Day Twelve (Fashionably Late!)

The Halloween stuff has finally come down from the attic. Soon, this will probably be nothing but dusty things from the early 90s and an opinion piece on my most hated nemesis (who just so happens to be a Halloween decoration).

But while I was playing Howard Carter, I unearthed something that's still possibly current. So before I devolve into boring you with conjuring up memories of things from Halloweens past, let's talk Living Dead Dolls.

These dolls are produced by Mezco, and are apparently entering into their sixteenth series. I'm far behind the curve, as the ones I'm talking about here are apparently from the fifth series. I got them on huge markdown from Media Play when they were going out of business, and from the looks of it, I'm not missing out on much.


First off we have Siren. Her little coffin box claims she was a singer that got her mouth sewn shut. Fair enough. The head sculpt and paint job on the eyes are pretty nifty, so points to that.


Next we have Dahlia here. Obviously based on the famed Black Dahlia murder, it's a pretty nice looking piece. Y'know... nice looking piece of a doll based on a famous unsolved murder. Creepy-cool looking, again nice paint work on the face, and they even painted skin discoloration around the torso staples. Finally, a doll that allows me to judge such a category!


Finally, we have the two-fer of Zombini and Viv. They were a two-pack, and as such came in a cozy, doublewide coffin box (not pictured). Zombini with the cape and bitchin' Karnak turban is our unscrupulous, evil magician, while Viv there with the horrible, jowly Maggie Gyllenhal-esque cheeks is his lovely(?) yet doomed assistant. I gotta say, I do like Viv's look, but the face... Oh, I can't get over that awful face. She also has five teeth in that top row, which are sticking out like she tucked popsicle sticks up there to pretend she was a walrus or something. But, she has a gimmick, hopefully to take away from her...unfortunate appearance.


Yes, you've seen it here first. She splits in half. Ho ho ho ho, 'Viv' . We see what you did there. According to the website, she is the only one that has this noble distinction.

At first glance, these things seem kind of neat. Cool paint jobs, interesting concept, so how do they keep these ideas fresh after so many series?

The fact is, from what I've seen, they really don't. Every doll body is the same, save for different paint application, or the occassional doo-dad, like Dahlia's stomach staples. And if you look back at their faces, those are the only four possible heads for these dolls. Most of it's all in the paint, wardrobe/headwear, and hair styling. Considering these things run full-priced at $26 a pop, you'd think there'd be a bit more variety. Looking through their archives, I'd say 80% of the dolls all have that Zombini head, just painted up differently. Whatever, I'm sure the Goth kiddies are eating them up anyway.

If you think they're pretty cool (which, admittedly some of them are), I'd say check on eBay for some of the older ones, or try Mezco's website if the current ones tickle your fancy. If these dolls are up your alley, I'd say pick and choose a couple of the ones that really stand out to you, because a lot of them are just... meh. They're definitely cool for the season though, or if you can pull off a year-round murderous dolls motif.