Ty Girlz clothes on Moxie Teenz

The Moxie Teenz are among my favorite playline dolls but their clothing options are limited due to their oddball 14" height. The line was cancelled after three years so they didn't have a chance to build up a large wardrobe. 

MGA released three waves of MT dolls, several wigs and accessory sets, and some fashion packs. How many outfits? I can't find a good source for detailed information about these dolls, apparently they weren't popular enough (please post a comment if you know of a website that shows all the available fashion packs). All I know is that my local TRU has had the same three MT outfits on sale for well over a year, but Google Images indicates there were some MT fashions released earlier that I didn't see in person.

This is how I display my Teenz:

My collection has all four dolls in the 1st wave (plus an extra Arizona from a thrift shop), no dolls from the 2nd wave, and two new dolls introduced in wave 3 (Gavin the boy and Leigh the redhead). Wave 3 dolls have rooted hair, don't buy them if you want to play with the MT wigs.

You can see how tall the 14" Teenz look compared to a Monster High doll on the far left and a Liv doll on the far right. Liv dolls make good little sisters to the Teenz, despite being manufactured by a different company. Both lines feature wigs, big heads, inset eyes, and articulated bodies.

Ty Girlz, the clothing donors

A sample of some of the Ty Girlz produced before their cancellation in 2012

You might think the Ty Girlz look kinda cute in this photo, but the dolls are so much worse in person. I don't mean to insult anyone who likes them, they're just not my taste at all.

Ty Girlz clothing is far from a guaranteed perfect fit on Moxie Teenz dolls. I think most of the TG pants are too small, but I haven't been able to try all of the styles available. Stick to skirts to be safe. If pants fit over the thighs they'll look like capris or clam diggers. Sleeves look short on the longer MT arms, but they can be rolled up to the elbow or left alone for a 3/4 length sleeve. Some shirts reveal the belly, which isn't always a bad look, especially on dolls with a flat stomach.

thrift store score

I've found several Ty Girlz at thrift shops, plus the one carded outfit shown above. At the usual $2 or $3 thrift price I don't mind picking up a doll just for her outfit, especially if it'll help the Teenz expand their wardrobe. (I'm not sure what their retail price was but the Ty Girlz are discontinued so it no longer matters, and I never saw them in regular stores anyway.) I don't buy every Ty doll I see because some of the clothes are boring or they don't look like they'd be a good fit for the Teenz.

Three Ty Girlz outfits on Moxie Teenz (shoes are MT). 

The Paris shirt seems appropriate for a doll named Bijou

The skirts look short, but compare them to this official Moxie Teenz skirt shown on the right (below):

Ty Girlz skirt on left, Moxie Teenz skirt on right

Above: the two Arizonas, both first wave but their lips are different shades of pink. After this photo I swapped their wigs, the casual straight style looked better with a more casual outfit. 

I also decided there were too many short skirts in the MT lineup on my shelf, so preppie Arizona is now wearing Bijou's original skinny jeans. I like this look even better:

Here's another Ty Girlz outfit modelled on Moxie Teen Leigh. As you can see, the jeans look like clam diggers:

Wanna go clamming?

TG jeans have velcro sides to ease in redressing the stuffed fabric bodies. This feature also helps slide the tight jeans over plastic MT thighs, but it was still quite a struggle putting the jeans on Leigh. The sides don't close completely on MT legs, so it's not a good fit. It looks OK from the front but I don't recommend you buy a TG outfit with jeans for your MT dolls, unless you really love the shirt. TG pants made from stretchier fabric would likely fit fine around MT thighs, but they'd still be short.

Most of the Ty shirts have Velcro down the back but this preppie shirt made things a little more difficult:

There's no opening in the front or back. I almost gave up and cut it down the back, I thought her arms were going to break! In hindsight I should've tried to put the shirt on starting at her feet, it looks like the neck opening would stretch over her hips.

Bottom line: It's worth taking a second look at Ty dolls in thrift shops if your Teenz need more clothes. Keep the limitations in mind (avoid pants and accept the sleeves will look 3/4 length if you don't roll them up) and you probably won't regret buying a Ty Girl for her clothes, especially at cheap thrift store prices.

$30 is still a lot of money for a toy, right?

Yesterday I received an unexpected bonus so I decided to spend some of it on a new doll. First stop was TRU with quite a selection of dolls, the shelves haven't look this good in ages. They had all six dolls from 13 Wishes, the Werecat two pack (remember when that was HTF), the new Scaris two pack, most of the other Scaris dolls (including Rochelle Goyle, HTF around here), all three new Music Festival dolls, Picture Day Abbey, and Spectra from Ghouls Night Out (plus more dolls from last year's lines like the roller derby ghouls, etc).

This was the first time I saw Ghouls Night Out in person, so I almost bought GNO Spectra because her face paint looked great and I still don't have a Spectra.

Side note: I've passed over at least twenty Picture Day Spectras since they were released due to BAD face paint or unfortunate rooting at the hairline. Maybe an eyebrow was smeared, the lips were slightly fuzzy, or there were stray marks that may or may not be easily removed. Listen Mattel, I will not spend $20+ on a doll with wonky paint on their faces. I don't care if you can't see the flaws from a few feet way, there are flaws! That's something I expect on a doll at the dollar store. This has been a problem with MH dolls since I started collecting them. I don't remember consistently bad face paint on playline Barbies when I scrutinized them for my collection 10-15 years ago. Anyway... that was a pre-rant before my main rant. :)

I had GNO Spectra in my hands ($22) but then spotted Ghoulia with her scooter for $30 and quickly decided the scooter was worth another $8.

Apologies for using a promo photo, my camera batteries are dead and it's 2 AM

I've been wanting this Ghoulia since she was released last year but $30 is a lot for me to drop on one doll, even if she does have a kick ass scooter -- and those boots, drool. The bonus money made it easier though, GNO Spectra went back on the shelf.

Before I left the store I got a good look at the 13 Wishes dolls. Notice the two different prices.

WHY? What makes the three "Haunt the Casbah" dolls worth $30?

Compare 13 Wishes Clawdeen and 13 Wishes Howleen:

13 Wishes Clawdeen ($30)

13 Wishes Howleen ($22)

Click on these two pics to make them a lot larger.  

What's going on here? Clawdeen's small lamp isn't all that special, it's plastic and doesn't light up. Clawdeen's skirt has multiple layers, I'll give Mattel credit for a fancy skirt (which isn't exactly a skirt, maybe it's called a wrap or whatever, I don't know these things). Howleen has a hat, a hedgehog pet, a bag, tights (!), awesome boots, a jacket, and a journal. I wish more fashion dolls came with tights. Clawdeen has a layered skirt and a lamp. In my opinion Howleen wins this one, no question.

Now consider Ghoulia with her scooter. TRU has the scooter without a doll priced at $20.

 

For another $10 you can get the same scooter with a doll:

Why is a doll w/ vehicle the same price as a 13 Wishes Casbah doll? This seems ridiculous to me, but Mattel will sell thousands of Casbah dolls at $30 just because Monster High is so popular. It's a playline doll, not a collectible!

As I sit here I wonder if Ghoulia and her scooter cost more when they were new at TRU. That's possible, but it doesn't change my opinion that the 13 Wishes Casbah dolls are overpriced.

By the way, I checked the 13 Wishes prices on Walmart's website and they are identical to TRU.

I love Ghoulia and her awesome scooter, this set was even better than I expected. :) I think spending the same amount of money on a 13 Wishes doll would've left me feeling ripped off. Now I feel like a granny who complains that candy back in the day cost a penny -- or a nickel for the good stuff.

Good thing we can vote with our wallets! In the end, these are just toys, and there's nothing in the toy aisle we need to be happy.

Dreamhouse Midge

What happened?!

1) The local Value Village is gone. It was my main source for thrifted dolls, they always had more dolls at better prices than Goodwill and St. Vincent de Paul. I will miss that place! Fortunately there are two Goodwills a few miles from home so I'm not in a thrifty wasteland, but things won't be the same without Value Village too.

2) Goodwill is still charging $3 for most dolls so I'm being very picky about what I buy there.

3) I'm going through an overwhelmed with stuff phase.

These three factors have contributed to the lack of updates. Thrift purchases are down and I haven't found much that's both new and exciting. Until I saw the new Midge.

Dreamhouse Midge

Dreamhouse Midge is wearing a Mattel Fashion Ave dress (2002)

Mattel has a new Dreamhouse line, featuring Barbie and friends. Check out the entire line here on Barbie Collector.

Back of the box. Barbie and her friends as cartoons (videos on the Dreamhouse site)

I think of them as a tamer version of the Generation Girls (1999) for a new crop of children. If you weren't around playline Barbie from the '90s and early 2000s, it might help to know some of them featured tattoos, ears with multiple piercings, and nose rings. Even Ken had an earring in 1993 -- so magical! This freaked out some parents so various dolls were recalled, there was media controversy (aka free advertising for Mattel), blah blah blah. It seems Mattel's itch to push the envelope (in an effort to appeal to tweens and teens who think "Barbie is for babies") has been satisfied with Monster High.

When did I last buy a new Mattel doll that wasn't branded Monster High? I'm not sure but it's been a long time. As soon as I saw this Dreamhouse Midge in a promo photo I knew I'd need her right away.

2013 Dreamhouse Midge -- Mattel promo photo

She was waiting for me at Target yesterday and I squealed on the inside like a little girl. I love Midge, and this doll with her Steffie face mold is simply beautiful. She has an articulated body, rooted eyelashes, and she comes with two outfits, one boring plastic bag, one pair of basic-but-cute shoes, and bad plastic jewelry. Not bad for $17. I will be over the moon when this line starts showing up at Goodwill, their articulated bodies are definitely worth $3!

Her first outfit looks a little strange to me, it's the opposite of matchy-matchy. Pink, dark blue, sparkly red? Polka dots and roses? Hmm, OK. The second outfit isn't much better but honestly I would've paid the asking price of $17 for this Midge in a swimsuit. I like her that much.

I immediately removed the necklace because it's gold plastic and awful.
The earrings will need to be cut off.

Her 2nd outfit is sweet and simple, with raw edges on the sleeves (cheap!)

Torso articulation! She holds all poses perfectly.

Much better. I miss the Fashion Ave line.
It was hit and miss, but oh! the hits!

Back of the box detail. Notice Barbie with a grayed-out vintage Midge? Cute!

Dreamhouse Midge meets vintage Midge. These dolls were manufactured ~50 years apart!
Where will Barbie and Midge be in another 50 years?

Vintage Midge is wearing Dreamhouse Midge's second outfit

I found vintage Midge at a Seattle doll show in 2001. Dreamhouse Midge's dress looks like it belongs on a vintage doll, especially with those sleeves.

meh, it's a plastic purse

Midge's cute shoes

I would've traded the plastic jewelry and purse for another pair of shoes, but that's a minor complaint.

I probably won't buy more Dreamhouse dolls until they hit 50% off, but I recommend the dolls at full price ($17) if you love one of the facemolds or like the outfits a certain doll offers. Check out the entire line here on Barbie Collector. Raquelle has a smirky grin that made me actually laugh when I saw it in person, I might buy her next.

LaDeeDa, it's a Target Sale

Quick note: LaDeeDa outfits are on clearance at my local Target for $4 (50% off). The LDD dolls are on sale as well, some are around 25% off and the original line is 50% off (same for the original Bratzillaz). I picked up this cute picnic dress because the clothes fit Monster High ghouls.

Promotional photos of *new* Cutie Pops

This week Jada Toys released promotional photos of Carmel, a new doll in their Cutie Pops line. They've been hyping this doll for months on their website.

Carmel. Promo photo from Jada Toys

Her outfit is completely different than the prototype Carmel shown at Toy Fair back in January. I prefer the original look, which apparently didn't make it to production. Her striped socks are cute and I like the forks on the plates attached to her skirt, but that's not enough to make me buy a $20 doll. Maybe the next Carmel will be more appealing to me, I like her hair color.

We were also allowed a look at the next version of Candi and Chiffon -- at least I think these are dolls and not just outfits.

Carmel, Chiffon, Candi. Promo photo from Jada Toys.

What is Chiffon wearing? These outfits pale in comparison to the first wave dolls.

I'll buy Candi's blue dress if it's sold as an ~$8 outfit (and there isn't anything else doll related I really want in the store when I see it), but to me it's not worth spending $20 on another Candi doll just to get the dress. Maybe in a year or two I'll find the doll at Ross for $9.

I really like the first wave dolls a lot, but I plan to keep my CP doll count to a minimum. Currently I have two (Candi and Starr) and I might buy Chiffon 1.0 next time I see her on sale, because her outfit is sweet and this new pinkified Chiffon doesn't interest me at all.

You can see all the new promotional photos here.

Liv surprise, articulated Bratz, & an Abbey cameo

Thanks to the "Hey, it's Muff" blog I just learned about the articulated Bratz body, which has an entirely new look if you remove the Bratz head and replace it with, say, a Mattel fairy head. Click on that link to see Muff's adorable Bratz-Fairy hybrid. She mentioned in comments the Bratz Catz and Bratz Rock dolls have articulated bodies so I made a mental note to look for those dolls on clearance, but I had no idea if they'd be anywhere local because I only glance at Bratz in stores.

First stop was the Ross discount store, where I saw two Sophie Liv dolls. The first girl was hard to miss, she was Sophie Brite with her long bright pink wig, $9. (I reviewed Katie Brite here, the Brite dolls have cool wigs but the inferior 2012 Liv body.) After thinking about it for a minute I decided not to buy this Sophie, I'd prefer Alexis with her orange wig. Sophie's pink wig was the deciding factor (it's not my favorite color and I already have a few pink wigs). I would've bought Sophie Brite at the $9 price point if her long wig has been something more unusual like green or blue.

Ross had a few Bratz with the standard Bratz bodies, I have no interest in those. I was about to leave when I looked up to the top shelf and saw...

Wow! She's the first Moonlight Dance doll I've seen in person, what a surprise. This Sophie was also marked $9 like the Sophie Brite doll, but Moonlight Sophie is a much better deal if you compare the bodies and outfits.

The four Moonlight Dance girls were released in July 2010 and retailed for $20 at Target. Back then they were Target exclusives but this is the second Liv Target exclusive I've seen clearanced at the discount store Ross -- Liv Brites were the first. Maybe Liv in Wonderland dolls, also a Target exclusive, will show up at Ross too? :) (I didn't know about Liv until this year so I missed out on the Liv dolls that weren't still lingering at TRU.) I really like the dresses in this line so I'm very happy to have Sophie. Thanks again Ross!

Her eyes could've been set better, it's not a perfect match

If you'd like to compare the actual production dolls to the box art below check out this excellent photo on Flickr (click that link, it's not my photo so I won't copy it here). Katie's dress changed the most, I like the production doll even better. Daniela's dress is my favorite.

Box art #1

Box art #2

Articulated Bratz

I then went over to TRU and saw the articulated Bratz Catz, they're still $20. Oh well. No catz for me, but I'll watch for a good clearance sale.

But wait, there was a Bratz Rock Yasmin hanging out with the Moxie Girlz. Articulation!

TRU sometimes overcharges when a doll line is new or popular but they have awesome unadvertised clearance sales. My motto at TRU is "If you like it, scan it!" It might be more affordable than you think. The real price doesn't always match the shelf tag (maybe this is just an issue at my local store). There were no sale signs but Yasmin scanned for only $4.48. Nice! The low price sent me on a fruitless search for more hiding rockers. I'll keep looking at TRU and Ross, I'd like at least one more skin tone too. There are four different Bratz Rock dolls available, here's the back of the box:

Sasha channels Sheila E

Bratz Rock promo photo. MGA made some changes to Yasmin's outfit (black shoes instead of gold, one zipper on the leg instead of two) so the other dolls could've turned out a little different too.

I popped Yasmin's head off and replaced it with a Mattel fairy head, which is obviously not a vinyl match. This was a temporary body swap just to show the Bratz body with a normal size doll head.

Bratz Rock body w/ Operetta's Roller Maze outfit

 

There's a bit of paper towel stuffed in the MH skates so the Bratz peg legs can't sink too far. This MH dress doesn't velcro completely closed in the back, it's a little too small for the Bratz bust. Keep scrolling to see the Bratz rocker outfit on a Monster High Abbey doll.

I'm not sure which line this Mattel fairy with lavender hair came from, she has an unusual body with long legs and gimmicky stuff on the back where it looks like wings and something else attached. Her hands are graceful, which makes up for the molded on bodice. Her original body is shown in a photo at the end of this post. She was $2 at the Goodwill, I'm a sucker for non-traditional hair colors and she doesn't have a toothy grin. Yay! (Doll teeth usually bug me, even when it's just a tiny strip of white paint. Mattel's playline is full of toothy grins so I pass over a lot of fairies at the thrifts despite their colorful pretty hair.) I do like her unusual fairy body, despite the gimmicky stuff, so the body and head will be reunited soon.

No waist articulation but she can tilt from side to side at the bust line

(c)2010 articulated Bratz compared to (c)2001 Bratz body -- note 2010 is taller

normal Barbie-size head compared to Bratz head

A quick look at Bratz shoes

Did MGA change the Bratz shoe size? The Bratz Rock shoes are significantly smaller than the older shoes! (The bigger shoes shown below are from a bag of doll shoes I found at the Goodwill a few years ago.) I don't pay much attention to Bratz so I don't know when this happened. Next time I'm at TRU I'll look at the Bratz to see if they all have smaller shoes now.

The rocker's pegs fit in some of the older Bratz shoes (like the strappy blue heel below) but not the boots. The rocker legs slide in the boots but they don't lock or suction in place. I think this can be blamed on what the bodies are made from, the (c)2001 Bratz body is vinyl and boots stay put on the vinyl legs. The (c)2010 articulated Bratz is made from lightweight smooth plastic so the boots can't cling to the plastic legs.

Abbey says hi

Rocker-fairy stole, er borrowed a Monster High outfit so Abbey asked to try on the Bratz Rock outfit (with Venus McFlytrap's shoes).

My favorite part is the plastic faux zipper detail across the thigh, it probably would've been cheaper and easier to make that a decal or leave it off the final design. Nice touch. This outfit looks just OK in the photos (because the photos didn't turn out so hot, what else is new), but I like it in person, even if I'd never wear it in a million years. It's very '80s, sans big shoulders, but I didn't dress like this back then.

The Line-Up

You can see the original fairy body (B) and the Bratz Rock body (C) compared to some other bodies you might be more familiar with.

A. LPS Blythe
B. Unidentified Mattel Fairy's original body (head is on body C)
C. Bratz Rock body with stock shoes and Unidentified Mattel Fairy head
D. Monster High (Frankie Stein)
E. Liv (Alexis)
F. TNT Barbie (1980 Black Barbie reproduction)
G. Teen Skipper body (Generation Girl Mari/Mariko)
H. Bellybutton body (My Scene Madison)
I. Bellybutton body with hinge knees and normal size head (Twilight Bella)

I think this is long enough, I better stop before I run out of room! :D