Now Playing: Some dingbat yelling over at 7-11.
Current Mood : Tired - but happy. New doll ! 
Today I HAD to get Dearest Son registered for school, so that was primary on the agenda. Not registered = they put ya in whatever school the Edu. Dept thinks might be fun. And getting a bus assignment is a nightmare. No way. Not gonna happen. This is his third school in the system, and we've only moved once ! After that, a quick trip to the recyclers, then, we're off to TRU ! Ever since he saw the new Star Wars Lego ads, he's been wanting to go. So, even though I was just there, I allowed myself to be persuaded to go again anyway. ‘Cause, you know, I just hate going to toy stores.
Once he was registered, and I'd claimed a few bucks for soda cans, we were there. After an endless sweep of Lego shelves, Dearest found a small Batman set he liked. Unfortunately, most of the SW sets were in the $30. to $50. range, well out of everyone's budget.
I somehow found myself in the doll section - imagine that ! - and since the ‘20% off all Markdowns' sales had been extended another week, took a second look at the Cheetah Girls. Evidently, they'd found a few more in the back, but some I saw last week had sold. And at $5.48, I was more than willing to check ‘em out one more time. I mean, shoot, that's a reasonable price, even if you were just lookin' to score clothes for other dolls. Most of the Fashion Fever outfits over at TRU are $6. - and if you're lucky, that's two shirts, a pair of Capri pants, and a pair of shoes. And if you're very, very lucky, the outfit will fit one of your 1966-bodied dolls.
‘Dorinda', a streaked blonde Cheetah with purple clothing elements, wasn't there last week. I studied her carefully. Nice green eyes, and there were two complete outfits in the box. Two sets of shoes, too, including a pretty pair of silver sandals. And I kinda liked the blouse/dress on the doll... what the heck.
Then Dearest euchred me. He wanted to look at the Star Wars toys again, so we did. Just not the ones displayed at the store's entrance. The toys over in the reserved-for-Star Wars section were completely different, and had little to do with the upcoming Clone Wars TV series. There, his eyes fell on an adorable ‘Galactic Heroes' X-Wing, with TRU-exclusive Biggs, beside Luke, Leia, and R2D2. He was in love - and heck, he'd earned the tickets, I just planned on smaller purchases today. It was just sooo cute, though ! So I gave in, and we both left with toys. He did, however, have to put the Lego set back. I couldn't buy it all !
I really should write up the Dorinda doll as a review. She was nicer than expected ! Her clothes fit a '66 body - I'm using the missing-pinkie spare vintage body as a gauge - but the shoes are a bit snug. Dorinda's feet don't have the curving shape Barbie's do, they're actually smaller, and angle down sharply. The jeans on the doll have a small split in one inner-leg seam - guess I didn't look the doll over as closely as I thought ! - but the rest really is good. Her purple and cheetah-print blouse/dress fit the Barbie body better than it fit hers, but I didn't care for the beige ribbon under the neckline, so I very carefully removed it. For once, I altered something and didn't tear or put a hole in anything ! Jeans had a lot of detail stitching and a bit of glitter, and looked great. They were tight, but also fit, as did the glitter-free, but otherwise matching, denim jacket.
Her second outfit was a black dress with attached black Capri pants, paired with a wide soft ‘leatherette' black belt. The belt boasted shiny purple contrast stitching. This could be worn under the purple satin ‘Cheetah Girl' baseball-style jacket. Since the dress/leggings is stretchy knit, it'd fit just about any sixth-scale girl, and without the belt - it's separate - it looks like something a professional dancer would wear to jazz class or rehearsals. Sexy, but not revealing.
Dorinda also came with - are there any words more exciting than ‘comes with' ? - a gold-tone headset, a black cuff bracelet, a purple ‘bead' bracelet, a paddle-like starburst purple hairbrush, star-shaped purple earrings, and a ‘Growl Power' card than gives website access to the Cheetah Girls via the manufacturer's site, playalongtoys.com. Her shoes - a pair of silver wedgie sandals and a pair of strappy purple pumps - fit the soft vinyl Barbie feet just fine, the rigid straight-leg Barbie feet, not so much. While it's not a bonus for most folks, I also count the hollow black body-shape clothing insert as an included goodie - I can hang it up with the other dress forms !
Dorinda herself is OK - painted-on pink panties are just skirting the line between underwear and thong, legs click a solid three times, her hands are kinda paddle like, but still aren't bad, the bend to her elbows is natural, and her hair is good, if frizzy. I think it's supposed to be like that. It was a bit sparse in the back when I freed her from the box, but a quick brush-out fixed that. The pulled-back style is achieved through a couple rubber bands, but I don't think it'd change much if the bands were removed. No hairspray at all. She has pretty green eyes and a good - if a bit stiff-lookin'- smile, and I love her normal-looking nose. She rather reminds me of the "Miley" doll in the Hannah Montana line. Not surprisingly, PlayAlong makes both the Cheetas and the Hannahs.
I think she'd be more attractive if her lips stood out a bit more. The cotton-candy pink color she has blends in with her peachy complexion. I kinda wish they'd left off on the light pink ‘frost' eye shadow, too. At least half the ‘Fashion Fever' dolls have the same thing, so I know it's trendy and adds light to the eyes, but that doesn't mean I'm a fan of it. Let's face it, I did ‘frost' eye shadow when I was young enough to think it looked fabulous, but it was the ugliest shade of robin's egg blue you've ever seen ! I haven't been a fan of shimmery-type makeup in any color ever since. So I may do some... experiments with ‘Do' here... (maniacal laugh)
About the only bad thing I have to say about Dorinda is that there's doll hair peeking out in the front, where her head meets her neck. I always hated that when I was a kid. I didn't realize it was fixable, so I'd drive myself crazy trying to pull those tiny bits of hair out. It never occurred to me that there was any other way, as I'd never dreamt of beheading a doll when I was a child. Today, I just pop the head off, or angle it upwards, and tuck the hair back in - but it speaks of lousy quality control to me.
Anyway, new doll. Yaaaay ! Dearest is registered for school - YAAAAAY ! Believe it or not, I actually had a nightmare about forgetting that, and his first day in second grade being a disaster...
