Under moonshine

So much for me only owning one Baby Face doll.  Meet So Mischievous Moonbeam.

She's a custom job, made from So Innocent Cynthia.  The eBay seller says she got a dye job, new eye chips, new eyelashes, and a restringing, proving that these dolls can indeed be restrung.  I don't know how, and Suzie doesn't need it (thank God), but it can be done.

Truth be told, the So Innocent dolls (Cynthia and Charlene) are not my favorite Baby Face dolls.  They look like they should be named "So Freaked Out Cynthia" rather than "So Innocent." 

Blue hair, custom doll, moon theme, I'm not gonna be picky about faces.  I do wonder, though:  is this a dye job or a reroot???

I'd suspect that a dye job would've dyed Moonbeam's scalp, so I figure this is a reroot.  No biggie, it's blue freaking hair, just like I desperately wanted once.

Interestingly, Moonbeam has a name bracelet...and it doesn't say "Moonbeam"!

Tina???  Oh well, it's short and easy to remember.  Name not withstanding, Suzie acts like she's glad to be have a playmate her size.

So my Baby Face group is now up to two.  Im not going to go out of my way to get a huge collection of these, but if I see another custom job like Moonbeam I'll get her...or less likely, him.  Some folks do make boys out of these girls, just as they do American Girls.  WELL THAT'S ALRIGHT, THEN!!!  Suzie and Moonbeam need a boy to play with.  Or a So Merry Kerri.  I'm not betting on finding Kerri since she's one of the rarer Baby Face dolls, but like the perfect Simon and Halbig or a Cabbage Patch Kid with the #30 head, never say never.

Love and moonbeams,

RagingMoon1987 

All that glitters...

...is often made of vinyl and comes in a cardboard box!  I got bitten by the glitzy toddler doll bug, LOL.

Yeah, glitzy toddler dolls, the ones that dominated the early part of the nineties and then vanished into thin air.  I admit that I like these dolls a lot, though I might feel differently if I were a mama (just like with the Bratz).  I'd say that the biggest beef I have with these dolls is that they're ALL.  BLONDE.  AND BLUE-EYED.  And all in pink!  Sort of, anyway; Alexis/Pretty Crazy Curls has lilac eyes that I love.

Granted, Tiffany and Mary did come in Afro-American versions, and Mary could be a cute little brunette as well, but...well, you get what you get and you don't throw a fit.  Mary was a gift so I won't complain, and the black version of Tiffany is apparently hard to find (there weren't any when I looked on eBay the first time).  As for Alexis and Susie...well, if I'd been a bit more patient I could've gotten a black Pretty Crazy Curls doll MIB instead of the beat-up doll that I swiped off of Etsy.  Ghost of the Doll implies that the black variant is hard to find, so if you like her, better get her now.  Sixty bucks is a fair price for a doll like that.  Surprise Hat Susie (bottom right) also came as a black doll, so a little diversity can be had if one looks hard enuff.  It all comes back to that patient thing, and as I've said and heard before, patience is for wimps.

In other news Alexis's glow-up is slow but steady.  I don't know how to fix her mangled bangs without removing her head, but I did add a little piece of frippery to her dress.

That came as a freebie in an Etsy order, so I hooked it to the mesh part of Alexis's dress, kinda like Chloe Charms might've done.  I haven't tried Alexis's curlers on her hair yet, but I did try Twist 'n' Style Tiffany's styling gun on her and it worked...pretty well.  Alexis's hair isn't as slippery as Tiffany's is, but it worked okay.

The star of this post, though, is Flower Magic Mary's "sister," Surprise Hat Susie.  I touched on this doll in this post, since she's one of so many that I know named "Susie."  I wanted a doll that still had her hair concealed, so I got one MIB.

These dolls could have one of four different highlights in their hair, pink, blue, and two shades of purple, and I wanted that to be a surprise, thus why she's still in her box.

The box also shows the doll with twisted little braids like what Twist 'n' Style Tiffany has, but as far as I know Susie doesn't come with a tool that does that.  She can use Tiffany's styling gun, but still...would that count as false advertising???

Since I have Tiffany and her accoutrements with me it's not such a big deal, but keep that in mind if you have Susie and NOT Tiffany.  So here's how Susie looks fresh out of her box.

In order to be a surprise hat doll Susie's hat had to be fastened to her head, and look how Tyco went about it!  A plastic tie!

Yikes, reminds me of the time I lashed myself to my bed with a ball of yarn!  Daddy had to cut me loose with a pocketknife!  I don't know what in flaming purple hell I was thinking, doing that.  Speaking of purple, part of me wonders if the decorations on Susie's clothes don't give some sort of hint to her secret hair color.  The bow on her hat is purple...

...as is the bow around her waist.

Indeed, when I finally took Susie's hat off she had a purple streak hiding amongst the blonde, kinda like Luciana Vega does.

Again, I'd have taken what I'd got and been happy, but I'm VERY happy with the purple.  Glitzy toddler dolls go WAAAAY too heavy on the pink, and pink was an option for this highlight so I'm pleased with purple.  Al-right, hold tight, I'M-YOUR-HIGH-WAY-STARRRRR!!!!!!  LOL, Deep Purple for the win!  Ghost of the Doll implies that there should be two highlights (purple was always paired with a shade of pink), but so far all I see is purple.

It should be noted that while Susie's box shows her hair accessories spilling out of her hat like confetti, the initial box-opening is not that messy.  The items are indeed tucked into Susie's hair, but they're wrapped in little baggies like so.

Susie came with a set of instructions, and they suggest that a mama or a daddy dump all that into Susie's hat, put it back on her head, and then let the child pull off the hat so everything goes scattering everywhere...no thanks, I appreciate the baggies.  She's got beads, some flat sequins, bits of ribbon, and what the package calls a honeycomb headband (the pink sparkly thing).  Oh yes, and hair extensions; those are in the longer package.  Susie's tools include a hairbrush (which I will not be using), a large-eye needle, and a blade thing for curling the ribbon bits.

Like Tiffany's stuff, Susie's hair baubles can be shared among the other dolls, and...well, maybe I'll let 'em share.  Mary doesn't need much more frippery and Tiffany has her own stuff, but Alexis might benefit from some of those beads.

I'm not gonna do a full review of Susie since she's a pretty simple little doll (and I don't like her dress much), but for the say-so of it here she is with fellow Tyco doll Flower Magic Mary.

Notice that their shoes are the same mold, further attesting that they are from the same company.  Indeed, of my four glitzy toddler dolls, only Tiffany has separate shoes.

Other than molded shoes and the blonde hair/blue eyes thing, Mary and Susie don't have a lot in common.  Their faces can be told apart with ease, and Mary has shorter hair that's cut in a winged style that I like.

During my Google searches I got results for both Surprise Hat Susie and So Surprised Suzie, so for the helluvit here my two are together.  They have nothing in common except for...you guessed it!  Blonde hair and blue eyes!

They're cute.  I can get over a glut of platinum hair and blue eyes if they're cute.  And sometimes that combo is the one I like the best.  Case in point.

Camille is my favorite Wellie Wisher, hands down.  All six of 'em are cute, but Camille's my favorite Wellie.  Her short, straight, low-maintenance hairstyle trumped the color...oh, and she was wearing green and blue.  My favorite colors.

Y'know, I think ALL the dolls I shared in this particular post were blonde and blue-eyed!  LOL, thank goodness Dawn's friends weren't stuck in that rut.  I'll have that post put together sometime next week.

Much love,
RagingMoon1987

If it's not too early for Disney then it's not too early for me

Walt Disney World kicks off Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Bash today (it'll run until Halloween proper).  I can only imagine how those cast members must feel in those Halloween costumes, particularly when August is so cotton-pickin' hot!  But then again, a lot of those cast members have to run around in full-body costumes anyway, folks like Mickey and Minnie and Donald and Goofy, so it's hot 100% of the time.  Still, I hope they'll be okay!  Heatstroke and heat exhaustion are no joke (I've had the latter).  But either way, Halloween Season has begun at Disney World, and if it's not too early for them then I can do it too.  Halloween is Mama's favorite holiday, and she...well, she's bought one little Halloween-themed outfit so far.  Exhibit A.

Silver Bird is already ready to hit the streets and gather some candy!  She's even got her little bucket, which the sticker says came from Oriental Trading Company.

Oh Lordy, I used to love Oriental Trading Company catalogs.  I look back on it all and realize that most of it was just junk that could clutter up a kid's room, but to my child's eye it was TREASURE!!!  A lot of the Halloween stuff glowed in the dark, so I always loved those catalogs the best.

Rita Cheryl is a little more understated than Silver Bird, but she too is ready for the oncoming fall, and the blazing weather that will inevitably come before Halloween gets here.

I do have a jacket and footwear for her to wear when it does turn cold, but for now Rita Cheryl is happy as a lark without all the frippery.

Of course no post of mine is complete without a Cabbage Patch Kid.  Mama got this for my Kids, and I promptly assigned it to Idalia Gale.

There's always gotta be one in the mix who WILL.  NOT.  wear a dress, and for me that someone is Idalia Gale.  Oh, she'll wear dresses when I push the issue, but it's like pulling teeth without anesthesia.  Idalia Gale is a jeans-and-overalls Kid, full stop.

Going a size down now, I have a Halloween-themed outfit for So Surprised Suzie around here somewhere (always somewhere!), but because I'm so organized I can't find it.  Never fear, I've had this outfit waiting since last winter.

There's always something available for a Baby Face doll if you know where to look, and not to brag, but I know where to look.  This particular dress is an eBay find, from Luvable Creations.

This next doll is a new face to the blog.  She's Lorifina, though I call her Lori.

Lorifina dolls came in simple little sleepwear, and items for this doll can still be found on eBay, but a healthy cottage industry also exists for this doll, and that's what this is here.  The eBay shop is dea850, and most of the items in this ensemble are handmade.  The shoes are not handmade, being Lorifina-brand shoes.

Pretty sweet kicks, I must say.  These slid onto Lori's feet with zero fuss, by the way.  Lori has sizeable feet, and the openings to the shoes looked kinda small, but they gap open enuff that I had no trouble getting these on her.  

From the very tall to the very small, here's another new face.  Meet My Mini Baby!  Ayla Diamond is her name.  Ayla...I've got another Ayla in my collection, but don't tell the Baby Name Genie that.  I like the name Ayla anyway, so I can live with having two.  Here's the new Ayla; she looks nothing like Big Ayla.  My Mini Babies have sweet little faces...but they're all asleep!

Yeah, I ripped Miss Emily's blog off again, name generator and all.  She recently talked about tiny blind-bag silicone babies (posts HERE and HERE), and when she mentioned that Etsy has a thriving market for clothes, I was sold.  Most of the items for these dolls are crocheted, and I love tiny things that are crocheted.  Crocheting something that small is NOT easy; I've tried it and it made my hands and eyes ache.  This little outfit came from PaulasCrochetArmoire.  As an aside, the Star Babies in the second post are WAAAAY more expensive than My Mini Baby, but the only way they're superior is in the name (I think they're also handmade, so that's something).  Staaaaarrr baby, flashy little shiny little lovin' machine!  LOL, I freaking love the Guess Who.

Ahem...not all of my kids are getting ready for falling leaves, fun-size M&M's, and pumpkin spice lattes.  Summer Daisy is ready to soak up some rays.

Thank you again, Treesa!  She said she wanted to get that little outfit to me before summer ended, and she succeeded!  Maybe that little outfit would look better on a neutral-colored critter like Flaxie, but I STILL haven't found Flaxie!!!  The pink provides a nice contrast to Summer Daisy's fur anyway.  As an aside...have y'all seen this year's Build-a-Bear Halloween cats?  They are ADORABLE!!!  One of 'em has ghosts printed on its fur.

Mia isn't really dressed for fall either, but she and the next two dolls look so cute that I wanted to include them.  I guess frogs can be for early fall, since they're still hollering on warm nights.

There's a story behind this outfit, one that shows that our local postal service still has problems.  I ordered this super-cute little outfit for Cinnamon, one that mixed go-go dancers and tie-dying, and IT.  NEVER.  CAME.  The tracking number said "delivered," but I never got my cute little outfit.  So, not wanting to give the shop a bad review for something that was out of their hands, I messaged them and they offered me my choice of the other outfits.  I picked the frog dress above, as it was the same price as the lost dress and since Mia needed something nice and new (Cinnamon didn't).  We see the result!  The eBay shop is called Park Ave Doll Clothes, and they have a nice selection of items for a number of vintage dolls that aren't the easiest to clothe.  They've even got some things for my buddy Sasha.

Lastly, here's two more of my Cabbage Patch Kids, Rowena Skylar and the beloved Candela Laura.

As usual, these were gifts from Mama.  Candela Laura's set has Peppa Pig and Rowena Skylar's set has brightly colored insects.  More springtimey, these colors are, but my cares are nigh next to zero.  By the way, remember when I told y'all that Beryl June (one of my double popcorns) has a fan?  Candela Laura does too; a friend on Failbook told me that Candela Laura was her dream Jesmar.  I have seen a couple'a Jesmars that look a lot like Candela Laura does, so if my friend looks hard enuff she should be able to find one.  Candela Laura kinda just fell in my lap...but then so did Rowena Skylar, LOL!

The jumble of colors and themes doesn't matter too much since fall is a mixed bag in the Bootheel anyway.  Some years it stays hot until the middle of November, and another year it snowed in early October.  Still other years have seen the temperatures see-saw wildly, with a wave of severe weather accompanying each swing.  Last fall was very wet, thanks to Hurricanes Francine and Helene.  Seriously, Helene didn't cause my area anywhere near as much trouble as she did Appalachia, and she was STILL a doozie!  I hope it's a long time before the country has another terrible storm like that.  I wouldn't mind a nice long soaking rain though, as the crops are starting to need it.  Speaking of hurricanes...here's Erin's baby picture, taken on the 11th. 

Not gonna lie, this hurricane has me concerned.  She formed in the Cape Verde area, where some of the worst hurricanes form, and she's got nothing but the wide open sea in front of her.  Those waters are warm, perfect for Erin to grow.  So we'll see what happens.  As for me and for much of the east-central part of the U.S., the weekend and the bulk of next week are looking to be hotter than the hinges of hell.  We're not quite to "Everyone in McKinney is dead" mode, but we'll be close.

ALICE UPDATE:  My resident black widow has had a third clutch of babies, and I've seen her oot and aboot a couple'a times, but no more pictures so far.  Alice hides when I come around, and I can't say that I blame her.  I'd hide too if something a trillion times my size looked at me.  But Alice is alive and well, still spry, still beautiful, still nimble as a jackrabbit.

Sunny love,
RagingMoon1987

What's in a name?

I like names.  I like human names, I like hurricane names, I like doll names, and I especially love looking at Cabbage Patch Kid names.  I've got some nice combinations in my collection, like Owen Presley and Cleopatra Chantale (yes, I've gotten compliments on that one), and then I've heard some humdingers, like Charlene Darlene, Karissa Larissa, and my new favorite, Bunnie Candie.  I couldn't resist bringing Bunnie Candie home, by the way; she's a little Preemie.

No joke, that's legit her name.

Bunnie Candie...that's arguably the dumbest one yet.  I think it sounds like a euphemism for rabbit turds, and another lady on Failbook says it sounds like a stripper's name!  Not to mention that Bunnie looks just like Cara Raelean and Stella Rae, but that's beside the point.  I love dolly names...and when you have as many as I do then you see repeats.  Commonly used names like Jane, Sally, and Susie pop up a lot, and today I'm going to TRY to count how many Susies I've heard of.  I own at least three myself.  I'm gonna try to go in chronological order.

SUSIE WALKER

COMPANY:  Reliable
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1954-1957

I presume that this Susie was a rival to the then-popular Saucy Walker.  The gimmick is the same, the material is the same, and the dolls even look a bit alike in the face.  Reliable often did that, did copies of other dolls that were good sellers.  Heck, all companies did that, and still do!  This one's got a sweet face, but some of the others I've seen look a little possessed.

SUZY WALKER TAKES A TRIP

COMPANY:  Unknown
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1950s or 60s

I wasn't able to find much information on this doll other than a couple'a pictures and a listing each on eBay and on Etsy.  From what I can tell Suzy is a small hard plastic walker with sleep eyes and a cute outfit.  Her eyes freak me out a little, but this one pictured has hair to die for.

SUZY PLAYPAL

COMPANY:  Ideal
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1959-1960

A member of the Patti Playpal family, Suzy is a big doll, at 28 inches.  She's my favorite of the Playpal bunch because she has a sweet little face.  Alas, I have no room!  With the entry of my animals to Casa Pizarro I've had to put away most of the dolls I do have, thanks to Tommy's lousy little nails.  But Suzy Playpal is still a favorite of mine.

SUZY CUTE

COMPANY:  Topper
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1964

I think Suzy Cute was one of the first baby dolls I reviewed in full.  I haven't done much with her since, but she's still loved and valued.  I admit that Suzy's catchy commercial was what gave me the gimmies.  Louis Armstrong was in it, for crying out loud!  I freaking love Louis Armstrong.  And true to her name, Suzy is pretty cute.  I love her smile, with her little baby teeth showing.  It's also worth noting that Suzy Cute's name is a play on "Susie-Q."  I counted plenty of dolls with that moniker, far more than could be listed here.

SUSIE SAD-EYES

COMPANY:  Various
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1960s and 70s

I found my other Susie Sad-Eyes!  She was on my roll-top desk with my ball-jointed dolls...and a large accumulation of other crap.  This Susie is pretty much "what you see is what you get."  She's a hollow plastic doll with big sad eyes and overall serious expressions, and some of 'em add to the drama with sallow circles under their eyes.  Susie Sad-Eyes goes by many other names, some of which incorporate the name "Susie" and some of which do not, but for the most part she's the same doll.

SUSIE SCRIBBLES

COMPANY:  Wonderama Toys
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1987

This Susie could write and draw, though being a doll, her work does indeed look like the scribbles of a young child.  Thank goodness she writes on paper, not in books or on the wall.  My sister drew on her bedroom wall one time, and I never did find out what possessed her to do such a thing.  We'd been told from the word "go" NOT to draw on walls.  Oh nelly, did my sister get a spanking for that one!  But Susie Scribbles is a good girl.  Give her some paper, some fresh batteries, and her cassette tape, and she's good to go.

SO SURPRISED SUZIE

COMPANY:  Galoob
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1990-1991

This Suzie is...kinda the poster child for the Baby Face line, and she's also the easiest of the Baby Face dolls to find.  Never mind, I was glad of that, as it meant it was easier to replace my childhood friend.  All of the Baby Face dolls had kid-friendly, easy to remember names, stuff like Natalie, Sarah, Louise, Brooke, stuff like that.  There was a Sally in the mix too, and I may have to do a post like this for the Sally dolls that I know.  But of all my Susies, and of all my dolls in general, Suzie is...well, I won't say she's the absolute biggest character, but she's in the running.

Yeah, yeah, I know.  Talk to the hand.  Maybe she should've been So Sassy Suzie instead of So Surprised Suzie. 

SURPRISE HAT SUSIE

COMPANY:  Tyco
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1995

Susie falls under the "glitzy toddler doll" category and got a brief mention in a recent post.  Her gimmick is simple and pretty cute:  under her nineties-style hat she conceals hair in one of four color combinations, so she's sort of like a blind box before blind boxes came into style.  Otherwise Susie is pretty basic, with five rotating joints and an outfit that...I guess was in style in 1995.  I've always been about as stylish as a railroad tie, so I wouldn't know.

SUSIE

COMPANY:  R&D
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2003-present day

Yep, this one's just plain Susie.  I THINK Susie is still being made!  This Susie is Barbie-sized and has a drop-dead gorgeous face.  I loved this doll from the minute I saw her in Haute Doll, years and years ago.  Susie is Barbie-sized but is a smidge slimmer and...at the time she had more joints than Barbie, though I think the Made to Move bunch could give her a run for her money.  I freaking love this doll, though.

SUSIE SOFT SOUNDS

COMPANY:  Fisher Price
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1979

This doll's smaller sister recently popped into my "weird dolls" post, though I don't think she's that weird.  Like Baby Soft Sounds Susie makes baby noises, and if what I've read is true then she's motion-activated...kinda like some of the obnoxious decorations my family had at Halloween and at Christmas.  You could turn 'em off, and you could even take out the batteries, but from time to time they'd still go off.  That gave us quite a turn more than once, especially when the item went off at night.  Same sort of thing with this Susie.

SUZY SNAPSHOT

COMPANY:  Galoob 

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1991

Good ol' Galoob!  Suzy Snapshot belongs soundly in the glitzy toddler doll category, but I didn't think to take screenshots of her commercial until after I'd put that post up.  Funny, I remembered to screenshot Twist 'n' Style Tiffany's commercial, but not Suzy Snapshot's.  Anyway, Suzy is attached to a little camera, and as the lens is "focused" she can change the positions of her arms and upper body, not terribly unlike Fashion Photo Barbie and her buddies.  Unlike the other glitzy toddler dolls that I've seen, I think Suzy was legit supposed to be a child model; the others, I'm fairly certain, are just playing dress-up.  Or that's the way I choose to look at it.  

SUSIE STRETCH

COMPANY:  Irwin Toys,

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1995

This Suzie reminds me of a semi-life-sized Betty Spaghetty.  She had long arms and legs that could stretch until the doll's overall height was about five feet.  She also had a sleeping and an awake face, she was good for cuddles, and that's...about it on a stick.  I'd have liked her; I love things that can stretch.

SUSI

COMPANY:  Estrela 
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1966-current day

From what I've read Susi is alive and well in her home country of Brazil.  Having looked at pictures of the vintage doll, I figure that she's based either off Ideal's Tammy, Pedigree's Sindy, or both because she looks a lot like both of 'em.  She doesn't now, LOL!  But indeed, the original Susi was indeed modelled after Tammy, only gaining inset eyes in 1969.  I usually like dolls with inset eyes, but in this case I prefer the painted eyes, as the inset eyes are a bit large for Susi's head.  Still, a fifty-nine-year run is not to be sneezed at in the doll world.  A run that length puts Susi in a league with Barbie and Licca-chan.

SUSIE SO SMART

COMPANY:  DSI Toys

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2001

This Susie was similar to Julie (1980s) and Amazing Amy and her bunch in that she could interact with her toys.  If she said she was hungry, you gave her her cookie.  If she was thirsty, she wanted her sippy cup.  And if she was in the mood to make some noise she had a harmonica.  A harmonica, of all things!  The appropriate noises accompanied all three accessories...and as far as I know that's the extent of it.  Susie wasn't as verbose as Julie or Amy, but she did enuff to keep one occupied.

SUSIE SOUR STRAW

COMPANY:  the one and only MGA Entertainment
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2024-present day

This young lady is one of the Yummiland Lip Gloss dolls that's currently in stores.  These are not to be confused with THIS Yummi-Land, yet another MGA doll...and come to think of it, my old Yummi-Land doll has a pet named Susie!  I like these, with their bright colors and translucent hair.  As many of these dolls as there are a Susie of some variant was inevitable, but at least she's cute.  I love green and pink together.  And speaking of Yummi-Land...

SUSIE STRAWBELLA

COMPANY:  MGA Entertainment again!
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2006-2008

Susie was one of the debut Soda Pop Girls.  Remember that my Betsy Bubblegum was an Ice Cream Pop doll.  Anywho, Susie appeared in several items of media for the Yummi-Land line, and also as a styling head, but her debut doll was her only doll.  I kinda wish I'd picked this one instead of Betsy; her coloring is great from what I can tell.

That's nowhere NEAR a comprehensive list of the dolls in this world named some variant of Susie, but y'all get my drift.  It's an easy name to remember, an easy name to say and spell, and thus it loans itself well to dolls.  Do any of y'all have any favorites that I missed?

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987