Surprise Swap Tweens (and Tots!) by MGA Entertainment

I'm in the middle of another mini series right now, and this time it's all about dolls with swappable heads.  I started the series by talking about Mattel's Swappin' Styles Fashionistas, and today I'll be looking at MGA's Surprise Swap Tweens line.  There's no rational order to these reviews, unfortunately.  I probably should have approached the dolls chronologically, but I'm always tweaking what's in each review and waiting for things to arrive in the mail, so broad scale organization doesn't tend to work for me.

Also, several of you had excellent suggestions for head-swapping doll lines that weren't on my radar (thank you!), so I might have to slot in a few more reviews than I'd originally planned.  I love the unpredictability of this type of series, though.  It's like a chose your own adventure novel or something.

Today's review is a good example of the chaos, because only when I was uploading pictures of the Tweens dolls did I discover that there are Surprise Swap Tots as well.  These are versions of the classic 3-inch L.O.L. Surprise dolls, and they look interesting.  So I had to hustle to include them at the last minute.  But most of this review will focus on the head-swapping Tweens:

Surprise Swap Tweens by MGA Entertainment, $29.99.

Advent Calendar wrap-up: Lego Princesses, Schleich, and Dirds

Happy New Year!  Before I launch into the regular reviews that I have planned for January, I figured I should close out the advent calendar series by showing you the last three calendars that I have on hand.  I actually only purchased two of these for review, and the third one, Lego's Disney Princess calendar, was an incredibly thoughtful and timely gift from my mother-in-law...who had no idea that I was planning an advent calendar series for the blog!  She knows me very well.

Here are the three remaining calendars:

From left: Lego Disney Princesses, Sky and Ocean building blocks, and Schleich Horse Club.

Advent Calendar #7: Barbie Cutie Reveal by Mattel

It's looking like this will be the last full-length advent calendar review that I'll be able to squeeze in before the end of the month.  But I still have three (four?) calendars that haven't been opened, and I'd love to share them with you, so maybe I'll try to pull together a little summary of the remaining calendars to close out the series.

Today's calendar is from the Barbie Cutie Reveal line, and features a full-size Barbie doll with decent articulation:

Barbie from the 2023 Cutie Reveal advent calendar, $33.99.

Advent Calendar #6: 3D-Printed Animals from Crafts3Dcom

All of the advent calendars that I've looked at so far have been mass-produced items by big, well-established toy companies.  Those tend to be the calendars that are most relevant to the doll world.  However, I didn't want to let this entire series go by without featuring something a bit off the beaten path.

Since I've been thinking a lot about advent calendars over the last few months, I also hunted down a special calendar for each of my kids.  The one I chose for my eldest is from an Etsy store called Crafts3Dcom, and has a 3D printed dragon behind each door.  This concept was so appealing that I bought a second calendar to show off here on the blog:

Petra with dragons from a Crafts3Dcom advent calendar.

Advent Calendar #4: Polly Pocket by Mattel

I hope everybody is enjoying the advent calendar series so far!  I'm not producing reviews quite as quickly as I'd hoped, or at least not quickly enough to open all of the calendars before the 25th, but as someone who's always saying she wants to write shorter, more frequent reviews, this is excellent practice.

There's no real rhyme or reason to the order that I'm opening these calendars, but I noticed that I'd featured two MGA products in a row (L.O.L. Surprise and Mini Bratz) so it's probably time to give Mattel a chance.

I actually have two Mattel calendars in mind for this series, and the first one I'll be looking at is the 2024 Polly Pocket advent calendar, which includes the super-tiny 1.25 inch version of Polly:

Polly Pocket from the 2024 advent calendar by Mattel. 

Advent Calendar #3: L.O.L. Surprise by MGA Entertainment

I haven't talked too much about L.O.L. Surprise dolls since they first came out in 2016, but from what I can tell, the toys are still going strong.  At Target, there's still an entire half of an aisle that's dominated by these little surprise ball characters and the larger OMG dolls that followed them.  Granted, the Miniverse toys have recently started to take over, but there's never a shortage of L.O.L. varieties.

So, the third advent calendar that I'm going to look at this month is focused on a cute L.O.L. doll and her expansive wardrobe.

If you're new to this advent calendar mini series, you can read about my motivations and expectations here, and see the second calendar here.

Makeover Babe 2.0 from the 2023 L.O.L. Surprise advent calendar.

Super Creator Happy Meals Kitchen Kit by Rolife

Back in the earlier days of Toy Box Philosopher, I had a project series with a few multi-part articles documenting my efforts with a doll-related art project.  I think there were only two installments, The Saskia Project and The My Twinn Project.  The My Twinn Project, in which I tried my hand at restoring and repainting My Twinn dolls, blossomed into an obsession that lasted for years, and even resulted in a new blog.  I'd love to get back into repainting those dolls someday, but there's just too much going on right now.

However, I still sometimes find myself in a crafty or artistic mood, and am often looking for outlets.  One of my kids has recently become fascinated by the wooden kits made by a company called Rolife.  These kits are apparently very satisfying to assemble, and result in some beautiful pieces (things like clocks, book nooks, dollhouses, and music boxes) that are a manageable size and great for display.  You can see examples on the Rolife website.

I went to browse the wooden kits myself one day, thinking I might try one, and I noticed a newer line called Super Creator.  The Super Creator sets are plastic kits that snap together to make a single diorama-like dollhouse room or shop.  I love dioramas and dollhouses, so these kits are very appealing to me.  One thing that was unclear, though, is what the scale of the kits was, and which dolls might be able to use the rooms.  That left me curious.  So, I decided to buy one of the rooms, build it, and then let some of my dolls test it out:

Littles Pet Shop Blythe doll in the Happy Meals Kitchen by Rolife, $43.99.

LULUPOP Dolls by SAMG Entertainment

Spring has definitely sprung here in New Jersey, with temperatures creeping into the 80s and lots of flowers everywhere.  The beautiful weather makes me eager to get back outside with my dolls, and that's on the agenda for next time, but today I want to share a review that I've been meaning to write since September of last year.

During one of my random browsing sessions on Amazon, I found a big-eyed fashion doll that I'd never seen before, from a South Korean brand called LULUPOP (also written "Lulu Pop").  The LULUPOP dolls are based on virtual K-pop idols, so there are a few full-length songs and music videos featuring the animated idols.  From what I understand, the dolls used to be available exclusively in Korea, but they made the jump to Amazon about a year and a half ago.

I'm always fascinated to explore brands from other countries, because they often have a new aesthetic or offer a window into a different culture.  In this case, the aesthetic looks very familiar, but the songs and videos definitely offer up something new and fun.  So, with high hopes, I purchased one of the girls, Tania, to see what the brand is all about:

LULUPOP Tania, by SAMG Entertainment, $25.99.

The Miniverse Make It Mini Kitchen by MGA Entertainment

I've always loved miniature food, and have gotten even more interested in this type of thing since Lena moved into the Rainbow High House and started her own series of reviews: Tea With Lena.  After all, if Lena is going to be inviting guests over to her place for a chat and a snack, she's going to need a well-stocked kitchen, right?

Way back in the first Tea With Lena post, Ryleigh left a comment that mentioned MGA's Miniverse food. The Miniverse toys are primarily little surprise ball kits that include everything you need to make a tiny fake food dish.  I was immediately excited about Ryleigh's suggestion, but of course it took me almost nine months to act on it.

I'm happy that I was so slow in pulling this review together, though, because MGA has released several new Miniverse products during the last few months.  The most interesting thing to me is the Make It Mini Kitchen.  I love kitchen-themed toys, and I suspect this particular one will be popular during the holidays.  So, today I'll explore several of the Miniverse options that are currently available, including the kitchen set, and I'll keep my eye on how useful each item might be to Lena and her 1:6 friends.

Lena with a Miniverse Make It pizza.

Na! Na! Na! Surprise Mini Dolls by MGA Entertainment

I was touched by all of the kind comments in the last review!  Kit is doing great and life has calmed down.  I also really enjoyed hearing about your school mascots.  There's such a fun (and occasionally shocking!) variety out there.  Several of you used the comments to help me out, too, which I appreciate.  You identified bodies and showed me how to unlock Addison's full singing feature.  I'm always grateful for your help...and your humor.  Black Kitty's admission that "for the longest time I thought cheerleaders, like zombies, only existed in movies" had me in stitches.  Thank you so much for your contributions.  They are a hugely precious and important part of the blog to me.

This week, as the weather turned a bit colder and it started to feel like fall might actually be on its way, my thoughts returned to the fall of 2021, when I decided to re-start this blog.  The first review I did back then was a Sunday Surprise post featuring a few Na Na Na Surprise dolls.  Now, two years later, MGA has miniature versions of some of their Na Na Na characters!  I love miniature things, and so I was very eager to get my hands on these little dolls.

Today's post was intended to be a Sunday Surprise, but I didn't work quite fast enough to make that happen.  Still, I'll try to retain some of the surprise elements in this review as I de-box dolls from both the first wave and the newly-released second wave of the Na Na Na Surprise Mini lineup:

Na! Na! Na! Surprise Mini dolls by MGA Entertainment, $9.99 each.

Tea with Lena: Barbies Great and Small

It's only one week from tomorrow until the Barbie movie comes out!  My husband and I bought our tickets the other day and are getting really excited.  Opening night had already sold out at our closest theatre, so I'm glad we secured seats for the weekend.  I really hope this movie is good!  While we wait to find out, I'm hosting Barbie Month here on the blog.  This week will be a little different because I'm trying to squeeze in two shorter reviews so that I can cover more ground.  We'll see how it goes.

Barbie Month wouldn't be complete without Lena hosting her own review, though, would it?  That's what Lena keeps telling me, anyway.  So today I'll be the assistant while Lena introduces the size extremes in Barbie world:

Lena holding a World's Smallest Barbie doll by Super Impulse.

Spring Break with Lena: Cheap Little AliExpress Knockoff Dolls

Welcome to the last day of virtual spring break here on the blog!  I'm going to end the week by looking at some cute, strange little dolls that are sold on AliExpress.  A lot (but certainly not all) of the products on AliExpress are knockoffs of one kind or another, and today's dolls are no exception.  However, some of the original, copied products still remain a mystery to me.  The nice thing is that you guys make the collective knowledge on this blog impressive, so maybe we'll be able to solve a few mysteries together before the day is over!

I first learned about these dolls last summer when we had a silly doll contest over on Patreon.  The idea was for everyone to submit photos of the funniest or most unusual dolls that they could find.  It was an entertaining contest, and a surprising number of the entries were things that I actually wanted to buy!  Case in point, when Amy sent me a photo of these big-eyed AliExpress kids, I knew I wouldn't be able to resist:

Plastic character dolls from AliExpress, $4.95 each.

The Buzz General Store from Honey Bee Acres

Happy fall, everyone!  It's so funny, because just as the season officially changed, New Jersey went from 90° and oppressively humid to 72° and breezy, with nighttime temperatures that are downright cold.  It's a nice change, but I have whiplash.  The colder temperatures reminded me that we're coming up on the one-year anniversary of this blog's re-awakening!  That's hard for me to believe.  I'll have to think of a fun Sunday Surprise review to honor the date.

In the meantime, you might be surprised to see something that's not a 14-inch doll on the cover today!  Sorry if that's a disappointment to anyone, but I decided to take another little break from the 14-inch comparison series so that I could explore different things.  Way back in January, when I reviewed the Honey Bee Acres figures and compared them to Li'l Woodzeez and Calico Critters, I mentioned that some day I wanted to come back and take a look at the accessories and playsets that are available in that line, which is exactly what I'm going to do today.

Long-time readers of the blog might remember how much I like the Li'l Woodzeez shop-themed playsets, like the Tickle Your Tastebuds Bakery and Honeysuckle Hollow General Store.  Because of my affection for those two toys, I really wanted to look at the equivalent Honey Bee Acres set, which is called The Buzz General Store.  I'll certainly have the Woodzeez sets that I've already reviewed in my head as I look at this toy, but I'll also make some more direct comparisons to newer Li'l Woodzeez sets.  All of that means that this is going to be a long one (shocker), so I'd better get started!

The Buzz General Store from Honey Bee Acres, $19.94.

Toys Я Us at American Dream

I'm having a great time comparing 14-inch dolls (and, thanks to Amy's comment, I've even added another brand to the list!) but I need a little break from the formulaic approach to that series, so the next two reviews will be wildly different.

Today's post might require a bit of background, especially for anyone who is new to this site.  Toys R Us was a huge part of my life back when I first started blogging.  I used to take weekly "research" excursions to the big store in South Portland, Maine (which I'm pretty sure is now a furniture warehouse).  I loved going there.  The variety of merchandise was unmatched, and I felt like I always found some new doll or action figure that fascinated or amused me.  Between that store and the nearby Target, there was practically nothing in the play doll world that I couldn't get my hands on.  I mean, Toys R Us even carried American Girl dolls for a while.

In addition to my routine visits to the Toys R Us in Maine, I also have fond memories of the jaw-dropping flagship store that used to be in Manhattan.  That place was even more impressive than F.A.O. Schwarz, if you ask me.  There was a massive ferris wheel and a freakin' life-sized Tyrannosaurus rex, for goodness sake.  I was heartbroken when Toys R Us closed it doors in 2018.  That marked the end of an era for me, and it took a lot of the fun out of toy shopping.  And of course it was only a few months later that I made some decisions that I assumed would bring this blog to a permanent end as well.

Who could have predicted that four years later I'd be happily blogging again and--wait for it--Toys R Us would be opening new stores?  It's true!  From what I've read, these stores are all going to be smaller boutiques inside Macy's, which is disappointing, but I guess it's still better than nothing.  However, there's one full-sized Toys R Us that's been open for a while: the new flagship store at the American Dream mall.  And the American Dream mall, as luck would have it, is in New Jersey...only an hour away from my house.  So of course I went for a visit.  Do you want to check it out with me?

Toys R Us at American Dream (East Rutherford, New Jersey).

Sunday Surprise: Mini Fashion and Real Littles!

I was disappointed that I couldn't quite get last week's review done in time for a Sunday Surprise, so I decided to try really hard to get a quick surprise-themed review done for you today!  

My progress was slowed down a little bit this weekend because I finally hit a breaking point with my work space.  I've been writing reviews almost non-stop since October, and I forgot that if I don't take a day or two every now and then to stop and clean up my mess...well, things can get very out-of-control!  On Friday, when fetching the doll for my next review felt like an obstacle course, a death trap, and a game of hide and seek all wrapped into one, I realized that it was time to pause and clean up.  But now my room is beautiful and clean again and it's such an amazing feeling!

As I was tidying and sorting through my stash, I realized that I'd accumulated two different surprise-themed toys that involve purses or bags of some kind: Mini Fashion by Zuru and Real Littles by Moose Toys.  I thought that these two brands might be fun to compare and contrast.  Lina was excited about this idea because she's been pestering me for months to de-box the Mini Fashion sets.  She knows that they contain high-end purses that might be just her size!

Barbie Lina with a Surprise Mini Fashion ball (Zuru, $9.99).

Mischa's Toy Jewels (now with answers!)

I'm traveling a bit this weekend, so today's review will be pretty short, and very different from what I normally write.  Anyone who's read any of my Sunday Surprise posts, especially recent ones, will know that I often comment on how the expense of surprise-themed dolls, particularly those that cost over $10, is risky because of the chance of getting a repeat.  And what happens to all of those duplicate dolls?  Some end up on eBay or at Goodwill, I'm sure, but many probably land in the garbage.  As if the packaging waste from this type of toy wasn't bad enough.

Knowing how I feel about all of this, my friend Ariel messaged me the other day and showed me a cool Instagram page called Mischa's Toy Jewels.  Mischa gathers up unwanted mini toys and turns them into children's jewelry!  How cool is that?  What's even better is that she donates half of the profits from her sales to a local food bank.  I wanted to showcase this neat project, so I purchased several bracelets and necklaces to share with you.

I had so much fun looking through Mischa's selection, not just because the jewelry is colorful and attractive, but because of the variety of mini toys on display.  I could identify some of the brands right away, but not all of them.  The unidentified mini toys were irresistible little mysteries to me, and I had a great time trying to figure out what all of them are.  And I'll confess--Mischa had to come to my rescue a few times!  I thought some of you might be similarly amused by identifying these small toys, and so today's post will have two goals: one is to simply showcase Mischa's fun jewelry, but the other is to play a little guessing game!  I'll show you what I bought, with no labels, and then in a day or two I'll post the answers and a little follow-up review.  Be warned, though, that there's one mini toy in the mix that neither Mischa nor I could identify.  Bonus points to anyone who knows what it is!

A necklace from Mischa's Toy Jewels, $10.00.

Mermaid High by Spin Master

I'm back with the second post in the mermaid series!  I learned so much from your comments on the Mermaze Mermaidz review.  As I've said before, the comments are always a hugely valuable (and humorous...) part of this blog.  Thank you so much for all of your contributions.  I'll single out a few mermaid-related things that were mentioned: first of all, Lurkins noted that I never tested Jordie's color change feature, which is embarrassingly true.  I went back and did that and added in some pictures of the results.  It's pretty cool!  Séverine's tip that one of the dolls (Riviera) has bad hair is very helpful, too, especially since I was so pleased with the hair on Orra and Jordie.  Last of all, I had no idea about the alleged backstory of the Mermaidz or which body parts were taken from other MGA lines.  I should have at least recognized the Project Mc² eyes!  Thank you to Alé for those tidbits.

But today is all about Spin Master's Mermaid High dolls.  The first wave of these fishy friends has been out since late 2021, and the second wave of dolls hit the market this spring.  I've been waffling back and forth about whether to write about this brand for several months now, mostly waiting to see if the high original price (around $27) would come down at all.  The dolls never struck me as being worth quite that much.  I guess I waited a good amount of time, because the first wave characters recently went on sale at Target.  They were around $5 for a while, which was insane, but are now $19.99, which is a reasonable price for this brand.  I purchased first wave Finly at full price a few weeks ago, and then added Searra during the $5 sale.  This review got too long to include Searra, though, so I'll put those photos over on Patreon.

I'm going to feature Finly today because when I was looking at all of the characters in the store, she's the one who impressed me the most.  I love her rainbow-themed outfit and her cute green-eyed, freckle-filled face.  In this review, I'll contrast first wave Finly to the newer version of the same character:

Mermaid High Finly by Spin Master, $26.99.

Ruby Red Fashion Friends

It's pretty safe to say that the one doll brand that's been recommended to me the most since I started writing reviews again is the Ruby Red Fashion Friends.  I wish I could individually acknowledge everyone who brought these little dolls to my attention, but my memory isn't that good.  Nevertheless, I'd like to express my gratitude to all of you who thought I might enjoy taking a closer look at the Fashion Friends.  You know me well.

The Fashion Friends are 14.5-inch vinyl dolls that were first released in 2019 and are still going strong.  The brand was founded by Ruby Ho, hence the Ruby Red part of the name.  Some of the face molds were sculpted by Ms. Ho herself, and some of them (including the dolls in this review) were sculpted by Dianna Effner.  All of the faces are beautiful.  I'm a big fan of Ms. Effner's work--as you might have gathered from my Maru and Friends, Mini Pal, and Little Darling reviews--and so I'm always excited to get my hands on another one of her creations.  Ms. Effner's death in 2020 was a huge blow to the doll world (as if 2020 wasn't bad enough) and it made me cherish my Effner dolls all the more.

I actually pre-ordered the dolls for this review back in October--before I'd even started blogging again. My brilliant idea was that by the time they were released (around Christmas) I'd have the blog up and running and I'd be able to present you with a review of two brand new releases!  That went well, didn't it?  Sigh.  Instead, I got distracted by a million other things and now find myself reviewing Christmas-themed dolls when it's 70 degrees outside, the flowers are blooming, and the birds are singing like they're in a freaking Disney movie.  I'm silly to have waited so long to write this review, but at least I'm finally here, sharing my Christmas girls with you.  First, let's meet Jennifer:

Ruby Red Fashion Friends limited edition doll, Jennifer, $169.99.

Sunday Surprise: Capsule Chix by Moose Toys!

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with vending machines.  The big displays outside of the grocery store were the biggest temptation, with so many mini-sized toy and novelty options.  There were even a few machines that had a special prize like a watch or a necklace mixed in amongst more ordinary fare.  I was rarely given the chance to use a vending machine when I was young, though, and so I overcompensated for this when I became an independent adult.  Not only did I get toys from these machines for myself with more frequency than I care to admit, but I always indulged my kids when they asked for the money necessary to get a treat.  When we moved to Maine, I even bought my own old-fashioned capsule vending machine and set it up in the basement.  I kept my eye out for interesting small toys, and so the machine was always full of new stuff.  All of my kids' friends could use the vending machine (once) every time they came over.  Younger brothers and sisters would often tag along to pick up their sibling from a play date, clutching their own quarter in their hand and hoping for a turn at the machine.  It was a big hit.

Back in February, when I wrote the first part of the L.O.L. Surprise review (the second part will come eventually, promise!), Gabby asked if I'd ever heard of the Capsule Chix.  These are small surprise-themed dolls that come in, wait for it, vending machine packaging!  How cool is that?  It's exactly the kind of thing I would have gone bonkers for when I was young...and, frankly, it's the kind of thing I still go bonkers for now.  I found a few sets for about $13 and stored them away for a future review.  Then, a month later, Amy asked about the Capsule Chix on one of my Patreon reviews, so I figured it was high time to get the sets I bought out and learn more about these intriguing blind box characters.

Capsule Chix dolls are assembled from several parts (head, hair, torso, legs, and some extra clothing bits like skirts and shoes).  Each part is wrapped inside of a vending machine capsule, and then the capsules are packaged into a box that dispenses the capsules one by one.  Every set is guaranteed to include the parts you need to make one doll, but the parts in each box are randomly assigned, so you're very unlikely to get a matched set; everything's mixed up.  You can either be happy with the mix-and-match doll you receive, or you can buy more of the sets hoping to find the parts you need to build a specific doll.

I knew these dolls and their fancy packaging would involve tons of waste, which is one of my least favorite things in the doll world right now, but I absolutely could not resist the idea of the vending machine box.  So here we go!

Capsule Chix Giga Glam doll, $12.99.

Boombox Battle! L.O.L. Surprise vs. American Girl

Is anyone in the mood to go back to the 1980s for a toy boombox battle?  I hope so!  During my research for Part One of the L.O.L. Surprise catch-up review series, I got irrationally intrigued by the L.O.L. Remix dolls that have packaging which combines to make a plastic boombox.  I'm a huge fan of the 80s and have really fond memories of boomboxes, so I'm always tempted by this type of vintage, nostalgia toy.  I was shocked, however, to discover that in order to assemble the three sets necessary to make the L.O.L. boombox, you have to shell out around $50 ($44.97, ~$51 with batteries).

Most of us would think hard about a $50 purchase, but it's so easy to spend that much (or more) on a few smaller items.  Blind bag toys are especially good at tempting people to buy more, because there's always a collection to complete or a highly-desirable but hard-to-find toy in the mix.  But if you know ahead of time that you're going to end up spending $50 on a specific assortment of blind bag toys, you have options.  Maybe there's something else for that price that you or your kids would rather have.  But what is comparable to a freakin' L.O.L. boombox? 

It just so happens that for the last few months I've been drooling over another boombox toy that costs $50: Courtney's Sleepover Accessory Set from American Girl.  This toy doesn't offer a perfect comparison because, unlike L.O.L. Surprise, there are no dolls included in the set.  But it offers an excellent way to put the Remix toys into some context.  It also pits the two biggest toy companies in the country (MGA Entertainment and Mattel) against each other.  What could be more fun?  

So let's check out these two popular $50 boombox-themed toys and see which one comes out on top!

L.O.L. Surprise Remix assortment ($44.97) and Courtney's Sleepover Accessories ($50).