First From the Grave, Once and Again: Living Dead Dolls Return 'Series 1' and Original Series 1 Complete

It's finally done! Time to wrap up this marathon!

[Read the preceding posts in the series with these links: Sadie, Eggzorcist, Damien, Sin, Posey]

This series has been a long one, starting in February last year! We're close to the second anniversary of that review! This series has also been extremely significant. I wouldn't have my whole LDD hobby/problem if not for Return Sadie. I might have forever remained on the sidelines if Sadie hadn't presented an irresistible unmissable doll experience I needed to document. And as such, I dipped my toes into the deep to prepare for her review...and then descended quickly into the Mariana Trench. The Sadie review and comparison was also fun as a showcase of where the brand has been and is going, and sold me on the Series 1 doll to such a degree that I decided to repeat the format for the rest of the Series 1 cast! Here's my cover photos in sequence. Each depicts the Return doll in a position of power over the S1 original, who is visually downplayed.

The first two cover photos were just thematic tableaux, but I leveled up some with Damien's bespoke schoolroom scene, and then even further when incorporating photo edits for Sin's flaming Hell and Posey's misty graveyard. I don't actually think the Return doll is the victor in all of these comparisons, but the photo theme was fun to iterate upon and to cater toward each doll duo's aesthetics.

Other photo series in this set were centered around the Series 1 dolls--heads on black, compositions with their chipboard poems, and wallpaper headshots.

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Here's some miscellaneous favorite pictures with these dolls.

Now to rank the dolls. The folloing photos show subjects separated by doll, ranked in left-to-right descending order, with the leftmost being the best and the rightmost being the least.

Return Rankings

Quality:

I put Eggzorcist at the top because I had no issues with her and I was impressed with her glossy finish. Posey came next for having no problems, but her paint job felt unfinished with her hands and feet not having as much shading and color detail as her head. Sin is third. She's also okay, but her hair wrapping concept leaves gaps of her face visible through which should have been painted black to hide them. Her solid red eyes are also cheaply painted over eyes with irises, and it shows. Sadie is next. Her head had one wig tab break when she fell, and her cuffs don't stay rolled well, while one button has come loose on one cuff. Damien is last. He has a chemical smell and his hats are too small and he had other sloppy details that boded poorly for the future of Return LDD--fortunately, Sin and Posey recovered some. Damien introduced the cheap painted-over eye idea, which I hold him responsible for.

Character design:

I didn't take photos of the dolls to rank them by character design, forgetting that was a thing I did with these recaps. Oops. I can just do that ranking with text. 

I think Posey is my top pick. She's an exemplary design where everything clicks and she plays familiar horror themes with a skill and finesse I'm very impressed with. Sadie gets the second ranking because she's as classic and dynamic as the Series 1 doll, despite her changes. Third would be Sin, whose look takes some risky leaps but works, then Eggzorcist, whose look is alienating and unsettling but can be really rewarding if you key in. Damien is the least of the dolls. There's not a whole lot that grabs me.

Alternate faces:

I don't use any of these instead of the dolls' first face options for inactive shelf display, so none of them are full favorites, but I put Sadie's first for the versatility in a subtle expression change, Sin's next for the fun in the caricature, Eggy's third for how striking and detailed it is, Posey's fourth for being a great design but not one I want to use, and Damien's fifth for being very simple and not hugely worth it to me. At least the other faces are separate molds from the first options.

Accessories:

I forgot about both Sadies' bouquets when shooting the ranking photos, so I edited them in using old pictures! I wasn't unpacking and restaging everything all over again.

Sadie's accessory set is my favorite. The tombstone has become a staple photo prop for many characters while also looking awesome and having an incredible hidden compartment, while the teddy bear, bouquet, cleaver, and purse are all great pieces that got a lot of use. Eggzorcist has the most pieces with her bedeviled eggs and basket and bugs, which was fun to play with and felt really special. I put Sin's flaming pentacle mat and pitchfork next because they're big and few, but very dynamic and conducive to great displays and photos. Damien's accessories followed. They're nicely detailed but not so dynamic. Posey's single accessory was last. It's fine, but it can't compare to the other sets.

Wearable Extras:

I don't use them, but I do love Sadie's shades and sleeveless coat, and the hair bow is a nice bonus. Sin's cape and crown came next. I could do without the crown, but the cape with its wired edges is so fun to pose in dynamic displays that loose fabric just couldn't achieve. Damien's whoopee cap and fleece coat are nice enough, but the hat is too tight and the coat isn't something I want to use much. Posey's cape and shackle are next--the cape is lovely but doesn't really suit the doll, while the shackle is awkward to use and doesn't look great on either head's neck. Eggzorcist's mask is last. It might jump up a spot if it didn't have ears on it. Eggzorcist's hood has ears. The mask should not. 

Certificate secrets:

Ranking how the certificates were hidden in these doll kits results in an exact match to their chronological release--Sadie>Eggy>Damien>Sin>Posey--with the ways the papers were hidden diminishing in their impact. Sadie had an awesome hidden compartment in her tombstone that was hard to discover. Eggzorcist hid her slip in her Easter basket, which made sense. Damien's was hidden between books in his carry strap, which worked okay. Sin's was just tucked in her cape (lame), and Posey repeating the cape trick made it worse on her.

Personal ranking:

I put Sadie at the top because I have to. She was a formative doll experience by bringing me into this LDD collecting hobby to begin with, and there's no replicating the magic of experiencing her special features and photo presence. Sadie is pretty flawed, and suffers from being the proof of concept that the other dolls iterated and improved upon. Her head is a little oversized in comparison, and the wig system is messier and left the tabs more fragile. Still, the impression is overall glowing. I had a wonderful time discovering her potential. Posey came next for nearing the highs I had with Sadie with her amazing character design and display presence. Eggzorcist came third for the amount of passion and fun I got out of working with her, and for being so surprisingly appealing to me, and Sin came fourth because I had a great time with her but got fewer photos with her. There's a big drop from Sin to Damien on this ranking which their placement can't illustrate in a lineup like this. Damien just disappointed me in terms of quality, and he didn't captivate my imagination enough to overcome the hurdles in his way.

Series 1 Rankings

Quality:

This is hard to rank here because not only is none of Series 1 that excellent in terms of craft, but I'm also not nearly as bothered by it as I would be for later dolls. I defaulted to ranking by where I found detriments rather than a lack of polish.

Sin is at the top because, so far, her hair is holding up fine (knock on wood) and there's nothing else really wrong with her. Eggzorcist also has no problems but her noose being a closed plastic loop knocked off points for me (thus the replacement with a real cord). Damien's plastic snaps were falling apart and needed replacement, but Sin and Posey ended up worse with fried hair aging. Sadie is more insulting since she started out glossy and glorious, but Posey arrived to me with worse hair damage than Sadie accrued over time after opening. 

Character Design:

I think the best character design might be Eggzorcist because she's pretty original and iconic and weird, not feeling generic or derivative. After that, I'd put Sin for being more original than Sadie, then put Sadie for being charming and interesting anyway, and then put Posey, and last, Damien, who is basically a full lift of a preexisting external film character. 

Accessories:

The accessories all lose points across the board for weak to no functionality, not being designed with dynamic display in mind, but here's the ranking regardless.

I put Damien's accessories at the top because I love his three different books as props and the slingshot isn't bad either. Eggy's basket and roach were second for being unusual and fairly display-friendly--the basket sits on her arm fine and the roach kinda fits inside. Sadie's pieces came third because I like them but not a one of them wants to be held. The knife fitting inside the purse raised it up a bit. Sin's pitchfork is next. I'd have liked a more rigid piece and definitely wish Sin could hold it well, but it's still more interesting and easy to finagle into a presentable pose than Posey's flower. 

Personal ranking:

The twins are at the top. Sadie and I have been through a lot together on my LDD journey and she's been my ride-and-die character go-to who I've amassed several incarnations of. Sin is her match in terms of retro cute appeal, and Sin has her own special something that honestly makes her feel even more authentic to the 1960s doll theme than Sadie does. Damien surprised me by being in the middle, but he does have the similar retro charm despite the doll not sparking a lot in my imagination. Eggzorcist is a good doll, but she's ultimately more niche and less to my taste than the dolls above her, and I got more engagement with the Return doll. Posey is on the bottom for not inspiring me much at all, and paling the most next to her Return doll.

Overall, my favorites might still be the Sadies. Posey puts up a good fight for number-one Return doll, but I can't forget how much I got from Eggzorcist, either. Overall, Series 1 has a lot of earnest charm while Return has a lot of fancy polish, and both lines have their merits and pitfalls. I love the magic the Return dolls have provided in terms of atmospheric staging and posing, particularly with the wonderful eye gaze feature. However, the simple joy the Series 1 dolls provide can't be understated, either.

Here's the Return crew around a coffin.

I put a light in the box for the frosted window!

And a similar shot with Series 1 around a Series 1 coffin.

Both coffins for this conclusion shoot are the Sadies'. It was only right.

For the group shot in the cover, my intention would have been to seat all of the Series 1 dolls with the Return dolls standing behind their shoulders...only, Series 1 Sin cannot sit with her rigid devil tail, so I mixed up who was standing and who was seated. That seemed fair for the conclusion that I don't universally favor one set over the other.

I'm done with Series 1 of classic and Return LDD, but I'm probably not done with Return itself. We need to see what else it brings, but there are many characters I could see hooking me with fancy Return designs, and I hope they're good and feel worthwhile. Dolls like Return Damien and Lou Sapphire make me worry about the integrity and prestige Return wants to cultivate. A fully great boy doll in this range would be much appreciated! 

That's all for now. This was a fun project with a lot to explore, and I've enjoyed it as a staple feature across 2024 and 2025. I'm worried the Return line represents LDD trying to erase where it came from and replace the older brand, perhaps to wash off the pain of behind-the-scenes troubles--or to legally distance themselves from the older brand and the trademark/design rights complications it may have ended up with. I don't like that, since I think the classic dolls were wonderful in their ways and the context and comparison only enriches both halves of the redesigns. If LDD can't or won't acknowledge their old material anymore, that's fine. I'll be here to do so for them.