davidd's A DOLL A DAY 2024

[davidd]

Maybe you just need to participate with some more people. Like that other place where you took that thing so personally.  It’s a few more people there…

I thought I might get drawn into Ever After High… But then Rainbow High came along…!

Yeah, there was no way you were gonna resist a Monarch Butterfly themed "affordable" playline doll! 

I was surprised that Ever After High ended, and rather abuptly at that, after the 2018 releases. I think that the Disney Descendants line killed them off. Fairy Tale characters are fun, but kids (or, their unimaginative parents) love Disney fairy tale characters more.

Mostly the EAH dolls were too "girly" for me (this coming from someone who probably had a hundred Monster High at one point)   , but I liked the "Dragon Games" line because they wore armor and looked kinda kick-*ass Medieval-ish. But they didn't include swords or weapons, so I had to enhance their armament with cocktail skewers. At one point I think I had all but one of the "Dragon Games" line. I ended up selling most of them (one or two appreciated dramatically in price, so I actually made back some of the money I'd spent), but I kept my two favorites, plus one other non-DG EAH figure.

(While researching this post, I discovered a simple yet thorough website documenting all 217 official EAH releases:  https://www.eahmerch.com/dolls/all/ 
I appreciate when people take the time and put in the effort to maintain informative web pages like this.)

As for participation, there are plenty of people on Instagram and Flickr; I even leave comments on a variety of accounts. Yet my pix are largely overlooked. Instagram bugs me because I just can't figure out what that audience wants. Today I was looking at some dude's account. He has only posted like 60 or 70 images, mostly little "Star Wars" toys standing in the lawn in his back yard, yet he has over a thousand followers already. Other action figure and doll photographers also have thousands of followers, and they get dozens or sometimes hundreds of comments, although the comments are usually pretty repetitive and dull, like, "great shot." I'd rather have fewer interactions but with greater substance. As for that other forum, yeah, well, I don't wanna risk interacting with anyone I shouldn't interact with because their "significant other" might blow a gasket. Plus, I don't take enough Dal photos. And my Doll a Day pix were often of little interest over there as well; except, you were usually kind enough to comment. No point in posting twice and having you feel obligated to comment twice. Speaking of which, I hope you don't feel obligated to comment every day here at DMF. I appreciate it, but I don't want you to feel like it is a chore. I know I've come close to abandoning ship here at DMF, but I'll probably keep plugging along until the site sinks slowly in the west.

TL;DNR - sorry.

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2 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Hasbro Equestria Girls Twilight Sparkle

[Alliecat]

Were they derived from MLP?  I know, I could google that...  My first thought was that she looked more like a bug 

217 is a lot of releases. 

Comparison and trying to produce stuff for other people is an invitation to be disappointed.  Look at the BS on Tiktok and FB... this is the state of humanity... is this the society from which you want an audience?
Srsly, do what YOU enjoy.  Appreciation of your own creative fun is the reward; otherwise you're giving everyone else power over whether you enjoy what you're doing.  Whyy?

I want to keep Dolly Market alive.  I do look in once or twice a day.  As for the other venue, you could just do your thing and who cares whether someone wants to engage or comment or not.  If they have to worry about their SO then maybe they won't anyway, and you can talk to the rest of us.  It's OK to let things go.

[davidd]

Were they derived from MLP?  I know, I could google that...  My first thought was that she looked more like a bug....

Comparison and trying to produce stuff for other people is an invitation to be disappointed.  Look at the BS on Tiktok and FB... this is the state of humanity... is this the society from which you want an audience? Srsly, do what YOU enjoy.  Appreciation of your own creative fun is the reward....

I want to keep Dolly Market alive.  I do look in once or twice a day.  

I, too, want to keep Dolly Market alive, so here I am... for whatever that's worth. Seems like the forums at which I continue to post are the ones that die the fastest. I still post weekly at Figurvore, as an example.  https://milkshakemelody.com/figurvore/

Yes, Equestria Girls was a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic spin-off. The dolls went through several iterations over the course of a few years, ranging from bizarre bug-looking creatures like this one (yes, I agree, it looks like a bug, which is part of why I like it) to more human-cosplay versions.

I'm not on FB or TikTok. I created a new X (formerly Twitter) account several months ago because some of my doll/toy contacts on Instagram were tired of the one-sided political slant (and outright filtering) and the vax-pushing on Insta, and wanted to try to create a "doll community" on X, but then hardly anybody posted doll stuff. It's too easy to get pulled in to the brain-killing political stuff on X, so I stopped looking at it. 

I was looking at Instagram posts and comments again today, and yeah... I don't really want to be part of a toy photography crowd where the action figure dudes all call one another "brother" or "bro," or if they're being dismissive then the term is "bruh." And every comment stream that goes for more than a few posts turns in to a one-sided political rally or promotion of the transgender agenda. Like, WTF, bruh? I guess we can't even post toy photos on Insta anymore unless we're leftist vax-pushing trans activists. Which probably sez more about Instagram than it does about the toy photography hobby; although considering my eksperience at that other forum you allude to, maybe it doesn't.

What you said got me thinking about when I first got in to toy and doll photography; and y'know, my original intent was to do something outside the mainstream. I started out by putting "cute li'l dolls" in "action figure scenarios." I don't take "doll pictures." I don't take "action figure pictures." I eksplore the void between the genres... and it's not a popular position. After coming up on two decades of toy photography, I'm still an outsider. Which, I suppose, means I'm still a rebel! I'm still messing with the boundaries between acceptable genres.

Or my pictures and approach suck and nobody likes 'em.

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3 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

Ever After High Cerise Hood

I found an online resource listing all the Ever After High releases:

www.eahmerch.com/dolls/all/

I suspect this version of Cerise Hood is the 2016 Wave 2 Core Character re-release.

[Alliecat]

She looks like she's hoping to see a way out. 
Boy, do I feel that. 

I can't see the Figurevore page without an account.
I find it hard to imagine a "community" on Twitter in the same sense as other forums.  I get sucked into looking at it now and then, and it's basically a hash of brainfarts and insults, so, meh.
The trouble with all these social media platforms is it leads us to think everyone needs to know what we think about everything, and, that they care.  ...yeah, nope.

my original intent was to do something outside the mainstream. I started out by putting "cute li'l dolls" in "action figure scenarios." I don't take "doll pictures." I don't take "action figure pictures." I eksplore the void between the genres...

That's an interesting insight, and it sounds like those "artist's statements" -- although not nearly so obscure and uppity as most of them.  It is actually a cool idea. 
Carry on 

[davidd]

That's an interesting insight, and it sounds like those "artist's statements" ...

Exactly the intent: an attempt to use fanceh wordz to justify something that's meaningless, pointless, or a waste of time. 

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4 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Moesephine and the Tamae Twins

[Alliecat]

Are they ex-ploring the shed of doom?

[davidd]

Are they ex-ploring the shed of doom?

Hmmm... little mouse-like creatures scurrying around in the Shed of Doom would account for the copious amounts of tiny black pellet-like debris that has accumulated in every crevice and cranny.

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5 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

Revoltech Fräulein No. 002 Tohsaka Rin

[davidd]

6 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Ever After High Dragon Games Darling Charming wields her weapon of choice.

[Alliecat]

The pretty fairytale doll with the chainsaw is hilarious. What is the backstory?
Sorry about the mouse invasion in the shed! I am gobsmacked at how much “debris” they produce. It shouldn’t be physically possible.

[davidd]

There is a backstory behind Dragon Games Darling Charming and her chainsaw... not to mention a unicycle.

The idea for Darling riding a unicycle while carrying a chainsaw emerged in 2016 when an Instagram contact of the time who was an amateur artist -- I don't even remember her name now, she's long gone from the platform -- was asking Instagram doll friends (#dollstagram) for ideas for doll pictures to draw. A little bit of back-and-forth in the comments resulted in "An Ever After High Doll riding a unicycle and carrying a chainsaw."

I don't remember if she ever drew the picture, but I found the idea so amusing that I worked it in to my then-running Bratz doll photostory.
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Darling Charming has been armed with a chainsaw ever since.

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2018

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2020

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7 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

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Maxie Hosts a Meeting of the Alphabet Club

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Yes, there's a "backstory" to The Alphabet Club, too.

https://flickr.com/photos/135742756@N07/49408014186/

https://flickr.com/photos/135742756@N07/50129222797/

[davidd]

8 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

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"Doll A Day? But I'm not a doll, I'm an... oh, never mind!"

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The Fates have been, if not entirely unkind, at least indifferent to this Hasbro GI Joe: Foreign Soldiers Collection: WWII Japanese Army Air Force Officer... or "T.J." as he his known around here.

When T.J. joined the crew back in the spring of 2018, I had both a job and a storyline in mind for him. He has worked at "the job" a few times -- as a "scale model" for the construction of diorama projects. But his storyline -- or storylines, he was going to have two, depending on which figures he was appearing with -- never really came together.

At present, T.J. and Emmy (Momoko Chocolate Cigarette Girl doll) are standing in the same positions in which I left them in October 2023 - eight months ago! Talk about a dedication to duty on their part... and a dereliction of duty on my part! How can my poor dollies be left untended for eight months at a stretch?

Even more astonishing, how can eight months have flown by so quickly? The pace at which time is passing by is becoming truly frightening.

I gotta say, though, I'm impressed that these two figures have managed to remain standing, completely unaided, no stands or supports or anything, for eight months. T.J. is even holding a box! And Emmy... she's a Momoko doll! Have you ever tried to get a Momoko to balance on its own?

[Alliecat]

Haha! That's so funny about Charming. I thought the chainsaw was part of some bizarre stock character backstory! How fun that it was something from the doll community instead.
What was the tinfoil hat for?

It is indeed horrifying how fast time is passing. I have clutter -- not even dolls -- that has sat for much longer than that and should have been dealt with. But even less is getting done now so I guess it will stay there until some sort of apocalypse.
And is that poor ol' Frank slouching in the background? Also for 8 months?

[davidd]

I have clutter -- not even dolls -- that has sat for much longer than that and should have been dealt with. ...

Then today's A Doll A Day post is for you!

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9 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

VAMPIRA'S LITERARY LOUNGE presents...

How to Lose 200 Lbs. This Weekend: It's Time to Declutter Your Life (2000) by Don Aslett

In How to Lose 200 Lbs., the Dean of Clean, Don Aslett, offers a companion volume to his original best-selling decluttering primer, Clutter's Last Stand. This book serves more as a "why to" rather than a "how to" guide; for specifics on the practical methods of de-junking, the author unabashedly refers readers to three of his previous books, Clutter's Last Stand, Clutter Free: Finally and Forever, and Not For Packrats Only.

That said, in initial pages, the author clearly eksplains that How to Lose 200 Lbs. was written "by request" in response to readers of his previous books who wanted a little bit more encouragement to get started or to keep the momentum going, and that is what he offers here: reasons to pare down one's possessions, the benefits of a tidier living space, and a few "scare tactics" to help jump-start those who have been putting off what they know they need to do.

Having read Aslett's previous three decluttering books, I highly recommend Clutter's Last Stand for being practical, inspiring, and often laugh-out-loud funny. The other two titles mentioned above are similar in style and approach. How to Lose 200 Lbs. works less well as a stand-alone guide: it offers fewer practical "how-to" tips, and it is not nearly as funny as the earlier volumes.

This local library copy is hand-signed by the author, which was a fun and unekspected discovery!

9 June - A Doll A Day 2024

[Alliecat]

Ha, I should have read that before now. Since I can't focus on reading these days, I guess it won't get read. Maybe someday, when I haul the clutter along somewhere else.
Another way to lose weight is to have neighbours (and their kids) drive you so psychotic that you can't eat properly. It takes a little longer than a weekend but also works pretty well

[davidd]

Oh, and yes, that was Frank slouching in the background... for 8 months in this particular location, and pretty much in the same corner for who knows how long at this point before that.

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10 June - A Doll A Day 2024:

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What a Piece of Junk!

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Or... pieces of junk! This setting is made out of literal garbage. Trash. Rubbish. Other than spray paint, glue, and some dollar store colored lights in the background, all the materials are dumpster-sourced.

10 June - A Doll A Day 2024