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.

An Uncomfortable Living Dead Dolls Discussion, Part 2

The time has come to take out the red flags again.

Last August, I assembled a group of four Living Dead Dolls to explore the matter of the brand's optics not being very clean, looking at four dolls I found problematic while engaging in as fair of a critique as I could, acknowledging points of appeal to the dolls while also frankly discussing why they present issues. It gets a bit dark and serious at points, but the first post is here (relevant content warnings are at the start). Unfortunately for LDD, but fortunately for my topics and writing prospects, those four dolls were not the only ones to be iffy in terms of content, and so I was able to relatively easily assemble a second group to discuss. (I could also do at least a third after this.) We're sticking with totals of four. My previous uncomfortable-roundup plans could have ballooned and I pared it down to the four of the first post, so there was always going to be follow-up. 

Sip your cup of tea every time I bring up the LDD Fashion Victims doll line in this post. I'll get to them eventually, I swear, but the amount of times I found them relevant to this roundup even got me exhausted!

Let's begin. This is a long one.

Warning for discussions of ethnic stereotyping/slurs, mental-based ableism, underweight eating disorders, and sexual themes.

An Uncomfortable Living Dead Dolls Discussion, Part 1

This blog project is going to be tricky. I will attempt to navigate the social issues as best I can. 

Content warning for scary horror imagery, and discussions and imagery relating to fatphobia, suicide, and true-crime misogynist brutality.

Not everything decays equally well.

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.

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.