Wizarding World Hermione Granger by Mattel

Well, I'm finally back with a Wizarding World Hermione review!  I was going to try and keep this post a little shorter than it is, but I wanted to throw in some comparisons to other Mattel Hermione dolls (one of which I've never shown on the blog), and that took a little longer than I anticipated.

I've also finished the Lenora My Twinn restoration and am just waiting for a sub-90% humidity day so that I can get her outside for a few final pictures.  I think you'll be surprised by how she looks.  Predictably, that project prompted about six more My Twinn makeovers, but I doubt I'll chronicle those on the blog.  I've also invested in a few Hairdorables.  I haven't been keeping up with new doll releases the way I used to, so I had no idea what Hairdorables were until several of you told me about them in the Boxy Girls review.  Thank you!  Those seem like a perfect Sunday Surprise.  All in all, I've been working on several different things, which is great for keeping my mind off the empty nest. However, today will be all about Hermione!

I bought all four of the Wizarding World child dolls (Harry, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny) and, of the four, decided to review Hermione because I have a bit of a tradition reviewing Hermione dolls on this blog.  You can see another Mattel Hermione review here, and my two Star Ace Hermione reviews here and here.  There's no mistaking that the Wizarding World version of Hermione was made by Mattel (she looks like Barbie), but the iconic hair and outfit immediately conjure the spunky and inimitable Ms. Granger:

Wizarding World Hermione Granger doll, $20.97.

I bought all four of my dolls at a nearby Walmart.  I haven't seen them anywhere else in person yet, although they're available online, usually at a noticeable mark-up.

I actually bought two Hermione dolls, one to review and the other to give as a gift.  I find it interesting that the two are not identical.  

Here's one of the dolls:

Hermione #1

This one looks great in her box.  Her clothing is smooth and in place, but her hair is very red and straight!

Hermione #1

Compare that to the second doll:

Hermione #2

This one has a sock falling down and the collar of her shirt sticking up on one side.  She also has a visibly scrunched hem at the front of her sweater (notice how uneven the stripe gets at the very front).  However, her hair is dark brown and has a lot of Hermione-like crimping:

Hermione #2

Here are the two dolls side-by-side:

Hermione #1 (left) and #2 (right).

I kept the redheaded Hermione with the nice clothing in her box and decided to review the darker-haired, sloppy clothed version.

Because of the variation I noticed in these two dolls, I recommend choosing your Hermione in person if you can.

Here's the doll I opened:

Hermione #2

I like the simple packaging in this line.  The dolls come in blister packs with a mostly unobstructed window that gives a great view of the doll.

Off to the side, there's a photograph of Emma Watson as a young Hermione Granger:

Others might be able to identify the vintage of this photo better than I, but it looks like it's from the second movie, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The sides of the box are also plastic, further showing off the doll.  There's a molded bolt of lightning on the upper right corner of the window:

And a molded "Harry Potter" on the opposite edge:

The back of the box has a photograph of the doll and a small description of Hermione:

The description of Hermione is in both English and French:

At the bottom of the box, there are tiny photographs of the five other dolls in the series:

I saw Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall in the store.  They're both great, but Dumbledore's combination of molded beard and rooted hair didn't quite work for me, so I decided to stick with the kids for now.

The photos are too small to show much detail, but since I bought all of the kids, I can show you some close-ups of the actual dolls in their boxes.

First, here's Ginny as she appears on Hermione's box:

And here's the actual doll:

My Ginny has a strand of hair stuck across her right eye, but you can still get a good idea of how she looks.  

Like Hermione, she has multi-toned hair with a mix of red, brown, and auburn:

The reddest parts of Ginny's hair seem to be confined to the very front of her hairline, with maybe some more patches underneath?

Ginny's eyes are startlingly blue.  I couldn't remember right away if Bonnie Wright (the actor who plays Ginny) even has blue eyes, and it's hard to tell from the photograph on the front of the box:

It turns out that Bonnie Wright does have blue eyes, but they're definitely not as bright blue as they are on this doll.  While we're on the subject, Rupert Grint (the actor who plays Ron Weasley) also has blue eyes.  

Here's the Ron doll as he appears on the back of Hermione's box:

And here's my actual Ron doll:

He has molded red hair and bright blue eyes:

The eyebrows look a little funny to me, but they got Ron's smirk just right!

Last but certainly not least, here's Harry himself:

And here's my Harry doll:

This is one of my favorite dolls in the series.  I think Mattel did a very nice job with him:

The tousled, molded hair and glasses are great, but the lightning bolt scar looks too much like an "N."

Huskers fan.

Here's the photo of Daniel Radcliff that's on the front of the box:

But let's de-box Hermione!

The plastic part of the blister packaging pulls easily away from the cardboard backdrop:

The backdrop itself is decorated with tons of text from what looks like the Daily Prophet:

Some of the text--like the headlines--are easy to read:

But all of the smaller sections are illegible and almost look like a different, mystical language: 

Hermione was fairly easy to detach from the backdrop, although her robe was riddled with those tiny little plastic ties.  Here's everything that was in the box:

I had a hard time getting Hermione to balance on her own.  She feels sturdy enough, but her joints are stiff and I struggled the get her legs positioned squarely underneath her.  That's probably why she looks a little awkward in these pictures:

The back of her hair and the back of her outfit both came out of the box looking rumpled:

The disheveled hair reveals a pattern: it's layered with straight red strands underneath and crimped brown strands on top:

I brushed Hermione's hair to even out the color and texture, smoothed her outfit, and made and effort to get her to balance more naturally.  

Here's take 2:

She still tips to the side when she's standing on her own.

Hermione comes with a wand rubber-banded to her right hand:

The wand has a thumb ring so that she can hold it even when the rubber band is removed:

The wand is all one color and has molded decorations that are accurate to the movie:

I think Hermione's face is very appealing.  She looks more like Barbie or Skipper than she does like Hermione, but that's fine with me.  Often when companies try to replicate an actor's features exactly, things go horribly wrong (Disney Belle).  Even top-of-the-line action figure companies can get it wrong (Star Ace Teen Hermione).

The two chunks of red hair at the edges of Hermione's bangs don't look very natural to me, but again, there's variation between dolls, so this is something that can probably be avoided.

She has a toothy smile (with only a subtle band of teeth showing), thick eyebrows with some layered paint detail, light brown eyes...and freckles!

It's a good face.  I like that the expression is happy, but not too happy. There's a bit of intensity there, maybe just because of the strong eyebrows.

Hermione's outfit consists of a top (made to look like a sweater over a white shirt and tie), a pleated skirt, knee-high socks, shoes, and a black robe.

The shirt is fairly convincing.  In promotional pictures, I assumed that it was a separate sweater and shirt.  One problem with my doll's top is that the right side of the collar is always sticking up...and it's hard to get it to lay flat for pictures.

Another problem with this top is that the hem is bunched up too much across the front, which obscures the stripe pattern:

I like that the sweater part of the top has a stitched hem and stitched cuffs, though.  The cuffs look especially nice:

The top opens all of the way down in back with velcro.  My doll's top came crumpled, with the velcro seam lopsided:

Oh, good grief.

The velcro closure was easy to straighten out, though:

Much better.

Here's a peek at all of the finishing on the inside of the shirt:

Even the edges of the tiny collar are finished, but of course this collar has that pesky corner that always flips up:

The skirt is pleated all of the way around (or it would be if it wasn't so smashed at the very back) and closes at the top with velcro:

From the front, it's very neat and looks well-made:

Under the skirt, Hermione is wearing grey knit socks and school shoes:

The shoes are all black, with some molded stitching:

Now let's take a look at Hermione's robe:

The fabric on this robe is very stiff, so much so that the robe can actually balance upright on its own!

It's alive!

The robe has a full hood, which is the only part of the garment that's lined.  Unfortunately, the lining isn't Gryffindor's signature crimson color, but just plain black:

The robe fits Hermione pretty well, although the sleeves seem short::

The robe does not have any closure in the front:

The fabric of the robe is heavy and feels durable, but the stiffness means that it has no drape and tends to capture creases:

There's a detailed Gryffindor crest appliqué on the left side:

Here's a better look:

It's an excellent crest.

The hood would fit...if it weren't for Hermione's poofy hair!

She can wear the hood up if her hair is swept to one side:

Although even then, the hood refuses to stay up without being held in place:

Hermione can also wear the hood up if her hair is trapped behind the back of her robe:

The fabric is so stiff, the hood still sticks up in the air a little like this, but with few tendrils of hair pulled out at the sides, it looks ok:

Overall, the clothing looks accurate to the movie.  Some little details have been lost (like the robe lining and the separate sweater, shirt and tie pieces) but these shortcuts help make the outfit easy to play with.  I wish that the presentation had been a little better, and wish I'd looked more carefully to find a doll with fewer little defects.  This Hermione seems to have more than her fair share.

I was very eager to get a closer look at Hermione's body style.  Mattel's grand success with Made to Move Barbie always makes me optimistic about their new body designs!

Hermione's feet have a slightly elevated heel, so she cannot stand on her own when she's barefoot:

Hermione is just under 10 inches tall with her shoes on.  Her body is made out of hard plastic and softer vinyl and has eleven points of articulation:

The body has a narrow torso with a small chest and a Monster High or Ever After High style swayback:

The lower back is covered with copyrights and maker marks.  The underwear area has a molded dot pattern but no color:

The shoulders, elbows, and wrists are all rotating hinges with a good range of motion:

Hermione's hands can be removed for even easier dressing and undressing:

She has a loose-gripping right hand and a splay-fingered left hand.  Her left hand is the same as the Ever After High left hand.  I find this hand much more attractive and versatile than the gripping hand.

Wizarding World Hand (left) and Ever After High hand (right).

Hermione's knees are similar to her upper joints (rotating hinges), but her hips are more limited.

The hips hinge out a little to allow Hermione's legs to move from side to side, but she can't come anywhere near full splits:

The upper part of the leg tips inwards and hits the inside of the torso, at which point it can't move any further:

Hermione can do full front-to-back splits...

...but her legs are at a funny to angle to one another when she's in this pose, with her front leg pointing inwards and her back leg pointing outwards:

Her knees have a nice range of motion.  She can bend at the knee to about 90 degrees:

And can kneel unassisted:

She sits in a chair nicely:

And can even partially cross her long legs:

Overall, I would say that Hermione's joints are great, but her hips fall short.  They have limited, unusual movement. All of my difficulty in getting Hermione to balance on her own was because of the hips.  They don't allow the legs to spread apart very much while still keeping the feet underneath the weight of the body.  They're not terrible joints by any means, but they don't measure up to the standard of the rest of the doll.

Hermione is nicely in scale with Barbie, and would make a perfect younger sister for the Made to Move dolls:

Wizarding World Hermione with Made to Move Barbie.

I wish I owned a Skipper doll for comparison, but I don't.  I imagine that she and Hermione are roughly the same size.

The body is more similar to an Ever After High body than it is to a Barbie body, but it's not exactly the same as a standard Ever After High body.   A few of your comments prompted me to take some more comparison pictures:

Wizarding World Hermione and Ever After High Apple.

Hermione's upper torso is wider than Apple's, and her swayback is not as pronounced:

Check out Barb's review for even better pictures and a comparison to Maddie Hatter: My Little Doll Corner review.

I re-dressed Hermione at this point, and accidentally gave her the wrong wand:

This is not my wand, Emily!

I did this because...well, I was just ridiculously spacey the whole time I was working on this review.  You'll notice several silly mistakes like this.  I haven't been sleeping very well because of old dogs and a very young dog.  And it's been crazy-hot.  But it was also easy to get confused simply because I had three Mattel Hermione dolls kicking around at various times throughout the review.

Here are all three Hermiones together:

Mattel Hermione dolls, from left: Hogwarts Heroes, Wizarding World, and Hogsmeade Hermione.

The first doll is Mattel's 2001 Hogwarts Heroes Hermione, in her full school uniform:

I reviewed this doll in January of 2016.  You can read that review here if you want.  She's meant to represent Hermione in the very first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

I mistakenly put the Hogwarts Heroes robe on the Wizarding World doll at one point in the review, too, but that mistake worked out well because now I have pictures so you can see that it doesn't really fit the new, taller doll:

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogwarts Heroes robe.

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogwarts Heroes robe.

The older doll has more pieces in her uniform, including a sweater vest, a separate collared shirt, and an elastic-necked tie:

Both dolls have crimped hair, but the Hogwarts Heroes Hermione has no color variation in her hair.  Neither doll looks much like Hermione, if you ask me, but the new one comes closer.  I like both faces.  I appreciate the character in the older doll's features, but the newer doll is more conventionally pretty.

The Hogwarts Heroes doll has twelve points of articulation.  She has ankle joints and a torso joint that the newer doll doesn't have, but she's lacking wrist articulation and does not have any rotation in her knees: 

Mattel's different interpretations of this character are fascinating to me, especially with the 17 year time gap that separates the two:

Hogwarts Heroes (left) and Wizarding World (right) Hermione dolls by Mattel.

In fact, I'm so fascinated by this type of contrast that I purchased yet another Mattel Hermione doll just so that I could compare it to the Wizarding World doll:

This doll is called Hogsmeade Hermione (Mattel really likes alliteration, don't they?).  She's from 2003.  Her outfit, the Time Turner, and the Hogsmeade reference make this doll representative of Hermione from the third movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

She doesn't look much like Hermione, nor does she look like either of the other two dolls!

Her brown hair is thick and layered, with no crimping.  This is appropriate for the third movie.

Here's a look at the Hogsmeade Hermione's face next to the Wizarding World doll's face:

I really like the detail and realism in the older doll's face, but her eyes are really faint.  I wonder if her face would look better if her hair weren't so over-the-top?

While this doll is meant to depict an older version of Hermione, she's not that much taller than the Wizarding World version...and her head is smaller.  That means all three of these Mattel Hermiones were made in slightly different scales.

Wizarding World and Hogsmeade Hermione dolls by Mattel.

Because I've never done a formal review of this doll, I'll quickly run you through some of her features.

She comes wearing a casual outfit under her school robes.  This is an odd combination.  

She's also carrying a Honeydukes shopping bag.  The bag is filled with cardboard products that were punched out of the back of the doll's box:

There's a chocolate frog:

Some Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans:

Glacial Snow Flakes:

Exploding Bon Bons:

And this, which I think says Madame Borboleta's Sugared Butterfly Wings:

Hermione's robe is made out of slinky synthetic fabric and is lined with crimson:

It has a Gryffindor crest decal:

And a full hood:

The crimson lining is on the side panels of the robe, in the sleeves, and in the hood.  There's no lining at the very back of the robe.  It doesn't feel overly bulky.

This is easily the best robe out of the three I've shown here, although the Wizarding World robe has a better Gryffindor crest.

Happily, this robe fits the Wizarding World Hermione!

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione's robe.

I love the full sleeves, the smooth drape, and that lining!

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione's robe.

It would be better if the decorations on Hermione's sweater were darker red so that they matched the robe, but it still looks great.

Wrong wand again, darn it!

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione's robe.

Under the robe, Hermione is wearing a striped sweatshirt and brown corduroy trousers:

The sweatshirt has a full hood, and the Time Turner is worn outside of the hood:

The Time Turner itself is made out of vinyl, but it has a metal chain that comes stitched to the sweatshirt.

Even the front pocket of this sweatshirt is functional, but sadly Hermione's arms aren't flexible enough to use it!

The sweatshirt does not have any openings, so it has to be slid off over Hermione's head:

With the sweatshirt gone, you can more easily see the shape of the brown corduroy trousers:

'

These have a small velcro seam in back and working pockets in front:

Despite the velcro, the tight pants are hard to slide off over Hermione's rubbery legs.

Under the pants, Hermione has grey, soft vinyl sneakers:

Hermione has flat feet, but she still can't stand on her own without her shoes because her legs are rubbery and soft:

Overall, she has eight points of articulation, including internal click knee joints.

She also has an extraordinarily long neck!

Her torso joint spins around and tips back and forth, but this area feels loose and moves a bit too freely.

In the interests of time, here's a quick summary of all eight joints:

Neck: allows side-to-side and a bit of up-and-down movement.

Shoulders: rotating hinges.  Nice range of motion.

Waist: ball joint that allows the upper body to spin around...a bit too freely.

Hips: only allow legs to move forwards or backwards.

Knees: internal click joints with two bent options.  Not much flexibility.

A nice perk with the Hogsmeade Hermione doll is that all of her well-made clothing fits the Wizarding World Hermione almost perfectly:

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione clothing.

Not only do the clothes fit, but Wizarding World Hermione is articulated enough to use all of the working pockets!

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione clothing.

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione clothing.

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione clothing.

Until Mattel comes out with clothing packs for their new Harry Potter dolls (which I hope they do!) the 2003 line is a great place to look for some extra outfits!

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione clothing.

Wizarding World Hermione wearing Hogsmeade Hermione clothing.

So, here's a little summary of the three Mattel Hermione dolls I own:

The Wizarding World doll has the best articulation of the three girls.  I'd say that the 2001 Hogwarts Heroes doll is second best, and the 2003 Hogsmeade doll is last.

Mattel Hermione dolls from left: Hogwarts Heroes, Wizarding World, and Hogsmeade Hermione.

It's a little harder to rank the dolls for costume quality since the Hogsmeade doll is not wearing a complete school uniform.  I would say that the two older dolls both have higher-quality clothing in general, although I prefer the Wizarding World robe to the Hogwarts Heroes robe because it has a full hood.  The Hogsmeade doll wins overall for her costume's detail and construction.  Her robe is wonderful.  My only complaint is that some of the pieces are hard to use.

In terms of face mold and face paint, I like the Wizarding World doll the best, even though her facial features are the least original.  She actually reminds me the most of Hermione.  I really like the other faces, too, and fell like both of them are more realistic than the newest doll.

Here are all three dolls back in their clothes again, although I can't figure out why I don't have the Wizarding World Hermione wearing her robe for this shot:

Mattel Hermione dolls from left: Hogwarts Heroes, Wizarding World, and Hogsmeade Hermione.

While I'm already on a colossal tangent, I might as well share one more little thing with you.

During one of my trips to Walmart to check the Wizarding World doll stock, I noticed this little blind box wand!  How fun!

These are made by Jakks Pacific, not Mattel.  The packaging matches the Mattel dolls perfectly, though, and these were displayed right next to the dolls.

The boxes cost $5 and each contains a die cast mystery wand!

My eldest son thought that this was a silly purchase, and so I almost walked away without it, but the text on the frot, "The Wand Chooses You!" reeled me back in.  

I had to know which wand would choose me!

Here are the options:

Of course I want Harry's wand the most, but I'd also love to have Dumbledore, Hermione, or Voldemort's wands.

Let's see which one it is!

I opened the box at the top...

And started to slide out the enclosed bag.

I see something blue!

Each wand also comes with a stand, but since the stands are not pictured on the outside of the box, seeing the color or shape of the stand does not give away which wand this is!

I mean, maybe all of the stands are the same?

In any case, the wand I got is very dark, but I couldn't see much more right away:

I took everything out of the plastic and...

...um.  I don't know which wand it is.

I re-checked the picture on the back:

I guess it must be Snape's wand?  It's pretty indistinct.

Here's the best picture of the handle detail that I could get:

It's cool to get Snape's wand.  I love Snape.  I just wish the wand was more detailed.

It looks great in its stand:

I love surprise toys, but these wands fall into a strange scale category.  They're not large enough to be used as wands for real kids, and they're too big to be used for the dolls:

Wizarding World Hermione holding Jakks Pacific blind box wand.

Many of you asked if the wand would work for dolls like American Girl, and I finally got around to taking a picture of that for you!

It's not as bad of a fit as I thought it would be!  Now Keira wants to go to Hogwarts.  The wands might be perfect for the WellieWishers, but I no longer have any of those dolls in the house.

I guess they're meant to be collectible display items?  In that case, I really wish that my wand had more detail.  Oh well.  Maybe I'll try another one some day and see if it's better.

For now, let's take another look at Wizarding World Hermione in her full outfit:

Here she is sitting in a chair (which is completely hidden by that stiff robe!), and it looks like she grabbed the wrong wand again:

Facepalm.

I really like this doll's hair, although I'm confused by the massive amounts of red.  I don't think of Hermione as having any red tones in her hair.

I mean, the box picture makes Hermione's hair look red, but that's just a trick of lighting:

Maybe they designed the doll from this picture alone?  That's possible.

If the top layers of hair are brushed forward, Hermione looks like a regular brunette...

...but if the top layers of hair are pulled back, she's as redheaded as Ginny!

A Weasley?

Since I forgot to mention it before, the rooting on this hair is nice and dense.  It's difficult to expose a large section of scalp:

Hermione's right hand also gave me a bit of trouble.  It's in a gripping position, but it looks really awkward when it's not holding something:

Even when it's holding the wand, the grip of this hand is nowhere near tight enough:

I suppose she can use the hand to hold her robe closed...

...or roll up her sleeve:

But a lot of the time I found myself trying to position that hand out of the way so that it wouldn't look weird.

Hermione is fun to pose, but she can get caught in some awkward positions.  For instance, she looks a little gangly when she's trying to sit on the ground:

Those legs are really long.

Although if I zoom in and cut out her legs, this is a pretty nice shot!

She can also strike some interesting action poses, but she can't balance on her own in very many of them.

Another thing I noticed is that I had a hard time getting Hermione to point her wand straight forwards.  The thumb ring grip is not conducive to this position.

She can pull the wand back to prepare her spell...

...but then she can only point off to the side:

This pose, if you don't look too closely at Hermione's gripping hand, is pretty convincing:

I think this doll looks even more like Hermione from the back!  That hair is great:

Despite my little complaints, I had a wonderful time playing with Hermione.  Here are some of my favorite shots:

Bottom line?  This doll strikes a lot of balances really well.  

First of all, her clothing is accurate to the movie and looks good, but it's been simplified enough to make it easy to use.  The generous velcro seams and one-piece top make this ensemble easier to get on and off than any of the other Hermione doll clothing I've encountered.

In addition, this doll is recognizable as Hermione (mostly because of the outfit and the crimped hair), but Mattel kept her face fairly generic, neatly avoiding a poorly-done likeness.  After seeing quite a few terrible interpretations of Emma Watson in the doll world, I think this was an excellent choice.

I also like how the doll strikes a balance between being dramatic and being cheerful.  Her strong eyebrows, dark robe, and abundant, fiery hair give her a commanding presence, but her subtle, familiar Barbie-like smile makes her relatable and endearing.

I can't think of any balances that her articulation strikes, but it's worth noting that this doll has better articulation than any of her predecessors.  Her upper body and her knees pose beautifully, and I only take small issue with the design of her hips.  Even here, my critique is mostly because the hips prevent me from easily balancing the doll on her own. I imagine that kids who are actively playing with this doll will be unconcerned about small imperfections in the hip joints. 

I guess the simplest way to summarize Wizarding World Hermione is to say that she looks good enough to be displayed proudly by Harry Potter fans of all ages, but at the same time she's clearly designed (and priced) strictly for play.  And oh, how I love to imagine all of the magical games that she and her companions will inspire!