Neon’s A Doll A Day… Again (2020)

[Lejays17]

Great memories with the original group.

[Alliecat]

Happy anniversary to your crew
Great that you were able to enjoy their heyday.
Great colours in the unfiltered one!

[Elfy]

Amazing to realise that they started 10 years ago.

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much, everyone!!!


Day 184

A little more nostalgia today - EAH came out in 2013, again in early July (but there's no specific date to be found, so I'm just going to celebrate MH on 1st and EAH on 2nd), so that makes this 7th anniversary. I wish Mattel would do something when the 10th one rolls around, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I resisted buying EAH dolls for a few months, as I didn't want to start another collection, but I kept stalking the new releases, so naturally, all resistance was futile in the end. And I'm glad. It's a wonderful line. I have some ranting to do about the story (I'm actually working on my own canon), and the range of fairytales the line covered (not wide enough!), but I'll save that for another time. Even with all the criticism I have for this line, I still love it to bits and wish it was still around.



And here they are without the nostalgia filter:

[werepuppy]

Oh the original groupings of rebels and royals....

You're pinging my nostalgia really hard here.

[davidd]

Your group poses are always so impressive! Anything beyond three is too much for me, even using stands.

Your photos make EAH look like so much fun!

I'm not sure why Mattel abandoned both the EAH and MH lines... although I suspect it had a lot to do with... Disney Descendants and Frozen monopolizing the toy market.

[Alliecat]

Another lovely colourful bunch! I've been tempted more than once by a few of these... I like their faces; don't know anything about the story. But I don't need another collection...
...yeah, multi doll scenes can be very time-consuming. I often wonder how "Dolly Treasures" does it on a daily basis.

[Loona]

Aaaah, all the feels! Has it been 10 years already? I remember exactly when MH came out. I also remember that I initially found the hype around them weird - but I was also "not a doll person, no dolls for me, thank you, I have enough collections already", so I had no intention in buying one (LOL). Then in 2012 Rochelle hit the shelves... She was awesome. I couldn't not get her. Then came greyscale SS Frankie, and then Skelita... and I was doomed. By the time I managed to get my first doll (Rochelle) in mid-2013, I was already eyeballing other dolls I previously had no intered for. I remember when I purchased my Sea Monster CAM off eBay, the seller told me she's selling her because she's downsizing, because at one point she's got about 20 MH dolls - and I told her I only have a few. Well, if you asked me today how many I have, I wouldn't be able to answer. I just lost count, and that's probably better this way. Definitely not 20, rather a few times 20

With all the hype and the uniqueness, I also would have said that the line will last longer. Much longer. This anniversary actually made me realise it was around for a much shorter time than I thought it was... that's so sad  

I love these group photos! It's difficult enough already to pose 3 dolls for a photoshoot, but 6 and 8 - great job! Also huge kudos for continuing with the challenge also in difficult times. I've been away for some time now, but I've read that you've been feeling unwell... I hope you're doing better! We have a massive heat here too, and I also loathe it. Luckily it doesn't mess with my head or give me migraines, but I sweat all over and feel exhausted all the time. It's getting more and more difficult to work from home full time like this - I love our sunny apartment, but brightness also means it's very hot during summer days. I've been a part-home-officer for long years now, who knew full HO makes such a huge difference... I miss the office's AC...

[neon_jellyfish]

Oh the original groupings of rebels and royals....

You're pinging my nostalgia really hard here.

Teehee!

To be honest, the Royals&Rebels thing annoyed the hell out of me (mostly due to its inconsistency. I do plan to rant about it someday, when my EAHeadcanon is done), but the idea could work, if done with care. And it was more interesting than the Power Princesses thing they replaced it with around the soft reboot.

Your group poses are always so impressive! Anything beyond three is too much for me, even using stands.

Your photos make EAH look like so much fun!

I'm not sure why Mattel abandoned both the EAH and MH lines... although I suspect it had a lot to do with... Disney Descendants and Frozen monopolizing the toy market.

Thank you!!!

Both MH and EAH sales were declining for a few years. With MH, they did official reboot, but didn't learn from the past and it was a flop, with EAH, they didn't announce reboot, but made some changes to the design of the dolls, and once again, it didn't work. Sad thing is that MH team actually knew what was the problem, and even reported it to higher execs, but they didn't pay attention and not only continued to do it wrong, they doubled down on that approach. Losing rights to Disney IPs was actually Mattel's own stupid fault, because their Disney Princesses weren't of particularly high quality, and then they announced EAH, high quality competitor line with specifically non-Disney designs, so of course the Mouse got pissed off. Hasbro did better job, so they get to milk Frozen. To be honest, I don't get why Frozen is so insanely popular. I'm not saying it's bad (haven't even seen it), but judging from the popularity of merch, it must be the movie of the century. I doubt it's that good.

Another lovely colourful bunch!  I've been tempted more than once by a few of these... I like their faces; don't know anything about the story.  But I don't need another collection...
...yeah, multi doll scenes can be very time-consuming.  I often wonder how "Dolly Treasures" does it on a daily basis.

Thank you! The dolls are great, especially the early ones, before Mattel started cutting corners, but I don't think getting into them now would be a good idea. The second-hand market prices are crazy, incomplete dolls are often offered as complete simply because parents putting them up for sale don't remember what accessories their kids lost, a lot of dolls don't have hands, and, sadly, Mattel dolls don't age well as of late. These dolls won't last all that long (my Barbies from early 90s are in better shape than a lot of my MH dolls), so they're not worth what most people are asking for them.

Aaaah, all the feels! Has it been 10 years already? I remember exactly when MH came out. I also remember that I initially found the hype around them weird - but I was also "not a doll person, no dolls for me, thank you, I have enough collections already", so I had no intention in buying one (LOL). Then in 2012 Rochelle hit the shelves... She was awesome. I couldn't not get her. Then came greyscale SS Frankie, and then Skelita... and I was doomed. By the time I managed to get my first doll (Rochelle) in mid-2013, I was already eyeballing other dolls I previously had no intered for. I remember when I purchased my Sea Monster CAM off eBay, the seller told me she's selling her because she's downsizing, because at one point she's got about 20 MH dolls - and I told her I only have a few. Well, if you asked me today how many I have, I wouldn't be able to answer. I just lost count, and that's probably better this way. Definitely not 20, rather a few times 20

With all the hype and the uniqueness, I also would have said that the line will last longer. Much longer. This anniversary actually made me realise it was around for a much shorter time than I thought it was... that's so sad  

I love these group photos! It's difficult enough already to pose 3 dolls for a photoshoot, but 6 and 8 - great job! Also huge kudos for continuing with the challenge also in difficult times. I've been away for some time now, but I've read that you've been feeling unwell... I hope you're doing better! We have a massive heat here too, and I also loathe it. Luckily it doesn't mess with my head or give me migraines, but I sweat all over and feel exhausted all the time. It's getting more and more difficult to work from home full time like this - I love our sunny apartment, but brightness also means it's very hot during summer days. I've been a part-home-officer for long years now, who knew full HO makes such a huge difference... I miss the office's AC...

Thank you for sharing your memories! It's fun to learn how different people discovered the line and started collecting. I actually don't have a first MH doll, as I got Frankie, Clawdeen, Draculaura and Lagoona together, Frankie was to first one I unboxed. Then I got Dead Tired Cleo and sig Ghoulia a few days after that (MH came to Czech Republic in September or October, the waiting sucked, but at least we got multiple lines at once). Downsizing because 20 is too much is incomprehensible concept for me I have 193 dolls atm (and many more on my wishlist), 98 MHs.

And thank you!!!


Day 185

WARNING! EXCESSIVE WHINING AHEAD!

So... Lately, I've sort of fallen out of love with Pullips. I still love their design, I find these dolls incredibly beautiful, but handling them became something of a hassle. They're top heavy, which doesn't surprise me, but I find posing them more of a chore than fun, I don't like how fragile they feel, how their stock keeps falling apart, how their shoes never fit, how the quality of their wigs is hit and miss, how my Taes, Isul and Byul have loose, wobbly joints that make it hard to pose them...

I love looking at them on the shelf, but I don't enjoy actually doing anything with them.

Now, I still really love the dolls I have and I don't want to rehome them, but I kinda trapped myself when it comes to buying new dolls, because of Oddwickshire. You see, I love my Oddlings, and I want to shell all of them, but that requires buying more dolls than I'd like to, considering all the aforementioned issues. Eventhough there were a few new releases that I really liked, I don't feel particularly compelled to get them. I'm not sure what to do, leaving my precious characters unshelled doesn't feel right, but right now, I need four Taes, one (or maybe two) Dals, one Isul and two Pullips. That's 8 or 9 more dolls that I know I won't feel 100% comfortable around.

Also, Oddwickshire tends to sprout new characters on its own now and then, and once I have a character, I need to shell them, so I'm kinda reluctant to play with that world.

I was thinking about letting other brands in Oddwickshire, so that I'm not limited to Pullips & friends, but that just doesn't feel right, because none of the dolls I'm interested in have aesthetic that would match Pullips, and it just looks and feels disconsonant.

I'm mostly leaning towards shelling the existing characters anyway, but I wanted to ask about your opinion. How would you approach this?





Thank you for reading, it helps to be able to get this off my chest.

[Elfy]

That is a gorgeous picture. I feel your pain, but maybe you could use your artistic ability to draw the characters and that’s sort of bringing them to life and utilising something that you love doing. Just as long as we get to see the artwork.

[werepuppy]

Oh there's a real tranqulity to the picture. It's wonderful.

Hm, I don't know if I am necessarily the best person to ask regarding this because I quite happily mix and match dolls and looks. For me, if a doll just fits a character, I will do for it. I think [i]Elfy's[/b] idea might be a good one though?

[Alliecat]

What a lovely photo -- sweet & peaceful!
Poseability is why I won't get into BJDs -- Annie's a bit of a chore to pose, sadly. I don't really have any good advice, sorry... since shelling characters isn't a thing for me (not that I wouldn't love an action figure of a character or three, but it wouldn't be a Pullip ).
Maybe you could get 1 or 2 of the characters you'd most like to shell and see if you change your mind any...? Rebodying to deal with loose bits gets ex$pensive...
I think it would be a real creative loss if you were reluctant to play with Oddwickshire because of not having dolls for the characters. I see your point about mixing "species" though, and can see how it would feel discordant.
Sorry I wasn't much help But let us know how your decision goes.

[davidd]

Everything you say about Pullips in your first paragraph: yes, big league!

But then... I see a radiant photo Like you've posted here, almost magical in its use of light and color and shadow, and all my doubts about Pullip evaporate.

Pullips are, I agree, quite challenging to work with, to the point where I periodically (or even more often) think seriously about getting rid of all of mine. But as you illustrate here, they are truly magical in the hands of a master. Like all real magic, it takes work, and patience, and spells often go awry, but ultimately, Pullips are worth the time and trouble and effort.

[Lejays17]

Such lovely group shots of the MH & EAH crews.

We would look at the MH dolls when we wandered thru the toy aisle but weren’t really inspired to get them. But when EAH came out I was sold. So bright & cheerful, even the darker / gloomy dolls (eg Raven) are. So they started me down th3 slope of doll collecting.

I can’t really advise about what to do about Pullips, but from a purely selfish reason, I would be sad if you stopped “playing” with Oddwickshire as I love reading about the world you’ve created and all the holidays & customs & other fun stuff within it.

Florianne, she looks so ethereal in the filtered shot.

[neon_jellyfish]

Thank you very much for your input, everyone! I really appreciate it!

For now, I think I'll shell the existing characters, but take my time with it, and observe how I feel. If I'm more troubled by Pullip issues than I'm glad that I shelled the character, then I'll consider alternative methods, like drawing them, as suggested by Elfy, or reconsidering the interspecific approach. If Oddwickshire forces more new characters on me (which is totally happening right now), they'll probably get the (yet to be) chosen alternative treatment, too.


Day 186

Happy Alice in Wonderland Day, guys!

A while ago, I came to the conclusion that it is impossible to stay sane in this tangle of day and age tumbling around this mess of a dimension of this particular world in this specific corner of this totally random Multiverse, and that humanoids have basically two options to choose from - letting this tangle of day and age tumbling around this mess of a dimension of this particular world in this specific corner of this totally random Multiverse drive them insane, or go insane on their own. From what I saw, going insane on your own gives you much higher chance of being happy, so that's what I decided to go round and round and turn over and over and round and round and over, uh, what was I... Oh. I decided to roll with it.

In other words, let's all be mad here!