davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2026

[Alliecat]

I've been thinking who I'd pick for my team, but I dunno if I'm going to get round to a photo. Too much of today evaporated in dismantling my oven because the broiler element went "foom", doing another round of "You Can't Get That Here" at the hardware store, and then spending far too long looking for an alternative to a $200+ piece of hot wire.
Oh, and then, battling another round of ant invasion. This fkn place....
Anywho, participants seem to be putting lots of thought into this challenge.

[davidd]

You are welcome to post all the action figure photos to the Dal House Forum that you want.

And this forum seems like it is on ever rockier ground.

Perhaps, if there were an action figure section on The Dal House. I don't want to taint my doll topics with action figure images.

Yeah, Dolly Market is pretty much done for, I think. So is Figurvore. Both sites have low activity and are starting to have technical issues.

[davidd]

I've been thinking who I'd pick for my team, but I dunno if I'm going to get round to a photo.  Too much of today evaporated in dismantling my oven because the broiler element went "foom", doing another round of "You Can't Get That Here" at the hardware store, and then spending far too long looking for an alternative to a $200+ piece of hot wire.
Oh, and then, battling another round of ant invasion.  This fkn place....
Anywho, participants seem to be putting lots of thought into this challenge.

At two-hundred for the element alone, it seems like replacing the entire appliance might be the more cost-effective solution in the long run. But I haven't checked appliance prices in a while, so maybe not.

Maybe it's time to pack up your stuff and sell the "fkn place." Just pick someplace else and move there. I was reading an interesting post on Instagram earlier today, somebody comparing the big city (Houston) where they live to rural Colorado, and talking about how soul-crushing it is to go back to the city after spending time in Colorado. A ton of people commented about how they are leaving or have left Colorado because it's being paved over almost as fast as Texas. Some of them said they're moving to Utah.

I bet those are the b*st*rds who are moving in to the new houses being built in Utah, paving over all the open space. St. George is insane, it's become nothing but tract row houses, all painted grey. Just seeing them makes me want to die. This world, this entire world, is becoming a miserable bland concrete prison.

You're not going to find a better place than your are at. But where you are at will keep getting worse. That seems to be what's happening everywhere.

I don't know if "different" is a substitute for "better." Sometimes it is. Mostly it's not. But at least "different" is a distraction.

I think about people I know - "only five minutes from Costco." But they live in a bland subdivision outside of Las Vegas with a homeowners association and every house is brown. When I visit them I find myself engulfed in despair. Then I look out my door and see pronghorns sipping from the garden pond and bluebirds nesting in the box on a wooden pole. Yeah, the subfloors are shot and the crappy vinyl plank flooring is gapped and ugly, but I can see trees and mountains and critters. I can also see a valley full of effing houses that weren't there five years ago. I want to get a bazooka and blast 'em all. The effers build the houses and then try to flip them. The effers build in "dark sky country" and then mount spotlights all over their houses and outbuildings that they point outward rather than downward and leave on all night. The effers fill up the ground with houses and barns and sheds and motorhomes and... leave, I guess. Turn on the lights and leave.

So yeah... this fkn place, that fkn place... everyplace is fkd at this point.

At least in Hawaii the geckoes would come inside and eat the ants! It was pretty funny! I miss that a lot. Gotta be a multi-millionaire to live there now.

[davidd]

20 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

Another photo-story game installment, because why not?

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Fun factoid: one of my Flickr contacts did, in fact, pick up on the Jenny "The Swedish Nightingale" Lind reference!

[davidd]

21 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Scholar-Ex'plorers of the Royal Kadath Society
L to R: Ellie Fields, Louis Marques, Professor Victor Champion

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1/6-scale action figure characters based on characters originally created and shared by Miskatonicnic on Flickr.

[Alliecat]

I guess this is a sort of immortality for doll photographers… That other doll photographers make characters based on yours!

[davidd]

22 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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You Can Be Anything Barbie Film Director

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I bought the set for the chair and camera.

[davidd]

23 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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South Pacific Secret Agent

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This was going to be a "one shot gag panel" in response to a post in the action figure forum Doll Chat Game. One of the members on the forum uses this same figure as one of his characters. His character in the interactive game is named Mireille La Poisse, aka Agent Zéro Zéro Cinquante Dix-Neuf, or, counters another installment in the chat, "Cinquante Dix-Neuf? Not Soixante-Neuf?"

Yeah, it's quite a game. Sort of like "Pullip Train" or "Groove Train," where the following installments pick up on something previous to respond to or to ridicule.

Anyway, South Pacific Secret Agent was intended to be a one panel "joke" based on the similarity of the action figures.

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24 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Abandoned Hidden Bunker

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As such things do, the idea escalated. A new setting was required. A "quick" diorama setting (yeah, right), glueing some stuff to a sheet of cardboard. But it's not just a random setting; rather, the new setting is a close-enough approximation of an old setting used in photo-stories by one of the other participants in the story game. Same map background. Same table. Similar radio on the table. Similar KFC buckets and beer bottles. The setting itself is a gag, a pastiche of another participant's diorama.

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25 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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So a one-shot gag panel resulted in the construction of a custom background diorama and a tangential storyline.

The dress reference, too, is a joke. One of the participants in the story collects that specific style of doll dress, the Kenner Bionic Woman "Floral Delight" dress. He had collected ten of the dresses over a long period of time. Then a house fire struck and he lost them all a couple of years back. He has begun rebuild the collection, but they turn up for sale online only rarely -- probably because he already bought them all. I stumbled across this one on eBay recently and had to have it as a prop for the photo-story game.

P.S.: yes, I know today is the REAL Star Wars Day, the 49th anniversary of the release of the original film, so I should have posted something Star Wars related. Total fail on my part.

[Alliecat]

Well, everybody does May the Fourth anyway, so...
And shut your mouth about how old Star Wars is!!! That's horrifying!!!!!
The diorama set looks really good.
Having been robbed of her chair and camera, does poor Barbie get relegated to the Shed of Doom?

[davidd]

Having been robbed of her chair and camera, does poor Barbie get relegated to the Shed of Doom?

Still deciding whether to strip her of her clothes before sending her to the thrift shop.

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26 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Adventure Day Dawn Patrol

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Bratz Selfie-Snaps Yasmin is ready for another fun-filled Summer of Bratz! She's got her road atlas ready, the car is gassed up and packed -- it's Road Trip Time! Let's go!

[Alliecat]

Fun photo with a cool perspective. Are you AFK again?

Still deciding whether to strip her of her clothes before sending her to the thrift shop.

Poor girl. I was literally just looking today at the dolls at the local thrift shop when I did my monthly shift and wondering, "WHY do these dolls never have clothes? Are there really THAT many people taking the clothes and passing the dolls on?" These were baby/toddler dolls, too; sheesh.

[davidd]

Still deciding whether to strip her of her clothes before sending her to the thrift shop.

Poor girl.  I was literally just looking today at the dolls at the local thrift shop when I did my monthly shift and wondering, "WHY do these dolls never have clothes?  Are there really THAT many people taking the clothes and passing the dolls on?"  

I (almost) never send nude dolls to thrift shops. That seems somehow indecent and mean, even if they're only plastic toys. Even if I were to nick Barbie's outfit, I'd put her in something before sending her away. For now she's safe; the package is still sealed.

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Summer of Bratz 2026 - Bad Hair, Don't Care: The Road Trip

Bratz "Selfie-Snaps" Yasmin celebrates TEN YEARS of THE SUMMER OF BRATZ with a road trip to Yellowstone National Park and the surrounding area in Montana and Wyoming.

Bratz "Selfie-Snaps" Yasmin joined the toy crew in 2016. One of the short-lived "New Bratz" dolls, Selfie-Snaps Yas was adopted specifically to participate in an Instagram photo challenge called Summer of Bratz designed to promote the attempted revival of the Bratz line.

New Bratz were ultimately unsuccessful. Later, Bratz were revived in a format that more closely resembled the originals and which is still hanging in there.

Most years since 2016 Yasmin has continued her Summer of Bratz adventures to at least a limited extent. In 2026, Yas is kicking off her second decade of adventure with a road trip -- YAY!


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27 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Crossing the Great Divide

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28 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Gateway to Yellowstone: Roosevelt Arch and the North Entrance to the park at Gardiner, Montana

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29 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Driving Tour around Yellowstone: Mammoth Hot Springs, Roosevelt, Tower Falls, Canyon Village, Fishing Bridge,
West Thunb, Old Faithful, Madison Junction, Norris Junction, and back to Mammoth.

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30 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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"Next time we should stay here!"
Bratz Yasmin elores the historic Old Faithful Inn, built in 1903-1904, at Yellowstone National Park.

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31 May - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Geyser Day - Upper Geyser Basin and Old Faithful Loop

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1 June - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Following in the footsteps of Buffalo Bill: Pahaska Tepee Hunting Lodge, originally constructed circa 1905,
between Yellowstone Park and Cody, Wyoming. Buffalo Bill was part owner in the original lodge.

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2 June - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Buffalo Bill Center of the West, or The Cody Center, a premiere museum of American western art, in Cody, Wyoming.

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3 June - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Return to Utah after a week-long road trip adventure!

[i]"Now how about a 'spa day' to fix my hair!"[/i]

[Alliecat]

Yay welcome back! That’s so cool that you have done annual road trips with her for that long!
Neat to see where you went. I would like to visit Yellowstone.

[TrueFan]

 I would like to visit Yellowstone.

Me too!

[davidd]

 I would like to visit Yellowstone.

Me too!

Only about 1400 miles (one way) for TrueFan by car, so two or three days of driving to get there, three days at the park, two or three days driving back, so a week plus both weekends.

A little bit further for Alliecat. Plus annoying international border crossings. Maybe try Banff and Lake Louise instead. (Banff merman, have you seen it?)

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4 June - A Doll A Day 2026:

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Hasbro G.I. Joe Classified Retro Cardback Action Figures
Recondo and Cover Girl
1/12-scale (about 6 inches / 15cm)