CHANDITOYS!

I recently discovered a truly magical thing on Kickstarter: Chanditoys.
I pledged to the campaign right away. Unfortunately it did not end up being funded, but that didn’t stop me from purchasing one from the lovely girl who makes them regardless.

Chanditoys are each handmade and 100% unique. They are designed by the artist Cat as a representation of who you are inside. From the website:

Chanditoys are plushies based on people. They reflect who you are and what you feel. They were created to help people (mostly troubled ones) to talk about their experiences and views. This is meant to help as light therapy, as even the toy itself shows you inner beauty you might not see or what you become when filled with negativity. The overall goal of Chanditoys is to help people feel happier -even if it’s the slightest bit of happiness- one smile at a time. (: 

That is quite possibly one of the coolest and most adorably caring toy concepts I have ever heard.

So you answer a series of questions about yourself (and don’t be shy! The whole point is to open up!) and the wonderful Cat designs the toy based on your answers. You will then be sent the drawing to double check you like what she has designed, and if you do, the plushie gets created. Each unique. Each special. Each a representation of a beautiful individual.

I’ve decided to name mine Chara.

Beyond just being in love with the concept, I also love the design. They kind of remind me of CLAMPs Mokona character, crossed with something you would find in a Serendipity book. They are super cute, as well as being wonderfully well made. Chara feels sturdy, and shes well stuffed. I couldn’t ask for a better hand made piece.

I highly recommend checking out the website, and getting yourself a Chanditoy. Cat is wonderful every step of the process and will respond to your inquiries with prompt friendliness. Great experience, through and through!

Lalaloopsy Girls – Mittens Fluff ‘n Stuff

I have been super stoked for a while seeing that Lalaloopsy was releasing a line of fashion dolls. Iv always loved the Lalaloopsy dolls; I collect the minis and considered getting the mix ‘n match dolls. The main line is adorable, but a bit too large for me. But these ones really did it for me, and I was so excited when my Toys R Us got them in.

 
The first I’ve picked up is Mittens Fluff ‘n Stuff, one of the cutest of their line of characters. I’ve always loved Mittens’s snuggly winter coats and cute kitty touque. The bright blue braids are defonatly a big win in my books!
I LOVE the face on these dolls. Shes super adorable but also kind of classy. She looks glamourous at the same time shes sugary sweet.

 
The Lalaloopsy Girls dolls have molded hair on their heads, and plastic elasticy hair in pigtails that can be styled. She came with a comb, but I dont think I will be taking her pigtails out of the braids.
The hair also changes colour in cold water! It truely does work, but its pretty light and dosnt last for long, so I wasnt able to get a picture of the effect. Its neat though, I always liked heat activated changes in toys when I was a kid.

I dont generally feel it nesisary to display the doll in the nude, but the Lalaloopsy girls have one of the most unique body molds Iv ever seen. I think her large non-feet are utterly adorable, I almost died with glee when I removed her shoes to find these big blobs. Its sweet and simplistic and very reminisant of the old cloth dolls their look is based on.

Altogether, I think this is a fantastic looking line, and Im looking forward to getting some more 😀

Mother of Dragons

Finally got my hands on one of the new Game of Thrones articulated action figures from Funko!
Iv been eagerly anticipating the release of these and waiting with bated breath for my local stores to get them in. Iv had to wait a bit longer then I hoped, too, because the first time attempted to pick up Daenerys, she was already sold out. Bummer. But its been well worth the wait!

As usually from Funko, the sculpt is absolutely gorgeous. The detailing on her clothes and hair is phenomenal, and although the face mold isn’t the most accurate to the actress Iv seen, its certainly not the worst either. She looks just great! Shes also way more articulated then I ever dreamed. Shes got the usual articulated points at the shoulders, elbow wrist, as well as thigh, knee, ankle. But shes also articulated at the waist and can turn this way and that, as well as bend over backwards!
Of course as I have also found with Funko, the paint job isn’t the greatest and there are certainly a few smudges on my figure. I also wish the elbow joints had been fully painted!

All in all though she looks amazing…. and absolutely gorgeous from the back, too 😀
Word of caution though; if you want to display her with the dragon perched upon her shoulder and not loose the darn thing, I would recommend gluing that sucker in place. He dosnt stay very well.

 

“Plastics” Photo

 Today I bring you another photo from my lovely husband Travis.
He is doing a wonderful photography project, photographing various “Nerdy Things”, and this particular photo featured some of my dolls! He seems to very much like the Kurhns. Last time he wanted to photograph inanimate plastic humans, he also picked a Kurhn as well.
Elsa makes an appearance as well there in the background though!
I thought the photo came out lovely, so I thought I would share it.

More of his photography work is found here, and he also has a blog.

The Redhead

Hullo! I haven’t drifted off the face of the blogosphere… I have however, been taking a bit of a break from buying new dolls (just for a short while!).
But since its Mothers Day and all, its a perfect opportunity to blog about a doll that my mother picked up for me a few weeks ago. She found this lovely irish lass and couldn’t help getting her for me (probably because, minus the eye colour, this redheaded lady looks an awful lot like me)

She marks the second porcelain doll in my collection, and is traditionally attired and painted. Shes quite pretty, with big curly red hair and a pleasant little smile. I cant tell if the paint on her face was hand done?
She does have lovely clear eyes and long lashes, and in her long forest green dress makes quite the little irish lady. Her hair is quite wild, and I will probably need to find some way to care for it to help tame down some of the frizz and matts that’s its got into over the years.

The hat is removable, and on the back of her neck is the only marking I can find on the doll, the numbers 9414. I am trying to discover who made her, so if you have any clues let me know! All in all shes a very sweet little dear and feels right at home next to the other porcelain doll in my collection which was left to me by my grandmother.

Thank you mom for the joyful addition to my collection, and happy Mothers Day 🙂

Goblyns Faceup!

Sooo I got Goblyns faceup done! This is the first time I have ever attempted something like this, so although its not 100% perfect, Im pretty darn happy with how she turned out.
The colours smudged a little more then Id like, and its not quite as symetrical as I would like. BUT I think it turned out pretty awsome for a first attempt and its given her sooo much personality!

   

I always knew I wanted to give her freckles. I wanted kind of the feel of a freckled redhead, but as a goblin instead of a human.
I also always knew that I wanted her eyebrows to match her hair, which is why I requested that her eyebrows be left blank when I ordered her.
Shes also looking a lot more green now that theres some shading and contouring on her face!

   

Aaand shes modeling the second dress I ordered with her, which I think suits her a lot more then the other one. I like the the dark colours on her and the gothic lolita kind of feel.
Someday Ill get her some actual gothic lolita outfits, and I really do want a really big thick pink mohair wig for her too!

Im in love with Makie so much. I really think Makie may end up becomming my BJD of choice ^____^

Meet Goblyn, my Makie!

OMG you guys, my Makie arrived and it is beyond totally awsome!!!
It was a whole lot faster then I thought it would be too, which is pretty cool. It was just over a week from ordering that I recieved the shipping confirmation, and I was over the moon estatic.  Two days later….. THERE SHE WAS. Talk about fast shipping! Although, my anticipation was through the roof for her, so it felt much, much longer. 😀

I have a video of her unboxing in the works to share with you, but in the meantime these are some of the first photos I have taken of her. And Iv taken a LOT of photos because shes so flipping amazing that I just cant resist!!
You cant notice how nice and green her skin colour is in most of these photos as much as I would like, and thats largely to do with the fact that her colouring is very, VERY pale. I expected it to be a smidge darker then this, but its quite nice. When I do a faceup on her it will look darker and greener 🙂

This is the best, most high quality and amazing doll, I have yet purchased. And yes, I can totally see myself getting more in the future 😀
She is of course my first ever BJD and….oooohhhhh my, I am in love. The way she moves and poses is so fluid and maleable. Compaired to the rest of my dolls, shes practically real!
She feels quite light, but also sturdy. Her texture is rough from the 3D printing process, and she almost feels as though she is made from wood.

The more I look at pictures of Makies, the more I really really love them. When I first saw them I thought they looked a little odd and slightly eerie, but now Im so used to how they look.
They feel like they have a lot more character and personality then any other doll out there and I love that.
I am of course going to be doing a faceup on her! I specifically requested that her eyebrows be left blank because I want to paint her eyebrows myself. It will be the first faceup I have ever attempted…. so wish me luck! Ill be doing that early this comming week sometime.

Altogether I could not be happier with her. Shes absolutly darling, and clearly the jewel in my collection ATM.
I cant wait to buy all sorts of awsome outfits for her, and accessories, and wigs, and and and…..oh my. I am hooked. 🙂
Goblyn is simply WAY too cute for my own good!

The Great and Powerful TRIXIE!

Alrighty! Time for some more Equestria Girls!
Iv been seeing (and drooling over) photos of the new Equestria Girls Rainbow Rocks line for a while now, and Trixie was especially exciting because – my word, LOOK at that outfit. I know I mostly have just collected the Delux body EQG dolls, but Im kind of making an exception for special characters that arent likely to get multiple releases, such as Trixie here.

   

Trixie looks great, and this is probably the first time Iv actually been really impressed by a EQG dolls outfit. Her dress is beautiful and super fun, and I love love love the hat she comes with. Everything about this doll just looks phenominal. And she also has actual fully molded feet as well, as do all of these new wave EQG dolls which is a big improvement over the first wave ones with their snap on shoes.

I will say that I DO wish they were releasing fully articulated bodies for all of the dolls in the series though. Hasbro really has to step up the quality levels of these if they actually want to compete seriously with Monster High and Ever After High, both of which have marvelously well articulated bodies for ALL the dolls.
Honestly not the biggest fan of the rigidly straight, unmovable arms and legs, but the doll LOOKS really good regardless.

Rarity!

As I am collecting the My Little Pony: Equestria Girl Deluxe version dolls, I was super stoked when I heard that one of the next Deluxe version characters to be released would be none other then Rarity! She is one of my top favourite characters on the show, and out of all of them, she strikes me as the one most suited to a fashion doll.
So a few days ago I picked her up, and was very happy to have done so as Iv been waiting for her for a while now.
The dress that I have her in is a dress from the La Dee Da doll line. Even though I actually quite like the two outfits she came in, I think that this colour suits her better. It does after all match her cutie mark perfectly!

The dress is the La Dee Da “Design to Shine” fashion pack, minus the green boa that comes with.
The slimming cocktail gown is absolutely perfect for the character and fits her to a T.
I also put her hair in an up-do (which took me many tries with many horribly failed attempts), because it seemed like it fit well with the outfit. Rarity is a classy gal, after all.

This is he dress the doll comes in in the box. Its quite a nice dress actually, and I like it on her quite a bit, I just always pictured Rarity in a slim and sleek cocktail dress. But, of course, she rocks both. But the purple is another great colour on her, matching her hair wonderfully.

And then we have the alternate outfit the doll came with. Which I appreciate that someone else also thought a tight-fit gown would be great for Rarity, I think this colour is pretty icky on her. Not a huge fan of the weird poof thing on her hip, either.

Altogether though shes great, and really, if any doll deserves to have a diverse wardrobe, its Rarity.
Here she is on the shelf 🙂

Gypsy Danger

While it may not be the most common opinion, Pacific Rim was hands down my absolute favourite film of 2013.
I guess Im just really getting tired of the current trend in movies and TV to be as super dark and gritty as possible. I like ridiculous and fun stories about heroic heros who save the day. Don’t get me wrong, Im as into Game of Thrones as the next crazy nerd girl, but Im also into My Little Pony and Adventure Time. I like fun, uplifting stories, and Ill be darned if a movie about giant mechs punching giant monsters dosnt fit the bill.

I was very excited that NECA made Pacific Rim action figures. Only problem is that none of the stores in my town ever got them in stock. Toys R Us never got it, and even the local nerd retailers didn’t bother with them. I was pretty much sure Id have to just order it online at some point, but lo! I found Gypsy Danger whilst out of town when we happened into a comic book shop. While the price was a little steep (30$, ouch) I’d been wanting Gypsy Danger for a while, so I snatched it up then and there.

And this is indeed a seriously cool looking toy. He looks worn and battle damaged. The detail on him is absolutely stunning, as one has come to expect of course from NECA. Hes articulated at the ankles, knees, elbows, wrists and waist. And he comes with two kick ass blades. They don’t stay in very well if your handling it a lot, but standing on the shelf he looks freaking PIMP.

Merry Christmas to me I guess! I want more Pacific Rim.