Web Dolls!!

there's something so appealing to me about those old-web dolls you see on certain neocities sites, or if you're browsing glitter-graphics. i'm specifically talking about the types of dolls found on korean forum sites, your Daums, Empas, Edupias, Sayclubs and Netmarbles!

idk, i'm a simple person; the pretty colours and glittery pixel art draw me in, but i particularly enjoy how, alongside fantastical or fancy things, (such as being fairies or princesses) these dolls also depict girls doing regular things, like enjoying a beverage on a warm day, watching cookies bake in the oven, or stopping to rest while on a lil bike ride. whoever made these dolls definitely had a fun eye for fashion; even when these girls are wearing casual clothes, they're STILL super over-the-top and colourful. there's also a sort of romanticisation of daily tasks in these little .gifs that make me appreciate doing the same things irl, which i think is really sweet, even if i'm maybe thinking about it a bit too much!

my understanding of their original use is a bit fuzzy, but i love using these things as decorations for my site! they're small enough to fit into a little sidebar, but still very detailed and cute! i love the sort of robotic looping animations these dolls have, too; if i didn't like them as much as i do, i'd probably describe them as "uncanny" or something to that extent. but nah, i think it's cute and charming!

i have to thank the mysterious peachie, the creator of patricia's cute collection, which was probably the largest collection of these types of dolls on the internet after their original sites shut down. i say "was" because sometime in 2023 her little site was taken offline for unknown reasons--my theory is that the people hosting it were doing some spring-cleaning--which made me really sad! since it was just a site for hosting images, it's obviously pretty poorly archived on the wayback machine. during december of 2023, though, i found out that there was a complete mirror of this site! when i found out about it i was so happy that other people understood the real historical significance behind something like patricia's cute collection, and thought to archive it in full!
this archive does indeed have the original file directory, too, but like the original site, it's a bit tough to navigate, so ctrl+f is going to be your friend for this one if you're looking to snag some graphics for your own site! just remember that, because this is an old site, the different pages are .HTM files instead of .HTML files.