Happy Halloween!

 

The Biggers by Berjuan

Thank you so much to everyone who left a comment on the last post!  It was fun (and emotional) to read your messages and see some familiar faces again.  Things have been a bit hectic as I get this blog fully functional, so I'm sorry I haven't had time to reply, but your warm welcomes made me even happier to be back in the saddle.

Let me take a few seconds to mention some new things here on the blog.  First of all, most of the dolls that I feature will end up in the Virtual Garage Sale store within 24 hours of their review.  You can find the tab for that store at the top of the page.  Also, I'll announce new reviews after I write them by putting a quick blurb on Twitter.  I'll do the same thing for new dolls at the My Twinn Project Shop.  I might occasionally put other observations on Twitter, too.  My old Twitter account got locked, so now I'm @TBP_emily.  I've added a Twitter button to the top right column over there if you're interested.

I stumbled on the dolls I'm reviewing today quite by accident.  I was browsing Amazon, and a suggestion popped up for me to look at a funny little doll from a line called The Biggers.  I assumed that the odd brand name referenced the huge head and eyes on this doll.  Since I'd just been thinking about popular big-headed, large-eyed dolls like Na! Na! Na! and Rainbow High, I was intrigued to find a less well-known version of this style of doll.  I clicked on Amazon's thumbnail and literally giggled out loud when I saw the full-sized photo of the doll.  She was bizarre and charming:

The Biggers doll Abba Lingg by Berjuan.

Sunday Surprise: Na! Na! Na! Surprise Dolls by MGA Entertainment!

Surprise!  I'm back to write some more reviews.  As it turned out, after my life settled down, I started to miss this place a lot.  So here I am, reporting to you from my new home in New Jersey, where I already have a big queue of dolls that I want to review!  There have been some great releases over the last few years that I really want to talk about.  Things will be pretty much the same around here, except for a few little changes that we can discuss later.

Right now I want to talk about the Na! Na! Na! Surprise dolls. Everybody else on the planet probably knows about these dolls, but I knew nothing about them until I saw a few at my local Target store about a week ago.  The printed fabric faces looked really interesting to me, and of course the surprise theme is right up my alley.  I figured this would be a fun way to resurrect the old Sunday Surprise series.

The Na! Na! Na! Surprise dolls were originally released at the end of 2019, and there have already been (I think) 8 waves.  That's a lot of dolls in a short period of time!  Let's take a closer look at a few of these cuties and see what surprises they have in store.

Na! Na! Na! Surprise Teens doll, Alaska Frost (2021).

The Virtual Garage Sale

Thank you to everyone who made a purchase and to everyone who commented!  It means a lot to me.  It was also nice to move to New Jersey without quite so many dolls. :)

The Virtual Garage Sale will now be used to sell most of the dolls I review.  Each doll will be placed into the shop when their review goes live!  The shop tab will appear at the top of the page when it is active again.

My Scene Barbie "Sailor Sweeties" Kennedy.

The My Twinn Project Shop

I'm in the process of launching an Etsy shop to sell some of the My Twinn dolls I'm fixing up right now or have fixed in the past.  I've also set up a temporary blog-like website to chronicle the steps I take to restore these dolls. I thought anyone who enjoyed the My Twinn makeover posts on this site might be interested!

I reviewed another brand of doll (the My Way Kids) over on the new blog, so I'll link that review here.

Here's the link to the blog: The My Twinn Project Shop

A Denver-era My Twinn Catherine doll who's in my (long) restoration queue!

WWE Superstars Eva Marie by Mattel

Well, I'm back in business with a new camera, thanks to my mom and a gorgeous little Cannon she didn't need anymore.  Thank you, Mom!  I'm still experimenting with settings, so these pictures are a bit flaky.  For example, the doll I'm looking at today, WWE Superstars Eva Marie, is not quite as much of a fiery redhead as she looks in many of my pictures (it's a bit more orange-tinged in reality) but she's every bit as fierce:

WWE Superstars Eva Marie by Mattel, $14.99.

Another My Twinn Interlude

I'm working on a few short reviews of play dolls that I bought a while ago, but I'm really slow these days.  My trusty old Cannon point-and-shoot camera is dying, so I'm discouraged by my pictures.  I've been using my iPhone a lot, but it's not the same--as you'll see.

Anyway, since it's taking me so long to get a review done, that slightly creepy Hairdorables picture has been at the top of the site for weeks...and I'm getting tired of it!  So, today I thought I'd quickly share another My Twinn project so that we can all look at something different until the next review comes along.

I've been enjoying the work I'm doing on My Twinn dolls, although the passion is starting to wane a bit.  I'm happiest when I'm working with a doll that's really beat up--almost a lost cause--but has some feature that captures my affection, like a gentle expression or pretty eyes:

Denver-era Denika by My Twinn.