We Do Exist - Asian Playscale Men

I've always been grateful for the diversity among playscale action figures.

At first, I just wanted GUYS for my female dolls. (OMG that sounds awful ... the Kenization of action figures!) That's how I began looking down the green aisle or the action figure section of toy stores and online shops. I didn't like the early Kens and there was only Ken and Brad and then Ken and Curtis so I got G.I. Joes and other 12" male action figures. Then I noticed something: action figures represent Asian, Hispanic, and Middle Eastern guys as well as White guys and Black guys.

I gathered twelve of my finest Asian male figures - two are missing from this photo because they are still boxed - M & C Hung and bbi Elite Forces Asian. Hung has been photographed; he's in my M & C folder on Webshots. I will upload the Elite Forces Asian guy's photo later this week. Please view both photos because all twelve are not visible in both photos.







Happy viewing!

Save Us From the Sterilite Drawer! Part Two

The Sterilite chest of drawers is doll-free.

The former inhabitants are presently held in an open cardboard box or clear plastic package top as shown in the photo below. They will be soaked and dried and inspected for repairs, etc. The Free Moving Ken and the Love doll required repairs some time ago. Ken fell apart - Free Moving Curtis came undone the same way - the "free moving" construction did not hold up. Love lost hair and one leg came off it's setting. Mary Quant Daisy has a partially melted butt. The others just seem to be dusty.




Where will the newly liberated crew go? After their clean-up, I would like to arrange them in my shelving units. I need to insert either a cardboard floor or a rug to a.) keep the dolls from slipping through the slits in the shelves and b.) to avoid bad plastic-plastic contact. I'll have to debox more dolls or move some boxed DAFs around, but having them out like that will satisfy both the storage/home need AND the diorama interest.

Wonder what setting they can fit into? Possibly a lobby or a park? Suggestions welcome ;-D

Mattel S.i.S. Dolls: 1990s Shani & Friends Revisited?

Newsflash: Mattel to produce new fashion doll series!

Links to two articles about upcoming doll series, "Sisters in Style," from Mattel:

Here is the link to the Essence online article.

Here is the link to check the Richmond Times Dispatch

I first read about the Essence article on the UKBarbie Yahoo Group; then I read it at the Dolls of Color blog. So I'm adding the information here at my blog, with nods to the two original sources.

Any long-time Barbie collectors remember the early 1990s? Mattel created African American Shani doll for the African American doll buying market. Shani could wear Barbie clothes, but she was marketed as a separate series. Brown-skinned Shani had light-skinned Asha and darker brown-skinned Nichelle as her friends.

I'm looking forward to this new Black doll series due out this Fall.

everGirl Dolls for Sale at Nick.com

Omar aka actionman81 at various Yahoo groups wrote to say that he found an Asian everGirl by Playmates online at Nick.com. They also have the Hispanic and other everGirls on sale for $7.97 BEFORE postage, of course.

I have three of the everGirl dolls in a Webshots folder. The fourth everGirl doll that I have, the Black one, was deboxed earlier. I'll add her photo for reference later.

Happy Collecting!

Doll Theme: Ancient Egypt Part 1 continued

More comments on and photos of Queen Adora ...

Queen Adora in Crown and Necklace (Both Cardboard)



I like the crown. Paper hats can be acceptable. The crown fits nicely over her bare head; it would tear over the wigged head. The necklace is a harder sell for me. It needs more give, more flexibility than the cardboard medium allows.


Queen Adora's Throne



At first, I thought a paper throne would be tacky. But this one is rather neat. No instructions were included, but looking at the finished chair on the doll box and the graphics on the actual cardboard piece, I was able to push and fold and tuck the throne into three-dimensional existence. I might go back and tape or glue some parts. Might also spray some kind of clear matte spray to strengthen it.

Just wish that Adora's legs would bend so that she could sit more naturally. Might need to re-body her onto a poser body ...


Wigged Queen Adora Seated



Last photo for this set: the wigged Queen Adora seated on her throne. The wig is nice. Fits fairly well over her head. She's an attractive doll with or without the wig.

I had thought I could use the wig to give one of my Joes a beatnik look. Changed my mind about that. First, the wig is longer than I had thought it would be. I was thinking the length was to the shoulders; the length is BELOW the shoulders. Sigh.

Overall, I like this doll package; it's got fun play factors even for an adult.

Mixis Girls and Jakks Pacific Pants - Match at Last

Rosa, Opal, Emerald, and Houda have limited clothing options. Yes, they can fit the Get Set dolls' pants. So that would be a pair of black nylon pull-on pants. If, you have Get Set doll pants, which most collectors probably won't have because the Get Set dolls did not have a long production run.

Yes, the Mixis can wear Ken pants, but the lines are wrong for them. The Ken pants have straight lines; the Mixis have curvy bodies. Possibly the gold harem pants of the Arabian Nights Ken could work. Regular Ken pants though look as though the girls are borrowing their boyfriends' pants.

The Mixis can - just - fit the Get Real Girls' tops and some of the GRG jackets. But the GRG pants are too narrow.

Welcome to the Jakks Pacific doll closet, specifically for their Girl F.O.R.C.E. line. Bingo! The pants fit the Mixis. While Jakks Pacific did not produce a clothing line for that doll line, there were at least 13 Girl F.O.R.C.E. dolls produced. Three dolls for Josie and the Pussycats (Kmart), six dolls for the Charlie's Angels series, and various Girl F.O.R.C.E. dolls, Creanna, Bianca, Lola, and Jaz.

Note 1: the black pants for Valerie of Josie and the Pussycats stain the doll's body.

Note 2: Jakks Pacific produced two other fashion dolls, Catalina and Damita, around 2005. These dolls' figures are closer to swimsuit Barbies' figures. The three pants shown on the box for this series would probably NOT fit the Mixis dolls.

For photos and comments comparing the Mixis with other playscale dolls see this entry.



Opal in My Scene guy top and Jakks Pacific pants; Emerald in Get Real Girl top and Ken shorts




Second view of Opal in My Scene guy top and Jakks Pacific pants

Save Us From the Sterilite Drawer! Part One

Remember I mentioned dolls left in the Sterilite drawer? Well, here are photos of some of those dolls.






For now, I am going to wash them and then stand them on a lined garage shelf. (Have to line the plastic shelves because the plastic shelves have slats dolls and action figures can fall down in.) Seeing them out will help me determine how I want to store them. And I will avoid any further damage to them. The Malibu Barbie and PJ and Ballerina Cara had some sticky substance on their legs.