Random Toy of the Day: Windcharger (Transformers)

Robot form.

Since I'd been spending so much time in Toronto lately, I'd originally planned to attend Dollism in Buffalo (only an hour-and-half across the border!) over this past weekend, but fate intervened, and I ended up back at home in VA/DC instead.  So while that means I don't have any interesting stories to share (or new dolls to show off), at least I was able to take a few toy photos!

First up is Windcharger - a 1980s transformer who is about the same size as a matchbox car when he's in his vehicle form.  Being compact means that I frequently misplace him, but that's also the reason he's at my house rather than in my mother's basement with the larger transformers - he was an accidental stowaway when I first moved out, and he's moved around with me ever since!

In terms of display value, there's not much to him, but compared to the larger transformers of his era, he's proved to be nearly indestructible.  The big ones are all missing pieces now, while this guy still looks almost exactly as he did when he was new.

Vehicle form.

Random Toy of the Day: Grumpy Bear (Kenner's Posable Care Bears)

Grumpy Bear.

It's raining, so what better day to introduce Grumpy Bear, the Care Bear with the thundercloud  belly?

As with all of these figures he has five points of articulation and a forelock of rooted hair.  I tend to class them as action figures, but suppose they could just as easily be called anthro dolls.

Even though this blue bear here has joined me for all of my relocation adventures, I don't have any particular nostalgia for the Care Bears line as a whole, I'm just a general fan for the negative characters in the perky lines, I suppose.

While I might not have been a huge fan of the line as a child, my sister was, and I found evidence that my mother went a little overboard at a few neighbourhood yard sales and the Samco sale (a warehouse toy sale that was held in Toronto every November - it closed down in the mid-1990s, I believe), because I just discovered a bin of Care Bears and playsets in my mother's basement.  I haven't had the opportunity to go through them yet, but I'm hoping to go identify and photograph them soon.

Out of the Box: Character Options' Doctor Who Series 2

Cyberman, the Doctor, Jack & K-9

I was just looking through/sorting photos and discovered a whole batch of toy pictures that I hadn't done anything with.  So instead of sorting through the basement, I thought it would be fun to share some of those.

Since I've been hearing talk lately about the newest Doctor Who shows (which, like all those summer movies, I haven't seen), I thought I'd start with some same-themed toys.

The Cyberman lived on my desk at work from
2007-2009.  Yes, he always rode a bunny.

Back in 2007 I had the opportunity to share a crate full of new figures with a neighbour (I'd been a fan of the audio adventures for ages and had enjoyed the reboot up to that point, although I'm not sure I was a big enough fan to need a crate of these) - and so I ended up with a wide variety of figures from Character Options' DW Series 2 toys.  It was probably a silly thing to do since I really only wanted K-9 and the Cyberman, but either way I also ended up with the 10th Doctor, Rose, Mickey, Jack, a werewolf and two Krillitanes (one grey, one brown).

In terms of quality, these figures are nicely made - they're detailed enough to clearly be the characters and creatures from the show but solid enough to hold up to play.  Most of the figures have between nine and eleven points of articulation, and they have great balance.

In the years since then, I've given away the werewolf, and the Krillitanes and Mickey and Rose have ended up in storage, but a few of them are still hanging around.  And since I have very few new/good photos of these toys, how about some old terrible ones? ;)

One of the only photos I could find with Rose and Mickey
(they're on the far left here).

K-9 survived many terrible photos with my late Staffie, Sadiedog.

Terrible lighting, but who didn't want a ridiculous
crossover like this?  Right?

Out of the Basement: ToyBiz Light-Up Classics Wolverine (and Happy Labour Day!)

Digging through my mother's basement the other day, I came across a slightly more recent toy than most of the ones I've been posting about recently - Wolverine from the late 90s ToyBiz "Light Up Weapon Classics" line (I mentioned the Nightcrawler from this series a couple of months back).

Unlike the Nightcrawler, this figure is not terribly well engineered and can't stand on his own.  He also has a bit of an odd face sculpt, which is unfortunate.  On the other hand, he still has his original weapon, and - even more surprising - it still lights up!

I'm not sure if this toy is going to come home with me, go back into the basement, or be traded or gifted along, but it was interesting to see it again!

If you're celebrating a holiday weekend today, I hope it's a good one!

Project Update: The Sew-Dolling/American Girl Hybrid

American Girl Josefina head on SewDolling's SewAble body

Back in April, when I reviewed SewDolling's Madison, I mentioned that while I loved many things about the doll, I wasn't a fan of the face.  At the time, I wasn't certain about whether is was the paint or the sculpt that bothered me, and mentioned the possibility of repainting her. 

Since then, I decided that it was actually the proportions of the face itself that weren't my style, and I decided to go the hybridization route and give her a new American Girl head. 

As a side note on hybridizing these two dolls, I've talked to a few people who have wanted to put one of the SewDolling legs on an AG body - unfortunately, I don't think that would work as easily as the head swap, due to the longer length of the SewDolling body's legs (in addition, while the basic construction is identical, the torso is shorter and the stance broader on the SewDolling body), so that would be a significantly larger challenge that this simple head swap.

The Josefina head

It's not difficult to find AG "head only" or TLC listings on ebay, so I knew I could find one fairly
easily, but my biggest dilemma was which head to choose - the SewDolling dolls are darker than AG's light skin, but lighter than medium skin, so there wasn't going to be a perfect match there.  Eventually I ended up choosing a Josefina head, primarily because it was the best priced non-classic mold I found (I have Samantha and didn't want a duplicate face shape). 

Once it arrived, the head actually turned out to be in better condition that the seller's description had suggested, so I was delighted to find out that the basic recovery work would be minimal.

Th Josefina head on arrival.
I cut the hair by about 33%.

Post-Haircut

Drying after a quick wash.
You might want to warn your friends and family before
setting this up - my husband shrieked when he saw this
in the bath without warning. ;)

The two heads together.  You can see the difference in facial proportions here.
Interestingly, because the vinyl SewDolling uses is harder than AG's, it reflects
more light, which makes the dolls look like a poorer colour match than
they do in real life.

The decapitation.
Aside from having a ziptie rather than a string, the method of attaching the head on
both types of doll is identical.

The AG head (left) has a longer neck and wider inner section than the
SewDolling (right) one, but the style is still the same.
This photo was taking with a flash, so the difference in light reflection
is even more obvious here.

New head/new body!

Dressed up and ready to go!

Amusingly, the reason it took me more than a month to share this project is because I'm still unsatisfied with her hairstyle.  But knowing me, that may take another year, so I decided it was time to stop procrastinating and  just put this up! 

League of Extraordinary Bloggers: Cryptozoology, or The Search for Dragonne

It's been a while since I last posted something for The League of Extraordinary Bloggers, but this week's assignment caught my eye.  It was just one word: Cryptozoology. A quick search told me that it refers to the study of "hidden" animals - and that's "hidden" in the Loch Ness monster/Bigfoot sense, not the well-camouflaged sense (other League bloggers have already showed off Mezco's Cryptozoology figure series, discussed Harry & the Hendersons, and shared some personal monster stories). 

My immediate thought was that Dragonne would be perfect for this.  A half-lion, half-dragon from LJN's Dungeons & Dragons line of the 1980s, he would be a perfect example of a "hard to find" or non-existent species.

The D&D toy line-up

There was just one problem:  like the Loch Ness Monster, my own Dragonne figure proved to be elusive.  As with the creatures of urban legend, when it came time to bring out the cameras, he was no where to be found.  Not in my house (I had my husband hunt through my toy shelves), and not in my mother's basement (I did some digging of my own). 

I know he was around before we moved, because I have photographic evidence (much like the famous photos of Nessie, not particularly good photographic evidence, but hey - that seems to go with the territory):

Photographic evidence of Dragonne's existance.

Realistically, that probably means that he's in storage, but for the purposes of this assignment, I think we should imagine that he's having tea with the Sasquatch (which could be true, since my Alpha Flight Sasquatch figure is in storage as well). 

A rare photo of Draggone in the wild.
I imagine he's waving at Sasquatch and saying "Tea time!"

Out of the Basement: Sasha

As I mentioned in my post about the short-lived Moni line, I have a fond nostalgic feeling towards Sasha dolls.  My two (a dark-haired Gregor and a Sasha baby) are in storage, but my sister's old dolls were packed away in my mother's basement, so I was able to dig them out.

Sasha Blonde,and two Sasha Baby dolls

Sasha Baby:  This is the oldest of the three.

Sasha Baby #2: This one is the youngest of the three.

Sasha Blonde

I was pleasantly surprised by how intact they all were - aside from some wild hair and a dress that needs ironing on the big one, they're all in solid shape.  And I know my sister played with them extensively, so that's a real testament to their construction!