A South Carolina couple with a talent for refurbishing vintage dolls has now amassed more than 200 of the toys, referring to them as their “plastic children” and even running an Instagram account showing of their makeshift family in a variety of staged photos. It’s vaguely creepy, sure, but Madeline and Malachi Dressel are totally in on the joke.
View this post on Instagram
- They’ve only been collecting for the past three years. “The majority of our collection together, especially the large dolls, has been the last three years,” Madeline said, according to The Daily Mail. “About 2016 is when we stumbled upon the first big [doll] at the thrift store. And it really grew from there.”
- Madeline has always loved dolls but Malachi took some convincing. Like many little girls, Madeline always enj0yed the idea of her plastic children, but her husband didn’t come around to the idea until after the couple moved in together since he’d always been encouraged to pursue more “manly” pursuits and play with more masculine-leaning toys growing up.
- Their photos are poking fun at the portraits that bombard all our social media feeds. While Madeline and Malachi don’t yet have their own human children, they were inspired to set their plastic children up in staged photos after seeing so many of their friends with their kids down their timelines. You have to give them points for creativity because some of these images are insanely cool (even if they are a little freaky).
- Yes, they’re aware that some people think they’re “disturbed.” However, they’re not bothered by it and in fact receive far more positive comments than negative ones. “I think most people actually… when it’s explained to them a little bit in context, they think it’s pretty interesting, it’s pretty funny,” Madeline insisted. “They may not want to meet the actual dolls in person themselves but they get a kick out of the picture and the idea.”
- They’re happy to embrace the weirdness. “If we are going to be the creepy doll people, we are going to own it,” Madeline said, and good for them! They clearly have an amazing sense of humor and their hobby is relatively harmless and quite fun, so what’s the problem? More power to them, I say!
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
View this post on Instagram
