Tonner Toys Little Miss Matched PROTOTYPES! (Part 1)

Got a 2-part look at some exciting prototype dolls! I have four of them total, but one's hair is drying, so I figured I'd do two and another two once her hair is done. It was a mess and needed serious conditioning.

So I have an ebay saved search for the Little Miss Matched line, because up until quite recently I was looking for the Artsy doll. I didn't delete the search after I found her, in case any cheap fashion packs popped up, and boy, I'm glad I kept it!

I knew right away when I saw these auctions that there was something special here. I didn't even see the mock-up boxed doll in this photo to the left right away, just three lots of multiple dolls, but four of those dolls had hair colors that were not used in the actual line.

I ended up winning three of the four auctions I bid on. The one I lost had two early prototypes of this lovely redhead and early versions of her outfit.

I was very surprised that I won the mock-up boxed doll. I honestly thought she'd sell for the most, because it's likely she's the most complete prototype of all the ones shown. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the outfit she would have come in or something quite close to it.

I did take her out of the box. It's only a mock-up after all and I could easily put her back in it, since she was just held down with twist ties and a couple rubber bands.

Now if you know the LMM line, the dolls don't have names but themes: Sporty, Rocker, Artsy and Uptown. This one obviously would have been a dancer.

Her hair is much shorter than any of the other curls. Even if I took it down and brushed it, it wouldn't be very long.

She's a natural redhead as opposed to the Uptown doll, which has much brighter red hair. Her eyes are also different, as Uptown has bright green eyes and this girl's are turquoise. Their side glances also go in opposite directions, so there's no mistaking this girl for Uptown!

She wears blue pants with legwarmers, a "tutu" in a stiff white material, a star-printed white shirt over a leotard, and gray sneakers. She comes with a dance bag and a brush. There's also a headband buried in her red curls.

And there's the cute leotard. I love the thumbholes!

I had trouble coming up with a name for her, so right now she's Claire (like Molly Ringwald in Breakfast Club), but that may change.

Ah, now this girl. This was the girl I was determined to have. And apparently, other people agreed with me, because the lot with her in it went for the highest price.

Hers was the auction that caught my eye in the ebay email. I knew right away that black hair was not right! Not on a released doll, I mean.

The seller had two of this character. The other one was dressed in some clothes that came from other dolls (including the gray sneakers from the red-haired dancer!) and she's the one whose hair needed work, so you'll see her later.

She has black hair and green eyes, though her eyes are a different green than Uptown's. They're more an olive green, where Uptown's are bright.

Part of her hair is pulled back and secured by a plastic band and then that part is also secured into her main ponytail. I believe this would have been her stock hairstyle. The doll with rough hair even had a plastic band partially buried in it that would have been from the front part.

Her outfit is a long-sleeved striped shirt with two different-colored sleeves, a short denim jacket, a black skirt with striped side panels, striped socks and green boots.

The only piece of this outfit that comes from a produced doll is the pair of striped socks. That same print was the extra sock that came with Uptown. I can't find any of these other pieces anywhere. The green boots do look like Kimani's from the Prettie Girls line, but hers were yellow and did not have mismatched laces.

The boots are the only piece that's a little rough. They're a very soft rubber and a bit sticky, so I have a feeling I'll be washing dust off them periodically.

I named this doll Lyanna after Lyanna Mormont on Game of Thrones. I absolutely adore her and I'm so thrilled to have her in my collection!

I'll be back later with photos of the other two prototypes. I'm also trying to hunt down information on these girls. Maybe somebody knows what they would have been called. Lyanna's outfit doesn't tell us anything about her theme. What would it have been?

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine!

REVIEW: Azone Majokko Aika Little Witch of Flame

It's been a busy morning, so only time for a quick review, but you guys know the basics of Azone dolls if you've seen my last review for Miu and the pics of Lien in Flickr.

Aika arrived from Japan today and she's stunning!

Naturally, after I imported both Miu and Aika, someone in the US is selling them for super cheap on ebay. Go look if you like these girls. I doubt you'll ever see a cheaper price!

Here she is right out of the box. I didn't undo her clothes, but there are several layers, as is typical for Azone.

I adore those boots!

And the separate bell sleeves are a nice touch.

She's so pretty! I think she might actually be the prettiest of the 3.

Showing off her wand.

Her hat is on a plastic headband so it sits perfectly and securely. The chain was a separate piece that I looped over the hat.

The wand is gorgeous, but the bat falls out really easily. I actually put a dab of super glue on it after these photos and now it's firmly affixed. I can't lose the bat!

One more shot with a little better background. She's so gorgeous.

I did take some shots of all 3 girls on their display space, but I didn't like how they came out, so that will be a project for later and I'll add the photos to Flickr.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: Bananas

Bananas Series...er, Bunch...2 has just come out and I've been buying a lot of them, so I thought it would be fun to have a look at these, as well as my smaller collection of Bunch 1.

Bananas are made by a company called Cepia. They're sold in packages of 3. They might also be sold separately, but I've never seen them in anything other than the 3-packs. They cost $9.99 each, although they're often on sale on Amazon and Target.com.

They're plastic bananas that smell like banana taffy, according to my mom, and they contain your typical blind-packed toy items.

This is Jamie Jellyfish from Bunch 1. Here you can see most of the bits and pieces. Each banana contains 1 Crushie figure (I don't know why they needed the cutesy name), 2 smaller figures that are basically combinations of food and bugs, one character sticker, one sheet of rhinestone stickers (not pictured), and one stand. One of the three bananas will also have a copy of the checklist inside.

There are the rhinestones. I typically throw these away, but this one snuck into my storage bag so here it is.

And here are the stands put together and one of the small foodbugs.

I stupidly did not try to put the stands together until tonight and therefore didn't realize how easy these are to display until tonight.

So they're all in my closet now.

Let's pause a moment to admire my purse rack. That is a handmade vintage coat rack clearly from the 80s because not only is it Rainbow Brite, but the name on it is Lori. I think most of us Loris are 70s and 80s kids. I found that on ebay and had to have it.

Anyway.

Before we get into the individual characters, here's an example of the stickers.

The same art is used on the checklists and website. It does not always accurately portray the toy. The colors can be a bit off. Like the lion and slug from Bunch 2 look more orange in their art, but the toys are yellow.

Here are some of the foodbugs. I don't have all my collection out. There's one little baggie of stuff that I think is in one of my as yet still not unpacked bags that I brought over from the other apartment. But these are most of them, as I've bought a lot of Bananas recently and I think I only had 6 before.

The Crushies are small enough, but the foodbugs are super tiny!

Each one is a different food. Most are fruit, but there are also doughnuts, tacos, ice cream cones, and slices of pie.

The accessories are completely random, except for the character sticker. The stands can be different colors for doubles of the same character, and so can the foodbugs. Totally random. And there are no differences between Bunch 1 and Bunch 2 that I've noticed.

So let's get into the characters. There are 3 types: common, rare and ultra rare. Both bunches so far have 1 ultra rare, 4 rare and 19 common characters. I have no idea how rare the ultra rares are. I've never opened any. I have managed to get 4 different rares though. (And one double.)

Andrew Monkey and Pipo Panda are two of the rare characters from Bunch 1. The checklist will tell you who each one's BFF is and there's a personality blurb on the website profile for each character, too. One different thing about Bananas is that they constantly tease new characters. Andrew Monkey's BFF is Marci Mouse, who is neither in Bunch 1 nor Bunch 2. She's one of the Lemon & Lime series. And while she mentions Andrew Monkey and Gail Giraffe in her personality blurb, she lists her BFF as Poki Sloth. Sometimes the BFFs match, but not always. Pipo's BFF is Terence Turtle, who's in Bunch 1 and who lists Pipo as his BFF in return.

Here are Poki Sloth and Lacy Lizard.

There are also errors between the website and the checklists. Poki's BFF on the checklist is Blu Otter, but on the website, it's Marci Mouse. All the BFF stuff is just random fun, not well thought out by the company it seems.

Pia Pig and Jamie Jellyfish.

Jamie's my 2nd fave from Bunch 1.

Ofia Owl and Pop Unicorn. These two are a bit unusual for me, because you'd think I'd prefer the blue owl, but I actually really like the link unicorn. Maybe because she's got closed eyes.

Mildred Cow and Robbie Rooster. Robbie is my #1 fave from Bunch 1. Mildred's #3. My grandmother's name was Mildred and I think she'd like this little toy.

I spotted Bunch 2 at Target last week and bought all 4 sets. Then I've gotten 4 more over the past 2 days. I was doing quite well until today, when the 6 I opened were 5 doubles and 1 new.

My 6 from yesterday were great though. I opened both these rares! Bubba Bigfoot and Bobert (really?) Bunny.

Priscilla Puppy is one of my unexpected favorites. She's just really cute for some reason.

And Onno Otter you'd think I would like more. Maybe it's because I have 3 of him that he's less of a fave.

Hope Hamster was my only new one from tonight's pack. And Renee Rhinoceros is very cute.

There are only a few animals that repeat in both bunches. Hamsters and rhinos are two of them. (The others are unicorns, spiders, cats and owls.)

Bunch 2 definitely went outside the box. The most unusual animal in Bunch 1 was the jellyfish, but Bunch 2 has several odd ones, like Bubba Bigfoot from up above. Another is Snappy Venus Flytrap! I love this thing. It's so cute. And Sammy Slug. Who knew a slug toy could be that adorable?

Lewis Lion is made more interesting because he's laughing, and Pistachio Unicorn is really pretty. Prettier than Pop Unicorn from Bunch 1, although she doesn't have Pop's cute face. 

Ducky Platypus is a bit of a disappointment, because from the front, he looks kind of like a bird. You don't figure platypus until you see his tail in the back. 

And then my favorite: Cindy Lou Cthulhu. Points to whoever added Cthulhu to a cutesy toyline and more points to whoever designed her to have that sleepy face and the most points to whoever named her. I love this tiny toy so much.

Miss Alisah Spider must be Crushies royalty or something, because she's the only one to be Miss anything. Ariana Spider from Bunch 1 isn't a Miss! I love Alisah though. She's adorable with great colors. 

Zerba Zebra makes me want to smack whoever named him, but his colors are lovely. There are actually 3 characters in Bunch 2 with this same mold. The other two are ponies: 1 rare in orange and the other common in red.

Celyse Cat was the first one I opened and then she made a pest of herself. I have FOUR. 

And Ura Deer has a punny name, but at least it's a cute pun. 

I definitely plan on buying more of these. Bunch 2 has an AXOLOTL character. I need that one! And the ultra rare is a darling alien. The others I'm missing are the rare moose and pony, and the common owl, canine (why not dog?), pony and crocodile. So only 8 more to go for Bunch 2. Bunch 1 I need 14 more, but I like less of them. I want the spider, goat, chameleon and elephant, but not as much as I want the alien and axolotl from Bunch 2. 

If anyone decides to get into Bananas, I do have all these extras here to the right. I'd be very happy to trade for ones I don't have!

PHOTO CREDITS: All mine except the first photo, which is from the Bananas website.

REVIEW: Azone Majokko Miu Little Witch of Water

I got my first Azone PureNeemo a little over 3 years ago. It was April 2, 2016. I always wanted to get more, but I never did until now!

I didn't do a full review for Little Witch of the Moon Lien here, so here's a link to my Azone Flickr album where you can see her:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/venivididolli/albums/72157666147913150

There are lots of photos of the body, different hands, etc. that I didn't do today with Miu.

The Little Witches are my favorite Azone line by far. I love the dark outfits and lovely hair colors. With burgundy-haired Lien being my first, I wanted my second to be different, which is why I held out for Miu instead of Aika, the red-haired flame witch.

I bought Miu a few days ago on ebay and she arrived today. You'll have to forgive my crappy review pictures, because my toy room is a mess and I have no good place to take photos. We brought over everything from our expensive storage unit so we don't have to pay for that anymore, and now I can gradually get everything set up in my spaces, but for the moment, things are everywhere! So Miu's posed in front of a packing box.

Miu has very dark blue hair and purple eyes.

Her expression is a bit more typical Japanese doll than Lien's is.

Her outfit is in multiple parts. The jacket has a hook and string loop closure in two places in the front.

Underneath that is her blouse. The ribbon is a separate piece.

Then the heavy ruffled black skirt.

Under the skirt is a stiff black mesh petticoat.

The striped leggings are full leggings and not thigh-highs.

She's got a little pair of black undies under those.

And of course, the boots.

I'm not sure how this wand signifies water. It's got a blue bit? Who knows? But it's pretty. Minus the cross part, but darker Japanese fashion seems to love crosses.

It fits very loosely in her hand, but it's easy to pose for photographs and make it look like she's holding it better than she really is.

The hat is a nice tight fit. It's not going anywhere, unlike Lemieux's frequently wandering nurse cap.

Lien is pleased to not be alone anymore. She was getting annoyed at all the small newbies and no one else of her size.

She'll be extra happy when she learns Aika is also coming!

Yeah, I'll be pretty much buying these and Charlie Bears for a while. I need to catch up on bears before ordering a fourth girl, but soonish.

A couple more shots of Miu with a prettier background.

These girls are expensive, but you can see where the money goes. They're incredibly detailed for their size.

A long time coming, but Miu was worth the wait! Hopefully, I'll be reviewing Aika for you soon. She's not shipped yet, but I only just bought her yesterday.

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.

REVIEW: My Little Pony Classic Confetti and Trickles

More Rainbow ponies from the second set!

I got so many email notifications for these two, but it took me eons to finally catch them actually in stock.

Confetti's mane is a little wild.

And here's Trickles with her watering can symbol.

Their other sides.

And stickers!

Hopefully I'll track down Pinwheel and Starflower soon. (Are they even out yet?)

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.