Bye Bye Blog

“Bye bye blog
Bye bye happiness
Hello loneliness
I think I'm-a gonna cry.”

No, not really.

This is my last post for this blog series. I have actually really enjoyed having carte blanche to write about one of my favorite topics. To be able to write at great length and detail about any aspect of doll collecting has been a lot of fun. In my former work life, I did not really get to tap into the creative side of me, so this has been a great experience.

I have reflected on my history with miniatures these past ten weeks. My first recollections were not from my childhood, but my teenage years when I admired lighted Christmas ceramic buildings from the Department 56 collection. I started to collect these in earnest when I got my first full time job.

My interest in miniatures veered off in a new direction, when I started paying attention to Barbie in my search for toys for my niece. This is when my interest in fashion dolls, their clothing, and their accessories started to develop. I discovered Etsy, an online marketplace where people sell and buy handmade items. I have purchased many clothing items for 11 inch dolls on Etsy. This is also where I found a source of miniature foods. I devoted an entire blog post to the various miniature foods I bought on Etsy, posting pictures of little desserts and Asian food items. In essence, I got to experience the details of them all over again. This was nice because my miniature foods are all stored in a drawer right now so I haven’t looked at them in a while.

I opened up my very first blind boxes. I shared this experience in a blog post and posted pictures of which Hallowe’en Hello Kitty figurines I got in my “mystery mini” adventure.

I discussed doll photography, some of my favorite websites, and also my favorite YouTube toy reviewers. The Internet is a place where one can find not only many other people who share the same interests but also various ways of indulging in and exploring these interests. I discovered an online community and also a new lingo for doll lovers.

I devoted three entire blog posts to the dolls I gifted to myself for my birthday. Talk about indulgence! Once again, writing about all these dolls was a way of experiencing them all over again.  I commented on each and every mini Lalaloopsy doll I own, posting pictures, and discussing why I liked these particular dolls. I also shared pictures and descriptions of dolls I have from Integrity Toys. Once again, this was a nice thing since these three dolls are all still in their boxes. I was forced to open up the boxes to examine them some more.

Perhaps I will be able to find a job where all I do is write about dolls all day long.

I wish.

 

Happy Birthday to me - Part 3

This will be the last post on my birthday haul. I was excited to write this post because it gave me a good excuse to re-open up the boxes for these two dolls.

These dolls are from the Dynamite Girls line from Integrity Toys http://www.integritytoys.com/page/landing . In addition to my Tulabelle doll (described in my previous post), I still haven’t actually removed them from their boxes yet. You might ask, “What is the point of buying them if you're not going to take them out and enjoy them?” I agree with your line of thinking. I just haven't found a good place to display them yet. I am a little short on space at the moment.

Compared to Tulabelle, I would say that the Dynamite Girls have a more youthful look and playful fashion style to them. Here is their write-up on the Integrity Toys website http://www.integritytoys.com/page/brands/name:dynamite_girls :

“The Dynamite Girls are fun, fabulous collector quality fashion dolls created in 2007 by Integrity Toys.  These cuties live in a world of candy-colored, retro inspired styles, influenced by current trends and pop culture. The line was created to showcase a more playful side to collecting fashion dolls.”

The first Dynamite Girl I will describe is named Holland.

 

 
You can view a video review of Holland on Mike N` Elio’s YouTube channel, which I mentioned in a previous blog post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xy6qzxXyOQ .

Holland has rooted eye lashes and gorgeous strawberry blonde curly hair. I have not seen this subtle hair color very often in dolls. Her makeup is made up of very pale shades of pink. Her eyes are painted such that she is looking off to the side. What I love most about this doll are the many items of clothing that she comes with. She is wearing a belted dress that is patterned with swirly ribbons of pink. She is also wearing finely meshed pink tights. Underneath her dress she is sporting a turtleneck. What is best about her clothing is the articles of winter wear. I do not have many dolls with winter clothing. She has a jacket made of turquoise vinyl and green fur material. Her boots are high heeled with fur trim and silver button accents.  
 
The second Dynamite Girl is named TJ.

TJ has dark hair that is styled in a high pony tail. She has rooted eyelashes. Her eye makeup consists of vivid colors of purple, blue, and green. Her lips are a dark brown-red. Like Holland, she comes with many articles of clothing. She is wearing a collared lime green blouse that is closed with button snaps down the front. On top of her blouse she has a dark pink v neck sweater. Her skirt has a similar pattern to that of Holland’s dress. The pattern is of swirling ribbons but in this case, the ribbons are in shades of blue. She is wearing dark pink tights with a larger mesh pattern than that of Holland’s tights. Once again, the best thing about her outfit is the winter wear. She has a white jacket with fully functioning zipper. The hood of the jacket has black fur trim. Her black boots are high- heeled and accented with silver buckle straps.

Both of these dolls are fully articulated and come with stands. The posing possibilities are endless.

Looking at these dolls once again, I am very pleased with my choices. I look forward to having them dressed in different ways and having them swap outfits. A bonus is that they are similar in size to certain types of Barbie dolls so there is wardrobe sharing potential in this too. Maybe one day I’ll have time to actually take Holland and TJ out of their boxes and enjoy them the way they should be enjoyed.

Happy Birthday to me - Part 2

I will now describe the second part of my birthday bonanza. These toys are more of the fashion doll variety than the Lalaloopsy dolls I wrote about in my previous post. All three of these dolls are from the Integrity Toys line http://www.integritytoys.com/page/landing . If you ever look at doll photography, it will be most likely these types of dolls that are featured in the photos. To be honest, I had seen a lot of the Integrity dolls but had never quite been taken by then. It was more than just the price level but also that the dolls often had a severe look to them. I did not find their appearance appealing.

One day I came across Poppy Parker. Now this was a beautiful doll. There are many Facebook pages devoted to posting pictures of this doll. There are many versions of her with different hairstyles, face paint, and clothing. But in all these version, she has that distinctive whimsical look to her. Poppy Parker is from a past era, the 1960s, and her style displays this. If there was any doll from Integrity that I would consider purchasing, it would be Poppy.

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 



Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

Picture courtesy of

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

 

 

The above pictures are from the Facebook page "PoppyParkerFanPage".

https://www.facebook.com/PoppyParkerFanPage

The following are a few other Facebook pages devoted to Poppy Parker:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/151551875023804/
https://www.facebook.com/poppy.parker.980?fref=ts

However, her price can be in the hundreds of dollars. In addition, Poppy is very popular. From what I gather, in order to directly purchase from Integrity, you need to be a member.  Then when new dolls are issued, you need to be at your computer hitting the refresh button in hopes that you can get what you want before supply runs out. Because of this, it was likely I would have to buy Poppy on the secondary market, such as eBay. And these dolls would be at even higher prices.

Because of what I heard about the prices and the availability, I had never seriously looked into buying a Poppy Parker doll. But this past summer, I decided to go big. Literally. I decided to buy a 16” doll. I decided to not buy Poppy, but to instead purchase Poppy’s granddaughter Tulabelle. As I said, Poppy is from a past era but Tulabelle is from the current times and best of all, she inherited some of her grandmother’s clothing. So her style is the best of both worlds.

To give you an idea of what 16” means in doll world, I will say Barbie is 11” tall. Here are some pics of a 16” doll with a Barbie-sized doll for comparison.




At left, Barbie sized doll. At right, 16" doll.
Picture courtesy of The Toy Box Philosopher
http://www.toyboxphilosopher.com/

Picture courtesy of The Toy Box Philosopher
http://www.toyboxphilosopher.com/

 

Here is the Tulabelle doll I decided on.

 

There are a few features I love about this doll. Her hair is a distinctive red. She is fully articulated and comes with a stand. I will be able to sit her down, have her stand, and pose her in many ways. I also love her outfit. It is a nice mix of dressy and casual. The leather look blue jacket is very stylish. With real belt buckles and a functioning zipper, it is displays great workmanship. The boots are funky and stylish. Underneath her leather jacket, she wears a gold dress with a mesh overlay. I wish I had this outfit!

She also comes with a clutch purse that opens and several jewellery accessories.

I have not yet taken her out of the box, but I am really happy with my choice. There are collectors who do not remove their dolls from the box. They keep them in their original packaging in order to keep them pristine and untouched. The values of the dolls may increase in the future. You may see terms like MIB or NRFB on sites like eBay. NRFB stands for 'Never Removed From the Box', which means the item has never been taken out of the original box, thus never handled. MIB stands for 'Mint in Box' which means this item is in mint condition and in its original box. So an item that is MIB may have been taken out and displayed or played with. Most of the dolls I have do not cost much and I don’t buy dolls to make money from my collection.

It seems that I have run out of time so I will end this post at this point. Next week I will describe the other two dolls that I purchased from the Integrity Toys line. They are from the Dynamite Girls collection.

Happy Birthday to me - Part 1

Who says that you have to be a kid to get toys for your birthday? When my birthday arrived a few weeks ago, I got to open up many boxes that contained dolls. None of these particular ones were surprises (I bought them for myself) but I was excited, anyway. Here is what I gifted to myself :)

A lot of mini Lalaloopsies

Over the summer, I started collecting mini Lalaloopsies. Lalaloopsies are dolls that are fashioned after rag dolls. The story behind these dolls is that each is supposed to be sewn out of some leftover household material.

Tinny Ticker is a metallic silver color because she is made from a tin can. The concept for her is obviously inspired by the Tin Man of the Wizard of Oz. She is silver from head to toe except for her black button eyes, pink cheeks, and red heart. I thought the color was really unique because most of the Lalaloopsies seem to have orange or pink hair. 

 

 

Cloud E. Sky is made from wisps of a cloud. She has a halo on her head and detachable angel wings. What drew me to her was her swirly pink cotton candy coloring. She even comes with a cone of cotton candy.

 

 

Pickles B.L.T. is sewn from a waitress uniform. She has a sassy personality. The write-up for her is as follows: “She's a fast-talker with no time to spare. She loves to chew gum, call everybody Sugar, and carry lots of plates at once, even though she sometimes drops them.”

 

I love her details and the accessories that accompany her. She is wearing roller skates and comes with a plated sandwich, ketchup, mustard, and a pet hot dog.

 

 

 

Berry Jars 'N' Jam is sewn from a farmer’s shirt and overalls. She has splatters of batter all over her face and clothes. I love miniature food and what sold me was the gigantic stack of pancakes that accompanies her.

 

 

Mittens Fluff  ‘N’ Stuff and Bundles Snuggle Stuff are sisters who were sewn from a scarf. I love the fluffy looking texture of the winter clothing they wear. They are described as being warm and cuddly. Bundles, the younger sister, likes “catching snowflakes on her tongue, making snow angels, and eating icicles.”

 

 

Sisters Bea Spells-a-lot and Specs Reads-a-lot

I like the fact that these sisters like to read and spell. They are sewn from a school girl's uniform.The younger sister, Specs, wears glasses.  Bea is known as a “smartypants” while Specs is bashful and a “super-genius”.

 

Cake Dunk 'N' Crumble is a food-inspired Lalaloopsy. She is made from a donut, which is obvious because her mid-section is a donut. She comes with a pink box of pink donuts. Two of these donuts have bites taken out of them. She also comes with a little cup and carafe of hot chocolate. I love the description of her personality: “She's easygoing with a well-rounded personality. She's a morning person who likes to rise with the sun and thinks everything tastes better dunked in hot cocoa.”

 

Choco Whirl Swirl is another food-inspired Lalaloopsy. She is made from a piece of marble cake. This is probably one of my favorite Lalaloopsies. She has red hair and her dress is a rich chocolate brown with pink globs of cream dripping from her neckline and waistline. She also has a piece of chocolate cake with dollop of whipped cream on her head. This is a very unusual color scheme for a Lalaloopsy because, as I mentioned earlier, most of them seem to be in orange or pink colors.

It was apparent that my niece also favored Choco as she kept eyeing it every time she visited my collection. So I purchased one for her when I found another one at Target.

 

I like the description of Choco's personality which is appropriate for the duality of marble cake: “She has two sides, one sweet and one mischievous. Even though she can be a bit moody, everyone loves having her around.”

 

Mint E. Stripes is another one of my favorites. She seems to be Christmas –inspired. She is made from a candy wrapper. Her accessories include a striped candy cane and a purse in the shape of a mint.

I think that the description of her personality is so funny: “She's a cool blast of fresh air who loves to spin in circles really, really fast until she falls down laughing. You always know she's on her way because of the crinkle in her step.”

Blossom Flowerpot and Charlotte Charades were packaged together in a funhouse themed box.

 

 

Blossom Flowerpot is made from a pair of gardener’s gloves and comes with a balloon twisted in the shape of a butterfly. I really like this accessory.

 

Charlotte Charades is made from a mime’s gloves. Her face paint is a dramatic white and her outfit is black and white with red accents. Charlotte is another one of my favorites. She comes with an invisible pet, which is a leash with nothing in it. I love her personality description: “She's a real performer who never talks, but always has a lot to say. She loves the colours black and white, but her favorite colour is see-through!”

 

Snowy Fairest was sewn from Snow White's Dress. I love her black hair and her little candy apple on a stick.

It is really amazing how much variation can be created in something so small. These mini dolls are only 3 inches tall. The different details in choice of hair color, hair style, “sewn from” or “made from” materials, clothing color, clothing style, and accessories can produce so many fun dolls. I have really enjoyed collecting Lalaloopsies.

Yee Ma opens her first blind boxes

After watching numerous videos on YouTube of blind bag openings, I decided to give into the craze. Tonight, I will open up my very first blind boxes.

Blind bags or boxes are also known as "mystery minis". These are toys packaged in such a way that the identity of the exact item inside is unknown. Blind boxes are very popular with collectors, who like the surprise element of finding out which toy they are getting and whether it is a new addition to their collection or a duplicate. All the possible toys are pictured on the back of the box.


But where do I find these blind box collector items? I didn’t want to order online because I wanted to select them myself.

I searched in several card stores and Target. There were some Funko brand figurines at the card stores but I didn’t have any luck finding what I wanted.

I ended up in a store called Gizmos Galaxy, which is where I should have visited in the first place. Gizmos is one of those stores that I always pass by without going inside. This store has a wall that is plastered with Funko figurines. If there was any place that would have what I wanted, it's a store that has a whole wall of Funko figurines.

The Hallowe'en style Hello Kitty figurines were at Gizmos Galaxy! Each was priced at $6.95 or you can buy five for $30. I purchased five.

This is what Hello Kitty normally looks like:

What makes these collectibles so appealing is that each Hello Kitty is dressed in a different Hallowe’en costume. Some even glow in the dark. There is one that is Hello Kitty dressed as a cat. A kitty dressed as a cat. That is SO funny.

On the front of each box, Hello Kitty is pictured dressed as a mummy and also as a green zombie, complete with stitches on her head and ripped clothing. On second thought, maybe this green zombie is supposed to be Frankenstein?

On the back of each box, the possible figurines and their respective probabilities are displayed. Some of the most common ones are: ghost, vampire, and skeleton Hello Kitty. Each of these is listed as a 2 in 24 possibility. The rarest figurines are glow in dark zombie (Frankenstein?) and Hello Kitty dressed as a devil, with rarities of 1 in 144 and 1 in 72 respectively.

Picture courtesy of http://thenerdfu.com/funko-reveal-halloween-vinyls-coming-in-august-september/

In the excitement of choosing my five boxes, I forgot to check for serial numbers at the bottom of the box. Sometimes you can make sure you don’t get duplicates by making sure you select ones with different serial numbers. I did check my boxes and couldn't find anything resembling serial numbers.

Let`s open up the boxes!

This is the first one I got:

I'm not sure what this is. It is a 2 in 24 so it is a common one. I tested it out by turning off the lights. It is not glow-in-the-dark.

Second box opening … it’s a witch! This is so cute.

Here is my third figurine, which does glow in the dark:

I’ve decided to save my last two boxes for another time.

Each of these figurines has a head that can turn and swivel on its body so you can pose them. I think the best thing about these is seeing Hello Kitty with an unusual and unexpected appearance. In addition, opening these up is liking having a mini Christmas.

Speaking of Christmas, I hope that they come out with Christmas themed ones. I will be on the lookout for them but I’m sure that if there are any, I will find out via YouTube.