New Monster High girls?

Yikes!  Another pair of Monster High dolls for Moony???

Nope, just CAM Blob Girl and Ice Girl in their new Inner Monster clothes!  Ice Girl is wearing Spookily Sweet and Blob Girl is wearing Fearfully Feisty.

It's amazing what a change of clothes will do for a doll!  Those masks add a lot of character to their faces.

"Hey Icy, wanna know a secret?"

I will likely have to purchase the coordinating doll that goes with the third Inner Monster outfit, Scared Silly.  That set comes with an orange mask, which would not jive well with either Icy's shiny blue plastic or Blobby's sparkly pink body.  I'm looking forward to that though, because then Blobby and Icy will have someone to swap body parts with!

Yours truly,
RagingMoon1987

P.S.  If you want to know more about Monster High's new Inner Monster sets, Miss Emily has one of the characters reviewed.  They're super neat dolls.

If you're a doll collector, read this!

Fresh from tommydoll on Wordpress:  thirty-nine dumb questions/comments that you may hear from people who are not doll collectors.  Enjoy!

http://tommydoll.com/2014/08/11/what-not-to-say-to-a-doll-collector/

And to make this post a little less visually drab, here's Mary-Anne in one of her new dresses.

Always,
RagingMoon1987

On DollSewChic clothes

So these were originally supposed to be birthday presents, but they came in the mail yesterday and Mama decided to just hand them over.  These are handmade doll dresses from an Etsy shop DollSewChic.

Peaches (the beat-up old Cissy doll on the left) is wearing a dress sized for a large Miss Revlon doll; I've forgotten the measurements already, but I think it was for a 21-inch Miss Revlon.  Wendy (right) is my Little Miss Revlon doll, and she is wearing a dress sized for her kind.  I can't identify the material, but it's substantial and has great drape.  Peaches's dress closes with a strip of Velcro, and Wendy's dress has snaps.  Both are nicely shaped and hemmed, and both came with cute matching panties.  I haven't given the dresses a super-thorough looksie so I can't really review them too well, but they look very nice on my girls and I'm thankful.

DollSewChic offers handmade dresses and jewelry for Miss Revlon and like-sized dolls, Little Miss Revlon, Crissy and Velvet, Tiffany Taylor, Ellowyne Wilde, and Hearts 4 Hearts Girls.  The jewelry will also fit dolls with slender necks like B.F.C. Inc dolls.  Prices are very reasonable, so if you like handmade stuff for your vintage and not-so-vintage girls, then I recommend this site.

Happy First Day of August,
RagingMoon1987

Clothing options for Moxie Teenz

This is not original material of mine, but rather a shoutout (and show of gratitude) to one of my fellow bloggers.  Muff, author of the blog "Hey, it's Muff," found some Little Miss Matched clothes at Target and tried them on her Moxie Teenz to see if they'd fit.  Guess what?  THEY DID!!!!!!!!!!!!  The fit was a little off in places, but for the most part the pieces worked.  All except the shoes, that is; they're too big.  Muff's post can be found here, and just for the heck of it, a review of a Little Miss Matched doll can be found here.

Thanks for the tip, Muff!  Now I have some ideas of what to dress my Tristen in.  Believe me, she's getting sick to death of that pink nightie!

"Get it off me.  Please get it off."

Happy Flag Day to y'all, and I'll get Cami's review finished...one of these days.  Y'all thought I forgot, didn't ya!  Nope, I didn't forget.  The past couple of months have been a bit insane, with multiple life events and changes going on.  I'll get to it though, I promise!

Hugs and kisses,

RagingMoon1987

Another one bites the dust? Apparently so

Happy Easter and Happy Resurrection Day to you, my dear followers!  I don't know about y'all, but I've had a superb weekend.  There was much shopping and antique store-hopping, and my sister tied the knot with her fiancé on Saturday.  So now I have a brother-in-law and I'm very happy!

Unfortunately, the dolly news that I bear is not good.  It's likely also old to some of you, but it's new to me so here goes.  I hope you're in the mood to read!  Six days ago (heavens, doesn't seem like it was that long!) I put up a post regarding the demise of the La Dee Da and Pinkie Cooper lines.  At the end of that post I made some comments about the future of the Cutie Pops series, wondering if they would be discontinued as well.  You remember those, right?  These dolls?

I own and have reviewed Candi, in the center, and Miss Emily reviewed Cookie, on the right.  The Cutie Pops are not perfect, but they are creative enough that Miss Emily and I both rated them fairly high.  Like Pinkie Cooper, I originally thought that these dolls would be cute and original enough to stand up to the test of time, but after Pinkie and the La Dee Da dolls were both axed I began to doubt the longevity of the Cutie Pops.

I had my reasons for this doubt, of course:
*There was a complete absence of Cutie Pops in stores.
*Nothing new had been released in some months.  Last fall there were three new lines available simultaneously, but since then, nothing.
*The Cutie Pops' last Facebook post was on New Years' Day which isn't good, particularly when compared to more successful dolls like Barbie, the Bratz, and Lalaloopsy, each of whom have very active Facebook pages.  Keep in mind that these days social media can make you or break you; if you get a lot of coverage on Facebook or Twitter, voila!  Instant success (or shame, if the news happens to be bad).  But as always, I digress.

Intrigued by these clues, I dug around on Google tonight and a post on Tumblr which contained some disturbing news.  Doll News had this very brief but very telling conversation which attests that the Cutie Pops are indeed being discontinued.  One of the participants of the conversation , a person named Cutie Club, insists that she/he heard the news from a reliable source and even posted directly on her page about it (look very closely at the top of her screen).

So that's not a good sign!  However, I've learned from bitter experience not to believe everything one reads on the internet (yes, I admit that I did at one time), so I dug deeper and found a post from paperdollmom here on Blogspot.  She apparently has heard the same thing that I did, and she reveals that this is apparently old news because her post regarding the Cutie Pops is from April first!  She also reveals a possible reason for the discontinuation:  while her daughter has and loves her Cutie Pops doll, paperdollmom herself finds the doll mildly creepy, particularly when the eyes are removed.  Miss Emily echoed that sentiment, though she herself is a fan of these dolls (she has five separate posts, one for five of the six waves released).

I also found a conversation on Monster High Arena (big forum for Monster High fans), that not only adds further confirms the Cutie Pops discontinuation, but also offers up some ideas as to why they and Pinkie Cooper are no more.  One person suggested that they may have been shouted down by Monster High, Barbie, and the semi-new Ever After High line, all three of which are constantly putting something new out and keeping the image alive.  I think this idea makes perfect sense, because in the two years that Cutie Pops were in existence Jada Toys released six waves, with three being released at the same time.  So if one wanted to really nitpick that COULD count as only four waves.  Compare that to Monster High and Lalaloopsy.  The initial MH release had six characters...

...and the first wave of Lalaloopsy dolls had eight.

This means that Mattel and MGA Entertainment released more dolls in one single wave than Jada Toys did during one doll's entire run.

So I still haven't seen anything official, but that's the buzz online among doll circles.  The discontinuation of Cutie Pops, Pinkie Cooper, and La Dee Da dolls, and the Bratz dolls' hiatus suggests a very dark year for those of us who like playline dolls.  Sure, we have Barbie, Lalaloopsy, and the revival of Moxie Girlz (some of which are downright freaky) but dang it, I was looking forward to seeing where these doll lines would go!  Looks like it's back to browsing the internet for what information on the Novi Stars.  No, I STILL have not figured out if they're going to be gone for good or not.  I've seen multiple sources with multiple responses (yeses, nos, and maybes), but my last trip to Wal-Mart turned up exactly ONE Novi Star:  a lone Sila Clops in the discount isle.  Perhaps they will be getting a mass revamp and being rereleased in the fall alongside the Bratz...but I doubt it somehow.

And before I sign off, I think I should mention yet ANOTHER tidbit of nasty news.  Remember this gal?

Bratzillaz Meygana Broomstix, whom I have reviewed.  My source is Wikipedia, not the most reliable source.  They heard from Bratz Boulevard (a much better source) that while there was information available about international Bratz releases for 2014, NOTHING was said about the Bratzillaz.  This could mean that either they will not be released internationally, or they have just been done away with entirely.  This possibility surprises me because I think the Bratzillaz are a better product than the Bratz.  They have joints and inset eyes, and while the early ones did not have the best hair that problem has since been rectified.  Just more testament to the dynamics and the fickleness of the doll world.

Oh well, life goes on, yes?  All this reminds me that one cannot live through material possessions, even though they are a lot of fun.  Besides, these spaces on shelves will make room for more new creations.  Who knows?  Maybe some obscure little toy company out there will create the impossible:  a doll that purges Barbie from her role as Queen of the Dolls.  When and if that does happen, Yours Truly will be there to see it, munching popcorn, drinking Snapple, and trying to stop her head from spinning.  LOL

Happy Easter/Resurrection Day,
RagingMoon1987

Saying goodbye...

This is likely old news since I tend to spend a fair amount of time with my head in the clouds, but the spring of 2014 brings some bad news for a couple of fairly young doll lines.  In March Bridge Direct announced the discontinuation of Pinkie Cooper.

This trio of canine cuties made their debut last year.  Each doll had an extra outfit and a pet available, and Pinkie had three additional city-themed variations (London, Paris, and Beverly Hills).  Their cuteness won Miss Emily over, and her review convinced me to grab one as well.  I own Pepper and her pet dog Saltine, but not any of the extra outfits that were available.

I didn't review Pepper because of Miss Emily's review; she reviewed Pinkie here, and Pinkie's pet here, and I can't really say anything that she hasn't already said.  She and I agree though, that Pinkie and her puppy pals are extremely cute.  Apparently that cuteness wasn't enough to save this little doggie trio.  According to Ashley's blog on Wordpress these dolls were discontinued in March and will only be carried through the rest of the spring.  They'll be replaced by...another Strawberry Shortcake line.  Now, I like Strawberry Shortcake.  She's adorable, she's vintage, she's appropriate for kids...but WHY ANOTHER LINE OF THOSE DOLLS???  Oh well, maybe it'll be something that I can add to my collection.  If they're little dolls they'll make great props for my LIV dolls.

Okay, so I made that unfortunate little discovery yesterday, and today Ashley (yep, same page, same blogger) revealed that the La Dee Da dolls, which Spin Masters had as the LIV dolls' successors, have also been discontinued.  This didn't surprise me as much as Pinkie Cooper's discontinuation did.  The La Dee Da dolls had some tremendous shoes to fill, coming in immediately after the LIV dolls.  The La Dee Da dolls gave it the old college try, but in my opinion they couldn't measure up to their predecessors.  Their poseability was lacking, their joints were flimsy, and not all the dolls came with stands.  For example, Sunflower Burst Cyanne (left) came with a stand, but Fairytale Dance Sloane did not. 

La Dee Da dolls are so top-heavy that they can't stand without some sort of support, so the omission of stands wasn't the brightest idea in the world.  Not that it mattered; my Cyanne can barely stand even with support (see my review of Cyanne here for more details on that).  In spite of the problems I gave Cyanne a fairly good review, and I likely would with Sloane too if I chose to review her.  Miss Emily's feelings were mixed; she wasn't thrilled with Runway Vacay Cyanne or the overpriced Fairytale Dance Dee and Prancie set, but loved Dots of Style Dee and the art-themed line that was released.  Still, I thought that these dolls would have enough pizzazz to last at least until Christmas.  Heck, I even saw some rip-off La Dee Da dolls in stores and took that as a sign of success!  I was wrong, though; Dee and her rowdy, shouty, chic friends will not be staying through the year.  According to Ashley, Spin Masters is putting them in the vault and letting the idea die.  Rather sad; I got a kick out of the dolls' colorful hair, eyes, and clothes, and I loved how their extra outfits had options that one could change around and customize.  Looks like I'm going to have to hit those sale shelves and scrounge up what pieces I'm missing!

Given the lack of success of these two doll lines, plus the lack of new outfits and accessories for Cutie Pops dolls, I wonder if they will be the next ones to be axed?  I certainly hope not, because I like them a lot!!!

Yours somewhat-sadly,

RagingMoon1987

Playing Dolly Doctor: Kennedy, Elvis, and Basma

Today I took three of my "new" dolls, members of what I have dubbed The Sack Gang, and made them look beautiful again.  If you may recall, Elvis, Beyonce, and a blonde My Scene doll were all in the mix, and they were all naked.

Strutting around naked (or darn near) is what the real Beyonce does best, but I will not tolerate such behavior in my house.  This little vinyl lady is about to get some morals bestowed upon her! 

The makeovers were about as rudimentary as doll makeovers can get, by the way.  I gave them each some new clothes (Barbie and Ken clothes purchased at Wal-Mart) and restyled the girls' hair in simple ponytails.  However, even the simplest of makeovers can do wonders for a doll.  Here's what the My Scene doll looks like:

Here's Elvis:

And here's Beyonce:

Not bad!  I managed to refurbish three dolls for under twenty bucks.  All is right with these dolls now...except for the fact that both girls appear to have taken an interest in Elvis.

See, Sasha Fierce?  You can attract a man without taking your clothes off!  These three will have to work out the battle over Elvis on their own, though.  I hate Beyonce Knowles with a passion, by the way (if you couldn't tell from the above commentary), so from now on my Beyonce doll will be referred to as "Basma."  The doll has a gorgeous smile, and "Basma" is the Arabic word for "smile."

Yours truly,

RagingMoon1987

Costume Bash Jade and a sack of old Barbies

Yesterday was a very dolly day for me.  I hadn't intended for it to be; Mama and I had only gone to Wal-Mart to buy eye drops.  But as usual we both got sidetracked, and I found this in the sales bin.

She's a Costume Bash Jade, one of the newer Bratz with the rescaled body, and possibly the only one I'll ever get like this.  I recently heard that the Bratz are going on hiatus again, which to me sounds troubling since they just came out of hiatus four years ago.  MGA has announced that there will be no new Bratz dolls in the U.S. during 2014, and that preparations are being made for a huge comeback in 2015.  Sheesh, if Bratzillaz and these tall Bratz aren't cutting it then I don't know what will!  But that's for another blog post.

I had planned for this post to be a review on Jade, but that's not the way it went.  I probably WILL review her in the future, but not today.  No, Jade got upstaged by a very, VERY unexpected visit from a friend of mine.  Said friend, whom I'll call Miss Jo, is an older woman who has access to older Barbie dolls.  Today she had a sack of them for me.  Not one or two, but A SACK FULL OF BARBIE DOLLS!!!  And she gave them to me!  With Jade sitting beside me, momentarily forgotten, I opened the sack and began pulling out dolls.  There were two Asian dolls in the mix.  The one in white looks like Western Fun Nia, and I later learned that the one on the left is likely Animal Lovin' Nikki.

There was Malibu Barbie, whom Miss Jo pulled out of the sack to show off.  I'm very excited about this one.  She's wearing a dress that Miss Jo made, which makes her even more special.

My friend was also eager to show me Beauty Secrets Barbie, whose arms move when her torso is gently squeezed.

The sack contained another, smaller doll with an arm mechanism similar to Beauty Secrets Barbie.  I assumed that she was a Skipper of some sort, but my friends on Facebook say that she is likely a Starr doll.

I was particularly happy to be reunited with my childhood friend Maxie, whom I owned when I was a toddler.  She came out of the sack in the arms of a 90's Ken (who unfortunately is nude).  

Another pair of dolls took some time to get acquainted.

"So, do you come here often?"

My Scene Barbie was there, but at first she was too shell-shocked from the trip to take a good picture.  She collapsed next to one of the Asian girls and promptly went to sleep.

"Jeez, I'm beat."

She eventually agreed to stand up and be photographed.  She has pretty lip paint.

The contents of the sack were very star-studded.  Elvis was there, albeit in the buff.

Mary Poppins also showed up naked, so I put her in this Gemini dress which had been crammed onto a doll with much bigger hips.

Dorothy Gale was there, sans ruby slippers.

Beyonce Knowles also made an appearance, which Jade wasn't too happy about.

"What am I, chopped liver?"

I never have been a Beyonce fan and I never will be, but I'll still admit that this doll has a lovely face.  Look at that big smile!

Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato rounded out the celebrity group.  

This Barbie had a number of map pins thrust into her head.  I pulled the pins out before I photographed her.

Who does stuff like that???  Why on earth would anyone want to shove map pins into Barbie's head?  Luckily, Fashion Fever Drew escaped such treatment.  She is wearing a slinky black dress which I love.

Lastly, there was this very regal looking Midge, whom I've renamed "Amber" and given the title of princess.

In all, there were nineteen dolls in that sack.  They are varying ages, in varying states of dress, and in varying conditions.  Some of them just need a pair of shoes and a hair fix to make them look good again.  Others present a formidable challenge.  All of the Ken dolls need clothes, but they can't wear any of the outfits made for modern Ken dolls.  Good thing I know how to knit!  Maybe this Christmas my boys can have an ugly sweater party!  In short, I'm thrilled with my sack full of surprises.  Malibu Barbie is only my third vintage doll, and seeing Maxie was like being reunited with a long-lost friend.  I look forward to making Beyonce and Elvis look like A-list dolls again, and I'm excited over Joe Jonas's joints.  These next few weeks and months look to be a lot of fun.  I owe a debt of gratitude to my friend Jo for giving these dolls to me.  Thank you, Miss Jo!

Very happily yours,

RagingMoon1987

Barbie gets "real"? Maybe!

Let's talk about Barbie.  Love her or hate her, you can't deny that she's enormously popular, and you can't deny her longevity.  Mattel's second-most popular doll, Chatty Cathy, lasted six years, and while that is a good run for a doll, it is only a fraction of the time that Barbie has spent in production.  With that long run has come a fair amount of controversy, which I've touched on in a couple of other posts (here and here).  The biggest (and oldest) bone of contention has been Barbie's figure; feminists, doctors, and overly-realistic parents have complained for years that Barbie's waist is too skinny, that her boobs are too big, that her legs are too long, and that she gives little girls complexes about their bodies.

Recently this "Barbie is too thin" business has flared up again, this time with a vengeance.  Barbie's site is once again littered with well-meaning but extremely annoying people begging, nagging, and in some cases even insisting that Mattel make a plus-sized Barbie to "make their kids feel better about themselves."  I could go into a lot of detail about how this is the wrong way to build a child's self esteem, but I'll save that little soapbox for quarrels on Facebook.  Instead, I'm going to introduce you to the work of Nickolay Lamm.  So far Mr. Lamm has made three attempts at what collectors are calling an "average-looking" Barbie.  Here is Try No. 1 next to a Barbie that is currently in production.  I like to call this picture "Pretty Barbie and Cow Barbie," or C.B. for short.  See if you can tell which is which!

I probably wouldn't mind C.B. so much if it weren't for two things.  One, she's wearing a two-piece swimsuit.  No offense to heavy people, but if it's one thing I can't stand it's a heavy person in a bikini.  I understand that Mr. Lamm wanted his creation to look as much like a real Barbie as possible, but come on!!!  Most of the heavy women in this world (including myself) would not be caught dead in a swimsuit like what C.B. is wearing.  If we bother with swimsuits at all, we wear a one-piece suit with a sarong.  Or, if you're one of those who can't swim (I can't), a long flowing dress and a sunhat will suffice.  

Okay, so I hate the outfit, which is always a big strike against any doll I'd consider buying.  However, the swimsuit isn't my biggest issue with C.B.  She's a doll, after all, and dolls can wear whatever they want and still look great.  Plus, she can be redressed.  This is my biggest issue with C.B.

NOT PRETTY!!!  I do not like this doll's face AT ALL.  She reminds me of Ann Robinson, the super-nasty mom from "Cheer Perfection" (Google that if you're unfamiliar with the show).  Frankly I probably wouldn't like this face even if there were no Ann Robinson (don't I wish), because...well, I just don't!  She looks vacant and dippy, though in truth Skinny Barbie looks vacant and dippy too.  Not a good start for Mr. Lamm, though.  This one is just too "Barbie-wannabe" for me.

Try No. 2.  I wasn't able to think of a snotty little nickname for this one, because she's not so bad.

I'm still not 100% in love with the result; again, I think she could do to be dressed a little more conservative, but like I said above, she's a doll.  I like the closed lips much better though, and her eyes are much brighter.  Overall she has a lot more character in her face, much more so than C.B.'s face, and also more so than the real Barbie that she is supposed to emulate.  I also like the way her shoes look on her feet.  If I had any other critiques about this one it would be her arms.  They're too stiff and robotic looking.  This is a big improvement over C.B., though.  I'd buy this one if Mr. Lamm released her.

Try No. 3.  She's pictured in what I assume would be her stock outfit, and a couple of extra outfits as well.

It took some time, but I've really warmed to this one.  Yeah, she could still lose the two-piece swimsuit (maybe something like this would be better), and her ankle joint is a little funky looking, but other than that she's fine.  Her clothes are cute, modest, and NOT PINK!!!  She's lost the robotic arms, and she has a lovely face.  Here's what she probably would look like up close:

She looks familiar!  I don't know who she reminds me of, but she reminds me of someone I once knew.  Either way I like this face.  She's not overly made-up, and she doesn't have a big dippy grin on her face.  She looks happy, intelligent, and down-to-earth, and yet she's not so focused that she seems to stare right through you.  I wonder what she'd look like with green eyes, or with an African-American skin tone?

Unfortunately, the images of Try No. 3 are computer-generated; we don't know yet what Mr. Lamm's creation, whom he calls "Lammily Dolls," would look like after mass-production.  If they're as pretty as this one, or even the second doll, I'd buy her.  If they all end up looking like C.B., then I'll tear my eyes out and run screaming towards the horizon.  Perhaps I should cut Nickolay Lamm some slack, though.  After all, he is working hard to create an appealing product, something that's a little like Barbie but different enough that she's NOT Barbie.  Plus his goal isn't to unseat Barbie and remove her from her Queen of the Dollies throne.  Rather, he wants to create a realistic alternative, something that kids might want because it's more like them.  The problem is this:  realistic dolls don't seem to sell.  Not realistic toy dolls, anyway; I have no idea how well Tonner Hortencia sold, so I can't give you numbers on collectible plus-sized dolls.  However, there have been plenty of forays into the realistic toy doll world.  There were the Happy To Be Me dolls, who has a backstory similar to that of the Lammily dolls:

There were the Get Real Girls, dolls that were meant to be athletes:

And there were the Smartees, dolls that were meant to portray young women in intelligent careers such as doctors and lawyers.  This one is Ashley the Attorney.

There were other Barbie alternatives that have come and gone, some of which can be seen on this page (UPDATE:  also check out this one; kudos to D7ana for finding it).  I like the idea that the Smartees tried to portray, but none of these dolls sold.  They were there and gone within a very short time frame, and I can't name very many people who have even heard of Smartees.  I know of a few who recognize Happy To Be Me and the Get Real Girls, and I even know of some who liked the Get Real Girls.  The thing is this, though:  little girls (and boys too) aren't into playing "real-life" with their dolls and toys.  They like playing this game called "make-believe," the kind of game where you can fly, travel in time, grow rainbow-colored hair, or visit another planet.  They like dolls like Draculaura, Pinkie Cooper, and Rainbow Dash, all of whom are as realistic as a unicorn with three legs.  As a little bonus, Draculaura, Pinkie, and Rainbow all send the same message that the Lammily Dolls are trying to send, only they do it in a more creative, more original, less in-your-face way.  None of them are realistic, but all three are completely happy the way they are.  Plus, they manage to send this message without comparing themselves to an unrealistic model, like the Lammily Dolls inadvertently do.  Didn't think of that one, did you, Mr. Lamm?  Hmmm...maybe THAT is the reason why so many Barbie alternatives fail.  Perhaps since they are marketed as Barbie alternatives, kids tend to compare them to Barbie, say "I like Barbie better," and walk away without even giving the other dolls a chance.  But I'm going out on a limb, and I'm getting off the subject.  

What do you think?  Will the Lammily Dolls be a hit if they are released, or will they fall victim to the current trend of vampire teenagers and magic girls who morph into horses?  Discuss.

Very truly yours, 

RagingMoon1987

Sick of winter?

So are a couple of my girls.

Anticipating some warmer temperatures, I put Crissy and Ana Ming in their new spring dresses and swept the patio free of leaves.  The very next day we got eight inches of sleet and snow.  Here it is March sixth and we've got weather like that!  The storm clouds have a silver lining, however; maybe by the time the snow melts I'll have a few more dolls readied for spring.

Yours somewhat impatiently,

RagingMoon1987