Late Night at the Sherwood Residence

Alan and Midge spend some quality time together.

Calista's Diary Entry - Growth Spurt

Dear Diary,

My clothes are tight, my shoes are too small, and people always comment about how much I've grown.  They say that I've hit a growth spurt.  I look different on the outside, but I feel the same on the inside.

I'm about the same height as Skipper now. She hasn't changed much.

Some of Skipper's friends have changed a lot though.  The twins Hadley and Isla, and her friend Taylor have all gotten so tall!

Kana and Briana Joy haven't changed much.  Kana's hair isn't purple anymore - that's the biggest change with her.

I'm a little bit taller than Bob now.  I wonder if he's noticed?  I wonder if it matters to him?  It doesn't really matter to me.  Maybe he'll hit a growth spurt of his own pretty soon.

Maybe I'm just imagining things, but I could've sworn that Kiara used to be taller.  Maybe she just seems short to me now because I'm taller?  I don't know.  She's been hanging out with the new girl Jenna a lot.  I don't know Jenna well, but she seems okay.  I heard someone say that she is cute until she opens her mouth.  I don't know what they mean by that.

Mikey has not changed a bit.  He is just as obnoxious as ever!  His nickname for me now is Medusa.  I guess he's trying to be funny about the twists that I wear in my hair.  Layla has always worn twists, so why doesn't he call her Medusa?  He was calling me Bigfoot Knight for a while.  I don't know which name I hate worse.  I keep ignoring him and hoping that he'll eventually just leave me alone.

I guess that a lot of things are changing, but a lot of things have remained the same.  I'm just glad to have my family and my friends.  I feel that with their support, I can face any changes that come my way.

Head Swap-A-Rama

Lately I've been busy swapping doll heads around.

"Oh yeah, Sasha, it's about to go down."

The photo above is of Bratz Sasha (left) and Hottiez Kiara (right) before the swap.  The photo below is of Kiara's head on Sasha's body.  Sadly, this has resulted in a doll casualty.  I have caused irreparable damage to Kiara's original body.  I like Kiara's head on Sasha's body, though.

I saw this mermaid doll in the store and thought that she was cute, and she was cheap so I bought her.  I have no use for her mermaid's body.

I thought that she would look cute with Juku Couture Kana's body.

Success!  The head fits and the skin tone is a close match.  The head is just a little loose, but holds poses well.

Opal has had her current action figure body for quite some time now, but her original body had been languishing in my bin of forgotten dolls until recently.  Well, a fellow collector sent me a Top Model Nikki head which has found a home (for now) on Opal's old body.

I purchased Making Waves Alexis (pictured below on the right) for the sole purpose of swapping her head for one more proportionate to her body, and to give one of my other dolls more articulation.  Well today is Mattel High School Musical Taylor's (pictured below on the left) lucky day.

Success!  Taylor's head fits perfectly on the Liv Alexis body, and the skin tone is a close match.  I am thrilled with this swap.

Speaking of Alexis, I rebodied Isla again from the Monster High Clawdeen body that she had been occupying to an Alexis body.  Her body now matches her twin sister Hadley's body again, and the twins are much happier now with their articulated bodies.

Todd has long envied Janet's articulated body, wishing that he could move like her.

Well, today a little boy's wish came true!

Pictured below are some of my happy head swap recipients.

Articulated Fashion Dolls Comparison

 I wanted to compare the articulation of some of my fashion dolls.  The dolls pictured below are:

Juku Couture Kana, Bratz Sasha, Super Model Bel body with Calista head, Liv Alexis body with Hadley head, Kenya body with Milan Barbie head, and one of the first wave Artsy Fashionista dolls.

They all have articulation at the elbows, wrists, and knees.  Juku Couture, Super Model, and Liv dolls have articulation at the waist.  Bratz and Fashionista dolls have articulation at the chest.  Juku Couture, Super Model, and Liv dolls have articulation at the ankles.  Bratz dolls have feet (shoes) that can move from side to side.

Juku Couture, Bratz, Super Model, and Liv dolls can stand on their own without being propped up and without the use of stands, which is important to me.  Kenya and Fashionista dolls can stand on their own in certain shoes.

Juku Couture, Super Model, and Liv dolls have feet that are similar sizes, so they can share shoes.  Super Model dolls have a slight arch in their feet, so they look good in heels as well as flats.

Bratz feet can be removed and replaced with flat or heeled feet (shoes).  Kenya and Barbie have similar feet and can share shoes.

Here they are stretching to the side.  The Fashionista doll does this the best.  The Kenya doll has no torso articulation at all.  The Super Model doll has waist articulation that looks similar to the Liv doll, but does not have the same range of motion.

 Here they are walking like an Egyptian in order to show off their elbow, wrist, and knee articulation.

Here they are doing kneeling back stretches.  The Liv dolls have double-jointed knees, so they are superior at any kneeling poses.  The articulation of the Fashionista allows her to arch her back quite a bit.

Here they are showing off their hands.  I don't really have a favorite here.  They all have decent wrist articulation.  If I had to pick a favorite, I guess I'd go with Kenya's hands.  I actually prefer the big hands of action figure females that can pick items up and hold them.

I wanted to see if any of them could sit on the floor cross-legged.  Um, none of them can, but the Super Model doll comes the closest.

 Here they are doing middle splits. The Fashionista doll does this the best.

Here they are doing front splits.  All of the dolls can do this one, with the exception of Kenya.

 

The Fashionista does the best leg lift.  Her leg will actually go all the way back.

 

So here they are seated.  The Juku Couture and Fashionista dolls can't seem to keep their legs closed when they sit.

 
So which articulated fashion dolls are your favorites?  Which ones have the best articulation?  Which ones are the most attractive?  Which ones are the most realistic?

A Very Happy Family

The Happy Family (Alan, Midge, Ryan, Grandfather, Grandmother) await the arrival of a new bundle of joy.

 

Nikki arrives.

More photos here.