Lalaloopsy Pet Pal Palooza!

It feels wonderful to be able to showcase a few final guest reviewers here on the blog.  I have two more guest posts after this one, and all of these reviewers have put so much thought and enthusiasm into their work--it's inspiring.  Today's lovely guest, Carissa, emailed last September to suggest a Hello Kitty figure review.  She thought it would make a nice expansion for my brief Jada and Blip Hello Kitty toy comparison, and I totally agreed.  However, a few months later the Lalaloopsy Pet Pals animals were released and both Carissa and I were completely charmed.  So, Carissa offered to write a review of the new animal minis instead, and proposed some excellent ideas for comparisons.  But there are so many fun Lalaloopsy products these days, I got carried away and kept suggesting additions to Carissa's post: How about one of the large Pet Pals for comparison?  Are they the same size as the Littles?  Ooh--and maybe you could also compare a Mooshka mini?  Hey, and you know those cute little playsets?  I bet those would look sooo adorable with the minis...you get the idea.  By the middle of the summer, Carissa had cheerfully agreed to review half of the Lalaloopsy lineup.  She's pretty amazing.

So, today Carissa will feature the Lalaloopsy mini Pet Pal pig (Belly Curly Tail) and will compare her to the full size Belly Curly Tail figure.  She will also compare the full-sized Belly to a Lalaloopsy Little.  As an extra bonus, Carissa took the time to compare the Belly mini to two other Lalaloopsy Pet Pal minis (Wooly Fuzzy Fleece and Tickles B. Nana) and to the Mooshka Fairy Tales mini fox!  There's even a playset included at the end of the review...along with a couple of other fun surprises.  In order to keep the post from being too long, Carissa uploaded many of her extra photographs into a gorgeous Flickr album.  I highly recommend taking a peek at these bright, detailed shots.  They really add a lot to the review.

I hope that this post will be a treat for Lalaloopsy fans and a great overview for those who are not yet familiar with this whimsical brand.  Welcome to Carissa's incredible Lalaloopsy Pet Pals extravaganza!

Lalaloopsy Pet Pals "Toothy Yawns-a-lot" hippo (and friends!).

Hello! My name is Carissa and I’m a 22 year old doll collector living in Idaho. I’ve been collecting since 2008 and tend to prefer adorable playline dolls these days. My other hobbies include photographing anything interesting and sculpting things out of polymer clay (mostly dolls, of course).

While I was looking for things to add to my birthday wishlist in May I happened upon the most amazing thing: an adorable little piglet Lalaloopsy mini! I’ve been passively collecting Lalaloopsy minis since 2011 and pigs are one of my favorite animals so it was truly a match made in doll heaven.

A few weeks and one card full of birthday money later, I bought my first mini piglet (Belly Curly Tail) at Target for $4.99. Along with the adorable Belly Curly Tail, Target also had Wooly Fuzzy Fleece and Purrty Kitten in stock. I couldn’t resist picking up Fleece as well but wasn’t impressed by the clashing orange cat’s pink tutu.

Belly Curly Tail.

Belly Curly Tail is packaged in a box identical to that of the regular Lalaloopsy minis. The back of the box has a photo of the full-sized Belly Curly Tail and tells you her birthday (March 1^st), what she was sewn from (a farmer's hat), and a bit of personality. She’s messy and she snores, isn’t that cute?

These earlier unboxing photos were taken indoors so the colors are a little off.

Belly (who I'll call Curly) and her accessories are held in by protruding plastic without any annoying rubberbands or dreaded little plastic ties. It only takes a few moments to completely unbox these minis and no scissors are required!

Curly comes with a pink-drizzled candy apple and a darker pink bindle.

The paint jobs on all three pieces are pretty much perfect, with only a few extremely small flaws here and there. The detail in her mold is fantastic! Curly’s body and clothing all have tiny molded stitches, her bow has molded polka dots, and her overalls have buttons that were both molded and painted. In my experience this is very typical of mini Lalaloopsies - they have amazing details and excellent painting.

Curly’s overalls have a molded pattern that seems to be flowers and paisleys, although it’s a little hard to tell due to her size.

My only disappointment with the doll is that her tail is left unpainted but honestly its not much of a complaint:

My boyfriend said her tail is probably inside the overalls instead of poking out and I can buy that reasoning.

Her bindle is bursting with molded details on all sides. The stick has a pretty nice wood grain and the fabric is covered with what looks like suns and paisleys. There’s even a cute little heart patch “sewn” to one side of it!

The plainest piece is the apple, but even that has molded wood grain on both sides. Having the pink candy flowing down from the top seems a little odd to me but it’s still a very cute little accessory.

Curly has a pretty great range of motion! Her arms move forward and back together as one piece while her legs can be moved 360 degrees separately. Unfortunately her arms don’t hold poses super well but her legs can hold a variety of poses.

She sits and stands on her own extremely well and can even balance on one foot with a little bit of help. Her head can turn all the way around but can’t look up or down. Curly feels very sturdy and I think she’d be able to stand up to quite a few games.

The full size Belly Curly Tail’s box refers to her as a Pet Pal and she’s about the size of a Lalaloopsy Little doll. The front of her box has a simplified version of the information on the back of Mini Curly’s box, listing her birthday, what she was sewn from, and a one-word personality:

Full-sized Belly Curly Tail.

The back of her box has photos of some of the available Pet Pals dolls along with a more detailed personality.

These colors are even less accurate.  She was too big for my lightbox!

For some reason my full size Belly Curly Tail, who I’ll refer to as Momma Pig from now on, was imported from Canada. Most of the text on her box is repeated in English, Spanish, French, and what we think is Dutch.

Although her box looked very daunting and hard to open at first it was even easier than Curly’s! I only had to carefully snip a few rubber bands and one cardboard-ish tie to pull Momma and her candy apple out. 

The only downside to this packaging is that kids can touch the dolls and they can fall and get scuffed, so be careful to check before buying one. My Momma Pig was ordered from Amazon and arrived with cling wrap around her box and body to protect her.

Just like little Curly, Momma Pig is full of details! She has all the same molded stitching on her body and even has freckles above her nose.

Full-sized Pet Pal Belly Curly Tail.

However the polka dots on her bow are only painted, not molded, and the middle of every dot is thinner than the edges. Momma’s ears are the opposite of Curly’s, with dark pink plastic and light pink painted on the inside. This might bother some people but I think it’s a nice little difference between “mother” and “daughter."

Momma Pig’s candy apple is huge (almost as tall as Curly) and, as expected, is very detailed. The handle has wood grain and stitches on both sides and sprinkles molded into the candy part. Another difference from Curly’s apple is that Momma’s was dipped like a typical candy apple instead of having candy poured on top. I much prefer the general mold and design of Momma’s apple and wish Curly’s was closer to it.

As I’d never seen Lalaloopsy clothing up close and personal before I was very excited to see what Momma’s overalls were like. When I flipped her over I found the adorable pink tail I wanted! Its made of a soft somewhat bendable plastic that’s different from the plastic used on the rest of her body. It peeks out through a large hole in the overalls, obviously designed to accommodate her tail.

The straps velcro to the inside of the overalls so they’re very easy to take on and off. Sadly Momma has blue stains below those two bits of velcro, although no other velcrowed areas are affected. 

The straps are lined with clear plastic and a large white tag acts as a liner to protect her belly from the dark fabric. The inside looks a little bit messy but they seem to be pretty decent quality to me.

I wouldn’t advise redressing Momma Pig a lot because after doing it just once her overalls started to tear apart at the seam, right below her tail. It's easy to hide but I don’t think she’ll be running around in her birthday suit again.

Unfortunately Momma’s bandana is the one accessory I just can’t stand. Its bright orange with a plain black flower pattern. The colors really don’t suit her at all and I don’t think I’ll be putting it back on. I much prefer the salmon-y red/pink of Curly’s bandana.

Momma Pig’s articulation and posing abilities are excellent. Her arms move separately and seem like they could go around 360 degrees if her head wasn’t so big. Her legs can go around 360 degrees with no problems. She’s able to move her head forward, backward, tilted left, tilted right, and all the way around. I was surprised at how expressive she is! Her head and body are slightly different shades of pink.

She’s able to stand on her own but it doesn’t seem entirely solid to me because her legs are slightly different lengths.

Thanks to her large head she can’t sit without something to lean against. But while she’s leaning she can show off a one-foot balance easier than Curly can.

There's a fun variety in the Pet Pal line. It's hard to buy just one! I'll show you a few more of the mini and full-sized dolls that I have from this group.

The Wooly Fuzzy Fleece Pet Pal mini comes in a nearly identical box as Curly.

Mini Pet Pal Wooly Fuzzy Fleece.

I have to wonder what Fleece knits her scarves out of. If it’s her own wool, that’s definitely weird.

Fleece's box photos have much more accurate colors, but they're still not perfect.

Fleece comes with a shepherd’s staff and a cupcake. I think she might be a little less detailed than Curly but she still has quite a lot for her size!

Her face, ears, and dress have lots of tiny stitches, although they’re a little harder to see with her coloring. Her dress has layers of ruffles on the top and underside while her legs are patterned like stockings.

Her bottom has a very strange pattern. It looks like the lower bit of the circle on the tummy of all the Pet Pals is peeking out below her dress, but it’s patterned like her legs. The rest of her “underwear” is plain, aside from a molded “seam” of stitching that goes from the circle to what I think is a tiny bit of her tail. I’m honestly not sure what’s going on there exactly.

Fleece’s staff is very cute, with molded stripes on both sides that make it look a bit like a candy cane. The bow has tiny molded polka dots on both sides but is unpainted on the back.

However there is what looks like a molded ribbon or something that “keeps the bow on."  Such a clever little detail!

The cupcake has a molded pink wrapper and a painted white cake with white frosting, molded white sprinkles, and a molded red cherry. I guess Fleece loves vanilla!

Fleece’s articulation is pretty much exactly the same as Curly’s, aside from the obvious restriction of her leg movements because of the dress. The biggest difference between the two is how she sits. I was worried the dress might keep her from being able to sit properly but the edge rests on the ground when she’s sitting so it works out quite well! When sitting on a flat wooden desk turning her head right tips her over but when she sits on my laptop, which has tiny grooves, she can turn her head right with no problems.

Now I'll show you another one of the full size Pet Pals: Toothy Yawns-a-lot (the hippo!).

Toothy Yawns-a-lot arrived in a box very similar to Momma Pig’s, containing all the same information, however the designs are completely different.

Full-sized Pet Pal Toothy Yawns-a-lot.

I think Toothy is from the newest wave of Pet Pals because most of the dolls I saw in stores have an almost identical box design. I’m really disappointed that Lalaloopsy seems to be turning further away from colorful unique boxes in favor of stereotypical pink rectangles.

As you probably expect Toothy is full of wonderful details! She’s got molded stitching on her head, body, and her adorable flower accessory. Her hands and feet are supposed to look like hippo feet but the tiny “toes” design looks a lot more like elephant feet.

By the way, have you noticed anything odd about this Toothy?

Unfortunately one of her arms is backwards and it cannot be fixed. I tried as hard as I could but it’s completely impossible to move her arm all the way around because her head is so big. If it was just a bit smaller it seems like it would be an easy fix. I did a bit of Googling and it seems regular Littles have a neck plug that looks a bit hard to work around. Unfortunately I don’t think I’m brave enough to give it a shot so Toothy’s stuck with a backwards arm.

Toothy has the same articulation and posing abilities as Momma Pig aside from a few key differences. The biggest is that Toothy cannot stand on her own because her legs are drastically different sizes. She can balance on the longer leg on flat surfaces without any effort, so at least there’s something. If her tail is posed right she can sit like a champ but if not she topples over immediately. After undressing her to take a closer look at her outfit I discovered that one of her leg holes is pretty warped.

Toothy has even more issues (covered in-depth over on Flickr) and honestly, they’re unacceptable. I realized I was being way too forgiving and lenient because hippos are one of my favorite animals. So I decided to contact MGA about her issues. Their website states that you need a receipt but I hoped maybe I could find a way around that as I don’t have one. They sent me an email the next morning asking for receipt photos so I was just going to let it go.

But MGA really wanted to fix this problem. I’d put down my boyfriend’s cell phone number in the contact form since I don’t have a phone myself. I’ve never had a company actually use the number but MGA called my boyfriend the next day about it, while he was at work. I thought they’d give up after that but they called again the next day during work. We called them back intending to just let them know that we don’t have a receipt.

That didn’t matter and they were happy to replace her! All they asked us to do was deface her (which my boyfriend handled) and send photos of it. Unfortunately the original replacement was lost in the mail somewhere. When I let them know they sent a new Toothy and let me know she’d be arriving with a small gift because of the inconvenience.

Replacement Toothy was apparently shipped overnight because she arrived the very next morning with two extras! When I saw “MGA” on the box I couldn’t believe it! That’s some great customer service and I really couldn’t be happier.

Replacement Toothy has her arms attached in the right direction and her leg holes aren’t damaged. Her neck is just as flexible, and holds just as many poses as Momma Pig. She can sit, pose, and stand perfectly.

I haven’t seen Lalaloopsy Pencil Toppers in stores so I was really excited to pull this out of the box. I don’t really have a use for pencil toppers but the giant pets looked like fun. They fit well on pencils and the pets make excellent companions for Lalaloopsy minis. They’re pretty big compared to the actual pets the minis come with but I think the size is awesome!

I’m a big fan of My Little Pony but I stopped collecting the newest line (Friendship is Magic) in favor of Lalaloopsy ponies in 2013 because of their higher quality and diverse designs. It’s been quite some time since I was able to add a new pony to my collection so I was super thrilled to pull out Paw Paw! There’s not much I can say about her without going off on a tangent so make sure to check out the Flickr album if you’re curious about seeing her in-depth.

Paw-Paw Lalaloopsy Ponies figure.

Another thing I wanted to do in this review is compare the Pet Pal minis to the regular Lalaloopsy mini dolls.

I bought Star Magic Spells for $4.97 at Walmart the same day I bought Curly and Fleece. Partially because I wanted to compare Fleece to a currently in stock regular mini wearing a dress but mostly because of her awesome hippo-ish dragon:

Star Magic Spells mini.

More inaccurate box colors!

Here's the dragon pet:

How could I resist that adorable face?

As you can see, the mini animals are shorter and stockier than regular minis. They also have significantly larger heads, which makes Fleece look kind of comical next to Star. But on the positive side (at least to me), their differences make Star look much more ragdoll-like than she does on her own.

Wooly Fuzzy Fleece and Star Magic Spells.

I couldn’t find any minis with pants when I was shopping so I had to compare Curly to this Sunny Side Up I got in 2011 or 2012.

Belly Curly Tails and Sunny Side Up minis.

It's really striking how similar they are, isn’t it? I have to wonder if Sunny is the inspiration for Curly or if they’re somehow connected. According to the Lalaloopsy wiki Sunny Side Up was made from a farmer’s shirt and overalls. Maybe Curly was made from that same farmer’s hat?

I mean look at the full size Sunny Side Up with Momma Pig! Their overalls are so similar:

I wish the minis could interact better.

Anyways, because of their similarities and Sunny’s hairdo I think these two look a lot better together than Fleece and Star. I don’t think Curly causes a “ragdoll effect” in Sunny at all. Please note that Sunny cannot sit on her own normally, but because of the slightly angled backdrop I was able to get her to sit for a few shots.

Fleece & Star’s articulation is hard to compare, since normal Lalaloopsy minis can’t exactly hold poses. The ones in dresses have dangly legs that swing around on a pole and arms that tend to fall right back down or not move much at all. However Curly & Sunny have much more similar articulation. Their legs can both go around a full 360 degrees, although their arms both just sort of slide back down after a little while. They all have the same basic turns-all-the-way-around head movement.

From left: Belly Curly Tails, Sunny Side Up, Star Magic Spells, Wooly Fuzzy Fleece.

Now, I'll take a minute to compare the full size Pet Pals with a Lalaloopsy Little doll.  For this I chose to use Tiny Might because I already had the mini version of her.  You can see photographs of the two Tinies together over on Flickr.

As expected, Tiny Might’s box has all the same information as Momma Pig and Toothy. The edges are decorated with comic book style imagery.

Tiny Might Lalaloopsy Little.

Tiny Might and Pet Pals Toothy Yawns-a-lot.

Her box matches the Little and Pet Pals boxes I’ve seen in person. I’m guessing Tiny (and those Pet Pals) are from the last wave and Toothy is from the newest. I think Momma Pig’s curved box might be a Canadian or international only thing but I haven’t been able to verify it.

Just like the minis, the big Pet Pals are stockier than the Littles. They seem to be about the same size but the Pets’ head accessories make them look taller. Because of the size difference I don’t think it would be possible for them to share clothes although they can definitely share certain accessories. I think they all look great together and nobody has any “ragdoll effects” like with some of the minis.

Pet Pal Belly Curly Tails and Littles Tiny Might.

Pet Pal Belly Curly Tails, Littles Tiny Might and Pet pal Toothy Yawns-a-lot.

Momma wearing Tiny's cape.

Emily suggested comparing the mini Pet Pals to a Mooshka Fairy Tale Friends mini and I loved the idea! I didn’t know they made animals because I thought Mooshka wasn’t even sold here. It turns out I was wrong and they’re on the baby dolls/toys aisle I never browse. Regardless of my mistake this little Fox was the first Mooshka I’ve ever seen in person:

Mooshka Fairy Tales Fox.

Her box is whimsical and I really felt drawn to it. Although I’m a huge Lalaloopsy fan, the one doll I kept picking up while waiting for time to unbox them all was the Fox. There’s something about her that’s just different.

For this comparison, I decided to use yet another Pet Pal mini: Tickles B. Nana the monkey!

Mini Pet Pals Tickles B. Nana.

Tickles comes with a balloon animal and a chocolate-covered banana:

Tickles B. Nana and Fox actually have a lot more in common than I thought before opening them. They both have yellow-orange skirts, rounded hands & feet, movable tails, and an interesting skin pattern.

They feel like they’re made of different materials. I now completely understand what Emily was talking about in her Mooshka Fairy Tale Mini review. The little Fox seems like a completely different type of toy and feels more expensive, which does match her higher price.

Tickles B. Nana and the Mooshka fox.

I was extremely curious to see how Tickles looked with Silly Funhouse Ace Fender Bender--another Lalaloopsy regular mini.

Mini dolls Ace Fender Bender and Tickles B. Nana.

Once again Tickles is surprisingly similar to her match! They have similar outfits and color schemes on top of both having jointed tails and patterned bodies. Their biggest difference is that Ace’s outfit looks like it was knitted while Tickles’ body resembles a sock. Their banana accessories even share the same mold!

These two come with very similar banana treats:

The milk chocolate is Tickles' and the dark chocolate is Ace's.

Tickles also looks a lot like the full size Ace’s pet monkey! I wonder if this was intentional?

Full-sized Ace and pet.

Here's Tickles with the mini Ace's mini monkey:

Tickles with mini Ace's pet.

While looking up Ace I came across a Silly Funhouse 2 pack with Peanut Big Top and Ember Flicker Flame. It looks like their balloon dog is the same as Tickles’, just in a different color.

Does Tickles work at the Funhouse or something?

Speaking of Tickles’ balloon, there’s no way she’d ever be able to hold it. The “handle” is just way too small. I really wish they’d scrapped the handle so it could just be a regular balloon animal dog. Ace is able to hold it because of his long sleeves but it falls right over on a bare Lalaloopsy arm.

Fox holds it perfectly and was actually my favorite to have it on! She looks so cute holding it.

Mooshka fox mini holding Tickles B. Nana's balloon.

Unfortunately I had to shove the balloon onto Fox’s arm a bit hard and it dented the paint. I wouldn’t suggest trying this on pained Mooshka arms but I imagine unpainted ones should be okay.

One last ting I wanted to do is see if the Pet Pal minis could share the Lalaloopsy mini playsets.

Marina Anchors’ Bubble Fun is an awesome bathroom playset:

As a child it always bugged me that it seemed downright impossible to find accessories for my dollhouses’ bathrooms (if they even had one). I would’ve loved to have this! All of the pieces are super detailed and very few parts are permanently attached to one another. You could even make a new shower curtain if you don’t like the one it came with.

The playset can be a bit tough to keep standing. Although the tub and sink are fairly solid, the other pieces fall over fairly easily. Getting a doll in the tub with the bathtub caddy isn’t too tough, but getting something to balance on the caddy at the same time? Good luck!

Anyways, I think everyone passed the tub test but the Mooshka Fox definitely won. She looks so natural in it, even if she’s a bit too tall standing next to it. Only the regular Lalaloopsy mini was the right height for the sink, but since she can’t stand I’m not sure how useful it would be.

Overall I think Lalaloopsy minis, Pet Pal minis, and Mooshka minis could play quite a few games together! They can use most of one another’s accessories just fine, although the scale can be a bit off here and there. The natural looking Mooshkas do look a bit odd with some of the bright Lalaloopsy accessories but it’s not a deal breaker as far as I’m concerned.

Accessories not featured in the review are from other Lalaloopsy minis.

I’m honestly not sure how to summarize this review. It started out as a simple look at the pigs compared to my mini collection with a pretty clear vision: talk about what’s great (and not so great) about the pets. Then Emily and I started thinking of possible comparisons, bringing in more Pet Pals, a playset, a Little, and a Mooshka mini. Following Toothy’s issues we were surprised with the addition of a Pony and pencil toppers. What began as a look at Pet Pals turned into a big view of quite a few things in the Lalaloopsy lines. Heck, its almost a complete review of all the Lalaloopsy types!

I guess the thing that stands out to be most across all of these different products is the imagination, quality, and price. Everything I’ve ever personally seen under the Lalaloopsy name has creative ideas, amazing details, excellent painting even on the tiniest of pieces, and is well worth the price. I can’t think of a single time I’ve ever been truly disappointed in a Lalaloopsy purchase. Before Original Toothy I’d never run into any problems aside from extremely tiny paint errors, and even Toothy’s massive list of problems couldn’t stop me from adoring her. The customer service I got when I contacted MGA about Original Toothy was excellent and I don’t have any complaints on that front either.

Lalaloopsy isn’t for everyone and that’s okay, but if your interest is piqued, I feel I can safely say that anything covered in the review would be an excellent purchase. I can’t speak for anything else the brand makes, as this review covers everything I’ve ever owned or played with, but I’m confident that they’d probably make good purchases too.

If what you saw has you curious, head on over to my Flickr album to take an in-depth look at everything I unboxed for the review! If you have any questions or comparison photo requests please don’t hesitate to ask, even if it’s been a while. I’m happy to have any excuse to pull out my Lalaloopsies and drive to the park for a photo session.

I really hope that you all enjoyed my super oversized review! I had a ton of fun working on it over the past few months.