Mini Mooshkas

I wasn't really planning on putting Mooshkas on the blog, but then I saw this review of the new Mooshka Fairy Tales Minis by Toy Box Philosopher.  I'd seen the cloth Mooshkas before, but didn't know there were 3.5" (9cm) tinies out there now.

Turns out I had to go to Target anyway this week, so I decided to check out the Mooshkas while waiting to fill a prescription.  Target had the Mooshka dolls on an endcap, with three hanging spots where the mini Mooshkas were supposed to be.  They were all sold out with the exception of two!   Just two left.  It seems these little things are popular in my area. 

I bought this pumpkin-haired one, thinking she'd look really cute for photography with other dolls.  This one is Casia the Ballerina.  She's obviously meant to mimic an old-fashioned wooden doll.  Her articulation is pretty much limited to the poses you see here.  She can raise her arms up and down and they'll stay in position, but she can't spread her arms outward.  She can raise her legs up and down (and they'll also stay in position), but you can't swing her legs outward.  Her head moves side-to-side.

I did a search online to see if I could find pictures of the rest of the set, since I couldn't see them in person.  I discovered there are a few on eBay, and the prices on eBay are insane!  Target had them for $8, and they're on eBay right now for $17 and $25?  Whaaaa???  I think it's because the online web stores for Toys R Us and Target don't sell them yet, so if you can't go in person to these stores to buy them, you might be out of luck.  If they start flying off the shelves, I'm sure the online TRU and Target web sites will start listing them eventually, and eBay prices will drop.  I don't even see them on Amazon yet.

 

 

What the heck is going on with the prices on eBay?

I like the side-glancing eyes.  She comes with the bunny.  It's super cute, but would be way too tiny to give to a toddler who puts things in his mouth.  I don't think these minis are intended for very young children in the same way the large cloth dolls are.  They're really cute collectibles for an older child, though, and would be SO CUTE as a doll for a doll.  I can imagine a child posing the Mooshka minis with an American Girl or Journey Girls doll.  

I posed Casia next to a Zelf (medium size), a mini Lalaloopsy and a My Little Pony mini so you can better judge her size.  Can you tell I like tiny cute things? 

Hanging out with Fluttershy.

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

Review of Wonder Woman 52 by Tonner

This is the newest Wonder Woman by the Tonner Doll Company, and she's amazing.  She came out in 2013, and uses one of my favorite Tonner sculpts of all time:  the Tyler 2.0 face sculpt.  I actually had a raven basic Tyler once years ago with this same face, and stupidly sold it one year when I'd decided I didn't want to collect 16" girls any more.  Ha!  Boy, was I fooling myself.  At the time, I was thinking 16" dolls were taking up too much room in my modest home, so I decided I'd only get 12" dolls from then on.  LOL.  That resolve didn't last long.  So I ended up regretting selling such a lovely doll, and feel very fortunate that I was finally able to acquire another raven-haired lady with this face sculpt. 

I got her in a trade with a very nice lady in Texas.  Thanks, Jaye!

 

Anyway, I wanted this doll not only for the face sculpt, but also because she represents one of my favorite heroines.  I was a huge Wonder Woman fan growing up.  I think Tonner did a really nice job with the costume.  WW's costume has changed over the years, and this is its newest incarnation.  The traditional star-spangled panties now only have a single large star on each hip, and her boots are now dark blue instead of red.

This doll uses the busty "heroic" body.  I wanted to go into detail about how this body differs from other Tonner doll bodies, but I realize I don't know enough about the different Tonner fashion doll bodies to make a concrete statement about it.  I find all the different bodies confusing.  There's the starlet body, the pin-up body, the curvaceous body (may or may not be the same as the pin-up body), the athletic body and the Tyler body.  One day I'll learn the differences between all these bodies.  One day!  *Shakes fist into the air.* 

In any case, I love the arms on this body!  Doll arms don't always have to look like skinny sticks.  You can actually see some muscle definition, there.  Love that.

I was surprised to discover the corset and panties are all one piece!  I wish the corset had been separate, but oh, well.  No big deal.  The whole outfit fastens in the back with snaps, with a hook at the top.  I think the detail on the corset is wonderful.  It looks like it's made from a leather-look vinyl fabric.  The silver parts of her costume are made from a similar type of fabric, and actually work quite nicely.  Sure, real metal accessories (or plastic that looked like metal) would have been great, but this is the next best thing.

I discovered this doll has high-heel feet, which means she'll probably fit into regular Tyler Wentworth shoes.  The boots are not high heeled, but probably should have been.  I unzipped them to peek at her feet, and saw that the inside of the boot had a high heel-shaped insert to accomodate her arched feet inside the flat boot shape.  I'm not sure I love this, because it makes the boots look a little clunky and unflattering when you view them from the side, but otherwise, the boots are nice.  I think they would have looked better with an arch and a bit of a heel.

Her tiara is on an elastic band that goes around her head.  Her choker has a single snap in back so it can be taken off easily.

The only thing I found awkward about Wonder Woman 52's costume was the lariat/lasso.  On mine, the whole lariat sticks up at a hilarious angle when I don't have her arm pressing down on it.  Ack!  Yup.  The thing defies gravity.  I'm guessing they aren't all like this.  I may have to sew it down, or something. 

Her hair is thick and wavy, as you can tell.  It looks shorter than the hair on some of the other Tonner Wonder Woman dolls the company has produced in the past.  I think it looks amazing. I didn't style the hair for these pictures, by the way.  This is how it looked right out of the box.

I love her facial expression, too: intelligent and thoughtful.   The face paint is nicely applied. 

I think she is definitely an "A," if not an "A+".