Seamless Male Dolls

I recently purchased a male Jiaou doll ("Black"). Here is my video review of the figure.

At the time I didn't have any extra heads that would be a good match. I purchased this Steph Curry head on eBay hoping that it would match either the Jiaou doll or the Phicen.

This head was a better match for the Phicen body, which meant that Bruce Lee had to give up his Phicen body. The Bruce head looks good on either body.

The Steph head is not a perfect match for the Phicen body, but it's close enough for me. The Jiaou doll body is slightly shorter and has a shorter neck, so Bruce is not entirely pleased with this arrangement. Perhaps I'll make an adjustment to Bruce's head at some point so that it will sit higher on the Jiaou doll neck.

Steph would have preferred a tall body, but he likes flexing the muscles of this seamless body. And he doesn't seem to mind hanging out in his underwear all the time. 

Bruce is going to make the best of this situation. After all, he is a great skin tone match for the Jiaou doll body. And he's just as muscular and almost as flexible.

Maybe these two can be friends. Even though Steph got the Phicen body with the completely stainless steel skeleton. Bruce's Jiaou doll body is part stainless steel and part plastic.

Ok, maybe they can't be friends. It's nice to know that Bruce can still deliver those kicks when he feels the need.

 That leaves Steph more time for posing and whatnot.

I am really pleased with how this figure has turned out. He looks and poses great.

Steph is settling right in, and has even found himself a pet. I got this tiger as a souvenir from the zoo when I visited last year.

Steph is having no problem making new friends.

 

The Jiaou doll came with some "extra" special body parts, as did the Phicen. I have uploaded some photos of the extras to my restricted Flickr album. DO NOT CLICK HERE if you are easily offended.

Kara and Kianna

What do you do when you want to create a new blog post, but you don't want to take photos, etc.? You look at your saved drafts and pick one! I have no idea why I've had this saved as a draft for so long because I took these photos years ago. At any rate, here are my Barbie So In Style (S.I.S.) Kara and Kianna dolls.

This set spoke to my heart because of the musical aspect. So this was an easy choice over the other sets that were released at the same time (pictured on the back of the box above).

The set comes with a Kara doll, a Kianna doll, a violin, a flute, a karaoke machine with two permanently attached mics, a carrying case, a CD, and sheet music.

Kara has cute musical accessories - violin earrings and a treble clef necklace.

The dolls are dressed somewhat alike and are super cute together!

Kara has arms that are articulated at the elbow, so she can handle the instruments more easily. It is a challenge for Kianna to play the instruments, but she is learning.

It would have been nice if the mics on the karaoke machine were detachable. But, I have another karaoke machine that came with another set and a bunch of mics around here. Hmmmm, I may have to host a doll karaoke party one of these days...

I read in the description that both Kara and Kianna also love math, and that also speaks to my heart since I am a STEM chick (science, technology, engineering and math) and have been asked to mentor young ladies and try to inspire more of them to take an interest in STEM professions, since women tend to be underrepresented in these professions. Did you know that studies show a correlation between music and mathematical abilities?

But let's face it, the music is just more fun. I can't really see myself having these dolls doing calculus. I can see them having fun playing with their instruments, though!

My overall impression is that I love this set! It is good for collectors as well as children. The set displays beautifully in the box, and is also fun to play with. It does come with tiny pieces, so it is not appropriate for very small children. I love the mentorship theme of these dolls, and love that there is a focus on both music and math with these particular dolls. One of the reasons that I've been asked to consider mentoring young ladies is so that other young ladies (Black young ladies in particular) will see the STEM professions as a possibility for themselves. I hope that seeing these Black math-loving dolls has inspired girls worldwide. Even if math is not the primary focus, maybe it sank in subliminally.

Fresh Dolls Lynette

Fresh Dolls is a new line of multicultural dolls that is part of the Positively Perfect doll family. These dolls are for sale at Target and Walmart. I purchased mine from Target.com and had it delivered to my local store.

Several of the dolls caught my eye. I decided to purchase Lynette.

Here is my video review of Lynette.

Here's a look at the back of the box.

Lynette is a very cute doll. There are a couple of quality control issues with mine. There are marks underneath her right eye, and the center front of her blouse is not sewn correctly. I was planning on redressing her anyway because I'm not crazy about this outfit. Other than that, I'm very pleased with her. She has on earrings, a short floral top, skirt, and blue shoes. With a little effort, Lynette can stand unassisted in her shoes. Her head will move side to side, but not up and down. Lynette's head is a little on the large side, but not to the point of distraction.

Lynette has on molded panties. She has articulation at her elbows and knees. She is curvier than a standard size Barbie doll, but not as curvy as a curvy Barbie. Her feet are the same size as a standard Barbie.

Here she is compared to a belly button Barbie doll. Lynette has a shorter neck, and she is thicker at the arms, waist, legs, and butt.

Here she is compared to a curvy Barbie. Lynette is not as thick at the arms and legs. The waist and butt are debatable. She is not as wide at the hips.

Here she is compared to a Fashion Madness Kenya body (with a Barbie head). Lynette's neck is shorter than Kenya's. Lynette is thicker at the arms, torso, legs, and butt.

I took Lynette's hair down so that I could check out her rooting. Lynette's hair is thick and curly and appears to be well rooted. It is not very soft.

I did not get Lynette's hair back exactly the way that it was before. I'll have to work on that. Here she is in a seated position. She can cross her legs at the ankles.

She's already making new friends. 

Overall, I am pleased with this doll and with this line of dolls. I'm happy that these dolls represent multicultural beauty and that there are different skin tones, hairstyles, and fashions available. These dolls are very reasonably priced. I am thrilled that these dolls have articulation! I think that children and adult collectors alike will love these. I love the fact that these dolls are curvier than a standard Barbie doll. My doll is able to pose well and she can hold her poses. Her joints are not too stiff and not too loose. I do wish that the same face mold was not used for all of the dolls in this line. I will probably buy more of these and swap heads. I'm looking forward to seeing more from this line of dolls!

And Then There Were 3

I have previously shared the story about how my husband acquired his first Barbie doll. Now I will share the story of how he got his second and third Barbies.

Last week, I had asked my husband to look for the cornrows Fashionistas Ken at Walmart for me. I even texted him a photo and everything. Walmart did not have the Ken that I was looking for. So, I ordered Ken online. He has not arrived yet.

This evening my husband came home, Walmart bag in hand, and said that if I don't want both items in the bag, he would take the one that I don't want. I saw a Barbie box peeking out of the bag, and started clapping. He took the dolls out of the bag, and he had purchased the cornrows Ken and Zig & Zag Barbie Fashionistas.

I told him that I had ordered the Ken online and that the doll was on the way, and that I already own Zig & Zag. He told me "Well, that means I get to keep both of them then." I agreed. He said "That means that they stay in the box." I agreed again. So now my husband has a collection of 3 Mattel dolls, in addition to his Ripcord action figure. His doll collection is becoming quite impressive indeed.

A couple of days ago, I made a slight modification to my Zig & Zag doll. I removed her pink lip color and gave her a more neutral lip color. 

I removed the pink lips with acetone, put lipstick on her, and used top coat nail polish on top of that.

While I had the acetone and clear polish out, I decide to tackle a couple of other small projects that I'd been meaning to get around to. 

The black frames of Calista's glasses had faded and chipped over time. I repainted them with black nail polish and painted over that with clear polish. They look better, but not satisfactory to me. One day (when I finally buy some acrylic paint), I will completely remove all of the nail polish and paint and do a proper repaint of her glasses.

For my Bessie Coleman doll, I did the same thing that I did for Zig & Zag to replace her lip color.

Here is what Bessie looked like before.

 I showed my husband my altered Zig & Zag doll. He was unimpressed. Maybe he prefers his own Zig & Zag doll. I do appreciate him bringing dolls home "for me" tonight, though. That brought a huge smile to my face.

Sheva Alomar Head Swaps and More

I recently purchased the Crazy Toys Sheva Alomar figure.

I had been seeing this figure on ebay and other sites being sold for $40+ dollars, but that was more money than I wanted to pay for this Hot Toys Sheva Alomar look-alike. But I kept watching, because I wanted to see if the Crazy Toys figure had anything that I could use with my hybrid Sheva Alomar (Hot Toys head on a Triad Alpha body). I was especially hoping that I could use the Crazy Toys Sheva Alomar blouse with my figure.

I saw the Crazy Toys figure being sold on ebay for $9.95 plus shipping and I did not hesitate to purchase it. 

My hybrid Sheva Alomar checking out the new arrival

Here she is out of the box. She comes with a spare set of gloved hands, a radio with earpiece, and a stand.

Another reason for me purchasing this figure is that I wanted to see if I could use the Crazy Toys head on my recently purchased Tianyimei action figure body, and I can. The head is not a perfect fit and it is not a perfect skin tone match, but close enough (especially since I have no other head options for the Tianyimei body).

I was thrilled that I was able to get the Sheva Alomar blouse off of the Crazy Toys body and onto my hybrid Hot Toys/Triad Sheva! 

Here are my two head swapped Shevas together. The Tianyimei body is shorter and slimmer than the Triad body. The Crazy Toys head is smaller than the Hot Toys head. I've decided that these two will be sisters here in my collection. So I need to come up with a name for little Sheva (other than Little Sheva). How about Sheena?

Here's a closer look at the pair. Of course, the Hot Toys head is much better in quality than the Crazy Toys head. I would consider repainting the Crazy Toys head one of these days, if I can get my painting skills up to par. I'll probably at least line her eyes and paint her eyebrows and lips (eventually).

Awwwww, sisterly affection!

I dressed Sheena in a Barbie shirt. She has a long neck with the Tianyimei body, and I also wanted her to be able to show of her rubbery torso. The pants are from Integrity Toys Janay, and the shoes belong to Only Hearts Club Briana Joy. Sheva is enjoying her new radio and earpiece while wearing the Crazy Toys Sheva Alomar blouse, a pair of tan Ken pants, and some Triad heels.

Here they are with the Crazy Toys stand. The Crazy Toys figure needs the stand in order to stand.

What will become of the Crazy Toys body? I don't know. I have a few Liv doll heads, or I'll pick something else from my Bin of Forgotten Heads. I'll stand the knife-wielding Crazy Toys body with sweet doll head somewhere in the back once I finally get all of my dolls displayed.

Overall, I'm thrilled with this purchase. No, the Crazy Toys figure is not high quality, but look at this. My Sheva Alomar finally has her blouse! And my Tianyimei body now has a head! All for one low price. Now that's what I call money well spent.

Here is my video review of the Crazy Toys Sheva Alomar figure.