2015-02-10

Doll talk: news, stuff I'd buy, frankendolly plans...

Some stuff I'd want to know if I didn't, about dolls I'd buy if I didn't already have them/weren't broke/saving for something else:

Cedar Wood just dropped to £9.18 on amazon.co.uk, in case you're in the EU. I'm tempted to get another one in and see if the mold seams are as bad on all of them, but I'm done with doll shopping for this month.

I hadn't realized that Grace and Nikki are the next generation of Style dolls - with articulated ankles! As expected the flat shoes are the same as the one in the cat themed accessory pack. Not a fan of the clothes on either, unless Grace's top is in two pieces.


Re articulated Nikki: I recently got an articulated Cali Girl and someone suggested frankendollying the legs onto an early Fashionista Nikki (the ones with hinged knees and legs held on with elastic) to get an even better articulated "bigfoot" doll. So that's what I'm on the lookout for now when I go thrifting - ironic, since I never liked the old style knees and may have passed on one or two in the past... Anyway, last week I found a hybrid body I've never seen before: torso joint, new pivotal knees AND rubber band hip joints. I thought the knees were changed before the hip joints? Although from what I understand, Mattel have always been in the habit of throwing dolls together from whatever parts are laying around. Finding unexpected combinations shouldn't be a surprise - plus you get to feel like an archaeologist once in a while! Of course this one had to be a Barbie and too pale for cali girl/Nikki, but those legs might come in handy sooner or later.


6 comments:

  1. If you have a drill and a metal rod, you can convert the new-hip-style legs to use elastic, like I did here http://dollsahoy.tumblr.com/post/109998304435/so-i-had-a-Fashionistas-body-with-a-broken-hip (sometimes you find dolls made with this style leg but straight arms--if you're careful, you can swap the legs to a body that had articulated arms but regular legs; if you're not careful...well, that's what led to figuring out how to string them...) And I just checked--I have one of those torso joint/Pivotal knees/elastic bodies, too! I can't remember what doll had the body originally (it's currently being used by a thrifted Katniss, as it's an upgrade from her original old-style-knees-body...)

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  2. The elastic/new knee joints were actually wave 2 of the first Fashionistas, and the rerelease of wave 1 (which is why Australia rarely got the old knee style jointed fashionistas as we only got them when wave 2 was out and wave 1 got a rerelease).
    They then changed to the current hip system when Swapping Styles came out, and was another reason why people disliked them as the articulation wasnt as good as the elastic hips as well as the loss of the torso joint.
    So yeah, there was a bunch of new style knees + elastic hips + torso joint dolls pre-Swapping Styles bodies.

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  3. @Andrea I think I have your how-to bookmarked somewhere. Hopefully with this body I won't need it.
    @Jawn That makes sense actually. Basically it's the same development as with MH that went from elastic to ball and socket hip joints (except with the same articulation otherwise).

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  4. ... and I'll bookmark your page so when it's time for me to repair my dolls and action figures, I'll have some of the best advice. (Along with some tips from Muff and Ms, Leo ;-D)

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    1. Lol, I hope you mean you're bookmarking DollsAhoy because I have no idea what I'm doing... :D Although I'll second the other two suggestions.

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  5. LOL, I do feel like an archaeologist while digging through thrift store goodies. You never know what rare specimen you're going to find.

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