MetaFilter posts tagged with doll

And there's a creepy doll, that always follows you

Room 641-A — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 09:29:15 -0800

Amongst the canals of Lake Xochimilco, south of Mexico City, there are artificial islands called chinampas. Chinampas were invented by the Aztecs as a way to increase agricultural production, and while most have been converted for residential or commercial use, there is one that stands apart: Isla de las Munecas (The Island of the Dolls). Home to hundreds of terrifying, mutilated dolls, their severed limbs, decapitated heads, and blank eyes adorn trees, fences, and nearly every available surface. Video tour (Part 1) Video tour (Part 2) Getting there Google Images

Don't fail your New Year's Resolution!

xicana63 — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 09:21:53 -0800

A Daruma doll will always remind you of your goal. First read it here then watched it here. Nana korobi yaoki!

Let's Pretend We're Marionettes

BoringPostcards — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 06:14:37 -0800

When artist Troy Gua wanted a new project to cheer himself up with, he hit on the idea of making a tribute to his favorite musician. Le Petit Prince, a 1/6 scale doll of The Purple One, was born.

This fine-art project is definitely going to give you cancer (or has already given you cancer).

item — Mon, 16 May 2011 09:03:09 -0800

The Hairpin shows us how to how to make a doll into a wine glass in 23 quick steps.

She can move out of her car and into your home for a mere $95!

grapefruitmoon — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 14:45:28 -0800

In the 1980s, American Girl dolls became an obsession for many young girls. The early options were limited, but the "family" of dolls has expanded to have Native American, New Mexican, African-American, and Jewish girls represented. Reaching across to a new un-tapped demographic: American Girl has released a homeless doll. Gwen Thompson, the homeless girl, retails for $95.

I Brought You Some Coffee! Is It ... Boiling Hot?

MikeHarris — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 15:39:52 -0800

On a Friday in the waning months of the 20th century, a Macromedia employee was getting ready to meet with the creator of Beavis & Butthead the next Monday to demonstrate Flash v.4's new feature, synchronized audio tracks – a feature he needed to learn over the weekend. So he put together the simplest model he could: a floating skull sans lips, tongue or physique. The meeting was postponed, so the employee continued to spitshine the animation and put it on his website. His friends e-mailed their friends, and soon, everyone met a heavy-metal animated floating skull demon and his adorable little devil pal. Sparks had created Radiskull, who will kill you one by one. (Atom) Nowadays, one can throw a rock and hit about 40,000 web cartoons. However, Radiskull and Devil Doll was one of the very first web cartoons out there, and is still considered one of the best by many nostalgic Internet "old-timers." As Sparks introduces the character in the Radiskull book later released (yes, there was a book, as well as three issues (1, 2, 3) of a comic), Radiskull – a portmanteau of "radical" and "skull" – is "a huge disembodied skull with glowing eyes, thick black eyebrows, a mouth full of long, sharp teeth, and a spiky purple Mohican that magically always seems to be side-on. He's got a taste for boiling coffee, refers to himself in the third person, likes pain, and dreams of ripping up small towns with his mighty jaws. Since he's just a skull, he moves around by levitation, which he finds extremely tiring. That means he needs a lot of sleep." As for his little red-suited pal, "Devil Doll is short and bubbly, with a cute grin, button eyes, a big yellow head, and horns. He's enthusiastic and outgoing, grins compulsively at the thought of mayhem, and rides a growling Harley-Davidson. He can breath fire – and fireworks – and he's a cool dancer. He's got lots of energy, and can never get enough of rocking and rapping with Radiskull." The initial episode, wildly popular (and noticed on Metafilter), soon had its follow-ups:

Hella Weenie (Atom), in which the pair bring justice to a Ned Flanders-esque neighbor with a cruel streak;
Radiskull Hate Snow (Atom), in which Devil Doll and Candy Angel first meet (Mefi);
Love 'n' Stuff (Atom), in which the pair independently pine after each other in Hades Minor and Heaven Academy #999, respectively (Mefi);
Angel This is Wrong (Atom), in which Candy navigates from Heaven into the ether in-between the universes, warned off by the Rappin' Dishonorable Judge Radiskull;
Wicked Nikki (Atom), in which Nikki the Succubus attempts to corrupt Devil Doll and Candy finds Hades locked tight;
Radiskull's Cave (Atom), in which Devil Doll tries to make his buddy okay with his angelic crush; and
Candy in Hell (Atom), the last produced episode of the series, in which Nikki learns that marshmallows and cotton candy aren't to be taken for granted, but manages to get in one last act of malice.

The series ended up having a hugely creative fan base. A.V. Phibes' "I was a Teenage (Give or Take 8 Years) Radiskull & Devil Doll Addict" is one of the more amusing, but there were also handmade dolls, cosplay, remixes, artwork, and tattoos. The series had a sad end in real life: when dot-coms crashed, Macromedia laid Sparks off in the summer of 2001 along with almost the entire staff of AtomShockwave at the time – but, as Radiskull and Devil Doll was created by Sparks while Senior Designer there, the company owned the copyright to Radiskull and Devil Doll – and proved spectacularly unwilling to work with Sparks on somehow releasing to or cooperating with him in continuing the series, or even getting out the partially completed ninth episode, "Hot Date." USA Today briefly touched upon Sparks' story in a 2002 news story. (In fact, Sparks receives no money even from the book, unless you buy it at his site and he gets the small Amazon referral fee.) Sparks released a music video preview for what was supposed to be his next endeavour, Dickie & Jackie, but nothing else was seen of the series. Sparks had a brief flurry of activity on three online repositories at the beginning of this year – Post-It Note Art by Joe Sparks, his blog, and Sparkmical – but none have been updated since February 2009. Fans interested in the back end of things might be interested in Sparks' production notes for Episodes 1 & 2 and Episode 3, as well as some notes on how he works. Now, ahem, it's time to kick it with some Sparks-supplied Radiskull and Devil Doll MP3 jams (YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!):

"I Am the Radiskull, I Will Kill You One By One",
"Very Bad",
"We Roll and Rock",
"Candy Candy Baby",
"Angel, This is Wrong",
"Bring On the Pain!",
"Rock Heart", and
"Gift from God".

(For some retro nostalgia, check out the "preloading notes" before each video, in which you're told to avoid 8-bit color if possible!)

"And there's a creepy doll..."

grumblebee — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:11:55 -0800

Sleep tight. (I recommend you listen to this while viewing the link.)

Mad Men on Acid

Christ, what an asshole — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:53:51 -0800

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..!!.. As "charming" as the commercial makes the doll appear, exactly how does Baby Laugh-A-Lot play out in person? Maybe you'd prefer to just chill out with the remix? Still, the reigning champion of videos to show at the expense of your baked buddies remains Pickle Surprise!

He keeps Bopping his Boppo!

Del Far — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 22:08:30 -0800

In 1961 Albert Bandura published a study titled "Transmission of Aggression through Imitation of Aggresive Models," better known as the Bobo Doll Experiment, in which young children were shown video of a woman beating up on an inflatable Bobo doll in various ways, the video of the woman and the results is quite interesting/shocking and sums up the general experiment quite nicely if you don't want to do too much reading.

Where the wild things are

FunkyHelix — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 08:28:29 -0800

Build your wild self using a flash game from the New York zoos and aquarium and the wildlife conservation society. Just something cute for Tuesday.

"Tiny shrunken heads peering down."

GrammarMoses — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 06:38:58 -0800

Originally made by Native American tribes, applehead dolls are now considered a form of downhome Appalachian folk art. The late Mary Winsheimer won numerous awards for hers, which can still be purchased online from her son. You can easily learn to make them yourself; apparently one can even earn a living at it.

Make them fight to the death! Wheeee!

miss lynnster — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:18:37 -0800

Illustrator Rob Nance presents: The Do-It-Yourself Posable Paper David Hasselhoff and Pope Benedict.

Fisted!

parmanparman — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 10:54:02 -0800

Home Made Sex Doll. Enough said, really. NSFW.

A horror movie in the make

ikahime — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 23:17:46 -0800

More companion robots! Another in a series (see PARO, previously) of healing toys for Japan's rapidly greying population, Yumel the Healing Partner from Tomy. Like some kind of unholy cross between a Cabbage Patch Kid and Teddy Ruxpin, you can see a promotional clip of the doll here, or read a list of translated stock phrases (thank you Harper's). Also, an interesting article from the Economist about WHY the Japanese love robots so. (Hint: it's Shinto)

Once you go plush you never regain your self-esteem.

bigmusic — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 14:10:31 -0800

Teddy Babes love dolls are available in a number of sexy characters. (NSFW)

Personalized Bobbleheads

mr_crash_davis — Tue, 26 Dec 2006 10:15:42 -0800

Obviously, it's never too soon to start thinking about ideas for next year's Christmas gifts. How about your own custom-made bobblehead?

A short hop from (Klaus) Barbie to (Lynndie) England?

rob511 — Mon, 19 Dec 2005 17:44:44 -0800

Barbarism begins with Barbie — the doll, that is. Research done at the University of Bath (UK) posits that prepubescents' pre-eminent plasticine plaything provokes disproportionate punishment. According to the study, which originally focused on the effects of branding on young consumers, the statuesque Mattel mini-miss seems to attract undue savagery. "The researchers had not intended to focus on Barbie, but they were taken aback by the rejection, hatred and violence she provoked when they asked the children about their feelings for the doll. Violence and torture against Barbie were repeatedly reported across age, school and gender. No other toy or brand name provoked such a negative response."

Dr Who - The Second Key

nthdegx — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 04:58:03 -0800

Dr Who - The Second Key. Original Dr Who strips made with photographed dolls and speech balloons.

Share Fun Times With Someone Special

fungible — Fri, 29 Jul 2005 15:12:16 -0800

My Twinn: The one-of-a-kind doll created to look like the special child in your life.™

Unintended Surrealism with Action Figures

theora55 — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 08:56:22 -0800

When boys play with dolls, the results can be a bit startling. Some terrorists/insurgents are GI Joe fans. and here is an extensive collection of Little Nazi Dolls. my little nazi dolls via Mofi

Hello Dolly!

Secret Life of Gravy — Tue, 26 Oct 2004 10:47:46 -0800

NSFW: Realdoll vs. Superbabe. A side by side comparison of top of the line ($5000.00 plus) pleasure dolls. Realdoll has a removable tongue but Superbabe has no tongue at all.

Perfect for that bombed-out Walmart toy

XQUZYPHYR — Thu, 07 Aug 2003 10:36:32 -0800

Elite Force Aviator: George W. Bush - U.S. President and Naval Aviator "This fully poseable figure features a realistic head sculpt, fully detailed cloth flight suit, helmet with oxygen mask, survival vest, g-pants, parachute harness and much more. The realism and exacting attention to detail demanded by today's 12-inch action figure enthusiast are met and exceeded with this action figure. " (via Tom Tomorrow)

Ebay Doll

LexRockhard — Sun, 18 May 2003 11:54:47 -0800

Doll for auction on Ebay? It's haunted too? Don't even leave its pictures on my hard drive, you say? Well then...Firewalls at full-throttle, crew!

corky cuteness

iconomy — Wed, 19 Feb 2003 09:35:58 -0800

Mamiko picked up a cork that had rolled on the floor at the restaurant where she worked. From it she made her first tiny cork doll. She is often asked where she gets all of her corks. "I don't drink so much, but all of my friends who can drink quite a lot keep many corks for me." The pacifist is my favorite.

Buy a bush?

Tryptophan-5ht — Mon, 09 Dec 2002 16:06:13 -0800

The Dubya Doll is making its way through commercial America. With 17 slogans and phrases, such as "We will continue putting food on your family." what red-blooded American wouldn't want one?

"My Daddy was President you know." not included.