Liv Outfit Packs

I have a ton of new things I've been anxious to take photos of, but I've been too busy. The best I've been able to manage is a quick trip out to the nearby Toys R Us stores. Normally I shop at TRU when I'm visiting in CT, and I didn't even really know where the TRU stores *were* in the Boston area. One turned out to be a useless TRU "express" in one of the saddest malls ever. The other nearest TRU to me was actually pretty nice. I was looking for the Blythe + Littlest Pet Shop stuff, and didn't find it, but other than that they seemed to have a pretty decent selection, even if too much Babies R Us stuff (somehow this area seems heavier on Babies R Us than Toys...) I may have to continue testing the GPS and look for a couple of the other stores, since I won't get a chance to go to CT for a while yet (Or I'll just give up and buy them off Amazon), but in the meantime, I did see some Liv outfit packs that I thought I'd post up some pictures of.

Like the outfits on the dolls, these seem to me to be showing some kind of 80s influence. I liked them ok, but at $5.99 each, I didn't like them enough. So I left the store without buying anything. (better for my wallet, but always disappointing!) Who knows tho, maybe I'll be tempted later by a better price or boredom - right now I've been buying a lot of stuff, so it's easier/better for me to pass on things I don't love!


Cute hoodie, but yellow? Not so much for me...


I guess this one is showing the military theme that is "in" this season? When I first saw it, I thought it was horrible, but the more I look at it, the more its weirdness starts seeming appealing...


This one seems like the most likely to be useful, because it's a nice basic coat, and I'm sure I could see one of my dolls wearing it. But it's also kinda too boring to feel like buying!


This one is pretty 'basic' too (tho in a different way!) but am I wrong to think I see 80s influence in those shoulder patches? Maybe it's more like just a motorcycle type jacket?


This was the one that was most tempting to me. I like the color, and the coat seems the least boxy around the shoulders. I don't know if it's just the way they are packaged, or if the Liv dolls have bigger shoulders than average or something, but I did think most of these tops looked strangely boxy... At any rate, I'm not usually very fond of coats with 3/4 sleeves (seems to defeat the purpose of keeping warm!) but at least these are obviously intentional (and don't just look like the jacket was meant for a smaller doll!) and they come with little fingerless glove things. Those are cute.

I'm not so much digging the $5.99 price point. The Liv and Moxie clothes are a lot more expensive than Barbie generally is. It may be that this is a fair price for what they are, it's just sad, since I hate to spend too much on 'store bought' clothes when I could be buying something cute off etsy or something. (But store clothes offer such nice instant gratification...)

Then just another couple of random photos...

I don't know how many of these Barbie Basics dolls there are in total, but I swear I'm always running across new ones!


This one had some surprisingly striking makeup. It's not so obvious in my washed out photo, but all the gold colors were glittery! She's a little bit tempting to me. I think there's been a couple of these Basic Barbies that would be fun to dress, but I *really* do not need to get into collecting Barbies...


This isn't the best picture, but I liked this little Olivia set for the cool accessories (I love minis or any sort!) and for how stylized the pig is. Kind of fun!

There wasn't a whole lot new and different over at the Sanrio aisle, but I did notice these "Sports Kitty" plushies which I hadn't seen before...

In case you can't tell, they are basketball, baseball, and soccer in some slightly retro looking outfits. Not my cup of tea as I am not a sports fan, but I could imagine these being really fun for someone!

Toys R Us Barbie Restock

Only went to one (out of a possible 2) Toys R Us this weekend, but did spot a few new things. Since I was in CT and concentrating on getting back to MA to catch the last of the tax free weekend, I didn't end up buying anything, but I did grab a few pictures.

First up is a clothes set. I don't think it's actually new (I haven't seen any updated Barbie clothes sets yet outside of the "Barbie Basics") but it's one I either haven't seen, or haven't seen in a while. It did seem like a few things were re-stocked including the sort of 'kids' one that comes with the mini ipod (I want that ipod! But I don't really want the rest of the stuff... >.>) and the ski set. I really want to like the ski set, but I kind of don't. Boo.

Anyway, this is the set I started off rambling about:


Sort of a rock clothes set. I kind of like it, and the little cd is pretty nifty. Odds are not high I will buy it tho with the overflow of new Liv and Moxie and everything else stuff that is so much cuter. Still, nice. Better if the guitar were real tho!

Next we have an *almost handsome* Ken!! Wow!



Actually, I don't know how good looking he really and truly is, but at least they tried something different with the hair. I give credit for that. He still dresses like a dork tho...



This is also part of this "Barbie Fashion Fairy Tale" line that I don't know anything about. The sparkly skinny Barbies are from this line tho. And there IS a Barbie, but she's one of the lame ones that has a painted torso rather than real clothes.

Moving on, I haven't seen any new "100 pose" Barbies (actually, most of these dolls have been pretty severely out of stock, so I guess they are doing well) but one (really two!) new one that has appeared is this set:



I quite like certain elements about this pair, but since it IS a pair, the price tag is greater. I am not sure I want to deal with buying them as a set. Mostly I like the purple girl's outfit, esp. the boots!! (tho I might not pair the shirt and skirt together normally, myself... XD) The other girl (sweetie) does not do a lot for me, tho I do like the leggings and the shirt ok...

Speaking of good outfits, I only saw a few "Dolls of the World", but I really quite liked Miss Italy.



Isn't that a great outfit? I really want to buy her for her outfit only, but she's a bit expensive for that...

I did see some things that were brand new to me (haven't seen them on flickr, haven't seen them on barbiecollector.com - not that I look hard, so it might be that they are there somewhere!)

One of these was this candy themed doll.



I thought that she must be based on something, but "Dylan's Candy Bar" didn't mean a lot to me. It appears that it is an actual store tho. Checking wikipedia, I was thinking if there were only a few stores, it is surprising they made a Barbie out of it. However, the fact it was started by Ralph Lauren's daughter explains a lot! Once you've seen the website, the dress makes a lot more sense too. Since I've never heard of them before, the store tie-in doesn't mean a lot, and I am mixed about how I feel about the doll/outfit. The colorfulness is appealing, but then when I really stop and look at it, it's not that exciting.

By contrast, this doll I love!



Ok, sure, the "couture angel" name and the wings and all make me think of Victoria's Secret somehow, but the dress is lovely and subtle and I like her hair ornament! So pretty!

Other than that, I saw two new remade vintage Barbies that I had just seen on barbiecollector.com.



Miss 1965 is kind of nice. I like her red coat a lot! Even the top of her one-piece is pretty, tho the bottom makes me feel like she forgot her pants... >.>

This one with the wigs is interesting to me.



I didn't realize Barbie had ever had removeable wigs, so this is news to me. No real interest in buying her, but she's interesting to know about!

Another doll set I'd heard about but never seen in person was this Harley Davidson set.



They are really pretty cool, but the commercial tie-in apparently makes them pretty expensive, because they were $72!! Ouch. So none of them for me.

Finally, this is not a Barbie, but I am finding the Disney stuff to be increasingly cute, so I can't resist showing off this Tiana doll.



I love that she comes with a tiny frog!! I want to get her for that alone, but it looks like she sings or something, so she's a bit more expensive than average. Not really worth getting just to have a frog. Oh well. (she's actually a pretty doll. But I am NOT collecting Barbies and others. No. I'm not! No matter how tempting, and how many of them seem to be accumulating in my room already... ^^;)

And then, just for fun, a Barbie-related sight I ran across in a clearance-type store:



Save your life in Barbie-style! (It looks like people mostly felt safer with Batman tho. I can't blame them. I know I would! XD)

Target Mini Update

I forgot to include this Liv playset in my last post. It's a rather cute scooter (I like the stripes!) and a random 'pet' set. (hey, I rhyme!)

The cutest thing about the pet one is the little hamster wheel, but you can't see it in the photo.

I was just going to edit the previous post to include the picture, but for those of you (any of you?) reading this blog regularly that are in the US, I just wanted to mention Target has a lot of this new stuff on sale! Bitty Buttons are $20 each (instead of $25) and the clothing sets are a $1 off. I should've maybe waited to buy the sets I bought, but it was only a dollar, so I'm not that sad. I did want to get a second doll (because $4-5 off is not bad) and I was going to get it this weekend (tax free weekend!) but they really didn't have many in stock. Pretty much just the one I have and the one with the owl. Hopefully I can locate another one before the sale ends. I still want spots splatter and the girl with the blue hair. That blue hair girl is extremely scare so I don't have much hope for her. But maybe I can find Spots? I tried checking the Target webpage, and it supposedly tells you what is in stock near you, but having done it immediately after hitting the store I can definitely guarantee that this feature of their webpage is either totally useless or else they have a lot of stuff hidden in the back that you need to ask someone to locate for you (I didn't try this).

Liv dolls are also on sale, as well as the clothes sets. The clothes sets are $8 at the moment, rather than $9.99. It's still not 'cheap', but I guess it's better anyway... I already got the clothes set I wanted most, unfortunately, but I picked up a second. I considered getting a wig (also on sale for $4.50), but I decided it wasn't worth it because I don't *need* a wig, and I am sending money lately like my wallet is on fire. I really wanted to get the 'nature' line doll with the blue plaid shirt and the bunny (Hayden) but for some reason although all the other dolls were like $16ish, that one was randomly $18! Why is just that one more expensive? So weird. I mean, it wasn't even the whole 'nature' line that was $18 or anything - just her! So I didn't get her. >.< (yes, I know, she was still on sale. But also, like I said, I don't need to be buying so much stuff!

I thought the flier also said Moxie was on sale, but I didn't see any sale moxies, so I didn't buy any. Of course I have also noticed that Target (at least near me!) is doing a lousy job of updating the price signs that are on their shelves. When I scan things, they are often cheaper. This is better than them being more expensive, of course, but it's sort of weird. I mean, if it's cheaper, isn't it better to say so? Is this some sort of surprise reward if you decide to buy it? I noticed this especially for the Disney fairies (I bought the purple girl too. ^^;) - they are marked correctly in CT, but have been wrong for 2 weeks in Boston. Odd!

Here's a shot of my purchases (you know, the non-practical ones):

You can click through for notes if you like and are not coming in thru flickr anyway - I don't think there's anything particularly 'noteworthy' (ha!) but just in case. I'm too lazy to re-write what I said there here, esp. since I said a lot of it above... ;P

Still More New Things at Target!

There's just so many new toys at Target it's like Christmas! Er... wait. Oh yeah, this stocking up probably IS for Christmas... ;P

This is a hodgepodge post, because it's just catching up on some additional new things that I didn't capture for my earlier, more theme-based, posts.

Remember I mentioned that I saw a Liv playset based around a "nature" theme, but didn't see any dolls? Well, some dolls showed up. I did actually know they existed after I did my post, since I saw them on Impossible Princess's flickr photostream, but this is my first time to see them in person.


I really kind of like this one. The plaid shirt especially!


Not as excited about this girl, but I do love that t-shirt!

Speaking of Christmas, this massive set of Disney fairy dolls is clearly aimed at Christmas present giving.

At $50, it's actually a pretty good deal, and since I've been somehow growing pretty fond of these dolls in spite of myself, it was actually tempting! ^^; I know very little about the new Disney Tinkerbell movies, it's just that the dolls are kind of cute despite their relatively cheap outfits. I just bought the orange-outfitted doll because she has freckles and I've always got a weakness for freckles. The individual dolls have been on sale for $9, rather than their usual $13-$14. I think I may go back tomorrow for the dark-haired girl. Her hair is actually dark purple rather than black, and even tho I think these dolls are a *little* bit odd features-wise, they're still cute... The outfits on the individual dolls are a bit different - and a bit nicer - than the dolls in the playset, but if you really did want them all, I think it would still be worth buying the playset!

Next up, Hello Kitty. My last post did not include any bags, and while I still didn't get a picture of the backpacks (which I still don't think are the cutest ever) I did get a picture of my favorite of the lunchbags.

It's pretty simple, graphics-wise, but I really kind of like the funky "paper-bag" shape. It probably doesn't serve any useful purpose, but it's unique!

I was also amused by this sign:

I feel terrible for any little kid that wanted a Hello Kitty lunchbox and winds up getting a boring flower one instead!!!

Another "bag-related" thing of note - Target has a new designer line called Poketo for Target. The Target I was at didn't have a huge selection, but it seems like it could be cute based on the website. This was probably my favorite item, but for $15, I don't really need it...


I save the most exciting thing for last - apparently this is not only the Barbie Basics "red" Target accessories, there's also dolls!


This one is my favorite... And if you look carefully at her box, you'll see she is "Number 08". So I guess there are far more of these than the 3 dolls I was able to spot!





And then one other, unrelated, Barbie thing that I may even have posted a photo of before - I forget:

The Motorized Glitterizer! I just love that name! Too funny!!

And that's all for now!

Monster High Hits Target

Of course the Monster High dolls are no longer new at this point, it seems like practically every doll person I know has broken down and bought one! But I can't resist posting up some pictures of the display at Target, because it's so much more elaborate then the display they got at TRU. Of course, I can't blame TRU - they could barely keep these dolls in stock!



I was happy to see Target was carrying the little plush versions! I hadn't gotten to see them before, and they really are adorable! I love the little button eyes. I probably won't get one tho, just because I am really overloaded with plushies, so I just can't buy them unless I feel like I "can't live without it".


Here's a closer look at the display case. The display doesn't really do anything, the dolls just stand there. It's not as clever as the Liv display either. Actually, it's a bit boring...

Mattel tries to make up for this, however, with the other half of the display. There's a story book type thing:


(you can't see it well, but the top picture on the right says "Lookout! Zombie flash mob!" I was pretty amused/surprised to see flash mobs showing up here. I guess the idea has hit the big time and maxed out then.)


Under the book is a little video screen. If you push the button it shows a whole animated short. I've been too lazy to look at the webpage, but I am guessing these are the same videos on the webpage. I am not sure, either, how many videos it shows. The one I watched showed Frankie trying to join the cheerleading squad, which they had some sort of clever punny name for, like 'Ghoul Spirit' instead of 'School Spirit', but I don't remember exactly what it said...

So I'm waiting for a sale or something, but I might pick up a second Monster High doll sooner or later. Or I might just wait for the next wave. Clawdeen - who is my favorite and the only one I bought so far - is coming out again with a new wig. In green, which looks fun!

---

Unrelated, but I also snapped some pictures of the other new Moxie dolls I saw. These are Moxie "Pets".


You'll notice the one on the right is wearing 'recycled' fashions. I already have that outfit, but it is a nice one...


I do like the other two outfits, tho the addition of little plastic dogs does nothing for me...

Back to School with Hello Kitty!

Back to School is always a great time to pick up cute stationary and bags, even if you are not going to school anymore! So I'm always excited to see what cute things they've got for the kids each August as they roll out the back to school supplies. This year I will be eye-ing backpacks in particular, esp. as they go on clearance, because my old backpack is all worn out. Normally I like the insulated lunch bags too, but I think I'm pretty stocked up on those - esp. because if Hello Kitty is on them, I can't bear to throw them out! (So far I have found the bags to be on the plain and simple side, but I didn't get any pictures, so that's all I'll say for now)

The past couple of years Target has been good to me in terms of supplying cute Hello Kitty stuff for back to school. The biggest problem was that in waiting it out for it to go on sale, I missed some good things! So this year is no exception in terms of Target stocking Hello Kitty Back-to-School goods, but I find I am not that excited about any of it. With the exception of 50th Anniversary goods, that's how I've been feeling about Sanrio stuff all summer. I have yet to figure out if this is because things actually are not quite so cute this year, or if it's just that I have so much stuff now I'm getting pickier. I'll post my photos tho and you can decide for yourself whether this year competes with previous years!

As I said, Target is definitely not failing to give Kitty her due this year, regardless on my own level of excitement. The first thing I noticed walking in was this big display in the girls' department...



The clothes were very cute, but I think much too small for an adult... (sometimes the XL sizes are pretty big, but I didn't see anything particularly large in this instance)


That middle section was mostly belts, rather than jewelry, so I didn't take a picture. I'm hoping I might find some jewelry at a different story later tho.

Moving on to the actual back to school supplies section, we see that this year's theme for Kitty is sort of a 70s "peace" thing.






(These are those stretchy book covers. Back in my day - you know, when we walked uphill in the snow both ways - we just made our book covers out of paper bags and decorated them with stickers. I am not really a fan of the stretchy book covers)


The glue stick is pretty amusing!

This peace and love theme is actually very similar to the stuff they had at the dollar aisle of Michael's earlier in the summer.



I bought some stickers from this line back then, so maybe my lack of enthusiasm about the stuff at Target is just a feeling of having seen it before...

Some years have had other cute (non-Kitty) things as well, but most of the non-Kitty stuff I've seen this year has been Toy Story stuff. Which is not so bad, I do love certain things about Toy Story - like the aliens!



There was also a "generic vampire" design, that I found pretty hysterical. I'll have to post up some pictures of that later.

By contrast, I actually thought the school supply designs at Toys R Us were *far* more adorable. They didn't have as many options, but what they did have was cute.



I think the detective theme is totally adorable and original!

Even the back is cute!


Oh, and although it is not detective-themed, Kitty also got in with the puzzle eraser craze:


I went home with a folder and two packages of mini notebooks - so I could use them AND keep them pristine like the crazy collector that I am!