Happy Halloween!

Preorders and Thinning the Herd

The Volks USA online full choice system was only live for 10 days this month, and while I managed to hold out until the final day, I did surrender and place an order for the new sculpt (Amethyst) in  ebony, with the "vibrant" faceup.  They're not expected to be ready until early January, so plenty of time to decide what I'm going to do with her.

The FCS (Photo credit).

Out of the Box: Monster High Finnegan Wake

I've said it before, but every time I think "No more Monster High after this one", they release another doll that catches my attention.  This time the release that brought me back to the line is Finnegan Wake, the blue merman in the black and red wheelchair.

In addition to the uniqueness of the wheelchair (a first from the line), the doll also has a unique body: the torso is both larger than the standard MH boy body and smaller than the SDCC exclusive Manny Taur body, while the fish tail lower body is distinct from those of the soon-to-be-released Scarrier Reef mermaids.

The Continued Adventures of Isabela in England

After leaving Liverpool, we drove to Manchester (with a quick stop in Northwich, so my husband could pick up a pastry at his childhood favourite bakery).  We had more rain there, which meant fewer toy photos, but Isabela did get to hang out by the water in front of Media City (across from the Imperial War Museum North).

The Adventures of Isabela in Liverpool

I'm back from my week-and-half in England on the annual "friends, family and football" tour, so how about a few photos?  My travelling figure for this trip was one of Titan's Dragon Age mini figures, Isabela (a ship's captain seemed like the right character to bring along to visit rivers and canals, I thought).

As with the adventures of mini Ivy in Thailand, I'll be breaking this up into a couple of posts to keep it from getting too unwieldy.  Now on with the photos!

Then and Now

I'm about to head out of town for a week, I just realized that my oldest BJD (Volks SD13 Heath) turned ten earlier this year, so I thought it would be fun to celebrate by sharing some photos before I go offline.

His current look.

Random Toy of the Day: American Girl Truly Me #44

AG Truly Me #44

One thing that I'd never realized before moving to the US is how often American Girl has sales.  This time around the value was even more impressive than the last one (where I was able to pick up Kaya and an extra outfit for 66% of the cost of the doll alone), as the deals offered included a doll from the modern "Truly Me" line, an additional outfit and two accessory sets for a similar discount.

So even though I wasn't really looking to add another AG to my collection, it was too good a deal to pass up, so I decided to order one.

Unfortunately it was raining when she arrived, so I wasn't able to take many photos, but I felt the need to share even so (I unboxed her in my home office, so I apologize for the cluttered backgrounds).