Season's Greetings!

Wishing all the best to you during the 2018 holiday season! 🎄

The vintage wind-up toys are celebrating with one of Santa's elves. 

A Good-Bye to a House (with Lumedoll Atik)

If you ever scroll far enough back to my first few posts on this blog, most of the photos in those posts are of BJDs in the garden in my house in Burlington, Ontario.  It's been five years since I've lived there (it was rented out while I was living in the US), but this past summer we decided to sell the house.  As of yesterday, the house is now in the hands of its new owners. 

The week before closing I took my Lumedoll Atik along and shot a few final doll photos. I wish I could have photographed him from a few other angles, but unfortunately his faceup was damaged during our relocation up from Houston. The weather is too damp to redo his faceup right now, so he'll have a "good side" until the summer.

These photos aren't as good as the older ones as I was using my phone (if you'd like to see some of the older photos, check out Dolls in the Snow or Dolls in Springtime) but I wanted to commemorate the event regardless.


As I was outside, snow started to fall, which added to the mood.

DC Super Hero Girls Roller Derby Bumblebee

Being opened today is a playline doll from the Roller Derby release of the DC Superhero Girls by Mattel. This doll is the last of the three toys that I picked up at the Samko/Miko warehouse sale in Richmond Hill, ON last month.

I've talked about the action figure versions of the DC Superhero Girls before, but this is my first time picking up one of the fashion doll-type releases.  While the action figures are more in-line with my general tastes, the dolls do have a charm that I think can cross over between both fans of the figures and fans of playline fashion dolls.

The gimmick of the Roller Derby Roller Derby release is that each doll comes with a pair of rollerskates, a helmet, and a sportier version of their standard outfit.  In Bumbee's case this included moulded bright yellow socks, which limits the versatility of the doll but does mean that the socks won't droop with play (which does tend to be an issue with playline - and even some collector - dolls).

Out of the Box: MegaConstrux Monster High Clawdeen Wolf

I had these photos taken in mid-October and had every intention of having this post up the day of Halloween. What better day to post a werewolf, right? But I promptly forgot about that, so now it's better late than never!

Being unboxed today is another block figure in the form of one from Mega Construx/ Mega Blox' Monster High line, the werewolf Clawdeen Wolf.  These figures have two more points of articulation (for seven points of articulation in total) than the WellieWishers of the same style, and two fewer than the Assassin's Creed line (The AC line is aimed at the 14+ collector market, while the MH and WWs are marketed primarily for the child market).  Interestingly, these figures have the least amount of sculpted detail to their faces of the three.

The figure comes packaged with a simple half-block stand, a bracelet and mirror accessory set, and a multi-block stand that requires assembly.  The stand was not particularly sturdy or attractive, so I was unimpressed by that addition.

Random Toy of the Day: WellieWishers MegaConstrux Kendall

It's been a complicated summer, which is why I've been away. I'll probably post details in my annual wrap-up at the end of the year, but in the meantime let's get back into the toy chest!

I'm staying in Toronto at the moment, and I recently visited the Samko/Miko toy and children's book discount warehouse that's north of the city.  While I was primarily there to pick up books as gifts for friends, I did pick up a three toys for review.  The first of the three is an American Girl WellieWishers mini block figure from Mega Construx (a version of Mega Blox).

These figures normally retail for around $8CDN, but at the warehouse they were on for $2CDN.  So of course I had to bring one home!  I was tempted to pick up Ashlyn (since that's the full size doll I own), but I wasn't a fan of the way her long hair translated to the block format. So instead I brought home Kendall.

Let's take a closer look!

Random Toy Sightings 2018

I've been collecting random toy sightings at the local park over the past few months and thought it was time to share a few again.  Enjoy! 😃

This tiny dollhouse-sized pram was lying next to a pile of tree branches.

A Visit to American Girl Place New York City

Back in November, we took my niece on a trip to New York City to celebrate her 13th birthday.  While we were there, I had a chance to pop into AG Place NYC (which is in a new location while the original is under construction).  I thought I'd share some of my photos from that visit.

The historical line, including archived dolls.

Out of the Box: Kotobukiya ArtFX Star Wars Poe Dameron & BB-8

Up for today's unboxing is the two figurine set of Star Wars' Poe Dameron and BB-8 from Kotobukiya's ArtFX line.  I've had mixed experiences with Kotobukiya's figurines. I loved the single-piece figure of Tali from Mass Effect from their Bishoujo line but was disappointed by the assembly-required Hawkeye from their Marvel Now line which fell apart within hours of opening it.

I've been cautiously enthusiastic about the Star Wars line: the amount of detail on this figures is impressive, but the fact that they have the same multi-piece construction and magnetic base as my Hawkeye figure worried me.  But then a sale + a gift card overruled my caution and I brought this one home.

The PVC figures are 1/10 scale and are labelled as a "model kit" rather than as a statue or figurine, which I found interesting.  While the Poe figure does require assembly, BB-8's head and body are held together via magnet, which worries me (I can imagine it falling off and getting lost easily).

Out of the Box: Disney Couture De Force 20th Anniversary Esmerelda Hunchback Notre Dame

While I've never been a big Disney collector, so many of my friends are (both real life friends and online doll/figure collectors) that occasionally I get swept up in their enthusiasm.  One recent case of this was the number of people I've seen collecting the Couture De Force resin figurines, which led to me picking up their Esmerelda figure, which was released to mark the 20th Anniversary of The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 2016.

I've always thought that Hunchback was such an odd candidate for a Disney adaptation, and so even though it wasn't a completely successful movie I've always had a soft spot for it.  Perhaps it's because it was so oddly-themed that there's relatively little merchandise out there for it (I've long said that I'd love to buy a villain-themed snow globe that plays the Hellfire song).  Seeing this pop up, I decided to give it a try.

This figurine, in line with most of the Couture De Force line is 8 inchces/20cm in height.  The retail prices on the various figures in the line range between $44 and $90 USD, and Esmerelda landed right in the middle at $66USD.  The marketing promises that "faux gems, encrusted crystals and opalescent paint bring each sculpture to life".

Out of the Box: Cabbage Patch Kids "Taylor Audrey"

A few months ago I'd been thinking that I was wishing I'd brought one of my old (mid-1980s) Cabbage Patch Kids dolls back home with me after my last visit to my mother's place.  In a fit of nostalgia, I discovered the wide variety of sizes, constructions, and styles of new CPK that are now available.

A few casual searches later, and I found a listing for a "cowgirl" variation on sale. While the store listed her as being short-haired and dark-skinned, the doll that I received turned out to have long hair and the medium skin colour.  While someone looking for a look-a-like doll for a child would probably have been disappointed, that was ultimately a neutral for me since my main goal was just to see what one of these new P'tits Bouts De Choux (sorry, the Canadian in me couldn't help it) would be like.

Incidentally, while this doll has fibre rather than yarn hair, the original style yarn-haired dolls are still available. They seem to be about twice the price though!

2017 in Review

Happy New Year! It might be a little late for that, but since it's still January I feel like I can still sneak it in.😉

I'd gotten out of the habit of blogging regularly last year, but I'm hoping to get back into the routine of posting at least twice a month for 2018.  I'm already getting off to a slow start since the month is already half over, but hey - better late than never, right?

As with 2016, I'd planned to spend 2017 streamlining my collection. And while I did buy fewer dolls and figures overall, I also only sold three dolls (and zero action figures) over the course of the entire year (down from the 18 figures and three dolls that I sold in 2016).  But enough about the numbers, let's take a look at the toys who entered and exited over the year!

Photos after the cut: