Ohmygosh – I’ve bought and photographed so many dolls since last I wrote.

In fact, I went on such a buying spree my husband threatened to divorce me if I bought One. More. Doll. And yes, we’re still married.

So I think the best way to catch everyone up on all the dolls and all the photos, I should categorize my entries by line – and yes, first up is good old Barbie.

When it comes to Barbie, the choices are endless. But there’s a certain body the line makes that is called “made to move,” and it is a fully articulated doll. This means it bends and rotates at the elbows, the wrist, the shoulders, the feet, the knees, and the torso. The head on an articulated doll usually has more movement too. Whereas a non-articulated doll’s head will swivel back and forth, an articulated doll will also look up and down. They’re just infinitely more posable. You can identify an articulated doll by the joints. It’s a tradeoff, the joints themselves are kind of ugly, but the posabiliity makes up for it. And while it’s not a total dealbreaker, there’s no denying how much more I can do with an articulated doll.

Several of Barbie’s collections have this “Made to Move” body, and my favorite is what is called their “Signature Looks” line. Based on the lack of availability of a lot of these dolls, I assume they are a line that’s been out of production for a while, and many are listed on Amazon at over $100, but I’ve managed to collect a nice variety of them for less than that. The Signature Looks line is more focused on the fashion statements the dolls make – which is nice, considering that Barbie’s outfits are often lackluster.

Barbie also has different sizes of dolls – something they’ve been doing for a while now – and while I haven’t bought a “curvy” doll yet, I intend to do so at some point. They also have a “petite” doll, and some “tall” ones. The doll on the left in this photo is one of the tall ones – and I mean, she is TALL. Legs for days. She photographs beautifully. She was hard to find, and the one I bought off Amazon clearly wasn’t new, but I was happy enough just to have her so I didn’t complain.

See what I mean about posability? You really can’t beat an articulated doll when it comes to taking photos. And the fashions on the Signature Looks dolls are pretty nice, too. They’re not elaborate, but they’re more fashion-forward than your average Barbie, and the materials are a bit nicer too.

Remember when I told you that my tall Barbie was clearly used? Well, one issue I had with her was that her hair was a little creased. And I tried to flat-iron the crease out of it, which was a mistake, because I burned off a section of her beautiful long black hair. I can fix it in Photoshop, but when she is hanging out in my closet she looks pretty sad. Fortunately, there are doll wigs. I found this one on Etsy, and wow – it really elevates my photos! The thing about doll hair is that it doesn’t move like natural hair or normal wig hair; all the wind in the world won’t move it much. But with this wig I can pose it like the wind is blowing it, and it stays. So now this gal takes even more gorgeous photos!

The Signature Looks line also has some short-haired dolls, and of course, I had to get both of those! It’s really rare to find a female doll with short hair, and these two were too cute to pass up:

Both of these had very limited availability online – I bought them through Amazon but from third-party sellers, and they were more expensive than I generally go for. But I had to have them. Also, the brunette is a “petite” doll, and when they say petite they really mean it! I have two, and as of yet, I haven’t posed them with a taller doll, so it might not translate here, but trust me when I say these dolls are pretty short.

I have a few more Barbies I haven’t had time to photograph, a curly redhead and another petite gal – also from the Signature Looks line. So this post turned out to be shorter than I thought it would be, but oh well. Next up – Monster High!