A good sign

I thought that matters requiring my attention would keep me from sewing until this June. It's always a good sign when one has enough time to spare to make doll clothes. 

Inevitable

"Should I do what Barbie does or do the last thing Barbie would do?" - Skipper



In a Barbie world, everybody plays by the Barbie rules. Nobody gets hurt.

Skipper will be another Barbie. Everybody wants to be Barbie. Check the rules.

Spot the Difference 101

How many differences can you see?

Clue: How many times has Skipper been prettier than Barbie?

Any other would seem secondhand

Another fashion pack I considered buying is modeled by Nikki below. I decided not to buy the dress because none of my dolls can match how Nikki carried the dress. Any other doll would seem secondhand.

Mermaid Nikki in Barbie 2015 Fashion Uploaded by fashiondollcollector on January 25, 2015 © All rights reserved Just follow this link to see and comment on this photo: »  http://www.flickr.com/x/t/0090009/photos/fashiondollcollector/16336525526/

Meant for her

When something looks this good on a doll, one can't help but think that the dress was designed with that doll in mind.



It's a playline dress with a big room for improvement. Don't expect it to look the same in another doll.

Flat and Halfhearted

Barbie attempts to be relevant by “living” a hashtagged life centering on fashion. That means keeping up with the trends like flat shoes. These shoes have been having their moments in the runway since 2013 and Barbie, being a fashion icon that she is, caught up with the trend late last year.  Blame Mattel’s rumored lengthy design process for the delay.

If you’re within Mattel’s favored distribution area, you probably have seen Barbie dolls with flat feet on the toy shelves. Along with the dolls, fashion packs and accessories were also made available. The curious thing is that the fashion pack never came with any flat footwear. A separate accessory pack can be bought but each pack only has a pair of flats. 

 fashion packs without flats

It seems like designing dresses that can go with flat shoes is way beyond the skill of any Mattel doll designer/stylist. (I'm exaggerating, of course.) It just feels like that Mattel is halfhearted in promoting the flat feet design. If there are minimal clothing options, who will buy these flat footed dolls? After the poor sales of these dolls, people will conclude that the consumers don’t want to deviate from high heel formula.

 accessory packs with one pair of flats each

They could have packed the clothes with both heels and flats. I have shown in my previous posts that some dresses can work with flats. Instead of the lousy plastic bags the dresses came with, a flat footwear option should have been provided. More flat footwear design (shoe mold) should also be made available. 

 

 a flat shoe for Raquelle

I know consumers like me sound like whining brats sometimes. It’s just sad to see a toy line we have grown to love die. The new Fashionista dolls have lost their articulation. It would be sad to have them loose their fashion versatility. With the low sales of Barbie dolls recently, the next thing we’ll know is that we have totally lost them for good.

Mint

This is another Mattel dress I recently got at a discounted price. I like the color and the simplicity, although it's a one-trick pony dress unlike the previous one.

The New Girl

I was supposed to make another dress but I misplaced my patterns. I was too lazy to make one from scratch. I ended up buying new dresses. This is the first one.

I was going for a Zooey Deschanel (The New Girl) vibe for this Lea doll. I just got her because she was discounted. There's no point in paying the full price when I only wanted the head. She has been rebodied with Barbie Style Raquelle, the one with flimsy knee joints.

Girl Feelings

They are wearing the three variants of the Jianidi Girl Feelings dress. I was told that there's an orange one but I had enough.

Black Widow

"The result is an overdue character exploration for Black Widow that still manages to reduce the baddest bitch in the MCU to a shell of a superheroine who’s sad she can never be a complete woman."
- Jen Yamato

Having taken a few courses from the Natasha Romanoff Academy, I have learned (though I still need years of practice) to use my emotions to my advantage. Tears can be used to manipulate people, to make them do your bidding, or at least catch them off guard by creating an illusion that you are vulnerable. Sensuality, too. To do that, one must not be controlled by the notions of sex that the society/religion has propagated. It's taking control and following your own notions of your sensuality. Nick Fury thought that she'll do a good job in assembling the Avengers.

In one scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Bruce Banner was in drama queen mode about his inability to have a normal family life. Everybody knows what happens when Bruce cannot control his emotions, right? It's a good thing that Natasha was there to provide emotional support for the most emotional Avenger.

She painted a picture of herself as a vulnerable person having no ability to bear children. And it's okay for her and that she can still have a relationship despite that. The sadness was used to get the message across that she can relate to Bruce, that he can trust her because she has made herself relatable to him. If you ask me if who I'll choose between Black Widow and Hulk, I'll go with the Widow. She's in control. That is why she's in charge of the big guy and his lullaby. Yes, Iron Man can make the Hulk sleep with Veronica but Natasha does it with so much less destruction.

I don't agree that the Black Widow character was reduced, but I do agree about what Jen Yamato said about the lack of female superheroes and the lack of female action dolls. Marvel and the toy companies like Hasbro is the villain in that story.

I still like the movie but Hawkeye should have died. That will be more dramatic. Plus, Jeremy Renner called Natasha a slut. I'm not hating or anything. Hawkeye did die a number of times in the comics. As for Chris Evans, I expect Captain America be killed in his 3rd solo movie or at least turn over his shield to someone else. That happened in the comics, too.

Marvel Cinematic Universe Action Dolls

It was the first Avengers movie that got me collecting 4-inch action dolls. A lot of them became peg warmers so they were sold cheap. I didn't know back then that buying other characters wasn't going to be as easy. Three years later and weeks after the second Avengers movie, I'm still enjoying my action dolls from 2012. There is no Barbie doll that I bought in 2012 that connects with me in the same way.

Marvel Universe (4-inch) scale Hulkbuster

Ever since watching the second Avengers movie, I have been hunting for a Hulkbuster toy that blends well with my 4-inch action dolls. I almost bought the old figure from the Iron Man movie but toy reviews weren't kind to its size. (Men and the size of their toys...) I figured, I can wait for the movie figure even if there wasn't any announced for release. Maybe next year...

The waiting paid off. It's not a licensed product but I don't care. It will just be a prop or plaything for my Hulk. It's not a major character. It's not like the Hulkbuster will appear in another movie in the future. Aside from the small size of the licensed toy, the higher price also kept me from buying it knowing that I won't be using it as much. This unlicensed Hulkbuster is a better choice for me.

comparison shot

This toy costs less than half of the current local price for the fully articulated 4-inch figures. It has more than 5 points of articulation, the standard for the 4-inch movie figures. Even with the limited articulation, posing it with my Hulk action dolls is still fun.

The shoulders can rotate 360° but the arms cannot be raised sideways. The elbows can be moved by just about 45°. The knees can be moved by about 90°. The helmet can be flipped open to show a human head but it doesn't look anything like Tony Stark (not pictured). The hips are ball and socket joints and they are really loose. The legs can be removed and returned from the hip joint.

This Hulkbuster looks good from the front but the manufacturer skimped on the back paint details. The holes for the screws don't help the aesthetics either.

Before I forget, upon opening the package, the toy had an unpleasant chemical smell which lasted for about a day. Or maybe it's still there but I just got used to the smell. Who knows? Talk about dangerous toys. It's a risk I'm willing to take. It's not like I'll be handling this toy for a long time. Like all toys we accumulate, it will be in storage most of the time.

 

This figure is about $5.50 in a toy store at EDSA Central. A local eBay seller is selling it for about $5 while another sells it for less than $7. This is sold for only $2.60 in Divisoria.

Daredevil

One thing I like about the Daredevil TV series on Netflix is that they're not trying to be pretty nor be cute.