Mini Sara from Ruby Red Fashion Friends

When I wrote my initial review of the Ruby Red Fashion Friends back in April of 2022, I figured I'd said everything I wanted to say on the subject.  I really enjoyed spending time with Jennifer and Scarlett, but didn't really have much desire to purchase any more of the Fashion Friends; a bit because their larger size is hard to accommodate, and also because the price of each doll is pretty high.  I didn't want to get sucked into another expensive corner of the doll collecting world.

But then, a few months ago, I got a promotional email from Ruby Red Fashion Friends announcing their "biggest clearance event ever!"  I get a lot of emails like this, most of them dismissible, but this one wasn't kidding.  The 15-inch Fashion Friends, who typically retail for $129, were all on sale for $49.  Insane, right?  I could basically get three dolls for the price of one...which I did (insane, right?).  I think there was a Ruby Red collector in me all of this time, just dying for an excuse to indulge.

Propelled by the exhilaration of welcoming three new Fashion Friends into my collection (Sara, Kayla, and Stella), I spent a fair amount of time online searching around to see what else the brand had produced over the last two years.  This research led me to the most exciting discovery of all: there are now miniature versions of a few of the Fashion Friend characters!  And you know how much I love miniature versions of things.

Mini Sara by Ruby Red Fashion Friends, $249.

Girls of Many Lands from American Girl

I've always enjoyed vintage and discontinued dolls.  They can evoke tender feelings of nostalgia, a sense of wonder over the passage of time, or just seem hilariously funny in their outdated features.  I feel like I've gotten more interested in older dolls recently, perhaps because they remind me of the dolls that I had as a kid, or the brands that got me hooked on doll collecting as an adult.

Back in January I got a review recommendation from Rory involving older dolls.  Rory had recently found two nine-inch dolls in her parents' closet that she thought were from the early 2000s--around the time I started collecting dolls as an adult.  The dolls reminded her of Robert Tonner's aesthetic, which she knows I love.  She sent me a few photos of the dolls she found, and I was instantly intrigued.  They certainly resemble Tonner dolls, with their hand-painted faces, but they also looked distinctly like Helen Kish dolls to me.  And to deepen the intrigue, they're from the American Girl brand.  It should come as no surprise that within twenty four hours I'd purchased three of them.

Girls of Many Lands Isabel, by Pleasant Company (2002).

Keeping Up With Kurhn

It's been a few weeks since I've posted anything, mostly because my job uses up a lot of energy, but also because I've been taking some actual time off to relax and do silly things like hang with my dogs or play Tears of the Kingdom.  It's been nice.

Time off gives me a chance to reflect, too, and one of the things I realized is that I've been reviewing dolls for so long, some of the brands I looked at early on have changed and expanded significantly since my last check-in.  Kurhn dolls are a great example of this.  I first reviewed the Kurhn brand way back in 2013 with a two-part mini series that featured a basic Kurhn playset and a more expensive Glamorous Kurhn girl.  I was impressed with the brand back then, and planned a few follow-up posts, but got distracted by other things.

I was reminded of Kurhn dolls as I was packing up to move from Maine to New Jersey in 2020. I found a second Glamorous Kurhn that I'd apparently purchased at one point...and then completely forgotten about.  I was surprised by how nice she looked, and so instead of selling her, I brought her with me to the new house.  Then, about a year ago, I took some time to investigate the current Kurhn market.  That research led to several more purchases (of course) not all of which will fit into today's review.  Today I'll look at the new-ish Kurhn fashion dolls that caught my eye, like this adorable panda-themed Anniversary doll:

Little Panda 17th Anniversary Edition Kurhn doll, $21.50.

More Sale Dolls

My Priority Mail boxes finally arrived (both sets!) and I found a few more dolls to add to the sale.  However, I realized that I have to be careful: if I create a huge inventory, I'll never get back to writing reviews!  So this batch is much smaller than the previous one.

I also finalized the timing for the sale itself.  I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off work, so I'll list all of the dolls for sale next Monday, December 11th, with the idea that maybe I'll have time to pack and ship any sold items on Tuesday and Wednesday.  I know that I won't have time to ship items on any other days;  I barely have time to eat.

I had to dig deep to think about parting with a few of these next dolls, but I have only a very tiny display area, and it makes no sense to have a doll collection that's stored away in boxes.  This girl is especially beautiful and rare, and I wish I had a better place to show her off:

22-inch Princess Aurora by Robert Tonner, LE 100.

Disney's Ily 4EVER 18-inch Dolls--A Guest Review!

Dear Toy Box Philosopher blog readers, I’m Hannah, an adult doll collector from London, United Kingdom, and the author of The Toy Gems blog site. I have been collecting dolls since I can remember - which dates back to the age of two when my happiest photographs are with my dolls. I am also a writer/screenwriter and an English graduate who loves collecting dolls and figurines to surround my writing desk. My favourite toy brands growing up included these doll lines: MyScene, Liv dolls, Monster High, Moxie Teenz and of course the popular brands - Barbie and Bratz. 

I also hold American Girl close to my heart and as a British child I was always flicking through their digital catalogue and like any young American Girl, I grew up loving the doll brand. Before AG, other 18-inch dolls lines that made a big impact on me involved the BFC Ink Club dolls which were my favourite along with Journey Girls, My London Girl and Gotz. In recent years, I have enjoyed expanding my doll collection with dolls of varying heights including, the Ruby Red Fashion Friends/Siblies and the British brand A Girl For All Time.

Thank you to Emily for providing me with the opportunity to share a review of the 18-inch ily 4EVER dolls on this iconic site. Growing up, I read every single blog post from The Toy Box Philosopher and spent hours scrolling through images and reading reviews. It was especially exciting reading about doll lines that did not have a Europe/UK release and accessing this knowledge was only viable through this blog.

I am a huge fan and have been reading for more than ten years now. And so it may continue… It’s also great to see what the future holds as ten years ago I would never have guessed that I would be writing and publishing a guest review here of my very own.

Ily 4EVER Minnie (left) and Tinker Bell (right).

Mali and Lilli's Boston Adventure

There has been a lot going on in my life recently!  A few weeks ago, in a very spontaneous decision that I might live to regret, I got a job.  I didn't really set out to get a job, I actually just wanted to do some volunteer work at a local no-kill animal shelter.  But that effort somehow translated itself into a part time job.  So my schedule is going to be a bit chaotic for the next few weeks as I get used to this new reality.  I'm optimistic that I can keep the blog going at a fairly normal rate, by writing shorter reviews or perhaps less frequent reviews, but who knows.  I will certainly do my best to make it awesome.

To add to the complexity of life, I also had a four-day trip to Boston planned around this past weekend.  My son and his lovely girlfriend still live in Beantown, and we wanted to go visit them.  I was very excited about the trip, but I didn't really feel like I could miss a weekend of blogging--what with the new constraints on my schedule and everything.

My solution to this problem was to find a small doll or two to bring with me on the trip, and try to take all of the photographs I'd need for a review while I was on vacation.  I also thought I could actually write the whole review while I was away, but that was unrealistic.  So here I am back in New Jersey, grabbing a few hours before work to tell you the tale of two little friends and all of the fun things they did together in Boston:

Little Friends Mali and Lilli by HABA, $11.99 each.

Patron Post: Kidz 'n' Cats Jennet by Sonja Hartmann

One of the interesting things about blogging for a decade is monitoring which dolls have endured that expanse of time and which have been discontinued.  For example, it doesn't surprise me that American Girl is still alive, thriving, and pretty much unchanged from 2013.  And it's great that some smaller 18-inch doll companies, like A Girl for All Time, Carpatina, Maru and Friends, and even My Salon Doll are still making their products.  Other brands have not been as fortunate.  My Twinn dolls, which are close to my heart, were discontinued in 2016--possibly because of widespread eye problems.  The Extra Special Dolls met a similar fate.  But another casualty of the last decade, and one that took me by surprise, was the Kidz n Cats line by Sonja Hartmann.

I've actually written two reviews of Kidz n Cats dolls in the past: a comprehensive review of Evita in 2013, and a shorter look at two Henriettes in 2018.  And I guess we can count the brief review of the mini doll, Annie, too.  In all of those cases, there were a lot of quality issues and design disappointments that prevented me from thoroughly enjoying the dolls.  Frankly, I struggled to see why the brand was so popular.

But then my lovely new patron, Lillian, suggested that I take one more look at the Kidz.  She even suggested a specific doll, Jennet, who happens to be a character that I remember admiring a great deal back when she first came out in 2016.  So, because of some pangs of nostalgia over the loss of the Kidz n Cats brand, and because I cherish my patrons, today I'll be talking about Jennet:

Kidz 'n' Cats Jennet, by Sonja Hartmann (discontinued).

Barbie's Expanding Inclusivity

Writing two smaller reviews in one week didn't work out as well as I'd hoped.  Some family stuff came up, and everything always takes longer than I expect.  Another part of the problem was that I kept adding dolls to this review, and the dolls were too much fun!  I had a really great time with them and didn't want to stop playing.  That's been a bit of a theme for Barbie Month as a whole, though, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise.  But I managed to get everything ready for you before the opening night of the Barbie movie, and that was my goal, so it's all good.  Once I've seen the movie, I can start talking about the dolls that it inspired.

The idea for today's post was not to review anything in-depth, but rather to showcase and celebrate Barbie's growing acknowledgement of diversity, equity, and inclusivity over the years.  And for this, I decided to focus most of my attention on the Fashionistas--a group of dolls that I seldom talk about on this blog.  It's a pretty wonderful group:

A collection of inclusive Barbie dolls.

35th Anniversary Barbie by Mattel

Hello and welcome back to more of Barbie Month here on TBP!  I may have gotten in over my head with this idea, which is pretty typical for me.  Barbie has a very rich history, and it feels like every day I encounter something new that I want to write about!  For example, Kenzie mentioned the My First Barbie dolls from the 80s in her comment, and that intrigued me because I love dolls from the 80s!  I also got an Instagram request to look at Gloria from the upcoming movie.  And then I feel like every time I do internet research for the review I'm working on, I come across a new Barbie doll or concept that I hadn't thought to include.  It's going to be a busy month!

For today, I want to go back to the beginning of Barbie's timeline and look at a doll that represents her roots.  Barbie made her debut in 1959, but the very first dolls from that year are expensive now, with prices as high as $10,000 or more.  However, there's a reproduction of the original Barbie that was sold in 1994 to celebrate her 35th anniversary.  These dolls are still easy to find on the secondary market and cost in the $50 range, so that's who I decided to feature in this review:

35th Anniversary reproduction Barbie by Mattel, 1994.

Vintage Space-Themed dolls! Spectra by Mattel and Lustra by Tonka

I feel like there are tons of new dolls coming out these days.  There's the constant stream of new Monster High releases that I was talking about last time, but also all of the live action Little Mermaid dolls (many of which look awesome!), new Barbie dolls in anticipation of that movie, some Jakks Pacific ily 4EVER characters, new My Little Pony figures...and that's not even mentioning the higher-priced offerings like the new Integrity dolls, the new Carpatina girl, the new American Girl of the Year, or the articulated Maru and Friends Mini Pals (who I fear have the same body as my Biggers Marilyn).  And that's just what I could think of off the top of my head!

When I get overwhelmed by trying to keep up with new releases, it can be calming to take a break and look to the past--which is what I decided to do this week.  I discovered Mattel's Spectra dolls during one of my random eBay hunts about a year ago, and was immediately captivated by their metallic-looking bodies and wacky hair and outfits.  These space-themed dolls were produced for only one year starting in late 1986, so they can't have been very popular in their time.  However, they were apparently popular enough to attract a copycat, which was Tonka's 1987 Aurora line.  In this review, I'll take a look at Mattel's Spectra and then compare her to Lustra, who is one of the dolls from the Aurora lineup.

Spectra doll by Mattel, 1986.

Sindy, Then and Now

Before I get started today, I want to let you know that I have an Instagram account (finally).  It was easy to set up, in the end, but unfortunately I'm not able to include hyperlinks to individual reviews.  Still, in general, when I post on Instagram, it'll mean that I have a new review published.  Thank you to everybody who has followed so far, and please forgive me while I learn the ropes!

Today's review has been a long time coming.  Sindy is an icon of doll history, and has gone through several fascinating transformations since her debut by the Pedigree company in 1963.  I've been getting requests to review Sindy for almost ten years now, starting in 2014 when Robert Tonner was selling his version of the character.  And I've been meaning to purchase some of these dolls for almost that long, but you know how it goes: the budget is limited, new things are always coming out, and other dolls keep stealing my attention.  Also, the Sindy story is a big one to delve into, especially for a newcomer like me.

But a few weeks ago I was reading on Facebook that the most recent incarnation of Sindy, manufactured by Kid Kreations, has been discontinued.  So I figured I should jump down this rabbit hole and try to get up to speed before a whole new version of Sindy changes the landscape yet again.

Kid Kreations Sindy from 2022 (left) and Marx Sindy from 1978 (right).

Mini Amigas by Paola Reina

The Doll-a-Day project (and also tax season...) kept me from starting a new full-length review this week, so I decided to take the opportunity to pull out the last of my photos from St. John and see if I could make a short post from those.  I took quite a few dolls with me on that trip, most of them for Lena's Spring Break series or the Mermaid reviews, but there were two more stowaways that I've been meaning to share with you.  They are both 8-inch Mini Amigas from Paola Reina, who I purchased last July when I wrote my Las Amigas update.

Mini Amigas David, by Paola Reina, $40.

Doll-a-Day Collection One

I was going on a walk two weekends ago when for some reason the idea popped into my head to start a Doll-a-Day feature.  This idea appealed to me because it seemed like a good way to tell you a bit about dolls that for one reason or another aren't likely to get full-length reviews of their own--or to share dolls that have been in my collection for a while and have never been showcased here on the blog.  So, for the past week, I've posted a single photograph of a different doll every day, both on Twitter and on Patreon.  These photos did not include any information about the dolls, and people had the opportunity to guess the brand.  There were a lot of accurate guesses!  Now that the week is over, I'm going to reveal what all of the dolls are, and share a bit of information about each--like a mini review.

I have to confess that this idea got a little out-of-control, though--as my ideas often do.  The problem is that even if I share a reduced amount of information on each of the seven dolls, that still adds up to a very long blog post!  So maybe next time I'll only choose five dolls, from Monday through Friday, and then publish the overview on the weekend?  You might have other ideas for how to improve on this concept, too, so please feel free to share your thoughts!

But for now, let's take a closer look at this week's eclectic group of seven dolls:

Doll-a-Day group for April 3-9, 2023.

Spring Break with Lena: Lori Dolls by Battat

Are you ready for another day of virtual spring break with me and Lena?  I hope so!  The Lori dolls that we'll be talking about today feel a bit like old friends.  I reviewed these dolls back in 2014 before they were given the Lori name, and then again in 2015.  They made some other brief appearances over the years, too, most notably in a random post about Our Generation accessories.  The thing about old friends, though, is that sometimes you forget to check in for a while and things change!

One of the things that has changed about the Lori brand, at least where I live, is that they aren't sold in Target stores anymore--just online.  In fact, the online selection at Target is pretty minimal, and Amazon appears to be the primary retailer now.  This is too bad, because I always found the Lori characters to be an appealing, affordable option to browse in the toy aisle.

But what about the dolls themselves?  Let's take a look:

Jessa's Camp Set Lori doll by Battat, $16.95.

Shadow High (And More Rainbow High) Dolls by MGA Entertainment

I did a big review of MGA's Rainbow High line back in November of 2021, with a second part that featured Vanessa Tempo.  And then I did an articulation update with Jett Dawson in early 2022.  So it would seem like I've said enough about the brand at this point, right?  But the thing is, even though I haven't been planning or even thinking about additional Rainbow High reviews, somehow there always seems to be a new doll on the shelf that catches my attention--usually because they're offering something quite different from the dolls I've already reviewed.  And since apparently I'm an incurable doll collector, when I see a new doll that interests me, I buy it.

As you can imagine, this kind of behavior playing out over an entire year has led to a pretty big stack of unopened Rainbow High dolls.  And so today I figured I would finally open up some of those boxes and share four of the new and wonderful characters that this brand has produced:

Rainbow High dolls, clockwise from left: Shanelle Onyx, Zooey Electra, Victoria Whitman, and Meena Fleur.

Healthy Roots Gaiana

I've had my eye on the Healthy Roots company since way back in October of 2021 when I started to think about blogging again.  I saw the original Healthy Roots doll, Zoe, at Target and really wanted to buy her, but at that time the $80 price tag was daunting.  Now, a year or so later, and with the help of my generous Patrons, this kind of doll is something I can review.  The great thing is that since I waited for so long, by the time I was ready to buy my doll, there were two new characters in the Healthy Roots lineup: Gaïana and Marisol.

Healthy Roots are 18-inch play dolls with wigged hair in three different realistic curly textures.  The line was created by artist Yelitsa Jean-Charles as a way to help young Black girls feel great about their curls.  The dolls all feature synthetic hair that supposedly looks and behaves just like real hair.  It's even possible to use standard hair care products on these dolls.  I don't have a great track record for dealing with curly doll hair, so I was a little nervous about investigating this brand, but I was also very curious to see if the impressive claims about the hair fiber are true.

The dolls are for sale on the Healthy Roots website for $84.99 plus $15 shipping, or at Target for $79 and free shipping.  I pre-ordered Gaïana from Healthy Roots back in October, and my first impression of her was so good that I immediately grabbed Marisol from Target.  I'll show you a few pictures of Marisol today, but the review will be mostly about Gaïana.  

It might look like Gaïana's photo shoot was in the Caribbean, like the mermaids in my last review, but this is actually back home at the Jersey Shore:

Healthy Roots doll, Gaïana, $84.99.

Sunday Surprise: Penny's Box Natural Wonderland Antu Dolls!

Twitter is a bit of a disaster these days, so I hate to even mention it here on the blog, but I kind-of have to for this post, because without Twitter, I never would have known about the dolls I'm featuring.  I should mention, though, for anyone who is fleeing the Twitter chaos, that I've started an account at Mastodon.  I'll put everything that I post on Twitter on Mastadon, too.  Here's the link, which you can also find over on the right side bar -->

I joined Twitter so that I'd have a way to announce when I'd written a new review, and it's worked fine for that, but after following a bunch of people, I realize that it's also a great platform for learning about new dolls and appreciating talented artists.  In fact, it's maybe too good of a platform for learning about new dolls.  I feel like every time I log in these days, I end up buying something.  

Today's review was inspired by a Twitter friend from New Zealand, surprise-yawns, who introduced me to Penny's Box and their whole range of adorable blind box BJD-style dolls.  I find it mind-blowing that you can get a fully-articulated, adorable little elastic-strung doll in a blind box format...for about twenty bucks.  Sounds too good to be true, right?  Let's find out.

Box photo from Penny's Box Natural Wonderland Antu, $22.

I'm a Wow Dolls by I'm a Girly

When I interrupted my 14-inch comparison series to look at the Honey Bee Acres general store, I figured I'd get right back to the 14-inchers within a week.  But then the DALL-E thing came along, and then I felt like watching Encanto, which led to those reviews, and then more new Monster High dolls were released...and then I adopted an old deaf dog.  So many distractions.  But here we are, seven reviews and more than a month later, and I'm finally back with another 14-inch doll to show you!

This is the sixth doll in the series, and I only have one more left.  I need to finish up so that I can move these girls out of the house.  They're smaller than 18-inch dolls, for sure, but they still take up a lot of space!  I have plans to do a similar series in the 18-inch scale, but--due to space constraints--it'll include fewer comparisons.

I was inspired to write this review back in February when I looked at the 18-inch I'm a Girly dolls.  For me, the big draw with those girls was how ridiculously inexpensive they were on Amazon (between $7.99 and $19.99).  Incidentally, a few of the dolls have increased in price over the last few months, but there are still some good bargains to be found.  At $34.99, the 14-inch dolls are more expensive than their larger cousins--at least with the Amazon prices.

The smaller dolls are called I'm a Wow, which is a more appealing name than I'm a Girly, to me, but it's still an odd brand name.  In fact, the title of this review is a tongue twister that confuses the heck out of me!  Thankfully, this particular I'm a Wow doll has a name, so we can just call her Ava.  Hi, Ava:

I'm a Wow doll, Ava, by I'm a Girly, $34.99.

Encanto Mirabel Dolls by Jakks Pacific

Well, I missed celebrating the one-year anniversary of the blog re-start.  That's typical.  I can't believe it's already been a year, but I guess the huge pile of dolls in my basement is pretty good evidence.  I need to get more serious about selling the dolls I review--or at least the ones who are worth something more than $20.  And since I've gotten out of the habit of selling dolls right after I finish their reviews, I'll find other ways of letting you know when something is for sale.  I can post on Twitter and Patreon easily, and I'll add a comment to the review of any doll that's about to be for sale.  There's also a gadget on the right side of the blog that will appear when there are items in the shop.

Another thing that's worth celebrating is that I have sixty Patrons already!  Woo hoo!  Thank you so much to that dedicated crew for helping out financially, and also for your inspiring comments, suggestions, and messages.  I could not do this without you.

But that's enough of that!  If I don't get this review written soon, some other new thing will come along to distract me and I'll be even more behind.  I've had three different dolls from the Disney movie Encanto sitting in my workroom for months now, and it's high time that I take a look at them.  Today I'll focus on two Mirabel dolls (and one Antonio doll) by Jakks Pacific, and then in a few days I'll follow up with a comparison to the Disney Store's version of Mirabel.

The Mirabel and Antonio Adventure set by Jakks Pacific, $24.99.

A Variety of DALL-E Dollies

Today started out totally normal for me.  I got up, let the dogs out, grabbed a cup of coffee, and sat down to read the news.  But then an article in the Washington Post completely changed the course of my entire day.  And forgive me in advance, but it's likely to steal all of the free time you thought you had, too.

The article I read was about DALL-E, an artificial intelligence, text-to-image generator that has just become widely available to the public.  A text-to-image generator is software that can use regular text to create an image.  So if I input a phrase like "pencil drawing of a dog," DALL-E will give me several computer-generated images that look like pencil drawings of dogs.  And judging by the Washington Post sample images, I could see that DALL-E is very good at what it does.  The article was focused mainly on how this type of AI can be dangerous--and I can see that angle.  For example, people wanting to make a point could generate fake photographic evidence to claim something happened when it actually didn't.

But of course I wasn't interested in DALL-E because I want to create conspiracies or topple governments, I just wanted to see how good this thing is at rendering photographs of dolls.  And it's darn good...at least some of the time:

DALL-E redhead doll in a blue polka dot dress.