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

Another look at the Hot Looks

Y'know, these three.  Chelsea, C.C. (short for Canadian Chelsea), and Sachi.

Y'all might've predicted their return to the blog since Chelsea popped into October's So Random post a couple'a times.  Indeed, at one point it tinkered around with adding Elkie to the mix since I didn't have a doll to represent Hot Looks' cool-toned dolls (and because Elkie is more interesting than Mimi).  Why is this important?  Because I'm looking for outfits, and I'm trying to stick to the color divisions that Hot Looks set up.  There were three color divisions, hot, warm, and cool, and the back of this box shows how to differentiate. 

Basically, it's like this:

*Blonde, blue-eyed dolls get cool colors.  That would mean Elkie and Mimi from the first wave and Starr and Steff from the second wave.  Cool colors were pastels in this case.

*Brown-eyed brunettes get hot colors.  These were the bright splashy colors that I associate with stereotypical eighties fashion.  The hot models were/are Zizi and Stacey (first wave) and Sachi (second wave).

*Green-eyed redheads get warm colors, and this is the trickiest division for me.  These clothes are bright like the hot clothes, but mayyyyybe not as eye-popping?  It's kinda subjective.  Anyway, the second wave had Shawna, and the first wave had my beloved Chelsea.  

That's all well and good for the Hot Looks, all of whom stuck to those color combinations, but what about a blue-eyed brunette like me, or a brown-eyed redhead like Tam?  I guess we don't matter, sad face.  Anyway, among my trio, Chelsea and C.C. are warm and Sachi is hot.  Hmmm...do Chelsea's eyes look green to y'all???  They look light blue to me.

Regardless of eye color, Chelsea and C.C. are strawberry blondes and would thus probably classify as warm.  By the luck of the draw, both of my outfits are also warm.  eBay shop is Ruths Vintage Collections.

Chelsea is even on the front.  See?

Got these in-box getups off of eBay.  These outfits are both a little rough around the edges after thirty-seven years, but nothing serious.  In particular, the glitter has worn off of the jean suit.  These white patches were once sparkly.

Oh well, I too am a little rough around the edges after thirty-seven years, LOL!  Notice, by the way, that the packaging shows a different pair of shoes for each outfit, but no extra shoes are included in ANY of the outfits.  That's kinda weak.  Chelsea's copper-laced sneakers might look okay with the denim outfit, but with that pantsuit they may look a hair ridiculous.  So let's see how these look on my girls.  Each package included tips for hairstyles and easy little modifications; the satin pantsuit's tips are as follows.

Roll up the pants legs, put the belt around the waist instead of the hips, and tie the hair off to the side.  Oh yes, the side ponytail, an easy hairstyle that was much loved in the eighties.  Heck, I did it plenty in high school, and that was in the aughts.  So...pants rolled up, waist belted, hair tied to the side, here's how Chelsea looks.

Hey, those sneakers don't look bad after all!  And sure enuff, these colors look fantastic on Chelsea.  Not too bright, but not too soft either, just like her hair and eyes.  For the most part these components are kid-friendly, though those satin slacks might catch on unkempt fingernails (like mine).  My dominant concerns are for this belt...

...and these earrings.

Both of 'em feel like stiffened paper, the same thing that C.C.'s belt is made of.  Notice that C.C.'s belt is in rough shape.

So I'll treat these pieces with a gentle hand.  I'm so glad Chelsea has dangles now, though!  Her little white studs look okay on their own, but she really looks good with those goofy bangles.

C.C. got the denim suit.  Said suit also came with three tips, but I was tired of dressing dolls by the time I shoved C.C. into this outfit, so I only followed two.

Notice that I did not roll up C.C.'s sleeves, though I still can in the future.

Now I was expecting the shoes to look better with this outfit than the other one, but it's actually the opposite!  I kinda wish I had some white tights to put under there.  As I said above, the white patches are supposed to be sparkly, but I can fix that.  Even without the sparkles this outfit looks pretty good.  The lace blouse is sheer, and one can see C.C.'s bikini top through the material, but I actually like that effect.  The pop of peach breaks up the blue a little bit.  See?

Anyone remember how these dolls have bikinis permanently attached?  The cool girls have pink or lilac bikinis under their clothes, and the hot girls have yellow bikinis.  I like all three colors, but I doubt they'd have looked as good showing through that lace.  Peach is definitely a Chelsea color.

The white patches are unfortunately very sticky to the touch, and as a result C.C.'s hair sticks to them.

I think I know of a way to fix these and make them look pretty again.  As for fragile parts, this ensemble came with plastic earrings and no belt at all, so C.C. is covered.  I love these earrings; they're big stars like a pair I wore in high school.

I love how unabashedly EIGHTIES these outfits are!  What was extremely stylish then looks extremely dated now, but I still love it.  Mama gave these outfits her stamp of approval as well, so they still have the power to attract.

I already liked the Hot Looks beforehand, so these outfits did little to change my opinion.  But having looked at the color system on the box, I think I can see a potential problem with the line.  Oh, it's an easy system to follow, no doubt about it, but how many little girls give a crap if their blonde doll is wearing pastels, or if their brunette doll is wearing a loud red top?  Probably the concept behind these dolls went a little over kids' heads, kinda like Aimee's gimmick did.  And maybe I'm completely wrong, and these dolls didn't sell for some other reason that I'm missing altogether!  All I can say is that my Hot Looks keep me occupied on evenings when I'm not in the mood to gom with American Girls or Cabbage Patch Kids, and these outfits add to their play value for me.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987

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.  EDIT, 7/16/2025:  I'm only now learning that Chardonnay is a white wine, not a red one.  Seriously, I loathe wine that much, so I don't know one brand from another.  End edit.

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