This is part four of my “Thoughts on…” mini series. The first three parts were on Kenners, Customs and (LPS) Petites.

At the beginning, I looked at Middie and thought she was ‘okay’. I mean, she wasn’t the same as Neo, that much was obvious. No eye mechanism, just a strange dial on the back of her head? Then there was the problem with her price. For that much money I’d expect her knees to bend at the very least. I saw Middie for the first time back in 2011 in Portland – my first exposure to other doll collectors and their dolls in person. Looking  back, it was an overwhelming couple of days. I went from living in my own safe bubble to being exposed to all manners of Blythe. Before that, I was just happy to keep everyone at a distance, through my compute. But going to Portland helped me realize that I wasn’t the only person in my area with Blythe dolls. Now I have friends that I see on a monthly basis that also have dolls – and that social circle gets a little bigger every once in a while and that’s pretty awesome.

But I digress. Middies.

I thought she was a bit like Skipper. I never really liked Skipper when I was little. She couldn’t wear the high heels that I had for my Barbie and I only ever had one outfit for the Teen Skipper that was hand-me-down. (Bonus, her dress has been integrated into the Blythe closet as it can fit them quite well).

I was apprehensive about Middie at first – who wouldn’t be? She was expensive, no changing eye colours (the one true defining characteristic of Blythe), no bending knees and… to top it all off – she was a completely different size of doll to clothe. I had enough trouble keeping my Petite and BJD in clothes that fit (mostly because my efforts of expanding the wardrobe is primarily for Blythe). Before I got my Middie, I actually got her shoes, as funny as that may sound. Kelly shoes wind up in lots for vintage Barbie boots, Skipper flats or bagged thrift store things all the time. So I had quite a few pairs in a bag somewhere just waiting for someone to step into them.

So I had the shoes, now what about the doll? Quite few of the Middies really ‘speak’ to me. I adore the look of custom Middies, but at the time I was looking to buy, they were out of my price limit. I was giving myself a hard limit, just in case I didn’t like her at all. I figured that I’d be safe with a stock Middie because if I didn’t like her, I wouldn’t have much trouble reselling her.

Then Jackie Ramone’s “real” photos were released. I was smitten with her. The next time I knew, I was preordering a doll for the very first time.

She arrived in her smaller shipper, plastic-wrapped hot pink box. I wasn’t quite sure what to think of her. One thing’s for sure though – Takara was cutting corners with the undies that they were packaging the dolls with.

No hemming? Are they serious?!

For what a Middie costs, brand new, you’d think they could afford to make simple white cotton panties that didn’t, you know, suck. But the rest of her stock was delightful. Jackie Ramone’s stock boots actually fit the bigger Neo Blythe sisters quite well. Her leather jacket fits quite nicely – and while I do wish it didn’t feel so plasticky, the dress is pretty cute too. Plus the sunglasses? Darling.

I’m not entirely sold of Jackie Ramone’s hair. I think the release photos looked a lot better, but I do like her overall. And her chips are much prettier in person, and I originally thought they were quite nice looking in photos.

She’s cute though, isn’t she? I named her Kitty Brighton. Kitty after Kitty Bennett (from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice) and Brighton after the location. She has a few pairs of her own shoes, her stock clothes, a few tops that will work as dresses on her…

And I’m totally smitten with her. Let’s just hope she doesn’t want any sisters her own size!

I will be documenting my process throughout 365 with Eden Mouse this year. Here are a selection of images for February  2013:

I made it a goal to do ‘something’ for each of my dolls’ birthdays as it happened this year, here were the first four (of twelve) birthdays I had celebrating this year:

January 19th – the 3rd year that Bennett has been here!

January 23rd – the 3rd year that Eden Mouse has been living here (and making everything pink!)

February 18th – marks the 1st year that Lillian and Primrose have been living with me (due to an amazing story of seven Kenner Blythes being rescued from a second hand toy shop by a dear friend of mine).

The next birthday that will be documented is Kindred’s (March 26th).

A year and two days ago, these two lovelies became mine.

And life, as they say, hadn’t been the same again.

I learned a lot by restoring them, replacing legs, fixing plugs, breathing in the vintage smell that is 1972 plastic.

Happy belated birthday to Prim & Lily!

There’s been a lot of ‘drama’ that has happened on the internet recently  pertaining to dolls, of all things. A good online friend, at least I’d like think that we’re good friends, was harassed and insulted and belittled over a website that she had made. It was a charming, quirky website that I thought was all in good fun – so did a lot of other people. But it only takes one person to ruin that, to make it not a good thing anymore.

I get a lot of emails because of BlytheLife. A lot of it can be good, but I also get a lot of bad ones too. I get people telling me that I’m lazy for not posting on a daily basis. I have people telling me that I’m greedy for charging for advertising here. I’ve gotten emails from people who say hurtful things and they think that they’re being anonymous when I can match up their IP address to comments here on the blog. That’s right – I know who’s been bad or good, just like good ol’ Santa. The internet gives people the sense of anonymity that they think that they can hide behind. And that can be both good and bad. Good in the sense that it allows shy, introverted people the ability to speak out – but also bad in the sense that it makes people think that they’re untouchable. Guess what? You’re not.

I don’t get paid for doing this website. I do it out of my own free time. I set it up myself and I maintain it. As it is, it is a lot of work to keep up the schedule of 3 posts (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) every week. I’ve put in time, effort and money into this website. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback, but also a lot of negative – which I don’t appreciate. I also understand that it’s that person’s prerogative to insult me and then turn around and enter giveaways that I host on this website. Perhaps you didn’t realize that I know that you do that. But now you do. So I would sincerely hope that you stop clogging up my inbox with your ridicule and start growing up.

Also, for the amount of traffic that I get on this blog – I don’t charge a lot of advertising. I preferred to do it this way in order to keep it affordable for people in the doll community. That said, all of the money that I make from advertising goes towards paying for this website. It costs money to maintain a website, even if I put my time in for free. It costs money to host it, it costs money for that little dot-com name that you type in or click to get here. For those that think that I make a profit – I don’t. I put in my own money into keeping this website alive. If I had a nickle every time someone accused me of turning a huge profit with this website, I’d have a lot of nickles.

I’m very tired of the mudslinging that a lot of people have taken to doing on the internet – especially in the Blythe community. We’re (primarily) adults and I would hope that we can all act like it. As well, we can all start remembering that there’s nothing really anonymous about the internet. When you say mean and hurtful things, it can be traced back to you. So when you turn around and post cheerful comments somewhere else, I know it.

And trust me, other people can figure it out on their own websites as well.

Sincerely,
Michelle