Ever After High Apple White Fainting Couch

I picked this up from Target only because it had been marked down twice so the price was finally decent. I went to Target to get Dexter Charming but he was nowhere to be found. I'll probably have to order him online. By the time he hits the stores here, the lousy, no-good scalpers will probably snatch all of them up and sell them on EBay for twice the cost. 

This is exactly what happened with Cedar Wood. I've only seen one for sale at ToysRUs. I never saw one again. 

Anyway, this is Getting Fairest Apple White's Fainting Couch. This is a cheap, plastic toy. But the colors are nice and it has a lot of detail.  

The sheer, red curtain is taped to the back. 

These are just some of the things it comes with; a piece of fabric (to use as a blanket, I suppose), gold laptop that snaps shut, a plastic pillow with Apple's initials on it (the thing is as hard as a rock), a drawer on the bottom that opens and can be used for storage (this makes it more useful for me) and in the left corner it has a charger for her black, mirror phone. I don't like the phone at all.  

This drawer here will keep me from losing the accessories.

Here's Madeline Hatter trying out the couch and modeling the glasses without lenses, gold crown and gold, plastic necklace that also came with the couch. She looks very smart (or very blind)(that's supposed to be a joke. I wear glasses, too.) She looks quite comfortable.  

In the cushion is a small drawer. The apple on the front opens and closes it. It's a great place to store the glasses. 

Poor Alexis has actually fainted on the Fainting Couch. Good thing she was easily revived. 

Alexis is wearing my favorite Barbie dress. I bought some generic Barbie from the thrift store just for this dress then I took the naked doll back to the store. It's gorgeous. 

This couch was a great deal. It came with many accessories I can absolutely use for all of my dolls. That pillow will be going into the garbage. The glasses fit almost all of my 12 inch dolls, my Moxie Teenz and my Tonner City Girls doll and Bratz. 

The couch makes a great prop for photos, too. 

Robotica

Monster High's Robecca Steam

She is one of my favorite Monster High dolls. I like anything Steampunk, really. I don't care for the Dance Class Robecca at all. 

I made a longer skirt so she could sit with some modesty. Her original skirt was much too short. I cut her boots so that more of her skin would show. (I'm kind of regretting that. I wish I'd left them alone.)

She is beautiful. She's not a strange looking monster (not that there's anything wrong with that). Her skin is radiant. (Now I sound like an Oil of Olay commercial). Her face up is awesome. So much better looking than a Barbie doll. Her features are well balanced and very attractive. Her makeup isn't garish. It's very tasteful. 

She has wonderful bronze skin that's covered with rivets because she a mechanical robot.  

There are cogs on her shins. 

Robecca is a robot created by a mad scientist. Her internal clock is always off so she's always late for classes and such.

Her hair is very soft and nice and shiny unlike a lot of my other MH dolls. The blue adds a very nice touch. 

She is 116 years old according to her bio. Her boots are rocket boots. Apparently, she can fly, or something, with these boots. She did come with a black stand. 

I've lost her journal. From what I can remember the story in it was very good. 

This is her blouse and bolero jacket. 

These are the rest of her accessories. 

The blue thing she wears on her wrist has a digital clock on it. I think it helps her regulate time. Her goggles have an antennae on them. Her earrings are cogs and gears. I cut them because I thought they were too long. I don't like long earrings on my dolls or myself. 

I'm not sure what this is. It looks like a bird cage that she wears around her waist. She can't sit down with it on. 

Her bag does open and close. It's also a clock. 

This is her mechanical penguin, Captain Penny. He's so cute. I like the way he's waving. 

He has a jet pack on his back. His skin is also bronzed and covered with rivets. 

This is my homage to one of the best Monster High dolls in my modest collection. 

Robotica 

Tonner City Girls Billy

This is Tonner Toys Beginner Collector line of dolls called City Girls. There are four of them. I got this one at ToyRUs for $15, originally $50. I'm so happy I found this doll for $15 and didn't pay $50. Because it turns out I didn't have to.

Her name is Billy and she's 15 1/2 inches tall. This is the tallest fashion doll that I own. She comes in a tube, which is a nice touch. 

She has rooted hair and painted on eyes. She's 24 years old and owns a bakery. I don't know any 24 year olds who own their own businesses. Maybe Billy's a trust fund kid from one of the old monied New York families on Park Ave. 

I hate these things. They're sown into the hair and are a complete pain to get off. I've accidentally cut hair off when trying to remove these things. 

Her hair is very good quality. I don't have any complaints. 

She comes wearing a Tonner Toys tag on her wrist. She's wearing a pair of tights under a long mustard colored shirt. (Not my favorite color.) Those tights will come in handy with other clothes. I'm very happy that she came with a jacket because now I don't have to make one for her. (I'm not very good at it. Sewing is a painful process for me.)

Her handbag is nice. It's big and opens up. It isn't nearly as nice as the bags that came with Moxie Teens.

Her boots are very stylish and match the outfit well. They are hard to get off over the tights. 

Her outfit is casual and simple. What really makes it come together are the accessories. 

She has the same exact body type and articulation as the Moxie Teenz. 

Her legs are very long. They're also made out of a rubbery material making it impossible to stand on her own. Her legs do not stay straight. They even buckle when she's in a doll stand. Bummer. It would've been nice if she could stand on her own. 

Her feet are stained from the tights. That doesn't bother me at all, though. 

I also picked up this Little Miss Matched Fashion Pack because it was 70% off. 

Here's Billy in the reversible dress. It's a little tight but does look good on her. 

Here she is in the other outfit from the pack. Very good fit. I was happy to learn that she can share clothes with Moxie Teenz. 

Here's Billy with Taeyang Willy Wonka (wearing Ken clothes), a Liv doll and Moxie Teenz Arizona. As you can see, she towers above them all. I am not looking forward to making clothes for her.

She's sitting on a Barbie couch I found at a thrift store and painted. She's much too big for any of my doll furniture and rooms. I won't be making any to accommodate her size, either. That's just more work for me. 

She was a great find for only $15. She's a great play fashion doll. I would've been very disappointed with her if I'd paid $50. She does have a few issues but I can overlook them all for $15. I wish Toysrus had the other City Girls.

Unless I find City Girl Fashions on sale, I won't be buying them. I saw them at FAO Schwartz for $20 each. If I only paid $15 for the doll, I'm definitely not going to pay more for the clothes. 

Apparently, the summer is when toys can be found for deep discounts here in the states. Maybe I should drop buy FAO Schwartz and see if they have anything on sale. I don't even know if they have sales. I'll have to check it out. 

Billy's a nice addition to my collection. 

Robotica

The Monster High-ification of 1970's Pimp & Ho Culture

I'm old enough to remember Times Square, in New York City, in the '70's before it was Disneyfied. I remember the pimps, hookers, johns, triple X porn theaters, Kung fu movies and American cab drivers. It was a lot like the movie Taxi Driver, only difference was there were a lot more People of Color or minorities.

I also lived near a train station that was Hooker Central. Every night was like a parade of hookers up and down the Ho' Stroll. There were a lot of taxis around the train station, too. Ah, the good old days.

(In case you haven't caught on by now, this post isn't going to be very PC. Stop reading now if you're delicate sensibilities are easily offended.)

Now in the Glory Days of Hookers, BC (Before Crack) street walkers looked a lot like this:

This is Clawdeen Wolf. (I don't own any of these photos.) She's the 15 year old daughter of the Werewolf. Now I know that nowadays a lot of teenage girls dress like hookers so this doll isn't completely inaccurate. 

The prostitutes I saw wore straight or Afro wigs of every color imaginable, platform boots, usually shiny, metallic gold or something just as outlandish, always a short skirt, usually a loud color with the ever present rabbit fur jacket. Of course, the makeup and jewelry were usually garish. Oh, it was a sight to behold. 

If you want to know what they looked like just take a look at this doll because the Ho' Stroll was obviously Mattel's motivation when they designed this doll. They must have fond memories of the '70's just like I do. 

Every time I see this doll all I see is a prostitute. I'm not judging prostitutes or saying that they're bad, immoral or whatever. I'm not clutching my pearls here or gasping for my Rosewater as I clutch my Bible in my other hand. I am commenting on the fact that this is what I see and I know that not everyone feels the same way I do. 

I've seen YouTube videos where Clawdeen is given a ghetto, hoochie mama accent. I'm sure it's meant to be satire or something. I've never watched any of the Monster High YouTube webisodes so I have no idea how she sounds in that. But I can just imagine.  

She has a brother Clawd:

He's 17 years old. 

Remove the fangs and ears, give him a gold grill, give those boots heels, put him in front of a Cadillac and it's straight pimpin' time right out of a blackploitation movie. 

These dolls are quite popular. There isn't anything wrong with that. 

And then there's this:

The Bottom B of the Wolf family. Her name is Clawdia. Nothing says "I'm A Ho" louder than a yellow wig, red socks and yellow shoes. In the '80's and '90's, I actually saw crackho's who would wear glow in the dark wigs, high heeled shoes with socks and tacky makeup when they were at, uh, work. I lived in a bad neighborhood. 

I've also seen every blackploitation movie ever made. (I once worked at a video store.)

I've made comments about the hookerish look of these dolls before on other people's blogs. For that, I'm truly sorry. I shouldn't have done that. I should've saved those comments for my own blog. 

Some anonymous person, who was too much of a coward to use any kind of name, would always comment that I was being rude. What would we do without women in middle America who are easily offended by absolutely everything? I cannot imagine wasting my life getting butt sore over a comment a stranger made about a cheap, plastic doll. 

There isn't anything wrong with being or, even, dressing cheap, tacky, gawdy, ghetto, hookerish or whatever. If people want these dolls or even love them, I'm not here to judge them. There isn't anything wrong with making these dolls or buying them. 

I love Bratz dolls and, God knows, those things are tacky. 

This is Bratz Babyz Roxxi. There is so much wrong with this doll. She's wearing a bikini with a faux leather jacket. Her finger and toenails are painted red. She has a Marilyn Monroe beauty mark and she's wearing red lipstick. Why would anyone sexualize a toddler? Who thought this was a good idea? 

The one member of the Wolf family I think has a fun look is Howleen:

She is the baby sister of the family. She's so boss. This is how my friends and I would dress up when we were "New Wave" in the '80's. She reminds me of every movie I've seen starring Molly Ringwald. She reminds me of the Ramones, the Smiths, Siouxxie and the Banshees, Tears For Fears, the Psychedelic Furs, and Cyndi Lauper. 

She's the only one who doesn't look like a throwback to the 1970's Ho' trade. 

And that's my 2 cents. 

Robotica