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Just the Old, None of the New

@look-back-month-challenge / look-back-month-challenge.tumblr.com

Just Look Back January is a toy collector challenge month where we encourage ourselves to show love to the toys already in our collection, instead of constantly buying new things to show off. This is to discourage a consumerist attitude towards collecting, FOMO, and general impulse buying. It also is a chance to have fun taking photos of toys we might not feel we have a "reason" to show off to our friends and followers. I hope everyone has fun!
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This is the prompt list for the Look Back Challenge 2025! See this Post if you want to know more about the Challenge and it's Rules.

You do not need to use the prompt list to participate, but if you'd like ideas, this list is here for you!

  1. Introduce your newest toy to the one you've had longest.
  2. What is your oldest toy? (Chronologically)
  3. A toy you love, but rarely, if ever, photograph.
  4. Do you still have any toys from your childhood?
  5. Any buying regrets?
  6. Any you're thinking of getting rid of?
  7. A toy you like, but don't want any more of that type/line/style.
  8. One that came to you at a special time in your life.
  9. A toy that was gifted to you.
  10. What is your sibling's (or bestie's) favorite of your collection?
  11. Which one would your friends/family guess if your favorite?
  12. What would your followers guess is your favorite?
  13. Show your favorite toy.
  14. Valentine's Day
  15. Have you ever made a custom?
  16. Do you have any customs made by someone else?
  17. Most interesting or unusual toy.
  18. Have any cool accessories?
  19. Do you have any playsets?
  20. Ever keep any packaging or other bits not part of the toy itself?
  21. Do you have any non-toy merch related to a toy line? (Shirts etc.)
  22. Favorite color scheme.
  23. Least favorite color scheme.
  24. Most expensive toy.
  25. Most sought after toy.
  26. What line/type of toy do you own the most of?
  27. Toy that surprised you.
  28. Any toy you regretted letting go of?

Thank you to everyone who suggested ideas for prompts! You all helped me so much in putting this list together, and I really appreciate it. I hope everyone has fun!

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Look Back Month Challenge, Day 15 - Have you ever made a custom?

Yep. :)

Photo #1:

  • Jillian Skully (Halloween decoration head + Barbie body)
  • Gvina (Christmas decoration head + Ever After High body)

Photo #2:

  • Galatea (knockoff Disney Tiana upper body + Lego lower body + Monique Gold wig)
  • Sauron (Lego head + Barbie body)
  • Amaryllis (knockoff Ddung doll + knockoff My Little Pony body)

Photo #3:

  • Cory P. Pasta* (Disney Rapunzel head + Barbie body + custom mask made by me)
  • Alecto (car antenna topper head + Strawberry Shortcake body)

Photos #4, 5, 6, & 7:

  • Oren (Lego head + Bratz body)
  • Edgar (Lego head + Max Steel body)
  • Maria (Lego head + Ever After High body)
  • Rosa (Lego head + Barbie body)

*Yes her name is a terrible pun on creepypasta. And I actually wrote a terrible creepypasta about her.

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blaberid

Have you ever made a custom?

Oh boy, I guess I have to show my mime Pullip to the world. Don't zoom in. She's my first ever full doll repaint, from nearly 20 years ago, and I went in pretty blind so with those factors considered… I don't think she's completely heinous. That said, I would like to wipe her and redo her someday.

I guess my 3D printed figures would count as customs? I didn't make the 3D models, but I painted them myself. Here are Shep and Pietro with an official amiibo figure.

Then there's my trio of Hairdorables from a few years back. I liked their sculpts, but not their default faceup styles, so I repainted all three of them. Please ignore the condition these are in; I'm not sure if there's a place for them in my collection so I've just been keeping them in my WIP pile. Also, the face paint one on the left is melting so she definitely needs to be completely redone lol. I did use a different type of paint on her. Duly noted.

I have done a few minor repaints as well, my most recent was giving Magic Mixlings Pixlings Wynter brown eyes. <3

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heo-the-lomo

Day 15- Customs

Here is a breakdown of my customs shelf (on a shelf i built myself)

-my water nymph and siren dolls, made for my ap art class, meant as contrasts to each other

-my series of rainbow disability dolls (still a wip) : red- represents invisible disabilities, made from a gen1 cleo.

orange and yellow are still wips

green was the first made shes a botany professor and she has hypermobile ehlers dahnlos, i made her wheelchair from scratch and shes been a major comfort about being disabled

blue is based of of monet waterlilies and is hard of hearing, she is an art museum curator

purple loves astronomy and does (insert astronomy job here... i only know astronaut and shes the newest so not as fleshed out) she has chronic knee pain so uses a cane and her braids were so fun to make

pink studies literature and loves to read about others fashion and textiles, she has fibromyalgia and sometimes uses crutches

black, white, and rainbow are wips

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eyefocusing

i suppose i could at least do todays prompt before i go and leave for another week um!!

@look-back-month-challenge Day 15: Have you ever made a custom?

sooo i wanted to try my hand at doll customs someday when i was younger, but didnt have the opportunity to gather any stock back then. and then i wanted to try doing action figures i was more into those, but i never got around to ACTUALLY doing anything back then either!! so i never tried any custom stuff until i got into transformers!! even then its a bit of a rough start.

poor sprocket (an osko iron factory cyguns) sat disassembled for months when i couldnt get the paint to thin quite how i wanted, but eventually i put him back together since we were moving and itd be easier to transport that way lol. someday ill get around to finishing him up.....

but my earth wars deco fireflight (a ko combiner wars fireflight) is something ive been really happy with!! theres some finer details i wish i couldve added, but my shaky hands just dont allow it :'3 ive always loved his in-game colors and i still get so giddy whenever i see this guy, he really pops imo!!

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julik0vatay

For @look-back-month-challenge: ALL my sewed lil guys! At least I think that's all of them >>

You can clearly see how I started from bigger scale and then gradually moved to tiny >_<

Also my Bestie's favs are here! Splatoon & Homestuck stuff! Honestly was surprised with this choice >.<

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15: Elspeth, my "weird Barbie" custom

Elspeth started her journey as a $2 white-label clone, dressed vaguely like Cinderella (unbagged here). I acquired her when everyone was talking about Weird Barbie, so I quickly replaced her dreadful clone body with a pregnant body from China (the pinkest one available) and her thinly rooted hair with a choppy, piecey, kind of punkish wig (documented here). She's now one of the official couples, married to Manbun Ken (who was the only adult male doll I had at the time). She's thus the obvious pick for the @look-back-month-challenge "ever made a custom?" prompt.

Poor Elspeth wore Ken clothes and frumpy Curvy Barbie outfits until February 8, the day I took a sewing refresher class sponsored by the county library. I whipped out my sloppy trivet (here), then went home and sewed a dress for Elspeth from fabric that's been in my stash since... well, I thought November, but it was before the Mexican restaurant was replaced by the Biscuit Basket, so September might be more accurate. I later thought of three different ways to have done that neck ruffle better, but the important outcomes are:

  • Elspeth has a dress of her own that fits her properly.
  • I have used the terrifying professional-level sewing tools that were Mom's, and I still have all my fingers and most of my sanity.

Yes, Elspeth needs a sock dress to show off her bump. That's a different construction method, and I need to dig those brain cells out of retirement. (From here on, fewer of the Look Back prompts apply to my doll collection, so I'll be joining Elspeth in putting my feet up and resting for a few days.)

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@look-back-month-challenge Day 15: Have you ever made a custom?

Yes! here's all customs I've made since late 2022 in order (except for this one because I can't find her for some reason) including a few I believe I haven't shared on my blog yet!

some of them are nude and messy because I have most of my customs stored away for now

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A quick reminder that you don't have to follow the prompt list if you don't want to! If you feel it doesn't apply to you, or just want to do your own thing, that is perfectly fine. This challenge is supposed to be fun, and I don't want anyone feel obligated to follow the list.

You don't have to post every single day either! If you've missed a few days, it's fine to just jump back in with whatever you feel like posting. I want people to have fun and build community, don't stress yourself out about it! <3

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15th day of @look-back-month-challenge. Featuring natural light!

At first I thought I have made no custom dolls apart from an unfinished repaint. But then I remember I have put two heads on Made to Move bodies. And when looking for that Ken, I remembered I have removed the face paint from this Cave Club Slate. So yes, I have made three customs.

The Barbie is a Dreamtopia Mermaid from 2022 with Tori face. She is beautiful and I like the side glancing eyes. The Ken is #138 from Fashionistas line. I like that he has real hair not molded. (I know the face molds thanks to fashiondollz.de website.)

The Barbie and Ken are actually somewhat similar in my collection not only because they both are the result of changing heads on MtM bodies but also because the Barbie was a mermaid and the Ken in my mind is a nixie with his blond hair and his closed mouth. (He is hiding his terrifying teeth.)

The Cave Club line had such cute dolls and the stone age theme is more interesting than some other play doll lines. But I still like to dress them up in different styles. I do have another Slate doll who is unaltered.

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ghostmouses

Day 13: Show your favorite toy.

Jin! She's very precious and has been with me since I was tiny. I made her a little coat out of an old shirt and some pajama bottoms for the lining. The sleeves say "to be loved is to be changed", because of that one Garfield post.

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atomicbritt

@look-back-month-challenge Day 14. Valentines Day

They're more decorative items than dolls, but here are Queenie and Kingsley, my royal Valentine's birbs:

Talk bad about his queen and he'll stab you.

My first thought for the prompt 'Valentine's day' was pink, so have a bunch of pink girlies, because I'm a sucker for a pink girly. 💕

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7xiiij

[well i was doing great keeping up with this challenge until i suddenly had a health malfunction that required emergency medical attention a week ago 😒 am/will be ok but definitely have not been up for taking pics and so on in the last week 😅]

however this pic is years old so did not require me to dress/set up a doll + lights and all that! and it fits the prompt! this is Vira, my Iplehouse Audrey, looking super Valentine's Day-themed ❤️❤️❤️

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