MANILA, Philippines—Growing up is not an excuse to stop enjoying toys, especially now that you don’t have to beg your parents to buy you one.
Toy fanatics who don’t have storage/exhibit space at home or are simply stuck with work and all the complications of life can just appreciate toys through the following blogs on various types of toys.
Dolls Stories http://bobilina.blogspot.com/
There is something so beautiful and special about things that are personally made, with an extra serving of TLC. Just look at the dolls created by this blogger who uses only her own patterns. Thanks to unique details like embroidery, textile design and accessories, every doll is made unique. Each creation is so exclusive that you can see its own personality. Most of them look unfinished, raw and amateurish—making them even more beautiful, like that special toy your new best friend from camp gave you summers ago. With posts ever since October 2005, there are so many amazing creations and entries that will keep you glued to your monitors, whether you are a doll lover or not.
Lwelyk’s Legos http://lwelyk-legos.blogspot.com/
In this blog are pictures of Lego creations of video game characters, especially Nintendo-related ones and Pokemon characters such as the popular Pikachu. After a couple of entries though, they tend to be repetitive and not as attractive because of the not-so-impressive quality of the mostly-scanned images. If you’re a huge video game fan though, you’ll enjoy browsing through the blog and trying to see whether the images do resemble the actual characters.
Stuffed Toy Land Blog http://toys.galetia.com/blog/
According to its introduction, this blog is “a record of mundane activities and reactions to the world from the viewpoint of stuffed toys.” Very true indeed, but very entertaining as well. From a Gingerbread Man and a certain Lady Fox playing black jack to the Loch Ness monster and its first time in Singapore, the characters and their stories are varied and definitely interesting. Especially amusing are the little stories created by the stuffed toys owners and captured through a series of narrative pictures. The blog clearly loves stuffed toys so much that there is even an entry on how there is sadly a proliferation of decapitated stuffed toys in fashion magazines!
The Barbie Doll Portrait Project http://tornophoto.blogspot.com/
The goal of this project is to feature a vintage Barbie doll each week, for 52 weeks, complete with photographic portraits and background stories. A guy called Larry is the artist who photographs the dolls which all come from a collector named Frank Chross. Often discussed are the choice of outfits, best angles for taking the photos and inspiration behind the portraits. So far, there are 36 vintage Barbies featured (from Poor Cinderella Barbie to Twin Barbies, from Blonde Bubble Cut Ballerina Barbie to 60’s Icon Barbie) online and once the collection is complete, the project will culminate in a gallery exhibition. Truly a great site for serious Barbie lovers and collectors.
