I'm going to gripe about pink again

DISCLAIMER:  I solemnly swear that I DO NOT HATE PINK!!!  Indeed, I love wearing certain shades, and I love dressing my dolls in certain shades.  I love how my dark dolls look in a light shade, for example.

Last night I went browsing through American Girl's wiki because I haven't done that in a hot minute, and let me say that I was sorely disappointed in the current wardrobe and its glut of pink.  Last year was an Olympic year so there were some cute patriotic offerings like the Team AG Sweater and Skirt Set (left).  Another Janie and Jack collab brought with it the Rose Fair Isle Sweater.  I could see Rita Cheryl or Gabby or Danica wearing either of these, and fair isle knitting?  Yes, please!

But so far there's nothing like that in the lineup this year.  The new clothing releases of 2025 have all been dominantly pink, with the exception of the Glam Shimmering Ocean Outfit and its accompanying accessories.  I'd dress Marina in that outfit in a heartbeat.  But the pajamas are pink...and the ballet outfit is pink...and all three of the new meet outfits are dominantly pink.  

I actually like the Truly Me meet outfits, though I've yet to meet a little boy who likes wearing pink.  Big boys, yes; I had guy friends in high school and college who wore pink, especially in October.  But younger boys, the ones who might actually be the target age for these dolls?  The ones I know are still solidly in the "Pink is for girls" rut.  But the Long Hair Looks outfit goes overboard.

Honestly I don't care much for the Long Hair Looks dolls, period.  They look cheap and gimmicky, like something one might get at Wal-Mart.  But then some of my buddies on Failbook have 'em and like 'em a lot, so that last gripe is probably just me needing something to gripe about.  But overall I can't say that I'm impressed with the clothes for AG dolls this year.  Too much Barbiecore, not enuff originality.  I do sort of like the Glam Sparkly Concert Outfit...

...but that's because it's modelled by one of my favorite current JLY dolls, #115, better known in my household as River Song Woodruff.  And for the record, despite those blonde locks, River Song is not fond of wearing pink.  The only doll I've got that's obsessed with pink is Doremi, and she's currently off gallivanting around somewhere in her own little world, so that's that.  I like Etsy clothes anyway, so for the foreseeable future that's where I'll be going for American Girl threads.  I hope they get out of the pink rut soon.

Blue love,
RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe: two more days...

Two more days of this crap. 

All my weather apps swear that a front will be passing through on Tuesday night, bringing rain chances and a steady cooldown.  I just hope this forecast doesn't end up like the ones in hell.

Sorry, I just had to vent.  Heat puts me in a foul mood, and the A/C isn't helping much.  It'll run for about an hour and a half before puking out, and then Yours Truly has to be the one to fix it because it hurts Mama to move and because Uncle Man-Child is is too stupid.  It needs to be reset and turned back on, that's all, but doing that over and over gets old.

ALICE UPDATE:  I think the only one enjoying the heat is Alice.  She's been hanging out in her web, likely waiting for mosquitoes. 

Of course she booked it when she saw me.  I think she may be gravid again, by the way; I'll be on the lookout for Brood IV.

Stay cool out there!  I know I'm not the only one having to put up with this crap!  I have a Dawn post in the making so that's some good news, I s'pose.

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

Time to gripe: just venting about our mail service

I wanna ask y'all, has your mail service been ABSOLUTELY PATHETIC lately???  This mainly applies to my American readers, but non-Yanks are free to answer too.  Admittedly most of the things I've ordered have either arrived on time or haven't had enuff time to arrive, but I've got two parcels that haven't updated in quite some time.  The first item is (spoiler alert) another My Twinn.  Her tracking number says she was supposed to be here on Monday, and it's Wednesday now and she's still not here.  Indeed, her tracking number insinuates that she hasn't even made it to St. Louis.

Even more alarming is a set of dollhouse items that I bought clean back in March.  Those were scheduled to arrive April 11th at the latest and did make it to St. Louis, but on the fifteenth the tracking number read "arriving late."  It hasn't updated since.  And what day is it today, kids???  The twenty-fourth!

To add to that, I've spoken to one of my friends, who is a mail carrier.  She told me that our local P.O. has had a helluva time keeping new workers on.  K told me that the new hires would come in, work for maybe a week or two, and then either quit or just not show up.  So the P.O. here has been both slow as molasses and understaffed.  The man who delivers Uncle Man-Child's mail sometimes doesn't show up until after dark, which is saying quite a bit since the days are getting longer.  I don't fault the poor carriers for this, of course.  One can't control what lazy new hires do or don't do.  And who knows?  Maybe the boss is an a-hole.  I doubt that's the issue (we'd have heard, LOL), but you never know.

So here I sit, waiting for my poor dolly and for my dollhouse trinkets, and wondering if the issues at Malden's P.O. are more widespread.  If places like Hazlewood (usually my mail's last stop before it reaches Malden) are having the same problems then I'll understand a little bit more.  Yeah, it doesn't make the waiting any less annoying, but I'd understand at least.  BUT...what if that's NOT the issue and the people between here and there are just idiots?

How about you, Rosemary?  What say you about this mess?

Rosemary is more focused on the fleabane growing in Uncle Man-Child's yard  (she and I both love fleabane).  I'm the one that wants a new wig for her.  Her current wig looks cute, but the cap is too small and it won't stay on.  The new wig is coming from St. Peters, which is a St. Louis suburb...so God only knows when or if it'll get here.  We'll see.

Hugs,
RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe: Dandy Denims isn't so dandy!

Y'all may or may not have seen in a recent post that Tam sent me a Talky Velvet recently.  The pet is clean and cute, but didn't have a stitch on!  Luckily I found a seller on Etsy who offered some mint-on-card fashions for Velvet and her like-sized friends, and among the options was this getup, "Dandy Denims."

I'm just going to cut right to the chase.  The outfit looks adorable, and Velvet is no longer nekkid...

...but her jeans are supposed to snap in front, but the two halves aren't even close to meeting!  I tried to get that snap shut for the better part of an hour, but no dice.

That doesn't show when Velvet's shirt is pulled down, but knowing the snap won't close infuriates me.  Oh, and that cute little brown ribbon, the one that Crissy and Beth put in their doll's hair?  Nope, that wouldn't fit as shown either.  I ended up tying that around Velvet's neck.  GERONIMO!!!!!!!

Now I turn to you, my dear readers.  Have Velvet's jeans shrunk after so long in the package?  Or does Dandy Denims just...fit like that?  If any of y'all have experience with this outfit I'd be delighted to hear from you. 

Now I'm going to smoothe out Velvet's braids and take some pictures for Failbook.  Despite the ill fit of the jeans, Velvet does look cute.

Cheers,

RagingMoon1987 

Time to gripe: THREE HUNDRED BUCKS???

Hola, compadres, it's RagingMoon1987 once again.  I'm still not feeling 100% depression-wise, but I'm feeling well enuff to do a gripe post.  With Barbie and American Girl both being Mattel entities now it makes sense that one day the two would cross paths.  They sorta did in Julie Albright's collection, with Julie's Quick Curl Barbie styling head, but as far as I know that was it.  Courtney, Nicki, and Isabel don't have Barbie dolls in their collections, though Courtney does have Molly.  So, fast-forward to the present day, and American Girl has this.  A simply dressed, flaxen-haired American Girl with specialized face paint and painted nails, wearing naught but a bathing suit and shoes.  The price tag?  Three hundred bucks.

Granted, the cost probably comes from the doll having Swarovski crystals attached to her clothes and having the Swarovski name attached to her, period.  But THREE HUNDRED BUCKS for a doll in a swimsuit???  No thanks.  For me the FAO Schwarz doll was a better buy, as she came in a full outfit.  But that's just me, and I didn't buy her either.  If I were gonna spend that kind of money on a collector AG doll, it would've been this one, because she has an eye color and a wig that the other dolls don't have.

That one offers more bang for one's buck, I believe.  AND she was twenty-five dollars cheaper than the Barbie-themed doll.

I like the Barbie/American Girl mashup, but I think AG could've done that better.  They could've put AG Barbie in a dress like one of the ones Barbie wore in the fifties or sixties; "Solo in the Spotlight" would've been perfect.  That dress had sparkles that could've been simulated by the Swarovski crystals, and everyone would've been happyish.  I will admit that I love the nod towards the original Barbie doll, but for a doll in a swimsuit three hundred dollars is too much.  I could throw my Rita Cheryl in a similar swimsuit, sew on some nice crystals, and have a doll with the same aesthetic for twenty to thirty bucks...but then again, she wouldn't have the Swarovski label attached to her.  Some folks like that kinda thing.

Oh, and if you fancy more Barbie (or a good laugh), check out Larvie the Teen Age Fashion Maggot.  She's a scream!

Sparkles,
RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe: where's Kirsten?

Life at home continues to be insane.  My mother is healing from her surgery, but not as fast as either she or I would like.  As a result I'm still running around like a chicken with my head cut off, taking care of two households of pets rather than one.  I have more cats at my place, but Mama has more dogs, and as I said several years back none of 'em listen when I yell "GET BACK HERE!!!"  Coworker A has been a complete champ, covering for Mama at work with nary a complaint, but she's eighty-five and needs her rest.  So...more prayers would be appreciated.  Spleen vented, the scuttlebutt online is that a familiar face will be making a reappearance in American Girl's historical lineup.

Molly, of course.  And furthermore, it appears to be the classic Molly rather than the BeForever version that was available at Costco.  That's all well and good since Molly still has plenty of fans, most of whom are older and remember her reign as one of the original six.  But...I confess that I'm not one of her fans.  Of the original six I always thought Molly was the most boring.  The other girls saved lives, faced serious dangers, and broke rules, while Molly...ate turnips, got poison ivy, and learned how to swim.  I don't hate Molly, of course; indeed, her AG spotlight is coming up soon.  But why bring Molly back now, so soon after her BeForever rerelease?

I'll make a disclaimer here:  I'd be griping if Felicity or Samantha were being rereleased too.  Why am I griping, y'all ask?  Because Felicity, Samantha, and Molly have all been rereleased at least once, while the only rerelease Kirsten got was her 35th anniversary self last year.  I'd love to know why Kirsten hasn't gotten a rerelease.  Do people think she's boring?  I admit that her clothes and accessories don't have all the frills that Samantha's did, nor are all of her items familiar to modern kids, like Molly's or Julie's are.  But like most of the historical girls Kirsten represents an important time in American history, and she does more than eat turnips, get poison ivy, and learn how to swim!  It's been twelve years since Kirsten was in our lives, and I think it's high time she got a rerelease.

As for my Kirsten, she's kicking back after last week's interview.  She's handling the rising temperatures better now that she has her summer dress, and look who she's got with her!

The day after I completed her interview Missy and Stormy arrived in the mail.  Kirsten would like to thank Rita Cheryl for letting her use the beanbag, by the way.  Usually that beanbag is just for Rita Cheryl.

Now as usual, I turn to y'all for your comments.  Are my American Girl fans happy to see Molly making another comeback, or would y'all prefer something else?

Hugs and Mountain Dew,
RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe followup: finally a boy?

Yep, it's Monday again!  I don't think I'll ever outgrow my hatred of Mondays, despite the fact that Monday is my day off.  Getting the day off takes the edge off of my Mondays, but there's still that...just that Monday taint over the whole day.  On the plus side, today is Memorial Day, and when a holiday falls on a Monday I get the next day off as well...so I get to stay home tomorrow!!!  Thus this Monday is a little less Monday than other Mondays...but it's still Monday.  Opener over, I'm gonna cut right to the chase with this post.  In the last post I said that I'd bought a mini Cabbage Patch Kid, and it came last Saturday (real quick, in other words).

I was surprised that eBay didn't have a lot of these.  Indeed, there were only two of the single dolls (mine and a cute little Oriental that would've cost forty bucks) plus a set of triplets that came with a bunch of extraneous crap that I didn't need.  Maybe these weren't that popular???  Miss Emily had several, but then again maybe the small size was off-putting for children.  Or maybe everyone who has one is holding on to them!  LOL, I dunno, but there aren't a lot of these running around, especially sealed in the box.

I didn't pay much attention to the images on eBay when I bought my doll, so though I knew s/he had brown eyes, I didn't see his/her hair.  Thus I was pleasantly surprised to see that I got a brunette with tan skin!

Ah yes, dark hair like my sister and I both had when we were first born.  It's weird, because she and I were both born with dark (almost black) hair, and then it turned blonde, and then it turned dark again.  Human physiology is weird innut?!  Indeed, my sister and I both had vaguely Oriental features when we arrived, except for the blue eyes!

Right then, back to my brown-eyed, dark-haired poppet.  By now the Baby Born Brigade is itching for a boy just as badly as I am.  But first...look how small this Cabbie is compared to them!

The Baby Born Surprises are close in size to an L.O.L. Surprise figure, while the mystery Cabbie is about the size of a Lalaloopsy Mini.  I love how the shape of this box mimics the shape of the full-sized boxes, by the way, with a slanted front.  Good ol' Cabbage Patch, always sticking with what works, no matter the holding company!  Now...did I finally, FINALLY get a boy???  Pop the box open.

Miss Emily's dolls all had white diapers that were a little TOO transparent, but my doll came with a green one that conceals the diaper pretty well.  The baby also came with a bib and a bottle that do a good job of further concealing the gender.  I love the combination of green and yellow, by the way.

The green cloth diaper does a good job of covering this doll's front, but it doesn't cover everything.  In the back the painted diaper is visible...and it's blue.

I GOT A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A brown-eyed brunette boy named...

...Graham!  Very original!  Graham's birthday is June 12th, right around the corner.  According to the Zapf leaflets that would make him a Gemini like Riley.

Oops, I forgot to tell y'all that these dolls sit in front of their birth certificate, effectively concealing their names?  Yep, that's the way it went with these mini dolls.  Taniyah Yasmin also had a surprise name, but usually Cabbies have names that are visible without opening the box up, like Elsie Penelope here.  I wish Elsie Penelope was mine, by the way!  Wicked Cool Toys has some neat Cabbies available, but Elsie is my favorite because she has a cute face  Most Cabbies aren't that cute in the face, but Elsie is. 

Now that Graham is out of his box y'all can see a little more clearly how small this doll is.  The Zapf babies dwarf him...

...while the Quints are closer to him in size.  LOL, as fond as I am of my Quints I'd forgotten that I have two boys in that family!

These guys might be able to share clothes!  I'll have to try that out and let y'all know how it goes.

I really was certain that I'd get another girl, so Graham's presence here is truly a delightful surprise.  I also like that his skin tone is different from the Zapf crew and from my Quints set.  Quints only came in black or white.  The Zapf babies do come in a medium skin tone that's lighter than Addison's and darker than Quinn's and Peyton's and Riley's, but I haven't gotten one yet, and since the Zapf babies are almost thirteen bucks a pop I've been trying not to buy any more.  Now that I finally have a boy in my miniature nursery I can hold on to that promise a little better.

Warm regards and happy Memorial Day,
RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe: where have all the boys gone???

Well, ladies and germs, it's hotter than hell in the Bootheel again (the storms on Tuesday fizzled out and did NOTHING to cool things down), and my AC is on the blink again, and waiting for the repairman to come is taking forever.  I'm thus hot and itchy and tired of watching leftist Missourians' heads explode over the new abortion laws, so being the escapist that I am I've thrown together a post for y'all's enjoyment...or eye-rolling, take your pick.  I haven't done a griping post in awhile, so that's what I'm going to do.  My post on the Baby Born blind bags was not a popular one, but I did comment on those fairly recently.  Here's my first girl, Riley.

If y'all bother to reread my post about that you'll see that I was desperately hoping for a boy.  I also was hoping for a boy when I deboxed my Cabbage Patch Surprise Newborn, but that one too turned out to be a girl, albeit an adorable little smirky girl named Taniyah Yasmin.

Miss Emily got one boy with her Surprise Newborn Twins, but she notes in a later post that Howard Edwin was the only boy she got in any of those blind bag/blind box things.  Cabbage Patch Kids are usually good at representing both genders, and yet with their blind bags they fall a little flat, producing a plethora of girls and very few boys.

As for me, I've bought a few more Baby Born Surprises since I think they're cute and since I'm still hoping for a boy, and guess what?

From left, their names are Peyton, Addison, and Quinn, and they're all GIRLS!!!  Every danged one of them!  They all look different and they all came wrapped in different snugglers (Quinn's is a bee!), but they're still all girls.  Boys are a little more prevalent among the still-popular L.O.L. Surprises, but again I've yet to get a boy in any of my pods.

I do tip my hat to MGA Entertainment for making a nice range of ethnicities though, and for not getting stuck in an eternal "dogs and cats only" rut for their pets.  I ended up with two dogs for my first two cracks at the pet pods, but there are other options too, like this horse.

Her name is...<pauses to read her leaflet>...Neigh Majesty.  Neigh?  Neigh???  That is arguably the most uninspired name for a horse I've ever heard!!!  Anywho, Neigh is one of those "fuzzy" pets available right now.  Here's what she looked like when sheathed in her fuzz.

I much prefer the fuzz to the jelly that the little extra outfits are still stored in.  But as usual, I digress.  Speaking of cats, dogs, and blind bag babies, here's a relic from my childhood.

Kitty Surprise!  Miss Emily reviewed a couple of these too, and if I recall correctly most of the babies she had were girls.  There WERE a few boys mixed in there, but not a lot.  I think I also read that if any twins happened to be born, they were always girls.  Sheesh, that's a lot of estrogen!  Anyway, I bought Toffee here as a complete set with three kittens, and...

...girls outnumbered boys here too!  I got two girl kittens and one boy, not counting the pink and purple "foster."  By luck of the draw, I managed to get a boy that time, though it did help that I could see the color of his ribbon; blue is for boys (of course) and pink is for girls.

The Magic Nursery dolls of the early nineties were also largely female.  Boys DO exist and they're plumb cute (this one reminds me a little of Leo Sayer with that mop top), but I've yet to see one opened up in any of the blog posts, or in any of the videos on YouTube.  I refer y'all once again to Miss Emily's series of posts (first one is HERE), and to this YouTube video, and this one, and this one.  The woman in that last video notes that she had a ton of Magic Nursery dolls during her childhood, and the only boys she ever got were in the miniature sets that were available.  No stuffed boys at all.  This collection does have a few, but the boys were probably hand-selected by the collector rather than unwrapped, and they're STILL outnumbered!  If the boy dolls were sentient, I wonder if they'd all feel like this little boy did when he learned he was getting a third sister?  I know I would've felt that way if I'd been surrounded by brothers!

What gives?  Some little girls happen to like boy dolls!  I liked boy dolls when they were given to me; indeed, one of my favorite dolls as a kid was a boy.  As a child I was not a dolly lover, as I've established ad nauseum, but one day after school (I was a first-grader at the time) Daddy hauled off and surprised me with a baby doll.  It was a little bald boy, clad in pajamas and a soft blue bathrobe.  He did everything that baby dolls of the mid-nineties did:  he drank, he wet, he went to sleep when I reclined him, he smelled like talcum powder, he had the sweetest little smile, and he was all-vinyl for bathing.  I was delighted with him and I wish I still had him.  I think I should point out that William, as I called him, was NOT a blind bag doll, but the fact that he existed at all pleased me.  I guess modern-day toy companies assume that little girls would prefer a doll that's a girl like them, and that makes sense.  However, blind bags and blind boxes that advertise boys ought to make boys a little more prevalent, just as boy babies are more prevalent in real life.  Indeed, baby boys seem to outnumber baby girls a little every year, and that appears to be a completely natural process...or it appears to be the natural thing in the British Isles.  Other parts of the world...well, let's just say that some countries do bad things to baby girls, because a lot of families want a boy to carry on the name.  But anyway, I hope that the doll companies will take note and start making more boys.  It's just...more fun to have that element of surprise, ESPECIALLY when the gender is supposed to be a surprise to begin with!

Ah well, can't have everything, I guess.  I suppose I should cheer up and be pleased that the Hairdorables are releasing a line of boys.  The Hairdorables are the absolute LAST line that I would've predicted to have boys, but they appear to be doing just that.  They're going to be named the HairDUDEables, which is almost as stupid a name as "Neigh" is, but they look like they're going to be a lot of fun like the girls are, complete with real rooted hair and real fabric clothes in bright, splashy colors.  I haven't bought as many Hairdorables as I have Zapf babies and L.O.L. Surprises, but I still am quite fond of them and I hope the boys are as popular as the girls.

As a last little addendum, I found a Jakks Pacific Cabbage Patch Kid Babyland Mini on eBay.  I have a sneaking suspicion that it too will be a girl, but...we'll see.  When s/he arrives there'll likely be a postscript put in.

Cheers,
RagingMoon1987

Time to Gripe: MGA quality control rides again

Or rather, the lack of it does.  Konichiwa, it's RagingMoon1987, and for the first time in...well, in quite some time, I have to file a complaint.  As y'all may or may not remember I'm quite fond of the Li'l Outrageous Littles, so much so that I keep going back for more even though I've got quite a nice collection already.  Today I saw a bunch of dolls from the Glam Glitter series, mistook those for the newest line that can double as Christmas ornaments, and bought one of the pods.  I was delighted to discover that my pod contained a glitzy version of my first character Spice...but look closer.

She...she...SHE ONLY HAS ONE SHOE!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is the first time I've had this happen to me personally, but it isn't the first time I've seen it; in one YouTube video the vloggers land an 80's B.B. that doesn't even have a dress.  This irks me though; I know there the Fashion Crush outfits can potentially supply "Cinder," as I've chosen to call my Cinderella-style Spice, with more shoes than she could ever want.  But dang it, what good is a cute little sparkly boot if it doesn't have its mate???  This is definitely NOT a surprise I want to find in an L.O.L. Surprise pod.  And unfortunately, this surprise is...not terribly surprising considering how spotty MGA's quality control can be.  Yet another attempt at a Bratz comeback is being made, and already the Facebook groups I'm a member of have plenty of pictures of dolls with sloppy paint, bad hair, missing accessories, or all of the above.  MGA had best get their act together if they want the Bratz to make a comeback, AND if they want the Li'l Outrageous Littles to continue selling as well as they are.

On the plus side, now I've got both versions of Spice!  See how cute they are together?

Dang, that missing shoe is a doggie downer!  Thank goodness for those Fashion Crush outfits, nasty jelly or no.

Yours always,
RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe: everyone hates Frida

Time to talk about Barbie again.  Barbie is releasing a series of dolls based on inspirational women, and I'm tickled pink to see some of the people they're representing.  Bindi Irwin will be in the lineup, as will Amelia Earhart and this super-neat lady that I'd never heard of named Katherine Johnson.  Miss Katherine was a math teacher and a worker for NASA, at a time when women and people of color tended to be overlooked for such positions, and I love that.  Her doll is epic.  I also find Miss Katherine's story inspiring from a personal standpoint, as she proves one can be a scientist and still have a relationship with God (she's a Presbyterian).  It can be lonesome and frightening sometimes when you're a Christian and a science major, so I enjoy Katherine's story.

Also among the dolls to be represented is Frida Kahlo.  She is the center of this post, so here's a picture of her.

Frida was a danged communist, usually wear a scarlet letter in my book (I despise communism).  However, I love Frida's emotionally charged (occasionally graphic) paintings and her refusal to adhere to conventional beauty (she had a unibrow and a mustache), so to me she seems like a rational and original addition to the Barbie lineup.  Unfortunately...here comes the controversy.  Mattel apparently didn't get permission from Frida's family...wait a minute...she has surviving family???  Must be great nieces and nephews, as Frida was unable to carry a child due to a very unfortunate accident during her youth.  Anywho, Mattel didn't get permission from the family to use her image, and now they're mad about it.  They're also upset that Mattel tweaked the doll's appearance, doing away with the unibrow and the mustache.  I can understand that, because no Frida Kahlo doll is accurate without a unibrow and a mustache.  I give the family and the critics that.  Apparently Frida was also a rather voluptuous woman, and Mattel chose to give her a skinny body instead of the curvy one that they have available.  Mmmkay...that criticism is justified as well, particularly since Mattel has the resources to make the doll more accurate.

The intellectuals on Tumblr have dragged race into the mix and used a lot of ugly language to do it.  I don't blame folks for being mad about this doll's inaccuracy, but what does race have to do with it???  There are more minorities than whites planned in that inspirational women line, so how on earth does race factor in there.  Quite a bit of ignorance was perpetrated with Frida, yes...but racism?  No.  There is a lot of cash-grabbing here; Mattel wanted to appeal to the trendy "girls can do anything" tagline, and so they rushed a doll into production without covering their butts.  Mattel's failure to cover their butts surprises me since the designers worked closely with Katherine Johnson to make sure her doll was right.  But I fail to see the racism here.  I just see a doll company making a bunch of silly mistakes in order to heed the call of the holy dollar.  And Mattel NEEDS the holy dollar; Barbie's sales continue to slump, and I doubt the line of inspirational dolls will help, particularly since so many are now upset over Frida.

I personally am delighted to see Frida represented by a doll, flaws or no, and since she's controversial I want her.  Don't I always?  I can just hear my grandmother hollering "You ornery thing!"  But what say y'all?  Racist or just stupidly inaccurate? 

Cordially yours,

RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe follow-up: Dreamtopia Barbie

In the last "Time to Gripe" I spoke of Barbie and my perception that Mattel is making her a cheaper product but charging the same amount of money.  My main complaint was the molded on clothes.  I still think those are a bummer, but today I saw this.

The new Dreamtopia doll takes an idea that was used clean back in 1991 with Snap 'n' Play Barbie.  Is that All-American Ken that Snap is dating in that commercial?  LOL, regardless of who she's dating, Snap had plastic outfits that would click into place rather than the traditional fabric outfits, and so does the Dreamtopia doll.  She can be a fairy, a princess, or a mermaid, depending on what one snaps onto her.  The pieces can apparently be mixed and matched, and the box encourages that.

Not a bad idea!  I've said this before and I'll say it again:  Mattel should revisit some of the old gimmicks that they've done in the past.  It would be nice to see the walking feature rehashed, for example...the Walk Lively way, not the Movin' Groovin' way.  I haven't met a person yet who could get their Movin' Groovin' Barbie to walk properly, and mine lost her head years ago so I can't test her.  But it still would be nice to see some of those old features redone, particularly since a new generation of kids is emerging, one that's too young to remember Movin' Groovin' Barbie and WAY too young to remember the Walk Lively crew.  Doesn't have to be walking, either; there could be wigs like Hair Fair and Hair Happenin', or a rehash of the Free Moving line that broke way too easily...the possibilities are endless.  I hope maybe Mattel will try that in the future.

Happy Father's Day,
RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe: cheap?

In Jakarta, Indonesia there exists a low-cost airline called Wings Air.  Their slogan, which was roughly translated from Indonesian to English, meant "Flying is Cheap," but read "Fly is Cheap."  Normally a flub like that would be found on a bootleg doll box rather than an airline, and said flub earned Wings Air the apparently unfair assumption that their service was subpar.  Wings Air's record is certainly cleaner than ValuJet Airline's record was before the latter got bought out, but I digress.  I paid another of my regular visits to the toy department today, and...let me just say that I was shocked at what I'd found.  It made me think of the "Fly is Cheap" slogan for some weird reason.  

In short, I found a that a good percentage of the Barbie dolls available for sale have molded-on or painted-on clothes.  The ones in swimsuits don't bother me too much, since they're meant for water play and can wear clothes over their swimsuits...

...but the next couple of lines left me shaking my head.  This first set consists of princesses and ballerinas.

Back around 2002 I owned a budget ballerina similar to the one linked here.  I gave her away a few years ago, but she wasn't terribly unlike the ones above...except that she wore clothes.  I mean REAL clothes; a cloth dress with a cloth tutu, and vinyl pointe shoes that had to be rubberbanded to her feet.  Granted, her legs were painted lavender and I thought that was a cheap move, but having seen these I wish I hadn't judged my budget ballerina.  The two ballerinas pictured above have molded on leotards and necklaces in addition to painted tights, while the two princesses have molded on bodices.  I can't even tell if any of them have skirts that can detach!  And unlike the swimsuit dolls pictured above, these bodices aren't flat, thus covering them with other clothes would be a real challenge.  It CAN be done, but it's not easy to do.  These dolls are largely relegated to conservative tops that cover their entire shoulder and neckline area, and in Barbie's world clothes like that aren't the easiest to find.  The only way to remedy this is through a rebody...and not to sound insensitive, but if your doll is a doll of color like the ones above, finding a body that is a good match can be tricky.

Oh, but it gets even better (worse?) than that!  Check out these two.

If these two dolls had been merely dressed up I would've paid the ten bucks for both of them in a heartbeat.  They're brightly colored, their faces are pretty, and I love their hair!  The fairy could pass for a sibling of Billie Jean's in fact, because they have the same head mold.  The problem is that neither doll is dressed up.  Like the ballerinas and the princesses above, these dolls have their clothes molded on.  The fairy has a cluster of large jewels sticking out of her chest, and I don't know for sure but I think they're there permanently.  Her sherbet-colored mermaid friend has not only a molded on bodice, but also a molded tail instead of legs.  Once again, I owned a mermaid doll, one that I wish I'd kept because her head was gorgeous.  She didn't have legs either, but she made up for it by having a soft tail that moved when her hips were squeezed.  The one pictured above has a hip joint, but I suspect that's all she's got.  I can forgive the mermaid for her lack of versatility though, since my old mermaid doll couldn't wear other Barbie clothes either.

This last one though?  I'm at a complete loss for words.

This doll is labelled "Bubbletastic Fairy," not a terribly original idea for those of us who remember Bubble Angel Barbie...but seriously, how many of us actually DO remember Bubble Angel Barbie?  I do, but only because I thought the commercial was cute.  No, the concept of this doll, I like.  But...THAT FULL-SKIRTED DRESS IS MOLDED ON COMPLETELY!!!!!!  She doesn't have a removable dress with wings that double as a bubble wand like Bubble Angel Barbie did.  According to the package this doll's hard plastic skirt is supposed to create a reservoir to hold bubble soap and allow the doll to blow bubbles.  Uh...what's wrong with using those wings as bubble wands?  What's wrong with waving the doll around to form the bubbles?  Her hair certainly wouldn't be messed up from such treatment, as it's styled in a tight bun.  That hair is fabulous, by the way.  I've griped in the past about Barbie's obsession with pink, but I love this doll's hair.  However, the hair will not in any way, shape, or form tempt me into plunking down twenty bucks for this doll, and my feelings would be the same if I were a mother.  What can you do with this doll when the bubble gimmick runs thin?  She can't be redressed AT ALL, and her hair can't be restyled much.  In short, she's just a twenty-dollar bubble wand, and I had toys during my childhood that did the same thing for half the cost.

I'm not Mattel's target audience of course, but it does seem pretty chintzy of such a large toy company to be releasing dolls with molded bodices, especially when they finally appear to be kicking clothes production up a notch.  Or maybe it's Mattel's bizarre way of selling more dolls.  Some little kid could very well want Bubbletastic Fairy Barbie to play with AND a Fashionista to dress up...or some scenario like that.  This new molded-on-clothes trend is a bit sucktacular for collectors though; I saw no fewer than five heads that I would've loved to have owned, but I wasn't about to pay for a gimmicky body that would immediately land in the dust heap just to get those heads.  I guess that I'm relegated to hoping that the Fashionistas will start getting more interesting hair colors...especially one that is colored like that mermaid!  Her tan skin and aqua hair are a combination to die for.

Yours slightly-disgruntledly,
RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe: can't please everyone

Over the past couple of decades I've noticed that Mattel is extremely responsive to the complaints of its customers.  Evidence of this can be seen in the new Fashionistas and their modified bodies.  I'm not sure if Mattel wanted to shut the Barbie Body Shaming Team up, or if they are trying to compete with Lammily, but either way they've started making Barbie bodies in new, "realistic" shapes.  One of them is a heavy body, referred to on the packaging and the website as "curvy."  I'm fortunate enough to own all three body shapes, and the curvy body is...well, it's definitely curvy!

My curvy doll is on the right, and it's pretty obvious that she's got a different body shape than the others.  I owe you a review on these, by the way; I need to speak to Talolili and ask her if she'd like to do a co-review.  She too has the blue-haired doll and her opinions may be different than mine.  But I digress.

Most of the responses I've seen regarding these dolls have been positive.  Liberal-rag TIME Magazine even ran a cover story on the subject, lauding Mattel's move and attempt to be more "all-inclusive."  But wouldn't you know, someone is having a tizzy fit anyway.  Jennifer Pitt, writer for liberal-rag Huffington Post, is upset because the separate sizes are labeled.  Yeah...she's mad about LABELS!!!  The different-sized dolls are in the Fashionistas line, and good ol' Jennifer thinks that's putting an unfair label on them.  "Why can't all Barbies be Fashionistas?" she whines.  She's also upset that each size is labeled.  Don't believe me?  Read the article!

Jennifer apparently is unaware that the Fashionistas are a line that's supposed to be set apart from the regular playline dolls.  The Basics were that way, the Barbie LOOK dolls are that way, and the Fashionistas are too.  The Fashionistas are the exact opposite of the LOOK dolls and the Basic dolls, being intended as budget toys.  Indeed, I got my three girls for eight bucks a pop.  Without the Fashionista label, it gets a little tricky to differentiate budget doll from doll that may cost a Jackson or more.  As for the "curvy," "tall," "original," and "petite" labels, let's be honest.  The dolls look highly similar to one another when they're in the box.  If you look up at my picture again, you might notice that it's a smidge tricky to tell the tall and petite dolls from original-bodied dolls.  It's easier when they're all standing together, but suppose a shelf had a cluster of petites or a cluster of talls.  How could anyone tell a difference in height if the box isn't labeled???  I admit that I had trouble telling the dolls apart when I saw them for myself.  The curvy girls stood out of course, but the petites and the talls sort of...blended in, I guess you could say.  I wouldn't have had any clue that they were there had the box not been marked "TALL" or "PETITE."

I thought for sure that having a chunky doll would shut the haters up, but I guess the phrase "haters gonna hate" is true.  No matter how hard Mattel tries, they can't please everyone.  I think they know that, and while I admire their attempts to rectify problems, I think that there's only so much a toy company can take.  If I were calling the shots at Mattel I'd gather my crew together and say "Screw it, we're doing it our way from now on.  We're going back to the 1966 TNT body."  Well, maybe I wouldn't.  Because the new bodies sure are fun!  I can see a few problems that I'll discuss when I get the review up and running, but they add a lot of visual diversity to my little dolly group.  

Cordially yours,

RagingMoon1987

Time to gripe: Monster High reboot

Let's talk about Barbie's...well, both of these are Mattel lines so I'm not sure if these dollies are Barbie's frenemies or rivals.  But let's talk about the Monster High dolls, those edgy, freaky-fabulous offspring of famous monsters and mythical legends that have been giving Barbie a run for her money lately.  The Monster High dolls remind me more of something that MGA Entertainment would've done, what with their Bratz-like proportions; big eyes, puckered lips, and slim, oddly proportioned bodies.  I absolutely love the Monster High dolls, to the point that they've taken over part of my bedroom.  In the past I've reviewed C.A. Cupid and Skelita Calaveras, shown how the Inner Monster masks looked good on the regular Create-A-Monster sets, lamented Mattel's oversight of new MH clothing sets, gawked at the new big dolls, and I've even cobbled together some knitwear.  Skelita Calaveras remains my favorite character, though River Styxx did give her a run for her money.  Being a mortuary student I feel a certain kinship with the daughter of the Grim Reaper.  Plus, River and Skelita have some of the same aesthetics, especially in the face.

This is where my gripe is going to get hypocritical.  Both River and Skelita are smiling dolls, which is not something one sees every day in the Monster High world.  Most of my other MH dolls have either a neutral expression...

...or they've got their attitude on.

Skelita and River are both smilers, as are Bonita Femur, Honey Swamps, and Clawdia Wolf.  In fact, I suspect that Bonita may be Skelita's mother's secret love child, since she's supposed to be a cross between a skeleton and the Mothman.  Or maybe the two are cousins.  Go figure.  Anyway, every so often we get a Monster High doll that's smiling.  With the exception of Clawdia, I've liked these happy little dolls.  Unfortunately, Mattel is once again mucking around with something, trying to fix that which isn't broken, and they are apparently revamping the Monster High dolls to where nearly all of them are smiling!  Look what they've done to Frankie and Draculaura!

The new faces are cute, but what on earth is wrong with the old ones???  These dolls are supposed to be freaky fabulous, not generically pretty like Barbie or cute and sweet like the Ever After High dolls.  Don't get me wrong, I like Barbie and EAH, but after growing up in a world full of perpetually happy playline dolls, it's nice to see something different.  Something edgy.  Something with a bit of attitude.  It's my opinion that edge and attitude are what made the Bratz such big sellers, and I believe the same is true of the Monster High dolls.  Heck, the dolls even look a little alike!  Check this out!

Meygan and Lagoona are very different, but they've got a lot of the same attributes.  Their expressions are similar as are their features.  They've both got full, pouty lips and big, made-up eyes that suggest a hint of personality.  Compare that to Barbie, whose wide eyes and wide smile remind me of something you might meet on Sesame Street.

That doll is a cute one, no question.  But if she could talk, I'd expect her to sound like a female version of Big Bird.  She'd walk up to whomever she met and go "Hiiiiiiiiiii, everyone!"  No offense meant to either Barbie or Big Bird, whom I'm still quite fond of at my age.  I don't mind the innocence that Barbie projects with her big eyes and her friendly smile, but the problem is that 99% of the Barbie dolls in stores look alike.  They all wear the same smile, and they all look perpetually cheerful.  Compare that to Ghoulia Yelps, who looks slightly perplexed, or Cleo de Nile, who looks slightly put-out, or Lagoona Blue, who always looks innocent and approachable.  These ladies do not wear plastic smiles, and yet they each have their own personality.  The new faces, with their overly large eyes and innocent little smiles, rob each character of much of her personality.  If that weren't bad enough, the new faces make the characters look highly similar to one another.  Mattel made that mistake once with the first wave of Ever After High dolls, and they appear to be doing it again with the Monster High dolls.  Don't believe me?  Check out this post by Kazuya Mishma.  Cleo de Nile still looks like Cleo de Nile, but Frankie, Clawdeen, and Draculaura all look similar.  The new face suits Draculaura, who has always had a bit of a sugar and spice attitude about life, but the same can't be said for she-wolf Clawdeen, who has always been sassy, saucy, and fierce.

I may live to eat my words, but I think this is a dumb move on Mattel's part.  Children seem to like the dolls the way they currently are; every girl I know under a certain age owns at least one Monster High doll, so they're obviously selling.  The new face IS attractive, and it would probably make for some decent NEW characters, but I feel that the OLD ones should be left as is.

Yours always,
RagingMoon1987