The Fresh Dolls Mia from Positively Perfect

I vaguely remember reading some reviews of the Fresh Dolls line back in 2017.  While I did think about picking one up, since I was on a semi-hiatus when it came to toy collecting at the time, I never got around to it.  Fast forward two years, and while checking out the toy selection at Dollarama (the Canadian discount chain), I noticed three different Fresh Dolls on the shelf.  Remembering my earlier interest, I picked one up.

The Fresh Dolls line are a fashion doll (11.5"/29.5cm) brand within the World of EPI umbrella who previously brought us the Positively Perfect line of 14.5" (37cm) soft-bodied dolls for toddlers. The Fresh Dolls line consists of seven jointed fashion dolls, each of which is differentiated by their unique outfits (a range of formal to casual) skin colour (a range from medium to dark that's described on the official website as "deep mocha, caramel, latte, and even blended") and hair colour/texture (smooth to curly, long to short, and blonde to black).  There has since been a release called The Fresh Squad, which consisted of three male dolls, also fashion doll size.

The particular doll that I picked up ("Mia") has curly hair, medium-dark skin, and wears a patterned jumpsuit and faux-leather jacket.  This doll is one of the basic releases and originally retailed for $10.99USD, but the Dollarama price was $4.00CDN. The deluxe releases originally retailed for $17.99USD.

Let's take a closer look!

The basic release dolls are packaged quite simply. with a cardboard back and front plastic shell. The doll is attached to the shell with elastic at the waist and feet, which makes her surprisingly easy to remove from the packaging.

In the box.

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The back of the box, which shows the rest of the first wave release dolls.

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Free from the shell, but still on the card.
Her delightfully springy hair expanded when the plastic shell came off.

The doll has 9 points of articulation: neck, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees. The knee and elbow joints are hinge joints, which limits her posing somewhat, but the hip and shoulders are ball joints.
The plastic of Mia's body is lighter and harder than an otherwise similar Barbie doll. This gives the doll a a hallow feel when you tap her limbs.

Free from the box and posed for a walk.

The outfit is very lightweight, and while I love the faux-leather feel of the fabric jacket, the jumpsuit (which is a very thin fabric) feels like it might rip easily. The sandals are made of a flexible vinyl, and the doll is also wearing hard plastic, gold-coloured ball earrings.

Seated.

Compared to other playline fashion dolls, the additional jointing is a nice feature at this (original) price point (standard Barbie Fashionistas are only slightly lower priced and lack the elbow and knee joints), but the cheaper-seeming plastic construction (and fabric of the outfit) makes me wonder how well these dolls would hold up to play.

In between DC Super Hero Girls Bumblebee and Barbie Fashionista #121

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A parting glance.

Some of these dolls are still available for the original prices on the official website, but as I've frequently seen them at much lower regular prices at Dollarama in Canada and Big Lots in the US, I would definitely say that at those prices these dolls are a wonderful value.

Creating a new line of playline fashion dolls that will compete directly with Barbie (as these do) is always a challenge, and I think this line has done a reasonable job of creating a doll that's distinct but still looks at home with other dolls of similar size.

I don't know that this line will ever see an expansion, both because the increasing diversity of Barbie offerings leaves less of a gap in the market, but they company does still attend major toy events, so we'll see.  And if they do, I'll be excited to see what they release!

If you've picked up one of these dolls (or one of the Positively Perfect dolls) I'd love to hear about your experience!