Friday, November 9, 2018

WWE Superstars Eva Marie by Mattel

Well, I'm back in business with a new camera, thanks to my mom and a gorgeous little Cannon she didn't need anymore.  Thank you, Mom!  I'm still experimenting with settings, so these pictures are a bit flaky.  For example, the doll I'm looking at today, WWE Superstars Eva Marie, is not quite as much of a fiery redhead as she looks in many of my pictures (it's a bit more orange-tinged in reality) but she's every bit as fierce:

WWE Superstars Eva Marie by Mattel, $14.99.
The WWE Superstars fashion dolls came up in conversation back when I reviewed Mattel's Wonder Woman dolls, since Battle Ready Wonder Woman and Diana Prince have very similar bodies to the WWE Superstars.  I bought a few of the WWE dolls shortly after that review and--of course--it's taken me this long to get around to de-boxing them.  Better late than never though, right?  I'll focus mostly on Eva Marie in this review, but I'll also show you two of the other characters I bought.

The nice thing about my procrastination is that many of the WWE dolls are significantly discounted at this point.  For example, I paid $14.99 for Eva Marie at Target, but she's only $8.99 at Amazon now.  I'm not sure if the lowered prices are because the line isn't very popular, or if perhaps Mattel is just getting ready to release a new wave.

I chose my first doll, Eva Marie, for one fairly obvious reason:

She has red hair.
I actually found it difficult to pick which character to buy, though.  I couldn't simply pick my favorite competitor because I'm not at all familiar with the world of professional wrestling.  I did watch one WWE match back in my childhood, but I only watched because Cyndi Lauper was slated to make an appearance (I was obsessed with her back then).  Rowdy Roddy Piper actually attacked Cyndi Lauper during that show, and all of my friends and I screamed and threw stuff at the TV.  Good times.

Anyway, each doll has a photograph of the wrestler they're depicting on their box.  Here's what the real Eva Marie looks like:

Sassy!
Another reason I had a hard time picking a doll is that there are so many of them!

Every time I went out to buy one of these dolls, I'd look at each character that was in stock, but I'd also check the backs of all the boxes, looking for photos of additional dolls that might be available online.  Each doll seems to have a completely different group of other dolls on the back of her box, so I got quickly overwhelmed by the options.  There are a lot of subgroups in this collection that don't make any sense to me as a WWE know-nothing.

Here's the back of Eva Marie's box:


The other two dolls advertised on her box are Charlotte Flair and Becky Lynch (another redhead!).


I've counted at least 20 different dolls in the whole WWE fashion doll collection, and there might be more than that.  I've yet to find all of them nicely listed in one place.

The last reason I had a hard time choosing a doll is that, at least to me, many of them have unattractive faces.  The tough, sassy, over-the-top personalities of these wrestling celebrities don't always translate well into a doll face.

I like Eva Marie's face, though.  Here she is right out of the box:


She stands on her own, but tilts fairly significantly to her right side:


Her hair was a little messy at first (with a plastic tie stuck in the middle!) but this is a fairly accurate capture of her hair color:

Bright red with a hint of orange.
 Eva Marie's face looks a bit like a Barbie face, but the contours are more angular:


The angularity is most obvious in partial or full profile:


A little side note: you might have noticed that my doll has a black mark across her left shoulder that won't come off.  Here's a better look:

I'll pretend it's a tattoo.
Eva has a strong chin and a long, straight nose.  There's also something in the set of her smile that makes her slightly edgier than most Barbie dolls.


Incidentally, though, her mouth is not molded into a smile.  The smile is painted on.  It's a little hard to show this in photographs, but here are two versions of the same picture, one in which I've shaded the contours of the molded mouth:


I tied Eva's hair back to get a better look at her face:


Her eyes are light brown with tan highlights along the bottom of each iris:


The screening of the eyes is good, but the cheeks are not painted as nicely.  At first, I thought that Eva's left cheek had a paint defect:


The blush is in an awkward half-circle shape with some smudging off to one side.  However, the right cheek isn't any better:


It looks like the blush was meant to be applied as a faint red circle (bad idea) but neither side got the full application of paint.

There's also a molding defect along the right side of Eva's nose.  I'll pretend that's a scar.

Eva Marie comes wearing a black fitted tank top with the slogan "All Red Everything" applied in red lettering across the chest:


The tank has some messy stitching in the back where the sleeves attach:


A full velcro seam makes the tank easy to use, though, and all of the edges are finished:


Eva's pants are stretchy gold leggings with a black elastic waistband:


There are decorative pocket lines stitched on each side:


I like these pants a lot.  They're simple, but they're fun and really easy to put on.

Eva is wearing simple black vinyl sandals with no painted detail:



The clothing is simple, but it's reasonably well-made and easy to use.  I might try to remove the lettering from Eva's shirt, since I'm not a wrestling fan and I think the outfit would look great with a plain black tank.

Eva stands 11.5 inches tall and has eleven points of articulation:


Her torso has prominent shoulder joints and muscular arms and abs:


She has a exaggerated arch in her back:



With molded, flesh-toned underwear:


Her knee joints are especially obvious from the back:


This is partly because my doll has some whitening in the plastic around those joints:


She has a few other defects, too, like a black stain on her thigh:


And the all-too-common mottling in the texture of her legs:


Ramp up the quality control just a bit, Mattel, please!!

Her head can tip from side-to-side:


And she can also look up and down:



Eva's arms are made out of plastic but her hands are soft vinyl:  



Her shoulders, elbows, and wrists are all rotating hinge joints with a good range of motion:






Eva's hip joints are more limited in their mobility.  She can do only partial splits in both directions:



But she can sit in a chair nicely:


And the rotation in her knees almost allows her to cross her legs!


This rotating movement is stiff and feels forced, though, in part because of the overhanging shape of the kneecap.  It's almost like the knees aren't meant to allow rotation of the lower leg:


Eva has fashion-heeled feet with a cute little space in between the big toe and the second toe:

Maybe she can wear flip flops!
She also has two large holes on the bottoms of her feet:

Maybe she can drink through her feet..?
Eva's body is almost identical to Mattel's Battle Ready Wonder Woman and Diana Prince play dolls, with a few small exceptions:

WWE Superstars (left) and Diana Prince (right).
First of all, Eva has a different underwear pattern.  She also has more molded definition in her abdominal muscles:

WWE Superstars (left) and Diana Prince (right).

The Diana Prince doll has no wrist articulation (left, below) while Eva Marie has articulated wrists and soft vinyl hands (right, below):

The hand molds are the same.
The knee joints are not exactly the same in these dolls, either.  Notice how Eva's knees have more of the joint visible, and the shape of the upper leg is slightly different:



The dolls are similar enough that they can share clothing, though, which is fun:

Diana Prince wearing WWE Superstars outfit.
They also have a similar ferocity in their facial expressions:

Or at least similarly severe eyebrows.

I also compared Eva Marie to another Mattel Wonder Woman doll (the DC Super Hero Girls Wonder Woman) although these two have much less in common:

DC Super Hero Girls (left) and WWE Superstars (right).
Mattel's Black Label Wonder Woman, even with her more muscular arm molds, isn't much like the WWE dolls, either...


...which is a comparison I basically did back when I was reviewing the Battle Ready doll:


Before I redressed Eva Marie, I brushed her hair and took a closer look at the rooting:


The hair fiber seems prone to mats and tangles, but it's densely-rooted and looks full and lovely when it's freshly brushed!



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I wanted to pose Eva Marie in some action shots (she's a professional wrestler, after all!), but she can't strike too many such poses, and she can balance on her own in even fewer.  This was the best I could do:


And the only other action shot I managed was this "light jog:"



Eva is pretty good at glamorous poses, though, like this:


And this:



And this!

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She's actually quite a striking doll who was very fun to photograph.


review


I bought a second WWE Superstars doll because I wanted to investigate the more deluxe ($19.99) dolls in the line.  The only difference between these dolls and the $14.99 basics are that the deluxe dolls come with one extra outfit.

I chose Niki Bella this time because I thought she had a pleasant face and an elegant extra outfit:


The back of Nikki's box advertises three more of these deluxe dolls:


I really like Sasha Banks' green dress, too, but I never found her in the store to get a good look at her face.

Part of Nikki's outfit is a cute vinyl baseball cap, but it came plastic tied to her head in three places:


I carefully cut the ties off, but they still left three holes in the cap:


If they had just lined up the ties with the holes that are actually supposed to be in Nikki's hat, it would have been so much better!


Nikki comes wearing a red tank top, red shorts, black knee-high socks, and white vinyl sneakers:


She has a bit more of a smile on her face than Eva Marie does:


Her hair is a nice highlighted brown color, although the highlights are only rooted along the part, so the distribution is uneven:


Nikki has the same face mold as Eva, but her smile, her eye makeup, and her arched eyebrows make her look quite different:


Because the face mold doesn't actually have a smiling mouth, the more smiley the doll's painted lips are, the stranger the mouth looks up close.


I like how this doll has a slightly lopsided smile.  I'm not sure if it's a defect or if it's intentional, but it adds a lot of character.

Nikki has a band of eyeshadow over her brown eyes, and her blush looks a little better than Eva's, although it still ends abruptly on that outside edge:


I like Eva Marie more than Nikki, but Nikki is a more realistically-colored, friendlier-looking doll overall.  Here are a few pictures of her in her wrestling costume:



Her black knee-high socks have a band of vinyl at the top that prevents the socks from falling down.  This is a nice feature.  Also, the socks didn't stain Nikki's vinyl at all:


The extra outfit in this set is a black stretch knit dress with an accented neckline.  The trim on the neckline is ragged at the edges, though, which takes away some of the elegance of the dress:


Here's Nikki wearing the dress and the plastic high-heeled pumps that go with it:


I like how the shoes coordinate with Nikki's bright lips.


I'll have to try and fix that neckline because it really detracts from an otherwise great look.


review

There's some fun mixing and matching that can be done between my two dolls' outfits.  I especially like Eva with Nikki's red shorts and red shoes!


I have one more WWE Superstars doll to show you really quickly.

I bought this doll several months after I picked the first two.  I saw her on Amazon and thought she looked unique.  Also, she was only $12.

The Leaning Box of Asuka.
Her name is Asuka and she's modeled after a famous wrestler of Japanese descent.

There are three other dolls advertised on the back of Asuka's box (versions I've never seen before, of course):


I was drawn to Asuka's unique face mold, and also her bi-colored hair:


Her outfit is really simple, but I appreciate that it doesn't have any lettering on the front.  It's much more versatile than some of the other costumes.



Asuka's skin tone is lighter than Eva's and Nikki's, too, and I like this variability.


On closer inspection, I realized that Asuka does not, in fact, have a unique face mold.  It's the same as the other two.  Her eyes are set high on her face, though, and the style of her eye paint is different:


(She's also got quite a few paint smudges on her face, especially around her nose).

My new camera is not delivering on close-ups quite the way I want it to yet, so the picture of Asuka's eye isn't very good, but here's a side-by-side comparison of Asuka and Eva Marie's eyes so you can see the difference:


Asuka's eye (left) has visible dots in the texture of the paint, while Eva's eye paint is solid and bold.

Asuka's hair came with a lot of styling product in it.  I couldn't brush the stuff out, either.  It just crumbled into lots of dandruffy flakes:


The colors are great and the style is interesting.  There are wispy, angled bangs in the front, and then there's also a whole layer of shorter hair that goes all of the way around the head:


I like this doll, even with her lower-quality eye paint, smudged face, and crispy hair.



For some reason it occurred to me at this point to try the WWE Superstars clothing on one of my Curvy Barbie dolls.  

The tops are ok, but the pants and shorts are too tight at the waist and through the hips:

Curvy Barbie wearing WWE Superstars clothing.
Curvy Barbie wearing WWE Superstars clothing.
Here are a few pictures of Asuka in Nikki's black dress, which I think showcases her hair really well:



My favorite combination from the whole group of dolls and outfits is Eva Marie wearing Nikki's black dress and red shoes.  


There'd be no way to guess that this was a wrestling doll from these pictures, but maybe that's why I like the combination so much.  

Eva just looks like a striking, strong, glamorous woman with fabulous red hair:

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review

Bottom line?  I'm not sure what the audience is for fashion doll versions of professional wrestling celebrities.  It's not a world I know anything about, so I can't even begin to gauge the scope or enthusiasm in this particular niche market.

What I can say is that the dolls have plenty of interesting characteristics, even from the perspective of someone who knows nothing about wrestling.

First of all, the dolls have a highly articulated, muscular body that makes them stand apart from Barbie dolls, Disney Store dolls, and other popular fashion dolls in this scale.  I really like the muscular body.  I find it more realistic than the skinny body of regular and Made to Move Barbie dolls (which I rarely criticize).  The articulation is also quite good, especially in the arms.  I wish that the hips were more flexible, and I also wish that rotation of the lower leg was smoother, but overall it's a nice body.

Second, because of the dramatic personas of wrestling stars, many of the dolls have unusual hair styles, colorful hair, or strong facial expressions.  While I'm not always seeking out dolls with wild coloring, I do enjoy seeing this kind of diversity on the market.  It's refreshing.  I also don't think all of the Superstars' facial expressions look very good, but many of the dolls (like Eva) strike a great balance between accessible and tough.

To me, the problem with this line (other than the overload of small manufacturing flaws) is that the dolls are being marketed exclusively towards fans of the World Wrestling Entertainment.  At Target, the Superstars are displayed far away from the other fashion dolls, mixed in with the male wrestling action figures and adjacent to movie and video game collectibles.  That's a great aisle, by the way, it's just not where I go when I'm looking for a fashion doll. Also, because the dolls come dressed in their character's distinct wrestling costume (sometimes with a slogan or a bold-lettered name dominating the design), there's not much room for kids to use the toy for more generic imaginary play.  The deluxe sets are a nice solution to this problem, but there are fewer of those than of the basic sets, and I have yet to see any stand-alone clothing packs.

I think Mattel should just add this body type to their increasingly diverse Fashionistas line-up.  I don't know what they'd call the dolls (Fit Barbie?  Athlete Barbie?  Muscular Barbie??) but I suspect they'd be reasonably popular.  I know that their wardrobe sets would fly off the shelves, many of them into the hands of WWE Superstars and Wonder Woman doll owners (like me!) who are looking for a change in style.

21 comments:

  1. If you want to get great close shots, look into getting a 100mm prime macro lens. I think it's only EF, which will work for a crop and a full sensor Canon (EF-S's only work with crop sensors). I've gotten water droplets falling off of ladybugs with mine. :)

    Asuka's face is very different than usual, which makes me more interesting. I can hardly remember the difference in faces of the other two, but can clearly see Asuka.

    What gives Eva her fierce look is her eyebrows. Cover the top of any pic, and she's got a normal smile. Cover the bottom of any pic, and she looks like she's going to whomp you.

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  2. When Toys R Us was going out this past summer they had a lot of all three dolls in Eva's series. I almost got Eva, but I decided on Becky. I thought she kind of seemed like a goddess or something,but the best I could do for a goddess dress for the photos for my blog post was a vintage orange scarf. Sounds awful,but it turned out pretty well!

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  3. I have two of these dolls and just love them, but discovered the hard way that their hands aren’t removable! Yikes, I thought that was pretty much a standard feature these days in articulated fashion dolls!

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  4. I'm glad you finally got around to reviewing these! I bought two when my local Target was rearranging their store sections and they had a bunch of toys on clearance. I got Eva Marie and Becky Lynch because I'd been debating over which of the two red-heads to get for awhile. And at half off, I just grabbed both! (I think I saw Asuka too but I passed her up because it was too hard of a choice to pick between all three and she wasn't as deeply discounted.)

    I was really disappointed with the lower leg limitations though, considering these dolls are wrestlers and they should be able to crouch as well as grapple! So, I've only unboxed Eva thus far. (I'll get to Becky eventually. In my defense, I really need to redo my display case before I bother adding more dolls.)

    I also didn't quite like the feel of Eva's golden leggings, so I tried a couple of different pants, to no avail, before I put my Made to Move Soccer Barbie's black shorts on Eva. (I actually have a pair of big retro Barbie pants with some red flowers that I thought would do the job but they're way too big. I think the elastic is over-stretched or something. Maybe a belt...)

    Er, anyway, I guess I just need find more chairs for everyone to sit in, since the WWE ladies sit so well. Still really annoying that they're meant to be active and their legs ruin that option. I agree that they should've put these dolls in with the other fashion dolls, I only saw them because they were on the end of that aisle and the bright colors caught my eye, but I wouldn't be surprised if their unfortunate hip-joint short-comings have also kept them from getting much buzz.

    Oh! Btw, I saw Sasha Banks that same day. I wanted to get one of the deluxe ones for the extra outfit BUT Sasha's dress looked like it was made from the same kind of fabric as Eva's leggings which turned me off. Maybe there are dresses like that out there and it'd certainly be nice and stretchy, making it easy to get on and off, but I just think it looked kind of weird. I also wish they'd kept Sasha's dress light blue, like they are in some of the Amazon photos (I'm assuming those are from the prototype doll.)


    Poor Becky Lynch though... I'm a bit of a hypocrite, since I found the new Marvel line of Super Hero dolls, bought the deluxe Squirrel Girl immediately, and unboxed her same day. Then she also disappointed me since her legs are green under her tights... which is way less versatile than I wanted. They re-used the legs from the standard Squirrel Girl and hid them... I also have a sneaking suspicion that while she has Made to Move knees (I think most of this line does), her hips will also limit her posing options. But at least she stands well and has articulated elbows and wrists! Some of those poor dolls only have shoulder articulation. So, at least Squirrel Girl is on the WWE ladies level while having a relatively unique body. I'm still really irritated at how Mattel cuts costs. I get why but there has to be a better way!

    /End Rant Mode ;P

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  5. Great to see you reviewing these, even if their retail presence has been diminishing with the fall of TrU. As a pro wrestling fan and a doll collector, I can offer a few interesting tidbits:

    - I couldn't help but chuckle while reading your review of Eva when you mentioned how little of a wrestler she resembled and how photogenic she is. That's because she was actually released by WWE just before these dolls hit stores. She never was that talented in the ring, even after going through a lot of training, and many fans believed she was just hired because of her good looks. She's since moved on to modeling and creating her own fashion lines, so the argument could be made she was never too invested in wrestling to begin with.

    - The real wrestling stars made in this line are Sasha Banks, Charlotte Flair, Bayley, and Becky Lynch, known as the "Four Horsewomen" of the WWE. In the developmental territory they regularly tore the house down with their performances and have been making a number of historic firsts for women on the main roster, such as main eventing shows and putting on longer, more intense matches that typically only the men did in the past. That's why they're a bit more prominent in the line than the others.

    - Like pretty much all of Mattel's "niche" doll lines, this one also looks to be on precarious ground. The original line-up, the seven you see on Eva and Nikki's boxes, was a TrU exclusive when first released, before hitting other stores about six months later. Because TrU kinda overstocked them, sales dried up, especially when it came to the other stores. A second wave, containing those on Asuka's box as well as at least three more deluxe figures, has barely made it into stores. Most of mine had to be bought off Amazon because my Target barely ever stocked them, and I don't think Walmart ever did. According to Amazon a few more are slated for release next year, including a Ronda Rousey, but it seems this line is going the way of Monster High, Ever After High, DC Superhero Girls, etc, etc.

    - The general pattern for releases has been to have the basics in general clothing, sometimes with a logo or phrase attributed to the performer somewhere, while the deluxe ones come in wrestling gear with an alternate dress to switch them into. There was also a five pack released to TrU of Sasha, Nikki, Brie, and Natalya in alternate colored wrestling gear, with Becky in her first, and so far only, wrestling gear. Another 5-pack showed up on Amazon briefly, with the first ever Stephanie McMahon and others in wrestling gear, but who knows if it'll ever show up.

    - And a couple little notes for J. Stanley above, Sasha was released in two deluxe versions, one with white gear and a green dress, and a more recent one with red gear and a blue dress. Plus, Marvel Rising is by Hasbro, not Mattel, so there wouldn't be any part sharing. There is with the Star Wars Forces of Destiny, since Hasbro also did those. Hopefully they put more care and effort in to Marvel Rising, as they are nice so far, but when they're releasing dolls with double knees and no arm articulation, it seems unlikely.

    That's probably more than enough for now. Boy, do I type a lot...

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    1. Ah, my mistake! They have knees that are super similar, hence my immediate assumption. Perhaps beyond cutting corners, Hasbro was also leery of being sued by Mattel for trying to reverse engineer or otherwise suss out joints that are really similar to Mattel's super popular Made to Move series. I like where they're going tho and I also hope they push further in subsequent releases but it does seem very unlikely.

      Re: Sasha Banks, I don't recall her outfit being white. I remember it being purple like this.

      https://www.flickr.com/photos/98505944@N03/40011857995/in/photostream/

      Also, here's the green dress. The style is good, the material just seems weird and off-putting to me.

      https://www.flickr.com/photos/98505944@N03/27034998688/in/photostream/


      But if they actually released her with the red outfit and this blue dress, then that's a huge improvement IMHO. XD

      https://shop.wwe.com/wwe-superstars-sasha-banks-fashion-doll-%28version-2%29/K10068.html

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    2. Whoops, forgot to add a promo picture I found. Also a good close-up of the green dress. I love the gold lining there.

      https://shop.wwe.com/on/demandware.static/-/Sites-main/default/dw6ba61ab9/images/large/K10027.jpg

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    3. And I'm sorry for responding so much but I just found this which is amazing. I love both outfits. XD

      https://i.pinimg.com/originals/52/e6/76/52e67648ea85b31551a251c43cf5c5f8.jpg

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    4. That's my bad, I immediately said white because that's what the one I had on display was wearing. Yes, the first release was purple and the green dress. The second release is red and the blue dress, which I just happened to get from Amazon yesterday and swapped out the white outfit for. The white outfit came from the 5-pack.

      That Sasha and Charlotte duo was an exclusive release for SDCC in 2017, as part of announcing the line as a whole. That's probably the most accurate ring gear they've done for any of them so far, such a shame it's so pricey to acquire now.

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    5. NP! It's an easy mistake to make. Oh yeah, I forgot about the 5-pack too. They all have different outfits in that.

      That really is a shame that duo was such an exclusive. I think if they'd been selling them in such fancy outfits there'd be a lot more interest! WWE costumes are still costumes and while having some casual options are nice it's better to set them apart with the more theatrical stuff. I'm guessing they wanted to keep costs low but they could've had an additional line with deluxe outfits like this and just sold the casual outfits separately.

      Which reminds me... do doll clothes usually sell worse than dolls? It feels like there's always a huge push for the dolls over just the clothing, which is why some lines don't even bother. I realize with so many distinctive bodies that a few won't sell as well but it's really annoying.

      Then again, I know for instance Build-a-Bear is always pushing their plush over the clothes... but I feel like that's because the clothes sell themselves and there's only so much space for plush so they have to discount their expensive plush half the time just to sell them, even if they're pretty cute. Maybe it's the same with dolls? Depending on the size it gets harder to find room and even smaller fashion dolls take up space after awhile. Hrmm... :/

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  6. Great review!
    My Charlotte Flair should be coming in the mail today! I'm a big WWE fan and it's great to have wrestlers in doll form. Sasha Banks said she loved Barbies as a kid and all the women seemed very happy about their dolls.

    A lot of collectors seem to like the the dolls, even if they aren't wrestling fans, which is cool. I just wish some of the dolls were more fitting to the characters. It just seems like whoever designs the line isn't really familiar the WWE. The likenesses aren't that great and I would prefer that the basic dolls come in ring attire as well. It would be cool to see fashion packs with different ring attire (Charlotte's gorgeous robes & Asuka's mask!) & titles belts! Casual clothes just don't seem exciting for these specific dolls since the real women have such an amazing job. It's like a superhero wearing their iconic costume!

    What the line really needs is a ring! What's the point of having wrestlers with no place place to work? What if kids want their dolls to have a Royal Rumble or make Charlotte do a moonsault from the top rope? They should have made a scale ring after the first line of dolls.

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    1. Yes, yes, and yes. To all of that. Unfortunately, it seems like Mattel just didn't want to go the extra mile with this line. On top of all that, if these were truly meant to be wrestlers, they should have had more articulation from the start. Double-jointed elbows and a torso cut would have made it far easier to re-enact many moves.

      It doesn't help that Mattel found one body type and has stuck with it, when it's not completely accurate for many of them. Yeah, they were never going to make an accurate body for every single superstar, but some variation would have been nice. Alexa should be smaller than the others, Asuka a tiny bit wider, and Natalya more muscular. The Marvel Rising dolls came right out of the gate with a different body type for almost every one, so it could have been done. And let's not even get started on Nia Jax, whom it looks like Mattel isn't going to touch with a 10-mile pole at this rate.

      Had Mattel gone all in on this line, it could've been amazing. As it is, it's a pretty decent collection of female superstars in a style that helps them stand out from the action figure line. Best enjoyed when you can find them for under MSRP on Amazon, which does happen often.

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  7. Thank you for the wonderful review. I love your photos and think they look great, but know you will get the most out of the new to you cannon as you fine tune the settings.
    ~Xyra

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  8. I really enjoyed this review. Looking at the dolls, the body seems very similar to the Monster High big sister mould, especially in the limbs - the torso is more adult. Even though MH is dead, I'm excited to see a similar body style still being used, it looks great on non-monster dolls!

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  9. So I just bought a couple Phicen dolls, because of course I did.... And your reviews were incredibly helpful. I almost got the Chris Redfield head, but saw that the color match was off. So I'm taking a chance on James Franco. Anyway, have you searched yet for clothing for the M33 body? I'm wondering if outfits that fit Tonner male dolls fit. Do any of the Tonner female dolls fit the S17B body? I also got that one. So...yeah, you got me on Tonners, and now on Phicen. :D

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  10. Wait...different heights. Well, the rest then. Any luck finding stuff they fit? :)

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  11. came upon your site by accident. can't tear myself away... susan

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  12. Psst, love the site, hoping to make my own doll site soon, but in the mean time, I urge you to review the new Glitter Girls! They're a step up from the last round, I think.

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  13. I really wanted to love the WWE dolls, with their muscular physique and all that, but their bodies are so disappointing! Those knees are iffy, and the hands look ready to just fall off the wrist joint. Also, the faces are kind of unsettling to me.

    In reply to your Barbie body type comment -- have you seen there's a new Made to Move doll with the tall body type? She's a basketball player (of course).

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  14. Long time, no hear. I hope you're doing all right.

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  15. Love your site! You should check out Special Dolls, a line of dolls with disabilities.

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