls.  I wasn't too impressed with Superstar Barbie or with Barbie and the Rockers, and I thought about some of the other dolls that I'd love to see as a Fashionista.

COLOR MAGIC BARBIE, 1966

I view this doll as Barbie's transition from the early sixties to the Mod era.  Barbie still had the old-style face like Mama's ponytail doll does, but she sported a sleek, smooth hairdo and a brightly colored ensemble.  I freaking LOVE this doll.  This one is the reproduction; the original had a diamond-patterned swimsuit and a matching scarf.  The Fashionista could have some brightly-colored getup and yellow or red streaks in her hair, the way Color Magic likely could if her owner had a steady hand.  

MALIBU BARBIE, 1971

This one would be hard to screw up.  Put her in a simple blue sheath, give her long blonde or highlighted hair, and add in some pink sunglasses and matching jelly shoes.  Maybe something yellow too, to represent the towel the original doll carried, something like that?  But yeah, I've still got friends who fondly remember this doll and would likely be stoked to see her get an upgrade.  Heck, I'd be tickled meself.  I've got two of these (three if you count P.J.) and I love 'em.

GOLDEN DREAM BARBIE AND CHRISTIE, 1980

Sadly I could only find a decent picture of Barbie, but of the two of them Christie is the one I prefer.  C'mon, can't y'all imagine a Fashionista in a gold-themed getup?  Now that I think of it...I guess one could say that Margot Robbie paid tribute to Golden Dream herself, in the form of this getup...

...but I still think Goldie would make a cute Fashionista.  Oh yeah, and if Mattel wants to give a nod to Christie they can use the Steffie face.  Please, Mattel???  PLEASE use Steffie for a Fashionista?  Oh, pretty please??????  LOL, next doll.

LOVING YOU BARBIE, 1983

Hearts NEVER go outta style!  The folks at Mattel could have a field day with this one.  They're not even trapped in a red-and-white rut, though that combo would look amazing on a doll with deep skin.

TOTALLY HAIR BARBIE, 1992

The bestseller, the one with WAAAAY too much hair and the cute Pucci-print minidress.  For this one the Fashionista could have a huge Afro like some past Fashionistas have had, or some other big style (like this doll, or this one), and a cute dress with a similar color theme?  Oh, and one of the Totally Hair dolls had the Steffie face.  Please, Mattel!  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE???

LOL, why don't I start a campaign:  USE THE STEFFIE HEAD IN THE FASHIONISTA LINE.  LOL, if Greenpeace can be obnoxious about their cause, so can I.  Steffie or no, if I were a designer at Mattel I would've at least considered some of the above dolls, especially Totally Hair Barbie, since she IS the best-selling Barbe of all time.  But...y'all might feel differently.  Who would y'all have picked for the Fashionista line?

Love,
RagingMoon1987