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Club Mez Penny



phalen180 here with another guest review for Michael's Review of the Week, this time of the latest exclusive from one of my favorite toy lines, Living Dead Dolls.

First released in March & April of 2001 and produced by MezCo Toys, Living Dead Dolls are a series of grim and gruesome baby dolls designed by horror maniacs Ed Long and Damien Glonek (owner of horror memorabilia co. Unearthly Possessions).

Club Mez Penny is a club-exclusive variant of a previous doll made available only to the Hong Kong toy market (through Toy2R / Easy Finder) and limited to 666 numbered pieces.

While she is listed on the Club Mez website as a limited production doll, I think that the limit may be however many they can sell!

Penny sports bright red hair, black "Anarchy" dress, punk bracelet, black boots with red laces and bloodied face and body.

Packaging - ***1/2
The Living Dead Dolls line is over 20 dolls strong as of this writing and I'm still not sick of the great coffin packaging. It's attractive clear lid and great design elements (cobwebs and slogans) as well as the unique "coffin poem" for each doll makes this packaging hard to improve on. Club Mez Penny gets an extra 1/2 star for the yellow tissue paper, which reacts well under black light.

Sculpting - **
There are no problems with the sculpting of these dead dolls' faces or bodies, but since the same (or similar) mold is used for each one, it only gets two stars.

Paint - ***
Of the dozen Penny dolls I have seen, none of them had a poor paint job, no sloppy eyes, lips or eyebrows in evidence.

The blood has been applied attractively to face, arms and legs with no smearing or other problems.

Articulation - **1/2
Living Dead Dolls all have 5 points or articulation, as you would expect from the "baby doll" style body - neck, arms and legs. It would be nice to be able to pose the dolls in a wider range of positions, but the current articulation is acceptable.

Accessories - **
Penny comes with a "hatchet" accessory and her death certificate. The hatchet doesn't get good points because it is reused from Series 2's School-Time Sadie doll.

Clothes - ***
Penny's "Anarchy" dress is made of a nice understated velvet-like material and the stitching is well done.

Hair - ***
Penny's hair is awesome! The regular series have so many black-haired dolls that it's a great change of pace to have a doll with bright, in-your-face color.

Value - **1/2
If you are a Club Mez member, this doll only costs $30. That may seem like a lot, but when you consider the original retail and secondary market price of her Hong Kong brethren (and sistren), $30 is a great deal.

Overall - ***
While Penny loses some points on sculpt and accessories, the package variation, hair and clothes bring her up to a solid three stars. Collectors of this line or those who are just starting shouldn't pass her up.

She looks great standing next to her Hong Kong sister for those who were lucky enough to obtain one and is a must-have for those who weren't.

Check out my Living Dead Dolls site, Deader Is Better for complete coverage of all things LDD.

Where to buy
- Club Mez ($40 membership fee at the time of this writing)

Some secondary market retailers may be carrying this doll, but I encourage everyone to obtain her from the source.


Figure from the collection of phalen orion

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