Witchy Wonders 1, or "Cinema's First Iconic Witch": The "Snow White" Hag in the Doll World!

While I may be out there calling myself the Walt Disney Corporation's #1 cynical hater most of the time, and am roundly determined to never even approach "Disney adult" status, I still enjoy the artistic product often, especially from prior decades and the Disney history--you know, when artist effort seemed more prominent and strong. And when I made the extremely dangerous search of "vintage plastic witch doll", one particular Disney villain popped up and I was sold. 

The Rotten Little Eggy: Living Dead Dolls Eggzorcist, Re-Deviled

Let's just say existing in my country right now is incredibly demoralizing and frightening, so November has become significantly grimmer. But I don't want that to shut me down, and my hobbies and creative passions are all the more vital to me in the face of this huge concerning uncertainty. Content will proceed as planned. Be safe and stay strong. 

Now to the doll intro proper.

The vibes are strange with this one. At time of writing and publication, it's that liminal empty period after Halloween and before Thanksgiving, I'm entirely ready to just get into Christmas, and here I am, playing at Easter! Blame Mezco's release schedule! I was not waiting until this doll was in season!

Rattle Me Bones: Living Dead Dolls Exclusive Captain Bonney by Mezco Toyz

Summertime is pirate season on the blog, evidently! Last year, I reviewed and made over Monster High pirate character Dayna Treasura Jones, and this year, I've been increasingly captivated by Living Dead Dolls' pirate. All this despite pirate stories being of minimal special appeal to me. Go figure.

The Living Dead Doll in question was a Hot Topic exclusive from outside the numbered series: Captain Bonney. Based upon the real historical pirate Anne Bonny, LDD Bonney (different spelling) stands out to me for two reasons--for one, she has a unique divergent sculpt to her name that no other doll featured, and secondly, she's set apart by being old LDD's attempt at a high-end doll!

Altogether the VERY Ookiest: The Monster High Skullector "Addams Family" Set By Mattel Creations

I was torn deeply about the Skullector Creature from the Black Lagoon, but I basically forgot all about her once these were revealed. There wasn't a question in my mind: I needed these and I would get them. I haven't found a Skullector release so good or so relevant to my interests since the Bride of Frankenstein dolls.  I immediately shuffled out a space for them in my budget. If I couldn't get these at early-access or standard launch, I didn't even care about going aftermarket. There was just no missing these for me.

Living Dead Dolls Roundup 2

Time for another LDD roundup...at last! (These are never going to be finished as quickly as I want, are they?) Fortunately, at the start of May, I was finally able to order the last doll I needed to make this a proper roundup of three. I think three dolls (or to stretch things sometimes, three characters) will generally be the size I stick with for these roundup posts. 

This roundup will be long despite the pool being no larger than the group in my previous LDD roundup. Each of these dolls got me more involved and hands-on re: the creative side of things with extravagant photo staging requiring more elaborate props or extended diorama crafting setup, and I made a really outsized number of art pictures here (which I also think include some of my strongest). I think it was all worth it, though, and three is three. I wasn't publishing this at just two dolls. Let's begin!

The Hostess With the Leastess: Living Dead Dolls Series 23 Betsy by Mezco Toyz

The Living Dead Dolls tea party continues with the second monthly addition--the awful little host, Betsy.  She was always going to be early in this project, and because she wasn't the first, she had to be the second.

Living Dead Dolls Roundup 1

While LDD special topics will continue to receive their own posts, there are several LDDs I'm going to try to collect over time that aren't connected to each other and/or don't warrant a full standalone post, so I'm going to be doing roundups to update on more miscellaneous acquisitions. The way I see it, LDD is special enough for me to document every doll I get on the blog here, but not enough for every doll to take up a post for itself. These dolls can be complete releases, or even, perhaps, incomplete miscellaneous Living Dead Dolls I decided to adopt just because they had something I liked that didn't require the whole package. So here's my first roundup. 

I would say this post is pretty safe as LDD goes. There's some scary (gore-free) imagery with the first doll, but nothing I would call truly distressing.

Absolutely Deceased: Monster High x Off-White Symphanee Midnight by Mattel Creations

Sometimes you can just feel that you need to go for a doll because it's really special and you want to be one of the people who got it. This is that for me.

Old Lace and Arsenic: Living Dead Dolls Series 23 Agatha by Mezco Toyz

I've admired many Living Dead Dolls, but mostly I pick and choose from collections which ones I want. I generally lack the completionist impulse as a collector, and yet I found one series I'm getting everyone in. This is the first of those dolls.

If you have any familiarity with the LDD catalogue, it should be no surprise to readers here which specific series compelled me to collect a whole set. It's a dolly tea party series!

Digging Up an Oft-Turned Grave: Living Dead Dolls Sadie, Evolved

Living Dead Dolls faded out in terms of the original cast of characters, and felt like it had been a dying brand supported by licensing for years...but of course you can't really die forever in LDD-land. Suddenly, I was alerted to the fact that they came back in much grander high-end style with an "upgraded" release of classic character Sadie that probably got me hyped faster than anything else I've discussed here. I've never dropped money on a collector release so immediately, and this was a pretty premium product--that alone should convey how swiftly this wicked little doll slipped her rusty hooks into my moldering flesh.

The Horrible Wizard of Oz: More Living Dead Dolls

We've still got a ways to go before we look at what Living Dead Dolls promises to be in a new era...and I went on-theme a little further than I'd expected to because I got two more Oz dolls. 

Burying Myself Deep: An Introduction to Living Dead Dolls by Mezco Toyz

Were you ever enthralled by the creepy dolls in the attic? Did you want them scarier? Then Living Dead Dolls are for you. Be warned, and sorry for the drastic tonal whiplash from the last post!

 

Also, this cover photo is deliberately the least illustrative of the posts I've done and doesn't show every subject because the subjects of LDD aren't the most inviting of faces.

Love Bites: Monster High Howliday Love Draculaura and Clawd Wolf by Mattel Creations

Love it, hate it, or don't care, it is indeed Valentine month! While the holiday doesn't give me much personal substance, I enjoy the aesthetic quite a bit, particularly a more vintage, subversive or dark take on the iconography. So let's get in-theme with the first of a couple of posts I have planned! I don't know if this particular doll set has been super buzzy or well-received, but I was struck the second I saw it.

Picking Bones, Part 2: The Skelita Collector Dolls

In the previous post about Skelita, we looked at the start and end of her G1 career, and had to grapple with some dark discussions about the way her designs created a distracting and distressing implication. In this post, we'll be looking at her two collector dolls, which include her sole G2 appearance and her first appearance contemporary to G3. The previous post has more context, but know it gets serious. Read it here.

Picking Bones, Part 1: Skelita's Debut, and Difficult Concerns

This post might be a bit grim. I'm bringing in a character I find very tricky to talk about, but I find it fascinating how complicated she is. She has a lot of good and bad that's worth discussing, but it gets dark on the bad side.

Festive Love: The Monster High Skullector "Nightmare Before Christmas" Set by Mattel Creations

Well, Mattel has completely broken the Skullector formula in 2023, hasn't it?

They Belonged Dolls: The Monster High Skullector "Bride of Frankenstein" Set by Mattel Creations

...so why did nobody tell me they made this? I completely didn't get the memo about it, and I picked up on a lot of other MH news. Maybe it was for the best because this lit a spark in my brain and quickly became my absolute most coveted MH collector release, far outstripping any admiration I had for any of the G1-era exclusives. For one big reason.