Hogwarts Heroes "Hermione Granger" by Mattel (2001)

The doll I'm going to review today is about the same age as my kids.  She's an 8-inch Hermione Granger doll that was released in 2001, the year that the first Harry Potter movie (The Sorcerer's Stone) came to theaters.  I always hesitate before I review an older, discontinued doll.  Doing this can be confusing (since most reviews are of newly-released dolls) and also a little frustrating.  Nobody wants to read a review, fall in love with a doll, and then not be able to find one for sale.  However, I purchased my Hermione only about a year ago, so she's still out there.  I paid $35 for her, and right now there are a few on Amazon and eBay in the $30-60 range.  Her original price was $19.99.

I love discovering older dolls and reviewing them.  This is because I really enjoy exploring the history of doll manufacturing, but also because it's refreshing to look at dolls that are removed from trends that dominate the current market.  So many of the newest doll releases are bright and colorful with huge heads and exaggerated facial features.  In contrast, Mattel clearly designed this Hermione to be realistic--and in the likeness of a young Emma Watson.  I think they did a pretty good job:

Hogwarts Heroes Hermione Granger, Mattel (2001).

I've had this doll for over a year, so why am I reviewing her now?  Well, at first I wasn't sure I wanted to take her out of the box.  I have this trouble with many older dolls.  They feel like perfect little time capsules, and I hate to ruin that.  However, I was really curious about this doll's quality and articulation.  Also, I have another Hermione Granger doll in my review queue that I thought would make a fun comparison to this one.  So, I'll review Mattel's Hermione today, and the other Hermione in my next post.

Another thing that made it easy to de-box this particular doll was the fact that her box came in pretty bad shape.  It's a simple cardboard window box, and it shows the kind of wear you'd expect from being stored and moved around for 15 years:

The back of the box has a photograph of the doll and a brief synopsis of The Sorcerer's Stone:

This doll has a slightly gimmicky feature on her robe that is explained on the box:

Basically, there's a Sorcerer's Stone accessory that, when heated, can be used to reveal a crest design on the robe.

There are smaller photographs of the Harry and Ron dolls at the very bottom of the box.  I'd love to own the whole trio some day.

Hermione is attached to a cardboard backdrop with wire ties and some thread in her hair.

The Sorcerer's Stone accessory is mounted on a separate cardboard pop-out.  It's rubber-banded in place to look like it's being held by some life-sized photographed fingers:

Those fingers startle me every time I look at them.

Hermione is mounted inside a three dimensional cardboard archway.  She's positioned to be looking off to the side.  Here she is looking at the camera:

She has a great smiling face:

The very back of the backdrop is not especially interesting--there are some orange-tinged pine trees reflected in water, and what looks like the Hogwarts castle off in the distance:

Hermione stands well on her own:

She's wearing her full Gryffindor uniform, and the top layer of her hair is crimped to mimic the movie character's charmingly frizzy hair.

The doll's features don't look much like Emma Watson (Watson's freckles are concealed in the movies, for one) but--especially with the uniform and the distinctive hair--there's no doubt about who she's supposed to be:

Hermione comes with a plastic wand:

And the plastic Sorcerer's Stone:

The stone has a metal plate on the bottom that probably helps collect heat for the "magic crest" feature of the robe:

In fact, let's take a look at the magic crest feature right away.  The crest of the robe comes covered with a yellow sticker:

When I removed the sticker, I could already see the colors of the robe's crest.  This is probably because my photography lights are really hot.

I dipped the stone in hot water and then rubbed it on the crest.  The heat makes the colors much brighter:

I should mention that this same effect can be achieved by just holding the crest between hot fingers for a minute..or breathing hot air on it.  Also, the color only completely disappears when the room is very cold.  I wish the crest was permanently bright.  That would look better.

Hermione's robe also has a hood, which comes taped down in the back:

The hood is only decorative, though. It looks good when it's down...

...but can't be raised up over Hermione's head:

It would have a to be a pretty huge hood to fit over Hermione's frizzy hair, anyway.

The robe is made out of a shiny black synthetic fabric that's prone to wrinkles.  It is lined with a lightweight black mesh.

I took the robe off fairly early in the review because it interferes a little with Hermione's mobility.  The robe also makes it difficult to photograph Hermione's hair and face.

Under the robe, Hermione is wearing her full uniform (grey skirt, white blouse, knit vest, tie, tights and shoes).  The official Gryffindor uniform should include a long-sleeved sweater instead of a vest, but the extra layering would be impractical for such a small doll.

The skirt opens in the back with velcro, but the vest does not have an opening seam.  It has to be pulled off over Hermione's head.

The vest certainly looks better without a seam in the back, but it's a bit of a hassle to get it off.  I also worry that constant dressing and un-dressing might ruin the crimps in Hermione's hair.

With the robe out of the way, it's easier to see how Hermione's hair falls around her shoulders.  Despite the crimps, the hair fiber is actually quite silky, smooth and easy to manage.  

Underneath some shorter layers of crimped hair, the majority of the hair is perfectly straight and shiny:

Hermione's bangs are not especially thick, but they still make it hard to appreciate her eyes and eyebrows:

I used a few rubber bands to tie her hair back and lift the bangs away from her eyes:

Hermione's head is a little too big for her body, although this is less noticeable when the poofy hair is contained.

People react very differently (and often strongly) to smiling dolls.  I happen to really like Hermione's happy face.  The mold of her mouth looks natural (although the lips are quite thick).  Even Hermione's eyes are smiling.  You can tell that she's happy without seeing her mouth.

Now that I think of it, this doll's smile might be what keeps her from looking like the movie character, though.  Hermione doesn't smile much in the movies, especially in Sorcerer's Stone.  She tends to look serious--or exasperated.

The doll has appropriately thick eyebrows and quite a lot of detail in her eyes.  The freckles are a little large and sparse, but freckles are tough to do in dolls this small.

Another thing that's hard to do with smaller dolls is make intricate clothing for them.  Hermione's outfit has a ton of detail, especially considering the scale.

The overall appearance of the uniform is great:

However, some of the detail does not look as good up close.  The vest is the worst culprit here.  

The vest is made out of a grey waffle knit and has fine rib knit trim around the neck, sleeves and along the bottom.  The trim is bulky and a bit lopsided.  The right shoulder is especially bad, with its chunky seam turned outward and hard to get back in place:

The issues with the vest stem from the fact that it's not actually knitted together as a whole, but made from cut pieces of knitting that have been stitched together.  This makes all of the seams too bulky for the size of the garment.

The skirt and blouse are very well tailored:

The tie looks like a piece of striped ribbon that's knotted authentically:

But it's actually a loop of ribbon attached to elastic:

This design makes the tie really easy to use--and it still looks great.

The blouse closes in front with one plastic snap. I undid the snap and then tried to untuck the blouse, but I was only able to untuck half of it:

This is because the left side of the blouse has an elastic band that loops between Hermione's legs to keep the shirt in place.

It's a blouse onesie.

This feature makes dressing and un-dressing a little more fiddly, but the blouse stays tucked in very nicely.

The skirt has a dropped waist and is pleated all of the way around:

Under the skirt, Hermione is wearing thigh-high knitted socks--not tights--and black vinyl shoes:

The shoes do not have any painted details, but they have a molded strap and a stitching pattern around the back of the heel and above the thick soles:

Hermione is 8 inches tall and has thirteen points of articulation (that counts the ball-jointed torso as two joints):

If you look closely at Hermione's back, you'll see that she has a 1995 Mattel copyright--not 2001.  This suggests to me that the body was used for a doll line that came 6 years before the Hogwarts Heroes.  I have no idea what these dolls were, but am very interested to find out!  It's a tricky thing to research, but I'm working on it.

*Update: thank you to everyone who alerted me to the fact that this is Mattel's Gymnast Stacie body.  Mystery solved!! 

Whose body is this, Hermione?

Hermione's whole body is made out of hard plastic, with the exception of her soft vinyl head.  Her head is mounted so that it can look up, down, around, and even tip to the side:

Her shoulders have hinged rotation:

Hermione's elbows also have rotating hinge joints, but the movement in this area is unusual.

First of all, the pins at these joints are made out of metal.  All of the other hinged joints are plastic.

The peg that connects the lower arm to the upper arm is visible in my doll--and I can't push it in any further.

There's no articulation at the wrist, so the rotation of Hermione's elbow determines if the palm of her hand is facing forwards or backwards.

Oddly, the arms can flex more at the elbow when the back of the hand is facing towards the direction of the joint's movement--or towards the smaller angle of the joint.  So in this next picture, Hermione's right arm can bend more than her left:

In the picture below, the left arm has been rotated so that the back of the hand points towards the small angle of the joint.  This increases the flexion.

So, Hermione has an easier time touching her face when the back of her hand is pointed towards her face.  She cannot do this when the palms of her hands are facing her.

Hermione also has a double-jointed torso.  This allows her to tip from side to side and back and forth really well.  In fact, I found it a little hard to get her to stand up straight!

Hermione has elastic-strung hip joints with a great range of motion.  If anything, these joints are too loose.  I also don't trust this kind of elastic joint over time.  The elastic tends to stretch out and require replacement.

The elastic looks very thick and durable, though--not like the rubber bands that were used for doll hips when I was a kid.

Hermione's knees are simple (chunky) hinges.  They bend to about 90 degrees, which allows her to sit in a chair nicely:

She can also kneel (and balance nicely while doing it):

Hermione also has no trouble sitting on the floor.  

She has a great range of motion in her rotating hinged ankles, too.  The thing I really like about these joints is that they're nice and big...and they feel solid.  The doll does not collapse and fall down because of weak ankles.

Hermione is smaller than most of the play dolls I own. She is about the same size as a Lottie doll:

Hogwarts Heroes Hermione Granger, Lottie.

She's quite a bit shorter than Barbie's Stacie:

Hogwarts Heroes Hermione Granger, Barbie Stacie.

She's also shorter than a Juku Couture doll.  I posed these two together because they have very similar articulation.  However, Hermione stands on her ankles much more reliably than Hayley!

Hogwarts Heroes Hermione Granger, Juku Couture Hayley.

The dolls I own who are most similar to Hermione are my larger Paradise riders, Grace and Eva.  Here's Hermione with Grace:

Hogwarts Heroes Hermione Granger, Paradise rider Grace.

I really like the Paradise girls, but wow--Hermione has a much more appealing face, especially compared to Grace:

Grace's eye paint and blush are really overdone.

Hermione's articulation is every bit as good as the Paradise dolls', but her face is so much more natural and appealing--at least to me.  Also, Hermione's hair fiber is thinner, so it's a lot easier to manage (and more realistic-looking) than the Paradise hair.

These two dolls can share clothes nicely (with the exception of shoes: Hermione cannot wear Paradise shoes).  So, Hermione can get dressed for riding and Eva (my other Paradise rider) can pretend to be a Harry Potter character!

Hogwarts Heroes Hermione Granger and Paradise rider Eva,
with clothing swapped.

Eva would make a decent Luna Lovegood, except for the fact that Luna is in Ravenclaw, so this'd be the wrong uniform.

Here's Hermione riding Eva's horse, Merlin:

Still waiting for the fully-articulated hippogriff....

As I was getting Hermione dressed again, I took some final pictures of her.  She's a fun doll to play with, and she balances very well in a range of positions.  You'll notice that she's often posed with one leg sticking a little bit out to the side, like this:  

I really like it when dolls are able to balance in positions other than with both legs straight underneath them.  These poses add a lot of movement and personality to the character:

I also really like photographing Hermione's face--although it can can tricky because of her size.  I adore her warm expression and smiling eyes.

The wand is also pretty fun to play with.  It has a handle in the back so Hermione can hold it:

Although it falls out of her small hands really easily.

The Sorcerer's Stone accessory is accurate to the movie, but is really hard for Hermione to hold:

Wrist articulation would help.

I think I like this doll best when she's dressed in her full uniform minus the robe.  The vest might be a little rough around the edges, but it rounds out Hermione's skinny body shape and looks great from a distance.

Having said that, though, I'm very glad that this doll also came with a robe.  Hermione might be a little harder to move when she's wearing it, but it's such a classic look--unmistakably Harry Potter:

Notice how bright the colors in the crest are, even without any warming.

Bottom line?  I really enjoyed de-boxing this discontinued Hermione doll.  I find her very refreshing.  It's neat to me how old things can seem new again--simply by being significantly different from the current trends.  I wish I could go back in time and see what other dolls were on the shelf alongside Hermione back in 2001.

Hermione has an appealing face, great hair, and a plastic body with thirteen points of articulation.  Her resemblance to Emma Watson is negligible, but I only know of one Hermione Granger doll that has accomplished an accurate likeness of the actor (and she'll be in my next review).  I like this doll's features for what they are, though.  She has a lot of personality and is a versatile little character who could be used for a range of imaginary games.  At the same time, her distinctive hair and outfit make her more than accurate enough to be worthy of a Harry Potter re-enactment or display.  The highly articulated body was clearly used for another Mattel doll line before the Hogwarts Heroes.  Thanks to KiciaKocia and Stella, I now know that this was the Gymnast Stacie doll.  It's a wonderful, well-balanced body that's very fun to pose.  I only have two critiques of the body--one small and one pretty big.  First of all, the elbow articulation is odd.  Hermione has a hard time touching the palms of her hands to her head and face, and yet she can easily touch the backs of her hands to her face.  This is the opposite of what I'd expect.  My bigger issue with the articulation is that the hips are strung with elastic.  This is not my favorite style of joint, even though the flexibility is fantastic.  The hips on my doll are already loose, and I fear that they will only get worse with time.

The outfit on this doll is great.  She comes with four separate items of clothing, not including her socks, shoes and tie.  Most of the pieces are well made and look solidly stitched.  The vest is my least favorite part of the outfit.  The seams on the vest are very bulky and cause it to look lopsided and sloppy in certain areas.  However, I like how the vest contributes to the overall authenticity of the uniform, and so I try to ignore the imperfections.  The crest gimmick on the robe is not very impressive.  Under my photography lights, the crest is visible all of the time.  It only disappears when the room gets pretty cold.  Furthermore, it's not necessary to use the Sorcerer's Stone to change the color of the crest--it can simply be done with warm fingers.  However, the stone might make a fun accessory for Harry Potter game play.  The wand is a fun prop to use when posing this doll, although it doesn't stay in Hermione's grip very well.

I struggle to think of a doll that's currently on the market who is equivalent to Hermione--namely, a realistic $20 character doll with a highly articulated body and a quality, multi-piece outfit.  One doll that comes to mind is the Disney Store's (sold out) Athena from the movie Tomorrowland.  She has a realistic face, a really nice outfit, and--presumably--articulation that's equivalent to other Disney Store dolls.  I think she was selling for around $35, though.  That might be an interesting comparison review.  

Hermione is also quite similar to the little Paradise rider dolls that I was so excited about back in 2014.  I like Hermione even more than those Paradise dolls, though, because of her expressive face and silky hair.  She's a sweet, well-made little doll who poses like a dream, can ride 1:9 scale horses...and has the added benefit of bringing back fond memories of the world of Harry Potter--which was such an important part of my son's youth.  In fact, I think I'll post this review and then travel back to 2001 in my mind with an overdue re-watch of The Sorcerer's Stone.