MONTH IN REVIEW: February 2018

February was definitely a Charlie Bears month!

Alan was on my low-key wishlist from my stockist and I picked him up at the beginning of the month. He's a smaller bear so he wasn't as expensive as the majority of the ones I purchase. I like his round head and little on the side ears.

He's also incredibly soft!

Then I had planned on a totally different bear, but Agnes was put on Today's Special, so I got her to be shipped along with Alan.

It's harder to see in my photo, but her muzzle is actually not cut very well, because it's uneven, but the "meh" expression she's making because of it is why I wanted her.

The 2018 collection was revealed early this month and oof, I'm gonna be broke for awhile.

Tyg finally joined the other Shirt Tales, thanks to help from a member of a Facebook collector group I'm part of. He is actually available on the Hallmark site right now, but he sure wasn't for a long time.

I picked up the Dracula set for $19.99 at Tuesday Morning. Definitely a price I could justify, seeing as I only kept Dracula and those neat chairs.

I took a chance on an Austrian seller on ebay who claimed to have this set of MH Minis that never saw the light of day in the US. (And another set that I'm now kicking myself for not buying.) So now I'm the very proud owner of Electrified Cleo.

Picked up this axolotl from the Valentine's section in Walmart. Yes, really!

Tatum was a whim purchase, who's become one of my favorite bears in my collection.

I've picked up more of the rarest set of Generation Girl outfits, the ones that came out around the same time as the My Room dolls. I've had Tori's (the pink) for awhile, but recently got Ana's (left), Mari's (orange) and Lara's (right). Now I just need Barbie's!

I am forever grateful for Chinese sellers and their ability to find the most random stuff. Thanks to them, my Love and Pet bobblehead collection is finally complete with the addition of Coco (Flora's pink cat).

One of the local antique/craft places yielded a surprising find: the final Mooshka Flowerina I needed! I have the set of four at last now.

I saw this giant Uniqlo black Snoopy on Facebook ads before Christmas and ended up finally picking one up via ebay, where he was much cheaper.

He's huge and makes a nice pillow.

LOL Pets Wave 2 are out already! They're killing me with how fast these are releasing. I still need a couple more of the Confetti Pop big sisters and now I need a few more pets, too.

More bears!

Hinckley's another one that's been on my low-key want list for over a year. I finally got him on Today's Special.

While Biddles was a complete surprise, because I never thought I'd own one! He's from the 2008 collection and only 300 were made. I not only found him, but found him from a US seller and got him for a great price. He's huge and heavy and he's got the best smile.

Snagged this adorable and incredibly soft Niffler at Booksamillion.

I adopted this beautiful Locket Surprise raccoon from 1994 from Miss Leonie, a fellow collector with a collection as expansive as mine! She bought her two years ago and I saw her Flickr photo and fell in love, but didn't come across a single one in two years! So now she's joined my collection and maybe someday I'll find another character from the line.

And finally, Miss Edith. Edith is the most popular Charlie Bear I own, I think. A lot of people love her and even have two and three of her. She's quite small at only a foot tall, but she's extremely soft and loveable.

I did get a small plush from Tee Turtle today, but I've been too lazy and hadachey to take a photo, so I'll fit him in sometime later. Probably with others I end up ordering from there!

That takes care of February, minus all the reviews I've posted of course, so let's see what March brings.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

MONTH IN REVIEW: January 2018

I cranked out a lot of reviews these past two months. I was going to list them off, but that's boring. If you haven't already seen them, it's easy enough to just skim back.

I've got some stuff arriving on Monday, so I'm just tackling January here.

I'm mostly posting pics of things you haven't already seen, but I couldn't resist opening with Crabigail.

After falling for the new Hallmark Shirt Tales in December, I ordered Rick, who arrived in early January, along with the Puppy Brite my store never got in.

Rick's never been my favorite character, but all of these are so cuddly, that I love each and every one.

And Puppy Brite is actually way cuter than the vintage, which is not usually the case.

I did do a review for these 35th Anniversary ponies, but they are so incredibly awesome that they deserve another appearance.

Stella, Flora, Musa, Aisha, Bloom, Tecna

My biggest collecting accomplishment in a long time was completing Giochi Preziosi's Winx Club Eveningwear II set...after 11 years of actively collecting them. I've actually had Stella since the line debuted in late 2005 or maybe 2006, but I stupidly did not buy any of the others, so I say I've only been actively collecting since 2007, when I bought Flora and Musa. I didn't get Aisha until 10 years later and now I've finally completed my set with the arrival of Bloom and the stunning Tecna in January.

My small collection of Surprizamals. I like collecting these because I can usually peek through the holes in the ball and identify the one I want.

Lots of new bear arrivals these past couple months. I've been really into the bears again.

Poor Bampa here has not gotten a lot of attention. Sorry, Bampa!

LOL Surprise keeps churning out the new stuff a little fast for me. I've finally got most of the Confetti Pop Wave 1, but I'm sure it won't be long until we see Wave 2.

Guess who my favorite is?

More Babysitters Inc dolls, but still no luck finding the boy or my favorite, the Asian girl.

 

Together is a bear I kept meaning to import for months and then finally did, only to love him so much that I wondered why it took me so long. He's one of the few who lives on my bed, because he's that awesome. 

Another big favorite: Charlie Bears' first dragon. She's a cutie named Seraphina and she sits high on my bookshelf right inside my bedroom door, watching over everything. 

Two tall, kinda awkward Fashionistas make perfect friends. 

Funko makes adorable plush. I finally caved and got the HP gang for half off at Walgreens. I've since added Voldemort and a second Harry who's glasses I've removed and they were 75 % off! Sometimes Harry needs a hug and those giant plastic glasses are not great for hugs. 

I hope they make Luna soon.

We'll wrap up January with a giant Funko Cthulhu. This is the Booksamillion exclusive. I have the regular darker green one, too, but I seem to not have taken a photo of both. I should. 

So there's January. I'll try to be more on the ball and get February done at the end of this week. 

I need to get my butt in gear and start doing some more of my old style overview posts, too!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

TOY FAIR 2018

Welp, I hate to say it, but my regular source is so behind that I'm having no choice but to resort to Instagram.

The Bridge Direct has officially won Toy Fair.

They already did, in my opinion, with Moondancer and Glory, but now they're continuing to blow me away by releasing more repro Strawberry Shortcake items.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfUg_AaFmsJ/

Here you see Apple Dumplin', Apricot (who I may need because my childhood one lost her shoes...in my childhood) and Cherry Cuddler.

Now click to the next slide.

IT'S PEACH BLUSH!!!!

Her Party Pleaser doll, which was the line she debuted in, runs over $60, so I've never gotten one. Now I can own her for much less.

I'm crossing my fingers they do Plum Pudding next.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfWlg2DlAVX/

Flip through a few slides for the only still image of the new Season 10 Shoppies that I've seen so far. They're all really cute for once. I do love Fria and Coco, but these four blow that line of four out of the water mostly because all four are actually good.

Plus, the blue-haired lovely on the right is my beloved Jascenta. SO EXCITED she's getting a doll.

I really love the first girl on the left. She's gorgeous. So is the peach one. And even the less standout aqua one is nicely done.

So yeah, very excited for Peach Blush and definitely digging the new Shoppies.

TOY FAIR 2018

A few more things of interest have popped up today. The first is easily the best thing that could be at Toy Fair. Nothing could top this for me.

I don't usually link to Instagrams, because it's more of a personal source than professional (and because I despise Instagram), but in this case, I'll make an exception:
https://www.instagram.com/bizzarro_toys/

The Bridge Direct is continuing their repro vintage ponies with not one but two new sets! We knew about the Rainbow ponies, which are scented for some bizarre unknown reason as the originals were not, but we did not know about the unicorn and pegasi set!

Now I'm in joy overload because Moondancer and Glory (the two white unicorns for those not pony-aware) were the first two ponies I ever owned when I was little. All I wanted out of this repro series was for them to be included and they finally are!

Flip through the pics on the account to see the Rainbows and the unis and pegs.

They're all gorgeous.

Idle Hands is slooooowly uploading stuff and most of it is nothing I care about, but their Hatchimals section caught my eye:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulnomad/sets/72157691804311531
I'm loving those adorable basic plush ones, but not loving that they're blind-packed. Not everything needs to be freakin' blind.

StitchKingdom is at Toy Fair again and taking some good pics and others that frustrate me (I can see the backs of plushie heads in one photo but they never showed them from the front), so have a skim through their Tumblr.

The two that got my attention most are:
http://stitchkingdom.tumblr.com/post/170978793362/dcsuperherogirls-mini-figures-from-jakkstoys

The DCSGs minus Katana getting little toddler figures like the current Disney Princess ones. I'd be irritated about the lack of Katana, but considering how long it took Mulan to be added, I'm not surprised. Harley wins the day here, but her girlfriend Ivy is very close behind her in awesomeness.

Also:
http://stitchkingdom.tumblr.com/post/170978220472/incredibles2-violet-doll-from-jakkstoys-tfny

I want her now. I had the original Violet doll and I think she broke? I can't recall. But this one is so cute in her unusual brand of cuteness.

Hopefully, we'll get some more Idle Hands albums later.

TOY FAIR 2018

Just some tiny new things.

Hasbro's put out their presskits for this year:
http://newsroom.hasbro.com/media-library/brand-toolkits

Honestly, there's nothing there really worth looking at. The princess stuff has a couple nice pieces, but nothing groundbreaking. MLP has nothing exciting. I'm disappointed there are no new characters for Equestria Girls. Nothing new for Descendants...yet. There's a possibility we might get some good news on that soon.

Then I found two pictures here:
https://www.cnet.com/pictures/sneak-peek-of-the-toy-fair-2018/

For the Enchantimals, you can see the swan, wolf and tiger dolls that have Amazon listings with stock photos already. And you can see a new single-pack Danessa Deer with a small deer pet.

A couple new lines for DCSG. An apparent Back to School theme for Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Starfire, and a new basics line with fabric skirts. I am happy to see Katana, Frost and Ivy again, even if it is in such a basic way. I'm definitely getting that Frost and probably Katana, too, to support her. Ivy is also tempting because that shorter hair is pretty cute.

I'm not going to post someone else's photo, but on Facebook, I saw two new finds for DCSG. The two dolls seem to be in a Hero of the Month line and were found at Walmart. It's Wondy and Supergirl, surprise surprise. They're wearing tank tops and short skirts and each comes with a golden trophy.

I'm looking forward to seeing much more than two measly photos from this year's Toy Fair!

REVIEW: Lil Shoppies Cutiecorn

Finally we had some luck! My mom found Cutiecorn at TRu this morning and I'm thrilled to review her.

Not that these figures need much of a review, as they don't exactly do anything, but still.

Cutiecorn is the rare one from the Lil Shoppies/Happy Places line, like Mystabella is for the Shoppies dolls and Rainbow Sparkle is for the Shoppets. Cutiecorn seems a little easier to find though, based on her current ebay prices compared to the painful prices the others have.

I'm not sure if more of her are available or if she's less popular or something, but she's gorgeous, so I don't know why she'd be less popular. I think she's prettier than Rainbow Sparkle for sure. Maybe I'd pick Mystabella over Cutiecorn, but I'm not even sure on that. It's an "I have to see it in person" type of judgment.

Her Petkin is a pair of butt wings.

Seriously.

It's just a band that attaches to a hole on top of her butt and there are wings sprouting out of it. For added weirdness, like all the Petkins, it has a face. A face attached to the butt band of the butt wings.

It looks cool, but it sounds hilarious.

I'm not a huge sucker for pearly or rainbow or ombre things, but she combines them perfectly and that made me really want her.

And she's cute. I think I've said before that I wasn't impressed with these ponies when they came out, but I kiiiiiinda want them all now.

I didn't think I was going to give her a rider, but then this happened, and it's perfect. Jascenta is one of my very favorite Lils and she looks perfect with Cutiecorn. And I totally almost typed Perfuma instead of Jascenta. Ah, nostalgia.

I hope everyone who wants a Cutiecorn can find one!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Gorjuss On Top of the World doll

I lucked into getting this girl from an American seller! I wish they were all that easy. She cost a few bucks more than if I'd ordered her on Amazon UK, but it was well worth it to have her in 2 days instead of who knows how long.

On Top of the World is one of only two Gorjuss doll designs without bangs. The other is the new I Love You, Little Rabbit, who I will never be getting, because she's far too plain and dull. On Top of the World was one of the newest two designs before the current new pair, so perhaps we'll be seeing more girls without bangs as the line moves forward.

I did not do a photo of all her outfit pieces broken down into separates, because her apron is tied so nicely. I am all thumbs when it comes to tying bows, so I didn't want to undo it.

She wears an olive green dress with short sleeves. It's pretty plain, except for the black ruffles at the front and the white trim on the skirt. Over that is a little apron. She wears striped stockings and dark green mary janes, and carries a small bag with a bird on it.

I like this girl, because she's in green, which I love, although I prefer the color of her shoes to that of her dress.

It's also nice to have one without bangs. It's a good look.

She has very long hair. The only other doll I have with hair this long is White Rabbit, who's on the left in this photo. You can see her black hair next to On Top of the World's dark brown.

I'm thrilled to have gotten another girl from within the US! And now I only need two more to complete my collection...until more come out.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

TOY FAIR 2018

So we've got some previews of what's going to be at Toy Fair 2018 thanks to UK Toy Fair 2018, and Idle Hands once again has the best coverage.

http://www.idlehandsblog.com/2018/01/toy-fair-2018-jurassic-world-fallen.html

The new Jurassic Park movie has some neat stuff if you love dinos, including plush. I'm not a huge fan of these designs, but a couple stand out.

http://www.idlehandsblog.com/2018/01/toy-fair-2018-exclusive-images-of.html

I'm super behind on Pokemon and don't even know most of the new characters, but I know a cute plush when I see it. Highlights here for me are Mimikyu and Marshadow (never seen him before but he's cute).

http://www.idlehandsblog.com/2018/01/toy-fair-2018-jazwares-on-hotel.html

I am not a fan of Hotel Transylvania, because it follows one of my most despised stereotypes: pairing a hot goth girl with some epic doofus. I love Mavis's design, so I have a plush of her from a claw machine, and I'm definitely interested in some of these toys. I just refuse to see any more of the movies. Although the animated looks like it's a younger her, so that's better anyway. Scroll most of the way down for the three dolls, which I will need at least the middle one of, if not more.

http://www.idlehandsblog.com/2018/02/toy-fair-2018-funko-gets-animated-rick.html

Funko has WAY too many styles nowadays. But...Sailor Moon! Those are supper adorable, like the Disney Princess blind boxes they did. And you can bet two of the characters I really like, Pluto and Saturn, will be insanely hard to find. At least I should be able to get Mars. No Tuxedo Mask though? Come on!

http://www.idlehandsblog.com/2018/02/toy-fair-2018-hasbros-marvel-toy-lineup.html

The good news? More awesome female figures in Marvel Legends! The bad news? Price is jumping to $23 each. Ugggggh. The big highlight here for me is DOMINO. I adore Domino and her look in the Deadpool 2 movie is so not her. She looks more like Misty Knight and then they sexed-up her outfit while Dom typically stays more covered. I don't like that they humanized her when she's supposed to be a chalk white mutant. I've always loved her design so making her human-passing plus looking like another Marvel character is annoying. But to make up for it, they're giving me a proper comic book Domino action figure. Thank you, Legends. Other highlights: a badass Proxima Midnight, a stunning Songbird, mohawk Storm (I feel like we had her already. Did we?) and the always fab Psylocke. (Psylocke, Rogue and Domino were very early faves of mine, so I'm picky about how they're treated.)

That's it for the actual blog, but on Idle Hands' Flickr, there's much more!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/paulnomad/
Some of it is repeats from the blog, but there's also: Wreck-It Ralph and Moana plush, Pusheen, Peter Rabbit, Jim Shore, James Bond, Doctor Who, Tokidoki, Peanuts, Garfield and other Aurora plush, and a few other things.

I'm curious to see what Toy Fair brings this year, because there are definite gaps in the current playline where a new line could slip in and succeed.

REVIEW: Enchantimals Zelena Zebra, Ekaterina Elephant and Gillian Giraffe

I am so grateful to the Target employee that screwed up and put these brand new Enchantimals on CLEARANCE for $6.48!!!

I was miffed when I first was told by a friend that her Target had the $12.99 jungle Enchantimals when there was no sign of them at my store, despite getting the other new ones and getting them pretty early at that.

So these girls were one of the many reasons I trekked farther away today.

I was initially disappointed, because they were not in the Enchantimals section. But thankfully, when I go to a store I don't usually visit, I check everywhere, and bam, there was Zelena looking at me from a clearance endcap.

Love her art, by the way.

I scooped her right up, then saw another of her and 2 each of the others right behind, all marked down to $6.48. I was so happy!

Zelena is easily my favorite of the three. I'm a sucker for black and white, and she's just really pretty, too. She's my third favorite, I think, behind Crabigal (Cameo) and Sage.

Or maybe I like her better than Sage. Hmm. Not sure.

The girls in this line all come with jointed knees so they can ride their larger animal pal.

I love the flowers on these two.

And the zebra is adorable.

The animals each have a piece that goes around their neck and then the hands of the doll go into the ends of that piece, so she stays on the animal.

Zelena, however, looks a little ridiculous like this.

Thankfully, she is fully capable of balancing on her zebra on her own.

It doesn't look incredibly right, but then it doesn't look nearly as wrong as riding with her legs around its neck.

I'll do Gillian next since she has a similar piece for her giraffe.

I totally forgot Gillian existed. Poor thing.

Her art is also cute. All the Enchantimals art is cute. We've had this talk.

Gillian reminds me of both Ginny Weasley and Bloom from Winx Club. She looks like she's got a feisty side and of course there's the long flaming red hair.

She looks less silly than Zelena with her knees around the animal's neck. Probably because this giraffe has a pretty short body so otherwise Gillian's rear would be hanging off the back of the giraffe.

I struggled with Ekaterina. She did not want to ride that elephant. So take a good look at her in the box here. That's the only pic I have of her not on the elephant.

Really cute art again, but she also manages to look a bit mouse-like.

Having a much larger neck, her elephant had to have a longer piece to hang onto. Unfortunately, it still wasn't long enough! It probably took me ten minutes to arrange her into this pose, the only one I managed without her sticking her butt in the air.

She's quite pretty, which you wouldn't think would happen with those giant flappy ears. But she makes them work.

I think these are some of the best Enchantimals designs. I love all the shoes (especially Zelena's) and the colors of the outfits. There are no extraneous wraps to flop around everywhere. Love the high collars on Ekaterina and Zelena.

Zelena earned a place of honor on the coffee table with Crabigail, and the other two are hanging out with Cherish Cheetah. I can't wait to add Tanzie Tiger!

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.