When Middie was first announced, a lot of people thought she was weird. For instance, why make another doll? Why didn’t she have a pullstring? There were talks about how overpriced she was (is) and how she doesn’t really do anything. There’s a handful of Middies currently and not as many crafters dedicating some time to make clothing that are Middie-sized.

I am not going to lie, when I first saw Middie I just thought she was weird. When I saw the price of Middie, I was definitely turned off. After all, that much money for a doll that doesn’t have a pullstring? At least Petites (Takara or LPS) are more conservatively priced (~$10-30) and they don’t do much either. But a Middie? To me, Middie was the gawky middle child. Not cute and bubbly like a Petite, and definitely doesn’t hold a candle to the bigger (original) size of Blythe.

But… Middie grew on me. Like fungus. Or a bacterial culture (I’m so mean). After seeing more and more (cute!!) photos of Middie, she’s starting to warm up to me. I mean, I’m definitely waiting for a less expensive, regular release (I don’t know if I can justify current retail prices for one!) but she’s definitely a cutie and I’m definitely considering one… one day.

How do you feel about Middie? Would you get one?

It’s easy to get obsessed with a specific doll. Flickr is horrible great for that. After all, all you need to do is put in those few key words and bam, you’re bombarded with images of your dream dolly. Next thing you know, you’re coming up with potential names for the doll, looking her up on eBay every hour (or so) and also checking all current threads on buy/sell/trade forums and thinking of what doll you can post up for sale to get the funds needed.

It’s official, you have the fever. It’s easy to get, even easier to diagnose. Your heart starts pumping a little harder when you see the doll online, when you see an active auction. The signs are easy to see and hard to ignore. But how difficult is it to get rid of the fever?

Some say that you absolutely need to buy the doll to cure yourself. Even if you have Kozy Fever and nothing short of mint will do. But you have things to sell, right? So you do, in a feverish state you let go of your lesser-loved dolls, half of the doll clothes and a few designer staples that you swore up and down that you’d never sell (never say never!). Others say you can get away with buying a substitute, but will you be happy with that little substitute? You’ll know the entire time that you could have saved up a bit more, sold a little more, to get that doll that you so passionately want.

I’m currently feverish for red-headed Kenner Blythe. (And hey, if you know anyone selling one, let me know…) It was so easy to see that I had a good case of the gimmes, but it is so much harder to cure it (drat!).

How do you cure dolly fever when you have it? What doll was it for?

Besides a selection of matte BLs and FBLs, most Blythes are shiny, shiny, shiny. Some are shinier than others (some are too shiny!) but we either embrace the shine or do something about it. Some people use a spray to matte the dolls, others use sanding sponges. Regardless of what you do, most Blythes start out shiny.

My dolls are all shiny (my RBLs are shinier than my EBLs!). I can’t bring myself to spray them with something and I really cannot bring myself to sand matte them! But I do adore the look of matted dolls, especially in photos because you don’t see people’s cameras or windows or doors or other things reflecting off of Blythe’s big forehead.

Like in the photo, my bedroom window is reflecting off of my doll’s forehead (Sophie – Cappuccino Chat). I get that a lot, especially whenever my window’s around and not blocked (but I do love me some natural light!).

Do you prefer stock-shiny Blythes or matte Blythes?

Our dolls have personalities that are (usually) some form of extension from our own. Our dolls have hobbies that may be similar to our own. They like some of the same things that we do, sometimes they like all the things that we don’t. The girls are fickle that way, but that’s what makes us love them so much!

My own dolls have interesting hobbies. Some of them love video games, some have an inner desire to create crochet and knit cozies for everything while one has a love for modelling and another loves to play with dolls. Whatever their hobbies are, most of them mimic my own (besides the love for modelling). It’s interesting how some of my most loved hobbies translate so easily into my dolls’ personalities and become their hobbies and loves as well! So this week’s question is probably easy to guess.

What kind of hobbies do your dolls have?

Besides Blythe, I don’t collect any other dolls. I do collect other things, but not other dolls. I know some people collect Monster High, Lalaloopsy, Liv, Moxie Girlz, ball-jointed dolls from various makers and other dolls that perhaps are of the same vintage as Kenner Blythes. There are a lot of other dolls that people collect and are interested in – some are less expensive compared to Blythe while others are much (much) more expensive when compared to Blythe.

Photograph from stock.xchng user mzacha.

Do you collect other dolls besides Blythe?  And if yes, what do you collect? And if no, is money the obstacle?