Sunday, November 13, 2016
Some play-line doll news
Kuu Kuu Harajuku dolls by Mattel / Gwen Stefani
I just found this promotional picture of the upcoming Kuu Kuu Harajuku dolls. They'll be released in Spring 2017. They're inspired by a cartoon of the same name that was produced by Gwen Stefani, about a girl band. I think these new dolls are so cute, with their exaggerated, cartoonish look. I like that there are different skin tones. Gwen Stefani did a different doll line some years ago that I didn't like at all, but I'll definitely keep my eye out for these new girls. It seems like they'll have bending elbows, wrists and knees, judging from this photo, but I can't say for sure yet. I hope they'll come with the stands.
Bratz dolls being discontinued ... again
Apparently the new Bratz dolls didn't get quite the warm reception and mega sales that MGA Entertainment expected, so they're being discontinued again. If you want any of the current dolls, you'd better grab them now before they disappear off the shelves. I have no idea whether MGA will attempt to release new versions again later, or if they're discontinued for good.
Later,
Sunday, November 6, 2016
More Retro Strawberry Shortcake dolls
After
doing that last post, I was inspired to find the 2-packs of the new
retro Strawberry Shortcake Classic Dolls that I was missing. I went
to Walmart, and they had nothing. I went to Target, and was thrilled
to find two out of the three 2-packs sitting on an endcap! I almost
missed them, because they were above my eye level, and I'm short.
LOL! Anyway, I got both sets. I'm only missing one 2-pack, now.
There
are also a couple of playsets that include a small house and a
kitchen set. I'm not sure if I'm going to get those, since they just
come with more Strawberry dolls. If they'd come with exclusive
characters, I'd snap them up, but I don't really need FIVE of the
same character.
Right
now, this is the only way you can get Huckleberry Pie. He's so cute!
With the addition of these packs, I now have a total of THREE retro
Strawberrys, so one of them will have to be scalped and
hopefully re-rooted with lavender hair when I find the time.
Poor
Strawberry #3.
The
pets are fun. I always thought that yellow one was supposed to be a
bear. LOL. I think I'm probably the only person in the world who
didn't know it's a mouse.
I
really like the clothes on these two girls. That pink dress is
darling!
Thursday, November 3, 2016
New Retro Strawberry Shortcake dolls, 2016!
Last
year I reported that The Bridge Direct had released an accurate and
perfect replica of the original Strawberry Shortcake doll from 1980.
You can find my original post, here. This year, they gave her some
friends!!! I was thrilled to see all of these in Toys R Us a couple
of weeks ago, and had to buy all the ones I found. It was one
3-pack (a Toys R Us exclusive), and two individual dolls. They're being sold under the name Strawberry Shortcake Classic Dolls.
The
boxes came with a cute strawberry print background.
I couldn't believe it. I always wanted these as a kid, and never had them. One of my cousins had the WHOLE LINE at the time, and I remember child-me being a little jealous of her.
I
looked on The Bridge Direct web site, and apparently they've also
released a few 2-packs that include the boy character Huckleberry
Pie, and several of the pets, and Blueberry Muffin and Lemon Meringue
in different outfits. (No Orange Blossom or Angel Cake? Awww.) I'll have to
search around, since TRU didn't have 'em.
Click
on the pictures to make them bigger.
Friday, October 21, 2016
Middle School Moguls
The Middle School Moguls are brand spankin' new for 2016. I first
learned about these 11-inch dolls from their original Kickstarter,
which raised just over $52,000 to get the line started. I liked the
two original prototypes immediately. The tan-skinned, curly-haired
Jada jumped into my online shopping cart. The blue-eyed blonde,
McKenna, was adorable as well, but I figured I should hold off on
ordering more than one. It was a new company, with a new line of
toys, and I had no idea what to expect from the final production
dolls. (Sunny, the girl with the blue streaks in her hair, came later.)
The
line went through a few changes while in production. McKenna got
renamed McKinley when the company's owners learned Mattel already had
"McKenna" trademarked. The original name of the line,
iBesties, was switched to Middle School Moguls. The character Izzy, shown originally with brown hair, now has purple
thanks to feedback they got from interviewing school-age kids. (Hey,
who DOESN'T like purple hair?!) Six originally-planned characters
were reduced to five in production.
The
dolls are meant to encourage girls to be tech-savvy business
entrepreneurs, with a mind for the S.T.E.M. fields -- science,
technology, engineering and math. I think it's a nice background for
the dolls, and more substantive than simply making them characters
obsessed with fashion, hair and makeup. Nice.
The
Moguls just debuted in some Target superstores this October.
Anyway,
I wanted to give you my impressions.
The
ones I got were Jada and Sunny. They're cute and elfin, with a
quirky body shape with big, round tummies and bums, and relatively
short arms.
Their
hair is really soft and nice.
The
one issue I saw with the dolls at Target was that the positioning of
the eyes is not quite uniform on every doll. Some dolls have eyes
that are a tiny bit higher or lower, or closer together than others.
The differences aren't extreme, but it's something I noticed. Since
this is the dolls' very first run EVER from a brand new company, I
expect it's a factory issue that would be fixed in later runs.
Still extremely cute, though. |
The
elbows and knees bend, which is so nice! The elbows have a hinge
joint that also rotates outward. They can wave hi.
I
had to strip Sunny so I could show you their body sculpt and legs
better. They don't come with underwear; I just gave Sunny some
yellow undies for modesty. The articulation is OK, but has a few
limitations. The biggest issue with the articulation is that
although they can sit with knees bent, they're top-heavy because of
the large heads. You have to lean them against something when you
sit them down, otherwise they'll topple over. So long as they're
leaning against something, they can sit nicely with thighs together and look adorable, and
can even cross their legs. They'd be able to sit in a doll
chair, but only if the chair has a back to it for support.
They can sit with thighs together, but I was balancing her without leaning her against anything, here. |
The
legs are pretty nicely-formed and look good. The legs have ball
joints at the hips, which gives them quite a nice range of motion.
The knees are on hinge joints, but also swivel like the elbows. They
can actually do splits.
The
heads are not on ball joints, and simply move from side-to-side.
The
clothes are pretty typical play doll quality, with velcro in the back
and unfinished seams, but the fabrics are decent. I'd love to redress these two, but I have no
idea what clothes they'd fit into, because anything that fit them in
the chest would be too small for their large rear ends. They
*possibly* could fit into Barbie shirts if the shirts were stretchy,
but it'd be a comical waste of effort to try to squeeze them into
Barbie pants.
Each
doll is packaged with a different book. I actually wasn't planning
on saying much about the books, except I've discovered they have a
very unique feature: each is a bit of a "choose your own
adventure"-type of story, with four different possible endings
per book. That was unexpected and cool. The books are paperback and
around 48-to-50 pages, with each having a few full-page color
illustrations.
Anyway,
I'll be really interested to see where this line goes. As of writing this, there are four characters available at Target right now, with a fifth (a redhead) currently in production. Not all Targets have them, though, so you'll have to check their web site to see which ones do.
Click
on the pictures to make them bigger.
Later,
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Review of the Wellie Wishers by Mattel
Wellie Wishers Emerson in a dress I made. |
The
Wellie Wishers dolls are new for 2016, made by Mattel under the
American Girl umbrella. I was completely enchanted by their faces,
so I had to get a couple once they made it to my local Toys R Us and I was
able to see them in person.
They're
being sold at Toys R Us for $60. Much more affordable than an
American Girl doll, and every bit as cute. They're 14.5" tall,
about the same size as Hearts for Hearts dolls (but more expensive).
My TRU was sold out of the blonde and red-haired girls, but had the
other three characters. This darling above, Emerson, was actually my first
choice, so I was so pleased to see her sitting there on the shelf
waiting for me! My second choice was Willa, the (sold-out) redhead.
I might have to get her at a later date if I can. She's reportedly
the most popular, so I hope I can grab her next time my TRU restocks. I actually left the store with only Emerson initially, but then a few days later I was at that end of town again for a different errand, and found myself passing by the Toys R Us once more. I had to go in to get a second girl, the freckle-faced Ashlyn. Had to.
Wellie Wishers Emerson (left) and Ashlyn. |
Ashlyn didn't come with the butterfly barrettes; I added them. |
I
want to tell you what I like about the dolls, and what I don't like
... although what I like about them far outweighs my dislikes.
Here's
what I like (or love):
1)
The faces. So adorable! I absolutely love the faces. Kudos to the
person or persons who sculpted such lovely little child faces.
I'm obsessed with this girl's eyebrows. |
2)
The clothes are cute. I really, really genuinely like the outfits,
particularly Emerson's outfit with the striped top. It's a pretty
design and looks great.
3)
The clothing is a nice quality. You can really see the American Girl
quality, here. The fabrics are soft and well-sewn, and the inside
seams are finished. The shirts have velcro in the back, which is
acceptable since it's a child's toy, and the skirts have stretchy
elastic waists. They also come with panties!!! Really nice fabric
panties, in pale pink. The boots are soft plastic. They're OK,
but I'm not crowing about them.
4)
The dolls are high-quality, even if the articulation sucks (more on
that later). Again, the nice American Girl quality is very apparent
in the vinyl used, the face paint, and the eyes. I didn't see any
wonky-eyed girls in any of the dolls I saw at Toys R Us. The face
paint is perfect, and the eyebrows are detailed and adorable. I was
comparing online photos of all five girls, and the eyebrows are not
identical on each. I know that's a pretty specific detail to notice,
but it shows that they don't all have identical face screenings,
which is nice. I noticed that the ones with freckles also have
DIFFERENT freckles ... not the same screening. So cute. Apparently
they are not all the same head mold, either. Emerson and Ashlyn are
definitely different head molds.
Wellie Wishers Emerson poses next to an American Girl doll. |
5)
The wigs are soft, and comparable to an American Girl doll wig. They are wigged, not rooted, so you could technically peel off the wig and
replace it with another one if you wanted to, although it would be
difficult to peel off. (Warming it up in a heating pad would help
soften the glue.) I saw a picture online of Emerson with her hair
taken down and put into braids, and it looked so cute. I might do
that later if I get tired of this hairstyle, or it gets too messy.
It
looks like their wig size would be a 9-10". I wrapped a tape
measure around Emerson's head, and it measured almost exactly 10 inches. I
suspect a 10-11" wig might be too large, but I'm not going to be
taking off Emerson's wig to find out for sure. Just thought I'd
mention this in case anyone was interested.
6)
The body is all vinyl instead of having a cloth body, so they can
wear sundresses with spaghetti straps, and v-neck shirts, and still
look amazing. You take this for granted with most dolls, but since
American Girl traditionally always had cloth bodies, it's nice to see
that their new line does not.
Now
for what I dislike about them. There are three things I really don't
like:
1.
The articulation.
2.
The articulation.
3.
The articulation.
Argh!
When they sit, they sit with their legs splayed VERY far apart,
which just looks bad. I have a particular hatred for this time of
leg joint, because you can't sit the dolls next to each other when
both dolls' legs swing so far apart when they sit. I'd love to pose
them sitting next to each other, only it's impossible.
She can't sit in any position but this one, with legs spread. Still manages to look cute, though. |
They
don't have bending knees, either, but I didn't expect that anyway, so
that particular item wasn't an issue with me. Their arms do not move
well, either. They don't have a fully rotational shoulder joint, so
you can't lift their arms very well upward from the sides, only front
to back, if that makes any sense. In the picture below, I raised Emerson's arms. They stay up nicely without being floppy, but you can't swing her arms out to the sides. This is their only raised position, essentially.
To compare them with Hearts for Hearts dolls:
the Hearts for Hearts have better jointing and more flexibility at
the neck and shoulders, although their hip joints are about the same.
The arms stay up nicely, but they can't swing outward from this position. |
I
still love them for their darling faces, though. Their hand sculpts
are even cute! Look at the hands! LOOK AT THE HANDS!!! *Keels over
from the Cute.*
Squeeee! |
Anyway,
there you have it. I have to go sew some more Wellie Wisher-sized
dresses, now.
Later,
alligator
Wellie Wishers Emerson (right) posing next to a Hearts for Hearts doll. |