Miss Uncanny Valley 2013 (thrift store find)

The instructions on the Liquitex varnish says to wait at least 3 hours before applying a second coat. If we assume that goes for painting on top of it too, and then take into account the limited daylight this time of year and the fact that I can't paint anything after sunset since the lighting is my apartment is so bad, the maximum number of face-up attempst per day is about... one. And that's if I'm not feeling lazy that day (and I usually am).

So while the varnish dries, heres' some random thrift store finds. Today: Clone Barbie make-up head!

...or that's what I thought, but now I'm not sure. She already has make-up on, so maybe she's meant for displaying jewelry. The head looks exactly like any Barbie clone, except blown-up. She has that strawberry blonde nylon hair that seems quite popular on clones. I actually like that shade, I should see if any of the doll hair resellers have it.

ETA: I forgot to mention (and I'm not sure you can tell from the pictures) that this thing is quite small: only about 6'' from base to top of the head.

 

 

In true clone style, all the parts are different colors and plastic. The shoulder-piece-thing is hard plastic, while the arms are really thin hollow plastic and swivel from the base. I'm not sure what the point is. They're originally the same height, but the base of the left one (her left) is slightly bent.

I'm not sure if you can see, but the arms just end in hollow blobs to stop them from falling out of the sockets. It's a very simple construction. I can't help but wonder what those little loops at the bottom are for. Mounting her on the hood of your car? Creating the worlds most bizarre necklace?

This thing was really cheap, and the seller commented on how scary she looks. I told him that's what I liked about her, although when I think about it I probably won't put her in the display cabinet next to my bed. Dolls usually don't have much of an uncanny valley effect on me, but If I woke up in the middle of the night and find her staring at me from behind the glass, I'm not sure I'll be entirely at ease. Doesn't she look a bit like one of those cursed fortune teller machines from horror movies?

"YOU WILL MEET A TALL DARK STRANGER AND DISCOVER THE FILTER THAT IMITATES OIL PAINTING"

Who's that clone? It's Sandy!

Looks like I have an ID on the clone dolls: Sandy! Or, one of the Sandys.

Flickr has been weird lately and won't show me the BBcode or HTML for sharing photos, and it's not because people have it disabled: I can't even see the option on my own photos when I'm logged in. Apparently they moved the button to a secret location just to annoy me and make me feel stupid when I stumble upon it by accident in a few weeks or so. But since I'm not entirely sure people have explicitly made sharing available on their pics, I feel a bit weird downloading and sharing them, so you're getting beautiful and fascinating text links instead.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilavati112/4463214068/ - this is obviously the same doll as the one I found with the cut-off blonde hair. Also, I would recongnize those shoulders anywhere.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/54076701@N05/8005772326/ - in this photo you can see the makeup better. There's also a link to an article on Sandy dolls on Barbieplanet.ru with photos of different bodies etc. Here's the google translated version for anyone interested to take a guess as to why a cheap hollow clone doll is known as a "pectoral sandpiper" in Russian:
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fbarbieplanet.ru%2Fother-16%2Fsandy-doll

So that looks like a match, at least for the blonde. I haven't found any pics of the bubble cut dolls yet - at first I thought this Japanese Sindy clone (who's also named Sandy) might be it, but this one has different, if similar, headmold, and I'm pretty sure that the blonde and the bubble cut dolls are identical after all. The body is described as slightly bigger than Barbie, and it doesn't look right either. I'm thinking the girls with bubble cuts may just be older versions (or were bubble cuts in at some point during the '80s? I can't remember). There's also the fact that none of my dolls have any markings, and the Barbieplanet article has photos of the markings on different Sandy dolls. I'm not sure what to make of that, actually. Maybe clones of clones?


Come to think of it, the definition of a clone doll seems pretty unclear to me. For example: Barbie started out as a clone of Bild-Lili, then got clones of her own (many of which are listed at this page). Then came Sindy, who doesn't look a bit like Barbie (at least not the early version) but nevertheless probably wouldn't have existed without her - and then there are dolls like Licca and Betty Teen, who clearly borrow their looks from Sindy. And then there are clones of Licca and Betty! Maybe it's a bit like that saying about how a language is just a dialect with an army: once it's a recognizable brand in its own right it graduates from clone to competitor? I don't know, but at least now I'm pretty sure of the origin of the headmold.

Well, it's a big internet to google through. The search continues! (I feel like the host of an old-timey radio show when I write that... :D)

Camera and Clones (and Dreamhouse Midge)

Finally got some rechargable batteries and brought my old digital camera back from the dead. I haven't used it in years since I have (had!) my camera phone, and I don't remember what half of the buttons do, but somehow I feel a bit more confident messing around with it now. All the photos still turn out blurry and underexposed, of course, but you have to start somewhere. At least I have photo evidence of Dreamhouse Midge whom I got today!

Blurry, under-lit photo evidence.

I thought I was so careful, but I still managed to get one with unevenly rooted eyelashes! Typical. I find it hard to be too annoyed, though - she's still a very pretty doll.

quality control

Also found a few interesting looking old clone dolls at the thrift store. I have no idea who these girls are, but they remind me of something, perhaps vintage Steffi Love or '80s Petra. Maybe it's the bubble cut that makes them look more vintage, but I get the feeling they're fairly old (although probably not valuable). The best part is the chin which has a little dimple in it. The bodies are pretty awful and no parts seem to fit together. No stamp in the back or neck. The hands are tiny and the feet are weird and long.

Check out those shoulders!

There were two of these. This is the one with the bad hair...

...and this is the one with the good hair

The third doll has the same face mold but a very different look

(A few more pics @ my flickr, as usual.)

Check that chin!

Unknown articulated plus-size 1/6 doll (Simba Toys)

The truth is, I'm more or less obsessed with articulated playline bodies.

I remember how frustrating it was trying to make Barbie's stick-straight legs fit under her coffee table. I also remember the bright pink convertible my sister's Barbie drove had lots of leg room. Or rather, lots of empty space into which you had to wriggle the stiff legs before the doll could sit down properly. Good thing that car didn't need an engine. Tables are a whole different thing, though. More than one doll sitting around the table at once? Forget it. Sorry Ken, you'll have to stand.

Breakfast in the Roberts household in the '80s involved more careful logistical planning than in the early, unpatched version of The Sims 1, except at least Barbie wouldn't move around on her own and get stuck between the table and Sindy's empty cornflakes bowl, and then stand there shrugging her shoulders forever until you deleted the wall or something. (I'm sorry, if you've never played The Sims all that probably didn't make much sense.)

What I was trying to say is, I'm really happy there are more and more fashion dolls with articulaton around!

Although I realize articulated bodies of different brands have been around for years before Mattel's Fashionista body, I've been out of touch with the doll hobby for so long that I still feel like they're a rarity. Every time I find one I haven't seen before, my brains goes gotta catch 'em all, gotta catch 'em ALL!!!1 Fortunately, my brain also realizes I don't have a lot of money, which is why I do most of my doll shopping in thrift store. Also, that's where you can make the most unexpected finds. I usually find myself looking for dolls that are as far from the blonde Superstar-faced Barbies I grew up with: an interesting facemold, or an articulated body.

The doll I found yesterday has both.

Who's that girl???

Headless posing ftw

She came in something nice but ill-fitting. I'm trying to ID her, but no luck so far. The back of the head says Simba (no logotype), the body says MADE IN CHINA and is, as far as I can tell, identical to an old articulated Steffi Love body (good shots of it here) except for the torso, which I guess could be called plus-size (or rather, what passes for plus-size in the world of fashion dolls). I think she would take the same size as Mattel's Rosie O'Donnell. Flat chest, no waist, short neck. As far as I know there are just a few 1/6 scale female dolls with this body type, and here's one I hadn't even heard of! (Another annoying thing with '80s Barbies was trying to make clothes that fit their odd, angular hourglass shape.)

Stains!

For some reason her face seems really familiar to me, although I can't place it. It's definitely not the usual Steffi mold, that much I can tell. She has a wide nose and more marked folds by her mouth - I wouldn't call them wrinkles, but, you know, fashion dolls - and basically no makeup. The hair is mostly blonde but could pass as gray-ish.

My guess is she is someone's grandma or mum - did Steffi Love ever have family members? All I can find is a Kelly/Shelley clone little sister. I know Simba makes other dolls, but it seems to be mainly Disney characters and cartoony is the last thing this doll is. Possibly a short-lived line of "more realistic" dolls? Or it's a clone, although she seems pretty high quality for a knock-off. Well, the search continues...

and more stains

Unfortunately, the head has some bad staining. It's faint and not very visible in photos, but you can see it on the eye print. It looks like a kid doodled on it with an orange marker and it didn't wash off completely. Not entirely sure how to deal with that. I've had success with vaseline and a bright windowsill before, but I'm not sure how safe it is. (I know about Twin Pines, I just want to avoid shipping across the globe unless it's absolutely necessary.) Well, that's what Google's for.

Alright, so she's no Obitsu.

   

I'm really happy with this find: she has articulation, an interesting facemold AND an unusual body shape! Now I just have to find out who she is...

(As usual I took a lot of bad photos and dumped them all on Flickr.)