Sunday Surprise: Star Babies by DreamShyre!

There's a big wedding coming up that I know some of you are wondering about (looking at you, Mom), so I'll formally invite everyone to attend next Saturday, August 16th...which feels like it's coming up very fast.  While you're waiting for the wedding, I have another quick Sunday Surprise to offer.  This is a follow-up to last week's My Mini Baby review.

Way back in March, my sister-in-law Colleen showed me a video of somebody opening a Star Babies mystery bag, and I was instantly intrigued.  The reveal process, where the baby emerges from within a foam star, is decidedly unique.  Moments after seeing that video, I ordered a Star Baby for myself.  Then, about two months later, as I was starting to get nervous that my order would never arrive, a mystery baby showed up at my doorstep:

Star Babies mystery bag by DreamShyre Nursery, $65.

Before I open the Star Babies bag, I have a quick update regarding Zuru's My Mini Babies.

I finally got my little redhead (by ordering her on eBay for $20), and she's delightful.  I call her Poppy Rose:

I love all of Poppy's accessories, too.  The scale actually works, meaning that the dial moves to the right when the tray is depressed.  So Poppy weighs about one half of a unit...whatever the units are.

Here she is up-close:

She has a few small paint defects, but her hair is a wonderful color and is very nicely painted:

One benefit to shopping on eBay for these babies is that--provided the pictures are good--you can inspect the hair to make sure it's well-done.

Against my better judgement, I also opened one more surprise ball, and was fortunate enough to finally get a baby with a dark complexion:

This little one, who the Baby Name Genie says is a boy called Benjamin Jarrett, also has great hair, with lots of tight painted curls:

It's sad that my two favorite babies came after I wrote my review, but that's how life goes sometimes.  

Here's an updated skin tone comparison, which I'll also post over on the My Mini Baby page:

And here are the same five babies outside in the natural light:

Now I feel like I have a reasonably complete little collection of these adorable babies.

The first big difference that I noticed between the My Mini Babies and DreamShyre's Star Babies is price.  The Mini Babies have a suggested retail of $9.99, and the Star Babies cost $65.  So, for the amount that I spent on the six initial babies in my last review, I could only get one DreamShyre baby:

Better be good.

There are six possible babies in this collection, so the chances of a duplicate are lower than they are for My Mini Baby Series 1, but higher than they are for My Mini Baby Series 2.

The Star Babies (which are apparently NOT TOYS) come in decorated zip-top foil bags.  My bag says "Series 2" at the top, so apparently there was a whole Series 1 that I missed:

The contents of the bag are listed along the right side:

These include an anatomically correct silicone baby, a squishy glow-in-the-dark star, a baby blanket, a mystery accessory, and a birth certificate.

Cool!  So we'll get three surprises: the baby's coloring, their sex, and their mystery accessory.

The back of the bag has a lot of small text on it:

On the left is a big warning:

This states that silicone babies are incredibly delicate (are they?) and that we should consider any defects to be unique, character-enhancing variations.  That's a pretty big ask, but we can try.

On the right side of the bag, there's a long list of instructions:

This was hard to read because of all the creases in the bag, so I actually removed the Star Baby from the bag so that I could smooth everything out:

Here are the first four steps:

Step one tells us to find a clean, well-lit area and wash our hands before doing anything.  That, I assume, is to reduce the amount of dust and lint that gets on the baby's silicone skin.

Step two suggests that we should take a moment to appreciate the squishy, scented, baby-filled, glow-in-the-dark star.  No rushing allowed.

Step three isn't really a step, but a reminder that silicone babies are extremely fragile.  In case we forgot already.  Just...I don't know.  All I can think of is this one video review of the My Mini Babies where a woman is pulling and stretching her baby's limbs until they're as skinny as toothpicks.  And nothing broke.

Step four says that there's a thin spot on the squishy star that we need to look for.  This is where the baby will come out.

There are four more steps after that:

Step five describes how to pry open the foam star like the pages of a book, revealing the baby inside.

Step six is to simply embrace the wonder of the mystery baby's birth.

Step seven is another reminder to be careful with the baby.  No pulling or stretching.  And yet all I can see in my head is that woman stretching her My Mini Baby's arms.  I wish I could find that video again to share with you, but it's lost in a sea of other similar videos.

Step eight is to treasure the magic of the new baby.  It also describes how the baby can be bathed in warm water and powdered with talc-free products...just don't stretch it or pull it.

Inside the bag, I found a collector's sheet and birth certificate, the infamous squishy star, and a rolled-up fleece blanket:

The collector's sheet has a story on the back:

Here's a closer look at the story:

It's not the best story I've ever read, but let me try to paraphrase: a princess named Coly saw a bright star, followed a rainbow to reach it, and found a baby that was born from that star.  

So, okay.  Rainbows can't exist in outer space, because there's no atmosphere up there--hence no rain.  However, I suppose you could argue that babies come from stars, in the sense that if you trace things back far enough, everything originated as stardust.

In any case, Coly made a silicone baby to commemorate that magical event, and named the baby Star.  All of the Star Babies are replicas of the original Star.

The other side of the collector's sheet has a photograph of the six different versions of Star Stella:

There are three boys, three girls, and three different skin tones.  And they all have names, which is fun.  It also looks like they come with a pink or blue diaper and either a bow or a hat for their heads.

The birth certificate is basic, with several different lines that cane be filled in:

I unrolled the fleece baby blanket and found the mystery accessory, which is...

A peach-colored diaper!

I wonder if the diaper's color reveals something about the sex of the baby?

Girl vibes.

It's a cute little diaper with an elastic waist and nice finishing:

Okay!  Now let's look at the main attraction, the squishy star.  My star is blue and came wrapped in plastic.  But now I don't know what to do. With all those steps and warnings, there is no "remove plastic" step.  I guess I'll just have to use my best judgement, which should be step 1.  

Back to the star. I wonder if the blue color reveals anything about the sex of the baby?

Boy vibes.

Anyway, as instructed, I discovered the star: it's half gross and half fascinating. Kinda like pregnancy.  It looks and feels like it's greasy, so I was careful to keep it on a paper towel:

The texture is uneven, with lots of bubbles and small rips.  And there's an area on one side that was clearly glued shut to enclose the baby:

The star has a faint baby powder smell, which I don't find offensive or overpowering.

And the whole thing glows brightly in the dark, which is super-fun:

I don't know why glow-in-the-dark things make me so happy, but they do.

As the instructions said, I was able to find a rip in the foam that was more obvious than some of the other imperfections

And as I gently pulled the edges of the rip apart, a baby's head emerged!

Whoa.  I see red hair!

It was a strangely satisfying experience to maneuver this baby out of the star.  I've never seen anything else like this:

With a bit more manipulation, I was able to see a little face:

At this stage I realized that the star isn't greasy, so I removed the paper towel.

And then the arms emerged...

Cute.

And then...oop!  It's a boy!

Here he is, fully emerged from his star:

He's pretty cute, with a round belly and little creases here and there:

Based on the collector's sheet, this is Smiley Milo:

He's not smiling, but whatever.

Milo has a fairly basic mold, especially in his face:

That left armpit is awkward, too.

Even if I zoom in, there's not a lot of facial definition to see:

He has no eyes.

He has pink lips and some pink blushing on his cheeks, forehead, chest, and belly.

And a lot of pink on his little bottom!

Ack!  Somebody grab the Desitin cream.

And the seam on his back is unsightly:

Sorry: it's a unique, character-enhancing variation.

I think somebody at DreamShyre actually sculpted this baby, although most of the larger dolls on that site are knockoffs.

At around three inches tall, Milo is bigger than the My Mini Babies:

DreamShyre Star Baby (left), Series 2 My Mini Baby (middle), and Series 1 My Mini Baby (right).

I'm also struck by the difference in detail here.  The smaller My Mini Babies are so much more detailed.

Milo can't share most of the My Mini Baby accessories, which is too bad:

He's cramped in the cradle:

And even more cramped in the pram!

With the bouncy seat, his head doesn't get enough support and the straps in front can't close:

But the scale fits him pretty well, and you can see that he's a half unit heavier than Poppy Rose!

Massive Milo.

He has a nice weight in my hands, and feels more substantial than the My Mini Babies.

However, Milo is a bit too large for 1:6 scale dolls like Barbie:

Barbie Basics Petite Layla holding Star Babies Series 2 Milo.

He works better for some of the large-headed dolls in this scale, like Rainbow High:

Rainbow High Jett Dawson holding Star Babies Milo.

For a newborn, he works fairly well for 16-inch dolls like my Déjà Vu La Vie de Versailles:

Oh, goodness.  What is this?

...although perhaps she shouldn't be in charge of a newborn:

What on earth am I supposed to do with a baby?

For some perspective on mold detail, paint work, and price, let me show you this three-inch mini silicone baby that I found on Etsy a while ago:

Her name is Natalie and she cost about $160.  She came with a full outfit and some other little extras.

The detail in Natalie's mold is wonderful.  She has a realistic shape, with detailed fingers and toes and a cute face with an open mouth that can accommodate a pacifier:

Her silicone is soft and translucent, and there were no warnings that I had to treat her with extreme care.

However, I don't really like the paint job on this doll.  Her blushing is nice, but the purple veins are overdone and don't fit the scale.  She looks bruised.

Let's compare her to Milo:

You can see how both Natalie's mold and skin tone are much more realistic than Milo's.  She also has a lot more character in her face.

Here they are again in their respective outfits:

Which reminds me that despite the pictures on the collector's sheet, Milo didn't come with a blue diaper or a hat--just the mystery peach diaper.

Natalie was very expensive, but I like her because of the detail in her sculpt, the realistic appearance of her silicone, and the fact that she's hand-painted and not mass-produced.  I also appreciate the unique, handmade clothing that she came with.  She's an art doll.  Milo is an affordable alternative, but he doesn't offer the same level of quality or realism.

 Milo fits into Natalie's outfit, though, which is nice:

I just don't know what other clothes I'll be able to find that fit him.

This would have been the end of my review right here, but I noticed a few weeks ago that DreamShyre has some imperfect mini babies on their site now, and they're on sale for $35 each.  That's still quite pricey, but it's a nice way for us to see some of the variety that DreamShyre offers.

The Boo-Boo Babies come in zip-top foil bags that are smaller than the Star Babies bags:

DreamShyre Boo-Boo Baby, $35 (on sale).

The text on the front says, "because every baby deserves to be loved..."

And the back of the bag is plain pink with no decoration:

The Boo-Boo babies do not come in squishy, glow-in-the-dark stars, which is a shame.  I really enjoyed that birthing experience.

Instead, they come wrapped in tissue paper and accompanied by a birth certificate and some stickers:

The birth certificate is the same as what we saw with Milo, and the stickers are all first aid items:

To go along with the boo-boo theme, I guess.

I could see through the white tissue paper that this baby has light skin.  I hope it's not a Milo duplicate!

Whoever it is, they were born in the USA.

I opened up one end of the tissue paper and saw some blonde hair.  So it's not a duplicate!

I'm having flashbacks to all of my blonde Series 2 My Mini Babies, though.

Wait, this baby's mold looks very different from Milo's!

And it's a girl!  Her skin tone is darker than Milo's too:

She looks ready to punch someone.

Okay, I have no idea who this baby is.  There are no blonde baby girls on the collector's sheet, let alone ones with this body mold or this skin tone:

I figured maybe she was from Series 1?  So I hunted around and found a promotional picture from Series 1.  I found the picture at Michaels, incidentally, so I guess these babies used to be sold at big chain stores like that?  The price was $48.

Anyway, here's the promotional photo:

These look a lot like my boo-boo baby, and there's a blonde girl on the far left named Gracie.  So I guess I got a boo-boo Giggly Gracie!

Now, let's play Spot The Boo-Boo, shall we?  As I show you photos of Gracie, see if you can figure out why she was relegated to the boo-boo bin.

Here's her full body from the front:

I propped her up a little so you can get a better look:

And here she is from the side:

Hint: this picture shows the boo-boo pretty well.

Here's a close-up of her blotchy face:

Gracie has more detail in her face than Milo does, and her hair paint is better, too, even though blonde babies are rare.

If you haven't spotted the boo-boo yet, look closely at this picture:

It's staring right at you.

Do you see it?

Yeah.  Gracie has some duplication going on with the left part of her chest:

That's a double nipple right there, complete with a duplicate of all of the contouring and creases that surround it.

And if that's not enough of a unique, character-enhancing variation for you, check out Gracie's back:

She's melting!

Ooof.  It's like somebody tried to smooth the seam on her back and things went horribly, horribly wrong.

Anyway, here are Triple-Nipple Giggly Gracie and Smiling Milo side-by-side:

Star Babies Series 1 doll (left) and Series 2 doll (right).

As strange as little Gracie is, I actually like her better than Milo.  She has more expression in her face, and a more interesting body position.  

I also love that I was able to see what the Series 1 babies look like!  That was a lucky break.

It's also lucky that Gracie fits into Natalie's romper:

Gracie has a larger head and chunkier body than Milo, so she's an even worse fit for 1:6 dolls like Barbie:

Barbie Basics Petite Layla holding a DreamShyre Star Babies Series 1 doll.

And she's a better fit for the 16-inch Tonner dolls like Cami:

Here's one more shot of my funny little Gremlin Gracie:

I splurged and got one more Boo-Boo baby from DreamShyre:

I can't help myself with these mystery babies.

This one was packaged exactly the same as the last, and I could see right away that I got a baby with a dark complexion:

The first thing I saw when I pulled back the tissue paper was black hair:

No curls, though.

This little one looks like the same mold as Milo:

But is it a boy or a girl??

It's another girl!

It's Lovely Luna:

Spot The Boo-Boo is not as much fun with Luna, since her boo-boo is subtle and also immediately apparent:

She has this whole area on her chest that looks like lint, but is actually white marks in the silicone.

At least her back seam and red bottom aren't as pronounced as they are on Milo:

She's got a lot of light flecks everywhere, though:

And she has a few open air bubble holes on the right side of her neck that are hard to see:

Here's a closer look:

Luna's defects aren't as bad as Gracie's, I don't think, and it's nice to see another skin tone:

Here are all three of my Star Babies:

A trio of Star Babies from DreamShyre.

Honestly, Milo doesn't seem any less defective than the other two, with his raised back seam, invisible eyes, and overly red bottom.  So I kinda wish I'd gotten three boo-boo babies instead and saved a bit of money.  But then I guess I would have missed out on the squishy star experience.

I took the three babies outside for a quick portrait in the natural light.  First, here's Luna:

Then Gracie:

And pale little Milo:

At this point I've looked at thirteen mini silicone babies in less than a month, and spent over $200 in the process.  That's a lot of babies and a lot of cash.

And you know what?  Of all the babies in that group, $20 My Mini Baby Poppy Rose steals the show.  I love her size and her realism, and the fact that there are so many fun outfits for babies in this scale:

I guess the Star Babies made me appreciate the My Mini Babies even more, which is a funny way to feel at the end of a review.

Bottom line?  It's hard not to like a mini silicone baby, isn't it?  They're inevitably cute, and are even better when you can hold them in your hands rather than just seeing them in photographs.  You can feel their weight, squeeze (but don't stretch!) their tiny arms and legs, and appreciate how small and detailed they are.

I had a great time getting to know Zuru's My Mini Baby line, and was eager to prolong that feeling by exploring a different brand of mystery baby.  My experience with the Star Babies started out really well.  Those squishy, glow-in-the-dark birthing stars are very strange, but also unexpectedly satisfying.  Although my star looked kinda messy and greasy when it first came out of its wrapping, the texture of the star is actually soft and pleasant, as is the subtle baby powder smell.  And then squeezing the baby out of the star?  It was a very convincing birth moment--for a doll, anyway.  Most surprise toys these days involve opening hard, uninteresting plastic balls.  So prying open this soft star was truly unique and fun.  I want to do it again and again.

Unfortunately, I don't really want any more Star Babies.  They're an awkward size, and don't fit into my 1:6 scale world.  They also aren't compatible with the My Mini Baby accessories or clothing.  The clothing is the biggest problem here, since the Star Babies come completely naked, with one mystery accessory that might always be pair of diapers, but I can't be sure.  The Boo-Boo babies don't come with any clothing at all.  I was fortunate to have an outfit for a three-inch baby on hand, but I'm not sure how easy it would be to find additional clothes for these dolls.

Clothing aside, the Star Babies themselves are not as detailed or well-painted as I had hoped.   For $65, I'd like to see a bit more artistry in the sculpt, and a lot more care and precision in the paint work.  Milo has no eye definition, a sloppy mouth, and an embarrassingly bright patch of red on his bottom.  He also has a rough back seam that doesn't look great.  I don't tend to mind that kind of blemish, though, since it's a remnant of the manufacturing process, not an artistic error.  I actually like the Boo-Boo Babies better than Milo, maybe because their boo-boos were acknowledged and expected?  I like Gracie best of all.  Her mold is the most interesting and she has some cartoonish personality.

I don't know anything about the different kinds of silicone, but I can speak from limited experience.  My Etsy silicone art doll is made out of beautiful translucent silicone with a realistic color.  It's lovely.  The silicone of the My Mini Babies doesn't feel quite as nice, but the colors are good and the texture is perfectly smooth.  The Star Babies are made out of opaque silicone with lots of little blemishes and some colors (like Milo's ultra-pale) that aren't very realistic.  And apparently the Star Babies' silicone is ridiculously fragile--or so the packaging says.  I pulled and tugged on my babies quite a bit and they did just fine.

Whether I'm comparing the Star Babies to other three-inch silicone art dolls or to the mass-produced My Mini Babies, the Star Babies come up short.  They just aren't good enough to be art babies, and they aren't affordable enough to compete with the My Mini Babies.  And, honestly, even if the two brands were the exact same price, it's not the Star Babies I'd choose.