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.