2013-07-29

Mars Needs Shoes!

Well, my cell phone (and by "cell phone" I mean "camera") seems to have finally given up the ghost and refuses to be recharged. It's been my excuse for neglecting the blog lately, but enough is enough.

I was planning to write something about looking for some place to buy a Twilight Teens doll while I'm waiting for Ever After High and Life in the Dreamhouse Midge (aka Steffie!). Twilight Teens are basically Simba's Monster High-ified version of the Super Model dolls i.e. they can share shoes! Also clothes, but the ones I've seen aren't much to write home about, so I'll probably pick based on shoes and accessories. Ghostilla is the Spectra clone and white all over, except from a few black streaks and tattoos. You can't go wrong with a ghost girl, and if you do the repaint possibilities are endless. (Probably the staining possibilities too, though.)

The only places I've found that sell the basic dolls online will send you a random doll, so I might shell out for Ghostilla's scooter set. I don't really want a scooter, but there may be others that do. (Zombia comes with a pink and black coffin-shaped wardrobe - the same one from the Mystic Girlz set - that looks pretty cool, but I'm not much of a zombie fan and she's just too grey for me. One Ghoulia is enough.)

Scooter set Ghostilla has in my opinion marginally better clothes than the other Ghostillas (black "leather" and zebra stripes, woooo!), but comes with neon green shoes for some reason. That put me off a bit at first, but then I remembered that Rockers DeeDee can't wear any of her old shoes since she got her Super Model body, and she needs green shoes to go with her spacey '80s makeup and fashion. Can't conquer the galaxy without shoes now, can you? Not even with a pink hair dryer for a weapon.

...that's what I was going to write about, but it turned out pretty uninteresting and I thought it needed an illustration of some sort, so I opened up Sai and got distracted. Have a DeeDee the Space Invader (Without Shoes but With Hair Dryer). Glorious '80s space outfit belongs to Mirra Crysta (fron Tonka's Aurora line). The lack of neon green shoes should be obvious to anyone.
It isn't even plugged in.

2013-07-17

note to self

Dear Me: Next time you buy something online, don't use DHL even if it's one day faster, because that pick-up place closes at 6 and you'll never remember to get there on time. Besides, the other place has better and cheaper candy.

2013-07-12

Knitting for Ghoulia

Seems like it's time for my annual attempt at this 1/6 knitting thing. This started out as some round knitting practice before I decided to practice sleeves instead, that's why the fit leaves something to be desired. But it has sleeves! Woohoo!





It looks a bit weird when you lift her arm but it still kind of works.

Still looks pretty okay, but...
...here's the terrible truth.
 30 fairly loose stitches on 2mm needles, if I remember correctly. The yarn is a bit too heavy as well. On the other hand: sleeves!

2013-07-06

Preliminary gushing about Ever After High (ETA: more links)

Sorry, I don't really have anything interesting to say today, or any dolls to post pics of. I just wanted to say I made the mistake of looking at some pictures and videos, and now I'm starting to really look forward to the Ever After High dolls. Apparently they're just coming out, which means it might take months before they appear here ("here" being faraway exotic Sweden). Or we might not get them at all! Not that I'm worried: if they do well they'll definitely appear on shelves here too, and I suspect they will.

I like that they actually made a completely new doll (well, some parts are recycled), not just a new line of Monsters but with more traditional face sculpts. The torso doesn't have the arched plank look that makes the MH dolls so difficult to fit (though elegant). They actually remind me more of china dolls than of fashion dolls, with their big heads and cute, entirely non-scary make-up (just look at Apple White). (On a related note: when did everyone decide to make ~25cm dolls with big heads rather than ~29cm dolls with more realistic proportions, like Barbie? Was it Bratz that started it?)

I showed the promo pics to my friend who finds Monster High creepy and she really liked them. Maybe I'll be able to rope her into the hobby after all!

And that concludes today's preliminary gushing. Here are a few links to people who have more to say than I do (just in case you haven't already seen them).

Reviews:
http://nevergrowupdollguide.blogspot.se/2013/07/ever-after-high-news.html

This has a more in-depth (although a bit out-of-focus) look at Briar Rose and her accessories, along with a comparison with several similar bodies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGtUgS3vPpE&feature=c4-overview&list=UU0NX6-KBRh75-emDlC4xlwA

Here's a good comparison pic that someone on the forum dug up:
http://monster-everafter-high-girls.tumblr.com/post/54696573965/i-scrounged-up-as-many-different-dolls-as-i-could

ETA:
More comparison pics. Briar Rose's skin tone is close to Cleo, apparently.
http://lemondread.tumblr.com/post/54837598653/just-a-few-quick-comparison-shots-briar

ETA again:
Lots of good comparison shots of the dolls compared to MH and others.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/venivididolli/9235501473/

Madeline Hatter guest review @toyboxphilosopher!

and ETA yet another review:
http://dollyconfessions.wordpress.com/2013/07/10/dolly-review-ever-after-high-madeline-maddie-hatter/