Sunday Surprise: MINNEE by Zuru!

Blogging life feels a little frantic right now!  There are so many new dolls coming into my house, it's hard to keep up.  But it's also really fun to be surrounded by so many new things.  I wasn't very happy with the new Zuru Spaces room that I reviewed last week, mostly because it isn't really new: it's just a copy of a Rolife Super Creator set.  I'll admit that my experience with that toy produced some uncharitable thoughts about Zuru as a company.  But, in the whiplash way that is so typical of the doll world, this week's review has those opinions turned upside down.

One of my most eagerly anticipated summer releases has been Zuru's blind box Minnee collection, or technically MINNEE collection.  The name feels uninspired to me, despite the all-caps font and the reversed "N."  But the concept of these dolls is great.  Zuru claims that they are "the world's smallest poseable fashion dolls," and if that's the case, I'm already a big fan:

Zuru Minnee blind box ($14.99 each).

I hate having to use a picture of the box as a cover shot for this review.  It doesn't feel right.  But since this is a Sunday Surprise, I don't want to give anything away right at the start.  

The box art looks fine, but I've also heard that it's AI generated...or an AI enhanced version of real art?  Why on earth is that even a thing?  So irritating.  Anyway, I know AI is something Zuru is leaning heavily on these days because I've seen the My Mini Baby pregnant doll packaging, and it's scary.  

Here's a little preview for you:

Ahhhh!

That's just...well, it's creepy and weird and looks nothing like a real person or the actual doll.  AI has some interesting applications, for sure, but art is not one of them.  I might even go so far as to say there's no need for AI in the doll world.

The Minnee box design is nowhere near as bad as My Mini Baby box, which is a relief.  But the pictures are a weird amalgamation of graphic art and the actual doll:

Like, why does she have visible elbow joints?

The back side of the box shows a different doll:

This girl looks even less like a doll than the brunette on the front.  But I don't find either picture off-putting.  Overall, it's attractive packaging, with a lot of black (much like the Spaces sets) and some yellow and hot pink accents.

The boxes are made out of hard plastic, which surprised me...and made me groan.  I figured I wouldn't be recycling any of the packaging.  On the bright side, the boxes feel durable, and there's no risk of them getting crushed in the mail.  However, all of the decorations are printed on a fairly thin cardboard covering, and this can get ripped or wrinkled.

One side of the box is mostly black, with the Minnee name and some copyright information:

The name "Starbox" appears in a lot of places here.  Starbox is basically Zuru's blind box division.  I was curious about what other toys fall under that label and found these cute little Nook Nooks:

The Nook Nooks are cartoonish animals who are posed in diorama-like scenes.  The scenes are arranged inside of regular household items like refrigerators or televisions.  I'd never even heard of these before, but now I want one.  I'd love to get a little penguin inside a fridge!  Very cute...but $12.99 each.

Anyway, the other side of the Minnee box has a hot pink section with little AI renderings of all the dolls:

I wish it showed what the real dolls look like.  It's impossible to know what you're actually getting here.

The pictures are super tiny, but I see a bunch of different themes, including a girl with a cat hoodie and cat gloves (Akiko Kittyama?), a girl in roller skates (Malibu Barbie?), some fun hair color options, and then a mystery character with only a black silhouette.  Here's a slightly closer look:

It's hard for me to choose a favorite based on these thumbnails.  That's probably good, since it's dangerous to have specific wishes with a blind box toy...especially a blind box toy that costs $15.

There were two pieces of circular tape sealing the bottom of the box, and once I removed those, the black tin base came right off:

There was a hot pink plastic piece behind the metal base, so I still couldn't see into the box.  The base was also holding the folded edges of the cardboard covering in place.  So I could have pulled the cardboard off at this point.

But that's not how I opened this box.  Instead, I pulled out the hot pink plastic piece:

Now I can see inside!  There are a bunch of little bags in there.  I can also see that the edges of the box are made out of clear plastic.

At this point I removed the cardboard covering because it was getting in the way.

Here's everything that I found:

The box itself looks like a little display case!  And the hot pink plastic piece is the base.  This is such a good idea:

It means that there's practically no waste with the packaging, which I love.  I think I'll actually use the display case as intended.  It's attractive and sturdy.

You can use the display case with just the pink base, or you can put the black tin section back on for a more dramatic look:

I like that!  And if I get tired of seeing the Minnee brand name, I can turn the black part around to its blank side.

Inside the display case box I found four bags, a card, and a collector's sheet:

The card actually reveals which doll I got.  I flipped it upside down to prolong the surprise for all of you.

The card may have truncated the surprise experience for me, but I actually think it's a very good idea. Because of the design of the box, it's pretty easy to remove the sealing tape, peek inside, check the card to see which doll it is, and then package everything back up to look good as new--with all of the bags still unopened.  This will be great for both buyers and sellers of duplicates.

The collector's sheet shows all of the different dolls and their accessories.  It's still the AI graphics here, though, not photographs of the actual dolls.

Winter Boutique has blue hair, a long blue fuzzy coat, and ice skates!  Candy Couture has pink hair and a sparkly-looking dress:

Bubble Tea Bar has a boho vibe...and a little dog!  There's also a Barbie-like character called Retro Rollers who has roller skates and another cute dog:

I hope I get one of those dogs.

Magic Academy has hints of Wednesday Addams and a little black cat, while Cat Care is dressed like a cat and also has what looks like a long-haired white cat as a pet:

I'd happily take either of those two as well.

There's a beach version of Retro Rollers, but she doesn't have roller skates, which is lame.  In contrast, the Comic Con character looks amazing!  I love her accessories, especially her monster purse and those little toys:

I'd love to get her!

The special doll, who was a dark silhouette on the box decorations, is a gold version of Winter Boutique:

Both of the Winter Boutique variations give me strong Rainbow High energy.  I think it's because their hair color matches their outfit color.

The diversity here is decent, with three of four different skin tones and several different outfit styles.  I wish there were more than nine dolls, if only to decrease the chances of getting a repeat.

I wanted to open the bags in reverse order of excitement potential--to build the suspense.  The biggest and the smallest bags seemed like the least likely ones to have a doll inside:

Indeed, the biggest bag had a stand and a brush:

The stand is made out of clear plastic and has a square base that will fit into the display case.  The brush is pink, and this might give away something about which doll I got.  I'm not sure:

The smaller bag had the accessories inside, and these definitely give away which character I got!

There's a pair of pink high-heeled shoes, a blue hair bow, a white purse with rainbow polka dots, and a slightly gross-looking frothy drink.

The purse is blank on the back side:

The accessories align with Candy Couture, and she's the character on my card:

I didn't get any of the pets, which is sad, but I like this character's pink hair and candy theme.

At this point I was desperate to see the actual doll.  I had not allowed myself any online previews other than what was visible on Amazon's purchase page.  So I had a rough idea of what the dolls look like, but nothing concrete.

I knew from how it felt that this bag was the one with the doll inside:

It's a very small bag.  Surprisingly small, in fact.

I had assumed that these dolls were 1:12 or dollhouse scale.  That was the early online speculation, anyway.  But the bag is too small to hold a 1:12 scale doll.

I ripped open one side of the bag and was greeted by some bright pink hair:

Here's Miss Candy Couture:

When this doll first slid out of the bag, I had to take a moment.  I think I even said "wow" out loud.  She's so small and so delicate, but her face is really nice and she has double jointed knees!  I sat there in awe.

I knew she was going to be small, and I knew she was going to be articulated.  But I had no idea she'd be this small and this well articulated.  I've never seen anything like it--at least not in the mass-market play doll world.  There are certainly art dolls and BJDs that are this size (and smaller) with this level of articulation.  But they're harder to find and often quite expensive.

I took the plastic off the doll's face and fit her into the stand to get a better look:

Her name should probably be Candy.

Candy's hair is a little crazy, but it feels nice and sleek.  It's got big, messy curls:

Like cotton candy.

The rooting is good for this size of doll, with three neat little rows of hair that end half way down the back of the scalp:

There's certainly not a volume problem here.  I tried gently brushing the hair with the included brush, and this caused a volume explosion:

Bam!

I don't love the hairstyle.  It's too much curl for such a petite doll.  But the color is fun and those curls frame such a pretty face!

She has a big head, but it's not a super-exaggerated balloon head or anything.

I tied Candy's hair back into a ponytail so that I could see her body better:

That looks *amazing*

She has a plastic torso with a vinyl head and limbs.  Her underwear is painted, and she has a crazy number of joints that I'm dying to look at.

She also comes with three bracelets and a necklace, none of which look removable.

Here she is from the side:

From this angle, and with her hair pulled back, the hair looks weird.  The rooting stops really far away from the ear, and very high up on the back of the head:

However, if the designers had made the rooting any more dense, the volume of hair would have swallowed this poor girl whole!

Here she is from the back:

I can hardly believe what I'm seeing here.  There's a torso joint, an upper thigh joint, plus elbows, wrists, ankles...everything.  It's mind-blowing.

With articulation like this, I hardly even care what the face looks like.  Well...of course I care at some level what the face looks like.  But this face is great.  I don't think I've ever seen a mass-produced doll this small with such a clear, detailed face:

Her forehead is prominent, and the plugs of rooted hair are quite noticeable, but I don't know how you'd avoid that with a doll this size.

Candy is approximately 1:18 scale.  To set the stage, take a look back at my Lundby doll, Jennifer, who is also 1:18:

Bless her heart.

Let's just say that Jennifer doesn't have a face that could launch a thousand ships.  There's not a lot of detail in her features, and the paint job is sloppy.  She looks tired, skeptical...or perhaps inebriated.  

But when I first got Jennifer, her face didn't bother me too much because it's so freakin' small.  It's hard to see how drunk she is in real life.  Candy is a completely different story.

She has a printed face with wide eyes, shaded lips, and lots of eye detail:

She even has exposed teeth, for goodness sake.

This face is so small, I found it very difficult to get up-close pictures that aren't blurry.  I'm sure there's some pixelation or graininess in the face paint, but there's no way you can see it in real life.  I can't even see it with zoomed-in photographs.

Candy has light brown eyebrows with hairline detail, two-toned eyeshadow, and big eyes with brown irises.  The eyes even have reflective dots:

The face is stylized, with those big eyes and full lips, but it's fairly normal-looking on the spectrum of tiny dolls.  I certainly prefer it to the cartoonish faces of dolls like L.O.L and Mattel's Extra Mini Minis:

Barbie Extra Mini Mini doll.

I don't know if Candy's face reminds me of any other single doll.  She looks a bit like some of the new Mirror Mi girls, with those big eyes and pouty lips, but not much like a traditional Barbie; she has more in common with a My Scene Barbie.  Her facial features are certainly nothing like Rainbow High.  She has some similarities to MGA's Extra Iconic Minis, I guess.  So she's stylized in a way that's very familiar, but her face as a whole feels like something new.  Especially in this size!

Candy's necklace is made out of pink translucent plastic. It's molded into the shape of a beaded chain, with a bunch of different candy-themed charms:

On her right wrist she has two more pieces of jewelry: a purple beaded bracelet with a dangling decoration (I can't tell what the decoration is supposed to be), and a pink flower bracelet that matches her necklace:

Her left wrist has a plain blue bangle bracelet:

I don't think these can be removed.  I tried to (gently!) pull Candy's hands off, but they didn't budge.  Maybe I need to be more vigorous.  But even if I could get the hands off, I'd probably lose one of them.  I'd definitely lose the bracelets.  So it's best that everything stays put.

While I was photographing the bracelets, I paused to take a picture of Candy's tiny, detailed hands.  They're so delicate:

Okay, enough about that.  This next part is what I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for!  We get to look at Candy's articulation.  I'm so excited, I can't even tell you.

My first mission was to see if I could get her to stand on her own.  She was a little tippy in her bare feet, but she stands beautifully in her shoes!

Amazing.

Half of the big dolls that I review can't stand on their own.  Candy's balance is excellent.

She also has, wait for it, eighteen points of articulation!  Eighteen!  She's jointed at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, torso, hips, thighs, knees (x2!) and ankles.  I'm beside myself.

Her neck is a ball joint, so she can look up and down:

And her head can spin around and tip from side to side:

Her shoulders are rotating hinges, and her arms can lift up and away from her body quite a lot!  I'd say to about a 100 degree angle:

Her arms can also spin all of the way around at the shoulder:

Candy has rotating hinges in her elbows and wrists, too.  Her elbows bend past 90 degrees, which is awesome:

And her wrists have excellent flexion, too:

Candy can touch her mouth and ear with no trouble:

She can even cross her arms in front of her body:

Her torso joint has side-to-side movement:

And a small amount of front-to-back movement:

It can also twist around...which looks a little strange!

It feels a little strange, too.

Her hips are ball-and-socket joints, but she can't slide into full side-to-side splits:

I was able to maneuver her into front-to-back splits, but her legs didn't move into this pose in a conventional way.  It took a bit of fiddling:

The pose offers a good peek at the inside of her hip joint, though:

Just below her hips, at the top of each thigh, Candy has a rotational joint.  This allows her legs to spin around:

They don't spin all of the way around, though.  They stop at about 180 degrees, with the back of the knee facing forward:

As I gleefully mentioned before, Candy has double-jointed knees!

So she can kneel extremely well, using one or both of the joints in each knee.

I found it a little tricky to move the upper knee joint at first.  I had to carefully stabilize both sides of that area and then gently add pressure.  Once the joints had been bent a few times, they got easier to move.

It's worth noting here that while the joints look and perform like those on something like a Made to Move Barbie, they require a bit of extra care.  The wrists and knees, in particular, are so small that moving them takes slightly more time than it would on a larger doll.  They don't feel fragile to me, necessarily, just very small!

Sitting in a chair is not one of Candy's strengths.  This is not because of her joints, but rather because of her distribution of weight (mostly her hair).

She tends to tip backwards:

And then, within seconds, something like this happens:

Or even this:

It's not an impossible task, though.  I was eventually able to adjust her arms and legs to get this natural-looking pose:

Before I forget, Candy also has rotating hinges in her ankles. These allow her feet to spin around, flex, and extend:

Much like a Made to Move Barbie, Candy has mostly-flat feet.  Because of the ankle flexibility, these can accommodate both flat and high-heeled shoes.  It's a good design.

Candy is a delight to pose.  She's a lot like a Made to Move doll in terms of the type and number of her joints:

Not only can she strike a lot of poses, but she holds them well, too.  Her joints are not weak and wobbly, and they stay in position when I want them to.  The one tiny exception to this is her knees.  Towards the end of the review, I noticed one of Candy's knees slipping out of position every now and again.  Not a big deal, but perhaps something that could get more noticeable over time.

Candy is fantastic at sitting on the ground:

In many different ways!

She can even lounge:

And I discovered that she's quite good at balancing in action poses, even without her shoes:

I love the way her hands can interact with her face:

A doll's hand movement adds so much to their personality.

Tell me one more compliment, Emily, then I'll give you an epic final pose.

Okay, sure.  That's easy: Candy's articulation would be incredible at any size, and the fact that she's only 4 inches tall makes it miraculous.

How's this for miraculous!

Another feature related to Candy's articulation is that her head can pop off:

Was that necessary??

This means that her necklace is removable, which is nice.  I'll try not to lose it.

There's a separate section of vinyl in Candy's head with a large hole for the neck peg.  I wish the seam between this section and the rest of the head was slightly less conspicuous, but it's understandable for the size:

The head popping feature reminded me of the Pop 'n Swap Polly Pocket dolls, who are also about 1:18 scale:

We're very familiar with removable heads!

Polly is shorter than Candy, but her head is about the same size, if not a tad larger:

Pop 'n Swap Polly Pocket (left) and Minnee Candy Couture (right).

The two dolls can't swap heads with each other, unfortunately, because the connection hole on Polly's head is way too small:

While I'm on the subject of size comparisons, let me dig up a few more examples.

First of all, Candy fits easily into the palm of a hand.  In fact, I could probably fit three or four of her in the palm of my hand:

She's the size of a finger.

My standard size comparison is a Barbie Signature Looks doll like Petra, but she and Candy are so far apart in size that it's hard to get them into the same frame!

Minnee doll (left) and Barbie Signature Looks doll (right).

I have a few comparisons in the 1:12 scale size that I originally though Candy would be, but those dolls look like giants compared to her:

From left: TBLeague Super Flexible Seamless figure, Minnee doll, Heidi Ott doll.

I haven't reviewed any Heidi Ott dollhouse dolls yet, but I will.  They are wonderful, and there's a slimmer-limbed version that's even more realistic than the example shown here.

In terms of the other 1:18 scale dolls that I own, Candy falls somewhere in the middle of the height spectrum:

From left: 1970s Lundby, 1990s Lundby, Minnee, Polly Pocket, Pose Skeleton.

Candy looks out of place in that lineup.  She literally looks like a 6th scale doll who's been shrunken down.  The scaling compromises that are so clear on the other dolls (simplified faces, limited articulation, blocky bodies) are not present with Candy.  The Pose Skeleton comes the closest to Candy's level of detail, but even he can't match her articulation.

There's not a lot of clothes-sharing potential here, mostly because the 70s Lundby clothing isn't removable, the 90s Lundby clothing is too baggy, and the skeleton has no clothes.

Candy can wear Polly Pocket's clothing, though.  Or she can wear the ~2018 Polly Pocket clothing that I have on hand.  I haven't bought any of the newest versions of Polly yet, so I can't test out that clothing.  

The dresses I have are a bit short, but I think this white one looks nice, especially with that pink hair:

Candy might also be able to share Dress to Impress outfits.  I have a few of those blind box dolls in my review queue, so I'll be able to explore the options at some point.

I should probably get Candy her own clothing to wear!  I can't believe the review has gone on this long without me even thinking about opening up that last bag.  I was too obsessed with the articulation, I guess.

Here's the last bag, which I know must be the outfit.  Or at least I hope it is:

Once again, I had no idea what to expect here.  Would the clothing be fabric?  Vinyl?  It's impossible to tell from the box art.

Turns out, it's both fabric and vinyl:

The top is made out of molded stretchable vinyl, much like Polly Pocket's clothing.  The vinyl here is thinner and less shiny than it is on Polly's outfits, though:

There are some nice molded details, including what looks like corset boning and a big bow at the top.

The back has a lace-up pattern that's also reminiscent of a corset:

The top can be pulled up over Candy's legs or down over her shoulders...provided that her head is off:

I was afraid to stretch this thing at first, but it seems quite durable.  And it has to be stretched a lot in order to get it in place.

The skirt has three layers of pink tulle with an elastic waistband:

I like the printed design on the tulle.  It looks like ice cream sprinkles!

The inside of the skirt has a shiny pink lining, and there's a ribbon to keep the whole thing from riding up:

Here's Candy in her full outfit:

I'll admit to being a little bummed when the outfit first fell out of the bag.  The vinyl top looked cheap and the tulle skirt looked shapeless, and I wasn't sure what to make of the two materials mixed together.  However, seeing everything on Candy, I think it's great!  The vinyl top has a nice shape and offers a good contrast to the skirt.  And the skirt has plenty of volume without overwhelming Candy's small frame.

With Candy fully dressed and looking good, I turned my attention back to her accessories.

She can actually hold her drink, even though it doesn't look very appetizing:

Do you want a sip, Emily?

Um, no thanks Candy.

She can even put the straw up to her mouth!

Please don't make me drink it.

She can also hold her purse, and her wrists don't collapse under its weight like some other dolls I know:

The hair bow is the least impressive of the accessories, but it fits easily around the ponytail at the top of Candy's head:

Candy's accessories are fine, but she doesn't need them.  She has a ton to offer without relying on extras:

Even after playing with her for a while I find it amazing how well she balances and moves.  She strikes the poses that I have in my head with very little effort on my part.  The only other dolls I have who function this reliably are my Made to Move Barbies.

The one thing that was bothering me about Candy at this stage was her hair:

So I boil washed it and chopped off some of the length.

I was picturing poker-straight hair after the boil wash, but I wasn't able to achieve that.  Even after several dunks into very hot water, the curls didn't relax.  I'm not sure what the hair fiber is, but my best guess is nylon.  Nylon looks and feels great, but it can be stubborn about its shape.

Here's Candy after her haircut:

It's easier to brush and control the hair now, but it's still quite curly!

I like how I can arrange the curls more intentionally with the shorter length:

It's a decent upgrade, I think, and it wasn't hard to achieve.

I put Candy in her display case to see how she'd look:

The display case is great!  The stand fits into the middle perfectly, and it allows Candy to pose however she wants.  As a bonus, all of the accessories can be stored in between the pink and black base pieces.  I will definitely store and display Candy like this.

I'm blown away by Candy.  By having such fantastic articulation in such a tiny size, she's achieving something that I have never seen in the mass-market play doll world before.  On top of that, I find her face pleasant and unexpectedly detailed.  Her hair feels good, even though the curls are unruly.  Candy's outfit, while simple, works really well for her size and does not restrict her movement.  The display case is the icing on the cake.  It's sturdy, attractive, and it makes Candy look great.  The case's utility means that there was literally no garbage associated with this doll.  I only had to recycle the thin cardboard wrapping from the outside of the box.  I've been giddy for that last few days because of how much I like this doll.  She's easily worth her $15 price.

So of course I had to buy another one.

All of the boxes look the same:

I was really nervous about getting a repeat.  These dolls aren't super-easy to find yet, and if I'd gotten another Candy Couture it would have been a major let down.  As much as I like Candy, I never like to base my judgement of a new doll line on a single example.

As a little aside: I read online that there's a weight hack that you can use to find a specific Minnee character.  This didn't work for me.  Both of my doll boxes weighed the same (240g), but, fortunately, they are not the same doll.  Maybe my scale isn't sensitive enough?  Who knows.  I'm just happy that I didn't get a repeat!

Here's everything that was in the second box:

The biggest bag had a stand and a brush inside, just like before.  The stand is the same as Candy's, but the brush is a different color:

So maybe each character has their own brush color?  That would be fun.

I opened the smallest bag second, and this was the accessories.  I see sneakers, something blue, and...could it be?

Is that a dog nose??

I got one of the sets with a dog!

It's like a cute little Rottweiler puppy or something.  There's also a headband, a drink cup, pink sneakers, a big fuzzy bag, and a small yellow accessory.

By now you might have guessed that I got Bubble Tea Bar!  She's the girl on the front of the box:

Nobody drinks like that.

Okay, I don't like that picture of her.  Her mouth looks funny.  The picture on the front of the box is much better.

Anyway, I like her style and I like her dog.  Let's take a look at the dog first:

He's black with tan points, like a Rottweiler, but he also has ears that look a bit fuzzy.  Maybe he's a mixed breed?  Let's pretend he's a rescue dog.

He has a painted pink collar with a tag or some other decoration hanging down.  The paint work is fairly good for the most part, but there are some smudges on the muzzle:

Here he is from the side:

He's a cute little guy.  I feel like he should have a name associated with bubble tea, so I'll call him Boba:

None of the other accessories will be as good as Boba, but we might as well take a look at the big purse:

It's pretty cute.

It's a bright minty teal color and is molded to look fuzzy and soft.  It has a dog face on one side.

The other side is undecorated:

Here are the three smallest accessories, which are a tiny yellow hair tie (?), a cup of what I presume is bubble tea, and a headband with butterflies on it:

This doll comes with flat-heeled sneakers, so we'll be able to test out how the feet perform in a different style of shoe:

I was getting impatient to see the doll at this point, so I opened her next:

Right away, I could see that she's very different from Candy!

This doll has a much darker skin tone, and her hair is very straight.  She also has small side braids and bangs, both of which seem like difficult styles to achieve in this scale:

The braids look very good, but they have nothing to fasten them at the ends other than some kind of hair glue.  That strategy seems to work well for now, but if the hair got wet, things could change.  I never like doll bangs very much, and these are quite noticeably crooked, hanging down over one eye more than the other.  It's funny how this asymmetry doesn't bother me as much as it should.  I think because in the small scale, I don't actually notice it very often.

The hair is pulled back into two long ponytails:

Following the bubble tea theme, I think I'll name this girl Chai.

Chai has a necklace and two bracelets.  The necklace is pink and has a small flower pendant.  One of the bracelets is a plain pink bangle, the other is a blue beaded ring with a flower on it:

It's hard to see Chai's face with those crooked bangs in the way.  It was also hard to sweep the bangs to the side since they're so short!  The best I could come up with was to stick them to a piece of tape and lift them up that way:

There she is.

I think Chai is very pretty.  She has face paint that's similar to Candy, with big eyes, dark eyebrows, and purple eyeshadow in at least two different shades.

Her lips are darker than Candy's, though, and her teeth are a bit less exposed:

It looks like my two dolls have the same face mold, but the paint and complexion differences do a nice job of making them distinct:

I would have been surprised if Zuru had produced different face molds for each of these tiny dolls.  In such a small scale, any little differences would have been hard to appreciate.

I was interested to see how Chai's outfit would differ from Candy's, and if it would have the same mix of vinyl and fabric.  So I opened up the last bag:

This outfit has three pieces: vinyl jeans, a fabric tank top, and a vinyl belt:

The tank top is simple.  It's made out of a knit print and has ribbon straps and a decal that says "sweet:"

The print and the decal are a lot for such a small shirt.

The neckline of the tank isn't hemmed, but there's a row of stitching a few millimeters in from the edge that might stop the fabric from fraying too badly.

The jeans are molded into a baggy style, and have butterfly designs on the legs:

The front has molded pockets and a gold button at the top of the fly:

The back has gold designs on the pockets and a brown rectangular label on the waistband:

It's hard to see, but that label has an "M" molded into it.

The outfit looks good on Chai.  I think the jeans are by far the best part, with all of the molded creases and details:

The tank top doesn't look as polished as the jeans, but at least it's easy to use.  Both and belt and the jeans were hard to get on.

The jeans were hard because they stuck to Chai's legs and created a lot of friction.  The belt was hard because it has a tiny little closure section in back with the bad habit of coming undone immediately after I get it fastened:

I made a few valiant attempts to get the belt to stay in place, and then eventually gave up and left it off for the remainder of the review.  It looks okay, but it isn't worth the hassle.

Chai is able to hold her bubble tea cup:

And the hair decoration fits over one of her ponytails:

Too bad she didn't come with a matching set.

After some thought, and going back to look at the box art, I think this "hair decoration" is actually another necklace.  That makes more sense, and looks better, too:

I think it has a molded butterfly on it.

Chai's pink headband fits well:

And brings out the crookedness of her bangs.

But I don't think it adds much to her outfit.  I don't really like the bright pink pieces.  They don't fit Chai's style.

The purse is cute, but it's really big!  It hangs down to Chai's knees:

She could fit a couple of dogs in there.

As I expected, Boba is the best accessory:

And he and Chai have a nice bond:

Here are my two Minnee dolls together:

Minnee dolls Bubble Tea Bar (left) and Candy Couture (right).

Despite appearances, they are the same height.  Candy's shoes make her look taller.  It's hard to pick a favorite between these two!  I really like both of them.  I prefer Chai's aesthetic overall, but her outfit is harder to use and her jeans restrict her leg movement.  I also like Chai's skin tone and hair color better, but those bangs are crooked and they obscure her pretty face.  I don't mind the bangs in theory, though.  They do a nice job of concealing the rooting plugs and minimizing the big forehead.  I'm impressed that the designers were able to take the same body and the same face mold and make two such distinct characters.  

I really want to see more of the dolls and more of the variety!  But at $15 each, I don't want to buy more and risk a repeat.  I feel lucky enough to have gotten two different dolls for this review.  The thing is, if these dolls weren't blind box items, I probably would have shelled out the money to buy all nine of them.  Oh, well.  I'll wait to see how expensive the used eBay options are.

To distract myself from coveting more dolls, I took some time to enjoy Chai.  I decided to let her hair down, since those two ponytails got in the way of certain poses:

Her hair feels nice, and it has a mix of two different brown shades:

Because of her long, stiff jeans, Chai doesn't have anywhere near the same posing repertoire as Candy.  She can't bend her knees much at all.  That doesn't mean she's hard to photograph, though:

The camera loves her:

Chai's stiff jeans also make it really hard for her to sit in a chair.  She can only really sit with her legs sticking out:

She's good at casual walking poses, though:

The jeans look really good on Chai, I just wish they didn't slow her down so much:

Fortunately, her cute face and flexible arms make up for a lot:

These little dolls are so much fun!  My biggest disappointment as I was photographing them was that my camera isn't great at capturing really small details.

And I have a lot of really small details!

I wanted to show off Chai in her display case, but the stand doesn't work well for her because of that bare midriff.  The waist grip isn't tight enough and she falls right out:

It's still nice to have the stand around so she can lean on it:

There are a lot of reasons why I love these dolls.  But one of the things I was excited to see was whether or not they'd fit into the Rolife Super Creator rooms.  I've amassed quite a big Rolife village at this point, and have dreams of putting together a big house.  But I've yet to find the perfect occupants.

I was delighted to see that Candy fits beautifully into the Rolife ice cream shop.  Not only that, but her dress is perfectly decorated for this environment!

Minnee Candy Couture in the Rolife Flavorful Ice Cream shop.

I also put her in the Zuru Spaces ice cream shop, to see the contrast:

Minnee Candy Couture in the Spaces ice cream shop.

You could argue that Candy "goes better" with the Spaces room.  Her outfit and hair match the pink cabinetry fairly well.  But there's a lot of pink, and the match isn't perfect.

You all know that I have a grudge against the Spaces shop, so you have to take what I say here with a grain of salt.  But I think Candy actually looks better in the Rolife shop, where the little hints of pink in the decor highlight her hair and outfit without saturating the entire space: 

There's plenty of pink here.

You've seen the two ice cream shops in great detail at this point, so I wanted to end the review by testing out a new Rolife space that I've never shown on the blog before.

C'mon, Boba.  Let's go get some bubble tea.

As luck would have it, Rolife offers a bubble tea shop, and I happen to own it:

Rolife Super Bubble Tea shop.

This shop is great and was a quick build.  It has less detail than some of the other sets, but there's still plenty to look at and play with.  There's even an illuminated sign at the back of the shop.  I have this turned off most of the time because it's not great for photographing the dolls.

Candy wanted to work at the shop, so I had her change into a more tea-colored dress from Polly Pocket.  The dress is too short, and the quality is not as good as the Minnee outfit, so this wasn't my best move.  But Candy doesn't seem to mind:

Hi everyone!  Welcome to my shop.

Look at this cool machine over here.  This is for packaging the bubble tea.

And look at all of the things I have to help me make the tea!

There's even a soft serve machine like the one from the ice cream shop!

Unfortunately, it's exactly the same mold as the one from the ice cream shop, so it wasn't very exciting to build.  Still, the colors are different and it's one of the more detailed pieces.  So no complaints.

Now I just need some customers!

Right on cue, Chai and Boba showed up:

Oh, wow!  Look at this cute shop, Boba.

This is exactly what we were looking for!

Funny how that happened.

Hi there!  I'd love a strawberry super bubble tea, please.

And do you happen to have anything that my dog Boba can eat?

Oh my gosh!  Look at that little guy!  He's so cute.

I'm sure I can find something that Boba will like.

You can use this machine to package up your tea.

Can you tell that I've never had bubble tea before?  I kinda know what that machine is for, though, because BlackKitty told me.  It fuses plastic wrap to the top of the cup...for some reason.

This looks fun, Boba!

It certainly looks fun.  But none of the parts move, so it's not fun to operate, just to look at.

Let's see here.  Can dogs eat ice cream?

I think it'd be fine to give Boba a bit of ice cream, right?

Sure.  If you don't mind diarrhea and a dog who's suddenly too good for his kibble.

Oh, I see you got yourself up on the counter, Boba.  That's...fine.

Let me ring all of this up...

Okay!  You're all set.  I hope you both enjoy your treats!

Oh, yum!  This is delicious.

Slurp, slurp, slurp.

What a great place!  I'm going to come here every day.

Wait...did you finish all of that ice cream already, Boba?

Buuuuurp.

Maybe next time I'll leave Boba at home.

Bottom line?  The first time I heard about Minnee, I figured they'd be 1:12 scale dolls with good articulation.  The reality is that they're 1:18 scale dolls with outstanding articulation.  Both of those revelations packed a huge punch.  I'm giddily enamored with these dolls and have been having a blast playing with them for the past week.

There are three main reasons why the 1:18 scale is such a big deal for me.  The first is simply that the dolls feel impossibly, delightfully small.  And I love miniature versions of things.  Also, the level of detail that these dolls have for their size is remarkable.  In the mass-produced play doll market, I don't know of anything else like them.  The second thing that's fun about 1:18 scale is that it's pretty rare.  I don't have very many dolls this size, and the ones that I do have are each lacking in some respect.  The last thing that I appreciate about 1:18 scale is that it works well with the Rolife Super Creator sets.  I have a ton of these sets and am working on assembling a big dollhouse.  At last I have some dolls for that house with detail and articulation worthy of the space.

The articulation on these dolls feels miraculous.  They have eighteen joints, all of which function extremely well.  They're basically like miniature Made to Move Barbies, and that's high praise.  They can touch their faces, rest their hands high on their hips, sit on the ground in at least ten different ways, kneel like champions, strike action poses--you name it.  And they can hold those positions well and even balance in a lot of them without any help from a stand.  The only poses I struggled with were sitting in a chair and the splits.  This high level of articulation gives the dolls so much personality.  I feel like they come alive in my hands just like my favorite sixth scale dolls.

The doll's faces add a lot to their personalities as well.  I like the style of the faces, and appreciate that they're not grossly exaggerated.  They're stylized in a familiar way, with slightly enlarged heads, big eyes, and pronounced lips.  Part of me wishes that they had more of Barbie's realism, but the enlarged features can accommodate a nice level of detail.  I'm particularly impressed by the subtly exposed teeth, the eyes, and the eye makeup.  At the moment there are nine characters to choose from, with a bit of ethnic diversity in the mix.  The risk of repeats is quite high, and that's daunting for a $15 doll.  I really wish they weren't blind box items.

Hair quality would be such an easy thing to sacrifice with a doll this size, but both Candy and Chai have shiny, soft hair that's well-rooted.  The fiber feels good (nylon, perhaps?) and is easier to style than I expected.  Candy's hair had too much curl and volume right out of the box, but after a quick trim I think it's great.  I'm disappointed by Chai's uneven bangs, but I like the idea of bangs in general for these girls.  They do a nice job of hiding the rooting plugs which are inevitably going to look large on a doll this scale.  The bangs also lessen the severity of the prominent forehead.

I have mixed reactions to the clothing and accessories.  I didn't really expect to like the vinyl pieces of clothing, but they actually work quite well.  The vinyl is thinner and less shiny than Polly Pocket clothing, so it looks more refined and fits better.  The molded detail on the vinyl pieces is also impressive, and adds a lot of realism to the outfits.  Chai's jeans are especially nice.  The down sides to the vinyl are that it can be hard to pull on over the dolls' bodies, and pieces like the jeans severely impede flexibility.  The durability of the vinyl seems good, though.  I tugged and pulled on it with very little restraint, and nothing broke.  The fabric pieces don't have as much detail as their vinyl counterparts, but they're decently made.  I especially like Candy's sprinkle skirt.  It has a nice shape, a fun design, and it compliments the vinyl top really well.  It's great that these dolls can share a wardrobe with Polly Pocket, although those items don't look as good as the Minnee brand clothing.  Outfit packs would be an outstanding addition to this line.

As for the accessories, I didn't find any of them to be a real standout, with the exception of Boba the dog. He's a fun little companion to have around, although his paint work is messy in some areas.  I think it's great that both dolls can hold their drinks and purses.  That's not always the case, and it seems extra impressive in this scale.  I also like that the dolls come with most of their jewelry attached. The pieces are incredibly small and would be easy to lose.  The necklaces can be removed by popping off the doll's head, which is nice option to have--especially if you want to experiment with different outfits.  Chai's belt is the only accessory that I actively dislike.  I must have put it on at least five times, and each attempt took several minutes.  Without fail, it fell off again almost immediately. Grumble.

I can't end the review without complimenting Zuru one more time for making the packaging so fantastic.  The boxes double as display cases, which is such a clever move.  The cases are designed really well, and do a wonderful job of showing off and protecting the dolls.  You can even store the accessories in the base.  I was starting to get really depressed about doll packaging, but this gives me some hope.  My cleanup from this review involved recycling two pieces of cardboard that are smaller than a tissue box.  That's practically unheard of these days.

Whew!  That's a long-winded way of saying "I love these dolls so much."  They feel special and fun, and are worth their $15 price, provided you can avoid repeats.  I was so mad at Zuru last week with their silly Spaces sets.  But this week I am impressed.  With all of the competitiveness in the market, it's hard to believe that none of the big companies ever thought to make a doll like this before.  Minnee feels refreshing and unique, and fills an important hole in my collection.  In the future, I hope Zuru will skip the copycat nonsense and focus on what they're good at.  They are certainly very good at this.