However there are one or two dolls I'd choose to have in my collection rather than finding them randomly in shops. I hunt around in various toy selling shops sometimes and have to say although the new 'kelly' replacement Mattel produce, called 'Chelsea' is pretty, I really am NOT a fan of the moulded on clothing, nor five point articulation which I find very limiting - with her height (at least an inch bigger than classic Kelly which would make her even taller than Tye (who has the obitsu body remember) I just think she needs to be able to do more than bend arms up or down, and legs the same. Or look left, or right. What about sitting in chairs? riding horses? using a phone fer crying out loud!? (my hope is that with the new 'Made to Move Barbie' quite obviously being Mattel's answer to the BJD craze that swept Dolldom enough that mattel noticed, eventually this articulation will trickle down to Kelly level and perhaps we will see a nice jointed Chelsea, with removable clothes.. and then perhaps I'd be interested. When they also lose the obsession with big heads and wiiiide eyes.
That said back on topic, there are a couple of the older dolls I would still like to get, and highest on the list has been Scottish Tommy. Scottish Tommy has one huge and major thing going for him - he looks Very Similar to the doll that dominated the OOAK Kelly articles in Barbie Bazaar (remember that? miss that??) ie Margie (the author's) lovely boy Pip. Here he is if you haven't met him before.
And guess what - TYE noticed!! Yup our confirmed tomboy actually noticed...wait for it...a <say it quietly now...> ...boy! We don't tell her but Pip's antics went quite a long way to defining what I would get up to with Tye's stories, and he's a hard act to follow let me tell you!
Ever since I saw Scottish Tommy in BB years ago I've wanted one. I think he was released around 2004. He looks brilliant and dates back from when I think Mattel really got it right with the Kellys, I don't have a photo because I don't have one I have the rights to use (if anyone out there can let me have one I'd be grateful) but he has lovely pale true to type skin tone, red hair styled gorgeously, grey detailed eyes which I think are quite rare on Kelly/Tommy dolls, freckles and a cute outfit which is based on Scottish National Dress. He came in a set of three dolls under the Dolls of the World series with a little Dutch girl and a Spanish girl.
On and off over the years I looked on ebay when the sudden hankering for a new doll starts, usually there were quite a few Never Removed from Box with perfectly reasonable collectors prices and perfectly unreasonable but undertandable shipping prices (when did it get so high??) or there would be a deboxed one and I would not have the spare cash at the time.
Fast forward to a couple of days ago. An evening spent wondering around online and chatting to friends via facebook, as usual the topic turns to dolls. I mention that I am half heartedly searching for a new one and as usual bemoan the lack of Scots Tommy on ebay or elsewhere (which, as an aside, is interesting in itself because I was doing a general search and nothing was showing, when friend Sam in America did the same search a whole load showed up, NRFB - gee thanks, ebay!) anyway suddenly onto the screen comes an ebay auction for an undressed Scots tommy, looking adorably tousled, and at a reasonable price! Including affordable shipping. There followed a conversation with Sam in america and me in the UK whilst I ummed and ahhed - money never being that good around these parts, finally 'if you get this boy I'll get this girl that's in the auction here' a quick and amazingly accurate mental arithmetic working out of the exchange rate (right to within forty cents, well done Sam!)
We really ought to know better than to egg each other on when it's something like 2am here in the UK and still quite late over in the U.S!
So yeah, I am ridiculously excited. He is going to have the honour reserved normaly only for Tye in that I will swap his body to an obitsu - and hey the skin tone might match, that'll be a first! so he can have maximum playability and posing potential. I feel that if I'd got a NRFB one I'd have been really upset about deboxing him and actually playing..
Anyway a night of gleeful planning and wondering how I can i introduce him into Tye's storylines...next morning I'm back on the old PC staring avidly at this lovely lad that's coming to live with us...and since I'm on ebay...up comes 'other items you might be interested in' - yup you've guessed it. There he was again, only THIS time fully clothed and accompanied by five other dolls. A complete set in fact, of the Dolls of the World Kelly releases. deboxed For fifteen quid, IN the uk, INCLUDING postage.... it took me about half an hour of mentally working it out and sending frantic mails to Sam, who wasn't even up yet! before I hit BIN. Since I have a working knowledge of UK postage I reckon I got a brilliant deal, because postage and a box will work out at nearly five quid which means I got the dolls for ten quid, (around $15) and they look to be pristine condition in the auction. So excited!!! is it wrong to be this excited over new dolls?
Sam's awaiting the arrival of her new girl, named Veronica, and I have a tentative name for our boy but I need to meet him first to make sure it fits, as you do lol.
So now we wait, very impatiently I might add!