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!

But before that: I'm back! It feels like an age, though it hasn't been too long, really. In the time between posts, I've redecorated the blog out of that heavy color scheme that was really getting to me, and gone lighter and greener, and also redone the banner photo to sort out a more representative "pantheon" or "Mount Rushmore" of toy faces emblematic of me and the blog. Now you'll see Willa the Witch, my most prized LEGO minifigure; Creeproduction Frankie Stein, the doll that revived my doll hobby and incited this blog; Maudie, representing Monster High customs (she was truly the only right choice as a fixture character and "blog staff member", and is a custom who's held up to time); Helen DesTroyed, representing the Left Out Dolls side avenue of custom dolls which I love; and Series 1 Sadie, representing Living Dead Dolls, my latest blog staple and treasured collection (can you tell?). This is a really solid group of toys to represent what's core to this blog. Here's a picture for posterity, in case tastes change and the lineup is altered. 

The other thing that happened was my phone got water damage and became functionally unchargeable, leaving me needing to replace it (fine) and unable to transfer my photos (absolutely gut-wrenching). The photos that were backed-up beforehand from before that phone were still backed up, but that was several years of pictures vanished, including lots of comforts and memories. I was able to retrieve many photos, re-log many things I had with new pictures, and I was able to yank a lot of things straight from the blog to have them back in my pocket, but the loss gutted me, and getting a new phone had never felt so awful. This experience will relate to the next post as well, which includes a little bright spot who cheered that dark day. This post just happened to be finished beforehand because the other post is more complex. I hadn't meant for things to be so back-to-back LDD on the blog, but this is how it worked out.

Living Dead Dolls Series 23, with the theme of dolls having a tea party, is the series that feels like it treats the toys most like toys. One of the dolls is cracked like porcelain, and two are dressed in plushie costumes, and the dolls come with tea accessories, making this series feel the clearest on the idea that the LDD universe's cast are twisted literal toys within the story. I find that concept immensely compelling, and I think the series feels extremely strong as a group. I fully believe them as a spooky assortment of toys in a tea party. The series also strongly pushes a collect-them-all element you'll see as this goes on, which really got me in.

LDD photo of Series 23. Left to right: Quack, Betsy, Agatha, Teddy, Jennocide.

I decided I wanted to have this series collected not long after I decided to purchase Living Dead Dolls for the first time, but this wasn't a project of any urgency or time pressure, so I decided to let myself collect the group slowly. Unfortunately, this series has shining factors that necessitate complete and/or new-in-box purchases, so that bumps up the cost a bit. I guess it's moot, though, because the only offerings for these dolls I've seen are mint. Because they're mostly big-ticket dolls on the aftermarket and I like the idea of extending this in a non-linear blogging series, I'm planning to dip in and get a Series 23 doll once a month, with my policy being to open them as I get them. I think that gave me a fun mix of bonding time with the dolls and also of anticipation and a fun feeling of progress by not getting them at once or closer-together. I also decided to clear a shelf to set the dolls up together as a way to further this and build up the target. That's a lot of space to sacrifice, but it's worth it. 

Like most series, 23 consists of five characters. Here, it's Betsy the rich-lady hostess doll, Agatha the servant doll, and three guest dolls. While it might make the most sense to bring Betsy in first, Agatha was by far the cheapest on offer and I figured Betsy could wait a little longer for after birthday money comes in. Besides, the narrative implies Agatha's going to have to set up this whole event, and I really like her among the group. I never wishlisted any Series 23 dolls in my original LDD phase, but Agatha would have been my pick of the group then, too. Betsy can come in when she comes in.

The concept of Agatha is that she's an aged doll turned spiteful and jealous toward the pretty new toys around her. She's also implicitly a domestic servant, and is stated to have hatefully sabotaged the brew at the tea party. She's a resentful plotter, and who wouldn't be, in a role of servitude? I think it works for her to be the first doll, angrily muttering as she sets the stage for a tea that will go very badly.

Agatha came mint, but fell on the lower end of full-size LDD prices. Factory-sealed condition isn't ever a requirement for me, but these particular dolls must include all of their pieces for the Series 23 collection to work, and I need at least one coffin. More on that later. 

As it stands today, LDD offerings which are complete to my standard (doll, certificate, coffin, accessories) are more likely than not to also be mint-sealed. Opened LDDs, even with their coffins, are pretty often missing a piece or two I value.

Series 23 stands out to me packaging-wise for being the first coffined series I've collected from with a different tissue color from that pink you've seen on Faith and Sadie. (I've also gotten Hush, who will be in a later post when I have enough miscellaneous LDDs to round up, and her Series 6 tissue was the same pink.) Series 23 has a whitish tissue, which suits a fancy table setting really nicely, and flatters black-and-white Agatha quite well herself.

Agatha is the latest-released series Living Dead Doll I've gotten so far, so I was interested to see what changed about the coffin since Series 8. First, I noticed Agatha's coffin shrinkwrap was the kind of soft thin plastic you can stretch, different from earlier series' rattly stiff shrinkwraps. 

Agatha's coffin has no handle decoration.

The back of Agatha's box is similar to Series 8, but the red print has been metalized, making it harder to photograph. The text just under the LDD logo has also changed to red. The phrase "creepy doll" is back to being properly lowercase like with the Series 1 boxes, but "Death Certificate" is still in caps. 

The box shows a change in domain names for the website--back in Series 8, Mezco was located at "mezco.net", but by Series 23, it had changed to "mezcotoys.com". 

The Series 23 chipboard includes a photo of the whole gang, with the included doll being picked out with more definition. 

Agatha's chipboard poem reads: 

A broken doll with a broken face

Left in the corner unwanted, disgraced

The time has come, at the table she's placed

Just don't tell anyone that the tea is laced

Here's a rhythmic rewrite.

Broken and old, ashamed of her face

Left in the corner, unwanted, disgraced

Time for the party, to table she's placed

Don't let them know that the tea is all laced.

Agatha's coffin backdrop slid out easily and the tissue stayed in order when repacking it. The twist ties were really tangled at the back, so I resorted to cutting them. I've given up on the pretense that I'm going to twist them back into their boxes when the dolls are packed, so I didn't bother to salvage or replace the wires. If the cardboard lid is on, there's no problem with laying them to rest unbound.

I did notice that the tissue seems to be ever so imperceptibly pink, though. You might not be able to tell, but there's just a whisper of pinkness to it.

Agatha's death certificate was bundled with her accessories. The certificate design is no different from others seen here before. 

Agatha's death date of December 16, 1773 is the oldest of this series--and she died on the day of the Boston Tea Party! While that's a very appropriate joke, her age also happens to place her as a relic of the Georgian era (which preceded the Victorian era). The Georgian era happened to be a very big time for tea beyond the American colonists' famous protest, since it's cited as the time period during which tea truly became a British cultural staple, leading into the protest later, and Harrods of London even features the Georgian Room as one of its fixtures to have tea. I've visited! (I loved the tea, and hated the tea sandwiches on the merits of my own tastes as a kid.) It's fairly likely Agatha is English, but I think I like to think of her as Scottish myself. Maybe my childhood viewing of Downton Abbey and its Scottish housekeeper character Mrs. Hughes have gotten to me.

Her death certificate poem reads:

Agatha was once a shiny new doll,

But age and decay she did befall

And now neglected and collecting dust

She views all other dolls with utter disgust

And a rework.

 

Agatha once was a shiny new doll

Glorious days she no longer recalls

Sitting neglected and gathering dust

Gave her a bitter undying disgust

Then I took Agatha out.

But first--because this is is such a special series and so resonant to me and my habits, I decided to be extra extra. For this formal occasion, and throughout this Series 23 project, I will be devising and preparing an off-kilter themed tea serving to drink and eat while I work with each doll. I even have a perfect mini black teapot and a skull-and-crossbones infuser for the purpose!

One of my favorite recent movies is the satirical horror comedy The Menu, so I've deliberately chosen to channel its unhinged dinner presentations and concepts through an old-fashioned lens. I put a lot of thought into personalizing the teas to the characters with a horror twist, so I hope you enjoy.

Yes, I made personalized menus.

Earl Grey is classic, and also my favorite, making it a good choice for such a traditional tea-themed doll who I love. The unstrained element of the tea is done to make it a little more uncomfortable and foul for a horror theme, but also suggests Agatha couldn't be bothered to make it nicer in the "not paid enough to do it" sense, or that she's indulging in her own misery and feelings of oppression by making her tea worse for herself so she can be willfully unhappy.

This dining-experience aspect is so fun to work on, and I'm loving the result. Expect to see the table settings and tea themes change from doll to doll as I zero in on their aesthetic and concepts.

Now, the doll.

Agatha is made to look like a cracked porcelain antique, and is also made to look like she lost her eyes with her sockets being blacked-out. Her austere black dress indicates that she would be a servant, likely the housekeeper and head of the female staff in an estate, or just a maid in a smaller household. Because she doesn't have a white lace cap or apron, she seems to occupy a role of maturity and seniority as a servant--compare her to Series 25's Gretchen, who is dressed as a scullery maid in an apron and cap. Same servant system, different ranks. While Agatha is literally meant to be an old toy, her social role in the dolly tea party is of the resentful servant sabotaging the brew--and evidently, she got creative because two of the guests are suffering different tamperings!

 

If Agatha was an old estate housekeeper, she'd most likely be addressed as "Mrs. [surname]", regardless of whether she was married, but few LDDs have been addressed in that manner--I think it's only Mr. Graves and Ms. Eerie (not released in any association with each other) who are named that way. Perhaps Agatha's name is a sign that Betsy's is a smaller, more nouveau-riche household, where Agatha may not have subordinates and would be more likely to be called by her first name. Absolutely, this is overthinking.

It's also possible, but also very possibly a stretch to think, that Agatha is named after Agatha Christie. Tampered tea sounds like a murder-mystery plot and it's a stereotype that "the butler did it" is the solution in mysteries, though Agatha is not a butler and it wasn't a conception Christie created with her works. Domestic staff being the murderer is also not actually a common plot twist in mystery fiction. I don't know if Agatha Christie was the basis for the name at all, and it's just as likely she's not. Just throwing it out there.

Agatha's hair is strawberry blonde and parted to her right, with a wavy shape that feels pretty timeless and age-neutral in a good way. She can be read as a bitter old lady or a cute little doll. The hair comes tied to her neck for packaging with an elastic band around her head.

After being taken out, the hair can take the right shape. The ends get caught on the comb, likely because they're pretty sharply shaped for a flipped wave at the end, but the hair is okay. Not too thin, and not really unpleasant.

Agatha's vinyl color is an off-white tone with a subtle yellow-grey cast, which does a great job at looking like aged porcelain. Pure white would have been too on-the-nose and cartoonish. The matte vinyl color also masquerades well as bisque porcelain. I love the look of this color, and it's the best choice, but for other reasons, I'm slightly disappointed it isn't pure white. Stark-white Betsy is the doll with the teapot in this series and has a gripping hand for it, and I had hoped her arm could swap onto Agatha because I thought the servant and saboteur deserved to hold the teapot more. I won't know for certain until I have both, but I'm suspecting a swap won't work after all.

Agatha's face also features very fine cracks. On her forehead, there's a localized impact shatter, and her eyes and mouth also feature spidery cracks coming out, which go down to her neck, which has another localized shatter point.

While a clean hollow eye sculpt would be used on later dolls (I still haven't figured out who debuted it), Agatha does what more LDDs do and implies empty sockets just by blacking out the eye region with paint. Dimensional hollows would be better, and in that regard, Agatha is weakened by being released before that sculpt debuted, but the visual works just fine from a distance. Her eyes are ringed with subtle purple airbrushing. Agatha has no eyebrows, and her lips are very glossy black. The fine cracks and vague expression make her very spooky, and I like the choice of strawberry blonde hair to ground her more plausibly. A purely black-and-white color scheme would feel a bit too goth and stylized for a doll meant to be a real antique. The hair is the perfect choice to make her more plausible. Agatha's expression isn't defined in any particular way, but I can definitely read her as cold, aged, and hateful with her expressionless cracked face. Agatha is one of those eyeless dolls that feels like she can see you, rather than looking blind.

Agatha's dress is really beautifully made. The torso features a shirt-style collar over a white lace section composed of ruffled panels, and a black bow sits at her neck above a row of tiny sewn buttons. 

The rest of the dress is all black. The sleeves have puffed shoulders and frilled cuffs, and the low hem of the dress has a ruched section frilling the bottom. The dress has no waist seam or gathering, and it covers all of her body except her head, neck, and hands.

The dress is very well-tailored to Agatha's body, so it doesn't slide off very easily, but it can be removed without splitting any seams. 

Agatha wears the LDD pointy-boot sculpt debuted with Series 2 Lizzie Borden. She has no socks, so the shoes rattle a little. It's absolutely the right sculpt for her, though. 

Because all of her body is covered, Agatha's cracks don't continue beyond her head. The dress has unsurprisingly created stains on her body. There's also one thick line on her neck that looks like a paint error. Fortunately, it's not gonna show up when she's dressed.

Agatha's two accessories are her teacup and a small peg.

The teacup is a brownish dark-washed piece shaped like the upper part of a human skull, inverted. It couldn't be made from a real skull with its proportions to her, but the aesthetic is killer.

The inside of the cup is sculpted with swirling liquid, which is painted a dark bloody red. 

At first, I didn't think the dolls were capable of holding the cup properly, because my experiments with shoving the handle onto their hands only found a suitable gap on the third and fourth fingers of the hand, which made for a really unnatural grip.

But seeing the LDD photos again, I realized the handle can be squeezed over the index, middle, and third fingers of the hand sculpt for a much better look.

I had resigned myself to the cups being props for the tea table rather than handhelds, so I'm delighted to see the dolls can hold them. Betsy has a gripping hand for her teapot, though.

I think it would have made more sense to give Agatha the party's teapot rather than one of the cups, given her design as the servant to the tea party. I think she would be distributing tea and wouldn't be permitted to sit at the table and partake herself. Unfortunately, her vinyl color not being pure white in-person suggests she's quite a different color from Betsy and the two won't be able to swap arms and look right. 

Now what's that little plastic peg about? Oh, it's just the second reason I felt compelled to collect the entirety of Series 23. Each of the four "guest" dolls has one.

This looks like a piece of nothing at first, but these pegs are table legs--and they slot onto an opaque coffin lid from any of the dolls. 

The cardboard on this lid isn't thick enough at the top and bottom corners for the peg to attach tightly there. I can play around with different lid copies and leg positions later on when I have all four pegs.

Collecting all five dolls not only gives you a compete tea set, but a complete tea table to stage the party at! It's such a brilliant use of the LDD coffin packaging for play/display, and incentivizes completion in a really rewarding manner. 

I had finished Agatha's tea by now. It's not how I take my Earl Grey, and the lumpy leaves weren't delightful, but it was certainly serviceable. I'm sure I'll be fine after drinking it...

Agatha being such a classical creepy antique doll gave me lots of fuel for pictures. 

I'm so glad Series 23 was released so firmly after the second-gen LDD body, because her ball joints give her a really meaningful physicality. She can stoop over and tilt her neck in an aged way that sells her character so well. I like to pretend her neck joint has broken so she can't hold it straight very reliably, though I think Agatha is probably at her most cunning, malicious, and dangerous when her posture straightens up!

Then Agatha surveyed the beginnings of the party room. I cut and glued patterned paper to three cardboard panels and have those just propped up between the shelves and some books. Fortunately, the horror setting doesn't demand perfection. The doily is under the coffin table, and a hand towel makes a good rug, though that part will only be on the shelf while I'm doing these photos and reviews.

Overall, I'm pretty delighted with Agatha. She's a beautiful faux-antique doll with a simplistic, pure creepy charm. I love how she really works as a nasty old maid just as well as a sweet little doll, and I was pleasantly surprised by the display offered by her articulation and her teacup. Agatha does feel like the tea doll in a series of tea dolls, and I think she was really meant to, given her status as a domestic servant who died at a very important time for tea. That makes her very special to my tea-loving soul. My only real critique with her is that she wasn't designated the teapot, and I worry that she can't properly steal it due to the reality of her vinyl color. 

And I look forward to the rest of Series 23. Of them, only Betsy isn't super in my aesthetic favor, but I totally understand her purpose and personality and I think I'll get a lot of fun out of it. 

Agatha looks forward to the rest as well.

It's going to be a terrible tea.