Barbie gets 18 points of articulation?! (links)

ETA: New pics! Looks like it's actually going to happen.

This almost sounds too good to be true, but apparently 2016 Barbie will have 18 points of articulation!

http://papusilemele.com/en/2015/09/17/2016-barbie-playline-dolls-and-sets-plus-new-body/#comments

Here's a proper photo:
https://www.facebook.com/TheDollGenie/posts/1005200856210614

I just saw this and haven't been able to find any other sources, so I have no idea how close to actually-going-to-happen this is. Not sure I'm a fan of those particular joint designs, but this might just be the prototype. Still, any articulation is good articulation in my book.

Oh, and apparently classic Sindy is being revived too!

WIP - wooden bjd joint

Ok. So. You know how I keep going on about articulation, and how affordable playline dolls keep dissapointing me. Well, why not make my own? I've tried sculpy and similar things before, but clay just isn't my thing (you poke one side of the head and the other side sticks out, what's up with that?). I'm pretty good with wood, though, so I though I might give it a try.

This was just to see if I could make a working joint. I just used a bit of scrap wood, it's not going to be a proper doll at any point. I'm not sure how I would make the torso yet, and either way I thought it was better to have the back open so I could see what was going on. There wasn't enough material to make room for proper hip joint sockets, so I can tell already the legs are going to be ridiculous, but it's worth making them anyway for the experience. The lack of material turned out to be an issue with the shoulder joints too (both arms are a different kind of compromise to make up for it).

The red flower bead thingy is just to keep the string in place. 

No photos (yet) because the video took up the last of my diskspace.

(Forgot to mention that I looked at this tutorial to get an idea of what goes where. I just googled "bjd making tutorial" or something and found this link list on bjd-wtf.livejournal. I haven't really dug through them all yet - there's a lot of info out there, and finding the perfect tutorial would probably be a project on its own.)

Director Barbie has ANKLE JOINTS!

Sorry, this is another post with no original content, but I just saw this: there's a new Barbie out and she has ANKLE JOINTS. Yes, I definitely think that's the sort of news that deserves all-caps - you know how I feel about articulation. She's called Film Director Barbie and from what I can tell the ankle joints seem to be all she has going for her: her arms lack articulation completely. Hmm. Not sure yet if I'll sacrifice a spot on my wishlist for her, or wait for a Barbie with ALL THE JOINTS.

Here's a good photo on Flickr of the ankle joints compared to a Disney Store doll.
Papusile Mele has a post with some promo pics too.

I quite like the design of the feet - they remind me of Simba's Super Model or female action figures: slightly curved, which allows the doll to wear both flats and heels without looking weird. This is in my opinion one of the downsides to Obitsu and Disney Store bodies: the flat feet. I realize that it contributes to the Obitsus' famed balancing skills, but it would be nice with a doll that looked good in slingbacks too. (Action figures of course may come with different pairs of feet, but for some reason Obitsu don't offer this option.) I've noticed that in the last years Mattel has updated their doll bodies with more realistic-looking features, and this seems to be part of that trend.

Disney Pirate Fairies & their knees

Rosetta! I only took this photo to point out how uncentered her pupils are, but now I can't be bothered to take a new one. Anyway, she has pointy ears!

The good news is that the articulated Disney Fairies by Jakks are finally available here. As soon as I spotted them I checked the online stores too - two stores that I know sell them didn't even have them on their site, while the third has them on sale?? Not sure whether that means they just arrived or they've been here a long time and I've just missed them (that's what I get for not spending every waking moment checking the webshop stock). Nevermind, I have a Pirate Fairy Rosetta now. :) The Pixie Party dolls seem to have been left out (we got the pirates and Stylin' something instead), otherwise I would've picked the Tink with the green shoes. On the other hand I really like Rosetta's dress. 

Pictured: articulation, barely

I'm glad I'd read the reviews beforehand, or else I would have thought there was something wrong with her knees. The articulation is ...barely there, really. This is as much as the knees would bend. 

And then there's that "knee cap", sticking out over the joint. It looks like the lower legs were pushed further into the socket than was intended, or maybe something went wrong at some point between design and manufacturing. The legs are pretty soft plastic, even the thighs, so I decided to boil them and take a look at the inner workings. 

To my relative surprise, the pins came out pretty easily - they do look like they might be designed to do that, but I don't think it'll work without heating first. 

ETA: yes, it works with the arms too! But you do need to heat them first (I used boiling water) so it's not as convenient as it could have been. Still, good to know!

The thighs seem to be pretty thick solid plastic, but a more handy person could probably make the holes less deep by drilling/dremeling them open and fill them in with hot glue. I don't know for sure whether that would work, and anyway I don't even have a drill, so I just cut away some plastic around the back of the knees. There's still some way to go, but it's much better. 

Pictured: articulation, kneecaps

Left: the thin edge of the knee socket deforms easily (temporarily), showing how soft the plastic is

One of last month's thrift store finds was a pretty nice Ariel doll whose head proved to be full of nasty glue (Mattel!!) so I'm keeping an extra eye out for that. There's no stickiness in the hair and the head doesn't feel hard, but there's a plastic smell that I've come to associate with the glue, so I'm a bit suspicious. The boots and plastic belt are a bit smelly too, but not the worst kind. ETA: Head seems glue-free! I took the chance to check when I removed it for a rebody experiment yesterday. Whew!

On that subject, when I cleaned out the fridge I found Ashlynn Ella's "glass" shoes, as stinky as ever. I finally decided to throw them away - I don't even want to be near them, and I don't feel ok donating them with god knows what chemicals leaking out of them. Oh well, I wasn't really a fan of the design anyway. 

Speaking of shoes, Rosetta's feet are smaller than I expected. Just a little too big for Fashionista shoes, but too small for Simba Super Model and definitely for MH and bratzillas. It's one of those weird inbetween-sizes. Then again, she's a fairy and probably doesn't need footwear except for when she's pirating. 

Clearance find: Justin Bieber playsets!

I'm not sure why, but when I got back into dolls as an adult I had some kind of idea that big toy stores only do well-coordinated, chain-wide clearance sales nowadays. Now it's slowly beginning to sink in that this is obviously not the case (see e.g. the legendary Dreamhouse Doll Deal of last month), and so I'm trying to keep my eyes a bit more open for unexpected offers. (This also means I feel like I have to check ALL! THE! TOY! STORES! lest I miss some once-in-a-lifetime deal, but I'm trying to keep those tendencies under control.)  

Anyway, yesterday I went to check if Big Well-Known Toy Store had any Bratzillaz fashion packs left, and came home with two Justin Bieber playsets instead! Not what I had planned, but the price was too good to pass up. Now, I'm about 20 years too old to have any interest in Bieber or his music, but if there's something I do like it's 1/6 scale props and dolls with articulation, and that's why I had been eyeing these sets for a while. I'm not sure where I saw these dolls first, perhaps in this photo story by Limbe Dolls. I thought the articulation looked promising, but perhaps not worth paying full price to get a closer look at.

(This is one of those long Fairy Tales About Shopping With Pictures so I'm putting it behind a cut.)

More on the new articulated Steffi Love

Alright, these are my thoughts on the new articulated Steffi Body. I've realized taking clear and informative photos is harder than it seems... These will have to do for now, though (I dumped the rest on my Flickr). Lots of text and photos of naked pink plastic ahead!

Steffi stuff!

All my loot from the big Steffi Love sale arrived and I've been meaning to write about it, but I want to take some photos first and I keep forgetting to charge the phone before it gets too dark, so that'll have to wait. Just a few quick observations:

• The articulated Steffi is very pink - or rather, normal Steffi pink. It might have worked with the head I had in mind, except:
• this body still has the old Steffi type of neck: a round knob with a molded plate on top. I'm not sure it can be modified to take a Barbie head (in contrast, Super Model has new plate-and-anchor construction which is more or less identical to Mattel's). Articulated Steffi will remain her own doll for now, until I decide whether I need her limbs for someone else.
• Poseability is basically like Fashionista but with a Liv-style waist instead. Plus for turning, minus for the usual visual weirdness.
• Elbow joint folds further than Fashionista. Not quite as much as Liv, but can at least attempt to cross arms over chest. Wrists don't bend as far, but that could easily be fixed.
• For some reason can't hold her arms straight out to the sides. It's either slightly up or slightly down. Odd.
• The clothes and shoes (3 pairs, PINK.) aren't much to write home about, except the pants which are simple but nice.
•  Ugly feet. The Super Star body wins that one. Actually, I can't think of any doll I own that has uglier feet than this body. 

Also I finally got the Scary Couple set, since it was half price, which is about what I feel they're worth. The only arrived today so I haven't had a chance to give them a thorough look yet - but if you're getting them, beware: they are both wearing dark clothing and both of mine had stains. The Kevin fortunately only had a couple light ones, but the Steffi had a few bad ones on her bendy gumby arms.

The good news is that her head seems to match Volks skintone quite well! I was going to rebody her anyway and was thinking of an Obitsu, but the normal/fleshtone is too pink and the neck is too narrow to look good. There's still the fact that her head has lots of space for the round knob, so the Volks neck connector doesn't quite reach the lip inside the head. I'll have to improvise a bigger adaptor, but that shouldn't be impossible.

Another articulated Steffi Love

Yes, another one - the new one! I stumbled across a local shop that has a huge online sale on their Steffi stuff. Perfect timing, since I'm not quite broke yet. Immediately ordered a doll with the new articulated body - the one that's basically the same Fashionista/Liv deal as the Super Model body, except full size (~29cm). The hands and feet on this one aren't as nicely sculpted, but in return she can wear the same shoes as the other dolls (or, at least she has more to choose from than her bigger-footed sisters).

I wish the set came with one of those mannequins, but no: you get a pink toy camera instead.

I'm curious about this one actually, since I'm hoping it cold be an alternative to Fashionista for rebodying older Barbies. Mattel's new tan caucasian skin tone is a bit more neutral beige than my '80s dolls', but I've noticed Steffi dolls tend to be more orange/pink in general. With Cool Kevin I kind of wished he wouldn't be quite such a bright shade of apricot, but he wasn't a body donor. Well, as usual we'll know when she arrives.

...It's funny, I always had Steffi Love down as a pretty boring clone doll - and now all of a sudden there's articulation everywhere, and I'm turning into quite the shill for Simba! The articulation thing probably shouldn't surprise me, since most doll manufacturers seem to have moved in that direction in recent years, but I'm certainly not complaining. :)

(Speaking of tan Caucasian: I'm trying to figure out whether Super Models Juls and Sarah have the same skin tone or not, but for some reason Juls always appears separately from the three in promo pics...)

DeeDee + Bel = ...Dee? BelBel? I have no idea

Still having a bit of computer trouble, so there won't be any pics today. BUT I think I have a body for DeeDee and I just had to share my joy. Super Model Bel by Simba Toys! Why they had to pick such a generic and ungoogleable name I don't know, but I did manage to find a couple of places that sell them. I wasn't sure but decided to take the risk (it was a good price and hey, worst case scenario I get a new complete doll) and I'm glad I did. The skin tone is very close, a better match than Diva on her Fashionista body, for example. This is a pretty short body, like MH or '80s Skipper, so I'll have to figure out what that means for her character.

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!