crazed-reviews

[crazed-reviews]

Ngl I really want to get back into writing reviews but it is proving more difficult than expected lol

[crazed-reviews]

Hi everyone! I'm currently working on starting a new blog! The Tumblr image limit has been irritating me lately, as I can't share as many photos for my reviews as I'd like (you may have noticed I edited some photos into a collage in order to skirt around it), so I'm making a blog on blogger! I'm not abandoning this Tumblr, though. I may still post mini reviews here!

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Review: "Happy Holidays Barbie" Fashion doll from Mattel (1990)

So, I graduated from high school last month on May 3rd! I got some money as a graduation gift, and obviously, I spent it all on dolls.

The doll I'm reviewing today is the Happy Holidays Barbie doll from 1990. I'm unsure of what she originally retailed for, but I purchased her for $22 USD.

The top of the front of the box reads "Happy Holidays Special Edition 1990", as well as mentioning a keepsake ornament included with the doll. It has a large window to view the doll, which has become quite yellowed with age and sun exposure. The bottom has what looks like a gift tag, reading "Barbie", with mistletoe, green ribbon, and silver bells surrounding her name. There's a very small section to write the recipient and gift givers names.

The back has a large image of Barbie, and claims that there was the same photo inside for framing, but I assume it fell out, since the box had a plastic top and bottom glued to it, but the glue had worn off and the bottom in particular wouldn't stay on. The box completely fell apart once I began opening it.

Removing the outer shell of the box was a surprise, since you can see just how bright pink she is. With the yellowed plastic window, her dress looked red!

Here's everything Barbie came with: a doll stand, a doll brush, a pair of pink pumps, and an ornament.

Here are the accessories on their own. They are all a shade of pink that I think compliments Barbie's gown.

The stand has a shiny reflective sticker on the base that reads "Happy Holidays Barbie 1990" in pink. It's so reflective that it doesn't photograph well. It's designed for a doll to sort of sit on it while standing.

The brush's mold always reminded me of a shell. It's actually pretty decent as far as plastic doll hairbrushes go! It has a decent amount of bristles.

The pumps are basic pink 90s Barbie high heels. They aren't particularly unique, but they're cute and go well with Barbie's dress.

The ornament seems a touch fragile, but is cute. Maybe I'll put it on my family's Christmas tree this year. It's a three layered 3-D star, with a silver string at the top to hang on a tree.

Barbie uses the Superstar face sculpt, which a majority of Barbie dolls produced between 1977 and 1998 used. She has a broad smile with dimples on her cheeks. She's got a slightly orange tanned skintone.

She has bright blue eyes with blue eyelashes and teal eyeshadow. She has pink blush on her cheeks, and a slightly darker pink lipstick. She wears a pair of green stud earrings, a matching ring, and a green necklace with a silver string. There is no way to remove the necklace unless you remove her head, or cut or untie the string.

I think the green jewelry and eyeshadow is an interesting choice to be paired with her pink dress. Personally, I would have gone with silver to match the silver details on her dress and other accessories.

Barbie has voluminous, fluffy light blonde hair, with loose waves in it. She also has very 90s bangs, slicked up, and to her left. She has a hair accessory, a silver and pink star with pink tulle and a "B" in the center, tied into a small side ponytail on her right side with silver string.

The way Barbie was packaged for 30 years left her hair a bit flat and parted in the back, but this was easily fixed with some water and brushing. And, her hair also went back into that fabulous early 90s fluffy look.

Now, the real star of the show, Barbie's gown! The top of the bodice and sleeves are several layers of hot pink tulle, with silver specks and stars all over. They are GIANT, I tell you. The right side always wants to be in her face due to being crushed in the box, but I imagine it'll settle with time.

The bodice is a stretchy, spandex feeling material, in the same shade of pink, with silver stars and lines decorating it.

The skirt, like the top, has several layers of tulle, with the bottom layer being the same material as the bodice. It also has built-in underwear to prevent the skirt from riding up on her hips.

Barbie has 8 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders

Waist, which twists

Hips, which can only go forward and back

Knees, which are rubber with an internal clicking mechanism

Barbie's arms are permanently bent at a 90 degree angle, and sit nicely on her hips.

Here's Barbie on her stand. She tends to float on it a bit, but it isn't a big deal to me since she still feels solid on it and her gown covers it. You can also see how her pumps look on her.

Overall, Barbie is a lovely doll, and a great addition to my collection. I definitely think she's worth the $22 I paid for her, and would recommend her.

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Review: "Enchanted Evening Barbie" Fashion doll reproduction from Mattel (1996)

Starting in 1993, with Barbie's 35th anniversary, and lasting for a few years, Mattel began producing reproductions of Barbie dolls and fashions from 1959 through the early 60s. The reproductions were sold in both blonde and brunette, just like the original dolls.

This particular doll is the blonde version of Enchanted Evening Barbie, from 1996. I purchased her for $18.00 USD off of Facebook Marketplace.

Barbie comes in a blue box, with sparkles on the backdrop behind her, which I believe is supposed to look like the night sky. The front reads:

"1960 Fashion and Doll Reproduction

Collector Edition

Enchanted Evening Barbie"

The back shows Barbie standing by some bushes, and reads:

"Stars sparkle overhead. And there's magic in the air. It's the most exciting evening Barbie can remember. The year is 1960, and Barbie wears one of the most popular vintage fashions, Enchanted Evening®️. In her white furry stole, exquisite ice pink satin gown, and opera length gloves, she is the height of early sixties elegance.

This Collector Edition, which reproduced the ensemble #983, is a second chance to start a Barbie®️ doll collection of your own or for a special person in your life. Because you're never too old for Barbie."

It also advertises an ornament of Barbie in the same outfit.

I like the note that you're never too old for Barbie.

Barbie had a lot of papers tucked in her box! One is a postcard asking questions like "How many Barbie dolls do you own?", "How much do you spend on Barbie yearly?", etc. There's also a 2-year warranty, which ended in 1998, 25 years ago as of this post's writing, and an advertisement for a magazine called "Barbie Bazaar", which was marketed towards adult Barbie collectors.

Barbie comes with a doll stand and a pink shell-shaped brush, just like the one my Coca-Cola Party Barbie came with.

Barbie has a tight-fitting light pink satin gown, with a gathered waist, a pink rosette at the hip, with a long draping section off to her left. To accessorize, she wears a furry white stole around her shoulders, which closes with a clasp, long white gloves, sparkly clear open-toe heels, and a white faux-pearl necklace and faux-pearl stud earrings.

She looks so elegant! I just love the aesthetic of 60s Barbie dolls.

Barbie has 5 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders

Hips

Her arms and legs are a slightly flexible rubbery material, almost like those of 90s Barbie dolls with the click bend knees, but they don't bend.

Barbie has dark blue eyes that look off to her left, and slightly downwards, with light blue eyeshadow, and bright red lipstick. Her nostrils also have a red dot painted in each.

Her long light blonde hair came styled in a high ponytail, with a section of hair wrapped around the hair elastic, and another elastic tied towards the end of her ponytail, but due to age, the elastics have disintegrated in her hair, leaving a clumpy, gluey mess. I had to wash and restyle her hair after these photos.

After washing the elastics out, her hair is very soft! It's densely rooted, so her hair can be styled without showing bald patches, unlike the originals, who were only rooted around the hairline since their hair was intended to be left in the ponytail.

Her necklace came taped down in the back to hold it in place. The tape was very yellowed, but I managed to remove it without leaving any sticky residue.

Here's Barbie's dress without the stole! It gives a very different look.

And here's the dress with the skirt draped in front of her legs.

Here's Barbie's shoes, which are clear open-toed heels with glitter embedded in them. They've yellowed a bit with time, but aren't sticky. They aren't plastic but more of a vinyl, which I was pleasantly surprised by. My grandmother's Barbie and Midge doll's heels were all a thin, brittle plastic that always cracked at the strap. These seem much more durable.

Barbie's toenails are painted the same red as her lips, as are her fingernails.

Overall, I love this doll! She isn't a perfect replica of a 1960s ponytail Barbie doll, but she has her own charm. She's also very easy to find secondhand! I would pay $30.00 USD at most for her, but you can easily find her at $25.00 USD.

This Barbie really is a stunning doll, and I'm very happy to have her in my collection. Now, I'm on the lookout for the brunette Solo in the Spotlight Barbie doll!

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Review: "Coca-Cola Party" Barbie Fashion doll from Mattel (1998)

Earlier this month, I got to go to a local flea market with one of my younger sisters. I'll admit, we got extremely twisted around, and spent 20 minutes trying to find the exit, but it was a very fun trip, and we both got some goodies!

The doll I'm reviewing today is one of the dolls I got: Coca-Cola Party Barbie from 1998. I'm not entirely sure how much she originally retailed for, but I bought her for $12.00 USD.

Here's Barbie, still in her package. The box claims it folds out into a play scene, which didn't work out well for me, as we will see momentarily.

The back of the box reads:

"Barbie®️ is having a party with her friends and plenty of COCA-COLA. You're invited for all the fun!"

Beneath that paragraph is instructions on unfolding the backdrop to play with.

Without further ado, let's get Barbie out, she's been in her box for 25 years!

Here's Barbie with all her accessories. She comes with a (kind of lopsided) stuffed polar bear wearing a red hat, a pretend bottle of Coca-Cola (which was rattling around loose in the box, since the elastic band holding it in place disintegrated... ew, and lastly, a red hairbrush. These 90s Barbie brushes have many more bristles than newer doll brushes, and actually work quite nicely when I can't find my wire wig brush.

Barbie has green eyes, accented by peach and brown eyeshadow, shoulder-length light blonde hair, with thick, blunt bangs, and berry red lipstick with a lightly darker outline. It looks a bit choppy due to the dents the packaging left in it, but it's actually pretty even. Her hair is SO soft, in my opinion.

Her hair covers them most of the time, but Barbie also wears a pair of red stud earrings.

Barbie uses the Mackie face sculpt, which was originally created for the collector dolls designed by Bob Mackie, who disliked the toothy Superstar face sculpt used at the time, but was later used on playline dolls, like this one!

I think she's very pretty!

Barbie wears a mid-thigh length red dress with white sleeves. The bodice has the Coca-Cola logo in white, with a few white bubbles on each side. Beneath it is a multicolored stripe horizontally across the front.

Barbie has 8 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders

Waist, which twists left and right

Hips

Knees, which are rubber with an internal click mechanism (I always called them "Bend and Snap" legs as a kid)

Barbie also wears scrunched white socks (my mom tells me she wore many a pair as a kid and teen in the 90s, haha), and red tennis shoes with painted white laces, soles, and a white "B" (for Barbie), in a circle on the sides.

Barbie has a red ring on her right hand, which matches her earrings.

Here's the backdrop. Supposedly, you can unfold it into a play scene, but it didn't turn out very nicely for me, so I gave it to my sister.

The shelves and the chair for the polar bear didn't want to stay up, so they look very strange.

Barbie also came with this sheet of punch-out 2-dimensional cardboard pieces, including a bowl of popcorn, a pizza, two magazines, three attached bottles of Coca-Cola, a puzzle with a rollerblading polar bear holding a bottle of Coca-Cola, a playing card box, a phone book with a polar bear on the cover, and a pen with a polar bear on it.

Overall, Barbie is such a pretty doll, and I like how cute yet casual her outfit is! The cardboard accessories fell short for me, but I'm sure younger kids must have had fun with them in 1998.

I definitely feel like Barbie is worth the $12 I paid for her, and would recommend her!

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Review: Miraculous "Marinette" Fashion doll from Bandai (2017)

When I was younger and my family would go shopping, I always wanted to look through the doll isle (which hasn't changed, haha). The Bandai Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir doll line was fairly new at the time, and on this one particular trip to a nearby city, the Target there had Marinette and Cat Noir, but Ladybug and Adrien were out of stock.

I hadn't seen Miraculous yet, but I recall thinking Marinette was really pretty (she had BLUE pigtails! Blue's always been my favorite color, and her having blue hair was so cool to 11 year old me), but Cat Noir looked kinda weird to me (why was he dressed like a cat but Marinette was dressed normally??). I never ended up getting that Marinette doll while she was still being sold. I did end up getting one on eBay, but I'd like to get one new in box, or at least with her clothes.

The Marinette doll I'm reviewing today is from a later party line, which included Marinette and Chloé with dresses and their hair down, and released in 2017.

Marinette originally retailed for $14.99 USD, but I purchased her new in box for $19.99 USD on eBay.

Marinette wears a pink satin dress with white polka dots and black trim, along with a red necklace, purse, and high heels.

I don't have any good photos of Marinette in her box, but she is a prime example of why I do not like leaving dolls in their boxes. I just like having them out, yes, but also, playline doll packaging isn't intended to be preserved, and can often negatively affect the doll. The packing ties warped her arms and dented her legs. Luckily, I was able to fix this with hot water.

Marinette has light blue eyes, brown eyebrows, pink lips, and pink blush. I think she has a very sweet, kind expression. I don't think she bares a very strong resemblance to Marinette in the TV series, but she's very pretty nonetheless.

Her waist-length blue hair is a blend of dark blue and black. I think it's really pretty! It comes styled in a half-ponytail. Unfortunately, the elastic band that held it in place disintegrated almost as soon as I opened the box. Ew. Luckily, I was able to retie her ponytail and the crumbled elastic left nothing gross in her hair.

She has a chunky red beaded necklace around her neck. The color choice is the most baffling to me. Why is it red?? I feel like either it and her accessories should be black, or the black trim on her dress should be red.

Here's Marinette's hair from the back. It has a slight wave to the ends. It isn't very soft, but I wouldn't say it's coarse, either. Here you can see the contrasting blues!

I really like Marinette's dress! It's pale pink with white polka-dots, and has a sweetheart neckline, with two straps that secure behind her neck with (a slightly weak) strip of velcro. The waist is trimmed with black ribbon, and the skirt is trimmed with black tulle.

The skirt flares out a bit, and the combination of red, white, and pink is very flattering on her. It follows Marinette's color scheme and patterning she has in the series, which makes it look like something Marinette would design herself (in the series, Marinette is an aspiring fashion designer).

Marinette has 11 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Neck

Shoulders

Elbows

Wrists (which only swivel)

Hips

Knees

Unfortunately, Marinette's dress has a minor manufacturing defect, with a slight fraying in the satin skirt. I find the way the dress lays tends to hide it, though.

Marinette's heels are very chunky flatforms, with a molded bow on the strap. I actually think they're really cute, even if the color choice confuses me.

Marinette has a rubber red purse with a small molded bow on top. It's cute, but I still wish it was black.

Marinette actually has a huge range of articulation, but they're all stopped short by the upper limb they're connected to. If the elbow was cut at an angle, the arms and knees could bend very far. Due to the cut of the elbow and knee, Marinette's arms and legs can't even bend to a 90 degree angle.

Overall, I'm very happy with Marinette. She has a few issues, mostly design-wise (the color scheme of her accessories look odd with her dress to me, and the design of her upper limbs limit her articulation), but I'm able to overlook them to enjoy her.

The articulation, in particular, may be a dealbreaker (especially those who get irritated with any doll that doesn't have the articulation of a Made to Move Barbie), but if it isn't, I'd definitely recommend her. However, I would not recommend her for any price over $20 USD in used condition, and $35 USD new in box.

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Review: Spirit Untamed "Lucky's Train Home" Doll, horse, and playset from Mattel

I'm back with yet another Spirit Untamed review! Today's set is the "Lucky's Train Home" set, which is intended to represent a scene towards the beginning of the movie, where while on the train to Miradero, Lucky sees a herd of wild horses running alongside the train, and sees Spirit for the first time. My sister bought it with birthday money (and I gave her the last few dollars she needed), and said I could review it.

This set released in 2020, and retails for $39.99 USD, though it often goes on sale. My sister purchased it on sale for $25.99 USD.

Here's the entire set. It includes a train car, a Lucky doll, Spirit the horse, a tea set, and a purse. It comes disassembled, but it was actually very easy to put together, with the help of the included instructions.

I'm really impressed with how solid it is! Most doll cars, houses, and playsets in this scale that I've handled are really flimsy, but this train car feels very solid! I feel like it will hold up well.

At the top, you can see the silver roof. It has three window-like cutouts, which help to let in light. The inner walls are brown, with three windows and pink molded curtains on each one. The floor is a lighter brown than the walls, with a molded wood pattern. At the bottom, you can see the wheels, brown and gold, which really roll.

Here's the outside of the train. Below the roof, the window frame is red, and you can see the curtains peeking through, with a brown panel below it, with a large sticker that looks like a blue plaque with red and gold floral details.

Here's the Lucky doll that's included in the set. She has tan skin, green eyes, and slightly wavy waist-length auburn hair. It's very soft! Of the three Spirit Untamed Lucky dolls my sister owns, this Lucky's hair is by far the softest.

Lucky wears a long-sleeved light blue dress with white trim that reaches just above her ankles, with white lace trimming the bodice. The dress she wears in the movie is a dark blue, but I actually prefer this shade of blue!

Lucky also has black Mary-Janes with a slight heel.

For accessories, Lucky wears a light blue headband with a large molded bow, and a light blue shoulder purse with an opening, so you can, in theory, put something inside. However... there isn't anything in the set for you to put inside. I suppose you could have Lucky steal a teacup.

Lucky has 7 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders

Hips

Knees

Her legs are molded white, to give the appearance of tights.

And here's Spirit! He has brown eyes, a dark brown mane and tail, and is mostly an orangey color, with brown legs and a white blaze on his face.

He's mostly plastic, with a vinyl mane and tail. He's molded in a running position, and his mane and tail are molded to appear like it's blowing behind him.

Like I mentioned in my Miradero Festival Lucky and Spirit review, the Mattel Spirit Untamed Spirits look more like Spirit from Spirit Riding Free than Spirit from Spirit Untamed. I feel like if he were a touch more yellow, and had stronger eyebrows and a touch of eyeliner, he'd resemble the movie better. His coloring and kind look make me think of the TV series.

Unlike the Miradero Festival Spirit, this Spirit does not have a doll stand protruding from his spine. However, he does have a small plastic plug where the stand would go. I assume this is so they didn't have to modify the mold. Either way, it isn't too noticeable.

Lucky can ride Spirit! Of course, she looks a bit silly, perched on a galloping horse in a long dress with heels and bows, but it is possible to balance her on him.

However, due to the slick plastic he's made of, paired with the lack of waist clip to hold Lucky on, she tends to slide right off his side. Unless you wrap her legs around his neck awkwardly, she falls off with the slightest movement.

The Just Play Spirit Riding Free dolls had a similar issue. The horses didn't have any attachments for their riders, so they fell off easily. For dolls like Abigail and Pru, they stayed on decently due to their tack, but since Spirit doesn't wear tack, Lucky tended to fall off. The horses did have more of a matte texture, so there was a bit of traction, but Lucky just couldn't manage to stay on Spirit's back during games.

This ended up causing much irritation to my sister (who had gotten a set of all three dolls and their horses in 2018 when she was 6). She originally pretended Lucky was still new to riding, but her patience began to wear thin whenever she tried to have Lucky and Spirit gallop across the floor, so I fear this set may cause similar irritation to kids who want to have Lucky gallop away on Spirit.

There are two gold seats with red molded cushions. You can technically fit two dolls per seat, but it's a tight fit, so this is best a two person train.

The table flips to reveal two layouts, though it's a bit stiff. I thought I was about to break it trying to flip it. One side has raised circles for the tea set to attach to, and the other has a sticker of a lacey purple tablecloth with a deck of cards laid out.

To the right of the seats is a silver counter with more attachments, again for the tea set: a gold teapot with a removable lid, and three white teacups with attached saucers. There's also a hook for Lucky's purse.

The back of the train has molded intentions so that two dolls can, in theory, stand and look over the railing. However, they're a bit large, so Lucky has a tendency to fall sideways. Not ideal when you're on a speeding train. The Lucky dolls with boots seem to stay in better though.

Overall, I think this set is adorable. The train car itself is so fun (and I typically don't find myself attracted to playsets!), and Lucky and Spirit look adorable together.

Before handling this set, I never would have considered buying it full price, but honestly, I do feel like it's worth it, though a sale definitely helps, haha.

I would recommend this set, not only to fans of the Spirit franchise, but for anyone who has smaller dolls or figures that could use the train car itself!

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Review: Spirit Untamed "Miradero Festival Lucky and Spirit" doll and horse from Mattel

Recently, I've reviewed a few dolls from DreamWorks Animation's television series Spirit Riding Free, which ran from 2017 to 2020, about a 12-year old girl from the city named Fortuna "Lucky" Prescott, who adjusts to life on the frontier, and befriends a wild stallion who she calls Spirit.

In 2021, DreamWorks released a new film, called Spirit Untamed, which was essentially a reboot of the series. It was basically a modified and extended version of the series' first episode, "Lucky and the Unbreakable Spirit". It followed Lucky as she moved from the city to Miradero, meets and befriends Spirit, and becomes friends with two girls, Abigail and Pru. It also added new elements, such as a group of thieves that steals horses from Spirit's herd, which Lucky, Pru, and Abigail bring upon themselves to save.

Overall, it was a cute watch, and I'd probably rewatch it. The animation alone was great, Lucky and Spirit's bond was sweet, and Abigail had many funny lines like she did in the series, and she wasn't as airheaded as she was in the series, which I liked.

In 2020, prior to the release of Spirit Untamed, the toy company Mattel released several dolls based off the main characters in their outfits from the movie. They've since extended their line to have playsets, as well as the characters in many other outfits.

Today, I'm taking a look at the Miradero Festival Lucky and Spirit. My sister received it for her birthday the other day, and let me review it. It retails for $24.99, but it was purchased on sale for $13.99.

Note: this review mentions spoilers for Spirit Untamed. This set alone is a bit of a spoiler, but I digress. Proceed with caution.

Here's the pair together. I think they look pretty cute together! Spirit seems to be a touch small in scale to Lucky (or maybe it's Lucky who's large compared to Spirit?), but not small enough to look weird, like many other Mattel fashion doll horses. (like how some Barbie dolls tower high over their tiny horses).

Here's Lucky as she came out of the package. She's wearing a pink dress with purple ruffles trimming the bottom and top.

I think it's a decent rendition of the dress Lucky wears to the Miradero Festival at the end of the movie. In the movie, it had once belonged to her late mother, but her aunt tweaked it to fit Lucky. The doll is wearing a simplified version of the dress, but looking at the dress, I don't feel like it's lacking.

The ruffle on the top of the blouse has pale purple flowers that match the flowers on Spirit's saddle pad. The bottom ruffle has three thin wavy lines in the same light purple as the flowers. The waist is trimmed with a purple ribbon "belt". The skirt is a touch longer in the back than the front, which is shorter to show off her boots.

Lucky also comes wearing a pair of brown boots. I'll touch on those more in a moment.

Lucky has 7 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders

Hips

Knees

Her articulation reminds me of the small Just Play Spirit Riding Free dolls, except Lucky feels much sturdier and more flexible than those dolls, which was a pleasant surprise.

Here's a closeup of Lucky wearing her headband, which looks like a circlet of pink roses. It seems like an odd choice, but is still cute. In the movie, she had two flowers clipped into her hair on either side.

Lucky has tan skin, green eyes, and pinkish brown lips in a slight smirk. This particular doll's lips are printed a touch high. I'm not a huge fan of the line painted on the right corner of her mouth, it clashes with the molded intent.

Overall, I really like her face! I wasn't a fan of it at all from the stock photos I had seen of her, which made her smile seem a bit gremlin-like. I will say, her smile seems a touch wide. In the movie, Lucky's mouth was actually pretty small, she only had a wide smile like this once or twice. However, I'm giving it a pass, since I believe Mattel was going off of the promotional images, a lot of which showed her with a wide grin.

Lucky also has reddish brown hair with a center part that goes past her waist, with a slight curl to it. It's actually very soft, though quite unruly. I had to break out my spray bottle and comb to get it somewhat neat for photos. It's also incredibly thick! I haven't seen a Mattel fashion doll with such densely rooted hair in like a decade, so I was pleasantly surprised. In fact, she could probably stand to have a bit less hair!

Here's a better look at Lucky's boots, which once belonged to her late mother. They're brown, with molded heart indents and flames, which are painted red. They slip off with a slit in the backs, and stay nice and snug on Lucky's boots. They bare a great resemblance to Lucky's boots in Spirit Untamed. Unfortunately, I was unable to say the same thing about Just Play's Spirit Riding Free dolls from 2017. The small Lucky dolls had plain black boots with no painted or molded flame pattern, so these are a great step up.

The flames are much more subtle than Lucky's boots in Spirit Riding Free, which had orange, red, and yellow flames, as well as shooting stars on the sides. At first glance, they just look like swirls.

And here's Spirit! He has a (very long) rooted mane, and a molded forelock and tail. He's mostly unarticulated, but has articulation at his neck, which can look up, down, and a bit to the left and right.

I feel like he resembles Spirit from Spirit Riding Free more than Spirit from Spirit Untamed. I think it's his the combination of his "nice" eyebrows, forelock, and color that makes him resemble the series Spirit more than the movie Spirit. In the series, Spirit's quite orange, and has a shorter, neater forelock, and a generally pleasant expression. In the movie, Spirit's a more yellow buckskin color, with a longer forelock, and intense, thick eyebrows, paired with heavy... eyeliner?? Spirit needs to give me his makeup and eyebrow routine.

He has a slightly bendable clear clip attached to his back, which looks like the top of a doll stand. It's for Lucky to stay secure while sitting on him. It looks a bit unfortunate without Lucky sitting on him, just a stand protruding from his spine.

ETA 3/15/23: As it turns out, the clip IS removable! It slides in and out. Just took me two weeks to figure it out, haha.

I kind of wish it was removable, but I imagine kids would lose it quite easily, and then he'd have an unfortunate hole in his spine.

I noticed Spirit had a molded symbol on his raised hoof. It looks to be a silhouette of Spirit and Lucky in a semi-circle. I've noticed this sane symbol on other Spirit Untamed merchandise, so I assume this is the new logo used for official Spirit merchandise and stuff, rather than the galloping horse that was used for Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and Spirit Riding Free merchandise.

Here's Spirit wearing his wreath/necklace thing, and saddle pad? Blanket? I'm not sure.

The wreath looks like a variety of flowers, and matches Lucky's circlet. It has no closures, and is just molded in a circle, so it needs to be contorted a bit to fit over Spirit's ears. The blanket is purple, and has alternating pale purple and orangy pink flowers. It has an elastic strap that goes across his stomach to hold it in place, and a T-shaped hole to fit it over the doll stand waist clip.

Spoilers for Spirit Untamed below:

Towards the end of the movie, Lucky lets Spirit go back to his herd and be wild and free, so he didn't actually go to the Miradero Festival with her. Even if he did, I doubt he'd wear this. Maybe in the series, (in later seasons, he ended up a lot more chill, and occasionally let Lucky put a wreath on him) but in the movie, he's a lot more firm, standing his ground about not wearing tack or anything of the like.

It still makes for a super cute matching outfit with Lucky though, haha. I'm a sucker for matching rider/horse outfits and tack. Sorry, Spirit. You're just really cute in this, so you'll be wearing it.

Here you can see the hole in the blanket. It lifted a bit here, but usually lays pretty flat.

Here's Lucky sitting on him without his tack. Using the clip, she has a tendency to float a few centimeters above his back, rather than sitting flesh against it. Thankfully, her dress masks it, but I imagine it's much more noticeable on the Lucky dolls that have pants.

If you just plop her on him without adjusting her dress, it likes to ride all the way up to her hips (after all, you wouldn't typically ride a horse in a dress). It takes a bit of maneuvering, but her dress can actually lay quite nicely on Spirit's sides while she sits on him.

Lastly, here's Lucky and Spirit with all of their outfit pieces on. They're really an adorable pair, and I may have to buy myself some of the Spirit Untamed dolls (the Picnic Friends Lucky and Spirit set is tempting...)!

They feel like decent quality, and while not perfect, bare a good enough resemblance to the movie characters they represent.

I can imagine many kids (and teens such as myself, as well as adults) having lots of fun with this pair, imagining new adventures for Lucky and Spirit to go on.

I definitely recommend this pair. I do believe they're worth full retail, but are even better on sale.

[crazed-reviews]

Review: Spirit Riding Free "Abigail" Deluxe Fashion doll from Just Play

When I purchased my Lucky and Spirit set, I also bought Abigail! This doll is based off the character of Abigail Stone from the Dreamworks Animation TV series, Spirit Riding Free, which was a loose sequel to Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron.

The series focused on 12-year-old Fortuna "Lucky" Prescott as she adjusts to life after moving to a small westen town. There, she befriended a wild stallion, whom she names Spirit, as well as two girls her age, Abigail Stone and Prudence "Pru" Granger.

This particular doll has a different outfit than her series counterpart. There were two lines: one with Pru, Abigail, and Lucky (who call themselves the PALs, based on their friendship and initials) in their series outfits, as well as the trio in new outfits.

Here's Abigail in her package. The front has Abigail posed in front of a background of a fence, with mountain scenery. The bottom advertises the series being on Netflix, and has a CGI image of Abigail and her horse, Boomerang. The back has a large CGI image of Abigail, and smaller CGI images of Pru, Lucky, and Abigail, advertising the other dolls available.

At the top, there's a description that reads in both English and French:

"A sweet and exuberant girly-girl, Abigail can talk a mile a minute about the things she loves."

Here's the backdrop Abigail was attached to.

Right out of the box, she's pretty tall! She's about the same height as a Barbie doll (though most of her height comes from her large head). I assumed she's be a touch shorter, like the 10 inch Miraculous Ladybug dolls, but I'm quite pleased with her size.

Abigail comes with a three piece outfit that consists of a blouse, leggings, and boots, with no extra accessories. I really like Abigail's outfit! In fact, I prefer it to the original Abigail doll's outfit. I think it really suits her, and reflects her kind, girly personality, but still practical, as she's active and rides horses.

Abigail's blouse is pink, with a floral pattern and lighter pink accents. It has gathered puffed sleeves, a V-neck, and printed dark pink drawstrings.

Her leggings are printed to resemble light blue jeans, and are quite stretchy. I really like the look of these! Usually, printed jeans look quite odd on dolls, but I think these look great. The pattern is actually in scale with her as well, which really helps.

Her boots use the same mold as the boots that come with the Pru doll in her series outfit. They are dark blue. There's some molded stitching on the sides, but nothing particularly flashy.

Abigail has 11 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders

Elbows

Wrists

Hips

Knees

Her joints actually have a wide range of movement, but the cut of the limb the joints attach to restricts the movement. Abigail's right wrist is pretty ragged, which makes it a bit floppy. Her knees are also very tight, which made me worried about snapping them (nearly all online reviews of the dolls when they were still sold mentioned the knees snapping, but I suspect they may have forced the knees too far), but they seem to be holding up fine.

Abigail has side-glancing blue eyes, pink lips and blush, and short blonde hair. I think she has a sweet expression. Her eyebrows are much more shapely than her series counterpart, who has thin, even eyebrows. She also has side bangs, which are held aside with some thread. The bangs, as well as a bit of hair on the other side of her part had hairspray to help keep it's shape. The rest of her hair is really soft! It was a bit uneven in the back, but overall looks great.

From the back, you can see the pattern on both Abigail's blouse and jeans go back to the back, instead of being confined to the front! The Lucky from this line wasn't as lucky (ha, get it?), as her vest is only on the front of her shirt.

Abigail's ankle boots are a navy blue, with some molded stitching. They use the same mold as the Pru in her series outfit's boots. They are nice and snug on her feet.

Overall, Abigail is adorable, and I'm very happy to have her. My biggest complaints are just how tight her knees are, and how loose her right hand is. I think she's very cute, and bares a decent resemblance to her character in the TV series. I would give her an A-.

Abigail is definitely a special gal, and I can see myself purchasing more Spirit Riding Free dolls.

[crazed-reviews]

Review: Spirit Riding Free "Lucky and Spirit" Doll, Horse, and DVD from Just Play (2019)

Back in 2017, Dreamworks released a TV series called Spirit Riding Free, which was intended to be both a spin-off and a loose sequel to the 2002 film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. The series followed a young girl named Fortuna Prescott as she moves to a small country town called Miradero. Feeling out of place, she befriends a wild horse, whom she calls Spirit, who refuses to be broken by stable wranglers. The pair become fast friends, and go on adventures along with Abigail Stone and her horse Boomerang, and Prudence "Pru" Granger and her horse Chica Linda.

While both Breyer and Just Play produced Spirit toys, the set I'm taking a look at today is from Just Play. This set features Lucky in the outfit she wears in nearly all episodes, and Spirit. This set isn't the original set from 2017, but rather a re-release of sorts from 2019. Over the time they had the license to make Spirit toys, Just Play released a variety of sets with Lucky and her friends in various outfits, and gradually phased out the dolls in their original outfits.

This particular Lucky and Spirit were re-released along with the dolls based off of Spirit Riding Free: Pony Tales which released that year. This set seems to have two different versions: one with a DVD and one without. My set has the DVD.

I'm unsure of how much it originally retailed for, but I purchased it off of eBay new in box for $18.69 USD.

With that out of the way, let's take a look at the pair!

The box was a bit beat-up, but that's to be expected as I purchased the set secondhand, and it's from nearly four years ago. Besides, I didn't plan to save it, so it's all good.

On the front, we see Fortuna (who goes by Lucky) posed reaching up to touch Spirit, along with a CGI photo of Lucky riding Spirit, and on the corner, it talks about the included DVD, which includes 2 full episodes and two music videos.

On the back, we see a description which reads:

"Spirit is a noble, powerful, smart and unbreakable mustang. The love and trust Spirit feels for Lucky makes her the only person he allows to ride him."

Next to it, there's the DVD case.

Out of the box, this set includes Lucky, Spirit, and a DVD in a DVD case.

Removing Spirit from the package was surprisingly easy, he was only attached by two plastic bands, but Lucky had one plastic tie in her head, and a rubber band wrapped around her waist under her shirt, and another rubber band wrapped around her ankles under her boots. It was weird, I had to half undress her to remove the elastics (I like keeping them to use for doll hair, hence why I didn't just cut them). The DVD case slid right out once the plastic window over it was removed.

Lucky has long brown hair, brownish-hazel eyes, and pink lips and blush. I think she bears a decent resemblance to her character in the series, but I wish her eyes were light green like in the series, instead of the almost-but-not-quite brown color they are.

Lucky's hair, despite being a bit stiff and looking coarse, is super soft! It's also free of styling product. It was quite neat immediately out of the box, but with minor handling, became very fluffy and unruly. My sister used to have a Lucky doll, and we always kept her hair in a braid or ponytail to contain it.

Lucky wears a simplified version of the outfit she wears in most episodes of the series. She has a white blouse with gathered sleeves and an orange horse decal. Her blouse has a sort of crinkly texture, I'm not sure what it's called, but I like it. She also has brown jeans (which are sculpted and painted to her legs) instead of leggings, and black knee-high boots. I think it's a decent approximation, especially with how small she is.

Her boots are the most lacking. In the series, Lucky wears her late mother's boots, which are black with orange flames and star details on the fronts. The 11 inch Lucky doll had very simplified boots, with an undetailed red flame shape on the fronts, so I feel like it wouldn't be too difficult to give the small doll that design.

They remind me of the plain boots she wears in the first episode, "Lucky and the Unbreakable Spirit", before she receives her mother's boots at the end of the episode.

Lucky has 7 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders (which only go forward and back)

Hips

Knees

Unfortunately, my Lucky had a bit of a bobblehead, as well as warped legs. I managed to fix both (which I'll talk about further in another post), but I wish I hadn't needed to. Her legs are holding up fine (though I haven't handled her all that much), but they are a bit more delicate than a toy intended for ages 3 and up should be.

Strangely enough, the Lucky my sister used to have in 2018 also had a loose head, though her Pru and Abigail dolls didn't. I'm curious if this was an issue with Lucky dolls, or if it's just a strange coincidence. I may do some investigating in the future. Plus, there are a few more sets I'm interested in.

Here's Spirit! He's completely stationary, with no articulation, and a sculpted mane and tail. The vinyl hair is actually part of why I chose the set I did, I'm not fond of the rooted hair most of the other Spirits have.

I believe his mold is reused from the first barn playset from 2017. He's a bit smaller than the other horses. My sister still has her Chica Linda (The last one standing... Lucky, Abigail, Spirit, and Boomerang ended up war-torn and Pru went missing. Whether she's still kicking around I have no idea), and he's about an inch or so shorter than her.

He has brown eyes and thick eyebrows, but they aren't as serious as previous Spirits. He has a brown muzzle with a molded smile, and a white blaze. His painting is blended much nicer than earlier Spirits, who had a very stark line between his buckskin color, his muzzle, and his blaze.

He's slightly scuffed on his left side from the packaging being smushed, but it isn't too noticeable.

I do wish he had a more dynamic pose, he seems very chill compared to the stoic, serious look of the original Spirit from 2017 (which, it turns out, was sold separately). He just doesn't seem as "wild horse" to me as the original set's Spirit did, however, he's still really cute.

"I'm gonna ride, I'm riding freeeee~"

Lucky sits on Spirit quite nicely. She balances quite solidly, but the second you try to move them, she slides right off. The Spirit Untamed dolls from Mattel (which is on my list to buy and review eventually) fixed this by adding a doll stand-esque clip to the horses backs, but then you pretty much can't ever have the doll off the horse without it looking awkward, because a... stand... is protruding from their spines.

Anyways, I always felt the Spirit Riding Free dolls were too big for the horses, but with this Spirit being smaller than the others, she feels even larger on him. Most of the time, her feet hang well below Spirit's stomach, but the way she's sitting on him in this photo (like she's sitting on a chair, instead of a horse, haha) has them seem not quite as long.

Lastly, Lucky and Spirit also came with a DVD, which includes the first two episodes of the series, "Lucky and the Unbreakable Spirit" and "Lucky and the Treacherous Trail", as well as two music videos, the "Rainy Day" music video (also known as "Friends Forever"), and a music video of the cast version of "Riding Free", the series' opening song. The title screen also has an instrumental version of "Riding Free", which was a nice touch.

On the front cover, there's a picture of Lucky and Spirit (you can see how big she is in comparison to Spirit, and how her legs don't reach the bottom of his stomach), and the back has a large picture of Lucky hugging Spirit along with a description, a smaller picture of Lucky, Pru, and Abigail, and another small picture of Lucky with Chica Linda and Boomerang.

The description reads:

"Dreamworks Spirit Riding Free is a story about three best friends, the horses they love, and a world of adventure. Lucky, a gutsy 12-year-old girl, befriends a wild mustang she names Spirit. With her two best friends, Abigail and Pru, and their horses by their sides, they explore a world filled with endless rides and never-ending fun. Together they'll push their own limits and discover what it truly means to be free."

The front of the DVD has the title of the series, as well as the names of the episodes and music videos that are included.

"As long as I am here with you, I feel the spirit within me~"

Overall, I really like Spirit and Lucky. They're a really fun pair to pose together. While they're not without flaw, their good points truly shine through. A few negatives that are worth noting are just how fragile they seem, and how my Lucky had a very loose head, and warped legs (though that may be due to being in her box since 2019). Some positives are how great they look, with good sculpting. They do resemble they characters they're intended to represent, and look good posed together, with minor scale issues.

Due to how delicate they feel, I really don't think they're great for their intended age range, but with my gentle handling, they're holding up great. I do believe they're worth the price I paid, and would recommend them.

Since I purchased them secondhand, I'll mention secondhand prices. New in box Spirit Riding Free doll and horse sets generally seem range from $14 USD to $35 USD. I would pay as high as $25 USD for a set, maybe $30 at absolute most, but that's pushing it, and only if it's a set that comes up less often (like the flocked sets).

Lucky and Spirit are a great addition to my collection, and I'm really happy to have them.

[crazed-reviews]

Review: Ladybug and Cat Noir: The Movie "Marinette at the Grand Ball" Fashion doll from Playmates Toys

Today's review was requested by @totallovestrucksimp. Thanks for being my first requested review!

The doll I'm reviewing today is the Marinette doll based off the upcoming Miraculous movie (which my sister and I have been waiting for it to release for like 4 years). Whether the Summer 2023 release date is true or not, I have absolutely no idea, but with the movie finally getting merchandise and trailers, I'm crossing my fingers.

Marinette retails for $34.99.

I absolutely love the presentation of her box! It shows off her gown, and I really like the contrast of the dark blue sky, the yellow background, and her red dress. Plus, Marinette isn't in a dynamic pose in her box like the other dolls, so If you were to leave her in the box, you wouldn't have to worry about her limbs warping or contorting weirdly over time.

Out of the box, she comes with a red mask, and the catalogue I mentioned in my Vesperia review, which shows off other available products.

Marinette has 15 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders

Double-jointed elbows

Double-jointed knees

She's quite solid, and her joints are a decent tightness. Her head can only move side to side, but I believe that is only a fluke on my doll.

Marinette also has her molded underwear painted a shimmery red, which matches her earrings and mask.

Marinette's dress is stunning! It's an almost pink shade of red, with a satin bottom layer, topped by three layers of red tulle with black spots, evoking the look of Ladybug's suit. The bodice has silver dots and trim, along with silver tulle sleeves. It flares out very nicely on it's own, but a petticoat would make it flare out even more!

The only downsides is that the satin layer wrinkles very easily and holds creases, and that the thread she was packaged with left holes in the skirt and wings.

Her accessories include a pink fabric flower attached to her bun, her Miraculous, red earrings with black spots, a white plastic pearl necklace, and glittery pink flats.

While I do feel like the concept dress, which was a white dress with a tiered skirt and pink trim with butterflies and Marinette's flower motif feels more like "Marinette", this dress is still absolutely stunning.

On the back of her gown, Marinette has four delicate silver tulle wings with swirly designs on them. They're so pretty, but they have holes punctures in them from the threads holding them in place in the packaging.

Here you can also see her dress opens with velcro. From the original promotional images, I had thought she was sewn into it, so it's a pleasant surprise to see.

Marinette has blue eyes, vibrant blue hair, glittery purple eyeshadow, and pink lips and blush. The glitter does shed, so be careful handling her (the poor girl has glitter in her left eye!).

Her hair is twisted up into a high bun, with sideswept bangs on both sides of her part, and two tendrils framing her face.

I think she has a very sweet, innocent expression. She uses the same face sculpt as the series Marinette doll, which I think makes her resemble Marinette in the series more than Marinette the movie, who has a younger appearance, and almost pouty lips.

I think her eyebrows are a massive improvement from the series Marinette doll, who has thin line eyebrows, which often look angry.

Here you can see her Miraculous and the flower in her hair better.

The flower is pink, with black leaves, and yellow stitching. It is attached to a blue rubber band, which I believe is a different elastic than the one holding her hair in place.

Her Miraculous is a more shimmery plastic than the series Ladybug dolls. I'm curious if the movie will explain why her earrings aren't in camouflage mode (plain black), or if they even have a camouflage mode in the movie.

Marinette's flats are essentially a glittery version of her everyday flats. They are an almost purple shade of pink, and have a delicate black bow painted on the toes. I love these shoes! They're the closest we've gotten to a series-accurate pair of Marinette's flats! I will say, it feels odd for her to be wearing her everyday flats with this elegant ballgown. I'm curious if she wears these flats with her gown in the movie?

Like her eyeshadow, Marinette's flats also shed.

Lastly, her mask. It is the same mold as the other removable Ladybug masks, but in a shimmery plastic. Unfortunately, I can not seem to get it to stay on her face. It keeps popping off. Even if it did fit, I couldn't see myself using it too often, as I like showing off her makeup. I like having her hold it, though.

Overall, Marinette is a gorgeous doll, with a stunning outfit. I'm so happy to have her in my collection, and her dress and face truly make up for the shortcomings in her mask and how she was attached to her box.

I give Marinette a solid A+. I hope Playmates will continue making products for the movie, I'd love to see a matching Grand Ball Adrien, as well as Marinette and Adrien in their regular outfits with new face sculpts (the movie Ladybug's sculpt is so pretty!).

Thanks again to @totallovestrucksimp for requesting this review!

[crazed-reviews]

Review: Miraculous "Queen Bee" Fashion doll from Playmates Toys

Every year, my family does a "Secret Santa" gift exchange on Christmas Eve, but considering half of us can't do the shopping ourselves, pretty much everyone knows who has who, so this year, we called it the "Not-So-Secret Santa", and we all knew who drew who.

My 5 year old brother got me, and I got a Queen Bee doll, and my stepdad picked out one with the best face.

Queen Bee retails for $16.99 USD.

Queen Bee has the standard box style, with an image of herself on the side, and a message reading "Be Strong, Be Brave, Be MIRACULOUS!" on the back, along with pictures of Ladybug, Cat Noir, Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, and Marinette against a pink background.

Queen Bee comes with three accessories: Pollen, her Kwami, her Miraculous, a bee comb (which is actually a clip), and her weapon, a spinning top with a string attached (which doesn't actually spin).

Queen Bee comes wearing a one piece black and yellow suit, and plain black ankle boots.

I think the printing on her suit is pretty good, slightly crooked, but neat enough to not bother me.

Her boots are the same mold as several of the other heroes, such as Ladybug, Lucky Charm Ladybug, Cosmobug (basically all the Ladybugs), Rena Rouge, and Bunnyx. I noticed they're a softer plastic than most of my more recent dolls, who have very hard plastic shoes.

She has 15 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Head

Shoulders

Double-jointed elbows

Hips

Double-jointed knees

Her joints are nice and tight, and she feels quite solid! After several looser, hollow feeling Miraculous dolls, Queen Bee is a breath of fresh air to handle.

Queen Bee has blue eyes, pale pink lips, and wears a black mask with yellow trim, which is molded and painted onto her face. I think she bears a close resemblance to her character in the series. Not quite as close as Vesperia to her doll, but still very close. I really like her face!

Her head is very round and large, especially in comparison to the other Miraculous dolls, but I feel like Queen Bee has a rather large head in the series, so it's pretty much accurate.

Queen Bee has long blonde hair styled in a high ponytail and gelled into a large ringlet, with two pieced pulled back, and two tendrils framing her face.

It's a touch messy at the top, where it was pulled aside in the box, but I'm very happy with how the ringlet looks. My particular doll has a tighter curl, which I actually prefer the look of.

You can also see her Miraculous, a bee comb/clip, with yellow "prongs", and a white bee with black stripes. Vesperia's Miraculous uses the same mold, but the colors are swapped. I slipped it onto one of the sides of hair that are pulled pack, because I didn't want to risk messing up her ponytail or curl. It's very large in comparison to her head, but if I'm being honest, it would be more difficult to handle if it was any smaller.

Queen Bee's spinning top is yellow with a black stripe and a hook for her finger, and a black string attached to it, along with a loop for her hand.

Something I immediately noticed was the length of the string. It's much longer than both Vesperia's top and my sister's Queen Bee from last year's top.

I can definitely see the longer string being more fun for kids to play with, but it's now too long to put the loop on the string through the hook on the top to have it sit around her waist. It sits more at her thigh now without some manipulation (like in my first image). Newer Ladybugs also have a longer yoyo string, but her yoyo can be winded up to fit better.

I do prefer the longer string to the shorter string, but it would be nice if it were an adjustable length.

And here's her Kwami, Pollen! I think she's pretty cute. I've mentioned before that I don't like most of the Playmates Miraculous doll's Kwamis, but Pollen and Plagg are exceptions. She's mostly yellow, with black trim and yellow-green irises with blue sclera.

Her sculpting is pretty nice, she has a little smile, but it's unpainted, like Tikki, but she has enough painted details to not look like an afterthought.

My only major complaint is that I can't get her to balance (she's laying down in this photo). Other than that, she's a fun addition to Queen Bee.

Overall, I'm very pleased with Queen Bee. She feels very solid, with tight joints, looks quite accurate to her television counterpart, and all of her accessories look great. I don't find myself wishing she came with more or that her accessories are disappointing, like some of the other Miraculous dolls I've reviewed. I give Queen Bee an A+!

[crazed-reviews]

Review: Miraculous "Bunnyx" Fashion doll from Playmates Toys

So, I finally bought myself a Bunnyx doll! You may recall back in March I made a post about my sister's Bunnyx doll, who is from the initial U.S. release. I thought she was really cute, but she had an issue with her neck (which I somehow forgot to mention in that post) which nearly all dolls from that initial wave had, that I hoped would be fixed with later waves. 

And then I proceeded to forget about her for eight months until I saw she was on sale, oops. I purchased her for $11 USD on Amazon, but she retails for $16.99.

Here she is in her box, which is the new design with a rainbow across the front and information about the character on the back. The information is somewhat correct, except it says "Transformation phase" instead of "Transformation Phrase" (this typo was fixed for the upcoming Cosmobug doll's box, and I assume it'll be fixed on the others at a later point) and that she learns she'll get a Miraculous after being akumatized. She doesn't actually learn about it until the season 3 episode "Timetagger".

I noticed that at the bottom of her box, there was a sticker with a QR code. I scanned it with my phone camera, (Okay… I scanned it with Google Lens. My phone isn't fancy enough to scan QR codes) and it took me to the movie page of the Miraculous Ladybug website, with a teaser for the movie. Not really a trailer, but still neat.

Here's the link, if you're interested:

https://miraculousladybug.com/en/movie

Here she is right out of the box. She comes with her headband and her kwami, Fluff. Like Vesperia, she also comes with a catalogue, advertising the rest of the Miraculous toy line from Playmates Toys. 

As a quick note, she was packaged slightly differently from my sister's Bunnyx. Unlike my sister's Bunnyx, the plastic shell she was attached to didn't go up to her head, and so she didn't have a plastic tab punctured through her head! This was a pleasant surprise, as I strongly dislike those tabs in the heads.

Here's Bunnyx's full outfit. She, like all the other heroes, has a one piece suit with separate shoes. Her suit is blue and white with black trim, and at her neck, a white… pom-pom? I'm not sure what it is, to be honest. It reminds me of both a rabbit's tail, and Cat Noir's bell. I do wish her suit covered her ankles, but I like the overall look. She wears white boots. Without the headband and neck-tail, I'm not sure if I'd get "rabbit" from it. 

Her hands are bare, but for some reason it never bothered me as much as the ankles showing.

Unfortunately, she does not have her Miraculous, a pocket watch, or her weapon, an umbrella. I suppose I could suspend disbelief and pretend her pocketwatch is in her… well, pocket, like in the show, but I don't understand why she doesn't have her weapon. If size was an issue, they could've done it like Draculaura's parasol, from Mattel's Monster High line. Her parasol was molded in a closed position.

Due to the gel in her hair, I can barely get the headband on her, and even when I do, it doesn't sit completely down on her head.

She has 15 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Neck

Shoulders

Double-jointed elbows

Wrists (which only swivel)

Hips

Double-jointed knees

Her joints are pretty tight, and she doesn't have the neck issue that the initial U.S. wave had, where the peg is stiff and angled sideways to where the head is half off the neck and can only move sideways.

Here's a closeup of Bunnyx's face. I really like it!

Bunnyx has blue eyes, pink lips, and a blue, white, and black mask. I do think her eyes should have a reflective dot in them, but I've gotten used to the look.

My particular doll unfortunately has a paint defect on the bottom left (our right) of her mask, where the black outline is smudged. I haven't decided whether to try and fill it in or leave it alone yet.

She has short red hair with loose curls gelled into a solid piece. It is completely rock solid. I kid you not. I thought my sister's Bunnyx's hair was hard, but this is even harder than hers. She doesn't seem to really have the short side bangs my sister's Bunnyx has. I can't really tell through all the gel, but I'm curious if her bangs were changed to be longer, like the rest of her hair, or if they're just so gelled to the side they appear longer.

Here's her headband off of her head. It's mostly white, but the insides of the ears are blue. It looks nice when I can get it on her head! It has four prongs, which I assume is to help keep it in place, but I feel like it makes it harder to get on. It's pretty simple, but pulls her outfit together. 

And here's her kwami, Fluff. I think she looks… interesting. She is mostly white, with blue eyes, and the insides of her ears are also blue. She has two long whiskers on her face, but they're so thick they look like a mustache. I would've preferred her umbrella over Fluff.

Overall, I really like Bunnyx! I'd give her a B+. I wish she came with her Miraculous and umbrella, even if it had to be molded closed, and Fluff looks strange. The paint defect on my doll is what kept her from being an A-. If minor paint issues don't bother you, or you can purchase one in-store, I would definitely recommend her.

[crazed-reviews]

Marinette and Cat Noir!

[crazed-reviews]

Review: "Vesperia" Fashion Doll from Playmates Toys

So, I'm currently down with a torn ligament in my foot, so I bought Vesperia to play around with while I heal. She arrived today, and I decided to review her!

Vesperia was first teased in January of 2022 on the Zag Store's Instagram story, and was officially announced the next month, in the February issue of the Toy Book. She released in March in Europe, and in the U.S. on August 1st.

I was pretty impressed by this, since Vesperia debuted in the episode "Queen Banana", which aired on May 28th, 2021, so she was designed and released less than a year after her introduction into the show. I will say though, I find it quite amusing that her U.S. release was after the season 4 finale of Miraculous aired, where... well, I won't give it away, but if you've seen the finale, I bet you'll get what what I'm talking about.

Onto the doll!

Vesperia has the new package design I briefly mentioned in my post about the U.S. Bunnyx. The package has the rainbow pattern that's been all over the season 4 merchandise, and the updated Miraculous logo, with a yin-yang symbol as the 'o' instead of a ladybug pattern.

The back, instead of the standard back that all of the previous dolls had, the new package design is specific to each character, with an image of the character on the left, and information on the right, including their civilian name, superhero name, Miraculous, Kwami, superpower, and transformation phrase, as well as a short blurb about the character. I like this in theory, but both Vesperia and Lucky Charm Ladybug's have some wrong information on them, which I'll get into in another post.

Right out of the box, Vesperia comes holding her spinning top, and with her Bee Miraculous next to her. Unfortunately, unlike Queen Bee, she does not come with her Kwami, Pollen. I suppose if you have both, they'd have to share. I do wish she came with her, though.

I also found a little catalogue pamphlet tucked into the box next to her feet! I love when toy companies do this. It's neat to look through, especially many years down the line when all of the items are no longer available, it's cool seeing what had been available at the time. I believe Vesperia, Lucky Charm Ladybug and her scooter, Talk and Sparkle Ladybug, and the movie dolls come with it. I may do another post just about the catalogue.

Like all of the Playmates Miraculous hero dolls, Vesperia has a one-piece suit with separate shoes. I think it's pretty accurate to Vesperia's suit in the series, except she doesn't have the gold stripe down the front or the gold 'V' at the top. Lucky Charm Ladybug has a similar issue, where she doesn't have the zipper-like black stripe down the front with the ladybug charm at the top. While it looks odd on Ladybug's simplistic suit, Vesperia's suit has enough going on with it that it looks fine without it.

Her hands are also bare, but I've come to get used to it with the Playmates dolls.

Design-wise, I find it quite interesting how Vesperia looks more like a wasp than a bee, especially considering she has the bee Miraculous. At first, I thought it was just me, until I read the Playmates description for her, which calls her "waspish" and that her suit is wasp themed.

She has 15 points of articulation, with movement at her:

Neck

Shoulders

Double-jointed elbows

Wrists (which only swivel)

Hips

Double jointed knees

Her neck can only move side to side, which seems to only be an issue with this initial wave of U.S. Vesperia dolls, it isn't supposed to be so limited. I also find my particular doll seems to be on the looser side. She isn't loose, she can still hold a pose, and isn't floppy, but isn't super tight, either.

I really like Vesperia's face! I think she bares a great resemblance to her character in the show, even down to the orangy shade of her lips!

Vesperia has blue eyes, orangy peach lips, and and a large black and yellow mask.

My particular doll has a few imperfections in her paint, but it doesn't bother me too much.

She has blonde and black hair tied back into a braid, with two sections of her bangs sticking out, and two blonde sections twisted back. Unfortunately, my Vesperia's bangs are cut pretty short, and slightly choppily.

Here's the back of her hair. It's actually super soft! I haven't had any other Miraculous dolls with hair this soft! The only parts of her hair that aren't soft are her bangs, which are gelled, and the cut end of her braid.

She's also *very* bald. Her hair is only rooted around the edges, since it's intended to remain in the braid. Despite being so thinly rooted, she still has a pretty thick braid!

I noticed she has little black pieces of loose hair near her bangs and the end of her hair, where her hair was cut. I guess it's cut after being styled, that's interesting! They dusted off pretty easily.

And here's her (slightly crooked) Miraculous, the bee comb, in her hair. It isn't actually a comb, it's a clip, which is why the (overexposed) end doesn't actually go in her hair. It kind of looks like it's floating. It's the same mold as Queen Bee's, but is painted differently. I do wish it had the antenna(?) it has in the series, but it looks fine, and does it's job.

I was a bit nervous about clipping it into her hair, not wanting to mess up her hair, but the top of her braid isn't super tight, so I was able to easily get it in. In fact, I think I could actually get it out without messing up her hair as well!

Her shoes are so cool! Instead of the regular boot mold, Vesperia has a new shoe mold. The ankles go up higher than the regular boots, which I think really helps. My biggest issue with the Playmates shoes is that the doll's ankles are almost always showing. With Vesperia, her ankles are almost always covered?

And do you see that? Her shoes have painted details, and she's a U.S. release!! With the Playmates Miraculous line, many of the dolls have painted details on their shoes when they first release, but they're usually removed for the U.S. release. Vesperia got to keep hers, but I'm unsure for how long she'll keep them. I recommend purchasing her sooner rather than later if the painted shoe details are important to you.

Lastly, she comes with her spinning top. It doesn't actually spin, but it does have a string with a loop so she can hold it, as well as a hook on the top itself so you can either hook it to her finger, or hook it onto the string's loop so she can wear it around her waist.

Overall, I'm very pleased with Vesperia, and I'd give her a solid A. While she has a few issues, none of them are too glaring to me, and will most likely be fixed with later waves, if they will be an issue for you. I do wish she came with Pollen, but her face and shoes really make up for it. I definitely recommend her!

[crazed-reviews]

After weirdly disappearing from the Amazon website, the "Marinette at the Grand Ball" doll listing is back up for $34 USD! Also, Superhero Secret Adrien is finally back down to his retail price of $22.99 USD, after being out of stock at most stores and with a spiked price on Amazon.

I'm trying to decide whether to save for Vesperia or Marinette first. I almost have enough for Vesperia, but the Marinette is super pretty!

[crazed-reviews]

I'm thinking of making a pinned post, with a masterlist of all of my reviews, as well as a list of which Miraculous dolls are available in which countries. What do you guys think?