Monday, January 11, 2016
Photo Mission! (With a Mini Review of Posea Reef)
There are so many things I love about this blog--things that I consider a huge success. First of all, I love to photograph dolls and write about them. And, there's an incredible selection of amazing dolls out there to review. I feel like the proverbial kid in a candy shop most days. In addition, I get a lot of visitors or "page hits" (the brass rings of blogging) and am about to hit the 6,000,000 mark, which is unbelievable. I also love you guys. I'd wager that few blogs have such an amazing, kind, insightful audience. But the bottom line is really all about...well, the bottom line. The harsh reality is that this blog is losing money. Lots of money. Breaking even would be one thing, but losing money is starting to be bad. This could be my fault, or just the way blogs are these days. I don't know. But I can no longer pretend that this is my job. It's kind-of the opposite.
I like blogging too much to give it up completely, but my approach definitely has to change. While I figure out what all of this means, I thought I would publish the wonderful contributions from the last Photo Mission. I asked to see pictures of the interesting dolls for sale in your part of the world. I added my own photographs to this post and will also include two short reviews. One of the reviews is of a doll that I found during the Photo Mission: Monster High's new mermaid, Posea Reef. Snapping pictures of Posea on the store shelf was not enough--I wanted to get a closer look at her:
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Larvie, Teen Age Fashion Maggot
Oh, boy. Do I have a treat for you today! I was actually planning to do a two-part Day of the Dead review at around this time, but then a highly-anticipated doll showed up on my doorstep, and it was a stop-the-presses kind of moment.
Way back in February of this year, I was scanning Twitter for interesting doll information, and a post by fez caught my attention. It was an advertisement for a Kickstarter campaign run by a man named Oscar Moreno. Mr. Moreno, for inexplicable reasons that we should all be grateful for, wanted to make a vinyl fashion...doll. Or rather a fashion maggot. And she's a fashion maggot who looks like Barbie. Sort of. She's heavily inspired by Barbie, anyway, and she's easily the sexiest grub I've ever seen in my life. I immediately pledged lots of money to the campaign and crossed my fingers that the project would get enough funding to move forward. There was no need to worry: the campaign met its goal on the very first day.
I wish I'd had this little larva around during Barbie Month, but better late than never, I suppose. Allow me to introduce the seductively squishy and subtly segmented Larvie, Teen Age Fashion Maggot:
Larvie, Teen Age Fashion Maggot, by American Toycoon. |
Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Mattel Mermaids
I've been missing in action for a while because my husband and I finally took an honest-to-goodness, week-long, have-to-get-on-an-airplane vacation. We haven't taken any significant trips with just the two of us since our honeymoon, so we felt like it was past time. We decided to visit St. John, in the United States Virgin Islands. This is the place that we visited ten years ago, with our kids and parents. It's where I photographed the Rapunzel and Mother Gothel review, and also the underwater Lala-Oopsie sea horse review.
This time around, we rented a small house in a remote location and had an amazing time snorkeling, cooking, and trying to catch up on sleep. Wild goats kept us from sleeping through most nights (in a charming, goat-like way, for sure) but everything else was magical. I'm so glad that we finally took the plunge. I'll confess that we weren't the only ones who had a good time on this trip, though. Lena managed to convince us that she should come along, too--you know, to chaperone the other dolls. She made a good point; I always like to bring along several doll companions when I travel, and things can get rowdy. And anyway, I have a hard time saying no to Lena. She had her own agenda for the trip, of course, and you'll hear more about that in future posts.
It's always tough to decide which dolls should be included in special trips like this, but since I knew I was going to be doing a lot of swimming and snorkeling, I figured it was the perfect time to continue with my mini series of mermaid doll reviews. I've already looked at MGA's Mermaze Mermaidz and Spin Master's Mermaid High (both now discontinued, by the way), so this time I decided to showcase two of Mattel's mermaid creations: a Barbie Dreamtopia mermaid, and Monster High's mermaid hybrid, Sirena Von Boo:
Monster High's Freaky Fusion Sirena Von Boo by Mattel, MSRP $24.99. |
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Monster High Create-a-Monster Werewolf and Dragon Starter Pack (and Skeleton Add-on)
There are two starter sets for the Create-a-Monster line, the Dragon and Werewolf set and a Vampire and Sea Monster duo. They retail for $26.99. These starter sets include all of the parts to make two complete dolls with the irritating exception of there being only one torso. I was disappointed to learn that the dolls have to share a torso, but I assumed I could use the torsos from other Monster High dolls, like my wonky-eyed Lagoona, and that in the end there'd be plenty of body parts to go around.
I bought both of the starter sets when they came in stock at my Toys R Us, figuring that more parts would equal more fun. Here's Dragon and Werewolf:
Monster High Create-A-Monster Werewolf & Dragon set. |
Saturday, June 25, 2022
Mischa's Toy Jewels (now with answers!)
I'm traveling a bit this weekend, so today's review will be pretty short, and very different from what I normally write. Anyone who's read any of my Sunday Surprise posts, especially recent ones, will know that I often comment on how the expense of surprise-themed dolls, particularly those that cost over $10, is risky because of the chance of getting a repeat. And what happens to all of those duplicate dolls? Some end up on eBay or at Goodwill, I'm sure, but many probably land in the garbage. As if the packaging waste from this type of toy wasn't bad enough.
Knowing how I feel about all of this, my friend Ariel messaged me the other day and showed me a cool Instagram page called Mischa's Toy Jewels. Mischa gathers up unwanted mini toys and turns them into children's jewelry! How cool is that? What's even better is that she donates half of the profits from her sales to a local food bank. I wanted to showcase this neat project, so I purchased several bracelets and necklaces to share with you.
I had so much fun looking through Mischa's selection, not just because the jewelry is colorful and attractive, but because of the variety of mini toys on display. I could identify some of the brands right away, but not all of them. The unidentified mini toys were irresistible little mysteries to me, and I had a great time trying to figure out what all of them are. And I'll confess--Mischa had to come to my rescue a few times! I thought some of you might be similarly amused by identifying these small toys, and so today's post will have two goals: one is to simply showcase Mischa's fun jewelry, but the other is to play a little guessing game! I'll show you what I bought, with no labels, and then in a day or two I'll post the answers and a little follow-up review. Be warned, though, that there's one mini toy in the mix that neither Mischa nor I could identify. Bonus points to anyone who knows what it is!
A necklace from Mischa's Toy Jewels, $10.00. |
Friday, June 6, 2014
Freaky Fusion "Avea Trotter" by Monster High
The Freaky Fusion collection is small (so far...), but awesome. The first releases are three hybrid monsters based on characters from an upcoming DVD. There is Siren von Boo, who is part mermaid and part ghost, Bonita Femur, a mix of skeleton and moth...and Avea Trotter, who is half centaur and half harpy. Bonita is my least favorite, just because I couldn't really figure out what she was supposed to be by looking at her. Siren is gorgeous, with incredible-looking long purple hair, a luminescent torso and a fancy silver tail. But Avea...she is my easy favorite.
I'll admit that I have been losing some of my interest in Monster High lately. Many of the newer dolls are great if I look at them individually, but as a group they all blur together. The Freaky Fusion line is a breath of fresh air. All three dolls are complicated and interesting to look at, and Avea stands out from the usual Monster High crowd like a neon sign. She is large, colorful, stylish, freaky, and, in my opinion, exactly the doll Monster High needed to rekindle the magic in this franchise.
Freaky Fusion "Avea Trotter," $24.99. |
Friday, September 18, 2015
Create-A-Bratz by MGA Entertainment
At the time of that guest review, MGA had just put the Bratz line on hiatus in the United States market, preparing for a big 2015 re-release. Bratz dolls continued to be sold in other countries during this hiatus. The overseas selection during this time included a wonderfully clever and creative Bratz idea: the Duct Tape Fashion dolls. As a person whose wallet is made completely out of Duct Tape, I heartily approve of this concept. There's a very charming video review of Duct Tape Yasmin on YouTube. Even though this particular video doesn't show how the Duct Tape customization works, I highly recommend watching it anyway--especially the part where the charismatic young reviewer expertly fills time while her poor father de-boxes Yasmin. It's classic.
When the long-awaited 2015 Bratz dolls finally hit shelves in the United States this summer, I was underwhelmed. I like the freckle-faced, pink-haired #SelfieSnaps Cloe and a few others, but as a whole, the dolls didn't immediately strike me as being obviously better than their predecessors. To my unpracticed eye, it wasn't even clear right away what had changed. However, Target stores have started offering a customizable Bratz doll option that did strike me as different and fun. Today I will review one of these new Create-A-Bratz girls from Target and compare her to a few other Bratz dolls. Here's my Create-A-Bratz, who I've named Sadie:
Create-A-Bratz doll from Target, $49.99. |
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Licca-chan and Miki-chan by Takara
It was difficult to choose a Licca-chan doll for review. I knew I would not be able to make any sweeping statements about the doll line by looking at a single doll--any more than I could judge the entire Barbie empire by just reviewing Midge. So, I chose a doll that I felt would make a good comparison to the Lottie dolls I own...and then I added in a little Miki-chan toddler, because I found her too cute to resist:
"Kindergarten Teacher" Licca-chan and "Kindergarten" Miki-chan. |
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Fairy Tale High "Teen Rapunzel" by S-K Victory
The number of dolls that have something to do with princesses or fairy tales this year is shockingly high. I can count about nine different doll lines: The current Disney Store and Mattel versions of the Disney Princesses, La Dee Da Fairy Tale Dance, Cutie Pops Crown Cuties, Ever After High, Monster High Scary Tales, Once Upon a Zombie and Fairy Tale High. And I guess I could also include the Bratzillaz Witchy Princesses, but they don't really look much different from the normal Bratzillaz. Anyway, it's out of control. The question is, do we need all of these different princess characters? I mean, which ones are offering something truly unique?
I have been reluctant to review this particular doll because when she arrived in the mail, her face was a disappointment. I don't find anything appealing about her facial screening or her expression, and I tend not to review dolls that I know I won't like. Some recent conversations in the comments section and pictures on Flickr inspired me to reconsider. I decided that she was worth de-boxing, if only so that I could reference her as I review some of the princess dolls I am more excited about. Rapunzel cost me $17.99 at Toys R Us:
Fairy Tale High "Teen Rapunzel," by S-K Victory. |
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
American Girl Happy Meal Toys from McDonald's
By the time McDonald's released Liv mini dolls in 2011, I had figured out that I could simply go to eBay and purchase a complete set of Happy Meal dolls without having to set foot in a McDonald's at all. This approach takes away the questing excitement of driving all over the place to try and find certain toys, but it also saves time and money...and cuts down on my French fry consumption.
When I saw that American Girl was doing a series of mini dolls for McDonald's, I was pretty excited. American Girl already has 6 inch versions of their iconic 18 inch dolls, so I was really curious about the scale of the Happy Meal dolls. At first I was hoping for recursive scaling, with the McDonald's dolls scaled to the minis in the same way that the minis are scaled to the full-sized dolls. This would have made the Happy Meal dolls only about 2 inches tall, though, which is pretty tiny. It turns out that the McDonald's dolls are about 3.25 inches tall, which is a nice size.
American Girl mini doll, "Kit," with a pile of American Girl Happy Meal toys. |
Saturday, August 24, 2013
My Little Pony Equestria Girl "Rainbow Dash," by Hasbro
The ponies have morphed quite a lot in the last few years. I have never seen the Friendship is Magic TV show, but I find the G4 toys cute in a new way. Although they've shed the cow-like appearance of some of the 80s molds (G1 Posy looks particularly bovine...), they don't necessarily look like horses to me. These little guys remind me more of Chihuahuas...but that's cool because I love Chihuahuas.
When I started hearing bits of information about the new line of Equestria Girl dolls, I wasn't sure what to think. The Equestria Girls are teenaged human versions of the regular My Little Pony characters. These teens appear in a new movie, My Little Pony: Equestria Girls. The promotional pictures of the dolls did not look great to me. For starters, they don't look human. The movie characters look like reasonable cartoons of human beings, but the dolls have huge horse ears on top of their heads. The other problem was that the promo pictures I saw showed only dolls with very limited articulation. However, at one of my visits to Toys R Us, I found a small stock of the Equestria Girls, and I was delighted to see that two of the dolls (Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash) have articulated knees and elbows. Furthermore, the dolls looked way cuter in person than they seemed in their pictures. Won over by Rainbow Dash's colorful hair, I left the store with her, feeling unexpectedly excited about this review.
Equestria Girl doll "Rainbow Dash" and her Crystal Masquerade Pony equivalent. |