Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?: Living Dead Dolls Scary Tales Little Red Riding Hood by Mezco Toyz

I've committed to documenting every Living Dead Doll I acquire, but I had low hopes for this doll. I honestly bought her for parts so I could swap her gripping arm and accessory onto an upcoming doll who wanted for them to feel complete. I was thinking this doll would be a footnote overviewed within that doll's review, but...well darn it, she's actually really cool. She earned herself a review of her own, because, regardless of the fact that swapping her arm made her unfair to resell, I genuinely liked her in person. Meet Red.

Red, of course, being Little Red Riding Hood, the iconic fairy-tale character named for the most famous colorful cape in fiction. Red is part of LDD's Scary Tales side line, which is normal LDDs under a fairy-tale/nursery-rhyme/folklore theme. These dolls were evidently retail releases and not Mezco direct exclusives, though they did not fall under the normal series structure. Scary Tales debuted after the ball-joint body plan was introduced to LDD, and was relatively short-lived, with one of its dolls even being cancelled. 

Scary Tales had something of a predecessor with the nursery-rhyme duo of Jack and Jill, who were an exclusive duo pack released during the swivel-joint period of the brand. Since the nursery rhyme is already about a boy bashing his head open, LDD really didn't have to do much to make the concept morbid, so most of the work is just spooky coloring, plus a bleeding design on Jack.

Variant set.

Jack and Jill have a unique bucket accessory, and Jill is noteworthy for being the first LDD with the striped fabric tights style that was used for more characters afterward, such as Chloe and Ember and Holle Katrina. Previously, on Nurse Necro, striped tights were painted onto the legs. I also believe Jill is just one of two LDD original characters with freckles--the other being Betsy.

I consider Jack and Jill to be honorary Scary Tales dolls, or the precursors. 

Scary Tales proper debuted during LDD's 13th-anniversary year, and fell in the ball-joint period of the brand. Each Scary Tales doll was a solo-packed release even when two dolls formed a duo, a release format also done for the Twisted Love dolls and Rotten Sam and Sandy. "Volume 1" (the wave evidently being named to sound like a book installment; cute!) consisted of Little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf. The twisted concept of Red and the Wolf is that the Wolf really is Grandma, transformed after a werewolf bite!

Red had a variant doll, which is kind of a variant of both dolls? The variant doll is not just a palette swap--it actually shows a later point in the same story where Red has already killed her werewolf grandma and turned her pelt into a new cape! I can't think of other non-Resurrection variant editions that physically changed the costume to this extent. It's usually just color changes. 

Putting the "grim" into "Grimms' fairy tales."

Actually, I think "Grim Fairy Tales" would be a better name for this collection.

This Red variant could be a more horror-toned reference to a similar plot beat in Stephen Sondheim's fairy-tale crossover musical Into the Woods, where Red, after surviving, gets a coat made from the Wolf.

It looks like all released copies of the Wolf added blood around her mouth and down her front. The archive photo shows her bloodless, and must be a prototype. I don't think it's a variant release like Red's two dolls because I see no evidence of the bloodless Wolf making it to release. I'd be more interested in getting the Wolf to pair with Red had her release been bloodless like the website photo.

Beauty and the Beast are Volume 2 of the collection. Their portrayal is atypical and wouldn't scan as the fairy tale at first glance. The duo mix modern goth (Beauty) with Victorian Gothic (Beast) and depict a duo of creepy people, where the Beast is a lordly figure who looks more Frankenstein-esque and has no animal theming. LDD's take on the story here is that the spell of the rose has trapped each unhappily together, and that things are twisted enough that telling who is Beauty and who is Beast is impossible. For marketing's sake, though, the man is Beast and the woman is Beauty, as expected.

The Beast's pieced-together face is a one-off unique head sculpt, so he's on my list for another day. I have no use for Beauty, though. Were her hair black and the rest the same, maybe we'd be talking. The purple is just too modern to me. While black hair is the obvious choice, I think it could have looked really stunning and suitably timeless applied here.

Volume 3 of Scary Tales is Hansel and Gretel. The two are dressed in traditional German styling and have totally turned the tables by eating the witch who was planning to eat them. As such, they look wicked and have blood splatter and painted-on sharp teeth.

Volume 4 is Snow White and the Wicked Stepmother/Evil Queen. Snow White is very oddly a realistic flesh color rather than a spooky caricatured stark white, and both dolls are pretty underbaked. The Queen is wearing a cool velvet tattered cowl, perhaps as her old-crone disguise, and she has paint detail of a torn-off jaw underneath, but the doll is very simple-looking in a way that looks unfinished. Snow White's costume also looks cheap.

The Evil Queen has custom potential, but not much else. She's consistently on the low end of the aftermarket.

Volume 5 of Scary Tales is Little Bo Creep. This is maybe the most clever idea. Bo here is a killer who eats her flock, so she's wearing a mouth mask and a skinned sheep's head as a hat.

Under the mask, Bo has sharp animal teeth.

This suggests two puns are occurring in this design--for one, the mouth mask is an obvious horror movie reference to the restraining gear worn by cannibal serial killer Hannibal Lecter, iconic in pop culture at large for his role in the film called...wait for it...The Silence of the Lambs. That's a fantastic pun for a sheep-killing shepherdess! Furthermore, her animal fangs and her sheep-head hat suggest she's a literal (were)wolf in sheep's clothing!

Bo was meant to form a non-related duo release in Volume 5, with the other doll set for the drop to be a take on Little Miss Muffet.

This doll just never materialized, though. I can't fathom why. Her hairstyle looked awesome and I dig her face paint and the spider embroidery on her shirt. I think she'd have been a pretty solid doll if she released, and I'm sorry we never got her.

Miss Muffet got passed over and Scary Tales had its last main release in the Headless Horseman. Washington Irving's The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is an iconic piece of old American literature, but was more of a short story discussing a legend that probably wasn't true in-universe. Putting him in the Scary Tales line is quite a stretch. The Horseman debuted a nasty pumpkin-head sculpt and it was designed to safely pop out of the neck ball joint.

He's a very cool doll, but the head just doesn't hit the classic toy notes that I prefer in LDD. 2017 Halloween exclusive doll Jack O Lantern also used this head sculpt, but I don't know if it easily popped off on his joint.

The Horseman had a variant, too, with a glow-in-the-dark head and a large plush horse to ride. The eyes of the horse supposedly glowed as well. It looks like, unless things changed upon release, the two Horsemen have different body colors. The main looks white while the variant is pale flesh.

The sulfur forehead mark on the horse is very cool!

Scary Tales made a brief comeback with the Resurrection-style reimagined rerelease of Beauty and the Beast. These dolls were packed together in one set, and indulge in the more recognizable monster/maiden duo concept of the iconic fairy tale. They feature a striking black-and-white contrast with accents of the opposite colors and no saturated tones. The dolls also have the Resurrection-style inset eyes, but I did see them at retail in person during my original LDD era. I won't say I wasn't tempted.

These dolls featured a new poem for their new interpretation, where it's implied the Beast is purely a monster with no good to unlock, and he ends up devouring Beauty. Resurrection dolls never got new poems, regardless of how radically different their concepts clearly were. These were an anomalous release.

The big turnoff to me with these dolls is that the bony goat mask on the Beast, previously a costume piece on earlier dolls, is permanently affixed to this doll. I think they missed the chance to let him "transform", but I think they wanted the concept to be that he never was a human prince. And to be sure, the rest of the doll's features, like the fur attached to his head and chest and wrists, his stark black body color, and his clawed arm sculpt, can't really be undone or used with a more normal face under the mask.

And yet, Scary Tales was plagued by another evident cancellation, because this "Scary Tales Resurrection" was meant to continue! Reimagined dolls of Hansel and Gretel, plus a new doll debuting their Witch for the first time, were shown at a Toy Fair, evidently for a prospective 2016 or 2017 release (Halloween exclusive doll Jack O Lantern, a 2016 entry, is next to them, so 2016 is the latest these dolls could have been on display). Hansel and Gretel feature extremely haunting artsy looks with branchwork mixing porcelain cracks and tree limbs, giving them a poetic interpretation of being lost in the woods. The Witch is very drab and doesn't match them. 

I can't tell if these copies are produced with inset eyes or not. Realistically, the Witch would only make sense using one on her right.

It looks like the siblings would have had solid red coffins, which is very striking. Despite the Witch's drabness, she certainly has that classic LDD cartoon charm to her and could be worthwhile on her own. And yet, these dolls also never materialized. I have to wonder why. LDD's classic output kept going in 2018, in which Series 35 and the Halloween doll Vesper rounded off their final classic LDD-original dolls to date. The newer Scary Tales Hansel and Gretel set just never made it out. Perhaps they were intended for further down the pipleline before things fell apart behind the scenes (I'd love to discuss the nuggets I've learned if/when Eggzorcist's Return doll comes along--should be soon now that people are receiving theirs) and halted their release, or else nobody was picking them up for sale? If Miss Muffet was a sad loss, I'm even more unhappy that these dolls never released. The siblings are beautiful spooky dolls, and the Witch has her charm. I'm sad LDD entered soft hiatus and hasn't returned to the old style for many reasons, and now one of them includes that this set and further Scary Tales reimaginings could be spectacular--and Snow White and the Evil Queen could benefit fantastically from an artsier second pass.

With all that history put away, my ultimate opinion on LDD Scary Tales is that it was never high on my radar. Maybe I really just like the fully-original characters more than anything else in the brand, but I can respect dolls like the Wolf and Bo Creep.

As to why I'm here, I really just wanted Red in order to modify another doll, but I had to get her complete to do so. Cheaper incomplete offerings didn't have the accessory I needed, and it was the fact that Red was the only LDD with the three combined factors of 

1. a gripping arm 

2. a gripping arm cast specifically in stark white and

3. A cleaver accessory

that made her an ideal one-stop shop and necessary acquisition for me.

My copy is pre-opened and unboxed but complete.

For whatever reason, the Scary Tales dolls released within the 13th anniversary year of the brand are the only ones to lack the special-printed coffins for the occasion, and just have a logo sticker for the anniversary slapped onto the clear window. 

I don't know why this is the case. As mentioned before, it doesn't make sense that the dolls were finished and the release delayed  into the anniversary year, whereupon the manufacturing just put the sticker on to suit the occasion. That's disproven by the fact that I know Beauty and the Beast had the neck emblem painted on that other 13th anniversary dolls did, which couldn't have been added as an afterthought. Maybe LDD somehow logistically fell short of anniversary coffins and made do with stickers on a black box because that was cheaper than ordering another run?

I'll have to see if Red's neck is painted with the anniversary symbol.

Her coffin tissue color is red, which certainly suits her, but it's so widely-used across LDD releases that it can get a little dull.

The chipboards for the duo characters within the line appear to be the same for each doll in the matched pair, and feature a photo of both in the image and one poem for the whole story. It might be that the antagonist character is the looming close-up portrait on each.

The bloody market release of the Wolf is visible here, showing how the final doll actually looked.

The poem says:

Red went to her grandma's house

On a full moon's night

With her basket of medication

To tend to her wolf bite.

Upon her arrival, she finds Grandma

With big eyes and big teeth

Under the covers in Grandma's bed

A Wolf lies beneath

In her basket, Red reaches for her axe

Ready to take aim.

Then she realized Grandma

And the wolf were the same.

And a rewrite.

Once upon a time

On a full moon's night

Red went to her grandma's house

To help her treat her bite.

She saw the figure in the bed

What big teeth she had!

Oh dear, a wolf was in the sheets!

And it was big and bad!

Red reached for her hatchet

And she steadied up her aim

But then she realized Grandma

And the Wolf were one and same.

The Scary Tales dolls don't have death certificates or death dates.

Having her out of the box, she's immediately way cooler than I expected her to be. I was impressed, and liked her a lot more than I ever thought I would.

While versions of the fairy tale did exist before the costume defining the little girl, ever since that was introduced, Red Riding Hood was forever tied to her cape. It's certainly to her benefit as an iconic, unique piece that instantly makes any depiction of Red recognizable, and even lends itself to abstract homage and motif. Dressing a female character in red can play on the fairy-tale association for moments when she is in danger (bonus points if a wolf is involved). This is all to say the riding hood (a short hooded cape) was the only truly essential detail on the doll...and I like the way LDD did it.

LDD Red's cape is a cozy-feeling red fleece fabric tied by a black velvet neck bow. The hood obviously goes up or can be worn down, and the cape can sweep forward and cover her arms, hanging past her hands at the lowest dip. The hood has a rounded backward point.

Red is the first LDD I've acquired with multiple rooted hair colors as opposed to monochromatic hair or a highlighted blend in one color. It's uncommon for LDD, and typically reserved for the most modern goth/punk characters. Red's aesthetic qualifies. Here, Red has long front bangs in a red color. They're evidently supposed to split across her face and frame each side, but this copy's has three distinct tendrils, with one falling over the middle--the left side of the split has split in two itself, but I think it looks really good this way. I didn't think Red looked very nice at all in pictures with her hair out of her face, but this shaping pulls her together for me. The rest of her hair is black and tied in low ponytails with red bows around the ties.

The hair is rooted thinly and designed only to be tied in that shape. 

Red's pigtails were very stiff with gel that was resistant to washing. Her ends turned out fried when I did so, though I'm wondering now if hot water is to blame at this point for certain fibers. It may not have turned out as such if I used a cooler temperature, but I can swear I've gotten LDDs with the hair certifiably fried before I touched it.

While Grandma is the Big Bad Wolf in this universe, it seems like lycanthropy is running in the family because Red herself appears to be a stealth werewolf. Her eyes are yellow and vaguely animalistic, and she's wearing a choker collar with a silver crescent moon symbol. This makes me wonder if Red is so evil that she'd kill a werewolf despite being one herself, or maybe Grandma transferred the curse before Red could dispose of her.

Red has stark white skin and her eyes are shaded with huge purple areas that come close to drag makeup in the way they arch up to her eyebrows. The purple fades at the edges and has streaks coming down from her eyes for an extreme goth look. Her lips are red and her animalistic eyes are yellow. The corners of the purple shading have some grey above them just under the brows for more dimension, though I don't know how much effect this touch really has.

Red's choker velcros in back. Her neck does not have the 13th Anniversary emblem painted on the back, lending credence to the idea that the Scary Tales dolls in this year were not considered within the anniversary branding until belatedly. 

Vol. 2 got around to adding the emblem for Beauty and the Beast, but they still didn't get the anniversary coffin design.

Under the cape, Red has a one-piece dress made to look like a folksy overall dress over a horizontal-striped black-and-white shirt. The overall dress portion is red with corduroy and plaid elements, and a skull appliqué on the lower corner.

The striped fabric feels like the striped tights other LDDs wear. The dress velcros in back.

Under the dress, Red has black footie tights and an unusual pair of boots with smooth texture, almost more like garden boots or waders, or just older-timey pieces.

I don't know if any dolls wore these before her. They're an unfamiliar sculpt,  but I did notice that Series 27's Spring-Heeled Jack wears the same boots. Like Captain Bonney's, these boots don't have slits in the back. I couldn't pull them off with my hands alone. They'd need to be heated.

Red has the first case I can name of a pale LDD displaying spot yellowing, with her right hand being yellowed. This is disappointing and concerning, especially since I haven't observed this issue in other LDDs. Now feel I have to worry about it occurring, and it also makes for more work attempting to whiten the piece for the doll who needs it. (Fortunately, I did get it mostly whitened in a peroxide soak).

Red's hand is used with this cleaver/hatchet piece, which seems to have debuted in one form with Schooltime Sadie in Series 2. 

I don't know if that copy had a palm peg for Sadie to hold it. I also don't recall any other LDD using this piece. I know Gluttony the butcher didn't.

This piece is described as an axe here, but its proportions read more like a cleaver. Only the fact that the handle extends across the back of the blade makes it feel axe-like, and it could just be an antiquated cleaver.

Because the handle of this piece is so thick, the grip of Red's hand has heen made wider after holding it for so long. 

Red's other accessory is true to the fairy-tale and essential to her iconography, if less so than her cape--her basket of goods for Grandma.

This basket piece dates all the way back to Eggzorcist in Series 1, who had it in white. 

It has a characterful tapered shape and circular base that lets it stand. It's all softer flexible plastic and the handle is a separate piece with pins that plug into the rim. The gripping hand doesn't fit around the handle, but it slides over an arm just fine.

There's also a little square of red gingham "picnic" fabric to stuff the basket with. The axe can go into the basket under the cloth to hide it as a wicked surprise.

Red donated her arm to the intended doll along with her weapon, which will be a cleaver in the new context. The hand she got in exchange is flat and has blood painted on, which doesn't suit her poorly.

Since this doll is kind of incomplete without her grandma and she doesn't have her weapon anymore, my photoshoot with her was simple, using trees and plants and cobwebs outside and some image edits for effect.

So that's Red Riding Hood! Quite a pleasant surprise. Her character design comes together better than I expected it to, and the doll is dynamic and appealing with her cape and accessories and bold goth caricature design. She's not here because I wanted her, and she doesn't have much place without her wolf counterpart, but I like her enough to keep around, even if she doesn't earn herself the coveted shelf space. Maybe I'll get the Wolf someday, but she's not something I'd really go out of my way for. Not super pricey, though. So maybe. I had a better time with Red than I expected, and I appreciate that.