Creatable World

This one is gonna be very short on the pictures and long on the words.  I even considered putting it on my regular - political soap box - blog.  But as it applies to dolls, I felt it fits better here.

In case any of my readers have been in a cave the last few days:  Mattel has released a line of "gender inclusive" dolls.  Most of the doll community has taken it as Mattel clearly intended.  A few of us, and an awful lot of people outside the doll community, seem to have missed something.  This post is for that group.

1. These dolls are not being marketed as LGBT.  "Gender inclusive" simply means they can be used in play as either sex.  The dolls are the size of Skipper,  Barbie's pubescent sister.  Granted, I have not seen these dolls in a state of undress, but the body mold appears to be clearly a child.  Without genitals, there are no markers of biological sex, and we all know that even the adult dolls have no genitals.   

Get your hands on a doll and ignore anything below the shoulders.  What you are looking at is "gender coding".  This is what marks a child doll as male or female.  Possibly the most common customization done on child dolls is the cutting of hair and removal of make up - turning a girl doll into a boy.  The Creatable World dolls just save us the trouble.

2. The entire point of these dolls is an acknowledgement that traditional gender roles have been dying since the days of Rosie the Riveter.  Today's children are seeing women on the battlefield and men in the kitchen.  Today's children's parents grew up seeing that.  Only the grandparent generation remembers when Wonder Woman was the only super heroine and we were born in the Woodstock era.  Long-haired boys everywhere!

3. As a doll player - I am not so delusional as to call myself a collector -  the important thing to me is the potential of the toy.  The big selling point for me is the articulation.  These adorable children have working joints!  When you consider that they come with several mix-and-match fashions and accessories, the price point isn't bad.

They can be boys or they can be girls whose mothers haven't caved to Big Cosmetics. They can be non binary, if the player so chooses.  And I'm okay with that.  Because it's all about the potential. Oh, yeah, and DEATH TO GENDER ROLES.

House Make Over

This is a long one, so settle in, y'all.

This is the doll house my sister brought me that has thrown my doll corner into chaos.  Fun chaos, but chaos nonetheless.  She picked it up at a yard sale for the use of "one of" the couples talking marriage in Barbieville.  Of course, it's used, but still in very good condition.

Research Whore tells me that it's a Kacy's Department Store by a company called Fortune East.  This picture is from the Internet and shows the product new.  As you can see, the staircase is missing from mine.  No problem - the Pikes have an invisible stairway hall and so can these folks.

To make for easier renovations, it had to come (at least mostly) apart.  Sorted the screws into bowls for later ease of assembly.  I love those silver pillars!  Gonna start with the first floor and rebuild the house as I work.  

I left the side walls on rather than unscrew the eight million screws involved there.  This bit is the first and second floors.

When I saw the food market, my first thought was Pike's store, but later experimentation convinced me that simply wasn't practical.  The water stains along the bottom edge helped me in the decision to make this floor all one room.

Why all one room?  Because Kacy's had the shoe department right beside the food.  Even if I was gonna make this be Pike's workplace, they are a grocery.  No shoe department.

Covered the floor with adhesive shelf liner and the walls with wrapping paper.  Did I mention I love the pillars?   This will probably be the living room. 

The second floor has a bite taken out of it!  Just kidding, it's the space for the missing staircase.  Also, it needs covered.  

A few layers of cardboard cut to fit and a "linoleum" floor will have it ready to play.  Should even stand up to the weekly catastrophe that is The Boy.

WOW!  My choice of wallpaper here is... um... bold.  It was the closest I could get to matching the printed-on coffee shop.  I wanted to keep that while covering the clothing department.  I hope some kitchen appliances will reduce the impact of the stripes.  The coffee shop will be a fun mural in the dining room.  And those pillars!

Third floor will need two types of flooring because one bit is a balcony.

The little bit of faux marble from Sunburst's tables fit almost perfectly.  

Different kind of marble for this floor.  Somebody's fancy.

I like all this except for the couch.  I hate printed on furniture.

Same for this couch and end tables.  Love the polka dot walls, though.  

This wall, with the balcony door, is perfect as it is. 

Used the same marble as the floor and gave the room a wainscot/ledge for the lamps and bowl of fruit to sit on.  The description at Fortune East's website called it the penthouse.   So Kacy lived above the store and had a Warhol-esque portrait of him/herself?  I'll invent an in-universe reason for the artwork.

Here it is!  All rebuilt and ready to play!  

On the inside, anyway.

Most of the exterior will be against a shelf and the side of the entertainment center.  Gotta do something about the parts I can see.  And you never know - the new residents might like to hang out on the roof.

The roofers were here.  Good to go.

A little bit of water damage and the store sign on the side that will be visible need to be covered.  Bummer, though.  I do like that door.

This home features kitchen linoleum, shingles, and siding that match.  I hope to add some shrubs or something eventually, just to add some color.

I'm a Stephen King fan, so I had to give it this address.

The former Frito-Lay display was no longer needed after I reorganized the doll corner.  The base became a full size bed.   A long daybed - roughly 15 inches or 7.5 feet in Barbie scale.  It'll replace the red bed in the Pike boys' room because their room is huge.  

Two of the other shelves, combined for strength and cut to size, also became a day bed.  It's a single and not as long because I made it to fit in the new house.  I knew that insane sports wrapping paper would be good for something.

Used photo frame mats and one of my backdrop pictures to make a window in the living room.

And in the kitchen. Combined with a section of my Unassembled Dollhouse, this will make a cozy little home of three bedrooms and two baths.  I wish some giant would build me one of those.

Look What Else My Sister Made Me Do

Busy, busy, busy!

If you didn't just read that in the voice of the magician from Frosty The Snowman, go back and do it correctly!  For Shame!

My clear tape hinges were not working.  I decided that the exterior need not be shown, measured the space for the other wall to pop into place, and glued on craft sticks as connectors.  

Works very well!  Sometimes I amaze myself!  This will be Pocahontas's new office space.  Albus donated his modern art.  Giants need to watch where they're walking.  

I already used this set in a story.  Pike's remodeled (again) office and a break room.  Gotta find something to cover the torn spot, but otherwise it's good to go.

Put the reverse sides together and you get Doll County Day Care.  

This is the reverse of the barn scene that was behind the Pike family deck.  Forgot all about it.

Wally World had my shelf in stock finally!  Most of the knick-knacks came off my dresser, which gives me a nice big flat surface for setting scenes.  Still gonna have to put Sunburst on the floor since the park needs to be way over there, but everything else will work great.  (Where are Cleo and Lagoona?  They belong in this shelf!)

Which leaves me the new house and other backdrops to work on.  (Oh, there's Cleo's noggin behind my tea.)  I have decided that the still unused piece from my Dismantled Dollhouse purchase is gonna work with the house to be a nice big home for Barbieville.  If the Pikes can have a "basement bathroom" that's not attached to their house, this house can have rooms floating around unconnected, right? 

Look What My Sister Made Me Do

One thing I've learned since embracing the whole doll blogging thing: Nothing is ever done.

This is my doll area.  When I first moved in here, I had the dollhouse nice and snug in that corner, but got busted for "blocking an emergency egress".  Mind you, I'm on the second floor and there are three other windows right there, but they own the place.  Gotta follow their rules.

If you'll remember, I recently bought a disassembled dollhouse to make into backdrops because my space is so limited.  At least if I want to have anything resembling an actual apartment.

My sister showed up with this in her back seat.  She reads my blog and thought it could be a nice home for one of those couples planning to marry.  It'll need a makeover, but that'll be a whole 'nother project.  Today it's about making room!  

I had been debating for a while pulling that desk out of there.  It's not big enough for Sunburst and sags in the middle, so I can't line up the walls for The Overlook.  YANK!  It's outta here! 

Lunch Break. 

The new house fits nicely where I had my board games and coloring books.  Once that desk was gone, the rest of the job pretty much fell together.  It just took a good while because I reorganized as I went.  The shelves my board games were on fit very nicely under the window sills.  I have no idea what sort of shelf it is, though, since it was a yard sale find.  

Quitting for supper.  Everyone is present and accounted for, all the big stuff is in place (except the teal bin that serves as wardrobe) and now it's fiddly stuff and hauling out the trash.  Yes, that's the table that served as the Pikes' deck/carport.  They sacrificed it for the Greater Good. 

I took the movable shelves out of one unit and put them into the other for all my little bins and set building pieces.  The former Frito-Lay display has outlived its use and will probably go in the recycling.  And I managed to break Albus's camper.  Apparently, that floor wasn't meant to hold 200 pounds.  I guess he really does have to move now.

My open-for-use backdrops and the new house wait for the next project.  The house is actually meant to be a department store (Kacy's).  I'll get into more detail about it when I share that project.

The shell of one shelving unit holds my games, coloring books, vintage VWs, and two display dolls.  I think I'm gonna invest in another tall unit like what's beside it. Can never have too many shelves. The pink thing is full of Lego blocks. The clear bin is my tool box. Lots of clean up work to do and I'll be ready to tackle the next job.

Oh, yeah, and... 

THANKS, RITA! 

Parenting Challenges

Pocahontas meets Midna at Sunburst for their usual lunch chat.

Esmeralda: Midna's making your lunches and will meet you on the patio.  She said it's a shame to be indoors on such a nice day.

Pocahontas: Why do you have a menu for me?  I always call in my order ahead of time.

Esmeralda: Just an old habit.  I was waiting tables when I met Marcus and my boss at the time insisted we greet customers with a menu in hand. 

Pocahontas: Really?  No wonder you took to it so quickly.  Waitressing, I mean.  

Midna:  Should you be eating burgers and fries?  Aren't you trying to lose weight for the wedding? 

Pocahontas: Seriously, girl, you are as bad as the kids.  We need to sort out more practical matters before planning a wedding ceremony.  

Midna: I still say let John make the decisions about the kids and you deal with the money matters. Even before he got any kind of formal training, he was always so good with kids, and you are...  Okay, I'll shut up about that.

Pocahontas (laughs): That is pretty much what we've decided.  The big issue right now is finding a house we all like.  The girls did say they'd be all right with sharing a room but I think Nakoma's not really on board with that.  They're so much younger than her.

Midna: Well, she's going away to college in a couple of years. 

Pocahontas: She's planning to live at home and go locally, just like I did.  Anakin's custody is still in question - his mom is doing really well in her recovery.  And John wants to have more children. 

Midna: Well, how about that.  I've never seriously pictured you as a mom. 

Pocahontas: I think I'm offended. (Laughs) Nakoma said the same thing.  Anakin said John will be the mom and I'll be the dad.  

Midna: That actually makes sense, if you ignore biology and look at traditional family dynamics.

Pocahontas: Where would any child of Cash Nedakh have learned about traditional family dynamics?

******

Later that day, the Malfoy siblings have an unexpected reunion in the park.  

Zenobia: Hey!  Long time no see! 

Leia: You're insane.  You just saw us at the country club over the weekend.

Boudica: We're gathering fall leaves for Draco's school project.  Seems a bit juvenile for his grade level, but maybe he's in Remedial Botany or something. 

Draco (indignant): It's for extra credit, I told you.  

Leia: Well, if you did your regular work properly, you wouldn't need extra credit, would you?  

Draco: Zenobia did her school work properly and look how she turned out.  Waiting tables, living in the slums, and associating with people like (indicates Albus) him.

Albus (to Zenobia): Thank you for walking with me from the greenhouse.  I'll go on ahead and let you visit with your sisters and brother. 

Zenobia: What was that?  

Boudica: Rude much?  What is wrong with Albus? 

Draco: He's probably a draft dodger and a dope fiend.  He's homeless!

Boudica: How does a draft dodger get VA benefits?  I've seen his medical records. 

Leia: Dope fiends can't keep a job and he lives at The Point in a camper.

Draco (scoffs): You call that a home?  

Albus pauses to make a call.  

Albus: Dude, I don't think Zenobia is the kid you should be worrying about.  

Demolition and Donors

WARNING! NAKED HEADLESS DOLLS!

I know what you're thinking.  Demolition?  Will we see explosions?  Sadly, no.  The explosions will be imaginary.  When I got my park backdrops, I wasn't happy with the skyscrapers.  Barbieville is not a city.  My dolls are, for the most part, rural folk.

I even wrote them into the story as a failed effort by the former mayor to stimulate the economy and change the image of the town to visitors.  But there are still way too many of them!  What to do...  I spied something at Michael's on one of my rare trips west of my sister's house.

A cartoon light bulb appeared above my head.

Since I don't have thin enough paper for this part, I used the clear plastic from doll packaging.  Trace the tree line onto the plastic and cut along the line.  The plastic also let me use a marker that would have bled through paper.

This is what I found at Michael's!  Sky poster board!  I repeated the trace and cut, this time following the admittedly rough stencil I'd made out of the plastic.

Glued it into place and filled in the places where buildings still peeked through with white fingernail polish (because I don't have paint) to match the clouds.

And now roughly half of the buildings are gone.  The sky's got a lot more clouds over there, but we've all seen real skies look like that, so I'm good with it.  Mayor Rose-Grace Pike assures me those buildings were all vacant, since so few millionaires want to invest in a lakeside farming community.

Cue the imaginary explosions as we move on to my other project. 

WARNING! NAKED HEADLESS DOLLS!

My collection of body donors.  I prefer my dolls to have at least nine points of articulation: neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees.  More joints are a bonus! I sure ain't gonna complain if a doll has more! I pick up possible donors at thrift shops and clearance sales.  Vapid Face Sufferers and those with giant noggins get decapitated.  Sometimes one will just move right into Barbieville as is.

I do avoid certain lines because they are too skinny to share clothes and/or have inhuman skin tones. Some lines are child height but have mature features, also, so I avoid them.  I do have it on good authority that two of the skinny lines have males that are of acceptable girth, but I've not found any.

The first batch of candidates for transplant are my Fives.  They only have the standard neck, shoulder, and hip joints.  Bertie and Esperanza think the spot a match for one of them! 

Bertie has elbows and knees!  Not real lady-like, but that's a whole other thing.

My Five + Clicks are next.  They have softer plastic legs that bend a bit and click into place at the knee.  Most of these are ten inches or less.  Young teens and children in my Barbieville.  Roxy (not pictured here) is a gymnast Stacie from the 90s and Anakin (also not pictured) is technically an action figure.  Both are rare finds! There is currently an articulated Extreme Sports Stacie on the market, but I'm not likely to get her before the Family Christmas Ban* happens, so I'm gonna tell Santa about her.

Stacie didn't gain any articulation is this head swap, but she did get rid of that mutant thumb and bent elbow.  She's happy and the mutant thumb body will become a donor.

Tris is my only Seven.  She doesn't have elbows, but that lovely tattoo makes me reluctant to body swap her.  One of the donor bodies is a Seven.  Donor bodies can be anything above a Five.

Lots of Seven + Clicks. None of them matched any donors.  Need more in darker skin tones.

Guinness almost matches and Frodo is just laughing at me.

Floppy Boyz are in the house!  These three are Nines, but the joints are loose.  The Boy was messing with John and Hank, calling them Floppy Boyz.  The name stuck even though Esmeralda is a not a boy.  

Esmeralda is a pretty good match for the Seven donor body, but she chose to remain floppy. Not willing to give up them elbows.

*My family has a rule: After a certain date, we are not allowed to buy anything gift-worthy for ourselves.  I do try not to break it, and almost every time I have, it was doll-related.