Featuring: Vintage Malibu Barbie (and her butt)

Oooki, hi. So recently I thought I'd branch out and attempt some fancy photography. Unfortunately I do not own a black box and I am not a photographer, so it was a little difficult. I didn't like shooting on a fabric background, because the wrinkles are incredibly apparent until photoshopped out. And photoshop takes time and the only computer in the house that has photoshop is shared between two other people... you see the dilemma. So instead of sitting on these photos forever, I thought I'd upload them as I become satisfied with them, even if it takes a lifetime.

Barbie, you look fabulous. This 1971's doll, a mod Twist n' Turn doll with what I believe is the Stacey head mold. She has the 1966 copyright marking on her back, and is marked Made in Japan. The fact that the waist twists at an angle as opposed to horizontally is one of the features that sets these older Barbies apart from the 90's and 2000's dolls with the 1966 copyright. The placement of the marking also makes clear this doll is an original, as the mark is on her butt as opposed to her back in the later dolls.

I found this Barbie on eBay with some extras for a low price in out-of-box but minty condition from a seller thinning out their collections. There is a dot of discoloration on her face, and a black spot or two on her legs, but those things aside, her condition is perfect. Her hair is perfect. *_* I almost can't believe it. Mostly because these days when people refer to a doll as one with "box-hair" it means that the hair is in bad shape from being tagged and pinned and rubberbanded to the box in a million different ways. Barbie also still has her sunglasses sewn into her hair, and I won't be removing them.

If you find great distaste with these photos... I'm sorry. I'm learning.

Peace out, girl scout,
-ER

Featuring: MLPEG Pinkie Pie

Hi! Today I got MLPEG Pinkie Pie basic in the mail, and thanks to our new position relative to the sun, it is 7:00pm and still light outside! So I took the opportunity to live blog my box opening on tumblr. (If you want a link to my tumblr, just ask me for it, but it won't link it here, because I don't want any young young children stumbling across that horrid pit of slime from my blog.) Below are screenshots of the event. Sorry, they're screenshots of iPad photos, so you knew the quality would be vile, but I promise Ponkie will get her time in front of the DSLR soon enough.

In the words of Fluttershy, "...yay!"

-ER

Ps. A Cleo showed up here the other day. Because I purchased her secondhand she did not come with her box. (I didn't want the Scaris Lagoona. Dat look is not for me.) However, here is a photo of her unpackaging:

Thank you, Natalie! She is perfect!

Featuring: Madame Alexander for McDonald's Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West

Watch me, I'll post twice in one day and then not again for a month. -.- Anyways, meet little Elphie.

Elphie is a McDonald's toy from a line created by Madame Alexander. The aesthetic makes that pretty obvious, and I've talked about her before in Witch Hunt 1.0. The cute little bento is from a Korean eraser pack I got while I lived in Singapore, and it's just about the right size for Elphie. c:

She's just a couple inches tall. I found her on eBay, used, for a couple dollars. The hair is a wirey mess, and she has a rub to her face paint on her left cheek. Oh yeah, and the seller failed to inform me of their smoking household, so I had to perfume poor Elphie when she got here. (Funny that I recieved a fancy $60 or so bottle of Coach perfume for Christmas, but so far I've mostly used it only to make used dolls smell better.) Yui is a giant compared to Elphie, and of course Yui needed in on the photoshoot. I was going to wait until her new pants and shirt and underwear arrive in the mail from Thailand before I revealed her new wig, but I fear they are lost in the mail and may take a while to show up. I did finally get her a wig cap! I am so happy that her hair doesn't slide everywhere now.

She had beddy-bye eyes and the cutest little expression. Even witches have to sleep sometimes.

"Get her off of me."

"Look, Eowphie! A buddafly!"

Yui is sporting Tipi's pajama top as a robe while she awaits her new clothes.

I can't believe I returned to windowsill photography. -.- Oh well, I actually ventured onto the front porch to photograph the Monster High girls this morning, so give me some credit. I tried a black box photography setup this afternoon, but the photos don't look very nice to me, so I'll have to work on that. At least now I've only got one more doll on the backlog to feature. ^^ 

Oops earlier I counted 6.5 hours when it was 8.5 hours because yay I'm bad at maths. But yeah. Ughhhhhhhhhh school tomorrow. Last quarter of high school. Leggo.

-ER

Featuring: Skull Shores Ghoulia and Skulltimate Roller Maze Frankie Stein

Ok, so whenI started this blog I decided I would post dolls in their order of arrival... But then I got Sophina and I got excited and skipped directly to her without passing go or collecting my $200 (which I could really use because ugh my collection still has a Kyu shaped hole in it). Anyways, I figured since I've already discussed the generalities of Monster high on this blog that I could double up and post my two favorite ghouls today.

Skull Shores Ghoulia. Perfect makeup. Her hair is a royal pain in the butt, but so worth it.

SKRM Frankie. Cutest MH doll ever, bar none. I love the colors in her hair, I love the cut of her bangs (I joke you not, I just got essentially the same haircut, just shorter), I love her makeup and her electrifying lips! Mine came with spots missing, boo, but I really don't care.

Boring-but-mandatory image of what came in their boxes. Either I'm crazy or Frankie didn't come with a brush. Boo again. Not that I actually use he hairbrushes for anything- only metal brushes will do for these haunt couture ghouls- but I like the electric green color scheme that is going on.

One piece! She came in a one piece! I love one piece swimsuits for dolls. Two pieces are just lazy and cheap.

Continuing modestly along, Ghoulia has chosen a cover-up sarong of sorts with... guts? brains? Very zombie of her. Her drippy bracelet (which one cannot remove without first removing her hands) matches her gory-geous shoes:

To die twice for, no? I ought to have held them up to the light for this image. The shoes are translucent!

She really looks like am old Holywiod starlet. I love the glittery eyes, classic red (and very full!) lips, and I think her expression stays pretty true to her webisode self. I've seen people call her sculpt haughty, but it's really not at all! She's just squinting because she is blind without her glasses!

Found 'em, Ghoulie! They were on top of your head the whole time. You've also got some... brains... in your hair.

Ah. Much better. Back to where they belong.

Frankie is a speed demon, and I owe her another photoshoot, because it was too windy out to get many good shots of her skating.

I love the nuts design and the cute little skeleton head design on her knee pads, but I wish I wish with all my heart to fly with dragons... cough... I mean gah I wish this was made into a romper. Who the heck skates in a dress? If I ever happen upon a second iteration of this dress... Me and a needle and some thread will have a job.

Oh yeah, Emily, backlight the opaque shoes. That's real smart.

Her shoes have her lightning bolt decal featured not only on the heel (um, wouldn't these be kinda dangerous?), but on the sides of the shoes and on her helmet as well. The shoe uppers are a very squishy rubbery plastic, and gah these tiny shoes are tempting me to purchase SKRM Operetta. But I won't. Maybe.

Happy last 6.5 hours of spring break. T.T

-ER 

Whhee ooh, the waaambulance is here.

Featuring: True Hope Moxie Girlz Sophina

Spring break is amazing. I cannot believe I convinced my mother to go to Toys R Us with me. Moreover, I cannot believe she actually offered to purchase a doll for me. I've been looking at Sophina online for a while. When I found out True Hope dolls were a thing I couldn't decide which I liked best. Between two doll lines (Moxie Girlz and Bratz) there are six dolls, of which two are male and four are female. I think the Moxie girlz clothing are more realistically child oriented as opposed to something you would find on the streets of New York. Not that I have anything against Bratz. They just rarely catch my interest.

It's coincidence that I recieved mail from St. Jude's on the same day I brought Sophina home. ^^ I'm a friend of St. Jude's n stuff. Actually, my dream job is to become a pediatric oncologist. These dolls make me really happy. Doll companies have a lot of power and can influence kids! And this is a way to provide influence for the good. Kids ought to have dolls that resemble them! I think this is awesome.

Heavy duty wrapping means heavy duty wreckage.

She has hearts in her eyes and hope for the future. c: My second cousin is a childhood cancer survivor and is... 13ish? years in the clear now. Also my aunt went into remission after Christmas. Doctors are wingless angels, tbh.

She comes with an extra outfit yay! I think it'll be shareable with other dolls.

Profile shot. She's very pretty.

Although she has a bit of unwanted residue on her back.

And some glue...

Nubbin feet. I didn't know Moxis had nubbin feet haha.

She rocks her socks! (And whatever else she wears.)

She also comes with a bracelet, which seems kind of pointless to me, but what do I know? Kid me probably would have loved it.

Sophina was $9.00 at TRU, but on sale for $7.2?ish+tax which means she came to $8.10, which is still a lot less than the $13.?? Amazon is asking. Also, $1 of the price is a direct donation to cancer research funding, which means... 8.1% of my purchase was a donation... which is I think the highest percent I've seen so far on this sort of thing. ^^

I love her. I want her and Frankie to be friends. Enjoy yalls' spring breaks!

-R

Featuring: Maudelynne Macabre of Tonner Dolls

Hello. I'm Maudelynne.

It's a bit too sunny out here, no?

The pun that is her last name cracks me up. Maudlynne is $34.99 + shipping right now. If you can hold out for holidays, http://www.tonnerdoll.com sometimes has stuff like 20% off or free shipping or both. She's currently billed as a "beginner collector doll," and can only be found online. Rumors are that in the future she'll be available to the masses.

I think she has 10 points of articulation. Below her chest is a side to side joint, her head rotates horizontally, but doesn't really go up and down, and she hasn't got wrist or ankle joints, which would be a nice feature to include in future dolls. Speaking of which, I believe they've announced that the Macabre line is being expanded and may include Maudelynne's ghost friend as well as other outfits.

She sits more politely than other dolls her size. Hi Tipi! ^^ Speaking of height, M is 15" ish I think. Tipi is 14"ishish.

Maudelynne came standing like this in her box. I really love her tights. They cover her feet and are a thick material. They are so cute and modest! Her dress is pretty and fits her eh gothic? style... (Someone stop me, I clearly am out of my realm talking about this.) She comes with little blue gloves that slide off really easily and on not so much. Still, the fingerless feature is intreauging! Her headband is cute and contrasts with the ribbon around her tiny tiny waist, but I wish I had read http://www.dollyconfessions.wordpress.com 's review before I unboxed Maudelynne, because I severed the plastic ties holding the ribbon on, and now every time I want her to wear it it becomes a bit of a tangle.

The problem with the pose above is bam, staining. I think it's on all the dolls. I love her all the same, though.

The lace is pretty detailed and in scale. There's ya joints.

Her shoes are very cute in design, but though they are stretchy, they don't actually have a lot of give. The shoes are white beneath the paint. How do I know this? Because of the hole in the top of her right shoe, and the gaping white holes that show when I try to remove her shoes or put them back on. I feel like these shoes could have been better executed. Still, cuuuute.

She always seems preoccupied with something. I can't find an angle where she seems to be looking at the camera. She's good at watching the clouds, though.

Look, that one is shaped like a vulture!

She's rather mischievous.

There isn't anything out there but a ditch.

She stole my drink to model with heh heh.

Dispite M's flaws, Yui likes M a lot, and I do too. c:

-R