Sydney Opera House Barbie

Recently, the Barbie Collector website placed the Sydney Opera House Barbie Doll on sale. I had almost bought this doll from Tuesday Morning several years ago, and was able to buy her now. I liked the use of the colors (which were pulled from the colors of the Sydney Opera House itself) and the fun hairstyle. The purse is awesome, too!
As barbiecollector.com describes her: "The Sydney Opera House Barbie® doll looks breathtakingly beautiful in a dress inspired by the architecture of the Opera House combined with a fashionable twist. The sails of Sydney Opera House inspire Barbie® doll’s bodice while the water surrounding the building is displayed in a luxe, ocean-blue chiffon. With a clutch inspired by the Sydney Opera House sails and the Sydney harbor breeze blowing in her hair, this Barbie® doll is a true Australian beauty."

Here are the stock photos of the Sydney Opera House Barbie® Doll:

Hello Barbie

I recently won a new Hello Barbie online, and I really like her. I saw pictures of her when she was still in development some years ago, and fell in love with her outfit. I originally planned to buy her only for her outfit to put on other dolls, but I have come to really like her as a whole doll. She is quite pretty. I love her hairstyle.

From Barbie: "Now, you can chat with Barbie! Using WiFi and speech recognition technology, Hello Barbie doll can interact uniquely with each child by holding conversations, playing games, sharing stories and even telling jokes! It's a whole new way to interact with Barbie. She's ready to discuss anything in an outfit that blends trendy and techie for a cool look. Use is simple after set up-push the doll's belt buckle to start a conversation, and release to hear her respond. More than 8,000 lines of recorded content means countless hours of fun! Just like a real friend, Hello Barbie doll listens and remembers the user's likes and dislikes, giving everyone their own unique experience."

Hello Barbie came in the three standard skin tones:

I haven't tried setting up Hello Barbie for her intended purpose, I don't know that I will. I am sure I will get around to trying it out, eventually, but I just like her for her looks, not what's inside (hahaha).

Speaking of what's inside, here is a disassembled Hello Barbie:

There has been talk of Hello Barbie since her development, and the discussion ranges from great to bad (the worst thing I've seen about her online is quite hilarious - one person called her "The Illuminati Spy Doll"). I will not discuss this topic here, as there are plenty of other sites that have hosted this ridiculous conversation, and I do not feel that I have anything to add to it other than criticism. I will state that it seems that most of the talking is done by people who are not fully informed about the doll.

I think she's great either as she is intended to be used or just for a play toy.

Andy Warhol Barbie Doll/Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup Can 1 Doll

I bought the Andy Warhol Barbie wearing the Campbell's Soup Can 1 outfit a few days ago. I wanted to share her here for you :) I bought her for her body only, which I will use with another Barbie head. I am not a fan of Warhol, and I do not like this Barbie's eyes. I will find a new home for the head. But I took some photos to feature here.

This doll was released in 2015/2016, so she is not 'new' on the scene. From the Barbie site: Barbie® is the perfect complement to Andy Warhol—two fabulously unforgettable icons! The second doll produced in collaboration with The Andy Warhol Foundation draws its inspiration from the seminal Campbell’s Soup series. Styled with serious attitude, Barbie wears an oversized tee emblazoned with the tomato soup can, faux-fur coat, black leggings, and calf-high white faux-leather boots.

Designer: Linda Kyaw

My Warhol:

The boots are different, they have white bottoms, not black like in the photos online. They are ugly in person, and I will not keep them as I had thought I would.

There are a few comments online criticizing this doll for seeming to not give due credit that it is inspired by Edie Sedgewick, with the eye makeup and chandelier earrings. Do you see a resemblance?

I will keep the leggings, probably the jacket as well. For a Warhol fan, this doll is likely a must-have. I am not very interested in pop art. The articulated pivotal ModelMuse body is why I bought this doll, it is in a light skin tone that is a little harder to get, for me at least. I wish Mattel would sell the bodies separately. I am terribly disappointed with the fingernails. In the photos from the website, they look long and pretty. I was excited to have this body with lovely nails. In person, the hands are the same hands as the other ModelMuse hands, with short/nonexistent nails, and they have been painted poorly as well, which is an issue I've had with them in the past (such as with Sweet Tea). The paint that they do have isn't even on the nail, which is sculpted and harder to see in the photos.

Overall, I don't think this is worth the $45 I paid for it. I don't think most of what Mattel has been releasing is worth the price they ask. It seems that most collectors of the brand share the same view. No wonder Mattel is having a hard time financially.

Happy Belated Halloween!

I dressed up my RuPaul doll for Halloween. She went from SuperModel to SuperSpooky!

BRRR.... Is It Cold In Here? I'm FROZEN!

Disney's animated phenom 'Frozen' will turn 4 next month, and I haven't yet made a single post about the dolls from the film.

I immediately loved Frozen, like most of the people that have seen it. My favorite character is Elsa, and I had a bit of a crush on Kristoff. I have since imagined an alternate ending to the story, but I did love the movie. I was very eager to buy some Frozen dolls right away. I ended up not buying any until this summer.

There are different reasons for this. Primarily, I had great trouble finding a pair of Anna & Elsa dolls that really looked like the characters from the film. This is true for virtually all non-limited edition 'playline' dolls from all films. It is difficult, for some reason, to truly 'get' the look. At the time Frozen was released, Disney worked with Mattel to create and release Frozen character dolls en masse. If you are involved in the slightest with collecting dolls, you have surely seen the multitude of Frozen dolls populating the Disney section of the toy aisle. Unfortunately, I did not like any of them. They just didn't look like Anna & Elsa. Since the release of the film, Disney has begun to work with Hasbro to create and release dolls & toys from Disney films. Hasbro has done the best job of recreating the look of the original characters, I think. I have finally become the owner of a pair of Anna & Elsa dolls. This summer, I bought the Coronation Change Anna & Elsa dolls.

These are standard playline dolls, and aren't the greatest pair made, but I like them enough to add them to my collection. One day, I hope to have a pair of Anna & Elsa dolls repainted by the absolutely amazing artist lulumee. She has repainted the most amazing Frozen dolls (among many others).


I also found another Anna doll from the Spring Fever edition:

I came across Elsa's vanity set, which I thought would be great for my Abby Bominable Monster High doll.

I thought I could set it up back-to-back with my vanity for the Ever After High doll Raven Queen:

There is another Elsa doll product that I would like to buy if I come across it, her bed. It is advertised on the back of the box that the vanity comes in:

I don't like any of the play sets or other accoutrement made for the Frozen dolls. They have all been too playful, colorful, and unrealistic, and that of course is fine for younger doll fans, but as an adult, I would want sets that are true to the film. But what has been made for the Frozen dolls is perfect for Monster High dolls, and I love that they can go together.

My Frozen vanity:

OK, Debra!

Just In Time For African American History Month

Two days away from February, and I have already started celebrating Black History Month!

Black History Month, also known as African-American History Month in America, is an annual observance in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom for remembrance of important people and events in the history of the African diaspora. It is celebrated in the United States and Canada in February, and the United Kingdom in October. (Wikipedia)

Today, I went to the thrift store and to Walmart, and I had several lucky finds. Incidentally, the Barbie dolls I found at both stores were African American. At Walmart, I found two of the newer/newish Fashionista dolls on clearance for 2 dollars each, as well as the Nikki Light-Up Heart Hands for 4 dollars. I was super excited at the price, because I have never found Barbie on clearance for that price. I often see others find great clearance prices on dolls and doll accessories, and it kind of bummed me out because I never find them myself. Well, I can't say that anymore :) Anyway, here are the Walmart finds:

Here are the stock photos for them: (Sorry for the poor quality of my photos, I was rushing this time!) The first one is not exactly what I have. Mine has all black hair (or possibly very dark brown) where the stock photo has lighter hair.

The Fashionista girls I got are darker in person than in the stock photos, which I really like, because I really like the darker skinned African American dolls.

The thrift store find was a newish Fashionista also, with the flat feet. I LOVE the shoes, you can't see in the photo, but they're made of this lovely opalescent/iridescent plastic. I must apologize to her for not brushing her hair for the photo.

She didn't have her necklace or purse, but that is fine. I already had the necklace she came with, and I have tons of purses. The doll's skin color in the stock photo is lighter than mine, as well as the shirt being pink where mine is blue.

She has the Goddess face mold. All of these new girls will look great on new articulated bodies when I find some.

Also at Walmart, I found an Ever After High Apple White for 2 dollars. She is the new kind that has a molded on shirt instead of fabric, and doesn't have poseable arms, but she has accessories (shoes, tiara, skirt, and necklace) that I can take off and use for my other EAH/MH dolls. Mine is in the group photo above, but here's the stock photo. The stock photo has a lighter top color, mine is really gold, as well as tan shoes where mine are red. I don't know that she came with a stand, I don't think so because this is from the new, cheaper line.

I have recently bought a couple of the curvy AA Fashionista girls, and I especially LOVE the one with blonde highlights (again, the photos show lighter skin where in person it is darker). First the stock photo, then mine:

I put a clear rubber band in her hair to help keep it in place. She has cornrows on the other side of her head. I absolutely love this girl!

I bought the other curvy AA/mixed race one for her outfit, and originally planned to donate her to the thrift store, but she grew on me so I kept her as well. In these photos of her, she is wearing a purple normal-sized Barbie dress that I thought might fit due to the cut of the dress. It did fit reasonably well. In the other photos, she is wearing part of the outfit from the Raven Symone doll from The Cheetah Girls dolls. I hoped it would fit, but the Cheetah Girls doll had a slightly smaller body, so it is very tight. I could separate the top though, as that would fit (AND look cute). I have the second outfit, but I don't have it handy to try on her. I tried it on my Rosie O'Donnell doll, and it was a tight fit, so it probably will be also on the curvy Fashionistas. Tight but workable.

Thanks to Atamaii.tv for their photo of the Cheetah Girls doll and outfits!

My last quick mentions are 2 sets of shoes; one from Walmart, which has sandals and white tennis shoe platforms for the flat footed ones, and the other from the thrift store, a set of boots from 2002.

You can find a better photo of the new shoe pack here, it is the second photo. This listing is from the wonderful Royalty Girl blog, which has tons of great photos and doll things.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed this! Have a great day and a great February!