Thursday, October 18, 2012

How I Became The Owner of the Coffin Bean Playset... and a new full-size sofa !


Current Mood : Excited ! 


This evening was interesting. Dearest Son was playing with the kids across the breezeway – a pair of nice girls who love that a grown woman has soooo much cool Monster High stuff – when Beloved asked me if I knew how to fix a broken-legged Cleo. Although I’ve been lucky to have never experienced that tragedy, I knew of several YouTube videos and websites detailing repair jobs, so I pulled up my faves to show him. Seems the younger girl’s Gloom Beach diva had a broken pin in her right hip, but it only took Beloved a half-hour, a chopstick, and some sewing supplies from my stash (including the elastic I bought at Hobby Lobby visit before last), and she was ready to condescend again. I think their Mom was nearly as thrilled as they were.



We were all talking about dolls and such, when both girls told us what was on top of their wish lists. Clawdeen and Lagoona. Hmmm…after the girls went inside, I told Beloved I had a Lagoona to donate, but I kinda wanted to keep my three Clawdeens.


He asked me if Clawdeen was still sold, so I pulled up the ones we could score locally – Ghouls Rule, Sweet 1600, Coffin Bean, and a few School’s Out if we were willing to venture to the CapitalCity TRU. Or if we really wanted to splash out, Target still has the Skull Shores and Gloom Beach sets. Beloved proposed a deal. If I’d donate my Lagoona and dress both dolls, he’d get any Clawdeen I chose, and I could keep all her props and clothes. He wanted to use the ghouls to encourage their reading, which he was helping them with in the courtyard closest to their place. We wanted to be where their parents could easily keep an eye on the girls. But buying new dolls for them would possibly bother their folks, so if we could white lie a bit and say these were collection culls, it’d probably go down a little easier.


I admit, I was tempted from the start to go for Coffin Bean. Talk about a score ! But it felt greedy to me, so I told him which ones the nearest Mal-Wart had, and since we’d been meaning to pick up a few other things, thought became deed in about ten minutes. Ghouls Rule was soon ruled out by Dearest, as ‘not Clawdeen enough’, which I tend to agree with, and it’d be harder to pull off ‘collection cull’ with a Sweet 1600 identical to his. Beloved picked up the playset, and said I could have some fun with this one – why not ? He asked me to look her over carefully, and pick the best out of the four. (happy sigh) He understands me….


And I have to admit, that playset is fine. The pieces are almost all assembled already – only the shelves/cashier stand isn’t, and that’s partially due to the back cardboard featuring  two different displays. I wish Barbie was still this creative. It’s easy to switch between them, and as the customer, you get first pick. It’s held in with four black plastic spider web brackets in the back. It’s amazing that there’s detail in. the. back.


The chair and sofa are big and heavy – kind of a surprise after years of flyweight Barbie accoutrements – and lo and behold, they’re not too low and come completely assembled. A doll with 90-degree bent knees can easily sit on the sofa, the lowest of the two, and not topple over. The chair seems more a throne, since it’s a bit taller in the seat than the sofa, and I was surprised that it was so big. The shelves/checkout piece is rich with detail and I’ll say it again, I really like the display choice. It’s big and heavy too, and you could easily skip not putting the back cardboard in at all, and use it as a flat-screen TV and bookshelves instead, with a little posterboard or printout art of your own. The spider-webby branch-out shelf fits in a slot, but I got it to stand easily enough propped against the side instead, or against a School wall, and it hasn’t toppled yet. I love the little ‘coffee maker’, and the cash register reminds me of all my fast-food jobs. And, what can I say, I have always loved the coffin-shaped coffee table. Really, the only negative thing I can say about it is that I wish it came with more food/drink props. Even the little apron is cute, and Clawdeen is gorgeous. Well worth the $29. in my opinion.


It’s currently a student lounge on the second floor of the School, where there’s barely space for the sofa, chair, and coffee table. Had to move the speakers / trophy display to accommodate it all. I’m probably gonna make a ‘Creepateria’ sign to go over the Coffin Bean logo on the shelves, and keep that down there, load it with food pieces. Self-service lunch !


We also got a brand-new sofa on sale ! It’s funny that the dolls and we got new furniture today ! I gotta clear the space for it, then go help tug it in, so wish us luck ! 

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