The doll world is poised for an explosion of big summer releases. Mattel is rolling out their Moonspell Magic Monster High line and their KPop Demon Hunter dolls, MGA launched their Mirror Mi girls (who look like shrunken-headed Rainbow High dolls), and Zuru is tantalizing us with their pregnant My Mini Baby mommies and the 1:12 fashion doll line called Minnee. It's overwhelming to have so many great things coming out all at once, not to mention extremely dangerous for the budget. I'm eager for the future, when I can get my hands on all of these new dolls, but for today's review we're going to take a trip to the past: 2019, to be precise. That doesn't sound like very long ago, but it was a different world back then--at least for me. In my personal life, both kids were still in college and we lived in Maine. We only had four dogs and no cats, which feels completely insufficient...but also adorably rational. And of course the pandemic was just around the corner, although we had no idea it was coming.
In the doll part of my world, I'd recently stopped writing reviews and was focusing attention on My Twinn restorations. I wasn't missing a whole lot at that point, I don't think. The last few reviews that I wrote in 2018 included mostly vintage and discontinued dolls, which suggests that nothing new was grabbing my attention. I did write about the Boxy Girls and the blind box Hairdorables, which were relatively new in 2019, but I can't remember anything earth moving going on.
What was Mattel up to in 2019, you might ask? Well, Ever After High had been gone since 2017, and G2 Monster High was more recently deceased. But Barbie Fashionistas were getting increasingly inclusive, American Girl was in full swing, and the charming Creatable World sets had just come out. I reviewed Mattel's 1:6 scale WWE Superstars in 2018, so I assume they were still kicking around to some degree as well. But a 2019 release that I was completely unaware of at the time (and have heard very little about since) is the Wild Hearts Crew. And that's exactly who I'll be talking about today:
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| Wild Hearts Crew Kenna Roswell (2019). |
The Wild Hearts Crew are a group of five fashion dolls that came out in May of 2019. They were Walmart exclusives, and their original retail price was around $15. There were a few fashion packs (maybe six?) released that year as well, but there was never a second wave of dolls, and I never saw these girls on the shelves.
I discovered them during one of my random Amazon searches back in 2022. I thought they were visually interesting, and their prices were all in the $13 range at that point, which is pretty cheap for an articulated fashion doll. So I bought all five characters. They've been siting in my studio for the last four years, always getting overlooked in the review queue. I think I was reluctant to review them because a five-doll review is a huge undertaking.
But I'm ready to take on that challenge today! I hope you're ready, too. If so, brace yourselves for a long, doll-packed venture into the world of the Wild Hearts Crew:
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| From left: Cori Cruize, Kenna Roswell, Jacy Masters, Rallee Radmore, and Charlie Lake. |
I was excited about this group of dolls for many reasons. I like the different expressions on their faces, the side-glancing eyes, the unusual hair colors, the fun names...and it seems like there are at least three different skin tones and maybe a few different body types? There's even a doll with roller skates!
Most of the dolls I bought came in packages that were so beat up, they looked they they'd been drop-kicked from the nearest Amazon warehouse. The only box that was reasonably presentable was Kenna Roswell's, so I decided to use her as my primary example. I'll do a detailed inspection of her, and then a more casual look at the other four girls.
Here's Kenna in her box:
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| Wild Hearts Crew Kenna Roswell (2019). |
On the lapel of the jacket, there's a little black circle--like a decorative pin--with an alien and a flying saucer on it. This symbol is specific to Kenna, and hints at her personality:
The left side of the box has a continuation of the jacket design:
And the right side has a photograph of Kenna with some graphic embellishments:
The back of the box has an eye-catching teal and black color scheme, with a big photograph of all of the dolls and several areas of text:
Here's a closer look at the photograph:
I couldn't pick a favorite from the promotional pictures. Everybody looks good. I guess that's one of the reasons I bought all of the dolls. But who are we kidding? I always buy all of the dolls.
On the left side of the box, there's a paragraph describing the concept of the doll line:
It says: A sisterhood of girls following their wild hearts' desires. Each her own spitfire, her own brand of rebel; together - hand in hand - these teens are an unstoppable force for doing what they want, being who they are, and flipping their collars to anyone who tells them, "you can't."
"Flipping their collars" took me off guard because I thought the "flipping" part was headed in a different direction.
The bottom of the box has a paragraph that's specifically about Kenna:
It says: People always ask me why I never go anywhere without my camera. Well, I'd rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it if you know what I mean. Cause events that change history happen every day and if one of those moments happen in front of me I want to be able to capture it forever. Or even, you know, when your friends do something so epic and goofy that words don't do it justice.
I love how descriptive this is. And it's not written by AI. There's a typo (it should be if one of those events happens in front of me...) but that's okay. It's nice to have some backstory for a character that doesn't require watching a badly animated online show.
However, there's no mention of aliens. There are little pictures of aliens surrounding the text, but I'm still not sure how they fit in. Is Kenna talking about alien landings when she mentions "events that change history?" Perhaps.
The bottom of the box has a 2019 copyright and not much else of interest:
Kenna came attached to a bright teal cardboard backdrop that was easy to pull out of the main box:
Most of the backdrop was empty, but there was a small booklet mounted next to Kenna's head.
Here's everything that was in the box:
The booklet is bright and attention-grabbing, with bold lettering over a blue background. There's a picture of a camera, and that little alien again:
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| I think the alien is wearing a...raspberry beret? |
The booklet folds out into a single large piece of paper with a slit down the middle. One side of the paper has a large photograph of all the dolls with a repeat of the text that's on the back of the box:
The other side is divided into sections that read like book pages when the paper is folded:
This section tells us a little more about Kenna's personality:
She's good at photography and loves her camera, which we knew, and she also struggles to take things at face value.
There's another page with some of Kenna's thoughts about pond water:
She talks about how a drop of water looks very different under a microscope than it looks to the naked eye, and how this revelation changed how she thinks about the world. There's still nothing specific about aliens.
However, we can extrapolate to assume that maybe when Kenna looks at the sky, she sees only stars, but she imagines a whole world within those stars: a world with aliens.
Kenna can balance nicely on her own, which is good because she doesn't come with a stand:
She has a captivating face with side-glancing eyes and bright blue hair:
Here she is in profile:
And from the back, where you can see that her hair has black lowlights underneath all of that blue:
Kenna has a black vinyl beret that comes ferociously plastic-tied to her head:
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| And I thought alien probing was bad. |
The beret is pretty stiff, but it's molded to look like it has dents and creases. It also has a silver printed design on one side that's meant to look like a safety pin with a few other little accents:
The jeans are so clever. Not only are they fun to look at, but they actually teach us even more about Kenna's personality. She's definitely obsessed with aliens!
Underneath the hat, Kenna's hair was matted down around the sides--which makes sense for hair that's been under a beret for seven years:
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| Chronic hat hair. |
The hair is tied back into a small ponytail on the right side of Kenna's head:
Her profile is fairly generic, although she has full lips and a prominent chin. Her side-glancing eyes look very strange from this angle...almost like alien eyes!
Not surprisingly, Kenna has hat hair in the back, too:
There's a lot going on with Kenna's face paint. She has large, elaborate eyes, dark brows with a bit of hair detail, and a partially-open mouth:
Her eyes look light brown or hazel to me.
Under her right eye, she also has a black beauty mark:
It's hard to ignore the ginormous hoop earrings in Kenna's little ears.
Closer inspection of the eyes confirms that they're definitely light brown, with a darker brown ring around the iris and several white reflective marks:
The eyelashes and eyeshadow are the most striking features here, though. The lashes are dark, long, and irregular, with heavy black eyeliner underneath:
And each eye has bands of pale blue, darker blue, and green eyeshadow.
There's some visible pixelation in the eyebrows and eyeshadow, but it's extremely hard to see with the naked eye:
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| Like pond water. |
I really like the stylized look of Kenna's eyes. I'm not as fond of her mouth, mostly because it doesn't follow the contours of the mold very faithfully:
The upper lip is molded to be lower and flatter in the middle than the lipstick would suggest, and this discrepancy can look funny from some angles. It bothers me less in person than it does in photographs.
I took the ponytail out of Kenna's hair and gave everything a good brush, but it didn't make much of a difference:
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| Permanent hat hair. |
Unfortunately, the hair fiber isn't very nice. It's a dry, scratchy polypropylene that clearly keeps its shape a little too well.
The rooting isn't stellar, either. The plugs of hair are thick and widely-spaced:
The scalp is painted black, though, so it doesn't show through very much.
Kenna's earrings are removable, which is nice because they get caught up in her hair a lot of the time:
Kenna's only accessory is her beloved camera:
It's made out of bright red vinyl, and the lens is painted black. There's an attached vinyl strap with a working clasp.
The back of the camera is relatively plain, but at least there's a molded viewfinder
I recognize this camera from the Barbie Pet Photographer, a doll I've always admired:
I like the black version of the camera better for its realism, but the red camera is a good fit for the Wild Hearts Crew vibe.
Kenna's outfit is bright and colorful, with three separate pieces:
On top she's wearing a purple mesh long-sleeved tee, and there's a black shirt peeking out from underneath.
The polka dot suspenders are cute, but they don't stay on Kenna's shoulders very well:
All three pieces of clothing close in back with velcro.
The jeans are the most interesting part of this outfit. They're a medium grey color, and are covered with little designs--as though Kenna has been doodling on her jeans with a pen:
On the right side, there are things like a lightning bolt, some stars, an eye, and the word "believer:"
On the left, there's a green alien, a spaceship, and the words "what the?" There's also the number 51, which fits with Kenna's Roswell last name and the whole alien theme:
Wait a minute...that little green thing isn't an alien! It's a Monster High Skullette:
That's a clever little Easter egg. Especially because I think some of the same people who worked on Monster High also worked on this brand.
There are more drawings on the lower part of the jeans, too, and no two pictures are alike:
There are no doodles on the back of the jeans at all, which actually makes sense if it's meant to look like Kenna drew everything herself:
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| It's hard to draw on the backs of your own legs. |
The suspenders are attached to the jeans, and everything comes off in one piece:
The construction is basic, with generous seam allowances but no reinforced edges:
With the jeans and suspenders out of the way, it's easier to look at the two shirts:
The purple mesh shirt is lightweight and feels a bit fragile. It has unfinished edges at the cuffs and around the waist.
Underneath the mesh shirt, there's a fun surprise:
It's a black tank top with a picture of a raspberry cow in sunglasses getting beamed up by an alien ship! Incredible.
I wish the purple top had a bigger mesh so that the cow shirt was visible at all times.
In comparison to the cow shirt, Kenna's shoes are pretty boring. They're white loafers with black checks on the top:
The shoes make it look like Kenna has flat feet, but she's actually standing on her toes:
Her foot mold is pretty, I think, and her feet aren't tiny like Barbie's.
Here's another look at the shoes:
These shoes are familiar to me, but I'm probably just thinking of Deuce Gorgon's shoes.
Each shoe has a hexagonal hole in the bottom, and at first I couldn't figure out why:
But I think what's going on is that the shoes are designed to fit onto skateboards. There are two accessory packs that come with skateboards:
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| Wild Hearts Crew accessory pack. |
The temporary tattoos in this set look fun, because I think they can be used for the dolls and for people. But for the most part the accessory packs don't tempt me.
If I were to get an accessory, pack, it'd probably be the one with a gaming theme, pink glasses, and a tattoo with a cassette tape:
Miraculously, packs like this are still available at Walmart.com, but they cost about $25, which is twice as much as the dolls. So I'll pass.
Kenna has an articulated body that I don't think I've ever seen on another Mattel doll. It's a lot like a Barbie body, but the torso is shorter, the legs are longer, and the molded underwear is more prominent:
Here she is from the back, where there are a few faint markings:
It's hard to see in this picture with all of the glare, but the copyright on her lower back says 2018 and she was made in China:
Kenna has eleven points of articulation (neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and knees). Her neck movement is good. She can't look up much at all, but she can look down:
Her head spins around:
And can tip from side to side:
All of her arm joints are rotating hinges. Her shoulder joints allow her arms to hinge up and away from her body to about 80 degrees:
And her arms can spin all of the way around:
Her elbows bend to 90 degrees in one direction and not quite 90 degrees in the other direction:
Her wrists are the least flexible arm joint. They allow her hands to spin around, but they don't flex very much in either direction.
Kenna can touch her forehead and rest a hand on her upper leg:
And she can almost cross her arms in front of her:
Her arm articulation is good enough to produce a wide variety of poses, but she doesn't have anywhere near the expressiveness of something like a Made to Move Barbie.
Kenna's hips look to me like partial ball-and-socket joints, but they're not as flexible as they could be. For example, Kenna can't slide into side-to-side splits:
I couldn't get her legs to move any farther apart, no matter how I positioned her:
She can do nice front-to-back splits, though:
And she can sit on the ground with her legs together, although her upper body tips backwards in this pose:
Her knee joints are rotating hinges that bend to about 90 degrees:
So she can kneel on two knees:
Or on one knee:
And she can sit in a chair:
Because her lower legs can also rotate, she can almost sit on the ground with her feet tucked to one side:
Overall, Kenna's flexibility is satisfying. And I feel like the style and proportions of her body match her head:
For some context, here's Kenna next to Petra, a Made to Move Barbie:
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| Made to Move Barbie (left) and Wild Hearts Crew doll (right). |
The two dolls will be able to share some clothing, but not all. Kenna is wider through the hips, so her jeans are loose on Petra, and Petra's skirt is extremely tight on her:
These two are close to the same height, but that's where the similarities end. Everything about Clawdeen is much skinnier...except for her head.
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| Barbie and Wild Hearts Crew swapping clothes. |
The shirts can be swapped more successfully, although Kenna's ridged underwear shows through Petra's shirt because of the tight fit. Also, because of the difference in torso lengths, Kenna's suspenders don't work on Petra.
I wanted to compare Kenna to a few other Mattel bodies, so here she is with G3 Monster High Clawdeen:
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| G3 Monster High (left) and Wild Hearts Crew (right). |
Here's Kenna with Brooklyn, a Barbie Dream Bestie doll:
These two look fairly similar in proportion, although Brooklyn is shorter, with shorter legs.
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| Barbie Dream Bestie doll (left) and Wild Hearts Crew doll (right). |
Brooklyn and Kenna can share clothing, although Brooklyn's items are tight on Kenna:
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| Barbie Dream Bestie and Wild Hearts Crew swapping clothes. |
Kenna's clothing fits Brooklyn quite well, but the top is loose and the suspenders fall down. They fall down on Kenna, too, so that doesn't mean much.
The blue in Brooklyn's jacket almost matches Kenna's hair!
But that ridged underwear is causing problems again:
I think the molded underwear looks nice on its own, but the heavily ridged pattern wasn't a versatile design choice.
These two dolls can share shoes as well, but because of the different slope in their feet, Kenna's shoes make Brooklyn tip backwards:
And Brooklyn's shoes make Kenna tip forwards:
So they can wear each other's shoes, but they can't stand up straight in them.
I put Kenna back into her own outfit for a few more pictures. The suspenders work even less well without the purple mesh shirt:
But Kenna can wear them hanging down over her legs, which looks sort-of cool:
I don't tend to like vinyl hats on dolls, but Kenna's beret is quite stylish, and it makes her hair look good:
I was reluctant to cover up that cool cow tank top, but I wanted a few more shots with the full ensemble:
Kenna's camera is a well-chosen accessory, given her personality, but it's hard for her to actually use it:
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| How am I supposed to hold this thing? |
I like Kenna a lot. I think her face and clothing give her a distinct personality and make her stand out from the crowd. Her jeans are especially creative, with all of those alien doodles. Her blue hair looks great, but the cheap polypropylene fiber feels dry and is hard to tame and style. I was unexpectedly happy to have the vinyl beret on hand: it looks chic and helps control the hair. Kenna's articulation is good, too, although I was often left wishing for more flexibility in the arms. Overall, she's a very nice doll for $13.
I opened the rest of the Wild Hearts Crew in random order--basically the order in which they were stacked on my storage shelf.
By coincidence, I ended up with the other blue-haired doll next:
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| Wild Hearts Crew Charlie Lake (2019). |
Charlie's special symbol is a cat with sunglasses that spell out the word "love:"
Her eyes seem a bit wonky from the front, but it's possible to get them to look directly at the camera:
I really like Charlie's skin tone. I feel like next to her, Kenna looks almost alien-pale. But maybe that's the point?
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| I like her already. |
On the side of the box, there's a photograph of Charlie holding a cartoon Chihuahua:
That is a funny-looking little dog! Maybe it's a Chinese crested dog and not a Chihuahua? It's got a mohawk:
Anyway, it's a cute picture and I'm guessing that Charlie is the animal lover in the group.
Let's see what the text at the bottom of the box says:
It says: whether it was fixing a ripped stitch in my favorite stuffed bear when I was little or climbing the tallest tree in our neighborhood to put a baby bird back in its nest; if it's furry, finned, feathered or scaly I'll always go out of my way to help. It works the same with my two-legged friends too, it doesn't matter if it's a hurt paw or a hurt heart, I'll do whatever I can to make it feel better.
I'm liking this girl more and more!
She's a bit shy too, apparently, because she insisted on hiding behind her baseball cap:
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| Don't be afraid, Charlie! The people here are really nice. |
Charlie's booklet has the same neon yellow mohawk dog on the cover, with a bunch of stars, hearts, and lightning bolts:
I like how the dog's little tongue is sticking out. My old dog Norman has a tongue that always sticks out because he doesn't have any teeth left to hold it in:
Here's one of the booklet pages that tells us more about Charlie's personality:
This talks about how Charlie's dad thinks she's "louder than a brass band leading a tornado through a wind chime factory," and she can't argue because that description reminds her of one of her favorite band's songs. So I guess she's a lover of loud music. Charlie's quiet side comes out when she finds an animal that needs help.
There are a few more blurbs about Charlie on another page:
She's good at fixing the wounds of paw and heart, and she needs practice being organized.
I like how Charlie says that you don't have to choose between being strong or being compassionate:
I like to think that's true, but some days it doesn't feel true. Sigh.
I have a lot in common with Charlie--or at least the animal part...and the not being organized part. I don't really like loud music most of the time. In any case, it's fun to have these little character bios.
I managed to tip Charlie's hat up. It was bolted to her head with plastic ties, so it could only move a tiny amount. But we can see her face better now:
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| She still looks shy. |
I don't like the baseball cap as much as I like Kenna's beret. So I took it right off.
It's a black vinyl cap with some molded texture on the back. It has a red area in front that says "Wild Hearts Crew:"
I think Charlie looks better without the hat:
She has blue hair like Kenna, but the shade of blue is completely different. She also has her own face mold:
Here she is from the side:
And from the back, where you can see her long blue hair pulled into a side ponytail:
I love the color of this hair. It's a mixture of midnight blue and light ocean blue:
Charlie has three star accents under her left eye, and lightning bolt earrings in each ear. The lightning bolts have a stitch-like pattern above them, which is a big hint at the design's origin:
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| Those scream Monster High to me. |
Indeed, the earrings are a Monster High carryover. Frankie Stein has worn them for a few of her releases. I'm not sure about the very first appearance, but I know she has them in the Picnic Casket set with Jackson Jekyll:
Charlie is also carrying a cool guitar-shaped purse with silver accents:
The purse might also be re-used form another Mattel line, but I couldn't tell you which one.
Charlie has an attractive face, but she looks a little nervous to me. Her bright blue eyes are looking slightly off to the side and her mouth is partially open like she's gasping, or maybe about to whisper something:
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| She doesn't look loud to me. |
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| Not wonky after all. |
In profile you can see that Charlie has prominent lips, a strong jaw, high cheekbones, and a straight, regal nose:
Her profile is distinct, and feels in keeping with her Indigenous background.
On closer inspection, the style of Charlie's face paint is similar to Kenna's, with long, clumpy lashes and colorful eyeshadow:
Charlie has more detail in her irises than Kenna does, though. She also has thicker eyebrows and more muted eye makeup:
I see a lined pattern in the background of Charlie's eyebrows, but no pixelation whatsoever in her eyes.
Charlie's outfit has a mix of different styles. She's wearing a graphic tee and a shiny black pleather vest paired with a distressed denim skirt:
In back, the vest says "rocker," and the skirt has two printed pockets:
The quality of these clothing pieces is about the same as what we saw with Kenna. There's a nice variety in fabric styles, and some stitched details, but the construction is basic and there are quite a few unfinished edges.
Here's a closer look at the vest, where you can see rows of red stitching that end abruptly at the unfinished hem:
Underneath the vest, Charlie is wearing a shirt that looks like it has a flying horse on it. Could it be true??
It is true!
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| That horse has no hind legs, though. |
About a third of the horse design is tucked into the skirt, which is frustrating. Let's get that skirt off!
The skirt's designs are all printed, with no stitched detail. But I like the frayed, asymmetrical hem:
Now we can see the pegasus shirt in all of its glory!
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| He still doesn't have hind legs. |
The fabric is very wrinkled, but I love the design. The cutout area at the neck of the shirt makes me a bit nervous, though, mostly because of that unfinished edge. I hope it doesn't fray.
The last item in Charlie's wardrobe is a pair of black boots with painted red accents:
I'm not sure if this outfit aligns with any Indigenous teen fashion trends from 2019, or if those trends would be any different from mainstream teen fashions from 2019.
Charlie has the same body as Kenna, but her skin tone is darker with a warmer hue:
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| Wild Hearts Crew Charlie (left) and Kenna (right). |
I was eager to take Charlie's hair down to see if the fiber is any different than Kenna's disappointing polypropylene. Before I do that, though, let's appreciate the twisted detail in the body of the ponytail:
This is a cute but simple style that I feel like I could replicate.
Here's the hair right after I took it down:
I wasn't able to relax the bends and kinks in the hair, but it's easy to brush and feels pretty nice. Here it is from the back:
The fiber feels softer than Kenna's hair, but that might be because of the difference in cut: Kenna has short hair with a lot of layers, and Charlie has long hair with very little layering.
The rooting is similar between the two dolls, if not slightly worse on Charlie:
I dipped Charlie's hair in nearly-boiling water to try and release some of the kinks. This was partially successful, but the hair fiber didn't tolerate the heat very well. I was left with a few scraggly sections in back where the fibers melted. I should have stuck to gentle dry heat.
Here's the hair from the back:
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| That color is wonderful. |
I also ironed Charlie's pegasus shirt so that we can see the design in all of its legless glory!
Despite the poor quality hair, I think Charlie is lovely.
I played around with her outfit pieces for a few more portraits:
The baseball cap looks better when it isn't covering her face:
And I adore the pegasus shirt--especially when it's untucked:
The earrings throw me, mostly because it's hard to look at them and not think about Frankie Stein. I wish she'd been given dog or cat earrings instead, to get a bit of her animal-loving personality into the mix. That little mohawk dog would have made a cute earring design, and he even fits with the rocker theme.
Overall, I like Charlie even more than I like Kenna. Her hair is pretty and versatile, even though the fiber is low-quality. I also love her warm skin tone and striking face paint. I don't like Charlie's outfit as a whole as much as I like Kenna's (Kenna's jeans, cow shirt, and beret are hard to beat), but Charlie's pegasus tee is a pretty big bonus for someone like me.
I guess Cori Cruize, who I opened next, has a hard act to follow!
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| Wild Hearts Crew Cori Cruize (2019). |
Cori's special symbol is a cassette tape with flames (?) coming out of the top:
So I'm guessing Cori is the music lover in the group. Sure enough, she's pictured with headphones and a lot of music notes on the side of the box:
Here's the paragraph about Cori at the bottom of the box:
It says: my parents say I didn't speak my first word, I sang it. I'm not sure if that's completely true, but I've been singing and playing music for as long as I can remember. I sing when I'm happy, when I'm sad, when I'm busy, and when I'm bored. Music was my first friend, but not my only one. I've learned that sharing my music with the rest of the crew makes the tunes and the friendship even sweeter.
It's a nice snippet that gives us some clues about Cori. I hope she has another facet to her personality, though, just to make her more three-dimensional.
Cori doesn't balance quite as well as the other girls, probably because of the style of her shoes. But she makes a great first impression, with her dramatic purple hair and fierce-looking face:
Cori's booklet is mostly purple, and it has a picture of headphones on the front:
Cori has more to say about her love for music inside the booklet:
I like how this section talks about how music can make people "feel things they've never felt or remember things they might have forgotten." That's definitely true. But we don't get insight into Cori's other interests here.
Let's see what's in the next section:
This says that Cori is good at music, and needs to work on not getting lost in her music. So it's all about music.
I mean, I love music, and it can definitely be all-consuming. But what if Cori was also into herpetology? Or cheese rolling? Or what if she really hated chalk boards? Something unexpected.
Her unitard outfit and letterman jacket make it look like she might be involved in some kind of athletic activity:
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| Varsity yoga? |
She certainly has an intense look on her face, like she's concentrating hard on whatever music she's listening to:
Here she is from the side, where you can appreciate the height of her hair and the big wedge heels on her sandals:
Here she is from the back:
Cori's hair is styled to accommodate the headphones. She has a large ponytail in back, and a smaller one in front, leaving a gap in the middle for the headband:
She also has molded cornrows on the right side of her head, with no rooted hair in that area.
Cori's earrings are hoops with a spike pattern, and they're not symmetric. The earring on the right side of her head lays flat, while the one on the left sticks out:
This might be accidental, because of the way the headphones were attached? It's not a big deal, but I wanted to check the promotional pictures to see if it was intentional:
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| Nope, not intentional. |
The defect does make it harder to get the headphones in place, and there's no way a serious musician would wear jewelry that interferes with her equipment. Just saying.
Cori's headphones are attached to a little Walkman-style cassette player:
The headphones and cassette player are made out of different kinds of vinyl and look like they might be able to separate, but I couldn't get them apart:
The headphones have a lot of molded detail, and holes on either side of the headband where plastic ties used to be:
The cassette player has a wonderful surprise: it opens, and there's a tiny red cassette tape inside!
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| Little red cassette. |
The cassette even comes out, which makes me so happy:
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| It's freakin' adorable. |
I wonder if this accessory was re-used from another line? I certainly don't recognize it, and would probably remember something like this.
All three dolls have had good accessories so far, but Cori's cassette player takes the cake.
Cori's face is pretty cool, too. She has light brown side-glancing eyes with baby blue dots just under each medial canthus:
She also has a matching baby blue star under her left eye:
Cori has the same style of eyelashes as the other two dolls, but her eyebrows are different. They're all black, with no shading or hair detail except for three spiky stylized hairs at the inner edge of each brow:
Those spiky hairs, in combination with the arched shape of Cori's eyebrows, are what give her such a fierce expression.
Cori has minimal eyeshadow--just a thin line of light purple bordered by black:
My least favorite part of Cori's face is her mouth. She has a partially-open mouth with visible teeth, but the teeth are a funny shape:
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| Like a peanut. |
I think the shape is meant to define the curve of her upper lip, but it ends up looking weird. I think she'd look better if her teeth weren't showing at all.
With the earrings and headphones out of the way, we can get a better look at Cori's molded section of hair:
The color doesn't match the rooted hair, but I think it still works. The only flaw is that there are some dots at the top edge of the rooted hairline that I don't think should be visible. They look like a rooting guide or something.
On the other side, all of the hair is rooted:
Cori's hair is a fun mix of purple and pink, which matches her outfit nicely.
Cori's outfit feels simpler than the clothing on the other two dolls. It consists of two fabric pieces, the unitard and the jacket, with a few vinyl accents:
Here it is from the back:
The jacket is made out of stiff, shiny, synthetic material, but it has soft ribbed cuffs and collar, and a printed design on one side:
The "CC" stands for Cori Cruize, and there's a heart-shaped music note next to it.
Underneath the jacket, Cori's unitard has a tank style top. She's wearing a grey vinyl necklace and a neon pink vinyl belt, both of which help break up the monotony of the unitard's print:
The print includes rows of pink flames against a matrix of vertical teal and purple lines:
Cori's wedge sandals match the hints of teal in the unitard:
They also have molded flames on the heels that coordinate with the printed fabric.
Underneath her clothing, Cori has the same body as Charlie and Kenna:
 |
| From left: Wild Hearts Crew Cori Cruize, Charlie Lake, and Kenna Roswell. |
She looks taller, but that's just because of her sandals....and her hair. If she wears Charlie's boots, she's the same size as Kenna:
 |
| Cori Cruize (left) and Kenna Roswell (right). |
This was the result:
I don't like Cori quite as much as I like Charlie, but it's close. Cori has a captivating face that's full of personality. It would probably be my favorite face if it weren't for the strange shape of the tooth paint. I'm also not wild about Cori's outfit, even though the unitard offers great flexibility for posing. There aren't any unique, standout pieces in this ensemble, although the jacket is one of the better-made items in the entire collection. In terms of accessories, Cori's cassette player accessory is easily the best of the bunch.
 |
| Not bad. |
Aside from a few strands that ended up hanging down lower than the others, there was no harm done by changing the style. The hair looks good down, and it feels better than Charlie and Kenna's hair--maybe because the texture of the curls masks the dryness of the fiber.
I didn't bother to try and recreate the double ponytail style, mostly because it was easier to do a single ponytail. The effect is similar:
With her hair back up, Cori was ready for her portrait session!
The unitard is great for posing. It allows Cori to do all kinds of athletic moves:
But it looks plain on its own. I added back the vinyl accessories:
And then the jacket:
But Cori isn't Cori without her music! So I gave back her beloved cassette player, and she instantly started to listen to her favorite song:
And, judging by that expression on her face, I shouldn't try to take the cassette player away ever again:
 |
| Hands off. |
Next up is Rallee Radmore. She and Cori Cruize both have alliterative names that roll off the tongue nicely. That said, I'm glad Mattel didn't give all of the girls matching first and last names.
I got Rallee dressed again so that I could take some portraits:
I love the idea of the safety pin earrings, but I think they're way too big, and they look silly hanging down at that angle:
I guess she really knows her stuff.
Okay, pizza girl. Give me one last killer pose to wrap things up.
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| Wild Hearts Crew Rallee Radmore (2019). |
Rallee's special symbol is...a slice of pizza?
So I guess she's the glutton of the group? Seriously, though, it's a fun symbol and it has me guessing, which I enjoy.
The picture of Rallee on the side of the box has her posed with a guitar and a flaming skull:
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| No pizza in sight. |
So she's yet another rocker or music lover? Hm. Are these girls all in a band together or something?
Let's see what the bottom of the box says:
Here's a transcription: I've been told that the only time I'm ever still is when I'm asleep. I'm not sure about that, but when I'm awake you can either find me playing my guitar, loudly, or talking about pizza. Usually not at the same time, although I have written more than a few songs about the world's most perfect food.
So she's into pizza, specifically, not food in general. That's great! I don't think I've ever encountered another doll whose personality was...pizza. It's like Ken's profession being "beach."
She's also a loud guitar player, which makes her similar to Charlie in several ways and Cori in others. Strangely, Rallee doesn't come with anything related to either pizza or guitars:
I was eager to get a look at Rallee's booklet, to see what a true pizza obsession looks like:
First of all, Rallee is good at eating pizza and making it. She's also good at fixing things, but could use some help with her guitar skills and being on time:
The more in-depth text section addresses the elephant in the room: is it weird to be passionate about pizza?
Rallee explains that she doesn't think it's weird, but other people do--especially when she starts talking about pizza history or naming all of the best pizzerias in Italy. I actually think it would be pretty refreshing (and mouthwatering...) to have an in-depth conversation with somebody who knows a lot about pizza!
In addition to her pizza and guitar interests, Rallee is also good at building things. She even built her own pizza oven. And if all of that wasn't enough, Rallee has dreams of owning a little red corvette convertible.
So, we know a lot about Rallee, and her personality has some unique elements. This is in stark contrast to poor one-dimensional Cori.
Anyway, now that we know a few things about Rallee, let's take a look at her:
At first glance, I really like her outfit, except for the pink vinyl fanny pack. It doesn't fit the color scheme or the style of the other pieces. I feel like Charlie's red guitar purse would have been a much better fit here.
Rallee's face is engaging, though, with side-glancing eyes framed by snow-white hair and some interesting-looking goggles:
Here's Rallee from the side:
And from the back, where you can see the purple streaks in her hair:
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| Caught in the purple rain? |
Like Cori, Rallee has molded hair on one side of her head. This is meant to look shaved, and is painted stark white:
Once again, the painted color doesn't match the color of the rooted hair perfectly, but no shade of paint will ever perfectly match a shade of hair fiber.
Rallee is wearing massive safety pin earrings that stick out at an unrealistic angle from her head:
I'm not sure if these are from another line...and I'm not sure why I care. I guess because trying to identify re-used accessories is a fun little memory game to play? Are you guys playing along? Let me know if you recognize anything!
I know first wave Draculaura has safety pin earrings, but they're smaller and more delicate. And they hang down straight:
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| And look better. |
I'm sure I've never seen an accessory like Rallee's goggles before. At least not on a play doll. These are made out of black vinyl and have an "x" over one of the eyes:
They have a steampunk vibe that I dig, although I wish the lenses were transparent.
The goggles remind me of my Pullip Eos. I never reviewed her and I no longer have her in my collection, but she was a dramatic doll--also with white hair and goggles:
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| Or a goggle? |
Anyway, here's Rallee without her goggles:
She has a great face. I love the side-glancing eyes, and she also has a well-drawn mouth with a bit of a smirk. And nice, thick eyebrows to boot:
She looks good front-on and when she's looking straight at the camera:
I like the color choices in the face-up. The eyes are a bright blue, with massive dark pupils that give Rallee an intense stare reminiscent of Monster High. The eyeshadow includes bands of yellow, red, and blue (under thick, clumpy lashes, of course), and the lips are a deep blood red:
I feel like the exposed teeth are just right: they're not big and strangely-shaped, but also not so small as to be unnoticeable.
The lip paint follows the contours of the mouth well, which is nice:
And I like the way the eyebrows are mostly a thick band of paint, but there's still a bit of hair detail drawn in towards the middle. Rallee has some of Cori's fierceness while maintaining a friendly visage.
To summarize: Rallee has my favorite face of the group.
Let's see if her outfit can keep up:
I said it before and I'll say it again: I don't like the fanny pack. I wish she'd been given a silver chain belt or something more edgy. But I like everything else about the outfit.
She's wearing a cropped red pleather jacket, a graphic tank top, and plaid pants with printed zipper decorations. A black vinyl choker and combat boots complete the look.
The jacket has "Wild Hearts Crew" written on the back, but there's no decoration on the back of the pants. Those zippers are only on the front side.
The jacket has a wide collar with unfinished edges and little printed decorations. On the right side, there's a tiny white Skullette attached to a chain:
Here's a better look:
On the left, there's a safety pin and a lightning bolt:
Underneath the jacket, Rallee is wearing a black tank top with a bright yellow skull design:
The skull is wearing sunglasses and has flames coming out of its head:
I don't like this as much as Kenna's cow shirt or Charlie's pegasus shirt, but it's certainly eye-catching. This brand does a really nice job with the graphic tees.
The plaid pants are my favorite of Rallee's outfit pieces. I like the color mix, and the metallic printed zippers look great:
Rallee's boots have some molded stud straps and big thick treads, but no painted detail:
Underneath her clothing, Rallee has the same body as the other three girls, with a skin tone that's in between Kenna and Charlie's. Here she is next to Charlie:
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| Wild Hearts Crew Rallee (left) and Charlie (right). |
Maybe I'd like the fanny pack better if it matched the streaks in Rallee's hair? I don't know. It just looks out of place to me.
Rallee's white hair offers a dramatic contrast to all of the black in her outfit:
The goggles look very cool perched on top of her head, but not quite as cool when they're down over her eyes:
 |
| I can't see! |
Rallee looks more polished without the earrings:
I wish she had a slice of pizza to hold, though! I feel like it's a crime to deprive this girl of her favorite snack.
Fortunately, thanks to Dream Besties Renee, I was able to hook her up:
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| Ah, it's a heart-shaped pepperoni pie from Caserta! |
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| Now I'm ready for anything! |
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| No sweat. |
There's only one doll left at this point. Through sheer coincidence, I managed to leave the most distinct character for last. She's the only one in the group who has her own unique body type, and her name is Jacy Masters:
Jacy's special symbol is a roller skate:
I actually own many of these dolls, but haven't reviewed any of them. Typical.
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| Wild Hearts Club Jacy Masters (2019). |
And she's actually wearing roller skates, which is a treat. I think the last roller-skating dolls I reviewed were the Roller Maze Monster High ghouls from 2012. Can that be true? I feel like there must have been somebody else since then, but I can't think of who it was.
It's not like roller skating dolls are super-rare, especially from Mattel. There's a roller skating wave of Dream Besties:
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| Roller skating Teresa. |
And of course the roller skating Barbie and Ken from the Barbie movie:
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| Roller skating Barbie. |
Anyway, Jacy's love for roller skating is featured prominently on the side of the box, where she's holding a skate, and there's also one flying over her head:
Here's the blurb at the bottom of the box:
It says: I like the word "classic." It kind of means something that's as cool today as it was when it was first made, no matter how long ago that happened to be. Things like classic cars, classic movies, or classic songs act like mini time machines that can, for a moment, take you out of your time and back to theirs. I like to describe my style as classic, only it's a moment I live in every day.
I like this paragraph. It's a bit meta, too, because Jacy herself is a classic, taking us back in time to 2019.
Jacy's balance is the worst of the whole group, probably because of those roller skates:
Her booklet has yet another roller skate on the front, with a pink, teal, and yellow color scheme:
Inside the booklet, we learn that Jacy loves vintage clothing and makeup, and she enjoys putting on her roller skates and gliding through town:
Jacy is good at skating (no surprise there) and also history, which fits nicely with her love for retro things:
I giggled when I read that she sounds like a kazoo when she sings! And she hates scary movies, too.
Jacy has a more well-rounded personality than Cori, certainly, but there's not quite as much detail here as what we saw with Rallee. But her bio feels fresh--not like something I've read a hundred times before.
I struggled to get Jacy to stand on her own, so her posture looks awkward here:
She's wearing a tee shirt and jean vest over a knee-length skirt. The top part of the outfit looks like the 80s to me, while the skirt feels more 60s. Roller skating was popular in both decades.
From the back, you can see Jacy's waist-length flame red hair with its pink streaks:
She comes with a completely dismissible clutch purse that doesn't even open:
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| Yawn. |
After the camera, guitar purse, cassette player, and goggles, this thing is borderline offensive. Why did Jacy get shortchanged?
Maybe because Jacy is a bit...odd.
Right away, something about her face didn't look right to me:
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| Um... |
Part of the problem is her eyes. They're a light yellow/orange color that seems more fitting for a tiger than a human girl.
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| Ahhh! |
She's looking at me like I'm prey.
Lower down on her face she has cute little hearts underneath her left eye, and adorable molded dimples on her cheeks...
But then her mouth is so wrong. It's nearly impossible for me to look at anything else:
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| I do my makeup in the dark! |
The lips are a glaring neon red color that match the shade of Jacy's hair, and maybe that would be fine on its own, but the painted shape also has *nothing* whatsoever to do with the molded shape. She looks like a mime or a clown. Worse, she looks like a horror movie clown. I get shivers.
Here's a closer look:
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| She should've come with a red balloon. |
Let's take a break from the mouth and go back and talk about those eyes some more. Not only are they an unnatural color, but they're the only eyes in the group that are looking straight forward. And they're wider than the other girls' eyes, too. All of that adds up to a very intense stare:
The intensity is compounded by the thick, chaotic lashes. That same style of lash is an asset on the other dolls, but a liability here.
I feel like Jacy's eyes would have been perfect on a Monster High character. Especially one of the cats. But they're too intense for a normal teenager.
So, the mouth is a huge problem. But even if the lips had been painted well, I think Jacy's eyes have their own issues. The color, size, and fixed stare all combine to create an unnerving result. I wouldn't want to meet this doll in a dark alley.
The faces on the other dolls are so captivating. I'd have said that the faces are the best and most unifying thing about the Wild Hearts Crew line. But then Jacy came along and upended everything. To me, the difference between her and the other characters is jarring.
But I should move on and talk about some of Jacy's other features.
For instance, she's wearing a few pieces of jewelry. She has the same thin, large, silver hoop earrings as Kenna:
And a chunky silver necklace that spells "LOVE:"
She also has a pink bracelet that I didn't look at very closely. All of the pieces are a bit generic.
Jacy's outfit is less generic, and certainly full of color!
I like the top parts of the outfit better than the skirt. The skirt is bright pink with red flames around the hem, and it has a cascade of small red metallic hearts on one side. It's fine, but I don't really like doll clothing made out of this kind of stiff, shiny fabric. It looks and feels cheap.
The denim vest is better. The front of the vest has three printed designs on one side: a Skullette, a roller skate, and a lightning bolt.
The opposite side has a large printed hole with a hamburger above it and a flaming heart below it:
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| At least I think that's a hamburger. |
The back of the vest is printed to look like it's fraying at the edges, and it has the Wild Hearts Crew logo in the middle:
Charlie got a denim skirt with edges that are actually fraying, so I wonder why the same technique wasn't used here?
Underneath the vest, Jacy is wearing a black graphic tank top with an abstract roller skate design and the words "LIVE LOVE SKATE:"
The Curvy body has normal-looking arms, too.
And Jacy is definitely skating through life, thanks to her pair of white roller skates with bright pink wheels:
...Or is she? She can't actually skate in these things because the wheels don't move. Boo.
The wheels may not be able to move...but they're removable, leaving behind a white sneaker with black laces:
I was very happy to see this feature. Jacy's balance is much better when she's wearing the shoes by themselves:
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| I can stand normally! |
Jacy's hair is pulled back into a high ponytail, and there's a twisted section in the front that adds extra volume at the top of the head:
I noticed that the scalp areas visible at the back of Jacy's head are black, though, not red to match her hair:
This is a really weird choice. Maybe Jacy is a natural brunette and has dyed her hair bright red? If that's the case, it would have been really cool if she had dark roots, too.
On that subject, has there ever been a fashion doll with light hair and dark roots? I can't think of one off the top of my head, but I think it's a good idea. I'd buy that doll.
I'll take Jacy's hair down in a sec, but at first I just brushed it out with my wire brush:
The texture feels a little different than the other dolls--more like fake mohair or low grade saran, I would say. But I suspect it's still polypropylene.
The thing I was most curios about with Jacy was her body! She has a completely different body shape than the other four dolls. She also has a different molded underwear design:
She's wider than the other dolls in almost all areas, but her hands are the same size. Her arms also look short in proportion to the rest of her body.
The strange thing is that from the side, Jacy's torso is slender:
So it feels a bit like she was flattened from front to back.
The Barbie Curvy bodies look more natural and attractive to me, maybe because the stomach area is rounded:
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| Barbie Curvy body (left) and Wild Hearts Crew Jacy Masters body (right). |
The Curvy body looks slender from the side, but it doesn't feel flattened the way Jacy's body does:
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| Barbie Curvy body (left) and Wild Hearts Crew Jacy Masters body (right). |
Here's a comparison of Kenna and Jacy from the side:
I guess maybe all of these dolls have odd body profiles. Kenna looks really skinny from this angle, with visible hip bones, a pronounced back arch, and a gravity-defying bottom.
Finally, here's a lineup of all five Wild Hearts Crew dolls:
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| While Hearts Crew, from left: Cori, Charlie, Jacy, Rallee, and Kenna. |
Jacy really is the odd ball in this group.
The next thing I did with Jacy was take her hair down. I didn't want to make the boil wash mistake again, so I used a warm hairdryer until the bumps from the ponytail were gone...or diminished, anyway:
There's a lot of volume in this hair! It's fun to flip around.
However, that sneak peak of the scalp that we got before didn't lie. The scalp is painted black for some strange reason:
Fortunately, the thickness of Jacy's hair is such that the scalp is seldom visible.
I pulled all of that thick hair back into a basic ponytail so that I could do something about the horrifying lips:
I absolutely couldn't stand to look at them anymore.
I used acetone to wash away the factory paint and...volia! She already looks so much better:
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| She's a normal girl! |
She has a cute molded smile with shapely lips:
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| Those eyes are still freaky, though. |
The dimples are more noticeable now, too, which is great:
I re-painted her lips with acrylic, but I didn't do a very good job:
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| They're lopsided. |
I followed the molded contours, really I did! But it looks lopsided. Fortunately, I mixed the paint with glue so that I'll be able to peel everything off later and do a better job. For now, this'll have to be good enough.
I let Jacy show off her new lips with a little portrait session:
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| Maybe I like the lopsided smile? |
Her hair is really impressive!
I might have to repaint those intense eyes next, but there's no way I'll ever be able to replicate the signature lashes that all of the Wild Hearts Crew have.
So for now, I'll enjoy Jacy as she is, tiger eyes and all:
I gathered the whole Crew together for a few closing shots:
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| The Wild Hearts Crew (2019). |
Thank goodness that they can all balance so well on their own...except for Jacy who, even without her roller skates, needed a little support from her friends:
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| We got you, Jace. |
Another defining characteristic of these dolls is their colorful hair. None of the girls have conventional hair colors. Two of the dolls even have half of their heads shaved, with molded and painted hair instead of rooted locks. Most of the hair looks great, with the possible exception of Kenna, whose short, layered blue hair can look a little scruffy, especially without the beret. Unfortunately, none of the hair feels good. It's all cheap polypropylene that feels dry and lightweight, and can't tolerate much heat. The hair isn't rooted particularly well, either, with thick plugs and lots of exposed scalp. Jacy's scalp is painted black, which makes it highly visible under her red hair. Cori's hair is the best of the bunch, with tight curls that mask both the rooting job and the unpleasant texture of the fiber.
The outfits in this collection are also very colorful, with an eclectic mix of interesting pieces. The dolls look good on their own, each with their own style, but they also look great together as a group. There are many standout items for me. First, I love Kenna's jeans, with their polka dot suspenders and fascinating doodles. The references to Monster High are especially delightful. I also like Kenna's tank top, with that alien spaceship beaming up a cow. Charlie's pegasus shirt is amazing, too, especially for a horse lover like me. Cori's letterman jacket is particularly well-made (even if I don't much like the shiny fabric). But Rallee's ensemble as a whole is my favorite, just because everything looks good and goes well together. Jacy's outfit is my least favorite, but the denim vest and roller skates have some charm. The construction of the clothing is decent, and I'm happy with the number of separate pieces, but there are a lot of unfinished edges, some of which probably won't wear well. All of the dolls come with a few vinyl accessories, too, and these range from great (Kenna's beret and camera, Charlie's guitar purse and earrings, Rallee's goggles, and Cori's cassette player) to not-so-great (Rallee's fanny pack and earrings and Jacy's clutch purse).
I'm always excited to discover a new doll body, no matter how similar it might be to other bodies that I've reviewed. So even though the Wild Hearts Crew body has a lot in common with Barbie (and the two brands can share some clothing), it's still something I haven't seen before. The articulation is good, with eleven joints that perform fairly well. The wrists and hips could be more flexible, to allow the dolls to touch their faces and do full splits, but it's hard to complain about eleven joints. I like the look of the molded underwear, but the high ridges on the design show through any item of clothing that's tight-fitting. I appreciate the range of skin tones, and having two separate body types is nice, too. However, Jacy's mold has some features that bug me, like her short arms and flattened profile.
The last thing I want to say about these dolls is that I really enjoyed getting to know them. By that I mean it was fun to be able to learn about their personalities without having to slog through an inane web series aimed at much younger people. I was able to read about these girls not just on the backs of the boxes, but also in the little booklets that accompany each doll. And all of the entries had new information, not the same snippet repeated over and over again. I know that Kenna is glued to her camera and has some wild alien theories, and Charlie can't stay organized, but loves to help animals in need. Rallee is a pizza aficionado who plays the guitar badly, and Jacy loves anything classic--as long as it's not a scary movie. Cori, well, she's all about music...literally. But if you're going to pick one thing to be obsessed with, it might as well be music. Or dolls.
And as dolls go, this Crew is pretty great. Despite the bad hair and an occasional wardrobe or face paint mishap, I can't help but recommend this colorful, spirited, diverse group of Wild Hearts.
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| Just maybe not Jacy. |
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