Casual Fridays: Big Hair Don't Care--#Hairdorables, Sk8r Noah and the Hairdorables Crew, and Crafting Creatively To Break Down the Box

Big Hair, Don't Care. Especially on a Friday.

Why yes, I haven't done a Casual Friday here since we were in the Year of the Horse. Now we're in the Year of the Dog. Well, that and the continued Year of Blind Boxing All the Toys. I've been sitting on several non-AG items for some time, wanting to Casual Friday them, but have had enough trouble just keeping up with AG releases and my own brain.

Let's make a step in the blog direction. Let's bring back Casual Fridays in a big way. A big hair way.

Since it's also Flashback Friday, let's take it way back first. Remember being a kid in the 80s and begging your parents for quarters to put into the vending machines at the front of stores, outside banks, and inside the now-dead Toys R Us? You got lured in by the shiny stuff on the front or the fact that machine said it had Spider-man, popped in your change--anywhere from a single quarter to four of them lined up back to back--turned the crank, and got a little plastic capsule with some kind of Cracker-Jack level toy.¹ You got just a sticker or a temporary tattoo, if you had bad luck. You may have lucked into a bouncy ball, or got the one you wanted if the machine specialized in those. Sometimes you got a plastic ring or necklace for kiddie swag, or a little plastic figurine. Some had the same amount of quarters you'd spent back, which was like a second chance to spend your funds. You probably never got what they showed on the front of the machine that lured you in the first place, but you still had something tiny and plastic to amuse you for a few minutes and your parents could finish paying for the groceries. It was baby's first slot machine, only you actually got something at the end. I'm sure I put way too much loose change in those as a kid and every little bitty thing I got is either trashed or hiding in a bin somewhere in my mom's stuff. My fave were the little plastic charms that were all the hype in the 80s. I had so many tiny plastic mirrors with jingle bells on them, fam. If you've ever played anything with a Japanese influence or are just a bloody nerd like me, then you've also had the same feel if you've gone after gachapon, which are capsule toys but of nicer quality.

So this blind box shit's not new in the slightest. It's just taking off at higher price points than the loose change in your mom's purse.

Nowadays, blind box, mystery open, or blind bag toys are everywhere. Some have codes that'll hint at what's inside. Most times they come in boxes that are sealed, and you have no idea what was in the box till you open it. No refunds if you get doubles, kids. Hope you've got someone to trade with. I've been known to chase down things like this. In the 80s it was C.U.T.I.E.s, the distaff counterpart to M.U.S.C.L.Es. Recently it's been Funko Mystery Mini Disney Princesses, Mini Barbies, Steven Universe figures, Tokidoki brands, and blind bag/blind box My Little Ponies back when ponies didn't piss me off. My local comic book store² has a few variations once in a while, often has a trade box if you get one and want to trade brand for brand, and I'll grab one when picking up my nerd books with the caveat that I have to like over 75% of what I'll get before I pick one out and drop funds, and I generally don't gotta try to catch em all. I also try to stop once I've reached the point where there's only a few I want to find and the chance of finds are low, then decide to hunt down those I want on eBay. eBay, where people will try to make you pay through the nose for the one that only comes one in every thirty-six boxes.

The two major lines that have been in the toy aisles at Fred Meyer and Target³ in the past couple of years taking up good space are Shopkins and L.O.L Surprise. I haven't gone for either. Shopkins don't thrill me as Things, But With Eyes, plus Bae hates anthropomorphized food. The dolls have weird expressions as well--plus by the time they came along, I had already written off the line. LOLs have been popular among my feed buddies, but the dolls have plastic clothes and hair and for me, that's a big nooooooope. LOL has expanded greatly with little sisters, pets, and other such bits. Still a noooope.

So when I heard about the Hairdorables, my interest was piqued. Hairdorables, if you either don't know or enjoy being a bridge troll and living under a rock, are chibi-style mystery package dolls released by Just Play that are made for today's go-go YouTube vlogging and camera unboxing toy kidfluencer. Basically, all those unboxing videos on the 'Tube? Just Play's trying to tap into people who do that and people who enjoy watching people open boxes on camera for your amusement. The price point of Hairdorables is noticeably higher than other brands at thirteen bucks, but the hair isn't plastic--in fact, their hair is their big selling point--and they're focused on specific characters instead of like, forty different ones on a spread sheet. Except there's a spreadsheet.

Okay, let me back up again and give you a summary of their whole shtick. The backstory goes that the Hairdorables started when main character Noah, while doing a vlog about her putting in a side braid, accidentally smushed the words "hair" and "adorable" into the word Hairdorable. The hashtag and the video went viral, she launched her own channel with her buddies, and now they get on the internet and share all their quirky traits. The Youtube channel just launched today--perfect timing--and the official Instagram is adorable. They also have a Twitter and a Facebook but really, this is an IG kind of line. 

The line launched at the start of August and the first wave, or Series One, is introducing us to the twelve characters. Right now Hairdorables are only at Target, WalDeMart, and Amazon. I saw them on the shelf during one of my 35th Anniversary MLP Runs⁴ and decided hey, if I hate them after the first one I open then I'll sell it off and consider it not my thing. This is literally how I got into Harry Potter. I should have known.

Guys. Gals. Enby pals. Hairdorables are my thing. Well, it's a thing that I like and that makes it mine.

Also on Monday, when I was not asleep but should have been, my brain went "hey, I wonder if there's a Hairdorables wiki?" One Google search later and. Um. There were two, in the sense two had parked on Wikia/Fandom, the same place that's been hosting the AG Wiki for the past ten years. But they were not up to even minimal snuff. One hadn't done anything but URL park--they literally only had the main page. And the other? There were fourteen pages, and one was a fan character. A fan character. Noooooooooooooope. Do not allow or do this when you are trying to inform, especially if you haven't even gotten good data pages up. 

So, having run a successful wiki for ten years, I decided that if you want the thing done right you gotta be the one to do it yourself. One creation, four hours of sleep, and several hours later, the Absolute Hairdorables Wiki was born. Just like the AG wiki, I run a neat ship and will not buck nonsense. I've already turned off the "add a pic to the gallery" button site wide, all the comments under articles because no one needs that, and anon editing. And when I wasn't putting my braids back in the past two days, I coded. All the characters and each of their doll pages made nearly fifty pages. And that's before I started defining things and noting anatomy and all that. You want a good wiki, you make a good wiki and you treat it right.

The first half of this post is me opening my first one, way back when on that far flung day of August 12th. At the time I hadn't figured out my aspects on my phone, so the pics are long and wide at a 16:9 Ratio. Live with it, I wasn't cropping. Then there's some blog shots of my collection so far. Finally, I'll have a craft for all those people who want to keep the backgrounds but don't want or can't deal with huge boxes in their living space.

Jump under the cut and start living your best Hairdorable Life. 

Casual Friday: Year of the Horse with Special Edition Pinkie Pie!

Happy New Years with Ponies~

Today, January 31st, is the start of the Chinese New Year. See, holidays continue~! And while I do have the pics taken for the next Magazine Monthly, I decided that it was more important to hit a holiday on the holiday, especially because it works as a casual Friday as well. So today we are celebrating the newest part of the Rainbow Frenzy Herd,¹ Chinese New Year Pinkie Pie from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. 

No lies, I have been a fan of My Little Pony since the early 80s as a very young girl, and have a multi-hundred collection spanning all generations except Generation 2, which wasn't my fave.² So when the new series came out, I was very pleased with the quality of the cartoon and the characters, and Pinkie Pie--who was one of my faves from Generation 3 and I call Pinkie for short-- became one of my new faves with her bouncy personality and fun loving party ways. No, I'm not a "brony" or "pegasister." I can't begin to rant on why bronies suck or we will never get to the nice pictures.³

The cycle of the Chinese Zodiac goes every twelve years (and with the five elements, rotates so that there's an sixty year cycle; the new cycle started in 1984). This year is the Year of the (Wood) Horse. People born in the Year of the Horse are said to be a bit like horses: animated, active and energetic, and love being in a crowd. They are quick to learn independence. and they have a straightforward and positive attitude towards life. They are known for their communication skills and are exceedingly witty.

Well, if that's not Pinkie Pie in a nutshell. I'm glad they picked her for this.

To take advantage of this year during the height of their Gen 4 popularity,  Hasbro released a special edition large sized Pinkie Pie in Chinese "wear", a Toys R Us exclusive for $25. So I jumped all over that, preordered her, and she arrived last month right before Giftmas. But I decided not to open or debut her until today. I have a way of doing things, sometimes.

Happy Chinese New Year with Pinkie Pie!

I will show other images of the Rainbow Herd on other Casual Fridays. Today is Pinkie Pie's day.

Casual Friday: Abebi Nicole "Nikki" Rhodes

Nikki can't help being gorgeous.

My birthday was on Tuesday, making me the illustrious age of thirty-three years old. And still not too old for a doll. So I decided that my Casual Friday would be on one of my prettiest, most delicate dolls, most photogenic dolls. The one who I'm extremely careful with because of how delicate and lovely she is.

Meet Nikki Rhodes. 

Casual Fridays: Rahel by Hearts 4 Hearts

Rahel from Ethiopia, another in the line of Black Dolls from Africa.

I meant to have this up several Fridays ago, but I had something come up like things do. Anyways, let's bring more of that Casual Friday goodness, and cover Rahel from the Hearts 4 Hearts line by Playmates. I have her along with Nahji, Lauryce, Mosi, Shola, and Tipi.¹ 

A few weeks back I had a guest review of Mosi and Shola from the Hearts 4 Hearts line go up on a blog I respect and follow, The Toy Box Philosopher (linked in my sidebar, like ya do). I had a lot of issues with the cultural fuck ups that Playmates made with the two. Especially Mosi's fuck awful "paint with all the colors of the stereotypes" story. A day or so after I started typing up my review for guesting, Rahel arrived--I went ahead and ordered her and her school set off Amazon. It wasn't that I hadn't seen her in stores--I had--but it still took me a while to actually get her. See, I know that doll companies are aiming for diversity and not making black dolls have straight hair perms, but at the same time I'm a little tired of the current trend of cultural lines making their Token Black Doll always be from some part of Africa and having tamed fros that aren't too scary to white people. But I digress. A few things, though, before we jump in:

1) I'm not going to cover in super detail like I did with Mosi and Shola. No need in retreading most of what I've already done. I hate the comb, fuck the bracelet, etc.
2) There, I didn't curse because TBP doesn't curse and I play nice with other people's blogs. Here I'm more likely to spice my language like I do--AKA curse a lot. I'm also likely to add things that I chose to leave out over there out of respect.

Casual Fridays: Lulu from Karito Kids

Oh little Lulu I love You-lu just the same~

I have not forgot about Casual Fridays. I have just been not doing them. Bad Neth. Time to pick things back up and then keep them up--there's so many dolls and things in my collection that I can and will be happy to take pictures of. Get to work, Neth! Let's take this back to importance with a doll I adore: Lulu of Karito Kids. Lulu--full name Lulu Rehema Kibwana--is from Nairobi, Kenya and specifically of the Kikuyu tribe. 

Karito is an Esperanto word meaning "charity"--I once studied the language for a brief time in high school but got bored with it since it wasn't as universal as it claimed. I'd like to have linked to the official Karito Kids website, but the company folded in 2011.¹ There were six major characters: along with Lulu, there was Ling from China, Pita from Mexico, Zoe from the USA, Gia from Italy, and later Piper from Australia. The dolls were sold in various toy boutiques and from the site directly for about $99, and had additional outfits as well. I'd seen some in a local toy store, but they were charging an arm and a leg at about $120. At the original time of purchase, dolls came with codes that allowed for a donation to various causes; however, the codes can't be used anymore as the site is down. The line was later liquidated through Tuesday Morning at 67% off, and nowadays on eBay and secondary markets, they can go for anywhere from 30 bucks to over $200. A doll buddy of mine had Lulu and sold her to me at a respectable cost for 40 bucks with the shipping (and included an extra made outfit for her!) and another doll buddy sent me the book and the orange socks out of the awesomeness of her self.

Let's talk more about Lulu below the cut.

Casual Fridays: Beth Cady, A Historical American Girl

Beth Cady: An American Girl!

Another Friday, another Casual Friday. So as not to swamp the blog, I'm aiming for every other Friday or so being my Casuals. This Friday, we're going to meet a girl I consider as much a part of my Historical gang as any of the others.

Meet Beth Cady: An American Girl.

Beth Cady's full name is Elizabeth Cady--or, when she grew up and got married and became all historical, Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Yes, the feminist. But I don't call her that because she's "13" around here. (By the full name. She's still very much a feminist, because woo feminism.) She was made as a limited edition collectable by Götz¹ for the state of New York in 2000, and only 5000 were made. She was gifted to me by an ex-friend (long ugly story; I don't talk about it), and I've had her since August 2006. She was the fifth member of the AGGiB², and goes by Beth Cady both to separate her from Felicity's Elizabeth and because Beth Cady is a damn adorable name.

More details about her below the cut.

Casual Fridays: R.U.B.Y. and Sapphire

R.U.B.Y. and Sapphire.

While AG dolls are a big part of my doll collecting--and the major focus of this blog--I collect more than them as a doll collector. I collect a lot of dolls. One of my favorite types of dolls are Asian styled ball jointed dolls, which allow for unique customizations and personalization. I'm not going into the definitions of ball jointed dolls--hereafter called BJD--because there's tons of definitions. For my collecting purposes, if they have jointed limbs (cord-strung or otherwise), can be customized extensively, and are most likely from Asian countries, they're a BJD.

I only have a few--mostly because a lot of them, after a certain point, cost out the nose. That and I'm a brown doll fan and a lot of them aren't brown. I tend to like the smaller, portable ones. For example, Hujoo dolls.

These are my two completed Hujoo, R.U.B.Y. and Sapphire. Hujoo dolls are a Korean small BJD that range in height; these two are only about 10 inches tall at 24 CM. They're made of ABS plastic, not resin, so it makes them hella cheaper than resin ones. R.U.B.Y (which stands for Robotic Ultimate Beauty Youth--anime all over this) was purchased all customized like she was. I got Sapphire from Junky Spot, which is awesome in that they keep their stuff in stock so what they have on the site can ship ASAP. And yes, that's a Pokémon thing I've got going, with those two.

Naked dolls under the cut. You've been warned.