A Very Merry and Belated Christmas!

Where does the time go? I cannot believe that Christmas is over and tomorrow is New Year's Eve. I have been working hard on getting my house ready for Christmas and have been doing a lot of doll rebodying. My family (my brother and sisters and some of their kids) are all coming to our house this weekend for our family gathering.

Here are a few Christmas pictures of my home decor:

I ordered dolls from Amazon when they released the new 2015 Style dolls.  Here are a few photos of those.

And lastly but not leastly, I have been going through some of the dolls in my glass case and have realized that some of those girls wanted a little air. So, I have taken some of them out and they have been given new bodies and new fashions and are being acclimated with the other residents of Hanaly Corners. Here are some pictures of their transformation. I started with my Goddesses! For more, go to my Flickr account.

Clothing Alternatives for Lammily Doll

While I did order some outfits for my Lammily doll (now Katie), I just could not leave her in those shorts! Just too cold here in Michigan.  So I looked through some of my action figure clothes to see if I could find her something else to wear. I had this brown knit dress from Triad. And, since I didn't think it would look good with her tennis shoes, I tried some low heeled pumps from Triad and low and behold, they fit her!

Front view of Triad dress & shoes. A little low cut, but I think a pretty good fit.

Side view of Triad dress & shoes. I think the length is good and it fits her curves nicely!

Back view of Triad dress and shoes. She even looks good from behind!

Next up I tried on some action figure jeans I got from OJIT. The ladies jeans would not come over her butt, so I tried on the men's jeans! They worked. Then I put on Ken's blue turtleneck sweater. The results:

It took a little bit to pull them up and I had to work a bit to snap them (kind of like my own jeans!). The are a little long, so I folded to bottom to make "cuffs". 

Here is the side view. BTW, I bend her legs 1 click and she could stand on her own at long enough to take these pictures!

And finally, the back view!. Not bad! Oh, she cannot sit in these jeans unless you unsnap them, but this at least gives her something else to wear.

What do you guys think?!

Dolls, Dolls and More Dolls! (Part 3)

This is part 3 of my buying frenzy! When you document it like this, it does make you realize that you may have gone a little overboard. At least I still paid all my bills! So next in my photo reveal is some new guys. Never can have enough of those, at least that is what my girls have been telling me (my dolly girls, not my daughters!).

OK, yes I know, I already introduced Tenzin. He is here for height comparison (and cuz he is so darn handsome!). Next I ordered a Paul Walker head sculpt from eBay. I also found a COOMODEL taller body on eBay. It is a really nice body. It almost makes him as tall as FR hommes!. I have been wanting the Pop Life Ken for quite a while now, however, I could not justify what people were asking for him on eBay and Amazon. Then I found this guy, nude for under $100. He is new, just undressed. I think I found some nice looking clothes for him and he looks pretty dapper! Last but not least, I also ordered a custom Jay Chou head. I had order 2 of the COOMODEL tall bodies, but they send me one regular body instead. I was going to return it, but they refunded half the price of what I paid for it, so I kept it for Jay. All in all, I think this body suits him.

I also got a few new ladies!

I got 3 J-dolls, the Herve Leger Barbie and 2 Twilight dolls. I have shown you the red headed Barbie Red Carpet doll before, but I got a new outfit for her from a Barbie Style 2-dolls pack from Costco, and I wanted you to see the new threads!

The J-Dolls actually arrived in September, but since I haven't shown them before, I am including them. From L to R: Galeries St. Hubert, Marche Jun Planning and Friedrichstrasse.

Herve Leger Barbie is next. I rebodied her on the Blond Pop-Life Barbie body. I think this doll is just beautiful and I love the clothes she came with. She was on sale, plus I used my December Barbie Collector coupon! She will definitely be in the upper class or model class of Hanaly Corners.

Twilight Bella (pre-vampire), and Victoria.  They came together. I rebodied Bella on a 2013 Barbie Glam Style body and Victoria is on a Dynamite girl pale body.

Pop Life Ken has been teamed up with the redheaded Barbie Red Carpet doll and the Marche Jun Planning J-Doll to make up a family. I am still working on their back story.

Paul Walker has been teamed up with the Costco Summer from the doll package (she is rebodied) and Joshua from "Lovely Little Babies" on eBay to make the Walker family.

Baby Joshua is made by the same lady that made Phoenix in Miranda Z's One Sixth Avenue blog. She does a wonderful job! I don't think he will be my last baby from her.

So far, Jay Chou is unattached, but he is thinking about asking Victoria out.

He then spots this J-doll and thinks she is also a very pretty girl. I guess he kinda likes redheads! Hmm, Jay, you better put a suit on if you are gonna ask her out!

I almost forgot about these 2 gals. Society Hound Barbie (she is rebodied on an Elvis Barbie body) and Dynamite Girls London Calling Dani. These 2 are mother and daughter.

Society Hound Barbie loves her dog! Especially since the disappearance of her husband. I am sure there is an interesting story to tell about that. I will let you know when I come up with a storyline for them!

Jay did a double take when he saw Dani in the room -- "Oh, another lady for me to ask out. I think I am gonna like it here in Hanaly Corners!"

Hope you all enjoyed this! I look forward to your comments. Thanks for stopping by.

Dolls, Dolls and More Dolls! (Part 2)

My Lammily dolls arrived yesterday! I had ordered 2 of them during the crowd funding in April. First, while I do like the doll and it is quite nice, I don't think it can really be compared well to Barbie. Totally different type of doll. I do think she is a nice addition and adds some diversity, but I still love Barbie! I will be showing some pictures of her and comparing her to other "Normal" and/or Plus size dolls. There will be doll nudity in this post, so if that bothers you, you should stop reading now!!

Here is the box she arrived in:

It is a nice box, and the packaging is very simple. 

There are only 2 twist ties holding her in the box and a plastic strip is holding her hair in place. She is very easy to get out of the box. That is a great plus. I have always hated the packaging for the average doll. Mattel should take note of this!

Here she is out of the box. She cannot stand on her own. She is leaning against the backdrop here. The first thing I noticed is that she has some heftiness to her. Her feet are pretty big by Barbie standards, but are probably more realistic in proportion to the size of the doll. She has a nice face and her hair is very soft and does not have any glue or other product in it.

Here is how she stacks up to other dolls in the "regular", "normal" and "plus size" categories. I compared her to Mixis, American Teen, Tracy Turnblad, Rosie O'Donnell and to the Mattel Happy Family Grandma body (note that I have a Raquel head on the the HF Grandma body in these photos). I have named her Katherine or Katie for short. Still need to see how she will fit in and what family she will be a part of.

 Standing between the Mixis and American Teen doll, you can see that she is shorter than Mixis, but taller than American Teen.

 Katie is about the same height as Tracy Turnblad.

Rosie is a little taller than Katie and very close to the same height as Raquel on the HF Grandma body. BTW, this version of Raquel has been renamed Sarah, so I will refer to her under her new name in this review. CAUTION, NUDE DOLLS!

Lammily/American Teen Comparison

So I could do an adequate comparison, I stripped everybody naked! There are some similarities in the torso's of these dolls. I think Katie has a nicer shape than the American Teen. Katie's legs are more shapely.

 From the rear, you can see that Katie has a more defined waste, but her butt is a bit larger. 

 Katie cannot sit very gracefully. American Teen's legs stay closed a little better. Also note that the height difference is less than when they are standing. This is because Katie has a longer torso.

Both girls can bend their knees slightly, but American Teen cannot bend her elbows like Katie can.

 Katie can wear AT's top, but it is a little short for her.

AT's coat fits Katie OK. She cannot wear the jeans -- not because they are too short, but because Katie's has more junk in her trunk!

Katie's shirt fits AT nicely, but the shorts are way too big! BTW, they cannot share shoes.

Katie can sit in a chair if you do not put her in a fully seated position, so she can sit down to dinner if desired and at the right table. AT can sit in the chair, but her knees don't have much range. Both dolls have click bending knees with limited range. The American Teen cannot bend her elbows and she only has back and forth shoulder movement.

Katie can do the splits pretty nicely, however, AT cannot get all the way down. Neither doll can do the side splits.

Lammily/Mattel Comparison:

 So here are the Mattel comparisons to Lammily. Sarah and Katie both have a nice shapely torso, however, Sarah is not as "thick". Rosie's waist is not as defined. 

 Both Sarah and Rosie can keep their legs together. Notice how much taller Katie is when they are all seated. Again, that is due to the longer torso.

 Sarah can sit in the chair nicely. She doesn't have to lean back like Katie does to keep her legs together. Both of them have limited range click knee joints. 

Rosie and Katie -- same as above for their knees, but Rosie cannot bend her elbows. 

 Sarah has greater flexibility in her elbow joints. Well, what can I say about Katie? She cannot touch her head. At least she will know what to do in case of a holdup! I did not do this with Rosie since her elbows are not jointed. 

 Both Sarah and Katie can do the splits. Sarah does have some side to side movement, but not enough to do the splits.

Rosie can do the splits too. But not the side to side ones. She has no side to side movement, just like Katie.

Lammily/Mixis Comparison:

 Both dolls have a nicely shaped torso. Katie's torso is obviously longer than Mixis. Katie is a bit thicker than Mixis. The Mixis doll is taller and has more flexible elbow movement. 

 You can really see how much longer Katie's torso is when they are seated. Both have the same limited range click knees. Splits for Mixis is a no-no and she only has very limited side-to-side hip movement. Both dolls have very nice, soft hair. 


Lammily/Tracy Turnblad Comparison:

 Last but not least is the comparison for Katie and Tracy Turnblad. They say a picture is worth a thousand words and the picture here speaks volumes! Tracy has a very short torso and longer legs than Katie. She has a big tummy and is very round. 

 From behind, Tracy also is nice and round. Standing, they are both the same height.

Since sitting in the chairs was not an option for Tracy, I am showing them sitting on the floor. While Katie lacks grace in the way she sits, Tracy can only sit spread eagle. She does not have jointed knees or elbows. She cannot do any kind of a split. What she does have is a beautiful smile! 

All-in-all, I really do like the Lammily doll. I am, however, disappointed in her limited articulation. Because of the jointed feet, she is unable to support herself standing. She cannot hold a baby. She has a pretty face and very nice hair. Her eyebrows are a little high for my taste. I hope that the Lammily company is willing to listen to feedback and that they can make some improvement in future editions. I did order a couple of outfits for her to come in January, so I will be interested to see the quality of the clothing. I would also like to see them produce more ethnic choices. I think Katie will be a nice addition to my doll community. 

Hope you enjoyed this review!  I will have another post in a couple of days with the rest of my doll purchases, so stay tuned.

Thanks for visiting and I enjoy receiving your comments.