The Autumn Season

 I've been having a lot of fun with the new autumn inspired back drops I picked up this year from Ebay. This background is a favorite. So great for the Halloween season. I have been saving this gown for fall, so decided today was a good day to get it out and photograph it. Summer Kisses Alexis models Look 18 from the Dangerous Love collection.

A new Muse collection is set to premier Friday October 28. If it is anything like the past couple of collections I could be in big trouble, although with the arrival of Bonjour Paris on the horizon I REALLY need to control myself. I was hoping there would be no new sculpts and I could satisy myself with adding only outfits/wigs this go around. The promo released this morning looks like a new sculpt though, so that resolve may go right out the window.

I don't tend to give Alexis red hair, but I thought this bronze wig would complement this particular gown nicely. We decided to forego the pink gloves/purse the gown came with as they didn't suit the season. I love all the mix and match possibilities for this line.

Hay and Pumpkins

 I got some new seasonal backdrops recently as well as this cute little outfit from a seller on Ebay, and Bella got elected to model (much to her dismay). I don't think she was a huge fan of the hay..............and pumpkins...........she just looks so peeved here, lol.

I wanted a redhead for this outfit though, and Bella is my favorite redhead amongst the Jamieshow Muse ladies.

I love fall! It's always been my favorite time of year.

The Colors of Fall

 Looks 13 and 14 from Jamieshow Muses Enchanted collection just scream FALL to me.  Summer Kisses Sasha models Look 14, while Dangerous Love Ginnie is the model for Look 13. The dresses and capes are both stunning.

And a close up shot so you can see their lovely faces better.

Sasha by herself sans cape.

The beading on the bodice is gorgeous, and I love that we got gloved hands with both sets. Sasha is also wearing the braided wig in brown from the Enchanted collection. Her earrings are the basic Enchanted doll earrings, as the posts for the earrings that came with Look 14 are too big to go in her ears easily and I didn't want to risk breakage by forcing them.

And here is Ginnie without her cape. She is wearing the updo wig in auburn from the Enchanted collection. The earrings that came with this set are something. Very heavy and huge, but they are beautiful.

Again, gorgeous beading on the bodice of the gown.

I remember when I hit the "buy" trigger on both of these outfits I thought I really shouldn't spend the $ for both, but I'm really glad I did. They are perfect for this time of year, and both are just stunning.

Complimentary

 Just a quick post to showcase DL Daniel and Enchanted Lilly in their complimentary outfits from the Jamieshow Muses Enchanted collection. Daniel is in Look 20 while Lilly models Look 7. The outfits look like they were made to be paired together, so that's what I did, lol.

Enchanted Lilly has a much "softer" vibe than the other two versions of her IMHO. I think that's why I love her so much.

Comparisons

 In yesterday's post I highlighted one of my made to move Ken dolls by Mattel in a suit made for the Jamieshow Homme Muses, as I wanted to see what the fit was like. That post spurred me to get the four different size 1/6 articulated bodies I have out for some comparison shots. I thought others might be interested how they stacked up, side by side. I put them all in boxers, as I didn't want to offend FB/Flickr or Blogger's sensibilities. The downside to this is that you can't see the articulation at the top of the leg on MTM Ken and Jamieshow dolls. The Mattel dolls are at a much different price point than the Integrity or Jamieshow men, but for the price point I believe you get a lot of "bang" for your "buck" with Made to Move Ken, especially if you love posing your dolls in as realistic of a pose as possible. The articulation varies with Jamieshow and Made to Move Ken having the most points of articulation. Jamieshow and made to move Ken dolls are both double jointed at the knees and elbows and have the extra flexiblility joint at the very top of the leg (which is hidden by their boxers here). Made to move ken goes one step up from that and has another joint at the top of his bicep as well. Here are all four guys standing side by side, from shortest to tallest. From left to right: Made to Move Ken/Harley Ken/Integrity Homme/Jamieshow Homme Muse. All in the 1/6 size range from 11-12 inches. Mattel Ken dolls and Integrity are made of hard plastic. Jamieshow is made of resin and strung. The articulated Ken dolls are typically within the $20-$40 price range (for the basic Looks dolls on the MTM body), Integrity somewhere around $175 these days (that is for a fully dressed doll), and Jamieshow coming in at around the $425 price point, but the Jamieshow dolls are resin and typically come with two wig caps, changing ball hands and basic clothing pieces of some sort. The Jamieshow men also come fully blushed, and are anatomically correct. The other three are not.

The next shot is from the side, with them standing up straight. 

While three of the four have a chest join, only MTM Ken and Jamieshow can slouch forward using said chest joint.  Harley Ken doesn't have a chest joint. Integrity Auden's chest joint has minor flexibility from side to side, but can't move front to back. Made to Move Ken has slight ability to slouch forward, Jamieshow has no problems at all slouching. The stringing used on the Jamieshow doll gives him much more "flexibility" in the slouching department. I didn't think to bend them backwards, sorry about that.

I also wanted to see how each could bend at the elbow. MTM Ken and JS Orlando are the only ones with double jointed elbows, so they can both touch their faces very nicely. The other two can only bend their elbow a little more than 90 degrees or so, maybe close to 45.

Next test was to see how well they could kneel. All four did passable with this test. The Mattel dolls jointing in their feet allow the feet to bend back further, allowing them to balance the best in the kneeling pose.

I wanted to see if MTM Ken and JS Orlando could sit on their haunches. MTM yes, no problems, JS Orlando, not so much. His upper torso kept wanted to tilt back, even if I engaged the chest joint to move it forward a bit, he still had issues. Since the middle two don't have double joints in their knees it was an impossibility for them.

On your bottoms..............Poor JS Orlando performed the worst in this exercise. He had to balance on his hands behind him to be able to sit up at all.

The last comparisons I did were for the feet. I know Jamieshow feet are the biggest, so my first comparisons are each of the other guys against the JS foot. They are all close enough that even Ken can wear the gorgeous Jamieshow footwear.

First up MTM Ken vs. Jamieshow.

Harley Ken vs. Jamieshow

Integrity vs Jamieshow

The two Ken feet compared. They are very close.

And lastly the MTM Ken foot vs. Integrity

Hopefully you have found the comparisons somewhat helpful. As I mentioned yesterday in my review of the MTM Ken body in Jamieshow Muse clothing, with the exception of Jamieshow or Integrity sharing Ken's clothing, both versions of Ken and Integrity can share the Jamieshow clothing with varying degrees of success, depending how picky you are on fit. I have found the Jamieshow men can share many of the Integrity pieces, although sometimes the pants are a little tight, or short, depending on the style. Loose fitting items typically work well between the JS and Integrity men. As far as shoes go, Ken can pretty much share with everyone. Integrity can share with Jamieshow without issue, and Jamieshow can SOMETIMES share with Integrity, shoes are a bit hit or miss with the JS guys as their foot is just a tad bigger as you can see from the photos above. 

Closet Swapping

 As I've been in a bit of a "Barbie" mood recently, and I've been revisiting the dolls from the Looks and BMR1959 collections that live with me, I thought it would be fun to see how Ken on the made to move body fit into my Jamieshow Muse men's clothing. Ken's body is quite a bit slimmer, and he's also shorter, so I knew the suit would be a little big on him, but the pants are ankle length on the Muse men and the sleeves fall a little short at times as well, so I was anxious to see how bad the fit actually was. I grabbed "Harley", which is the name I've given my guy with the manbun from the BMR1959 collection, and dressed him up to see what I thought. My first thought was the fit isn't nearly as bad as I thought it might be. The shoes even work for him!

The pants are a tad long and so are the sleeves, but as I said above, not nearly as bad as I thought they might be.

There is bulk at the waist, which is apparent when the FR guys or the Jamieshow guys wear the suit as well, it's just a bit more apparent on Harly, as he's slimmer.  The fit through the shoulders is slightly big as well, but with the structure of the jacket, it really isn't bad enough to bother me.

All in all I was pleased with fact that he can wear the shoes, and while the outfit is a little big on him, it isn't big enough to look clownish on him. I definitely will be experimenting more with other Jamieshow outfits as well.

Opens up another avenue for stylish play with these Mattel guys. I love how poseable the Mattel made to move bodies are,  but there is certainly a lack of well made clothing out there tailored specifically for these guys (Or at least that I've found). It will be nice to have another option. I'm also guessing my guys on the Harley Ken articulated bodies will wear it even better than "Harley" here, as they are slightly taller and have a slightly bigger waist and shoulder. I did a comparison of those two body types in an earlier installment here on the blog. Maybe I need to break out both types of articulated Ken bodies and compare with the FR and Jamieshow men as well in another blog installment.

Hopefully this link will work, it's the comparison entry on my blog for the two types of articulated Ken bodies, the entry was from November 2019:

Down the Dolly Rabbit Hole (notjustaccessories.blogspot.com)

Playing

 As I noted in my post yesterday, there is something so satisfying about taking a doll out of her box, throwing her packaging away and just playing!  The Mattel made to move bodied dolls are just so much fun to PLAY with. They can pose like nobody's business. The joints may not be the most attractive out there, but they are very functional, and it's just plain fun to see what kind of realistic poses you can get the dolls into. For this particular photo shoot, Andra from the Signature Looks collection was my model. I didn't get outrageous with the posing, but this body is just fun to work with. 

It's nice to not have to worry about pushing the boundaries and breaking anything with these dolls because hello.........................they are only around the $20 price point, and when you have been buying resin dolls and Integrity product, that is chump change, lol. Of course, I don't want to break them, but if I did, it wouldn't be the end of the world to try and replace one.

I, like many collectors, started out with Barbie, and even though I moved on from the 1/6 scale for quite a while, I still bought the odd Barbie here and there because they were easy to find and fairly inexpensive when I wanted a new fashion doll to play with, so I've accumulated quite the Mattel wardrobe/accessories collection over the years.

This has come in handy since the pandemic, when I find my collecting interest reverting back to 1/6 scale with the discovery of the Integrity East 59th line, and the introduction of the Jamieshow Muses. While they are on a whole other collecting level than these wonderful Barbie Signature looks dolls, clothing and accessories can all be shared across the board, which is extremely nice.

The fresh face sculpts, paired with the variety of made to move body styles and mix and match outfits, have made the Signature Looks dolls very attractive to me, and I'm sure you will be seeing a lot more of them here on the blog in between JS Muse segments. As I said before, they are just plain fun to play with. I sit down with my bins of clothing and boxes of accessories, and it takes me back to playing on the floor of my bedroom as a young girl.