video rec: Babbity Kate's American Girls videos

Bringing you something a little bit different today! I wanted to post about a couple of really delightful videos made by YouTuber/TikTokker Babbity Kate, who makes content about about a lot of varied stuff, it seems! Disney Princesses? Bella Swan's Khaki Skirt? Taylor Swift? "Subscribe," said I -- but particularly because I really loved her deep dive on Kirsten Larson, the American Girl character/doll.

Words can't express how much I enjoyed this video! Babbity Kate covers the Kirsten books, as well as the doll and accessories that go along with the books. She talks about the all-important historical aspects, the appeal of the products (doll, clothes, books, and things like the paper dolls and activity books), and some Pleasant Company history. It's a deep dive indeed. She covers short stories I didn't know existed, and even talks about the Pleasant Company catalogues and the experience of reading them, of admiring the dolls in them!

I was super hype when she dropped a Samantha Parkington deep dive a few days ago! Or, at least, part one of a Samantha deep dive!!

(The thumbnail on this one is glorious.)

I find these videos really well-balanced. Although long, I think they are very digestible in smaller chunks due to how she rotates between topics. She will cover a book, then an outfit, then talk about history or another fun but related tangent, then return to covering the next book in the series.

In my opinion, Kate has a good sense of humor. The deep dive videos have some running jokes and I appreciate that, and she knows how to lightly make fun of things. But, very importantly to me, the humor factor doesn't ever outweigh the joy and appreciation of the dolls/books/products. The way she speaks about everything still respects the magic of these dolls and beloved characters. I think the word I'm searching for is "sincerity." Kate's ability to find humor in the books and her ability to point out what historical content is flawed or outdated is never at the expense of sincere enjoyment of the subject matter. The American Girl/Pleasant Company nostalgia is respected, not lambasted. What deserves criticism is touched upon, but as a review, that is never at all the crux of the videos.

Like, I can't say how often nostalgia content accidentally wanders too far into territory where it either overhypes the topic at hand, sometimes undeservedly, or criticizes it too much. Especially if it's something for kids. Reviewing kids' stuff as an adult is a tricky thing to do, I think, and some people don't know how to strike a good balance between critique and appreciation.

I myself, as a child in the 90s, had a major, major American Girl phase! I talked about this a long time ago now, in 2010, here in this post about Christmas gifts I got as a child! I would carry the catalogues everywhere with me. I pored over them just about every day. I memorized the text and looked at every single detail of the photographs. The historical girls (which were the bulk of the catalogue then) held an endless appeal to me. All my life I have loved historical fiction and this aspect of American Girl was a major part of that appeal. I was not interested in the modern "just like you" dolls, when they started doing those. To me, the most interesting and exciting things were the historically inspired clothing and accessories and furniture, and the characters of the historical girls.

Anyway, I had both Samantha and Kirsten, and several dresses and little accessories for each of them! Although I was out of my American Girls phase by age 13 or so, Pleasant Company being acquired by Mattel was still a big turn-off for me. I could see the difference in quality and aesthetics between what Pleasant Company produced and what Mattel produced. But I also didn't pay too much attention, beyond some disappointment at some of the newer Samantha clothing they came out with post-Pleasant Company.

I'm absolutely not up on American Girl! The releases, the changes in branding. Whatever the kerfuffles in the AG community are. No clue about any of that! So, getting a bit of an update from these videos was really interesting to me, as a former collector and someone who loved (and still loves) Samantha and Kirsten. The characters! The outfits! The flavor texts of the old catalogues!

That love and nostalgia was really reignited for me by these videos. If you're into American Girl, have any nostalgia or curiosity about them, or just really like deep dives, I recommend these videos!

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We found Wonderland.

On our "beach day" during my trip to California, we stopped to pick up my cousin, who lives in an apartment complex where the entire front wall is lined with figurines and miscellaneous stuff I can't begin to explain, let alone really capture. One of the tenants has been putting this stuff up for years and it's very colorful, cluttered, and crowded. I was reaching for my camera and plucking Fey up for a photoshoot immediately. What a freaking sight it was! I was full on Precious Moments Chapel giggling.

My aunt followed with her Love Me Linda and we took pictures in one of the sections that appeared to comprise entirely of a garden gnome collective.

The look on Fey's sweet face!

You can't even tell this is just the front of an old apartment building. It looks like an enchanted forest.

Further down the line, there were groupings of owls, some rabbits (?? I think?), penguins... I took pics of Linda and Fey in front of this cheesy but color-compulsory sign. Beyond the penguins, I can't even remember what else there was. Somewhere along the way there was a section of ceramic teddy bears that sorta began to creep me out, because it seemed more like a child had abandoned them there than the more nature-esque animal figures.

I have to say, it was fun taking pictures of a different doll... my aunt kept saying I didn't have to concern myself with Linda, but I took a bunch for her because she won me over. Her face is winsome. And I love cheesy stuff like this. California lady who created this wall of kitsch, you have my gleeful admiration!

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California adventure, part one.

Last week I took a trip to California to visit some relatives. I mostly went to escort my grandmother, who is 82 and doesn't like to travel on her own, but I had never been out there, so!

After some hemming and hawing, I brought Fey with me. One of the reasons I did is because I know my aunt had a few big-eyed dolls and I thought she would "get" my Blythe. I for some reason thought she had a Susie Sad Eyes, so I bought a dress from sleepforever after asking if they would fit Susie Sad Eyes. What a dummy I felt like when I got there and my aunt actually had a Love Me Linda collection! Way bigger than Blythe.

Still, my aunt had... I'm not sure how many Love Me Lindas. Somewhere from eight to ten! She keeps them packed away because they creep out my uncle, but we got out her childhood Linda to stand with Fey in the room I was staying in. Look at that dress!

I won't post boring family pictures and stuff; it was a chill vacation with a lot of sitting around visiting and eating.

A huge amount of the time I was there we spent singing -- mostly karaoke, because my relatives have their own machine and about 1800 songs. We karaoked two days in a row. We sang a ton so I've forgotten everything I did, but I recall singing "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift, "Chantilly Lace" by the Big Bopper, "Every Morning" by Sugar Ray, "No Rain" by Blind Melon, "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette, "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf, "The Immigrant Song" by Led Zeppelin, and two Meat Loaf jams: "Two Out of Three Ain't Bad" and "Paradise By the Dashboard Light."

Almost everyone knows the latter song, but it's a duet... and it has that whole middle section where there's the baseball announcer... and no one knew it well enough to sing it duet-style with me, so I did all the parts in a massive tour de force. It's also at least eight minutes long, so after that, I was pretty winded!

However, my aunt also has a guitar, so she let me play it while I was there. My grandma and I sang simple folk songs together, and that's always fun.

On day two we met up with my cousin and went out to the beach. Fey came along because I wanted to take some pictures of her. Fey was such a trooper, sitting in my camera bag for hours!

I had to find a shady spot, since all but two of my girls are shiny-faced, and also, we went to a pretty crowded beach. So much respect for people who take the time to really pose their girls in the sand...!

I have more doll pictures to share. Later this week!

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["Britney Spears - Oops!... I Did It Again" plays in the background]

Happy December! This is the last post I have about my little Ever After/Monster High painting adventures!

Here's the regal Apple White; it's an official picture, not mine, so she looks pretty well-coiffed. I included it so you could see the plain crown in comparison with the repaint.

First I gave her crown some depth by painting bronze on the inside portions. Then my friend washed some very very light pearly white over the pearly bits -- anyway, I assume those bits are supposed to be pearls, but it's not like I'm intimately familiar with crowns. I didn't want to paint them straight-up pearly, so my friend just did a really thinned-down little coat to make them catch the light a little more and help exaggerate the difference between the golds.

I painted her little apple darker red, thinking ideally it would look like a ruby or something, then glazed over it with a shimmery red. It makes it stand out from the bright reds on the rest of her outfit, but it doesn't clash too badly. (Also, to give you an idea of the depth of cool and expertise of my friend's MLP-customizing girlfriend, she suggested sawing off the apple entirely and literally replacing it with a red jewel...!)

I did some painting on Apple's shoes as well. All you need to know is that they were solid red, aside from the gold straps with their gold bows. I added some gold paint to the leaf shape on the outside of the shoes, as well as the outside of the stems. (I didn't to the inside of the stems.) There are also beads, or studs more likely, along the sides of the straps, so they got dotted with gold paint, too, and now they stand out! Her heels have this interesting spiral shape happening... maybe it's a vine or something? I really don't know. But it was originally red and I painted it gold as well.

The bows on the straps, while already gold, got a couple of coats of the gold paint I was working with, and now they're more glimmery and light-catching. I don't think you would even notice this particular detail unless you had an unpainted Apple shoe literally right next to one of these. Then your eye would see that the bows are just a little brighter. It's really subtle but I can see the glint of gold from feet away as she stands on my shelf!

Thus ends my little series. I had so much fun repainting and fussing with tiny details with my doll friends! Seriously, it was one of the more enjoyable things I've done this entire year.

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["Tweet feat. Missy Elliott - Oops (Oh My)" plays in the background]

My C.A. Cupid had quite the poof of pink locks when she came out of the box. (See also: Dracubecca's pink-soled boots.)

Whilst not entirely un-cute, these tresses needed some taming, so her hair was rinsed and conditioned, wrapped up in little curlers, dunked in boiling water and then soaked in ice water to set it, and left in the curlers for four-ish days!

Now she has lovely fat sausage ringlets. I'd like to take credit, but I totally can't. I just watched attentively while my friend wrapped up her own Twyla and then my Cupid.

Cupid also got the arrow on her headband painted gold... originally it was the same hot magenta-pink as the heart wreath, or whatever it is.

And also her tiny, tiny, tiny little fingernails got a gold manicure courtesy of my steady-handed friend. It blends in with her look so nicely, it's as if they were meant to be gold all along!

Just one more post on Ever After High -- my Apple White also got some little touch-ups.

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["Blu Cantrell - Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops!)" plays in the background]

I've disappeared a bit lately... I've been visiting with friends more than usual, and also helping my mom plan a holiday thingy (more on that later).

In non-Blythe-but-still-doll-news, short story long, I've reconnected somewhat recently with a friend of mine from my preteen/teen years -- it's because of this girl I felt encouraged to pursue writing just for the love of it and enjoy Meat Loaf (the singer) to the extent that I do. Man, the days when we would hang out eating ramen noodles and watching Wayne's World on VHS...

We've had some rough patches in our friendship and drifted in and out of contact over the years. But I do know that several years ago, she was really into collecting original My Little Pony. Fast forward to now, we've been in touch more, and I discover she and her girlfriend (who, by the way, makes amazing custom My Little Ponies) both collect Monster High/Ever After High dolls.

You know I'm reluctantly/gleefully getting in on this Much Much Cheaper Doll action. Not a lot -- but enough! Actually getting to talk to "doll people" in real life is pretty sweet.

I've checked out Monster High dolls in the past, since there's some overlap on Flickr with the Blythe community. Honestly, I find Monster High slightly overwhelming, as there are so many dolls and so many versions or iterations of the dolls. Also, Monster High's aesthetic uses a lot of neons and fluorescents and color combinations that are jarring to my tender mori girl-loving eyeballs.

But... I've actually had a C.A. Cupid and an Apple White from the Ever After High line in boxes in my bookcase for like, several months! I really like this line. It's a little more white bread, but the color schemes are less phantasmagoric.

(I'm legit obsessed with Apple White's round apple basket/bag. I would carry that IRL so fast, even if it was plastic and looked like one of those old McDonald's trick-or-treat buckets.)

I really don't know why I left them in their packaging for months. Well -- I do love the packaging!! It's actually so attractive and cute. But also, I think I felt a little weird about having bought them. Why? I don't really know. It's probable I feel I have too many dolls as it is and my mind was not adjusted to having dolls other than Blythes.

But a couple of weeks ago, my friend and I headed to Target to scope out their Monster High row. Having seen her collection, I was wanting to try and take a closer look at what was currently on the shelves. Although I felt more open to getting another Not Blythe, I experienced some uncertainty in the store, because the selection was so huge, and the colors overly bright against the black packaging.

So, Dracubecca was The One. My friend took her off the shelf for me to consider, and I was like, "...Yes!"

She's from the Freaky Fusion line, which means she's two of their "regular" dolls, Draculaura (a pink-skinned vampire) and Robecca (a steampunk robot with bronze skin and blue hair), made into a hybrid. I'm only just learning about this stuff and don't know all the dolls, like, at all, but Robecca is probably high up on the list in terms of the original dolls that I like. Draculaura is cute, but the black/pink combination gives me these Avril Lavigne vibes...

Dracubecca has some atrocious hot pink in her style that I'm not real into, but her skin is this really lovely, slightly lilac-tinted, muted pink. I even want to say it has a pearlescent quality. She's actually very pretty! She has bronzey wings and some kind of little steampunk bustle-esque thing around her waist, as well as heart-shaped goggles. You can see rivets all over her body, since, I guess, technically, she's a robot? Haha, I don't know.

Anyway, I really don't care for this blue/pink color scheme, so I'm going to find her a different dress than this one, which I think will make me like her even more. And I really did not dig the hot pink on her black boots. So I repainted them!!

This was too much fun. I've never done this kind of customization before, since I don't do more than change eye chips or install sleepy eyes on my Blythes. Beatrix has gotten the brunt of it all.

But my friend and her girlfriend are both so freaking talented. (Did you even look at those My Little Ponies??) They had already both made some changes to some of their dolls, and both knew what they were doing, so it was fun to sit around the table with them, tubes of acrylic paints, and many tiny little paintbrushes, making cosmetic adjustments under their helpful guidance.

I chose to do Dracubecca's boots before anything because they were so terrible already, I didn't think I could really do any harm to them, even if I turned out to be very bad at what we were doing. I went in with copper  paint because it's more steampunk-y and also more neutral. The shade doesn't precisely match her plastic accoutrements, being metallic and shiny, but that's fine with me.

Originally, the soles, heels, and heart-shaped buckle at the ankles were all hot pink, and I don't know what was going on in the factory, or whatever, but it was so sloppily dashed on! There was really no very discernable shape to the sole. The paint on the heart-shaped buckle was wearing off, even. It was not good. I did my best to give the soles clean lines. I also painted the heart buckles. The gears/screw and heart dials on the upper half of the boot weren't painted at all, just like many other little features in the plastic aren't. I decided to paint those too, and am happy I did. My friend also did a little bit of clean-up with black paint for me around the soles.

In my opinion, the boots look sooo much better!

My friend did an epic detail job on a pair of (I think) Lagoona's heels, and her lady also did some crazy detailing on a pair of boots belonging to (I thiiiink?) Elissabat, who I had never seen or heard of before then, but who I thought was so cute. If I had seen her in the box at the store, I don't know if I would have thought twice about her. But I think the majority of the Monster High dolls I've seen look better out of the box. Many are hella cute and creative and super detailed.

Thanks to the expertise and styling tools of my friends, Dracubecca and Cupid got they hair did, too. A hot water rinse and lengthy conditioner soak worked wonders on Dracubecca. Her hair was left in a big twist for several days and now it's got some nice natural-looking wave.

My Cupid and Apple also got a few little embellishments done, which I'll share later. This is already far too long a post.

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