Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Star Wars: The Force Awakens 1:6 "Jakku Rey" by Hot Toys
My reaction to the Rey character might be exaggerated, but it compelled me to immediately start scouring the internet for Rey paraphernalia. I bought several of the less-expensive action figures (a few of which I'll show at the end of the post), but found their resemblance to Ms. Ridley disappointing. When I saw the promotional pictures of Hot Toys' Rey online at Sideshow Collectibles, I wasn't convinced that she was the perfect tribute to the character, either. However, after a few days' reflection, I decided that she was easily the best option out there, and so I placed my pre-order. I ordered Rey in January--a few weeks after I saw the movie--and she arrived in mid September.
Let's dig in and see if she was worth the wait...and the price:
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Once Upon a Zombie Rapunzel by WowWee
I am a big fan of wholesome, beautiful, happy-ending fairy tale princesses that aren't even the slightest bit dead, and yet I love watching The Walking Dead, and I enjoy playing video games like The Last of Us and Plants vs. Zombies. So, I guess I have to admit that I've fallen under the spell of the recent mainstream zombie craze. I prefer zombie scenarios where there's a cure (as in Warm Bodies) but I'm also interested in the pseudo-science behind all of these stories, and I enjoy the challenge of imagining the moral dilemmas and survival tactics that such a horrific apocalypse might provoke.
I never would have though that portraying beloved princess characters as zombies would be a good idea. And yet, right after Natalie's tip, I rushed to one of my favorite online stores (Think Geek) to see these dolls...and it was fascination at first sight. These spooky princesses have inset eyes, blueish grey skin, lots of articulation, and tattered royal gowns that fit the theme of the character they are depicting. Somehow these dolls are silly, lovely, tragic and creepy all at the same time:
Once Upon a Zombie "Zombie Rapunzel." $24.99 at Think Geek. |
Sunday, July 8, 2012
Disney Store Doll Articulation Update
Cinderella enchanted me from within her box, mostly because of her coy side-glancing eyes:
Charming, right? |
Thursday, January 19, 2012
A Review of Lorifina (Discontinued) by Hasbro
When Hasbro unveiled this line in 2009, I got caught up in the excitement for a little while. I spent some time on the website, designing various dolls and seeing how they looked in all of the outfits. I don't know why I never hit the checkout button. Perhaps it was the $98 price tag, or the fact that together with all of the cool clothes and shoes I had also added to my cart, the price was discouragingly higher than $98. I can't remember exactly.
Last year, I saw a picture of a Lorifina doll's beautiful face on Flickr and went in search of these girls on the secondary market. Nothing. Maybe there was one on Amazon for close to $200, but again, I can't remember the specifics. What I do remember is seeing another picture of these dolls on Flickr just recently and feeling compelled to start the search again. This time, I was well-rewarded. There is a bounty of these dolls on eBay right now, and (with some patience) they can be won for around $50...often with many accessories included. I figured this was a good time to do a review. Here's the one I got (this combination of hair and skin color was the most common on eBay during my hunt):
Lorifina: light skin tone, green eyes and a blonde wig. |
Sunday, August 3, 2014
W.I.T.C.H. Dolls "Taranee" and "Will" by Giochi Preziosi--A Joint Review!
Six months later, I am trying again--this time with the invaluable help of Emma herself. This review will focus on the 13" Giochi Preziosi W.I.T.C.H. dolls. Emma is a huge fan of the W.I.T.C.H. comic book series, and so she is the perfect person to introduce this line. Emma will share her new "Taranee" doll, and then I will end the review by showing you my redheaded W.I.T.C.H. character, "Will." It has been fascinating for me to learn more about the magical world of these Witches, and I owe this experience to Emma's persistence, patience, and enthusiasm. Many thanks, Emma! This review never would have happened without you.
W.I.T.C.H. doll "Will" by Giochi Preziosi. |
Monday, January 16, 2023
Ily 4EVER Fashion Dolls by Disney
Many of you (and most of Twitter) have been excited about the new Disney ily 4EVER dolls for a few weeks now, but it's taken me this long to produce a review. Sorry! I'm not good at doing things quickly. I'm especially not good at writing reviews quickly, and I fear that I'm getting slower over time. I think this is mostly because I obsess over photographs more than I ever used to, which can be a huge time suck. Ordinarily, my slow pace is not much of a concern; it suits my life, and the reviews get done eventually. However, when there's a hot new doll, a slow response can be incredibly frustrating. I want to give you information as quickly as possible, so you can decide which dolls (if any) to buy!
I can totally understand the hype and anticipation over these dolls. This new collection of 11-inch fashion dolls follows the same idea as the 18-inch ily 4EVER dolls that have been gracing the shelves of Target for a while now. Namely, they are styled as Disney fangirls who wear modern clothing that is based on color schemes and thematic designs inspired by the classic Disney Princesses. It's a very cool concept--especially for an 11-inch fashion doll.
The larger 18-inch ily dolls are adorable, and I've admired them at Target frequently, but they never managed to make it to the top of my review queue. In contrast, these smaller dolls grabbed my attention instantly because of their manageable size, inset eyes, normal-sized heads, lovely faces, and what looks like great articulation. They struck me as something that could be revolutionary for the play doll market, and also for the Disney Store which, as you know, has fallen out of my favor more often than not over the years. I purchased all of the new ily 4EVER dolls (and a few of the accessories) and will share them in one way or another over the next few weeks. The star of today's review is the Tiana-inspired character who was the winner of a Patreon poll. I've named her Tia:
ily 4EVER Tiana doll by Disney, $29.99. |
Monday, January 30, 2012
"Summer Lila" and "Summer Lucas" by Salvador Berenguer for JC Toys
My mom made us matching outfits! |
Despite not acquiring a lot of new baby dolls at this point in my life, I still retain many and strong opinions about these dolls. Recently, someone asked my opinion on what would be a good realistic baby doll for an older child. I had a great time thinking through the options. For this special girl, I ended up recommending Zapf Vivian or Lilian, by master sculptor Cathariena Teunissen. The process got me pondering what the best realistic baby doll choices are for each price range and age group and I thought I'd start sharing my thoughts about this topic here.
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
MiM Dolls from Make it Mine, LLC
After glimpsing those first pictures, I took a look at the MiM website to learn more. MiM dolls are advertised as 16" plastic ball-jointed dolls. I guess the term "ball-jointed doll" applies to any doll with ball-and-socket joints. I agree with Wikipedia, though, when they say that "BJD" usually means a resin doll strung with elastic and made in Asia, which MiM is not. Oh, well. The MiM doll has several customizable parts, which definitely fits with my idea of what a BJD should be. Not only is there a centaur body, but MiM dolls can be mermaids, too. Cool! The Make it Mine website is very fun. I've visited there many times since December, recreationally filling and un-filling my cart. You can choose between different skin colors, faces, wigs, eye colors and outfit options and the site will show you a picture of approximately what your doll will look like. It reminds me a lot of the Hasbro Lorifina dolls and their website. Here what the MiM face looks like:
MiM doll. |
Sunday, June 28, 2015
The 17-Inch Freak du Chic "Gooliope Jellington" from Monster High
I want to thank everyone who emailed me about the appearance of the first super-sized Monster High doll: Gooliope Jellington. Without your tips, I might not have noticed from the online pictures that Gooliope was any larger than a regular Monster High character. This doll is scaled up so accurately that when she's photographed alone, she can easily be mistaken for an 11-inch doll:
Freak du Chic "Gooliope Jellington," $29.99. |
Friday, November 20, 2015
Made to Move Barbie by Mattel
It's unfortunate that I confused the new Style dolls and the Made to Move dolls in my head, because my reaction to these two collections could not be more different. While I'm underwhelmed and uninterested in the re-designed Style series, the Made to Move dolls are pretty much a dream come true: an affordable, attractive, well-articulated play doll.
Meet the lovely Made to Move Teresa:
Made to Move Barbie (Teresa), $14.99. |
Monday, April 10, 2023
Doll-a-Day Collection One
I was going on a walk two weekends ago when for some reason the idea popped into my head to start a Doll-a-Day feature. This idea appealed to me because it seemed like a good way to tell you a bit about dolls that for one reason or another aren't likely to get full-length reviews of their own--or to share dolls that have been in my collection for a while and have never been showcased here on the blog. So, for the past week, I've posted a single photograph of a different doll every day, both on Twitter and on Patreon. These photos did not include any information about the dolls, and people had the opportunity to guess the brand. There were a lot of accurate guesses! Now that the week is over, I'm going to reveal what all of the dolls are, and share a bit of information about each--like a mini review.
I have to confess that this idea got a little out-of-control, though--as my ideas often do. The problem is that even if I share a reduced amount of information on each of the seven dolls, that still adds up to a very long blog post! So maybe next time I'll only choose five dolls, from Monday through Friday, and then publish the overview on the weekend? You might have other ideas for how to improve on this concept, too, so please feel free to share your thoughts!
But for now, let's take a closer look at this week's eclectic group of seven dolls:
Doll-a-Day group for April 3-9, 2023. |
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
More Minis! Part 1: The Funville Sparkle Girlz
There are a few different sizes of Sparkle Girlz. There are 20-inch play dolls, 12-inch fashion dolls, and 4-inch toddlers. I was interested in the toddlers for this review, but these smallest Sparkle Girlz are actually quite hard to find around here. There are four Walmart stores in my immediate area, and I've visited all of them within the last five days. All of these stores had plenty of the larger dolls, but most had only one kind of mini...or just empty cardboard display cases. Since these dolls cost $2.47, it's no surprise that they are hard to keep in stock. At the very last Walmart I visited, I finally found a representative variety of little Sparkle Girlz.
In this post I will show you four different dolls from this series and contrast them to the comparably-priced Moxie Girlz Friends dolls.
Funville Sparkle Girlz "Little Ballerina" mini doll. |
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Cabbage Patch Kid Babyland Mini Dolls by Jakks Pacific
Cabbage Patch mini doll: blonde hair, blue eyes. |
Monday, April 2, 2012
A Review of BFC Ink Pen Pal Doll "Britt" by MGA Entertainment
The Pen Pal line of BFC Ink dolls were released late last year. These dolls retail for $19.99. In theory, they can be found at Target, Walmart, K-Mart and Toys R Us, however, as far as I can tell all BFC Ink dolls have disappeared from Toys R Us. I actually haven't seen any of the Pen Pal dolls at my local Target or Walmart, either, but they can be purchased at Target.com (where they are called "Moxie Pen Pals" for some reason). *Update 8/26/13: these dolls have been discontinued.
The Pen Pal dolls each represent a different country. These dolls are meant to be the pen pals of the original club dolls. There are 5 Pen Pal dolls: Britt (England), Carmen (Mexico), Nicolette (France), Elsa (Sweden) and Lily (South Africa). I like Britt's combination of dark hair and blue eyes, so I ordered her.
BFC Ink Pen Pal Britt. |
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Monster High "Picture Day Cleo De Nile," A Guest Review!
Hello! I'm Monsterific and I will be doing a review on Cleo de Nile Picture Day from Monster High!
I was walking in my local toy store two months ago when I saw around 20 Abbey Picture Days, but only one Cleo. I convinced my mom to buy it, but she said I would get it for my birthday, in August. So now I finally got her! She is my first Cleo, and as I live in Sweden, it's quite hard to get Monster High.
Monster High Picture Day Cleo de Nile. |
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
The Poppy Parker and Chip "Baby It's You" Gift Set by Integrity Toys
I do own a few Integrity dolls, but only ones that don't sell very well for some reason. For example, I got my 16" AvantGuard dolls on a big clearance sale and I found my I.T.B.E. doll collecting dust at an online shop two years after her release. I really like these dolls, though, and that got me thinking that if mine are the undesirable Integrity dolls, the hot dolls must be pretty spectacular. So, this year I decided to put a little more effort into my quest for a popular Integrity doll.
Lately, one of the most sought-after Integrity characters is Poppy Parker. Poppy portrays a teenaged fashion model from the 1960s. 2012 has been an exciting year for Poppy Parker doll releases, because along with the usual 12" additions to the Poppy collection, there are new 16" versions of this character as well. The 16" Poppy dolls are actually among the few Integrity dolls still available to order now, but the 12" dolls were typically scarce. I managed to get my hands on one of the 12" Poppy dolls, the "Baby It's You" gift set that also includes Poppy's boyfriend Chip:
Poppy Parker and Chip Baby it's You gift set. |
Sunday, January 8, 2012
A Review of LittleMissMatched Uptown Girl by Tonner Toys
I became interested in LittleMissMatched when I heard the announcement that the Tonner Doll Company, who makes my favorite doll, acquired the license to produce LittleMissMatched dolls under the umbrella of their brand new "Tonner Toys" label.
There are four Tonner Toys LMM dolls: Sporty, Uptown, Rock 'n' Roll and Artsy. It's funny because they sell for $40 on the LittleMissMatched website, but they are $26.99 at Toys 'R' Us and FAO Schwarz. I haven't seen them for sale anywhere else yet...not even Amazon.
I searched the aisles of Toy 'R' Us for a LMM doll. I had to come back a few times because the few dolls that were in stock had very visible and disappointing face paint flaws or facial marks. I finally found an Uptown doll that looked perfect, and was on sale, so I grabbed her:
LittleMissMatched Uptown Girl |
Monday, September 15, 2014
New Kitty Surprise by Just Play
The "Surprise" line of stuffed toys started way back in the early 1990s with vinyl-faced plush dogs, cats, ponies, bears and bunnies that came with an undisclosed number of babies in their bellies. The original animals were released by Hasbro. Playskool (a division of Hasbro) re-introduced the line in 2005 with a few changes. The new animals (only cats, dogs and rabbits this time) did not have vinyl faces and resembled more typical stuffed toys. A couple of years ago, I looked at some of the Puppy Surprise toys that were made by Playskool in 2005. Those toys didn't last long on the market, and so when they were discontinued, I figured we had heard the last of this brand.
As it turns out, the line has now been turned over to Just Play (whose Doc McStuffins doll I recently reviewed), and the design has gone back to a vinyl-faced version similar to that of the original toys. So far, there are only dogs and cats in this new collection. I found several of the cats at my local Toys R Us, and thought the pink and white kitty, "Snow," was especially cute:
Kitty Surprise "Snow," by Just Play, $24.99. |
Sunday, December 29, 2013
"Ahoy Patience" by Wilde Imagination
The debut Patience doll, Garden Patience, was a gorgeous little redhead with bright green eyes and an amazing, romantic dress. When this doll was announced, I was so wrapped up in other things that I missed the beginning of pre-orders. I want to kick myself now, because this gorgeous little doll sold out in a flash. Unwilling to pay the high secondary market prices for Garden Patience, I had to be, ah, patient and wait for the new dolls to arrive. I was thrilled when a trio of Patience dolls was released for pre-order before Christmas. All of these newer dolls are still available on the Wilde Imagination site, and so I figured that this could be a good time for a review.
The Patience dolls are limited to 300 pieces each and cost over $150. The available dolls are called "Wonderland Patience" (an Alice in Wonderland doll, $169), "Tokyo Patience" (a lovely brown-eyed Japanese girl, $199) and "Ahoy Patience," the doll whose platinum blonde bob and sailor dress tempted me the most:
"Ahoy Patience" by Wilde Imagination, $169. |
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Juku Couture "Hayley" by Jakks Pacific
Juku Couture dolls are 9 inch articulated plastic fashion dolls with inset eyes. The dolls are named after a Japanese fashion trend called "Harajuku" that involves combining lots of mis-matched fashion elements into a personalized look. The dolls are dressed in multi-layered outfits with pieces in contrasting styles and colors. These dolls were released by Jakks Pacific in 2008 and, from what I can tell, were discontinued after only four waves: Series 1, Series 2 (called "In the Wild"), a 2009 re-release group, and the "Global Good" series. Each release of dolls has four different characters, Hayley, Jun, Kana and Audrina.
The dolls originally sold for $19.99, and can now be found on eBay and Amazon for significantly more or significantly less than that. The 2009 re-release dolls are thought to be of lesser quality than the originals, and they seem to be the easiest group to find. I bought Hayley from the 2009 re-release series for about $10 on Amazon:
Juku Couture re-release Hayley (2009) by Jakks Pacific. |