Poppy Parker 16" Fashion Teens: Winter Wowzers and Magic Moment

Movie star.

I always have high expectations from Integrity Toys, but these two actually exceeded my expectations.  I think they're just lovely.  They are "Winter Wowzers" and "Magic Moment" Poppy Parker, from the 16" Fashion Teen line.  I only had one other 16" Poppy: "It's a Wrap" from last year's Integrity Toys convention.  There were a total of four dolls from the 2013 collection.  The other two were the blondes "The Glad Game" and "One Fine Day."  I believe the four were supposed to represent the four seasons, with the redhead being autumn and the raven being winter.  Very cool!  I love that.  Each doll was an edition of only 300. 

MAGIC MOMENT

I instantly loved "Magic Moment," the redhead.  She reminded me of Ginger from Gilligan's Island.  I grew up on that show.  I love this doll's hair color; love her dress; love the black faux fur wrap.  It's so soft!  Her eyes are an interesting grey/aqua color that is absolutely lovely.  Each eye is half grey and half aqua in a very literal sense ... very unusual.

The Professor and The Skipper approve.

I didn't attempt to put on her long black gloves.  I did examine them, and noticed they have a unique design.  They aren't open all the way down their length, but they have slit openings on either side of the wrist.  It looks like Integrity meant for you to take off the doll's hand to slide the bulk of the glove on her arm, and then try to fit her hand inside the opening on the side of the glove.  Theoretically, it should make it easier to put on the long gloves this way.  I attempted it briefly, but it wasn't worth the effort.  I wish Integrity would make optional, removable "glove hands" that have the fingers close together.  I start stressing even THINKING about putting gloves on those splayed fingers Integrity loves to put on their dollies.

Her gloves seemed to have had all the fingers separated in her promo pics, but the gloves on the actual doll do not have separate fingers.  Maybe they really wanted to give the gloves separate fingers, but came to the conclusion it would be too difficult on a doll this scale?  Don't know. 

Bettie Page, without the bondage gear and cheetahs

WINTER WOWZERS

I got Wowzers mostly because I have a weakness for raven hair.  I wasn't expecting to love her face coloring as much as I do.  She's a sultry vixen!  A bit Bettie Page.  I don't normally like blue eyeshadow on dolls, but it totally works for her.  She manages to outshine "It's a Wrap," with Wrap's more subdued coloring.  I think if the two of them were in a room together, all the boys would be looking at Winter Wowzers, and poor Wrap would feel left out and sad.  LOL. 

Out of all four of the 2013 Fashion Teens, I liked Wowzer's outfit the least.  It's OK, just not totally my style.  I wish they'd toned down the BRIGHT BRIGHT BRIGHT on the sweater a bit.  (I guess I'm not into BRIGHT unless we're talking about IQs.)  I wouldn't have chosen a (dalmation? cow? cat?) spotted print for the coat.  I'm just nit-picking, though.  Winter Wowzers is pretty special.  She's fierce and sweet at the same time.  Overall, it's a good look.  I do like her pants and cute boots, and of course the clothes on both dolls are high quality, fully lined and impeccably tailored, like the clothing on all Integrity dolls. 

Cruella DeWowzer

L-R:  It's A Wrap being totally outshined by Winter Wowzers.

 

The sweater hurts my eyes, but then again, this girl likes attention.

I always loved you more than Mary Ann.

Please click on the pictures to make them bigger. 

Trampires!

Happy Halloween! 

These two were my favorites of all the Brides of Dracula dolls, with the original blonde Contessa as a runner-up for third place.  There were two runs of the Brides: the first run was in 2010, and was a collaboration between Integrity Toys and Ashton-Drake.  It was followed a year later by another set of vampire dolls by Integrity exclusively, who had the rights to the head sculpts.  The two in these pictures are 2010 Mina, and 2011 Lucy.

Red-haired Lucy is wearing the black dress and earrings from FR2 "Strict Elegance" Luchia.  The dress fits her perfectly and looks amazing on her.  Gah! ... I love her hair color!  It's such a beautiful shade. 

 

 

 

 

Click on the pictures to make them bigger.  :)

Gearing up for Halloween ...

Doing some pictures of vampires for Halloween.  This is "Lucy" from the Brides of Dracula series by Integrity Toys. I couldn't decide whether I liked the black-and-white or the color version better, so I'll just post both.  :)  I think this is about as close as I get to being artsy.

Our Generation Fashions

Probably everyone who has a little girl has noticed the Our Generation line.  The dolls are 18 inches tall, roughly American Girl sized, but more accessible to the casual shopper because stores like Target carry them.  Outfits are (most likely) interchangeable between the two doll lines.  I have a sneaking suspicion the Our Generation fashions are quite popular for use on ANY of the 18" tall child dolls, from any company.  They had quite a big selection of outfit sets when I was last in Target, as well as separate shoe sets and sock sets, and all kinds of fun things for that size doll.  It was like shopping for clothes for your own kid.

I recently bought two of their fashion sets to examine, to use on an 18" doll I have on the way.  (More on that later. ...)

These two fashion sets are called "Red For Anything" and "Sweet in the Heat."  I'll just give them a quick once-over for anyone who's never seen these outfits in detail.  I have to say, I found these outfits a better quality than I'd expected.  The fabrics were soft and a nice quality on both of them, and although not all the inside seams were finished, the neckholes and armholes were finished quite nicely.  The straw hat is even soft and pliable, not stiff.  They have the predictable velcro in the back. 

The shoes were nothing special. ... Just typical playline plastic doll shoes.

I love that the sets come with clothes hangers!  The "Red for Anything" set also comes with a headband, red tights and cranberry-colored shoes.  The dress is all one piece, not a separate skirt and top.  "Sweet in the Heat" also comes with that wonderful hat, pink shoes and a pair of white ankle socks.

That's all for now.  Ta. 

A Capital Affair Tiny Kitty

"A Capital Affair" Tiny Kitty came to me a month or so ago, and I never did post pictures of her.  She was a special event doll from the 2013 United Federation of Doll Clubs (UFDC) convention in Washington, D.C.  I didn't go to the event.  I just fell in love with her through pictures, and ended up buying her from someone who did go.

I'll start off with a comparison pic of her next to "Garden Club Luncheon." 

Mother and daughter?  LOL.  When posed side-by-side, my first thought was that "Garden Club" looked like the very fashionable mom.  It had everything to do with her styling, of course.  The hair, the clothing. ...  If not mom, then an older sister.

I wanted to show off the differences between the two faces, since their coloring is similar.  If you'll notice in the pictures, GCL has pitch black hair; ACA has dark brown.  GCL has grey eyes; ACA has blue.  Their lip color and eyebrow shapes are different. "Garden Club's" hairline is lower, and she also has longer eyelashes.  I have to say, I think the hairline on "Capital Affair" is a touch more attractive.  I also prefer the shorter eyelashes.  I still love "Garden Club Luncheon," but "A Capital Affair" is definitely the true beauty, here.

I'll include a few more pictures of the latter, since she hasn't gotten her own post yet. She came with a see-through pink nightie, which I haven't tried on her, yet.  See-through!  Ack.

And now some more pictures. ...

The hair is incredible.

The extra nightie, and a lace fan.

Garden Club Luncheon Tiny Kitty

"Garden Club Luncheon" is one of the new 2013 Tiny Kittys by Robert Tonner.  She was my first choice, although I love the other two dressed dolls in the collection, too: "Dinner Dance" and "Pink Champagne Supper." She only just came today, and I immediately had to take her outside for pictures.  I didn't order any of the others in the collection.  I wanted to see one up close and in person first before I even thought about ordering any more.

I'm really impressed with her!  Every part of her outfit is beautifully made and fits well.  Her black dress seems to be velveteen, and the only problem with this material is it attracts lint.  Besides that, though, her whole ensemble is wonderful.

She has grey eyes and pitch black hair.  I love that her lips are a deep, true red. ... It would have been so tempting for a designer to give her bubblegum pink lips to match all the rest of the pink in her outfit.  I'm so glad they went with red.  Love the red!  It really stands out in a very charming way.


Her jewelry is pink rhinestone earrings and a matching bracelet.

The hat fascinates me.  It's actually of a very simple construction, with a band of thin elastic on the underside to put around her hair.  Simple but effective. 

Her hair is a rather elaborate updo, not merely a bun.  I love how the hair looks, and have no desire to take it down. 

By the way, in case anyone was wondering:  The 2013 Tiny Kitty dolls seem to be the exact same skin tone as the older Kitties!  I held this girlie up to my older Tiny Kity in natural sunlight, and I couldn't see any difference in their skin colors.  Great news for anyone who wants an articulated-arm body for their older Kitties.  Just sayin'.

 

 

As always, please click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Review of the Kawaii Crush dolls

Doll comes with a skirt, pajama bottoms, and two hats.

I got one of these on a whim after having a particularly bad morning.  I had to get some blood drawn at the doctor, and let's just say, getting a needle stuck in my arm was the best part of my day yesterday.  Sigh.

Anyway, I was feeling a little down, and ended up at Target.  This little panda girl jumped in my basket and came home with me.  I'd been curious about them, and wanted to be able to see one up close.  I adore animal hats.  I loved the blue and purple color scheme on this one, the girl called "Amanda Panda Pop."  Her tiny size also appealed to me (2.5 inches, or 6.5cm).

Those arms don't move.  Ever.

It turned out the best things about this doll were the animal hats and the packaging.  The doll itself was very disappointing.  I tried to write a "pros" and "cons" list about this girlie, and could barely come up with two things to put on the "pros" list. (I struggled to come up with #2.) 

Pros:

1.  The animal hats fit well and are really cute.

2.  The doll is colorful and has a bit of charm, if you like the big-eyed look.  And I do mean BIG eyes.

Hats are SO CUTE!!!!

Cons:

1. No arm/shoulder articulation. Those arms are stuck in that position permanently.

2. The Kawaii Crush dolls have a hinge at the waist so they *theoretically* should be able to sit, but their thick rubbery hair keeps them from being able to sit down.  The only way they would really be able to sit is if you gave them a backless stool to perch on.  They cannot use any chair that has a back to it, and cannot sit on a flat surface.

Now you can see the problem.

3.  They also can't stand up on their own, which is a bit of a dilemma, since they can't sit, either.  You pretty much have to constantly lean them against something.  I think these girls would have been better off as figurines with bigger feet so they could stand, without the pointless hinged waist.  Either that, or give them short hair so they can sit down.

4.  The panda friend cannot stand on its own, either.  It sort of looks like it's standing in my pictures, but that's only because I propped him up against the doll's hair.  He also has these unfortunate lines through his eyes that ruin him for photography.  The line are a part of the sculpt and there is nothing that can be done about them.

5.  The pajama bottoms are ill-fitting, and split all the way down the back, so they look a little awkward.

Ahhhh ... no.

6. The small clothing pieces would be extremely easy to lose, making this a bad toy for a very young child.  Those shoes come off, and they are SO TINY! ... Although to be fair, a lot of other toys also have tiny, easily-lost pieces. 


Not a negative, but I thought some people might want to know this:  The hair doesn't seem to come off.  I was wondering whether their hair was interchangeable like the Pinypons and PinkyStreet dolls, but it's not.  

Here is one more positive I discovered after a while, regarding the animal hats:

Panda cuteness on a Momoko doll.

I was hoping those cute animal hats would fit other dolls.  I tried the hats on my Fashion Royalty, Poppy Parkers and Momokos, and I was able to just barely squeeze the hats onto their heads.  They fit!  Stayed on pretty well, too.  ... I was expecting the hats to pop off again, but they didn't.  I didn't have a Barbie to use as a model, sorry (I don't do Barbies).  The hats looked especially cute on the Momoko.  The Kawaii Crush girls' heads have a 9.5cm circumference (just under 4"), so if you have a doll with a head that tiny, you might be able to use the hats for them.

I think FR2 Elise is a little too dignified for this.

Later,