Newest Fashion Dolls

 

Barbie Mermaid and Fashionistas #215, given new bodies - BMR 1959 and MTM.

Dolly Dress-up

My Dolly Accomplishment For The Day

I finally managed to replace my Black Widow doll’s body with a more articulated one from the blue top Barbie Made To Move, first wave.

I gave her costumed body to the head from the light blue top Made To Move, first wave.

Making time to do anything doll-related has become difficult.  I’m happy I was able to do this. 

New dollies!

I usually stalk Amazon Warehouse Deals for reduced doll prices.  Sometimes, I get lucky and sometimes I lose out, if I wait too long to place the order.

~ o0o ~

I was so happy to see DC Super Hero girls 12" doll prices close to US$10.00.  I already have Poison Ivy and Bumble Bee and wanted to get a different doll, mostly for her body (I was waiting for the WWE Superstars Fashion dolls to drop in price, but their prices aren't going down low enough for me).  I chose Katana because I didn't have her skin tone.

When she got here, I fell in love with her face and hair, even thought I don't like her mask.  I thought I might be able to remove the mask and searched online and found this photo from Bubbles C. on Flickr.  So, it can be done and I will be trying it.

I don’t know why it took me so long to decide on which Disney Moana I wanted.  I'm so glad I got the Hasbro one, even though she has no wrist joint. She has knee joints!  She's so cute!  I think I want another one.

 

~ o0o ~

I love tiny dollies and wanted to try one of the Barbie On The Go mini dolls. There are single dolls and dolls with motorised accessories, a horse, a car and a scooter. The singles cost much more on Amazon, than on Mattel's website, so I was happy to see this one with the scooter on Amazon at nearly the same price as the singles on Amazon. Plus, I love bikes and scooters.

I was a little concerned when taking her out of the package that her head looked loose and was knocking against the plastic.  When I took a closer look, I realised that she has a bobble head!

Wheeeeeeeeeeee!

~ o0o ~

While doing a 'doll' search on Amazon, I came across The Kruselings dolls.  I searched online and found these links:

• About the Kruselings - Guardians of the dreams from Axis Toys
• Kruselings - Guardians of the Dreams video
• Muñecas, Poupees, and Dolls review
• Sonja Hartmann the Kruselings' designer on Instagram 
• Kruselings Dolls on Instagram 

In addition to being cute, they’re articulated!  Amazon only had the boy, Michael, as a single doll, and Luna and Chloe in separate clothing sets.

The doll and clothing combination sets cost a lot more than the single doll.  I really only wanted the singles - Michael, Luna and Sofia.  The single dolls were all available from a marketplace seller, but I prefer to purchase from Amazon, so I decided to take the Luna set and the single Michael from Amazon. 

Luna and her magic telescope

Michael and Luna

Michael, Luna and Moana checking out the telescope

I'm looking forward to photographing outdoor adventures with these cuties.

Stop Motion Fun

Playing with Cinderella and a Stop Motion app on my iPhone.

Disney Star Wars Elite Forces Premium Action Figures

I got these 10” action figures (on sale) from disneystore.com, after checking out several reviews on YouTube.  

Of course, our local customs had to put their own (higher) value and ignore the invoice that was included in the box.

I have not seen any of the newer Star Wars movies, so I’m not familiar with these characters.

Here are: Director Krennic, Jyn Eros and Rey.

I like that their clothes are not molded on and some of their accessories look really cool.  

Look at this bag!

I’m anxious to see their articulation.  I’ll open them up and share my findings.

1997 Barbie Rapunzel

I've have had my blonde Barbie Rapunzel since the '90s and have kept her because of her lovely face.  

A few years ago, I swapped her head to a Twirling Ballerina Teresa body and imagined her as a ballet dancer/teacher. 

Earlier this year, I swapped her to a Made To Move body and put Teresa back on her ballerina body.

Last month, I ordered a secondhand AA version of Rapunzel on Amazon.com. 

She is as beautiful as I thought she would be.

I had a little fun playing 'Franken-Rapunzel' with her crown.  It was secured to her head with pegs that I had to cut off to remove the crown.

The colour difference between her head and her body is noticeable in this photo.

Now that I had her, it was time to search for a matching articulated body.

Comparing her body to the dolls that I had, yellow MTM and Lt. Uhura were too light.  My curvy  Barbie The Look, just looking at her face, also looked too light.  My other options that were a close match to Rapunzel's body were:

From left to right - MH Clawdia (with another doll's head), 
Disney Classic Princess Tiana (with EAH Justine Dancer head), 
DC Super Hero Bumble Bee and So In Style Baby Phat Kara.

I found that I didn't like Clawdia's and Bumble Bee's body proportions for Rapunzel and Clawdia seemed too dark anyway; Tiana's knees and ankles are not stable; Kara is currently too elusive/expensive.

I really didn't want to use Bumble Bee's body, so I took another look at my curvy The Look girl.  I took a photo with flash to show the differences in the skin tones of Bumble Bee, Rapunzel and The Look. 

Bumble Bee looked too dark, so I definitely wasn't going to use her.  The Look's head appeared to be lighter than her body, but her body matched perfectly with Rapunzel's head. 

So here she is. My curvy Rapunzel.

I wouldn't have thought that the same body would look so good with different heads.

Ken Body Swap

When Princess Power Reporter Ken first came out in 2014, I ordered him right away.  He is the only Ken I've purchased, I think, since 1997.  I liked his look (the spectacles and shirt and tie outfit) but not his stiff body.

I've swapped heads on lots of barbies but never tried it with Ken, because of his neck.   I already had the Divergent and Hunger Games guys, so I knew I could use their articulated bodies,  but I wasn't ready to take the chance until two months ago.   After confirming that Finnick's skin tone matched Ken's, I got another Finnick.  I didn't build up the courage to do the swap until last week, though.

Finnick is now wearing Ken's body.  His head is loose, but Ken's head sits firmly and doesn't move up and down.  He is taller.

"Hello!"

I'm happy with him. I wish more articulated bodies were available in other skin tones.

Importation frustration.

I understand that Customs have to check items to ensure that they are what the invoice says they are, but why oh why, can't they be more CAREful with small delicate items?

I opened my EMS package from Japan in the same position that our local Customs officials did - at the bottom of the box, where they re-sealed it with boxing tape and an 'inspected' label.

I was flabbergasted when I lifted the box flaps to see one of the three bagged figures, cut open and the figure nearly half-way out of the bag.

I became even more distressed after noticing that the left foot was missing. I realised that I to be careful about moving around the contents of the box because of the tiny size of the foot. I scanned the plastic bag and was happy to see it wedged between the figure's right hand and thigh.

After inspection, why didn't they just tape the bag closed?

Get Real Girls Reboot!

I came across this project on kickstarter.com:
 
Get Real Girl: Sport action figure/dolls empowering girls

It's 2017!

 

Season's Greetings for 2016!

More Ruruko Play

The perils of trying on clothes.  You end up wearing underwear that don't belong to you.  The bows are so cute, I couldn't resist snapping her pic.

I think the underwear belongs to Ambivalent Girl Momoko.  The top is from a set I got from Amazon last year for Best Friends 4 Ever dolls (I don't have  the doll, but found the clothes to be cute and the price affordable).

Before I start sewing for Ruruko, I wanted to see what clothes and shoes I had on hand that would fit her.  In the photo above, she's wearing shoes from Stacie and friends from the Pizza Party line.

These are some ballet shoes that I've had for a while.  The blue ones and the pink ones on the outer left are too small.  The cream pair on the right is too big and the pink pair, one away from the left fit perfectly because they are soft.  The ribbon is too big and too long, though.

I can't remember whose shoes these are, but they are soft and fit snugly.

**Edit: Ms. Leo has advised that these light coloured purple shoes belong to my Happy Family grandmother!  Thanks, Ms. Leo.

These are Kelly's slippers.

I think these are Stacie's also.

I found Polly Pocket Stacie and Janet outfits.  Here she's wearing Janet's all-in-one shorts outfit and Teen Skipper's jelly sandals (They are a little long in the toe area) and taking Barbie's dog for a walk.

This is an outfit for a Kid Kore doll (Stacie size).  There's an overskirt, fanny pack and cap to go with it.

Looking mature in Disney V.I.P. Chyna Parks' top and white tights.

 These boots also belong to Chyna Parks.  I removed Lorinda's feet and stuck her legs into the boots.

Trying on Jazz Baby's top and Ambivalent Momoko's shorts.  Both were too big, but the cumberbund fit.

Posing in Hottiez Asiana's top and jeans (waaaay too long!).