What's Nuevo???

New junk I just got around to scanning

Je suis famous, part deux

Last month, this guy at Anime Jump mentioned my site, and I got a lot of interesting email. So this month, let's all visit his site. Ha, that'll teach him!

Make mine mink!

Takara Mink Barbie

How do you know you've finally lost it? How about, when you have to prepare for inclement weather, you zip up your Eddie Bauer windbreaker. But your Barbie doll? Barbie's got a mink coat!!! How twisted is that? This was a super-special limited edition from Takara that was made right near the end of their Barbie line, just before they lost the license. She comes with her own plexiglass case. Here's some views:

Loose Mink Barbie

The back of the doll

The dress she's wearing underneath

Mink Barbie's face

Yet more Jenny

Biscuit's Club Doll

This doll was custom-made by some clever folks in Biscuit's Club, a sort of online support group for Jenny addicts. They really did a beautiful job! Here's a close-up of the doll herself, so you can see the cute little sailor suit. She kind of reminds me of Madeline, from the kids' books. She came packaged in a great display box. (I believe the bear is the aforementioned Biscuit. For more on him, please check out Helene's home page. Oh, and check out those green eyes!

Miss Jenny

I can tell you what drove me to add yet another Jenny to my already earthquake-unready booshelves: 'twas the cat ears that did it! No kidding, this Jenny reminds me of Cardcaptor Sakura. Check out the outfit. Besides the little kitty headdress, she's got a black dress with a stiff petticoat, and black leggings--she only lacks a tail (and Kero-chan, of course). Here's an image of her face. Love the charcoal-black eyes.

Jenny's men

Hiphop Raph

It's the new millennium. Time for Jenny's boyfriends to get big floppy hats and really really big pants. This Raph is especially fetching, with his really, really big zipper.

Hiphop Jeff

Jeff is definitely one of Jenny's dorkier boyfriends (after all, back in the day, he used to be a Ken doll). But, he actually looks rather fetching decked out in Takara's fanciful version of street attire. I especially like the "Hey gang, let's go rob a 7-11!" style knit cap. With those dark eyes, he actually looks like this guy I had a crush on back in 6th grade.

Prince Charles

OK, so why am I including this dude in the foofy outfit in our rogue's gallery today? Prince Charles is actually supposed to be one of Licca-chan's friends. But, look closely at his face. Recognize that head mold? That's Jenny's (female) friend, Kisara. They even left the earrings!

Jenny's friends

Meirin

For Jenny completists, Meirin has been kind of a holy grail. Supposedly, the head molds were either broken or lost, and no more could be produced. Recently, according to information posted on Helene's web page, the head molds and facial screens for Meirin were located at the Licca Castle. So now, any darn fool (like me!) can buy her. Though I'm not trying to assemble an army of friends for Jenny, I picked up Meirin because I can't resist a nice side-glancer.

Brigitte

Here's an older Takara Jenny in the "Hamon" series. I'm not exactly sure whether Brigitte was supposed to be an official Jenny friend, or a line of her own. Anyway, with her smiley looks and ultra-blond hair, she certainly resembles a certain American doll whose name also begins in B. The Brigitte head mold was recently used for the NB 21 prototype doll.

Uno Kanda

Uno Kanda is one of Jenny's friends who are based on real-life celebrities (much like Barbie's "friend," Rosie O'Donnell). The packaging job on this doll is very elaborate, as she comes stuck between pages of a book. The doll itself has a Super Action body. I don't know much about Uno Kanda, but from looking at the pictures, she would seem to be the Japanese version of Cindy Lauper.

BG You

BG You schoolgirl

These BG You dolls were put out by Takara briefly back in the early 80s. I first became aware of them from an article by Glenn Mandeville wrote for Doll Reader magazine. He was struck, as I'm struck, by how realistic these kids look. This image, for instance, looks like it could be a portrait out of my high school yearbook.

BG You swimsuit girl

These dolls are on a different, slightly larger scale than other fashion dolls like Barbie or Jenny (1:5 instead of 1:6). They're more like the old Jem or Darci lines. One thing they share with Jem is the big, realistically scaled feet. Barbie's teeny feet never looked quite right to me. Here is swimsuit girl's face--she looks just like a member of my high school swim team.

Bandai Japan Cardcaptor Sakura toys

Sakura doll in "cat" battle costume

This is the latest doll in Bandai Japan's incredibly cute 8" scale line. I think Tomoyo (Sakura-chan's faithful tailor) intended Sakura to look like a kitty cat with those ears and tail. Note there's even a little Kero-chan.

Cat battle costume

Here's the "cat" battle costume from Bandai Japan, carded. A lot of folks I know are buying these Sakura outfits to dress up Licca-chan and the small scale Volks dolls! This is one of two brand new Sakura outfits.

"Angel" battle costume

This is the other brand new Sakura outfit. I'm not quite sure what this is supposed to be. It looks like something from a music video. I'm grateful to Ardith for picking these up for me!

Red-caped battle costume

OK, this is the very first costume from the first wave of Sakura outfits. (For the rest of the first wave of outfits, and the other dolls, check here.) For some reason, I had the darnedest time finding it until Rudi stepped in. Thanks sooo much, Rudi!

Pink Tomoyo outfit

These two outfits also seem to be dreadfully hard to find. They're made especially for the Tomoyo doll. I like the little purse.

Yellow Tomoyo outfit

A little mini-dress for Tomoyo.

"Golf" mini figure

These little bitty figures are adorable, and even come packaged in little boxes. I think this is supposed to be Sakura on the golf course.

"Beach" mini figure

Another cute little figure in a box, this is Sakura in her swimsuit.

Doremi

Those of you who are unfortunate enough to have me on your email discussions lists know I have a penchant for falling in love with the merchandise for shows I've never seen. Little Witches Doremi is such an anime. From what I gather, it's aimed at a young crowd, and the heroine is the red-poufed Doremi. More I cannot tell you, other than Bandai has produced a really neat line of toys for the series.

These are little candy toys made for the show. At first I thought that they were actually superdeformed versions of the three witches themselves. But, if you'll look carefully at the doll boxes, you'll see that each doll comes with a little "cartoony" version of herself. So, I wonder if these aren't supposed to be some kind of spirits. Anyway, here are the toys:

Doremi

Hazuki

Aiko

The Land of Evil Plushies

Tira Misu

I love collectibles that cross categories! The latest addition to my "dolls with whips" collection as well as my "evil plushies" assortment is this character from Bakuretsu Hunter. For some reason, all the characters are named after desserts.

Juri Arisugawa

Oops! I originally had this catcher misidentified as Touga Kiryuu. You can actually see Touga (along with Utena and Anthy) here. Thanks to everyone who wrote in. Important lesson: that's what happens when you try to write HTML code at 1 am. :-)

Miki Kaoru

Aha! My last two UFO catchers from the first (and as far as I know, only) Shoujo Kakumei Utena set. (You can view the others here.) But.....now I'm wondering whether they may have also made a catcher for Saionji. I mean, that's him on the tag. Hmmmm...

Various anime and character dolls

Arimi

This green-haired character is from the anime, Marmalade Boy. I really think this is one of the nicest series of dolls Bandai has ever produced. Look at the clothes. She's got the normal Bandai Sailor Moon type shoujo head mold. They also made a version of Arimi in her school uniform with an extra outfit.

Chow Yun Fat

Ooo, were the other kinds jealous of this doll! Before he was onscreen dancing awkwardly with Jodie Foster, Chow Yun Fat was a HK action star. Have him hunt down your evil villain dolls--he's even got handcuffs! Or...you can get a cheap The King & I doll and dress him up! Remember, even Bruce Lee was a chachacha champion.

Fyana

This character is from the mecha anime Votoms. A couple of companies have already produced a doll of the male character from this show (what's his name--you know, the blue-haired guy). Anyway, I really loved this Takara doll because of all the cool extras she comes with. She's even got an extra set of hands for when the chips are down. Here's a close-up of her face. She ain't too happy with being left in a cardboard box, nossir!

Chun Li

This doll is based on a character from Street Fighter II, but we all know and love her as Chun Li. The doll was produced by Capcom, it's 11" scale, and it is definitely the buff-est female doll I've ever seen! Check out those thighs. The doll has molded hair rather than real rooted hair, but I think they did a rather nice job of sculpting.

Akuma

He of the puka shells--it's Akuma. This is another Capcom Street Fighter II 1:6 scale figure. He's big enough to date your Barbie! And what a sweet face.

Volks

I've saved the best for last! These dolls are all from the Volks shop, which specializes in ultra-realistic dolls for fanatical hobbyists, like me. Warning: if you have a lot to do, do NOT take a Volks doll out of the box. I swear, you'll waste the rest of your afternoon and into the evening thinking of more and clever ways to pose your doll!

Sophia

This doll is one of the Volks "Lost Angels" series. Some of the dolls obviously look like angels, but I agree with Rudi, this one looks more like EVA's Misato. The photo of the doll shows a black skirt, which I would have preferred to her see-through slip, but other than that little quibble, I just can't find anything wrong with this wonderful doll. As I've said, I spent several hours sitting at the coffee table, thinking of interesting ways to pose her. Here's an image of her face, with those lovely blue eyes.

Kisara

Kisara is another Lost Angel, and she's an even more difficult case than Sophia. Here's an image of Kisara still on her backing. And here's what happened a minute later, after I attached her wings. See? Here's a close-up of her mischevious expression.

Urd

Speaking of mischief, here's Belldandy's sister Urd from the Ah! My Goddess anime. Yellow Submarine has also issued a version of this character, but I thought it would be fun to have her with a Volks body. Here's her face.

Ruroni Kenshin

And finally, here's everybody's favorite samurai dude, Ruroni Kenshin. He comes with a cool samurai sword, of course. Volks actually issued another, much more limited version of this character as a kit. Here's a close-up of the head, so you can see his cool scar.

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