Willa

 I remember Zombies from a few years ago.  It was on one of the Disney channels or services.  Nothing about it appealed to me, not even the dolls I saw in stores.  Therefore I know next to nothing about this franchise.  Less even than I knew about Nightmare Before Christmas on my last review.

MyFroggyStuff recently reviewed three new dolls from that line.  From Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires.  Two of the dolls are blondes with a bad case of Vapid Face.  But Willa... 

If Sally was little-goth-on-the-prairie, Willa is gothic mountaineer.

I guess she's a werewolf.  Her last name has "Lycan" in it and the box mentions she's the leader of the pack. There's a wolf on her belt buckle.

Girl's got some hair!  

Her bicep wrap and rope bracelet came off with the packaging.  Necklace and belt were not on her person.  I'm going to take a stab in the dark and assume the necklace is a moonstone amulet of great power. 

Several tattoos on her arms.  You can also get a gander at that beautiful shirt and the bracelets that stayed put.  The tattoos look like art from a certain Disney Princess who shares ethnicity with a certain other-franchise lycanthrope.  

She goes to the same hair stylist as Bellatrix.

MyFroggyStuff says that's makeup, but she's my doll and I say it's facial tattoos like Midna's.  

Pointy ears like Midna.  (Midna is a Fairytopia Sunburst, by the way, rebodied.) 

 

Willa with Tris, Four, and Midna.  Showing off their ink!  

Yard Sale Haul (Choosing Keepers)

I was surprised to see that most of the dolls did not need extensive trims.  Almost everyone's hair combed out with little effort.  Those I don't keep will appeal to a new human more if they don't look like they just got hit by lightning.  

After that was done, the selection process began.  Since my space is small, I limit the number of dolls in Barbieville.  One of my friends added more dolls to her dollyverse than I had in total during 2019!

The Mattel Princesses and Barbies.  There were a few here I knew were keepers from the start, even without working knees and elbows.  I was hoping some head swaps would help with that.  Also, I hoped some of the boys would be body donors for Kevin and Jeremiah.

Clone dolls, Monster High, and Hi Glamm (previously identified as Winx).  Only one of these was a keeper - the man with the gray beard.  The rest suffered from poor articulation, deformities, and/or Vapid Face.

Bratz.  Neither boy was suitable for Kevin or Jeremiah, even with feet attached.  The lemon-on-a-toothpick proportions are just too far from reality for me, so none of these dolls will be keepers. 

Holly Hobbies (not Strawberry Shortcake) and Wee Three Friends.  I debated these for quite a while.  The combinations of childlike features and adult shapes or sizes led me to decide against them.  I even had the Wee Threes with jointed elbows in my keep pile for a while.

This is the gal I mentioned in the previous blog, with the wild hair and face I really liked.  I thought she was Diva, from Barbie And The Rockers, but once I tamed the hair... she's Midge.  Every Diva I've ever seen had really heavy eye makeup, but I can't remember a Midge with super curly hair.  Research provided only the information that Diva and Midge share a face mold.

I think these three are celebrities.  Pretty sure the one on the left is Brandy Norwood.  

Shoes.  Lots of sizes and only three orphans.  They will all stay except the orphans.

Cinderella figures.  I waffled on these because that one of the stepsisters makes me giggle.  Decided not to keep them or break up the set.

Bratz feet and snap-on hair for one of the smaller gals.  I was bummed to see the black boots were Bratz.  None of my dolls can wear them.  Same with the roller skates.

Happy Meal toys.  Bratz and Barbie.  These will go into Doll County Day Care's toy stash.

Madame Alexander Happy Meal toys. Not keepers, but I stole what clothes I could for the toddlers. Was mad when the pumpkin costume didn't fit anyone.  

Cabbage Patch Kids.  Happy Meal toys,  Not keepers.

Sally Secrets Happy Meal toy - her feet are hole punches (one makes stars, the other hearts).   Debated keeping her just because she's so cute, but decided against it. I wouldn't use her.

 Wedding cake and bowling set.  Those balls are not the original ones - they're stress balls. The kind that clank against each other, not the squeezy kind.  The cake is a double of the one I already have, just in a different shade of pink.  The stress balls will probably go away but I'm keeping the pins and cake.

I have no idea what this is.  I thought it was the cap for a pencil-shaped pencil case, but it has what looks like Hebrew characters on it.  A dreidel?  I'll be keeping it for now.

After some head swapping and debate, these eight will be the only ones kept.  My Scene Chelsea, Gray Beard, Rapunzel, Hula Hair Barbie in rear. Brunette, Midge/Diva, Cho's mommy, and Purple Slippers in the front.

Hula Hair Barbie is on a My Scene Kennedy body - her own was very floppy and she chose to be less articulated.  Also, she gets a nice shoulder tattoo.  A snowflake in colors that match the dyed portion of her hair.  I kept Rapunzel because I thought they made a nice mom/daughter pair.

Midge/Diva and Purple Slippers upgraded to jointed elbows and a solid body, respectively.

I've got roles in mind for Gray Beard, the brunette, and of course Cho's Mommy.

Let The Carnage Begin

WARNING: DOLL CARNAGE AND NUDITY AHEAD

TURN BACK NOW OR SHUT YOUR PIEHOLE

I've had my eye on these gals for a while.  For the articulation, frankly, but more on that in a bit.  This is my COVID-19 splurge.  The rest is going to bills, I swear!  Okay, most of the rest...

The single pack Comfy Princesses do not have knees.  Not even click knees.  So I had to buy the double packs, which gave me a couple of extra gals.  

Most Disney Princess dolls suffer from a severe case of Vapid Face, so my intent from the start was to do some head-swapping.  I bought three princesses of color for the best match to Nikki, Courtney, and Gabriella.  I hoped the extras would match Wendy and Alex.  

Skin tone match isn't perfect, since the noggins are Mattel and the bodies are Hasbro, but I can work with it.

Here Nikki and her body donor compare how well they can hold a phone.  Neither can put it to her face, but at least Tiana can FaceTime.  Whoever Nikki is talking to is looking over there!

Nikki only has click knees, which is an improvement over no knees at all.  But only a slight one.

No, this isn't cannibalism.  

Boiling water softens the heads so they can be easily removed and minimizes the chances of neck pegs breakage.  We don't want the pegs stuck in there because then the new peg might be too big.  Wendy and Alex were already off their bodies.

I'm not so nice to the noggins I don't plan to keep.  This way the neck pegs are intact and not even bent.  You'll notice only four heads when I said I was rebodying five gals.  The Alex head didn't match any of the skin tones at all.

So I'm just going to recast her with one of these two.  Comparing them to Alex's father and sister, Aurora seems to fit in best.  (I guess my dark-haired Alex is gonna get a makeover.)  Not sure yet who Rapunzel will end up being.    

UPDATE: Alex will be the fashionista with the green mohawk on whichever body matches best.  There was an issue with my delivery and Amazon gave me a credit on my account, as an apology.  I chose to get a different noggin for Alex!  Neither of these big-eyed blondes were Alex for me. 

And here they are!  

Wendy Darling, Courtney Montez, Gabriella Montez, and Nikki Pike 

Debuting working elbows and improved knees!

They do have a slight case of bobble-head but that's all right.  

Jeremiah, the younger Eaton boys, and most of the children are jealous.  

They don't even have click knees.

That will be my next project.

Finally!

I am so excited about new doll lines coming out!  For so long, we've had not much variety in the doll world - at least not the kind that appeals to me.  Barbie, of course, had the Made-To-Move line and sometimes a moderately articulated one would come along but lately the Standard Five have been, well, the standard.

That's not to say I've been languishing.  I've been able to find action figures in the right scale for Barbieville, or dolls from previous lines at places like yard sales and flea markets. Sometimes the Made-to-Move are on sale. There are even a few that have been around, but not in my area or price range.

All the dolls I'm talking about here have The Standard Five (neck, shoulders,hips) as well as elbows and knees.  Some of them have even more -- Made To Move Barbie has 22! 

I'm going to start with these handsome fellows.  The Fresh Squad is the male counterpart to The Fresh Dolls, who I'll talk about in a minute.  My favorite is Malik, the one with the braids.  Since they are fairly new and come with extra clothes, they cost a little more than most, but not ridiculously so.

The Fresh Dolls are a line designed (obviously) for girls "of color".  Even after all the progress we've made, there are still issues getting dolls that are anything but a brown-tinted but otherwise what designers call white-coded. The Fresh Dolls are an excellent way to fill that market gap. Some of these gals can be had for less than ten dollars!  

Bonus points if you can identify Froggy.

The WWE Superstars are Barbie-scaled versions of female wrestlers.  I've managed to get my mitts on Becky Lynch and Eva Marie.  Neither cost me more than fifteen bucks.  There are lots more in the line than pictured here and I love them!  They remind me of the Wonder Woman dolls... a line I neglected to mention in my opening.  I apologize, Amazons.

The Wild Hearts Crew.  These just hit the shelves!  They're carrying on the Monster High "Be yourself" credo, but with relatively normal size noggins. You can even find the Skullette hiding in the fashions.  Each gal has a distinct personality and there is a variety of body shapes. I think my favorite is Charlie Lake, she of the Pegasus shirt, followed closely by UFO chaser Kenna Roswell.   

The Comfy Disney Princesses from Ralph Breaks The Internet.  Articulation and the clothes more than make up for the unfortunate Disney tendency toward Vapid Face.  My favorites here (because of their clothes, frankly) are Tiana and Pocahontas.   

Last but not...  well, honestly...last and least.  The Disney Descendants.  I've gotten two on sale and used them for donor bodies.  That noggin is just a bit too big for my tastes, although a face with enough personality might make up for it.  

None of the photos in this post are mine, all came from the Internet.

Musings

I wonder sometimes what toy companies are thinking.  The entire reason behind any business is to make money but it seems they aren't doing what they should in order to do so.  Yes, people will pay ten bucks for a doll with the standard five points of articulation and Vapid Face.  But they will pay more for full articulation and a face with personality.  I'm no expert, but the adage "spend money to make money" exists for a reason. 

And then there's the larger world of the dolls.  Very few people, of any age, are satisfied with just a doll.  They want things for the doll.  Those things should also be well-made.  Solid items that stand up to rough play because even if you only display the dolls, stuff happens.  Children and pets alone can wreak havoc by accident.  One of the terms my minions got used to hearing when a toy broke was "it pops".  As in pops back together. 

Then there's the really rough play.  Oops, they drove off a cliff.  Nine car pile-up in the hallway.  And it ain't just boys who do that stuff.  DEATH TO GENDER ROLES  (Oops, sorry... I digressed)  Very few people play with dolls as intended. Dolls get up to all kinds of non-sanctioned shenanigans. 

The biggest selling doll lines are largely set in a high school - Monster High, Ever After High, whatever school the Descendants attend - and I think that's where Mattel messed up with Barbie. For all of her roots as a "teenage fashion model" the last time she went to High School (officially) was in the 1990s.  Even though I'm not a fan of the dolls themselves*, I love the rest of it.  School play sets!  Furniture that's not pink!   

Mattel is taking steps I like.  The new bodies and skin tones, bringing back the sisters.  The "I can be" line reminds me of "We girls can do anything" from back in the day.  They've even given Skipper and Chelsea friends.  Stacie must be a loner. 

Anyway, that's my thoughts on the subject.  Buy what you like.  I know I do! 



*The body/head ratio is way off and the face paint is cartoonish. 

May Haul (part two)

Wow.  Never expected to run out of room in a blog post!  Maybe that's not the issue - I did notice spellcheck wasn't working.  Might be a blogspot hiccup.  But no matter.  I'm adaptable.

I cut a couple of the skewers to size and used electrical tape to make drum sticks for the timpani.  

My Barbieville has a tiny Asian population and I considered two gals from the flea market haul, but one of them looked like she'd just smoked an entire acre of marijuana and the other had Vapid Face. Also, I'm not a fan of diversity for the sake of diversity.  I did find a Generation Girl Mariko, who I LOVE, on eBay.   She even still had her original hair style!  

I heard they had a pair of boys in the newest set of friends for Chelsea.  Fred asked me to get them because he was the only toddler boy in Barbieville.  I found Cactus Shirt, still looking for Camera Boy.  Couple of my minions decided he's Tyrone - I'm just calling him Ty.  

Flea Market Bonanza: Part Two

WARNING NAKED DOLLS 

The sorting and research is done.  The keepers have moved into Barbieville.  The others will find homes elsewhere, whether it's via a yard sale or donation.  The clothes and soft bodies still need washed, so that'll be part three.  

The Disney Gals - Two Nakomas, Aurora, Pocahontas, and Belle.  Belle makes a ding sound when you press the button on her back.  One of the Nakomas has a pink/purple streak in her hair. 

The Jasmine with a battery pack is Arabian Lights Jasmine.  Her ear rings and forehead gem light up, or are supposed to.  Either the batteries are dead or she's broken. 

When I got her in the April Haul, I removed Esmeralda's hoop ear ring.  So she sneaked into the kitchen and totally mugged one of the dolls from this batch.  Can't blame her - it is a cute ear ring.

Brushes, Bags, and jewelry.  

Kitchen stuff, sports stuff, head bands, a book, and a flower bouquet.  

Shoes with mates.  I'll probably keep most of these.  The big gold ones belong to the Jasmine of Unusual Size.  They're upside down so the water can drain.

Turns out Power Ranger's neck hole is not compatible with the donor body.  Making it work is beyond my capabilities and inclination.  

Hole-In-The-Gut is Tressy.  There used to be a gadget there to make her hair grow and, um, ungrow.  WTF Barbie is American Idol Barbie.  Poor thing looks like she's been in a horrible accident, but she's rocking out.  I keep trying to straighten her torso!  

The keepers.  Pocahontas, Nakoma with the pink/purple streak, Callie, Needs-a-name, Kelly, Roxy, and Needs-a-name.  (I already have a Kevin and a Stacie.)  I noticed Callie has 3 piercings in each ears, which gave me something specific to research - she's Cali Girl Barbie.  

Donor body recipients.  Kida doesn't quite match hers, but considering now she can bend and has no gem embedded in her chest, it's close enough.  The redhead Teen Skipper is Courtney, who was usually brunette.  I already have a Courtney.  There was a Stacie friend named Whitney, who was a redhead, so she'll take that name.  Batgirl loves her new not-weird shoulders.    

These two have to wait for laundry before their fate is decided.  If Jasmine's clothes survive the wash, I might keep her as a BOUS.  Love the character, but not so much the dolls.  Disney dolls often have Vapid Face, but Jasmine and Ariel seem to have it the worst.  I don't know why.  

A dollar a pop at a yard sale and I make my money back?  Donation?  Haven't decided.