Pullip Princesses - Belle

Hmm. My rant of last week seems to have turned off a few folks, and to that I say oh well. I’ve been aware of the ridiculously homogenized standards of beauty in fairy tales from a young age – I remember reading the foreword to The Ordinary Princess and thinking “…wow, she’s RIGHT” – and I mentioned my enthusiastic reception of Belle as a Princess Like Me in that last post.

Of course, as my life has taken me beyond the small, 98% white Indiana town where I grew up, my worldview has expanded to demand not only more princesses who look like me, but also more princesses that look like everyone else. It took me an embarrassingly long time to become aware of the fact that the vast majority of mainstream entertainment (and I’m lumping in toys with entertainment) focuses on a small minority of features, and anything that goes beyond that small minority is prodded off into a corner and labeled “niche” or “special interest.”

This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy Frozen – I did, and “Let it Go” is the best Disney song in years, and Elsa is another of My Homegirls and she is definitely joining Team Pullip at some point, and I might be considering making her coronation gown for GenCon, despite the nagging feeling that I’ll look awful in a platinum blonde wig – but I know that I was able to enjoy it as much as I did because it’s part of a centuries-old status quo that is designed to appeal to me while excluding others. And I get frustrated and lash out when I see people who seem determined to remain oblivious to that status quo, or determined to preserve it, because it doesn’t have a negative effect on them.

And now, back to dolls. Team Pullip is growing by leaps and bounds! I’m stoked about this addition – she’s one of my favorite Princesses, and her base is one of the prettiest Pullips I’ve seen. So, without further ado, let’s welcome:

Pullip Belle!

My Christmas Doll - Howl v. 2.0!

My Christmas was nice, but rather chaotic. My husband and I are naturally quiet people, and Pieface (while she has her moments of hyperactivity) is a fairly low-key kid, and the three of us are usually spread out through a two-story house. So to visit my parents in their one-story ranch, with my oldest brother and his family also visiting, and everyone talking, at high volume, nonstop, is a minor study in culture shock.

But I did get to finally meet my second brother’s new son, so adorable chubby ginger baby makes the rest worth it.

My Christmas haul was fairly small (and I think I may have finally reached the age where I’ve stopped caring), and there was only one doll item! But it was a doozy, so I present to you…

Taeyang Tantus, soon to be Wizard Howl v. 2.0.


After struggling with Howl v.1, I finally admitted defeat and realized that it would take work far outside my abilities to make the doll match what I was imagining. So I went searching – for clothing, at first – and stumbled upon Tantus on PullipStyle. After some browsing of pictures, I realized that it would be easier just to make Tantus into Howl. He has the unnaturally-yellow-blond hair, a less severe faceup than Howl v.1, and (most importantly) a lovely blue brocade suit of clothes, with lacy cuffs, puffy cravat, and a fairly ridiculous hat. (He's also reasonably priced, at $65 on PullipStyle.)

His stock picture on the back. DAT HAT.

Deboxing. I am already in love with his clothing.

His hair is slightly different from the stock photo – instead of hanging down straight, it’s slightly crimped at the ends. I’m going to see if I can coax it into neater curls.

Prepping him for customizing (on my icky stained ironing board) – an eyeswap to green, and he’ll get Howl v.1’s Obitsu Slim body.

His coat is tacked shut, and needed some seam ripper work to open.

Once again, Pullip lives up to my expectations on clothing. The coat is fully lined, aside from sleeves.

This coat is awesome. I want one for myself.

Under the coat, he has his frilly shirt and cravat, pants, vest, and cummerbund.

The vest closes with tiny hook-and-eye closures. And, at the risk of overstating my love of Pullip clothes, it is a full vest – not just a false front, like a lot of 1/6-scale tuxedo vests. I am fond of the “shirtsleeves” look (dress shirt with vest/waistcoat, no jacket), and having a full vest is necessary to pull it off!

The shirt front has itty-bitty seed-bead buttons.

The cravat is a separate piece, and closes with a snap.

Doll transplants are all done, and Howl has his green eyes and Obitsu body. Taeyang clothes are slightly too big on the Obitsu Slim Male body – the shirt sleeves hang over his hands, and his pants and cummerbund are both too wide in the waist. It’s hard to tell when he’s in a stand, so I’m rolling with it.

(Speaking of stands…the Tantus stock stand SPARKLES. It’s midnight blue and glittery. It’s so perfect.)

More Howl...

And, of course, Howl is off having a field day among all the pretty ladies of Team Pullip...

…Until he meets the only girl who’s completely immune to his charms. It’s hard to dazzle a girl with your beauty and fashion when she’s blind, a tomboy, and likely to earthbend you face-first into a wall if you annoy her!

Toph's work here is done.

Meet Marie-Grace!

When Cecile and Marie-Grace went on sale in the Jill's Steals and Deals offer, I knew I wanted Cecile, and Marie-Grace tagged along because I knew I'd kick myself for not snapping her up at that price.

Marie-Grace has stayed in her box, because two dolls at once was a bit too overwhelming, but I did take some snapshots before putting her back into storage.

Meet Cecile - oops, that is, Meet Nadira!

I fully admit, I am probably on Santa’s “naughty” list right now. My chief crime: buying presents for myself in December! Growing up, my family had a rule: once Thanksgiving hit, you were to stop buying stuff for yourself and focus on getting gifts for others. (This worked to not only focus our thoughts on generosity and giving, but also avoided the awkwardness of Little Jenny buying herself the same thing Grandma had already wrapped up.)

But even my parents’ oft-repeated lessons get thrown to the wind in the face of a mighty American Girl flash sale. And what a sale – Cecile and Marie-Grace, plus accessory sets, for $50 each. That’s right, two American Girl dolls, brand-new, with accessories, for less than the price of one.

And now it’s time to confess my lesser crime – the fact that, on the morning of the 5th, I was sitting at my work computer, logged in to AG’s site, with my phone in my hand refreshing Playthings for the code. Online shopping at work, for shame. Long story short, the code worked, I ordered on time, and Cecile and Marie-Grace were on their way. And now I’m going to be like one of those twelve-year-olds on YouTube and chronicle the deboxing, because these are my first brand-spanking-new AG dolls in 19 years, and I’m going to enjoy this. :D

On Monday the 10th, this huge parcel was waiting for me at home:

Jen Levels Up - +2 to Restringing Skill!

Pickings have been mighty slim on the local Craigslist lately, but about a week ago, I saw a post advertising several AG dolls for $50 - including a #21. 21 has been on the wishlist for a while now, and it seems that retirement rumors keep popping up, so I went ahead and contacted the seller.

A Teaser.

I'm just gonna leave this here for a bit...



Disney Store Limited Edition Rapunzel: 0

Jen, PullipStyle.com, Monique Wigs, and some encouraging dollfriends: 1.

She's not quite finished - still needs a new body and some changes to her facepaint (altered eyebrows and freckles, mostly), but she's so pretty I just had to share a sneak peek. :D

Mood Whiplast, Part II

First, a big thanks to those who commented on my last post. It wasn't an easy post, for many reasons - I guess I've seen so many people who fake terrible tragedies to get Internet Attention, it seems weird to post about something real. There was always a part of me, wondering where the line is between "posting about this thing that happened" and "exploiting it for the drama", and whether I was crossing it.

Anyway. ANYWAY. This post is not about that. This post is for squee.

(Also, I do want to say that I haven't been avoiding Blogger; work is a wee bit crazy, and most nights I don't get far beyond "stare at the internet", let alone editing pictures and writing up commentary.)

In that last post, I mentioned that I got a new job. I've been there a little over two months now; it seems to be going well. At any rate, I'm being useful, my coworkers and supervisors are Good Sorts, and my monthly income has more than doubled.

(Considering that my job is pretty entry-level, you can infer how terribly I was paid at my last job. Did you guys know there's a magical thing called a...salary?)

I had sworn to myself, ages ago, that as soon as I found a better position, I would treat myself to a Brand New Doll. And I did. My very first collector-quality, bought-by-myself, never-owned-by-anyone-else doll.

Welcome, Sunny!

(Okay, been...a while since my last update! There's a bit to slog through, so I'm going to break this up into a few posts.)

First, as most of you know by know, AG discontinued the MyAG #4, with the unique "Asian" facemold, without any sort of warning. I was a bit sad, as #4 had been on my "someday" list, and now the only way I'd get one is if I lucked out on eBay or Craigslist.

Then I remembered seeing a #4 listed on my local CL the week before, along with several other dolls.

I figured the entire lot of dolls was long gone...but nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I emailed the seller. To my shock, she was still available, and I picked her up last Friday!

Meet Addy!

So yeah, I realized that I left my last post on a...well, not really a cliffhanger, this is a blog about dolls...but on a "to be continued" note.

So, on the last episode post of Dolls & Nachos, we beheld this missive:



And this was what lay inside the package:

Holy crap, lots of new stuff!

...Pretty much, what it says on the tin. New stuffapalooza up in here, woo!

First things first, AG>18 is having its annual Secret Snarkster gift exchange. The incomparable Bean J. Bunny sent the girls a boxload of cool swag - and I made a Very Lame Photostory out of the event. You can see it here at Picasa.

Meet Lucy!

...Hang on a tick, what's in this strange box?

An Introduction and Ramblings Down Memory Lane

Greetings, curious passerby! I'm Jen, and this is where I'll be blathering on about dolls, sewing and crafting for my doll(s), and other relevant things. I'll be mostly focusing on American Girl and other 18-inch dolls of that kind, because those are my favorites, but other dolls might crop up from time to time.

Yes, I'm aware that I'm 27 and like dolls and their stuff. Yes, I'm aware this makes me the nerdiest nerd who ever nerded down Nerd Street. Most of my formative years were spent lusting over every item in the Pleasant Company catalog, and it seems I haven't quite grown out of that. As a kid, I tried so hard, over and over, to save up the $82 a Felicity doll cost back then (and that seemed like a fortune to my 8-year-old self). I tried to content myself with the Felicity paper doll, or by dressing one of my Little Mermaid dolls in a long gown and pretending. Needless to say, when I finally did get my very own Felicity, I treated it like it was made of blown glass.

17 years later, I brought Felicity out of storage, and discovered that the childhood love of all things miniature was alive and well. And now, so I don't drive my family and friends crazy, I've created this place as a repository for my endless blather and squee.