I was chatting with a doll friend recently (who asked to remain anonymous) and we were talking about Middies, and then she said this gem:

I don’t really get the point of them.

The point? The point is that they’re cute! They’re adorable and pocket-sized! They have even tinier feet that demands a tiny shoe collection all to themselves! But I don’t throw all of these points at her, instead I simply go “What do you mean?” – the response I got wasn’t surprising, but was a good point.

“I’m worth every penny!”

On a good day, a Middie costs roughly the same as a Neo Blythe – but she doesn’t have the same characteristics as a Blythe. For instance, a Middie doesn’t have the famed changing eyes that a Blythe has, instead she has a dial and can just move her eyes from side to side (much like a Pullip). The functionality isn’t the same as one doll has one set of eyes, the other has four.

Isn’t the whole point of Blythe is to have the oversized head and the changing eyes?

I thought about this – and I thought it was a yes and no type of answer to that question. Yes, the classic (vintage) Blythe was well known (and feared by children?) for having the changing eye colours. That’s also one of the features that drew me to her when I first discovered Blythe on the internet because it was quirky, weird, and cute. But I tend to consider Middie to be a different doll altogether. Sure, she shares a lot of similar qualities with Blythe (large head to body radio, similar facial features), but she’s not a smaller version of her big sister.

Middie is her own doll-self (so to speak). After all, nobody looks at Petites and go “Ugh, she doesn’t have changing eyes like Blythe does!”.

It took me much longer than expected to sort through and filter through the comments/entries made in March – I deleted a bunch of spam, and then had to pull my own name out of the running because I don’t think anyone would believe it if I won my own giveaway! That said, I should probably show you all what the prize is! It is this:

The winner will be receiving this adorable pink alpaca stationery set, a pair of lashes, a dark blue pair of eye chips for Neo Blythe (from Cool Cat), and a dark purple short-sleeve sweater for Blythe (knit by me).

There was a whopping 117 comments made in the month of March (not inclusive of spam and commentary made by myself, of course) – thank you to everyone who commented on BlytheLife last month! And the winner is… Click to read more of this entry.

When I first started in the Blythe hobby way back when (2009! It’ll be 7 years in June!), “grail doll” was a phrase used to describe a very sought after doll that was out of someone’s reach. This could be due to finances or just due to rarity. For instance, the beginning a grail doll for me was a Kenner Blythe because at the time they both seemed really expensive and they were really expensive. Custom Blythes at the time seemed expensive to me too, and they averaged around $300USD (a lot has changed over the years!).

What are we? Chopped liver?!

Nowadays, I see ‘grail doll’ being used to just describe a doll that someone wanted (and then bought! and then they resell). To me, that doesn’t really seem like a “grail” because it wasn’t ever really out of their reach, they just wanted the doll and bought it. If a grail object was that easy to find, there wouldn’t have been a journey to search for it and the adventure that goes along with it. But, I digress. A word is a word is a word, and language develops and changes all the time – and so does the definition of grail doll.

I’ve had a lot of high-on-my-wish-list dolls come in – Margaret Meets Ladybug (Bennett), Velvet Minuet (Kindred), a redheaded Kenner (Emmalynn), and a Mondrian (Lottie). I think next on my wishlist might be an Aztec Arrival (BL) or Sunday Best (BL). I’ve seen BLs in person before, but I’m very much smitten with them now that Lottie is in my life.

Do you use the phrase “grail doll” to describe your wish list? Who are you wishing for right now?

Everyone has different goals for their Blythe collection. Some people want a Kenner with every possible hair style, others want one of every single BL ever produced (a lofty goal, to be sure), while others collect every single Middie release as they are produced. Me? I want to own one of every single mold type. That is, I want to own one each of a Kenner, ADG, BL, EBL, SBL, RBL, FBL, RBL+, Middie, Petite (LPS) and Petite (Takara).

With the addition of Lottie, I finally (!) have a BL to call my own – and isn’t she so cute? The only one that I have left to add to the family is an ADG (Ashton-Drake Galleries produced faithful reproductions to the original 1972 Kenners from 2005-2008, more information here). I do have plans to acquire one soon, and then I will have met my goal. And then perhaps I will need a new goal? Maybe? Maybe I’ll start by getting more shelf space for my dolls…

What are your collection goals?

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