For those of you unfamiliar with Hardship, it’s a small town in Vermont populated by your average small-town weirdos, some of whom are witches. Magic is real, and so is time travel and teleportation, and we even see a little bit of magic at work in this episode.

Continue reading Hardship Toy Adventures V — another fortune telling machine!

For those of you unfamiliar with Hardship, it’s a small town in Vermont populated by your average small-town weirdos, some of whom are witches. Magic is real, and so is time travel and teleportation, though none of these are really relevant to the Toy Shop Adventures.

All of these dolls are customized 1:6 scale action figures, about 12″ (30 cm) tall or less. Qingting, with the skateboard and historical Chinese clothing, is a Pleasant Company/American Girl Girls of Many Lands Spring Pearl. GOMLs were a line of 9″ dolls, sculpted by Helen Kish, wearing detailed, high-quality, accurate historical outfits and wigged hairstyles. They were each accompanied by a book that centered around the character and her experience in her country during historically significant times. Characters hailed from Ethiopia, China, India, Yupik territory [in present-day Alaska], etc., but the most popular [and therefore expensive] of them is the step-dancing Irish redhead. I have the kid from India and the kid from France coming, so you may see them in future installments, although probably redressed.

The very creatively named PJ [in pajamas] is a recent Mattel Barbie Looks head on an MGA Rainbow High body. She’s wearing Robin Sterling’s amazing pajamas!

I was trying to come up with hilarious reasons that Qingting would need three dogbots and PJ would be in her pjs, but then I decided it was funnier if the reasons were left to the imagination. I do have an answer, however, for the reason that the mini figure in the gravy boat [actually a curry boat] appears: because she and her friends amuse me.

Remember how I said that lots of the stuff in the toy shop is gachapon, or miniatures from Japanese vending machines? The dogbots are a perfect example. If they look familiar, it’s because they are small plastic representations of Sony AIBOs, or robotic toy dogs, produced between 1999 and 2006.

Continue reading Hardship Toy Shop Adventures IV — toy shop mysteries!

For those of you unfamiliar with Hardship, it’s a small town in Vermont populated by your average small-town weirdos, some of whom are witches. Magic is real, and so is time travel and teleportation, though none of these are really relevant to the Toy Shop Adventures.

All of these dolls are customized 1:6 scale action figures, about 12″ (30 cm) tall or less. The Hippie, who likes plants and sparkly things, is a gender-optional Elder Witch and spouse of the Magister and the Stylist. They are on an Obitsu slender male body. I sculpted their head in a digital rendering program, painted it, and made the wig myself. They have plant powers and extensive gardens.

Continue reading Hardship Toy Shop Adventures III — the tasty potion!

For those of you unfamiliar with Hardship, it’s a small town in Vermont populated by your average small-town weirdos, some of whom are witches. Magic is real, and so is time travel and teleportation, though none of these are really relevant to the Toy Shop Adventures.

All of these dolls are customized 1:6 scale action figures, about 12″ (30 cm) tall or less. The Magister started off life as a very frowny likeness of Roger Delgado as the Master from Doctor Who. He eventually developed into his own character, a nearly-400-year-old witch who loves the whole classic villain aesthetic and has the power of forcing people to do what he wants, though he strenuously avoids using it these days. He is married to the other two Elder Witches, the Stylist and the Hippie.

The set pieces are a little bit of this and that, with a lot of World’s Smallest/World’s Tiniest products, as well as a significant amount of gachapon (miniatures from Japanese vending machines). I made many of the books on the bookshelf, either from printables by others or my own designs. The Magister’s cookbook, Gelatinize It! [“Turn every dish into a quivering masterpiece!”], is one of my own creations, but based on actual promotional cookbooks from the 1950s. I just had so much fun writing the cover copy that I decided to show it off.

Continue reading Hardship Toy Shop Adventures II — the scary [?] witch!

I have the time and the props, so here is the first in an occasional series of inconsequential events occurring in the Hardship Toy Shop!!

For those of you unfamiliar with Hardship, it’s a small town in Vermont populated by your average small-town weirdos, some of whom are witches. Magic is real, and so is time travel and teleportation, though none of these are really relevant to the Toy Shop Adventures.

All of these dolls are customized 1:6 scale action figures, about 12″ (30 cm) tall or less. Rosie, who’s trying to get her fortune told, is a recent Mattel Barbie Looks head on an MGA Rainbow High Vanessa Tempo body. Bailey, the clerk, is a Medicom Bambi that I redressed. Farrier, who is looking at a book, is a Big Chief Tenth Doctor that I redressed and repainted the hair on. The Cactus Kid, petting the stuffed sheep, is a Mattel Kelly Club head on an Obitsu 11cm knockoff body. Pammy, holding the dogbot upside down, is a Medicom Pampy head (from the same set as Bailey) spliced with Obitsu 22cm parts for more articulation. She is Bailey’s younger sister.

The set pieces are a little bit of this and that, with a lot of World’s Smallest/World’s Tiniest, as well as a significant amount of gachapon (miniatures from Japanese vending machines). Zoltar is a cheap miniature for sale from Running Press. He lights up and talks (in a fake Russian accent) with the help of 2 AAA batteries. To my knowledge, he does not actually say anything about his butt. 😉

Continue reading Hardship Toy Shop Adventures I — the rude fortune teller!