Monday, February 24, 2014

Lalaloopsy dolls are like potato chips...

...you can't have just one!
I don't intend to have a huge collection of these since they're fairly large and take up some room, but that statement may come back to bite me when the next wave comes out!  LOL

Yours truly,
RagingMoon197

Thursday, February 20, 2014

Mooshka Tots Karia review

I reached a milestone today:  I got banned from Facebook.  Apparently it's forbidden to suggest that someone keep their...behaviors in check, shall we say?  It's perfectly fine to have pages devoted to the harassment and bullying of right-wing politicians and men wrongly accused of crimes, but don't you ever, ever, EVER tell someone to behave themselves on a discussion board, or heaven help you!  LOL, the positive side is that it was only for twelve hours, so while I was on Facebook Time-Out I got to work on this review.  I've been holding this one back since Veterans' Day, so she's long overdue.  Here is my Mooshka doll, Karia.
Mooshka dolls are the fruits of a partnership between MGA Entertainment and Zapf Creations.  As a result of this heritage they have a concept similar to Lalaloopsy dolls.  According to the Mooshka's site, a group of paper dolls joined hands and came to life "through the power of friendship" (remember that Lalaloopsies come to life after being sewn together).  These dolls come in three sizes:  the six 13-inch dolls are simply referred to as Mooshkas, while the four 9.5-inch dolls like my Karia are called "Mooshka Tots."  Tots are the younger siblings of the big Mooshkas, with Karia's older sister being Myra.  In addition to regular Mooshkas and tots, there are three fifteen-inch dolls called "Sing Around the Rosie" dolls.  When one holds hands with these dolls they sing "Ring Around the Rosie."  Myra is available in this form along with two other characters, Niva and Lera.  I know that I'm just a trifle old for dolls that sing, but I like Lera's green eyes and brown hair, so I may seek her out.

Now, the review.  Mooshka dolls come in these really nice cardboard boxes, so that's where I'll start.
These are a lot like Living Dead Doll boxes.  They had a plastic panel on the front that allows one to view the doll in the store.  The cardboard lid fit over the back and was held on with a small cardboard band.  I pitched the plastic front and the cardboard band, so now the lid fits on top.
The top has this ribbon handle, effectively turning the box into a handy little carrying case.  Word of advice:  if you are in your twenties or older and choose to carry this box through the store by the ribbon, be prepared for some stares.  LOL
The back has drawings of the available characters.  Some of the characters have the tripped-out hair colors that are becoming a mainstay of any doll line created by MGA.
Here's what the inside of the box looks like.
It has some thingamabobs that hold Karia's accessories, but let's discuss the doll before we get to those.  Like most MGA dolls Karia has a backstory.  She loves summertime, warm weather, and picnics (just like me), and ironically has a birthday in winter (January 9th).  This love of summertime is reflected...well, all over the doll!  See her butterfly?
I love how delicately printed that butterfly is!  It is very solidly sewn on, one of the few things that is sewn onto Karia.  Everything else--her face, her hair, her stockings and shoes--all of that is printed.  Her hair is pinkish-orange in color and has little zig-zag lines, which I assume are supposed to be hairlines.
The back of her head has this weird little loop on it.
I have no idea what that loop is for, unless its sole purpose was to hold her in the package (one of the cords keeping her in place ran through that loop).  If so, then it served its purpose...and now it merely looks weird.  I wish there were a way to remove it without running the risk of cutting Karia's head open, but there's not so I'll just suck it up.  The back of Karia's head is shaped with little darts.
Her chin also has some shaping, done with an extra piece of fabric and some strategic stuffing.
The stitching is rock solid in all of these areas.  No loops, loose stitches, holes, or any sort of gaffe anywhere.  I love the fabric, too.  I'm not sure what sort of material it is, but it has a soft, vaguely fuzzy feel to it.  Unfortunately, this fabric attracts lint like you wouldn't believe.  Not a huge deal, but consider yourself warned:  my doll has been out of her box only a short time and has already picked up quite a bit of lint and pet hair.
Parts of Karia's head/hair have been stitched up into little buns like this.
If these had been available when my sister was little she'd have had a field day with those buns.  She used her stuffed animals as teething rings, and Karia's hair would have fit the bill perfectly.  Don't give Karia to your teething child however, because these dolls are NOT APPROVED FOR CHILDREN UNDER TWO YEARS OF AGE!!!  Miss Emily points this out in her recent post on Christmas toys.  Glad she saw that, because I sure as heck didn't!

Back to Karia's nitty-gritties.  All of her facial features are printed.  She has lovely royal blue eyes with two little eyelashes.  The irises have a little bit of detail printed in.  Her cheeks are blushed.
Karia also has a little pink oval nose and a smiling mouth.
Printed on Karia's arm are two little bracelets that match her dress.
The ends don't line up at the seam, but that's to be expected on a mass-produced, sewn doll.  The seam there is sturdy, and that's what counts.  Also present are these little Velcro patches on Karia's hands.
If one has more than one Mooshka one can link all the dolls together this way (remember that these dolls are supposed to be paper dolls that came to life).  The larger dolls also have arms long enough that they can clasp their own hands like this.  Karia can do this too, but it's a stretch and I don't recommend it.
Too bad.  It would've been cute to pose her holding that finger puppet, like Myra is in the linked image.

Karia's dress can be removed, so I'm going to shell that off and show you her tights.  The waistband has a cute little flower pattern printed on.
And here are the tights themselves.  They have a mismatched but coordinated pattern.
Her backside has a bit of shaping that will allow her to sit more easily, and this tremendously annoying tag.  I may clip that off.  The shoes are a separate piece of cloth sewn on to the bottom, and the soles are yet another separate piece.  The heels also have those goofy, nonfunctional little loops.  
These legs do not pose, by the way.  They have gussets at the hips that allow Karia to sit, but that's it.

Karia's dress consists of a top and skirt, which are sewn together to make a dress.   It fastens in the back with Velcro.
It is made of the same material as Karia's body, meaning that it's delightful to the touch but catches lint like mad.  The bodice is greenish-blue and has little green cap sleeves.  There are some small (printed) laces on the front of the bodice, and a pink band with hot pink polka dots at the waist.  Both of these details are printed.
You can also see some lint on the dress.  Told ya!

The skirt of the dress is very busy and reflects Karia's love for both picnics and summertime.  It's two shades of pink, with red polka dots and big, bright slices of watermelon printed on.
The watermelon print is very detailed, by the way.  Look at the seeds!

Sewn on to the skirt is this lavender pocket.  It "contains" Karia's pet kitten.  The hem of the pocket has white picots.  I'll admit that I'm a teensy bit disappointed (but not surprised) that the kitten is printed on...but he's so cute!
The skirt's hem also has picots, but they are green.
I love the quality of this little frock.  Like Karia's body, the dress is securely sewn, and all of the hems are finished.  The only thing this dress DOESN'T have is trim on the neckline and sleeves.  Again, not a huge gripe, but it would've been a nice touch since the skirt and pocket both have picots.  Oh, and as a little aside, all of these fabrics are machine-washable.  If your Mooshka gets dirty, pop her in a pillowcase and toss her in the washing machine.  No prob.

Karia comes with a couple of accessories, like I mentioned above.  There's this cute little finger puppet.  Look at the strawberries!
The puppet is made from the same material as Karia and thus can also be washed.  It looks eerily like one of those Russian nesting dolls.  It's very cute and it fits nicely on my finger.  Yes, I tried it out!
Okay, that's my thumb, but you get the point.

I can't really give you a review on the paper dolls, because I never got them out of the box.
The spot where they're lashed in is firmly anchored to the interior of the box.  I'd like to keep the box in good condition, so there they remain.

Lastly, since they're both MGA dolls with similar concepts, let's compare Karia to my Lalaloopsy doll, Blossom Flowerpot.
MGA has made a killing with Lalaloopsy dolls and I predict that they will with Mooshka dolls too.  However, and this is strictly my opinion, Karia and her soft friends may have an edge over the hard-plastic Blossom.  Both dolls are childs' toys, but Karia seems more...well, more kid-friendly.  She's your traditional rag doll with a modern spin.  Blossom and her plastic Lalaloopsy friends, while cute, are very heavy and somewhat cumbersome for small children to carry around.  Most of weight is in those huge heads, making Lalaloopsy dolls less than cuddly.  Because of those big heads, it's also hard to get the Lalas to sit up straight.  Mooshkas don't have this problem.
Additionally, the big Lalaloopsy dolls can be...well, this may sound strange, but they're a bit fragile.  Some of those outfits equip a fair amount of sateen, lace, and/or tulle, all of which can snag like crazy.  I myself have snagged some of the tulle on Blossom's stock dress, so I'm willing to bet that dolls owned by children have snags too.  And as a final little touch, the dolls themselves can be fragile.  I have not experienced this myself, but I've read stories on Facebook and Amazon about children accidentally dropping their Lalaloopsy on the floor and having the doll's head snap off!  Definitely not cool, and definitely not a problem that one would face with a Mooshka doll.  Karia is one of the few dolls that I WOULD subject to my throw-the-doll-across-the-yard-and-see-what-happens test.  I'm not GOING to because the back yard is currently full of mud and slush, but I still think she'd hold up.

That being said, good news/bad news time (spoiler alert:  the bad list will be brief).

BAD
*Arms are too short.  Not a huge deal, but it would've been cute to pose her holding her finger puppet.  
*This is a long shot, but there is a possibility that this fabric can snag.  The chance isn't as great, but it's still there.
*The fabric attracts lint, which can be annoying.
*Not for babies or tiny children.

GOOD
*Lovely colors!  Some of the dolls are more pink for the girly-girl, while Karia strikes the perfect balance of pink and other colors.
*Fabric is lovely as well.  It has delightful colors and is pleasant to the touch.
*Washable.  Always a plus.
*Sturdy.  Not only does the fabric feel strong, but the stitching is done nicely.
*She doesn't have a ton of ridiculous, unnecessary accessories.  She has a finger puppet that can be incorporated into children's games, and paper dolls that can serve as decorations or toys.
*The packaging makes a great storage box.
*Shoes are sewn on and thus will not get lost.
*The dress comes off.  If you have someone in the family who can sew, it's possible to create new outfits for these dolls.  

Karia is not a doll I expected to fall for.  Being twenty-six I thought myself too old to pay attention to rag dolls.  But then again, a normal twenty-six-year-old isn't focused on dolls of any sort!  That being said, Karia is a surprisingly pleasing addition to my collection.  Unlike a lot of my girls, I don't have to worry about her shattering or losing pieces if I knock her over.  If she gets dirty I can wash her, and since I like to sew I can make some new duds for her if I want to.  I don't have to worry about biffing myself in the face with her, like I occasionally do with Blossom.  I don't know if I'd recommend a Mooshka to a collector, but I'd definitely recommend one to a child, or to a mother or father looking for something for their child.  They're excellent alternatives for kids who have found Lalaloopsy dolls cumbersome.  MGA and Zapf have a potential hit on their hands with Mooshka dolls, and if they add some extra outfits and ethnicities to the mix then this could be huge.  

Yours truly, 
RagingMoon1987

!!!UPDATE!!!  I've had this post in draft form since November.  In the time since I drafted this a new line of Mooshka dolls has been released with a fairy tale theme.  There is also a set of all-plastic mini-Mooshkas similar to mini-Lalaloopsy dolls available; Miss Emily's review on one of these miniature dolls can be found here.

Saturday, February 15, 2014

My favorite actress...sort of

This ties in with my previous post somewhat; in that one I went over my fondness for Sleeping Beauty dolls in obsessive detail.  This time I'm going to discuss one of my favorite actresses who, for the lack of a better term, was a complete and total bitch.  Yes, the conservative Christian girl said "bitch."  Sue me.  Anyway, being a mortuary student has given me a fondness for the dark and the macabre, and frankly I always had that fondness to begin with.  It may be for that reason that I chose Joan Crawford as one of my favorite movie stars (Blue Oyster Cult also had a hand in it).  The only one of movies that I can name that fits the "dark and macabre" bill is "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane," but that's no biggie because Joan's personal life makes up for that...and it makes "Baby Jane" look like a walk in the woods!  If you don't know what I'm getting at, read daughter Christina's book "Mommie Dearest," or watch the movie it's based on (or both).  You'll understand then.  Yeah, I know some folks say that Christina's book is full of baloney, but I believe her.  Joan had that insane look that only a child-beater would.  And if you look at pictures of Joan and Christina together, you might notice that Christina's smile usually looks forced.

Enough backstory.  Apparently Joan was glamorous enough to be immortalized in doll form.  I'm only now finding this out, and I think that she's a very...well, a very interesting and original choice.  With all the Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe dolls out there, it's always refreshing to see a new face.  And which company was the brainchild behind this?  Well, I know of two.  There's Tonner, of course.  Tonner opted to catch Joan's glamorous side.
These are just two of the dolls Tonner made in Joan's likeness; there were several others, all of which can be viewed in the website's archives.  The one in purple is titled "Woman of Passion," while the one in white is appropriately named "Devil in White."  They are sixteen inches, the same height as Briar Rose, Aurora, and my Cami.  Check out "Devil's" face:
Not bad!  She's pretty like the real person, and she also looks slightly possessed.  She doesn't look as crazed as Joan herself did, but in all honesty it would be impossible to get a doll that insane looking.  I'd have one of these in a heartbeat.  Heck, Tonner even made some extra outfits for good ol' Mommie Dearest.  This one is my favorite; it's called "Jungle Red."
Tonner's Joan Crawford dolls are very, VERY nice, but they may have to step aside.  Lord have mercy, no one ever would've told that to the real Joan!  LOL, anyway, two days ago I saw THIS advertised on Pat's Potpourri.
NO WIRE HANGERS!  EVER!!!!!!  Yep, the doll is a 2013 release from Integrity Toys, and she is appropriately named "Mommie Dearest."  This particular doll is a little taller than Barbie at twelve inches, and is advertised by Pat's as compatible with Poppy Parker and Integrity's other twelve-inch dolls.  "Wait a minute," you're no doubt saying.  "She keeps saying 'this doll' when there are clearly two."  Actually...no.  There is one doll with two outfits and TWO HEADS!!!  The heads are switchable, designed to pop off of the neck knob with a reasonable amount of force.  There's Bad Joan, primped and pretty, ready for her closeup...
...and Worse Joan, ready to beat the snot out of Christina!
Seriously, one of her accessories is a wire hanger!  That's downright freaky.

Apparently Joan Crawford is not a popular subject for the doll world, because these were the only ones I could find.  But the two that I did find are from highly reputed doll companies, so I'm not going to complain.  I don't know if I'll ever land one of the Tonner dolls since they've been out of stock for awhile, but Pat's Potpourri still has the Mommie Dearest doll available.  I may rue this decision, but I'm going to try to wait until the middle of the year (June or July, probably) to buy another doll.  Cami and Ana Ming were not cheap, so I'm going to hold off and see what happens.

Hugs, kisses, and cookies,
RagingMoon1987

My favorite princess

Princesses have always been a popular thing with little girls and with a fair percentage of doll collectors.  They are clearly popular here on Blogspot as well; Beastsbelle's favorite princess is obviously Belle, from "Beauty and the Beast," and Miss Emily likes both Cinderella and Rapunzel (particularly the way Rapunzel is portrayed in "Tangled").  Given their open fondness for a particular princess, I believe it is my turn to discuss this topic.  My personal favorite princess has always been Sleeping Beauty.  Yes, I know that she's the most...well, the most repressed, as the feminists would say, but there are positive things to be said, at least for Disney's portrayal of Sleeping Beauty.  Aurora is kind to animals and respectful to her elders, has an active imagination, and is willing to do chores without complaint (remember that when her character is introduced she's picking berries for her guardians).  Yes, she spends half the movie asleep and part of her waking hours dreaming of a prince that will magically appear in her life, but cut her a break!  She's only sixteen, and most teenage girls love to dream.  Besides, I've always loved the story, especially the way Disney tells it, complete with fairies, a hunky prince, an unabashedly evil villain, and a fire-breathing dragon.  It's that stereotypical fairy tale that everyone talks about, and I eat it up with a spoon!

That being said, there doesn't seem to be the abundance of Sleeping Beauty-themed dolls on the market, at least, not in the current collectors' category.  Playline dolls, on the other hand...oh, there's plenty!  Of course there's Mattel's Disney Princess Aurora, the only Sleeping Beauty that I currently own.  Here she is with one of her buddies.
She was a gift from a caring friend during my final year of college, so she's special to me.  There's nothing that really sets her out from other dolls aside from the head mold, but I still love her.  I would love to have some variety to compare her to, though.

Apparently I picked the right time to start looking, because there are several options in the toy realm.  Keep in mind that I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THESE DOLLS LISTED BELOW.  The photos are stock photos.  I'll also be switching back and forth between the names "Sleeping Beauty" and "Aurora," with the name "Aurora" being used solely for dolls based on the Disney princess (in other versions of the story her name varied).  The first one is of Once Upon a Zombie Sleeping Beauty.
Sleeping Beauty is one of several princesses that WowWee has chosen to portray in their princess-zombie line.  They all look great, but I love this take on Sleeping Beauty.  The idea of taking normal fairy tale princesses and throwing in elements from a current trend (zombies are very trendy right now) was risky, but it made for a surprisingly effective product.  I also like how this particular Sleeping Beauty bears resemblance to her Disney self with that blue dress.  Most dolls and artwork depict Sleeping Beauty as wearing pink (including my own doll), but in truth she wore blue during most of the movie, only appearing in pink at the end.  Of course, the original fairy tale doesn't specify what color she wore, but it's still cute to see WowWee give a nod to the common perception of Sleeping Beauty.  I don't have this doll, by the way; Miss Emily gave both Rapunzel and Belle good reviews (Rapunzel pulled the idea off more effectively in her eyes), so I may have to sniff one of these out for myself.

Oh yes, there's also Fairy Tale High's take on Sleeping Beauty.
Miss Emily also reviewed a couple of these dolls and didn't care for them much; she reported that the hair was bad, the faces lacked character, and the dolls generally felt like cheap Ever After High clones.  I have seen these in stores, and I'll add on the fact that none of the dolls really look like the fairy tale characters they're supposed to portray.  The Little Mermaid and Snow White gave it the old college try with their outfits, but the rest of these dolls could be anyone.  Suppose you found Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella out-of-box.  If you tried to identify either of them, would you be able to tell that they're supposed to be teen princesses?  LOL, I didn't think so!  However, I like this Sleeping Beauty enough to try to find her, if for no other reason than for her clothes.  Her clothes fit Winx dolls, and my Musa could really use some new threads.  Besides, my opinion might be different from Miss Emily's; I might absolutely love these dolls.  Lastly, she'd serve as an interesting comparison to both my Disney Aurora and to Zombie Sleeping Beauty (they're all a similar height).  That is, if I can ever GET Zombie Sleeping Beauty!

Ever After High also threw their hat into the ring; one of the first four characters is Briar Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty.  She's not Mattel's first foray into the realm of Sleeping Beauty, but she stands out from the rest because she's...different.
Pink.  I'm allergic to that much pink on a doll...and not in the normal, sneezy way. <wheezes and gasps for breath>  Where's my epi-pen?  LOL, I do like the reference to Aurora's alter ego, though; in the Disney movie and the old Brothers Grimm fairy tale her peasant name was Briar Rose, and Briar Beauty appears to be going in that direction.  I also like Briar's darker coloring.  All of the other Sleeping Beauty dolls I listed are blonde and blue-eyed (spoiler alert), so seeing this brunette, brown-eyed portrayal is a breath of fresh air.  Yeah, I know she's not full-blood Sleeping Beauty, but she's in the family so she counts.  I won't be running out to find Briar just yet, though; this particular Briar is a bit underwhelming, and the Legacy Day doll doesn't set my world aflame either, though the pink streaks in her hair are cute.  These dolls evolve and change almost as fast as Monster High does, so all I have to do is sit back and wait for one that really blows me away.  Patience will be key here; Mattel is only now releasing a Draculaura that I absolutely must have (the new Art Class doll is to die for), so it might be a year or two before I see a Briar Beauty that takes my breath away...if the line lasts that long!

Madame Alexander has also been heavily involved with Sleeping Beauty and with fairy tales in general.  I have been a Madame Alexander fan since I was a little girl and that may affect my judgement just a bit, but the MA Sleeping Beauty dolls are some of my favorites.  Some of these dolls are older than the movie is.  These are usually easy to pick out; they're dressed in some color like light pinkyellow or red.  My personal favorite is this one:
This doll dates from 1959, the year that the movie debuted.  She is a retooled Cissette doll.  Most Cissette dolls had high-heeled feet and jointed knees, but in this case Madame Alexander made an exception, giving Sleeping Beauty flat feet and stiff knees.  I appreciate the fact that she too is wearing blue; after the movie was released Madame Alexander was very keen to stick to the image that Disney had set.

Madame Alexander doesn't always make Sleeping Beauty fly solo, by the way.  They released a group of dolls a couple of years back (2011, was it?), including Aurora and the good fairies Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.  I was hoping to find a picture of the group together, but I only found this image of Fauna.
There was also the Storyland collection, consisting of the same characters.  Aurora/Sleeping Beauty is in her usual blue, but has long ringlets this time.
The good fairies also look quite a bit younger.  Remember that in the movie they look like elderly ladies.  This is the Fairy of Beauty (Flora), who is blonde:
The Fairy of Song (Fauna) appears to be a redhead:
And the Fairy of Virtue (Merryweather).  Of the three Storyland fairies, she most closely resembles her Disney counterpart; both doll and Disney character have black hair.
There are plenty of other Madame Alexander Sleeping Beauty dolls, more than I could discuss here.  So I'm going to jump over to Tonner now.  Tonner likes to dabble in fairy tales and fantasy; that's how Cami got such a beautiful face (she got it from Cinderella).  Aurora came in a 16-inch version and a 22-inch version.  This is the 22-inch version.
Like Briar Beauty, she's dressed in pink.  But this appears to be more of a rose pink than a bubblegum pink, so I can tolerate that (and maybe even love it).  It is next to impossible to tell from this picture, but 22-inch Aurora has a face that was inspired by the 16-inch Cinderella face (just like Cami).  Miss Emily touches on this in her review of 22-inch Marilyn Monroe, who provides an interesting contrast to Aurora.

Now, here's the 16-inch version of Aurora.  I don't care for her quite as much as I do the larger doll.
I'm not sure what it is about the smaller doll that makes me like her less.  It isn't the dress; again, that is a shade of pink that I could fall in love with.  Plus, the bodice is prettier than that of the 22-inch doll.  I think the face may be what put me off a bit.  Check this.
I can't help thinking that she's just a hair masculine-looking, mostly in the jaw.  The rest of the face is okay; the eyes are to die for.  She's not an ugly doll at all.  I just think that she lacks the softness and the innocence of the 22-inch version (JUST MY OPINION).

The same face is used for 16-inch Briar Rose.
Firstly, I am absolutely thrilled that Tonner chose to release Sleeping Beauty in her peasant-girl alter-ego.  I found nothing, repeat, NOTHING else like this online, except for the previously mentioned Briar Beauty and a few OOAK dolls that looked vampy.  Secondly, I really like this doll.  I like her better than 16-inch Aurora, which again is odd because the two dolls have the same face.  Yet when I look at the pictures together there seems to be something off, something different.  Here they are together.
I'm not sure whether these two dolls are colored differently or whether it's just a trick of the light.  I'd probably have to examine these two in person to discover which is the truth.  Not very likely that I'll do that, but it would be interesting to see.

Lastly, Tonner touched on my favorite character of the whole flick.  They made a doll in the likeness of the villain, Maleficent.
Tonner really went all out on this one.  His Maleficent is attractive, both in face and in dress, just like in the movie.  And yet she is very clearly a villain.  Nothing glammed up or toned down, nothing sanitized for overly-sensitive critics.  I think that if I were to complain about one thing it would be that she doesn't have her staff.  I always liked Maleficent's staff.  It had a round, glowing orb in the top part, and I always liked that.  What can I say, I like round things.  Always have, always will.  Anyway, the Tonner Maleficent doll doesn't have a staff.  That won't stop crafty collectors from making one, though!

There are other dolls out there that I haven't touched on; Effanbee had a very cute set several years back that included both Sleeping Beauty and Prince Charming.  Recently I've also been seeing Disney princesses in stores that are in toddler and baby form; I don't recall seeing Aurora in the mix, but that means nothing because I sometimes I overlook things.  In short, I plan on at least trying to own the Once Upon a Zombie and Fairy Tale High versions and any Briar Beauty dolls that might catch my eye.  I also like the Cissette-bodied Madame Alexander doll enough that I'll put out the effort to find her.  The Tonner dolls, the Effanbee dolls and the rest of the Madame Alexanders will have to come later since most are long discontinued, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled just the same.  After all, part of the fun of doll collecting is the chase!  And I don't have to have them ALL; some of these I am just content with looking at.  However, it's good to know that my lovely Sleeping Beauty isn't completely neglected in the dolly world.  In fact, she's very well represented, far more so than I ever imagined!

Yours truly,
RagingMoon1987