#simply fresh

[smallerplaces]

Unboxing: Simply Fresh "Kylie"

Paying no attention to dolls from late 2018 to essentially now means that I missed a lot, including the most completely in-my-lane doll release that I've ever encountered: the Family Dollar exclusive "Simply Fresh" dolls.

I found this on FD's site and was kicking myself for not noticing until it was out of stock.

Simply Fresh was a bargain line for The Fresh Dolls, a Black-owned, woman-owned doll company that makes an articulated fashion doll range and the incredibly cool male Fresh Squad, which is priced for modest collectors (if I do any splurging this year, it's going to be on a Fresh Squad guy -- go look at them).

Doing a dollar-store line with natural hair options is brilliantly on-target for the goal of offering children fashion dolls who look like them and show that their looks can be beautiful. At the dollar-store level, when you see a Black doll at all (other than an occasional overstock Barbie), she always has straight hair because she's just a dark version of the Caucasian doll. There are plenty of towns around here where Family Dollar is the biggest and most exciting store, so this kind of toy gives options to kids who don't have much to choose from.

Anyway, I was poised between hope and despair on whether I'd be able to find a Simply Fresh, as they were sold out online, and my two usual Family Dollar stores had none. Then I went to the one downtown and... there was one Simply Fresh doll left. Which one?

Given a choice, I would have gone for one of the dolls with natural hair, but Kylie was the only Simply Fresh doll on the shelf. (And I've gone to multiple FDs since without finding more.) As an adult collector, if it's important to me to have a natural-haired doll, I have multiple options at many price points, so having all the available natural-haired dolls go to kids is... awesome, really.

I brought Kylie home because she's a neat idea and I like her face-up.

She has a face where I want to hear what she's about to say.

Kylie is heavy, and her plastic doesn't feel cheap. Her range of movement is limited -- unsurprising in a $5 doll.

Her corset can be either a top or lingerie. While I generally haven't liked the move to permanently painted bodices on fashion dolls, it's a legit cost-saving for a small company that doesn't have Mattel's economies of scale, and it's a really nice corset.

When I tried to dress her in Sparkle Girlz fashions -- which are a decade old now, yikes! -- I discovered that she's bigger in both booty and bosom than dolls of that era. She can wear a colorful loose Barbie coat, but I need to sew her a dress to go under it.

At this point, I was bothered by stiff glue flecks in her hair. I tried combing them out and just made Kylie look like she had dandruff.

The instructions for these dolls say not to brush or wash their hair, which is excellent advice in dealing with super-curly doll hair. If I had one of the other two gals, I would be going nowhere near the bathroom sink or the comb. However, Kylie has straight hair.

Reader, I boil-washed her. As you'll see in the rest of her dress-up pics, it did no harm at all. Her hair dried soft, straight, and realistically shiny.

Once her hair was dry, I thought maybe Curvy Barbie clothing might fit Kylie. It does, but the effect is so frumpy that when I tried to transfer the pic from phone to laptop, I got a CATASTROPHIC FAILURE message.

I'm not putting Kylie in that dress again. Mattel did Curvy Barbie dirty on fashions.

Kylie also can't hang out in just her undies, and whatever incredibly safe, obvious place I put her red skirt... well, I can't find it. She needs to wear something.

While I ultimately want to dress Kylie in a very elegant, Vogue-fashion way, I don't have space or energy to haul out the sewing machine right now. So I pulled out an old T-shirt that I hadn't gotten around to recycling and made her a no-sew circle skirt.

Kyle's expression suggests that she'd hoped for more at TJ Maxx, but she's decently covered for socializing with the rest of the crew.

Next to Emma (Family Dollar "Career Doll") and Ruby (Sparkle Girlz Mini from 2018), Kylie is clearly higher-quality: nicer plastic, more detailed and expressive face-up, less synthetic-looking hair. This was a great $5 doll and I wish the Simply Fresh project had a longer run.

That said, a look through my clothing bins revealed that Petite Barbie and Stacie each have way more clothing than I realized, so the doll who's first in line when I crack out the sewing machine should be Kylie. I'm excited about this -- she has a great figure for dressing and a great expression to carry off powerful and avant-garde clothing.

[artsymeeshee]

Second-guessing

[neon--nightmare]

quick headcanon: fresh (the parasite) does need to sleep! however, he’s really really bad at both taking care of himself and his host because he sees it as a waste of time (“Brah, whaddaya mean peeps are up ‘n supposed ta sleep TEN HOURS a night?! Ya could do SO many other things, you’re wastin’ half the dang day literally doin’ nothin’!! Nada!! Zilch!!”)

and a MASSIVE vulnerability (“Ya tellin’ me ya just LIE there for hours?! Eyes closed, floppin’ around like a ragdoll?! A snail could kill ya with ya guard down in da ground like that, broham! A SNAIL!!”)

plus, where’s the guarantee that his host would stay asleep the whole time he did? his host could wake up first while fresh was still out, and do who-knows-what! pull him out of the body, maybe, and squash him like a bug! so instead, he pushes both himself and his host to the brink of literally passing out from exhaustion, and then finds a cozy little spot to curl up and power-nap in until he wakes up, preferably before his host, and the cycle repeats. he doesn’t realize sleep-deprivation affects him because it’s his normal, and that to be fair probably isn’t helping his mental state. but it’s FINE brah he’s FINE stop askin’!!!

this also ties in to how he feeds his host (“Breakfast is the most important meal o’ da day, bro!! Can’t skip it!!”) cardboard (“C’mon, yo, it’s totes edible, no point in wastin’ it!”) with frosting + sprinkles (“gotta get a SWEET TREAT ta start da day right! Haven’t ya heard it’s good for the soul? <3”) with a raw egg (“PROTEIN, homeslice!!”) because well. outside of the endless soul-rending torture do NOT let this guy in charge of your body (love him forever tho <33)

(if he ever had the chance to live a peaceful life where he wasn’t forced to be on the run 24/7, he’d have to learn how to take care of himself for the first time and how it feels to actually be rested, how it feels to be able to take care of himself more than the bare minimum, how alien it must feel. how strange it must seem to be well-rested for the first time in your entire existence)

[moonchild-in-blue]

If you choose to look at Sleep as an allegory for depression/mental illness, the romantic and co-dependent nature of Vessel's lyrics hurt that much more.

"I hate you and you're bad for me" "I don't know who I am without you" "Please set me free" "Please don't leave me" "You're an intrinsic part of me" "I must become someone new".

Ya feel me?

[maybe-boys-do-love]

A Tale of a Thousand Stars answers the age-old question: What if Hallmark movies were good?

[nostalgicfun]

[strawberrystepmom]

in the tags - tell me what love tastes, smells, and feels like to you

[rhaenyratargeryn]

Replaying DAI and always shocked how I get to Skyhold and literally one convo in and Solas is hitting Lavellan with that sweet sweet Fade tongue.

All she had to do was follow him around and ask a MILLION questions while blatantly hinting she wants to tap it and he is shaking, vibrating with longing.

[chocolatepizzaaz]

could you perhaps draw more fresh? the last one you drew was soooo cute X]

YEP!! TYYY

I love how people liked the design I made, it really took me a long time to draw because of the creative block, but then I started making small doodles in my sketchbook and I gradually became comfortable making big drawings :]

Fresh by loverofpiggies

[theaceace]

Though Roderick and his followers didn't realise it at the time, the magic in the circle and the glass orb meant that the only people who could see Dream were the ones that were there when he was summoned, so as far as the guards are concerned they're guarding an empty glass sphere that a delusional old man thinks holds something. And then of course, Hob gets hired as a guard and it's dealer's choice if Dream has realised by then that no one but Burgess and his Order can see him.

But then because Hob is sort of aware that magic and esoteric things do exist, he sees Burgess (sr or jr) talking to the globe and is like, huh. Maybe there is something in there. But maybe it's a demon like the rumours say and I shouldn't let it out. But Hob starts talking to Dream anyway while the other guard takes longer and longer smoke breaks.

Whichever Burgess is around at the time realises that there must be something about this guard, because the next time he comes down to yell/bargain/threaten, Dream has moved. He's hidden his face, there are handprints against the glass, and the dreamlord's shoulders are shaking.

It doesn't take him long to figure out the pattern - that this only happens around Robert, for whatever reason, and the man himself has no notion of what's in the circle - and eventually he sends the guards out so that he can tell Dream exactly what he'll do to this Robert if Dream doesn't comply. That he may not understand what it is about this one man that compels one of the Endless so, when he has been so unaffected by everything else but the death of his familiar, but that doesn't matter. He will find out, and he will leverage it, however he needs to.

He turns and leaves, and basically I want Hob to wander back in none the wiser and settle into his chair and his usual routine of talking all moony eyed about his stranger, while Dream is roaring his fear and fury and beating his fists bloody against the glass

[streetlightgoblin]

Well

After a series of misreading sand madness (thank you @wr-n)

I have created this abomination

He’s horrible and I hate him /aff

Kissing his terrible little head

[androdragynous]

there are so few soft not-sweet snacks in the world that also aren't cheese. my teeth are suffering but I Love Salt

[just-blahh]

Oh Richard Grayson your comedic timing never fails

[elavoria]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @theoneandonlysemla, @sylvienerevarine, and @sheirukitriesfandom over the last weeks, thank you! I tag you all back and also @dirty-bosmer, @nostalgic-breton-girl, @1helios1, and @illumiera. : )

More Pathfinder, but this time from a tabletop Wrath of the Righteous campaign spouse and I are putting together just for ourselves [and our numerous characters] on the side of the Shattered Star campaign. Here’s Pathfinder!Amaryllia during her first meeting with her new ancient evil lich bestie—and yes Isanna is here too; this iteration of her already went through the entirety of Shattered Star:

Amaryllia took his hand in both of hers and ran her thumbs across the blood-red tattoo, taking care to touch him only gently so as not to accidentally damage his paper-thin skin, taking care not to look too surprised by his hand’s unnatural pallor and lack of warmth. The powerful pulse of life that ran through her and imbued her with a radiantly healthy glow made the latter particularly—unfairly, she thought briefly—evident when their hands were joined, but it was easy enough to disguise her alarm as wonder, for the wickedly pointed marking that adorned his hand, robes, and staff intrigued her. “What is this symbol?” she asked, lifting her eyes to meet his only to become distracted again by the ioun stones circling his head. “Why, it’s the rune of wrath,” he answered, as surprised by the question as she was by the reality of his undeath. “Only fitting for a runelord of the same, don’t you think?” “It meant kindness, once,” Isanna said stiffly. Amaryllia spared her a glance, only to frown slightly at the distaste evident in the inquisitor’s glare. “Is that true?” she asked as she turned her attention back to the lich. “Yes,” he said, though not without hesitation. “Once.” “Then it can mean that again,” she suggested eagerly. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled into his, and he offered her a small, weary smile in return. “‘Once’, my dear,” Alderpash said with a gentle, almost begrudging fondness, “was a very, very long time ago.”

[ilykirara]

In light of Lunar New Year, I hc that Liu Kang does the most BEAUTIFUL dragon/lion dance (MK11 ver. definitely paired up with MK11 ver. Kung Lao whenever it was Lunar New Year)

MK1 ver definitely makes his fire dragons do the dance in the air at night <<3

If have time I definitely wanna draw Liu Kang with his dragons (but like... my schedule is so bad rn so if anyone does it TAG MEEE!!) / Raiden, Kung Lao, Cage, Takahashi, and Liu Kang doing the dragon dance PLEASE

[sexynetra]

SIX SENTENCE SUNDAY

All I’ve been doing these past few weeks is homework, choir, watching drph with friends, and working on my Mintysex fic <3

~~~~~~

“Min,” Marina’s voice was softer now, almost pleading. Minty dared to glance back at her. “Can you quit this stupid emotionless act? I know you. I know you aren’t like this.”

“I’m exactly like this.” Minty flipped her hair over her shoulder, keeping her face as neutral as she could manage.

Marina shook her head. “No. That’s not the Minty I fell in love with.”

Minty felt like she had been slapped. “No,” she started slowly. “But it is the Minty you broke up with.”