[This is an expanded and occasionally-updated version of my first post. That post was my introduction for January 2023, and this page is my introduction for whenever now is.]
I'm Dmitry, and among other things, I'm a lifelong toy collector. Even as a child, I had a special fascination for toys and toy design, particularly character-based toys, and I treasured many things I owned then. Lots of toys in my collection today have been there since I was very little. I've also developed an analytical mind as a creative person and fan of storytelling, and have a fascination for diving deep into media and visual art and providing reviews and criticism. I've long admired some toy blogs, particularly the excellent work of Emily, the Toy Box Philosopher, which helped me learn about more kinds of toys and how to review them. This blog is my outlet and contribution so I can discuss the toys I admire, customize, and create.
The name of this blog comes from the fact that I tend to relax and read and write about things during the afternoon with a cup of tea, and the fact that when I analyze something, I find myself diving into many side currents to consider a pretty wide picture. I like reflecting on media production trivia, societal context of media, and the art of visual design, so be prepared for that! Get ready to be surprised by just how much trivia and how many ruminations a single toy can dredge up! Make two cups of tea if you'll need them!
Monster High is the toy brand that made me get serious about my art skill, since the dolls' freaky and wild designs served as instrumental visual models to keep me interested in practicing my drawing. The first venture into improving my art was trying to copy Monster High dolls, where I realized I was unhappy with my capabilities at that time. I kept copying and iterating, and from the studies, I found myself forming an artistic sensibility as someone who draws and designs characters.
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My first Monster High drawing when I was 16. This was not okay to me (I felt like a four-year old looking at this), so I kept working.
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My 2022 rendition of the same doll.
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| And with their model--the only doll I kept from the old collection. |
I really can't understate how important Monster High was to my development as a visual artist in technique, skill, and principles, though its influence on my practice at the time was mainly on paper. Of course, the confluence of learning my artistic identity and developing a routine of doll care to "zhoozh" each doll and make them look better than they did out of box did lead to me wanting to take a few liberties on the dolls themselves...but I was by no means a very capable customizer then. I made a few efforts to cut and restyle hair and "repaint" with markers (I know!), but I didn't produce anything wonderful with my clients victims in the doll shop of those days. However, becoming an art student in college helped me to expand into prop-making areas as my practice poked into combining sculpture, found objects, painting, and some no-sew fabric work, and I acquired further artistic skill and technical knowledge that allowed me to actually execute ideas for doll modification and original characters once I welcomed the hobby back into my life. I now seek out toys for customizing, and often strive to put my own touch or polish even on toys I already love. With doll customs, I mostly aim to be loyal and plausible to the MH style. I'm not the most realism-based artist, and I like my customs to fit into the brand that inspired me.
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| 2023 Dmitry can (sometimes) do faceups that pass for official! |
I had no reason to expect this blog would become about customization design projects as well as reviews, but here we are. I've fallen down the slippery slope, from putting personal touches on and restyling dolls all the way to creating custom characters by piecing things together and repainting.
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A workshop photo while I worked on Shrika Redfjord-my first finished
custom doll. |
I'm still not skilled at sewing or miniature sculpting, but I do have a strong mental catalogue and pattern-oriented brain, so it's not too hard to either find or hunt the aftermarket for premade pieces that match up with characters I'm thinking about!
By the way, my top two official characters in the Monster High brand are Frankie Stein for having and continuing to have an outsized proportion of doll designs I've loved, and Twyla Boogeyman for having some of the most creative theming and a personality I really connect to.
My toy fascination following Monster High was Living Dead Dolls, the hardcore horror fan's doll line. I have several disagreements with LDD's tone and topics, and there are many dolls I won't collect from them, but they shaped my artistic development too and eventually became a staple collection of mine in 2024, my second year of the blog.
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| A pile of my teenage self's Living Dead Dolls fan art. |
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My first crop of LDD acquisitions after years of fascination from afar.
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As far as what kinds of posts to expect on this blog, my range is probably best described as narrow but deep. I'm mostly interested in fantasy characters that lean toward horror, and novelty toy design, and I don't tend to go for toys that aren't character-driven or notably crafted. It also takes the right doll to get past my bias for high articulation. The original Living Dead Dolls are a whole brand that manages to achieve this!
In my childhood, I collected things like Uglydolls, LEGO, Playmobil, Folkmanis puppets, troll dolls, tin robots, and miscellaneous plush and action figures before adding dolls to the mix in my teen years. The blog will be about whatever toys inspire me at the moment. Given that I started as a result of reviving my doll hobby, the blog is outweighed by doll posts for now until the far foreseeable future, but I've since found ideas to write about with other toys. Within the doll sphere, I'm mainly a Monster High fan/collector/customizer, and could easily focus on that alone and run for years with it, but I've also gotten into Shadow High and found fun things to do with Rainbow/Shadow High dolls for customization. I'm also game to review any doll that strikes me as a novelty in terms of design, engineering, clothing, or play value. Those outliers may be inducted into my monster collection through customization...
...but if I'm truly charmed by their original form on a personal level, they'll stay that way. I'll never review anything I can't imagine keeping around. It's true that dolls can be impulse purchases that disappoint me from time to time, but if I never really liked it or saw customizing potential in it, it'll never be heard from on TT&T. I've figured out that this blog's unique niche is the art-project half of all I do here, so breadth of toy reviews can be left to the pros like Emily who are interested in a broader range of toys than I am! I don't mess with most collector dolls, though, unless I feel very strongly that the design bothers me or would benefit from modification and that I don't anticipate letting go of the doll later on.
As for the kinds of designs I like, they have wide range. I like poppy colors and contrast in retro or modernist flavors, but I also like rich color palettes and more detailed vintage theming as well. I enjoy edgy and delicate and sweet and tough all in their own rights. I also love the intersection of all of those things--striking, over-the-top camp blending pop and detail in outrageously compelling ways. I'll nearly always be appreciative of a doll having dark dramatic lipstick and I'll nearly always be nitpicky or critical toward a doll with eyebrow coloring that doesn't correspond to the hair.
I have no intention of reviewing every doll or toy I acquire, since I want my hobby to remain one and for toys to still be able to serve as a treat from time to time. Making posts here is an outlet to express toy thoughts I'm passionate about or feel I can contribute with-- and nothing more. I don't want this blog to become an obligation or a job. I fear that making myself write about every toy would make for posts that are less fun to write and read, and this blog isn't something I want to restructure my priorities around, either, since this could be considered a hobby of its own. I might decide to make roundup posts spotlighting toys or custom work that didn't warrant full-length individual posts, however.
It might be worth it to re-visit my posts after a while, because I always find new information or new points that I'll find worth adding in post as edits in the review. Each post might be considered a living document if new topics or revelations are important to add later. My post index tab has a section of posts with notable updates to help find those, and I also put "updated post" tag labels on each said post, which will pull up all of them on a page when clicked.
All comments are appreciated. Your feedback and reception is useful and important to me as a writer, artist, and reviewer. I hope any readers I manage to find here will enjoy some teatimes and tangents while I put a toy on the table to talk about. Thank you for visiting.
[And here's a little shortcut to my first real post on the blog. It'll provide a little more context on my doll hobby and inspiration to write, as well as perhaps giving you a start on a journey through my posts!]
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