My Haul – Shopping In Toronto

If you read my last blog post then you will know that I went to Toronto yesterday. Of course I did some shopping, it’s me! But what did I buy there? I’m going to share that in this haul post. As I said in my main blog post I didn’t really buy too much but I still feel like I want to do a separate haul post about my day out in Toronto.

The Eaton Centre Mall

This mall is a really cool mall, as I mentioned in my main post about Toronto I started my day once I’d arrived at the Eaton Centre Mall. This is the first time since I’ve been in Canada that I’ve been to a proper big North American mall. It was great for browsing as well as shopping.

Disney Store

Did anyone expect me to stay away from the Disney Store?

I bought the brand new Mulan doll in the Disney Store. What’s special about the new Mulan doll is that this is pretty much the first time since the movie was released that Disney have brought out a Mulan doll who is not wearing that pink dress. It’s good to finally see a Mulan doll that more closely reflects who the character is.

Also, can we just appreciate the Disney Store plastic bags in Canada? There’s Tiana, Anna, Elsa, Olaf, Rapunzel and Captain America on it!

Hallmark

To me, when I see a Hallmark it means only one thing. Itty Bitty’s! I managed to restrain myself a little and only bought two.

Green Lantern has very quickly become a favourite of mine. Funnily enough I was actually wearing my Green Lantern tee yesterday! His Itty Bitty has started to become increasingly rare so I was glad I could find him, especially as he was the last one in the store.

In a previous haul I mentioned how the Disney Itty Bitty’s have not really been released back in the UK. I found Anna yesterday so of course I had to get the Frozen princess!

And that is what I bought in Toronto, I said I didn’t buy that much! But I just wanted to share what I did buy.

My Haul – My Recent Disney Finds

This Haul Post is a little different from my usual ones. As you probably know I love Disney and I love collecting. Recently I have added several interesting Disney items to my collection. None of these items were found in a big haul however I still wanted to share them which is why they are being grouped together in this post.

First up, Merida’s Itty Bitty. I love collecting Itty Bitty’s however the Disney ones still have not been released in the UK. A few weeks back I was browsing stuff on eBay and I just came across a Merida Itty Bitty listed for only £3.99 with free postage! Merida is one of my absolute favourite Disney Princesses and so at that price I just had to add her to my collection.

At an Antiques and Collectors fair this weekend I found two Pocahontas dolls that I bought for just £10! I have done some investigating to figure out where and when they are from.

As far as I can tell from my Googling the mini doll is from a Disney Princess mini doll set that was released exclusively in the Disney Parks a few years back. She’s pictured there with a DC Superhero Girls Batgirl and a Disney Infinity Mulan to give a sense of her size, which is roughly 5” tall.

The other Pocahontas doll is from Mattel and released in 1995. I already have the 2016 Hasbro Pocahontas (pictured with her) but I like this version too. There’s differences – such as the tattoo on her arm – between the two of them. The Mattel Pocahontas is one of the original dolls who was released to coincide with the film. I am fairly sure that the outfit she is wearing is not an original one as I have yet to find any evidence of a Pocahontas doll in that dress.

Finally, I’ve bought plushies of Flik and Dot from A Bugs Life. I have always liked A Bugs Life and when I was younger I had two soft toys of Dot. At some point I think I got rid of her but recently I wondered if I could find another Dot on eBay. I managed to and bought her at a very reasonable price with a Flik.

My Haul – DC Comics, Disney and Star Wars

Just yesterday I posted that I would be doing more Haul posts if I bought an interesting selection of stuff. Well today I bought an interesting selection of stuff that includes things from DC Comics, Disney and Star Wars.

First up, The Lego Batman Movie on DVD. I love DC Comics and I love Lego so of course I liked this film and of course I was going to buy it on DVD. In Tesco I found that they are selling it with a free Lego mini set that includes a mini figure of the Joker who I don’t already have a mini figure of.

Next I found this Justice League t-shirt that has both the Flash and Wonder Woman on it! How could I possibly refuse buying a tee that has my two favourite DC characters on it? This is also extra exciting for me as it is usually really hard to find Wonder Woman included on men’s tees.

Another of today’s finds was the Tsum Tsum of Hank from Finding Dory. He was reduced to just £1.99 and I found that grumpy face too funny to resist. Hank is the 3^rd character from Finding Nemo/Dory that I have a Tsum Tsum of. I previously bought Squirt and Bruce.

Finally I bought a Chewbacca Itty Bitty. Itty Bitty’s are still pretty hard to find in the UK, however my collection is increasingly growing. Chewie is the first Star Wars character in my collection. My Itty Bitty collection now includes Star Wars, Disney, Marvel and DC characters.

My Haul – First Saturday of 2017

‘My Haul’ videos seem to be pretty popular and so I thought I’d give it a go here on my blog.

Since the first weekend of my first semester of my first year at uni I have gone out at 9AM (when the shops open) to walk around the city centre. Each week I buy an interesting assortment of stuff - sometimes things I’ve been looking for, sometimes things in a store’s sale and sometimes new arrivals in store - this Saturday’s haul is certainly an interesting mix of stuff.

Since I started to collect dolls I’ve been keeping an eye out for mini items that can be used in scale with a doll. This suitcase I got from Tiger is one of those mini items. I think it fits quite well with Pocahontas.

I wanted to get this Doctor Who figure set when it first came out but for one reason or another I never actually got round to buying it. This morning I found it on sale for £4.99 so I finally bought it.

I’ve got a new Itty Bitty! Itty Bitty’s are these fun little plushies of pop culture characters from Hallmark, there are tons of characters available internationally (I love the one of Princess Tiana) but there’s still not been very many of them released in the UK. Iron Man joins the Flash, Captain America and Wonder Woman in my collection.

Finally the 2017 Red Noses are now available! I’ve been collecting the Red Noses for a decade now and I’ve started off my 2017 collection today with the Viking nose and the Dragon nose. There’s definitely going to be more of these over the coming weeks!

If people seem to be interested in my haul then I might make this a weekly blog feature.

You’re A Wonder, Wonder Woman!

So I’ve been watching the classic Wonder Woman TV Series starring Lynda Carter. It’s aged surprisingly well and is actually really enjoyable.

The Wonder Woman TV Series is definitely on the fun side of live action superhero stuff. There’s no dark grittiness and if that’s what you look for in superheroes then this just isn’t your thing. I’m no expert on the vast Wonder Woman mythology but from what I gather the TV Series did a good job at portraying Wonder Woman’s WWII origins.

Some parts – like the special effects – have aged like you’d expect. Though that said there’s something very endearing about the effects for things like the Invisible Plane. The stories will sometimes stretch credulity – seriously how does no one figure out that Diana Prince is Wonder Woman! – but they are entertaining, often madcap and fun to watch.

One of the real strengths of the series is Lynda Carter. I’d say her role is probably one of the most iconic portrayals of a superhero ever. And there’s good reason for that. Lynda Carter does a good job at capturing both Wonder Woman and her alter ego Diana Prince and making the two different enough but both compelling. Somehow Lynda Carter managed to make it look convincing when she’s fighting the bad guys whilst her theme song plays (seriously the play the theme song over all the fight scenes!) But Lynda Carter also did a good job at conveying Wonder Woman’s empathy - which I feel is an important trait of the character but something the more warrior focused depictions of the character forget about.

On the part of both the writers and Lynda Carter I like that the ‘warrior princess from another civilisation’ trope is not over played. Yes Wonder Woman is curious about things and doesn’t always get our ways or our slang – as she should be given she arrives from Paradise Island straight to 1940s America, it would obviously take her time to adapt. But it is never shown in a way that could have so easily infantilised the character.

Also in terms of representation of women in a male dominated genre it’s actually held up pretty well. Sure Wonder Woman’s outfit is far from practical for fighting crime in and Steve Trevor does sometimes make very cringey remarks about women. But female solidarity is a key theme in multiple episodes. Diana Prince has a strong friendship with Etta Candy, generally there’s at least one Bechdel Test passing conversation between them per episode. Multiple times Wonder Women is underestimated because of her gender which leads to the downfall of the villain of the week. Speaking of the villains of the week – there’s a pretty even split between male and female villains. Whilst the attitudes shown towards women is a product of its time there’s also enough that as a feminist viewer in 2016 I don’t feel guilty about enjoying the series.

I hope the (long awaited) Wonder Woman movie that is (finally) released next year manages to capture the spirit of the original series. From the look of the trailers I think it might.