Adventures in Humidity (or Dolls in the New Garden)

This shouldn't have been as much as a surprise at is was, but I've discovered a new challenge when it comes to outdoor doll photography: the humidity.  It was over 83% here today, and my camera lens kept fogging up - even after being outside for a good 20 minutes!

Still, I did get manage to get a few pictures snapped, so I thought I'd share them (even if a few of them do have a bit of a natural filter to them!).

SD13 Irvin (I'd just wiped off the lens)

Out of the Box: Funko's Avengers Age of Ultron Mystery Minis

The Iron Man/Hulkbuster mystery mini

Once again, just days after swearing off mini figures, I'm back with another pair of them.  Up this time are two figures from Funko's Avengers: Age of Ultron tie-in mystery minis.  As with all of Funko's Marvel figures, these minis are bobbleheads rather than the static figures that most of their other lines are (licencing complexities, is apparently the reason for that).

Unlike some of these Mystery Mini lines, there are no chase figures in this release: all of the figures appear in at a 1/12 frequency.  With odds like that, I thought it would be interesting to see who I'd get - unfortunately the two I picked weren't any of my favourites, but hey - that happens with blind boxes.  And the two figures I have are nicely detailed, so at least they're interesting to look at.

World Doll Day Tag

This is clearly a sign of how behind I am, as World Doll Day is the second weekend in June, and this tag was meant to lead into it, but hey - better late than never, right?

I did some reading about the event, and it turns out that World Doll day enjoyed it's 29th anniversary this year.  While the event started as a doll-giving day, it seems to have evolved into a general celebration of dolls.  In honour of the event there was a collection-question, tag going around and I was tagged by Brini of Brini's Doll Domain and  Farah Lily of Cozy Comforts and Dolls - if you haven't checked out their lists already, give them a visit!

The rules of the tag are simple: List your 3 favourite doll acquisitions of the past year, list three dolls that are currently on your wish list, and then tag 5 people to join in the fun.  

AG Showdown: Mini-Samantha vs. Mini Samantha

"She's right behind me, isn't she?"

As followers of the American Girl dolls know, their historical character doll line was revamped earlier this year, and rebranded "BeForever".  Part of that revamp involved both a new style of mini-dolls and a re-release of my personal favourite, the 1904-set Samantha, so naturally the new mini-doll was the first thing I picked up.

I'd originally wanted to get some photos of them fighting it out, but sadly they're too cute, and those fight photos all turned out looking friendly instead.  Ah well, it was a funny idea while it lasted!

Out of the Box: Titans' Dragon Age Mystery Minis

It was just a few days ago that I was saying it would be a while before I added any more vinyl mystery minis to my collection; But those were apparently famous last words, because almost immediately after posting that, I realized that Titan had released their Dragon Age blind bag series.  And given my love of Dragon Age, I had to bring a few of them home.

Titans' Mystery minis. L-R: Fenris, Anders, Isabela, Morrigan

Getting Settled In...

I've gotten a bit behind on posting, but I think we're just about settled into the new house, so time to get back on track, right?

Lumedoll Atik (who doesn't have a box, and
thus had the honour of being the sole doll to
travel with me rather than in the moving van),
checking out the built-in shelves in the living room.

Random Toy of the Day: Funko's Game of Thrones Mystery Minis (Series 1)

Apologies for yesterday's double-post: I was editing tags and accidentally re-published the Forge post.

After posting my "ultimate in lazy packing" photo the other day, I realized that I hadn't shared those Funko Game of Thrones mini figures yet, even though I had taken photos of the lot of them.  There isn't much to say about them: they're standard non-articulated mini-figures, in that stylized Funko-POP style, but they're fun little figures, so I thought I'd share them anyway.

The group shot.

Random Toy of the Day: Forge (Toy Biz Marvel Universe)

Forge, Toy Biz Marvel Universe edition

Because one light-weight 10" figure was not enough!


After picking up the 10" Toy Biz Union Jack last month, I wasn't planning on adding more figures from that line to my collection.  Given the age of the line, I wasn't expecting to come across that many more of them - and certainly not new/in-box ones.

But as seems to be happening to me quite a lot lately, I did end up coming across another one - new in-box and a character that I collect.  So naturally I couldn't just leave him on the shelf -  he had to join my army of action figures.

The figure itself is fairly similar to Union Jack, so since I don't have much to add, it's all photos from here:

Packing up the unboxed figures

Layer 1

As I mentioned the other day, I've kept the boxes for many of my larger scale dolls and figures (and for all of the statues), but when it comes to playscale figures, I tend to throw the packaging away.  So when it's time to move, those toys get layered in shoeboxes: 1 layer of fabric for each layer of toys, plus an extra layer on the top and bottom of the box.

Or at least that's what I do for articulated figures: I confess that some vinyl minis just get dumped into a box on their own.

Packing Tip #1: Start with the easy ones!

I always feel like the best way to get started on something is to tackle something easy - that way it looks  like something solid has been accomplished practically before you start.  And that's why I always start by packing my DC Comics/Vertigo Preacher statue: