Hogwart's Express Playset

 If you do not have a passing familiarity with the Harry Potter franchise, please seek out your favorite Potterhead to explain anything that might confuse you.  Also there will be spoilers if you are new to the Wizarding World.

Taking a break from my winter projects to open my other new toy.  When I bought Jeff, I noticed the price on the Hogwarts Express had gone up a good bit, so held off to research similar (cheaper) options.  Anything I found that met my criteria cost even more!

I was never happy with my DIYs for a diner... even had to turn Sunburst Diner into a cafe during my Barbie Soap Opera.  When I saw this, my first thought was DINER BOOTH!  That might seem strange to you, but I'm a strange woman... as you well know.  

But that's for Walmart's "My Life As" dolls, you say.  The scale is way off, you say. Look how small Snape and Bellatrix are next to it, you say.  I've had a lot of experience with using this scale for my Barbies.  It does work with a little ingenuity and imagination.  

Anyway.  Here my volunteers stand beside the freshly opened playset.  It really is coincidence that I grabbed a couple of Harry Potter characters.  They were the two dolls closest to my work table. 

The white cardboard under the window opens to be a backdrop.  I'll be keeping this, although usually folded down so my dolls can make use of that window. 

The big picture was enclosed in the backdrop.  It's meant to slide behind the table window. 

This other stuff was in a Hogwarts envelope.  There's a cardboard rug, instruction booklet, stickers, and the boxes for goodies from the trolley.

Also Harry's first letter, its envelope, and two train tickets.  These are large for my dolls, but could work as wall art.  We shall see. Snape's toes for scale.

Sticker in the frame and Hogwarts outside the window.  The opposite side of that window card is a night view, for if they take the midnight train to Hogwarts.  Hedwig says "get me outta this dang plastic".

 The big blue box and plastic hold even more goodies.  I popped the trolley together and put up curtains.  Snape and Bellatrix noticed the height of the tabletop, but I told them I have a plan for that problem.  More on it later. The table folds down against the wall.  Because reasons. 

The little balcony thing on the rear was easy to install.  That lantern has a working light which I will never use.  The batteries will be removed so they don't corrode. I also remove batteries from the headlight and interior lamp.  

 

Photo is sideways because I am lazy.

It was at this point that I said "Where's Scabbers? He's supposed to be in this set."  Found him in the trash, right where the little traitor belongs.  Which reminds me... if we've got Harry's first letter, why is Crookshanks there?  Chronologically confused much? 

Pocahontas is 18 inches tall. She's a lot skinner than the intended dolls, but will serve to demonstrate the size of the pets.  Crookshanks is supposed to be a big boy.  Not a lion cub! I'm debating if he'll work as a Barbie pet.  I've had some huge cats in my time.

Even as skinny as she is, Pocahontas still takes up more than half the seat.  Snape and Bellatrix share easily.  This is one of the benefits of using larger-scale items with Barbies.  This picture makes me giggle.  Like they're Pokey's kids and Bellatrix says "Feet on the floor, Mom!  Gawd!"

Like the children they resemble in that photo, the table-height problem can be resolved by sitting on a suitcase or stack of pillows.  Come story time, I'll probably make risers out of Lego and use camera tricks to hide them.

The table folds back and the benches become a bed.  No blanket, though, unless you rip the curtains down.  The gray bolt behind the seat back is one of the two that hold the smokestack on.  Smokestack is off here because I was removing the batteries.

My dolls are very happy with this playset.  What they can't use will have a home, probably with my favorite Potterhead.  I'm not fussed about keeping the set complete.  Not a collector.  These are toys.  Play with them!  Or maybe I can use the pets to ward off home invaders (Crookshanks and Hedwig are heavy!)  

Winter Projects: Part One

 This time of year is rough.  The long nights and short days, with holidays over.  What I need is a project!  

Goodwill delivered. A folding house and an ambulance to customize!  Other stuff, too, but I digress.

Not a house.  Barbie Cook and Grill Restaurant.  (Ad photo)

But the other really is an ambulance. (Ad photo)

Both playsets are missing a lot of pieces.  Basically, anything that isn't attached to the building or vehicle!  The flashing lights and siren sounds on the ambulance don't work, but we all know I wouldn't have used them anyway.

The ambulance "interior" is missing all the loose stuff, as mentioned, but also the top of the admissions counter.  At least I'm assuming that thing that folds down into the floor is - the ad photo shows it upright and having a sort of desktop.  Otherwise this looks to be in pretty good shape.

"Exterior" looks good.  

Both playsets will need gentle cleaning, because most of details are stickers or cardboard. 

Also because they are too big for my dishwasher.

Exterior of the Cook & Grill.  I knew this was a fairly new playset because of the electric car charger!  I'm not crazy about the folding corners being so small - they look more like shutters than walls and that hurts my brain.  Maybe I'll decide it's a patio enclosure.

Interior of Cook & Grill.  It is missing one of the cardboard backings (beside the pizza oven).

Drying off after a bath.  

To be continued.

Jeff

WARNING NEKKID PLASTIC DUDE 

 

Santa was so busy bringing me other cool stuff, he forgot my Wizard of Oz doll! 

So I bought him my own self.  Like a grownup.

Just like Madame Morrible, this doll does a great job of capturing the likeness of the actor.  Jeff Goldblum can now come to my house and play with himself!  I just love Jeff Goldblum.  Almost as much as I love Sam Neill. 

But I digress.  Here we have The Wizard.  He's really leaning into his emerald theme.  The chains on his paisley waistcoat are all one plastic piece.  There's an eye on his Adam's Apple. And flowers on the long coat.  I think poppies, as a nod to the original story.  

I was disappointed to see that most of his wardrobe was all one piece.  I expected to find the shirt and waistcoat were one, but thought the coat might be separate. Bummer.  I wonder if the real Jeff looks this good.  I know he did once.  I've seen The Fly.

I have it on good authority that this is the same body as the other Wicked dude doll.  Jeff (and presumably that other guy) is nicely articulated.  Jeff can sit totally upright, an improvement on Mattel's Harry Potter men. I understood why Hagrid has a lean, being a portly fellow, but not the others. 

A better look at his shoes and cane. 

Anyone who knows me knew this would happen.  I just had to turn him in Ian Malcolm. I forgot his shoes, but barefoot is the norm for my dolls anyway.  "There will eventually be dinosaurs on the dinosaur tour?  Oh, excuse me, Miss Raptor, I didn't see you there."

Windows

 I'm a bit of an architecture buff.  It bugs me to watch TV shows where the exterior and interior do not match up.  I always have a floorplan in mind for the places in my fiction.  

 Most dollhouses have an unseen area, where stairs and closets exist. They are usually set up so it can be assumed you are standing in that area as you play.  There are windows on at least one existing wall, even if they're just printed on.

My current bookshelf dollhouse has been bothering me.  There are no windows on any of the three existing walls. Do my dolls live in an underground bunker?! 

I picked up these decorations at the after-holiday sales, but only managed to find three.  The third one isn't pictured, but it had a pointier top and the word down the center was "MERRY".  I hoped to find more, to put doors on the back of each room and move the unseen area into my apartment wall.  No luck there.  So I figured out a way to give my dolls a window in each room.

First order of business was to take off the words and greenery. 

Then I marked in black the areas not needed and broke the "wood" apart.  This created nine windows that don't match each other and aren't symmetrical unto themselves.  If you followed my soap opera and remember Joe's job, you know building with reclaimed materials is nothing new to my dolls. 

The bookshelf house is continuing that tradition.

I glued calendar pictures to them so the dolls would have a nice view.

Here's the pantry and dining room with their new windows!  Each room got a window and they're far from perfect, but my inner pedant has quit fussing.  Honestly, I'd prefer to stick fake doors on the back wall and pretend the unseen rooms are inside my apartment wall, but this works.

Always a work in progress.