It's been too long....

I've been doing a lot of running, but not a lot of rambling over the last year, and there has not been any time to sit down and write, at least, not in depth.  Anyway, I have a wee moment now, and I thought I'd natter about my recent dolly finds!

I decided to get some fresh air recently, so, on my lunch break, I hurried myself over to the nearby thrift shop.  The thinking was that there might be an interesting doll or two in the toy section.

Well, wasn't I in for a surprise!

The first doll I laid eyes on was a 23" My Twinn.  I picked her up, thinking that she was maybe an American Girl or other similar doll, but spied the tag.  I thought I had read something about My Twinn dolls, but couldn't remember accurately, so I put her back and moved on.

Next, was a blonde Barbie with a whole bunch of clothes.  Finding clothes and shoes is rare at this store, and they looked like they were in pretty good shape.  Besides, there are five of us here who would be thrilled with the wardrobe updates and for $3.99, who could complain?  I scooped that one up.

After that (and this may not be in the right order), I found another $3.99 bag containing a naked Cinderella doll and a Mattel Belle with molded-on clothing.  I have a Belle that I'm quite happy with, but I don't have a Cinderella, and there was something about this one that jogged my memory.  What convinced me was that Cinderella had 13 points of articulation.  That bag came with me.

The next find was a couple of blonde dolls....I'm not a fan of blonde fashion dolls, mostly because that was pretty much all there were to choose from in my area when I was growing up.  There was very little diversity. I would have passed them by, but one had an unusual face - she looked like a Takara Jenny.  I assumed she was a knock off, but picked up the bag anyway and looked at the doll's back.  I saw the raised letters TAKARA on her back and did not put it back.

Next, was a bag with TinkerBell, wrapped in some kind of silvery fabric and a Liv Sophie (actually, it was a Liv Sophie from the It's My Nature line).  She had her shirt, skirt and capris from the full outfit, and her wig.  I love Liv dolls - I think they are the perfect play doll.  My hand automatically pulled the bag toward me.

The last bag was a solitary Monster High doll.  She looked like she was in fairly good shape, but hat no shoes, and her price was $7.99.  I was going to leave her, but the lowest price I have seen a new Monster High on sale for is about $15, so I grabbed her too.

I then did a quick search through the rest of the store for 1:6 scale items, but there was nothing to tempt me there (luckily), so I headed for the checkout counters....and remembered the My Twinn..  I don't collect larger dolls, nor am I really interested in American Girl type dolls, probably because most of them have limited articulation, but I really liked the eyes on this doll.  She was marked at $5.99.  I decided to get her.

So, in the 15-20 minutes I was in the store, I spent $30 for 9 dolls. A good day's work, I figured!  And I still had some time outside!

Now that I've had a little time to open the bags and examine my finds, here is what I've discovered:

The My Twinn doll is 23", and as of October 2013 (at least, this is what I've read), the parent company has decided to stop making that size doll and concentrate on 18" dolls.  Interesting!  I need to spend more time getting information on her, but I'm glad I picked her up.  And I had read about this line - the review is here.

It's a little chilly here, so I gave her a couple of warm items.

The Monster High doll is a Skull Shores Lagoona Blue.  She is missing her leg fins, shoes, wrap around skirt and drink, but she is clean and all her joints appear to be fine.  I am not a Monster High collector, but I liked the fact that her eyes bulge a little and she's got cool ears.

Liv Sophie even has her earrings!  Excellent!  Her wig is also in pretty good shape - it just needs a little combing.  TinkerBell is a Jaaks Pacific doll - marked 2010 on her back.  She has six points of articulation.  I have no idea which Tink she is, so I'll have to do some additional research.

The Takara doll came with a a Superstar era Barbie.  Barbie is a full-figured, PTR doll, marked Malaysia.  She came with a necklace, an actual chain necklace, with a blue stone.  The Takara doll, which I assumed was a Jenny, is marked Takara Japan on her back (and has 1981 stamped on the inside of her head), so I'm wondering if she is a Japanese Barbie.  Again, more research is needed!

Belle is a more recent doll, marked 2009.  She has a molded on bodice, in yellow and orange, molded on shoes and a rubbery skirt that is removable.  The skirt reminds me of Polly Pocket clothing.  My guess is that this is a basic doll made for younger children (so that they can't lose the clothes), or a doll made for water play (I have since found out that she is a Bath Beauty Belle and her outfit and/or hair will change colour in cold water).  Cinderella, on the other hand, is a Disney doll.  The reason why she looked so familiar is because of this review here (when I re-read it, I was howling with laughter all over again).  I'll obviously need to find some glass slippers and a gown for her, but, I think I can scrounge up something for her in the meantime.

That's better, although I would prefer a full length gown.

The Barbie in the bag of clothes is a more recent doll (she has a newer body, dated 1999), but has the unfortunate permanently bent left arm.  Her facial screening isn't as scary as some of the more recent dolls, but she is blonde, so she won't be staying with me.  There are, however, some really neat items in the bag of clothes, and some Bratz items that I can pass on to one of the offspring.

I will be trying to photograph all of these finds to add them to this post.  My hope is to have that done by the end of the weekend......