Champagne taste, Pepsi budget

Mama would say "beer budget," but I'll take a good cold Pepsi over beer any day.  The wrong beer gives me a wheel-buster of a headache and then makes me throw up.  Anyway, I belong to a Failbook group that goes heavy on the reborn dolls and other large, somewhat-realistic child dolls, and...well, they're pretty!  Since I'm a "monkey see, monkey do" type of collector I look for a doll like theirs, more to get an idea about pricing than anything, and that's where I ran into a pattern.  Recently all of the dolls I've taken a shine to are worth at least two hundred bucks, and usually more than that.  We start on April 12th, give or take.  One of the women in the group is all excited about a new Ping Lau-sculpted reborn she's getting, and since I like Ping Lau's work I went browsing for a reborn.  I found one similar to this one...

...and because she's a reborn, she's freaking EXPENSIVE!!!  The one above is Smitten Kitten, by the way, and she was kinda high, but nowhere near as high as the reborns on eBay.  Indeed, I could afford Kitten if I wanted her, but while I like her I don't really want her.  Paradise Gallaries says she's sold out, but oh, Paradise Galleries has lots of cute Ping Lau dolls.  They're just not quite what I'm looking for.  The one I really fell for is this one, and she's three hundred fifty bucks.  No biggie, I have some nice Ping Lau dolls (here and here), but I still love to look.

Then (I forget what day, exactly) I decided to browse eBay for A Girl For All Time, since I'm not giving up hope on owning one of those.  Remember that the company shuttered itself, sad face, and at the time of my last AGFAT post eBay had nothing.  It was kinda disorienting, like the Marchmont family had just fallen off a cliff into dolly oblivion, like the Extra Special Dolls did.  This past week I was a hair more successful, finding both Clementine (left) and her daughter, Sam.  Bex, my favorite of them all, remains nowhere in sight.

BUT...butbutbut, Sam is going for two-thirty and some change and Clementine is even more pricey.  Of the two of them I prefer Sam since she's from the mod era, but two-thirty and some change is kinda steep.

Alrighty, so Sam's out of the question for now.  Next doll I saw was a Kidz 'n' Cats doll, I forget which one, but I've been giving those an admiring eye ever since Miss Emily had Henriette on her blog.  Now Henriette's saga was something of a hot mess, but boy, did I love her face!  I like the Kidz' joints too, since not many dolls their size have legit joints, just hollow limbs with an armature inside.  Jana (left) and Julika are my favorites, for obvious reasons.

Guess what?  These kids are out of my range too.  Like the Ping Lau bunch, I have two Gotz dolls and they're nice dolls, but they're not as poseable as the Kidz 'n' Cats are.  Oh, affordable Kidz 'n' Cats can be found on eBay, but a lot of 'em are missing some or all of their clothes, and they're STILL expensive!  Part of the allure to these dolls is their eclectic outfits, and I don't want mine to be missing anything.  So part of that failure is on me being picky.

Back to the Failbook group we go now, and to Masterpiece Dolls.  I like these because they've got such charismatic faces and because a lot of 'em are vinyl.  They also have nice arm and knee joints, though I think their hip joints may leave a lot to be desired.  This one is my favorite.

Not only are prices for these dolls out of sight, but they're large and heavy, and Miss Emily's doll showed some troubling signs of aging (plus those ridiculous hip joints).  Still, I love these dolls' faces!

If we were playing baseball then I'd have already struck out long ago, but Sekiguchi's Printemps popped up again and I remembered how unusual they are.  For a refresher, this is a Printemps doll; I last discussed these last June, complete with her two friends behind her.  

Those eyes.  They're black until the light hits them just right, and then they glow a ghostly blue.  Freaky, unique, and I love it.  Unfortunately for me these are...I think these kids may be the priciest ones on the list today.  

I could also discuss Zwergnase and Annette Himstedt dolls, but we'd be here all day (I freaking love those).  Now I admit that I did spend my tax return on a very expensive doll last spring, The Doll That Shall Not Be Named, who will make her debut on May 5th.  Why?  Because I wasn't facing two surgeries last spring, and because Special Dolly was on a bit of a sale, and because my desire for her wasn't some fleeting fancy like a lot of these above are.  Indeed, the only doll on today's list that I see in my dreams is the Printemps doll, due to her unique eyes and otherwise mild face.  Patience is a virtue, a virtue that I don't have.  Patience is for wimps!  But how 'bout y'all?  Do any of y'all have expensive tastes and a grocery budget?  Discuss.

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

The obscure

Yep, I'm doing another one of those posts, where I blather a lot about dolls that I don't own.  This time I was inspired by a Reddit post, one that discussed dolls that no one seems to remember.  Some of 'em I'd heard of, and some of 'em I hadn't, but they were all interesting.  Take a deep breath and let's dive in!

TWILIGHT TEENS

COMPANY:  Simba Toys
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2013-2014

These were an obvious Monster High ripoff, but they're interesting enuff in their own right.  Purple Monkfish reviewed a few of these, and while I wasn't terribly impressed with the School line (seen above) I did like Nemonia, horrible name notwithstanding.  I also like Voodoona; she's a skeleton girl like Skelita Calaveras.  Monkfish also liked these dolls enuff, rating Nemonia a 7 out of 10 and the School dolls 9 out of 10.  She admitted that the faces were an acquired taste, but they were affordable and articulated, and from what I could tell their clothes were okay.  Monkfish reports that Twilight Teens could even share clothes with Bratzillaz, which at the time was a huge positive.  They did suffer from floppy ankles though, and they weren't the most graceful sitters.  I probably could've gotten over that, and kids probably would've too...if they could find 'em.  I NEVER saw these in stores, not even in places where Simba Toys were sold (our local Kmart carried Simba dolls).

BEAUTY CUTIES

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  2007

I had heard of these at one time or another, but I forgot about them.  Beauty Cuties were one of Mattel's many attempts to answer to the Bratz, but the idea fell flat and even drew criticism for being too much like Blythe.  These remind me a little more of Magic Eyes dolls, but that's just me.  Beauty Cuties functioned in a manner similar to Blythe, in that their eyes shifted position and color with the press of a button.  If I were to wager a guess about their failure, I'd say that modern-day kids were just as put off by the eyes as kids of the seventies were.  I also don't find them as stylish and edgy as the Bratz; that edge was what attracted my teenage self to Bratz in the first place.  But that's just me.

TATTOO DIVAS

COMPANY:  Toy Shock
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2013-2016 (not too sure of that range)

Now these, I'd never heard of.  Tattoo Divas were Toys R Us exclusives, and the nearest TRU to me was eighty miles away, so of course I'd never heard of these.  The big gimmick was tattoos; the dolls apparently had tats that one could color in (tattoo gun is included), and they appear to have come with their own stick-on tattoos as well.  (compare to Tattoodles)  Muff reported that her doll smelled really nasty, and that's too bad because she's got a pretty face.  It also looked like there were some quality issues, as Muff's doll's bag was printed upside down and her feet were stained.  Veni Vidi Dolli also was not terribly impressed with the dolls' quality or posing, and she repeated the staining issues.  I'm willing to bet that those pens that came with the dolls also made more than one mess.  The tattoo gimmick also makes me think of the tantrum adults threw over Butterfly Art Barbie, so likely parents weren't too keen on the Tattoo Divas either.

Tattoo Divas also bring to mind a doll I considered for the last list, Tattoodles.  This one is the Super Hair variant, but she also could be just plain Tattoodles.

Tattoodles was both a hair play doll and a fake tattoo doll.  These tattoos were fake and could be used on doll or child, because let's be real:  kids like fake tattoos.  I did, and so did my friends at school.  I don't know if Tattoodles was any more popular than the Tattoo Divas, though.  Again, let's be real:  tattoos are a fact of life.  I have one and I want at least one more, but I was of age when I got mine.  I think a lot of adults kinda squirm a little at the thought of children with tattoos...or maybe I'm missing something, LOL.

LULUPOP

COMPANY:  SAMG Entertainment

YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2023 (?)-current

I discussed these in passing last year, and Miss Emily has reviewed them.  The little ones are clearly L.O.L. Surprise knockoffs, but the bigger ones don't look like anything I've seen.  These dolls come from overseas, and they haven't been around long enuff to find a huge following, so maybe that's why Redditors counted these as obscure.  I can take 'em or leave 'em.  They're eye candy and I like eye candy, but they're not too different from a lot of dolls I own.

CHAMOY

COMPANY:  Distroller
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:

Okay, these are weird.  Weird and original.  Distroller is a Mexican company, and Chamoy is...well, I don't speak much Spanish so it's hard for me to make heads or tails of this doll.  But Chamoy is a doll with a huge noggin, huge eyes, and brightly colored hair.  She is named after a condiment that goes on fruit, with meat, in cocktails, whatever you like.  I wonder if that means that she's sweet and spicy like the sauce?  She has two friends, and they come in both child form (seen above) and teen form.

Oh yes, and BaeBaes.  This one has to tinkle!!!

That's about all I know about these...for now.

HEARTS FOR HEARTS GIRLS

COMPANY:  Playmates Toys
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2010-2015, roughly

I've actually reviewed one of these.  My Mosi is a little older, wiser, and looser in the joints now than she was in 2016, but she's still alive and kickin'.

These dolls did have their fans; beastsbelle, Tam, and Miss Emily all did at least one post about the line.  Dell, Tipi, and Lauryce were my favorites when the line was young, and I'm really kicking myself for not grabbing Shola when I saw her.  As a whole, Hearts For Hearts Girls represent places in the world that fell on hard times, places like Appalachia (Dell), post-Katrina New Orleans (Lauryce), and Belarus (Lillian).  The little girls are doing what they can to better themselves and their community...well, most of 'em do.  Mosi's accompanying storybook does nothing to draw attention to the hardships experienced by Navajo who live on a reservation.  Reservations tend to have a lot of problems with poverty, and Navajo Nation is apparently one of the poorest; some of those folks don't even have running water.  Granted, owning the doll might inspire a child to do their own research, the way Mosi did with me, but Mosi had one of the weaker booklets.  Nahji, on the other hand, taught Miss Emily (and me) some interesting things about runner ducks.  So these dolls had more fans than Reddit seems to notice.  An interesting thing to note about these dolls is that their eyes sometimes turn the color of grape juice.  I think this was more prevalent at the beginning of the line, but I'm not sure on that.  Either way beastsbelle had several Hearts For Hearts Girls whose eyes shifted, while my Mosi's eyes remain clear.

I dunno.  This was a cute line, though.  I'm still holding out for Dell, by the way; she resides in eastern Kentucky, and if it's one state I love it's Kentucky.  My sister and brother-in-law were happiest there.  Dell also bears a passing resemblance to Yours Truly, having blue eyes and wavy mouse brown hair (though I don't have freckles like she does), so I plan on adding her to my collection...someday.

YOUNG LADY SO BEAUTIFUL

COMPANY:  Playmates Toys
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1996

I was familiar with Baby So Beautiful, but I didn't know that Young Lady So Beautiful was also a thing.  Young Lady So Beautiful was basically a doll who stood there and looked beautiful.  Just about all of the examples I've seen are clad in heavy capes, suggesting a winter theme.  Underneath that she wore a ballgown and a pair of high-heeled shoes.  The boxes suggest that she's headed off to a "social occasion," which I hope doesn't mean a boring debutante ball.  Seriously, those rich girls look like they're having the time of their life at such a soiree, but it looks duller than dishwater to me.  But then again you're talking to someone who eschewed prom because dressing up in a fancy dress and heels was pointless and too much effort.  I regret nothing.  For the record, my sister was on prom court her senior year, and she said that if she hadn't been nominated she'd have skipped her senior prom too.  Anyway, I reckon that Young Lady So Beautiful was kinda like Aimee, in that dressing up a doll to go to some fancy event was kinda over their target audience's head.  She is beautiful though, and if I know Playmates like I do then the eyes were probably to die for.  And she'd make a great princess in a game of make-believe.  AND the cape is reversible, so one can change up her look a little.

THE FAIRIES OF COTTINGLEY GLEN 

COMPANY:  Another Playmates doll!
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1997

I have to wonder if these dolls are inspired by the Cottingley fairies?  From 1917 to 1920 two girls from Cottingley, England staged five photographs to look like they had met and played with fairies.  The photographs look pretty fake, but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was among the many the girls fooled and they kept their secret for many years before finally 'fessing up.  Does this look like a real fairy to y'all???

Nope, me neither.  Anyway, the dolls are little fairies, kinda like the Winx Club but without the Sailor Moon-style magical powers.  Their wings shimmer, they carry lanterns that glow in the dark, and they have stands that make noise, but otherwise they're just cute little dolls.  I can't remember ever seeing the commercials, but Kmart apparently carried 'em, which would explain why I never saw 'em.  As much as I loved Kmart my family didn't go there too often, because the nearest one was forty miles away.  These fairies were something like I'd have liked though, because I liked Sky Dancers and Princess of the Flowers.  Any doll that let my imagination run wild would have my attention.

U-NOA QULUTS LIGHT

COMPANY:  Sekiguchi and U-Noa
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  2007-at least 2022

Quluts Light reminds me a lot of Momoko, though comparisons show that the two are a bit different.  The two do have some shared heritage though, as Quluts was the result of a collaboration between Sekiguchi (who makes Momoko) and Araki Gentaro (U-Noa ball-jointed dolls).  The result was a 1/6 scale doll with rooted hair and a vinyl body.  The girl character's name was Fluorite, and the boy character was Azurite.  I think Fluorite has a prettier face than Momoko, but if she's related to Momoko at all then production numbers are probably pretty small...and if this wiki is to be believed then the little goobers have to be assembled as well!  If true then I'll pass.  Restringing a resin BJD is almost more than I can handle!

LADY LOVELYLOCKS

COMPANY:  American Greetings and Mattel
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  1986-1989

I know for a fact that collectors, especially those who grew up in the eighties, know of Lady LovelyLocks, but I love the hell out of her so I'm putting her here anyway.  Indeed, she almost made my last list.  Tam and Veni Vidi Dolli have discussed these in the past (posts here and here), so I don't know that I'd call Lady LovelyLocks obscure.  Lady LovelyLocks and company revolved around hair, and since this was an eighties doll line/TV show there was magic and villains and animal friends, the whole nine yards.  The dolls themselves came in brightly colored dresses and had cute little "pixie tails" that clipped into the dolls' hair and had colorful hair extensions.  Bet y'all can't guess who my favorite of the dolls is, LOL.  If you guessed the redhead clad in yellow, you're right, though I also am fond of the villain too.  The redhead's name is Maiden CurlyCrown, and the bad girl's name is Duchess RavenWaves.

She doesn't look like a villain to me, but she's the villain nonetheless.  Her hair doodads are called "comb gnomes," and she only has two (Lady LovelyLocks and her friends have three).  Tam notes that these dolls have the same body as Barbie's sister Stacie, and that means that they can share clothes!  I like the sound of that!

SUPER MODEL

COMPANY:  Simba Toys
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  in and around 2012

Simba Toys is good at producing knockoffs of popular dolls, but the thing is, the dolls they produce are usually nice products despite being knockoffs.  Y'all saw the Twilight Teens above, and Miss Emily once had a gorgeous Cinderella that is the same size as Barbie but did the Cinderella thing better than Mattel did.  So Simba dolls are not to be sneezed at, and if the illustrations I've seen of Super Models are any clue then they probably are fine little dolls.  They obviously have joints, and their hair looks amazing, though we all know that looks can be deceiving there.  I even found one Flickr user that swore the joints were better than what both Mattel and Spin Masters had at the time, though I find that hard to believe because few dolls pose better than the LIV dolls.  Whatever, that's just my opinion.  The Redditor that nominated the Super Models conjectures that these dolls didn't achieve a huge audience because of their generic name.  A Super Model could quite literally be ANY doll.  

GORGEOUS CREATURES

COMPANY:  Mattel
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  1979

I reviewed one of these very recently, so I'm only going to touch on these.  These are so goofy and unique, and my little Cow Belle is a not-half-bad product.  Basically, they're fashion dolls and animals, and...that's it!  They stand around and look cute.  Anthro dolls don't tend to sell well for this reason or that, and the Gorgeous Creatures are probably not well-known because they were here and gone quickly.  But I love these, and I'm always tickled to find someone else who does too.

CYBORG ROCKS

COMPANY:  IMC Toys
YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  2018

A doll from 2018 and I never heard of 'em!  Cyborg Rocks were little cyborg girls who apparently sang in a band that had nothing but guitarists (see above).  They're colorful and appear to have jointed arms, and each little figure can sing two songs, but their faces are pretty blank.  The box art and other illustrations show these dolls looking cheery and charismatic, but the dolls themselves...look like fish.  I used to sing, and I know it's impossible to sing properly with a big cheesy grin constantly on one's face, but I do know that one's expression does change as one sings.  So the faces are kinda a swing and a miss, and I don't know how original of a concept this idea is, but they're still interesting little dolls.  And late in the game I learn that these dolls look slack-jawed because their mouths move as they sing.  Pretty cool!  Kinda like Barbie's Chat Divas and Baby Alive's Snackin' Sara, both of whom also look goofy.  Seriously, I think the Chat Divas are hilarious.

DOLLCENA

COMPANY:  Tomy and Disney
YEARS OF PRODUCTION:  

I've found plenty of pictures of Dollcena dolls, but very little information other than that these dolls are a collaboration between Takara Tomy and Disney.  As a result, just about all of these dolls are modelled after popular Disney Characters like Alice or Stitch or Donald Duck (seen above), but have the same eye gimmick as a Petite Blythe (their eyes close on reclining).  My favorite one is this one; her box says "hunny" so she's probably related to Winnie the Pooh somehow, but she reminds me of Dole Whip.

I dabble in Disney (though I'm not a hardcore fan), so these attracted my interest a bit.  Their expressons and neutral lip colors remind me a bit of the Shibajuku Girls.

TROLLZ

COMPANY:  Hasbro

YEAR OF PRODUCTION:  2005-2006

I was going to add Trollz myself, but at the eleventh hour someone else said it.  Trollz date from 2005, so my memories of them are bittersweet.  I'd stand in Kmart and admire them (I was seventeen), and I'd remember my childhood collection of Treasure Trolls and Magic Trolls and how Mama and Daddy both HATED them, and then I'd miss Daddy like crazy (he'd only been dead three months at the time).  Trollz were based off of the wishniks that I did indeed collect as a child, but they were attached to an animated cartoon and were modernized.  They also were high school or junior high students...way before high school dolls were trendy.  Trollz were not a success as either a toy or as a TV show, and the full-sized dolls are tricky to find now.  But they have their fans, and I'll admit to being one of 'em.  Onyx, on the far right, was my favorite, as she was the goth/punk of the bunch.  I remember being kinda bummed that none of 'em were green.

Have any of y'all heard of these?  Kindly share your memories, and if you live in the Mississippi or Ohio river vallies, watch out on Friday!  Another round of storms is predicted!

Love,
RagingMoon1987

The ol' 'tater wagon

We're having a heckuva thundershower right now, or an "ol' 'tater wagon," as my grandmother would say.  Dig this rain!

Shot through the window of the library, so it's not the best quality.  I think y'all get the drift, though.  This is one of my favorite things about this time of year, though; you get random thunderstorms at random times of the day (or night).  They make a lot of noise, drop about a quarter of an inch of rain, and usually that's it.  As they say about the weather, if you don't like it just wait fifteen minutes.  That holds true for much of Missouri AND her surrounding states.

In dolly news, Freya's eyes came and they look very nice.  I chose green ones in the hope that they'd provide a nice contrast to her purple plastic, and I think that proved to be a wise decision.

The downside of doll eyes like this is that they are harder to place than eyes with round pupils.  Most of my ball-jointed dolls have eyes with rounded pupils and I can just fasten them in with eye putty and call it a day.  Not so with cat pupils!  I had to take out and reposition these eyes four times before I was finally satisfied with their position, and they're STILL not perfectly straight.  But...name a ball-jointed doll in this world that DOES have perfectly straight eyes!

It's a slow day at the library due in part to the storm, so here's a glimpse of what my dolls' living space looks like.  Freya is with her usual companions, Usaggie and a Dreamtopia Chelsea doll that I renamed "Calypso." 

Not much of a living space, just a pile of books and cards, plus some other odds and ends that I crammed into the shelf and never pitched.  I need to clean this space out and make a couch for the girls to sit on; at the very least it'll make the patrons smile.  I don't make a habit of showing off my dolls to my clients, but every now and then a patron sees this trio and makes some good-natured comment.  So a nice couch might liven the space up a bit.

The ol' 'tater wagon is moving off to the southeast now, though it's still raining and thundering here in Malden.  Hey, as long as lightning doesn't hit either of our houses I'm happy.  That's happened twice in the past, and God willing it won't happen again!  I'm praying it won't, because that's scary!

Much love,

RagingMoon1987

The nest

Yesterday we had a line of thunderstorms come through.  They weren't super-violent, just windy enough to shake the limbs and blow loose junk from the trees.  Anyway, when I took the puppies for their afternoon business-doing I found this cast-off bird's nest.

One of my Facebook friends has it identified as the nest of either a starling or a martin of some kind, and we have plenty of both so this nest could be either one.  It's lined with mud and is surprisingly smooth inside, except for the hole on one side where the nest probably attached to the branch.

It's large enough inside to house a tennis ball...

...or Freya and Usaggie.  Take your pick.

Nothing super-special, really, but I've been looking for a bird's nest for awhile so it's good to finally have one.  I'll probably keep it awhile and then throw it on the leaf pile when I rake this fall...if I bother to rake.  I usually don't.  LOL

Freya's eyes are STILL not in yet, though I think they'll get here soon.  They made it to the distribution center in Queens, New York, so I might have them by the weekend.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987

Today was...

Today was, to put it bluntly, a slice of hell.  Mama's air conditioner went blooey for the third time this summer, Coworker B got bad news at her doctor's visit, one of my puppies destroyed her harness (making it much harder for me to take her potty), and work itself was nuts.  This person wanted to check in a jillion books and then check out a jillion more, that person wanted a fax sent RIGHT THEN and never mind the other patrons, another pair couldn't shut up long enough for me to answer their questions, and still another little kid thought it would be fun to pick up Freya and start tossing her around.  Yes, Freya.  I thought I kept her and Usaggie out of reach, but I guess I didn't.

Okay, the day wasn't all that bad.  One of our local animal rescuers brought in this kitten, which she'd plucked off the parking lot of a local car dealership.  He's still in his cage here; his rescuer needed to print off some flyers before she took him home for fostering.

Ain't he cute?!  If I didn't have five of my own I'd have happily taken him.  He was scared at first, but when we started poking our fingers through the cage he calmed down and started purring.

To keep this post from being totally un-dolly, here's Freya with her old friend Usaggie and her new friend Riley.  Freya is made of ABS plastic and thus made it through her ordeal unscathed.  Notice though that she still doesn't have any eyes; those are coming from Russia so God only knows when they'll be here.

Riley is one of a new line of dolls that I'll be reviewing in the coming month.  Yes, month.  I need some time to chillax and unwind, if y'all can believe that.  My own AC was out for part of the summer, I got heat exhaustion, and a week and a half later I'm still getting my strength back.  I'm such a wussy, LOL.  Anyway, Riley is up for review along with Freya and Arklu's Lottie, and then...well, I'm not really sure what I'll do, but I'll think of something.  Maybe I could try making some of the neat things that Froggy makes on her YouTube channel and discuss the ease or difficulty with which I made them.  Or I could wire all my ball-jointed dolls and discuss the ease or difficulty of that.  I don't know who needs wiring worse, Johnny or Alistair, but they ALL need it.

Oh yes, I got some interesting news via e-mail this morning.  PetWorks will e-mail out information about new releases if one signs up for it, and one of this summer's new releases apparently will indeed be the panda-colored Kuma-bolo that I find so adorable.  I like that Jossie too, and I had plans to get her as well until I saw advertisements for a character I've never heard of called Momo-bolo.  I don't know if Momo has ever been released before, but this one is certainly cute with her button eyes.  She'll make a nice contrast to both Usaggie and Kuma...if I can manage to snag both Kuma and Momo, AND if I can avoid any nasty surprise expenses in between now and their release dates.  Whatever goes down, I'll keep y'all posted.

Now I'm off to YouTube, to relax with some music.  Paul Mauriat is calling my name!

Yours somewhat-tiredly,
RagingMoon1987

PetWorks Usaggie 032 review

When I reviewed Momoko last week I mentioned a fondness for other dolls by Sekiguchi (Momoko's current holding company) and PetWorks (Momoko's former holding company).  PetWorks is...actually a software company (I didn't know that), but they also produce doll lines under the division "PetWorks Toys."  The company releases a fair amount of dolls with the same unusual body, with most (but not all) of the dolls being animal-people.  Jossie and Odeco-chan are both little humans, but Nikki, Usaggie, Hitszie, and Kuma-bolo are not.  I think I...<pauses to glance back at the post>...yes, I mentioned Hitszie as my favorite of the PetWorks dolls, though I'll also admit to loving Nikki to pieces.  Nikki is a cat girl and Hitszie is a sheep girl, and wouldn't y'all know they're next to impossible to find on the secondary market.  Hitszie seems particularly difficult to find, and at the time that I bought this particular doll she was sold out.  Wouldn't y'all know, two days AFTER I ordered my doll Hitszie popped up on the PetWorks site again.  Yeah...that bummed me a bit, but at least I know she's not retired for good.  Kuma-bolo has apparently not made an appearance in quite some time, so he/she may be retired, but so far Hitszie appears to be going strong.  Anywho, seeing the rather minimalist bodies on Hitszie and Nikki made me incredibly curious about what these dolls are like IRL, and with both Nikki and Hitszie out of question at the time I settled for the rabbit, Usaggie.  To be specific, I got Usaggie 032.

The names "Usaggie" and "Hitszie" are clever plays on the Japanese words for the animals that these dolls represent, with "usagi" meaning "rabbit" and "hitsuji" meaning "sheep."  Sailor Moon fans might also recognize the word "usagi" as the lead character's name (fitting considering that her hair looks like rabbit ears), and "hitsuji" has also made its way into the anime world, so if you're anime fans y'all might have heard these words somewhere before.  With that out of the way, Usaggie shares a body with Hitszie, Jossie, Kuma-bolo, Nikki, and Odeco-chan, all of whom are usually portrayed as female.  Hold up...take that back.  Kuma-bolo can also be either male or female.  There's very little about this body to suggest either gender, though I've seen PetWorks label dolls with "boy bodies" or "girl bodies."  Boy dolls are hard enough to come by as it is, and mint green has been popular among my friends who have baby sons, so I was all set to refer to my Usaggie as a "he."  Indeed, I even bought a little pair of overalls, which Usaggie is wearing for most of the review.  However, tucked inside Usaggie's box were several advertising fliers, and one of those fliers had this picture.

From left, this image shows Usaggie, Ruruko, Momoko, Odeco-chan, Nikki, and Jossie, and they're all wearing matching dresses.  Usaggie is apparently thus supposed to be a girl, though my particular doll does not look as girly as other Usaggie dolls do.  Finding male clothes for this doll has proven extremely difficult, so because I'm lazy and because I love doll clothes, I'll be referring to my Usaggie as "she."  But for the record, this doll does make an adorable boy too.

Now that that's settled, Usaggie is 6.75 inches tall from the crown of her head down, but if I add in her ears she measures in at eight inches even.  Here's how she compares in size to her PetWorks/Sekiguchi comrade Momoko, to Raimei (one of my Licca-chan dolls), to Lottie, and to the ever-popular Barbie (Pilar in this case).  Lottie is closest to Usaggie in size, and even she is a smidge taller if I don't count Usaggie's ears.

As I noted above and y'all are probably aware of by now, Usaggie is mint colored.  That's normal; indeed, it's normal for all of PetWorks' dolls to come in unusual colors like pink and blue and marigold and other outrageous colors that living creatures are not supposed to come in (translucent!).  Anywho, at the time I purchased Usaggie there were more realistic colors available, but I'm a sucker for a weird-looking doll so I chose the green morph.  Hey, if I can have an orange Hujoo, a green Bobobie, and a purple witch, why not make a fell swoop with a green rabbit?  Usaggie would also fit in well with a collection of anthro dolls, but I only have one.  Here's how Usaggie looks with Pepper Parson.

Well, my only other anthro doll for now!  I still have my eye on Hitszie some day, and probably Nikki as well.  Anyway, unlike Jossie and Hitszie Usaggie doesn't have any hair, but the back of her head is interesting so I'm going to start there.

That circular area is usually detached and the ears are not in place, with that little task being left to the owner.  However, my Usaggie came fully assembled.  That was a pleasant surprise, though it wouldn't have bugged me greatly to put in ears.  This hatch does come off, though it's a terrible hassle to do (I had to use a nail file to pry it off).  The inside of Usaggie's head is predictably empty, devoid of the strings and putty that a ball-jointed doll would have.

The back of the head is marked with the PetWorks logo.

Usaggie's face is pretty minimalistic, as are the faces of many of these anthro dolls from PetWorks.  These dolls are not terribly unlike early Strawberry Shortcake dolls, in fact, though Usaggie's face has less detail even than my Lime Chiffon doll does.

Some Usaggie dolls have eyelashes or huge anime-style eyes, but my Usaggie has neither.  Her eyes are almond-shaped and are mostly black, but with chocolate brown rims.  I rather appreciate those rims, as they soften the edges of the eyes and prevent them from looking harsh against the vinyl.  In addition to the eyes Usaggie has a nose and mouth, also painted in this chocolate brown shade.

And...that's it!  No other paint to discuss, no real molded features either aside from a slight protuberance that the nose and mouth are painted onto.

Less is more, I guess.  Usaggie's expression is neutral and rather blank, but that means I can project any emotion I choose onto her and photograph her as such.

But then again, photography may not be the easiest thing with Usaggie, as she's not the most poseable doll I've met.  We'll cross the posing bridge when we come to it though, as I haven't even discussed the SHAPE of the body yet!  I'm approaching this body with a bit of trepidation, as it's not unheard of for these dolls to have uneven legs, like this unfortunate Kuma-bolo does.  Usaggie dodged the uneven leg bullet, but notice that her whole body leans ever so slightly to her right/our left.

I had to play a little bit with Licca's Azone body to figure out what was causing her uneven stance (it turned out to be a bum ankle), but with Usaggie the problem was pretty clear right off the bat.  Her waist joint is ever-so-slightly off-kilter...

...and her head tips to one side as well.

That would all be well and good, except that neither of these joints are supposed to tip.  Indeed, all of the joints (waist, hips, shoulders, neck) can only rotate.  As a result, Usaggie's posing is pretty limited.  She can turn her head all the way around...

...she can wave...

...she can sit and do side-to-side splits if I pose her just so...

...and her waist can do a 360, though I don't recommend that with ANY doll (LOL).

Molding is all but nonexistent.  Usaggie has naught but a slightly tapered waist in terms of torso molding, and her hands (paws?) are little mitten hands with a separate thumb.

They're not terribly unlike Lalaloopsy hands.

The arms have a slight curve in them to suggest an elbow joint, but not much else.

The legs are similarly minimalistic, being little more than green cylinders with slightly widened bases for feet.

Usaggie cannot stand up on her own with these dinky little feet, by the way.  She can sit up with no trouble, but she can't stand.

Clothing Usaggie's unusual little body has proven challenging.  This body can wear Middie Blythe dresses, but Middie is narrower through the hips than Usaggie is, so Usaggie can't wear Middie pants or jeans.  A childlike doll like this usually looks cute in blue jeans.  Still I think I was able to come out with something reasonably nice.  MyLilSparrow made this outfit, and it is one of the few Middie Blythe outfits I've found that has pants roomy enough to fit over Usaggie's posterior.

The pink T-shirt is a little snug, but not dangerously so.  It has some nice scalloping along the hems of the sleeves.

The cute little overalls are tan and navy gingham with dark blue straps and a huge blue pocket.  This pocket is functional...or rather, it would be functional if Usaggie's arm were flexible enough to get into it.  It's big enough to accommodate my fingertip.

The seat has a faux flap.  It would be cute if this could open, but that also would've been tricky to make properly so I'm not going to harp about that.

The snaps, the back flap, and the pocket have these cute little copper rivets, just like full-sized overalls do.

The bib of the overalls sports the maker's label.  I always love touches like this on Etsy products.

Sparrow has a number of other things that look like they'll fit Usaggie and similar bodied dolls.

Jane Cherie points out that Usaggie can also wear Vi and Va and Only Hearts Club clothes, plus the occasional Licca-chan outfit, and I happen to have a few of those items hanging around.  Unfortunately none of these went quite the way I was hoping.  My favorite Vi and Va dress does fit, but it doesn't fasten fully in the back.

Only Hearts Club pants are too long, but Jane Cherie never said the pants could fit (LOL).  She said the ballet skirts can fit, and judging from the way the top and the seat of the jeans fit, I have reason to believe her.  If these jeans were capri-length on Olivia Hope they'd be perfect for Usaggie.

I only tried one Licca-chan dress on Usaggie, that one being Michiko's yellow dress.  It's loose and long on Usaggie, though this could do in a pinch.  I'm willing to bet that other Licca-chan dresses might fit better.

Oh yeah, I also have Ju-hwang.  She's quite a bit taller than Usaggie is...

...but she's got a small body so some of the things I've got for her might work.  Keep in mind that these are things I knitted and thus may not fit the greatest.

Nope, these don't fit the greatest.  Everything is too big, even that purple skirt with the drawstring cinched tight.  This suggests to me that Ju-hwang, as lean as she is, is chunkier than Usaggie, because she can wear that skirt and rainbow top with no trouble.  The yellow sweater is too big for both Usaggie AND Ju-hwang.

I keep my Vi and Va dresses stored with my Bratz things, and that gave me another idea for clothes.  The fruits of this idea can be seen below.

First-wave Jade's secondary outfit looks a little too risque for a cutesy little doll like Usaggie, but it fits nicely.  The skirt might be a smidge tight, but that's all.  The middle dress belongs to a late-model Meygan, and I have no complaints about how it fits OR how it looks.  Maybe a nice belt might break up the monotony a bit, but it works.  The red dress on the right is one that I made, and it fits but is a bit too long to suit me.  I may give that dress to Ju-hwang since it bags around Bratz waists and is too long for Usaggie.

Of course there had to be a loser in the bunch, and the loser turned out to be the stuff I bought for Raya.  These items are way too tight for Usaggie.

Of course full-length Bratz pants are too long for Usaggie, but I have more hits than misses for her in my Bratz wardrobe.  So some Bratz clothes can fit, and some Only Hearts Club items, and maybe the odd Licca outfit.  The Vi and Va dress that I tried did not fit, but my other two dresses probably will since the tops are looser.  Oopsie, I forgot to try Lalaloopsy Girl clothes!  Lalaloopsy Girl dresses have fit most of the dolls I've tried them on in the past, so it's worth a shot for Usaggie.

Welp, a swing and a miss.  Pix E. Flutters' dress is the right length, but it proved to be too tight for Usaggie's chest.  So Lalaloopsy Girl clothes are out for these dolls.

Okay, I've got a few options for Usaggie if I don't want to spend money on Etsy or eBay, but for those who are good with a sewing machine there's this pattern, which came folded inside Usaggie's box.  One side has a pattern for a dress...

...and one is for a pair of overalls.

I would be all over these like flies on a dog turd, but everything is written in Japanese and I can't read a word of either pattern.  I think I might actually be able to figure that overalls pattern out if I sat down and put my head to it, though.  The patterns themselves look pretty simple, and I can read the numbers and the abbreviations.  I might be able to make heads or tails of this.

Usaggie came with some other odds and ends besides that pattern.  Remember the fliers that I mentioned above?  They have some epic pictures of the items that PetWorks currently has available.  The front of the first flier shows printed-eye versions of Odeco-chan and Nikki.  Usually both girl and cat have inset sleep eyes, but these two have printed eyes and I must confess that I like these better.  The two seem more like characters with the printed eyes.

The back of the flyer has illustrations of Odeco-chan and Nikki enjoying life, plus a fair amount of Japanese writing.  Notice that Odeco appears to be looking at a catalog of PetWorks stuff herself.  Also notice the leftmost circle, the one that confirmed Usaggie's femininity.

Flyer number two contains an advertisement for two new Ruruko dolls.  One is a little boy, and the other is a little girl.  Ruruko is usually depicted as a little girl, but like Usaggie she can also be made to look like a boy.

The back of the second flyer shows some items that Petworks currently has available.  The top row shows Odeco-chan and Nikki again, plus a new Nikki in a different color.  I love black cats and I'm thus sorely tempted by the second Nikki, but having just bought Usaggie I think I'll pass.  The lower row shows the new Hitszie doll, an adorable panda-colored Kuma-bolo, and a sublimely happy Jossie.  Maybe Kuma-bolo hasn't been discontinued after all?  I certainly hope not because that panda is adorable.

The last flier shows a new Momoko and a coordinating Ruruko.  The front shows them together...

...and the back shows them separately.

PetWorks certainly is good at triggering the galloping greedy gimmies!  I love that Kuma-bolo and I hope she'll be available in the near future.  I also like that black Nikki, and I feel a little torn between her and Hitszie...though in truth I probably won't get either of them because I just bought Usaggie!

I griped earlier about the lack of posing in these dolls, but if given some time Usaggie can strike  a few cute poses.  Indeed, my doll has proved to be quite a little character.  She likes to sit in trees and watch the world go by...

...and she likes to snuggle with her new best friend, Momoko.

Sometimes she just likes to chillax in my workstation at the library.

I absolutely LOVE this little doll!  But I have to overcome my delight with her and go over the pros and cons.

BAD
*Posing isn't great.  That's true of all these dolls, so it isn't a problem specific to my Usaggie.
*Joints are crooked in places, and that IS a problem specific to my Usaggie, though I know she's not alone.
*Relatively hard to clothe

GOOD
*OMG SO CUTE!!!  Ahem...I think this doll is adorable.  She reminds me a bit of Miffy with her minimalistic face, and who doesn't love bunnies?
*Sturdy.  I don't think this doll is meant for children, but it could be used as such.
*Can wear Middie Blythe dresses and some clothes from other doll lines
*Fairly affordable.  If Momoko and Ruruko are more than y'all can swing, Usaggie and her animal friends are more within reach.
*Interesting!  These little critters can come in all sorts of colors, and they're not always natural.  My doll is a case in point.

Usaggie may not be for everyone (my mother is on the fence about her, for example), but for me this is thirty bucks well spent.  I can't do everything with her that I can with Licca-chan, but I can do a good many of the things.  She's good for cheering up my somewhat dreary work station at the library, and she's good for a picture or two outdoors.  She makes a good companion for Pinkie Cooper, or for the Enchantimals that are available right now, or for other cutesy dolls like Licca and her friends.  Also, I'm unsure if PetWorks intends these dolls for children, but I think Usaggie might do well in the hands of a child, at least one that's old enough to know not to chew on their toys.  Posing is poor, and clothing the doll is a bit of a problem, but if you know how to sew that second problem is easily rectified.  I honestly can't recommend these dolls enough, and as soon as I get the chance I'm going to get my Hitszie, AND maybe that panda-colored Kuma-bolo, if PetWorks does indeed release her.

Hugs,
RagingMoon1987