Idle chatter about freckles

I like dolls with freckles.  I don't remember when this fondness for dolly freckles began, but I like 'em.  I thought I had quite a few with this attribute, and thus it was a shock to wake up this morning and discover that I only have three freckle-faces living at Casa Pizarro.  For the record, I have about forty large to medium-sized dolls crammed into the room that Mama and I share, but my only dolly children with spots are these three.  Candela Laura, Danica Rain Holley, and Baby Needs-A-Name. 

Danica is my sole Create Your Own American Girl, and she's got the freckle pattern that most but not all American Girls have.

It's kinda a trippy pattern, with realistically-shaped freckles on the cheeks and the sides of the nose, but none on the bridge of the nose.  I always thought that was kinda strange.  As far as I know this was the only pattern for American Girls until Mia St. Clair (GOTY 2008) came along.  Hers are more naturally distributed, spanning all of her nose and her cheeks. 

I may have to swallow my pride and find Mia.  The more I futz around with American Girls, the more I like her.  Anyway, as far as I know Mia is the only one with that freckle pattern, and AG didn't release another new pattern until Evette Peeters came along.  EDIT, 7/24/24:  Grace Thomas also introduced a new freckle pattern.  I forgot about her, LOL.

THEN Evette came after that.  She shares a pattern with reigning Girl of the Year, Lila Monetti.

Moving on, Cabbage Patch Kids have an interesting relationship with freckles.  

Coleco #2 heads had freckles in 1983, and in 1985 some #1 heads got 'em, but in those early days Coleco Kids were usually without.  Jesmar, on the other hand...Jesmar Cabbies WITHOUT freckles were the exception to the rule.  All four heads that Jesmar used had 'em, as Candela shows.  I don't know why both companies did that, but they did, and it makes distinguishing Jesmars a little easier for the novice.

By the time Growing Hair Kids came around freckles were fairly common on Cabbies, though my two don't have 'em.  Andrea Doria has a few ink stains, and Cleopatra Chantale looks like one of those porcelain Cabbies.

I did almost pick up a different #22 than Cleopatra Chantale, and that doll had a bumper crop of freckles.  Bobbi Cecile is still on eBay and she needs a home, if anyone wants a sweet Growing Hair Kid.  Anyway, freckles are fairly common on Cabbies now, but they're not ubiquitous.  Indeed, I have twenty-nine in my personal patch, and Candela Laura is the only one with freckles. 

Strawberry Shortcake, on the other hand...many, MANY of them has freckles.  Case in point:

American Greetings didn't shy away from sprinkling their characters' mugs with freckles, and neither did Kenner.  Of the first nine produced the only one without was the Purple Pieman.  As the eighties progressed a few more characters appeared without freckles, but most of 'em had 'em.  Makes sense, as these dolls were based on fruit and probably spent a lot of time outside.  As for these babies, the only one without freckles was Orange Blossom. 

And that's that.  None of my Magic Nursery dolls have freckles, and I don't think that line ever had 'em.  Nor am I aware of any freckled My Child dolls, though that would be easy to customize.  As for the glut of dolls without freckles in the bedroom...it's partially coincidence and partially the fact that I don't have many freckle-faces to begin with.  Three American Girls (Lindsey, Danica and Justine-Marie), one Cabbage Patch Kid, one My Twinn, a handful of Barbie dolls, and one of my Bratz (Tessa).  Oh yeah, and Chatty Cathy. 

So how about y'all?  Freckles, no freckles, or does it even matter to you?

EDIT, 9:20 P.M.:  I completely forgot about my Checkerboard Dawn friend!  This is Shannon. 

Shannon originally did not have freckles, but Treesa gave her freckles and a haircut to make up for a bad chop job.  I like Dawn dolls, and I think this revival by Checkerboard is interesting, so Shannon may need a closer look in the future.  See the comments for my conversation with Treesa, and see this post for Shannon's introduction.  Shame on me for forgetting her!

Much love,
RagingMoon1987 

On Catty Noir (I'll try to keep it brief this time)

<giggles drunkenly>  I love you, and do you know why?  Because you're sooooo THICK!!!  LOL, the last time I did a Monster High post it went ridiculously long in its time slot, so I'll just offer a quick look this time, plus some of my usual rambling.  That said, I didn't think the current Monster High dolls could get curvier than Abbey Bominable is, but...well, then I met Catty Noir.  Catty isn't as tall as G3 Abbey, but she's a lot curvier.  I also threw in G1 Abbey for reference.

Catty's dark coloring and subtle makeup make her a difficult subject to photograph.  She's a very pretty doll, but my phone's camera doesn't catch it.

I'm pleased as punch that this character is back, first and foremost.  Black cats are near and dear to my family's hearts, and the doll's coloring reminds me of those Chalkboard Ghoul minis that I liked so much.  Dang, I wish those Chalkboard Ghouls had been full-size dolls!  Anyway, I do have a G1 Catty traipsing around in my collection somewhere, but where exactly I don't know.  She last popped onto the blog in June of 2018, shortly after Monster High had gotten the axe, but she's not gone for good.  She is a far cry from my new Catty Noir, though...as are most of the G3 dolls.  I loved and still love the G1 dolls, but let's face facts:  they're uber-skinny and because of that they're a bit on the fragile side.  By contrast, G3 Catty feels very substantial in my hands.  It was hard for me to get her knees to bend...

...but she can do it, and she didn't feel too fragile when I did get her knees to bend.  Sometimes when I grapple with a doll's joints, I can feel the connection points bending instead of the joint itself, but Catty's knees don't do that.  Nor is she loose all over, like my G1 Venus McFlytrap proved to be (she too is in the world of missing persons at the moment).  Overall Catty isn't a half-bad doll.  She's even got microbraids and wispy bits around her hairline, just like G3 Venus does.

Venus's and Catty's respective Wiki pages say nothing about these two being particularly close, but I can always make up my own storylines.  I do anyway, LOL.

Sigh...I like the body diversity in these dolls and I don't.  I like how none of 'em are alike, just like my three best friends and I weren't alike in high school.  All four of us were different sizes, and the same is true for Drac, for Lagoona, for Abbey and Venus, and for Catty.

These dolls all pose like their G1 sisters, with not a smidge of personality lost.

But I wish Mattel would...LOL, it's Moon's famous complaint.  I wish Mattel would make extra outfits for these dolls.  HauntCoutureAtelier makes nice things for the new Monster High bodies, but those dresses are expensive.  Draculaura's extra outfit came from MagzRockingStyle, and they've started making clothes in Catty's size so if I want some new stuff from her I'll go that route.  But in the very beginning Mattel made outfit sets that were tailored to a single character, and I wish they'd do that again.  Robecca Steam's set was my favorite, by the way.  I have those outfits...guess where.  Somewhere.  I solemnly swear that when I dig out my doll room at Casa del Luna, I'm putting my Monster High and Ever After High stuff in the same friggin' box like I did with my Bratz.

Also, with a secondary character like Catty Noir making an appearance I'm starting to wonder...will Skelita Calaveras get a revival?  Will Jinafire Long?  Operetta?  Catrine DeMew?  Maybe so, maybe not, but one can hope, right?  I personally think that Skelita deserves a rehash; her G1 body was very fragile.  My two remain in good health, but playing with them never was much fun because their bones were bendy, as were the connection points in her joints.  Ewwww...osteogenesis imperfecta gives me the creeps.  But yeah, I'd love to see a G3 Skelita Calaveras.  Time will tell!

Freaky love,
RagingMoon1987

The end of an era

The iron supports on my grandmother's porch are being taken out and replaced with new columns.  I'm pleased with this change, but for me change is often accompanied by a wave of nostalgia.  I used to climb on these supports (to my grandpa's chagrin), and my dolls have too on occasion.  Rita Cheryl did it a couple'a Thanksgivings ago, and Emily did it last spring.  Now Emily and Rita Cheryl are here to pay their respects.

Oh yeah, Olivia Reese is also here.  She hasn't forgotten that Emily challenged her to a climbing contest.  Is this going to be a race or a height challenge?

Olivia:  Height!!!

Emily:  Sounds good!

Let's be real, it'll end up being both a race AND a height challenge.  On your mark, get set...whoa!

Olivia:  Hey, how'd you get so far ahead???

Good question, Olivia!  I knew Emily was good at climbing, but I didn't know she was THAT good!  However, I think the real winner here may be Rita Cheryl.  She's got Emily's lollipop!

Good thing dolls don't have to worry about sharing germs!

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

Hurricane girls

Galveston, oh Galveston
I still hear your sea winds blowin'.
--Glen Campbell, "Galveston"

Yes, Hurricane Beryl hit Texas early yesterday morning, and today it's our turn.  The local weather is predicting a bootle of rain, which we don't need.  But the upside to a lot of rain in spring and summer means a pretty fall, so I'll button my lip.  Regarding dolly chatter, last year there was Idalia Gale, and now there's Beryl June.  I bought her when Hurricane Beryl was still in the Gulf.  Yep, I named a Cabbie "Beryl," though I took pity on her and did not name her "Beryl Tempest."  The dress is an Etsy number, surprise, surprise. 

Brunette double popcorn, #10 head, P tag, 1989 signature...I think.  Her signature is pretty faded, but it looks pink.  But it could also be 1986; the popcorn hair makes more sense for a Kid from '86.

Beryl has a gripping hand like Idalia does, but she's right-handed.  I need another Cabbage Patch Kid like I need a second rear end, and I paid more than I should have for her, but I wanted a double popcorn.  As is my usual MO, Beryl has a head, a hair color, and a factory mark that I didn't yet have, and when the seller marked her down I went for her.  True, Beryl came naked (Idalia at least had a diaper), and she has some marks and scuffs here and there...

...but no one took a pen to her cheek like they did with Idalia.

Dolls from the P factories could get pox, so that's the main thing I'm concerned about.  Beryl gets a clean bill of health there.  Thank God, I've lucked out big time with pox.  None of my dolls have it, not even my little bean-butt.  Now let's look at my popcorn girls together.  Idalia Gale gets along with everyone in the Patch, but I think she's glad to have another popcorn to talk to.

I joked to a friend on Failbook that I like my popcorn girls the way I like my Doctors:  ten and eleven!  LOL, in truth I just took what I got regarding heads; they could've been #9 and #15 and I'd have gone for 'em hook, line, and sinker.  Indeed, the #15 head is one of my favorites.

Now that that's outta the way, I'm gonna sit at my workstation and pray we don't have any tornadoes today.  Such a thing is a very real problem when tropical cyclones come ashore.  We've already had a lot of rain, so thank God we don't have far to go to get to work.

EDIT, 7/18/24:  I learned a couple'a days ago that Cabbies with gripping hands are marked "L" and "R" on their body tags.  Predictably, "L" signifies a southpaw and "R" is for right-handed Cabbies.  Beryl June's tag is a bit faded, but one can still see the "R" under the P mark.

Idalia Gale's tag is more legible, and sure enuff, it's got an "L."

It's a piddlin' little detail, but I happen to like piddlin' little details like this.

Windy love,
RagingMoon1987 

Famine mode

When Mama wants to save money (like we're trying to do right now), she announces that we are going into "famine mode."  It sounds worse than it is, LOL.  Basically we cut back on unnecessary spending the way we should've done all along, and we eat a lot of cereal.  No biggie, I'm trying to lose weight anyway, and Uncle Man-Child only ever buys healthy cereal.  But the spoils of my last big Etsy/eBay bender have arrived, and since things are gonna be a bit dry here on the blog I thought I'd share.  I have a new Susie Sad-Eyes doll, one with lovely red hair, and today her new dress came.

Susie can wear Blythe clothes, but I wanted her to have something that was strictly hers.  Green is (for me, at least) the best thing to put on a redhead. 

The other thing is Baby Needs-A-Name, from the Strawberry Shortcake line.

I don't know why I suddenly took such a fancy to these blow-kiss babies, but...well, I did, and I liked Baby Needs-A-Name's face the best.  She will be getting a proper name, but y'all won't learn it 'til next January!  Bwa-ha-ha!!!

Lastly there's this...

...but y'all don't meet her until tomorrow!

Now y'all pray that we don't blow away in the night.  Beryl is spawning tornadoes in Arkansas and it's predicted to come this way. 

Love,

RagingMoon1987 

Independence Day has come again!

Independence Day has dawned...somewhat dreary and threatening, actually.  Yesterday afternoon the outlook for rain today was 50%, and it's the same now.  Last night the lightning was so close that it knocked out our internet for a spell.  That said, this is is my thirty-sixth Independence Day, and I've not yet had one 100% rained out.  We DID have a small tornado one year, late in the evening after the city's festivities took place, but even that July Fourth wasn't a complete washout.  So we'll see what the weather does.  

So as usual I've got some of my dolls gussied up in holiday-appropriate garb.  Representing my soft dolls are Nathan Hunter, Lina, Morgan, and Shelley Fred. 

If any of y'all see a patriotic-like outfit for a doll like Lina's big brother Leo, let me know.  I like how Morgan and Lina coordinate, and I'd love it if Leo could join the fun too.  But Nathan Hunter is a good companion too.  That little outfit he's wearing can be for a boy or a girl Preemie, by the way; it has a headband with a box on it, but I wanted my little Preemie boy to wear it.  Shelley Fred's outfit is my favorite, because it looks like something I'd have worn as a little kid:  a bright T-shirt and loose (sometimes rolled up) jeans.

Representing hard dolls, I have Rita Cheryl, Terri Lee, and Danica. 

Terri Lee and Morgan ended up bonding over their facial expressions (both look perpetually unhappy about something).

Don't blink, you two.  Truthfully, Terri Lee is often grumpy, so it's good to see she's made a friend.  Note to Tam, Mama doesn't like Terri Lee either!

At the very last minute I got another little dress for Morgan to wear.  Nothing like ordering something two weeks ahead of time and not receiving it until the eleventh hour.

My Child often came in little dresses or suits like this.  Sometimes the skirt and collar were red, and other times they were blue, like what Morgan has on.  I'm not a brand snob by any means, and I'm glad that Morgan and some of the Magic Nursery crew can share clothes, but it's nice to have Morgan back in a dress that was made for her.  I think I know who will be accompanying me to the fireworks show tonight...if we have fireworks.  For those of y'all who will, my usual warning:  have fun and be careful.  Don't drive drunk (or at all if you have to), don't shoot each other with bottle rockets, and use lots of sunblock.

Happy Independence Day,
RagingMoon1987

Forty-two hours

According to one of Mama's weather apps, that's all it took for Beryl to strengthen from the first screenshot to the second.  Pardon the repulsive advertisements at the top.  I'm a straight-leaning asexual, and yet I get advertisements of scantily clad women.

Beryl has not yet hit land, but she's already broken several records.  She's the earliest major hurricane on record, and I think she may be the farthest east as well.  Since she's NOT predicted to hit land for some time Beryl may stay a Cat 4 for a good stretch of time.  LOL, my mother knows of my penchant for naming dolls after hurricanes, and she had a bit of a dry heave when I told her Idalia Gale could've been Beryl Tempest instead.

Booful Beans fell over laughing when I told him.  Booful and Idalia love to tease each other.

As for me, Malden has been hot and humid, but the passage of a front has meant milder temperatures for today.  Sometimes tropical systems give the Bootheel a ton of wind (like Ike did in 2008) or rain (like Dennis did in 2005), but right now Beryl is tracking too far south to be of any consequence to my neck of the woods.  Barbados, though?  I'd batten down the hatches if I were them.

Love,

RagingMoon1987