#since mattel also doing the same

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Need to seriously know why Across The Spider Verse art book is taking so long to get to other countries.

[coconutcows]

Oh my god it’s been almost three weeks and Midnight Runway Frankie is *still* available for pre order so either Mattel has expanded the amount of time/dolls available or nobody really wants that doll

[gryficowa]

Remember, we are boycotting Disney and the Olympics

As I see, GF ships are coming back… In 2024, bruh

Marble Hornets? Jeez, I haven't heard that name in years, and I haven't even watched the series (Or that type, because it was more of an ARG before the term ARG)

Well, thanks to them, Slenderman was who he was (Tia… And then this situation with 12-year-olds and this movie from 2018)

Now that I have your attention:

Unfortunately, the biggest problem with sharing links to collections or fundraising posts is that you don't know whether they will be shared or not, which means that the collections don't reach people who could help, which sucks :/

It doesn't help that Tumblr has shadowbanned the Palestine/Gaza tags, which means they don't show up in trends (Although they're in purple, so they're there, but they don't show up, but what can you expect from a site run by Zionists?)

If it was possible to predict whether a post with collections would be shared, it would be a miracle, but unfortunately it is not and it sucks :/

By the way, fuck Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga because they are silent about Gaza

And yes, I know that by sharing links to my fundraising posts and doing the same thing every new post, a chain is being created, but yes, there are also collections from Congo and Sudan (However, there are a lot of collections, and this is the only way to reach people)

There will probably be a lot of tags under this post, because when I talk about many topics in one post, there are usually many tags (Which has its pros and cons, but unfortunately, as I mentioned, otherwise the collections come to a halt)

List of corporations that support Israel:

Disney

Nestle

Microsoft

Intel

Google

Puma

Nike

Amazon

Axa

Booking.com

Burger King

McDonald

KFC

Kinder (It's not written down, but I found the information)

Zott

Coca-cola/Monster

Snicers/Sky milk

Lion

Oreo

Pizza Hut

Papa John's

Starbucks

Volvo

Wendy

Domino's pizza

Tic tac

Pepsi

Lipton

Dove

Nestcafe

Danone (Actimel)

Doritos

Leys

Fanta

MIrinda

Lego

Walls's

Carrefour

Ariel

Orakl-B

Nokia

Xiaomi

Marvel/Fox/Pixar (Disney)

Mattel

Hewlett Pacaro (HP)

Motorola

National Geographic

Tide

There is more, but finding all the companies is a nightmare, so I gave as much as I could

By the way, boycott "Stranger Things" because it is a series created mainly by Zionists, many actors and the scriptwriter revealed their support for Israel

Fuck Rowling too because she liked a Zionist tweet and showed neutrality towards genocide (And the creator of Winx often supports what she says, so yes, we have a chain)

[uncleclam]

Ken x gn!reader / he wants to marry you so bad

Word count: 728

Rating: sfw

This stupid doll…

CAN'T STOP PROPOSING

Whatever is going on in his tiny little plastic brain, you never expect THIS to happen. He must have been watching way too much Netflix, you know cause when you check the watch history, he basically clicked all romance drama possible, ALL. This is concerning, a drop of sweat formed on your forehead as you see he also watched all princess movies on Disney plus, too. Is this why he keeps bringing that up? That he believed in ‘happily ever after’? Because that sounds like something ‘the Mattel dictionary’ totally would have.

It wasn’t you’re not ready, well, a part of you is definitely not ready, or something anti-marriage of you, because you have definitely thought about it, dreamed of it even, but the reality of having a lifelong commitment is something chased you away—-

Not in a bad way, but definitely not in KEN’s way.

Ken is your cute, clumsy, curious, sometimes annoying roommate. He is still learning about the real world, everything is new to him and he’s so eager to try all of them. You tried to provide the best for him, he’s your favorite doll after all, he has been there with you since you can remember(In a toy form, naked)! You treat him almost like a pet now, you love him of course! Just not in that way…

I want to live with you forever! I want to be your forever partner!

His voice echoes in your brain, it was so innocent and charming actually, his big blue eyes were like shining diamonds, begging you the same way he begged for an ice-cream, you almost said yes out of instinct. Time felt frozen to you, your eyes widened, lungs stopped working. Ken blinked and waited for your response.

‘What did you just say, Ken?’ You asked, wanting to reconfirm.

‘I want to marry you!’

‘Uhh…’ You paused, looking away slightly.

‘Can i?’ He sounded so enthusiastic, like always.

‘I'm afraid we cannot…’ You finally gathered the sentence and spoke it out, sighed, and petted Ken’s hand that had been on your shoulder.

‘Is it something expensive again? Like a double decker bus or a horse?’ Ken tilted his head, he was genuinely asking. He had asked you so many prices on different stuff, especially the stuff he wanted.

‘Not exactly, but-‘ you shuttered.

‘Then why can’t we get married?’ He asked again.

‘Because it needs promises, and promises are not easy.’ You explained, felt like describing the concept of algebra to a toddler. Ken actually paused and started thinking for a while.

———

For the first few days, he seemed upset and confused after you rejected him. The concept of marriage he googled is simply not that easy, you tried to explain to him but he didn’t say anything. You heard him sobbing on the sofa that night. After a week, he’s back to normal classic Ken again, but whenever he opens his mouth, it’s about marrying you.

‘What do you want for lunch?’

‘A wedding dress on you!’

Or

‘Ken, will you pass me the sugar?’

‘I, Ken, take you to be my forever lover, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish; from this day forward until death do us part.’

A dramatic pause

‘I do.’ He vowed as he passed the sugar.

———

This has been 3 weeks now, about the marrying you thing, and he has no signs of giving that up. You wished you were a barbie so you wouldn’t have to care so much—- He even bought two of those Ring Pop where you can suck the candy while it stays on your finger. The candy itself is comically big. A red, cherry flavored for you, and a green, lime flavored for himself. He jogged his way to you, gently held your right hand up and pushed the ring down to the base of your third finger.

‘This doesn’t mean we are officially married—‘

‘I know.’ He looked up and smiled, putting on his own ring and licked on the sweetened crystal. Then He jogged away to look at other stuff while humming the wedding theme song.

He hasn’t taken off the finished plastic ring ever since, and so do you too.

[beemovieerotica]

About your tags on that class post, I was just curious to know where you'd say the line between upper middle class and upper class goes?

I guess 500k isn't all that far from upper middle class the way I see it, like.. it's rich, but not like... "rich rich" you know? Like normal person rich if that makes sense. But I realize I might just be super blind to this stuff, so I'm just looking for some perspective I guess (I realize it might also be dependent on what country you live in, most stuff is expensive where I'm from)

i think the issue is that wealth disparity is so fucking massive that, yes there's always going to be someone so obscenely rich in the room that by comparison, everyone else feels like they have nothing. that's why the family making 500k a year truly believes that they're middle class, because if the fucking CEO of Mattel rolls up to the PTA luncheon then yeah you're second-guessing your entire life.

my family was making around 150k in the san francisco bay area which was beans compared to the average income there - kids who were heirs to insane fortunes went to my high school, but you know what? we were still at the same school. we were sitting at the same table. we were all upper class by virtue of being able to afford to live in that area and attend those schools. like we could get into the weeds of "that family can afford a tesla" versus "that family can't" but the fact that it's even a point of consideration or an option speaks volumes!!

and at the end of the day, it does not matter, i still reaped the privileges of going to those schools which let me springboard into better colleges, better programs - i had family friends and school parents offering me jobs at insanely competitive biotech companies just because i was there and they liked my parents. i think what i'm getting at is it's less about some kind of strict income cut-off value, and it has so much more to do with all the privileges that come with inhabiting those spaces since birth.

but real talk 500k is absolutely upper class and nowhere near the border.

[birindale]

Hi I just wanted to double check something I am pretty sure I read on this blog. Is the origin of C'yra of D'riluth iii from the original cannon or was it a later addition? Also what does "of D'riluth iii" actually mean? I remember there being some vagueness to what it means

Okay there's a long version and a short version of this story.

Short version: It was a later addition. In 2008 Mattel launched a toy line called Masters of the Universe Classics, which could only be ordered through their website and was aimed at the collector market. One of the things they did was include "character bios" in a sort of homage to the G.I. Joe toys of the 80s, which featured 'personnel files' that gave specializations and a brief character history, including their real names (e.g. Duke was actually named Conrad S. Hauser).

Catra's figure was released in 2011 for about $65 USD. Her bio (which I've lifted from a Poe Ghostal review) is as follows:

We (I, and my friends whom I've pestered for opinions) are pretty sure D'Riluth III is the name of her planet, even though another planet in the same solar system (from the New Adventures of He-Man in the 90s) has the Arabic numeral 7, so including Roman numerals is a strange choice.

Long version: There was a fellow working for Mattel at the time named Scott "Toyguru" Neitlich, and he was (and remains to this day) exceptionally bad at things like 'writing' and 'creativity'. He was never very interested in She-Ra, though he loves to tell the story of stealing his sister's doll one year, so to him Catra is simply an agent of the Horde... which, in order to adhere to the 2002-2003 tv show, was now 5,000 years old. This bio directly contradicts the Filmation canon of Catra's mask having belonged to the Magicat queen, for instance, and introduces a number of confusing details.

One of the least popular was Adora being Hordak's "step-daughter" instead of his "adopted daughter", which was already kind of a gray area since he didn't exactly raise her. Scott digging in his heels on the matter was actually how I learned he'd written the thing in the first place:

Now you may be wondering, jeez, it's pretty confusing and the writing isn't great but aren't you being kind of harsh? Surely the push-back from the He-Fans was bad enough. Well give me a minute, dang. This is the long version!

I reached out to him about a year and half ago to ask 1. How it's pronounced, 2. If he could confirm that D'Riluth III is the planet, and 3. If he remembered how he came up with it. He told me the following:

Some backstory here--Scott runs a bit of a one-man content farm, in an effort to avoid paying hosting fees for advertisements or actually engaging in SEO. He is a marketing consultant.

He used to upload a 5-10 minute video every day, but shortly after I contacted him that dropped to only five a week, and his weekly "Director's Commentary" videos about MOTUC figures that he worked on (largely just explaining who the character even is in an unedited stream of consciousness, as his videos became slideshows of google images) moved to bi-weekly.

I was like, okay, he left Mattel in 2014 right? So surely once he's through that year he'll get to this new series.

Nope! He's doing 2015 too! So I reached out again in January, just to like. See if he was still intending to cover the 'real names', which imo should have been part of his commentary to begin with, but...

He had forgotten <3 I explained no, I was asking about these specific questions that I had outlined in my first email (I had replied to his last message in the chain for simplicity's sake), and he just said he'd be doing it soon. So I was like oh, cool, do you know if you'll be doing one a week still? since that would put a Catra video about 4 years out as he does them in release order, and he then promised he'd get to it soon and didn't answer the question.

Annoying, certainly, but whatever. Unless one of us dies horribly I can wait it out, right?

WRONG.

Scott, being an idiot, has not credited a single one of the images he lifted from google over his four years of mostly-daily slideshows. And recently, somebody fucking noticed!

So this guy--Ethan Wilson, a very talented toy photographer and reviewer--was informed that Scott (in his capacity as Spector Creative, the name of his YouTube channel/consulting business) had been using his pictures in videos. Actually, let me use Ethan's own words here:

I decided to dig a little deeper into Spector’s channel, and found 81 instances of my photos being used in 68 of the channels videos.  None of these featured credit to me for use of the photos, and 48 of the 81 instances removed or obstructed my watermarks.

-About This Spector Creative Thing

I very strongly encourage you to read through this linked post, as it gets worse! Somehow!!

Scott, not noticing these as they came in over the course of 10 days, logged in to discover his channel had been taken down. He emailed Ethan in something of a panic to ask that Ethan reverse the claims as a 'professional favor', as Scott got all his clients through his channel's "advertising".

Now you're never gonna believe this... but when he and Ethan came to an understanding, suddenly Scott didn't give a shit.

He released a libelous video claiming Ethan had no rights to the images (he does) and that Scott could use them all he wanted because of Fair Use (he can't) and emailed Ethan the following.

First of all: this is bullshit. Copyright is automatic in the US, trademark wouldn't apply regardless, and as Scott should fucking know by now Ethan doesn't have a 'channel', he has a blog.

Second, he shot himself in the foot with the Fair Use defense by outright stating that his channel is his exclusive advertisement for his business and that he depends on his content to make a living. He said in his first video that it was "educational" 🙄

So Ethan realized Scott was a Fucking Liar and decided he should just copyright claim the rest of Scott's shit, in order to protect his images and rights thereto. YouTube can't take the channel down again unless Ethan is willing to pursue legal action--which he isn't, because he has a full time job and two kids and even though he'd probably win, it's a lot of time and energy.

I and a few others were trying to convince him that it would be worth it anyway, and looking into identifying and contacting the other artists Scott's stolen from over the years, when... Scott released a book. His first-ever graphic novel [looks into the camera like i'm on the office]

drawn entirely by AI.

So we have a frankenstein's monster of copyright infringement masquerading as illustrations (with all the uncanny valley that implies), Scott's technically and practically terrible writing, and the plot is Greek mythology. There are four and a half typos just in the free sample, and that's not including the words in images like his map or logo. He claims the title is a registered trademark but it certainly isn't registered in his state, or federally, and it's already in use by several other brands, so I wouldn't believe him even if he hadn't demonstrated a lack of understanding of copyright & trademark as recently as last week.

So I'm kinda fucking done waiting for answers! I can't trust a thing out of this guy's mouth! And he's pretty stupid, so do I even care what he thinks? I have decided that no. No I do not. I'll check back in 2028 and if he's survived + actually followed through then maybe I'll give his video a watch but until then it is simply pissing me off to remember this guy exists.

Sorry this turned into a rant I'm just really starting to loathe the guy. It's been an infuriating week or two. But uh... No, it's only canon to this one action figure line that ran for a little over a decade. We're certainly not beholden to it, it's more of a fun little in-joke for the fandom these days. You see someone use C'yra and you're like haha I know her! It's fun :3 Regardless of Scott's bullshit I enjoy seeing it around, and it's not like he owns or benefits from it in any way when maybe 1% of the people using it know where it comes from (and the people who know it was him specifically may be limited to the followers that have watched me complain about it).

Thank you for asking, I really do love asks even if the answer isn't what I want it to be lol. I'm happy to verify or explain anything I can!

[dollsahoy]

Free Idea for Mattel:

Since the Jakks Pacific Disney ILY4Ever dolls are doing well, and I just saw that there is going to be a line of Doorables fashion dolls with the same Disneybounding theme, you should look into getting the license from either Warner Brothers (who now also owns, among other things, Hanna-Barbera) or Nickelodeon Viacom Paramount to do a whole ongoing series of "Barbie Loves _______" dolls wearing clothes based on their characters

You've done it before, sporadically, you can do it again.

I would honestly be surprised if Mattel isn't trying to do this already, although, more honestly, I'd suspect that Mattel is more likely trying to figure out how they can also do Disney themed fashion dolls, and without learning from the failure of the Sanrio dolls that they need to be Barbie. Playline Barbie.

C'mon, a Paramount license alone would give you the ability to release a line of dolls with one being Barbie Loves Spongebob, one being Barbie Loves MTV, one being Barbie Loves Star Trek. A Warner Brothers license could give Barbie Loves Bugs Bunny, Barbie Loves The Flintstones, Barbie Loves Supernatural

[isleofdarkness]

Rise of Red Doll Review

Putting this under a cut because it's going to be long.

So, I got the Rise of Red singing Red doll NiB (new in box) off of eBay.

First off, the box was impossible. Getting her out was mostly easy, but there were these little plastic things keeping her head in the plastic backing for her head (hard to explain without showing but I didn't think to film the unboxing.) I needed to have my brother get his pocket knife to get her out of the box. Yes, I will acknowledge that Monster High and Ever After High dolls had these same plastic tidbits in the backs of their heads, but they only had two plastic tidbits while Red had three, and there usually wasn't a piece of moulded plastic covering the back half of their heads. She also did not come with a hairbrush, which is kind of irritating, but I guess that's what Barbie does so I'll allow it.

Now for the doll herself

Her hair is super long. It's long enough to reach the tops of her thighs. It's also crimped kind of like D2 Uma's hair was. She has these weird painted-on edges.

Her face looks like Kylie but not like Kylie, if that makes sense. Like they took Kylie as Red and edited her until she was slightly uncanny valley

Her clothes are a mere one layer, which is kind of to be expected for Descendants dolls. I got the doll with her original punk outfit and am sad to report that it does not have her crest, likely due to the velcro on the back of her jacket.

All of the designs of her jacket are printed on rather than layers, which is also to be expected.

Her shirt is just a bit too short for her high-waisted pants. You can see in the pictures that the holes of her speaker and visible between the hemline of her shirt and the waistline of her pants.

She has a belt with a black heart buckle, but the buckle is also not her crest.

She has chunky bright red platforms that do kind of have her crest if you lift up the leg of her pants to look, but it's a poor excuse for her crest, being solid red, having the lightning strike in the wrong position, and being very hard to see.

Now, for the doll as a doll

Number one, I scared myself shitless as I was trying to pull off her inconvinient jacket and accidentally pressed the button on her chest, causing her to sing quite loudly. And then I noticed something quite infuriating;

See that? yes, there are two tiny plastic tabs keeping her shirt attached to her pants. So I had to go get the scissors.

Her arms and legs are one-jointed, meaning her has moving hip joints and moving shoulder joints, everything else is fixed. Meaning she is going to struggle to do her epic jumps. A tragedy

The battery can be accessed through a small compartment in her inner left thigh using a small phillip's head screwdriver.

Overall, her design feels very Barbie-esque, which I guess I expected from Mattel.

But, here's my final test of quality

Do other doll clothes fit Red? For this, I used a G1 Mal, Dracubecca wearing Ghoulia's clothes, Legacy Day Briar Beauty, some random Barbie clothes, and Namaari. I was originally going to do more but I got so sick of getting jumpscared by the music that I decided to forgo that idea. Maybe I'll test her against G3 Twyla, Porter Geiss, and generic Cassandra another day.

Test one, Ghoulia's dress (plus a Ghouls Rule Frankie boot)

Results; Fail. Did not close down the back, was honestly a nightmare to put on due to Red's non-detachable hands

Test two; Briar Beauty's Legacy Day Dress

Results; Fail. Didn't velcro down the back and also jumpscared myself again trying. Didn't bother with the shoes since MH and EAH shoes are the exact same

Test three; Namaari

Reults; Partial success. Namaari's clothes were a bit baggy but fit. Her boots, due to Namaari having flat feet and Red having those doll high heel feet, did not fit

Bonus picture of Namaari wearing Red's clothes

Test four; random Barbie clothes (Fashionista line, I believe she was from the first Fashionista series and petite)

Results; Success, though I'm not sure if yellow is her colour. Thoughts?

Test five; G1 Mal

Results; Partial success. Clothes did not fit at all but the boots did fit

Conclusions

Objectively, this doll's quality would be a step down from the G1 Descendants doll quality if not for the dragon Mal I have downstairs, which also has arms in fixed positions. I also do not like how loud her music is. My parents are napping downstairs and I had to hide Red under my pillow every time she went off, because I was genuinely afraid she would wake them. That's how loud she is. Also, I'm skeptical about this doll being thirty dollars retail. EAH dolls were only twenty and far higher quality

If you want clothes for Red, I think petite Fashionista Barbie clothes might be a good bet.

I wish she had a hairbrush

She is not allowed to join my other dolls until that battery is removed

I am happy to have her, don't get me wrong, the multiple jumpscared just put me in a bad mood

[pianta]

oooh I'm intrigued. What was the creative process to create Spelldon? :0

oohhh well when i started the cover, i got a lot of creative freedom and was allowed to give my take on both valentine and spelldon so they'd have comic-specific designs. spelldon was the biggest challenge ofc, i was told he should look similar to casta fierce since they're siblings, the rest was up to me. i knew the fans had been waiting a long time to see these two so i started by doing a bunch of research, like rewatching Why Do Ghouls Fall In Love and that webshort casta is in, to immerse myself in the monster high world. my first thought was what if spelldon has curly hair, a dangly earring and a cool jacket… i like when a character's fashion/style reflects their personality so I basically build on that. i wanted him to stand on his own and not just be "casta but a boy", so I tried stuff like flipping their style and color palette while keeping elements like makeup, studs and the hairstreak to see what looks cooler. where casta's colorful dress and long hair are at the center of her design, i thought spelldon could have the opposite. then I also had to make sure he stood out from valentine, since they'd both be wearing a lot of black. so I thought what if he wears a lot of accessories, maybe that could make him unique? what if his hair has a different silhouette than valentine's? stuff like that. and then finally, I'd work on stylizing and simplifying the design so it's easier for the comic artists to adapt!

worked on the cover and design at the same time so time ran short but that's some of the main ideas. it was a wild process and put a lot of love into it! at first i just designed his face (cus that's what i'd mainly be drawing for the cover) but Mattel liked him so much i ended up fully designing him, which you can see now in the comic! thx for asking♡︎

[hidingoutbackstage]

Still in shock that they took all the songs down BECAUSE??? IT JUST LEAVES US WITH MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS???

I KNOW?? Like okay here’s everything weird about the situation because it’s only 7 am I feel like I need lay it all out to process this. So, timeline time I guess! (I combined several images into one a few times bc of Tumblr’s 10 image per post limit but I hope everything still makes sense)

Starting January 5, the Ever After High Spotify (and Apple Music I guess although I was only checking the Spotify) began posting songs as singles. The first was called “Can’t Get Me Down” which had a screenshot of Raven from the episode “Rebel’s Got Talent” as the album cover.

Following that, two weeks later, on January 19, we get a song called “Unbreakable” which also has a screenshot of Raven from the show, from the “The Tale of Legacy Day” episode. At this point the songs are gaining attraction because what the heck, Ever After High content in 2024? Is it coming back?

People are also pointing out that Mattel renewed their licenses for some Ever After High stuff, but also companies do that all the time and I think they did it specifically for their webisodes so that they couldn’t be reposted/reuploaded to YouTube or whatever by a party that wasn’t them. It makes sense (Also I can’t actually verify which if any things they did actually renew because all I heard was people claiming that I never saw any proof)

Also at this point, both songs have given Allison Bloom composing credit, which fans thought made sense since Allison Bloom was also a composer on Ever After High content before

ONE week after “Unbreakable”, instead of two like last time, on January 26, we get the third song, Destiny, with a screenshot of promo art for the Epic Winter storyline of Briar, Crystal, Ashlynn, and Rosabella. Once again, composing credit to Allison Bloom. People are so confused, lots of people are reaching out to Mattel’s social media trying to make sense of it all. Also this song in particular had the trademark misspelled as “Ever Aftert High” which could be the reason for something happening later

Actually, before Destiny was released, someone on Reddit apparently got in contact with Bloom and asked if she had any insight as to what was up with the songs, and Bloom said, “I honestly don't know because I am not currently working on the project. Your note was the first I had heard of it. Wish I had more to tell you!” which led people to suspect Mattel was making AI generated songs but using Bloom’s name to release them, possibly because they still had a contract with her (though that is purely speculation)

Same Redditor also emailed Mattel customer support, who gave a very corporate response, but in their email used the phrase “AI-generated songs uploaded to the EAH Spotify list” blatantly calling the music AI generated in this email

One week after “Destiny”, on February 2, we get “Brand New Day” which is another single with another screenshot from the show as the cover, this time of Crystal Winter from the Epic Winter episodes

Three days after “Brand New Day”, on February 5, people realize that “Destiny” has been taken down, but ONLY Destiny. Some speculate this is due to the typo in the trademark upon release. The rest stay up

One week after “Brand New Day”, on February 9, the song “Forever Friends” with art of Raven and Apple as the cover is uploaded

Later that same day on February 9, “Forever Friends” and all the other remaining songs, “Brand New Day”, “Unbreakable”, and “Can’t Get Me Down” have all been taken off the Spotify (and Apple Music) list

[dollsorwhatever]

Creeproduction Spectra

Figured this would be valuable to post here as well since these are so new lol Despite spending almost an entire day complaining about Creeproduction Spectra having the wrong head sculpt and polypropylene hair, I did actually buy her from Paulmart the day she was first listed because Spectra is one of my favorite MH characters (along with Cleo ofc, and Wydowna- please make a collector or G3 Wydowna Mattel I am begging you) and because I was curious to compare her with my original Sig Spectra that came from the very first batch and is slightly different from later batches of Sig Spectra lol Original on the left, Creepro on the right!

Some things of note: -Can confirm she has poly hair! Appalling. I get that kanekalon is discontinued, but there are nearly identical saran matches for Spectra's original hair colors, so this was purely a result of Mattel being incredibly cheap. Mattel has recently made a pretty significant effort to make new saran batches of g3 dolls that originally had poly, so I really do not understand why they would do this for a reproduction doll that is primarily directed at adult collectors lol It's also horribly layered in a way that I find baffling? Sig Spectra has always had weird layers but the creeproduction has, like, a mullet. I'm not even bothering to style it because she's getting a reroot ASAP.

-Creepro uses the less detailed Spectra sculpt with less prominent cheekbones that was introduced with the final batch of Signature Spectra and used for most of her subsequent dolls until 13 Wishes. It also sits a lot lower on the neck than the original sculpt, which is why she looks slightly less relaxed than my original.

I honestly hate that they chose to reproduce this sculpt instead of the original (her HC doll also lacks cheekbones btw) and she would have been lesser compared to my original even if she didn't have poly. Spectra's original sculpt is one of my favorite MH heads they've ever done so it's pretty annoying to see them using the simplified version for her new dolls, especially considering they made switch in the first place because corporate allegedly thought the original was "too scary" for children. Despite my disappointment at her lack of cheekbones, I do actually really like her face and I find it a little hilarious that I managed to get such a good one after all the complaining I did lol

-While Creepro Spectra has a shorter neck than her original doll, she has a longer neck than the other Creeproductions; this is because the other Creeproductions (both waves) have shorter necks than their original dolls, but Spectra's original doll already had a much longer neck than the other characters. I guess she had some extra neck to spare compared to the rest lol (it's more accurate to say that the neck length is still the same, but all of their heads sit lower on the neck knob than their original dolls for some reason) -Her screening is mostly based on the version used for the late batch of Sig Spectra, but interestingly has a side glance! The only other version of Sig Spectra with a side glance is a variant from her second or third batch (with cheekbones) so it's interesting that they chose a side glance for the reproduction.

-Her earrings match the first batch Spectra (black chains instead of silver like subsequent batches), but the rest of her outfit is more reminiscent of the batches that came after. For example the belt on the first batch is much more simple than the one used on later batches, and the creepro comes with the more detailed belt. -Skirt is slightly shorter and her boots are also darker (improvements imo) -The silver necklace and bracelet shackle are made of a much more transparent plastic than the original (not an improvement) -Her top is mostly the same but the construction is slightly less fitted and the pleather feels a bit cheaper.

As much as I actually sincerely like her, I think it's overall a mixed bag; the poly is the worst part imo. I can look past the sculpt being wrong because she is really gorgeous despite that, but it's unacceptable for any doll to be rooted with polypropylene, and especially not a reproduction. And I can't help but think about how amazing she would have been with her original sculpt. Luckily I can reroot and I look forward to giving her knee length saran hair..... but I shouldn't have to do that! According to the retailer who first got these, they will get a wide release on Amazon exclusively in April of 2024 and he only managed to get them directly from Mattel because they hadn't decided to make them Amazon exclusives until after he ordered stock. So keep an eye on Amazon in a few months! Also according to a very reliable inside source on Reddit, there will also be a new batch of wave 1 Creeproductions in 2024 as well!

Don't buy from scalpers!

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Y’know, Rise of Red is nothing more than a rushed cash grab in an attempt to bank off a pretty much a dead franchise. They’ve scored so poorly on rotten tomatoes with both audience and critics hating on it. 44% for the audience score and 50%. It’s way lower than the ALL three movies combined, and it’s definitely a retcon of all three movies. Plus, if I’m being honest, RoR doesn’t even feel like a descendants movie at all, it felt more like a TikTok/K-pop style movie with mediocre versions of the Disney characters. Case in point, Aladdin and Jasmine.

In addition, I’m worried because RoR has created some stans where they’re hating on the og fans and calling them nostalgia fan and such.Descendants subreddit is more cringy with RoR than fans on TikTok.

First off, don't insult tiktok/K-Pop like that: both of those have better music then whatever the fuck you call Rise of Red's music, let alone both understand fashion better then Mattel/the designers for Rise of Red. Second of all, I mean, your just saying what we all been knowing. There's no reason to keep going with Descendants after the third movie UNLESS its just to milk it for money, and trying to do a soft reboot of the prior three movies and what they established while killing off a character whose actor is sadly no longer with us, just makes it clear as day this is to keep a franchise going for money and that's it. I mean, it's been literally said Mattel helped design the characters just for DOLLS, if that isn't clear where the minds were when it came to this movie. (And fun fact: they cost the same price as a MH G3 doll over here in UK, aka £30....I'll leave it up to anyone reading to decide if they worth that much in comparison to MH G3 which manages to make itself worth that much). But also like, I mean....yeah, it doesn't feel like a Descendants movie...even the third movie, also a shit show, is more of a Descendants movie then this...this just feels like Disney WANTED to do their own take on insert-thing-but-they-in-high-school, but couldn't be bothered to risk doing its own franchise and shoved it into Descendants. And the fact that I've only seen I dunno, ONE goodish review on this movie on Youtube but it still had criticism's brought up and even a channel who liked Descendants hated it....yeah that should be saying a-lot.

But honestly....that was expected. Even before the movie came out, hating on it was considered just being too nostalgia obsessed and its for a new generation so leave it alone and such. So it's not surprising it got worser once it came out. Honestly, I'm speaking for myself, I don't care if Rise of Red fans hate me, its fine. They got enjoyment somehow out of a hour and half...meanwhile I (and my friend since we watched it together) felt like I did with Frozen 2: could have spent time watching something else. Like, enjoy Rise of Red? Fine. But don't get mad if other's didn't like it and are expressing that. The block button is right there. Curate your fandom experience.

[imreadydollparts]

Mattel Head Glue

With G3 Monster High hitting shelves, people are looking at G1 again and looking for ways to rectify the disgusting, seeping, doll destroying head glue Mattel was using at that time.

Not only is it gross but the glue discolors the vinyl heads of the dolls.

Barbie, Monster High, Ever After High, and Disney dolls all had the glue.

This method was shared to Reddit with incomplete information which has caused some confusion and concern there.

My biggest concern is OP claiming this is safe.

We don’t know if it’s safe. Not enough time has passed TO know. All we know is that L.A.’s Totally Awesome removes and at least partially sets Mattel’s head glue.

ETA:

Jul 19 2024 I rechecked some of the heads from that first batch again at 7 years after treatment:

https://www.tumblr.com/imreadydollparts/756382833722982400/its-come-up-again-and-i-decided-to-dig-out-the

And posted a few trials of other glue removing methods for the science:

https://www.tumblr.com/imreadydollparts/756426553175457792/important-notes

Room Temp T.A.

I’ve pulled out some of the original heads that I’d treated in this post from 2017, so some of the first to be treated:

https://imreadydollparts.tumblr.com/post/166572190170/the-super-long-totally-awesome-follow-up-post

These were soaked using this method:

https://imreadydollparts.tumblr.com/post/189592816645/i-may-have-figured-this-out-a-whole-2-years

They seem fine, so far.

-

Abbey has a blend of Doll Grade Kanekalon and Saran hair with tinsel. All three are fine. Her face paint is ok, the glitter looks the same, and her vinyl is the same shade of blue it was before. (She was treated before the glue had a chance to cause discoloration)

Her head is no harder than before other than where glue is. Because the glue itself has hardened, her scalp area is firmer than her face.

She is a little sticky again which comes as no surprise considering I was still experimenting and hadn’t really nailed down how long to let them soak, yet.

-

Snow White also has no problems, yet. She’s not sticky at all and still looks about new.

-

The Barbie who’s name I have forgotten (Sorry, Barbie Friend) and who’s glitter eye shadow turned a little white in the soak is a little bit sticky, but not bad.

None of them have had anything odd happen to their face paint, vinyl, or hair fibers.

-

This method does leave some glue inside the head and I had hoped it would be stabilized and stop seeping out. It seems it’s mostly stabilized but there may still be some in the roots of the hair that never set.

Hot T.A.

I also experimented with using hot cleanser (which I still do not recommend but I go over that in the related post).

https://imreadydollparts.tumblr.com/post/670203500481970176/i-did-an-experiment

Other uses for Totally Awesome

Other things I’ve done with L.A.’s Totally Awesome are

Deflocking My Little Pony:  https://imreadydollparts.tumblr.com/post/708165700900028416/imreadydollparts-we-all-know-i-love-my-las

Removing tape residue from a doll:  https://imreadydollparts.tumblr.com/post/189391048515/experimenting-with-las-totally-awesome-again

Soaking sticky, disintegrating rubber bands from doll hair (not much info at the link, but it works great):  https://imreadydollparts.tumblr.com/post/187195051015/bonus-i-got-a-doll-in-the-mail-with-the-hair

!A real-true-total removal!

So far, the only report I’ve seen that shows a 100% removal of the glue is by @dollsorwhatever​ who tried a combination of L.A.’s Totally Awesome and pure tea tree oil.

https://www.tumblr.com/dollsorwhatever/706834548804157440/since-the-topic-of-glue-seepage-is-coming-up-again?source=share

Tea tree oil will strip the paint from the face and scalp.

If I’m understanding correctly, they had the same problems with just tea tree oil that I have with Goo Gone in that it’s effective but difficult to wash away when done, which is what prompted combining the oil with Totally Awesome.

Their result is total removal of the glue with some risk, versus Totally Awesome’s partial removal with low risk.

WD-40 and Totally Awesome vs glue-affected “Memory” hair.

https://www.tumblr.com/imreadydollparts/757059496060321792/more-mattel-head-glue-mess?source=share

The Triton Trials:

Triton X-114 is effective at removing head glue from doll hair with results similar to Totally Awesome. There is more info and experiments here:

https://www.tumblr.com/imreadydollparts/711432510491574272/so-we-all-know-that-ive-been-experimenting-with?source=share

Triton X-114 vs a repainted Monster High Nefera

https://www.tumblr.com/imreadydollparts/711499336325971968/the-triton-trials?source=share

Triton X-114 vs a repainted Monster High Skelita

https://www.tumblr.com/imreadydollparts/711683240118910976/the-triton-trials?source=share

Totally Awesome used in the same manner as Triton X-114 results

https://www.tumblr.com/imreadydollparts/711701851881553920/the-triton-trials?source=share

Triton X-114 used in the same manner as Totally Awesome results

https://www.tumblr.com/imreadydollparts/711856920117559296/the-triton-trials?source=share

[lilyginnyblackv2]

Thoughts on Barbie - Feminism, Power Fantasies, Isekai, & Existentialism - SPOILERS!

I really like how the feminism in Barbie is actually kept simplistic. I don’t think the feminism in it needs to be super layered to make for an excellent and engaging movie, especially due to how Barbie the Movie, itself, is structured.

Of course the feminism presented in it is rather simplistic in nature. This makes sense since this is Stereotypical Barbie’s first exposure to feminist ideology and thoughts. She was a doll with a very childlike understanding of how the world works and functions. This also makes sense, since the Barbies in general are all toys geared at young girls. Their world is a reflection of the fluffy promises and hopes that we, as adults, feed to young children (especially girls). This idea that they can be anything and do anything.

But the reality is much more messy and complicated than that. We see the Barbies (and Kens) beginning to understand this towards the end of the movie - after they have all been “touched” by the Real World. They have engaged with Gloria and Sasha and the CEO of Mattel and so on and so forth. There is now no instant change in ideology (like what we see happen when Ken brings over patriarchy to Barbie Land), instead, we see the sort of social change that happens in the Real World - slow moving and made in small intervals. But, at the same time, we see Stereotypical Barbie and Ken working through more complex ideas and emotions surrounding feminist thoughts and ideologies. 

I also feel like it was less the feminism itself that makes the movie stand out in a way, but the way they present it. They don’t hide it behind a dark and grim story, they don’t have it being presented just generally to the audience or subtlety hinted at - instead the movie is bright and colorful and silly - and we have two older women (Gloria and Ruth) guiding younger women (Sasha and the Barbies) through the ups and downs of womanhood. Right, Sasha is a teen girl in the Real World who is starting to understand more and more of life’s complexities, but still missing some of the time and experience that can add more nuance and understanding to many areas of life. While Barbie is like a young adult woman - a college girl that is just getting ready to graduate and really head out into the actual Real World. 

So it’s all about being able to relate (whether in a big way or a small way) to the shared experiences that are being depicted on the screen. It’s a movie created by a woman specifically for women (and yes, that includes trans women - the Youtuber, Kat Blaque, who is a trans woman, did a review of Barbie where she talked about the trans rep and how they got it right - I’ll link her video below). It is speaking directly to us women. All of us.

Which also gets me into thinking about power fantasies, isekai (and reverse isekai) a genre that is about “normal human ends up in a fantasy land,” with the reverse being that a fantasy being (usually of some high power or standing) ending up in the normal human world, and how men and women tend to play into these narratives. 

Many power fantasties that we see tend to involve men - even the ones aimed at women - such as the take I’ve seen of how “teen girl x immortal (usually male) being” in YA novels is about girls seeing themselves in a place of emotional power over men. Superhero narratives are all about normal people gaining superhuman powers - usually in a way that makes them physically stronger - and these all tend to play into male power fantasies and gazes, even when the superhero is a woman. Even if they may touch on feminist ideologies, the way the power fantasy element is handled is still very different from what we see here in Barbie.

In Barbie, we follow Stereotypical Barbie. She is like that ordinary human. Nothing about her really stands out and she doesn’t have any amazing job. That being said, there are elements about her existence that we, as humans, would find to be almost superhuman or advantages over us - never aging, never dying, being able to float from the top of your house right into your car, etc. But, Stereotypical Barbie herself, like within her own world, doesn’t hold any kind of power or high standing. Her journey into the Real World is essentially a reverse isekai. 

In the end, Barbie chooses to stay in the Real World and become a human. She chooses the more flawed existence over the more perfected one (or seemingly perfected one anyway). And I think it is the moments that touch on this aspect of Barbie’s journey which is what makes the movie so special to so many women. Not necessarily the Feminism 101 aspect, which is just an element to Barbie’s journey into womanhood. It’s Barbie seeing the elderly lady next to her on the bench and seeing the beauty in her. It is Barbie meeting Sasha and Gloria and learning from them about how hard life is for women in the Real World still. It is Barbie’s talks with Ruth. Quiet and introspective and filled with a soft patience that comes with age and life. And it is Barbie seeing and experiencing all of these things and then choosing to become human and live in the Real World.

Not because of men. Not because of romance. Not because of any sort of power fantasy that engages in a male gaze and perspective. But because of the women she has met in the Real World. The connections she made with them and the hopes, dreams, and feelings of all girls and women in the Real World.

That’s the moment that makes Barbie so special. That’s the moment that really makes everyone in the theater feel connected, especially the other women and girls present there. That moment is what made the movie for me. The culmination of Barbie’s exploration of existentialists ideologies through a purposefully and specifically woman focused lens. 

[sparky-x]

Going off topic from DC for a sec.

This has been bugging me since 2021 and in 2018. And it’s about a Netflix cartoon that people never heard about….. A cartoon produced by Mattel……….

WHY WASNT THIS A DREAMWORKS CARTOON?!

What you’re seeing is the recent version of He-Man that came out in 2021 (3 Years ago). It’s okay but not the best in my opinion.

Why would I call this a Dreamworks cartoon? well for those who are fans of he-man and those who were around in 2018 may have seen this cartoon-

For those who don’t know She-Ra was actually part of the Master of the Universe franchise back in the 1980s. She-Ra, also Adora is the twin sister of Prince Adam, who would become He-man in the Original series. After the two 80s cartoons ended it was succeeded by 2002 He-man which that ended after a couple seasons.

Then on 2018 Dreamworks announced 2018 She-Ra. Once that premiered, it met with widespread praise. That also introduced others to what 1980s She-Ra was like. Upon doing so learn about He-man as well. Which lead to people like myself developing this question:

How can there be a She-Ra cartoon when there was no He-man cartoon?

And the fact that 2021 He-man (along with Revelations) came out after 2018 She-Ra ended makes this questionable. To me, they had to be together like Apollo and Artemis! Clearly 2021 He-man was CGI like most Dreamworks shows.

I’ve heard that it has something to do with copyright meaning Dreamworks may not use he-man characters which means that Mattel themselves had to do make cartoon. It feels like a makeshift product built with limited resources. And speaking of copyright, remember Hordak from 2018 She-Ra right? well guess who appeared in 2021 He-man (plus He-man Revolution in 2024)

How on Etheria (an on Eternia) is this possible?! and that’s not just him. Few of his henchmen (who appeared in 2018 She-Ra) appeared in He-man Revolution as well.

So does this mean we’ll get She-ra characters appearing He-Man Revolutions? Or a she-ra cartoon that shares the same world as a newer He-man Cartoon ? 2021 He-man was going to get a season 4 but was canned for unknown reasons).

Unfortunately, only time will tell………

[dolljunk]

Honestly, Ever After High holds a very strange place in my heart because while I adore the aesthetics, I LOVED the cartoon and characters and overall love the clothes and body sculpts, I just could never like the pancake heads the dolls had, especially when their eyes were oddly small proportionally.

I've seen people shrink and modify the heads, and I know it was such an issue Mattel started redoing the heads to be smaller themselves but I never liked the heads.

However, I do have a spare Creatable World head, which is obviously sculpted by the same person who did Ever After High and I vastly prefer the proportions of these while keeping a lot of the same aesthetics of the original head.

Since I'm redoing my Monster High dolls, I really wanted to revisit the one Ever After High doll I've kept which is Madeline Hatter. She still is one of my characters and I wanted to redo my doll so it's more of a marriage between the original doll and animation appearance.

Her hair is a vast array of nylons I bought from @customdollhairAU which I tried to emulate the animation model but because dolls aren't cartoons I had to fudge the placement of colours myself lol.

I'm really happy how she turned out since she captures what I would have wanted from an Ever After High and also be representative of the cartoon.