Barbie Creatable World dc-725

Being unboxed today is doll dc-725 from the Barbie Creatable World line. This line features a new body design and is marketed as something that is slightly more customizable than the standard Barbies as, in addition to different outfits, it comes with two alternate hairstyles. A short default haircut and a long wig. The dolls sell between $30-$40CDN.

The dolls have also received quite a bit of publicity due to being of indeterminate gender, meaning that kids can decide if they want their doll to be a male or female character (or neither). Some people have called this the non-binary Barbie, but based on the height difference between this doll and standard Barbies, it seems more like a pre-pubescent one. Either way, if you’re looking for a Barbie-line doll without the exaggerated chest or Barbie or Ken, this fills that gap.

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!

Barbie Fashionista #121: blue dress & prosthetic leg

As promised in my post about Fashionista #133 (the new release with the wheelchair) weekend before last, today I'm unboxing Barbie Fashionista #121.

Fashionista 121 is distinguished from the rest of the line by her prosthetic left leg.  Unlike 133, who came on a multi-jointed body, this doll has the standard five points of articulation that most of the Fashionistas have by default, however there is some rotational movement to the hip on the left leg that we don't see in the standard bodies (or on the right leg of this doll).  Some dolls in this line are noted by being shorter, taller, or chubbier, but (leg aside) this particular model is on the standard height/size body.

This doll is in a medium skin tone and has long brown hair and green painted eyes.  Her accessories include a sleeveless sweatshirt dress, hoop earrings and white flat shoes.  Her prosthesis is an above-knee one, and seems to be sculpted to resemble one with a microprocessor-type knee. I'm mildly surprised that they went with an above-knee style, since below-knee amputations are so much more common, but either way it's an interesting design.

Let's take a closer look!

Barbie Fashionista 133 & her blue wheelchair

Earlier this year I saw the announcement that the Barbie Fashionista line would be adding three dolls featuring visible disabilities: Two in wheelchairs (both in the same outfit, but one white with her blonde hair down and one black with her shorter hair up) and one with a prosthetic leg (in a medium skin tone and a different outfit). As someone who specifically looks for disability representation in children's/playline toys, I knew I'd be bringing at least a couple of these home. Today I'm opening up #133, one of the wheelchair-using dolls.

This doll is currently retailing for just under $15CDN online and locally. And while that is higher than the average price for most dolls in the Fashionista line (which usually retail for $10-$12CDN), considering the size and detail of the wheelchair and the fact that this doll comes on a much more elaborately articulated body, I was impressed that she isn't being sold at double the price.  Considering the additional cost of Monster High's wheelchair-included doll, and the extra cost of wheelchair accessories for American Girl type dolls, I was pleased to see that this doll will be affordable for a wide range of families.

Now let's take a closer look!

DC Super Hero Girls Roller Derby Bumblebee

Being opened today is a playline doll from the Roller Derby release of the DC Superhero Girls by Mattel. This doll is the last of the three toys that I picked up at the Samko/Miko warehouse sale in Richmond Hill, ON last month.

I've talked about the action figure versions of the DC Superhero Girls before, but this is my first time picking up one of the fashion doll-type releases.  While the action figures are more in-line with my general tastes, the dolls do have a charm that I think can cross over between both fans of the figures and fans of playline fashion dolls.

The gimmick of the Roller Derby Roller Derby release is that each doll comes with a pair of rollerskates, a helmet, and a sportier version of their standard outfit.  In Bumbee's case this included moulded bright yellow socks, which limits the versatility of the doll but does mean that the socks won't droop with play (which does tend to be an issue with playline - and even some collector - dolls).

A Quick Update

I haven't posted for a month so I thought I'd pop in quickly to say a quick hello. I've been out of town (my mother had surgery last month and I've been staying with her as she recovers), so I haven't had time to post with my usual frequency - and that's aside from the fact that my collection is back home!  I have been trying to keep up with everyone's new posts, although I haven't been able to comment as much as I'd like.

While I'm here, I thought I'd show two new additions of mine. The first are some fast food toys: the McDonald's Happy Meal Toys of the month include figures of the DC Super Hero Girls, and I've picked up two of them, Supergirl and Bumblebee.

Bumblebee and Supergirl: They're not as detailed as the standard figures,
but by fast food toy standards, they're decent.

And then just the other day my mother surprised me with a gift: the new limited run Hudson's Bay Company Barbie!

HBC Barbie. I'm not usually an in-box collector, but I love this
packaging so much that I haven't been able to bring myself to
unbox her yet!

The back of the box.

I probably won't be back to posting regularly until November, but hopefully I'll have the opportunity to squeeze in a retro week post or two.  I hope October is treating you all well! :)

Out of the Box: Monster High Hexiciah Steam

Mattel generally puts out a two-doll exclusive every year for the SDCC, and this year's was the father-daughter pair of Hexiciah and Robecca Steam.  I wasn't terribly interested in Robecca, so I split the set with another collector. As a result I can't do a review of the full set or the packaging, but I did think it would be fun to look at Hexiciah on his own.

Upcoming posts for August 2016

ME Minimates, SDCC Monster High, Carpatina Diya

August has been a rainy month here, so I haven't been able to take many photos, and that's translated into my not posting very much lately. I wanted to make a quick post to say hello though, and I do have three new arrivals coming soon, and hopefully the weather will give me a chance to share them.  The three in question are the Series 2 Mass Effect Minimates (which were available as a set this time versus the old blind bags), Monster High's SDCC exclusive Hexiciah Steam (I won't be getting Robecca as I'm splitting the set with someone else), and the newest Carpatina doll, Diya.

Hope your summer (or winter for the southerners) has been fabulous, and if you're following the Olympics, I hope your favourites have been doing well!

Attack of the Giant Barbies: Can SD-range BJDs wear Barbie BFF outfits?

Mattel has been putting out extra tall Barbies at regular intervals for years, but yesterday was the first time I realized that they actually sell extra outfits for their 28"/71cm BFF line.  And since that's roughly the same size as a number of SD+ (65cm+) sized BJDs, I naturally wondered if this meant we now have a mass marketed supply of giant doll clothes, and so brought one of the outfits home

The tag that caught my attention.

Today's photos aren't the best, but I thought this was too interesting of a find not to share.

Out of the box: Ellowyne Wilde - A Dream of Marigold & Cinnamon

Last week Tonner was having a cross-line sale for 25% off any of their dolls, so I took advantage of the opportunity to bring home the new(ish) "A Dream of Marigold & Cinnamon" Ellowyne Wilde release. She arrived in the middle of a rainstorm, but luckily (despite the shipping box being soaked), the inner layers weren't wet at all.

Because of the rain, the lighting isn't ideal for photos, but since we're not due to have a non-rainy day for a week, I decided not to wait to share - so apologies for that!

Out of the Box: Monster High Deuce Gorgon and Cleo De Nile

Every time I swear I'm not going to pick up any more Monster High dolls, something happens to make me eat my words. Usually it's a new release, but this time around it was a sale - this two pack of of Deuce Gorgon and Cleo de Nile from the Boo York, Boo York series were reduced to $14 USD - since that's normally the price point for a single doll, I decided I couldn't pass these two up.  

The gorgon and the mummy.

They both have fairly standard MH bodies, so I won't be doing a full review, but I did think it would be fun to share some photos (unfortunately we're in the rainy season here, so apologies in advance for the lighting).

Out of the Box: Batwoman (Tonner's DC Bombshells Series)

Batwoman

Even though I'm always complaining about the hinge-jointed knees on dolls from Tonner, every now and then they release something that overrides my aversion.  This time the exception is Batwoman from their DC Bomshells line.  While the original retail price ($179.99 USD) struck me as being too high, when the doll popped up on Zulily at a decent discount I decided to pick her up.

The DC Bombshells line included three characters (Batwoman, Wonder Woman, Harley Quinn and Supergirl), each designed to have a 1940s pin-up style version of their traditional costume. For whatever reason, Batwoman's outfit is baseball themed, which seems a bit like a silly pun (she has a baseball bat, because she's the bat-woman, buh da bump!), but at least it got her some interesting accessories.

Out of the Box: Dhara (Prettie Girls Tween Scene)

Pretty Girls Tween Scene Dhara

Back in November of 2014, I posted about Dahlia from the then-new Prettie Girls fashion doll line. In 2015, thanks to a collaboration with Robert Tonner, the same set of characters were released in the style of Tonner's Little Miss Matched line (although this time around Dahlia has been renamed Dhara - she still has the dual braids and the South Asian designation though).  Although they were released in October 2015, I'm not a huge fan of this particular stylized face sculpt, so I held off on picking one of these up  until a recent price drop (they normally retail for around $30 USD, but are now offered at Wal-Mart for $23 USD).

Unlike the first series which were fairly standard 12" fashion dolls, this line is on a taller 15.5" (almost 40cm) body. Although I don't own a Little Miss Matched doll, from photos I've seen, this body is similar but not identical to that line (the face style on the other hand is very much in the same style).

Because of the size difference, it actually took me an embarrassingly long time to find these dolls in store - due to the large boxes, they turned out to have been shelved with baby dolls rather than fashion dolls. So if you're like me and have been looking in the wrong section, now you know!

Out of the Box: Monster High Finnegan Wake

I've said it before, but every time I think "No more Monster High after this one", they release another doll that catches my attention.  This time the release that brought me back to the line is Finnegan Wake, the blue merman in the black and red wheelchair.

In addition to the uniqueness of the wheelchair (a first from the line), the doll also has a unique body: the torso is both larger than the standard MH boy body and smaller than the SDCC exclusive Manny Taur body, while the fish tail lower body is distinct from those of the soon-to-be-released Scarrier Reef mermaids.

Out of the Box: Bratzilla Illiana Honesty

I've talked before about my ridiculous fondness for the Bratz Boyz line, but I've never branched out into picking up any of the dolls from the other Bratz lines.  Or at least that was the case until last week, when I found the Bratzilla Illiana Honesty (from the "House of Witchez"/"Back to Magic" international-themed series) available for a reasonable price.

Bratzilla Illiana Honesty

Out of the Box: Monster High Vandala Doubloons

Vandala Doubloons

In the past I've said that I didn't think I needed more than one Monster High doll (famous last words), and then it was two, and then three, so for now I'll just say that four is a good number but that I'm making no promises for the future.

Today's doll is Vandala Doubloons, the pirate ghost from the "Haunted" series.  This series is interesting in that, unlike the bulk of the Monster High dolls, there are no bright colours on the dolls.  Instead, presumably to go along with the ghost theme, they're all combinations of faded and muted tones. 

Vandala's body is a pale seafoam green while her hair is a darker green with white highlights.  Her dress is patterned with the same colours, while her purse and left shoe are a green tone that's in between the other two.  She also has a pink armour piece, pink hat (with a blue-green boat), a brown-pink prosthetic right leg (detachable in the style of the Create-A-Monster dolls), and a sea-blue stand.

In the box.

Her face screening is similarly muted, to the point that I actually had a hard time photographing it since the lack of contrast with her base colour made it hard to see if she was actually washed-out by the lighting in the photos or if it was just an accurate capture of her ghostly self.

The armour, purse and doll stand all reflect the nautical theme, and are sculpted with anchor chains (the purse and armour remind me of the barnacle-covered, semi-scaled characters from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies).  The stand differs from the standard Monster High stands in that it keeps the doll's feet off the base, so she "floats" rather than stands - appropriate for a ghost!

She's floating!

Unlike the hard plastic of the purse and armour, the large floppy hat is a thin, flexible vinyl (although the ship that decorates it is in the harder material).   Although it's a lighter shade of pink than the armour, it's a very close match to the doll's lip colour, which I thought was an interesting choice.

The hat.

I've mentioned before that I specifically collect dolls and figures with prosthetics, and this doll is an interesting addition to that collection.  The promotional material refers to it as a peg leg, but it actually isn't one since it has a foot.  I'm not sure why they elected to not make it an actual peg, since the main reason I can see for not doing it (allowing her to shoe-swap with other dolls) doesn't apply since a shoe is sculpted onto the foot. The sculpting it nicely done (in addition to the shoe, there's a chain and anchor pattern running the entire length of the leg), and I love the concept, but the shoe part baffles me.

A closer view of the "peg leg".

Annoyance over the sculpted shoe aside, I really like the concept behind the doll, and I'm impressed at how well this doll and the others in the "Haunted" series work with the rest of the main line Monster High dolls, even given the very different colour palate.  

Out of the Box: "Handsome Devil" Damon (Integrity Toys' Dynamite Girls)

"Handsome Devil" Damon

It's a couple of months too late for a proper Halloween post, but rather than making him wait until 2015 for an introduction, let's pretend that this is a festive Christmas devil, shall we?  After all, red is a seasonal colour!

I've actually been considering picking up one of the Dynamite Girls boys since before I bought my London Calling TJ this past spring, but they've proved illusive (or more correctly, have always sold out faster than the girls, and had secondary market mark-ups that went beyond what I was willing to pay).  But then last month I noticed a reasonably priced listing for this doll on eBay and decided to take the plunge.

Damon has the standard Dynamite Girls male body, which turned out to be a fair bit sturdier than the female bodies of the line.  I was glad to see that - the delicacy is one of the only complaints I have about TJ.  The body has 14 points of articulation and can hold a solid selection of poses - the pose-ability was actually significantly better than I expected.

This particular release comes in their medium skin tone

In the box.

The box.

(which I believe is called "Latino" on the official site) and has little red horns affixed to his scalp.  He has rooted black and red hair which matches the colours of his (quite detailed) outfit.

The outfit quality is solid (and quite a bit more detailed than I expected).  There is a layer of plastic wrap under the body to prevent staining - something I was glad to see, although that did factor into my decision to not undress the doll (I don't want to have to try to re-wrap with thin enough layers to redress him at this point).

Out of the box and on his stand.

The face painting is well done, and gives the doll an expression that borders on smirking.  I did find myself wondering about the materials, since the doll's face seemed to reflect light in a different way than most of my dolls, but I'd have to try photographing him in a wider variety of lighting situations to say anything definite on that.

In any case, in every other way this doll exceeded  my expectations, so I can't complain too much!

With fellow Dynamite Girl "London Calling" TJ

A closer view.

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).

Out of the Box: Monster High Neighthan Rot

Neighthan Rot

I hope everyone had a great Halloween!  In keeping with the haunting season, how about a new monster?

Neighthan Rot is a (relatively) recent release from Monster High's "Freaky Fusion" series ("2 monsters in 1") and is a zombie unicorn.  A "zombicorn", as it says in the included journal.

In box.

I was surprised the first few times I saw him on the shelves since I rarely see the Monster High boy dolls (or "mansters" as they say on the boxes), and to see one sit on the shelf for more than a month was even more unusual.  I passed on him originally because I wasn't sure I needed more dolls from this line, but he was unique enough that he finally won me over.

As an aside before I get to the doll itself, as someone who doesn't particularly follow the character elements (the webisodes, movies and books), I was actually charmed by the journal with this one (part of which is the character sharing how his zombie father courted his unicorn mother). 

On to the doll!  Neighthan has a unique head-sculpt that includes horse ears, a blue translucent horn and sculpted zombie-style rotting flesh on half his face.  There isn't a huge amount of colour or detail to the face screening (probably since the grey vinyl does the job for a zombie), but the paint centred as it should be and gives the doll a pleasant expression (probably fitting for a unicorn).

His rooted hair is primarily black but with blue, red, and yellow stripes, all of which are quite vibrant.  He also has a tail (rooted at hip level in the back) that's made of the same hair type and colours.

Equally vibrant are his stand, hat, and boots (all a bright yellow) and his outfit.  The outfit continues the zombie theme with its brightly coloured internal organ theme on the shirt and muscles-and-ligaments themed pants.

Interestingly, given how many accessories were included with Jane Boolittle and the Music Festival Clawd and Draculaura, the baseball cap is the only accessory aside from the standard MH comb.  The cap is decently made (a soft vinyl with holes for the horn and ears), but does hide the colourful hair (or should I say mane?) that's my favourite feature on this doll.

Neighthan has what (at first) appears to be the standard MH boy body, but upon removing his outfit it turns out that his torso and every-other limb part were are actually unique and have the same zombie-style sculptural details as the face.

Clawd Wolf's Standard MH body vs. Neighthan Rot's half-zombie one.

Side view.

 Interestingly, I've found him to be easier to pose than any other Monster High doll that I've handled.  Since I don't see any engineering differences between this guy and Clawd, I think it's just random luck but I thought it worth mentioning in case anyone else has had similar experiences - I'd be curious to hear about it, if so!

 For a doll that I was hesitant to add to my collection, I've ended up deciding that he's actually one of the most endearing playline dolls I've owned - the absurdity of a zombie unicorn is just too much to not be charmed by, I think.

Classic Zombie Pose.

Random Toy of the Day: Disney Classics Maleficent

When I picked up Li Shang (for my planned Jade Empire custom), there was a buy-on/get-one sale at The Disney Store, so this Maleficent doll came home with me as well.  I've always been fond of the character (somewhere - probably in storage - I have plush dolls of both the human and dragon version of the character), and I'd heard that these dolls were better articulated than most dolls in this price range, so I figured even if I didn't like her out-of-the-box look she'd still be a solid project base.

In the end I decided that I did like the doll as-is, even though the outfit is clearly that of a play doll. Even with the unfinished edges on her robe, the deep colours just make it appealing.

And of course there's a new movie about the character in cinemas now, so it's a timely character to share (I haven't seen the movie - I actually haven't seen any of the summer movies yet - but it's on my list).