The Living Dead Dolls Fashion Victims, Part 1: What in Damnation Was Mezco Doing?

This deep dive has been waiting for a while. I've name-dropped the Fashion Victims many times in prior LDD reviews, and couldn't get through three dolls in my second uncomfortable-LDD review without mentioning them in each doll's section. Well, now it's time. This is not quite an uncomfortable discussion, though it will, in part, be a companion to my uncomfortable-LDD series since it's not quite a comfortable discussion, either. This first part will be a close companion piece to that series, though I expect to drop that distinction after part 1. This doll line from LDD is a question of redesigns, gender/sexual/body politics, possible petty beef, and tonal concerns. These dolls are fascinating on multiple levels, arguably for more wrong reasons than right! This is not my typical subject matter, but the mature topics are absolutely unavoidable with these Living Dead Dolls items that got my attention and I think the subject is worthwhile. If any young readers somehow stumble onto this blog and see this post...I mean, you and I both know I can't stop you from reading. But this is more adult subject matter.

Warning for mature discussions, exaggerated unsexy sexual imagery and sexual jokes in poor taste, and big rubbery doll breasts with nipples.

So who were the Fashion Victims?

In an ideal timeline, they would be, as the clever name suggests, a Living Dead Dolls spinoff foray into the field of fashion dolls, having a more glamorous and mature design adapting the cast to a more grown-up body design and emphasizing clothes play. 

We kinda got that. Wave 1 of the Fashion Victims are adults and each has two outfits...but these are firmly adults-only, and not because of the horror thing...which is a polite way of saying "it looks like a hormonal teen straight boy got into the design room". 

Series 2 Kitty--a cute retro cheerleader kid.

Fashion Victims Kitty. Not joking.

The name "Fashion Victims" is cute, but it almost feels euphemistic given the actual content of the Wave 1 dolls. A more tonally accurate title for the line might be "Les Petites Mortes!" LDD doesn't have the command of French (not that I myself do), nor the interest in classy innuendo, for that to have ever been in consideration, though.

The word is laden with misogynistic baggage, but nothing is more succinct and tonally accurate than saying the Wave 1 Fashion Victims were not just aged-up versions of the LDD cast--they were the "slutty" versions. That was entirely the intent. The dolls have distorted cartoonish porn-star proportions and skimpy vinyl-coated outfits, plus second costumes that literally three times out of four are just fetish stereotypes with flimsy to no basis in the doll character's horror aesthetic. The dolls are blatantly sexualized in a totally cliché, sophomoric sense that feels like something for teen boys to giggle about...and then unironically fantasize about. I can't guarantee that no women oversaw these doll designs; theoretically, anybody is capable of this kind of design...but c'mon, I can definitely strongly suspect it. 

Print ad for the doll line I found. This says about all you need to know, though I think this artwork significantly underplays the dolls' proportions.

Throughout this review, I want to make it very clear that being sexy, having huge breasts, and enjoying a sexual lifestyle are not at all problems, and there are ways to portray these traits and subcultures in ways that don't reduce the participants. I have no reason to protest against an adult doll line which is sexualized and kinky. That's totally fine, and I can enjoy absurdity in a sexual context, too. I just don't want the dolls doing it wrong, and it feels to me that LDD turned this workable idea into something uncomfortable.

LDD never felt like they had had a gendered target audience otherwise. While you could argue the mainline dolls are a boy's joke because they're classic girl's toys parodied by being spooky and edgy, the LDDs are too much of a sincere artistic effort for me to find the men making them to be anything but genuinely subversive against expected roles. Ed, Damien, and Mez designed dolls and did it with care and visual instincts and aesthetic keenness that a dudebro merely trying to mock girls' toys wouldn't exhibit. I've seen parody dolls that feel like nothing more than hateful jokes. (Look up "Arsenic and Apple Pie" if you want to get mad.) LDD doesn't feel like a cruel endeavor. There are also plenty of women who like and collect LDD, and I wouldn't be too surprised if there are fewer men in the LDD fanbase than women. The  Wave 1 Fashion Victims, however, are very male gaze-y, and I would expect this line to have more male fans than female...for obvious reasons.

[Note: I use the terminology "Wave 1" and "Wave 2" in reference to this FV doll line, though Mezco and LDD officially call them "Series 1" and "Series 2". In discussion, I feel that can get syntactically confused with the Series 1 and Series 2 of the classic LDD mainline dolls which share some characters with FV, so I'm using the word "Wave" here to avoid that confusion.]

The image of women in the Wave 1 line openly corresponds with imagery porn sells to straight men, and tellingly, there are no male Fashion Victims in either wave, which is just coward nonsense to me. If Wave 1 had sexualized a guy or two, I'd offer more much more credit for fair play, but the absence of men in this cast feels like an unspoken "no homo" from the designers and a tacit admission that only straight men were being sought as an audience. The gender uniformity may also be a fetishized move, as if to suggest, with no men around, these dolls can only get sexy with each other and they're all girls hehe drool...Clearly, Mezco weren't trying to reach to women here. Maybe there are sapphic ladies these dolls would or do appeal to, but these aren't for them. If these are meant to be fetishized lesbians, Mezco weren't trying to put the "L" in "LDD" as a move of queer outreach. Also, since boy dolls always occupy such a strange space in doll lines, I have a particular interest in how they're executed, and even if they're weird or bad or have poor presence, I always like to see at least one boy doll in a fashion line as an exhibit of the brand's artistic range or limitations. It always comes as a missed opportunity for a doll line to never have boys, though the lack of boys is still a statement in itself.

So the Fashion Victims feel like, at the most charitable, an adult gag gift for the Spencer's brand. At worst, they're a ludicrously objectified, fairly embarrassing product idea that mishandles its theme in ways that make the designs look insulting to women. And that's not an impression I'm given to receive from the content of the main LDD brand. There are many issues with the content of LDD, but not the kind that make me question the brand's views on women in this vein. I think my strongest reaction is more dismissiveness, rather than outrage or alarm-bells. I just look at this and want to say "grow up".

The Fashion Victims were an early brand foray, and likely had their last release (Wave 2) before Series 6. I make this guess because the latest main series to provide a cast member to Fashion Victims was Series 5. Wave 1 of the line featured one Series 1 character (Sadie), one Series 2 character (Kitty), and two Series 3 characters (Sheena and Lilith). Wave 2, the retool, featured three Series 4 characters (Inferno, Sybil, and Lulu) and one Series 5 character (Hollywood). No characters were repeated across the two waves. Hollywood is the only LDD character whose Fashion Victim represents her only design beyond the original doll. The other characters sourced for FV were bigger "staples" in the LDD brand and spinoffs, with multiple designs and doll formats to their names, through LDD Minis and Resurrection at the least. Hollywood is one of those characters I'd have expected more from, and her being Resurrected would have felt like an inevitability were the doll line not ended before that could happen. To see a Series 5 character in a spinoff line is somewhat surprising just because 1-4 hold the most repeated characters in the brand and the biggest "mainstays". After Series 4, the best hope a character had of recurring was through the Resurrection line or blind-box vinyl figures.

There was a question of who to put on the table from Wave 1. 

Among the Wave 1 Fashion Victims, Sheena struck me as fighting back the best against the tonally confining design lens, but her clothing has the least contrast between her two outfits and I didn't want to cherry-pick the Fashion Victim who looked easiest to reclaim and enjoy. I'm not sure these dolls deserve that. Having not discussed the original Sheena before, and not having any plans to, I also didn't want to use her as a talking point--I'd rather review a Victim whose original counterpart I can have on hand. I went with the choice of Sadie, my go-to when reviewing a new collection she appears in. I've gotten to know the character well by this point. Didn't exactly want to know her this well, but...

I ended up getting a mint sealed copy of Sadie. Not only does this allow me to document the doll in full, including her doll line's packaging, but it also gave me pristine vinyl fabric...and one, uh, also gets the impression that, given their tonal target, these might not be dolls one wants to get in any way but provably untouched condition. 

Despite being pretty ridiculous and reportedly low-quality, the Fashion Victims seem to have some kind of obscurity or scarcity on their side making them a hot item. Wave 2, which is more graceful and polished by far, especially tends to be harder to find new or complete. And sweet Satan, Sybil has tormented me with her ephemerality. I want that doll!

Sadie's box is fairly massive, and features a downward sloping shape at the front. There's nothing  especially themed about the packaging design. It's purple and antique spooky, but it doesn't make much of a statement. I suppose the doll is a confrontational enough image that she speaks plenty on her own.

The box says the doll comes with "two outfits and split personalities".

Jesus Christ, Mezco. Let's just be edgy and ignorant about mental illness too, huh? I guess we've been there, done that with Sybil and Schitzo as it is. I have no reason to be surprised.

I do have to admire how rancidly 2000s-edgy the box art on the back is. This is such a time capsule and I unironically love this nightmare of a graphic aesthetic.

Lilith's nun outfit, and only that, is silhouetted for some reason--why? Too blasphemous to advertise? Lilith did have a variant doll in a different red costume, but that's not what's depicted in the silhouette. 

The age rating printed on the box is the same as the rest of the LDD brand at the time--15+. I think that's irresponsibly low for these wave 1 Fashion Victims, and an 18+ rating should have been provided, and made much more prominent on the box. Perhaps they weren't sold in places kids would likely be in contact with them, but I wouldn't hedge my bets if I were making a sexualized doll line. Cover the bases. I know the dolls were sold through Mezco direct, but I don't know if they also hit retailers.

I was first curious about the scale of these dolls. I knew they were taller and larger-feeling than classic LDD, but I didn't know if they'd be very close to a classic Barbie. The print ad didn't lie, though--these are a spooky 13 inches tall, and as such, are pretty large dolls!

The box has the logo on the top flap, but the upward-tapered wedge shape of the box requires it to be opened from the bottom.

Inside are two trays--one holding Sadie, and the other, her second outfit and "data sheet" poster.

Unboxing Sadie was a struggle. She had several more twist-ties than a typical LDD, and her boots were the hardest to free, with them being tied to a plastic cradle that had to be removed from the tray before the ties could come out. She also had a strip of plastic sewn to her hair. 

Here she is out of the box. What a weird, weird doll. 

The doll is taller than a classic LDD and also taller and larger all around than a Barbie.

She's a bit smaller than giant Alice Sadie, though, who is also advertised as standing 13'' high.

Y'all, this is an expensive photo!

The Fashion Victim actually gives me a complete set of plastic Sadie doll release formats. I'm not counting the soft-bodied Bedtime Sadie doll since she's mostly plush, and the pencil sharpener, which I have, is just a head. These below represent all the ways Sadie has been made into plastic jointed dolls, though these, of course, aren't all of her editions, and aren't close to all the editions I own and have reviewed. Splitting hairs further, I also didn't depict a standard-size ball-jointed classic Sadie or her Resurrection doll (which could count for both).

FV Sadie's hair is black as usual, and it's uniquely parted to her right side here. It's just past shoulder length and feels pretty dry and messy, but it combs nicely as it is and cleaned up well with a boil and condition, though the ends started to look more fried and disorderly with time. I like the way it falls on her head in a way that complements the stylized sculpt and paint, sitting thin and close on top.

LDD's intention for the hair, going by the 2D art and official photo on the website, seems to be for some thinner strands to hang over her right eye. The most similar FV hairstyles to their original counterparts are Kitty's and Sybil's. Lilith adds bangs, Lulu's pigtails are lowered, Hollywood has a different texture, cut, and color, and Sheena has vertical hair rather than a shaved cut with long hair only at the front.

The Wave 1 Fashion Victims have painted vinyl heads like most fashion dolls, as well as classic LDDs. The face design has a flat cartoony art style with narrow sharp eyes distinct from normal LDD and unique to FV wave 1, though character portraits rendered very similarly were seen on the four panels of the Series 15 spirit board which released a good while after the Fashion Victims, giving us a speculative look at what Fashion Victims of those dolls may have looked like. Facially, at least.

Series 15 spirit-board portrait art looks a lot like Wave 1 FV.

The eye design does not appear to code the FV characters as having Asian features. Sometimes cartoon faces do intend such with eyes like this, but here, it's just a sharp look. 

Sadie's face here looks okay. She wins some points with me by retaining her iconic inverted goth black-and-white eye mismatch, which all of my favorite Sadies retain in some manner. The pale eye is slightly blue. Her skintone is a dead greenish pale grey color that works fine, but it's been shaded with reddish blushing that really doesn't flatter the doll, and makes her look more inflamed than rosy, only hurt by the sweaty effect the shine of her paint gives her. I'd much prefer a starker flat flesh color for the cartoony look. Her lips also don't fill the corners of her mouth, leaving shadows that make her face look more haggard. 

The facial design of these dolls really is Strike 1 in terms of failing the sexy aesthetic, because the look is so harshly cartoony while the paint is really unflattering...and why in Satan's name did they make Lilith mimic her classic LDD facial expression?

No, Mezco. THAT isn't hot!!!

Vampires are the. easiest. monsters. to. make. sexy. AND LDD FAILED. This is just the same shrieking corpse the Series 3 doll was. Like, oh my god, just give her the same head as the other FV dolls with a closed mouth, paint her with a sultry smirk , maybe, and dribble blood down one side of her mouth! 

Horrendous photo edit to demonstrate.

That's it! That's all you needed to do! I'm insulted on the behalf of all hot vampires everywhere. LDD snatched defeat right from the jaws of victory there. Did they want to make sexy dolls or not???

I do respect FV Lilith for upholding the chain of Lilith dolls introducing a head sculpt to all of her release formats (classic, Minis, FV, Dollies, Resurrection), but this was absolutely not the way to go for the desired tone of this doll line. FV Lilith looks like such a trainwreck, though, that I'm oddly tempted to get her and customize her into a more respectable cartoon horror doll that makes her elements actually work. And her dress could be a viable alternative for Sadie, since it shares the white collar element and has a Morticia-esque cut.

Sadie's actual Fashion Victims costume starts with her vinyl-fabric choker collar, which opens with velcro in the back. While vinyl fabric can sometimes look mod and chic, the Fashion Victims use it for fetish appeal, with all its "wipe-clean" connotations therein. I think this fabric can be simply a mature declaration of a kink leaning, but the doll doesn't quite pull off the tone of badass alt fashion for me.

Sadie has a sleeveless dress which hangs just below the hip and has a wide neckline with a take on the white vintage dress collar of her original doll. The body of the dress is black like before, and the whole thing is vinyl fabric and velcros completely open down the back without having to slide down her body. The chest has big pockets of space for her cartoonish breasts and some tailoring to hug the waist tight in her hourglass shape. It's admirably contoured for this bizarre body sculpt, I suppose, but it makes for a strange piece of clothing.

The points of the collar are sewn down just below so it can't flip up all the way. It looks like both fabrics are the correct colors under the vinyl coating, so in the event of total peeling, the dress would still have the same coloring.

On her arms, Sadie wears net sleeves for a fingerless-glove effect, but there are no thumb holes sewn in so her hands just kind of stick out the ends. It reminds me of signature Ghoulia Yelps, but she could slide her fingers through the netting to fake the gloved look better than Sadie can. One sleeve had a large hole in its netting already. Another developed one with use. 

Below, Sadie wears matching net stockings, which have elastic garters attached to black vinyl-fabric panties under the dress so the undies and stockings are all one piece.

Latex panties are just a nightmare to think about, sensory-wise.

She also wears a take on the original doll's Mary Janes and socks, with black Mary Jane heeled shoes and white socks over the net stockings.

Like with Iris, I'm not convinced about the solid socks over net, but also like Iris, I can see the application to balance out the black and white theming. Maybe I'm too Monster High-brained, but I almost wish these heels had literal stilettos--daggers sculpted as the heels! That wouldn't be at all conducive to the doll standing in them (and they struggle to hold her upright as it is), but I think Sadie is the kind of lady who would walk on knifepoint.

The heels don't make Sadie easy to stand.

The wave 1 Fashion Victims body is heavily caricatured. 

This is your last chance to leave. We're going to see doll nipple. Ready?

Okay.

Anybody who ever got up in arms about Barbie would have a conniption with these dolls.

The dolls have balloon breasts, which are sculpted oh-so-classily with erect nipples. While sculpted doll nipples will always be more rigid by virtue of the material, these are deliberately prominent for sex appeal purposes rather than falling under the explanation/excuse of being mere anatomical detail.

It would be fair to call this chest a shelf; it can function as one!

She could rest a plate of cookies there when sitting in bed.

These dolls have probably been to Dr. Dedwin on the recommendation of LDD's Vanity icon, Madame Dysmorphic. The proportions feel augmented. The vinyl fabric clothing is good at hiding the nipples underneath, so that's a place where Sheena actually would look less tasteful, as her shirt is a thinner fabric that would make that detail visible while clothed. 

The rest of the body is oddly stocky, with a short torso and shorter, thicker, more muscular legs than one would expect here, and practically no butt--plus the stance is quite wide and not very elegant, with the stance actually enforced by the angled rigid sculpt of the ankles. The weird effect is compounded by the wide shoulders and oversized head, and the rib contour is unflattering here too. The dolls are not lewd enough to not be wearing molded panties, a restraint which I'm grateful for, though it admittedly makes no sense when the dolls have panties as clothing pieces. I'd prefer either molded and painted underwear, or a flat area with no detail so the clothing pieces aren't sitting on top of sculpted undies.

Is this doll design really sexy to anybody? There's no grace to this body, and even unrealistic sexy caricature can have design appeal despite blatant unreality. Jessica Rabbit is utterly absurd, but she works. I guess I've seen more deranged and alien, hormone-poisoned artistic distortions of the female form, but that doesn't mean this one is appealing either. Sadie honestly reminds me of those drawings of sensory homunculi, what with her exaggerated head, hands and boobs, like she's a Freudian distortion of the human body exaggerated by what parts are more sensory in the sexual sphere. It's an eroticized depiction of a woman that makes me wonder if the artist...likes women. The design is clearly attracted to some vision of the female form, but this image of a woman seems so distorted and utilitarian that the designer doesn't appear to actually see any beauty or grace in the human female form. Again, if these dolls were truly trying to be hot, I don't think they knew how.

Unsplayed feet, smaller breasts, and a smaller head would each contribute to a less bizarre shape that conveyed actual appeal. Longer legs would do a lot toward improving the design as well, because the rest of the absurd proportions feel built for someone taller. I think what makes someone sexy is primarily the way they carry themselves and own the body and clothing they're in. This doll design makes it difficult for the characters to do that well since it's so inherently awkward. We have the mathematician's solution to sex appeal, not the artist's, and that mathematician probably needs to check their work, anyhow. I don't want to sound essentialist, but I have to guess that if a female artist designed this doll, she'd almost certainly be more artful. If a female artist did design this doll, then I apologize to you and I shouldn't have assumed. I...just don't see where you were going with this.

The artistic intent of this doll makes her the only doll I've owned who feels NSFW when unclothed. I don't consider myself a prude, and I agree that bodies should be able to be viewed nonsexually...but this is a sexual body just from its design. That's the whole angle of this physique. This isn't my first doll with nipples--the L.O.L. line does this, strangely, on all of its characters, and that can feel a little weird and definitely unnecessary on the adult characters. Here, at least, I get it. It makes sense for the tone, but it does contribute to the aura around this doll that makes me look like a pervert for owning her. I wouldn't even necessarily feel uncomfortable with a more proportionate female doll body with big breasts and nipples, but the distortion here makes it feel icky. This isn't a body designed to be received neutrally, to be incidental to or just a part of the character.  To be clear, in no world are all large breasts an invitation to be remarked and creeped upon. To say a curvaceous figure is inherently sexual or asking for attention is disgusting. Lots of women are just trying to exist with what they got. But this isn't that. This is an artificial rendition of the female form with exaggerations expressly for sex appeal and impact, more comparable to novel and extreme plastic surgeries which exaggerate the figure in ways fully intended by the recipient to get noticed. I think it's trying too hard with things that are sexy on paper, but not in execution. Simply making the breasts huge is not the secret formula to sex appeal, guys.

The doll body is almost all all a rubbery plastic which is a pretty unseemly tactile choice and does not combat the sex-doll allegations. It is part of her articulation concept, though.

Sadie's head is on a respectable ball joint, with a big ball visible inside her neck. I was first under the impression this was a swivel joint, so I'm quite pleased that it's more expressive than that.

When trying to pull Sadie's head off and test her on a BJD (or pseudo-BJD; hinge joints and plastic, not resin and elastic--got the wrong size, anyhow), the neck peg snapped off inside. I was able to pull the very large ball out of the head and glue the peg securely back into the neck later, but I wish the doll's vinyl was a little softer so she could be popped off easier for those entertaining the search for a different doll body. 

The arms and torso are one rubber-coated piece, with the arms having a wire armature for posing. They don't seem to bend just anywhere, and do move more at the shoulder and elbow, but I think it is just thick wire inside, rather than any defined internal hinge joints. The shoulders cannot raise especially high, nor do they "swivel" forward and back, limiting some poses above the collarbone, but the elbows work pretty well. The large hands are solid, slightly flexible plastic which pop onto limited ball joints at the wrists. I later found the left hand to be a bit loose and pop off easier than I wanted it to. The legs are separate parts and have what seem to be rotating hip joints, but the range is very limited and I've come to understand these dolls' hip joints can be fragile, so I didn't push it. The doll hips cannot swing forward enough to sit the doll, and if they could, they'd be splayed as far as a classic LDD's. The knee armature has less bend than the elbows because the legs are so thick. The legs are not very useful overall, but the feet are pop-on hard plastic parts which swivel and have ankle hinges for the heeled shoes. The ankle hinges click into set positions to make them easier to mirror.

Sadie's left foot was much harder to pop off and on. The feet look to be painted, but it also looks like the casting color underneath is barely any different, which confuses me. This might be the case for the hands, too.

I hear Kitty has boots which fully replace the feet as their own leg attachments, but Sadie has her feet in both outfits. Shoes attached to ankles and big heads and big lips might be signs that the Fashion Victims were imitating Bratz to a degree. For as little as I personally vibe with Bratz dolls, I would be insulted on their behalf if LDD was mimicking them here.

Here's Sadie with some posing.

I've never personally encountered this armature solution on a fashion doll before. It's more functional than formal, and that's not saying much because the function is limited and the form is clearly wanting. The range of articulation in a bendy limb can be good, while preventing the bend from looking anatomically realistic since the arm looks more like a rubber hose as it flexes more. Still, it's oddly fun to use the armature to pose the arms, and the pose is certainly sturdier than most dolls' joints. If the doll moved more than she did, this would be a really fun system. This is no Phicen doll, though, so the seamless joints are more of a novelty and a limitation. She'd be more versatile for display with simpler plastic seam joints at the Monster High standard, but in 2003, fashion dolls were never expected to pose that well, so the Fashion Victims would have been exceptional in a doll market starved for versatile posing. I like the shape of the hands and don't mind how large they are; they balance the giant head and I never like tiny doll hands. I just wish the wave 1 Fashion Victims had more accessories to take advantage of their arm articulation. Only Kitty got some with her pom-poms. The hands are expressive, but aren't conducive to gripping most doll accessories I had around. Modular hand swapping, like action figures or the Return dolls, would be fun, to change her hand poses and add grip options. 

I'm surprised the nails aren't painted black.

I am pleased with the color match on Sadie's head and body. It's not a sexy skin color, especially with the dead bluish body shading which I did my best to wipe off (again, I wonder if the team was aware of their choices). It could be worse. I've seen plenty of pictures of Series 1 Fashion Victims with heads and hands that no longer (or perhaps never did) match the rubbery body material. Sadie looks consistent. I think Lilith tends to suffer the worst from coloring issues. Oh, Lilith. I'm tragically compelled to sort you out!

Much later, I found a small tear in Sadie's left arm rubber.

A common indictment against the Wave 1 Fashion Victims which isn't content-related is that they were manufactured poorly. I didn't encounter any broken joint pegs from normal use (only from trying to take the head off), but a tear in the skin is disappointing. I'm given to believe that this is not unusual for seamless dolls, however, and that it should be treated as a flaw in the concept of making dolls this way, not necessarily as a flaw in this doll's execution of the idea. I just hope the tear doesn't worsen. It wasn't on an area that I ever bent. Maybe I can put a dot of superglue in there, but if this gets worse, I'm at a loss. Maybe someday I'll actually need to find Sadie a compatible "BJD" body to rescue her because her body will become untenable. The potential of body tears is probably the biggest thing that gives me pause toward getting and making over FV Lilith, because I wouldn't want my efforts to be undone by the body falling apart.

Sadie's second outfit is a sexy schoolgirl costume, which represents a pretty disturbing porn archetype when you think about it, but at least it does have the icky sense of relevance to the character by naughtifying the concept of the Schooltime Sadie Series 2 doll. 

Of the Fashion Victims alt costumes, both waves, this is the only one that makes a "clever" concept from a sexy outfit. Kitty has a catsuit punning on her name, but it has nothing to do with her cheerleader theme. Lilith has a nun costume, I suppose playing on the Catholic presence in vampire fiction or the (not Christian) religious mythology of her namesake, but it's a weak association. Sheena, Inferno, and Hollywood's alt costumes are just more of their established visual theme, Sybil's is a film reference perhaps intended to make her look more criminal, and Lulu's alt costume is cowgirl-sexy for...some reason? It also has a belt with a buckle that seems to evoke the Confederate flag, and hell no. That second costume is only potentially good for including trousers Sybil could pair with her straitjacket. I would never use it on Lulu. I never fully understood or fully vibed with Lulu as a character anyhow, but I definitely don't vibe with Confederate iconography. She's the Wave 2 Fashion Victim I like the least. She's the closest Wave 2 comes to Wave 1 in tone, too.

I think maybe an adult, even kinky, lingerie look as a loose riff on "Bedtime Sadie" would be a much better choice for a second outfit. I'm pretty sure Bedtime Sadie, the originating LDD Mini design, existed at this time. I know her full-size adaptation as Series 7's Sloth postdates the Fashion Victims.

The schoolgirl costume comes with a red ribbon which might be intended to tie in a bow or necktie, a white cropped shirt with no buttons that ties for real in front, a plaid skirt with white panties sewn in to keep it in position, white socks which seem fully identical to and redundant with the pair on her first outfit, and black flat-bottom sneakers which stand her more easily than the heels.

The skirt interior.

The doll is hard to dress with her rubbery body pieces. The silky rubber they used for Series 4 Sybil's arms might have improved the dressing experience by providing less friction. I had no trouble putting Sybil's arms into her straitjacket, while dressing Sadie in her stockings and pleather panties was an ordeal. The panties felt like they'd never pull up her hips.

Also in the accessory tray is Sadie's poster, which is a thicker stock than the LDD certificate paper or the Hazel and Hattie poster, but is about the same office-paper size as the latter. On the front is a "Deadmate Data Sheet", which is a character profile of sorts with sexy theming.

Putting the sign of the horns in when asked for an astrological sign is genuinely funny. I'm not sure what "promoting postmortem awareness" is--does she want to add to the population of the living dead, the postmortem aware folk, or is she an activist to make the living aware of people such as herself? I'm not sure what the line about "twiggy wannabe dead dolls" is about, but LDD and possible goth gatekeeping are a topic I'm about to discuss. Put a pin in it. I also get that the doll is a dead character, but the profile adds to the weird tone that the dolls are oddly evocative of necrophilia. I haven't wanted to use that word here, but the dolls leaning into death and murder while trying to be sexy makes for some really off-putting effects. I think you could do over-the-top killer undead sexy imagery in outlandish ways that don't say "hey, here's a cadaver we put in porno gear". I think LDD walked a tad past the area where sexy horror can be viewed in a lighter, more caricatured, fantastical and facetious manner. Does that make any sense?

I do kind of like that the profiles here are our only glimpse of the LDD characters displaying their penmanship. It reminds me a bit of the Monster High diaries years later, where each is signed and written in a different handwriting typeface to characterize the monsters.

The other side of this sheet is a lamentable pinup photo that loudly demonstrates just how unsexy these dolls actually are.

I'm just gonna turn the photo side backward when putting this into my FATALogue binder, thanks.

I tackled Sadie's face by repainting her lips to suit the mouth sculpt better and getting rid of the worst reddish shading on her head. 

I think this improves things and makes her more aesthetically appealing, and it makes me wonder if Lilith has potential. The porn-star boobs are still a bit off-putting...but at the same time, they're nearly an asset to her design. The big breasts and broad shoulders work well with the long arms, big hands, wide hips, and chunky feet. I dislike oversized heads in most occasions, but this doll recognizes the thing that makes that proportional choice more appealing--making the torso and upper chest wider than the head! The tiny waist and big shoulders allow the big head to feel right. Do I still think the breasts are overdone? Oh, yeah. If they were a more natural full shape rather than a shelf of balloons with exaggerated nipples, I think the doll could still rock the aesthetic while feeling more graceful. She could have a smaller chest and still be sexy or appealingly cartoony.

Does this doll work? I can't personally say in good conscience that she does; there's a leering intent and very flawed execution. But I don't know, maybe she can be enjoyed in good faith by a generous spirit. 

Finding the best in Sadie is to overlook her optical concerns. The doll's intent can also be fairly regarded as a failure. These dolls are not genuinely sexy, and I only came around to being on fair terms with Sadie by viewing her as more cartoony in a vein closer to MGA fashion dolls. At every opportunity in the paint and proportions and sculpting, it feels like LDD swerved away from the choices that would have landed a legitimately sexy and charming character design. I guess you could consider them an ironic parody of sexy clichés, like they're trying to be unappealing in a way that undermines and subverts the porno aesthetic, but the dolls seem too sincere to be a total joke...and good lord, I promise these are not standing as subversive social critique. There's also the fair argument that making undead characters sexy is either folly or disturbing in its own right, and the ways Sadie leans into the dead look definitely hurt her sex appeal. But we can also argue the dolls are deliberately trying to be offensive and shocking as an oppositional statement. "Look at us! We're mature and inappropriate and edgy! Screw you...or screw us!"

I've seen some women embrace the dolls as a bit of fun and camp, and I can't take that away from them. I'm not sure I'm in the position where I find those aspects myself, or that I can advocate the same from where I'm standing optically. I'll stand the hell up for Wave 2, wherein I do find that camp quality. Sans Lulu. The "L" initials take the L in this doll line, it seems.

I'm used to sequestering my LDD collection because their horror theme makes them unfit for public display, but I'd welcome being seen as the scary horror weirdo rather than the porn-brained misogynist people might see me as if I displayed this Sadie in the living room. I may have found the generosity to view this Sadie innocently in good fun, but there's no reason to assume others would think that was my opinion of her by virtue of how she was executed. This doll risks creating a categorically inaccurate impression of me as a person just by being perceived within my collection, and potentially makes my entire doll hobby look less than innocent by association. I don't like those optics. Women can reclaim these dolls and I can cheer it on. I'm not really able to do that myself, though.

The contrarian in me, and the 2020s alarmist in me, also wants to back far away from condemning the conceptual root here. 

As tacky as these rubber bazonga dolls are, we are living in dangerously sex-negative times right now, and criticisms of pornography are being leveraged by the worst actors with the goal to censor basically everything, disguising far-right intentions in the mask of social justice, with frightening traction. I'm not into the way the Wave 1 Fashion Victims decided to be sexual, but the last thing I want to align myself with is Puritanism. I am not on your side if you use salient social objections to the gender/sexual politics of porn fantasies as pretext to push for laws that obstruct freedom of information and give the government more information on your beliefs, vulnerable identities, legal information, and browsing data. 

Hell, I couldn't even bring myself to try showing Sadie in detail for my Tumblr post promoting this review, and it was a big reminder of how aggressive and frustrating censorship on online platforms is! Even without laws, platforms capitulate to advertisers and expression gets sanitized and restricted at the whims of corporations who have no business shaping how people speak.

Do I want little four-year old Suzy to see the Fashion Victims? Of course not. But should an adult or curious older teenager be allowed to buy one and indulge the weird fantasy without calling the President for permission? Yeah, whatever! I can say these dolls are icky and bring up questions regarding their designers and audience. I can say they're not hot, they're not camp, they're not authentic, they're not ironic, they're not uplifting. I can call them trash. But I can't in any good conscience say they shouldn't exist. I'm not slipping on any slopes today, folks. Awkward bad creepy weird shit can be made and exist without needing to call for limitations on the personal freedoms of a whole society. Adult material for adults, about adults, is adults' to do with as they please, and other adults can deal with it. For all my unease toward the Fashion Victims, I'm not out here to burn them at the stake. And as a cultural object, a piece of dated '00s kitsch, a Wave 1 Fashion Victim is pretty fascinating.

Here's Sadie with another sex-themed LDD, Lust.

On the one hand, Mistress Demonika is undermined in awkward ways by the design of the LDD body being unsuitable for sexualized adult characters. On the other hand, she's just one of many characters in a cast who are broadly very chaste, showing she's depicting a niche. The Wave 1 Fashion Victims are clearly physically mature and leave no doubts therein, but they're all huge-boobed sex maniacs who paint a very narrow picture of women. Lust, for all her optical concerns, is also genuinely the more appealing doll. Despite her doll molds being unsuited to such a character, she still captures a cartoon charm and a grace that the Fashion Victims struggle to achieve. Mistress has a diva quality about her while the Fashion Victims from wave 1 look more absurd. I did mention when reviewing Lust that she would have been the character to justify the wave 1 Fashion Victims style, but she postdates them by a few years. Lust rendered as a wave 1 Fashion Victim would make complete sense as thematic caricature, though inviting dolls in this style probably isn't the move.

Odd as it sounds, the wave 1 Fashion Victims aren't a solitary anomaly, as there are other adults-only "sexual fashion dolls" that have been made--Billy and the Tom of Finland doll are visually explicit male dolls, seeming of the same height and featuring similar sexual exaggeration in their bodies as well as having "seamless" internal joints. Sadie would strike out with both Billy and Tom, however, as both are gay men. While they're relevant to queer history and politically important, it might be beyond the bounds of the taste level of this blog, which Sadie already pushes, to feature, or at least, completely depict, fully-equipped erotic male dolls with more realistic art styles. That would probably be taken down by Blogger, anyhow. There's also the Gay Bob fashion doll, but he's closer in style and size to a Ken. He's all present down below as well, and flattered by the sculptor, let's say, but it's less exaggerated and pornographic than Tom and Billy. One gets the idea Gay Bob was designed as a well-meaning but semi-facetious lark, as he wasn't designed by a gay man for gay men. The designer seemed to have positive intentions and people still embraced Gay Bob and he made a mark on the gay rights movement, so he wasn't a hate piece, rejected, or a total joke, but he comes from a different place than Billy or Tom. Bob would also have maybe the best chance of being reviewed here due to being less extreme, but I have no plans to do so. If there had been Wave 1-styled FV boys, I don't know if they'd be sculpted to be all there or not. I think it'd only be fair sexualization, after the chests the girls got, but perhaps that wouldn't be seen as an equivalency and Mezco would be spooked by the prospect. 

Photographing Sadie was difficult and brief. I do still like her face and hair, but her highest mobility is in her wire arms, and even those are limited compared to jointed dolls. I also feel like it's much harder to take pictures of her in normal contexts because her design is so targeted--and the most apt photos I could take of her would be unironically participating in the aesthetic she was based upon, or replicating the photos I already did with Demonika. I do understand this doll's aesthetic niche. I know exactly how to play into it; I've seen enough trash. But the result would just be...well, this:

I think I made the world worse for creating that image. I apologize. 

The tamest I could do with Sadie was starkly-lit portraits evoking the style on the back of her box.

The simplest way I can describe my reaction to Sadie and Wave 1 is that they're sexualized dolls made for the wrong reasons or by the wrong people, and without the finesse that would help them be actually sexy. Sex appeal and kink culture can be and have been depicted in far better ways than this.

Now comes the other major angle of intrigue--were the goth girls fighting? See, when I reviewed LDD Series 11 Isaiah one year ago, I went through his bespoke eight-page printed newspaper, and found this entry on top of the last page:

Who is "Bloody Ass?" Why is this so gatekeepy and passive-aggressive?

This was a strange snippet and I wasn't sure what to make of it, but the vibe of the writing came across as a real callout, just without context. Was LDD vagueing about a rival creative work through this? Who could be the disingenuous poser LDD was alluding to? And then a wild bolt hit me. Perhaps it was conjecture and incorrect, but...could this paragraph have been sniping at BEGoth? 

Bleeding Edge Goth dolls. Top row, left to right: Devastatia, Evening Storm, Fiona Fatale. Bottom row: Infinity A. Byss, Hypnotica Gaze.

Bleeding Edge Goths was an alternative brand designed by Steve Varner, and released a couple of years into LDD's own run, in 2003. BEGoth focused on fashion dolls in the classic Barbie template, but with more stylized faces and hardcore goth fashions. Vinyl figurines also featured as a staple line, mostly depicting exclusive characters not made as dolls, and including the only male BEGoths, who were never dolls. Again, I wish boys were in the doll line. BEGoth leans far more "alt" than "horror" in terms of its target niche, with few concretely supernatural or undead character designs, and the characters, though stylized, are intended to exist in the contemporary real world, with their profiles referencing the pop culture of the day. Despite this niche, the BEGoth dolls have been attributed, not unreasonably, as a hidden influence or seed for edgy, spooky fashion dolls to follow, such as titan Monster High and the imitators derived therein. Even if there was no actual influence, the BEGoths still thrived in this dark doll fashion niche first.

I'm sure there was influence from these dolls when trying to make the best of spare doll parts in my O.M.G. review project. My "Left Out Dolls" customs on Rainbow High bases also owe a bit to BEGoth.

My "So Goffik" O.M.G.-on-Ever After High hybrid custom. Storm O. Misery's lawyers are on the phone with me.

Left Out Doll Summer Storms.

Left Out Doll Right Out.

Left Out Doll Jeanie.

Left Out Doll TViva.

The BEGoths couldn't be mistaken for Living Dead Dolls....but I realized they have a fair bit of casual similarity to the Fashion Victims, such that perhaps LDD was talking about them with the newspaper snippet. They have similar dead skintones, flat cartoony faces, and adult styling, and "Bloody Ass" could be a thinly-veiled fake name for "Bleeding Edge". 

Were LDD upset with BEGoth because they thought the dolls were copying the Fashion Victims when they came out? Were they upset that BEGoths did better overall? Alternatively, it might have been possible that the Fashion Victims were made after BEGoth to mock and spite BEGoths with insultingly sexualixed designs, but I think it's more likely the BEGoths came out after and succeeded and embarrassed the Fashion Victims in comparison and made LDD mad. The chicken and egg question is relevant here, but by the time of LDD Series 11, I think there might have been some anti-BEGoth pissiness on LDD's part. Were these the "twiggy wannabe dead dolls?" Sadie disliked? 

That's why I needed a Fashion Victim to check the year. If FV wave 1 released in 2002, then it was an obvious case of BEGoth seeming to edge in on the idea soon after and LDD getting snippy about their perceived rival. If both came out in 2003, then the dolls might be considered a case of parallel thinking, with LDD overreacting to the competition. 

Both dolls are attributed to 2003, after all, so either they're parallel thinking or maybe Ed and Damien crossed paths with Steve Varner, mentioned the Fashion Victims they were working on, and then saw Varner dropping BEGOths at the same time and got mad because they felt their idea was stolen? I don't know the backstory any which way. It seems like the BEGoths would have released too close for the Fashion Victims to be directly conversing with them, so I'd not put much stock into Sadie's hatred for twiggy wannabes being about BEGoth unless BEGoth started as an underground project for multiple years before officially hitting the mass market, like LDD did. In that case, then maybe LDD would know about BEGoths and be able to comment on them within the FV line, but it's more likely and charitable to speculate that only the Series 11 newspaper was a response to the emergence of BEGoth--and even that narrative is not provable with what I know.

I also had to get the cheapest BEGoth I could to investigate one. It was historically worthwhile as a fan of dark dolls, and it felt right to pay a visit to the brand, regardless...and if there was any possibility, I wanted to see if Sadie might swap onto the BEGoth body? 

There are some BEGoth designs I like more than others but most of them aren't fully tuned into my tastes. If there's one thing both LDD and BEGOth share which I dislike, it's their overwhelming paleness and awkwardness with foreign culture. BEGoth has a couple of dolls which awkwardly, if not harmfully, use Japanse imagery (in my opinion), and nobody is dark-skinned. A "Back to BEGoth" revival got crowdfunded in 2025 so a new line can be produced with higher articulation, which is an exciting prospect, and BEGoths of darker colors seem to be part of the plan as well; hopefully in significant proportion. I'm glad the brand is evolving. Your move, LDD. 

Harlow Hextress, the first non-pale BEGoth, teased for the Back to BEGoth revival line. I'd hope for different face molds within the diversity efforts too, but it might not be happening.

If there is a rivalry, then the BEGoth doll line coming back in relative parallel to LDD's own revival must salt some apples at the LDD HQ, but I'm open to more BEGoths in all regards. If they're more diverse, increase the character design catalogue, have more articulation, and are made easier to obtain than any classic BEGoth is in 2026, I can be nothing but supportive! The dolls are apparently going to be collector-priced at $50, so they better stand on that and provide the quality to earn it. I hope we get more updates on this revival soon.

Anyway, here's the classic BEGoth doll I got--Series 1 Lillian De Winter, loose. 

She's a fairly good choice by happenstance, being a Series 1 OG BEGoth, priming her perfectly for comparison with a Wave 1 Fashion Victim. She was chosen fully for being the easiest available option, though. The only BEGoth character to appear in multiple series (in fact, it was most series!) was the brand's own mascot, Storm O. Misery, but she's not the easiest to get any edition of. My favorite Storm is probably her "Evening" edition, sold nowhere at the moment. Evening Storm, hairstyle aside, looks extremely close to what I wish aged-up Sadie had looked like, Morticia dress and all.

I also like Storm's "Silent" Hollywood-glam design and her "Casual" black and red look and her white and blue "Back to School" doll (a school doll is an edition theme she shares with Sadie!) I'd definitely select a Storm to compare to Sadie were she cheaper, since Storm is basically Sadie's counterpart.

Each BEGoth has a character profile, which was printed on the back of a collectible card. Here's Lillian's profile, with my commentary.

Favorite color: Black velvet (she's not wearing any...)

Pets: Two black cats, Fathead and Edward (pets not included in this doll line)

Likes:

• Coffee 
• Latex clothing (not wearing this, either...)
• Parasol collection (where?)
• Wigs (would be fun if the hair was one!)

Dislikes:

• Cell phones (fair)
• Polyester
• Golf
• Flying coach (what's this diva energy? You hate golf but snob it up for air travel?)

Some of the BEGoths are admirably anti-establishment, but they can also have dated or potentially objectionable likes and dislikes in their profiles. A few have body-shaming opinions about other women, which sucks to see but was pretty normal at the time. There are other mean-spirited or oppositional opinions that also make the BEGoths feel less countercultural and cool and more judgy and cruel. I think it's worth examining when a group is actually oppressed and mistreated and when they use contrarianism and disdain to form an ingroup identity. And Scorpio Vixen wants to be a prison guard who mistreats inmates??? 

Girl, what is your problem?!?!

From the moment I got Lillian, I knew there was no hope of a head swap with Sadie because this is basically a classic Barbie body with a different head. The two doll types are different scales, and Sadie's head is massive next to Lillian. I worry that trying to shrink a doll head as large as Sadie's would split the vinyl, and I don't like the risk and uncertainty for a doll who's not easily replaced. It's a shame, because working with a Barbie shape would make finding Sadie-compatible outfits quite easy if she had this sculpt. Still, let's take a look at Lillian now that she's here.

On Lillian's head, she wears a tied net scarf in a bit of a hair-bow effect. I like it. Hairbands like these are always a little frustrating to use, though, especially with bangs and a short length, in terms of combing the hair tidy and pulling the bands over the hair. It's too easy to comb rear hair forward through the hairband into the bangs section, and keeping the band in place without piercing though it with a pin in the doll head is tricky. I've been through this all before with the Alice Sadies.

Lillian has primary-red hair which is meant to fall in bangs across her forehead. It's dry, it's messy, and the bangs seem like they might never land the way they're meant to. 

The BEGoth head sculpt differentiates them from classic Barbies, who are otherwise imitated very closely body-wise. The head sculpt is slightly wide with rounded ears that stick out, and has full lips. It reminds me a bit of the characters in Coraline, a film which came several years after this line was designed. I believe Coraline's art style was primarily shaped by concept artist Tadahiro Uesugi. Director Henry Selick doesn't have a distinct character art style in his stop-motion films, typically adapting someone else's art--Tim Burton's for The Nightmare Before Christmas and illustrator Lane Smith's for James and the Giant Peach are other examples.

I actually see a bit of Lane Smith in this faceup! I have most of the brilliant picture books he made in collaboration with author Jon Scieszka.

I like the shape of the BEGoth head. It's distinct and illustrative. Lillian's makeup features a dark airbrushed band over her mismatched goth eyes, which has been nicked in a couple of spots, and blue lips and eyeliner, while she has a spherical stud piercing of real metal just under the lips. I'm not a piercings guy myself, and this kind of lip piercing is not to my own taste, but it's cool that the BEGoths went so hard on the piercings. Lillian's head looks a little grimy and dirty and her paint isn't perfect, but I see the appeal to the dolls. Lillian also has two silver rings in each ear. Both BEGoth and LDD used real metal piercings in their dolls. LDD's Daisy Slae has a nose ring, while Sheena and Blue both have lower lip rings, while a couple of dolls have more conventional jewelry earrings.

BEGoth eyes tend to be pretty wild with strange symbols in the irises, with the implication the characters are wearing novelty contacts--or perhaps not, if that's more fun to you! Lillian here just has one eye spiraling white on black, but there are lots of fun variants. Annabelle Lee has comedy and tragedy masks in her irises, Abcynthia Chaser has black widow hourglasses, Leda Swanson has Mars and Venus symbols, etc. The eyes kind of toned down over time and trended into less bizarre fashion-doll faces in later series, and I felt that was such a loss. Sinstress is maybe the spookiest BEGoth in the ocular regard, as her eyes are fully painted over by airbrushed black, making them look like dark hollows. I like that about her a lot, but I'm not sold on her costume and especially not the clashing blue in her hair. She'd be the next easiest doll to get after Lillian, though.

Around her neck, Lillian has a thick choker with a metal cross pendant. Goth and Christian iconography show up together a lot, but not always because the artist or fashionista is a Christian. Churches just happen to be imposing places and Christian mythology can be very evocative in Gothic sensibilities. The choker is sewn closed and would have been put on the neck before the doll head. Several BEGoths have identical chokers to Lillian's, including among the others in Series 1.

Lillian's outfit is a coat and a catsuit. The BEGoth production photos made the costumes look pretty sick on the drapery, and maybe Lillian's coat just isn't one of them, but it's still a cool piece. It's lined with burgundy and has a lace layer on the outside. The catsuit zippers for real in front while the belt comes off separately with velcro. 

Lillian has nothing under the catsuit, and the visual works fine, but the zipper and the fabric have to be watched so the gap doesn't widen too much or shift too much to the side. Not that I would want adhesive strips on her chest to keep the fabric in place, but it's a bit slippery as is and can require adjustment often.

Here's the body, looking very Barbie. I'm not surprised to see stains from the black material.

The head has a static ball joint peg quite similar to FV Sadie's, while the arms only swivel forward and back. The waist has a rotation with a subtle diagonal cut, and the legs swivel forward and click twice to a pretty decent knee bend. It's very simple jointing, but you can get some good body language with it.

While this body design could very well be a legally dubious mod of a vintage Barbie mold (it seems to have the most similarities, articulation-wise, to the classic "Twist 'n Turn" Barbie body type), I know later BEGoths got more bespoke body designs with slightly higher articulation (rotating hip and shoulder hinges) and a few departures that made them less overtly familiar. 

Here's Lillian as tidied as she's going to be. I actually like her much more than I expected to.

I think the colors work well and the design is cohesive and dramatic. The hair fiber is a little bit nicer than it seemed at the start. It's slightly stiff and boils into whatever shape it hung when the water poured--if her head was tilted back, the hair boiled into a backward-streaming antigravity shape, but the texture is fine. Trying to flatten her bangs wasn't a huge success, even with rubber bands pinning them down before boiling. Once dry, they lifted up again. There are also messy strands that bothered me. The best-case scenario for Lillian would be a reroot, which I can definitely do sometime. Just not now.

With Lillian next to Sadie, there's a lot of contrast.

They have some similarities in concept and visuals and body design, but between them, BEGoth feels more mature despite Sadie being far more adult-toned. BEGoth dolls are clearly more adult than Barbie designs, and often feature clothing cuts and fabrics that would be considered sexy, but they're not lascivious and they use alt fashion well to spotlight a subculture. As I put it before, BEGoth designs are clearly capturing "bad bitch" energy with their costumes, and they feel like they're dressing for themselves first and foremost, not for the attention and appeal that others would derive. Several BEGoth characters even have a kink background and dress in vinyl costumes, but those dolls don't feel like objectified caricatures to me; they feel like authentic kinksters expressing themselves authentically, while the Wave 1 FV dolls feel like shallow sexy Halloween-costume fetishization of the original dolls for the purpose of a male audience. BEGoths feel like they could be aspirational material for goth women even when they're kinky, while Sadie is a fantasy for straight men who might not even be goth. I'm not at all qualified to gatekeep these communities, but I see a difference in execution. Between the two dolls, it's Lillian who feels like an art piece and a fashion setpiece, and that would remain true if my BEGoth example was Infinity A. Byss or Hypnotica Gaze, both kink-aligned characters dressed in vinyl. BEGoth dolls really work the fashion in "fashion doll" by making interesting costumes with strong presence. These really are Barbie appeal for the goth audience. I think BEGoth is very artistically confident and solid and absolutely nailed the head/face template to create a fun identity. BEGoth makes me see the problems with the Wave 1 design of Fashion Victims again.

LDD does have one doll design after the rise of BEGoth who feels like she's only doll sculpts away from being a BEGoth character design--Series 13's Morgana, who takes on a plausible alt-goth look which is typically BEGoth's fashion wheelhouse. I think this design could be seamlessly transplanted on a BEGoth doll model, particularly a later-series one where wacky eyes were rarer.

I wouldn't accuse this of being petty since neither doll brand held monopoly over this fashion subculture. But if LDD truly didn't care for BEGoth, it's interesting to note they kinda took a slice of their cake with the aesthetic Morgana used.

It's weird if I'm right that LDD got their latex panties in a twist over BEGoth, because if any toy line was blatantly ripping LDD's style, it was Teddy Scares. 

Teddy Scares was an obscure plush line of morbid teddy bears with creepy gimmicks and archetypal horror designs, with presentation and several character designs that have clear parallels to LDD. LDD would have had no case for legal action against Teddy Scares; the format is far too distinct and the toylines have common ancestors in terms of horror motifs that Teddy Scares could cite as their true inspiration, but Teddy Scares is the LDD coattail-rider from my perspective. If anybody would have have accurately garnered any accusations of imitation from LDD, the bears would earn it, but there's nothing I can theorize from LDD material that suggests they paid Teddy Scares any mind. If and only if there was a brand rivalry, speculative evidence points toward it being LDD against BEGoth. I'd be interested in investigating Teddy Scares if they were cheaper and more appealing to me. I like my dolls as weird as can be, but generally prefer teddy bears to be far more traditional. Go figure.

Here's some portraits with Lillian, leaning into that same edgy 2000s-era photo style.

I also displayed her on a shelf staged with many goth objects.

I think my favorites were these takes with this composition, using the spiral accent decoration I painted to play off her eye design.

Am I culturally goth? Non-practicing goth? I don't style myself alternatively and I'm not in the music subculture, but I can thrive on the morbid aesthetic very very comfortably and passionately and I have great affection for the style. 

I might not be completely done with BEGoth. These dolls are much more elusive than LDD and are basically all absurdly expensive past Lillian, and I don't want nearly as many of them, but they have their charm. I like Lillian herself far more than I expected to, and I do think she deserves the honor of a reroot when I'm in the mood for it, plus some retouching on her paint where the mask-effect shading has gotten nicked. Lillian scratches an aesthetic itch and she'd be great Halloween decor. She also gives me a positive impression toward the dolls themselves. I respect the brand's costume designs and hardcore goth aesthetic, and they're clearly doing their own thing and doing it earnestly. They're not competition to Fashion Victims in spirit, and in practice, I like them much better than Wave 1 FV. BEGoth dolls might have some limitations on the produced copies vs. the prototypes, and I don't think their profile writing has aged well in several cases, but the toys are fun. 

As far as other characters I might look into, I like the BEGoth vampire Siphon Veins, who has a fanged head sculpt and a fun leopard-trim coat. She's not being sold stateside at the moment, though, but maybe Halloween will call her over regardless. I've gotten quite attached to vampire dolls! If Evening Storm or Back to School Storm show up in range of reason, I'd enjoy them. I love Victoria Creeper's look with her blonde fluffy hair and wicked face. A copy of her popped up, but with faceup damage that gives me pause. I like Abcynthia Chaser, and I've seen a listing with her and one of the BEGoth plushes I like, so maybe yes to her too--and she'd fit a spider-themed doll review idea I have. Infinity A. Byss is also iconic and fun with one of the most edgy confrontational looks in the brand. Olivia O'Lantern is a Halloweenish fairy with the only other divergent head mold in the brand, giving her pointy ears. Esperanza de Muerte, Penelope Fabrique, and Annabelle Lee are also designs I like, but I don't expect to find them within reason. I'll also keep an eye on the progress or lack thereof on the Back to BEGoth line and see if I find someone to dip in with if/when that releases. I'd love the dolls to be a thing again, better than ever.

So back to Sadie.

Even if the Sadie doll starts to look balanced and okay, there's just no way to be me and treat her neutrally and interact with her like any other doll and expect to be taken seriously by observers. Sadie, or any Wave 1 FV doll, is designed as a sex object lacking other dimensions or respect, which is a shame because there are nuggets of a more versatile and appealing doll design, even a kinky one, in there. She's just boxed in by some tonal choices that reflect poorly.

I'll take a classic Sadie LDD any day, or any BEGoth. 

So what can I do with Sadie? Well, I already altered her faceup and crossed the threshold into modification. The opportunity to preserve her as a cultural archival object had already been failed, and frankly, I don't think that has to be my job. Someone else with her in pristine form can do that if they like. And I was curious to see if the doll could be taken down a notch to land more into fierce fashion-doll territory since I wasn't impressed with her attempt at sex appeal. I'm not trying to "Tree Change Dolls" here and make her totally wholesome and remove her original edgy identity, but for my personal collection and personal curiosity, I wanted to see if this doll's idea could be executed more alt and less porno. Breast reduction was my priority, to make her form more elegant if possible and less limited in context. 

I'll admit, I was feeling regret the moment I carved into the rubber. I kept going, but she looked like she'd been chomped on by sharks and my hopes were diminishing for her prospects.

I'm not a whittler and didn't see much hope for any further carving smoothing this out. Sanding is ineffective here, too. Fortunately, my one remaining idea paid off beautifully. By soaking a rag with acetone and acting as if I was polishing doorknobs, the rubber material gradually smoothed and melted into re-rounded breasts. There are clear flaws that might require more acetone and polishing, and there's some asymmetry. If she were a real woman, I'd certainly be sued for botching her, but as the toy figure she is, this is more than acceptable for a doll who's intended (in my house) to be wearing clothes. I'm kind of amazed there was any recovery from the sharkbit look at all!

I noticed that the acetone removed the gloss and tacky feel of the rubber pieces as well, so I made sure to more thoroughly wipe the rest of her body to make it more pleasant and less sticky on the clothes. 

The ability to not only trim down the bust but polish the material to minimize any aesthetic problems from the hack job offers a strange kind of promise for the other Wave 1 Fashion Victims now. 

I also took pains to peel the vinyl off Sadie's costume. I'm actually not satisfied with the result and I probably should have just left it alone, especially since my reaction to the doll evolved to be fully accepting of her style, just not her execution. The costume was never the issue. 

The black peeled off pretty clean, but the white on the collar did not, leaving lots of distracting flecks in the seams and resisting full removal. I eventually tried painting white back over the collar, which restored the bright color but created an equally bad visual texture. Leaving the collar coated while the dress was peeled might have been better. It's a shame there aren't really other doll clothes suited for the Fashion Victims even if their torsos have been slimmed. I tried adding red blood paint to the costume in homage to the prototype Series 1 Sadie, but it was also a move to cover up an accidental red stain from handling the collar with paint on my fingers. 

The dress is awkwardly sewn with the high waist seam which sits kind of on the breasts and has excess fabric making it bulky inside the seams, so I had to try trimming the excess and adjusting the costume to flatter her torso as well as I could. With the bigger breasts, I still noticed that the costume wasn't hugging her as much under the chest as I thought it would, making her clothed profile noticeably less curved than the bare silhouette. I wish the seam was lower and right under the breasts. A Ken-sized belt helped to trim the dress. I removed the elastic garters from the stockings, separating the panties, but kept the nets in play. I was actually wrong about the texture of the gloss-less rubber, and it actually stuck to fabric much more and I genuinely couldn't pull her arm nets down the length of her arm and thought they were now impossible to use. I was fine not using them, but that was an issue. I also lost her choker somehow despite keeping everything together, so I replaced it with a Shadow High barbed-wire earring around her neck instead. I tried painting the nails and giving her elastic wristbands.

I did try to see if cutting around a hip socket would make the doll's legs more mobile and allow her to sit, but the way the pegs are placed and seemingly angled, it doesn't matter how open the hip area in the torso is since the legs don't behave typically. I left the other hip untouched and covered the doll with her dress.

This look is mixed for me. 

It's still a sexy goth woman, but has a bit more of the clean simple 1960s influence from the original doll. I'd probably be happier with my experiments if I hadn't messed up the dress so badly with the poor peeling and then the paint on the collar. There was no improvement from the moment I tried to peel the collar. 

Just unpleasant.

I decided this was an unfair way to leave the doll, for however little grace she may deserve. I cut off the collar and replaced it as well as I was able to with material from the collar of a shirt I had discarded in the fabric bin, and I brought her arm nets back in. I felt I hadn't treated her costume in good faith, because I ought to hold to my assertion that the body sculpt was the most mishandled part of the doll and that she's perfectly allowed to dress however and own it if she's not being fully objectified and left unflattered by her base design. I can't undo the dress work and fully bring back her old aesthetic, but I could bring back her modern goth look more earnestly, plus the belt. The new dress collar has its flaws, but it's better than leaving the doll's costume in such a gritty awful state. The arm nets aren't great because they're damaged and much harder to pull up the arms now, but let her enjoy them. I replaced her choker with an elastic that ties in back. 

I'd have tested the schoolgirl clothes on Sadie post-modification, but because I'm an expert at losing things, apparently, I couldn't find her shirt after deliberately putting all of the spare costume pieces in her box. Sigh. I prefer the take on her classic outfit, anyhow.

Maybe I shouldn't have done any of this. I certainly obliterated her resale value, though I wonder if anyone is crying about that. I probably could have justified this alteration more on a loose incomplete copy. Leaving the dress unaltered might have been the better call, at least. I do feel that peeling it was unwarranted. 

I could have genuinely done the doll and women wrong by saying I was ashamed of her and deigning to alter her original design. I can accept that. After all, this is a valid future for the character if she chose it, and anybody who opts to have a bimbo aesthetic and giant cartoony boobs of their own volition should be treated with human decency the same as anyone else. From that perspective, my insecurity about the doll drove me to impose standards upon her for my own comfort, which is an awful look regardless of my intentions to keep her edgy spirit. But giving too much agency to this fictional character can ignore the real-world will of the very-likely-male-only creators who chose to portray her a certain way, and the reasons why they did it. Somehow, I doubt the Mezco team were thinking "Hell yeah, girl! Have that sex and own your body!" when designing the Fashion Victims this way. Considering her bigger picture, then, is it feminist to give the doll grace and support her as she was designed? There probably isn't an answer to that. 

Perhaps the real answer would just be to literally ignore the doll and let her do her thing without ever purchasing her or discussing her! In support of that hypothesis? Well, I was not really satisfied with the doll's factory design and am still not fully satisfied with the doll after modification, so leaving her out of my life altogether could have been the only peaceful option. I also think leaving her in factory state is inevitably doomed because her hair will probably fry, her dress will probably peel, and her rubber will probably tear, so she bodes poorly for upkeep and collector satisfaction even if kept in original form. This is kind of a no-win doll. I still appreciate the chance to handle the toy and confront the design personally rather than leaving my opinion as a judgment from afar, though. 

It's possible the quest of reconciling the FV Sadie doll holds yet another phase in the future where I reroot her and rig her head to a less ephemeral, more proportionate, better articulated BJD body with a wardrobe selected to suit Sadie on that body, thus giving up on the official body and costume while rescuing the head. I might not do that unless forced to by the body degrading too far, but I think it's at least worth trying once more to find a "BJD" body that would size well with Sadie's head just to see if that's a viable option and a result I like and see potential and value in. I don't need to commit to the transition if not, especially while it's not necessary, but if that avenue really excites me, I might as well pursue it. I want to really like my dolls first and foremost. I also can't deny the potential informational appeal in dissecting the FV body for information about the armature. If I do find Sadie a body I like better for her, I will donate her original to science! That all can be its own separate post in this series if such things transpire, though. I wasn't delaying this post and extending it for that--too much!

The Wave 1 Fashion Victims are weird, but I still think the dolls are allowed to exist and that they represent a form of expression that, if not worth amplifying, is not worth eliminating from society, because we know where that attitude leads. Censorship is dangerous, and anti-sexism causes should never lead to anti-sexual policy. We can't be cutting down the whole tree because of one wonky branch. We can also just consider the possibility that this doll line is a result of "Hey, LDD didn't really understand how to make women sexy and it's embarrassing and maybe a little creepy" rather than "LDD are evil misogynists who think women are harlot scum!" Maybe the latter is true, but let's not immediately assume, either. Do I lose respect for the brand? As a character designer, certainly. Like, come on, guys. I think they badly failed an assignment that could have been done successfully. There could have been kinky, sexy adults-only LDDs who were all in good fun with real character design appeal, but we got tonally-confused and inept porno caricatures that can feel pretty demeaning. As such, the dolls do make me lose some respect for LDD optically, too. It's hard to separate the dolls from the gender politics involved in this kind of caricature. I think in this case, it's for the best that Wave 2 was gong for a different tone, and the Wave 1 concept still feels glaringly unasked-for and bizarre for LDD's take on fashion dolls. You know, a doll genre themed on fashion? Not sex? 

Also, hey. Age rating needed to be 18+. Big mistake there.

If LDD did really think BEGoth were posers, it gets a big laugh from me because it's the Bleeding Edge Goths who feel like the real deal to me in terms of alt fashion and kink subculture. Those dolls embody those themes without feeling disrespectful or dismissive to those in the scene, and not feeling out of bounds in the fashion-doll genre, either. Poor Lillian gets a little lost in this post, but she's a really fun doll with flaws, but lots of aesthetic strength. 

I had originally planned just to discuss a Wave 1 and Wave 2 Fashion Victim alone, whereupon this project would be a single post, but I made things much bigger and more complicated (what, seriously? On this blog?!?! No way...), so this ends off at a Part 1. I actually can't promise exactly when this series' next posts will be completed. I had a really exciting idea of what I might have done with the idea of a fashion-doll Sadie on a totally different doll base, but that requires a repaint, and repainting requires non-freezing weather in which I can spray sealant in my open garage.  Beyond that, the Wave 2 discussion got postponed by my selected example's order falling through, which sparked some recalculating in hopes of a wild new long-shot plan. Basically, if everything lines up for me, I might snag myself the craziest get in my collecting hobby thus far, so I want to give myself that hope. If that opportunity escapes me, which it probably will, I'll proceed as originally intended with a different order of my selected doll, late, and I'll be so totally cool about it.

What is my fully alternate vision for FV Sadie? What does Wave 2 hold in store for me? (Even I don't know that yet!) Will I find a reason to bring BEGoth back into the conversation? Did I have to atone for an offense against the original counterpart to the Fashion Victim I originally selected? Will I turn the official FV Sadie into a BJD and make this series four parts? All will be clear to you, and me, in time!