#indigo bailey

[voidsprite12]

The Bailey Sisters 💙💜

Ft. Fig the fox

[romancenjoyer]

Throughout his incendiary career as a filmmaker, observer, provocateur, and theorist of the modern world, Godard fastidiously documented the deaths of cinema. There was its failure to represent the horrors of the Holocaust (“six million people were killed or gassed, principally Jews; and the cinema was not there”4); its incapacity to metabolise a phenomenon of politically radical cinema in the wake of 1968’s so-called cultural revolution; and, later, the catastrophic advent of television (a medium Godard despised and adored at once). In these terms, cinema’s latest failure to reckon with and manifest solidarity with Palestinian lives en masse as Israel continues its project of ethnic cleansing, a genocide livestreamable even on our smallest screens, represents an unfathomable rupture in the history of film. Despite the ubiquity of the moving image in relation to Israel’s genocide, whether as propaganda, surveillance footage, or self-taped videos by Gazans requesting survival resources from idly scrolling viewers, there has been no major collective movement in the Western film industry to act. There has also been no significant movement among film critics and practitioners to platform insurgent Palestinian filmmaking and reconsider the relationship between the moving image, state power, and resistance.5 A fate worse than death, cinema is mummified in a skin of its own complacence. As Godard pointed out during his 1978 lecture series Introduction to a True History of Cinema and Television, the phrase to be critical holds a double meaning: to evaluate and to challenge, but also to be urgent, dire.6 Like many of Godard’s statements, this entendre is both banal and profound. It cuts through any notion of film-criticism-as-luxury-product, an activity best performed in relative peace. The current escalation of Israel’s genocide in Gaza is a critical juncture which marks blatant cultural as well as humanitarian crises—including a crisis for the moving image. This context demands a decisive intensification of critique and inquiry regarding the past, present, and future of the medium.

– Indigo Bailey, Closing the Curtains

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

Rainbow High Littles: Indigo Bailey, Pt. 1

All right y'all, I said we'd do this so let's go. I was originally going to make this all one entry, but I decided to break off the hair discussion as a separate post, since this one was already way too long before I even got to that point XD Will link Pt. 2 once it's published.

Krystal Jr.: What the heck are we doing all the way over here? Krystal Sr.: We need to collect a delivery to take back to Rainbow Heights--a sister! KJ: I thought I was your sister? KS: No, you're a younger version of me from an alternate point in our shared timeline. We just say you're my sister so it's less confusing for everyone else. KJ: If I'm you from the past and we're both in the same place, shouldn't that create some sort of temporal paradox where you cease to exist? KS: The normal laws of physics don't apply in the doll universe, dear. It's best not to think on it too much. KJ: Okaaaaaaaaaay. But this one is NOT us, right? KS: …Probably not? Indigo: ((Maybe stop talking and let me out, please?))

Sooooooooo yeah, Indigo. Where to begin? For starters, I think the vitriol that's being dumped on these poor Littles is completely out of proportion to what they actually are--tiny dolls meant for small hands to play with. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. I can see how they would be less appealing to adult collectors used to a more sophisticated product from this brand, but I personally will do my best to judge her by her own merits.

First impressions: I think she's cute! I pulled a few of her braids back with a rubber band to make her face more visible, but otherwise straight out of the box she's good to go.

Krystal Jr.: Are we a family? Are we clones? Honestly folks, it's anyone's guess. Indigo: Is she always this snarky? Krystal Sr.: Don't worry sweetie, it's just her being a tween, we grow out of it eventually. I: We? KS: It's complicated.

More detailed discussion of clothes & accessories under the cut--

Let's talk about the dress and that reviled plastic bodice. Honestly? I don't mind it! I can't speak for the rest of the line, but in Indigo's case at least it's clear there was some effort put into her overall design. I was especially delighted by the skirt portion of her dress, which is made of a lovely little textured woven fabric featuring a butterfly design, with a coordinating tulle ruffle trim. There's even an underskirt made from a plasticy fine-weave fabric. Both the main skirt and underskirt are sewn (that's right, not glued--there are STITCHES) to the base of the plastic top portion of the dress.

Ok so, no one loves plastic doll clothes. I get it. Not a fan myself. But for what this is, considering it's all one piece, I'm impressed by the amount of detail, and how well it reads as 'normal' clothing. The midsection has a sculpted raised texture that closely mirrors the design of the skirt fabric. The collar section is painted a lighter contrasting shade of purple that compliments her shoes (all the adult collectors who whine about lack of painted detail on molded plastic pieces, here you go), and the ruffle around the armholes compliments the trim on the skirt. Everything is held together neatly at the back with a piece of velcro at the top of the skirt.

Given how difficult it can be to sew fabric doll clothing in this scale that actually looks good, I think the plastic top is a fair compromise to increase ease of use for smaller hands.

The shoes! I was pleasantly surprised by the level of detail on these. The butterfly motif from the dress is carried on here, with sculpted decoration all the way around the tops and even on the soles. This was absolutely unnecessary, but I'm so happy they did it.

Indigo's official height is listed as 5.5 inches, which lands her somewhere between an old school Kelly doll and the closest MGA equivalent in my collection, a Dream Ella Extra Iconic Mini. I believe Magic Mixies Pixlings are also of a similar size, but I don't have one to include in this comparison.

Indigo's pet is...a thing that exists. Her product description says it's a 'magical fox'. Sure.

Ok folks, that's it for pt. 1. We're going to take a closer look at those braids in pt.2

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

Rainbow High Littles: Indigo Bailey, Pt. 2

Hey folks, sorry it took longer than expected to get this posted (health complications, not serious just time consuming), but as promised here is the continuation of my RH Littles review (Pt.1 is here). Still feeling a bit drained from *stuff* so I'm going to keep this one fairly short and to the point...right after Krystal Jr. has finished banishing that slime daemon back to its own dimension...

...And now with that out of the way--Hair talk! (sorry for the lack of banter in this one, I'm too tired to script dialog today)

I've already seen one review claiming at least some of the Littles have polypropylene hair. Based on my examination of Indigo's braids, in her case at least I do not believe this assessment to be correct. In my opinion the evidence points to her rather having lower grade nylon hair (as referenced in @dollsahoy's excellent video on the problems with using polypropylene as a doll hair fiber). In this post we're going to take a look at how I came to this conclusion, with the help of some Shadow High girls with similarly textured hair.

First let's compare Indigo's braids to our purple QUEEN, Monique. Now, imo Monique is the gold standard for microbraids on a doll, not just just for RH/MGA but across the board. The majority of her braids are very fine, shiny, smooth to the touch, and made up of straids of multiple colors woven together. They hang quite straight, and have a nice weight to them. I say the majority because mixed into the base of multicolor braids there are a few monochrome blue and purple strands, which differ in weight and texture to the rest, being courser and slightly bulkier.

An initial side by side comparison shows that Indigo's braids look quite different than Monique's. They are mainly a solid periwinkle/lavender shade, with some strands incorporating a second, more magenta-leaning color mixed in. They feel lighter, and don't sit neatly around her head, though I attribute this at least in part to her rather chaotic rooting pattern. In texture and appearance they have more in common with Monique's blue and purple highlight strands than the bulk of her hair. Taking all this into account, I think it's safe to say these two do not share the same hair fiber.

But now let's take a look at our other braid ambassador, Pinkie. When I first got this doll I was immediately struck by how different her hair was, in both appearance and texture, from Monique's. It's both courser and duller in texture, has less complexity to the color blend (I see only two, extremely similar shades of pink), and doesn't appear to have the same weight to the fiber necessary to lie straight like Monique's does. Additionally, given their slightly crunchy feel and fact that they remain creased from her packaging months after I unboxed her, I suspect the only reason her braids lie as flat as they do is that some amount of product was added to her hair to keep them in place.

And when we compare Pinkie's braids to Indigo...this looks like a much closer match! Leaving aside the difference in color and length, the braids on these dolls look, feel, and behave in virtually identical ways. Taking everything I've observed from these comparisons into account, I feel comfortable with the conclusion that Pinkie's and Indigo's braids were made from the same fiber.

But here's the thing....MONIQUE AND PINKIE BOTH HAVE NYLON HAIR. I have never seen a single indication that a mainline Rainbow or Shadow High doll has had anything else. It might not all be the same quality of nylon, but it's nylon all the same. Just for good measure I grabbed a Skultimate Secrets MH doll (which very definitely has poly) and they don't feel the same. They just don't.

Aside from some speculation (completely unsubstantiated) that the Swim & Style budget dolls have polypropylene hair, it's never been in question that MGA has used anything other than nylon on this line, and it seems vaguely nonsensical to me to imply that they would start now. Sure I could be wrong--obviously if MGA makes an official statement confirming they've switched to poly I'll eat my words--but the detail and care that went into the design of Indigo's clothing tells me they are still trying to make a good quality product. While the target demographic and aesthetic of the brand may have changed since the soft reboot began earlier this year, I see absolutely no evidence that these are badly made dolls. Adult collectors may not like them, and yes it's a hard shift from the exemplary attention to detail we got used to when the focus of the brand was on older collectors, but that's not the same thing as them being objectively poor in quality. They're just different. It happens.

SO YEAH. That concludes my thoughts on Rainbow High Littles. I think they're fine for what they are. I like the one I got. I have no plans to buy more, but if they release other characters down the line, who knows? I for one am ready to move on from this 'controversy' and redirect my attention to other dolls I'm actually looking forward to.

[mythosidhesdollhouse]

Indigo has arrived. There's a lot to say. We're going to get into it. But maybe not until tomorrow. Watch this space for a photo-heavy review with a serious discussion of hair fibers and a whole lot of other nonsense besides.

[daikenkki]

[daikenkki]

rainbowhighmagic @ Instagram

[sunnylovesgirlythings]

The fact the only one of the littles I actually want is the only one I’ve never found in the stores by me😭

Indigo come hoooome.