Stardoll by Barbie

     Now I admit, I had never heard of Stardoll until I ran across these dolls in Target. The first one I saw reminded me of Barbie, so I was interested. Picking them up, I discovered a new line of dolls I wasn't aware of previously. I hesitated to get them as I wasn't sure what they were about, but some of them were just so beautiful, I had to have them.
     Since the dolls came with currency for the Stardoll website, I had to check that out as well. I discovered the dolls were associated with some of the different stores on the site. The site itself is like an online paper doll with practically unlimited clothing and accessories. You create a doll, dress her up and can decorate her living area. The site also allows interaction with other users. It's pretty fun to use and it's still going, so check it out!
      As I mentioned, the dolls themselves were associated with the different stores, two for each store. Three of them, I recognized, which are Fallen Angel, Pretty in Love and Bonjour Bijou, but the fourth, so named Dollspace in an online article, seemed to have disappeared before I joined. The giftcards the dolls came with also gave clothing to your online doll in the form of the outfits the dolls were wearing, except the two "oddball" dolls, which gave repeats of the others if I remember correctly. Three accessory packs were also released to correspond with the Fallen Angel, Pretty in Love and Bonjour Bijou dolls, but not the Dollspace ones.
      The first doll I saw was a blonde wearing a black, white and pink outfit, which I mistakenly believed was Barbie, but it was actually one of the Dollspace dolls. The dolls themselves aren't very articulated, since they are supposed to be like the online paper dolls, but they were still beautiful. They had rooted eyelashes and came with stands for displaying. 

Dollspace doll #1 - I thought it was Barbie at first

Dollspace Doll #2 - She has a really cute smile

     The Dollspace dolls had no extra fashion/accessory pack, which was kind of a shame, since there wasn't a whole lot of mix and match for these dolls. Luckily, the other dolls had extra clothes to play with.
     The Bonjour Bijou dolls seemed more fashion oriented. They make me think of France, of course. I picture them as high fashion models or something along those lines. 

Bonjour Bijou Doll #1 - You'll see her shirt in another picture

Bonjour Bijou Doll #2 - I love the red hair

Bonjour Bijou fashion pack - the scarf, skirt, shoes and purse were included. The shirt is the doll's original. 

Bonjour Bijou fashion pack - everything else included

     The Pretty in Love dolls are just that, pretty and flowery. They make me think of small towns, sweetness and romance. I can just imagine soft Southern accents on these dolls.

Pretty in Love Doll #1 - Very Barbie like with her pink color scheme

Pretty in Love Doll #2 - Hearts and flowers. She has such a gorgeous face!

Pretty in Love fashion pack - the shirt, sunglasses, necklace, boots and purse are included. The skirt is the doll's original. 

Pretty in Love fashion pack - everything else included

     The final set of dolls is my favorite. Probably because I love the goth look. My Stardoll on the site is very goth looking. The first doll I bought was the doll in the red dress. She is my absolute favorite. So gorgeous!

Fallen Angel Doll #1 - so gorgeous with her pale skin and dark hair with the red stripes!

Fallen Angel Doll #2 - I love her bangs!

Fallen Angel fashion pack - I didn't put the pants on her since I wanted to show it was a bodysuit

Fallen Angel fashion pack - the dress, shoes, silver shoulder pads (which are separate from the dress) and hair accessory are the rest. The gloves and tights are the doll's original. 

     There was a second line planned for Stardoll, but it was never produced, which is a shame because the dolls were GORGEOUS and the accessory packs were adorable! I was able to find pictures online of them. They were all apparently from the Rio store.

Those boots are to die for and that purple dress! I also love the blonde hair with the dark stripes. 

I love that blue dress!

These fashion packs were just adorable! 

     I think a lot of people didn't like the fact that the dolls weren't very articulated, but for me, that was the beauty of these dolls. They were like the original Barbie doll, a paper doll, but in 3D. They were posed like the website and they were perfect for modelling fashions. 
     Even though they were made by Mattel, they didn't have the same body as Barbie, nor the same feet, so they couldn't share clothes. Some other dolls' shoes can fit these dolls, though, so that does open up other possibilities for making fashions for Stardoll to wear and model!
     

Teen Time Skipper

     In 1964, the Roberts family was blessed with another daughter. Barbie's younger sister, Skipper, made her debut then and has gone through just about as many changes as her older sister! She has gone from a little girl to a SuperTeen (more on her later) to a younger teen to a 16 year old (more on her later) to currently, a younger teen again. 
     This post is about one of the younger teen Skippers from 1988, Teen Time Skipper and her friend Courtney, as well as a playset for the two of them, the Sleep and Study playset. I believe, and I could definitely be wrong here, but I believe this is the first time Courtney was introduced. 
      The girls came with accessories for both school and a sleepover, which is one of the best things about these dolls. The skirts of their outfits were pulled up to create nighties for them and they came with fluffy slippers for their sleepover party. Each girl also came with punchouts for school and sleepover. 
       The playset is just awesome! It has so many things to customize the looks each time you put it together. Each piece can also fit inside the bed, which snaps to the walls so it can be carried. It can be a bedroom on one side and a study area on the other. The walls allow for items to be hung on them, so you can move them around and create the look you want. 
      

As you can see, her leg is spotty. 

Her accessories - she also came with a phone, a soda and a popcorn box. I've misplaced those items.

 

Courtney - the glasses are adorable! She also has spotty legs

     

Her punchout accessories - two slices of pizza can be removed

Her accessories - I love the "clipboard" front of her box

The study room

The sleepover side - the slippers are adorable, but don't like to stay on their feet

The rest of the accessories - the mirror is the back of the chalkboard

Almost everything is tucked in the bed. Those pieces on the walls are securely on it, so I didn't take them off. 

     This set is just too cute! I do recommend it for others, even though the dolls' legs are breaking down, which is a fairly common problem for dolls made during the late 90s. Still, these are some of my favorite dolls!

Mix 'Em Up Fashions Barbie

     I have a little secret and you may have already guessed it. I LOVE dolls with extra fashions and if they can mix and match, I'm in heaven! The first doll I can think of which had this feature (for me at least) was Pink and Pretty Barbie. She came with a top, skirt, pants, overskirt, fur stole, and hat/short skirt. I loved how you could change her looks with all of these different fashion pieces. 
     Then came fashion packs sold with multiple pieces which could be mixed and matched. I have a few of them and am looking to get more. Also, there were fashions which were sold separately which looked like they could mixed and matched because they were made with the same fabrics (more on this later). 
      Finally, there were dolls made specifically for mixing and matching. One of these dolls was the 2003 Mattel Toy Store Exclusive, Mix 'Em Up Fashions Barbie. I purchased this doll online and have been pleased with her ever since! The doll itself is beautiful. Her make up is soft and she has a dreamy look to her face. She comes with a strapless gold top, long gold skirt, fur stole, black top with half sleeves, reversible skirt with one side black and the other shades of gold, a white reversible sleeveless shell with gold dots, dark gold "leather" pants, denim capri pants and a black jacket with a fur collar. She also comes with a pair of black heels with a strap, gold heels with a strap and a pair of black ankle boots as well as a red crossbody bag, gold drawstring bag, black sunglasses and pearl medallion necklace. With all of these pieces, the mixing and matching possibilities are practically endless!
       This first picture is of the boxed doll. Since I've taken mine out of the package, I've used two images from the internet to show how she was packaged. The box itself was interesting as it was "latched" and opened like a book. I can't think of another doll I've seen this on. 

In the box

Everything still attached to the liner. 

The back of the box 

Her dreamy look

The gold skirt, top, stole, purse and necklace. 

The dark gold pants, reversible shirt, gold shoes and red bag

The white shell reversed, reversible skirt and gold shoes

The black shirt, reversible skirt, sunglasses, black booties, bag and necklace

The gold top, denim capris, black jacket, black heels and black sunglasses

     I am really pleased by the versatility of this doll set and am glad I bought her! The doll is lovely and the outfits are some of my favorites! More mix and match things to come in future posts!

Tonner City Girls Unreleased Dolls and Outfits

     In my previous post, I showed you the released Tonner City Girls dolls and outfits. Now I'm going to show you what could have been if the line continued. I've found all of these images online, so none of them are mine. 
     It looks like the City Girls line was either going to be bigger than it actually was upon first release or there was another line which was planned for release. I'm very disappointed these dolls and outfits were never made as they would have really expanded on the line. 
     As you can see in the picture below, Color Block Astor, Cape Town fashion, Basic Brook-Lynn, Taxi! Billy, Golden Swirl Astor and Gray Haze fashions are with a cute blue dress, a lovely pink dress and different packaging!

I love the blue outfit on Astor!

     In this picture, which is split, I love the two dresses on Brook-Lynn! The outfit in the package is cute too. The sandals on Brook-Lynn look different than what was produced. 

I really love that pale pink dress with the gloves!

   In this one, you can see the two dresses on Brook-lynn from a different angle and the shoes on Color Block Astor look like they are two colors rather than the one color they were actually made. 

Another view of the two unproduced outfits

     This picture shows that lovely blue dress a little better though I'd love a head on shot of it.

This blue dress is the bomb!

     Here is one more outfit, which I'm very sad was never produced. I love the purple jacket and jeans on this one.

This is a beautiful look!

     This one shows more outfits which were never produced. I love the orange sweater outfit! I'm also not sure which doll this is supposed to be since it doesn't look like Astor's hair color. The doll in the green and blue outfit is Astor, or so I believe. Also the blonde doll behind the orange outfit looks different than Brook-Lynn. 

I love the teddy bear!

     Another view of the above outfits, with a clearer view of the long pink dress and the trench coat outfit. 

I really like the purple dress too!

     
        I'm not sure if the three dolls are supposed to be additions to the line or just different looks for Billy, Astor and Brook-Lynn. Here's a closer look.

I love the hair on the doll in the pink dress!

         Here is a closer look at the two dolls in the back. I am totally in love with the long pink and gold dress! 

Beautiful dolls

     Here is a closer look at three of the outfits. I really like the purple dress and the trench coat outfits. 

Looks like polka dot PJs!

     Here's another closeup of some of the outfits and you can see some of the names as well.

That shoe box is to die for!

This one shows the gorgeous pink and gold gown. 

I can't quite read the name of the outfit. "Met at the (something)"

     And finally, I don't know if these were additional dolls or the way they were going to initially be boxed, but I came across this picture as well.

I like the coordinating outfits.

     All in all, I liked the City Girl line and have contacted Tonner to see if they were going to release any more. The answer was essentially, "Maybe." I can only hope!

Tonner City Girls

     I came across these dolls completely by accident and fell in love with them! I do remember downloading the catalog introducing the dolls, but never looked into purchasing them until I ran across them by accident online. I have managed to obtain almost the full set of them minus one of the outfits, which I'm still looking for, and am sad there are no more to buy. However, it looked like there may have been more in the works which were never produced. The line consists of five 15.75" dressed dolls and three outfits. Each doll has articulation in the arms, legs, hands and waist. Also the hands are removable. 
     The dolls are Color Block Astor, Golden Swirl Astor, Taxi! Billy, Basic Brook-Lynn and Basic Houston. Astor was the only doll released as a deluxe version and Brook-Lynn was an FAO Shwartz exclusive. 
      Each girl does have a backstory, but they were only found online or in the catalog, so if you didn't have the catalog, you wouldn't know their stories. 
      The first one I bought was Color Block Astor. Astor is 23 and is a fitness model. She is a strong and determined survivor. While in the hospital, she made up her mind to beat her medical condition and start doing triathalons. She succeeded and is now a competitive triathlete and fitness model with major contracts. She devotes a lot of time to training and friends, but just as much to charity runs to help find a cure. 

Color Block Astor

        The life of a Fitness Model isn't always photoshoots and sporting events. Astor is ready for tonight's Charity Ball, wearing the Golden Swirl Gown. She's ready to dazzle and dance. 

Golden Swirl Astor - if you notice, her hand has come off, but it is in the box still

          Billy is the next doll I bought. She is 24 and is a bakery owner. Billy's Buttercream Bakery is one of the hottest bakeries in the City. There are always lines around the corner waiting for her scrumptious desserts. She's sweet, soft spoken and puts love into everything she bakes. A large portion of the proceeds from sales of her cookbook go to charities around the City.

Taxi! Billy

     Basic Houston and Basic Brook-Lynn are dressed in the same outfit, which is a robe, camisol, boy shorts and high heels. I bought Houston first. She is 22 and is a personal shopper. Few people have the style and eye for fashion that Houston does. She started her Personal Shopping business in college and since graduating, her client base has grown exponentially. She's a smart and graceful business woman who is also incredibly socially minded. 

Basic Houston

     I lucked out when I bought Brook-Lynn as she was in a bundle with an outfit I'd been looking for. Brook-Lynn is 23 and is an event planner. When you need an event planned, the "it" gal to call is Brook-Lynn. She's incredibly organized, detail oriented and has exquisite taste. She also uses her amazing creativity for pro-bono charity events that raise awareness of causes close to her heart. 

Basic Brook-Lynn

      The outfit I bought with Brook-Lynn was Networking. The City Girls (tm) know that it takes more than working hard to make it in your chosen field. Who says that you can't have fun while Networking? 
       The picture in the catalog shows Astor wearing it, while another picture of the group together shows it on Houston. 

Networking fashion

      The second fashion I bought  is Cape Town. Autumn in the City is a magical time. Warm days and chilly nights. Strolling the avenues and enjoying the evenings outside before winter pushes everyone indoors. The picture shows Billy wearing the outfit, while another shows it on Brook-Lynn. 

Cape Town fashion

    The third and final fashion is my favorite and the one I can't find. I'm hoping to be able to find it so I can complete my collection. It's called Gray Haze. The City Girls (tm) know that winters in the City are COLD! The streets become wind tunnels and are a maze of ice and slush. Luckily, they know how to dress accordingly. 

Gray Haze fashion on Brook-Lynn