This was supposed to be a happy thread [vent/photos] [Updated]

[Taxel]

But its not, because life hates me, and I cannot even begin to describe in words how upset I am.

Since this is somewhat venty and all involves dolls, let's start from the beginning.

In June of 2008 I wrote a story called "mockingbirds don't s i n g". That story is my pride and joy, my baby. It is without question the best piece I have ever written. It was my first story in a while, and I LOVED it. The two characters, Jude and Lucy, are my babies. I love them to bits and pieces. I even picked out BJD forms for them. The website (Dolkot) won't load for me, but here are the mock-ups I did with their proper colors.

First is Jude, second is Lucy. Those dolls are not 100% perfect sculpt wise, but they are very close.
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I have never been able to afford a BJD, but got into Pullips. However Pullips just didn't feel right for my girls, so I kept waiting. This March, I got into Livs. For those that haven't seen my threads, I currently have 9 Liv dolls and 1 Liv horse as well as 2 fashion packs (not counting anything from today). Clearly, I am a HUGE Liv fan. I got the brilliant idea to name or nickname all of my Liv girls things relating to the Beatles. For example, I have Mary, Prudence, Pepper, and Penny and Hayden who is nicknamed Kite. I knew I HAD to get Jude and Lucy as Livs. They wouldn't be perfect because of the whole two skintones thing, but I could live with it just to finally have them.

I planned to use some birthday money to get them, but the majority of what I got was a Walmart gift card, and the Walmarts here do not sell anything Liv. I expected $25 from a relative, but it never came (my birthday was the 23rd of May) and neither did just a card or anything, which was strange for that relative so I felt forgotten. Blah blah, whine whine, sad sad. Yesterday I received a card from her, and it contained a $50 gift card! One of the ones you can use anywhere.

I literally spent HOURS on Flickr and Amazon, comparing Liv make-up and prices. I finally decided on the perfect dolls, and the perfect wig for Jude. I don't have the money to buy a perfect one for Lucy, but I do already have one that's very close. I decided on Making Waves Hayden for Lucy and After School Cool Sophie for Jude.

Today I made my boyfriend take me hunting to try and find Jude's wig. Target was almost cleared out of Liv, Fred Meyer had only a pink wig, and lastly we tried Toys R Us. I've never looked for Livs there before, so I walked up and down every aisle. I found a small section with two Liv wigs, and almost gave up, but decided to keep hunting to see if they even had any dolls. An aisle or two down, I found them! They had the Making Waves, Spa, & Twist and Dance girls, along with Hayden's House and the Spa playset. The playsets were on clearance and if you bought any Liv doll or playset, you got a free accessory pack.

I swiped up Making Waves Hayden and Sophie (I only realized after I left that  had decided to go with my other choice for Jude >.<), and grabbed the only remaining accessory pack. I was very happy. Even if I didn't get Jude's wig yet, at least I didn't have to wait for shipping! Plus the girls in the store were the same price as they would have been shipped from Amazon ($15).

First up, I opened the accessory pack. Although Hayden was all mopey about not being the favorite anymore yesterday, she was very happy when she realized that she still gets to model all the new things. The apron is really cute, and I love it. The cups/plates are also nice, but the grill leaves much to be desired. However it does open and close, so I can pretend the pathetic burger and chicken leg aren't there.
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And then. . .then that's when things got ugly. I have never opened a Making Waves dolls before, and Sophie gave me hell. Their box is:
[||
[ = plastic cover thing, and the | = 1 piece of cardboard. You have to rip the back cardboard from the front cardboard to have access to the backs of the ten trillion little plastic thingies. I always cut from the back when I can to avoid nicking clothing and hair.

It took a decent amount of force (but no where near as much as the G4 TRU blind bag set, for example) to rip off the back. This also left rips in the front cardboard. By the time I hit the middle of the back cardboard, I wasn't using much force (most of her glue was at the top). This is how it looked.
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But when I turned her over, I almost began to cry.
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My boyfriend came in and helped calm me down. He removed the back cardboard from Hayden, which came off MUCH easier, and I cut her out. I just can't get excited about her. I took off her disappointing stock wig (its coated in some hardening stuff), and didn't even put her in her proper wig. She's just wearing the hot pink one. I didn't even change her clothes. Her swimsuit is really pretty and her makeup perfect for what I wanted but, well, I can't say I'm happy about Livs at all right now. :/
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I was going to buy School's Out Alexis once I finished opening what I got at the store, but well, if I can't get Sophie replaced by Spinmaster or Toys R Us I have to buy a new Sophie and won't have enough for Alexis. That's my second favorite Alexis too.


I'm going to go try and figure out a way to contact Spinmaster, and tomorrow we're going back to Toys R Us. Wish me luck guys. And if anyone made it this far, props to you. <3

[Nonnavlis]

Wow, that's just... terrible I am very sorry for you, I now how disappointing it can be to open a toy and find out it is damaged in some way. I have had it happen to me before, to.

I have never dealt with Toys R Us when a toy needs to be replaced, but I hope they will replace your doll for you. It's quite possible she was broken before you started to open her, and if the opening process damaged her, then that's not really your fault (Not Toys R Us's either, though. That'd be the doll company). I know Walmart would still replace it even if that was the case, I can only hope Toys R Us will be as understanding.

If not, I do believe she is fixable (Though you'd have to be gentle with her). Toys can be more resilient than you think.

[Taxel]

I looked over her for a bit before I bought her, and nothing seemed off except for a tiny bit of lip paint being smudged. The lip paint thing almost made me put her down, but she was the only Making Waves Sophie they had. She might have had some internal damage, but nothing I could see. I really don't know how the amount of force I was using by the time I go near the waist could rip her leg off like that.

I'm pretty sure I don't have steady enough hands to try a fix. She'd likely end up with her leg glued in one position. XP

Apparently Spinmaster's website sucks. You can't attach photos or add links through the contact form, so I'm even more ticked off. I really hope Toys R Us does something, because that alone made me loose all the hope I had that the company would do something. Maybe I'm giving up too easy, but Making Waves dolls aren't even listed under Liv either. I realize they're killing the line, but that's really aggravating. >.<

[cloud_weaver]

I've only really dealt w/Target and Walmart to defective or damaged property, but I don't think Toys R Us should give you any trouble. 

I'm terribly sorry that happened to you.    Honestly, I probably would have done the same thing.  ><  Please keep up posted!

[Nonnavlis]

You can't always tell though by looking if the plastic has been strained anywhere or somesuch (It may have had a weak spot, and that is why it snapped). I'm nitpicky to when I pick toys, but I've still ended up with toys with flaws.

You don't actually have to be all that steady. If you use superglue (Which I would assume is the best option for plastic, but I can't say for sure), the applicator at the end is very tiny, so you can be rather precise even if you're a little shaky. You just have to make sure any extra glue gets a swipe with a q-tip (The glue does not dry fast, so you have time for touch-ups). Still, though, it would be better to see her replaced, of course.

You could provide URLs to the images? Some browsers recognize an URL so that it can be clicked just like a link would. And, I'm sure that their staff can't be so lazy as to not use copy + paste if necessary.

I will agree that the Live doll site sucks, though. But, most toy sites now seem to provide very minimal information about their products >:/

[Taxel]

cloud_weaver - The Walmart here literally took back a G4 Rarity and handed me $5 cash with no receipt or anything. I was stunned. However she was MIB and not damaged, I just had her already. And I know the people around here are pretty nice, so I'm really hoping Toyrs R Us does *something*. Don't want to get my hopes too high though.
I'll definitely keep the thread updated.

Nonnavlis - Yeah, that's what I'm guessing happened. Her plastic had to have a weak spot. It didn't even make a sound, and I've never broken plastic before and had it be silent, come to think about it. I didn't even realize that before because I was so upset. I would've noticed any sort of snap because there was no other noise in the room.

I may give it a shot if I have to keep her, but I can't envision doing it so easily without playing around with the leg.

I did try URLs. They block anything that isn't alphanumeric, so no /s. >.<

I've only ever gone to file a complaint about a toy to Hasbro, which I ended up not doing because you have to make an account, but they didn't have a small character limit and had a way to attach photos I believe. That's what I expected, but that's probably the exception and not the norm.

[kaoskat]

Taxel, you have a pm.

[Taxel]

I. . .no words.

First, happy news! Kaoskat offered to send me her copy of this Sophie if Toys R Us/Spinmaster can't or won't replace her exactly. The kindness of Arena members is amazing. <3

A little bit before that, I said screw it and ordered School's Out Alexis. She was only $12 with shipping, and I didn't want to miss that chance. I don't regret it, though now I am quite wary. Read on to learn why!

Hayden wouldn't stop looking at me, and I finally decided I felt happy enough to dress her up properly and start bonding with her. Getting those swim bottoms off was really difficult (it was glued), but her underwear is only printed on and not painted! I love that! I pulled off her top, and found glue-covered boobs. Yuck, but that's okay. I scraped it off pretty easily so I was happy again. I dumped out one of my clothing bags to get my Liv jeans for her. I went to put them on, and guess what? No really, guess. I promise its great. Its totally the best!

One of Hayden's feet is broken and can barely bend. I just don't even know. Nine beautiful Liv dolls, and two duds in a row. Granted Hayden isn't that bad but I can't put her in her jeans with a broken foot, and I've never had a single error with any of my other dolls. If this is why the line died, I'm not surprised. I wanted the other Making Waves girls but I am never buying one new again.

I'll likely take her with me to Toys R Us and mention her issues as well, and send in photos/info about her to Spinmaster too if I get a reply to my message about Sophie. Two broken dolls for $30 does not make a happy Taxel. Especially with how special they were supposed to be. :/

[kaoskat]

Well guess what, I have that one too.

[Taxel]

what is this I don't even know.

If I buy a broken Liv do you magically have it too? xD

[kaoskat]

LOL Well I have those because they went on sale at our Kmart and I wanted their swimsuits! Then they just sat around here in a box because I had nothing to do with them. So now even if you can't return them, you won't have to stress and it can still be a happy day. And this way, they won't get lonely in the mail.

[Taxel]

They do have pretty nice swimsuits. That was half the reason I wanted all of them. But I am never touching a MIB one ever again. XP

I refuse to comment on the part about the mail because oh god my story and yeah. xD

[kiwiikiss]

Taxel, I have on old, naked Jade. If you want, you can have it for free (plus shipping.) It's not much, though. Just thought it might cheer you up 

[Nonnavlis]

Oh gosh, the other one broke now, to!? Does nobody believe in quality control? These are for children after all. I've definitely changed my mind on ever owning one of these dolls.

Seems like you've got some great people here to help you out if your other options fail, though. You go pony people! ^^

[Taxel]

PM me kiwiikiss? If I can get some more money I might be interested

Nonnavlis - To be fair, I have NEVER had a problem with a Liv doll before. They've all been amazing and wonderful. I'd still recommend them, but I would never recommend Making Waves girls. However I do have a friend with some MW Livs, and has never had an issue with them.

Well, I got an email from Spinmaster. Its mostly cookie-cutter, but asks for me to call them. Guess I'm not getting anything useful from them. :/ Maybe if Toys R Us does absolutely nothing, but I absolutely despise calling people and avoid it as much as possible. I'm very disappointed that their "online" support is just "lol please call us instead" support.

Post Merge: June 06, 2012, 08:21:48 PM

Well, looks like I've gotten as far as I'll get. TRU let me swap Sophie, but they had no other Sophies and I had to get a Making Waves doll (only other $15 Liv >.<). They had one Daniela with a paint error or hair on her face (didn't want to risk it), and like 5 Katies. I was eyeing Katie yesterday, but I won't lie. I was terrified. Before we left my boyfriend was able to get Hayden's foot unstuck, but it still can barely bend and she can't wear pants. That on top of her box being thrown away, I just decided to not bother taking her to TRU. I guess I'll use her for light customizing (like, an eye change xD) or something.

After TRU, boyfriend and I went to the park. He didn't have his pocketknife, so Katie sat around for a few hours while I tried not to worry about her. When we finally got home, I was crazy careful opening her. I didn't touch the cardboard, and instead cut off the plastic front and cut her out from here. I tossed her in a skirt, and I'm pretty happy.
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Only problems? I need a lot of Liv shoes now. And I have even more dolls to name! XP