Sunday, July 21, 2013

Pinkie Cooper by The Bridge Direct

Pinkie Cooper is a line of new 9-inch fashion dolls invented by Carter Bryant and his sister Anjanette Abell.  The line is distributed by The Bridge Direct.  Mr. Bryant is also the designer of the popular Bratz line, so the release of these dolls has been highly anticipated.  I first heard about Pinkie from my friend Lily back in February.  She sent me pictures of the Toy Fair display and I was intrigued.  The thing about Pinkie and her friends is that they have dog heads.  Not only that--they have English toy spaniel heads.  The English toy spaniel is a dog breed that can look ridiculously adorable, but also quite grouchy.  Turning this breed into a cute, friendly-looking fashion doll can not have been an easy task.  I think Mr. Bryant and Ms. Abell rose to the challenge, though.

Meet Pinkie Cooper:

Pinkie Cooper doll
Pinkie Cooper by The Bridge Direct.
Pinkie Cooper has two English toy spaniel friends, Pepper Parsons and Ginger Jones.  These three charming canines are students at New York City's World of Original Fashion academy, dubbed "WOOF" for short.  The acronym cheats a little, since small words like "of" don't usually get included, but that's ok.  I'm more dismayed by the fact that this line has yet another fashion design backstory.  Jeez.  Why can't any of these dolls be well-dressed musicians or detectives or something?  I mean, a dog playing the flute might seem strange, but my poodle can howl a mean jazz tune.  Or he thinks he can, anyway.

Despite the uncreative personalities that these dolls have been given, I instantly like several things about the line.  First of all, the name Pinkie Cooper is wonderful.  It rolls off the tongue.  Apparently, the character was named after Mr. Bryant's own dog.  Pinkie sounds like a dog's name, but paired with the traditional last name Cooper, it works for a humanoid, too.  Pepper Parsons and Ginger Jones have perfect names as well.  Pepper and Ginger make the crossover between dog and human names even more gracefully than the name Pinkie. 

The second thing I like right off the bat is Pinkie's packaging.  All of the products come in brown and pink striped cardboard window boxes.  The simplicity of the design and the vintage feel to the color scheme and font are very appealing:


I knew that Pinkie was a 9-inch doll before I saw her, but I was still surprised to see how small she is.  She's much shorter than dolls like Monster High and Barbie, and her box has less excess, too.  It's a nice, compact box.  Here's Pinkie next to Ever After High Briar Beauty's box:


And next to my hand:

She's a tiny little thing.
The sides and back of the box have cartoon drawings of the dolls and some writing, but it doesn't feel as overwhelmingly packed with bright colors and text as many doll boxes:


Here's the humdrum backstory:


The international jet setter theme reminds me of the La Dee Da Runway Vacay line.  Been there, seen that.

Pinkie, Pepper and Ginger each have a pet dog.  I've mentioned before how strange I think it is when animal characters have animal pets.  You know--the Pluto/Goofy conundrum.  If you can get past dogs having dogs for pets, though, these puppies are pretty cute:

Pinkie's pet Li'l Pinkie.
Pepper's pet, Saltine.
Ginger's pet, Sprinkles.
Here is Li'l Pinkie in real life.  I'll do a separate review of her later because there's already too much to say about big Pinkie.


For now, I'll mention two things about the dogs.  First, they don't look much like the drawings on the box.  Instead of flowing, curly ears, Li'l pinky has hard plastic ears covered in pink glitter.  Second, while Pinkie Cooper is smaller than I expected, Li'l Pinkie is larger than I expected.  I think that both of these size surprises are for the best.  Pinkie's petiteness makes her more appealing and Li'l Pinkie's substantial size makes her seem more worth her price.  Could they have picked a different name, though?  Two Pinkies is confusing.

English toy spaniels really squint and smile like that!
Speaking of price, I don't actually know what the retail price of these dolls actually is.  Because I have no patience and couldn't wait for the dolls to hit the shelves in Maine, I have been shopping online.  Online prices are all over the map right now.  I found Pinkie for $16.99 and Li'l Pinkie for $8.99 at Amazon.  These might be the real prices, but I suspect that they should be slightly lower. We'll see.

The other interesting information on the back of the box is a nice description of the doll's ear-changing capabilities:


The combination of illustrations and captions is very clear and concise.  My interpretation is that the hair concept is like Cutie Pops hair, but the ears have attachment pegs like Liv wigs or Create-A-Monster wigs.  It looks fun!

Inside the box, there's another description of how the hair works:


This is also pretty clear--although I am not sure it's necessary.  It does give the tip that the two-toned ear hair can be flipped and inserted into the opposite side of the doll's head, putting a different color hair in front:


I was a little confused about the hat directions, though.  This doll doesn't come with a hat.  Or does she?  More about that later.

Despite the polite recommendation, I might not keep these instructions.
I think I've got it.
Back to Pinkie: 


A pink cardboard insert slides out of the main box.  The back of this insert looks intimidating:


Getting her out of the box is pretty easy--there are just a few plastic tabs that hold the limbs and some clear rubber bands and thread that need to be cut.  When I got to her hair, though, it looked tricky:


The hair is sewn onto another plastic tab and it doesn't budge:


It turns out that just snipping that one thread is enough to instantly free the doll, though, so it wasn't such a big deal.  The packaging is medium-good.  I love the simple design and the frugal size, and it's mostly cardboard, but all of the plastic attachments and supports on this insert will make it a pain to recycle:


Pinkie comes with a pair of shoes, a brush and a plastic purse:


The purse is very small and doesn't open:

Boo.
It has the same molded design on both sides--a stylized profile of Pinkie:


The brush has the same design:


The brush isn't that useful.  The bristles are sparse and crooked.  Truth be told, I tend to just use a Liv brush for all of my dolls.  I find it to have the best design and the most effective bristles.


This long-haired face design reminds me a lot of the Ever After High logo:


And is also strikingly similar to the Equestria Girls brush:


Here's Pinkie out of the box:


Her feet are tiny and have a very high arch, so there's no way she will be able to stand on her own without shoes:

Nubbins.
In her pink shoes, she at least has a flat surface to balance on:


She can stand alone in her shoes, but only for a few seconds, and only after a lot of balancing effort:

Pinkie Cooper doll

Here she is from the back--she still has several of the packaging threads dangling from her clothes:


I don't know what to call her hair.  Is it hair?  Ears?  I can't call it ear hair, because that suggests something else.  I also can't call them ear wigs...because an earwig is a creepy little bug.  Let's stick with hair, I guess.  Her hair has a lot of styling product in it, and comes out of the box crimped, stiff and a little bedraggled:



It combs out nicely, and retains only a little bit of coarseness at the very ends:


The two things that fascinated me the most about this doll, aside from her canine head, were her eyes and the mechanics of her hair.  I decided to examine her eyes and face first.


Pinkie has a white vinyl head that is painted with a tan pattern typical of the English toy spaniel breed:

English toy spaniels don't have a pink heart on their foreheads, though.
She even has the distinctive thick "eyebrow" spots that give the English toy spaniel its characteristic inquisitive expression...although I am not sure that the brown and white "Blenheim" color version of this breed actually has those eyebrow spots. 


She has inset eyes that are glancing upwards.  The eyes look like they should open and close or move from side to side, but they do not.  They are made out of opaque hard plastic and don't have any depth to them like Bratzillaz eyes or Liv eyes.  They do have a lot of painted detail:

Pinkie Cooper doll

The irises are light brown with a green inner rim.  There are two painted reflective spots in each eye, but the shiny surface of the eye also reflects light in real life.


There are three colors of eyeshadow: two thick bands in different shades of pink, and a middle thin band of purple:


It's not obvious that the eyes are inset.  The painted hard plastic looks a lot like the painted vinyl, and so there's not a lot of contrast between the two areas.  I would be interested to see what the eyes look like with a layer of glossy sealant painted over them--just to add a little more sparkle.

Here you can see the small gap around the lower edge of the eye, confirming that it's inset:


The eyeballs are not spherical in shape.  The top edge of the eye indents along the contour of the upper eyelid, and then the plastic eyelashes are tucked into the gap above the eyeball.


This is a unique new take on the inset eye idea.  I am glad to see something different.

Pinkie has a tiny little pink dog nose and an open, smiling mouth:


The jowly English toy spaniel can definitely look grouchy, but it can appear to be smiling, too, so this is an appropriate interpretation of the breed.  Pinkie's lower lip has a very human lined pattern to it, though:


This style of lined lip paint reminds me of some BJD face-ups.  This might be intentional since there have been human/animal hybrids in the BJD world for quite a while.  Pinkie Cooper and her friends remind me of several of the anthro BJDs--the Pipos dogs and cats, and the ResinSoul dog to name a few.  Even the insanely cute Hujoo dogs bear a certain resemblance.

Here is Pinkie's profile:


Her profile accentuates how enormous her eyes are, and how small her muzzle and nose are in comparison.  I think real English toy spaniels actually have flatter noses than this, though.

The top of Pinkie's head has a shiny, pattern baldness look about it:


This shiny, cue ball appearance might have been lessened with some more painted areas on the doll's head--like if the white on her face had extended further up her forehead.

The thing is, this doll isn't trying to be pretty.  Other doll lines are verbally promoting the idea of being happy with yourself just the way you are.  I think this is a great message, but perhaps by unapologetically sporting a dog's face and a mostly-bald hairstyle, Pinkie Cooper is doing more for that cause than any slogan could hope to accomplish.

You go, girl.
Ok, now let's look at the mechanics of the little bit of hair that Pinkie does have.


Each pigtail is essentially a mini rooted wig.  The wig has two colors of hair--blonde in front and brown in back.  In the center of each wig, there's a white plastic square that peeks through the hair:



That square is the back side of a plastic peg that inserts into the doll's head.  The square provides a nice pushing surface for firmly inserting the peg into the head.  Both wigs were held in place in the box with a piece of tan thread that was strung through the doll's head.


The pegs have plastic ridges that help keep them in place, and from what I can tell so far, the hair stays in place nicely.


The rooted hair is sewn down and is pretty thick:


Here's another shot of the hair, parted so that you can see the plastic peg and the clear wig cap:


Just as the instructions suggest, Pinkie's two wigs can swap sides so that the brown half of her hair is in front:


The brown-haired Pinkie in particular makes me think of the 1993 Fisher Price pull toy dog.  My son had this dog and adored him.  His name was Funter.  I think my son wanted to name him "Thunder," but the mispronunciation was too cute to pass up.

 Cousins?

I like both hair colors, but slightly prefer her with the brunette in front--it breaks up the paleness of her head paint:

Pinkie Cooper doll

What the instructions don't mention, is that you can flip the wigs upside down and have a hairstyle with more body:


There are some styling possibilities with this unusual hair.  For instance, simple braids look nice, and they mix up the two colors of hair:


This is essentially the Cutie Pops concept--a childlike, wholesome doll with removable mix-and match hair.  You know I am a fan of the Cutie Pops, but Pinkie Cooper has them beat.


Bald Pinkie is also very cute--especially from the front:


From the sides, you can see the holes where the wig pegs fit, and from the back, there's just a vast, unadorned tan area.


I couldn't help but play around and see what a different pattern of white would look like on Pinkie.  How about this: no eyebrow spots, and the white travels further back on the head (which does happen with the real dogs):


My lines are jagged and rough, but I actually like it this way--it suggests a furry texture.  I foresee some very creative repaints with this doll!  I would love to see Pinkie repainted as different breeds of dog.

Pinkie is wearing a pink party dress that is not the same as the dress pictured on the box:


Both dresses have a beaded neckline that looks like a dog collar. This is fantastic:


The dress has an animal print bodice and a two-layered full skirt.  

Tulle over pink satin.
The waistline is accented with a gold ribbon bow.


The dress closes in back with velcro:


All of the pieces of the dress are permanently attached:


The stitching seems fine, and the bodice has a bit of stretch to it, which makes dressing and undressing less stressful on the hems and seams.


Here are some pictures of the plastic collar accent up close:


It is made up of five square segments, each with a rhinestone in the middle:


The beaded collar is sewn to the back of the dress on each side, so it lifts up to reveal a mock turtleneck collar underneath:


Pinkie wears a single gold plastic bracelet that coordinates with the collar:



Pinkie's shoes are a little frustrating.  They have a ring that encircles her ankle, but this piece fits tightly, and so it is hard to get off.  


The shoes are made out of a very bendable vinyl.  They have a rose pattern on the front:



Pinkie tends to slide sideways out of her shoes:


Most of Pinkie's body is made out of flexible vinyl.  Her torso is hard plastic.  She has nine points of articulation, including internal click knee joints.  Look at how bendy her limbs are:



The most noticeable thing about her body at first glance is that she has peachy-pink blush on the front and back of her elbow and knee joints.  I wonder why they didn't make the body spotted?   I would have preferred that to the super-pale white with the funny blush.


The doll also has an unusual shape to her torso.  She's very short-waisted and teardrop shaped--especially in profile, and she has big, gaping hip joint sockets:


Here are some zoomed-in shots so you can see her features more clearly:



She has a rotating peg hip joint with a hinge:


Her knees can click twice--or at least that's as much as I am willing to bend them after what happened to my new Disney Store Rapunzel's knees.  The two clicks do not bend the knee joint very much.  Here's a picture with one knee fully extended and one knee fully flexed:

Notice her four brown spots--they're only on that left leg, though.
Most of her body features are purely human.  Her hands, however, have some dog qualities (claws and four prominent fingers) mixed in with a basic human hand shape:


I like how unique the hands are, but they're not terribly expressive.  Both hands are in the same basic position, with the thumb extended and the other fingers in a gripping pose.


Whether it is intentional or not, Pinkie's mouth and hand position are perfectly suited to a thumb sucking pose:


The heavy blushing causes some problems around her elbow joint.  When the arm is in an unrotated position, the blush looks fine:


But when she rotates her arm, the blush on the upper arm doesn't line up with the blush on the lower arm anymore:


She has an outie bellybutton (an umbilical hernia) and molded, unpainted underpants with little bows on them:


Here are some of Pinkie's poses:







Pinkie Cooper doll



Pinkie Cooper doll

As you can see, Pinkie is much shorter than many of the popular play dolls.  Here she is with Monster High, Bratzillaz, Liv and a Disney Store doll:

Monster High Clawdeen, Bratzillaz Meygana, Pinkie Cooper, Liv Katie, Disney Store Rapunzel.
 I also wondered how Pinkie would compare to Ever After High Apple White and a La Dee Da doll:


After comparing her to most of my similarly-sized dolls, I think she is most comparable in torso proportion to Monster High, Ever After High, La Dee Da and maybe Cutie Pops.


In terms of clothes sharing, Pinkie's dress does not fit Cutie Pops dolls at all.  It's obscenely short on both Clawdeen and Apple, and it won't close in back on Apple's wider frame.  The style does suit Clawdeen, though.


La Dee Da wins, with the dress being really short, but closing nicely in back:


On the flip side, La Dee Da's tight dress doesn't do any favors for Pinkie's figure.  It looks ok from a distance...


...but up close, the ill fit is obvious:


Apple White's dress looks like it fits, with just a little difficulty getting it closed in back:


But there's a huge gap in the bust:


In general, Pinkie's proportions are different from most other fashion dolls.  She has a small chest, a short torso, and a larger belly and hip region than a typical fashion doll.  This makes it difficult for her to wear other dolls' clothes.


While I was sharing clothes around, it occurred to me that Liv wigs might fit Pinkie--especially if the peg is cut out.  I did have one Liv wig lying around with its peg removed, so I gave it a try:

Ah!  My eyes!
It fits...but I'm not sure it's a good idea.  The full head of hair looks bizarre on her.  I actually prefer her with a partially bald head!

Here's Pinkie back in her normal hair:

Phew.
Pinkie was relaxing on my couch in between photo shoots when my little Chihuahua mix dog, Felix Charlemagne Monkeypants (aka "Pants") wandered into the room.

Why, hello there, stranger.
Pants isn't usually interested in my dolls, but Pinkie provoked some powerful reactions from him.  Initially, things didn't look like they were going to go very well...



But after they sniffed each other Pinkie asserted her dominance...


I think they're starting to form a nice relationship.  


Maybe Pants could be the forth character in the Pinkie Cooper lineup?

Pinkie Cooper doll

So, this review is already long, but I have a few more interesting things I'd like to add before I call it a day.  First of all, it wasn't as simple as me just ordering a Pinkie Cooper doll from Amazon for $16.99.  Before I did that, I ordered a Pinkie Cooper doll from eBay, because it seemed like the dolls had only arrived in Great Britain, and I am not a patient person.  Unfortunately, my British Pinkie Cooper took a long time to arrive...and again, I am not a patient person.  Of course, the day after my Amazon Pinkie came (the one featured in this review) my gal from overseas showed up.  Notice anything about these two?  They're not the same:

Pinkie Cooper doll

British Pinkie has ditched the hairbrush and has a hat instead:

Well, it's more of a headband.
That's a fascinating swap, isn't it?  I suppose I could try to second-guess what it is about British and American cultures that made it seem beneficial for the American doll to have a hairbrush and the British doll to have a hat.  I mean, the Brits sport some pretty spectacular hats, and Americans certainly brush their hair (or maybe the rest of you do?) but it's hard to believe that these are important cultural details.  My guess is that The Bridge Direct is just trying out two different versions of the doll and wants the test audiences to be separated by an ocean.  Or something like that.  

I significantly prefer the British hat version--especially with this doll's hair pattern.

Less interesting, but still different, are the backs of the two boxes.  The British version has a large cartoon of Pinkie, with the other two dolls appearing in the lower right hand corner.  The pet dogs aren't on the British box at all:


I actually ordered Pinkie and Pepper from eBay, and so British Pepper arrived after I started this review, too:


I like Pinkie quite a lot, but I am really, really excited about Pepper.  Pepper has much more authentic English toy spaniel coloring...including an uneven white patch on her face.  


She's wearing a different dress form the garment pictured on the box, and she doesn't have the cool dog collar neckline, but I like her dress and I love the color combinations with her dark skin:

Pinkie Cooper Pepper doll


She has nondescript little high-heeled clogs:


Pepper has lovely green eyes and a black nose:

Pinkie Cooper Pepper doll

Pepper's eyes don't seem as upward-glancing as Pinkie's eyes.  The pupils still leave some of the white showing at the bottom, but not a lot.  I think this will make Pepper more fun to pose than Pinkie--she might look at the camera more reliably.  This difference between the dolls is so minor, it's probably just a variation in eye placement, not a difference between all Pepper and all Pinkie dolls.

Pinkie Cooper Pepper doll

In my opinion, Pepper is a show-stealer.  She is a special little doll.  She could very well snatch the spotlight away from Pinkie.  I have not seen Ginger yet, but now I am really curious about how her coloring looks in real life.

Since this review is mostly about Pinkie, though, let me get back to her.

As I was playing around with Pinkie, the most frustrating things to me were the fact that she can't stand on her own and that she has unexpressive, clunky hands.  Pinkie's inability to stand is not something that will impact her play value much at all...it's mostly a hassle for photography. 

The hands detract a bit from the overall personality of the doll, though.  I mean, she can hitchhike really well, but she can't strike a lot of other interesting poses that involve her hands.


Here are some of my better shots:

 

Pinkie Cooper doll



Pinkie Cooper doll



Bottom line?  I am often complaining about how similar play dolls seem these days.  I will certainly not be complaining about that with Pinkie Cooper.  Ms. Cooper stands out from the crowd as a refreshing new take on a fashion doll.  Pinkie is not completely original, though.  Not only do many of the BJD companies produce anthropomorphic animal dolls, but dolls like this have graced the toy world before, too.  As Quiche pointed out in the 13-Wishes Clawdeen review comment section, Catwalk Kitties and Peteena Poodle dolls put animal heads on fashion bodies long before Pinkie was invented.

I have practically no significant complaints about Pinkie Cooper.  In general, I am not crazy about flexible, rubbery limbs on fashion dolls.  Given a choice between a doll with a hard plastic, highly articulated body and a doll with a bendable, less articulated body, I'd almost always choose hard plastic.  For this doll, though, the bendable limbs add a softness that is very appealing, and is also very appropriate for the nature of the doll.  Pinkie is a soft, gentle character whose cheerful face will beg hugs and kisses from her younger owners.  Pinkie's pliant limbs will welcome these embraces.

I don't like all of the painting decisions that were made with this doll.  I think her body would have been even better if it had continued the English toy spaniel color pattern seen in the head...or at least done without the heavy pink blushing.  I think the head paint could be more lopsided and realistic, and could have been distributed more evenly across her head...but these critiques are minor.  Overall, I love that the designers tried to stay true to color patterns seen in a real breed of dog.  Pinkie's face is good, and I think Pepper's face is even better.

The outfit is not spectacular, and it doesn't seem to be compatible with most other play dolls.  The shoes are frustrating to get on and off, and they don't support the feet very well.  The American version of the doll is missing the wonderful hat.  There are a few clever design elements in Pinkie's dress, like the dog collar neckline and the animal print bodice, but for the most part this is just a generic, well-made play doll dress.  This is not meant as a criticism, per se, because I feel like if you're making a doll with a dog's head, for goodness sake, you shouldn't really go overboard with originality in the other elements of that doll.  The dress is sweet, modest and fashionable...and it suits Pinkie very well.

Pinkie's hair gave me mixed reactions at first, with it's strange bald pattern and odd mix of human and canine qualities.  In the end, though, the hair is one of the things I like best about Pinkie.  She doesn't look right with a full wig and her hair is soft and creatively done.  I am very excited to try out some of the hair and fashion add-on packs.  I think that Pinkie's hair gives her recognizable dog ears while offering a decent amount of styleable human-like hair.  In fact, Pinkie's appeal is all about striking balances like this.  She's a perfect size.  She's large enough to be easy to dress and play with, but she's small enough that her dog characteristics aren't overwhelming.  I think that if her head was scaled up to fit a 12 inch doll, the features would become slightly disturbing.  Pinkie also strikes a great balance between being a fashion doll and being an animal figure.  Little kids who like animals will find enough doggy cuteness in her face to fall in love...and yet she still offers a nice figure and fun clothes to kids who are primarily interested in fashion dolls.  

Maybe what I love best about Pinkie is that she is stylish and charming, but she is by no means beautiful.  She is humbly accessible and completely unthreatening.  If I were my six-year-old self, and was standing in the toy aisle confronted by Barbie's glamorous, haughty stare on the one hand, and Pinkie Cooper's disarming, quirky grin on the other...I know which one I'd choose.

Pinkie Cooper doll

54 comments:

  1. Dang, I wish comments could be edited. Anyway, just caught this as you put it up! I think so many dolls have fashion design themes the way so many of the books I read as a girl had girl characters who wanted to become authors. Go with what you know! Barbie did have a detective line at one point, at least.

    I wanted to let you know that I put up some pictures of the AG violin with rosin on my dolly blog. I decided to get in on the doll blogging fun everyone else was having!

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    1. That's an excellent point, Barb! I forget that doll designers are usually fashion designers, too! I suppose if I ever made a doll line, the dolls would be teachers, veterinarians, bloggers, horse-lovers and doll collectors. :D

      I LOVE that AG violin with the rosin and everything! I was excited to see your new blog, too! It looks great!

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  2. These have been popping up all over flickr recently and I've been completely dumbfounded as to what they are and what people find so special about them. After this, I don't find them ugly anymore, but still not something I have to own. She certainly is an adorable, creative little thing though, and I can see a lot of little girls eventually falling in love with her sweet face and appearance. Thanks for a great review as always! I have to ask, when is your American Girl doll review coming up? I'm checking the site almost everyday for it! xD

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    1. Hi Emma! I am glad you don't find her ugly anymore! I have to admit that I had a lukewarm reaction to the Toy Fair pictures. I think my first thought was, "um...no, way." I think I have been getting used to her gradually by looking at release pictures, and then in person, she's even cuter. So, now I am hooked. :)

      I will put my AG girl near the top of my list! I am VERY anxious to review her. I might post her science kit review first, while I get all of the doll pictures taken. Maybe by Friday? I'll try for sooner.

      Delete
  3. Very, very cute little doggie dolls! It sort of makes me wish that the 80's icon Poochie had been the subject of this line, though. She'd have fit right in! I haven't seen these yet in local stores, but I may have to pick one up. I was a little surprised that the eyes on these dolls didn't move. They almost looked like they could in the photos.

    I wonder if Novi Stars' clothes and shoes would fit Pinkie Cooper?

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    1. Sorry, Presto--I did check Novi Star clothes and shoes and forgot to report! They do not fit. :( Or at least my Alie Lectric's dress is much to small and the shoes are too tight.

      I thought the eyes might be able to move, too! How great would that have been? Oh, well.

      Oh...I remember Poochie. She was so cute! :D Whenever I think of her, I also think of Monchichi! LOL!

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  4. Oh, she's cute! I went on a doll search yesterday... found NOTHING. No Pinkie Cooper, no Equestria Girls (if I don't get my Rarity soon I am going to hit things), no new MH... it was a bust. Hopefully soon though, I need a Pinkie Cooper!

    Now...

    Truth be told, I tend to just use a Liv brush for all of my dolls. I find it to have the best design and the most effective bristles.

    Please, please promise me you won't use *shudder* a plastic brush on your AG doll. Really, don't use them on any doll hair. Plastic bristles are so very, very not good for doll hair in the long run. I don't know why they insist on giving us a million plastic brushes with things when they ruin doll hair.

    Either order a brush from American Girl - I think they're 8 bucks - or when you go to Sally and get your braid spray (which you can use on any toy with synthetic hair!) get yourself a wig brush. Make sure it has metal bristles - including the tips of the bristles, you don't want them covered in plastic, you want metal through out - and use that for your dolls. It doesn't damage their hair, and it's made for synthetic hair. Your dolls will thank you for this.

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    1. Same here: DO NOT use plastic on AG! or a brush you used on your hair, or one with the little plastic tips, ect, ect, ect. A full list can be seen here: http://www.justmagicdolls.com/articles/HairCare/HairCare101.htm
      (BTW, I use the website listed above for ALL my rescue dolls. It's a great site.. XD)
      -Juliet

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    2. YES. I have that site bookmarked!

      Except I side-eye the use of auto products in their hair. Son of a Gun? Really? :/ I don't want my dolly smelling like a car interior. I mean... braid spray exists!

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    3. I've been wanting some braid spray... but a tiny bit of fabric softener mixed with water will have work for now.. (:
      I LOVE Just Magic! As far as I know, it's the only site that has step-by-step process to fixing dolls all in one spot! Re-wigging, stain removal, hair fixes; it's all there.
      -Juliet

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    4. No worries, I have a metal brush for my AG. :D I use the Liv brush for my smaller dolls...but maybe that's a bad idea, too? :-O

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    5. Hmmmm...Maybe? I would suggest using an AG brush on all hair, just to be safe. (:
      -Juliet
      (Have you opened your AG yet??????? The anticipation is killing me!)

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    6. I will soon, Juliet! She's practically screaming at me from the box at this point! I am writing up the (short) science set review, and the doll will follow shortly after that. :D

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    7. OK! I can (hopefully) go a few more days without exploding from excitement.. XD
      -Juliet

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    8. I'm with Juliet... just use the AG brush on all your dolls. They'll thank you for it.

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    9. Thanks for the JustMagic links - now I have them bookmarked as well!

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  5. I loved the photos with the dog great

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  6. Oh, I was so excited to see this review today! I've had my eye on this line for awhile and it's great to see such a detailed review.

    I noticed that two different Amazon sellers are offering the "basic" Pinkie Cooper doll--one with a headband and one without--which did you order from? I want to order the one with the headband, but since there aren't any reviews yet I'm a little concerned that I might get one without the headband no matter which I order.

    Also: That photograph with you bending Pinkie's leg back made me cringe! Poor Pinkie--her little under-articulated legs are so sad! That being said, I love how cute her tiny feet are.

    I agree with you that this line is sure to inspire some very creative customs! I'm looking forward to seeing what customizers come up with.

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    1. Hi Holly, the Pinkie I ordered from Amazon had a picture with the hat...but then came without the hat. However, my doll didn't come from Past Generation Toys (the vendor with the hat picture now), she was directly from Amazon. I'd email Past Gen Toys and ask about the hat before you buy...just to be sure! If their Pinkie does, indeed, have a hat, $23 is definitely less expensive than ordering internationally on eBay!
      It would be nice if it was possible to get the hat doll in the US.

      Re. customization--Pinkie repainted as different dog breeds would be so fun! Especially if people can make custom ear wigs for her (which I'm sure they can...). :D

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    2. Thanks for the advice! It never even occurred to me to just ask the sellers first.

      I've seen folks on other forums talking about cool customization ideas--I can't wait to see what they do.

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    3. So I waited to buy these dolls until I saw them in stores. Seems like the ones being carried in Target in US have the headbands so I don't know what to think.

      The eye placement is definitely variable across the board so if anyone is super-picky about their dolls' eyes not being off a bit they'd do best to buy in-store.

      The basic dolls like Pepper were $15 while the deluxe fashion ones were $20. I don't understand why they think they can charge $10 for the pets by themselves, though.

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  7. I'm really happy, that you reviewed Pinkie. I'm quite interested in her so nice, detailed review is always welcome.

    Pegs in hair pieces really surprised me - I thought that they are attached by velcro.

    In general, I really like Pinkie and I hope she will be available soon in my country. Although I'm more interested in Pinkie in London/Paris outfit rather than basic one.

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    1. I like the London and Paris dolls, too--they are great! I think the London doll is my favorite of all the Pinkie dolls.

      Velcro would have been interesting for the hair. I wonder if the velcro would stick to the hair strands, though? The pegs work pretty well so far. The wigs don't always lie perfectly flat against the head, but they usually look pretty good.

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    2. I can't decide whether I like London or Paris more. London have supercute outfit, but I love scarf and beret in Paris Pinkie.

      Yep, velcro probably would stick to hair and stop working after awhile. Fur from my Sashabella's cape stick to velcro all the time and I have to be careful while attaching cape, so it won't fall of.

      Oh, and say hello from me to Pants - he look really cute with Pinkie ;p

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    3. Pants could not be more delighted that you sent him a greeting! Especially because it came with an ear scratch. Thank you! ;)

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  8. She's adorable! I hope they make dolls with different dog breeds. That would be interesting to see. (And I hope that when they get here, the line is still alive and kicking hahaha)

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    1. I think different breeds would be wonderful, too! Great idea! I'd love to see a poodle--or a Boston terrier...or a pug! They could have so much fun with this line! :D

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    2. Different breeds would be really cool!

      Also, I recently got a Guinevere doll by Franklin Mint, and I was wondering if I could send you a review.

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    3. I can certainly see people sculpting their own ears onto spare pegs and doing that, Pinkie's face would suit chihuahua ears looking at her patterning.

      I LOVE Anthro dolls, from lil' sylvanians to the full BJD ones. I loved the poodle fashion dolls and the Feline series years ago, they still fascinate me today.

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  9. I like the eyelashes. I'm thinking of adding themto my BFC ink dolls.

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  10. I adore your blog. And when I saw this post... I found myself lusting after a Pinky Cooper and her friend Pepper. Thank You for all you do here :)

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  11. I wonder if the hat tested poorly with American focus groups or something.

    Thanks for this! I was hoping you'd talk about Pinkie. The line keeps giving me Poochie nostalgia (which is odd; I never watched or owned any Poochie!), and Tumblr buzz about her body sculpt was great.

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  12. you should review an equestria girl i'm wondering about how the quality of this new line is, unless you already plan on reviewing them, then awesome! :)

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  13. I'm so gonna get Pepper when they come to Cali.

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  14. I just think that these pooches are so cute. I like Pinkie first and then Ginger Jones. I couldn't agree more about them needing more interesting and inspiring professions. I keep looking at them in the shop but can't quite commit to buy. I have a very limited dolly budget every month and I am frozen with indecision about what to get. (The problem is that one fancy dress for Blythe/Pullip blows the whole budget and I am too scared not to get them in case they sell off Etsy never to be seen again). I wish that Pinkie did have the dress on the box as I prefer it. If I do get her then I will send you the hat/hair band as I don't care for it much. Loving your blog as always.

    I've heard a rumour that Ever After High will never go on general release and will be limited in number. Is that true or just scaremongering?

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  15. Aaah! So glad you reviewed Pinkie. (And Pepper! She has my favorite coloring of the three) I'm surprised by the US one's lack of hat. :( I really liked the hat in promo pictures. Are the one in stores here not going to have hats?? Also not a fan of rubbery limbs either. :P I'm still in love with her overall look, though. Excited to see if she starts appearing in stores nearby!

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  16. They're really adorable, I really like Pepper. The only thing that I'm complaining about is the lack of articulation, Like alot of the dolls on the market right now..To me they seemed to have gone backwards a little bit. It would have been fun too if Pinkie could have shared clothes with some of the other dolls.

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  17. A very through review. For months now I couldn't decide if these were cute or just strange. These dolls have an Asian bjd inspired look to them, right down to the body blush. Less articulation doesn't bother me, but I hate that I can see the plastic around the edge of her ear attachments. I feel like she needs to have hairbows on or something.

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  18. Fantastic, in-depth review!! I want these guys so badly -_- I'm hoping they show up sometime soon and aren't impossible to get.

    Your review didn't help any, of course. Now I only want them more XD

    Thank you! (I think... hahaha!)

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  19. Something came to my mind about clothes for Pinkie. How's about Juku Couture dolls? They are similar height as Pinkie - do you thing that their clothes would fit her?

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  20. The girlfriend and I were in a department store today, checking out the toy section, and we came across these lovely things. We'd only intended to be quick, but we found ourselves ooh-ing and aah-ing over them for AGES. I had to think of you, and then when I check the blog this evening, lo, you've already reviewed them!
    Pepper was definitely our favourite, too. We desperately wanted one (or two, or all three, but food > dolls, and I spent my 'toy' allowance for the next few months on a MH gargoyle and vampire boy Build-a-Monster set for repainting), they had Pinkie in her lovely 'London' mac, hat and umbrella outfit too. I'm regretting not buying her already!

    I agree with you re. the body paint, though. It reminded me of our (ancient) springer spaniel, who would get similar pinkish patches on her white fur - only in her case, it was because she would lick and lick certain areas, and they would turn pink because of the bacteria that grew there. Maybe Pinkie should go and see a vet, possibly get some cream for that, or maybe an antibacterial wipe?

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  21. Great review- this dolly is a tad creepy but oh so cute! My daughter remarked that without her hair she has a seal pup face- which is adorable.

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  22. I didn't expect myself to be so excited about Pinkie but I really love her. I love her coloring, her huge eyes, her ears/hair/earhair things.. She's just so freakishly cute. I'm not a big fan of her dress though, but I think it looks better in real life. Li'l Pinkie looks utterly cute! Though I would've prefered the long curly ears from the box art, she'll be on my need list. I think her name enhances the dog owning a dog fact though. I wonder if we'll get these dolls, I guess they'll have the headband then? I hope so.. but with the Ever After High dolls probably coming up I think I'll be too distracted by them. Pinkie is a fun little addition to the doll world and I hope she'll be just as appreciated as MH and Ever After High.

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  23. Thanks for the awesome review! These dolls are really cute! I really didn't think I'd like a doll with a dog head and a human body that much, but I really love Pinkie's inset eyes and lashes!!! I love Pullip and Blythe dolls, and Pinkie Cooper's big eyes remind me of them. I haven't seen them in stores yet, but Wal-Mart.com has them on the website. The Runway dolls are $14.88 and the London, Paris and Beverly Hills dolls that include the pet are $19.88. They are available for free site to store shipping too. Target doesn't have them on their website yet though. Love that last picture of Pinkie and Pants!!! They look adorable together!!!

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  24. You can get the Pinkie Cooper dolls in America with their hats/headbands. They are only available through Target, though. The headbands are exclusive through Target and the Target-family [the UK ones came from a Target equivalents from overseas].

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  25. I came here to say the same thing as Raye before me. I bought Pepper at Target yesterday and she has the headband. There's no sticker saying it's a Target exclusive -- which seems like a major fail, why not advertise you have something other stores don't? This exclusivity info has also been discussed on Tumblr, that's how I knew to go to Target instead of TRU.

    These dolls look like the customized LPS hybrid dolls, the resemblance is uncanny. Hasbro made large LPS pets (for decorating with pens) and people put those heads on fashion doll bodies. (Or you can put a regular LPS head on a LPS Blythe body.) The blushing is from the BJD/customizing community, they are obsessed with blushing limbs and joints. I think I'll blog about these comparisons later this week. :)

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  26. I still don't really like these dolls, they look too freaky to me. But I'll liked when your pet met her.

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  27. I bought Pinkie out of curiosity. I did have trouble getting her out of the box as the tabs were very tight and may have scraped her elbows a bit. I appreciate learning about the 2-click knee joints. My impression is that this is not a doll for 4-6 year olds as the joints seem ready to break with any rough play and the small accessories, even the ear hair can be easily lost. It would be nice if separate outfits were available. The Target near me only had the three friends, their dogs and the Paris, NYC and London packages. I do think $14.99 is a steep price for the basic doll.

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  28. Your real doggie out cutes all of them!!! c: I love it. Also the little nod to BJDs makes me happy haha.

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  29. I don't own any Barbie clothes, but does Pinkie fit into them? (Dresses, specifically) I'd like to know because I'd like to have more clothing options for her.

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  30. animals should not have pets, its like slavery. they could have pet humans but that might not exactly be very cute for a kids doll

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