Out of the Box: Branksea Festival Lottie

Branksea Festival Lottie

I've had a few people (two in person, one on a doll forum) ask me if I had a Lottie doll.  Until last week, my answer was always "Nope", since they're not a size or style that I'm normally interested in.  But then I came across a sale which happened to coincide with a visit from a friend who was travelling with her 4-year-old daughter, and I decided that this doll would be a fun toy for her little girl to play with during the visit.

The Lottie dolls (which are from a UK-based company called Arklu) resemble non-fashion/sports type fashion dolls (like the Get Real girls) in that they generally have active themes (the dolls are dressed for activities like hiking, horseback riding, martial arts and festival-going).  That resemblance stops there as they're considerably shorter in that they're only 7"/18cm tall, and they're clearly designed to be children rather than teenagers.

The particular Lottie that I picked up is the "Branksea Festival" doll (which is called "Lottieville Festival" in some markets) - like all of the dolls in the line, her box has a carry handle and a decidedly cute colour scheme.  It also includes a "What makes Lottie special?" tag, stating that the dolls were designed by academics and intentionally do not wear makeup, jewellery or high heels.

The front of the box.

The back of the box.

Unlike some toys aimed that this age market, this doll was surprisingly easy to free from the box, having an inner layer that slides out, and only four ties securing the doll to the cardboard.

The inner sleeve.

The doll has two accessories - an orange shoulder bag (which doesn't open as it's solid plastic) and a fabric headband.  She has five pieces of clothing: a long-sleeved shirt (with removable design), a fuzzy vest, corduroy shorts, striped tights and pink Wellington-style boots.

Out of the box.

The doll has five points of articulation, which isn't great in terms of pose-ability, but for a doll that's aimed at the 3-6 market is probably the best choice in terms of durability.

A view of the joints.

The Lottie dolls are clearly much shorter than the average fashion doll (although their body-type means that they can share clothes with some of them), and are slightly taller and quite a bit slimmer than the AG/Gotz/OG-type mini-dolls.

Compared to American Girl mini-Josefina and Monster High Draculaura

Interestingly, the doll that she seems to be most similar to in terms of both size and articulation is Moni, the short-lived mini Sasha knock-off dolls from the 1970s.

Compared to Uranium's Moni

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and appeal (or perhaps just cuteness) of this doll.  As a fashion doll alternative for young children, I certainly find this doll to be significantly more charming than most of the dolls that are marketed with a specific "no-heels" spin (I'd rather give a child one of these than a Lammily doll, for example).

So while she won't be staying, I'm happy to have had the chance to examine the doll up-close.  And to make her pose with random members of my toy posse, of course:

Compared to Marvel Legends Daken.
Not a comparison that anyone needed, but hey. ;)