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| Hairdorables "Bella Bunerina" doll, $12.88 . |
Happy New Year! Before I launch into the regular reviews that I have planned for January, I figured I should close out the advent calendar series by showing you the last three calendars that I have on hand. I actually only purchased two of these for review, and the third one, Lego's Disney Princess calendar, was an incredibly thoughtful and timely gift from my mother-in-law...who had no idea that I was planning an advent calendar series for the blog! She knows me very well.
Here are the three remaining calendars:
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| From left: Lego Disney Princesses, Sky and Ocean building blocks, and Schleich Horse Club. |
I've always loved miniature food, and have gotten even more interested in this type of thing since Lena moved into the Rainbow High House and started her own series of reviews: Tea With Lena. After all, if Lena is going to be inviting guests over to her place for a chat and a snack, she's going to need a well-stocked kitchen, right?
Way back in the first Tea With Lena post, Ryleigh left a comment that mentioned MGA's Miniverse food. The Miniverse toys are primarily little surprise ball kits that include everything you need to make a tiny fake food dish. I was immediately excited about Ryleigh's suggestion, but of course it took me almost nine months to act on it.
I'm happy that I was so slow in pulling this review together, though, because MGA has released several new Miniverse products during the last few months. The most interesting thing to me is the Make It Mini Kitchen. I love kitchen-themed toys, and I suspect this particular one will be popular during the holidays. So, today I'll explore several of the Miniverse options that are currently available, including the kitchen set, and I'll keep my eye on how useful each item might be to Lena and her 1:6 friends.
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| Lena with a Miniverse Make It pizza. |
I'm traveling a bit this weekend, so today's review will be pretty short, and very different from what I normally write. Anyone who's read any of my Sunday Surprise posts, especially recent ones, will know that I often comment on how the expense of surprise-themed dolls, particularly those that cost over $10, is risky because of the chance of getting a repeat. And what happens to all of those duplicate dolls? Some end up on eBay or at Goodwill, I'm sure, but many probably land in the garbage. As if the packaging waste from this type of toy wasn't bad enough.
Knowing how I feel about all of this, my friend Ariel messaged me the other day and showed me a cool Instagram page called Mischa's Toy Jewels. Mischa gathers up unwanted mini toys and turns them into children's jewelry! How cool is that? What's even better is that she donates half of the profits from her sales to a local food bank. I wanted to showcase this neat project, so I purchased several bracelets and necklaces to share with you.
I had so much fun looking through Mischa's selection, not just because the jewelry is colorful and attractive, but because of the variety of mini toys on display. I could identify some of the brands right away, but not all of them. The unidentified mini toys were irresistible little mysteries to me, and I had a great time trying to figure out what all of them are. And I'll confess--Mischa had to come to my rescue a few times! I thought some of you might be similarly amused by identifying these small toys, and so today's post will have two goals: one is to simply showcase Mischa's fun jewelry, but the other is to play a little guessing game! I'll show you what I bought, with no labels, and then in a day or two I'll post the answers and a little follow-up review. Be warned, though, that there's one mini toy in the mix that neither Mischa nor I could identify. Bonus points to anyone who knows what it is!
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| A necklace from Mischa's Toy Jewels, $10.00. |
Welcome to the last day of virtual spring break here on the blog! I'm going to end the week by looking at some cute, strange little dolls that are sold on AliExpress. A lot (but certainly not all) of the products on AliExpress are knockoffs of one kind or another, and today's dolls are no exception. However, some of the original, copied products still remain a mystery to me. The nice thing is that you guys make the collective knowledge on this blog impressive, so maybe we'll be able to solve a few mysteries together before the day is over!
I first learned about these dolls last summer when we had a silly doll contest over on Patreon. The idea was for everyone to submit photos of the funniest or most unusual dolls that they could find. It was an entertaining contest, and a surprising number of the entries were things that I actually wanted to buy! Case in point, when Amy sent me a photo of these big-eyed AliExpress kids, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist: |
| Plastic character dolls from AliExpress, $4.95 each. |
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| Surprizamal Mama and Baby unicorn, Jamie ($19.99). |
All of the advent calendars that I've looked at so far have been mass-produced items by big, well-established toy companies. Those tend to be the calendars that are most relevant to the doll world. However, I didn't want to let this entire series go by without featuring something a bit off the beaten path.
Since I've been thinking a lot about advent calendars over the last few months, I also hunted down a special calendar for each of my kids. The one I chose for my eldest is from an Etsy store called Crafts3Dcom, and has a 3D printed dragon behind each door. This concept was so appealing that I bought a second calendar to show off here on the blog:
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| Petra with dragons from a Crafts3Dcom advent calendar. |
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| Secret Central doll Rachel Ruff (Hasbro, 2003). |
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| Sonny Angel (left) and Twozies (right) blind box figures. |
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| Glitter Girls Poppy, by Battat ($19.99). |
I'm having a great time comparing 14-inch dolls (and, thanks to Amy's comment, I've even added another brand to the list!) but I need a little break from the formulaic approach to that series, so the next two reviews will be wildly different.
Today's post might require a bit of background, especially for anyone who is new to this site. Toys R Us was a huge part of my life back when I first started blogging. I used to take weekly "research" excursions to the big store in South Portland, Maine (which I'm pretty sure is now a furniture warehouse). I loved going there. The variety of merchandise was unmatched, and I felt like I always found some new doll or action figure that fascinated or amused me. Between that store and the nearby Target, there was practically nothing in the play doll world that I couldn't get my hands on. I mean, Toys R Us even carried American Girl dolls for a while.
In addition to my routine visits to the Toys R Us in Maine, I also have fond memories of the jaw-dropping flagship store that used to be in Manhattan. That place was even more impressive than F.A.O. Schwarz, if you ask me. There was a massive ferris wheel and a freakin' life-sized Tyrannosaurus rex, for goodness sake. I was heartbroken when Toys R Us closed it doors in 2018. That marked the end of an era for me, and it took a lot of the fun out of toy shopping. And of course it was only a few months later that I made some decisions that I assumed would bring this blog to a permanent end as well.
Who could have predicted that four years later I'd be happily blogging again and--wait for it--Toys R Us would be opening new stores? It's true! From what I've read, these stores are all going to be smaller boutiques inside Macy's, which is disappointing, but I guess it's still better than nothing. However, there's one full-sized Toys R Us that's been open for a while: the new flagship store at the American Dream mall. And the American Dream mall, as luck would have it, is in New Jersey...only an hour away from my house. So of course I went for a visit. Do you want to check it out with me?
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| Toys R Us at American Dream (East Rutherford, New Jersey). |
It's looking like this will be the last full-length advent calendar review that I'll be able to squeeze in before the end of the month. But I still have three (four?) calendars that haven't been opened, and I'd love to share them with you, so maybe I'll try to pull together a little summary of the remaining calendars to close out the series.
Today's calendar is from the Barbie Cutie Reveal line, and features a full-size Barbie doll with decent articulation:
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| Barbie from the 2023 Cutie Reveal advent calendar, $33.99. |
One of the things I'm doing over on Patreon is giving my Patrons a chance to weigh in on what review they want to see next. Two weeks ago, they picked this Rainbow High girl over a different play doll. The vote was extremely close, though, so the other doll will probably get her review soon. I'm happy that this review won, because I've been extremely curious about the Rainbow High brand for several months now.
When I was taking a break from doll reviews and putting all of my energy into My Twinn restorations, I rarely visited any kind of toy store. This is highly unusual for me, since I get a huge amount of happiness from just being around toys. But something happened about a month before I started writing here again: I was at Target looking for a game in the electronics section, and I found myself wandering into the adjacent toy aisles, unable to resist the pull.
I didn't give all of the toys the scrutiny they deserved on that day, but I did a broad sweep of the doll sections to see what was new. The one thing I saw that stuck in my head was the Rainbow High collection. The Rainbow High dolls were displayed opposite the L.O.L. toys, and I found the cohesive color schemes of the Rainbow High characters to be a soothing and attractive contrast to the neon chaos of the L.O.L. shelves. Each Rainbow High character has clothing and hair that match, and so looking at all of the dolls together is like looking at a big rainbow. It's very seductive. And of course I'm always roped in by dolls with interesting eyes and nice articulation. I almost bought a doll on the spot--I really wanted to see what the articulation was like--but told myself it was silly since I wasn't doing reviews anymore.
As you can imagine, as soon as I decided to write reviews again, the first thing I did was scoot back to Target and buy a Rainbow High doll! Here's the one I picked:
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| Rainbow High's Georgia Bloom, $27.99. |
I'm back with the second post in the mermaid series! I learned so much from your comments on the Mermaze Mermaidz review. As I've said before, the comments are always a hugely valuable (and humorous...) part of this blog. Thank you so much for all of your contributions. I'll single out a few mermaid-related things that were mentioned: first of all, Lurkins noted that I never tested Jordie's color change feature, which is embarrassingly true. I went back and did that and added in some pictures of the results. It's pretty cool! Séverine's tip that one of the dolls (Riviera) has bad hair is very helpful, too, especially since I was so pleased with the hair on Orra and Jordie. Last of all, I had no idea about the alleged backstory of the Mermaidz or which body parts were taken from other MGA lines. I should have at least recognized the Project Mc2 eyes! Thank you to Alé for those tidbits.
But today is all about Spin Master's Mermaid High dolls. The first wave of these fishy friends has been out since late 2021, and the second wave of dolls hit the market this spring. I've been waffling back and forth about whether to write about this brand for several months now, mostly waiting to see if the high original price (around $27) would come down at all. The dolls never struck me as being worth quite that much. I guess I waited a good amount of time, because the first wave characters recently went on sale at Target. They were around $5 for a while, which was insane, but are now $19.99, which is a reasonable price for this brand. I purchased first wave Finly at full price a few weeks ago, and then added Searra during the $5 sale. This review got too long to include Searra, though, so I'll put those photos over on Patreon.
I'm going to feature Finly today because when I was looking at all of the characters in the store, she's the one who impressed me the most. I love her rainbow-themed outfit and her cute green-eyed, freckle-filled face. In this review, I'll contrast first wave Finly to the newer version of the same character:
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| Mermaid High Finly by Spin Master, $26.99. |
Back in the earlier days of Toy Box Philosopher, I had a project series with a few multi-part articles documenting my efforts with a doll-related art project. I think there were only two installments, The Saskia Project and The My Twinn Project. The My Twinn Project, in which I tried my hand at restoring and repainting My Twinn dolls, blossomed into an obsession that lasted for years, and even resulted in a new blog. I'd love to get back into repainting those dolls someday, but there's just too much going on right now.
However, I still sometimes find myself in a crafty or artistic mood, and am often looking for outlets. One of my kids has recently become fascinated by the wooden kits made by a company called Rolife. These kits are apparently very satisfying to assemble, and result in some beautiful pieces (things like clocks, book nooks, dollhouses, and music boxes) that are a manageable size and great for display. You can see examples on the Rolife website.
I went to browse the wooden kits myself one day, thinking I might try one, and I noticed a newer line called Super Creator. The Super Creator sets are plastic kits that snap together to make a single diorama-like dollhouse room or shop. I love dioramas and dollhouses, so these kits are very appealing to me. One thing that was unclear, though, is what the scale of the kits was, and which dolls might be able to use the rooms. That left me curious. So, I decided to buy one of the rooms, build it, and then let some of my dolls test it out:
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| Littles Pet Shop Blythe doll in the Happy Meals Kitchen by Rolife, $43.99. |
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| Kruselings deluxe Sofia doll, £35.99 (~$50). |
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with vending machines. The big displays outside of the grocery store were the biggest temptation, with so many mini-sized toy and novelty options. There were even a few machines that had a special prize like a watch or a necklace mixed in amongst more ordinary fare. I was rarely given the chance to use a vending machine when I was young, though, and so I overcompensated for this when I became an independent adult. Not only did I get toys from these machines for myself with more frequency than I care to admit, but I always indulged my kids when they asked for the money necessary to get a treat. When we moved to Maine, I even bought my own old-fashioned capsule vending machine and set it up in the basement. I kept my eye out for interesting small toys, and so the machine was always full of new stuff. All of my kids' friends could use the vending machine (once) every time they came over. Younger brothers and sisters would often tag along to pick up their sibling from a play date, clutching their own quarter in their hand and hoping for a turn at the machine. It was a big hit.
Back in February, when I wrote the first part of the L.O.L. Surprise review (the second part will come eventually, promise!), Gabby asked if I'd ever heard of the Capsule Chix. These are small surprise-themed dolls that come in, wait for it, vending machine packaging! How cool is that? It's exactly the kind of thing I would have gone bonkers for when I was young...and, frankly, it's the kind of thing I still go bonkers for now. I found a few sets for about $13 and stored them away for a future review. Then, a month later, Amy asked about the Capsule Chix on one of my Patreon reviews, so I figured it was high time to get the sets I bought out and learn more about these intriguing blind box characters.
Capsule Chix dolls are assembled from several parts (head, hair, torso, legs, and some extra clothing bits like skirts and shoes). Each part is wrapped inside of a vending machine capsule, and then the capsules are packaged into a box that dispenses the capsules one by one. Every set is guaranteed to include the parts you need to make one doll, but the parts in each box are randomly assigned, so you're very unlikely to get a matched set; everything's mixed up. You can either be happy with the mix-and-match doll you receive, or you can buy more of the sets hoping to find the parts you need to build a specific doll.
I knew these dolls and their fancy packaging would involve tons of waste, which is one of my least favorite things in the doll world right now, but I absolutely could not resist the idea of the vending machine box. So here we go!
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| Capsule Chix Giga Glam doll, $12.99. |
Happy fall, everyone! It's so funny, because just as the season officially changed, New Jersey went from 90° and oppressively humid to 72° and breezy, with nighttime temperatures that are downright cold. It's a nice change, but I have whiplash. The colder temperatures reminded me that we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of this blog's re-awakening! That's hard for me to believe. I'll have to think of a fun Sunday Surprise review to honor the date.
In the meantime, you might be surprised to see something that's not a 14-inch doll on the cover today! Sorry if that's a disappointment to anyone, but I decided to take another little break from the 14-inch comparison series so that I could explore different things. Way back in January, when I reviewed the Honey Bee Acres figures and compared them to Li'l Woodzeez and Calico Critters, I mentioned that some day I wanted to come back and take a look at the accessories and playsets that are available in that line, which is exactly what I'm going to do today.
Long-time readers of the blog might remember how much I like the Li'l Woodzeez shop-themed playsets, like the Tickle Your Tastebuds Bakery and Honeysuckle Hollow General Store. Because of my affection for those two toys, I really wanted to look at the equivalent Honey Bee Acres set, which is called The Buzz General Store. I'll certainly have the Woodzeez sets that I've already reviewed in my head as I look at this toy, but I'll also make some more direct comparisons to newer Li'l Woodzeez sets. All of that means that this is going to be a long one (shocker), so I'd better get started!
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| The Buzz General Store from Honey Bee Acres, $19.94. |
It's pretty safe to say that the one doll brand that's been recommended to me the most since I started writing reviews again is the Ruby Red Fashion Friends. I wish I could individually acknowledge everyone who brought these little dolls to my attention, but my memory isn't that good. Nevertheless, I'd like to express my gratitude to all of you who thought I might enjoy taking a closer look at the Fashion Friends. You know me well.
The Fashion Friends are 14.5-inch vinyl dolls that were first released in 2019 and are still going strong. The brand was founded by Ruby Ho, hence the Ruby Red part of the name. Some of the face molds were sculpted by Ms. Ho herself, and some of them (including the dolls in this review) were sculpted by Dianna Effner. All of the faces are beautiful. I'm a big fan of Ms. Effner's work--as you might have gathered from my Maru and Friends, Mini Pal, and Little Darling reviews--and so I'm always excited to get my hands on another one of her creations. Ms. Effner's death in 2020 was a huge blow to the doll world (as if 2020 wasn't bad enough) and it made me cherish my Effner dolls all the more.
I actually pre-ordered the dolls for this review back in October--before I'd even started blogging again. My brilliant idea was that by the time they were released (around Christmas) I'd have the blog up and running and I'd be able to present you with a review of two brand new releases! That went well, didn't it? Sigh. Instead, I got distracted by a million other things and now find myself reviewing Christmas-themed dolls when it's 70 degrees outside, the flowers are blooming, and the birds are singing like they're in a freaking Disney movie. I'm silly to have waited so long to write this review, but at least I'm finally here, sharing my Christmas girls with you. First, let's meet Jennifer:
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| Ruby Red Fashion Friends limited edition doll, Jennifer, $169.99. |
