Springtime for dollies

I've said in the past that seasons begin when they begin and they end when they end, but for me it's not spring until 

A)  I see a butterfly, and 

B)  the television commercials shift their focus from colds to allergies. 

For me, March 18th has to come and go as well.  March 18th is kinda notorious for tornado buffs, so it's an easy date for me to remember.  This year was the centennial of the Tri-State Tornado, and the affected towns held remembrance ceremonies all week, which I thought was nice.  Heckuva coincidence, considering the weather last week.  As for me, I've yet to see a butterfly, but my jonquils have bloomed and faded, the trees have little green buds, the weather is growing warmer and stormier, and thus it's time to start putting my dolls in springtime gear.  Straight outta Etsy (and from my mama) comes another Cabbie outfit, modelled by Allie Kathleen.

West Virginia colors!  When I saw the blue in that skirt I knew it would make Allie's eyes pop, and it does!  I don't know how Mama keeps finding these cute little outfits for Cabbage Patch Kids, by the way...unless she gets stuff that I just glanced at before bouncing on to something else.

I have an outfit for Gillian Ida too!  I actually had another different outfit, but my disorganized rear end misplaced it so poor Gilly was stuck in her Christmas wear until this new dress came in. 

As is often the case with me, I love how nineties this getup is with its loud, clashing colors and layers.

But this isn't a post just for Cabbage Patch Kids, not today.  Whaaaaaat, did y'all think I was gonna leave the Queen of the Dolls out of springtime wear?  These Barbie dresses are simple little dresses that came in two batches from MelsOzarkCreations, and they're perfect for spring...maybe a little later on in spring, but still, spring.  The models are Theta and Iota.  Dress pair one.

Spoilers, all of the dresses from this shop follow the same basic pattern.  Hey, you gotta start somewhere, and the fabrics are nice.  In this case Theta is wearing a dress with spots that compliment her skin, while Iota has a dress that brings out the gray tones in her eyes (her eyes look both blue and gray).

Dress pair two.  I don't know if I picked the right dolls for these two dresses.

Okay, Theta looks fine, or she will after I add some blue accessories to make her lips pop.  Iota, though...I dunno, I like the dark color and the subtle print on that dress, but maybe it's a smidge dark for Iota.  A doll with a gothic or punk edge would probably wear it better.

Now these last dresses are my favorites, largely for their quirky, goofy prints.

Avocados for Theta, fun-size Butterfinger bars for Iota.  Again, I thought the avocado dress was too dark for Iota, but dang, I wanna put that Butterfinger dress on Theta!  The logo matches her lipstick.  While the dresses from MelsOzarkCreations are pretty simple, they're also easy to dress up or dress down.  Those solid and print dresses can be worn with almost any shoes and accessories. 

But I'm not done yet.  I like finding things that are specially designed for curvy Barbies, and this outrageous little number is just that.  Etsy shop is fashondollMX001, and Andra is my model.

I'm a moderately big fan of Andy Warhol's art, so when I saw this...well, y'know.  <elaborate>  By the way, this shop also has a Piet Mondrian-themed dress.  I'm very fond of Piet Mondrian paintings.

For a change of pace, Lagoona Blue also has something new to wear this spring.  Mama thought it was cute, and now one of my dolls has it.  Etsy shop is RabbitinthemoonThai, and I'm only now noticing that Andra and Lagoona are in the same pose.

Lagoona may be sticky and yellow, but she was my first and I'll always love her.  It's been a minute since she got something new, and this matches her stock shoes.

Zooey Electric also has an outfit, one supplied by Mama.

toocuteclub offers clothes for Rainbow High and for Smart Dolls (spoilers, I'm sizing up a Smart Doll).  The clothes are pricey, but I love the pastel outfits that the shop offers.  In this particular case Zooey seemed like the perfect choice for this outfit, but looking at the trim...there's some purple in there so Monique Verbena could've pulled it off too.  Indeed, the only one I have that would clash is Ruby Anderson (she's red).  Sunny Madison would've looked adorable.

Camille, my little Wellie Wisher, has something new to wear too.

New to her, anyway.  I've had this in storage since the end of last summer.

Rounding out the spring wear is River Song, who is uncharacteristically girly.  Y'all have gotten a peep at this getup, but now Riv has her shoes.

Justine-Marie and Zoe are my girly girls, but River Song is the one who got the dress, and she loves getting new things so she didn't make a peep of complaint.

Bright, splashy clothes for a...decidedly dreary beginning to March.  In the first few days after the tornadoes last weekend the weather was beautiful, and then on Tuesday the clouds moved in and the wind picked up a lot.  Normally I'd have taken Camille and River Song outside, but it was too windy and too dusty.  Yeah, it's nothing but sand here in the Bootheel.  I think it's a miracle that our crops grow as well as they do, but so far they do, thank God.

Veronal love,
RagingMoon1987

I don't like the looks of this

I've not talked...well, not too often about Rainbow High and Shadow High, but one could definitely call me a fan.  I've got eight of the dolls.  Ruby Anderson, Sunny Madison, Skyler Bradshaw, and Violet Willow go to Rainbow High...

...while Monique Verbena, Natasha Zima, Zooey Electric, and Shanelle Onyx attend Shadow High.  I plan on adding Oliver Ocean before fall is over.

Dang, Monique Verbena stands out from both groups.  She's unnaturally colored all over like her Shadow High classmates, but she's brightly colored like the kids at Rainbow High.  Very unusual, the Shadow High lot.  Anyway, I'm incredibly pleased with my bunch.  They're not without their flaws; their clothes can be tight and their joints can be stiff, and Skyler Bradshaw has some chips in her eyes.  But they're a fun lot.  They helped me learn that nylon hair can be fun.

Okay, okay, the Paola Reina bunch helped me learn to love nylon, but my point stands:  Rainbow High and Shadow High have what Bratzillaz could've had.

Then there's the joints.  These brightly colored kids aren't as limber as my G1 Monster High dolls, but they pose pretty well.  Monique has a little bit of a weak spot, as her heavy braids pull her head back.  She's kinda a dreamer.

Miss Emily also had trouble with a couple'a her dolls bending at the knees...I think it was Meena Fleur who was extremely stiff, and that may be because she had two sets of legs (one flat-footed and one high-heeled).  My girls don't have a lot of trouble with their leg joints.

Now.  <dramatic pause>  Here's where the lighting dims and the music darkens.  Recently...I'm not sure when exactly, but recently the Rainbow High bunch delved into the slime fad.  Now I positively hate slime-themed toys, because slime is very messy and it dries up after awhile.  But anyway, the Rainbow High girls had this gimmick anyway.  That in and of itself is not a big deal since some kids like slime, but look closely at Violet Willow here.  And I mean CLOSE, particularly at her wrists and hands.

She's got the same inset eyes and the same pretty little face, but she's missing her wrist joints.  All my other girls have those (dig Natasha's nails, by the way!).

Then there's a basic bunch.  A swim line, consisting of Ruby, Sunny, Skyler, and Violet.  Miss Emily reviewed these.  They have NO JOINTS AT ALL except for shoulders and hips, and Emily reports that her Ruby and Violet both have bad hair.  Yeah...Violet's hair is straight, but apparently it doesn't handle well at all.

They're meant to be played with in water, which I guess was MGA's excuse for leaving out joints.  Now...is not having joints a bad thing?  Of course not.  My Bratz dolls have the same joints that an average Barbie doll does, and they can still strut their stuff.  So too can the Swim and Style dolls.  But when a doll line takes a jointed doll and makes it not-so-jointed...that doesn't bode well for the line overall.  Further, Bailey Maria noted in the comments for Emily's post that joints don't always interfere with water play. The changes to these dolls concern me because they're similar to the changes Spin Masters made to the LIV dolls before LIV got the axe.  As far as I know the Brites and the LIV For Color lines had the same hair as past LIV dolls, but the articulation that made LIV such a great line was gone.  The clothes had gotten a lot simpler too.  I fear that this may be the same direction that the Rainbow High and Shadow High dolls are headed.  Jeez, I hope not!  The rerelease of Monster High has made the doll isle a little more fun to walk down, but for me seeing the new Rainbow High releases has been most fun.  I keep hoping to see a bright green one.

On the other hand I've heard through the grapevine that new little outfits are being released for these dolls, and that pleases me.  Miss Emily didn't seem too impressed by the way her little outfit looked in the package (it admittedly does look cheap), but I'm glad there are some options that don't involve paying shipping and handling to Etsy.  That said...big sigh.  I don't like the direction that this line is going in, and I don't think I'm the only one.  Doll Nerd noted that her Berrie Skies doll had lots of little details that none of the budget dolls have...but NONE of her accessories fit in her hands.  Monique Verbena has the same problem, and that's a tremendous shame because her accessories are makeup brushes.

It would've been great if she could've held those to do her friends' makeup.  Or better yet, leave off the extraneous plastic crap and start putting the extra outfits in again.  All four of my Rainbow High girls, as well as Natasha Zima and Shanelle Onyx, came with two outfits.  Zooey Electric and Monique Verbena did not.  Zooey makes up for it a little bit by having multiple pieces to her outfit.  Taking that jacket of hers off can sort of make two different looks, but I wish she had a second outfit to call her own.  I wish Monique did too; her purple dress is pretty, but she'd have looked nice in something form-fitting too.  Good thing Etsy's got stuff.

Okay, I've made my point and I'm rambling.  Probably if I did this with my dolls more often I wouldn't be constantly buying more of them.  I gotta ask y'all, though:  are you more of a rainbow, or are you more of a shadow type?  Discuss.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987

So random, part five

Back again, you lucky people!  I've been doing a lot with the Cabbage Patch lately, so these first few pictures will be of them.  My friend from Newfoundland (and probably the other admins of that Cabbie group) introduced themes for the days of the week, so a lot of my pictures this time will be from those.  That said, this first doll is definitely NOT a Cabbage Patch Kid.  August 5th.

Little Maya got a new raincoat and boots with frogs on them.  There was no rain in the forecast at the time, but I threw the outfit on her anyway to see how it looked.  It fits over her sewn clothes pretty well, and she looks adorable...if you like Baby Alive dolls with their flat heads, LOL.

August 6th.  I DIDN'T share this one on the Cabbie group, but it's how I imagine Beryl June would look if she were taking a selfie.

Beryl June became extremely popular in the Cabbie group for reasons I've yet to establish.  My friend from Newfoundland has already said that if we meet I may not get Beryl back!  I offered to trade her...for Newfoundland's favorite Cabbie, a violet-eyed brunette named after Sarah Jane Smith.  Of course that offer was a hard NO, LOL.  We all have our special Cabbies; Beryl June is mine, and Sarah Jane is hers.  More on that at eleven.

August 8th.  Toybox Thursdays are for Cabbies and their toys.  I don't have much in the way of toys for my Kids, but Valencia Rose does have Titania Rosalind.

Treesa, if you're out there, I've gotten more mileage out of that little Playmate, and I thank you kindly.  She's not a dead ringer for Val (their eyes are different), but most folks don't care about that.  I notice hair before I notice eyes, and Titania's eyes are a lovely shade of blue.

Also on August 8th, I got this random picture of Matthew Tommie, Lucey Dena, and Ginger.

I got in the mood to change Lucey's clothes that evening, but y'all will get a better look at that in a bit.  Usually Lucey wears her blue and pink dress, but she and I were both in the mood for a change.  When it gets closer to fall I'll put Matt in something new too.  Mama got a cute plaid hoodie set, and the colors will look nice on him.

August 11th, Failbook memory from 2021.  After foolishly not buying her the first time she was available, I bought Dot Starlight.  Here she is in her box...

...and out.

I'm bitterly disappointed that the Lalaloopsy revival didn't last long, but it did allow me to grab Dot without having to pay a ridiculous price on eBay.  Dot's garish yellow hair doesn't geehaw well with the rest of her coloring, and that was why I initially eschewed her.  I still don't love it...yeah, actually, now I do.  Dot stands out in a crowd. 

Also August 11th.  This is an outtake from Kiara's review. 

Carrie can do what Kiara can't:  flop around adorably.  But Kiara can sit up if braced from the back, so it's all good. 

August 12th.  Bae Day Monday was for lemon-haired Cabbies.  I have two, Alexandra Claire and Poppy Elizabeth. 

Poppy is a reroot, if I recall correctly, but that doesn't bother me.  Reroots are embraced in that group.  As for Alexandra Claire...maybe she's more lemoncello than lemon, but that didn't matter to my friends.  In the future though, I may class her as golden-haired and pair her with Candela Laura.

August 13th.  Take-Me-Home Tuesdays are for Cabbies that one obtained locally, which for me is easy since I only have one.

Found Andrea Doria at Dexter about seven years ago.  Someone took pretty good care of her since she has her original outfit, ponytail holder and all.  But as I've said before her hair was pretty tortured, and she looked like she'd literally been plucked from a lifeboat.  So I gave her a hug, asked "How much for this one?", was told...maybe it was two bucks.  I know I got one doll for free from that shop, but now that I think about it I think Penny Brite was the one I got for free.  Andrea Doria cost me two bucks.  Two.  There was another Cabbie there, a little boy with a sweet face, but he had pox pretty bad so I didn't take him.  Poor thing, maybe I should've.  Pox can't be fixed, but it can be concealed or lightened.  Besides, it's not like Andrea doesn't have flaws of her own.  See?

Andrea fell victim to someone with a pen, just like Idalia Gale did.  I don't know why some little kids think it's alright to mark on their toys with a stinkin' pen!  It wasn't like Cabbies were cheap back in the day, and even if they WERE cheap toys aren't for marking on!

August 14th.  Wednesday Wearables, or Cabbies modelling a new or cute outfit.  Three of my girls are wearing new threads.

LOL, three of my blue-eyed blondes!  Allie Kathleen's favorite color is yellow, and I got her a new dress in that color scheme since the Velcro gave out on her old one.  The Etsy shop is one of my favorite go-tos for Cabbie clothes, pac44.  Poppy Elizabeth is a big doll and can wear baby clothes, so her stuff is Garanimals in size 0-3 months.  Frankly, I think even that is a bit big, especially in the shirt.  As for Lucey Dena, her little outfit is...more for fall, but fall isn't that far off.  It's a tagged Cabbage Patch getup, and Mama got it for me.  

August 17th.  I had my Rainbow High and Shadow High dolls out in preparation for another post, and Mama took a liking to Natasha Zima and Shanelle Onyx.

Mama says she likes the Shadow High bunch enuff to put them on display in the front room.  She likes my Monster High bunch too.  I think putting them up front sounds like a plan!

August 19th was another Bae Day Monday, this time for brunettes.  At the time I had five of them on hand and two tinies back at Casa del Luna. 

The big ones are Julie Emmalee, Beryl June, and Lesley Emily.  The small ones are Carol Kasey and Skye Kitty.  Skye was hanging out behind Little Honeymoon in my last post, and sharp-eyed Treesa saw her.

I love the jewel-toned eyes on these Mattel Kids!  Carol Kasey's eyes are a lovely shade of green, while Lucey Dena and Skye Kitty have blue eyes.  

Brown Mattel eyes look like chocolate milk.  Mmmmm, I love chocolate milk.  Recently Treesa has been showing me some of her childhood Cabbies, and that's only cemented my fondness for Mattel Kids.  Hers are freaking adorable (one of 'em has chocolate milk eyes), and it's a tremendous treat to see them.  

August 20th, memory from last year.

The doll on the left is a Sekiguchi La Cheri doll that I named Olivia, and the doll on the right is my beloved Sasha.  I had planned on reviewing Olivia and was running down the similarities that she has with Sasha, but I realized that Olivia is very similar in function and in body type to my Munecas Geli, Renata.  Both are lapsitter types with soft bodies and vinyl limbs, and there's just not a lot to say about them.  Olivia is sweet, though.  She has brown eyes and blonde hair, a combo my mama loves.

August 22nd.  Another Failbook memory from last year. 

Crissy, Look Around Velvet, Sasha, and Aimee.  My ham-handed attempts to rid Crissy and Velvet of mold ended up wrecking their eyes, so it'll be a long time before they appear in the blog again.  The Talky Velvet that Tam sent me remains healthy, and for some weird reason, so does Aimee.  Even though she's from the same era as Crissy and Velvet, she doesn't get mold.  Or at least mine hasn't.  As for Sasha, I think it would take a nuke to kill her.  She's tough as nails.

And now for the eleven o'clock news.  August 24th.  Meet Elisabeth Clara, another brunette.

When I saw this girl on eBay she reminded me of the aforementioned Sarah Jane.  Indeed, the two dolls are almost exactly the same except for head molds.  As I said above, Newfoundland named Sarah Jane after the one and only Sarah Jane Smith, so I named Elisabeth after Sarah Jane's actress, Elisabeth Clara Sladen.  Neither doll looks much like Ms. Sladen (she had dark eyes and and reddish brown hair, and I thought she was quite pretty), but...oh well.  Elisabeth hails from Taiwan's UT2 factory and has the uber-rosy cheeks that UT factories are known for.  She's also a little yellowed (again a hallmark of a UT doll), but Valencia Rose is yellowed too.  See?  Some Cabbies just age like that.

Actually, they don't look too bad after all!  They're certainly not as bad off as my drooled-on pillow, LOL.  Elisabeth is just a sweet little doll.  It tickled the snot out of my friend to see a Sarah Jane lookalike.  Elisabeth is only my second violet-eyed Cabbie, by the way; Andrea Doria was the first.

August 26th.  Bae Day Monday's theme that week was wheat and champagne hair.  I have three of those.  From left, Idalia Gale, Kitrick Randolph Fergus, and Allie Kathleen.  This picture was taken before Allie got her new dress.

I guess Randolph would count as a subcategory of wheat (his hair is a rusty shade).  As I noted in Randolph's introduction, the foreign factories tended to march to the beat of their own drums, and a lot of unusual hair colors came from Spain, from Japan, from Mexico and South Africa.  Not ugly colors, mind y'all, just kinda different.  

Later that same evening I caught Morgan and Elisabeth Clara getting to know each other. 

I think Elisabeth envies Morgan's bows.  She'll have her own soon enuff.

I apologize for the glut of cabbage, y'all.  I don't want good pictures to go to waste, so...here they are!  Maybe I should call these posts "Cabbage Clippings!"

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

Is it really THAT tough bein' green?

I'm still working on a Fidgie Friends review (yep, goin' on seven months now), and in order to do so I had to root Monique Verbena out of my doll box.  Then, of course, I got an idea for a post.  For a refresher, here's Monique. 

The Shadow High students started off black, white, and grayscale, but of course now they're tinted these fabulous colors like pink and teal and Monique's beautiful purple.  Now...in all the time that Shadow High has been a thing, I've counted exactly ONE (1) green doll.  Harley Limestone, one of the rock band members, is celery-colored with neon green hair.

Zooey Electra (left) and Berrie Skies are also listed as green by some vendors, but they look blue to me.  Berrie's name even implies that she's supposed to be blue.  Zooey's ensemble and accessories contain several references to the Novi Stars, by the way.  I love that little touch.

But yeah, they're blue, not green.  In addition to Zooey and Berrie Oliver Ocean and Uma Van Hoose also represent the color blue.  And don't get me started on pink!  Monique is not the only purple doll either, though admittedly she appears to be the brightest shade of purple.

I wonder why MGA Entertainment has been shying away from making another green doll...or IF they're really shying away and haven't thought of it yet.  Monster High wasn't afraid to make green dolls; Amanita Nightshade, Casta Fierce, and Venus McFlytrap were all green.

In fact, G3 Venus is even MORE green than G1 was!  Amanita, Casta, and G1 Venus were celery-colored, while G3 Venus is a lovely grassy shade.

Ain't no mama like the one I got!  Yes, I have Mama to thank for this one; in fact, through a comical error in ordering she bought me two!  But Venus is a deeper green now than she was during her G1 days and I freaking love it.  I wish MGA would make a doll in this shade...or a similar shade.

As much as I love Venus, she'll soon be upstaged by yet another G3 Monster High student.  I won't say that the new doll is more striking than Venus, but she's definitely on equal footing.  So stay tuned.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987