Zeenie Dollz "Yana" and "Evee"

Zeenie Dollz are 13" articulated fashion dolls built around a theme of animal protection and environmental preservation.  The dolls were designed by a mother and daughter team and introduced onto the market last year.  At the moment, there are six characters to choose from, and they retail for a whopping $50 on the Zeenie Dollz website and for $40 or less on Amazon.  The dolls are also available at Wayfair, Walmart (online), and a few other locations.

The Zeenie Dollz are called "Eco Warriors," and each has a character description focused on protecting some region of the environment.  For example, the character named Kazumi is the steward of the polar regions.  A portion of the purchase price of each doll is given to organizations like Heal the Bay, the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), and Greenpeace.  The Zeenie line is manufactured with an effort to be ecologically friendly, which means that the dolls and packaging are made from non-toxic, recyclable materials.  Initially, I thought that the dolls were made from recycled materials, which would have been awesome, but this is not the case.

A doll line with a nature-friendly, animal-loving theme is right up my alley, so I was eager to get my hands on a few of the Zeenie Dollz.  In this review, I will de-box Yana (the protector of the oceans) and will also take a quick look at Evee (the protector of the skies):

Zeenie Dollz Evee (L) and Yana (R).

Hearts 4 Hearts Dolls "Shola" and "Mosi" by Playmates Toys--A Guest Review!

I am excited to present another special review!  This time, my guest writer is Nethilia from the American Girl Outsider blog.  I love Nethilia's writing style and eye for detail.  Her educated, sensitive insights into other cultures are perfectly suited to reviewing these two gorgeous new Hearts 4 Hearts dolls.  Over to you, Neth!

Hey y'all--I'm Nethilia (Neth for short). I've been into dolls, toys, ponies and the like since I was a child. I'm the head administrator and founder of the American Girl Wiki and recently started blogging about the dolls (and fandom around them) at American Girl Outsider. While the main doll focus on my blog is American Girl, I personally collect and display all kinds of dolls and toys ranging from easily found shelf play dolls to limited edition resin ball jointed dolls. 

I tend to focus my collection on dolls of color because, as a woman of color, I feel it's very important to see other cultures properly respected and reflected in dolls--not just for the sake of people's exposure to other cultures outside their own, but so that children worldwide can see themselves reflected in their media (you have no idea how much it meant when The Princess and the Frog came out and a Disney Princess finally looked like me). I feel it's very important that even the smallest things and influences try to accurately reflect the diversity of the world--and that dolls of color aren't just, as I've heard it said, "re-dipped Barbie dolls" with the only sign of diversity being the color of the plastic/resin/vinyl/etc.  So, it makes sense that one of the lines that has really caught my interest is the Hearts 4 Hearts dolls. I fell in love with them soon after the initial release: first getting Nahji and then later adding Lauryce and Rahel to my lineup. When Mosi and Shola were announced at Toy Fair, I knew I was going to get my hands on them the moment they were available:

Hearts 4 Hearts "Mosi" and "Shola."

A Review of Karito Kids "Ling" by KidsGive: Charitable Dolls Part 2

It probably seems strange that I told you the story about my initial experience with the Karito Kids and then reviewed a different doll instead.  I did this for a few reasons.  First, the Hearts 4 Hearts dolls are less expensive ($28.99 as opposed to $99.99) and therefore more accessible, and also the Karito Kids are harder to find because they don't appear in any of the generic stores like Target or Toys R Us.  Also, the Karito Kids team didn't answer my email about their charitable donations, so I was giving them more time to reply.

I was really fortunate to have found my Karito Kid at Tuesday Morning for $29.99 about a year ago.  This will make it harder for me to be objective, because I paid the same for her as I did for Nahji.  Still, I remember how hard my niece saved for her full-price doll, so I'll keep reminding myself about that experience when I try to determine value.

I have Ling, a girl from China:

Karito Kids Ling.

A Review of Hearts 4 Hearts "Nahji" by Playmates Toys: Charitable Dolls Part 1

A few years ago, I was vacationing in Colorado with my extended family.  I remember this trip well because of a magical visit to a toy store one night with my niece.  On a previous trip to the same spot, my niece had found and fallen in love with a doll that she could not afford.  The doll was "Lulu," one of the Karito Kids.   My niece saved her money for a long time, and on this trip she had finally accumulated $100, which was just enough to purchase the doll.  She was so excited, it was contagious.  What I love about this story (and my niece) is that she was drawn to the Karito Kid dolls because when you purchase one of these dolls, a portion of the price is donated to charity.  Not only that, you can log onto the Karito Kids web site and select a particular program that you want your donation to fund.  My niece was almost as excited to make this contribution as she was about the new doll.  I'll post about the Karito Kids next, but I had to tell you that story right up front so that you know where I'm coming from with this review.  Today I'm going to chat about the newer Hearts 4 Hearts dolls that are on the shelves of Target and Toys R Us for $28.99.

The Hearts 4 Hearts dolls caught my attention for two reasons.  First, a portion of the purchase price of these dolls goes to charity.  When I saw this, it instantly reminded me of my niece and her positive experience with the Karito Kids.  Even though I like the idea of a "charitable" doll, I do wonder what the real scoop is.  I mean, how much of the purchase price actually goes to charity?  How much do they mark the dolls up because they have charity written all over the box?  I'll want to explore that a bit.

The second thing that caught my attention was simply that the dolls look lovely and well made.  At my local Target, Hearts 4 Hearts share the aisle with the BFC Ink girls and the Our Generation dolls.  The Hearts 4 Hearts girls stand out in this crowd because of their sweet faces, the stories behind each doll, and all of the authentic details in their outfits.

Hearts 4 Hearts Nahji.