Tea with Lena: 1:6 Scale Pregnant Dolls, Part Two

Sorry for the delay in getting this pregnant doll sequel up and running!  Things have been tumultuous with my family lately.  My dad has dementia, which is a horribly cruel fate, and a lot of the weight of that situation has shifted to my shoulders lately.  So my productivity might dwindle for a while, but I won't stop playing with dolls!  It's what keeps me relatively sane.  And it's always nice to have the promise of a new baby (doll or otherwise) to balance out the heartache of an aging loved one, so Lena's pregnancy, and anything having to do with that, has been a welcome tonic.

When last we met, in Part One of this review, Midge was sharing some of her friends' birth stories with Lena, hoping to bolster her with reassurance and excitement about the idea of pregnancy.  I fear that the interaction had the opposite effect.  After hearing stories of twins, missing limbs, strangely-colored babies, and gaping stomach holes, Lena had a bit of a confidence setback.

But I'm feeling optimistic about today.  Midge took some time to refine her stories, and Lena has lowered her expectations.  What could go wrong?

Mom & Baby Surprise doll by Zuru, $24.99.

Even though this is a Tea with Lena post, Lena didn't mess around with actual tea for Midge's visit.  She went straight for the Chinese takeout:

Hello again, welcome back to the house!

Last time Midge was here she told me about a bunch of her friends and their birth stories.

It was pretty stressful for me, not gonna lie.

But we're going to try again, and hopefully this time the stories will be better.

Let's take our food downstairs and get more comfortable, Midge.  You should put your feet up.

Okay, I feel ready to hear more stories now.  Are you good?

This is really nice, Lena, thank you.  And I have some great stories for you today!

I'll start with my friend Jessica.  Not only did she have an uncomplicated birth, but she has a lovely family.

Jessica is from an old Toys R Us set called Dream Dazzlers Jessica Happy Family.  It was released in 2010 and I found it on eBay:

Dream Dazzlers Jessica Happy Family set, 2010.

Some of Mattel's 1970s Sunshine Family sets used the Happy Family name, as did the toys with Midge and her family.  So I know Mattel trademarked the Happy Family moniker at some point in time, but the rights might have expired when Midge was pulled from the shelves in 2005.  There have certainly been a lot of copycats who used this name.

The back of Jessica's box is fairly plain, with two purple ovals of text, one in English and one in Spanish:

The text says: Enter a world of fashion and fun!  Here, Jessica and her fabulous friends can be or do anything. Where will your imagination take them next?

The bottom of the box has the 2010 copyright and the Geoffrey LLC and Toys R Us marks:

I miss being able to wander the aisles of Toys R Us on a regular basis.  I looked forward to those excursions and enjoyed finding funny little sets like this that might not be available anywhere else.

Jessica comes with her unnamed husband and toddler, plus a pink-swaddled newborn baby who's packaged outside of Jessica's pregnant belly:

That ruins the surprise!  Grr.

The set also includes a bunch of plastic accessories displayed in two oval sections::

The top section has bathroom items and a few baby supplies:

With peeling labels.

The thing that caught my eye most was this lotion bottle:

The label says Steffi Love!  So this set must be some kind of copy or alternate release of Simba's Steffi Love dolls.  I thought Jessica looked a bit familiar, but figured I was experiencing the same flash of deja vu I get when I look at all Barbie clones.

It's weird to have a doll called Dream Dazzlers Jessica with accessories that say Steffi Love.  I wonder if that confused any kids back in the day?  Maybe they thought Steffi Love was a cosmetics brand. 

Anyway, looking again, I can see some similarities between Jessica and Steffi:

Especially in the mouth.

The other section of accessories has some beach toys and two cameras:

The most interesting things here are the two cameras.  One is a regular camera and the other is a video camera:

Both with "S" marks for Steffi Love.

Technology has come a long way since 2010, hasn't it?  Phones do all of the jobs now.

Here are the four dolls in the set, with the baby tucked back into Jessica's uterus where it belongs:

Dream Dazzlers Jessica Happy Family set (2010).

First let's look at Jessica's husband, who I think should be named Jeff:

Jeff has a friendly, smiling face with exposed teeth and a cleft Superman chin:

Jeff's molded hair is pitch black, but his eyebrows are thin and brown.  I think maybe he dyes his hair.  He has no eyelashes around his hazel brown eyes, so he might pluck his eyelashes as well.

In profile, he reminds me of Jeff Goldblum, hence his name.  He has big ears, full lips, and a strong jaw:

All he's missing are some dark-rimmed glasses.

Jeff comes wearing baggy jeans, an oversized pink sweatshirt, and a blue and white striped collared shirt that looks like it has long sleeves:

The pink shirt and collared top mix strangely with the baggy fit of the clothes.  It's like preppy streetwear or something.

Slay, pookie.  Word.

The pink shirt and the jeans open in back with velcro:

The cuffs from the blue and white shirt are actually attached to the sleeves of the pink sweatshirt.  So when the sweatshirt is pulled off, the underlying shirt is short-sleeved:

1970s preppy streetwear.

That's probably the most ill-fitting collared shirt I've ever seen.

Underneath his clothing, Jeff has a cheap-feeling hollow plastic body with six points of articulation:

He also has bizarre, horseshoe-shaped abs:

Giddy up.

Here he is from the back:

He has "MADE IN CHINA" stamped on his back and another marking at the nape of his neck that's very faint and hard to read--almost like it was rubbed away:

Jeff's waist joint allows his upper body to spin around:

Awkwardly.

The rest of his joints have simple rotation with no hinged movement:

Jeff's posing repertoire isn't very good, but the extra torso joint is an unexpected bonus.

Yo, yo pookie, s'up?

Jessica also has a toddler daughter who comes in a stroller.  I'm going to name her Ava, in keeping with baby name trends of 2010:

Ava's face is very familiar to me, but I didn't notice it when I was shopping on eBay.  I must have been too focused on Jessica.

Ava has the same mold as Simba's Evi Love dolls (Evi is Steffi's little sister).  I happen to own several Evi dolls, including this Puppy Doctor set that I found at TJ Maxx for $6.99:

Evi Love Puppy Doctor...wearing a puppy necklace.

I'm guessing that Simba gave Toys R Us the rights to use their molds for the Jessica set.  Still, it's strange to me that there's no mention of Simba on the packaging.

Anyway, the stroller that comes with Ava is really nice.  I like that it has a tall handlebar that adult dolls can actually reach:

And there's even a net shopping bag, tied to the handlebar with pink ribbons:

The tray on the stroller can be removed for easy seat access:

And the tray has a Simba mark on the underside:

With the tray gone, the stroller works nicely for smaller babies, too:

It needs some safety straps.

I think I'll be keeping this around for Lena to use.

Here's Ava out of the stroller:

She has an adorable little face.  I like this face better than the Mattel toddler faces.  It's chubby and round and looks perfect for a two or three-year-old. 

Unfortunately, Ava's hair is a mess and is hard to tame:

Her little blue dress has the illusion of a separate tee shirt underneath, but the garment is actually all one piece:

It's not at all surprising at this point, but the dress has a Simba tag:

Underneath the dress, Ava has a pair of baggy white underpants that fall down all of the time:

She has five simple points of articulation (neck, shoulders, hips):

Ava is 4.5 inches tall, so she's slightly taller than a Barbie toddler and about an inch shorter than Barbie Chelsea:

From left: Barbie Chelsea, Evi Love, Barbie Toddler.

She's one of the more appealing child dolls that I own.  I only wish she had more articulation.  Maybe I'll find an Obitsu body for her.

Now here's the star of the show, Jessica herself:

She comes wearing a plaid maternity shirt and burgundy red capri pants.  Her outfit is not as dated as the dolls from Part One of this series, but I'm guessing it's not something modern expectant mothers would wear.  Primarily because of that awkwardly large bow that sits right over the belly.

There's no doubt that Jessica is pregnant, though!  The shirt shows off her shape nicely:

Jessica has a calm-looking face with a toothy smile and hazel eyes:

And an enthusiastic hair twist.

I like the hint of green in her irises:

She doesn't look a lot like Steffi Love to me, or at least not the modern dolls.  I think of Steffi as always looking slightly worried, but Jessica is chill.

For comparison, here's what I believe to be a promotional photo of a pregnant Steffi Love doll from around the same time period as Jessica:

There are some similarities, sure, but Jessica looks more like Barbie to me.

Jessica's face might not be just like Steffi's, but her underwear certainly looks the same:

For better or for worse.

I'm sure there's pregnancy underwear for humans that covers the whole belly like this, but it's probably more form-fitting, to offer support.  This style looks silly to me:

Lena would never wear that.

Jessica's body has seven points of articulation (neck, shoulders, hips, knees), with rubbery legs and internal click knee joints:

She has a very clear Simba mark on her back, complete with an elephant on the right side of the lettering.  I love the little elephant:

Here she is in profile, to show off that belly:

I'd recognize that big ol' mushroom belly anywhere!  It's the same as the vintage Steffi Love from the last review:

c.1999 Steffi Love (left) and Dream Dazzlers Jessica (right).

The vintage Steffi has bad discoloring in her torso, and it looks to me like Jessica might be headed in a similar direction: her torso is not the same color as her limbs.

Jessica has exactly the same flexibility as the vintage Steffi, including a ball-jointed head that comes off easily:

Unfortunately, her left leg came off easily as well:

What is it with pregnant dolls and fragile legs??

There's a little piece of plastic in the joint that broke in half:

Don't tell Lena about that.  She doesn't need to know.  Let's cross our fingers and hope that the birth story is good!

Jessica had such an easy birth!

Thank goodness.

Jeff stayed home and took care of Ava while Jessica was in stork land.

That belly might look funny, but it kept the baby nice and secure.

Jessica's belly came off with no trouble at all!

And the cutest baby girl came out, with her eyes wide open!

She had the reddest little lips, and big brown eyes, just like her parents.

Um...those eyes look red to me.

She even had some wispy hair.

(and a Simba mark)

And she was so active!  Those little arms and legs were busy.  Jessica named her Ruby.

Ruby definitely has good articulation, with joints at her neck, shoulders, and hips.  She has a Simba mark on her back, but she's not the same as Dawn, the baby from the vintage Steffi Love set.

And we're happy that she's not the same as Dawn because in case you forgot, that baby is...um...a strange little child:

With punching glove fists.

Jessica's belly mechanism is exactly the same as the vintage Steffi's.  Her belly compartment rotates around to reveal a flat panel: 

So she has a relatively normal profile postpartum:

Emphasis on "relatively."

Here's the whole family for one last portrait:

Let's check in and see how Lena's doing:

Ruby is so cute, Midge!  Her eyes aren't THAT red.

If you say so...

That story helped me a lot.  I love the idea of having a family like Jessica's someday.

In that case, I have another similar story for you!  This is about my friend Steffi.

So finally I'm able to look at a Steffi Love doll that I know is a Steffi Love doll from the very start.  This set is called Welcome Surprise and it's from 2019:

Welcome Surprise Steffi Love (2019).

The gimmick with this doll is that the gender of the baby will be revealed via a confetti cannon:

I bought this doll in around 2019 but left her sitting in storage for years.  I lost my enthusiasm for her as I began to lose my enthusiasm for gender reveal stunts in general.

But since a lot of these babies aren't anatomically correct, I guess it will be nice to have a way to decide if this one is a boy or a girl.

The back of the box has a picture of Steffi and a glimpse of the baby's face:

It looks like yet another different style of baby, which is great.

Steffi comes in a modern-looking dress with a blue and white knit bodice and a pink woven skirt:

The fabric in the torso area is stretchy and tight-fitting while the skirt flares out over the belly.  This style makes for an attractive pregnancy profile:

And Steffi can balance on her own, which isn't something we've seen a lot in this series so far.

Steffi has long blonde hair with a bit of wave in it.  The fiber is quite dry and stiff, and it tends to look messy:

Steffi has the worried-looking facial expression that I associate with this brand:

She has big blue eyes with painted upper lashes, and a hesitant smile with a thin lower lip and some teeth exposed.

Steffi's dress is decently made, with a velcro closure, but the blue and white striped bodice does not continue around to the back:

Underneath her dress, Steffi has a different body than her vintage counterpart.  Her torso and legs are hard plastic and her arms and head are vinyl.  She has only five points of articulation (neck, shoulders, hips).

Her neck is a simple rotational joint, so her head can only spin around.  It can wobble a tiny bit from side to side and up and down, but I don't think that counts.

I like this body profile better than the earlier Steffi dolls.  The belly tapers more gracefully at the top and looks less mushroom-like:

She has a Simba mark just above her molded underwear, but there's no elephant in the design, which is sad:

Steffi's shoulder joints are rotating hinges, so her arms can lift up and away from her body in addition to spinning around:

Her hips are also rotating hinges, so she can slide into partial side-to-side splits:

And she can do full front-to-back splits:

She can also sit on the ground, although her upper body leans back a lot in this pose:

Steffi's shoulder and hip movement is pretty good, but her head movement is limited, and the lack of elbow and knee flexibility is a bummer.  I already know that she's not going to be able to hold or look at her baby very well.  Also, her plastic legs knock together and make a lot of noise.  

Here's Steffi next to Jessica so you can see the difference in their body styles:

2019 Steffi Love (left) and Dream Dazzlers Jessica (right).

Steffi has narrower shoulders and more curve to her waist.  Her entire hip area is completely different as well.  Simba must have changed their body design sometime between 2010 and 2019.

Steffi might not share a body with Jessica, but there was still something very familiar about her shape and pregnancy mechanism.  I finally figured out that I've seen it before: it was copied by the knockoff dolls I showed you in Part One.

Here's Steffi with Molly, one of the knockoff dolls:

Steffi Love (left) and knockoff doll (right).

Molly has Steffi's torso paired with modified Barbie Gigi limbs.  I'm not a fan of copying, but I have to give credit to the knockoff company for at least giving the Steffi torso some better limbs.

After solving the mystery of Steffi's body, I took down the back part of her hairstyle:

And then wished I hadn't.

The hair fiber was reluctant to let go of its shape, but at least I could check out the rooting pattern, which is middle-of-the-road.  It's not great and it's not terrible:

Having seen all of the knockoff dolls give birth, I knew what to expect here.  But I had no idea what the baby would look like...or if it would be a boy or a girl.

Midge will fill us in on the details:

Steffi's brith experience was almost like a party.  There was even confetti!

She went to stork land right on her due date.

I thought pregnancy suited her really well.

But that lovely belly snapped right off...and there was the baby!

It almost climbed out of the uterus all by itself.  Steffi and the doctor barely had to do anything.

And it's a darling baby, with the bluest eyes you've ever seen.

It doesn't always go like this, but in Steffi's case there was a big confetti cannon that would determine the baby's gender!  Can you believe it?

The cannon exploded with PINK confetti!  It's a little girl, and Steffi named her Lottie.

The cannon also had some little baby gifts for Lottie inside, all of them pink.

I like all of the elephant items, given that this is a Simba product.

Lottie is also familiar to me after looking at those knockoff dolls in Part One.  She shares the same mold as Molly's twins, but her paint work is better:

Steffi Love baby (left) and knockoff (right).

Like the knockoff, Lottie has five points of articulation.  But her eyes have more detail, the definition in her mold is better, and her eyebrows are much more reasonable.

As with the knockoffs, Steffi has a spring-loaded belly compartment that swivels around to reveal a flat panel:

Her postpartum profile is much better than the vintage Steffi or Jessica:

Steffi's dress looks okay on her more slender body, but the fabric is still bunched at the waist like she's pregnant:

Without her pregnant belly, Steffi has fairly normal fashion doll proportions.  Here she is with a Barbie movie doll who has the Gigi body and a Made to Move Barbie (Petra):

From left: Barbie with a Gigi body, Steffi Love doll, Made to Move Barbie.

Unfortunately, Steffi can't share clothes with Barbie in a reliable way.  Here she is modeling Petra's outfit:

The clothes look okay from the front, and the boots fit, but neither the top nor the skirt can close all of the way in back:

Here's Steffi with Lottie:

As predicted, she can only hold her new baby with the help of rubber bands around her wrists, and she can't look at her at all.

She's a pretty sweet baby, though:

That story has to have been reassuring to Lena, don't you think?

That's another reassuring story, Midge!  And Steffi looked so good right after Lottie was born.

Thank you so much for making me feel better.

Of course!  But I'm not done yet.  And I think you'll like this next story a lot.  Just a sec...

Glug, glug, glug.

My friend Angelina is actually a mermaid.  Can you handle something like that?

Oh, sure. We've had a bunch of mermaids on the blog.  At least they can't lose their legs! 

Wait a minute...hey, Bruno!  You ate my food!  Naughty cat.

IAN!!  We need more Chinese food down here!

Coming, my love.

Does Ian have a hint of fear in his eyes?  Maybe I'm imagining it.  Anyway, while he's re-stocking the food, I can tell you a bit more about Midge's mermaid friend Angelina.

I was super excited to find this set on Amazon.  And there's a merman husband, too!

Steffi Love Mermaid Family set, 2021.

This set is from the 2021 line and, as far as I know, this version of Steffi Love is the only mass-produced pregnant mermaid fashion doll to ever exist.

The back of the box has some family portraits against a very pink background:

All I can say is that the mermaid baby looks very small.  Like super-small.  But maybe it's a trick of the camera or something?

The merfolk are attached to a decorative cardboard backdrop that pulls out of the main box:

I like the backdrop.  There's even a cute seahorse that was hiding behind the merman:

Here's everything that was in the box:

With the baby in Angelina's belly, as it should be.

In anticipation of the baby, there's a flower-like raised crib with some dangling ocean-themed toys:

The crib looks like a short-stemmed rose to me, even though I think the stand is meant to look like water and the bed itself is probably supposed to be a shell of some sort.

The only other accessory is a hot pink shell with a handle and a molded lace pattern on one side.  I think it's supposed to be the merman equivalent of a football:

Good luck throwing that thing 10 yards underwater.

The merman in the set is a blond guy without a name.  That said, Steffi Love's boyfriend is Kevin.  I like the name Kevin.  There's a gregarious dog in my neighborhood called Kevin.  So we'll go with that:

Merman Kevin.

Kevin's face doesn't look anything like Jessica's husband Jeff's face.  Kevin has Disney-like blue eyes with no eyelashes and very strong eyebrows:

He's also wearing a cool teal seashell necklace and has normal abs.

Here he is from the side:

And from the back, where his muscles are quite impressive:

And his tail is very short.

The Simba mark is right above the base of his purple tail:

And he has another mark on the nape of his neck:

Kevin's articulation is limited, mostly because of that tail.  He has simple neck and shoulder joints, and a single joint near the fin of his tail that can only bend forwards:

Four points of articulation is not impressive at all.  I wish there was some kind of torso mobility, even just a rotational joint like what Jeff has.

Speaking of Jeff, here are the two male dolls together:

Fly tail, Kevster.

I don't know enough about Kevin's history to know if Jeff's face might have been copied from an early Kevin release.  I don't think so.  The two dolls clearly share an arm mold...but not a torso mold.

Angelina is pretty, with a decorated purple mermaid tail and an elaborate molded bikini.  She has the modern pregnant Steffi torso stuck on a hollow plastic mermaid tail:

In profile, she has the same contoured belly that the previous Steffi has, but with some painted decorations along the right side:

Here's a closer look:

That's a nice touch.

And here she is from the back:

This doll has a lot of molded and painted detail in her bikini, including a heart and shell in the middle and some pearl-like decorations that hang down near her belly:

These embellishments actually interfere with the smooth re-attachment of the pregnant belly piece, but they look nice.

Angelina has a similar face to the Steffi that we looked at earlier.  Her eyes look wider to me and her lower lip is a bit larger.  But she's easily recognizable as a Steffi Love doll:

Her blonde hair is also quite dry, with acceptable rooting.

Angelina has a single joint in her tail, like Kevin, and that's good because it allows her to stand on her own.  But other than that, she only has neck and shoulder joints.  Her shoulders are rotating hinges, and her left arm is permanently bent at the elbow:

She can look up and down a little bit, but not enough to impress me.

I suspect her birth experience will be very similar to Steffi's, but we'll have to find out from Midge!

Have you ever wondered how a mermaid gives birth?  I will tell you.

She went to stork land, just like the other moms.

And she looked good doing it, which I think you'll appreciate.  Her belly was gorgeous!

And that belly came off with no trouble.  But the baby was hard to see at first!

But she was there!  And so petite.

Petite is one way to say it.

Angelina named her adorable merbaby Sirena.

Why is Sirena wearing a bikini top?  That's so weird.

Sirena looked ready to swim right away.

It's cool that mermaid babies are so independent right from birth, isn't it?

I don't know, Midge, Sirena is really, really small!  Is that even healthy?

I wouldn't want a baby that small.

Well, fish fry tend to be small.  That's normal for them.  And small babies make it easy to snap back to a pre-pregnancy body! 

That's certainly true in Angelina's case.  She has the same pregnancy mechanism that the other Steffi dolls have, so her flat-bellied panel rotates into place very easily:

And she's ready for some streamlined swimming in the ocean again:

Pregnancy was such a drag.

She can even carry Sirena around, but that child looks more like a beverage than a baby:

Sirena's size might be normal for a mermaid, but I can't quite get used to a microphone-sized baby.

And now I will sing "Under the Sea."

Small as she is, Sirena fits nicely into the ocean-themed crib:

Here's a shot of the happy mer-family:

One downside I see is that because Angelina doesn't wear any fabric clothes, her postpartum belly plate is hard to ignore.

But it only matters what Lena thinks!

Angelina looks great!  That's encouraging.  These are such good stories, Midge.  Keep 'em coming!

Okay, sure.  I can tell you about my new friend Brittany.

Brittany is a My Mini Baby pregnant doll from Zuru.  The official name for these sets is Mom & Baby Surprise, and they cost $24.99:

Mom & Baby Surprise set by Zuru, $24.99.

There are three options with these dolls: the pale blonde Brittany that I have, a brunette with a medium complexion (Maria), and a darker-skinned girl with black hair (Nicky).  They all have names, apparently, although the names don't appear anywhere on the box so I'm not sure where they come from.

These dolls don't officially release in the United States until the end of next month, but they've been out in the United Kingdom since July, so they're easy to find on eBay if you're willing to spend extra money.  When I was looking for my doll a month or so ago, the only option was Brittany (shipped from the UK), but now all three characters are available from sellers in the US.

I've already shown you the freaky AI-generated box design on this package, but we might as well look at it again:

That woman looks nothing like a real person and nothing like the doll.  She gives me the screaming willies.

The doll looks very plain and toy-like, but she's much better than the weird fake pseudo-photograph nonsense that's on the box:

The back of the box is very plain.  It's mostly pink with a My Mini Baby logo in the middle:

Brittany came attached to a blue backdrop that pulled easily out of the main box:

She comes with a lot of cute baby-themed accessories that are all on display next to her:

Here's everything that was in the box:

The fabric baby accessories include a pink rabbit ear swaddle towel, a pink bib, and a diaper:

I gather from all of the pink that the baby is a girl?  There's no mention on the box of any gender variety, so I guess all of the babies are girls.

Or at least all of Brittany's babies are girls.  The Maria doll comes with blue baby accessories and Nicky comes with purple accessories:

Maria's baby.

Nicky's baby.

So perhaps Maria always has a boy and Nicky and Brittany always have girls?  Or maybe I should set the color assumptions aside and the babies can be whatever kids want them to be.  Zuru babies don't have molded genitalia, so anything goes.

The pink towel swaddle is cute, with a little velcro dot for easy closure:

I also like the diaper.  It has stretchy elastic legs and waist, with "Millie Moon" written on one side:

Millie Moon is a brand of luxury diapers.  Molly Moon is an incredible ice cream store in Seattle, and that's literally all I can think about when I look at the diaper.

The rest of the accessories are made out of plastic and include a teddy bear, a sippy cup, two lotion bottles, and a rattle toy:

The bear is the cutest of these, although he has a chunk missing from one leg:

The set also comes with a little cardboard birth certificate.  It has an AI picture of the baby on one side:

And a very simple birth certificate on the back:

Brittany made a great first impression by being able to balance on her own!

I also like her modern maternity outfit, with its stretchy pink striped dress and cropped jean jacket.  She looks really good (and really pregnant) in profile:

Here she is from the back:

She doesn't look so great from this angle.  I have no idea what's going on with her underwear:

The mother of all panty lines.

Brittany has a pleasant, generic face with big eyes and a toothy smile.  She has poor head mobility, so she's always looking upwards:

I have to jam her head down as far as it can go and then photograph her from the top down to get her to look at the camera:

Her dress neckline doesn't look so hot either.

She'll never be able to look down at her baby.

Up close, there's some graininess to Brittany's face paint.  This is especially noticeable in her lips and eyes, and it detracts from the clarity of her features:

She has brown eyebrows with hairline detail.  Her eyes are very pale baby blue, with upper and lower lashes and some pink eyeshadow.  Her lips are bright pink and speckled:

Brittany has the best hair fiber of any of the pregnant dolls I've looked at so far.  It feels silky and smooth and is easy to brush and style.  The rooting could be better:

That's a lot of bare scalp.

Brittany's jean jacket has a nice shape, with orange stitched detail that looks good:

The construction is basic and the interior looks a bit messy, but overall this is a nice piece:

The striped dress is made out of a stretchy knit fabric with a simple tank top bodice:

The form-fitting style of the dress shows off Brittany's shape really well:

This is a simple piece of clothing, with uneven stitching here and there, but it's easy to use and will probably work well for both the pregnant and the postpartum body.

Underneath the dress, Brittany is wearing a simple pair of white underpants that do not attempt to cover her belly:

Thank goodness.

This spares her the Humpty Dumpy syndrome and shows off her pregnancy nicely:

The shape of that pregnant belly is more natural than a lot of the other options we've seen.

The underpants close in back with velcro, which is an interesting and probably unnecessary feature:

Underneath the fabric underwear, Brittany also has molded underwear:

Can't be too careful.

I think the combination of fabric underwear, molded underwear, and that bulky velcro seam are what conspire to give Brittany such obvious panty lines.  She looks better with the fabric underwear removed.

Brittany's body is plastic, with a vinyl head and arms.  She has nine points of articulation (neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips).

Her head can spin around:

And tip from side to side a little bit:

She does not look up or down though, which is unfortunate.

Brittany's shoulders are rotating hinges, so she can lift her arms up and away from her body to about 60 degrees:

Her elbows and wrists are also rotating hinges, which gives her nice arm flexibility:

She can't touch her mouth on her own, but because her arms are made out of flexible vinyl, they can be bent so that her hand touches her face.

Brittany can pat her head and rub her tummy at the same time, which is impressive:

And she can also bend her elbows the wrong way, with I suppose is impressive in its own way:

Brittany's hips have a ratcheting hinge mechanism inside that allows her to slide into partial side-to-side splits:

This style of joint can't achieve full front-to-back splits:

And Brittany is garbage at sitting in a chair:

It's too bad that she has no knee articulation.  Her legs are hollow hard plastic.

She's wearing sensible pregnancy shoes, at least:

And underneath the sneakers she has flat feet and no ankle joints:

The seams along the sides of her feet are really obvious.

I'd say that Brittany's design feels a bit cheap for a $25 doll, but that's not taking into account her pregnancy feature.  So let's have Midge tell us more about that.

Brittany had a birth that was different from all of the others I've told you about.

That doesn't mean it was bad, though!  She was so relaxed and serene up in stork land.

She didn't have much labor pain, but the belly took some effort to remove.

And when it came off, there was a large baby inside!

And the baby was all curled up inside a squishy ball.

This is a bit what it's like for human babies, or so I've been told.

The squishy ball had thick sides and felt durable.  And the baby could be moved around inside.

In fact, the doctor was having so much fun squishing the baby around inside the ball, she got distracted from her job.

Wait, stop!  This is so upsetting!  Why was the baby inside a squishy ball?  Did the doctor get it out??

Yes don't worry.  Be patient.  Everything turns out fine.

The doctor moved the baby to an absorbent cloth--just to be safe.

And then she made an incision in the squishy ball.  Slimy goo started to leak out!

Once the baby's head came out of the squishy ball, she started to cry.

Other than being slimy, she looked like a perfect little baby!

The doctor got the baby cleaned up with some water and a towel, and Brittany named her Claire.

I'd like to pop in and mention that if Brittany ever wanted to recreate her pregnancy, without the squishy ball, Claire can fit back into the belly cavity--with a little extra care to be sure that her arms and legs don't get caught on anything:

Once Brittany came back from stork land, I had a hard time figuring out how to get her belly cavity to rotate.  It was stuck in the baby-holding position:

I checked the directions and it turns out you have to push back and down on the compartment, then it will spin around:

That worked like a charm!

Now Brittany has a very flat abdomen:

In her non-pregnant state, Brittany is roughly the same size as a Barbie doll like Petra, but she has a wider torso, longer legs, larger feet, and a bigger head:

Zuru Mom & Baby Surprise Brittany (left) and a Made to Move Barbie (right).

This means that Petra can wear Brittany's clothing, but not the other way around.  Petra's pieces are way too tight on Brittany and don't close in back:

Zuru's Mom & Baby Surprise Brittany and a Made to Move Barbie swapping clothes.

And Brittany's feet are too large for Petra's shoes.

Brittany looks good in her pink and white striped maternity dress, though!  The fabric is a bit stretched out in the belly region, but it has relaxed enough to show off her figure:

One issue I had with Brittany postpartum was that any time I bumped the belly plate, it would start to rotate, which made for some odd-looking body contours.

There's nothing odd about Claire, though!  She's just as cute (and just as sleepy) as any other My Mini Baby.  And I like the addition of her bib and diaper:

Although I think I have the diaper backwards.

Here's Brittany holding Claire in her bunny ear swaddle...and staring up at the ceiling:

Focus, Brittany!

That's better.  But don't drop the baby.

And at least Brittany has the arm articulation required to hold her child:

Sort-of.

There are several things that I appreciate about this doll.  She has silky hair, a pleasant face, modern clothing, and a pregnancy feature that functions well and has the added realism of a squishy amniotic sac!  The amniotic sac with the baby still inside truly was fun to play with, even though I felt bad squishing an unborn baby around like it was a fidget toy.

Brittany's limited neck articulation is frustrating to me, as is her lack of leg joints.  She can't look at her baby or sit in a chair, which are two pretty big design oversights.  I also wish the babies had been different somehow.  Claire is undeniably cute, but there are so many My Mini Babies just like her flooding the market, I'd hoped for something new and surprising.  Maybe even awake.

Overall, Brittany feels a bit cheap to me.  The neckline of her dress is messy, her hair rooting could be better, her legs are hollow and rigid, her flat belly plate rotates when I don't want it to, and her face doesn't have much personality.  Add to that the blatant use of AI on the box and the recycled baby design and the whole set feels like it was rushed to production.

That said, the concept is good and the novelty of the amniotic sac is fun.  And you get a lot for the $25 price, especially considering that a single My Mini Baby ball is $10.  I might buy another set when they officially come to the US in October, but would definitely not recommend spending above retail on these.

That was pretty long-winded of me.  Sorry.  I wonder how Lena is feeling?

That squishy ball thing was strange.  I hope I don't have one of those inside me.

But baby Claire is precious!  I'd take one of her.  Do you have any more stories for me, Midge?

I have one more friend that I want to tell you about. Her name is Licca.

Licca is a Licca-chan doll by Takara Tomy.  I haven't talked about Licca-chan in forever!  I think my last review was back in 2014.  That's way too long ago.

In any case, I found this doll by chance at the very end of my pregnant doll search.  I ordered her directly from Japan:

Licca-chan Becomes a Mother set (1997).

This set came out in 1997 and the name of it translates as "Licca-chan Becomes a Mom!!"

All of the writing on the box is in Japanese, so I mostly ignored it:

Except for this part, which I could not ignore:

That face cracks me up!  It reminds me of Mr. Yuck:

Mr. Yuck is a poison warning, so I wonder if the green barfy face on Licca's box is the same?  Let's find out.  Here's a translation:

Hat swallowing prevention coating??

It actually is kind of like Mr. Yuck!  But even more interesting: it says that the small parts in the set have been treated with denatonium benzoate (the most bitter agent known to man) to make them taste bad.  I've never heard of that as a choking deterrent before!  Very clever.

Anyway, Licca came attached to a cheerful yellow backdrop that pulled out of the main box:

Licca was in a very strange pose, though.  It's like she was trying to sit and somebody pulled her chair out from under her.  And now she's falling backwards. 

And there's a perplexing empty plastic shell right where a chair might have been:

It looks like the set is missing something, but I've found a lot of pictures of this packaging online, and none of the boxes have anything else in that space.  It's just a strange empty area.

On Licca's other side, there's a big basket of baby items:

It looks like she dropped these as she was falling backwards.

Here's everything that was in the box:

The baby items include a bassinet with a pink blanket, a rabbit-themed bottle, a rabbit-themed sippy cup, a rattle with a rabbit head on it, and a box of something (wipes?):

The lids on the bottle and sippy cup can be removed, and the little box opens up!

And okay, so of course I had to lick some of these smaller accessories.  To see how bitter they taste.  And I actually wouldn't say the taste was bitter, necessarily, but it was bad.  Bad, bad, bad.  And that's after 29 years of mellowing.  So it's a good deterrent.

The box has a label on it, so I can translate the writing and see what it's meant to be:

Yep.  It's wipes:

The fabric accessories include a bib for the baby and some felt slippers for Licca:

There's also a big plush bunny toy for the baby:

The only paper item in the box looks like a storybook!  That would be awesome.  I love translating unknown stories from other languages.  It's like cracking a little mystery.

And that baby is really cute.

Google thinks the cover actually says You. 3 Until birth:

Hm.  So maybe it's more like a baby book?  There's only one way to find out!  I'll translate each page for you using Google.  

Here's the original:

And here's the Google translation:

Some of the translated works are really tiny and hard to read.

The left page says: In mom's tummy, a wonderful gift.  It arrived.  That's you.

The right page says: Inside your stomach.  You're still only about the size of a marble.

So I'm not sure if the baby's stomach is the size of a marble, or the whole baby?  But I get the general idea.

Here's the next section:

And here's the translation:

In the upper left it says: It's been 2 months.

The left page says: At this age you are about the size of a cute goldfish.

(All goldfish are cute)

The right page says:You are growing up healthy and strong inside Mama Naka's tummy.

Who the heck is Mama Naka?  I thought the mama was Licca.

Here's the next part:

And the translation:

The upper left says: It's been 4 months.

The left page says: Hair will start growing in soon.  Is it the size of an apple?

I assume "it" is the baby here--not the hair.

The right page says: You, inside your tummy, should be able to hear your mother's voice.

Here's the next bit:

And the translation:

The upper left says: It's been 7 months.

The left page says: You've become very energetic and active.

The right page says: For you who will meet me soon, Mommy is wearing a baby dress.  We'll get toys and other items.

Sounds like Mommy might be losing her mind a little, trying on baby clothes and such.  Maybe it's time for this kid to be born?

Here's the last part:

And its translation:

In the upper left it says: It's been 9 months.

The left page says: Mommy's tummy is also getting cramped.  It has become.

(what has it become??)

The right page says: I'll be able to see you soon. I'm really looking forward to it.  

Aw.

Other than some issues with possessives, that's a decent translation, and a cute idea.

Now let's look at Licca:

She has the standard, super-cute Licca-chan face, and a pink housecoat dress with polka dot accents:

She's from 1997, so of course her dress isn't very modern.  I'm not crazy about the huge white collar, but I like some of the little details, like the pearl buttons and the delicate tucks.

The style of the dress makes Licca look very pregnant from the side:

Licca has big, dark brown eyes and coral lips.  Her light brown hair is shoulder length, with some curl at the ends:

The hair looks nice and feels thick, but the texture is dry and a bit coarse, especially at the ends.

Licca is wearing removable pink heart earrings that peek out from under her hair:

This doll has a sticky, shiny substance on her forehead that makes it look like she's sweating:

Don't lick it, Emily.

But her hair is rooted well:

The dress has a big velcro seam in back, so it's easy to remove:

And reminds me of a hospital gown.

Underneath the dress, Licca is wearing white underwear with pink polka dots.  And of course it's the style of underwear that comes all of the way up over her large belly:

The side view for this style of underwear always cracks me up:

It's like putting panties on a hard boiled egg.

Without the underwear, Licca has a nice-looking pregnant belly...at least from the front:

From the side, strange things are afoot.  The large belly almost looks like it's been strapped on. And there are big indentations at the bottom:

What am I looking at.

Here's a closer view:

It's like a turtle head.

It's hands-down the most bizarre pregnant doll belly I've ever seen.  And I'm fascinated.

In back, there's a band of plastic that obscures Licca's waist:

But by far the weirdest thing is the indentations on the bottom of the belly:

It's hard to wrap my head around those.

I was feeling very eager to investigate the pregnant belly at this stage, but I had to restrain myself so that I could quickly run through Licca's joints.

Her head can spin around and look up and down:

It can also tip from side to side:

Her shoulders are simple rotating joints and her arms are hard vinyl, so there's not much flexibility here. The left arm is molded in a half-bent pose, which helps a little:

Licca's hips are also simple rotational joints, so she can't do side-to-side splits, but she can do front-to-back splits...oh, wait.  I understand the indentations in the belly now!  They're to make room for Licca's legs.  Duh.

So she can sit on the ground with her legs out in front of her, but only because there are indentations in her belly:

Also, I'm pretty sure Licca has wire armature inside her flexible vinyl legs.  She can bend her legs at the knee and they will hold their position for a little while:

But now we have to figure out what's going on with that pregnant turtle belly!  And what kind of baby is hiding inside!

This birth was a little unusual, Lena, so stay calm and hear me out.

Licca went to stork land and looked very ready to give birth, but nothing happened at first.

Her belly wouldn't budge--almost like it was locked.

But then a magic key appeared in Licca's hand!

And the key fit perfectly into the side of her belly, releasing it from the rest of her body!

But when the belly came off, there was nothing inside.

It was empty.

WHAT??  No, no, no, nooooo.  That can't be right!  There was no baby at all??

Lena!  I told you to stay calm and be patient.

There was nothing to worry about.  Licca was in stork land, so a stork came and fixed the problem.

The stork brought Licca a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

She even has bright red hair.

Licca named the baby Aiko.

Aiko was a bit of a fussy baby at first, maybe because the stork ride was bumpy.

But she calmed down quickly and started to turn her head and take in her surroundings.

Have you ever seen such bright red hair, Lena?  I bet Emily will like it.

I certainly do like it!

What I don't like is that the original baby was missing from my eBay purchase.  Let me back up and explain.

If we go back and translate all of the box writing that I ignored earlier, you can see that Takara Tomy came up with a very special way to deliver Licca's baby:

The front of the box says that a baby will be delivered to you by mail if you send in a postcard!  That is so freakin' cool.  I would have flipped for this type of thing when I was a kid.  I miss the 90s.

The back of the box has even more details about the process:

Anyone who mailed in the postcard got the baby, and also the key to open Licca's belly.  So it must have felt a bit like a real pregnancy, having to wait for that baby to arrive in the mail.  

It also says on the back that the picture book we looked at earlier is called Until You Were Born, which makes a lot more sense than You 3 Until birth.

Anyway, I specifically searched out an eBay auction that included the mail-order baby.  And I paid a high price for it.  Here's a photo from the auction I won:

The baby looks really sweet and is still in the original packaging:

The auction also included the belly key and some literature:

However, after waiting a while for the delivery, I opened the package to find the baby missing.  I was not a happy camper.

The seller assures me that the baby is on the way, so we'll see what happens.  If and when she arrives, I'll replace these auction photos with pictures of the real Aiko.  Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I was fortunate to have another Licca-chan baby on hand to save the day!  She's actually meant to be baby Miku-chan:

Baby Miku-chan figure, LD-27.

She's a solid vinyl figure with a single point of articulation in her neck.  She came with a bottle and a high chair:

And a lot of attitude.

She also fits fairly well in the bassinet that came with Licca!

Anyway, once Licca's pregnant belly was removed, it left behind a totally normal Licca-chan doll with 6-8 points of articulation, depending on how you count the knees:

I'll need to find Licca some better post-pregnancy clothing, but at least she can tote Aiko around with that bent arm of hers!

Here are all of the babies that I looked at today.  And I'll update this group if/when real Aiko arrives:

From left: Jessica's baby, Steffi Love's baby, mermaid Steffi's baby, Mom & Baby Surprise baby, Miku-chan baby.

Here they all are again, sitting up to the best of their ability:

From left: Jessica's baby, Steffi Love's baby, mermaid Steffi's baby, Mom & Baby Surprise baby, Miku-chan baby.

The variety is pretty impressive.  It makes me wonder which one Lena's baby will resemble!

Speaking of Lena, I should see how she's holding up:

Okay, so you're right.  Things turned out pretty well for Licca.  That baby is...um, Midge?

Uh, oh.

I think it might be time for me to go to stork land, Lena.

Oh my gosh, Midge!  Are you going to be okay?

I'll be fine.  I've done this many, many times before.

Wow!  This is an unexpected surprise!  And very exciting.  I haven't seen one of Midge's kids being born since 2014.  

I guess I'd better take over and tell the birth story.

We got Midge to stork land just in time:

None of Midge's friends have the same magnetic belly as Midge, and I have to say it's one of the most attractive belly shapes--and one of the easiest mechanisms to work with.  It pulls right off with barely any resistance:

And under that big, beautiful belly, there were...

Twins!  Midge had a boy and a girl.  They are both really cute:

With different skin tones.  But whatever.

The little boy is named Milo:

He has a 2002 copyright date:

And Midge named the little girl China, in honor of all the Chinese food that induced her labor:

Better than Kung Pao.

I think Midge is running out of good girl names after 24 years of babies.

Milo and China are from the 2002 Happy Family Barbie Baby Doctor set:

So they're not meant to be twins--just patients of the same doctor.

Milo and China are about the same size as Jessica and Steffi's babies:

From left: Dream Dazzlers Jessica baby, Steffi Love baby, Barbie baby.

And here's an updated lineup with all of the different kinds of babies form both parts of this series:

Top row, from left: Steffi Love mermaid baby, Susy baby, knockoff chicken baby, knockoff Steffi baby, Steffi Love modern baby, Steffi Love vintage baby, Dream Dazzlers Jessica baby, Barbie baby, Baby Surprise baby.
Bottom row, from left: Judith baby, Barbie baby, Miku-chan baby, Knockoff baby, My Mini Baby, Karen baby, knockoff Barbie baby.

One little detail that I have to confess before I finish things up is that both twins didn't quite fit under Midge's magnetic belly at the same time.  I had to fake it.

Also, there was another Barbie baby that I found on eBay and wanted to use for Midge because I think he's really cute....in a funny-looking sort of way:

Barbie baby, 2008.

But this baby is quite a bit bigger than China and Milo so he didn't fit into the belly at all.

Anyway, I hope Midge is happy with her sweet twins.

And I hope Lena is feeling better about her own approaching birth experience.

You know what?  I think I can do this.

Bottom line?  I won't claim that this is a comprehensive overview of all 1:6 pregnant dolls, but I had a great time investigating the different types of doll--modern and vintage--that I was able to find.  I'm surprised by the variety of pregnancy mechanisms and babies out there.

Across all of the dolls in both parts of this series, there are about nine different approaches to the pregnancy concept:

Judith: these dolls have a removable pregnant belly with a spring-loaded flat panel behind it.  When the panel is depressed, it can accommodate a baby.  When the baby is removed, the panel springs forward to make a flat belly.  Joyce Love (and Fiona Love, etc) copied this body and this mechanism.

Karen: these dolls have a large cavity inside the torso that can be covered with either a pregnant belly plate or a flat belly plate.  The system is conceptually good and makes larger babies possible, but the belly plates look a little unnatural and are easily lost.  The Baby Surprise dolls from Canada use this body and this mechanism.

Steffi: these dolls (vintage and modern) have a removable pregnant belly with a compartment behind that swivels to reveal a flat belly panel.  Most knockoff dolls copy Steffi's body and pregnancy mechanism (but with articulated limbs from a Barbie Gigi body).  Dream Dazzlers Jessica uses an older Steffi body.

Susy: these dolls have pregnant bellies that rotate to one side to reveal a flat belly panel that opens into a compartment for the baby.  I found the mechanism to be a bit fragile.

Licca: Licca has a removable pregnant belly contraption that wraps around her body.  There is no baby inside.  Instead, the baby was mail-ordered directly from Takara.

Midge: Midge has a pregnant belly attached to a regular Barbie body with magnets.

Zuru: the Mom & Baby surprise dolls have a removable pregnant belly with a rotating compartment behind--very similar to Steffi dolls.  However, the compartment has to be pushed down before it can rotate, and the flat belly does not stay in place very well.  The baby is enclosed within a gel-filled sac.

Skinny-legged Knockoff: the cheapest doll I bought had her own unique mechanism: a removable vinyl pregnant belly that covers a gaping hole into the entire torso.

If I had to pick a best in show from this list, it'd be Steffi.  Steffi Love dolls have secure pregnant bellies and a smooth postpartum transition.  The downside is that the pregnancy chamber is small, so the babies are unusually tiny.  I also really like Midge's belly, mostly for how it looks and the size of baby it can accommodate.  The magnets aren't very strong, though, so the belly shifts around and comes out of place a lot.  The new kids on the block, Zuru's Mom & Baby Surprise, do a nice job with their pregnancy functionality, mostly because it's heavily inspired by the Steffi dolls.

Almost every doll I looked at has a different style of baby, which is pretty remarkable.  Some of the babies are truly bizarre (ahem, roast chicken baby...), but others are adorable.  The Zuru baby is the most realistic by far, although we don't yet know how well the silicone will age over time.  Midge's babies have aged well since the early 2000s, and they are my second favorites after the Zuru My Mini Baby.  I also like the big rubber Karen babies with their anatomical correctness, and I appreciate the five joints and cute faces on the red-eyed Dream Dazzlers Jessica baby and the modern Steffi babies.  Except for that mermaid baby.  She's way, way, way too small, even for a fish.

I'm curious to know what all of you think about this array of pregnant dolls!  I know the whole concept can be off-putting to some (hi, Mom), but which option does the best job in your opinion?  Without being too creepy or disturbing?  Do you love the Zuru amniotic sack or think it's gross?  And, most of all, did I miss anyone?  In particular, did I miss any dolls with a different kind of pregnancy mechanism?  If so, I'm not averse to writing Part Three at some point.

If there is another pregnant doll review or a Part Three to this series in my future, it'll have to wait for a while.  I think Lena's heard all of the birth stories she can handle for the moment, and Midge managed to end things on a cheerful, positive note.  So we can all take a break from pregnant dolls and babies...until the stork starts to circle around Lena.