Shibajuku Girls By Hunter Products

It's become a bit of a yearly tradition for me to make the toy store rounds just before Thanksgiving.  I always like to see what's out there for the holiday shopping crowds, and this year I was also trying to find a Hatchimal.  I did not find a Hatchimal (no surprise), but I did have a fun time looking through the impressively well-stocked South Portland Toys R Us.  I've never seen this particular store so full of toys.

I had a great time wandering through all of the aisles, looking at the dolls and eavesdropping on earnest conversations and negotiations between little kids and their parents.  So sweet.  I also enjoyed seeing the new American Girl display, which takes up half of the front of the store now (and has displaced the Journey Girls completely).  I got to see all of the WellieWishers characters and admire the ocean-loving Camille in person (her hair looks great!).  It was a wonderful, indulgent morning.

As much fun as I was having on this outing, though, I found very few new items that I was interested in buying.  Then, finally, on my second sweep of the Lalaloopsy aisle, I spotted a doll I'd never seen before--jammed in between the boxes of a different brand.  She had pink hair and looked vaguely like a Pullip.  The box revealed that she was a Shibajuku Girl by Hunter Products.  I scoured all of the doll aisles one more time, looking for this doll's original shelf.  Finally I found it: a spot on the very bottom row, tucked away and easy to miss.  There were five or six more Shibajuku Girls there, some of the boxes tipped on their sides, some obscured by Miraculous Ladybug merchandise.  I hunkered down in the aisle and carefully inspected all of the characters.  After about twenty minutes of analysis and deliberation, I left with a big smile on my face and Shibajuku Yoko tucked under one arm:

Shibajuku Girl "Yoko" by Hunter Products, $29.99.

Sunday Surprise: Lil Outrageous Littles (L.O.L.) Dolls!

I should never be allowed to do more than one thing at a time.  This past week, I've been working on two reviews--one of them a Sunday Surprise, one a regular review.  But I kept bouncing back and forth between the two posts, not staying focused enough to finish either one of them.  Sigh.  And now it's Sunday.  And what was my solution to this problem, you might ask?  Start a completely different Sunday Surprise review, of course!  Why not?

So, out of the blue, today I will do a quick review of the Lil Outrageous Littles (L.O.L.) by MGA Entertainment!  I want to thank Amy and Lilium for suggesting these toys to me.  Each mystery doll, packaged in a softball-sized blind box, has seven accompanying surprises to uncover.  They're the perfect little Sunday treat:

Lil Outrageous Littles (L.O.L.) doll by MGA Entertainment, $7.99.

Sunday Surprise: Mommy-to-be Judith Dolls!

I realized yesterday that there are only two Sundays left until Christmas.  Two.  Can you believe that?  It took me totally by surprise.  It's much more typical that I'm waiting and waiting for Christmas, moping around the house because I feel like the big day will never come.  Things seem to be happening faster than usual this year for some reason.  Anyway, this realization threw me into a panic because I have a bunch of different Sunday Surprise toys that I wanted to chat about before the holidays, and now I can only look at two of them!

Today I want to show you something called the Mommy-to-be Judith doll.  This doll was developed in Europe (I think?) and introduced into the United States in 1991 (back when I was a kid).  There's not much information about these dolls on the internet, but there's a Chicago Tribune article from 1992 that's been archived online.  This article states that Judith is believed to be the first pregnant play doll distributed in the United States.  That's pretty cool!  Of course Mattel came along a decade later with their pregnant Midge doll, but the Judith Corporation was apparently first on the scene.

So why is Judith a good doll for the Sunday Surprise?  Well, because the gender and appearance of her little baby is a mystery!  And, what makes this doll unusually fun is that the company put boy babies in half of their dolls and girls in the other half (according to the Tribune article).  So I have an actual 50:50 chance of getting a little boy today!  Better yet, I'm going to de-box two Judith dolls, and while this won't change the odds of either baby being a boy...at least I have two chances.

Mommy-to-be Judith doll (1991).

A Saskia Project Update

My youngest son and I are on the road for a few days, driving all over the Northeast.  We spend a lot of time in each other's company at home, but we tend to stick to our routines.  We're hard-core homebodies and creatures of habit, he and I.  So, this trip is unusual for both of us, but it's so much fun!  I love road trips: chatting, listening to podcasts, eating too much food.  The only downside is that hotel-hopping leaves little time for blogging, and I've been really eager to show you my progress on the Saskia Project.  At the moment, my son is catching up on some homework, so it's the perfect chance to give you the scoop!

For anyone who stumbled on this post but isn't familiar with the Saskia Project, I'll give a quick recap: my idea for this project was to purchase and complete a reborn doll kit--something I've never done before.  These kits are popular (and can be expensive) and they only include the basic components necessary for making a baby doll.  For example, my kit included unpainted vinyl limbs, an unpainted and eyeless vinyl head, and an un-stuffed cloth body.  To successfully complete a reborn kit, a large investment of time and additional materials is necessary.  I was curious about how accessible (and expensive) this whole process would be for someone with very little experience.

In the first installment (which you can read here), I was able to find Saskia some glass eyes and paint her limbs and head.  After I painted her head, however, I got frustrated with her mouth and tried to erase most of the paint I'd applied.  This is how she looked at the end of the last post, with her arms and head perched on a drying rack (or rather a paper towel roll holder):

The Saskia kit by Bonnie Brown (partially completed).

Sunday Surprise: A Few Loose Ends!

This week's Sunday Surprise is a mixed bag of goodies.  First of all, I promised that I would find a way to share my remaining Toy Box Monthly subscription boxes with you, so I'll start things off by quickly (?) revealing those items.

The second part of the surprise will be a revisit of Magic Nursery dolls.  The Magic Nursery poll is over, and it was a very close race!  In the end, 211 of you guessed that the blue doll would be a girl while 179 bet on another boy.  I'll de-box that baby at the end of the post, and also share another little Magic Nursery cutie who will help get us into the holiday spirit:

Magic Nursery Holiday Baby (discontinued).

Happy Thanksgiving!

I wish I had a new review to offer today.  I have three things in the works--none of them quite finished yet.  Despite that, I didn't want to let the day pass without expressing my heartfelt thanks to all of you.  You've kept this blog alive with your encouragement and suggestions, and you make this a special place for me with your kind, cheerful, knowledgeable contributions.  Thank you.

I'm visiting my family in Boston (and making lots of pie!) but did manage to sneak out and get a single photograph for you. This is my Pullip Eos doll.  She's from the 2010 Steampunk collection.  She's a doll with a lot of flaws (squeaky legs, fragile outfit, arms that fall out, terrible hair) but I still love her.  I've actually kept her in the box for many years, but needed to get her out so that she could be in a comparison lineup for my next review.  That's a little hint at what's coming...

I hope all of you have a relaxing, happy, safe Thanksgiving!

Pullip Eos (discontinued).

Willa and the WellieWishers from American Girl

I've gotten sidetracked by a lot of different things--good and bad--over the last few weeks and haven't had nearly enough time for dolls.  Most recently, the local high school's fall musical has taken a lot of my attention...in a good way.  Every year I'm awed by the range of talents that teenaged kids possess--not just their skill in singing, acting, dancing and playing instruments, but also their aptitude with the intricacies of set design, lighting effects and sound engineering.  It's amazing to watch.

Anyway, in the midst of this flurry of fall activity, I realized that American Girl had released a new line of play dolls: the WellieWishers.  Before this discovery, I'd been feeling like I was probably done with American Girl dolls.  My mini Kaya and my new diabetic Lea are wonderful, and I didn't feel the need for any new additions or reviews.  But then I saw Melody (a new character in the Historical line) and her Recording Studio.  Wow.  She's incredible.  Her introductory statement is, "Fairness and equality for all people sound like music to my ears."  Indeed.  Needless to say, Melody's 1960s world sucked me right back in.  All of a sudden I was pouring over the catalog and searching the online store again, wishing I could try out Melody's piano or play with her detailed studio.  And that's when I discovered the WellieWishers.

I would love to purchase Melody some day, although I'm not sure that a review of her would add much to what I've already said about American Girl dolls.  I knew immediately that I wanted to review the WellieWishers, though.  Why?  Well, first and foremost, the dolls are completely new.  They resemble regular American Girl dolls in some ways, but do not share any body components with them.  Also, there's a great mix of characters, all of whom are wearing colorful, quirky outfit pieces.  To top it off, the dolls cost $60--half as much as regular American Girls--and are available in stores like Toys R Us.  And, of course, they're irresistibly cute:

Wellie Wishers "Kendall" from American Girl ($60).