Dolls dolls dolls!

2023-03-10

Hiya internet! Zhenya is back. I haven't had time to edit my website or add to my blog recently at all :( I spend all day at a computer at work so when I get back home I don't spend much time at my computer. I probably should spend more time at it, because that's less time watching nonsense on my infernal device (smartphone). I have deleted Tiktok, Instagram and Tumblr off my phone this evening, and it's Friday, so who knows, perhaps this weekend I'll have some time to do some much needed updates to this site. And I'll try be more active during the week!

Anyways, what's up with the title? WELL, dear reader, I have fallen head long into a new special interest in fashion dolls. You know - LOL Surprise OMG, rainbow high and such. At work, my job is pretty dull and mind numbing, so I can listen to things while working. So I've been watching a lot of videos from the lovely Darling Dollz, a youtuber who talks about their fashion dolls, and history of these dolls. Izzzyzzz's videos on lost and cancelled dolls also absolutely FASCINATED me, and I think that's where the rabbit hole started.

Do I own any dolls yet? Not really. Not counting the few barbies I had as a child (which may still be in my childhood home. I really need to look for them - there was a cool barbie with a spinning, glittery light up dress. Also there was a porcelain historical doll I had from some Russian magazine.), I only have one fashion doll at present. It's a barbie which I got for a pound or something at the second hand shop, and she came with no clothes. She's super articulated though, which is fantastic - at the knees, hips, elbows, shoulders and neck. I've so far crocheted her a little outfit and plan to make her more clothes for sure!

Photo of articulated blonde white barbie with messy hair being held up in front of progress pride flag. She is wears a crochet white mini skirt and a summery crochet vest in yellow, pink and green.

Yes, her hair is very messy! I will fix it I swear!

I haven't yet got any new fashion dolls with all their clothes and fun hair and such yet, though I sort of would like to. I am fortunately quite fussy about them (and I hope it stays that way!) so I hopefully won't spend too much money on them. I don't really want to start collecting as such, but it would be neat to have one doll. I'm planning on going to Smyths toy shop tomorrow to check out and see if they have any ones that interest me. Something irritating is a lot of them seem to be out of stock.

Doll lines I'm interested in or like:

  1. Novi stars (these are unfortunately discontinued)
  2. L.O.L. Surprise OMG Fashion Dolls
  3. Shadow high
  4. Rainbow Brite (these are an old line)
  5. Milky way and the galaxy girls (unproduced)
  6. Cabbage patch kids
  7. Rainbow high
  8. Monster high
  9. Nebula stars (not the actual dolls though lol)
  10. There's also this one doll line I vaguely remember but can't remember the name of OOPS

I did number the list, but it's not all set in stone! I'm obsessed with Novi stars, but I'm unsure if I'll be able to get any because they are discontinued and weren't produced for very long.

Specific dolls I'm interested in:

catalogue photo of LOL surprise doll. She has cartoonish large eyes and head and is Black. She wears wears platform boots, a tutu dress, a jacket with fluffy sleeves, a gold bag, and has curly, pink and blue hair in a bun with ringlets framing her face and a gold headband.

Here is one (She's a LOL Surprise OMG doll) that I wish was in stock - she's in the trans flag colours and is just so cute and stylish! On the Smyths website it said she only cost £10 too, which is fantastic!

catalogue photo of rainbow high doll jewel richie. Her colourscheme is dark green, she has olive skin with vitiligo, and wears a fur and leather jacket over a crocodile skin miniskirt dress. She has large bejeweled earrings.

Jewel Richie looks really cute here - I love the colourscheme and the fact she has vitiligo, and I think the Rainbow High dolls have really cute faces. Also her outfit is fantastic. She's apparently in stock, though she costs £29.99 and I don't know if I can justify that! Though unfortunately it seems most of them are this price.

catalogue photo of shadow high doll with dark purple skin and locs, a lilac three tier tutu dress and purple earrings.catalogue photo of shadow high doll with pale turquoise skin and hair with three buns, who wears a leather mini skirt and a white astronaut jacket with patches.

I really like these two Shadow High dolls - I love the non-humanness provided by their skin colours and Zooey Electra's (right) hair and catlike eyeliner. Their outfits are also fantastic and I just love colourscheme dolls. The shade of purple that Monique Verbena has is absolutely gorgeous and I love her hair. She manages to look so cool even in such a frilly tutu-y dress. Which is a nice dress too!

catalogue photo of novi stars doll. she is an alien with transparent yellow and blue legs filled with water and glitter. Her arms are transparent blue and her face pale blue, her hair is white with a dark blue streak. She wears a silver dress with a blue tutu and there is a small creature with horns to her left.

Una Verse, from the discontinued Novi Stars line. She's so cool! I love the creativity of this line, and I love her gimmicky legs filled with water and glitter. So unique! I'm currently drawing some fanart for her.

Okay, it's coming close to midnight so I should round this up. In my travels I found this adorable creature that comes in some strange cauldron toy set up called Magic Mixies:

plushie of a fantasy creature. It has cartoony eyes, a friendly expression, and is peach, yellow and blue. It has big ears, a blue gem on its foreheard and a star on its belly.

Adorable! I loveeeee toys, I really should make more stuff to do with them. I'll talk more about dolls for sure, and I hope I find something cool but not too pricy at Smyths tomorrow. I trust myself to not go overboard with fashion dolls (touch wood) and it would be nice to have one. I am quite fussy about the fashion they're wearing - I'm not a big fan of the plain, super teenagery stuff that looks a bit casual and highstreet/streetwear, like branded hoodies. They look fine on real people but are a bit dull on dolls in my opinion. I like more outlandish or classy outfits!

Two more interesting toy related things before I go:

  • Pinky and Pepper forever, a comic based on a discontinued doggirl fashion doll line. (18+)
  • drawing of a cute, colourful fantastical puppylike creature with many different patterns
  • Stefanie Clark Eskander, a toy designer. She drew the above creature. She did once post something kinda weird on thanksgiving, but I can't lie that I do find her work very cute and inspiring as a general rule.
ascii art of rabbit holding teddy bear

Before I leave, I'll just jot down some goals I have for my website in the near future.

  • Make the layout have a sidebar or two, to link other people's cool sites via buttons and also maybe a better nav system for my site in general
  • Join a webring or two!
  • Fix up that textiles gallery
  • Make a shrine site, they're so cool!

Okay dokey folks, well that's it from me! It's just gone midnight, I should have a shower. I'm going to the cinema tomorrow with my friend to see Elvis. Not sure how I feel about the length of that darn film but it'll be cool to hang out with him. Cheerio folks!

drawing of a green pentagonal creature with a relaxed expression thinking about dolls