It’s time to review Hasbro’s Disney’s Descendant 2-pack with Mal and Ben! Mal, Maleficent’s daughter, and Ben, the son of Beauty and the Beast, (spoiler alert) share a budding romance in the Disney Channel TV movie about the teenage descendants of everyone’s favorite heroes and villains.

Let’s start with Ben.  There’s something great about the design of this Ben doll. Yes, he looks like a total cartoon character, but you know what? I love it! Unlike the girls, Ben has molded brown hair with some light brown highlights painted in the front. I’m actually fine with the molded hair.  Many times, companies just don’t root and style boys hair properly when they try to use ‘real’ hair.

His long face features two thick painted eye brows, large eyes and a friendly smile.  He looks like a very handsome animated prince and fits in well with the girls.

I’m on the fence about the quality of Ben’s outfit.  It almost has a ‘craft project’ sort of feel to it.  The asymmetry of the collar is cool, but the blue fabric used to make the jacket with the attached white shirt is super thin and looks a little cheap. That being said, it fits him well.

Moving on to this body, Ben has joints in different places than the female Descendants dolls.  Ben’s head moves like the girls, fluidly in all directions.  He has joints in his shoulders and elbows, but not his wrists.  Ben also has joints in his hips, knees and ankles. I really, really miss the wrist joint.  Doll companies don’t realize how important it is to have a wrist joint, especially on the male dolls, when posing them for photos.

Ben comes wearing a solid pair of black dress shoes, a gold crown upon his head and a rose in hand for his lady love, Mal.

Mal has a head of black and purple hair.  It’s cut short in the back with long curls in the front. Surprisingly, it’s not sprayed down as much as I expected. The style is different, but I kind of like it.

Her heart shaped face is decked out for an afternoon date with Ben. Above her large, brown anime-esc eyes is a creamy pink shadow and long, thin purple brows.  Her painted lashes are long.  Mal has a light blush on her round cheeks and has a tight plum colored smile. The colors look great on her pale skin.

Mal wears a super cute light purple dress with short sleeves and a layered skirt. It’s a cute, innocent look for Mal, the daughter of one of the most villainous villains. The muted color scheme of her outfit is a surprise, but looks great with her hair.

Mal wears gold shoes with purple accents.  They are wedges, which make them great when it comes to posing her.   She stands on her own better than Evie.

One thing that I have to complain about when it comes to Mal is her body. It has more issues than the other Descendants girls I have tested. First, Mal’s elbows have a tendency to hyper extend. Second, because Mal was positioned in the box to look like she was holding Ben’s hand, her strangely long fingers are now bent in a weird way. Last, her hand sculpt is a little weird.

This is a pretty cute 2-pack.  Mal and Ben look good together and, in general, I like this set.  Ben’s look may be a bit polarizing to the masses, but I am a fan of his cartoonish design.  And Mal? Besides the issues I have with her body, her sculpt is nice and I like her anime-esc expression.

More Pictures can be seen here. Video Review:

What do you think of the Mal and Ben Descendants 2-pack?  Share your thoughts below.

*This product was sent to me for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I know Audrey is the ‘mean girl’ of Descendants, but I have to say, she’s the prettiest doll in Hasbro‘s Descendants Coronation series. Audrey, the daughter of Sleeping Beauty, is the most popular girl at Auradon Prep, a high school for the sons and daughters of heroes.

Her doll is adorable.  She looks like she just stepped out of an animated Disney movie!  It doesn’t at all remind me of her TV Movie persona, but you know what?  I don’t care. Her doll is probably my most favorite of the entire line so far.

Audrey has a lovely coffee colored skin tone.  She has a jointed vinyl body with joints at her shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips and knees. Her head moves fluidly left and right, up and down.

By far, my favorite thing about the doll version of this made for TV movie character is her face. Hasbro made a great creative choice by choosing to make the Descendants dolls in a cartoon-like manner. In Audrey’s case, she has large, anime inspired chocolate brown eyes. Above her eyes is a layer of light pink.  She has a heart shaped face with an open mouth grin.

Audrey’s hair is styled in a surprisingly well done up do. She has a head of chestnut brown hair with tan highlights. Audrey’s hair is pulled up into a side bun with a loose ringlet hanging down on either side of her face. There is a small plastic crown in her hair, held in with string.

Audrey’s coronation dress is a long pink dress with cap sleeves.  The skirt uses two different fabrics, which adds some depth to it.  She wears a bracelet, which seems like it’s molded to fit her forearm, making it non-removable. (Note: Apparently, you can take off their hands, so you can then take off their bracelets.) She also wears red flower earrings and a necklace.  Her necklace has a bad habit of spinning around and falling off.

Her shoes are white heels with blue bird like details.  The detail matches her purse, which has the same blue bird on the pink purse. The one downside of her purse is that it is kind of useless.  It is just molded plastic. It is very pretty, though.  I love the color combinations on the purse. Audrey comes with a ring for the a real kid to wear.  It’s very small and this is coming from a girl with very tiny fingers.  I don’t think this ring will easily fit many of the older children who may buy Audrey.

Overall, there are a lot of positives about Coronation Audrey.  Her face is super pretty and her hair is very well done. Her outfit is a great color for her skin tone, as well.

One thing Hasbro has to work on is the female body they’re using so far for the line.  Audrey will pose, but could move more fluidly. I had to really work at getting Audrey’s right leg to bend, to the point that I thought I may break it. Another smaller aspect I think Hasbro needs to work on are the girls hands. They look a little off. (But that may be just me who thinks that!)

Video Review:

For more pictures, click here.  Do you own Coronation Audrey from Descendants? What do you think of her? Share your thoughts below.

This product was sent to me for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own.

I was tagged by BlackKitty of The Multicrafteral Lab for The Liebster Award. This is a fun Q and A that has been going around the internet for sometime. I was tagged for this award before. Here’s a new set of questions, written up by BlackKitty.

The Rules:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and link their blog
2. Give your readers 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions from the person who nominated you.
4. Nominate 11 bloggers to receive this award. (I’ll let you nominate yourselves!)
5. Invent 11 questions for your nominees.

Skipper, Barbie’s Little Sister

11 Facts About Me:
1-I’ve been blogging since 2010!  (Yikes)
2-Keep your eyes peeled for Disney Toy Reviews, which I’ll be reviewing for About.com!!!! (Exciting!)
3&4-I went through an anime and manga phase during high school. My favorite anime is Serial Experiments Lain. Currently, I’m creating a Makie to look similar to the title character, Lain. My favorite manga is Marmalade Boy.
5-Since blogging, my doll collection has grown so much and now encompasses many doll lines that I don’t think it would, had I not started this blog.
6-More specifically, I’ve gathered a lot more 15″ and taller dolls. Until blogging, my only ‘big’ dolls were Pleasant Company’s Samantha, Molly, Felicity and a Girl of Today. Now, I have a small army of big dolls, including A Girl for All Time and Maru and Friends. If only I had the space to really display them all properly!
7-My dolls are displayed in glass IKEA cases.
8-My favorite artist is Vincent Van Gogh.
9-I am hugely obsessed with television shows. My favorites are Once Upon a Time, Doctor Who, Roswell and The Amazing Race. I’m kind of a ‘tween’ at heart and can easily be sucked into shows that I’m way too old for, like Australia’s Dance Academy. (Oh, Sammy!)  I’m not immune to K-drama’s, either!
10-Once upon a time, I wanted to write for TV. I still may do that one day.
11-On the same note, for one brief shining moment, I lived in Burbank, CA, studied on the CBS lot and interned on the Warner Bros. lot.

Below are the answers to BlackKitty’s 11 questions:

1. Do you collect anything besides dolls?
Answer: I wish I could say no, but the answer is, oh boy, yes I do!  I collect: C3P0, cool wall art, neat Doctor Who stuff, 80’s cartoon/toy related products that tie into my childhood, cute Christmas’y things…  I guess I’m just a collector at heart.

2. What is your favourite part about the doll hobby?
Answer: My favorite part at the moment is customizing them. I’ve had so much fun creating my own Pullips (either from Make It Own kits or from stock bodies). I get an equal amount of enjoyment out of photographing dolls. I’m one of those that will go out of my way to get the photos printed through Shutterfly and the like so I have hard copies of some of my doll photos. I even have some photos on mugs and pillows.

3. What was the first doll you added to your collection as an adult?
Answer: Wow. That’s hard. That was a long time ago that I actively decided to collect (I was 16– which was literally 16 year ago. That’s so scary!) That’s when I started looking for vintage Skippers. I don’t remember my first Skipper purchased after that, but the first Skipper I spent good money on was a Japanese Skipper, a few years later. That was the first time I really invested in a hard to find doll for my collection.

4. How did blogging help you with your hobby?
Answer: Blogging has introduced me to so many new doll lines, it’s both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, my collection has diversified a lot, on the other hand, my wishlist is far longer than it would be without Confessions of a Doll Collectors Daughter. It has also helped me make friends with bloggers and even CEO’s of doll companies.

5. Name one doll or blog-related accomplishment that you’re very proud of.
Answer: The fact that I get to inspire doll collectors around the world every day is something I am very proud of. Also, because of this blog, I was able to pen an article on the hobby for Complete Wellbeing back in January. Without a blog, the magazine would have never been able to find me.

6. What is your favourite doll blog?
Answer: I plead the fifth! Because I’m working on stuff for my blog and (now) Disney Toy page much of the time, I feel like I don’t have enough time in the day to really browse other blogs. That being said, I do follow a few! I won’t tell you which, though! Every blog I’ve visited has been great in its own unique way!

7. When you get stuck on a project, how do you get it going again?
Answer: I stop working on it completely and do something else. Sometimes, I’ll start a new project. Other times, I’ll put on the TV and relax. I’m an ‘over-thinker’ and sometimes, all I need is a break from the problem to get started fresh again.

8. What new skill would you like to learn?
Answer: I would learn to master the Italian language or play the piano. Both of those things would be top on my list of things to learn. I feel like the piano would be pretty easy. The Italian language, not so much!

9. What are your 3 favourite books or authors?
Answer: Is it strange that I don’t really have favorite authors? I have favorite books. My absolute, all time favorite book is The Grey King, by Susan Cooper. It’s the fourth book in the Dark is Rising Sequence and the reason I’m obsessed with traveling to Wales. Another favorite of mine is Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger. Everything about it is wonderful. One more… I guess, my next favorite book would be The Host, by Stephanie Meyer. The first 100 pages aren’t very good, but the rest of the novel is great. A Certain Slant of Light, by Laura Whitcomb would be a close fourth. That story is beautifully written. For all my favorites, visit here. (FYI, before this blog, I reviewed books! Visit the link to read some of my reviews.)

10. Which doll do you want the most at the moment?
Answer: So hard! A cool SD scale male BJD would be nice. Or a Maggie Made Doll. Both of those are high on my list!

11. If you had to evacuate immediately with no possibility of return, which is the one item you’d pack besides the emergency case?
Answer: Can my one item be a whole suitcase? As far as dolls are concerned, I’d grab my Madame Alexander Victoria I got when my brother was born and Stitches, a plush from my crib. And a Little Miss No Name. They’re all sort of small. I can hold them!  Maybe I can stuff some of my Hujoo’s in a hat or something, then ‘wear’ them to safety?

Lagoona

11 Questions for Others to Answer:
I am choosing to not nominate anyone.  If you want to answer these questions, go for it.  Share the link, so I can read your answers.

1-Are you a convention goer, doll themed or otherwise? What do you like most about the convention scene?
2-If you could customize your favorite movie or TV series into a doll line, what TV/Movie would it be and what doll line would be your inspiration?
3-If life were a Choose Your Own Adventure novel and you were told you could have your dream job, what job would that be?
4-We all have had a doll line ‘sneak’ up on us. What doll line ‘snuck’ up on you?
5-If you were told you could go anywhere in the world, where would that be?
6-Stock doll or Custom doll? Which do you prefer?
7-Are you more prone to reading reviews or watching reviews when browsing the web?
8-Do you have a dolly doppelganger? If not, do you have a real life doppelganger? Who?
9-How do you display your dolls?
10-What item currently tops your ‘Grail’ list?
11-How important are dolls to learning?

Big thank you to BlackKitty for nominating me!  For those without a blog, feel free to answer in the comment area. :)

Remember those posts I did about a new doll line called My Ballerina Dolls? Well, I finally have one in my hands! It’s time to give her a proper review. As we learned in the interview I did with creator Tiffany Koepke, this line has deep roots in the Ballet world. Inspired to create a doll that could pose like a real ballerina, My Ballerina Dolls currently features one doll, Clara, with others to follow.

At 22″ tall, Clara is a big doll. To put this into perspective, your typical MSD ball jointed doll is 17″ tall and American Girl and Madame Alexander Play dolls are around 18″ tall. So, Clara is at least 4″ larger than you’re probably expecting. Her jointed body has an athletic build to it, with thick thighs and a defined waist. If I had to compare Clara’s proportions to anything, it would be asian ball jointed dolls. The one place where she differs from them is in her jointing. She’s not strung. Her joints are more like what you’d expect on an obitsu body.

Let’s dive in deeper to the review, shall we? What originally attracted me to this doll line in February was the anime aesthetic of the face molds. Clara looks like she could have just stepped out of a ballet themed anime with her big eyes, defined nose and chin and round cheeks. Her inset eyes are blue with an element of purple mixed in and, as opposed to being flat (like a pullip eye) have more of a cone shape to them. Originally, I thought you may be able to change the eye’s through the use of a head cap, but that seems to have not made the cut.

Clara wears very little makeup, which means she can play a number of different characters. She has a few painted lashes above her eye and pink lips. I love the fact that she doesn’t have a ton of ‘stage’ makeup on her face. She has a very clean, fresh look to her. Perfect for the role of Clara, as well as many others.

Clara wears a three-tiered lace and chiffon nightgown. It fits her really well and looks great. I love the most outer layer of the skirt, which is a lace material. The main problem I have with the outfit is that as I’ve played with her and photographed her, I’ve noticed a lot of strings hanging loose or catching on her joints. The creators will probably want to look into that. I also find the short skirt (bottom most layer of the skirt) a bit distracting. Why is it so short? Wouldn’t that hinder her movement if dancing in real life? I just don’t quite like how it cuts the outfit underneath the really pretty lace.

Moving along, let’s talk about Clara’s hair. Good news! She’s wigged with a removable wig and silicone wig cap. The thing the company needs to re-work the most for me is this stock wig. I love the direction they were going with the styling, but there are a few problems.

Her long brown hair is styled in a braid. The braid itself is done really, really well– much better than I could ever do on a doll wig. But here lies the problem. It’s really hard to style a doll wig and not see the netting under the hair. Because of her well-crafted braid, you can see the black netting used for the wig.

The wig also comes off as thin, due to the amount of hair that is styled in the braid and side bun. The bun is covered with a wire beaded bun cover. Speaking of the side bun, I had to laugh at the bobby pins used in the hair styling. They’re practically human sized hair pins.

For all the work on the wig, though, the styling isn’t bad. I just think they need to work on covering the wig netting and finding smaller, loss obnoxious bobby pins. However, because the wig is removable, you can easily switch it out with one your prefer. Her head seems to fit Pullip sized wigs (8-9) rather well, some with and some without the silicone wig cap. (If you can think of other good sizes for her, let me know in the comment area!)

Jointing; The fun part and probably the most important part of this review. How is she jointed? Well, here’s a quick run down. First off, it’s important to note that she’s made of a mixture of vinyl and hard plastic. This mixture gives her a uniqueness to her skin not seen in a lot of play dolls.

As I mentioned earlier, Clara isn’t strung. She has more of an obitu’ish body. Clara has a head that will move fluidly in all directions. This is super important, as a ballerina would have to move her head in specific directions for different ballet positions. Her head stays in those positions really well.

Her torso has two important joints– her waist joint and a bust joint. My doll’s bust seems to sit forward on the body, leaving a weird gap when she stands. That being said, most likely clothing will cover this, so it’s not a huge deal. These joints allow Clara to bend forward and backward, as well as twist slightly.

Her arms have a number of joints, as well. She has a shoulder joint that moves freely in all directions, then a joint in her upper arm that turns. Her elbows are double jointed and will bend up and down. Clara’s wrist is jointed, as well, but in a slightly different way than her shoulder. Her wrist will tilt up and down, but can’t swivel in any direction. In order to have her palm face in a different direction, for example, you have to turn the joint in her upper arm, so you can then manipulate the wrist joint and get it in the position you need it in. It sounds confusing and I can’t even tell you the number of times I tried to swivel the wrist joint while posing her, but you eventually get used to it. Ideally, I think the company should look into making the wrist joint a little easier to adjust, without having to move the upper arm joint.

While Clara’s hip joint seems to hinder her doing an arabesque, her hip joint allows her leg to go very high up when in the forward and sideways positions. I had trouble getting Clara’s leg to go back farther than a tendu. I tried her in various ‘split’ positions and ‘warm up’ poses, to see what Clara could do and I was pleasantly surprised. She can’t do a complete split in either direction, but she gets so close!

Clara has a hip joint that turns, located in her upper thigh, double jointed knees and an ankle joint. Her knee and ankle joints move up and down, but don’t tilt. The joint in her upper thigh is super important in posing Clara in fun poses. It takes a while to figure out how to manipulate it, but eventually you’ll get the gist. For example, for Clara to bring her toes to her knee (like she’s ready to pirouette), you have to first make sure she’s in a ‘turn out’ position by using the thigh joint. I am probably making this out to be super complicated, but really, it’s not. Like the wrist joint, I do think it would have been nice to be able to turn her toes out just through the ankle joint, but it works as is, too.

Here are some images of Clara in first, second and fifth position. She balanced in all of them, even fifth.

One of my favorite things about Clara are her ballet slippers. I love the nearly knee high pink satin ‘ballet boots’. They look super cool. (I want a pair!) There’s a lot of ribbon used to lace these at the moment, which means they’re easy to lace up and tie.

Since Clara is a character in the Nutcracker, it would be wrong for her not to come with her own little Nutcracker. This set comes with a wooden Nutcracker. He’s put together well. While he doesn’t have a nutcracker mouth (that moves), he looks great with Clara!

Overall, I’m impressed with My Ballerina Dolls. Their ability to pose is great, especially in regards to ballet poses. I can tell a lot of thought was put into that aspect of this line.

I am also impressed with the face mold. I love the anime aesthetic. It’s not something you see every day on American play dolls. It’s an inviting change. Another huge perk for me is that I can change Clara’s wig. It’s always fun when you can easily customize a doll.

Watch the video review here. It’s a little long, but I wanted to cover everything.

I really hope this company succeeds and lasts for a long, long time. I’m a fan and will definitely be keeping an eye out for The Prince.  You can order your own Clara on the companies website. Visit my Flickr for more images. What do you think of My Ballerina Dolls Clara? Do you have any other questions? Share your thoughts below.

*This product was received for a fair and honest review. All opinions stated are my own.

Barbee0913 and I went to The Chicago Toy Show again late October.  It was a strange show this time around. There were very few sixties play dolls (like Little Miss No Name, Giggles and Swingy) and antique composition dolls.  The room was filled with Barbie’s, more recent play dolls and, surprisingly, Sasha dolls!   The doll room itself was kind of small.  The showrunners decided to dedicate a large part of the space to dining with a food stand and tables, which makes me think they had less doll vendors than usual. Enough of the negative, though, here’s what I picked up at the show!  To see what my mom bought, be sure to watch the show video we did.

Madame Alexander Teen Maggie Face:

This was my largest purchase of the show. I have gathered a nice sized collection of hard plastic Madame Alexander’s over the years, most of whom are Margaret faces. This is my second Maggie face Madame Alexander. She’s 14″ tall and is wearing her stock outfit. Maggie’s hair is still styled well, even though she’s over 50 years old.

Homecoming Queen Skipper:

I’ve recently talked about the AA versions of this Skipper. (If you didn’t see that post, I recommend checking it out!) This white version seems to be the second release, judging by the light pink roses on her dress. At $5.00, she was a steal!

My Little Ponies:

Twinkle Eyed Locket (year 5), Magic Message Floater (year 6) and Firefly’s Adventure VHS Firefly (year 9) were well priced at one of the booths, so they came home with me. Just prior to me finding the booth, there was a girl who purchased all the Sea Ponies, which I would have gladly taken home with me, but alas, that’s how the cookie crumbles sometimes. (I don’t have any Sea Ponies.) These three, however, caught my eye and at buy 2, get one free, I was sold.  (Now, if I could only find an inexpensive Mimic to join my Year 5 Twinkle Eyed Ponies.)

Skipper Outfits:

It’s not very common I buy Skipper outfits, because the prices are always insane. I was light on cash during this show, so I decided to dive into some of the outfit boxes that offered played with/not mint pieces at affordable prices. They may not be perfect, but I’m not one who needs an outfit to be 100% complete to buy it. I ended up buying these three Skipper outfits, Skinny Stripes (first photo), Wooly PJ’s (middle photo) and Red Sensation (third photo).

Also worth mentioning are some of the smaller pieces I bought. I picked up this cute little Corolle outfit.  I recently received a Corolle– you’ll see her soon– and wanted a new outfit for her to wear. And last, but not least, I bought a handful of Disney pins, which I proudly display on my American Girl Grin Pin Holder.

My mother picked up a few nice items, as well, including some Kathe Kruse dolls. To see her picks, you’ll have to watch the video, linked earlier in this post. Overall, it was a fun show. I may not have had a lot of money to play with, but I like what I picked up.

Have you found anything fun at a show recently? Share your thoughts below!

Hi all!

I just wanted to give you a quick update on a few projects that are going on in the doll world! First off, I have launched (kind of) another website, this one themed around Disney Toys, for About.com. If you have a moment, check it out. I’m still writing here, of course, so don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.

Second, A Girl for All Time announced a new line recently, Your Modern Girl. This line “will be wonderfully unique and reflect the world that today’s girls live in – a world more ethnically, socially, and economically diverse than at any other time this century with girls who are strong, confident, and comfortable in their own skin.” They’re going to raise funds for this new line via a Kickstarter. A Girl for All Time is reaching out to fans ages 8-14 to voice their opinion on the Your Modern Girl range via video submission. I don’t know when the deadline for this is, but it was announced mid-October, so get your submissions in as soon as possible. Details on how fans ages 8-14 can share their opinion and have a chance to be featured on the kickstarter’s page can be found here.  (On the same note, check out the rest of Frances blog posts. They’re always fun to read!)

Third, you may have heard that Makies are going through a bit of a transformation at the moment. The bodies are no longer being 3D printed like they were before. The heads, though, are still being 3D printed. The biggest bit of news at the moment is that the boy dolls are being re-worked and will not be available to order from the website starting November 9th. That is a few days from now, so get your orders in now if you have a boy in your Makies account you can’t live without.

Fourth, my PO box is going way. It was a failed experiment, so please delete the PO box from your address books.  (Do people even keep address books anymore?  Am I showing my age?)

That’s about it, I think, for housekeeping at the moment.  Stay tuned for the usual reviews and a special Q and A with Christina from Makielabs. Cheers!

Makies are very popular jointed 3D printed dolls.  I’ve been a fan ever since I stumbled upon a facebook advertisement. Currently, I own two Makies and love them both! Because of this, I thought they’d be the perfect company to spotlight with a Q and A post! Christina Hsu, CMO of Makielab, was kind enough to answer a few questions about the line and the changes they have recently rolled out.

Question: Makies have been on the cutting edge of the doll world creatively since they made their debut. Can you talk a little about the inspiration for this unique line?
Answer: Absolutely! Our CEO and Co-Founder, Alice Taylor, came up with the idea for Makies while attending an industry toy fair. At the time she was a corporate executive working in the digital and games space. As an avid gamer herself, she thought — how cool would it be to bring digital/virtual goods to life in physical form. And, since she had a toddler at home, she set out to create a toy that her own child would love. It was important for the new toy to be stereotype-breaking, forward thinking, technology related and overall AWESOME. What happened next? Makies were introduced!

Since we started the company, we set out to make the best toys that we can imagine, which turns out is the best toy that all of you can imagine. Makies are the world’s first 3d printed toys, certified toy-safe for children 3+. We love that kids of all ages, from age 5 to 95, can enjoy our products and the experiences of making them.

Question: How have fans taken to the line? How does that make you, as a company, feel?
Answer: Our fans have been so supportive and enthusiastic since day one. Our first iteration of the dolls were prototypes to test our Makie Maker engine, and to see if there was demand for 3D printed characters. And it worked! Ever since we have been optimizing and improving our product. It doesn’t stop here. We’re driven by product development. We’re happy to say anyone who has experienced creating and making a Makie has given us incredibly helpful and positive feedback.

How does it make us feel? We love it! We love hearing feedback and seeing our customers’ excitement. We physically make the Makies, but you are truly creating the Makies universe with us and we couldn’t be happier! The creativity we see on social media with everything all of our fans have done with their Makies is incredibly inspiring. It keeps us moving forward on a daily basis. So we want to send a big thanks to our community!

Question: One thing that draws Makies apart from other doll lines is that the company isn’t afraid to take risks. Cutting right to the chase, what can you tell us about the changes that were recently made to the Makies dolls?
Answer: As you know, Makies are premium, modern, creative dolls. We love that we can give creators, like yourself, a chance to make their own dolls. Since we launched, we’ve been listening to our customers and hearing your feedback. In fact, we plan to launch more feedback and surveys, so it would mean the world to hear from you when we do.

We’ve learned that for people who love Makies but don’t buy, it’s overwhelmingly because the price is too high. 3D printing is expensive technology, and over the past few years we’ve optimized our processes and models to bring our costs down and pass the savings on to Makies fans. Unfortunately, materials costs haven’t come down as fast as we’d hoped, and we realized that the only way we could continue to keep our custom dolls on the market and offer them at an affordable price was to introduce injection molded bodies. We thought hard and explored a lot of options before arriving at this decision. We’re a very small company, and we need growth in order to survive and thrive in the competitive toy space.

At this time, we have Girl Makies available for purchase. Our Boy Makies will be taking a “vacation” for the rest of 2015 and will return with new and improved bodies in early 2016. Most of the creativity happens with the custom face and accessories which continue to be fully 3d printed. With the introduction of the new bodies, we’ve been able to drop the price of a Makie doll from $115 / £69 to $74.99/£49.99. Best of all they are still made locally in Kent, England.

Question: How will these changes affect the line? What are the positives and/or negatives?
Answer: What these changes mean specifically: the customizable elements of the doll remain EXACTLY as they were before: fully-custom sculptural facial features, choices of skin tone, choices of outfit, choices of hair and eyes and accessories. The new body is smoother, so it’s much easier to dress compared to the former 3D printed surface, and it’s also shinier. Most joints have been re-designed: the new neck joint is much more robust, and the wrist and ankle joints have been adjusted so they’re easier to play with than ever. A side effect of this is that hands and pop-on shoes designed for the former 3D printed bodies won’t fit the new bodies and vice-versa: we’ve heard from many Makie owners that they’d still like the option of buying goodies for their fully 3D printed Makies, so we’re looking at ways to make that happen.

A big plus is that the combination of the new plastics and the slightly tweaked joints gives Makies a wider range of motion and freer joint movement. New Makies can pose in ways that weren’t possible before – they can even do the splits! The hands and feet are more detailed, and Makies continue to be toy-safe and practically indestructible. Best of all, you can now bring a Makie home for far less money (35% lower than before). The dolls are still one-of-a-kind, custom and unique to you only.

We’re already looking into how to improve these new bodies, too. This includes minimizing seams and injection marks (which are very common in plastic toys), making better color matches, and updating our shop offerings for new Makies, including hands and shoes.

Makies Banner

Question: Does the changing of the body type limit the skin tone options? How do the new colors compare to the colors used prior to the new bodies?
Answer: Ice Frosting (plain white) has been retired for now, but we still offer three delicious choices: Strawberry Milk (pink flesh tone), Cool Caramel (tan flesh tone) and Cocoa Bean (rich brown tone). We’re looking into additional tones too, and would love to expand the range in 2016 – we’ll see!

Right now, we’re working with our suppliers to minimize the slight variation between the tone and finish of Makie faces and the new bodies, which is most apparent with Cocoa Bean. When Makies are dressed the differences are barely noticeable, but of course we’d like to get the match perfect!

Question: Are the ‘old’ style 3DP bodies gone or is there hope that that kind of body might stick around for die-hard 3DP Makies fans?
Answer: For the time being, fully 3D printed Makies aren’t available, but we’ve heard from many Makie fans who would still like to buy them, so we’re looking into how we can offer them. It’s not as straightforward as it may seem … but watch this space. :)

Makies

Question: Do you have any final remarks for my readers? Where can we find/follow Makies online?
Answer: At MakieLab, we are constantly looking at ways to optimize and improve our Makies and the Makies experience. We recently participated in a program with The Walt Disney Company and announced some exciting news which you can see here. We can’t say more than that for now, but definitely follow us (@officialmakies) on social media: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. We’ll share more information as it becomes publicly available in a few weeks or so.

One final note, thanks to all our Makies friends for your support, feedback and enthusiasm for our product. We love Makies and what makes every day even better for us, is developing Makies that you love too. We love to see what you make and how you play with Makies – please share your creations on social media with us!

Huge thank you to Christina for answering my questions! I love how Makies continue to change and grow.  Some companies become popular and then are too afraid to adapt or improve upon their concept– MakieLab does not fall into that category. The changes they’re implementing now may seem like a lot to some, but I have faith that they’ll make the line even better than before.

The news announced at the 2015 Disney Accelerator Demo Day regarding Makies (and other start ups) is very exciting. From the article, “MakieLab lets kids bring toys to life by building their own customizable 3D-printed toys through creative games and apps. MakieLab will be introducing Disney-, Disney•Pixar- and Marvel-branded accessories for Makie dolls, as well as helping kids create their own versions of a Star Darling—inspired by Disney’s brand-new franchise for girls—in Fall 2016.” Funny enough, I was just thinking how neat it would be if MakieLab worked with Disney–they can make so many cool things with their 3D printers.  Sign me up for two Makie sized Mickey Mouse ear hats!

I encourage you to say hello to the MakieLab team via the social media sites linked in the interview. What do you think of the changes currently being made to the Makie line? Do you own a Makie?  Are you excited about MakieLab’s creating Disney themed accessories for Makie dolls? (Clearly, with my newest Disney toy endeavour, I am!) Share your thoughts below.

Yahoo! Finally, I can check another grail item off my list. Recently, I particpated in an auction that featured hundreds of Barbie’s. On nearly the last page was this little gem– the Toys R Us exclusive Let’s Drive Student Driver Skipper and Barbie 2-Pack!

Here’s the thing about this grail item.  Many grail items on my list are things that I personally never had a chance at buying.  They’re either too old, like the 1950’s Madame Alexander Dionne Quintuplets, or I was a child when they were out, like My Pet Monster.

This Skipper/Barbie 2-Pack, on the other hand, I totally remember seeing in the stores as a collector and passing on it, thinking, ‘I’ll wait for it to be on sale’.  Well, that sale?  It never came. This set just disappeared.  Once I realized it wasn’t coming back to stores, I went online and, surprise, the price had tripled. So began the long search of finding this set at an affordable price.

I’m happy to say the search is finally over.  This sought after set was released in 2000 and was a Toys R US exclusive.  Its unique packaging was eye catching, with three open sides and all the accessories displayed on the card.

To me, this is one of the last pretty, well designed Teen Skippers. By 2003, she’d be gone and forgotten by Mattel. Between this release and 2003, Skipper would be included in only five more lines, the final of which was another 2-pack, the Pajama Fun Tote (a new grail item of mine). I’m a huge fan of the long eyelashes Skipper was given in this release, as well as her strawberry blonde pigtails and bangs.

The Barbie in the set is pretty, as well. Thankfully, she wasn’t produced with the inflated head that we saw many times throughout the 2000’s. She has a fresh looking face with big blue eyes.

Skipper’s car may be one of the last well produced Barbie vehicles. From what I have seen, most Barbie cars now are small, made with super thin plastic and are cheaply constructed. This cool Skipper car fits two Barbie sized dolls comfortably. The interior of the car is stickered with different details, which is also something Mattel has been wishy washy on over the years. One detail I love is the small cassette deck that is molded into the dashboard. So 90’s!

Besides the two dolls and the car itself, the accessories are pretty neat, too! In this set, you get orange cardboard cones, your very own faux license, a first aid kit and cell phone, cardboard signs describing the rules of the road and Skipper’s very own drivers license and insurance card.

Let’s Drive Accessories

Needless to say, I am so happy to have finally added this cool Teen Skipper set to my collection. Do you own the Let’s Drive Student Driver Skipper/Barbie 2 set? Do you remember it hitting Toys R Us? Share your thoughts below!

A few months back, I received a few Paola Reina dolls to review.  The video reviews were posted last month, but I think it’s about time to write about them! (See Toy Fair coverage on this brand here!)

Before I dive into the specifics on each doll, let’s talk about the common threads on the three dolls you’ll read about.  All of the dolls are hand crafted in Spain with high quality european supplies by Paola Reina, a company which has been crafting dolls since 1994. All three dolls came in easy to open boxes and were engulfed in a sweet vanilla scent. Still, months after opening them, they still smell like vanilla. (If you’re sensitive to smells, you may find this troublesome.  I personally think they smell really nice!)  There’s a wide variety of dolls offered under the Paola Reina brand, but below are three of my favorites.

Las Reinas de Paola: Las Reinas de Paola Alma is 23.6″ tall.  Alma is impressive. She’s completely vinyl, unlike some of the dolls produced by this brand.

Alma has strange joints. They’re not bad, but they are different than what I’ve come across. Being just over 23″ tall, her vinyl limbs are thick, so her joints have to be strong. The best way to describe them is that her elbow and knee joints have ‘bolts’ in them. They’re not exactly hidden, either. (Check out the video review for photos of her elbows and knees.) The shoulder joints will move up and down, but not out. The same goes for her hips, knees and elbows. Because of the limited movement of her hip joints, she sits awkwardly in a wide straddle and takes up a lot of room on doll shelves. You’ll want to have her stand if you’re displaying her on a shelf.

Her neck joint allows her head to turn left and right, but it won’t tilt up or down. You can turn Alma’s wrist and ankle. They also don’t look like your typical wrist and ankle joints.

Alma’s rooted dirty blonde hair is coarser than expected, but not terribly harsh to the touch. You can comb and style it easily enough, though, and its layers are cut well.

Los Ninos: At 19.5″, Adrian is adorable.  Unlike Alma, Adrian is part vinyl, part stuffed body. His head, arms and legs are vinyl, where as his torso, shoulders and hips are stuffed.  I expected him to be heavy, but because he’s not stuffed with beans, Adrian is light enough for a child to hold. In the same respect, since Adrian isn’t stuffed with beans, it’s very hard for him to sit on his own.  One huge positive of Adrian is that he’s very huggable.

Adrian has one of the cutest baby faces I’ve ever seen. He has large inset eyes with ‘real’ lashes, chubby cheeks and an open mouth grin that shows two tiny teeth. His short blonde hair is coarse, just like Alma’s.

Adrian wears a very snazzy outfit that includes white shoes, charcoal pants and a blue sweater/long sleeve shirt combo. The light blue colors on the sweater work really well with the classy charcoal pants. (At this time, I can’t seem to find Adrian on the companies website.  There’s a doll named Borja that looks similar, but this guys name was Adrian in the catalog I received, so I’m not sure what is up with that. There is a doll named Adrian on the website that looks completely different than the cutie we’re talking about here in this review, so be careful when ordering!)

Las Amigas: The smallest of the Paola Reina dolls up for review is Nora. Standing at 12.5″ tall, Nora is made of a very soft, touchable vinyl. It’s much softer than Adrian or Alma’s vinyl. I really like the unique feel it has to it.

What I like most about Nora is her cute little face! She has glossed lips that are slightly exaggerated, round cheeks, inset brown eyes and ‘real’ lashes. Nora has a clean face that is make up free.

She wears a pink summer themed dress that features red butterfly’s, cherries, flowers and the like. The mixture of pink and red tones works surprisingly well.  It’s a combination I wouldn’t have thought to put together, but it works! To finish off the look, Nora wears super cute red and white shoes.

Nora’s joints are a bit disappointing. She has shoulder and hip joints that allow her arms and legs to move forward and backward, but they won’t tilt out. The same can be said about her neck joint, which doesn’t allow her head to swivel in all directions, just to turn left and right. I would love to see better jointing in these 12″ dolls one day.

Overall, I’m impressed with the quality of the Paola Reina. These dolls have a ‘heirloom’ kind of feeling to them. They aren’t just dolls that you’ll play with and forget about. They’re dolls that, I think, kids and collectors will keep and highlight throughout their lives. Not all dolls are made of that kind of quality, especially those meant to be true play dolls like these.

The only thing I would say they need to work on is jointing. Both the first and third doll in this review have joints, but they need more movement– let’s get some ball joints in there so they can move their arms and legs out or tilt their head up.  That would make these practically perfect.

Video Reviews Below:

You can find Paola Reina online, as well as on facebook, instagram and twitter. You can see a few more photos on my flickr page! Which Paola Reina doll is your favorite?  Do you own any?  What do you think of the line? Let me know in the comment area!

A staple in my mother’s doll collection are Sasha dolls.  She has recently had a Sasha resurgence, so to speak, and has been looking into them a lot and even adding a few to her collection. I guess it’s no surprise that I found myself itching to snatch one or two Sasha’s for my own doll collection!  I’d like to introduce you to my first Sasha doll– a Baby Sasha made by Trendon sometime in the early 80’s.

Sasha’s have a long and rich history.  Designed by Swiss artist Sasha Morgenthaler, they’ve been a hit with collectors since they made their debut. Morgenthaler had a passion for designing an affordable play doll.  In 1964, after years of making dolls in her studio, she was approached by German doll makers Gotz to mass produce her dolls in their factory.  They continued to do so through 1970. UK based Trendon received permission to produce Sasha’s in 1965. Early Sasha’s from both companies were hand painted, much like Morgenthalers early dolls. As years went on, dolls were hand painted less and less. From 1965 to 1986, Trendon mass produced Sasha dolls, creating legions of fans around the world. Mass produced Sasha dolls are typically made of vinyl and strung. You’ll find them in a small variety of colors, including this tan color and very dark, nearly black, brown tones.  (Black/AA Sasha’s are typically found under the name Caleb, Cora or Cara.)

No one Sasha is the same, even though they were mass-produced. Sasha’s are unique in how they look, which is one reason they stand out among other doll lines. Interestingly, Sasha dolls are asymmetrical.  Another fun fact? When perfectly strung, they should be able to literally balance on their head.

Now that you know a bit of Sasha doll history, let’s get back to introducing you to my Baby Sasha. She’s 12″ tall. I think she was manufactured in the eary 80’s by Trendon. She has tan skin, brown eyes and dark brown hair. She isn’t sexed, meaning technically, she could be a boy or a girl, depending on what the owner wants.  I think mine looks like a girl. This Sasha was offered up on eBay with her pal, a twin that looked just like her.  Not needing both, I offered to split the sale with my mom, who added the second Sasha Baby to her collection. My Sasha is on the right with the red shoes

Here are some pictures of my Baby Sasha.  I haven’t picked up any new outfits for her, so right now, she’s stuck wearing the same outfit I bought her in, which is her original stock dress. Since picking her up, I’ve seen a ton of very pretty outfits on Etsy and Facebook, so hopefully she’ll have a variety of clothing options soon!

Tis the Season…

Good Resources for Sasha are below:

Sasha Doll

Sasha Doll UK

Another great resource is Facebook! If you look up Sasha dolls on Facebook, you’re sure to find a lot of great fan groups filled with collectors from all around the world! Do you own a Sasha doll? Is a Sasha doll on your Christmas list? Let me know in the comment area!

With Christmas around the corner, I want to get a few posts up this week, because I know the last two weeks of the year are busy for everyone! (Me, especially, with my birthday and Christmas in the same week. Oh, and Star Wars!) Unless I get distracted, you’ll probably see more posts popping up in your inboxes from me this week! For those of you who aren’t following my Disney Toy adventure on About, you may want to check out this introduction post on Disney’s new Star Darlings! A proper review will be posted on that site soon and linked on my FB page.

I’m not a Tsum Tsum collector by day, but I wanted to give you guys a peek at the new Jakks Paficic Tsum Tsums. Why? Because they’d make great props for your 1/6 scale or smaller dolls.

These vinyl Tsum Tsums come in three sizes: small, medium and large. They are designed to be stackable. These new Tsum Tsums are much smaller than their plush counterparts with the largest measuring no more than an inch and a half. Currently, they are being sold in packs of three (one of each size) and nine (three of each size).

Tsum Tsum Series 1 is exclusive to Target and includes a nice range of characters from Classic Disney to Pixar. I’m not sure how exactly they’re being released outside of the US, but keep your eyes out.

Watch the video review below:

I plan on taking pictures of my Ai’s (small BJDs from Jun Planning, found occasionally at Tuesday Morning) soon and when I do, I’ll add a few of these cute Tsum Tsums to the scene. I think they’ll fit in perfectly with tiny BJDs, including Hujoo Nano’s and Ai Dolls. Not to mention, they’ll be great for ‘dressing’ a miniature bedroom set! What do you think of these new Jakks Pacific Tsum Tsums? Let me know in the comment area!

Remember back in February when I shared Toy Fair footage from Wicked Cool Toys booth regarding Cabbage Patch Kids? One of the biggest takeaways from that presentation were the 18″ Big Kids. Well, guess what? They’re currently available on the Toys R Us website and at select stores. Here’s the details.  There are two different Big Kids, Class President (Violet Anne) and Ballerina (Sofia Lorraine). They’re both limited to 1,000 pieces each and are priced at $99.99.

Follow Cabbage Patch Kids on Facebook for instant updates on future limited dolls like these two.

You can snatch one or both of these limited release Cabbage Patch Kids right now on the Toys R Us website. Do you plan on ordering a ‘Big Kid’? Why or why not?  Share your thoughts in the comment area!

A few weeks back, Chef Gina, maker of amazing miniature food items perfect for photo shoots or doll houses, contacted me asking if I’d like to review some items for my site. Not being one to pass up miniature prop food, I agreed! Chef Gina makes food for all scales. The samples I received are for 1/6 scale and are perfect for Barbie.

The samples included were a birthday cake, two plates of ravioli with white sauce (or something similar), two sparkling champagnes/ciders and two delicious looking mousse desserts. Let’s take a closer look at the ravioli/white sauce dish. The actual dishes are porcelain, so you’ll want to be a bit careful when handling them. The fork and knife are permanently stuck in the dish. I am happily surprised to say that the sculpted food on the plate looks really, really good.

The materials Chef Gina used to create the dish aren’t sticky, like some lesser quality miniature food items. Another interesting thing to mention is that both dishes look very similar. They would add a lot to a doll house dining room or dinner themed photo shoot.

Both the sparkling champagne/cider and dessert are in plastic glasses. There is a seam line in all the glasses, which is a bit bothersome, but overall, the four examples are made very, very well! I particularly like that you can see the bubbles in the drink.

The mousse dessert is artfully crafted, as well. Having just tried a fake food project myself on a much larger scale, I give Chef Gina a lot of credit for being able to craft something so nice in such a small scale.

The drinks, mousse, and other pieces arrived in a small box with the pieces secured by white stickies. You can see them in the above picture. The idea is great, but I have to mention that I had some trouble getting the white stickies off the glass wear without leaving some of the sticky stuck on the glass itself.

The largest piece sent for review was this super cute birthday cake. It’s super timely as December is my birthday month! Decorated with white ‘frosting’ and green ‘sprinkles’. The top is adorned with text that reads Happy Birthday. It looks like this is just paper, so be careful about getting that bit wet.

Overall, I’m impressed with the quality of Chef Gina’s miniature fake food. She has food items for small 4-9″ dolls, 11-12″ dolls, 16-17″ dolls, 18-19″ dolls and 24″ dolls. Looking for life-size fake food? She makes that, too, among a lot of other interesting food related products. You can follow Chef Gina on Facebook and on Twitter.

What do you think of Chef Gina‘s doll sized treats? Share your thoughts below.

Just a quick heads up to readers who might be on the look out for cheap 18″ to 23″ doll accessories– My Twinn is having a massive close out sale.  Now, at the moment, they’re not calling it a ‘closing forever’ sale, but it’s hard to not think that when you see the massively cut prices.  For those who don’t keep up with the line, they announced a while back that the 23″ custom My Twinn dolls were being discontinued. As of this posting, they aren’t offering any custom dolls, not even in the 18″ scale.

My Twinn

Now, I wouldn’t recommend ordering dolls from them.  I don’t think they’ve made quality dolls for a few years now.  However, if you’re looking for accessories, you’ll want to visit My Twinn ASAP. The furniture is nearly gone, but what is left is amazingly priced. The glasses are also quite handy to pick up! Happy shopping!

The Doctor may not be regenerating in 2016, but it looks like Monster High is. The ghouls we’ve grown to love will be losing their edgy look, starting (most likely) in the fall. The dark, gothic look is being replaced with“a fresh new look with new contemporary colors and graphics whilst still incorporating the iconic signatures that make the brand unique and relatable to the core audience of 6-10 year olds.”

Last night, there was a sizzle video posted with the blog entry from an official Mattel News page, Mattel EMEA, that made it seem like the major reason for the change was that people thought Monster High looked “too dark”. (Who are these people calling Monster High too dark? Clearly, they’ve never seen the Living Dead Dolls… And also, why is Mattel posting this info meant for partners on a site anyone can access? If you’re a Mattel rep and would like me to rework this post- ie: remove image or quote, e-mail me at the address on the sidebar.)

The sizzle video is now locked down.  I was surprised to see it posted on the internet, to be honest– it was kind of rough and very much created to be an internal video, not something for us to see. Essentially, though, it was a short announcement about the upcoming changes. Here’s a mirror of the video sizzle.  The mirror was deleted.

It seems these new looks will correspond with new video content featuring monster origin stories and a new campaign, How Do You Boo, which will encourage “consumers to embrace what makes them unique and share how they Boo.”  Read the whole press release here.

Ever After High is getting tweaked here and there, too, though not as much as Monster High, so far as I can tell. According to the Mattel newsletter, “the dolls will feature new face sculpts with a softer more open approach and the content will bring to life the exciting adventures of these powerful princesses!” The 2016 push seems to be around “Ever After High: Where Princesses Are Powerful”. (I don’t think Mattel is over losing the Disney Princesses to Hasbro yet…)

I’m still working through my initial thoughts on this, so I’ll post my opinions on this later. Until then, what do you think of the upcoming changes to Monster High and Ever After High? Let me know in the comment area.

It’s a little late, I know, but Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your dolly dreams came true this December 25th! I thought I’d take a moment to share a few of the items that were under my Christmas tree with you!

I received four My Little Ponies.  Two were customs by Perfume Puff Princess. I picked up a few Perfume Puff Princess customs at the My Little Pony Fair, this year and now have a total of four! I love the wild hair these ponies have!

I also received a G1 My Little Pony Friend named Creamsicle and a mint on card G2 Berry Bright from 1997’s Secret Surprise Friends.

Also under the tree was a Kewpie doll themed around the 60’s.  She’s groovy! I like her dark eyes.  Her outfit, especially her fringe jacket and head band, are super cute.

Equally adorable were the three Hallmark Itty Bitty’s— Rainbow Brite, her Sprite and a fun C3P0 decked out in a Christmas scarf. I think I may need to pick up some more of Rainbow Brites friends now to try to complete the set.

With Star Wars in full swing, my C3P0 collection grew a lot! One of the coolest new C3P0 items was the Wind Up Tin C3P0. There was also a neat Star Tours bank that featured C3P0 and R2D2. Oh, and I can’t forget to mention the huge light up art deco head! (See my C3PO collection here.)

This next item was actually a birthday gift– a straight leg Skipper with a sample head! Sample Skipper’s usually have a resin body with a wider stance than the vinyl bodies.  This Skipper was either rebodied by a collector or possibly was boxed this way from the get go. It’s really hard to tell! She has very pretty light brown hair and a double row of bangs. Another interesting feature on this Sample Skipper is the length of her bangs– they’re shorter than your normal straight leg Skipper head.

I saved the best for last! My baby Sasha now has two new brothers– Trendon Gregor and Caleb.  I knew about Caleb, but Gregor was a complete shock. I’m not sure about when exactly they were made, but each are different heights, which I find interesting!

Caleb is shorter than Gregor.  My mom also pointed out that the Gregor has a shorter blue sweater on than some of the other sweater boys that were produced. What drew me to Caleb was his dark skin.  There is a lighter skin Caleb, as well, but this guy has super dark skin. I like it, though I’m still figuring out how to photograph him properly.

My mother, Barbee0913 on YouTube, received a few nice dolly, if I do say so myself! She is now the proud owner of the Impression of China Kurhn, Maru from Maru and Friends and a Trendon Prince Gregor. She also got a few pink box Barbie’s.

Watch the video here:

What did Santa (and friends) bring you this holiday season? Let me know in the comment area! See you in 2016!

So, the news of the Monster High 2016 reboot has clearly made some waves this past week. You guys have been awesome enough to share your thoughts on the subject, so I thought I’d share mine.

When Monster High first hit store shelves, it was a very exciting time to be a doll collector. The whole journey from when the line was first announced to their eventual debut was great fun to follow. And the doll hunts in search of trying to find the first wave?  Tons of fun. My first Monster High purchase was Lagoona.  I was so excited to find her on the shelf!  And finding Holt and Ghoulia?  Also some very exciting and memorable moments in my doll collecting career. Personally, I know that without Monster High, my blog wouldn’t have found as many readers as it has over the years, so I am very grateful to the line.

The first two and a half years of Monster High may be my favorite. We had some fantastic lines like the original wave, Dawn of the Dance, Dead Tired, Sweet 1600, Schools Out… You must agree with me that we had some really cool Monster High releases in the early years and the anticipation of finding new characters was super high. The whole line had an addictive quality about it. Much like Pringles, buying just one in a wave was nearly impossible. I most likely have nearly every Monster High produced during those years, because all the dolls were worth buying and I really wanted to have a complete collection.

That being said, the line started to fumble a little for me in 2014 and 2015. While I still enjoy the line, the addiction, the need, to buy every single one has long been gone. Now, I only collect new characters or re-releases that I think are pretty. I think a lot of us have been thinking the same thing this past year– that Mattel wasn’t paying enough attention to Monster High. They churned out a lot of dolls in the past two years and not all of them were made or designed well. Worse, some were just plain uninspired, stagnant and, dare I say, boring. A far cry from when they made their debut a few years prior.

So now it’s nearly 2016.  The line has had 5 successful years under its belt. But here’s the thing– everything’s gotta change sometimes and it looks like it’s Monster High’s time to do just that. Mattel has been making small tweaks to the line all the way since wave one. Some have been amazing– like eliminating the rubber band bodies and using Create a Monster bodies instead. (My first wave dolls have terribly loose limbs now. So sad!) Other changes, like cutting back on the length of the outfits that were already super short to begin with, not so much. (Friendly hint, Mattel, some of us make our dolls sit and the outfits need to be a little longer to do that in a lady like fashion.)

So, this reboot isn’t the first time Mattel has tweaked Monster High. It is the first time, however, that they’ve decided to ‘go big or go home’. I understand why Mattel would decide to make one big change, over many small minor ones.  They want their changes to make an impact, not just seem like a mistake.

As far as the plans for 2016, I’m not going to jump to conclusions just yet. Yes, the redesign is a far cry from what we’re used to, but maybe the changes will reinvigorate the line, give it new life. I agree with those that say the large eyes make the characters look younger, more like junior high students. I’m not totally against that, though. The new look is a complete rework of the gothic monster dolls we were introduced to, but the redesign is kind of cute. They definitely give off an anime vibe. In a way, it’s almost like Mattel is taking a cue from some of the customs floating around the internet, many of which have more of an animated look to them.

I can totally see why people would be upset, though, because this new look doesn’t exactly jive with the ‘freaky flaws’ mentality of the original design. The redesign is way more cutesy and young than the teenage monsters we’re used to seeing. But, thankfully, if the re-design isn’t your thing, there’s a whole back catalog of dolls to collect on the secondary market. Think about the doll lines we’ve lost over the past five years that only lasted one or two waves (Pinkie Cooper anyone?). No one can say we didn’t receive a nice selection of dolls and tons of fun memories over the past 5 years of collecting Monster High dolls.

I guess my opinion of the changes can be summed up with one statement: wait and see. I’m willing to give the reboot a chance, because I feel that the current Monster High line is running out of steam at a very fast pace and I don’t want to see it disappear from stores completely just yet. If that means the dolls regenerate a bit, I’m willing to wait and see them in person, with the power of Mattel’s marketing campaign behind them. Who knows? Maybe the new look will cause a whole new slew of collectors to be born? Or maybe not. All we can do is wait and see.

One more post for 2015! My mother asked me to work on yet another Little Miss No Name re-root. I love working on LMNN’s, so I was happy to comply. (Check out my other LMNN posts here.)

Usually, my mom likes her LMNN’s to have blonde or brunette tones. For this re-root, she went in a different direction and chose a very different sort of color! This LMNN ended up with a wicked shade of Ultraviolet nylon hair. Ultraviolet is a warm grape tone and looks super cool.

This LMNN had a cut in her foot, which is why she’s currently wearing the large orange socks.

I believe I used 4-5 hanks on this girl, but I have to admit, I totally forgot to keep track– again. Both my mom and I agree that this hair calls for a groovy, hippy sort of outfit, which we’ll find for her eventually.

One of my resolutions for the new year is to do one re-root a month. I feel like I have 5,000 dolls sitting in my room waiting for new hair, so it’s about time I worked on them. And with that, I’ll leave you until 2016! Have a safe and happy new year!

I didn’t plan on reviewing this for the blog, but due to a surprising characteristic on the Frankie, it seems worthy of writing something up on this release. Here’s the gist– Designer Booo-tique Frankie comes with Frankie and five outfits for you to decorate with three thin fabric markers and stencils. You also get a small page of stickers you can use to add extra details to your designs.

As far as designing the outfits, there’s not that much to it. The outfits have one stretchy side and one non-stretchy side, which looks a little odd in person. The coolest of the outfits is made up like an adult coloring book with an intense pattern you can color in. Other than that one dress, the rest are free form. You can do whatever you’d like with them.

The reason I am writing about this set, though, isn’t because of the gimmick, but because of the Frankie. She’s super disappointing. Right off the bat, you’ll notice one very disappointing element– the lack of articulation at her elbows and wrists.  Upon closer examination, you’ll notice another irritating feature. Frankie’s shoulder joints don’t swivel out. All they can do is move up and down. Her leg joints look normal, but who knows what will happen to them in the reboot.

As if that wasn’t enough, Frankie has lost the painted stitch marks on her arms and legs and has now received molded unpainted ones. The molded marks don’t stand out half as much as the 2D painted ones.

Body issues aside, what about her face? Both my mom and I thought the same thing when we saw her: why does she look so mean? Seriously, this Frankie looks far less friendly than other releases. Maybe it’s the dark make up around her eyes and the bright pink lip color, but she looks like she has a chip on her shoulder.

While I can’t say this is how the bodies will be come the 2016 reboot of Monster High, just today I saw a few budget dolls with the non-articulated arms. I really hope that they aren’t moving away from elbow and wrist joints, not to mention decent working shoulder joints.

For more details on this release, check out the video review (linked above). I wanted to make sure to cover the big stuff (like her cheap arms) in this mini written review, but skimmed over some of the smaller details.

What are your thoughts on the Designer Booo-tique Frankie? Let me know in the comment area!

If you’re like me, you’ve dabbled in replacing your Pullip‘s stock body with an obitsu body. You’ve probably also wanted to rip your hair out, because of the crazy wobbly head (and/or torso) some Pullips have once you do re-body them. There are other options, like Liv bodies, but they’re not very easy to come by these days.  Now, there’s an option you can find in your local retail store!  Pullip communities over the internet have been buzzing over Mattel‘s new Made To Move Barbie line. The Made To Move line is basic in look and outfit, but offers more articulation than ever before, even double jointed knees and elbows.

The Barbie herself is a bit plain. She has a pretty, clean face. Her workout outfit includes black leggings and a stretchy short sleeve top that is bright pink and blue. Her joints are on full display in the box, where she sits in a yoga-esc position.

Now, I have to admit, I didn’t buy this Barbie for the actual doll. I only bought her for her body! If there’s any way to get my Pullips into better, less wobbly bodies, I am willing to try! After taking out the insanely long neck knob (which I neglected to take a photo off, but rest assured, it’s over-kill for sure), it was relatively simple to tweak it into something Pullip friendly. Usually, I’m sanding for hours, but, in this case, it took less than 30 minutes. Here’s the result of my little experiment.

I love the proportions of the Made To Move body way more than the obitsu’s, to be quite honest. The size of obitsu’s can be odd sometimes and most of what I dress my Pullips in are Barbie clothes anyways! Using this kind of body might help the clothing fit better! And better still, the head isn’t wobbly! It actually fits really sturdily on the body and doesn’t pull back on the torso joint, either!

The color matching isn’t perfect, but I’ll take it! Have you tried to switch out your Pullip stock bodies or obitsu bodies with a Made To Move Barbie body? What do you think of this easy to find replacement body? Share your thoughts in the comment area!