So random, January '25

We start the month (and the year) with a Failbook memory, from January 3rd, 2022.

Adam and Mei together.  Both of them need new eyelashes now.

January 4th I took this image of my vintage Skipper crew, which had by then grown to three.

From left, Living Fluff, Pose 'n' Play Skipper, and straight-leg Skipper.  I'll discuss these in more detail around March or so.

Bae Day Mondays this month went with the various Coleco years, and January 6th was for 1983 and 1984.  I have no Cabbies at all from 1983, but I have three from 1984.  From left, Valencia Rose (Coleco), Nathan Hunter (Coleco Preemie), and Candela Laura (Jesmar). 

I am still casually looking for a fuzzy boy; they are strictly 1983.  But these will do just fine for now.  After taking in Gary Collier and getting the electric bill I need to take a chill pill with Cabbies.  January was colder than average, so the bills were outta sight.

January 11th.  Candela Laura flew solo that night.

It was cold that night, and I was listening to a YouTube documentary about Texas Tower 4.  The saga of Texas Tower 4 is not a happy one, so I lightened the mood with Candela.  The Cliff Notes version of the ill-fated tower can be found here, and an excruciatingly detailed version can be found here; the latter was the one I was watching.

January 13th, Bae Day Monday.  The years this time were 1985 and 1986.  For them I have my popcorn girls, Idalia Gale and Beryl June (both 1986)...

...Matt the Brat and Kitrick Randolph Fergus (both 1985)...

...Hugo Jack (1985) and Ernest John (1986, Preemie)...

...Elisabeth Clara and Shelley Fred (both 1985)...

...and finally, Stella Rae (1985, Preemie).  Her friend and carer Angela Fitzpatrick agreed to sit with her.

Angela cares so Stella doesn't have to, LOL.

January 17th I learned that there's a special term for Cabbies with arms like this.  

See how Matt's arms angle up and out rather than straight out?  Apparently this is called the cheerleader pose, and out of forty-six Cabbies (including figurines and clones) Matt the Brat is my only one like this...for now, anyway.

January 20th.  The years were 1987 and 1988, with that latter year being the earliest I could conceivably remember.  As a result I'm fond of dolls from this era...and yet I only have two big ones, Karen Sheila (1987) and Andrea Doria (1988)...

...and two little ones, Esmond Brant and Cara Raelean, both from 1987.  Esmond is a bean-butt and Cara is a Preemie. 

Also very early on January 20th, I took this head shot of Gary Collier. 

Gary had proven popular with my Failbook friends by this time, and I can see why.  He's a cutie.  I can also see why Treesa couldn't initially see his teeth, as they're ridiculously hard to photograph!  I personally didn't think I'd like the #17 head, but now that I have it in my collection it's not so bad.  That leaves the #18 head that I'm not enamored with...no, Moony, stay off eBay!!!  But yeah, when I started collecting Cabbage Patch Kids the #4, #15, and #30 heads were my favorites, while #5, #17, and #18 were deal-breakers.  #5 and #17 grew on me after I added them to my collection, so #18 potentially could too.

January 21st.  Y'all know how I like opposites, and Draculaura and Venus McFlytrap are pretty much that. 

I tried to take a conservative approach with G1 Monster High dolls, and as I've said before it bit me in the butt.  So I'm not playing this time around; if I really, really, REALLY like a doll, I'm goin' after it, budget or no.  Luckily for me I haven't seen any that I'm absolutely dying for yet...except maybe Cupid.  I've always loved Cupid.

I returned to clippings from the Cabbage Patch on January 22nd, with a new outfit supplied by who else?  Mama!

I knew immediately that this would have to belong to Clio Teresa.  Her yellow body matches the trim around the waist, and some of the letters match her hair.  Some of the letters match her hair bows too, but that's hard to see.

January 23rd.  Venus McFlytrap returns, this time with Skooter, who'd joined the Skipper Squad by then. 

And I thought that Draculaura couldn't be more opposite of Venus!

January 27th, another Bae Day Monday.  1989 got a year of its own, and Cleopatra Chantale and Gavin Andrew share it.

Some of my favorites come from 1989, but I only own two of them.  The rest of my Cabbies are 1990 and beyond, or clones.

Also January 27th, a memory from 2021.  I was comparing Always Sisters Vanessa to my beloved Courtney Moore.

This came from an aborted review of the Always Sisters line.  I was excited about a doll that was soft like the Hot Looks but had honest-to-God joints, but Vanessa's internal skeleton was too warpy to make the joints enjoyable.  I can't say as I've gotten much enjoyment out of my Always Sisters dolls, though they have sweet faces.  But as always, if anyone wants a review I'll root 'em out of storage.

Not much of a month for dolly photography, actually!  More same ol', same ol'.

Love,
RagingMoon1987

So random, December '24

December 1st.  I'd just learned that Twyla Boogeyman's eyes glow in the dark, and I was planning on doing a post on that.  It fell through, but I still have the picture I took.

I don't talk much about Twyla, but she's always been one of my favorite Monster High characters due to her smaller size and her coloration.  Unfortunately my Twyla is falling victim to time just like Lagoona Blue has, and her hair looks pretty nasty.  I'm hoping I can save it.

December 2nd.  Bae Day Monday was for Jesmars.  I only have the one, Candela Laura, still in her fall dress.  Here she'd offered to help me shake out the winter quilts so that the family can avoid another spider bite (that lovely saga is here and here).

The ninth and the sixteenth are for Lily Ledy and Tsukuda, respectively.  I don't have any of those, but I'm looking forward to seeing the other folks' dolls.  The quilts got a clean bill of health, by the way; I guess the only spider in the pile was the one that bit me.

December 3rd.  Autumn Leah (right) finally arrived in the mail (she was listed as "out for delivery" for a solid twenty-nine hours).  Here she leans on Gwenda Cecile; my friends on Failbook wanted to see them both.

Y'all have met Autumn Leah, but I never talked about Gwenda Cecile, even though the two arrived around the same time.  Gwenda Cecile is a poseable Kid from the Hasbro era, with thick, pale blonde braids and bright blue eyes.  She has a head mold that reminds me of the crazy-expensive Coleco #19 head, which has a big toothy smile.

December 7th.  It was a Saturday, and I'd been to work and Mama hadn't.  When I came home that evening I found this.

Adora was wearing Bluebelle's hat, and poor Bluebelle was in the floor!  I presume that Mama brushed against their shelf at some point during the day.  Her coordination isn't any better than mine is at this point.  Bluebelle's hat is too small for Adora, but it still looks kinda cute!

December 12th is about as random as they come.  This headshot of Rosemary turned up in my Failbook memories.

Rosemary doesn't look like that anymore!  She's got a new wig and no eyelashes, and I need to fix that latter bit.

December 15th.  I was putting Jazzie's post together and decided to fool around with the rest of my Barbie dolls.  For some reason I included Marlo, even though she ended up not being in the post.

Y'all know how I like opposites, and Dionne and Marlo are about as opposite as it gets.  New and old, red and blue, brunette and blonde, black and white.

Since I once compared Marlo to Midge, here they are together.  Marlo is slightly in front of Midge here; in reality the two are the same size.

Hmmm, maybe she doesn't favor Midge as much as I thought she did.  She doesn't look much like TNT Barbie either.  It doesn't really matter much, but I like to nitpick.

Lastly, here's Marlo with Jazzie.

These two don't look a lot alike either, but that's to be expected since there's at least twenty years separating their production dates.  I have to admit that even though Marlo can't pose worth a doggone, she IS photogenic.  I need to think of some other scenarios for her.

December 16th.  This is a Failbook memory, of Yasmina and Raya together. 

I don't remember why I had them together, but I did.  I've always loved Yasmina's yellow, slightly creepy eyes.

December 18th.  Another Failbook memory.

Imani was so new that I didn't have her whole outfit yet.  I only had her sleep sack.

December 18th, present day.  Shelley (left) got a new dress that coordinated with Barbie's.  Y'all can see what happened next.

Now Shelley needs some shoes of her own!  I'd like to find a similar outfit for Midge too, so she and Barbie can pose together again. 

December 21st.  Saturdays on that Cabbage Patch group I like are called Seasonal Saturdays, and the Saturday before Christmas doesn't get more seasonal than this.

Besties Elisabeth Clara and Shelley Fred are ready to deck the halls...or they would be if we were bothering with a tree.  My goofy tree at the library is up, but both Mama and I are too crippled up to put a big one together, and Uncle Man-Child would be of no help if we tried.  So Elisabeth and Shelley are just chilling out, staying warm.  Elisabeth's left pants leg has the Grinch on it.

Everyone oughta love the Grinch! Unlovable as he's supposed to be, he's...pretty darn lovable.  

December 22nd.  Two radically different Barbie dolls.

Malibu P.J. is on the left and Isolde is on the right.  I think they're discussing the differences in their joints and how P.J. can sit comfortably with her legs outstretched. 

December 23rd.  Bae Day Monday is for Tri-Ang Pedigrees.  Again, I have one, my beloved Kitrick Randolph Fergus.

My friend from Newfoundland got her first Tri-Ang Pedigree doll a few days ago, and we had a discussion about Tri-Ang eyes.  Because the paint used was absolute crap, these dolls have very distinctive eyes.

Kit's eyes used to be brown, and the Newfoundland doll's eyes appear to have once been green.  Now both of them have...well, mud-colored eyes!

December 24th.  Failbook memory from 2020.

I apparently had just gotten Justine-Marie, because I showed this random headshot to everyone. 

December 26th.  This popped up in the mail.  Another gift from Mama. 

Nathan Hunter looks fine in his blue corduroy suit, but it's nice to change things up a bit.  This should hold him until the end of winter.

December 27th.  I took this in preparation for another series of posts. 

Barbie and Sindy.  Mattel and Marx.

December 28th, the not-too-smiley day that really wasn't that bad (for me, anyway).  Courtney got a new outfit in the mail.

Any of my balloon-headed Skipper dolls would've looked alright in this, but I love hot pink with dark hair.  Oh, and fringe.  I love fringe. 

December 30th.  Friend from Newfoundland needed a way to fill in the last Monday, so she declared it IC and UT Day.  These factories were both based in Taiwan, and Cabbies from there have their own special attributes.  In this case I have one of each; Shelley Fred is an IC3, while Elisabeth Clara is a UT2 and has the cheeks to show for it.

UT Cabbies have VERY rosy cheeks, and IC Cabbies have very pretty complexions when they haven't discolored (some of 'em do).  Shelley Fred is lucky and has not discolored so far; indeed, his face reminds me a little of porcelain.  This porcelain look is also common for IC kids.

Later that same day.  Fluff and Farrah cuddle.

Farrah is the younger of my two Malibu Barbies.  I unfortunately don't know where her older sister is.  However, I do have a rough idea about where to look.  I'm very fond of the Malibu Barbie line, so I'd like to have 'em all together. 

Still December 30th.  Two of my blue-eyed girls.

Danica and Martina, complete with That One Hair for both dolls.  By the way, it should be remembered that blue-eyed Furga dolls can look possessed if the camera's flash is wrong.  Martina, Caroline, Eva, and Gia have all fallen victim to this. 

I was restless on the evening of the thirtieth, and while waiting for Mama to come home I ventured outside with Martina. 

We were both in the mood to enjoy the last few hours of mild temperatures before a strong cold front pushed in.  The last week of December has been delightfully mild (with tornadoes for the south), and the first week of January is predicted to be "colder than a well-digger's butt," as my family puts it.  With snow.  Blaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!

And with that, the year has come to an end!  It was an okay year, free of a lot of tragedy and illness...well, for me, at least.  I know that people in Appalachia are still digging out from Hurricane Helene; that recovery is gonna take a long time yet.  But for me, thank God, all is well.  My family has a home, we're all alive and well, we've got enuff money to pay bills, that's a lot to be thankful for.  And the eclipse...that was the highlight of my year, and I hope I never forget it.  As to you, my dear readers, I thank all of y'all for popping in with comments or with views, for the gifts, for everything.  This blog would be pointless without readers.

I love y'all, and happy new year!

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