KPop Demon Hunters Action Figures by Mattel

I can't believe October is almost over.  It's crazy.  This has been a chaotic, emotional, whirlwind of a month, to say the least.  But my dad is finally settled into his memory care home and is doing very well.  I'm realizing how many exceptional human beings there are in the world, which is uplifting.  I'm also working on building a new routine for my life and for the blog.  One of my goals for this month was to publish at least two reviews, and I was getting nervous that it wouldn't happen.  But here I am!  It's happening!

Anyone who read my last KPop Demon Hunters review knows how much I love that movie.  I love it a lot.  And I was very impressed by Mattel's 6th scale doll versions of Rumi, Zoey, Mira, and Jinu.  Especially Mira.  Given my enthusiasm for the dolls, I was absolutely delighted to learn that Mattel also made 12th scale action figures of the KPop Demon Hunters characters, and this time they included all of the Saja Boys, not just Jinu.

For today's review I decided to look at the Mira action figure, and also her two potential demon love interests: Romance and Abby:

Mattel's KPop Demon Hunters action figures: Romance, Mira, and Abby ($21.99 each, affiliate link).

New(ish) Maru and Marceline Dolls from Maru and Friends

Life has been very busy for me these last few weeks, so it's been hard to find time to work on a review.  There's been good stuff and bad stuff: my dad is moving into a memory care home near me, which is a lot of work and a little depressing, but my nephew got married in Colorado, which was super-fun and a great excuse to see tons of family...and see a new part of the country!  I'm sad to report that the Denver Doll Emporium, which used to have a great showroom, is no longer operating as a storefront: just an online business.  I remember buying one of my Tonner Cinderellas there--in person--which left a lasting impression.

Anyway, I was thinking about what I could do for the blog this week and then I remembered something!  Back in July, my husband and I went on a quick weekend trip to exotic Pennsylvania.  We rented a funky old renovated barn with a swimming pool so that I could escape the heat for a few nights.  I never go on a trip without dolls in tow, and this time I had my two newest Maru and Friends Mini Pals with me.  They had a wonderful time exploring the grounds of the house, and I took about 500 pictures of them in the process.  So this week I pulled those pictures out, sorted through them, and am now ready to share these cuties (and their enhanced articulation!) with you:

Marceline (left) and Maru (right) from Maru and Friends.

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 (affiliate link).

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

As some of you may know, my beloved assistant Lena is expecting a baby!  She broke the news to her husband Ian (and all of us) on Father's Day, but I'm not exactly sure when she's due.  She doesn't tell me everything.  What I do know is that she's been feeling a little nervous about the whole experience these last few weeks.

I can (vaguely) remember the mix of excitement and anxiety that comes with a first pregnancy, and I know how nice it was to be able to share my feelings with other moms during that time.  So, I thought it might be valuable for Lena to have a little tea-time chat with another pregnant mom, and maybe hear a few uplifting birth stories in the process:

Lena in her new nursery.

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 (affiliate link).

Quick Look: The Mini Brands Copycat Spaces Collection by Zuru

I've posted a lot of big, multi-doll reviews lately.  Those take a long time to write...and a long time to read!  And I'm not even done: there are at least two more mega-reviews on the way as I try to explore some of the hot new summer releases.  However, right now I'm waiting for a few stragglers that are necessary to start those reviews, so I thought it'd be a good chance to pause and do a nice, simple Quick Look!

During one of my many trips to Target this month, I noticed a group of flashy-looking building sets in sleek black boxes sitting on a high shelf.  On closer inspection, I could have sworn they were re-packaged Rolife Super Creator sets, which is something I adore and have written about several times.  But no.  It's a new Zuru Mini Brands product called Spaces, and it has stunning, piece-for-piece similarity to Rolife.  Those of you who are here regularly might swear that you've already seen this cover picture (or at least the ice cream items) in one of my Rolife reviews.  But this is the Zuru product:

Mini Brands Spaces Sweet Scoops Ice Cream Store by Zuru, $39.99 (affiliate link).

KPop Demon Hunters Dolls by Mattel

I'm so excited to be finally writing this review!  I've been waiting for the KPop Demon Hunters dolls to come out ever since I saw the movie.  Actually, I take that back.  I've been waiting for these dolls to come out ever since the What it Sounds Like limited edition trio was announced on Mattel's site way back in November of 2025.  I didn't actually watch the movie until a few months ago (and then I watched it again last week and the week before).  The movie certainly enhanced my anticipation for the dolls immensely.  It's so good.  I love almost everything about it, and (spoilers) I love almost everything about these dolls:

KPop Demon Hunters dolls by Mattel, $26.97 each (affiliate link).

Mirror Mi Dolls by MGA Entertainment

With all of the big summer releases that I mentioned in my last review, I wasn't sure which ones to buy first, and then which ones to review first!  I guess I'm most excited about the KPop Demon Hunters dolls. I've been waiting for those like a predator ever since I saw the movie.  And I've pre-ordered everything associated with that franchise.  But I preordered a lot of other new releases, too.  And, as it happened, the Mirror Mi girls showed up on my doorstep first.

Even then, I was hesitant to review this brand right away.  The Mirror Mi doll who I'm the most excited about is Suki Goldpetal, and I haven't been able to get my hands on her yet.  She's a Walmart exclusive and has been slower to roll out than the other characters.  It feels competitive to buy Suki right now, but I know that feeling won't last.  MGA doesn't tend to limit their dolls, so for collectors, a little patience goes a long way.

As a reviewer, I don't have time to be patient.  There are so many new and exciting dolls that I want to look at this summer!  My schedule is full and I can't afford to wait around for one elusive character.  So, I decided to forge ahead with a review of the Mirror Mi dolls that I have right now.  One of whom, as you might have predicted, is the spicy redheaded rocker, Blaze Maxx:

Mirror Mi Blaze Maxx by MGA Entertainment, $29.99.

Fearbook Ghoulia Yelps from Monster High: A Guest Review!

Today I have a treat for you: a new guest review!  I don't feature a ton of guest reviews these days, but when Cherry emailed and said that she's been reading the blog for fourteen years and would love to write a review...well.  Of course I said yes!  Anyone who's been hanging around this place for fourteen years deserves a medal.  When I learned that Cherry wanted to review Fearbook Ghoulia Yelps, I was even more impressed.  That's not been an easy doll to find, at least not in this part of the world...or at least not for me.

Cherry is a twentysomething doll lover from New Zealand (which is arguably much cooler than New Jersey...) who likes puns and bad jokes.  She'd fit in perfectly at my house.  I feel like I live in pun stereo, with my husband in one ear and my son in the other.  But anyway, Cherry is a delightful person, and also an excellent artist.  In fact, I've been given hesitant permission (she is modest) to show you two of Cherry's drawings, but I'll save those for the very end.  For now, I'll stop yammering and turn it over to my esteemed guest!

***

Hello! Thank you Emily for having me on the blog! I'm Cherry, and today I'll be reviewing the new Monster High G3 Ghoulia Yelps Fearbook doll!

A gaggle of Ghoulias!

Wild Hearts Crew by Mattel

The doll world is poised for an explosion of big summer releases.  Mattel is rolling out their Moonspell Magic Monster High line and their KPop Demon Hunter dolls, MGA launched their Mirror Mi girls (who look like shrunken-headed Rainbow High dolls), and Zuru is tantalizing us with their pregnant My Mini Baby mommies and the tiny fashion doll line called Minnee.  It's overwhelming to have so many great things coming out all at once, not to mention extremely dangerous for the budget.  I'm eager for the future, when I can get my hands on all of these new dolls, but for today's review we're going to take a trip to the past: 2019, to be precise.  That doesn't sound like very long ago, but it was a different world back then--at least for me.  In my personal life, both kids were still in college and we lived in Maine.  We only had four dogs and no cats, which feels completely insufficient...but also adorably rational.  And of course the pandemic was just around the corner, although we had no idea it was coming.

In the doll part of my world, I'd recently stopped writing reviews and was focusing attention on My Twinn restorations.  I wasn't missing a whole lot at that point, I don't think.  The last few reviews that I wrote in 2018 included mostly vintage and discontinued dolls, which suggests that nothing new was grabbing my attention.  I did write about the Boxy Girls and the blind box Hairdorables, which were relatively new in 2019, but I can't remember anything earth moving going on.

What was Mattel up to in 2019, you might ask?  Well, Ever After High had been gone since 2017, and G2 Monster High was more recently deceased.  But Barbie Fashionistas were getting increasingly inclusive, American Girl was in full swing, and the charming Creatable World sets had just come out.  I reviewed Mattel's 1:6 scale WWE Superstars in 2018, so I assume they were still kicking around to some degree as well.  But a 2019 release that I was completely unaware of at the time (and have heard very little about since) is the Wild Hearts Crew.  And that's exactly who I'll be talking about today:

Wild Hearts Crew Kenna Roswell, 2019 (affiliate link).

Tea with Lena: A Rainbow High Doll House Renovation

Lena and Ian's house is finally done!  Or it's done enough...for now.  These projects have a way of stretching on and on, because there's always some cool new accessory or decoration that can be added.  For example, not only did we squeeze in a record player from the last review, but Lena will be sifting through some Mini Brands Masterpieces artwork today to see if any of it can be used as a last-minute finishing touch.

So this review will have two purposes: the first is to show off the house and talk about all of the products I used, and the second is a mini review of the Masterpieces surprise balls.  But Lena's going to be in charge for the most part, so I'd better turn things over to her:

Lena in her renovated Rainbow High house.

Tea with Lena: A Comparison Review of the Mini Brands and Miniverse Record Players

I've been putting the last few finishing touches on Lena's (and Ian's) house this week, and one of the final decisions that we have to make is whether or not we can fit a record player into the space!  I didn't really have this in my original plans, but then I realized that not only has Zuru come out with a Mini Brands record player and accompanying surprise balls, but MGA has followed suit and done the same exact thing with their Miniverse line.  Sounds familiar.  

However, I think the release date of these two products was exactly the same, so it's not clear what (if any) copycatting was going on.  The companies are very competitive these days, with a lot of parallel products.  I wonder if there are spies or something who try to figure out what the other company is doing all of the time?  Maybe that's too dramatic.  I tend to act as though I'm living in a movie.

Anyway, today Lena's going to help me explore both record player options and see if she'd like to try and fit one (or both?) of them into her home:

Lena with a Zuru Mini Brands Vinyl surprise ball, $9.99 (affiliate link).

A Sunday Surprise Assortment!

I've been in a kind of blog limbo for the last week or so, a lot because I'm waiting on a few finishing touches for Lena's house.  She and Ian have already moved back in, but I want everything to be just right before I show it to all of you.  It should be done by the end of this week!  I was also doing a bit of traveling to see my family, which was wonderful.  We got to celebrate the married kids and enjoy upstate New York in spring.  If it weren't for ticks and poison ivy, upstate New York would be perfect at this time of year.

Anyway, I wanted a casual review to fill the space, and decided to do a Sunday Surprise!  It's been a while since I've done that.  At one point, maybe a year ago, I hoarded a lot of surprise-themed toys with the intent of being more regular with my Sunday Surprise posts.  I've obviously made no progress with that goal, so I decided to gather up a bunch of those toys and look at them all at once.  Which means I have a grab bag of surprises for you today!

From back left: Monster High Potions, Disney Tower Surprise, OG Surprise Lunch Bag, and Pea Pod Babies.

Modern Era Dolls from American Girl

After my experience with the underwhelming American Girl advent calendar, I wasn't sure if I'd be tempted back to the brand any time soon.  However, I'm a sucker for new things, and lately American Girl has decided to do something new.  Sort of.

What they did was take a few of their Historical characters, shrink their faces down, stick them on Wellie Wisher bodies, and dress them in modern outfits inspired by the corresponding Historical doll's clothing.  It's a lot of recycled ideas.  I would have been more impressed if the dolls had come with a brand new body type--maybe something with better articulation?  But I'll admit to being charmed by the dolls as they are, so I bought two of them to share with you here:

Modern Era Josefina from American Girl, $90 (affiliate link).

My Way Kids by Geppeddo

I got a comment about Geppeddo dolls on my recent 1:12 Phicen review, and it reminded me of the My Way Kids.  It also reminded me that I wrote a review of this brand in 2021, back when I was posting on The My Twinn Project Shop blog.  I cross-posted that review here, for reference, but hid it away as an isolated page that I can link to, but that can't be seen or searched on the blog.  I should have just made it a normal review!  To remedy that, I decided to take a bit of time to spruce up the text, add some more photos, and make it an official TBP post.  Apologies if you've already read this and were hoping for something new!  I'll have something new soon.

I was clueless about the My Way Kids (and the entire Geppeddoo brand, for that matter) until about five years ago.  I stumbled across these dolls while I was doing one of my semi-regular eBay My Twinn hunts.  eBay's recommendation software must have been in good form that day, because a little thumbnail picture from a My Way Kid auction popped up on my screen out of nowhere.  The doll looked like a mini My Twinn!  I was instantly curious:

My Way Kid doll, 2001-2004.

1:12 Scale Super Flexible Seamless Figures by TBLeague (a.k.a. Phicen)

Okay, so it's mid-May already and I have yet to write a review for this month!  Ack!  My excuse is that I've been working on two reviews at once, which slows me down in the short term but makes up for itself eventually.  I also took a weekend to go see my mom for Mother's Day, which was a lot of fun.  And I've been working hard on Lena's house, which I told her would be done by spring (oops).  It's almost ready.

Today I'm going to be looking at some 1:12 scale figures from Phicen, a company that's now going by the name TBLeague.  I like the sound of Phicen better, but I gather there were some trademark hassles that cropped up in about 2017.  For right or for wrong, I'll use "TBLeague" and "Phicen" interchangeably here.  Incidentally, the last time I reviewed a Phicen doll was back in 2017, when I did a three-part Figuring Out Phicen series.  That trio of reviews looked only at the 1:6 scale figures, which are remarkable.

I've been interested in checking out Phicen's smaller dolls for quite a long time.  Almost a decade, to be more precise.  They look highly realistic and are more affordable than the 1:6 equivalents.  This felt like an opportune moment to finally take the plunge, in part because Zuru is preparing to release their own highly-articulated twelfth-scale Minnee line.  I'm eagerly anticipating those dolls, and thought the Phicen figures would offer an interesting comparison.  Even without any comparison on the horizon, these are intriguing little dolls in their own right:

TBLeague 1:12 scale Super Flexible Seamless figure, $47.99 (affiliate link)

Disney Descendants: Rise of Red Dolls by Mattel

I'm back with the second installment of my two-part Disney Descendants series!  And I have to admit that this is the review I've been looking forward to the most.  All of the dolls that I'm going to talk about today are from the fourth live action Descendants movie, Rise of Red.  This movie has all of the same sound overproduction issues as the first three, but it features Brandy Norwood as Cinderella and Paolo Montalban as Prince Charming.  The casting is important to me because those are the same actors who played Cinderella and the Prince in the 1997 Rodgers and Hammerstein Cinderella--a film I have always adored.

Another reason that Brandy is special to me is that I was fortunate enough to see her on Broadway when she appeared for a brief stint as Roxie in Chicago.  I think that was back in 2017, and we had front row seats.  I might have already gushed about that experience here on the blog, but for good reason: it was unforgettable, and the closest I've ever gotten to meeting Cinderella in real life!

Knowing all of that, imagine my delight when I discovered that not only had Brandy reprised her role as Cinderella in Rise of Red, but Mattel had made a doll of that character!  And the doll looks quite a bit like Brandy herself:

Rise of Red Cinderella by Mattel, $29.99 (affiliate link).

Disney Descendants Anniversary Mal Doll by Mattel

I have to say, a lot of my review inspiration lately has been driven by nostalgia.  I think it's because I'm still in the process of updating the List of All Reviews page, which involves going back through each of my old posts, tidying up dead links, enlarging some of the photos, and general housekeeping stuff like that.  And of course every third or fourth review, I'm like, "ooh!  Those dolls were fun! I should get them out and play with them again."  And sometimes I'm like, "ooh!  I loved that doll!  Why on earth did I ever sell her?"  And then I go to eBay and try to re-purchase the same doll.  It's really bad...but ever so predictable.  I should probably talk to my therapist about it.

Anyway, as I sifted through my 2015 reviews, I was reminded of the Hasbro dolls from the Descendants movie.  Do you remember those dolls?  They have funny caricature faces and bad hair.  I realized that, despite having written two reviews of the dolls, I never actually watched the movie!  And now, more than ten years later, there are three more live action Descendants movies with a fourth slated for 2026.  There are also a ton of new dolls, now being made by Mattel.

After discovering all of this, I purchased a bunch of the new dolls and watched all of the movies.  My favorite movie is the most recent: Rise of Red.  I like it because it includes Cinderella, played by none other than Brandy Norwood!  Like, the same Brandy who starred in the wonderful 1997 Cinderella movie!  Eeeee!  The prince is played by the same actor, too, which is incredible.  So, anyway, I'm going to focus on the dolls from that movie for the most part, but I want to start by taking a look at Mattel's Anniversary Mal doll, so that we can compare her to the Hasbro Mal that I reviewed back in 2015:

Disney Descendants Anniversary Mal doll by Mattel, $24.99.

Sweet Sisters and Cotti Motti by Orange Toys

It was a tough winter, wasn't it?  I'm struck by that as I sit here in the sun, with signs of spring finally bursting out all around.  It's easier to be optimistic in the spring, I think, and there's a lot that I'm grateful for, despite all of the chaos and evil in the world right now.  Most notably, I forgot to tell you that one of my kids got married last month!  So now we have a wonderful new daughter-in-law.  And we have a new dog in the mix, too: a twelve-year-old deaf Maltese named Norman.  I also dodged a possible cancer diagnosis, so I'm feeling thankful for my health.  On the doll front, I have a very special baby doll that I ordered five months ago who's finally on her way to me...and a whole project series that I have in mind to complement that doll.  So that's all pretty exciting.

I'm excited about the dolls that I have to share with you today, too, although there were some disappointments that I didn't anticipate.  You might remember back during my Lucky Doggy review, I was browsing the Orange Toys website and fell in love with their Sweet Sisters line of cloth dolls.  I ordered way too many of those dolls, and in the process discovered the Cotti Motti plush animals, also from Orange Toys, who can share clothing with the Sweet Sisters!  So I had to buy a few Cotti Motti characters, too.  Obviously.

In today's review, I'll focus mostly on the Sweet Sisters dolls, but I'll also take a peek at two Cotti Motti animals:

Sweet Sisters Sunny (left) and Cotti Motti Daphne (right) by Orange Toys.

Tea with Lena: Mini Brands Fill the Fridge vs. Miniverse Real Brands

This review might feel a little repetitive with the last one (Miniverse Spaces), but maybe we can think of it as a companion piece or something?  I'm including it because while I was looking at the Spaces sets, Lena got interested...and a little irritated that I hadn't included her.  She doesn't fit into the Spaces or Rolife rooms, obviously, but she likes talking about anything food or kitchen-related, so she felt like I was invading her turf.  Fair enough.

By way of an apology, I offered to let Lena talk about another group of food-themed toys that have been on my radar.  In fact, she gets to talk about two different food-themed toys today: Zuru's Mini Brands Fill the Fridge sets and MGA Entertainment's Miniverse Real Brands.  The two are extremely similar--in name and in concept.  Both brands have surprise balls with brand-name food miniatures inside.  Zuru's Fill the Fridge line also has an actual fridge that Lena will be looking at.

Lena's goal here will be to see which group of surprise ball food items is best at actually filling a fridge!  I've said too much already at this point, so I'll turn things over to Lena:

Lena with Mini Brands Fill the Fridge and Miniverse Real Brands items.