Friday, August 12, 2016

Curvy Barbie Meets The New Lammily

I'm so happy that my project idea sounds fun to some of you!  I'm certainly having a great time with the Twinns.  The big girls have their wigs and the smaller girls have new eyes (for better or worse!). They should be ready for a quick update in a few days. In the meantime, there's a fun pair of fashion dolls that I'd love to talk about.

In addition to the new line of DC Super Hero Girls, Mattel has recently premiered a wider range of body types for the Fashionista Barbies.  There are now Petite, Tall and Curvy characters.  I was especially interested in the Curvy dolls because of my fascination with Lammily--the first fashion doll that attempted to represent realistic body proportions.  The original Lammily doll made huge waves when she entered the market in late 2014, and I feel pretty certain that Mattel introduced their new Barbie bodies as a direct result of the popularity of Lammily.  And there's nothing wrong with that--in fact, the more inclusive the fashion doll market becomes, the better.

The Lammily company has also been super-busy lately.  They've introduced a wonderful line of fashions (including Olympic gear and some exclusive handmade dresses).  There's even a bee keeper outfit!  Their second female character, Photographer, was introduced for pre-order about a year ago and started shipping in early June.  The first male Lammily doll (a young man who spends his time helping animals in need) is expected to arrive this November.

Since I've been away from the blog for so long, I figured I would try to catch up a bit by looking at Curvy Barbie and the Lammily Photographer in the same post.  This might not be wise, but here it goes.

"So Sporty" Barbie, $19.99 (left), and Lammily "Photographer," $25.00 (right).
My original Lammily doll, Mia, is also on hand, eagerly waiting to check out the Barbie newcomer (and see if her clothes fit!):

Barbie "So Sporty" (left) with the original Lammily doll.
One of the things that the Lammily company does extremely well is packaging.  The Photographer's box is every bit as beautiful as the original Lammily box.  The Curvy Barbie box is really plain by comparison--it's a simple plastic window display with a striped cardboard backing:

Curvy Barbie box (back left), Lammily Photographer box (front right).
To my eye, the packaging makes Lammily's doll look more valuable and interesting.  I'll set the Lammily box aside for now, though, and start by looking at Curvy Barbie.

There are seven different Curvy Barbies at this point: four basic dolls ($9.99) and three sets that come with extra outfits ($19.99).  The basic dolls are very tempting (especially because they're on sale for $7.94 over at Amazon right now...) but I decided to opt for one of the sets so that I could have a variety of clothing to look at.  

This set is called So Sporty:

review

I chose this particular doll because of her coloring.  It's hard to see when she's in her box, but she has the most beautiful-looking burgundy hair.  

It was hard to pick just one of these girls, though.  There's already a good variety of faces, hair colors and skin tones.  I also really like Spring Into Style and Dolled Up Denim.

The new body types are identified on the upper right hand corner of each box:


I have to say that even as a tall person, I don't find the Tall (or Petite) dolls anywhere near as interesting as the Curvy dolls.  I can hardly tell them from the Original Barbies when they're in the box.  

I guess the Petite dolls do look noticeably smaller (often younger, too...) but Barbie is already supposed to be tall, isn't she?  On the other hand, I was very self-conscious about my height when I was a kid, so I guess I can see how these dolls might be reassuring.

The thing is, I'm not sure what other distinct body types Mattel could have picked.  They still don't have any dolls with impressive busts, hips or stomachs...so perhaps Beautifully Busty Barbie?  Happy-With-My-Hips Barbie?  Terrific Tummy Barbie?  I don't really see those happening, though.

The back of the box has some photos of So Sporty Barbie at the top, and also an assortment of four other Fashionista characters--one of each body type:


The dolls shown on the bottom of the box are #35 (Original), #37 (Curvy), #40 (Petite) and #43 (Tall).

It was a pretty straight-forward de-boxing experience: rip off the plastic window, then snip all of the plastic ties to release the doll and her clothes.  Here's everything that was in the box:


Sporty comes wearing a blue dress with matching shoes.  She's also carrying a white purse and has a baseball cap on her head.  She comes with four additional pieces of clothing (two skirts, a top and a dress), an extra pair of shoes, and a clutch purse.

All of the extras.
The baseball-style cap is made out of black vinyl and has some nice molded detail:


There are no painted areas on the hat.  A contrasting brim might have been fun.


I especially like the details in the back:


The doll comes with her white purse rubber-banded to her left arm:


The top of the strap is attached pretty low down on the arm, though, not up over her shoulder where a purse would normally hang:

They must've really wanted her hand to rest on top of that purse.
The purse is a very simple molded vinyl accessory that does not open.

Featuring a gravity-defying chain strap.
The chain link strap is a great detail, but it's the same white color as the rest of the purse, so it blends in and practically disappears.  Maybe I'll paint this chain a nice metallic silver if I get bored some day?  That might actually be a fun idea for a project post: add painted detail to all of the little accessories that I've collected over the years!

Think how great it would look if I could manage to paint all of these tiny little molded stitches, too:

You'll go blind doing that, Emily.
When the purse is actually hanging from Sporty's left shoulder, she can't rest her hand on it at all:


The length of the purse works better on the doll's right side, where her arm is permanently bent:

review

Rather than calling this girl "Sporty" or "Curvy Barbie" for the whole review, I think I'll give her a name.  Her beautiful, reddish hair is so distinct, I wanted to give her a name that acknowledges that color.

When I look at this doll's hair, I think of gemstones...and grapes.  The only name I can think of that connects these two is "Ruby."  Ruby-red tends to be a brighter color--more like primary red.  But some actual rubies are sort-of dark:

A ruby gemstone (free use photo).
Also, Japan's Ruby Roman grapes are making the news because of their impressive taste, size and price.  So, this doll's new name will be Ruby.

Here's Ruby without her hat and purse:

It looks like she wants to shake my hand.

The box and advertising for this doll indicate that she cannot stand on her own.  She doesn't stand easily on her own, that's for sure, but it's possible to balance her (especially if she leans forward just a little bit):

Not the best posture.

Ruby's hair comes with a small amount of styling product in it, but it's not super-crispy or anything.  Unfortunately, this doll also has a hard, glue-filled head.


I was able to brush the hair easily.  Look at how beautiful the color is!


This color is similar to that on the Vi and Va doll, Viviana.  Incidentally, those dolls seems to have completely disappeared from the shelves already.  In addition, the website is gone and the dolls on Amazon are really inexpensive (in the $5 range).  Could they be discontinued already?  Not a huge loss, in my opinion.

The hair fiber is silky smooth and the rooting density is nice--no bald patches:


The hair does shed a certain amount, though.  I'd say Ruby lost about 10 hairs throughout the review.

I reluctantly tied all of this glorious hair back into a simple ponytail, just to keep it out of the way for a little while.


Ruby has a nice face mold.  She's smiling, but has no visible teeth.  I tend to prefer this style of Barbie face over the toothy grins (although of course I adore my toothy Made to Move Teresa...).  

I think So Sporty, Spring Into Style and Chambray Chic all have the same face...but I'm not great with Barbie molds.  The coloring variety certainly makes them all look a little different.  If anyone knows for sure about these faces, I'd love to learn.


Ruby has brilliant blue eyes, thick wedged eyebrows, and pastel pink lips:


Her facial screening is nicely done, especially her eyes.  There's no wonkiness in her stare and her irises offer a beautiful contrast to her dark hair.  The eyes also perfectly match the blue dress.  This reminds me of DC Super Hero Girls Wonder Woman.


The minuscule paint defects are only visible under magnification.


I'd prefer a darker or more natural lip color to go with this doll's hair, but the lips look fine as they are.


The dress that Ruby is wearing in the box is by far my favorite of her outfits.  It has a black strapless slip dress with a blue mesh overlay:


The blue mesh looks very sporty.  I really like how the color extends over her shoulders and makes an angular attachment at the back.  This is better than many of the Barbie outfits that are abruptly blank in the back despite whatever is happening in front.


The dress has a simple velcro closure.

The blue shoes coordinate with the dress and are a strange strappy mix of sandals and sneakers:

Snandals.

As I started to undress Ruby, I noticed two things--or thought I did.  First of all, if you try to either take off her clothes starting with the left arm (the straight one) or put her clothes on starting with the right arm (the bent one), things get tricky.

The other thing I noticed is that her bent arm looks too short--at least it did to me.  Like if you could straighten it out, it would be much shorter than the left arm:


However, I got out my trusty measuring tape and the arms are actually both the same length.  Just an optical illusion, I guess.  My bad.

Let's take a look at the rest of Ruby's body:


Oh--quick aside: you'll notice that Ruby is wearing her pink shoes in the picture, above.  I found that these shoes have flatter soles than the blue sandals, and so they allow Ruby to stand on her own more reliably.  She cannot balance at all in bare feet.  Here is one of the shoes up-close:

Your basic translucent pink sneaker.
Back to Ruby's body.

She has an underwhelming five points of articulation--but I knew this when I bought her.  I would be extremely excited to see a fully-articulated version of this body style in the future.

I really want her to relax that bent arm.
Ruby has narrow shoulders, a small chest, a short torso, and a flat tummy.  Her waist definition is not exaggerated, but her arched back and bottom seem over-emphasized to me.  

Basically, she looks curvy only below the waist, and certainly not excessively so.  She is not overweight in any way.


She has molded, uncolored Barbie underpants and a 2015 copyright:


Ruby's body isn't pinched in at the waist--like an hourglass--but she gets a fair amount of waist definition from the shape of her bottom.


I found myself startled by something throughout this review, so I'll try to help you experience the same thing.  Look at the photo, below, for a while.  Get used to the body shape, enjoy the pose--whatever you want.  Maybe even scroll up through some of the other undressed pictures.


Are you ready?  You're accustomed to looking at Ruby?

She's a lovely doll.

Ok...now look at this comparison:

Zoiks!  Wait--what happened??
That's Cinderella standing next to Ruby.  She has a fairly typical Barbie Fashionista body.  Wow, though.  All of a sudden, Ruby looks stout (or Ella looks like a skinny caricature...both reactions have happened to me).  Did the same thing happen to you?

I often wonder if there's an over-reaction to how much dolls really influence young girls and their body image...but now I'm re-thinking.  These pictures make me suspect that the toys kids grow accustomed to looking at might make a real impression.

There's not much to explore with Ruby's articulation, but let's take a look.  She has hinged rotation in her arms, allowing her to lift them up and spin them around:



The bent right elbow makes the most of this limited articulation, allowing Ruby to touch her head and even salute...


...although she can't perfectly touch her head with her arm in this position--she can only salute properly with some camera angle assistance.


She's a champ at waving, though:


She can also run her right fingers through her hair:


As much as I want to straighten that right arm sometimes, it really adds a lot of posing fun to this doll.

Her hips have very limited side-to-side movement:



And her legs do not move forward or backward enough to allow splits, either:



She can sit flat on the ground with her legs sticking out in front of her:


But she should avoid chairs.

Hey, what happened to my foot rest?
Ruby's legs have nice shape (notice how her thighs almost touch!), but her feet are ridiculously tiny.  I mean, they're so unrealistic it's comical:

They're cartoon feet.
The legs and feet remind me of a lot of Disney's Go Go Tomogo from Big Hero 6.

Go Go Tomogo and her tiny feet.
There's nothing wrong with exaggerated feet on a character like this, but they seem odd on a doll that's aiming to present realistic body proportions.

Ruby's foot is flat, and only slightly larger than the foot on a Made to Move Barbie:

Made to Move Barbie foot, Curvy Barbie foot.
I don't remember being struck by how tiny the Made to Move feet are, though, so regular Barbie legs must be so skinny that they make the feet seem reasonable.

Ruby's shoes are a bit too big on my Made to Move Teresa.

Ruby's feet seem really tiny when compared to a Lammily doll:

Barbie foot, Lammily foot,
Minimal foot, formidable foot...
...how many different feet we meet.
I think reality must be somewhere in between these two extremes.

Here's Ruby in a full side-to-side comparison with my original Lammily doll, Mia:

Lammily meets Curvy Barbie.
There are a lot of differences here.  The ones that seem most obvious to me are:
1. Lammily has less waist and hip definition
2. Lammily has a longer torso
3. Lammily has a thicker, shorter neck
4. Lammily's legs are shorter and have a more uniform thickness
5. Lammily's hands and feet are much bigger.
6. Lammily's has a wider upper body--with lower breasts

I'm trying to see just the proportions here--not the fact that the Lammily doll's hip joint area is very strangely designed.


In profile, Mia's legs suddenly look much thicker than Ruby's.  The torso differences are also very obvious from this angle.

Mia's torso looks more realistic than Ruby's in profile.
Mia's neck seems too short and thick to me, while Ruby's is too long and thin.  I suspect Mia's neck would look better if her head connected the same way that Ruby's head connects--with a smaller flange under the chin.

I prefer Ruby's leg shape (until her feet, anyway), but I like Mia's torso profile better.


I'll use this opportunity to describe a few of the things that I've noticed on Mia's body over the last year.  First of all, she's been sitting on one of my display shelves for most of that time, and the position appears to have caused her hip joints to warp.  She can no longer stand with her legs any closer together than this:

That right hip is especially bad.
Her rubbery legs have also picked up a few stains from the edge of the shelf.  This type of leg is especially prone to many different kinds of stain, so I should have been more careful.


Also in the picture above, you can see that having her knees in a bent position for a prolonged period of time has left a wedge-shaped dent at the back of each joint.

Clothes-sharing between these two dolls has no doubt been explored thoroughly already, but I'll add my experiences.  

Mia fits into Ruby's dress...

Kind-of.
...but it won't fasten all of the way in back.  And it's really short and tight.


Mia's shorts fit Ruby, but they're too loose in the waist and can fall down.


Here's a close-up, because it looks like they fit pretty well from a distance:


Mia's shirt fits Ruby quite well.  It's baggy, but for this style of shirt, that can work.


In that previous picture, Ruby is wearing her own black mini skirt with Mia's shirt.  Here's the skirt by itself:


This is a useful wardrobe piece, even if the fabric is a bit thin (and see-through).  I'm not exactly sure how the skirt is supposed to sit at Ruby's waist, though.  I think it looks nice resting just below her navel, like this:


But it gets some odd creases when it's worn that way, and it tends to snap back up to rest at Ruby's waist, like this:


This makes the skirt really short, and--in my opinion--not as flattering.

Speaking of not being flattering, here's the dress-like-thing that's supposed to be worn with the black skirt:

What the--?
This striped dress has shapeless slits that run practically up to Ruby's armpits.  This piece was not designed to be worn on its own, but still.  

And I know she's supposed to be a sporty doll, but this is a tad literal.


Referee hockey ahl 2004
Fashion penalty!
 The dress is also very ill-fitting in the back.  It puckers out underneath the velcro seam:


Sadly, the dress doesn't look any better with the black skirt on underneath.  If anything, it puckers out even more in the back:

Complete fashion fail.
It's equally shapeless from the front.  It looks like an apron or something:

Kitchen couture?
I might just cut the skirt off and make this dress into a cropped tank, but the black and white stripes are still going to make me think of referees...or jail.

The tee shirt that comes with this set can be worn with the black skirt, and this looks good:


Again, the skirt can be worn up high on the waist...



...or down over the hips, giving the tee shirt a cropped look:



While Mia was able to squeeze into Ruby's blue dress, she had no such luck with this skirt and tee outfit:

Not really working for her.
The skirt will not pull up over Mia's rubbery legs, and the shirt is unflatteringly short and tight.

The pink vinyl shoes and purse that come with Ruby's set do not match the pink in this shirt:


The shirt's stripes make the purse look neon orange.

Here's the purse on its own:


It does not open.


The pink striped shirt can also be worn with the final piece of clothing in this set, the yellow-green skirt.  Here's the skirt pulled up to Ruby's waistline:


It puckers in the back:


And here it is with a low-waisted position:


Which looks much better from the front than from the back:


Until Mattel releases some more clothing for this body type, it's very tempting to purchase the extra outfits that come with the $20 sets.  However--for me--these four little pieces of simple clothing are not worth $10.  I'd rather have another basic doll for that money.  There's also a wide range of cute, custom-made clothing for these dolls (often for under $10) that's available on Etsy, eBay and even Amazon.

As an example, here's Ruby wearing a $14 (including shipping) Cora Gu dress from Amazon:

Curvy Barbie wearing Cora Gu.
This dress cost just $2 more than Ruby's extra clothing.  I like it a lot better.


Ruby's blue dress is by far my favorite piece of clothing that she came with, but when I tried to put it back on, I noticed that the bodice tends to do this:

Peek-a-boo!
It's fairly easy to flip the bodice of the the slip dress back up to cover her appropriately, but the dress does this every time I try to put it on.  I suspect there are hundreds of So Sporty Barbie dolls out there right now, inadvertently flashing their young owners.  

A strategically-placed stitch could have prevented this wardrobe failure...and can certainly be used to fix it.

Here are some more pictures of Ruby posing in her best factory outfit (the hat is really fun to play with, and perfect for this doll's sporty personality):









review

Ruby is a dream to photograph.  I am very happy with her overall.  She has a lovely face, fantastic hair, and a nice new body type that's both beautiful and more representative of the mainstream teenager.

Of course from my point of view as a collector and photographer, some additional joints would have been very welcome.  Ruby's bent right elbow makes the most out of the limited articulation in her arms, allowing her to strike some fun poses.  However, the joints in her legs are underwhelming.  She can't do full splits in either direction.  She looks silly sitting in a chair.  I also wish that her feet were a more realistic size--if only so that they could support her body and help her balance more reliably.  The glue-filled head will be a turn-off to many collectors, too, especially since some of the hair is still falling out.

My biggest problem with the So Sporty set is that it's a $20 set.  With the basic Curvy dolls selling for $8, that means I spent $12 on extra clothing and accessories...none of which I think are worth it.  The extra outfits are simple and cheaply made.  The plastic purses are completely uninteresting to me.  The striped dress is so bad that I'll never use it on a doll again.  I'm delighted to have the cute baseball hat (that's a unique accessory), the shoes, and also the sporty blue dress that Ruby came in--despite that dress' chest-revealing design flaw.

Now, let's take a quick look at the new Lammily Photographer.  Here's her elegant box again:

review

It's a lightweight cardboard box that's decorated on all sides:


Sections of the colorful scenery are singled out in rectangular frames--to represent pictures that might be taken.


Inside the front flap of the box, there's a leaflet with a little illustrated story about Lammily and her camera.  It's a beautiful presentation and a nice, uplifting story.


The realistic, watercolor tones of the box are so soothing, I found the appearance of the actual doll quite jarring in contrast:


My first thoughts were:
1. Her dark skin tone looks a little orange
2. Her hair is bigger than I expected

Great balls of hair!
I was glad to see that the hair has symmetric volume, though, unlike the promotional pictures that showed it being swept off to one side like she was perpetually caught in a strong wind.

After my initial startle, I decided that I like this doll's actual appearance better than her promotional pictures, which is a good start.  And I do like how colorful and happy she looks against the beautiful painted city backdrop:


She was held securely in place with only two wire ties (around her waist and ankles), with some clear rubber bands for her camera:


Here's the backdrop with the doll removed:


Photographer comes with a two-piece outfit, shoes, hair clips, and a plastic camera:



She is not easy to balance on her own.  Like the first Lammily doll, she collapses at the ankles very easily.  I managed to get her to stand up for these pictures:


For most of the review, I relied on my Hot Toys stand (as I did with Mia):


Before I take a closer look at this doll, I'd like to show you her camera accessory:


It doesn't have any moving parts or any painted details, but it's very realistic:


I have so many little plastic purses from dolls this scale, it's wonderful to have such a fun, unique accessory!


I could definitely include this camera in my painting project and try to add some little metallic details to make it look even more accurate.


The camera is attached to a black ribbon that hangs naturally around the doll's neck:


Ok, so I don't really want to call this girl "Photographer" throughout the entire review, so she needs a name.  After I named Ruby for the color of her hair, I had color names on the brain.  When I look at Photographer, I see the color orange--especially in her face.  To be fair, my photographs make this tint more noticeable than it is in real life.

I searched for names that relate to the color orange and came up with "Aurelia."  I love this name (and the character from Love, Actually who has the same name...) so it seemed like a decent fit.  I also think the name means "golden," not orange, which is more flattering.

After examining the little camera, the first thing I wanted to do was inspect was Aurelia's hair.  It's definitely the focal point of the doll.

The hair comes out of the box flattened and wedge-like in the back.

The Great Wall of Hair.
  The rooted fibers are very dense and curly, while also being quite soft to the touch.


I don't have a great track record for dealing with curly hair.  You might remember my exploits with Double Dutch's Zaria and Extra Special Grace (incidentally, my own Gracie now appears to be the cover girl for the Extra Special Doll's new website...which is really weird).

Anyway, Aurelia's hairstyle is impressive--not quite in the same league as the Cynthia Bailey doll's hair--but impressive nonetheless.  I'm tempted to cut these curls down to a more realistic height (even in the modeling world, I think having hair as tall as your head is extreme) but I've--finally--learned my lesson, so I'll leave it alone.

Thank you, Emily.  I appreciate it.
The hair certainly provides a beautiful frame for Aurelia's face:


Hiding on the right side of Aurelia's head are two plastic butterfly clips--one red and one white:


These sit behind some clear rubber bands that pull the hair away from her face:


The clips are very large for the scale of the doll, but the colors offer a nice accent to the outfit.  Here are the clips on their own:


I also removed the two rubber headbands so that I could play with the hair.


It's even more voluminous after the bands are removed--and after a bit of finger-fluffing:


The hair is rooted in nice rows.  Even though this row looks fairly wide, the density is perfect for the type of hair:


I tried tying Aurelia's hair back into a ponytail:


I used a gentle touch here, and didn't try to force the rubber band too close to Aurelia's head.  


I thought perhaps it might look pretty to have two tendrils of hair hanging on either side of Aurelia's head...


...but this only worked well on one side.  The other side produced a frizzy, unorganized clump of hair instead of a few neat curls.

This hairstyle makes it much easier to appreciate Aurelia's face mold:


She has a relaxed smile and dimples.  Her brown eyes look very similar to Mia's eyes.  Her lips are painted a nice natural rose, but her eyebrows seem too faint and light-colored to me.  I wish they were closer to the color of her hair.


Aurelia appears to have a slightly flattened (rectangular) head profile, but this could be an artifact of the hairstyle I've come up with.


Like Mia, Aurelia's eyes photograph best from half-profile.  They have a concave slope at the bottom that very easily catches the glare of nearby lights.


Here's a close-up of Mia's head for comparison:


The girls are very similar--clearly in the same doll family--but Aurelia has dimples, brown eyes, shorter eyebrows, a broader nose and (I think) a slightly wider chin.  Aurelia's smile is a bit more pronounced, too, although this is subtle.  When I hold these dolls, Aurelia always looks like she's happy, Mia usually does--but can also look contemplative.


I think Aurelia has a bit more personality in her face.

It's amazing to me that the Lammily company has already produced two head molds for two characters (with that third male character coming very soon).  So many companies will overuse the original head mold right from the start, which is a decision that I suspect hurts sales in the long run.  Incidentally, this is something that My Twinn did incredibly well.  Their use of 42 distinct face molds is what drove collectors to try and get as many of the little personalities as possible.  Gotta catch 'em all, right?

That said, I wish Lammily would release a few (not too many!) new dolls that re-use the old head molds but have different hair and eye colors.  If these releases were in small, limited editions it would offer variety in the short term without saturating the market with one face.  That might be a good way to boost sales while work is being done on the next new character.  Just a thought.  Because I want a redhead.

Aurelia comes with a skirt and top outfit:


The top is a simple white shirt that opens down the front with velcro.  The way the velcro seam has been designed gives this shirt a nice element of style, though.  I can't say I've ever seen this technique used before and I really like it.


The velcro is attached so that rather than overlapping (and getting bulky) the edges of the shirt line up perfectly in front--like a cardigan or light jacket.


The skirt has a modern, colorful print that I enjoy.  I'm not crazy about the style, though.  This length of skirt seems way too matronly for a teenager:


The thing is, this doll already has a very mature look about her.  She doesn't really strike me as a teenager.  To me, she's believable as an adult--maybe in her late twenties or early thirties.  I'm not exactly sure whether the skirt is what drives this impression, or if the doll would look older no matter what she was wearing.  All I know is that I don't see any high school kids wearing skirts of this style in this length.  I look at the outfit and think "teacher" or "librarian."

The skirt is well-made, though.  It has a thick waistband and three pleats in the front:


The back seam is a traditional velcro closure.  There are two additional small pleats on either side of the seam:


Here's a close-up of the funky print.  It's really interesting to look at:


It appears that Aurelia has the same body design as Mia.  Here they are together:


The only thing I wondered about was the shape of Aurelia's feet.  Unlike Mia, she came wearing high-heeled shoes:

Cream-colored pumps don't yell "teen fashion" to me, either.  Why not some cute sandals?
However, under those shoes Aurelia's feet are the same as Mia's:


I was not excited about certain features of the original Lammily body, so it was a little disappointing to see that no improvements have been made yet.  My main critiques of Mia were that her body doesn't stand up nearly as well as it should (the ankles are very prone to collapse), her hip joints only spin around, and the internal click joints in the limbs are stiff and offer limited movement.  I also think that Lammily dolls have an oddly-shaped hip and crotch region...but I've started to grow accustomed to it (and my dolls are usually dressed).

For a quick review, Aurelia has thirteen points of articulation:



This doll's copyright stamp number is slightly different from the original Lammily doll: 201603 instead of 201409.  I had no idea what that meant...until my husband clued me in that it's a date: 9/20/14 compared to 3/20/16.  Clever guy.

March, 2016.
The only other difference I can see between this doll and Mia is the color of the vinyl.  Aurelia has a dark, rich (terra-cotta) skin tone which is a few shades darker than most of my other play dolls.

Here's Aurelia with Barbie and Clawdeen to give you some idea of the relative shade:

Barbie Fashionista, Lammily Photographer, Monster High Clawdeen.
And here's Aurelia with Project Mc2 Bryden:  


I shot this photo for the skin tone reference, but also because I think the body type contrast is extreme.  I've mentioned how ultra-skinny the Project Mc2 dolls look to me--even when they're posed with other Project Mcdolls.  I think this particular comparison makes it even more shocking.

Aurelia has lighter paint on the bottoms of her feet and on the palms of her hands.  This is a wonderful, realistic detail that I don't think I've ever seen on a doll before.


The only problem is that the paint has spattered edges, so it looks too much like paint (or like Aurelia walked through some wet mud):


The effect is better on the hands, where there is very little spatter:


Here's a closer look:


Aurelia has hinged rotation in her shoulders and wrists, and internal click joints in her elbows.


The internal joints have three positions but not a very wide range of motion.


The hip joints can only rotate.  This means Aurelia can do front-to-back splits, but cannot move her legs from side to side.


Her knees have internal joints that click through three different positions.  This is as much as she can bend her knee, though:


The ankles have hinged rotation.  The feet and hands are attached to the the limbs with pegs and can easily be removed.  In fact, the feet tend to come off with any kind of tight-fitting shoe.

The Lammily dolls are not very graceful chair-sitters, but they sit better than Curvy Barbie, at least:


Speaking of Curvy Barbie...you've already seen a comparison between Ruby and Mia, now here's Ruby with Aurelia:

Curvy Barbie, Lammily Photographer.
Ruby can wear Aurelia's outfit about as well as she wears Mia's.  The skirt's waistband fits fine (it doesn't fall down) but the appearance is a little bulky:


The top also fits reasonably well (as long as I remember to put that left sleeve on first...)


But overall, the fit is just a tiny bit too loose and baggy:


I would say that Ruby is aged by this outfit, too--although it's not as extreme as it is with Aurelia.  This supports my hypothesis that both the Lammily doll and her outfit are quite mature-looking for a teen.

For my final photo shoot, I was hoping to be able to pose Aurelia with her camera.  It's such a great accessory.  She can't actually hold the camera up very well, though.  By looping her hands through the ribbon strap, I was able to get this approximation:

Could someone push that button for me, please??

But maybe it's best to just leave the camera hanging around her neck.



Aurelia can't balance on her own unless her body is positioned straight up and down, but the Hot Toys stand allows her to strike some more interesting poses:




I actually had more fun playing with this doll's hair than I did posing her body.  The hair is surprisingly resilient to manipulation.  It doesn't lose its shape or curl.

I tried this pulled-back style:


I found these little black clips really helpful and I highly recommend them to anyone who owns this particular doll:


This hairstyle changes Aurelia's look quite a bit.  I think it makes her look even more mature:




Even after I tried several styles--pulling and twisting the hair into different clips and rubber bands--the curls still sprang back into their original shape:


Granted, I didn't get a brush anywhere near this hair--nor will I.  I found that finger-styling was more than adequate.

It's pretty awesome hair, in the end.
My first impression of the Lammily Photographer was not great.  Her hair seemed too crazy and her skin tone looked orange.  I was also dismayed to see the same exact body being used again.  However, much like the original Lammily doll, Aurelia won me over as I got to know her better.

Aurelia's hair might be big, but it's really fun--and forgiving--to play with.  This actually ended up being my favorite feature of the doll.  The hair feels soft, the curls are pretty, and there's a nice range of styles that are easy to achieve.  It's hard for me to tell how this hair would hold up to serious play, but I suspect a secure ponytail would keep it under control for a younger child.

I like Aurelia's face mold a lot, too.  I find her to be a warm, friendly presence.  She'd be a versatile, unique character for any kind of imaginative game.  I see her as a nurturing mother or teacher.  Aurelia's clothes are modest and well-made, but the skirt and pumps add age and maturity to the character--belying her teenaged backstory.  The Lammily body still leaves me wanting more, and I'm not thrilled with how Mia's body has aged (her hip joints are warped and she has stains and creases on her legs).

I want to show you a few more pictures of Aurelia, though, because these represent the transition from me feeling pretty lukewarm about her to me deciding that I actually like her quite a bit.

At the very end of my photo session, I changed Aurelia into one of the extra official Lammily outfits.  This outfit is called "Scotland Adventure" and it retails for $25.  Those of you who know me will know why I chose this particular outfit:

Lammily Photographer wearing "Scotland Adventure."
The outfit comes with a beautiful tartan jacket, a white collared blouse, jeans, vinyl sneakers, a grey knitted hat, and little hand warmers (the hands have to be removed to get these suckers on).


The shoes are a little cheesy, but overall it's a wonderful outfit.  

This outfit made Aurelia really come alive for me.  She looks so comfortable and friendly.

She looks younger here, too, I think.
It's fascinating how this outfit changes the personality of the whole doll.  I didn't find the skirt outfit believable--but I can picture the young woman who would wear this jeans-and-flannel combination.


When she's wearing all of these layers, Aurelia also feels even more substantial and expensive in my hands.  Clothing has become such a strength for the Lammily company, I wonder if they will consider selling future characters in more complex and unique outfits?  I'd pay extra for that.

Now I'm eager to purchase a few of the other Lammily outfits--especially "Rocking London" and "New York, New York."  I just wish the pieces fit the Curvy Barbie dolls a little better...

Short pants, baggy shirt...
Gaping waistline.
Just a bit too bulky overall.
Can still make for a nice picture, though!
What a great source of clothing this could have been for the Barbie line.

Well, that was a long review.  I need to work on my focus.  To start the wrap-up, I'll show you Ruby and Aurelia together:

Aurelia (Lammily Photographer) and Ruby (So Sporty Barbie).
Which doll do I like the most?  Well, that's always a tricky question.  

I like Ruby a lot more than I thought I would.  I don't even usually look at the unarticulated Barbie Fashionista dolls, but I made an exception for this new body type...and I'm glad I did.  Ruby has a beautiful face, fabulous hair, and at least one good outfit.  However, $20 was too much to spend on this set, mostly because the extra clothes and accessories are not very interesting or attractive.  If Ruby had been one of the $8 basic Curvy dolls, I'd say she was a wonderful deal and a great gift for a child.  These dolls certainly bring welcome variety to the Mattel empire.  I've gotten pretty tired of walking the Barbie aisles and seeing the same body and face over and over again.  This is truly something new.

Ruby might be new for the Barbie world, but of course Lammily pioneered the idea of a doll with realistic body proportions.  This fact alone tends to make me loyal to Lammily--despite her flaws.  It's also hard to criticize the Lammily articulation when I'm comparing it to Barbie doll with only five joints.  Lammily clearly wins.  However, if Mattel ever decides to articulate their Curvy dolls, they could easily knock it out of the park.  

Aurelia's clothes are well-made, but the style of the clothes ages the character.  Aurelia feels much heavier and more substantial than Ruby, her camera accessory is way more interesting than a purse, and her hair is unexpectedly fun.  To me, the hair is actually the best part of the doll.  This girl also brings a new face mold to the Lammily line--one that offers even more personality than the original doll.  All of these things make Aurelia worth her $25 price.  However, my favorite version of Aurelia--in the Scottish outfit--cost $50 to acquire.  That's serious money.

review

Perhaps the biggest difference between these two is that Aurelia makes her body proportions look matronly while Ruby makes them look youthful--even a bit athletic.  Aurelia is a gentle, kind-hearted mom-like character while Ruby is a fashionable teen.  Both of these personas are appealing to me and have a place in the doll market.

In the end, though, when I take all of the little differences into account, I'd have to say that Curvy Barbie comes out as my favorite of these two dolls.  I think it's because she does the better job of reconciling a more normal body type with the image of a gorgeous, strong teenager.

Curvy is definitely beautiful.
When Lammily boldly introduced the first average-bodied fashion doll, I wasn't confident that anything would come of it.  The original Lammily doll could easily have been a one hit wonder--a curiosity.  But now, a year and a half later, it seems pretty clear that Lammily is just getting started.  The fact that Mattel has joined this charge is an added bonus that I did not foresee.  They've brought a very different body--and a different spin on that body type--to the market.  I'm excited to see where both of these lines will take us next.

49 comments:

  1. Curvy articulated Barbie, coming up. Collector edition only...

    http://papusilemele.com/en/2016/07/28/new-collector-dolls-collector-barbie-with-curvy-body/

    While I do not own a Lammily yet, I get their emails, and I am AMAZED at the clothing and limited edition outfits they put together. The company is creative and sells clothes that look to be well made and like something a real person would wear.

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  2. Aurelia ma dużo wdzięku ♥

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  3. Lovely review! I love Aurelia's face, her dimples are so charming and she looks so happy. I wish the Barbie clothing would be a bit better quality (although I am spoiled by a recent Fashion Royalty purchase, so poor Barbie looks cheaper in comparison). Looking forward to your Twinns update!

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  4. Waw ! I like so much your picture. Thank you to share with us.
    See you soon.

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  5. A very thorough review! I agree with pretty much everything you said. Like you, I am not so excited by the Tall and Petite bodies, but the Curvy body is a great addition. I am also excited that they will be bringing out the next Harlem Theatre doll in an articulated curvy body. She is supposed to be out in October. Can't wait.

    I also have both Lammily dolls. I purchased 2 of the Photographer dolls and found it interesting that the hair was more dense on one of the dolls than on the other one. I like the different styles you were able to give her. I put her top on so that it opened in the back, and I like that much better. You took some really nice pictures too, and thanks for sharing this with us. It is good to see you back!

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    1. The Tall is actually pretty interesting. She has a very long and boxy torso as oppose to the rest of the barbies hourglass figures. I would say she is more built like the average 21 yr old compared to the other barbies.

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  6. I have a Curvy and a tall- you should get a Tall. They have several surprises.

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    1. Loved this very thoughtful review! I was interested and actually kind-of surprised to learn that the Lammily line is still active. I don't know why exactly, I guess because I thought of it as sort of a gimmick at first?

      That extra outfit is just darling! I'm digging those teensy gloves and how they look with the jacket. I don't find anything particularly intriguing about the Lammily dolls themselves that doesn't rely on the "realistic proportions" angle, but that's just personal taste!

      So looking forward to seeing more of your My Twinn project! Thanks for continuing to offer your thoughts and observations on the goings-on of the dolly world, it's always a treat. :)

      *edited for my awful typos.

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  8. I really like the Barbie curvy body too. I actually bought one, but ended up swapping the gorgeous head onto a Made-to-Move body, purely for the articulation. If they brought out a line of Curvy bodies with articulation I would be over the moon. I have the Original Lammily and agree that they look much older than the teenagers they are supposed to be. To me they look mum-ish and more like in their 40's.
    By the way I commented in your last Hermione review (as Moon Doll) that I would send you my Tonner Hermoine to review. If you are interested I'll email you for details where I can send her. So glad you are back. :)

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  9. Plus sized Barbies were supposed to debut back in 2000. They never materialized. I waited for years, but it didn't happen. Also plus-sized dolls don't promote obesity any more than thin ones promote anorexia. I was sensitive as a child, and it never dawned on me to want to be the proportions of what I knew was a toy. I got my self-consciousness from being teased by classmates for being "fat" (122 pounds, 5'6"...far from fat). Funny how no one says Monster High or Ever After High dolls promote anorexia. Kids are trusted to know they're TOYS.

    On my own blog, I wrote about changing my perception of Barbies and body image after a talk with my daughter. She doesn't see skinny with Barbie. She sees a role model who she calls smart and brave and can do what she wants, like be a mom or a doctor or a teacher of an astronaut or all of them. I went from an outright ban on Barbies on my house, and right to the toy store to buy her several. She went from paying with other kids' Barbies to her own, and became more confident in herself because what Barbie could do, rather than her body, was what mattered.

    Between what my daughter said, and remembering that I never even thought I was supposed to look like Barbie, I became convinced that we adults are projecting our own insecurities onto dolls. Even before Barbies, kids teased each other about being fat, and it's the teasing that caused insecurity, not non-existent fashion dolls. It is us. Us adults. We're the ones seeing a problem where there isn't one.

    Those sneaker-sandals were a trend this summer. A stupid trend, but still a trend. They're called sport-sandals.

    Next to Cinderella, she looks a little stout (not strangely so through), yet almost slender next to Mia. Not shocking.

    Ruby's left arm is too short, and I can prove it. Measure your arm from your shoulder joint to your wrist going along the back, over your elbow. Now bend your arm 90 degrees and measure the same way, going over your elbow. Same arm, of course, but it measures another inch to two inches when your arm is bent. Ruby's arms having the same measurement means her bend arm is indeed shorter.

    The "Spring Into Style" doll 26 for the curvy Barbie is so gorgeous she's now in my Amazon cart. Almost every time I read your blog, I buy more dolls. :) There's just something about her face shape too that is gorgeous.

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    1. Actually, people have been highly critical of MH bodies and periodically think pieces go around discussing what a terrible influence MH's shape and styling is on little girls. I happen to love MH and think their bodies are highly stylized and most people know that they are not something to aspire to, but Mattel seems to have addressed this somewhat with the redesigned bodies in the "reboot".

      While I love MH, I also really like my curvy Barbie (I have the blue haired one). I find the curvy Barbies more appealing than Lammily, mostly because I prefer their body shape over the blocky, oddly proportioned Lammily torso.

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    2. I can assure you that the idea that Barbie can effect girls' body image isn't just a projection. As a child I played with a lot of Barbies, and I did think that she was meant to represent an ideal that my own chubby, brown-haired self could never hope to achieve. I loved my Barbies, but I remember feeling distinctly aware of the fact that Barbie was "beautiful", and that I would never look anything like her. Obviously she's a toy, but that doesn't mean she can't represent an idealized, cartoonish version of the female body. Not all girls felt this way, of course -- in part, I think, because not all girls play the same way with their dolls. I used mine as self-insertion fantasies, and had a favorite doll that I used to represent myself in the stories I invented. I would have loved a curvy, freckled, green-eyed brown-haired doll to represent my older self, and it would have been a much healthier, happier comparison.
      Now, as I got a bit older (around ten), I became interested in vintage barbies. The idea that she represented fashion illustrations of the 50's and 60's made her wasp-waist and pointy breasts make a lot more sense. So I don't think anything is wrong with Barbie, exactly, but she's not just a fashion model anymore, and seeing Mattel slowly diversify the line makes me happy.

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  10. Mattel talked about it first, but I do think Lammily showing that there IS a market reignited the light under some Mattel butts.

    Aurelia is a dead-ringer for a childhood friend of mine. Same dimples, smile lines everything.

    Another one to buy tonight. :)

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  11. Pssst! Two more redheads for you. :) You temped me into buying, I tempt you. It works that way, right? :D

    The Tall Barbie, REDHEAD: https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Fashionistas-Doll-Terrific-Teal/dp/B014AHMWB8/ref=sr_1_15?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1471079341&sr=1-15&keywords=curvy+barbie

    Made to Move, REDHEAD, with cute freckles :D : https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Made-Move-Doll-Blue/dp/B015EB2868/ref=sr_1_13?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1471079373&sr=1-13&keywords=curvy+barbie

    Enjoy.

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  12. You're awesome, I've been looking for a good comparison of Lamilly and Curvy Barbie. I do think dolls can have an effect on body image... like how your eye adjusted to curvy Barbie. If a girl spends hours looking at her skinny dolls, it makes sense that her eye will then be drawn to all the differences in herself the next time she looks in a mirror.

    I'm glad they're doing a boy doll too. Action figures might be a better place though, since the crazy muscles figures have got to be hurting boys self image. Like this:
    http://orig02.deviantart.net/2990/f/2007/292/d/1/mvc2_spiderman_1_by_jin_saotome.jpg
    Come on Spiderman doesn't need to look like that. And look at the back on this one:
    http://www.toymania.com/columns/spotlight/images/ml3wolverine3.jpg
    Humans don't have muscles like that. Looks like scrambled eggs back there. Action figures didn't use to look like that!

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  13. I love the faces on both of the Lammily dolls. Their torsos look unattractive when nude, though. When they're dressed, they look great.

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  14. Being about 5'1" and maybe 100 pounds soaking wet, I was actually thrilled when the petite Barbies came out, even though I preferred microwaving my Barbies to projecting myself on them when I was younger. I prefer the Curvy Barbie myself, but I did love the Lammily with her hair pulled back. Both the Lammilys (Lammilies?) reminded me strongly of my own mother, right down to the large feet (although her hands are small and dainty). I think that a lot of girls will have those dolls playing the kind matron of their Barbie families.

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  15. I loved this review, Emily! :) I've been considering buying one of the new body shape Barbies, and I think that your review is making me want one! :) I like the tall shape especially.

    By the way, I totally agree that a redhead Lammily would be fantastic! :D I bought the redhead Made to Move Barbie a while back to review, and I think you would love her. :)

    It's SO nice to have you back on the blogging scene, too!
    Grace <3

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  16. Have you seen that there IS going to be a articulated curvy Fashionista mold?

    Lemme find the post... ah, here! http://papusilemele.com/en/2016/07/28/new-collector-dolls-collector-barbie-with-curvy-body/

    She was designed by Carlyle Nuera for the Theatre in Harlem collection, so she's got a gorgeous 1920s wardrobe. I don't even collect Barbies at all and this one is going to be MINE.

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  17. If Ruby came as a 9.99$ doll with that exact same sporty blue outfit, I'd ignore her poor articulation and definitely get her. A first!

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  18. I've been looking forward to this Curvy, so it's disappointing to hear she has glue head. :( Is the head just hard, or is the glue leaking and making the hair greasy?

    Of all the Barbie outfits that are in one piece that shouldn't be in one piece, the black skirt + striped ...apron thingy is a really odd choice to make as separates.


    Once again I'm reminded that Lammily's body could have been really interesting if it weren't for certain design choices. :/ And yeah, it really is interesting when you realize how context determines how you see bodies. These new "revolutionary" body shapes really aren't anything unusual - unless compared to regular fashion dolls.


    Now I'm really hoping that Mattel decides to use the articulated curvy body for playline dolls. It would be like a dream come true honestly.

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  19. I really enjoyed this review. Thank-you Emily.
    I thought that Happy to be Me was the first realistically proportioned fashion doll but as I've never seen one in real life that possibly wasn't it.

    I think that what makes Lammily look matronly is that her torso is so long. That's not a very common body type.
    If Ruby had an articulated body she would be awesome, I love her face and her more natural curves.
    My god daughters now have all the new body types, and though it did catch my attention, I didn't get the impression that it made any difference to them. Their real friends are of very diverse body types and they're too young to have known a time when all Barbies had the 50s vintage body so perhaps they're just taking this for granted.
    Looking back as an adult I realize that I didn't pay much attention to how my Barbies looked but rather,to what their accessories and those my mother bought or made meant they could do. I guess I viewed them the way Aria's daughter does.
    In fact, I might have been unsettled if they looked more like me than completely different. It was because we looked nothing alike that I could imagine them doing things the way we could try out different lives if we could transport our minds to other bodies.If one of my dolls had ressembled me I probably would just would have made her a bookworm like me :-)
    I like photographer Lammily better than the first one, she seems more kind and motherly, like a great teacher. The outfits are a bit pricey for a play line doll but I'm assuming parents who buy these for their children must wait until they're a bit older and can appreciate this enough not to just leave the doll naked and lose her clothes.
    Hopefully Mattel will stay committed to diversity and will continue to make different outfits and articulate the bodies.

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  20. Thank you for this review Emily! I love the comparison pictures between Lammily and the curvy Barbie. I appreciate all your hard work. I'm looking forward to your next project update post too. :)

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  21. Yay for Curvy Barbie! I still dislike Lammily dolls, though.

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  22. I have this same curvy Barbie. I think she's stunning and named her Krystal. I find the Photographer Lammily to be much prettier than the original but I still don't like her enough to purchase one. I can't wait till they make curvy made to move Barbies. I also love your Aurelia's hair, I wonder if they make any Barbies with similar hair?

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  23. Funny story: I actually got the exact same Curvy Barbie you did...on accident. I had ordered the petite "Blue Violet" on Mattel's site, and it seems that they shipped me the wrong doll by mistake -- my best guess is that the employee in question probably thought it was the correct one, since she does have both blue and violet in her color scheme.

    Anyways, after explaining the situation to Mattel customer service, the situation was rectified and I got my hands on Blue Violet. One thing that might make you more excited about the Petites: their clothes actually fit Makies pretty darn well! I have mine in the extra shirt and pants that came with Blue Violet, and while I had to pop her feet off to get the jeans on, the fit is natural-looking and quite flattering.

    I'm another one who prefers the Curvy Barbie to Lammily. I'm all for variety with doll body types, but Lammily is so calculatedly milquetoast in almost every way that I have difficulty connecting with her in any way except as "that one well-meaning body positivity doll." The photographer is a little better but I'm still not impressed. On the other hand, even with her lack of articulation, I can easily picture what kind of person your Ruby would be -- in fact, she reminds me pretty strongly of one of my cousins.

    Overall, I think you're right on the money here. If Mattel indeed comes out with an articulated Curvy Barbie, it'll blow poor Lammily right out of the water.

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  24. Did you hear about this?
    http://www.care2.com/greenliving/designer-creates-beautiful-empowering-patterns-for-colostomy-bags.html and http://www.today.com/parents/british-toymaker-makies-includes-disabled-dolls-t21676
    "Makies, a line of dolls manufactured using 3-D printers, has introduced various additions to its collection so that dolls can now be purchased with walking canes, hearing aids, glasses or facial birthmarks. The line soon will expand to include wheelchairs.

    Since releasing the new line last week, the company was inundated with requests for more types of customizations and is currently trying to decide on which features to include next."

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  25. As always I love your super in depth reviews.
    If I could have a dream doll it would be like the curvy Barbie with the the new DC girls muscular arms. I think this Barbie has kind of "shrimpy" (for a lack of better terms) arms for such a big woman.

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  26. Actually, the "Tall" barbie has a completely different shape from the original Barbie. She has a long Torso with no defined waist so she's kind of like a rectangle. The petite barbie has a really cute hour glass shape and is much more curvier than say the skipper doll. Great review tho!

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  27. The petite doll is a favourite of mine as she shares my body type. Not childlike (such as Skipper) but with defined curves and it makes me happy :)

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  28. Lammily is a pretty decent doll on her own and her outfits look nice and detailed. But I'll never believe she's a teenager. Heck, the outfit Aurelia has even aged Ruby a little bit. Barbies look a lot younger because of their clothes too. They're really hip.

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  29. I'm so glad you're back Emily! I really missed you. I got the same curvy Barbie as you and I was wondering if you had gotten one to review.
    I really love her, and it seems I got a bit luckier than you in that mine does not have glue head and her clothes seem to lay better. I wonder wny? (different batch?) I would totally wear that stripped top.
    I tried to find some more outfits for her and I found a couple of older ones in my stash that had stretched out so they fit pretty good. There was also one I found at the dollar store that will be really nice with a couple of adjustments.

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  30. I think I love Curvy Barbie. All the women in my family have those hips: the jeans that fit in the thigh but that you can drop quarters down the back of hit very close to home! It's quite a West African shape, honestly. Can't wait for the more articulated ones.

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  31. Thank you so very much for this post. The dolls are awesome!

    I am having some issues over just how long the torso is on the Lammily dolls. Looks unnaturally so.

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  32. As another commenter noted above, there were more realistically proportioned dolls before Lammily. "Happy to Be Me" was probably the most widely marketed before the internet.

    https://www.fastcodesign.com/3027323/a-short-history-of-anti-barbies

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  33. Great review!
    Am I the only one who doesn't like anything Ruby came with, save for the hat? I'll tell you why, though; she's labelled as sporty, and all of her clothes seem rather... terribly impractical. I mean, it's all skirts. Shouldn't she have some leggings, or something?

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  34. Hi. I love the pic of Curvy next to Fashionista Barbie bodies. It is so startling to see that! I posted that pic on my Facebook page but gave credit to you and linked to your blog post. Hope that was OK? I think it's an important statement to share with all my friends who are parents of girls. Thanks for this post!

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  35. Hi. I love the pic of Curvy next to Fashionista Barbie bodies. It is so startling to see that! I posted that pic on my Facebook page but gave credit to you and linked to your blog post. Hope that was OK? I think it's an important statement to share with all my friends who are parents of girls. Thanks for this post!

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  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  37. Sorry, had to delete the other comment because of reasons (english not main language...cough cough, sorry)

    I own two curvy Barbies: the blonde one ( http://mat.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pMAT1-23566674_alternate1_enh-z6.jpg ) and the tan, brown haired one ( http://mat.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pMAT1-23566678_alternate1_v380.jpg ). The first time I saw the blonde, curvy Barbie I was all like "OMGOSH YES!! Finally, 'curvy' girls made it into the doll world!'.
    I remember buying blonde curvy Barbie short after that realitzation, and since then, other Fashionistas followed her. I always pick the ones that look weirder than the rest, but in a natural way.
    For example, from the short Barbies I picked the blonde with short hair and red skirt, why? Because she has the biggest eyebrows I have ever seen in a Barbie!! ( http://mat.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pMAT1-23566675_alternate1_enh-z6.jpg )

    A plane could land on those things, and yet they give her so much personality!! I can't believe Mattel did that.
    I have two tall Barbies: one from 2015 and the other from the newer 2016 collection. The 2015 is the one with dark brown skin and red hair in an afro style ( https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/fd/c3/e2/fdc3e2a61d920833dafa47327611b4e8.jpg , I love her, she looks amazing standing next to shortie eyebrow), and the 2016 one is a blonde one with a black dress with flower pattern on it. Her face is one of the weirdest I've seen on the line (here's she: https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/02/79/88/02798837f099cfa792a2653554e0a039.jpg ), and she reminds me of a russian customer that entered in my shop once (so she's russian to me. I also love her).

    As always, amazing review, but I do have a question, and it's about the Lammily doll. I'm thinking of purchasing one at some point, since they don't seem to have shipment costs (I'll have to look more into that, specially since I'm from Spain...mm), but is she worth it? I mean, is she worth those 25$ (22,98€)?.

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  38. The photographer doll looks a bit old in the face, like she could be another doll's mom, but I have to give the company kudos for coloring her palms and feet. The curvy dolls are okay, but I haven't seen one yet that was a must-have. I care more about a doll's fashion, face, and hair than the body shape, an exception being that Disney store Gaston doll who should have had a large muscular body but didn't.

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  39. Maybe it's just me, but I didn't have a problem with Barbie and my body image. Keep in mind, I am indeed a woman.
    I grew up with Barbie, and I loved playing with her, especially the horse play sets! God, I loved those sets, I didn't care about the goofy pink sets, I wanted horses and I got my horses gosh darn it! I did end up playing with my little dinosaurs toys more often though, despite the horrible inaccuracy, they were extremely fun, and I loved reenacting the scenes of the Walking With series. I found regular (blue eyed blond hair) barbie kind of bland, like she was always staring into space with those dead lifeless eyes, her scary grin piercing into your soul, I'm getting off topic. I did like her other friends (Nikki, Teresa, and the rest of them who's names I forgot), I however enjoy playing with Barbie, despite her scary as all hell grin.
    I think of it this way, most little kids (yes boys play with barbies) don't care much about what the doll looks like, I think they just think "It's shaped like a human so I'll just treat it like another human". Perhaps I'm wrong, but I do believe it is the PARENT'S job to teach the child about body image, not the doll's. The kid should know by the time they are worrying about body image that Barbie is just a pretty hunk of plastic made to be molded in the shape of a human. Besides, I think the MtM body does a nice job of accurately depicting a thin woman that is in shape but hasn't had 1,000,000 plastic surgeries (not that there's anything wrong with it, you do you), or is starving her self. I'd love to see the articulated version of these dolls though, we have Madame Livina, who's most certainly a lovely lady, but until we get articulated tall, curvy, and petite barbies, I'm not buying them unless I want to head-swap them onto a MtM body.
    I do watch my weight a little (I ride and own an Icelandic gelding who's 12.2 hands, I don't want to put much weight on the little guy), but I'm not obsessed, as long as I'm not anorexic/obese, I just don't care about my body that much.
    - Sincerely, a lover of 12-inch fashion dolls.

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    1. 'goofy pink tack, not goofy pink sets.

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  40. Lammily dolls are unfortunate looking...
    Plus Size Barb is cute though.

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  41. I feel like Barbie does the whole thing better than Lammily. Regardless of intention, the main thing Lammily dolls have going for them is their size. There are no characters to base it on, and the outfits are consistently attractive but not stylish or trendy in the least. This is not a teenager like you. This is a girl who's manufactured specifically to appeal to progressive society.

    Barbie doesn't face those problems. Aside from the more attractive and natural body sculpt, the brand is already established to be one about doll DIVERSITY. ANYONE is beautiful in Barbie, and the body-type revolution is just another facet of this mission. Lammily speaks up for an oppressed minority, which isn't bad, but Barbie's theme of inclusion works much better for me- it's a reality of acceptance, not one of "look at me, I'm pretty too, guys!", and so nobody is really left out.

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  42. I ordered a Curvy Barbie. Can't wait to make some clothes for her.

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  43. Barbie should be tall slim long legged with a tiny waist and protuberant breastesses
    Long voluminous hair cut in layers
    A hint of hips
    Big lips
    Big eyes
    Thats Barbie for you Miss Thang

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