myIDolls

This blog has gone sadly neglected lately, and I can only blame summer. (The internet tells me some traditions count June 20 as the first day of summer, but up here we're officially halfway trough already.)

Anyway, I just remembered I found these dolls on Facebook a while ago that I've been meaning to post about:

Meet myIDolls:

Photo by Jesper Persson (c) myIDolls, used with permission

MyIDolls were conceived by a Swedish mum as an attempt to offer more diversity than Barbie does, in terms of ethnicity, body type and gender expression, among other things. Check out their Facebook page or website (for English version, scroll waaaaay up and then click on the EN link in the right hand corner). They're still on the prototype stage, but you can sign up for updates on the homepage.

(behind a cut for anatomically correct doll nudity, just to be on the safe side)

Mixis Rosa, Zica Yvonne 1/8, and a new wooden bjd project!

Funny thing is, the reason I've been nonblogging lately is I've got too much I want to write about and can't decide where to start! As usual, I've dumped all my un-blogged-about photos on Flickr, so if you follow me there you're all caught up on my doll escapades.

This got a bit long so I'm putting it behind a cut.

Clone doll jewelry store play set (thrift store find)

The thing is, I've got a whole bunch of cool thrift store finds I've been putting off posting about, since all the photos I take somehow end up looking like crap. But in the end I decided this thing was too good to not share, so you'll just have to bear with me.

Ooh how exciting!

There's three separate pieces, I just pushed them together to fit in the frame.

It's some kind of... jewelry store? Beauty salon? Dressing room? I'm not quite sure actually, but it has so many of the things I love in doll furniture. Working lights! Oddly designed jewelry! Even more oddly designed compartments to hold the jewelry! Actually sort of looks like a believable room! This is probably the best thing I've found in a long time in a thrift store - and it was reasonably priced, too! (I will never understand their pricing policy, in fact I don't think it can ever be comprehended by any human mind.)

Oh yeah, working lights:

For once the awful lighting conditions work in my favor!

It's those two things by the mirror - I forgot to take a close-up, but they're like little sconces with facet cut "glass" shades. Very tasteful! I'm thinking the mirror section could actually look great on its own in a dollhouse or diorama.

For a sale, it's surprisingly tidy.

There's all sorts of weird jewelry: a couple of tiaras, necklaces, different kinds of Also there's a bag that doesn't open and a pair of fake human-size make-up brushes (one of which are missing in this picture). Why? Who knows. They remind me a bit of the fake make-up set I had as a child: a white and pink compact with plastic squares in different pink shades to rub the little plastic brush on. At the time I think I was vaguely annoyed that it was such a pointless toy (it could have had watercolor in it at least!), but as an adult I love weird fake toy versions of real things. There's also that golden comb, and that... bottle-looking thingy, which I think is supposed to be a perfume bottle? Except the carefully designed compartment has it placed upside down, plus it opens in half but it doesn't seem to be actually good for anything. I've decided it's actually a hip flask, for the poor unfortunate soul that gets dragged along to watch you try on jewelry for hours.

The jewelry itself isn't actually super useful: personally I'm not a fan of this kind of fantasy style 1/6 jewelry, and the shape of the necklaces is a bit off (or made to fit a particular clone doll?) so they don't always lie flat around the doll's neck. But there's one or two I like, and the earrings with the green jewels (well, stickers) are pretty cute, although I'll have to double-check the pins for sharp plastic edges that could tear the earholes before I use them on a doll.

Another fun feature is that the hair clips come with replaceable parts, for whatever reason. It is a pretty odd choice, and it makes them extra big and clumsy, but I like the idea in all its ridiculousness.

Why? Well, why not?

Also, all the little jewelry parts have their own little place that's made just for them, except they're designed more for show than for convenient storage, which is one of those typical breaks in realism you get with this kind of playline furniture. It does make it pretty easy to determine exactly what's missing, though.

As usual, I marvel at the fact that pretty much all the accessories are still there. There's only one or two missing - yes, I know there's more missing in the picures, but that's because I lost them while I was unpacking, cleaning and setting it up to take the pictures! And I still haven't found the little pink clothes hanger you can see in the first picture. So no, I don't really understand these children who don't lose their toys, but I will be forever grateful to them for eventually donating the intact playsets to goodwill, giving me a chance to lose the little earrings instead. Thank you, whoever you are!


I don't have a definitive ID yet, but I actually came across a picture of a very similar set completely by accident. This is by toomanypictures1/Susan Hall on Flickr:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/smh223837/5701601284/

It's basically the same set, but a slightly different version: mine doesn't come together into one unit like this, and instead of the floor thing each separate section has its own lavender-colored socket. Someone in the comments suggests it's from a clone doll line called Fashion Corner/Lucky Dolls, but I haven't been able to google up any useful info on them. Come to think of it, I feel like I've seen a similar set sold for Jenny or Licca dolls, but I may be mistaken. Anyway, if you know where it's from I'd appreciate any info.

This "C&M" stamp on one of the necklaces is the only marking.

(There's a couple more photos at my flickr.)

Dollmore 12'' Basic Gem BJD-ish ABS body (a review, kind of)

Well, I was going to post about a bunch of interesting thrift store stuff from the last two weeks or so, but then my Dollmore package arrived and sort of took precendence. This is the first strung doll I own that I haven't made myself, and one that doesn't seem to be very popular - or at least not widely blogged about in any language I read, so I thought I might as well give her a proper introduction.


So: Dollmore Neo Gem 12'' ABS fashion doll, strung and ball-jointed but ...doesn't qualify as a proper BJD according to hobby purists, apparently? Actually, I'm not even going into that discussion. For the purpose of this blog and my collection, this is a BJD - although not a very good one, that much I'll admit. We'll get there in a minute.

Dollmore free shipping February

Not sure if anyone is interested, but I just found out completely unexpectedly that Dollmore are offering free shipping this month. As you may know, ABJDs aren't my cup of tea - BUT this company also makes a relatively affordable 12'' doll in ABS plastic which has more fashion doll-like properties, except ball-jointed, and which has been on my imaginary wish list for the last year or so. I figure at some point I should probably own a proper ball-jointed doll, to see how they work and learn about stringing and things, and this one seems like a good 1/6 option.

I'm not sure yet if I'll be able to squeeze this into my doll budget (excluding pretty much everything else) before the month ends, but I hope so. You can get the body without a head too, so I'll probably do that and maybe keep an eye out for future promoes in case I decide I really want the head. Otherwise I'll try to find another head for it, although I'm not sure how the connector would work or if any of my floating heads would fit the style, not to mention the complexion. Trying to match skin tones from various photos is really frustrating, and with an investment like that I don't want to guess, so I decided to be clever and order two pairs of flat feet - which I'll need anyway - in each skin tone. Of course I'll end up with a pair of feet I don't need, but it's better than picking one blindly. Plus I ordered a bunch of tiny S-hooks which I haven't been able to find in hardware stores and which I'm certainly not going to pay x10 times their price in shipping for.

ETA: found some comparison pics of the 12'' Gem doll and Barbie. I'm not sure, but going by the outfit she comes in I think that's the doll with the darker skin tone (which is considerably lighter than most Barbies, like with Obitsu).

Pony World doll + outfit

Since I can't take any new photos, this might be a good time to post a few old ones I never got around to show you. This was a complete impulse buy from a tiny online shop/cheap toy outlet barn I stumbled across while googling for some doll or other. Pony World jointed female western riding doll + male doll riding outfit. I've never heard of the brand before and google only turned up a couple of hits - a good reason to blog about it, I thought.
(These are just the pics I took while deboxing. A couple more can be found at my flickr.)

YEEE-HAH!

Back of the box. I think the guy in the cab is wearing this outfit.

Male rider outfit, sans packaging material

They were really cheap even with shipping, so I got two of each just in case. The outfits had some interesting details, and I wanted to see what the joints on the dolls were like. And of course I always find a non-smiling facemold worth adding to the collection. Maybe it's because I grew up in the '80s, when the Superstar mold and big toothy grins were the norm, but I usually prefer the more serious-looking faces. I think I've mentioned Diva was my favorite doll as a kid: she had that almost-smile that made her look thoughtful, almost melancholy, and set her apart from the others.

Looks ok, right? Well, unfortunately that's just the lighting...

...THIS is what they really look like.

 

Anyway, getting back to the present: I don't think I realized from the pictures how ORANGE these dolls are. Steffi Love and Teen Betty have nothing on the cowgirl twins here. The body is basically a gymnast Barbie clone, but with slightly smaller flat feet plus the hands are made for holding stuff, like reins or the riding crop that came with the outfit. The material is shiny hard plastic, except for the forearms. (It's all the same shade of bright orange, though.) So yeah, rather cheap and awful bodies, unfortunately, but they do look like they could look fairly realistic on horseback, so there's that. (I haven't bothered to dig up my Barbie horses to try it.)

Boots and men's jodhpurs modeled by Liv

Both the female dolls and the male outfit came with the same boots. I now have 4 pairs of these. God knows when I'll use them. They're made of that thin, stiff plastic and fairly ugly. They're too small for all my male dolls, but the more big-footed girls like Liv and the Super Models can wear them and have plenty of room to tuck in the legs of the pants. Annoyingly enough, the real gymnast Barbie body's feet are too long to get through the

The girls came in a western outfit. The jeans are a pretty loose fit and unfortunately full of surplus dye, so I don't think I'll risk using them very much. Too bad, since my dolls have way too few jeans.
Both outfits come with chaps of different types. I don't know how authentic they are, but they look pretty cool. They're pretty simple, made of a slightly stiff fabric that I guess is meant to be imitating suede.

 

 

The shirt (which is attached to the underwear to form that special type of riding garment, the name of which I haven't been bothered to google) is perhaps my favorite part of the female outfit, although it could be a bit smaller. Most female dolls drown in it, but it's big enough for the more generously endowed Volks EB-Beauty E-type. It aaaalmost fits Ken too (but doesn't quite close in the back of the neck), in case he needs to dress up for some reason. The red ...thingy is made of the same suede imitation fabric as the chaps and looks like it might stain, so I'll snip it off in case I wash the shirt.



Oh, and of course there's the hats! Riding helmets for the gentlemen, classic cowboy hats for the ladies. They're flocked black plastic and pretty big, a good size for Ken or girls with lots of hair. Nothing special perhaps, but a pretty cool accessory (Gangnam Style, anyone?).

 

The men's outfit fits Ken, or at least my cheap unarticulated Shaving Fun Ken. It's a bit small for Simba's Kevin. I had high hopes for the jacket as the most useful piece. It's pretty thick cotton and contained a surprising amount of tan dye. Unfortunately it tends to fray at the seams, or at least it did after I washed it rather carelessly. It's a bit tight on Ken, and the sleeves are too short. Isn't that often the case with cheap doll clothes? I haven't seen a good picture of the male dolls from Pony World, so I don't know how it looks on them.

 

Flexible riding crop! Not much else to say about that. (Except possibly YEEE-HAH!)

So, there you have it. If for some reason you come across these exact toys, you are now in a better position to make an informed decision as a consumer.

Janet (on a Liv body) wore it best.

Further adventures in image editing

Still working on trying to turn my shoddy cell phone photos into glamour shots, using the magic of a free image editor. I'm not sure I'm ready for that internship at Vogue quite yet. (Notice how they all have different contrast and color balance!) Better than what I started out with, though.

Baby's First Frankendolly Project! (Thrift Store Find)

I've come to the conclusion thrift stores here restock on Mondays. The last few times I've had a chance to do my little round to my favorite places has always been a Monday, and I've found much better stuff than I used to. Yesterday's finds resulted in some interesting - and successful! - frankendollying.

Sisters?

Found these two at the same place. Stamp in neck says TOP-TOY, but I haven't bothered to try and ID them yet (although some quick googling told med TopToy owns Toys'R'Us ETA: sorry, I can't read - they run the Scandinavian branch of Toys-R-Us, apparently, plus some other toystore chains, so that should narrow the search a bit). Gymnast style articulation, yay! 

Different feet

At first I thought they had the same body and was going to pick the best one, but then I noticed a few differences: one has flat "gymnast feet", while the other's are smaller and slightly ...arched, I guess? - and, most importantly, only one of them has articulated arms! And of course she's also the one with a badly yellowed torso, floppy joints and a cracked thingh... 

-Quit hogging the camera!
-Shut up, she needs a close up of the elbow joint!

HOWEVER, I also noticed the joints were basically just a plastic plug through a hole... Hmmm! I've never done any doll surgery besides a few head swaps (funny how when it comes to dolls, a brain transplant is the least complicated procedure), but this felt like a good project for a beginner. I bought them both (two sets of clothing, yay!) and headed home for some frankendollying.  

Shoulder pin on its way out

The plan was to take the articulated arms from the bad body and put them on the good body. Seems pretty easy, right? Well - actually, it... was.

I mean, talk about anticlimax - frankly, I was expecting at least some kind of disaster. But no: just push the plugs out with something hard and pointy (required some force at an awkward angle, but nothing worse), put good arms on good body, align the holes of the shoulder joint, and just ...pushing the pin back in again. That's it, that's all it took. I don't think I've ever seen joints this user modder-friendly!

Well, I took some pics of the process, so I might as well share them:

The crochet needle was the right size for pushing the pins through.

Arms, pins, shoulder socket

-Well, so long sis, I'm off with your arms!
-What th- HEY! COME BACK HERE!!

...and ta-daa! One non-yellowing doll with fairly tight joints and pretty good articulation! The articulated arms are not matte like the rest of the body, and have a slightly more yellowish tone, but it's hardly noticable. Originally I had planned to put the unarticulated arms on the donor doll and give her back to goodwill, but she's in pretty bad condition so I'm not sure it's worth it. I'll probably keep her for spare parts, in case I need some flat feet or something.

JUST YOU WAIT! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!!!

...on second thought, I'm not sure I dare to keep her around!

Blouse?

Sketching on a blouse for the mystery lady. Something loose and elegant. Not that I need another project, but she's too big for most of my doll clothes and I have this really nice fabric that I've been meaning to do something with for ages. 

Sketchin'...

The end result will probably not look this nice, but I can hope.

Cool Kevin is here! - Some kind of review

Kevin, looking cool in his shiny box

Well, Cool Kevin arrived a couple of days ago and I've been planning to write something about him. At first I thought of doing a proper review à la Toybox Philosopher, but since Kevin doesn't seem to be available or well known outside Germany/continental Europe (and those who live there are probably familiar with him already) I'm not sure there's really a need. Still, I took a billion photos so I might as well post them. :) Nude male dolls ahead! (Blurry and badly lit, too!)

Rockers DeeDee, All American Barbie (thrift store finds)

Monday's find turned out to be quite a mystery. No luck with ID'ing her so far. In the meantime I'll post about my other finds.

Yesterday I had to go into town again, and took the chance to have a second look at two Barbies I passed on last time. What makes thrift store shopping so exciting (and frustrating) is you never know what you'll find, and you don't know if it'll still be there when you come back, but yesterday I was in luck. (Warning: terrible photos ahead.)

 

I thought her big hair and lime green eye-shadow seemed familiar, and I was right: she's a second edition Rockers DeeDee from 1986 (known as Rock Stars in Europe). I've had Diva for 25 years so this will be a long awaited reunion. Her face mold is the Spanish Barbie mold from 1983 (inner rim says 1982). She's quite unique, a bit like a mix between the Steffie and Teresa head molds.

Head and hair is in pretty good shape, but the legs are sticky and horrible. Probably just as well nobody bought it for their kid. My new project is hunting down an articulated AA body for her. Unfortunately the only one sold here afaik is Fashionistas Artsy/Nikki, and I'm not sure she's a match. (Yes, I'm bringing DeeDee's disembodied head with me for comparison next time I'm at the mall.)

As we speak I'm about half-way through disentangling the hair - it's in good shape and I'm sure it'll look great when it's finished. I'm using lots of conditioner - some warn against it and recommend fabric softener, some say the opposite. I figure you can't do much harm to a 25 year old doll and go with the one that doesn't require gloves.

This one still has her original jewellery - just look at it, it's so 90s! The hair looked like it could be fun too. I'm pretty bad at telling hair fibres apart, but at least I'm sure it's not nylon. It's light and fluffy, more dull than shiny and almost wool-like. Well-worn kanekalon? I'll go easy with the hot water to be on the safe side.

I figured googling "barbie earrings pink triangles" would be the easiest way to ID her, but before I even got the chance to do that, I managed to stumble across these photos of a Teresa wearing some very familiar looking earrings. All American Barbie! The home-made dress is pretty cool too, but I still wish I had some stone-washed jeans for her...

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.)

Sneakers that fit Liv: Only Hearts Club

They were selling the last Only Hearts Club dolls for 50% off, so I thought "why not?". (And although I know perfectly well why not, I went ahead and bought one anyway.)

They're poseable cloth body dolls and the little booklet calls them "wholesome" and "age-appropriate" several times. I think the target group is "parents who want wholesome dolls for their kids", which ...isn't really me (and the way I remember it, Barbie's relative lack of "wholesomeness" and "age-appropriateness" was the whole point for me as a kid), but I read The Toybox Philosopher's review and thought the realistic face sculpt was pretty cool, and I so wanted one for the collection.

Yes yes, but what about the sneakers?!?

She doesn't fit very well with the rest, though, and I haven't decided what to do with her yet (keep as is? Rebody? Pass on to my friend's kid when she's old enough?) BUT I did discover that she comes with very nice sneakers that look really good on Liv! Liv has sneakers of her own, of course, but they're hard plastic and pretty clumsy (the pair I have and the ones I've seen). These are squishy rubber and pretty realistic!

Left: Liv, Right: Only Hearts Club. The pink sneakers are Liv's.

If I get around to buying more shoes for the Liv body, I think I'll try to find another pair of OHC shoes rather than some of Liv's own. There are a few OHC fashion packs on the 'bay (although nobody offers reasonable shipping to faraway exotic EU at the moment). I'm not sure whether the other shoes would fit, but a few of them come with sneakers in different colors (seems like the same model, though). These have pink yarn for shoelaces that unfortunately has stained the rubber and the doll's feet a bit, but a white pair should be safe.

They're so wholesome they don't need pants!

Canvas sneakers for Ken!

When I said I would scale down on the doll stuff shopping, I didn't include shoes!

 

I've wanted these canvas sneakers for a while. Originally I wanted red, but then GoodStuffToGo had the blue version for about half price (closing sale! :( ). There is a male and female model, but they're action figure sized, and according to the pictures I saw the male shoes are HUGE even for action figure shoes. The female model is about 4 cm and looked like it might fit Ken or other male fashion dolls.

They come with a bag and box, which I knew would probably get beat up in the mail, but I don't care. It's patina!




The socks have pretty thick printed strips that stretched and cracked a bit when I pulled them over Liv's heels. Ken doesn't need them, but they fit Monster High pretty well!

(Cheap unarticulated Ken, but I think the feet are the same, more realistic mold as, say, Fashionista.)


Some random comparisons:


Action Man's and Triad Omega's feet are too wide!


Ballerina Barbies feet are too small!


Compared to the "micro sneakers" for fun.


Some of the eyelets don't line up. Also I think the skull logo ended up on the wrong side, but I can live with that. I looked, and the logo seems to be exactly where intended, although I have to wonder if it wouldn't look better placed on the other side? The glue residue looks bad but that's mainly due to the camera settings.


These would probably fit more 1/6 scale male fashion dolls if they weren't so narrow! Is it just me or do action figure shoes generally have a pretty odd length/width ratio? They always make the feet look super long.

Re: scaling, I remember reading a complaint somewhere about the neck on the Omega body being too long. Someone suggested this was deliberate, to allow for several layers of clothing made of not-quite-1/6-scale fabric without making the neck look too short. That's actually pretty good thinking: some things need to be tweaked in order to look good in 1/6 scale, and I'm wondering if there could be a similar reason for the extra-long and narrow shoes. Can't think what it might be, though, but someone who owns more than three action figures might know?




These are probably the nicest shoes any of my dolls own. I kind of wish I had bought two pairs while I was at it, but like I said they only had blue left and I've only got one doll who can wear them anyway... I might save up for a red pair from the Bay of E sometime, though.