#kid kore katie

[smallerplaces]

Journey to boy doll, bald edition

This morning, as a break from trying to figure out the right hotel for our Las Vegas trip, I pulled off my excess Kid Kore Katie's head, got myself a pair of tweezers, and yanked out the excess hair tufts.

The way the rooting holes along the hairline are starting to merge explains why brushing this doll's hair always pulled out tufts.

I found Ben some more-or-less fitting clothing that doesn't scream Princess. Ordinarily, I'd be in favor of boys enjoying princess-y things, but Ben's been forced to present as a girl for 30 years. He is enjoying a good wallow in stereotypical boyness. In a few years, he may feel renewed enthusiasm for a flowered shirt, but that's for Future!Ben to deal with.

[dollsonmain]

I had a feeling the Kelsey ♥ Kelsey half-bike went with the Kid Kore doll and it does. The doll is Katie and her older sister (the Barbie analog) is Kelsey.

I think I’ll work on Katie a bit. Her hair is pretty bad.

Other than Tuptim, I haven’t washed any of those dolls or things.

If anyone wants or needs any of those furniture bits let me know. They’re getting redonated otherwise.

[thelivesofourdolls]

Katie doll by Kid Kore

[starry-wolf]

Chapters: 26/26 Fandom: Voltron: Legendary Defender Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron) Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), OC - Character Additional Tags: Accidental Baby Acquisition, But not very accidental, An alien planet is destroyed, Voltron Raises an Alien Baby, Kid Fic, Kid!Fic, Adoption, Adopted Children, Adopted Alien, Keith and Shiro brother relationship, Big brother Shiro, Parents, Semi-Slow Burn, One-Sided Crush, becomes two sided crush, Baby Alien, Female Alien - Freeform, Galra Keith, Galra!Keith, Gay Keith, Questioning Lance, Turns to Bi Lance, bi lance Summary:

"Her name is Kore."

"Keith..."

"Let her know that she was loved and please love her in my stead..."

"Keith!"

"I will." With that the woman slumped, the last of her energy leaving her in a final huff. Keith tightened his hold on the child and ran back to the lion. He got the two out of there in just the nick of time.

~

Keith, going against direct orders, flies Red into a burning planet to save the last surviving alien on the planet and now Voltron must raise said survivor.

[ao3feed-klance]

Love Her for Me

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2qxuETx

by Lady_of_the_Lake97

"Her name is Kore."

"Keith..."

"Let her know that she was loved and please love her in my stead..."

"Keith!"

"I will." With that the woman slumped, the last of her energy leaving her in a final huff. Keith tightened his hold on the child and ran back to the lion. He got the two out of there in just the nick of time.

~

Keith, going against direct orders, flies Red into a burning planet to save the last surviving alien on the planet and now Voltron must raise said survivor.

Words: 1139, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), OC - Character

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Accidental Baby Acquisition, But not very accidental, An alien planet is destroyed, Voltron Raises an Alien Baby, Kid Fic, Kid!Fic, Adoption, Adopted Children, Adopted Alien, Keith and Shiro brother relationship, Big brother Shiro, Parents, Semi-Slow Burn, One-Sided Crush, becomes two sided crush, Baby Alien, Female Alien - Freeform, Galra Keith, Galra!Keith

read it on AO3 at http://ift.tt/2qxuETx

[ao3feed-safeklance]

Love Her for Me

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2qxuETx

by Lady_of_the_Lake97

“Her name is Kore.”

“Keith…”

“Let her know that she was loved and please love her in my stead…”

“Keith!”

“I will.” With that the woman slumped, the last of her energy leaving her in a final huff. Keith tightened his hold on the child and ran back to the lion. He got the two out of there in just the nick of time.

~

Keith, going against direct orders, flies Red into a burning planet to save the last surviving alien on the planet and now Voltron must raise said survivor.

Words: 1139, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), OC - Character

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Accidental Baby Acquisition, But not very accidental, An alien planet is destroyed, Voltron Raises an Alien Baby, Kid Fic, Kid!Fic, Adoption, Adopted Children, Adopted Alien, Keith and Shiro brother relationship, Big brother Shiro, Parents, Semi-Slow Burn, One-Sided Crush, becomes two sided crush, Baby Alien, Female Alien - Freeform, Galra Keith, Galra!Keith

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2qxuETx

[ao3feed-galrakeith]

Love Her for Me

by Lady_of_the_Lake97

"Her name is Kore."

"Keith..."

"Let her know that she was loved and please love her in my stead..."

"Keith!"

"I will." With that the woman slumped, the last of her energy leaving her in a final huff. Keith tightened his hold on the child and ran back to the lion. He got the two out of there in just the nick of time.

~

Keith, going against direct orders, flies Red into a burning planet to save the last surviving alien on the planet and now Voltron must raise said survivor.

Words: 1139, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), OC - Character

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Accidental Baby Acquisition, But not very accidental, An alien planet is destroyed, Voltron Raises an Alien Baby, Kid Fic, Kid!Fic, Adoption, Adopted Children, Adopted Alien, Keith and Shiro brother relationship, Big brother Shiro, Parents, Semi-Slow Burn, One-Sided Crush, becomes two sided crush, Baby Alien, Female Alien - Freeform, Galra Keith, Galra!Keith

from AO3 works tagged 'Voltron: Legendary Defender' http://ift.tt/2qxuETx via IFTTT

[ao3feed-voltronlegendarydefender]

Love Her for Me

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2qxuETx

by Lady_of_the_Lake97

"Her name is Kore."

"Keith..."

"Let her know that she was loved and please love her in my stead..."

"Keith!"

"I will." With that the woman slumped, the last of her energy leaving her in a final huff. Keith tightened his hold on the child and ran back to the lion. He got the two out of there in just the nick of time.

~

Keith, going against direct orders, flies Red into a burning planet to save the last surviving alien on the planet and now Voltron must raise said survivor.

Words: 1139, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Voltron: Legendary Defender

Rating: General Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: M/M

Characters: Keith (Voltron), Lance (Voltron), Shiro (Voltron), Allura (Voltron), Coran (Voltron), Pidge | Katie Holt, Pidge (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron), OC - Character

Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron), Keith & Lance (Voltron)

Additional Tags: Accidental Baby Acquisition, But not very accidental, An alien planet is destroyed, Voltron Raises an Alien Baby, Kid Fic, Kid!Fic, Adoption, Adopted Children, Adopted Alien, Keith and Shiro brother relationship, Big brother Shiro, Parents, Semi-Slow Burn, One-Sided Crush, becomes two sided crush, Baby Alien, Female Alien - Freeform, Galra Keith, Galra!Keith

read it on the AO3 at http://ift.tt/2qxuETx

[smallerplaces]

What child is this?

Existing Native American Katie is to the left, New Girl is to the right.

New Girl seems to have a subtly different face-up on the same head mold, as well as much longer hair. I'm leaning toward keeping her, even though she's a second Dancing Brook.

So who should she be?

Native American but of a different tribe than OG Dancing Brook "Brooke," so I can make them different folklorico outfits when I finally get to that project for all the 6-8" girls. (Nobody's singled out as "ethnic" if everybody participates.)

Latina so Teresa can have a younger sister.

Assyrian because that's part of my heritage and nobody ever makes Assyrian fashion dolls.

East Indian because that's also an under-represented doll heritage, and Bollywood would love that flowing hair.

[smallerplaces]

Struck by the enthusiasm of the moment, I used nail polish remover to remove most of the brown-haired Katie's lip color and did a preliminary hack-off of her snarled and frazzled locks.

This specific doll is cuter as a little boy.

I tried the smallest of my extra wigs from wigging Cinderelsa, and while it fit, it gave me a little girl with chin-length hair, which is not the vision for this doll. This is a little boy.

So I went looking for flocking.

Good grief.

Flocking apparently had a moment circa 2017, the exact moment when I needed no flocking at all. That moment is long past.

After considerable gnashing of teeth about how it should not be this difficult to buy a small vial of auburn flocking, my fourth visit to Restore Dolls' site turned up Titian color, and I decided to spring for shipping, which is much cheaper than I'd braced myself for. It's more flocking than I need, but it opens the possibility of extending Kelsey's family with thrift finds who get fresh titian buzz cuts.

While enjoying the new Quiet Hour at Walmart and failing to find flocking, I picked up plain colored fat quarters appropriate for pants and some solid-colored baby socks for sweaters for smaller dolls.

Planning to dress a boy Katie made appallingly clear how much of sewing is built around ideals of frilly girlishness. Ordinarily, I'd be on the train of "boys can like florals too!" But after presenting as a girl for 30 years, Kyle is eager to wallow in stereotypical boy things. As compensation for likely giving him a pretty boring first outfit, I picked up a set of earth-moving vehicles for him at Dollar Tree.

[smallerplaces]

Kid Kore Katie joins the fam

Stacie, Whitney, and Hilary have a new friend: Katie, who is a mid-1990s Kid Kore "Dancing Brook."

in thinking about my small community of dolls, I'd been pondering who isn't represented. A glaring omission is Native Americans. So I went looking for indigenous girls among vintage clone dolls, and in a weird clonish way, I hit pay dirt.

We need to backtrack a second, to Maureen Trudelle Schwarz' "Native American Barbie: The Marketing of Euro-American Desires." Schwarz looks only at Barbies -- and, oddly, doesn't address Mattel's Pocahontas dolls, even though Pocahontas was likely at the heart of the 1990s craze for Native American dolls -- but this narrowness of focus doesn't change the validity of her point. She argues that Native American fashion dolls have been consistently marketed as "other," "historic," and spiritually tied to the earth, in a manner that has no equivalent for white fashion dolls (or even Black ones).

Hooboy is she right about that for Kid Kore's many, many Native American dolls, as well as Totsy's smaller assortment. Kid Kore's are part of the Heartland series, complete with actually labeling dolls as "Indian Princess." Totsy's are packaged as Heroes of Yesteryear. Everyone is in a movie-western version of "traditional" garments. Nobody except the men have any attempt at a head mold that isn't also used on the white dolls. And yes, the boxes have friendly information about historic close-to-the-earth practices.

"Dancing Brook" is a Kid Kore Katie, the 7" younger sister of flagship doll Kelsey. She is also cute as all get-out, and I'm less concerned about head molds on a character that's a mid-sized little girl. I bookmarked a bunch on eBay and bought the one whose seller offered me the best deal.

She arrived in her "traditional" costume, in really great shape. I don't think she'd ever been undressed.

The first step is, of course, to get her out of that costume, since she's here to be a little girl among other little girls. In the long haul, all of the 6-9" little girls are going to belong to a children's performing arts group that requires them to have traditional dance dresses, but this requires getting out the sewing machine, which means getting some eBay listings done first. Point is, Katie will be defined by her "traditional costume" exactly as much as Stacie, Whitney, and Hilary.

Speaking of which, here's Katie showing that she's a little shorter than Whitney (Stacie) and about an inch taller than Creata Hilary. She's also reminding me that I'll need to sew casual outfits for the whole gang, as the clothes I think are Stacie clothes mostly fit Kelly, Skipper, and hypothetical other dolls that may not exist.

Let's see what's under the clothing.

Katie has a pretty simple body, but because she's Kid Kore, she has a secret.

It's not in how she does splits.

It's not in how she sits much more gracefully than Hilary.

No, it's in how Kid Kore handled articulation. Those legs are bendy!

It's unsettling, but allows for a range of motion.

Her face is adorable! I might want to do a little washing on her hair, but it's in great shape for a doll that's almost 30 years old. Unlike Hilary, she has kept her eyebrows.

She's looking forward to hanging out with her new friends... oh wait... her name!

Well, I'm not going to call her Dancing Brook. That's an obvious "white person romanticizing" name. I haven't decided what tribe she belongs to (which is going to be important in making her a more accurate festival dress). The major candidates are Northern Yokuts, Miwok, or Tohono O'odham [the first two for where I live now, the third for my 10 years in Arizona]. For naming, though, it doesn't really matter because west coast natives usually don't disclose their native names to white folk, for reasons that should be pretty obvious. So I'd only know her Anglo name, and... she's a Kid Kore Katie. As the first Katie in my little doll community, she gets the name.

[smallerplaces]

2023 in Review 3: the Katie Krew

The Katie Krew did not start out to be a krew.

When I first started thinking about getting back into dolls, I happened on a discussion of Creata's "clones" from the 1980s. Like a lot of fashion doll lines of the late 20th century, it's unclear how much the dolls were actual clones and how much they were simply fashion dolls doing their own thing. The rock 'n' roll Creata line, for instance, was probably a clone for Hasbro's Jem & the Holograms. But the Creata Flower Fairies? Much less clear.

Really unclear on its clone origins is the 6-1/4" doll at front left, with dark curled hair, wearing her karate practice outfit over a red striped top. That's Creata's "Today's Girls" Hillary. "Today's Girls" debuted several years before Stacie was a twinkle in Mattel's eye, but long after Todd and Tutti. There's really no Mattel niche that these dolls match! They were definitely also used as little sisters for the Flower Fairies, but mine was sold as a little equestrian (foreshadowing Kid Kore's horse riders).

My first Kid Kore Katie happened because I was researching Native American clone dolls (there were a lot in the 1990s). I bookmarked on eBay a cute and cheap brown-skinned doll with dark braids -- the doll now sitting in the front row wearing checked shorts and a blue and pink jersey, waiting for her hair to be rebraided. That's a Dancing Brook, the "little sister" of the Heartland families. She is now officially called Brooke.

Then it was a no-brainer to get a Rosa Lee, the Romani Katie. She's the curly haired brown girl behind Hillary, wearing a flowered dress.

The golden-blonde Katie, now named Isabelle, came as a lot with my Black(ish) 2002 Jodi, along with the brunette Katie that was shorn and flocked in titian to become Ben. Isabelle is at middle right, wearing an aqua gingham cowgirl outfit with gold trim. Ben is perched above her in khakis and a red and aqua sweater. (Katie originally had a brown-haired dude pal (Todd clone) named Kyle, who was also dressed in western wear as Pistol Pete. Kyle is hard to find, and it was more fun to make my own younger brother for my redheaded Kelsey.

Bette Mae, the brown gal with lots of straight black hair, wearing the pink striped shirt at middle left, is my second Dancing Brook. She's named for one of the leaders of the Seminoles in Florida, as I decided to have the two Dancing Brooks come from different tribes. She arrived with a large lot of vintage Katie clothes, which is why everyone here except Hillary has shoes!

Katies are absolutely, positively a direct competitor with Mattel's Stacie. They appear in a sister pack in 1992. However, Katie has a slightly younger sister, Carla, who was being sold as "Girls Club" before Stacie launched. Carla had a Katie head mold on what sure looks in photos like a Creata 6.25" body like Hillary.

The Katie Krew proved so compelling that I got rid of my 1990s Stacie and Whitney dolls, who'd once been major thrift finds (but Stacie had worn the same outfit for 10 years, so my enthusiasm wasn't as high as I thought). I'm still a little on the fence about Bette Mae, but every time I put her next to Brooke, I notice subtle differences in their face-up and decide she's uniquely adorable.

[smallerplaces]

Katie's Kloset arrives!

Suddenly, my order of vintage Katie clothes and shoes jumped from its orbit of Sacramento to the actual post office for my zip code, got sent out for delivery, and arrived!

Alas, she's not as Black as she looked in the listings: while her hair is wild and frayed, it was originally braided, so she's another Dancing Brook. I may keep her anyway. While I'm ordinarily not ready to own duplicates, Katies are so damn cute!

The point of the order was to get shoes, and shoes I got! I now have several pairs of pumps in different colors, pink sneakers, and (the real prize) white sneakers for Ben!

Everyone got dressed, though New Girl will soon have to be undressed to get her hair done. (I'm going to skip alt text and tell you below the pic what's in it.)

Starting from top left, Rosa Lee got a space-alien-themed pinafore dress in vibrant neon colors. Her shoes aren't visible, but they're purple. Isabelle, with her blonde curls, is modeling the Heartland Western cowgirl outfit in teal check with gold fringe. Brooke, my original Dancing Brook, found herself black checkered shorts and an aqua-and-magenta T-shirt with a skateboarder pattern. Her shoes are matching hot pink. I swear, I had so many summer clothes in the color scheme of her shirt, back in 1988. Ocean Pacific went to town for aqua and pink.

In the front row, my new Dancing Brook changed into a pink long-sleeved top with a white cat on it (which may be Piper's, judging by the fit) and a ruffled blue-and-white print skirt with hot pink trim. She is wearing hot pink ballet flats. Ben, my trans!Katie ("Katie" is not his deadname but his species) scored white tennis shoes and a long-sleeved sweater in red with aqua and yellow trim. It clashes with his hair, but it's the first garment he's had that was 100% his, not a compromise or leftover. So he's thrilled.

I need to do a full sort, as some of the pants are a little small and might do better for Creata Hillary or for Arvin Lebec, and a few items are too large and might do better for Totsy Teen Fun Lacey.

SHOES!!! Also, clothes to use as a pattern so I'm not guessing at every little thing!

[smallerplaces]

A tribute to articulated 1990s Stacie

This articulated Stacie from the 1990s was a thrift store find around Christmas 2014, when my parents and I went on a tour of all major thrift stores in East Bay, and it was epic. I'd been wanting an articulated Stacie at that time, and it was Dad who found her. I sewed her dress for Easter 2015.

While I think I found a Whitney of my own later, this one is from Mom's collection because she was in better shape.

Kelly is also from Mom's collection. Kelly was going to leave us, but then I started getting more into 4" dolls and decided that one Kelly was not excessive.

While Stacie has worn the same dress for 8 years, my krowd of Kid Kore Katies is growing at ridiculous rates.

Here are the articulated gals with the first of the Katies, the Katie that was the camel's nose under the tent. I'm up to four Katies and honestly a lot more excited about 1990s clones these days. If I move on from Stacies, I'd have an opening for a redheaded Katie to go with redheaded Kelsey, as well as for a Creata Today's Girl adolescent.

[smallerplaces]

Katies soaking their heads

Two extra Katies are getting a 10-hour fabric softener treatment on their poor 1990s frizzy hair. Both originally came with impressive curls that were too matted to preserve, so I guess I have to look up how to set curls in doll hair. Is it straws or pipe cleaners these days?

While it can be argued, with some fairness, that I did not need two more Katies, they were a lot with the much rarer 2002 Black Jodi (now called Neveah). I have some self-restraint, as I resisted an identical pair at the thrift shop where I bought red-headed Kelsey.

Meanwhile, the white whale of Kid Kore Carla looms. There exist Sisters gift packs that include Kelsey, Piper, Katie, and a mysterious Carla, who is too tall to be Jodi but who has a different face-up than Katie.

It turns out that Kid Kore had a line of 6" Girls Club dolls, uncannily similar to Creata's Today's Girls line. Carla is the 6" model, though as Girls Club she has various character names, just as the Today's Girls little sisters did.

I haven't cracked and bought one yet.

[smallerplaces]

Zoe, Varsity Captain

I found where I put her!

I keep my smaller dollhouses and all my fashion dolls in a pair of big white cabinets with doors. Turns out that I had shoved Zoe's box in sideways next to a dollhouse painted the same blue as the box edge, in a space where I thought only a miniature taco truck fit. So here she is!

Zoe is a find from Five Below a couple months ago. At the time, she came in this blonde version and in an Black version. The faces were the same, and I impulsively went for the doll who looked like I did as a child, though I was never that athletic. Her brand is Brooklyn Lollipop, which is a real brand with its own web site (as opposed to the kind of white label brand that exists only to slap a name on a box). Alas, Zoe is not currently on their site, only Sophie (an ordinary Barbie clone) and Sophie Sixteen (who is not a teenager, but an Evi Love clone with one Chelsea-sized girl).

For a minute or two, I was worried the locker didn't open. I actively want the locker as storage! However, some pushing and prying did the trick.

Here she is! Zoe is a skinny girl with a large head, and overall pretty cute.

At some point, I thought she might be the same size as Kid Kore Katie. Obviously, I was very wrong about that. Kid Kore Katie is about 8 inches tall (classic Skipper). Kid Kore Jodi is about 5 inches tall (slightly larger than classic Kelly). Zoe is in between. So while "varsity" implies high school sports, she would seem to be about seven years old.

I bought Zoe for her extensive articulation! She has knees, elbows, and wrists -- that's all unusual in her small size. She cannot touch her (flattish, very Sparkle Girlz) face, but she can post a lot. Oddly, she does not have molded underwear. I grew up in an era when dolls didn't, so I don't care.

Zoe's tiny clothes are pretty good. The sweater and jeans are constructed as a single piece, which gave me an idea. Can Zoe wear the Four Friends clothing from Dollar Tree that I use for Evi Love and other taller, sturdier toddlers?

She totally can! Even the shoes are a perfect fit.

In fact, the dresses that look wrong on Evi Love because they're too long for a toddler fit Zoe perfectly!

Zoe is definitely a different species from Arvin Lebec, my Mego Lion Rock war hero.

Then as I was fiddling with photos, I realized that (a) I'd probably bought her to fill the Chelsea "larger than a Kelly" niche and (b) that would make her a peer of Creata Today's Girl Hilary.

Or... not. No, I have somehow managed to acquire a uniquely sized doll with a large head, which is high on the list of "things I will not do," but darn, look at that articulation!

Here she is with a crowd of variously sized young girls, including Emma Dreams, the "looks like me as a kid" pick from the demise of 99 Cents Only.