Alice's Story: Part 1 (Mattel The Twilight Saga Eclipse Alice)

(A Note From Alice: My post ended up being longer than anyone else's, a lot longer. So I'm breaking it up into two posts, to make things easier for you readers.)

I come from a big family. Mattel made a LOT of Twilight dolls, and my first owner had every single one of them. There were three different Bellas, three different Edwards, Carlisle and Esme, Emmett and Rosalie, Jacob, me...and Jasper...even Jane and Victoria. And being a certified Twihard, my first owner had some very strong ideas about who we were supposed to be. As far as she was concerned we WERE the characters from the books/movies. It never even crossed her mind that dolls don't always have the same personalities as the characters they're made to look like. We're more like actors. Actors don't always have the same personalities as the characters they play either. But my first owner wasn't really a doll person at all, which is probably why she donated all of us to the thrift store when Twilight stopped being fashionable.

When we were all getting bagged and priced at the store, Breaking Dawn-Part 1 Bella (the one in the wedding dress) somehow got separated from the rest of us. When we got put behind the glass showcase at the front of the store, wedding Bella wasn't there. Our first owner displayed us all together, so we were a pretty close knit group, sort of like a big extended family. So we were all sad when wedding Bella went missing.

Breaking Dawn-Part 1 Edward (the one in the wedding suit) was devastated. I know I said before how dolls are different from their characters, but he and wedding Bella had really hit it off. I couldn't even imagine how he felt then, knowing he might never see the doll he loved ever again. We were all trying to hold out hope that she'd turn up in the back room and get put behind the showcase with the rest of us. I think deep down we knew all of us were going to get separated soon. The chances of someone buying the whole collection were pretty slim, especially since we were priced at $9.90 each. Multiplied by that many dolls, $9.90 adds up fast. Even if we were all bought by the same person, that person would probably turn out to be a professional doll dealer planning to resell us.

So there we were, individually bagged in plastic and hanging on a rack next to the designer purses. When Treesa came in, she almost walked right past us. I found out later Treesa usually doesn't bother checking the showcase. She thinks the stuff is overpriced. Treesa has a good eye though. She can spot a doll a mile away. When she saw us, she stopped in her tracks and came over for a closer look. One of the store clerks took us off the wall so Treesa could sort through us.

Treesa didn't spend a whole lot of time checking the condition of each doll. She acted more like she was looking for something. So I thought she was a collector, looking for that one doll to complete her collection. When Treesa saw me, she grabbed me and didn't let go. Her dad was at the store to, and he came over and asked who I was. Treesa told him I was a Mattel Twilight Alice doll. Then she started talking about how rare I was and how much money I was worth online. My heart sank when I heard that. Getting bought by someone who was only interested in how valuable I was, someone who was probably already planning to resell me, made getting separated from my family seem so much worse.

When I got to Treesa's house I expected her to start typing up an auction listing right away, maybe even snap some photos. So I was really surprised when she started talking to me. Think about it, professional dealers are more...detached I guess from what they sell. They see dolls as profits, not people. Even if the dealer is someone who knows dolls are alive, wouldn't they still try to keep their distance? After all, they wouldn't want to risk bonding with the dolls they're trying to sell. They'd be too tempted to keep them then. So why talk to the merchandise?

"I hope you like it here," Treesa said as she carried me upstairs to her bedroom. "There's someone here I want you to meet. I think you might know each other already." Treesa put me down on her bed. Then she went over to the bookcase and grabbed something off the top. Because of the angle I was at I couldn't see what Treesa had until she brought it over and put it on the bed. Right in front of me was a stunned looking Bella doll in a white wedding dress. For a few seconds we just stared at each other, and then...

"Allie?" the Bella doll asked. Treesa was still standing there, but I was too stunned myself to worry about whether or not we should be talking in front of a human. "Wedding Bells?" I asked. The room was so quiet you could've heard a pin drop, then...

"Oh Allie, it IS you!" Wedding Bells said, laughing with relief. The next thing I knew we were hugging each other.

The nicknames had been Jasper's idea. It started out as just an easier way to tell all the Bellas and Edwards apart. Breaking Dawn-Part 1 Bella in her wedding dress was Wedding Bells. Breaking Dawn-Part 2 Bella, with her vampire eyes and skin tone, was Vampirbella. You get the idea. But then Jasper started giving everybody nicknames. That's just how Jasper is. If anyone needed proof that dolls aren't always the same as their characters they just have to look at Jasper, or Jazzy Jazz, to use the nickname he gave himself. My Jasper...OUR Jasper was always goofing around, always trying to make us laugh. No matter how I was feeling, Jasper could always make me smile.

(This seems like a good place to stop. We're a little less than halfway through my original post. I'll try to post the rest soon. Alice)



Rampion's Story (Barbie Long Long Hair, brunette with blue streak)

Some of the other dolls might have hinted at it, but I'm going to come right out and say it. Treesa's a little weird. Take my name for example. No really, take it. I don't want it. Seriously though, I know it's not as bad as it could be. There's worse things Treesa could've named me. She didn't have much to go on after all. I'd better explain.

When Treesa names a doll, the first place she goes for inspiration is the name on the box. Even when she gets a doll at the thrift store, she ALWAYS tries to find out what the doll's original name was. Treesa bought me new in box, but the only words on my box were 'Barbie' and 'Long Long Hair'. She told me, when she named me Rampion, that it's where the name Rapunzel comes from.

I was cool with it at first. It was different, kind of edgy, you know? Then I found out what Rampion actually means. Another doll, Halle, told me rampion is a plant that people in Europe put in salads. She told me that in the original Rapunzel fairytale, the trouble starts when Rapunzel's birth mom sees rampion growing in the witch's garden next door and gets a pregnancy craving. She begs her husband to get her some, but the witch catches him. When baby Rapunzel is born, the witch claims her as payment for the rampion and names her Rapunzel, the German word for rampion. I asked Halle how she knew all that. She said she read it in a book Treesa left lying around. Makes sense I guess. Treesa loves books, and if anyone would know where Treesa got my name from it's Halle.

Halle's sort of the eyes and ears of the collection. She likes to stay on top of what's going on so she can keep the rest of us in the know. Halle always says, "Humans don't tell us anything." She does sort of have a point, and you can't really blame her for feeling that way. Things were kind of rough for Halle before Treesa made her part of the collection, so Halle doesn't really trust humans, Treesa included. But I won't go into that now. Knowing Halle, she's probably planning to write her own post, just so she can have her say.

I got kind of annoyed when I found out about my name. Who wants to be named after a vegetable? So I sort of complained to Treesa about it. Treesa said if you can have human girls named Fern and Ivy, you can have a doll named Rampion. I said humans don't eat ferns. She said Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter Apple. At the time I couldn't come up with a snappy comeback. I'm sure Halle would've thought of something.

Then Treesa let me in on a secret. She said the reason she uses things like 'word association' to name her dolls is so she'll actually REMEMBER them. So I guess I'm stuck with Rampion. But when the dolls I hang out with have names like Dandelion and Shade, I guess Rampion isn't so weird after all.

So Long, Rampion





Harriet's Story (vintage Mattel The Happy Family Mother Hattie)

I never expected to become a single mother. I had a husband once, when I was new. We were packaged together, along with our baby. I still remember the day we were bought. I remember the design on the brightly colored paper that was used to wrap our box, a present for a little girl roughly 40 years ago. That little girl grew up, and we were put in storage.

If only I'd known what would happen after that. There's so many things I wish I could go back and tell my husband. I wish I'd told him more often how much I love him. There were days in storage when I got angry at him, not because of anything he'd done but because I was so tired of it all. I was tired of the way each day dragged on, the same as the last. I was tired of waiting for something to change. If I'd known I was going to lose him I would've tried harder to control my temper, and to enjoy the waiting.

The drive to the thrift store was long. We were left there, ready to be bagged, tagged and shelved. I was bagged with Hon, our baby. But Hal, my husband, wasn't bagged with us. I watched as he was put in another bag with some random, blond Barbie doll. I watched as he was put in the front row on the display rack, before me and Hon were put several rows back. I caught glimpses of him as a customer took Hal's bag off the rack and walked up to the registers with it. I would've stopped caring what happened to me after that, if I hadn't had our baby with me.

It's been difficult, getting used to being a single mother. I miss Hal so much, but I keep putting my feelings aside so I can be there for Honey, our baby. Treesa changed her name from Hon to Honey, the same way she changed my name from Hattie to Harriet. The other dolls in the collection have been very understanding. They gave me my space, when I asked for it. Some of them offered to listen if I needed to talk. I'm grateful to them. But it's been hard for me to feel like I really belong. I feel so different from them because I'm scaled differently than them. I look like a child, standing next to a Barbie doll. Treesa also had trouble finding clothes for a doll my size. Honey still has her original outfit, but I don't. Treesa used a Barbie wrap skirt to dress me, wrapped and tied in such a way that it resembles a dress.

Some days, I feel like giving up. But I keep going, for Honey. I know she depends on me, and I know how easily I could've lost her too. I try to live my life one day at a time, focusing on those little moments I most want to remember so I can treasure them always. I took too many things for granted before I lost Hal, but not anymore.

 Harriet and Honey

Stay Strong, Harriet





Jimmy's Story (Photo Student Ken)

In a collection as big as Treesa's some of us dolls can get...how do I put this nicely...left to our own devices for long stretches of time.  Some of the other dolls take it personally if they're ignored for too long, but I don't anymore.  I know Treesa's not trying to play favorites.  It's just that there's so many of us and she only has so much free time.  Besides, if I hadn't been left to my own devices, I might never have found the love of my life.  Here's how it happened.

I was bought in the early 2000s.  Treesa's collecting style at the time was pretty much 'buy what you like'.  If something caught her eye and was a good price she'd pick it up.  The doll who became my girlfriend was bought around the same time I was.  She didn't have a name then.  Treesa called me Jimmy from the beginning because I was a photographer like Jimmy Olsen, a character from the Superman franchise.  But I've heard from some of the older dolls that when Treesa was a kid only a few of them had permanent names.  Treesa didn't really start trying to come up with original names for everybody until recently.

But anyway, when I first met my girlfriend she was just Picture Pockets Kira.  It wasn't love at first sight, but we didn't hate each other or anything like that.  It's just that it was a big collection even then, and with so many other dolls to meet it was impossible for me to get to know everybody.  We would say hi when we saw each other but we weren't really even friends yet.  That changed not long after Treesa did a photo shoot with me and Florida Midge.

At least, she was Florida Midge at the time.  She's Jean Grayson now.  Treesa named her that as sort of a comic book joke.

But anyway, before the pictures were even printed me and Jean got put away in one of the plastic storage crates that Treesa used for her dolls.  Treesa didn't have enough shelf space to display all of us.  She still doesn't.  Now the problem with being in the crates was that they were stackable.  If you were in the bottom crate you weren't going anywhere.  The best way to stay sane in this situation is to talk to the other dolls you're in storage with.  Depending on how long you're in storage for you might even go into hibernation.  Dolls sometimes do that, especially if they're alone or in an enclosed space or both.  Our minds can't cope with the isolation and the claustrophobia forever, so we kind of shut down for a while until we're found and loved again.

But anyway, Picture Pockets Kira was in the same crate as me, and she was really curious what it'd been like to be part of a photo shoot.  So one day she asked me about it.  It'd been an indoor photo shoot and nothing really exciting had happened, so there really wasn't much to talk about.  At least that's what I thought.  But Picture Pockets Kira listened to every word like it was the most interesting story she'd ever heard.  She didn't interrupt, but she asked a bunch of questions after I'd stopped talking.  After I'd gone over every detail of the photo shoot, Picture Pockets Kira said something about her own interest in photography.

From there the conversation just took off.  Time seemed to fly by, instead of crawling at a snail's pace.  That one shared interest helped us open up to each other, and as the days passed we talked about a lot more than just photography.  We became friends, then best friends, and as more time passed we realized we were in love.

Now the one thing we were really worried about was Treesa.  Like most doll collectors, Treesa's a bit of a matchmaker at heart.  When she was a little kid, she did what little kids do and paired off her dolls however she wanted.  Her current technique is still less than subtle.  She has a bad habit of introducing two dolls to each other, and then leaving them somewhere they'll be forced to spend time together.

But anyway, we weren't sure if Treesa already had plans for one or both of us.  I even wondered if she'd planned to pair me up with Jean after the photo shoot.

Well, eventually the day came when Treesa decided to sort through the crate we were in.  She started unpacking the crate, lining us dolls up on the bed.  Picture Pockets Kira was next to me on the bed and I glanced over at her out of the corner of my eye.  I thought how much easier it would be if we could just tell Treesa how we felt.  But that was impossible.  As far as we knew, Treesa still wasn't in on the secret that dolls were alive.  So we just lay there with our hands touching and waited to see what would happen next.

Now Treesa isn't always the most observant person, so I have no idea how she figured it out.  Maybe she noticed our hands touching or how close we were to each other.  Or maybe she sensed it somehow, woman's intuition or something like that.  Or it could've just been dumb luck.  Treesa had, without realizing it, dressed us in outfits with very similar color schemes.  However it happened, something tipped her off.

She had just finished unpacking the crate and was looking over all the dolls lined up on the bed when her eyes focused on me and my girlfriend.  For a little while Treesa just stared at us with a sort of blank look on her face.  Then she smiled.  "You make a cute couple," she said.  She picked us both up and asked, "bonded over your shared interest in photography?"  That's when I knew things would be ok.  We didn't have to worry about being split up.  Somehow, Treesa understood how we felt.

Treesa turned to Picture Pockets Kira and said, "I guess you'll need a name now".  I couldn't have been happier.  Picture Pockets Kira is a bit of a mouthful, and there are so many Kira dolls in the world.  My Kira was special, and she deserved a special name.

Treesa was partial to 'Nikon' for a while, until she realized she didn't know how to pronounce it.  Is the 'i' supposed to be pronounced as 'ih', 'eye', or 'ee'?  Treesa settled on Nokia, a brand of camera phone, to fit the photography/picture theme.  My guess is Treesa doesn't know the names of any famous photographers.  Nokia herself isn't bothered by her new name, so even though it's a little more special than I had in mind I can live with it.

I think what I love most about Nokia is how she can turn the most boring, everyday things into something special and exciting.  Every day with Nokia is an adventure, even if we decide to spend the day doing nothing at all.  She told me the secret of life once.  At least, she told me what I think is the secret of life.  She said that life is the journey, not the destination.  And I can't think of another doll I'd rather share this journey with than Nokia.

 Jimmy and Nokia

Well, as they say in the movie business, that's a wrap.

Stay Focused, Jimmy





 

Shade's Story (rebodied blue-haired Mattel fairy)

When Treesa started pitching her big blogging idea, I wasn't really interested. I hadn't planned on posting at all. So why am I here? It was Dandelion's idea. In her post she mentioned Treesa's other 'fantasy hair colors' dolls. Then a reader left a comment on Dandelion's post, asking to meet the rest of us. Dandelion wrote back that she'd try to talk more of us into posting. The minute she logged off she went looking for me. Why me? Well we are best friends. It's kinda like our brains run on the same wavelength or something. We don't agree on everything all the time, but Dandelion always seems to get where I'm coming from and vise versa. Everyone should have a best friend like that.

Dandelion didn't ask me about posting right away. First she told me she got a comment. Then she told me what the comment said. Then she asked how I felt about posting. I told her I wouldn't know what to write. She said, "Anything you want, that's what makes it fun."

I still didn't know where to start. So what did I do? I read Dandelion's post for inspiration. At first I was kinda ticked off that she hadn't even mentioned me. But she did spend most of her post talking about stuff that happened before we met, so I guess I'll let her off the hook.

While I was at it I figured I might as well read what Treesa's other dolls had posted. When I read in Lacey's post that there were other doll bloggers out there, I thought it'd be a good idea to check out what they were posting too. Anyway I got so caught up in everybody else's stories that I kinda put off writing my own. And I'm STILL not sure where to start. I could start with how I met Treesa, but that's nothing you haven't heard before by now. Blah blah found at the thrift store, you get it. The first really important thing that happened after that was my body swap. Why did I need a body swap? Well I didn't exactly NEED it. I mean it wasn't 'medically necessary' or anything. Treesa wanted to redress me, like she'd redressed Dandelion. But my molded wings made that almost impossible, so Treesa body-swapped me.

After my 'recovery period' was over it was time to pick out clothes. I agree with Dandelion, piecing together a new outfit takes FOREVER. And Treesa STILL isn't completely happy with my new look.

Treesa's a bit of a perfectionist. She likes the dark purple 'pleather' top, but she thinks the silver skirt is a bit 'chintzy'. Treesa uses words like that a lot. I asked her what it meant and she said it's 'sort of a combination of tacky and flimsy'. And don't get her started on the shoes.

I still don't really get why Treesa named me Shade. She tried explaining it to me when I asked. She said my hair is 'a lovely shade of blue' and that 'when you stand in the shade it's cooler, and blue is one of the cooler colors in the spectrum'. I'm sure it made perfect sense to her.



Anyway the first doll Treesa officially introduced me to was Orlando.

 Orlando

Orlando is a redressed Lord Of The Rings Legolas doll by Mattel. He had to be redressed because Treesa bought him at the thrift store, and he didn't come with his original outfit. Treesa says his new outfit makes him look like a cast member from Rock Of Ages, but she likes the look. Why did she name him Orlando? I was kinda confused about that at first. I thought Treesa named him after the city in Florida for some reason. But it turned out Orlando was named after Orlando Bloom, who played Legolas in the Lord Of The Rings movies.

Me and Orlando both have pointed ears and pale skin tones, so I guess Treesa could've wanted us to be brother and sister all along. That's what we are now anyway. But I can't shake the feeling that wasn't Treesa's Plan A. There was just something about the way she introduced us, something that made me think she was hoping we'd fall in love. That never happened though. I mean we care about each other, but it's more in an older brother/younger sister kind of way. Orlando thinks I'm annoying but is still sort of protective of me, and I keep telling him he needs to get a life, and a girlfriend. Though I'm kinda glad he and Dandelion never hit it off that way. Why? Well for starters I think it'd make things all weird between us, if my best friend was dating my brother. That and I can't see it ending well for them. I just don't think Dandelion and Orlando have enough in common, personality-wise.

Dandelion told me she's not all that interested in having a boyfriend right now anyway. She likes being a single doll. As for me well like I told Dandelion, I wouldn't mind finding somebody. But I wasn't gonna spend all my time and energy looking for somebody. I did have a life after all. Then Treesa got Carlos.

 Carlos

Who's Carlos? He's a Mariposa Prince doll, and he's absolutely dreamy. He's so dignified and proud, which is hard to pull off when you're wearing a fairy prince outfit with dragonfly wings sewn to the back. (Treesa decided to leave him in his original outfit for now because she likes the colors on him.) Trust me if a guy doll wants to be taken seriously, fairy wings are usually not the way to go. But Carlos is so polite to everyone that nobody brings up his wardrobe, at least not to his face.

The problem is whenever I see Carlos across the room, I get so nervous my mouth goes dry. I'm never gonna get anywhere with him if I can't even talk to him. Dandelion's done her best to try and help me figure something out, but there's only so much she can do. I mean she'll stand there and listen to me gush, but she can't really give me any advice because she doesn't have much experience with love either. I thought about asking Orlando to be my go between, but I chickened out before I actually asked him. Why? Well for starters I'm not sure what Orlando thinks of Carlos. Like I said before, Orlando can be a little protective of me, and if he thinks Carlos isn't good enough for me he might try to keep us apart. Even if Orlando would help me out, it's still a lame plan. I mean how much more pathetic could I get, asking my brother to talk to the doll I like for me?

Well I guess that's enough about me, and my nonexistent love life. You've probably got other things to do today anyway, so I'd better log off before this post gets any longer. The last thing you want is 'Fifty Days Of Shade'. Yeah I thought it was a bad pun too, but Treesa thought it was funny.

See Ya, Shade







Lacey's Story (Glam 'N Groom Barbie)

I have to say upfront, some dolls might find this story a little disturbing. It doesn't make Treesa look very good either. But I still think it needs to be told, so that humans can learn from it.

This is the story of how I met Holly and Ivy. Holly and Ivy are two little girl dolls that were originally part of a Holiday Sisters Gift Set. Holly is a Stacie doll and Ivy is a Kelly doll. There was a third doll in the set, a Barbie, and all three of them wore matching red coats with white fur trim.

Keep in mind this story happened years ago, before us dolls started talking to Treesa. One of the first rules of being a doll is don't show a human you're alive if they're not ready to handle it. Most humans, even doll collectors, don't REALLY think their dolls are alive. They might joke about us being alive. They might even talk to us. But if they ever got an answer they'd probably freak out. Remember that scene in Toy Story where the toys 'come to life' to scare Sid. Or how about all those movies about 'haunted' or 'possessed' dolls. I rest my case.

To get back to my original story, Treesa bought all three Holiday Sisters Gift Set dolls loose at a flea market one fall. They were tightly packed in a clear plastic bag, and because of the way the bag was sealed it was impossible to take the dolls out and really examine them. This turned out to be important later, but at the time Treesa didn't think anything of it. She bought the dolls and brought them home, then she put them aside and sort of forgot about them. She didn't even bother to take them out of the bag.

It wasn't until that winter, when the snow started falling, that Treesa got the 'brilliant' idea to do an outdoor photo shoot with the Holiday Sisters dolls. When she opened the bag and started handling the Barbie doll, the poor doll's head came off. It turned out the Barbie's head had been shoved back on over her broken neck. Treesa hadn't noticed because of the high collar on the Barbie doll's coat. Treesa was upset and disappointed, but she still really wanted to do that photo shoot. So she went upstairs and started looking for a blond Barbie doll to use as a stand in. She picked me. I was brought downstairs and dressed in the broken Barbie's outfit. Then Treesa threw the broken doll in the trash.

Sometimes I wonder if a body swap could've saved her. Unless the doll's head is damaged, when a doll breaks her neck the doll's consciousness goes into a coma like state because of the shock. Depending on how long the undamaged head is separated from a body, the doll might wake up with amnesia after a body swap. In some cases the doll can remain in a coma even after a successful swap. Treesa has performed several successful body swaps since that winter, but at the time it didn't even occur to her to try. I don't like to think about that poor, broken Barbie too often. I can't change the past, and I know me feeling guilty won't help her now.

The photo shoot was set up in Treesa's backyard.

After snapping a few pictures, Treesa ran back inside to get a sled prop she'd forgotten. I was left outside in the snow with a stuffed reindeer and two traumatized little girl dolls who had been stuck in a bag with their broken sister for over a month. The whole thing was completely surreal. I did my best to comfort Holly and Ivy, but I was so overwhelmed myself that I don't think I did a very good job. Treesa soon came back out with the sled and set up the next shot. "Smile," she said.

It's a good thing our smiles were painted on.

After that I sort of took Holly and Ivy under my wing. With everything they'd been through they needed someone. And since they hadn't met any of the other dolls in the collection yet, I thought they'd be more comfortable staying with me for a while. It was difficult at first. I did my best to help, but only one thing can heal broken hearts and that's time.

Several years passed, and I'm happy to say that Holly and Ivy have both blossomed into the wonderful dolls they were always meant to be. Honestly, I can't imagine my life without them anymore. Even though things worked out in the end, a part of me still wishes that it hadn't happened that way. I know toys don't last forever, but if Treesa had opened that bag as soon as she got home maybe things would've been a little easier for Holly and Ivy. They probably still would've had to say goodbye to their sister. But maybe they wouldn't have had to watch Treesa replace her so quickly and easily, like a burned out light bulb.

Lately, Treesa has been trying really hard to understand her dolls' better. Ever since she started reading blogs like Belle's Bulletins, and others that were written by dolls themselves, her perspective has changed. There's still some things I haven't completely forgiven her for, and I know I'm not the only doll who feels that way. But all us dolls know that she really is trying harder now to keep our needs and feelings in mind.

I guess that's the end of the story, for now. Someone once said that there are no happy endings, because nothing ends. All I can say is that my family's life is pretty happy overall, and I'm going to do everything I can to keep it that way for Holly and Ivy for as long as possible. All we need is a little luck, and lots of love.

Holly, Lacey and Ivy





Dandelion's Story (redressed Fairytopia Dandelion)

 

I'll be honest, when Treesa asked how many of us wanted to write our memoirs for a blog I thought she was nuts. I mean, Treesa is always coming up with all sorts of crazy ideas so I'm used to that. But seriously, how many humans can there be out there who want to read stories from a bunch of dolls. It's not like they listen to what we say anyway. Well, some of them do I guess. But most of them don't.

 

Anyway, the only doll who really jumped at the chance to share with the world was Geena. I could tell Treesa was disappointed. She's got a terrible poker face. So I told her I'd give it a shot. It did kinda sound like fun.

 

I met Treesa at a flea market. I was in a cardboard box with a bunch of other dolls and Treesa was one of the humans who came over to check us out. Now, here's the thing about dolls and flea markets. Believe it or not, some dolls actually WANT to be there. Sure, lots of dolls panic when they hear the words 'yard sale'. I started out that way. But being in storage for a few years changed my mind. After a while ANYTHING seemed better than being stuck in that box. If I hadn't had a bunch of other dolls to talk to I would've gone crazy. I mean sure, sometimes having to LISTEN to all those other dolls drove me crazy. But I know I was lucky. I've heard stories from dolls who were stored in solitary. It does things to you.

 

Anyway, back at the flea market, it was actually Treesa's sister who saw us first. She looked in the box, ran off across the aisle, and came back with Treesa. I found out later the reason Treesa came over so fast was her sister told her there was a brunette, bubblecut repro Barbie in the box. Raven always was an attention getter.

 

Anyway, Treesa pulled Raven out, poked around in the box some more, then asked for a price. When she found out we were 50 cents each she really started digging. I wasn't too surprised when she grabbed the blond Barbie wearing Raven's original dress. But when she picked me up well, surprised doesn't even cover it. I couldn't believe it. I had kinda pegged Treesa as a collector and I'm a playline doll, not a collector's item. I didn't even have my original fairy outfit. To be honest, I was a little ticked off about that. I mean yeah, most of us had been redressed in whatever. We'd been played with for crying out loud. But the dress I was stuck with was this really ugly, bright pink thing with a letter B print. Treesa thought it was ugly too. But she told me later it helped her see my potential, whatever that means.

 

Anyway, when Treesa got us home she had her other sister help piece together a new outfit for me. Treesa told her sister she was going for sort of a trendy, high school look. Something with a skirt, so my painted tights would show. Mixing and matching all the different pieces to figure out what looked best took forever. I lost track of how many things I had to try on and take off. But I've gotta say I'm rocking my new look.

 

 

The peace sign necklace is a bit much. Treesa added that as an inside joke. Since my name's Dandelion, she's always saying my parents were hippies. Treesa's sister said if I'm going to high school it must be Xavier's, whatever that means. Treesa said it was an X-Men reference.

 

Anyway, my new look turned out so well Treesa said it 'inspired' her. Since I came here she's bought and redressed a bunch of other dolls with 'fantasy hair colors', her words not mine. I think there's six or seven of us now. It's hard to keep track in a collection this big.

 

Anyway, I guess that's about it. I'd better let Treesa know I'm done with her laptop.

 

Later, Dandelion