Cute Shoes for Big Feet

Here are my Triad ladies showing off their Triad shoes.  The set came with low, medium, and high heeled shoes.

It's a Small World

Here are some of my mini Barbies representing countries from around the world.

Phicen vs. Phicen

I recently purchased another Phicen brown body figure.  I have previously discussed my older Phicen figure and demonstrated some of her poseability, so in this post I'm going to mainly discuss the differences between the older and the newer figure.

 Here is a close-up of the newer figure.  This is the small bust version.  She has a different headsculpt that I don't much care for (but I didn't really care much for the old one, either).  The large bust version has a different headsculpt (I did not purchase the large bust version and the photo at that link is not mine).  I do like the hair on both versions of the newer Phicens.  I will re-paint her eyes one of these days.

Here's a side-by-side comparison with the older Phicen on the left and the newer one on the right.  Overall, the newer figure looks better to me.  The old one kind of looks like a girl in a rubber suit.  The newer one looks a bit more natural.  The skin color is slightly different.  There have been refinements that I can see at the shoulders, arms, waist, and knees. There's not as much bunching of the rubber skin under the armpits on the newer figure, and it is not as much of a dust and lint magnet as the older figure.  The new one came with this bikini, which I like because the old one came naked.

 The new one looks slightly slimmer.  But don't worry, she still has her booty.  As you can see, the rubber still bunches up in certain poses.

 Here they are from the side.  The shoulders, arms, and elbows look better on the new one.  The hands and feet are exactly the same.

 And here they are seated.  My older Phicen will never sit like she used to because I broke her hip.  You may recall my previous warning that you must be careful with these, because with the rubber skin you can't see the joints, and it's fairly easy to break the figure.  Yep, that's what happened.  And it's impossible to fix unless I somehow destroy the rubber skin to get to the hip joint.  So I'm afraid to move the new one much.  I'll pose her next to my other doll at high risk for breakage and call it a day.

I'm truly thrilled that this company has come out with these dolls in a brown skin tone, and I'm glad that I have these.  But I will probably not buy another one unless they come with a skeleton that is less breakable.  What fun is it to have a poseable figure if you're afraid to pose it.

My Husband's Barbie

If any of you remember my previous stories about my husband, you may remember that he thinks that dolls should be left in boxes.  Of course, I'm the opposite.  One day (years ago), my husband came home from the flea market with a gift "for me".

He told me that he would only give her to me, though, if I would promise to keep her in the box.  I told him that I couldn't make that promise.  I told him that once he gives me a gift, it's mine to do whatever I want.  He told me fine, he would keep it for himself.  I told him that was fine with me.  So here she is, my husband's one and only Barbie doll.

Girls Explore Bessie Coleman

A few weeks ago, I purchased a Girls Explore Bessie Coleman doll.  Here she is in her box.

She comes with a biography and a pilot log.  Her box was slightly damaged, but the doll is in good shape.

And here she is out of the box.  Her arms and legs are made of soft vinyl and they bend slightly.  Her body is stuffed.

Here's a close-up.  Oh my.  I'm going to have to repaint her lips one of these days.

Here she is hanging out with Harriet Tubman, another Girls Explore doll that I purchased some years ago.  Both Bessie and Harriet are on sale on Amazon.com for $19.99 right now.

So I recently watched the movie In Time, where no one ages past the age of 25.  There was one scene where a man introduces his wife, his daughter, and his mother-in-law, and they all look the same age.  It would be like that in my dolls' world if I made families with most of them.  Well the kids all have parents, but the adults tend to not have parents (Alan and Midge are lucky) because they would look about the same age as their parents.  So I like to buy more mature looking dolls when I can.  And I've decided that Bessie is going to get redressed, and she will get to take photographs and be involved in some of the stories.  Harriet might join in one day, also.  Right now she's back in her box.

Here's Bessie redressed.  She will not stay in this outfit (Happy Family Grandma needs her clothes back).

So which one of my dolls do you think should get Bessie as a mother?  Does she resemble anyone in particular to you?

****Edited to add more photos****

So here are a few more photos to show Bessie's body and her poseability.  Here she is standing with her arms bent.  Her arms will move up and down to the front and back.  They will not stay posed out to the side.

She can sit down.

Here she's seated on the floor, with her arms out as far as I could get them, and the floor holding them in place.

Could You Lend Jinx A Hand?

Jinx has been content to spend the past few years in her "leather" outfit with boots and gloves.  Unfortunately, her outfit has begun to deteriorate.  It started with one little crack, and then in a short period of time there were cracks all over.  So I've decided to put this outfit away and only let her wear it for special occasions.

That means that Jinx needs some actual hands, since these gloves will not look good with most outfits.  Luckily, my Triad Hispanic Alpha was more than willing to lend Jinx a hand (or 2).  These are the Alpha's spare hands.