Out of the Box: Prettie Girls Dahlia (One World Doll Project)

The Prettie Girls are a line of fashion dolls from The One World Doll Project.  Three dolls from the line have been on the market for nearly a year now, but I was waiting for the release of this particular doll, so this is my first in-person experience with the line.  Interestingly, the new releases showed up discounted on Zulily before they were available for sale on the official site!  I was surprised, but certianly not complaining about the discount (and I imagine it would be a solid way to build extra buzz for the line).

The five dolls in the line each share the same body type and head sculpt but have unique face screenings and hair types, and come in different skin tones (to go with the cultural/national themes that each is assigned).  Dahlia (whose description on the official site and box is now listed as Indian from Dehli, rather than the broad and vague "South Asian/Middle Eastern" that appeared on the website pre-release) has a dark straight hair (with two twists), what appears to be the second-darkest skintone of the line, and has been painted with a fairly soft and pleasant expression.

The packaging is quite attractive, although I did find it a little odd that the cartoon Dahlia on the box looks so different from the doll - everything from the pattern on her leggings to the colours of her hair, eyes and skin is unmatched.  Still, the box looks good and keeps the doll secure, and it wasn't too challenging to free her from the box (there were multiple tie-ins, but unlike some doll lines, they weren't taped over, so they were easy to snip).

In the box.

Each doll also comes with a unique outfit and set of accessories.  In this case, the outfit consists of a purple top and patterned leggings, along with a purse, two bracelets, a chucky necklace, hoop earrings and orange shoes.  The shoes appear to be vaguely wedge-like, probably because the doll's feet have neither the high arch of a Barbie or Monster High doll, nor the flat feet of an action figure or male fashion doll.

Going for a run (or showing off her outfit).

A clearer view of the joints

The shoes are fairly easily removed (and replaced), and are made of a softer vinyl than the jewlery pieces.  Unfortunately, that harder material makes it somewhat more challenging to get the bracelets on and off, and causes the necklace to hang in a slightly unnatural way.

The doll has 10 points of articulation (neck, chest, shoulders, elbows, knees), most of which have a solid range of movement. The knees are hinge joints, so they can only swing, but the other joints have rotation as well - the chest joint works particularly well at allowing the doll to be posed in more natural-looking positions.

The vinyl itself is uniform in colour and has a decent weight to it, although I felt that the legs felt a little bit lighter relative to the rest of the body (although not enough to throw the doll out of balance).

I wasn't able to get her to stand on her own, but given the not-quite-high-heel-feet,  I felt that it would probably have been possible with more patience, although I wouldn't count on her balancing for any length of time.  These dolls don't come with stands, but are compatible with the stands for a variety of other fashion dolls, so she's using a Monster High stand in the comparison photos below.

Between a Monster High and a Barbie.
Dahlia is slightly taller than the MH, and nearly identical in height
to Barbie (the slight difference is probably due to the heel height)

Between an Integrity Dynamite Girl & Barbie again

Overall, I'm quite impressed with this doll: she's a solid playline doll at a reasonable price, and I admire the creator's desire to create a more diverse line of dolls (although I confess that when I first read the old "South Asian/Middle Eastern" description, I briefly hoped that meant she'd be both - I have several nieces who are Indian/Mediterranean mixed, and the thought that someone was producing a doll with that background blew me away - but it seems that was just a generic placeholder).  Ideally, I would have preferred to see wrist articulation, since more and more lines are offering that, but at the same time it's certainly not a necessity, and the doll is lovely even if she can't quite wave to the camera.

A parting shot (in stronger lighting).