Jun Planning J-Doll Unter den Linden, Nude

First let me say that you can totally blame Emily, the Toy Box Philosopher for this post. If she had not posted her review of two J-Dolls, I might not have ever known they existed. But I found the dolls very attractive, and I love the quirky fashions, so several of these dolls have gone onto my wish list. Unter den Linden was not one of those, but I found her on ebay nude, and since I thought the doll was pretty but didn't want the outfit, I decided to let her be my first J-Doll purchase. At $21.50, she was a pretty affordable step into this line.

Before I review the doll, however, I want to talk Unter den Linden. It means "under the linden (lime) trees." Many famous buildings in Berlin, Germany, lie along this street, including palaces where the former Prussian royalty used to reside. During the Cold War, it was on the East German side. As a matter of fact, Unter den Linden ends at the Brandenburg Gate, which was right on the east side of the Berlin Wall. Berlin is special to me because I was there with a college group in December of 1989, about a month after the Berlin Wall was opened. Even nicer, the future Mr. BTEG was a part of the group as well, so we got to see the Berlin Wall and experience Germany together.

So what does the doll have to do with a street full of royal residences and prominent public buildings? I'm not really sure. I mean, I do get sort of a dance hall vibe off of the outfit, and Berlin had that whole crazy Weimar Republic Cabaret thing going on, so... we'll go with that.

Here's the first picture of this beautiful doll. More review and pics (some nude) below the fold.

The first thing that is obvious about this doll, besides her lovely face, is her slightly static-y hair. It's very soft and shiny, but very fly-away. I ended up tying it back with a ribbon at one point, but the hair is so soft that the ribbon kept sliding further and further down the hair. I will have to find another way to deal with it at some point.

The other thing about the hair, or rather the wig, is that it tends to separate at the back, showing some of the lines of rooting underneath. I thought perhaps the dressed doll had a hairstyle where the hair was pulled forward on both sides, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Perhaps it was just not rooted thickly enough back there?

Benefiting from Emily's experience, I made sure to get a type 4 body, and there are no cracks in the plastic around the joints of my doll. Unlike the type 3 bodies, she can look down, and I got a picture of her doing that.

Perhaps because her skin is so extremely pale and since Halloween is approaching, to me her hands and feet look almost like they belong on a skeleton. Her hands are especially strange looking because she seems to have pointed nails, which are especially obvious on one hand. I'm not sure if it is leftover flash that didn't get ground off when they took her out of the mold, or if she is supposed to have them. I'm going to buff them down.

I need a manicure!

Here she is in her stand. This picture turned out a lot darker than I thought, but since I promptly broke her stand (it seems pretty fragile, in my defense) this is what I'm going with.

See the pic above of her feet? Right above where the metal screws into the base, the metal piece somehow broke off when I bumped into the stand with my arm. There was some kind of seam there joining the two pieces of metal, apparently. Seems a silly place to have a weak point, to me. I'm not overly enamored with the stand, so I'm not too upset. The base is kind of cute, though, and continues the street theme.

Here are a couple more pictures showing her flexibility.

This one shows what her knee joints look like from the side when bent.

Here are her feet flexed as far up and as far down as they can go.

Her feet are so small! There don't seem to be a lot of vendors that sell shoes her size, and I'm not sure I can find what I want. Most of the shoes made for her size for either J-Doll or Blythe seem to be casual/childish shoe styles. I'm looking for something a little dressier.

The doll she compares to best that lives in my house is my Skipper as Wendy Darling. Wendy first came out in 1994! I can't believe she is that old, but she has been in my collection a long time. I also have the Tinker Bell and Alice in Wonderland Skipper dolls that were released about that time. I find Wendy especially pretty with her elaborate hairdo.

Here the girls are, wearing dresses. Unter den Linden is wearing an older dress of Barbie's that I pulled out. It looks like it fits her, but the straps are way too long and the dress too big around for her slight figure. A good bit of the dress is tucked away at the back to make it look normal on her. (I'm going to call her Lindy for the rest of this.)

Here's a comparison of their bodies. Wendy, of course, has hardly any articulation, but then she was made to be a play doll. I did let her show off her joint at her waist, which is one place Lindy doesn't have movement. Wendy's body is also more that of a older child, with her thicker waist and sturdier legs. She makes Lindy's feet look even tinier.

Because Wendy's body seems to be "chunkier," I was surprised to find that her dress fits Lindy beautifully, and it looks fantastic on her to boot. She looks like a fairy tale princess. 

At least Cinderella had *one* shoe!

It might not hurt that the bodice of this dress is a stretchy knit, although you can see Wendy's figure when she wears this dress too. It might be interesting to see if other Skipper clothes not made with stretchy knit will fit Lindy.

 

So I've decided that I really like J-Dolls! The only issues I have aren't even serious, just finding that to me the hands and feet look a little odd. But as soon as I can find Lindy some shoes that I like, the feet won't be an issue, and the hands don't look so odd when she is dressed. I also need to find something to help control her hair. Maybe a hat, or a non-satiny ribbon. I'd definitely like to get more of these dolls.