Welcome Home, Sophie

I am up to my ears writing my next (really long--sorry) review, but I had to share this piece of news with all of you instantly.  You know I love Liv dolls, and maybe you remember that I have this strange desire to own all of the Liv Sophie dolls.  This obsession started when Spin Master released their second wave of Liv dolls, and I didn't think I should buy all of the characters again so soon.  I mean, the dolls look pretty similar from one wave to the next and they aren't free.  So, I decided to buy just Sophie from every wave, and then maybe other dolls now and again if there was one that really appealed to me.  That sounds almost reasonable, right?  Except that for some reason I decided that all of my Sophies should stay in their boxes.  This is edging towards the loony side of things, I realize, but once I embark on something, I find it difficult to stop.  So, I bought a Sophie from every wave and am keeping my Sophie army carefully stored in their boxes.  

Spin Master has made a lot of Sophie dolls.  Seventeen, to be precise (including the huge Sophie styling head).  I'll admit to feeling a little tiny bit relieved when the Liv line was discontinued, simply because there's not much room left in my house for more Sophies.

Some Sophies were harder for me to find than others, but really, none of the dolls posed much of a challenge except for one.  Girls Getaway Sophie evaded my searches and haunted my mind for over a year:

"Girls Getaway" Sophie with Sophie as Alice.

The Girls Getaway dolls are a basic wave of five dolls that was slated to be released in 2011, but (as far as I can tell) they never made it to the United States.  I could not find a single Girls Getaway doll anywhere.  They appeared in countries like Japan and the Philippines, but not here.  I know this because I checked local stores, online stores and eBay like a psycho.  I called and emailed Spin Master.  I also emailed a few toy stores in the Philippines until I'm pretty sure they started blocking my messages.  I even tried to translate a Japanese toy store site and place an order (fail).  I set up a trade with someone in the Philippines, but (after sending buckets of Monster High dolls off into the ether) communication stopped and I never saw my Sophie.

All hope was lost.

Then, THEN!  I found this amazing gem of a person on Flickr.  He will remain anonymous, but he is the best of the best.  My doll hero.  Not only did he agree to trade with me, which was generous enough, but he stuck to his guns until he found a way to get the doll shipped to me--which was no small feat.  It's crazy-expensive and complicated to ship things between the US and the Philippines.  If there's anyone out there trying to accomplish something like this, give Johnny Air a call before you promise your firstborn child to FedEx or UPS.

Today, on a day where a surprise like this could not have been more welcome, my epic quest ended and my last Sophie doll arrived on the doorstep.  

I think probably when my mom told me that I could do anything I put my mind to, obsessive shopping was not what she had in mind.  But still--it worked:

 Here's the tiny picture of all five Girls Getaway dolls on the back of the box.  I adore Daniela and her striped dress:

They're all dancing around the Trevi fountain in Rome.

Of course, all of these pictures are bad because I am unwilling to get Sophie out of her box...at least for now.  Sorry about that.

Please...let me out!

She has this adorable blue and white spotted sleeveless sundress:

A little pink clutch purse:

And matching pink sandals:

She also has cute white hoop earrings that coordinate with the polkadots on her dress.

She is perfect and wonderful.  Her eyes aren't even wonky.  It's like getting a new Liv release when the dolls have been discontinued for almost a year.  It is a dream come true.

There are a lot of fancy, gorgeous, expensive and rare dolls in the world.  Many of these dolls I simply cannot have.  For the past year or so, though, Girls Getaway Sophie is the doll I have wanted more than any other.  It's not that I couldn't afford her (she's probably only a $12-15 doll), but more that I couldn't find her.  What's so special about finally finding her is that getting her through my door took the extraordinary kindness and generosity of a complete stranger who lives half a world away.  To me, that makes this particular Sophie doll priceless.

I'd love to hear what your dream doll is right now, or hear your story about how a long sought-after treasure finally made it into your home.  It is a happy feeling.