Building for Willa the Witch

I'm backed up again, so I decided to work with what I have. My plans for LDD Roundup 2 have been stalled a few days, though hopefully it will still be able to be finished before the next week is out. I just haven't been able to get the last doll for it yet. So let's go back to my cherished LEGO witch, Willa!

Fish Month Addendum: About That Skullector Gill-Ghoul....

Well, she's been revealed. And it's terrible timing for me, and I'm not smitten. However, she's certainly relevant to my work here, she's quite interesting, and I promised she'd be a topic, so let's have a short chat.

Mattel stock photo of the Skullector Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Loose Ends in the Deep End

Finally finishing Isabrella's project inspired me to stay on both of her themes--fish dolls and finding closure with projects in limbo.

Half In Halves: Living Dead Dolls Viv by Mezco Toyz

This review was written to be a part of my second LDD roundup post and this content resided there for a while. Eventually, I decided that I had done enough work with this doll and that she was extreme enough in subject matter to be taken into her own post to give readers a little more agency vis-à-vis their horror tolerance. I got her between what are now going to be dolls 1 and 2 in the second roundup. I think solo posts will be my policy overall for LDDs that are more hardcore, though of course, not every solo LDD post is for the edgiest of them all. Warning for semi-real gory imagery.

Shallow Post, Deep Sea: A GSR Draculaura Hybrid-Monster Custom!

I've had this hybrid monster character in my head for a long time.

Anniversary Reunion, Part 3: Lighting Up the Deep with Kala

 Lastly, my third inaugural doll returns!

Anniversary Reunion, Part 2: Rocking the Dead Carpet with Operetta

 Time for my second doll in the trio that started it all!

Anniversary Reunion, Part 1: Revisiting My Roots with Amanita

 This is it. My first doll. Different copy, but she's back! 

The Hostess With the Leastess: Living Dead Dolls Series 23 Betsy by Mezco Toyz

The Living Dead Dolls tea party continues with the second monthly addition--the awful little host, Betsy.  She was always going to be early in this project, and because she wasn't the first, she had to be the second.

Big Big Blizzard: Monster High Boo-riginal Creeproduction Abbey Bominable by Mattel

I hate glitter-encrusted skin. But I really love Abbey Bominable and liked her signature design more and more as time has gone by. So I decided to try. 

Living Dead Dolls Roundup 1

While LDD special topics will continue to receive their own posts, there are several LDDs I'm going to try to collect over time that aren't connected to each other and/or don't warrant a full standalone post, so I'm going to be doing roundups to update on more miscellaneous acquisitions. The way I see it, LDD is special enough for me to document every doll I get on the blog here, but not enough for every doll to take up a post for itself. These dolls can be complete releases, or even, perhaps, incomplete miscellaneous Living Dead Dolls I decided to adopt just because they had something I liked that didn't require the whole package. So here's my first roundup. 

I would say this post is pretty safe as LDD goes. There's some scary (gore-free) imagery with the first doll, but nothing I would call truly distressing.

She's Got Braaaaiiiins: Monster High Boo-riginal Creeproduction Ghoulia Yelps by Mattel

 The last time I got a Boo-riginal Creeproduction doll with Frankie Stein, it was my first blog review and a momentous acquisiton that reflected the culmination of a personal journey toward re-embracing my doll hobby, reconciling with my teenage years, and sticking with the hobby going forward. This time, with Ghoulia...it was really kind of a whim.

The Living Dead Dolls Death Timeline

I'm not looking forward to boosting this post on Instagram, because there's no exciting imagery here. This project was able to be done entirely in text!

But I was interested, after analyzing the LDD deaths by date on a generic calendar, to see where the characters would land in a linear chronological timeline through history. The previous post didn't analyze year of death at all because that was extraneous, but this time, it was the point!

Left Out Dolls: Re-Resurrected

I've kind of dropped out of my Left Out Dolls fervor for a while now. This might be the last post in this category as my base doll pool for this series is shrinking (Rainbow High is, by all appearances, dying, Shadow High is done) and other things are driving my attention. So here we go!

The Living Dead Dolls Deathday Calendar

Who likes data analysis and extremely niche fixations??? Because I just assembled a blank year calendar to track which day each Living Dead Doll met their end on.

I Vant to 'Vestigate a Vintage Vamp: Traveler Trading Co. Collectible Count Dracula Doll

I'd seen this item while trawling the backwaters of Target.com listings with a Christmas gift card previously, but hadn't jumped onto it--it was a third-party seller distributing a vintage horror collectible doll of Count Dracula, from 1985!

Online big-box retail typically isn't the place for unique finds, but sometimes third-party stuff shows up with something out-there and you have to check it out.

Absolutely Deceased: Monster High x Off-White Symphanee Midnight by Mattel Creations

Sometimes you can just feel that you need to go for a doll because it's really special and you want to be one of the people who got it. This is that for me.

Lottie Meets Lottie (also feat. Lottie!)

I had a...symbiotic idea. One doll made me think of another doll, and both gave me motivation to review the other and resolve an old curiosity and a new one at the same time. We're reviewing Lotties today of very different nature, and satisfying a fascination for small dolls.

Old Lace and Arsenic: Living Dead Dolls Series 23 Agatha by Mezco Toyz

I've admired many Living Dead Dolls, but mostly I pick and choose from collections which ones I want. I generally lack the completionist impulse as a collector, and yet I found one series I'm getting everyone in. This is the first of those dolls.

If you have any familiarity with the LDD catalogue, it should be no surprise to readers here which specific series compelled me to collect a whole set. It's a dolly tea party series!

Digging Up an Oft-Turned Grave: Living Dead Dolls Sadie, Evolved

Living Dead Dolls faded out in terms of the original cast of characters, and felt like it had been a dying brand supported by licensing for years...but of course you can't really die forever in LDD-land. Suddenly, I was alerted to the fact that they came back in much grander high-end style with an "upgraded" release of classic character Sadie that probably got me hyped faster than anything else I've discussed here. I've never dropped money on a collector release so immediately, and this was a pretty premium product--that alone should convey how swiftly this wicked little doll slipped her rusty hooks into my moldering flesh.

The Horrible Wizard of Oz: More Living Dead Dolls

We've still got a ways to go before we look at what Living Dead Dolls promises to be in a new era...and I went on-theme a little further than I'd expected to because I got two more Oz dolls. 

Burying Myself Deep: An Introduction to Living Dead Dolls by Mezco Toyz

Were you ever enthralled by the creepy dolls in the attic? Did you want them scarier? Then Living Dead Dolls are for you. Be warned, and sorry for the drastic tonal whiplash from the last post!

 

Also, this cover photo is deliberately the least illustrative of the posts I've done and doesn't show every subject because the subjects of LDD aren't the most inviting of faces.

Queens of Hearts: Looking Into Ever After High

Not long ago, a reader asked for more of my thoughts on Ever After High, which I thought was a great idea. I did take a different direction than I had planned, though, owing to the urge to be seasonal this first half of February.

How a TT&T Post Gets Made

Alright, it's slow time again! My next Valentine post is in delay right now. I have every reason to believe it'll be done before the holiday, but it's not happening right now and a lull gets me itchy. So I'll take this behind-the-scenes!

RESTYLE ICONS: Good Boy Bad!

It feels like forever since I did one of these! Let's take a look at one of two (or one half of two) characters who never really worked for me.

Love Bites: Monster High Howliday Love Draculaura and Clawd Wolf by Mattel Creations

Love it, hate it, or don't care, it is indeed Valentine month! While the holiday doesn't give me much personal substance, I enjoy the aesthetic quite a bit, particularly a more vintage, subversive or dark take on the iconography. So let's get in-theme with the first of a couple of posts I have planned! I don't know if this particular doll set has been super buzzy or well-received, but I was struck the second I saw it.

In the Red Thorns: A G3 Monster High Body Model

I decided not to give up on my plans to make a body-model out of Ghoulia after all. Besides, the entry into G3 original characters was an exciting idea. 

Quite a Pack: A G3 Clawdeen Roundup

This project was supposed to be finished so much earlier!!!

Cheating the Collection, As Ever: LEGO Minifigures Series 25

 For a toy that's driven so much of my life, you'd think I'd have given LEGO its own post sooner!

Revenge of the Yass Gremlins, Part 3 (Finale): L.ots O.f L.oose Ends

Just a few more to look at--curiosity pieces and clothes donors I needed to have. 

Give Her Her Flowers: Monster High G3 Signature Venus McFlytrap by Mattel

I've never seen such consistent praise and excitement for a G3 doll Monster High doll design before...and I cannot remotely dissent. She was a must-have the second I saw her first photos. Usually, character redesigns are contentious, but I've seen so much love for this one and I completely agree.

Revenge of the Yass Gremlins, Part 2: L.O.L. Retro

There was yet more L.O.L. to tempt me--I blame the unhallowed mires of Walmart.

Look Who's Talking: A Puppet Monster Custom Project!

When a Cedar Wood doll is part of a package you ordered for a clothing piece, you have to do something with the doll left over!

Answering Questions, Part 2--Abrupt end of the Dolly Insider series!

Well, already, I've hit another publishing roadblock while waiting for supplies, and it's gotten me so frustrated that I decided to dip back into my fallback and put this out to have done something. Here we go!

Revenge of the Yass Gremlins, Part 1: L.O.L. On Film

Okay, I wasn't done with L.O.L..

...or was it not done with me?

New Looks for Maudie

Early in the making of this blog, I made my own doll "assistant" to serve the practical purpose of being a body model with which to compare different doll sculpts against the standard G1 Monster High median female shape.

Mechanical Marvels: Monster High's Robots!

I've always loved robots.

Eternally Beautiful: A G3 Cleo Roundup

I've already discussed how G3 Cleo de Nile is fantabulously gorgeous and incredible. So let's keep doing that!