Much like Blythe herself, her accessories are also super cute. Small and dainty, they fit into the palm of your hand. If you consider shoes for Petites, they fit onto your fingertip with room to spare! I am, of course, talking about their shoes!

My Blythes have a decent-sized shoe closet. If you were to ask them, they would say that they don’t have enough. There’s not enough for them all to wear a similar style all at one go. And at current count, I have approximately 5.5 pairs of shoes per doll if I were to divide up the shoes evenly (and none of them are willing to wear just one shoe out of a pair). My favourites do vary from time to time, but the really simple ones that go with almost all outfits win out overall. My current favourites that go really well with most outfits are these two pairs of simple Mary Janes:

What I love about them is that they’re simple. They’re not ‘showstoppers’ that draw your gaze at first, but they go with so much and that’s awesome! I love the brightly coloured shoes that I have as well, but lime green shoes don’t go with all outfits, neither do yellow boots. Sometimes simple staples are the best and they’re staples for a reason.

What is your favourite pair of shoes?

Most of my dolls have their stock Takara bodies (or Kenner bodies, in the case of some vintage girls). The notable exception is a custom Blythe that I have that is on a Licca body. I had Licca bodies (no heads) around before, but I wasn’t really fond of them all that much. Their torso are shaped differently, their noodle-like legs bothered me as there were no knees! Their arms, even with a bend where an elbow should be, look funny to me. Limbs shouldn’t bend like they’re on a wire!

But despite having a funny chest and noodle limbs, I left the Licca body on my custom girl. Partly because she came with it and partly because I was a wee bit concerned as to what kind of damage I could accidentally inflict onto her by accident. And I’ve grown to like it!

It’s definitely has more posing capabilities than Takara bodies, but there’s the con in that when sitting her down she’s likely to flop over. Takara arms are great in which they act as two of the legs in a tripod while the rest of her body acts like the third. I’m still not that fond of the overall shape of her torso or how the cleavage line seems to go way higher than what is natural on a human. I still find it funny or off that her legs have no clearly defined joint when you bend her ‘knees’, but overall I’ve grown to accept these little quirks in the Licca body, but I’m still a stock Takara body fan!

I haven’t had the chance to really interact with a Pure Neemo body, of any variety, but I think they look fantastic in photos (and they have joints!) but I think all of the little pieces would become an annoyance to me, especially as I think I’d be a bit paranoid over losing a piece or two if I were to bring a girl out on a Pure Neemo body.

What kind of body do you prefer your Blythes to have?

I decided to put my dolls’ wardrobe to the test. I would ‘randomize’ it by selecting items at random to see what I would put together after closing my eyes and reaching in to pull something out. Because I really wanted to see what kind of wacky combinations I could come up with, I decided on choosing one of each of the following:

• One hat
• One shirt (or jacket, they’re in the same bin)
• One skirt/pants/shorts

And then this is what I ended up with:

Mollie is wearing a hat I got from BlytheCon 2011, a light pink with white polka dot sleep shirt, a light purple with sparkly ric rac skirt and Nostalgic Pop stock shoes.

If you go and randomize an outfit for your dolls, what do you end up with?

Share a link to your photo if you want to!

Photo by sxc.hu user shadowkill.

Most of my dolls that I had bought were funded by savings that I happened to have and could afford to spend. My first Kenner was funded solely by overtime from my summer job and tax credit cheques from the government (a perk for being incredibly low in annual income?). My latest doll that I purchased was funded in part from funds raised over selling sundries online and some money from my summer job that I could afford to part with.

The costs of a Blythe rises and falls over the course of the year. It can be hard to tell when a doll is going to rise in price or not, but a good rule of thumb that I consider is to watch the market for a couple of weeks for the particular doll that you want (this, of course, applies only to stock dolls). Does the doll come with all of her stock or just partial? Is she nude? Has there been any customization (spray matte, Licca body, hair trim/cut)? Do these changes change how you feel about her? No? Great! Watch the price going over a small time period to see what the general trend of the price is her before you make your first move. It’s important to consider the time of year as well – generally there’s times when Kenners are at an all time low (months leading up to Christmas) and at an all time high (April-May, when income tax returns are being issued).

How do you save up for a new doll?

I’ve mentioned bringing Blythes to work before. I happen to work in an office setting for a summer job and I got a desk (in a cubicle) where I set my Blythe on the desk next to my computer monitor. Sometimes people notice, sometimes they don’t. After getting moved to a corner cubicle where nobody comes to visit, I’d brought a Blythe far more often to work to keep me company. Dolls are fantastic company in that they don’t fuss, they don’t make a mess (generally) and they’re great at keeping quiet while you’re trying to work to meet a deadline or answer an important email.

Do you bring Blythe to work?