The locker, and a few other things

There are two drinks on Earth the color of red wine.  This is not red wine.
--Madame Vastra, giving Clara Oswald a hard time

Trust me, Madame Vastra, you don't want the crap.  I'll take whatever the other thing is any day, especially if it's cranberry juice.  Greetings, my lovelies, it's the first day of school for Malden students (SUCKAS!!!), and I'm back to talk about Barbie again.  With "Barbie" being kind of a buzzword at the moment I figured I'd have a little fun, fun that doesn't involve a ton of group pictures.  Indeed, if I have my way this post will consist of exactly two (2) dolls and some stuff.  I like stuff.  First, meet Chardonnay, Fashionista #186.  She's my third curvy girl...no, she's my fourth!  Violet (#125), Billie Jean (#27), and Deb (#57) are my other three.

As I insinuated above, I hate the taste of wine with a passion, though I love things that are the color of it.  Things like Chardonnay's hair and lips, the latter of which are NOT bubblegum pink.

Now, meet Chardonnay's friend Marta, whom I didn't know existed until Miss Emily showed her little doll off.  She unfortunately DOES have bubblegum lips, but she and Chardonnay have bonded over their shared big brown eyes and big eyebrows...and their love of mischief.  

I already have a doll named Marta, but I also have a friend with scoliosis named Marta.  I'd always noticed that Marta walked and moved in a stilted, slightly painful-looking way, but I never pointed it out until Marta revealed that she'd had scoliosis as a teenager.  She then went into excruciating detail about what it was like to wear a Milwaukee brace, how she had to sleep with a pillow under her knees to keep her hips at "the right angle," how she had to wear that darned brace into her adult years, the works.  And she told me all this with a smile on her face!  Marta is like that, always up, always Christlike, no matter the circumstances.  While I certainly did not envy my friend, I greatly appreciated hearing a first-hand account of what life in a Milwaukee brace was like.  Based on all that picture my little doll as a happy, positive sort, just like my friend.  Today Marta is going to play a trick on Chardonnay.

SURPRISE!!!  I think Chardonnay already knew she was there, but she's more than happy to play along.

I've owned many Kelly and Chelsea dolls in my life.  They're all little tricksters, but Marta is proving to be the trickiest of them all!  She's not in love with her back brace (who would be?), but she doesn't let it slow her down.  I think this is a Boston brace, by the way; one of my American Girl dolls wears one too.

No back brace is fun, I've been told, but as I insinuated above the Milwaukee brace is the one to avoid.  It has a collar that goes around the person's neck, it's impossible to fully hide with clothes, and it's all unyielding so you can't bend any part of your body from the waist up (except arms, LOL).  When you're in school that's kind of an issue, because we all know how kids and teenagers can be.  They ask way too many questions or worse, they pick on the one who stands out.  My friend Marta said that wearing her brace was absolutely no fun, though she looks back on it as a learning experience rather than a burden.  My dolls live in a semi-perfect world, so plastic Marta gets questions but no ridicule.  More often Marta is asked why she has a raccoon as a pet.

When asked Marta replies that he's what came out of the blind bag, and that he's a perfect fit because he's tricky like she is.  Blind bag figures wore kinda thin on me after the collections grew smaller and the possibility of duplicates grew higher, but these pets are still cute figures.  Raccoons are NOT something I'd keep as a pet, but then again neither are deer or bears or foxes, and they are in this blind bag lineup too.

Now, the locker.  With it being back-to-school time this could serve as a school locker for Skipper or a gym locker for any of the dolls, but in general it's your basic pink hunk of plastic that comes up to Chardonnay's jawline. 

It comes with a lock that sort-of locks.  Basically you give it a gentle tug to unlock it, and an equally gentle push to get it to fasten.  Kids should be able to handle it, but this is a potential choking hazard.  Indeed, the label says not for children under three years.

Without the lock the door can be opened with ease (indeed, I was able to open it at the store), and it reveals a whole plethora of little items.

INCLUDES NOTEBOOK, PEN, PAPER CLIPS, CLIPBOARD, FOLDER, & MORE!  LOL, I like the clothes hanger paper clips the best.  I presume that the MORE! would be rhinestones mentioned here.

Let's tear this plastic off and see what all is in there.

In addition to all that there are two plastic shelves that snap into place.  One goes toward the bottom, and the other goes just above the clothing rack.

I was able to get just about everything placed in the locker, though some of the items are in weird places.

Some of the items are just paper crap like a folder and a small notepad, but the ink pen and the clipboard are both functional.  The pen is too big for Chardonnay and too small for me, but Chardonnay can hold the clipboard if I position it right.

Regarding that pen, most of the kids I know that like Barbie are already using full-sized pens, albeit gel pens or pens that wash off of skin easily.  LOL, I admit that I used to draw on myself with gel pens during study hall, to the delight and amusement of my classmates and the chagrin of my parents.  I regret nothing.  I'd do it again if I could, and if I had the money I'd get it done permanently.  Yeah...rainbow flowers and long, looping vines...not to brag, but I was pretty good with those pens.  But yeah, this pen is a dinky thing, but it does write. 

Now...remember the clothes hanger paper clips that I like so much?

The shelves inside the locker are placed too close to allow for clothes to hang properly, but I'm gonna try it anyway with these.

Before I do that, though...notice anything about these dresses?

THEY COME WITH SHOES!!!  Once upon a time Mattel skimped on shoes, and I thus had to turn to Etsy for Barbie shoes.  Such a thing is NBD for an adult collector, but for a kid it's kinda a pain in the posterior to not have extra shoes for Barbie.  The packaging also says these dresses are made of recycled plastic, so that's kinda cool.

The yellow dress stays on the hanger well enuff, but the blue dress has too wide a neckline.  Par for the course with clothes; some dresses and blouses just will not hang.

It doesn't matter so much that the dresses don't hang on the hangers, because they have their own reusable baggies. 

Dern it, I've been using Ziploc bags for Barbie clothes for years, and Mattel is only now catching up.  Better late than never, I guess.  As for the paper clips, they serve their purpose well. 

That little pink dress is a sheaf of post-it-type notes, perfect for paper clips.

I'm not sure how practical a lot of this stuff would be for either dolls or children, but the locker itself is a cute little item to have.  You and I both know darn good and well that the smaller pieces will either get lost or used up as time passes, and when that happens the locker is left as a decent storage area for smaller Barbie items like sunglasses and shoes.  Plus, it makes a pretty cute prop if any adult collectors are into dolly dioramas.  The plastic does feel a little fragile in place though, so keep that in mind.

Happy Back-to-School Day,
RagingMoon1987