BEST OF 2021

I did this last year, so here we are again. I'm going to list off my favorites of 2021 by going month by month. I'll pick one doll and one Charlie Bear from each month as a favorite. 

Though I will also totally cheat and sometimes have multiples. 

So in January, I got my first FailFix. I had to have Pretty Artee and quickly got the others after seeing how nicely-done they are. Artee is my fave though!

 

Logan is a pretty easy pick for favorite bear of January. He was one of my most wanted from 2020's releases, but his US release got really delayed. I ended up importing this one from Australia and then got another from the US when he finally got here.   

I got Little Foxes from the Gorjuss line in February after wanting her for eons. I had to feature her as favorite. 

Likewise, Atiqah was an older bear I skipped and then regretted. She's my pick for February's bear. 

The queen of Cave Club was an easy pick for March. I adore Lumina. I actually have THREE of her. One is in the regular box where you can see the doll and one is deboxed. Then the third was the deluxe from Amazon and I have her box on display, while she's deboxed and wearing the special hair extension. 

Honorable mentions to Ofelia Ostrich from Enchantimals and LOL OMG Spicy Babe. 

Nimbus is another older bear that wasn't 100% on my radar, but I tossed in a bid and ended up winning him on ebay. He's so soft and cuddly and wonderful. Definitely one of the unexpected faves of the year.

Aja was my first new Integrity Jem doll in ages. This is how she should have looked all along. And she's wearing my favorite of the Holograms' fashions! Easy choice for April. 

Moon is another 2020 bear like Logan that got really delayed. 

Only she is STILL delayed. She still has not released in the US and the only reason I have her is because someone sold her on ebay. 

She's a wonderful hairy floppy little bear. 

American Girl's 35th Anniversary dolls were wonderful! I had to have Felicity. I used to have the Mattel version but stupidly sold her a long time ago. Lissie is one of my faves and this time she's not going anywhere. 

So here's Lissie, my fave doll pick from May. 

This is my first cheat of the year. I'm picking two bears for May. Ebenezer is one of those rare instances where I fall in love with a bear but I need that EXACT bear. Other Ebenezers were not good enough. He took his time getting here from the UK, but he was well worth the wait. 

Also for May, we've got the goofy adorable Foster. He was a 2020 Secret Collection that I ended up importing. He actually only just made it to the US last week. He's such a character. I love him. 

June's doll is the special edition Cozy Vacation Kayla from the Ruby Red Fashion Friends line. Her entire gorgeous color scheme reminds me of Mosi, my favorite Hearts for Hearts Girls doll. 

And here is June's bear: Neil. The slow bear delivery for this year made for excellent opportunities to get some older ones. I wanted Elijah more than Neil but ended up preferring Neil once I got both. 

May got two bears and July is getting three dolls. I cannot choose only one!

First is Ruby Red Fashion Friends Fernanda. I stupidly did not order her when she came out, but I lucked into getting one on ebay right before her price skyrocketed. She and Elinda are my very favorite RRFFs. 

Then we've got LOL OMG Moonlight BB. The only OMG so good I had to have two. She's such perfection that I've become ultra picky on which OMGs make their way onto my shelves because none of them are as awesome as she is. 

And finally, B-Kind Nora. I love the B-Kind line and Nora is easily my favorite of the five. I need to get another one of her one of these days. 

July's bear is an easy choice: SID! 

Sid is an older bear by an artist that only did a handful of CBs. I've wanted him and Paul for ages and finally tracked a lovely Sid down. He's basically brand new, even though he's quite a few years old. I love him!

August's doll is Coralia, the last of the Giochi Preziosi Winx Club mermaids I needed. I never thought I'd find her! I would love to have all of these from mint in box condition. I only have one of the six (Amarea) that way. Coralia is my favorite of the six mermaids. 

August's bear is not a bear at all but a wombat. This is Darwin! He's part of CB's Bearhouse line, the ones without joints. That's where they do their more unique animals. 

Darwin managed to overshadow every other CB this year. He's my current favorite. He's adorable and soft and cuddly. What a face. 

September's doll has to be the incomparable Emi Vanda, my favorite RH doll. 

Someone put theirs in BEGoth boots and I may have to try that. 

I need to buy another of her to keep in her stock outfit and stand on the shelf with the other Series 3 girls. 

Snickerdoodle is the bear for September. He wasn't on my pre-order list, but I wanted one after seeing owner pics. Sometimes it's like that. He's such lovely colors. 

Very appropriate that the October doll is the lovely Elinda from Ruby Red Fashion Friends. Gah, I love her! She and Fernanda are like peak RRFF. I'm going to be really picky on these going forward because probably nothing is going to top those two. 

October's CB is the adorable Perky, who I was super lucky to win from the member draw! I still can't believe it. 

November's doll has to be Greta Gremlin, the only Skullector MH I had to have an extra to debox. 

Sweet-faced Rheya is my pick for November's bear. I was again lucky to be chosen for her, though this time it was to purchase, not completely free like Perky was. 

Gotta be Looks #8 for my December pick. You know why. 

I'm also adding Nebulous Stars Marinia because I can! (I held this post from last night in case I wanted to add her or Petulia.)

And finally, Taffy is December's bear. I'm really glad I imported this little guy because he's ridiculously popular. I love the design and I'm so happy mine has that black line around the reddish-brown eye. Very few of them have that and I love it. 

Here's to another year of collecting! 

REVIEW: Nebulous Stars Petulia & Marinia

 

I'm so happy the Nebulous Stars dolls are now on Amazon! It was a total pain to get someone in Canada to ship Nebulia to me. Amazon has all three for $49.99 each. I've seen each one with a coupon, too. I'm hoping they do well enough that we keep getting more in this line. I really want them to get to Eclipsia and Hazelia!

So here we have Petulia on the left and Marinia on the right. 

The art for Nebulous Stars is mind-blowingly gorgeous. 

If I had the space, I would keep these boxes, but sadly no room.

So here is Petulia.

She wears a dress with a skirt of multiple layers of petals over leggings. 

 

They used a partial updo and a bit of gel to approximate her flower-like hairstyle. 

I love the makeup on these girls. (The shiny bit is some gel I need to clean off.)

Another angle on the makeup. 

The dress. 

Accessory-wise, she has a necklace, two arm pieces and that little plastic detail on her dress. 

The leggings. 

She's the only one to have sneakers. Nebulia and Marinia have flats. 

One more makeup angle. I love the petal details!

Her pamphlet folds out to have a lot of different language options, which is really cool. 

She also came with a little booklet of Nebulous Stars products, which is the same one Nebulia came with. 

And here's Marinia!

Man, is she gorgeous. I didn't think she'd be my fave, but she is. 

I keep pushing her hair away from her face. The tiara moves it in front of her eyes more than I like, but I'm not detaching the tiara from her head. 

Trying to show more detail on the makeup. It's so gorgeous. 

Her dress is the only thing I'm disappointed in. The fit is pretty bad at the top. 

I moved the velcro to be as tight as it can and still be attached, but it's still not a good fit. Oh, well. She's so gorgeous, she can pull off a too big top. 

Marinia's accessories are the tiara, two bracelet pieces, and the plastic detail on her dress.

Her shoes are like Nebulia's. The part that goes up her calf is completely separate and I'm leaving the plastic bands on to hold them down. 

Here are her pamphlets. 

And the other girls' feet. 

All three together! Nebulia is definitely still the most striking. It's the eyes. She also has the best detail level in her outfit, even though I prefer the design of the other two. 

Petulia and Nebulia have slightly similar eyes, but having the darker bit at the top really helps Petulia look less odd. 

Marinia has the big starey eyes, too, but it's much less evident. 

She's so beautiful! 

One final pic. Again, SO HAPPY to see this line continue and that they're now accessible to American fans. (I wish they'd get the plush on Amazon, too.) I'm hoping these do well. They're still on the outlier side honestly. They're an odd size at 15" and they're not articulated so the adult collector snobs would stick their noses up at that. They're a bit pricey, too. But also, there's nothing else like them out there. I'm hoping that's what helped them get these new two girls produced and that it can keep going enough to get all the girls made. 

PHOTO CREDITS: Mine.