D'Laura learns to skateboard, Krys tries on wigs, and introducing... Briony!

On her way out to try skateboarding again, D'Laura is startled to run into her cousin-once-removed, Briony Shapira Barwari. Though close in age, they didn't see much of each other as children, since Briony's large family lived in another state and only showed up every few years to camp in the back yard.

It's a sure thing, though, that Briony knows how to skateboard. Briony always knows how to do anything dangerous.

"Briony, I'd forgotten your head was so... ROUND."

Briony is, of course, Ever After High's Briar Beauty, and I'm pretty sure she's Getting Fairest, which means she made it to the Park and Swap in less than a year, possibly while she's still in some retail stores.

"Here, I'll show you. This is really simple."

A group portrait for National Doll Day

In honor National Doll Day, the girls gathered for a group portrait. Of course, getting everybody looking the same direction, with their eyes open, was virtually impossible.

There is no consensus on head size in this civilization.

Below the fold, there are smaller group portraits by doll type, along with a FAQ so that new visitors know what's going on here, other than, say, utter madness.

Fruits of the Park 'n' Swap

"Girl, I'm glad to see you, but we need to do something about that wig of yours."

Alexis greets her younger sister Krystle (yes, their mother was a Dynasty fan, back in the day). Krystle has called herself Krys since seventh grade.

Having read the Monster High Arena thread on fakies until midnight, following its progress from "let's laugh at the fakies" through "maybe it's worth ordering a fakie from China, let's try it" to "beautiful fakies, must own fakies!", of course I had to take advantage of a sub-100-degree day to go to the Park 'n' Swap to look at fakies. This is what the internet is for: to inspire new, fascinating, and utterly irrelevant quests that distract from existing projects and leave a person with a kitchen counter completely covered with fashion dolls in various states of undress and un-face.

The Park 'n' Swap is basically Tijuana, and I'm sure if I looked harder, I could find a vendor serving barbecued iguana on a stick. The stalls were replete with bright pink boxes of Barbie knock-offs, with quality running the gamut from "pretty convincing" through "convincingly pretty" to "Big Lots $5 beauty" to "humanoid, but... really?" It is possible to obtain an impressive kitchen playset for $25, but I didn't have that much cash on me, and I like my badly constructed corridor kitchen. (No photos because the vendors are all right there, and being the only gringo in the place already made me conspicuous.)

I did buy some crockery for a mere $1.50 total. The mugs are nicer and smaller than anything I've seen at the Mexican Import Store in Old Town Scottsdale.

And then there was the stall with used fashion dolls and their accouterments.