When life hands you a lemon...

...yeah, yeah, make lemonade.  Too bad life handed me a reeking bag of manure today instead of a lemon.  Work was terrible, one of Mama's dogs escaped, and we got some bad news from our lawyer about a family member's will.  So I did what I always do, and I buried my head in the sand.  Of course I have a doll to keep me company and late-era prog rock to keep my ears ringing ("Heat of the Moment" and "I Don't Care Anymore" are on the playlist tonight).  Here's one of those Color Reveal Barbie dolls.

I already have one of these and I can't write home about the quality, but the issues I found with the doll will hardly bother a child.  Unfortunately the joke is on me, because I didn't read the labels close enough and got a danged mermaid.

Granted she's a pretty mermaid, with a sparkly tail and hair that has streaks when cold water is used.  And she's got a pretty face.

She's just not what I was expecting, and she definitely won't be able to wear the little outfits I got today.  Specifically, these.

Two of them come with an accessory that should accompany every doll outfit:  shoes.

Both the orange-printed dress and the sunflower getup have this label slapped on the package.

Oh good grief, another Barbie movie?  Haven't there been enough???  IS it really a movie???  I dunno.

With the mermaid out of the question I'll instead call upon Theta instead.  I've already tinkered with her a little anyway, as she's wearing blue jeans now.

It was just too stinkin' cold for Theta to go bare-legged when I got her.  LOL, anyway, here's the sunflower ensemble, the only one I bought that lacks shoes.

I admit that I'd prefer the outfit with shoes, but Etsy is full of Barbie shoes so I'm not gonna gripe.  I know that Mattel has tried to make clothes that fit all Barbie dolls, but this one fits Theta's slim bust pretty tight.  Thus I doubt my curvy dolls could wear this cute little getup.  But...I don't know that for sure.

A lot of Barbie ensembles come with these flower-shaped glasses, but for once I won't complain about redundant accessories.  I'll never pass up an opportunity for another of my dolls to have Elton John glasses.

It happens to be Elton John's birthday today.  Hope he had a good one!

Next outfit now!  It is a pink gingham babydoll dress with oranges on it.  It came with shoes.

Not bad!  I think this would fit the curvy body better than the sunflower outfit would, though I'll admit that I had trouble getting the sleeves over Theta's hands.

Would yall believe that I got that cute little headband over Theta's ample hair?  It took a little bamboozling, but I got it done and it looks cute.

My main beef with this dress is that it appears to have no front or back.  The good news?  The dress is printed all over.

The third outfit is an athletic set of some kind.  I'd guess tennis, but it could just as easily be jogging or volleyball or some other sport like that.  The lack of sports gear leaves that bit open for interpretation. 

Shoving the visor into Theta's thick hair didn't work as well as the headband did, so i probably won't use that on this particular doll again.  I also don't think the shoes and visor match the soft colors of the clothing.  I like the shoes, though; they're the same color as Theta's stock shoes, but they're a different style.

Overall I'm pleased to see the return of shoes to Barbie's wardrobe.  There for the longest time no shoes came with Barbie ensembles, so I'm glad to see them making more of a comeback.  I also appreciate the use of other colors besides pink, and this holds true for many of Barbie's other current ensembles.  I feel a bit like Barbie is revisiting her mod roots, so bright and colorful are these clothes.  I'm unsure about how well these clothes will fit some of the body shapes, though.  Probably I'll need to readdress that in the future.

Now what to do with that mermaid???  She's cute, but she really has no place in my collection.  Decisions, decisions. 

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987