Review Fusion #4

It's hard for me to believe that November is half over already!  There is so much excitement at this time of year in my house, with Thanksgiving right around the corner, the academic quarter ending, the first snowfall of the season, the big musical production at our high school, visits from family, and of course the beginnings of holiday shopping.

Amidst the happy pandemonium of the next couple of weeks, I'd like to try and do some shorter reviews of the dolls and toys that seem especially popular or interesting this holiday season, but I also want to squeeze in a few more guest reviews before I get too busy.  This Fusion post will attempt to address both goals: I have two really neat guest reviews to share with you, and I'll also offer my own quick evaluation of one of the most sought-after toys in this neck of the woods lately: My Size Anna.

My Size Anna (Target, $59.99).

I am really excited to introduce my first guest reviewer, Alexandra.  Alexandra emailed me and asked if she could write a tutorial on how she repaints her Monster High dolls.  I was fascinated to see this process myself since I have never attempted to repaint one of these dolls before.  Also, it seems that one of the hot gifts this season could be the $130 Monster High "Monster Maker" set.  The high price on this toy makes Alexandra's more economical method of customization a great contrast.  I also really like the idea of sharing posts that are not traditional reviews, and hope to have a few more of these in 2015.  So, let's see how Alexandra transformed her Monster High Spectra doll!

Monster High Re-Paint: A Tutorial

  

First I would like to thank Emily for letting me do this post!!!  I'm Alexandra, a 13-year-old girl who is home-educated and travels around the world with her family.  I love Monster High dolls. 

So, after reading the headline of this tutorial you might think, "Why would you want to re-paint a Monster High doll?" Well, I just liked the idea and thought it would be really cool to have a doll that I created. 

I decided to use an old Spectra Vondergeist Picture Day doll. She already had half her head shaved by her previous owner (my younger sister...). So I pulled all of her hair out and re-painted her face using the following steps:

Things you will need: 

Paint (I used acrylic Apple Barrel paint.) 

Brushes 

Toothpicks (you really need these, they are great for details!) 

An old doll

Nail polish remover

Cotton swabs

Step One: gather your supplies. 

Step 2: pull off the doll's head. 

To do this you just have to really pull hard. [Emily adds that using heat can help with this step.  I use Roxanne's method of sealing the doll in a plastic bag and then dipping the head in boiling water.]

Step 3: remove all the face paint with nail polish remover. Change your cotton swab whenever you start to smear paint across the face instead of wiping it off. 

It should look like this:

Then just wipe the face off with a wet towel.

Step 4: get your paints.  Black and white are important to have, but the other colors are up to you!

Choose the white paint first. 

Then paint the indent where the eyes should be:

It might take 2-3 coats of it to be fully white.

Step 5: planning out your designs before you paint the doll is a good idea.  

Next, get your toothpick with an eye color on it, 

and paint an olive shape in the middle of the eye. 

Then fill it in. 

Repeat on the other eye.

Step 6: get a new toothpick and some black paint. Make sure that you only have a tiny amount of paint on the toothpick so you do not get any splodges of paint. 

Paint a thin line above the olive shape.  Repeat on the other eye, 

then paint a smaller circle shape in the olive shape (for the pupil of the eye). 

Repeat on the other eye.

Step 7: paint another thin black line at the bottom of the eye. 

The doll still looks a bit freaky but wait--it will look better!  Repeat on the other eye. 

Now, it is time for the eyelashes: 

Be careful and use your toothpick and paint tiny little lashes. Repeat on the other eye. 

If the little black line anywhere on the eye is too thin then just make it a little thicker.

Step 8: makeup time!  Get your chosen make up colour and water it down. I feel it looks more like real makeup this way. 

Paint a thin line of colur over the lashes. Repeat on the other eye. 

Then you might choose to do other lines of colourful make up. I did a darker blue and a little mole and I also thickened the black eye make up.

Step 9: now it's time to paint the lips. I used a dark blue for the lips. The lips are easy because they're already defined by the doll's face mold. 

Then I used a darker blue for the lip outline. I wanted her to look a bit emotionless...and it worked! ;D

Step 10: the eyebrows! I used the same colour for her eyebrows that I used for the lipstick outline. I did one eyebrow a bit higher than the other one, to make her look sarcastic. 

Now, push the head back on the body, and you're done!

...excuse the doll nudity. ;D

I then painted her head dark blue for when I reroot her hair in a darker blue. And I painted some necklaces on her:

I put a matching dress on her.

And here she is with the rest of my collection.

Here she is the first time I re-painted this same doll: which version do you prefer?

Thanks for reading! Hope some of you will try re-painting a doll yourselves!

***

Thank you, Alexandra!  I really like both of your re-painted Spectras--it's neat how different they can look.  I actually feel very tempted to try this myself after reading you very clear tutorial.  I have a Lagoona with hopelessly wonky eyes who would be perfect for a repaint.  I will post her on Facebook if I ever get up the courage to try this!

My next guest reviewer, Jan, recently purchased her very first Ellowyne Wilde doll and wanted to share her initial impressions with all of you here on the blog.  Since I still haven't managed to add an Ellowyne to my own collection, I am always delighted to see this lovely girl on the blog.  Jan collects mostly Disney dolls, and more great pictures of her fun collection can be seen on Flickr.  Over to you, Jan!

Hello, everyone!!  It's Jan.  A few weeks ago I bought my very first Ellowyne Wilde doll: Essential Ellowyne 6 Brown (after this referred to as EE6B) whom I have named Juliet.  Emily has graciously allowed me to do a guest review of Juliet, and I am so grateful that she let me do so. 

I'd had my eye on an Ellowyne for quite a while, specifically EE6B, but for some reason never ordered her.  First it was one thing, then another, or I got distracted by other doll lines.  About a month and a half ago, I decided on a whim to get on the Wilde Imagination site.  And I'm so glad I did.  EE6B regularly costs $99, but they are phasing her out, so she was on special pricing for $79.  I knew this would probably be one of my last chances to get her without going on the secondary market, and so I decided to order my very first Ellowyne.  Right before I actually checked out, I learned from the Ellowyne's Ennui message board that there was a 20% off coupon code. (By the way, I 100% recommend visiting Ellowyne's Ennui if you are interested in Ellowyne Wilde.  It's a great community of dolly lovers, and all are very helpful.  Lots of pretty doll pictures too! :-) ). After I used the 20% code, she came to about $73 or so with shipping.  Needless to say, I was thrilled at the great price.  She arrived about a week later, in this brown box:

I wasted no time in opening the box, and inside that box, was her white shipper box.

My first thought on getting the inside box out, was how large it was.  I knew when I ordered her that she was 16 inches tall, but for some reason that seems much larger in person.  Not a bad thing, but just an observation. :-)

Here is a picture of one of my Lalaloopsy minis with the box for size comparison.

This was my first glimpse of Juliet as I opened the box.  

She is tied into the box with ribbons at the neck, waist and feet.  There is also a piece of foam beneath the ribbon at each place.  Her stand and shoes were in bubble wrap on the sides of the box, while her poem was sitting on top of her (all of the Ellowyne Wilde dolls come with a poem).

Here's a close-up of her pretty face: 

I think she just wanted me to stop taking pictures and get her out of there!

All I had to do to get her out, though, was untie the ribbons.  Best.  Packaging.  Ever.  Even better, the ribbons were only tied in bows.  They weren't loose, though, so she wasn't rattling around, but I can honestly say that is the best packaging I've ever encountered.  So easy.  

Here's Ellowyne with everything that she came with.  Her shoes are in a separate clear plastic bag, and that's the stand under all that bubble wrap.

EE6B has blue inset eyes, and a dark brown wig.  I haven't been brave enough to take the wig off yet, for fear I wouldn't get it back on!  I don't have any other wigs for her yet, anyways.  I've never seen doll eyes like these.  They almost look alive, and they have a lot of depth to them.  Plus, they are very fun to photograph as they give her face an alive quality, and photography is always a nice perk.  

Ellowyne comes wearing a white romper, which is very cute, but I still can't figure out what kind of fabric it is.  It feels like very, very soft cotton, but I doubt that's what it is.

Except for Firmly Planted, I believe all of the other Ellowynes ever released have high-heeled feet, and so they wear high heeled shoes.  Here's Juliet modeling her shoes for you:

These have high heels, and dainty criss-crossing elastic straps that go up her ankle.  The elastic helps the shoes to stay on very well, but they aren't very fun to get on.  They were an absolute bear the first time I put them on her, but I've gotten the hang of it since then and it is much easier now.  

I'm fairly certain I'd tip over in those shoes, but they look very pretty on her.  What I can't get over is the quality of the shoe: they look and feel just as well-made as some upscale human shoes I've seen.  It is so amazing the high quality that there is in this tiny shoe; especially when shoes is an area that many doll companies skimp on.

Juliet's hair was in a hairnet in the box, and just like N's "Flora, Fauna, and not so Merryweather," this doll's hair was a bit messy right out of that hairnet.

But, after about a minute or so of finger combing, it looked a ton better.

And, also just like N's doll, Juliet's loop of hair meant to cover the elastic is just a bit below it.  At this point, considering that both N and my dolls have the same exact hairstyle, I'm assuming that all the Ellowynes with this hairstyle have this 'problem'.  Granted, I've never seen any other Ellowynes with this style in person.  However, the loop of hair out of place isn't very noticeable, and so I just ignore it.

Juliet is finally free of all the tags, hairnets, and etc., so here she is waving "hi" to you.  

She is meant to have two tendrils of hair hanging in front, but if you'd rather not have them there, you can clip them back and they will blend right into the half up-half down hairstyle.

At the time when Juliet arrived, I didn't have any clothes for her yet, so I modified an American Girl outfit to fit her.  It is pinned in the back.  

One of the things that I was most excited about with Juliet was her articulation.  She has 11 points of articulation, and I was especially excited about her wrist joints.  Her wrists allow her to adopt many different expressions and poses compared to some of my other dolls.

She can model a pretty outfit...

..and perhaps best of all, she can sit very well.  She automatically sits with her ankles daintily crossed, which I like.  She can also cuddle with her favorite stuffed animal, Percy!! :-)

She also has a very versatile face, and can have a number of different personas.  For example, here she is being a jungle princess.

And then here, she's the girl-next-door out for a summer walk.

Here, she's a city girl out for a walk in Central Park.  The blue hat really makes her eyes pop, and I love it.

And here are a few more pictures, just because.

In conclusion, Juliet is a beautiful and unique doll.  She is definitely one of my favorite dolls in my collection.  She's a joy to photograph, and has amazing articulation.  I wholeheartedly recommend her 100% to anyone who wants an Ellowyne Wilde doll.  I have also fallen head first into the collecting world of Ellowyne Wilde, and I'm sure I'll have a quite large collection of these dolls in the future.  I do hope that more and more people discover this marvelous doll line.

***

Ok, now I am really tempted to have an Ellowyne in my collection!  Thank you so much for this beautiful review, Jan.  I absolutely love that picture of Juliet with Percy!

I'll end this Review Fusion with my first holiday shopping doll review. This particular doll is a perfect way to kick off the holiday reviews because she is something I wouldn't consider buying unless it was the holiday season.  Part of this is because she's so big (and I have no space!), but it's also just that I didn't feel a burning need to review yet another Frozen doll.  

However, during each of my recent trips to Target, this doll and her companion, My Size Elsa, were the focus of much excitement.  I watched several little kids stare longingly up at these three-foot-tall sisters, and I also overheard at least a dozen parents frantically trying to track one down when they were temporarily out-of-stock.

In my part of the world, the My Size dolls come in stock fleetingly.  It's getting pretty rare to see one in an actual store.  However, it's possible to track them online by doing a local store search.  If one of the dolls is shown in stock, you can purchase her online and pick her up at the store within the next five days.  I mention this because the only other option is to spend $140 or more at Amazon or on eBay...which I definitely don't recommend.  This doll is absolutely not worth over $60, but is she even worth her $60 price tag?  Let's find out.

Anna comes in a large cardboard box with an irregular plastic window around the doll's chest and head:

My doll looked like she had a brown spot on her nose:

A nose freckle?

The cardboard portions of the box are decorated with pictures of the doll interacting with a real child.  There are also little balloons advertising Anna's accessory (a "wear and share LIGHT UP flower clip") and her impressive height (over three feet).

Ok, I have to pause here to inspect these two pictures side-by-side (taken from the front and back of the box):

One of them is photoshopped--I think the one on the left.  The real girl looks just a few inches taller than Anna on the left, but then when she's bending over, her height doesn't change much relative to the doll.  It would have been nice to have an actual shot of a real child standing upright next to the doll.  Also, Anna's skin tone is much darker and more red-orange colored than those pictures suggest.

There's a small section advertising other toys in this series: two child-sized dresses and a vanity playset:

Anna is tied to a cardboard backdrop with minimal decoration.  

Her feet and arms have plastic on them:

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to get Anna out of her box.  She had twine around her neck and feet, but this was very easy to untie--no scissors necessary.  For a doll this large and potentially awkward to handle, her de-boxing was quick and hassle-free.

Here she is out of the box, standing nicely on her own...

...with a very wrinkled dress.

She has really long hair, which was hard to see while she was inside her box.  It hangs well past her waist in two long braids.

Her bangs have an unusual shape, rooted more on the left side of her head than the right:

There's also a small section of shorter hair pulled off to Anna's right side and tied into her braid:

The braids themselves are very thick and soft and have a beautiful shine to them.  There's even a streak of white down the right side of Anna's head.

The back of Anna's neck is marked with the Jakks Pacific copyright:

Jakks Pacific also makes the Princess & Me dolls.  In many ways, My Size Anna is just an enormous Princess & Me doll.

Anna's face has an open-mouthed smile with a wide band of un-detailed teeth.  It's hard not to contrast these teeth to the incredibly realistic teeth on my Wildflower Dolls Tara.  I don't particularly like this doll's expression.  She has such a vacant, generic stare compared to the expressive goofiness of the movie character.

My Size Elsa has a closed-mouth smile that is better, but I didn't want to review another Elsa doll...and I like Anna's red hair.

Anna's eyes are a pretty teal green color and have more detail than her other features:

Most of Anna's features are so blocky and simplified, the finely-drawn, realistic lines in her eyelashes were quite a surprise to see:

Anna has several layers of eyeshadow, including a thick orange band in the middle that coordinates with her hair.  Her eyebrows are un-detailed and mostly straight with angled ends:

She has a small number of light freckles and a faint blush in her cheeks.  Her smile is very wide...and very white:

Looks like a sports mouthguard.

I just don't think a doll this large can get away with having such simplified, monolithic teeth.  They look very strange, and it's all I can do to not get out my paintbrush and try to add some detail.

The nice thing is, there's no brown spot on my doll's nose, just a shiny area from where her face banged against the plastic window of the box:

Not a nose freckle.

I like Anna's profile more than her forward-facing portrait.  Her upturned nose (and the fact that I'm only seeing half of her teeth...) provides some welcome character:

She looks sweet here, I think.

Anna is wearing a blue dress that resembles the winter outfit from the movie.  The fabrics are all synthetic and stiff...and very prone to wrinkles.  Notice that there is no decoration at all on the back of this dress:

Maybe little kids don't notice this half-decorated phenomenon at all, but it bothers me.  It's so clear that box appeal trumps the actual quality of the doll's outfit.  Don't get me started.

The front of the bodice is the prettiest part of the outfit: 

'Cause it's actually decorated.

It has sequined detail around the neckline:

Elastic-gathered tulle sleeves:

And scrolling glittery patterns along the front:

The princess seams of the bodice are edged in gold braid, and the front of the waistline is decorated with a gold ribbon.  Unfortunately, the un-decorated back of the bodice is made out of a completely different material.  The seam between front and back is particularly glaring in this area:

The back of the dress is very plain, and even more wrinkled than the front.  Perhaps some of those wrinkles will hang out over time.

The velcro closure and elastic gathering at the back of the waist make this dress easy to get on and off.

The skirt has two layers.  The top layer is a sheer blue mesh with glittery designs:

The underskirt is pale blue and has a very stiff, synthetic feel that I don't care for at all.  It reminds me of a cheap windbreaker jacket.

Anna is not wearing her signature black boots, but soft vinyl flats:

They slide easily on and off, and have a generic "P" (for princess?) on the front.

Under her shoes, Anna has toeless slipper feet:

Under her dress, Anna has a painted blue camisole:

*Update 11/27: I forgot to mention that when I first took Anna's dress off, there was an overpowering chemical smell.  This odor dissipated pretty quickly (which is why I forgot to mention it) but it was fairly unpleasant in the moment.

This is nice for modesty, and I like the blue color.  The hip region is a little awkward-looking, though, since there's no painted blue area on the legs:

I don't think you could actually have underwear that fits like this...
not comfortably, anyway.

 My doll has a few small scuffs on the front of her camisole:

This doll has five points of articulation, all of which can be demonstrated by a single picture:

Anna's head spins all of the way around and can also tip from side-to-side very slightly.  So slightly that it might be a mistake.  Her shoulders and hips have rotation in only one plane: she can move her arms straight up or down, and she can do front-back splits.  

Her flexed feet make it impossible for her to sit completely on the ground when she's doing the splits, though.  She is supported by her feet and hands:

She has pretty hands with slender, delicate fingers:

Her hip joints are chunky and have straight top edges that prevent the limbs from moving past 90 degrees in either direction:

90 degrees of hip rotation is more than enough to allow Anna to sit solidly on the ground, though:

She can also sit in a full-sized dining room chair, with her feet sticking out over the edge just a little bit.

From this angle, you can see that the seam along the left side of her body doesn't line up perfectly:

Anna's other seams aren't particularly attractive, either.  There are a lot of white patches, shiny areas, and visible gaps.

I can't really photograph the feel of this doll, but let me try to describe it.  She's fairly heavy, but I think a lot of that weight comes from her hair and the simple fact that she's so large.  Her arms are made out of thin, hollow plastic with a small amount of bend to it.  If I pick this doll up by her arms, they bend outwards a little, making me nervous that they'll snap off at the shoulder.  I tend to pick her up by the neck.  The movement at the shoulder joints is also a little stiff.  

Anna's legs are made out of a harder hollow plastic, as is her torso.  I feel like I have to manhandle this doll to move her hips--grabbing her around the neck and pushing or pulling pretty hard on her legs.  A small child might have trouble posing this doll and getting her balanced so that she'll stand upright on her own.

Overall, she's a bit tricky to manipulate and her posing is very limited.  However, she's lighter weight than some other dolls this size, and so I can picture a younger child toting (dragging?) her around without too much trouble.

I was anxious to take down Anna's beautiful red braids...

But first I wanted to try out the flower clip that is this doll's only accessory.  The flower motif doesn't seem relevant to Frozen.  It reminds me more of Tangled.  Did My Size Rapunzel have this accessory too, I wonder?  Hm.

Anyway, the flower is heavy, bulky and thick.  It sticks out considerably from Anna's head and looks fake:

This flower is also hard to get out of Anna's hair.  The pegs on the thin plastic barrette section get caught in her braids.

Here's the flower up close:

Flower gleam and glow...let your power shine!

When I push the center of the flower, a single light comes on and flickers a little bit.  It's very unimpressive:

Is mine broken?

Here's Anna's hair taken down:

It falls in large kinks from the braids, but is very smooth and silky to the touch.  The color is great:

The hair feels very thick and full:

The rooting is dense along the hairline and down the center part in back, but the other areas are quite sparse:

Anna's scalp is painted orange to lessen the effect of the thin hair.

The hair brushes out easily, and the kinks soften into waves:

Without the braids, the cut of the hair is uneven in back:

The tied-back area to the right of Anna's face gets hard to manage when the hair is down.  I am nervous about removing these ties, because I think the shorter hair in this section might look funny and hang awkwardly in Anna's face:

Anna's uneven bangs make her hair fall over her face much more on the right side:

Overall, I really like the look and feel of this hair.  It's much softer than I expected.  The hair is silky and easy to brush, but the sheer length and volume of hair make brushing and styling a fairly exerting activity.  Smaller children might have trouble keeping this hair tangle-free if it's left down.

I did my best to re-create Anna's original braided hairstyle, which turned out fine on the first try.  I am always nervous that I'll be able to re-define parts on dolls like this, but Anna's center part easily fell back into place.  It's great to know that if this hair is taken down, it can be put back up without much trouble at all.

Anna is over three feet tall, but she's slender, with a fairly small head.  She can wear some real children's clothing, but it hangs loose on her because of her slim proportions.  I tried a few 18-24 month GAP sweaters on her (borrowed from my Himstedt dolls) but they're way too big, so maybe things in the 12 month size would be better.  I don't have a lot of children's clothing to test this with.

Here's My Size Anna with my 12" Disney Store Anna for size comparison:

Notice the different skin tones, too: My Size Anna is much redder.

There's quite a contrast in the facial expressions of these two dolls:

I also wanted to pose Anna with the Build-A-Bear Olaf plush (who I think is adorable):

These two are a pretty good match!  

I took Anna outside into our newly-snowy landscape for a few final pictures.  This photo session didn't last long--partly because there was slush falling from the trees, but also because Anna just doesn't have very many different poses to offer, and I cannot connect to her generic face.

Bottom line?  Many things about this doll are cheaply-made and unimpressive to me.  She has a hollow, plastic body with minimal articulation and imprecise construction.  Her dress is stiff, half-decorated, and feels like an inexpensive Halloween costume.  Worst of all, this doll's vacant face does nothing to capture the endearing personality of the beloved movie character.  

Anna's size is cumbersome to me, and I feel like it magnifies the deficiencies in her detailing and quality.  However, any toy that approaches life size has a special kind of appeal.  I can see younger children reacting to this doll in a unique way simply because of her size.  She can sit at the dinner table or on the couch, and would be able to interact with a child's other toys in a convincing way--perhaps even wear a few of their old clothes.  

What I like best about My Size Anna is her long, silky red hair.  The hair has a much nicer texture than I anticipated and the color is perfect.  It's a bit of a chore to brush the hair, but only because of Anna's size--not because the hair fiber is tangle-prone or coarse.  Unfortunately, I think younger children will struggle to brush this hair and keep it looking neat, making the doll's best quality something her target audience can't fully enjoy.

Despite my many criticisms of this doll, I do appreciate her appeal as a fantasy gift.  For a young Frozen fan, the sight of My Size Anna (or Elsa) under the Christmas tree could be truly magical.  I can remember my mom spending $50 on a Melissa and Doug four-foot stuffed giraffe for my son's seventh birthday.  The impact of seeing that huge giraffe for the first time made such an impression on my animal-loving child that he still has the toy in his room today...ten years later.  So, it might be worth the $60 retail price for that "wow" moment, or to make a child's wish come true, but I certainly wouldn't pay a penny more.  

I get roped in by these oversized, holiday-targeted toys as much as anyone, but I have to keep reminding myself that bigger is seldom better.  I can think of a dozen other dolls in the $60 price range that have nicer quality, more staying power, and higher play potential than My Size Anna.  I will try to feature a few of these options in the weeks to come.